This week on indieWIRE, James Franco dished on his new porn project, “The Help” got dissected, IFP named the lucky projects taking part in their annual Project Forum and much more.
News
James Franco is Directing a Documentary About Porn Megasite Kink.com
James Franco’s latest project is making a documentary about BDSM and fetish porn site Kink.com.
Christine Vachon, Rose Troche, Bruce LaBruce Among the 150 in IFP’s Project Forum
New projects from Christine Vachon, Bruce LaBruce, David Robert Mitchell (“The Myth of the American Sleepover”), and Rose Troche are among the 150 that made the cut for this year’s Project Forum, hosted by IFP during Independent Film Week (September 18-22) at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Elinor Bunin Monroe Film Center.
Box Office: “Gun Hill Road,” “Bellflower” Top Debuts; “Sarah’s Key” Continues To Impress (UPDATED)
Two directorial debuts out of Sundance – Rashaad Ernesto Green’s “Gun Hill Road” and Evan Glodell’s “Bellflower” – led specialty box office debuts this weekend, each taking quite respectable numbers.
James Franco’s Hart Crane Biopic ‘The Broken Tower’ Picked Up By Focus Features, Heading To TIFF
With his latest starring vehicle “Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes” earning unexpected critical acclaim and box office gold, James Franco doesn’t look like stopping any time soon.
Tribeca Film Festival 2012 Now Open for Entries
The Tribeca Film Festival announced its submissions dates for its narrative, documentary and shorts categories for its 2012 edition of the event.
Oh Canada: Guy Maddin and Jean-Marc Vallée Lead Toronto Film Fest’s Canuck Lineup
The Toronto International Film Festival has announced the 25 feature films and 43 shorts that will make up the bulk of its Canadian programming.
“Clown” and “Bullhead” Top Award Winners at Montreal’s 2011 Fantasia Fest
At the end of its marathon three and a half week run, the Fantasia Film Festival announced its equally long list of juried and audience awards.
Oscar Whisperer Cynthia Swartz Leaves 42West to Launch Her Own PR Firm
Cynthia Swartz, a partner at PR powerhouse 42West since May 2005 and veteran Oscar strategist, is negotiating her exit to form her own PR firm.
‘Dirty Dancing’ Choreographer Kenny Ortega Returns To Direct Remake
That’s right fans, “Dirty Dancing” is getting a do over and none other than the original film’s choreographer Kenny Ortega—who was also behind “This Is It” and the “High School Musical” trilogy is lined up to direct the movie.
Brit Marling Pushes Aside Tom Cruise & Steven Soderbergh For Robert Redford’s ‘The Company You Keep’
Brit Marling, whose credits were relatively few before her acclaimed pair of films, “Another Earth” and “The Sound Of My Voice,” both of which she co-wrote, hit Sundance at the start of the year, instantly making her one of the fastest-rising stars around.
Keanu Reeves Lining Up Financing For His Directorial Debut “Man Of Tai Chi”
“…but what I really want to do is direct” is a phrase is commonly tossed around by actors in Hollywood but few of them ever make the leap. It’s a big transition to go from being in front of the camera to being behind, commanding an entire project from start to finish; a daunting task that can overwhelm even the most powerful players in the industry.
Reviews
What to See, What to Skip: New Reviews This Week
Talk about variety. This weekend’s new releases include a heart-warming adaption of an Oprah approved best-seller, a hard-R comedy, a Sundance award-winning documentary, a gory horror sequel and more. Want to know what’s worth your money? Check out the reviews published this week on indieWIRE and our blog network.
Critic’s Notebook | How Movies Like “The Help” Reinforce Hollywood’s Race Problem
Nobody should be surprised by the dearth of minorities in contemporary media. On the surface, it’s a boring issue: Whether or not the stories of gay, black or women characters make their way into movies and television only becomes a central issue if specific industrial forces continue to keep them out. If a truly progressive society is color blind, then everyone should let the chips fall and assume equal opportunity remains in flux. The reality is a lot more complicated, as demonstrated this week by the release of the antiquated civil rights drama “The Help.”
