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 April 21, 2008 VAR | Belladonna, Matson form partnership
Launching "a yearlong film festival," Belladonna Productions and Matson Films will join forces to acquire and distribute six Latin American films per year in 20 U.S. cities. The initiative is called the New World Cinema Series (NWCS), according to Variety.  [permalink] [ filed under Festivals, World Cinema ] April 14, 2008VAR | 'Warlords' dominates HK film awards
Peter Chan's "The Warlords" was the big winner at the Hong Kong Film Awards on Sunday, reports Variety. [permalink] [ filed under Honors, World Cinema ] March 12, 2008iW NEWS | "Amal" To Open LA Indian Film Fest
Richie Mehta's "Amal" has been announced as the Opening Night Gala of the 6th Annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles. The festival additionally announced that the world premiere of "Mumbai Cutting: A City Unfolds," which features the work of ten top Indian directors, will be its Closing Night Gala presentation. This year, the festival will honor the work of Madhuri Dixit with a tribute and screening of her films "The Death Sentence" (Mrityudand) and "My Heart is Crazy" (Dil To Pagal Hai). The festival will take place April 22-27, 2008 at the ArcLight Hollywood Cinemas in Los Angeles, and will feature close to 40 films. [Peter Knegt] [permalink] [ filed under Festivals, World Cinema ] March 10, 2008iW NEWS | Fortissimo Acquires "Captain Abu Raed"
2008 Sundance Film Festival award winner "Captain Abu Raed" has been acquired for worldwide rights outside the Middle East and North America by Fortissimo Films. "Captain," directed by Amin Matalqa is the first Jordanian feature film to ever be exported for the world's cinemas. It garnered the World Cinema Audience Award and Best Actor for Nadim Sawalha at Sundance, and will have its market premiere at upcoming Hong Kong Filmart and the Cannes Market. [Peter Knegt] [permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, World Cinema ] February 11, 2008iW NEWS | Benten Films Acquires "Free Will"
Benton Films, the first DVD label run by film critics, has acquired the North American DVD rights to Bavaria Film International's award winning 2006 drama "The Free Will." Directed by Matthias Glasner, the film won the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution at the 2006 Berlinale, as well as Best Actor awards for Jurgen Vogel at both the Tribeca Film Festival and Chicago International Film Festival. "We're honored to have acquired such a prestigious title," said Andrew Grant, President of Benten Films. "The Free Will" will be released on June 24, 2008. [Peter Knegt] [permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, World Cinema ] iW NEWS | Filmcatcher Announces Digital Deal
Filmcatcher.com has announced a deal with The Global Film Initiative and its distribution partner, First Run Features, to make GFI's films available on Filmcatcher. "At FilmCatcher, we want our visitors to discover worthy new talent and films," said Alan Klingenstein, co-founder of FilmCatcher, in a statement. "Working with Global Film Initiative, we'll be able to see the best filmmakers from emerging markets around the world, and bring them to our audience, so it's a perfect match." GFI provides funding to filmmakers in various developing countries. Four films, both given grants and distributed by Global Film have represented their countries at the Academy Awards in the Foreign Film Competition category. [Peter Knegt] [permalink] [ filed under New Media & Technology, World Cinema ] iW NEWS | Locarno Announces Moretti Retrospective
The 61st Locarno International Film Festival announced a retrospective for Italian filmmaker, actor and producer Nanni Moretti. Locarno has a tradition of retrospectives that follow the work of contemporary auteurs that alternate with substantial historical monographs and more thematic programmes. Following Youssef Chahine, Abbas Kiarostami, Marco Bellocchio, Joe Dante, and Aki Kaurismaki, 2008 will spotlight Moretti. The festival runs from August 6-16, 2008. [Peter Knegt] [permalink] [ filed under Festivals, World Cinema ] iW NEWS | SPC Announces "12" Pact
Sony Pictures Classics has annonuced a deal for North American rights to Nikita Mikhalkov's "12," an Oscar nomineed in the best foreign language film category this year. The courtroom drama is loosely adapted from Sidney Lumet's "12 Angry Men." SPC also released Mikhalkov's Oscar-winner, "Burnt By The Sun." [Eugene Hernandez] [permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, Berlin, World Cinema ] February 4, 2008iW NEWS | "La Soledad" Wins Big at Spain's Goya Awards
