All articles by Wendy Mitchell – Page 3
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News
Jonathan Demme options Michel Faber novella The Courage Consort
Director Jonathan Demme will keep working in both documentary and narrative film-making after the success of his recent return to fiction, Rachel Getting Married. Demme has optioned Michel Faber's The Courage Consort and plans to develop the screenplay in 2009.Demme is a big fan of Faber's work and says 'Robyn ...
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Frozen River, Trouble The Water take top prizes at Gothams
It was Sundance redux at the Gotham Independent Film Awards, as Park City's grand jury award winners Frozen River and Trouble The Water were named best feature and best documentary, respectively.Frozen River, a drama about illegal immigration, is directed by Courtney Hunt and produced by Heather Rae and Chip Hourihan. ...
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Interview: Splinter and Grudge 3 director Toby Wilkins
'My sensibilities tend to be on the darker side,' says director Toby Wilkins. That sounds like an understatement considering that his feature directorial debut, Splinter, has a very memorable scene in which a severed hand comes to life. Yet Wilkins is not about gore for gore's sake. 'For me, the ...
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LA-based Producer's Utopia launched as new production tool
Los Angeles-based producer Andria Litto is one of the partnerslaunching Producer's Utopia, a new technology platform for the filmindustry.The secure Web-based programme (www.producersutopia.com) is used for storing and sharing documents related to film development and production, including scripts, contracts, budgets, call sheets, correspondence, deal memos, budgets, schedules and distribution agreements. ...
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News
Aspect strikes AFM deals, plans LA-based production partnership
John P Aguirre's college comedy The Utopian Society starring Malin Akerman is already out on DVD in the US via Warner Bros and now Hugh Edwards' Aspect Film has closed new deals for Scandinavia (Scanbox), Romania (Globcom), and the Middle East (Front Row).Monty Lapica's festival hit Self Medicated, about out ...
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Acne, Kassim take top prizes at AFI Fest
AFI Fest 2008 has awarded its grand jury prize for best international feature to Federico Veiroj's Acne. A special mention went to Igor Voloshin's Nirvana.Acne premiered at Cannes Directors Fortnight. Veiroj's feature directorial debut, which he also wrote, is a co-production between Uruguay, Argentina, Spain and Mexico. The story follows ...
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One Eyed Films scares up Mud Zombie
Betina Goldman's One Eyed Films has boosted its slate by adding the first Brazilian zombie film, Mud Zombie (Mangue Negro), the feature directorial debut of Rodrigo Aragao. The film is about a fishing community in remote Espirito Santo, Brazil, that is plagued by zombie-like creatures from the muddy swamp.One Eyed's ...
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Nicolas Winding Refn's Bronson breaks out for Protagonist
UK-based sales company Protagonist Pictures has closed a slew of sales on Nicolas Winding Refn's Bronson. Deals have been done with Canada (Alliance), France (Wildside), Australia (Madman), Scandinavia (Scanbox), Portugal (Lusomundo), and Middle East (Front Row). Vertigo Films produces with 4DH in association with St8jacket Creations, EM Media and Aramid. ...
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Oudney's French Film wins US and UK deals
The Works International has struck a US deal with IFC Festival Direct for Jackie Oudney's French Film. Vertigo has taken UK rights. The film has also sold to Australia and New Zealand (Madman), Canada (Mongrel Media), and the CIS/Baltic States (Russian Report). The US deal was brokered by The Works ...
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Content takes on Japanese Oscar submission Departures
ContentFilm International has taken on international rights to Yojiro Takita's Departures, which is Japan's submission for the foreign-language Oscar race. Departures (Okuribito) is already a box-office hit in Japan, taking more than 3m admissions ($25m) and it also won Best Film at the Montreal Wrold Film Festival in August. Masahiro ...
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Altadena takes on AFI pick A Necessary Death
Los Angeles- and London-based Altadena Films has taken on sales for A Necessary Death, written and directed by Daniel Stamm and produced by Brian Udovich (The Wackness, All The Boys Love Mandy Lane) and GJ Echternkamp.The completed film is screening during AFM; it world premiered at SXSW and will also ...
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Anchor Bay starts new theatrical arm; taps Kasha for acquisitions
Home entertainment company Anchor Bay Entertainment is launching a new theatrical film arm, Anchor Bay Films, headed by Anchor Bay Entertainment President Bill Clark.Anchor Bay Entertainment CEO Chris McGurk said the new division will aim to release 8-10 films per year as platform releases. 'While many entertainment companies are now ...
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Jinga Films sells Everything to Ruscico for Russia/CIS
UK-based sales company Jinga Films continues its AFM deals by selling all rights for Russia and CIS for Richard Hawkins' Everything to Ruscico.Ray Winstone stars in the thriller/drama.Jinga has also closed an eight-film package deal with Viswaas Films for India and Malaysia. Films in that package include Tom Tyrwhitt's youth ...
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Omega Entertainment gets two from Hillenbrands
Omega Entertainment has signed a two-picture deal with Hill & Brand Entertainment to handle international sales for Transylmania and The Black Arrow.Both are projects produced and directed by the Hillenbrand brothers. Transylmania is a completed college comedy/vampire spoof that will open for sales here at the AFM, and it is ...
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Hayden Christensen in talks for lead in HandMade's remake of Mona Lisa
Hayden Christensen is in formal negotiations to take the lead in HandMade's remake of Mona Lisa. He will take on a younger version of George, the character made famous by Bob Hoskins in the original.Larry Clark will direct the project, budgeted at about $8m and set to shoot in New ...
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Milla Jovovich comes back with William H Macy
Milla Jovovich has joined the cast of William H Macy's directorial debut Keep Coming Back. Macy and Steve Buscemi will also star in the coming-of-age story.ContentFilm has international rights and expects more cast to be announced soon.Jovovich plays a recovering alcoholic ex-stripper who meets a sheltered 18-year-old boy with a ...
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Mr Nice adds Chloe Sevigny, sells for Canada and UK
Independent has pre-sold Bernard Rose's Mr Nice to Canada's Entertainment One and its UK affiliate Contender.Chloe Sevigny, David Thewlis and Omid Djalili have now joined the cast, which is led by Rhys Ifans in the title role. Ifans plays Howard Marks, the UK's infamous Oxford-educated drug baron. Marks himself is ...
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In focus: The makings of a mega-hit
Even Alan Horn, president/COO of Warner Bros, could not have predicted quite the mega box-office success of The Dark Knight, which is nearing the $1bn threshold. 'We knew the film was good. We didn't know if we're going to have a picture that does $300m or $900 million,' he says. ...
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Features
United States - Access All Areas
It sounds like any jaded Hollywood exec's worst nightmare: inviting Joe six-pack to pitch you a film idea. But that's exactly the proposition from Larry Meistrich's latest venture, Nehst Studios, a content financing, development, production, and distribution company.Nehst (pronounced "next") hosts bootcamps for aspiring film-makers and offers an online platform ...
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Jinga strikes two-film deal with MIG
UK-based sales company Jinga Films has signed a two-picture deal with MIG Film for all rights in German-speaking Europe for Summer Scars and Hell's Ground.Julian Richards' Summer Scars is a coming of age thriller and Omar Ali Khan's Hell's Ground (Zibahkhana) is a zombie comedy shot in Pakistan.Jinga's AFM slate ...