Exclusive: Richard E. Grant and Brian Cox (Succession) have signed on to star in the animated short project Wittgenstein’s Poker from filmmaker Christian De Vita.
We understand the short tells the story of the real-life encounter between two of the 20th century’s greatest philosophers: Ludwig Wittgenstein and Karl Popper. Their notorious dispute, known as the Cambridge Poker Incident, ended in one of them allegedly threatening the other with a red-hot fire poker.
Grant stars as Ludwig Wittgenstein while Karl Markovics (The Counterfeiters) will portray Karl Popper. Cox has been cast as Bertrand Russell, who was also present during the infamous confrontation in 1946. The synopsis reads: This remarkable ensemble will breathe life into this unique historical moment.
The film will be directed by Christian De Vita, best known for his previous work as the lead storyboard artist on Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie, and...
We understand the short tells the story of the real-life encounter between two of the 20th century’s greatest philosophers: Ludwig Wittgenstein and Karl Popper. Their notorious dispute, known as the Cambridge Poker Incident, ended in one of them allegedly threatening the other with a red-hot fire poker.
Grant stars as Ludwig Wittgenstein while Karl Markovics (The Counterfeiters) will portray Karl Popper. Cox has been cast as Bertrand Russell, who was also present during the infamous confrontation in 1946. The synopsis reads: This remarkable ensemble will breathe life into this unique historical moment.
The film will be directed by Christian De Vita, best known for his previous work as the lead storyboard artist on Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie, and...
- 4/30/2024
- by Zac Ntim and Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
The Johnny Depp film “Jeanne du Barry” from director and star (and producer and co-writer) Maïwenn will open in U.S. theaters on May 2 as part of a special engagement via Fathom Events and distributor Vertical.
The film will open exclusively in more than 500 U.S. theaters on May 2, 2024, with the possibility that the film could run longer than its “limited” engagement if it’s a success. The first big theatrical release of May 2024 is 20th Century’s “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” which will command many more screens beginning May 10.
“Jeanne du Barry” was the opening night film at last year’s Cannes Film Festival and was a modest box office hit, grossing $13 million outside of the states. Vertical picked it up last June but has yet to release it here.
With more than 500 screens in tow, the movie will be the widest opening for Depp in the U.
The film will open exclusively in more than 500 U.S. theaters on May 2, 2024, with the possibility that the film could run longer than its “limited” engagement if it’s a success. The first big theatrical release of May 2024 is 20th Century’s “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” which will command many more screens beginning May 10.
“Jeanne du Barry” was the opening night film at last year’s Cannes Film Festival and was a modest box office hit, grossing $13 million outside of the states. Vertical picked it up last June but has yet to release it here.
With more than 500 screens in tow, the movie will be the widest opening for Depp in the U.
- 3/6/2024
- by Brian Welk
- Indiewire
“The One Note Man” director George Siougas has crafted perhaps the most visually impressive live-action short of this year. The silent, musical masterpiece depicts “The Crown” actor Jason Watkins as a bassoonist who lives a routine, monotonous existence. each day passes in the exact same as his life passes him by before said routine is broken by a fellow musician in the orchestra he plays in and his world is changed forever.
Speaking to Siougas, who has directed plenty of episodes of British soaps “Hollyoaks” and “Casualty,” gives you the immediate impression that this is a filmmaker who loves cinema. And he truly, truly is. He was inspired to make “The One Note Man” after re-watching Alfred Hitchcock films, with the opening of “The Man Who Knew Too Much” a particular inspiration.
In the writing process, he soon found that dialogue wasn’t necessary to tell this story and the decision was a smart one.
Speaking to Siougas, who has directed plenty of episodes of British soaps “Hollyoaks” and “Casualty,” gives you the immediate impression that this is a filmmaker who loves cinema. And he truly, truly is. He was inspired to make “The One Note Man” after re-watching Alfred Hitchcock films, with the opening of “The Man Who Knew Too Much” a particular inspiration.
In the writing process, he soon found that dialogue wasn’t necessary to tell this story and the decision was a smart one.