Jaime Rosales's critically acclaimed "La Soledad" was a big winner at Spain's Goya Awards on Sunday night in Madrid, nabbing the prizes for best picture and best director. An arthouse release that only reached a limited audience, the film topped Juan Antonio Bayona's hugely successful "El Orfanato" (The Orphanage) for best film and also won the best new actor prize for Jose Luis Torrijo, but "The Orphanage" did win the best new director prize, and the award for original screenplay, among other awards. Reporting to indieWIRE on the Goya's, a reader reiterated that the victory for Rosales' film was a major upset given that "The Orphanage" sold millions of tickets, while "La Soledad" was a modest release reaching just tens of thousands of moviegoers. [Eugene Hernadez] [permalink] [ filed under Honors, World Cinema ] February 3, 2008iW NEWS | "Persepolis" Wins IFFR Audience Award
As the festival came to a close, Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud's "Persepolis" won the audience award at the 2008 International Film Festival Rotterdam. The event concluded with a screening of Eran Kolirin's "The Band's Visit." [Eugene Hernandez] [permalink] [ filed under Festivals, World Cinema ] January 31, 2008iW NEWS | NonStop Paddles "Ping Pong"
Scandinavian-based sales company NonStop Sales has signed international distribution rights to Swedish director Jens Jonsson's "The King of Ping Pong," which won the world cinema jury prize in the dramatic category as well as a world cinematography award at the recent Sundance Film Festival. NonStop Sales will have the film's market premiere at the European Film Market coinciding with the Berlinale. The film centers on an ostracized and bullied teenager who excels only in ping pong descends into an acrimonious struggle with his younger, more popular brother when the truth about their family history and their father surfaces over the course of their spring break. In other NonStop news, the company is touting the box office success in Norway for "The Kautokeino Rebellion" and "Switch," both of which will screen in the European Film Market. [Brian Brooks] [permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, World Cinema ] January 16, 2008iW NEWS | Samuel Goldwyn Takes "Fugitive Pieces"
Writer/director Jeremy Podeswa's Toronto Fest '07 opener "Fugitive Pieces" has been acquired by Samuel Goldwyn Films, the company announced Tuesday. The film will have its U.S. premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on February 2nd. Goldwyn VP of acquisitions Peter Goldwyn negotiated the deal John Sloss of Cinetic Media on behalf of the filmmakers. Based on the international bestselling novel by Anne Michaels, "Fugitive Pieces" is described by Goldwyn as a poetic and emotionally charged film about "love, loss and redemption." The film tells the story of Jakob Beer, a man whose life is haunted by his childhood experiences during World War II. As a child in Poland, Jakob is orphaned during wartime only to be saved by a compassionate Greek archeologist. Over the course of his life, he attempts to deal with the losses he has endured. Samuel Goldwyn plans a May release. [Brian Brooks] [permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, World Cinema ] January 10, 2008AFP: French film exports flounder
French film exports fell for the second year running in 2007, with ticket sales down to 53.7 million against 55.8 million the previous year, the export promotion board Unifrance said Thursday. AFP reports. [permalink] [ filed under Biz, World Cinema ] December 1, 2007iW NEWS | "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days", "The Band's Visit" Win Big at European Film Awards
Christian Mungiu's "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days," from Romania, won the award for best European film and Mungiu won the best director award at the European Film Awards in Berlin tonight. The film, winner of the Palme d'Or in Cannes this spring, is set for an awards qualifying run from IFC Films & Red Envelope Entertainment in the U.S. later this month. Sasson Gabai from "The Band's Visit" won the award for best actor and the film was named European discovery of the year at the ceremony. It will also open for a qualifying run this month. Helen Mirren was honored as best actress for "The Queen." Fatih Akin won the best screenplay award for "The Edge of Heaven" and the festival's FIPRESCI critics prize went to Alain Resnais' "Coeurs." Giuseppe Tornatore's "La Sconosciuta" won the people's choice award at the ceremony. indieWIRE plans to publish a dispatch from the European Film Awards on Sunday. [Eugene Hernandez] [permalink] [ filed under Awards Watch, Honors, World Cinema ] October 8, 2007iW NEWS | IFC Gets 2 From NYFF: "Girl" & "Actresses"