LOCARNO REVIEW | The Real-Time “Best Intentions” is One Man’s Anxiety, Many Points of View
Like many Romanian movies of the moment, “Best Intentions” invests heavily in the feeling of time passing. With its organic construction of a hospital environment, the movie begs comparison to “The Death of Mr. Lazarescu,” although its interests are less grim.
LOCARNO REVIEW | Why Julia Loktev’s “The Loneliest Planet” Earns Its Leisurely Pace
In “Day Night Day Night,” Julia Loktev told the quietly experimental tale of a young would-be suicide bomber nervously wandering through the crowd of Times Square, impressing some critics if not much of an audience beyond that. Her long-awaited follow-up, “The Loneliest Planet,” deals with noticeably broader terrain and even includes a mid-size star (Gael Garcia Bernal). Both of those factors yield something closer to a conventional viewing experience than the intentionally prosaic momentum of her previous outing.
LOCARNO REVIEW | “Tahrir” Provides an Intimate View of Cairo Protests
A welcome contrast to the Western media’s bird’s eye view of the seismic January revolution in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the energetic verité documentary “Tahrir: Liberation Square” dives right into the action.
LOCARNO REVIEW | “Policeman” Is Not Your Typical Israeli Movie
While blatantly topical, this is not a political film of the moment, but rather a calculated meditation on purpose.
LOCARNO REVIEW | “Hanaan” Suggests “The Wire” By Way of Robert Bresson
If Robert Bresson directed an episode of “The Wire,” it might look something like sad world of drug-fueled anger and broken dreams that dominate first-time director Ruslan Pak’s “Hanaan.”
LOCARNO REVIEW | “Bachir Lazhar” Delivers a Moving Take on the Classroom Drama
“Bachir Lazhar,” the fourth feature from Quebec-based filmmaker Phillippe Falardeau, fulfills the classroom drama clichés, while at the same time transcending them.
LOCARNO REVIEW | Despite Fix to Formula, Comic Misadventure “Headhunters” Recalls “The Fugitive”
Adapted from Jo Nesbo’s novel by screenwriters Lars Gudmestad and Ulf Ryberg from the novel, “Headhunters” announces itself as a routine heist movie by letting Roger Brown, the daring art thief anti-hero’s, perspective dominate.
Go to page two for Features, Interviews and Videos from the week.
Features
Meet the Toronto International Film Festival Programmers, In Their Own Words
We’re happy to present the Toronto International Film Festival as the first non-U.S. event in our ongoing series spotlighting festival programmers.
The Kickstarting Never Stops: Three Sundance Films Are Looking for Distribution Dough
Filmmaking may be democratized by more-affordable technologies, but it still costs a hell of a lot of money to get your film seen. From making prints to booking theaters to sales agents to publicists, the expenses stack up.
FIRST PERSON | Ira Sachs on How to Shoot a Simulated Sex Scene That Looks and Feels Real
Filmmaker Ira Sachs (“Forty Shades of Blue,” “The Delta”) is currently directing his new film, “Keep the Lights On,” a semi-autobiographical and sexually explicit New York gay in-and-out-of-love story profiled earlier this year in our in-production column And among his many challenges is how to shoot sex scenes—or at least, scenes that look like sex.
indieWIRE Picks: What to Watch on DVD, Blu-ray and VOD This Week
This week on the small screen, legendary DP Jack Cardiff gets the tribute he deserves, Ellen Page goes a bit crazy and much more.
Comedy Bootcamp: Top 15 Tips from Sundance’s Comedy ShortsLab: LA
For its second annual ShortsLab: LA, the Sundance Institute put the emphasis on comedy. The result was a day packed full of expert tips invaluable to anyone interested the delicate art of making people laugh.
Too Much Madness To Explain In One Text: On The U.K. Riots And ‘Attack The Block’
Joe Cornish‘s directorial debut “Attack The Block” has a socio-political backbone to it that in the last few days has suddenly struck a vein that few was expecting, with the explosion of violence and looting that’s taken place in London since Saturday night.
Interviews
FUTURES | Asif Kapadia, Director of Racecar Doc “Senna”: Off With the Talking Heads!
