All Americas articles – Page 290

  • News

    Japan's Gaga Films arrives at AFM with co-production ambitions

    2007-10-31T05:00:00Z

    Gaga's production and sales arm, Gaga Films, is attending the AFM with a slate of co-productions, underscoring the Japanese outfit's strategy to become active in pan-Asian as well as international co-productions.Cyborg She, financed by a Japanese production consortium and Korea's Centurion Movie & Knowledge 3rd Investment Fund, is being directed ...

  • News

    Morrissette joins cast of Philip K Dick adaptation Radio Free Albemuth

    2007-10-31T05:00:00Z

    Principal photography has begun on John Alan Simon's Philip K Dick adaptation Radio Free Albemuth starring Alanis Morissette.Jonathan Scarfe, Shea Whigham, Katheryn Winnick and Hanna Hall also star in the Discovery Productions and Open Pictures story about an extra-terrestrial plot to bring down a corrupt regime through the power of ...

  • News

    Grindstone checks into Nordisk's Room 205

    2007-10-31T05:00:00Z

    Grindstone Entertainment Group has acquired all North American rights for Nordisk's ghostly thriller Room 205.Grindstone will be working in partnership with Ghost House Pictures on the release.Neel Ronholt and Mikkel Arndt star in Martin Barnewitz's chiller about a woman's frightening journey into the occult. The film will be dubbed into ...

  • News

    Lightning Strikes with $20m acquisitions and co-financing fund

    2007-10-30T22:10:00Z

    Santa Monica-based Lightning Entertainment has secured a $20m acquisitions and co-financing fund backed by a private equity investor. The new fund will allow Lightning to acquire commercial films for international distribution as well as provide gap financing and completion monies for films in any stage of production. Co-founders ...

  • Reviews

    Martian Child

    2007-10-30T16:40:00Z

    Dir: Menno Meyjes. US. 2007. 108minsWell acted if sweetly moralising, Martian Child tells the story of a science fiction writer who adopts an orphaned boy who claims to be from Mars. Based on the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning short story by genre luminary David Gerrold, the film is an extremely ...

  • News

    Lumina to sell Rebecca Miller's The Private Lives Of Pippa Lee

    2007-10-30T00:20:00Z

    Robin Wright Penn, Julianne Moore and Winona Ryder will star in Rebecca Miller's adaptation of her own novel The Private Lives Of Pippa Lee.Elevation Filmworks and Plan B Entertainment are producing the comedy-drama, which London-based Lumina will introduce to international buyers at AFM this week. CAA represents North American rights.Filming ...

  • News

    Lionsgate cranks up the action with Lakeshore double

    2007-10-29T23:57:00Z

    Lionsgate has acquired North American rights from Lakeshore Entertainment to the upcoming action thrillers Game, starring Gerard Butler, and Crank 2: High Voltage with Jason Statham (pictured) reprising his original role in the $25m sequel.Lakeshore holds international rights to both titles and is anticipating strong buyer interest at this week's ...

  • News

    Iranian films get VOD foothold in North America

    2007-10-29T21:19:00Z

    Video-on-demand service Eurocinema has signed an exclusive deal with Iranian Film Society representative Nima Entertainment to provide Farsi-language Iranian films for Eurocinema's North American audiences.The initial titles are Tahmineh Milani's 2000 drama Two Women, Hassan Hedayat's 2002 mystery Twilight, Cyrus Alvand's 2004 comedy Corrupted Hands, and Mehdi Fakhim-Zadeh's 2003 romantic ...

  • News

    South Of Pico wins big at Annual American Black Film Festival

    2007-10-29T21:04:00Z

    AFI graduate Ernst Gossner's feature directorial debut South Of Pico has won the 11th Annual American Black Film Festival's (ABFF) grand jury prize for best picture.ABFF sponsor Heineken also presented Gossner with its Red Star Award recognising 'originality, innovation and vision in film', while South Of Pico star Henry Simmons, ...

  • News

    US talk show host Letterman initiates election documentary

    2007-10-29T20:59:00Z

    US talk show host David Letterman's production company Worldwide Pants Inc will commence filming in five US states on its first documentary this weekend with Lawrence Bender serving as producer.Balance Vector Productions will also produce the untitled film about five American teenagers who are running for a variety of elected ...