IFC Entertainment has announced its acquisition two French films screening at the New York Film Festival, Claude Chabrol's "A Girl Cut in Two" and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi's "Actresses." Already a box office hit in France, Chabrol's thriller opened there this summer and also screened at the Toronto and Venice festivals. Bruni Tedeschi's comedy "Actresses" was an award-winner at the Cannes Film Festival. Both films will be released theatrically and via cable V.O.D. next year. ]Eugene Hernandez] [permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, World Cinema ] October 2, 2007AP: Paul Schrader to get film festival award
Paul Schrader, who gained his breakthrough with the script for "Taxi Driver," will receive a lifetime achievement award at this year's Stockholm International Film Festival. The 61-year-old writer-director is being recognized for his "unique voice, which gives life to sharp, relentless characters in a modern city," festival organizers said Tuesday. AP reports. [permalink] [ filed under Festivals, World Cinema ] October 1, 2007iW NEWS | Cinema Guild Gets Sokurov's Latest
Alexander Sokurov's "Alexandra" has been acquired for U.S. distribution by The Cinema Guild, the company announced today. Described as the story of "a Russian grandmother who travels to a remote military outpost to visit her grandson," "Alexandra" is set to screen later this week at the New York Film Festival after a debut earlier this year in Cannes. The pact was brokered by Rezo Films. 'Alexandra's' story of a nation mired in a seemingly endless war should resonate with many in this country," said Cinema Guild's Ryan Krivoshey, in a statement. [permalink] [ filed under Acquisitions, World Cinema ] September 25, 2007AFP: Holocaust in focus at San Sebastian Film Festival
Spain's San Sebastian Film Festival Monday turned to the Holocaust with Paolo Barzman's searing "Emotional Arithmetic" about three friends who are reunited decades after meeting in a Nazi concentration camp. The movie, based on a novel by the late Canadian author Matt Cohen, revolves around a middle-aged woman, played by Susan Sarandon, who catches up with two fellow survivors of Drancy--a transit camp outside Paris--in Quebec some 40 years later. AFP reports. [permalink] [ filed under Festivals, World Cinema ] September 24, 2007AFP: Afghan girl's struggle for learning showcased at Spain film fest
A young Afghan girl's harrowing struggle for an education in the shadow of the destroyed Bamiyan Buddhas is chronicled in a Franco-Iranian film screened Saturday at the oldest and most prestigious film festival in the Spanish-speaking world. Set in central Afghanistan's Bamiyan valley, where the Taliban blew up the two giant Buddhas in 2001, "Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame" is "a very uncompromising film that shows the influence of real life on children," the San Sebastian Film Festival's director Mikel Olaciregui told AFP. Virginie Grognou reports. [permalink] [ filed under Festivals, World Cinema ] September 20, 2007AP: San Sebastian Film Festival opens
Political and social stories again take center stage at the San Sebastian Film Festival--the oldest and most prestigious in the Spanish-speaking world, which kicks off Thursday evening. The Iraq conflict gets high-profile attention with Nick Broomfield's "Battle for Haditha" in the official competition, an investigation into the 2005 killing of 24 civilians in Haditha by U.S. Marines. The 10-day festival was opening with David Cronenberg's "Eastern Promises," a thriller about London's criminal underworld starring Naomi Watts and Viggo Mortensen. [permalink] [ filed under Festivals, World Cinema ] Older Buzz/Rumors about World CinemaSeptember 13, 2007 September 4, 2007 August 29, 2007 August 26, 2007 August 18, 2007 August 14, 2007 August 14, 2007 August 10, 2007 August 6, 2007 August 2, 2007 July 31, 2007 July 19, 2007 July 18, 2007 July 8, 2007 July 1, 2007 June 13, 2007 June 11, 2007 May 14, 2007 May 2, 2007 April 17, 2007 March 30, 2007 March 27, 2007 March 20, 2007 March 20, 2007 March 15, 2007 March 9, 2007 March 6, 2007 February 21, 2007 February 7, 2007 February 2, 2007 February 1, 2007 January 30, 2007 January 19, 2007 January 17, 2007 December 13, 2006 December 8, 2006 November 28, 2006 September 29, 2006 July 16, 2006 June 26, 2006 May 12, 2006 March 30, 2006 March 30, 2006 March 3, 2006 February 15, 2006 January 12, 2006 November 27, 2005 September 13, 2005 September 6, 2005 August 30, 2005 | |