Asif Kapadia is no newcomer. The filmmaker won a BAFTA for his 2001 visually ravishing epic “The Warrior” and helmed the Sarah Michelle Gellar horror flick “The Return.” So why are we profiling him? His Sundance award-winning sports documentary, “Senna,” marks his first stab at documentary filmmaking, and he nails it.
INTERVIEW | Drugs, Meet Movies: Tao Lin and Megan Boyle’s MDMAfilms
Filmmakers Tao Lin and Megan Boyle aren’t the first people to find causal connection in drugs and art, but they may have broken new ground in their conspicuous consumption. The name of their production company, MDMAfilms, is the embodiment of truth in advertising: They take drugs and then they make movies.
Director Lone Scherfig Talks About “One Day,” Anne Hathaway, and “The Way We Were”
One Day has a rigid structure that some directors would find impossible. Emma and Dexter – played by Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess – live through two decades of tumultuous friendship and love, although we only see them on July 15th each year. But this romantic drama plays to Danish-born director Lone Scherfig’s strengths.
INTERVIEW | Jimmy McMillan Says The Rent is Too Damn High. Also, He’s the Star of a New Documentary.
indieWIRE sat down with one of the strangest faces in modern politics for a meandering hourlong conversation involving his feelings about the documentary, his comedy routine, an upcoming presidential campaign, and his open affection for pornography.
LOCARNO INTERVIEW | Abel Ferrara: Download Torrents of My Undistributed Movies
Ferrara’s appeal is defined by wisecracks, self-deprecation and an unmistakable blend of sleaziness and charm – just like his best movies.
LOCARNO INTERVIEW | Director Julia Loktev: “I’m interested in good people doing bad things.”
Three years after Julia Loktev’s minimalist suicide bomber story “Day Night Day Night” hit theaters, the director has returned with a new film that contains a similarly restrained style but deals with entirely separate issues.
Video
Watch: Rousing Trailer for Ralph Fiennes Directorial Debut “Coriolanus”
Ralph Fiennes likes himself some drama. After laying Lord Voldemort to rest in this summer’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two,” the acclaimed British performer next finds himself playing the titular General in a contemporary adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Coriolanus,” which hits theaters during awards season on December 2nd courtesy of The Weinstein Company.
Watch: International Trailer Provides First Look At Lynne Ramsay’s ‘We Need To Talk About Kevin’
This year’s Cannes Film Festival saw Ramsay return in force with “We Need To Talk About Kevin,” an adaptation of the unlikely best-seller from Lionel Shriver about a mother’s difficult relationship with her sociopathic son.
iW’s Online Video of the Day: Harvey Weinstein Suffers Through Paul Rudd’s Marketing Pitches
Sure, it’s just movie marketing, but it’s funny movie marketing. It’s all in service of the upcoming Weinstein release “Our Idiot Brother”: Star Paul Rudd comes into Harvey Weinstein’s office bearing, appropriately enough, idiotic marketing ideas for the film.
Watch The Trailer For Gotham and Spirit Award Winning “Littlerock”
Hitting theaters in New York this Friday and expanding in September, Variance Films has premiered the trailer for Mike Ott’s “Littlerock,” which last December won the Gotham Award for “best film not playing at a theater near you.” That’s about to change.
iW’s Online Video of the Day: Jason Sudeikis and Tyler Labine Get Up Close & Personal in “Orgy”
We weren’t so hot on the tame trailer for the upcoming comedy “A Good Old Fashioned Orgy.” It was all buildup and no payoff. So it was a pleasant surprise when we came across a just-released clip from the film film that fulfills on the promise of its title: namely that people actually get it on.
iW’s Online Video of the Day: The “Catfish” Directors Capture a Mini Metropolis
Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, the boys behind the documentary sensation “Catfish,” have no problem with switching genres. Since garnering critical acclaim, controversy and a bevvy of disbelievers with their debut (now featured in the Current TV series “50 Documentaries You Must See Before You Die,”) they have gone on to helm the upcoming horror sequel “Paranormal Activity 3” (hits theaters in October) and now this fascinating gem of a short that you can check out below.
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