  • News

    Santa Barbara singles out Javier Bardem

    2007-10-29T19:57:00Z

    Javier Bardem will receive the 23rd Santa Barbara International Film Festival's (SBIFF) Montecito Award on Jan 28, 2008.Bardem, who stars in the Coen Brothers' upcoming thriller No Country For Old Men and Mike Newell's upcoming epic romance Love In The Time Of Cholera, is being recognised for 'a series of ...

  • News

    Netflix hires Nishimura-Seese for new indie buying role

    2007-10-29T19:52:00Z

    Lisa Nishimura-Seese has joined Netflix in the new role of vice president of independent content acquisition.Nishimura-Seese most recently served as general manager of New York-based Palm Pictures and will be charged with acquiring independent and small studio films for the subscriber base, which according to the company has reached seven ...

  • News

    Courtney named EVP, physical production at Film Dept

    2007-10-29T19:48:00Z

    Kathleen Courtney has been named executive vice president of physical production for Mark Gill and Neil Sacker's The Film Department.Dave Gare has been named vice president of post-production and Ian Watermeier has been named director of production and finance.Courtney will be based in the West Hollywood offices, reporting to production ...

  • Reviews

    Saw IV

    2007-10-29T15:31:00Z

    Dir: Darren Lynn Bousman. US. 2007. 93mins.Cinematic trends come and go, but the resilience of the Saw franchise continues unabated. Grimly efficient in a manner consistent with previous installments, Saw IV demonstrates that this well-oiled horror machine is showing noticeable wear and tear, but nevertheless enough of the moving parts ...

  • News

    Saw IV enjoys $32.1m domestic carve-up

    2007-10-29T00:58:00Z

    Lionsgate's Saw IV maintained the horror franchise's grip on the Halloween season as it stormed to the top of the North American charts with a resounding $32.1m estimated launch.It still wasn't enough to stop the overall box office from slipping for the sixth consecutive weekend against the same period last ...

  • News

    Midnight Clear lands at Cinemavault for AFM

    2007-10-28T23:30:00Z

    Toronto-based Cinemavault Releasing International has acquired overseas rights to Midnight Clear and Wind Man heading into the AFM.Midnight Clear will be released through Lionsgate in the US in December and stars Stephen Baldwin and Kirk B R Woller in a story about five strangers whose lives are changed by random ...

  • News

    Mackiewicz to jointly spearhead Arclight sales

    2007-10-28T23:25:00Z

    Liz Mackiewicz has been appointed executive vice president of worldwide distribution at Arclight Films in Los Angeles and will take charge of sales at AFM alongside company chief Gary Hamilton.Mackiewicz, who until recently served as a consultant to the company, will be responsible for evaluating projects as well as sales, ...

  • News

    Jason Reitman's Juno takes Best Film prize in Rome

    2007-10-28T16:50:00Z

    Jason Reitman's teen pregnancy drama/comedy Juno won Rome Film Fest's Marco Aurelio Best Film Award, announced yesterday. Reitman was in Rome to accept the award, along with screenwriter Diablo Cody.The lucrative award also comes with $287,700 (Euros 200,000).'It is terrifying to bring your film to another culture where they speak ...

  • News

    Academy stands by decision to disqualify Lust, Caution for Taiwan

    2007-10-26T18:04:00Z

    The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has defended its decision to reject Ang Lee's Lust, Caution as the Taiwanese submission for the Foreign Language Oscar race. When the Academy's Foreign Language Film Award Executive Committee met on Oct 11 to discuss any problematic entries, Lust, Caution was disqualifed ...

  • News

    Lightning takes on Vietnamese hit The Rebel

    2007-10-26T13:51:00Z

    Santa Monica-based Lightning Entertainment has picked up all non-English language rights to the Vietnamese hit The Rebel (Dong Mau Anh Hung). Charlie Nguyen's film is the largest production to come out of Vietnam and follows the exploits of a 1920s spy for the French who tires of betraying his country. ...