- 1/15/2024
- by Jacob Sarkisian
- Gold Derby
“The Hunger Games” star Sam Claflin has boarded George C. Siougas’ short film “The One Note Man” as an executive producer.
Narrated by Ian McKellen (“Lord of the Rings”), the Christmas-set story focuses on a bassoonist wedded to his routine, which involves playing a single note each day in the orchestra he is part of before returning home. One day, after accidentally overhearing a mind-blowing violin solo the musician finds himself caught between “staying in his comfort zone or stepping out and changing his life forever.”
The film, which has qualified for Oscar submission after winning the grand prize for best live action short at the Rhode Island International Film Festival, stars Jason Watkins (“The Crown”), Louisa Clein (“Emmerdale”), Crystal Yu (“Doctor Who”), Paul Barber (“The Full Monty”).
It does not feature any dialogue, instead giving audiences an opportunity to enjoy an original score by “Shakespeare in Love” composer Stephen Warbeck.
Narrated by Ian McKellen (“Lord of the Rings”), the Christmas-set story focuses on a bassoonist wedded to his routine, which involves playing a single note each day in the orchestra he is part of before returning home. One day, after accidentally overhearing a mind-blowing violin solo the musician finds himself caught between “staying in his comfort zone or stepping out and changing his life forever.”
The film, which has qualified for Oscar submission after winning the grand prize for best live action short at the Rhode Island International Film Festival, stars Jason Watkins (“The Crown”), Louisa Clein (“Emmerdale”), Crystal Yu (“Doctor Who”), Paul Barber (“The Full Monty”).
It does not feature any dialogue, instead giving audiences an opportunity to enjoy an original score by “Shakespeare in Love” composer Stephen Warbeck.
- 11/16/2023
- by K.J. Yossman
- Variety Film + TV
“Jeanne du Barry,” the much-discussed Cannes opening night film featuring Johnny Depp as Louis Xv, has been acquired for North American distribution. Vertical grabbed rights to the Maïwenn-directed drama, which stars the writer/director as Jeanne Vaubernier. Vaubernier was a working-class woman in 18th Century France who rose in the social ranks and became King Louis Xv’s lover.
The co-writers are Teddy Lussi-Modeste and Nicolas Livecchi and the film’s producers are Pascal Caucheteux and Grégoire Sorlat. The production companies are Why Not Productions, France 2 Cinéma, France 3 Cinéma, La Petite Reine, Impala Productions, Les Films de Batna, In.2 Film, and Les Films du Fleuve. Below-the-line talent on the film includes cinematographer Laurent Dailland, editor Laure Gardette, production designer Angelo Zamparutti, costume designer Jürgen Doering, and composer Stephen Warbeck.
Johnny Depp in ‘Jeanne du Barry’
“’Jeanne du Barry’ was by far the most talked about film at this year’s Cannes Film Festival,...
The co-writers are Teddy Lussi-Modeste and Nicolas Livecchi and the film’s producers are Pascal Caucheteux and Grégoire Sorlat. The production companies are Why Not Productions, France 2 Cinéma, France 3 Cinéma, La Petite Reine, Impala Productions, Les Films de Batna, In.2 Film, and Les Films du Fleuve. Below-the-line talent on the film includes cinematographer Laurent Dailland, editor Laure Gardette, production designer Angelo Zamparutti, costume designer Jürgen Doering, and composer Stephen Warbeck.
Johnny Depp in ‘Jeanne du Barry’
“’Jeanne du Barry’ was by far the most talked about film at this year’s Cannes Film Festival,...
- 6/7/2023
- by Scott Mendelson
- The Wrap
“Jeanne Du Barry,” the latest film from French director Maïwenn that stars Johnny Depp, has found a North American distributor in Vertical following its Cannes debut, an individual with knowledge told IndieWire.
“Jeanne Du Barry” was the opening night film at the Cannes Film Festival last month, where it received a 7-minute standing ovation from the crowd in the Palais. But it was a controversial choice because of Depp’s continued career rehab following the highly publicized defamation trial between him and ex-wife Amber Heard, but also because of a report against Maïwenn that accused her of assaulting a journalist, an accusation she later admitted to.
The film stars Depp as the French King Louis Xv in a supporting role and primarily follows Maïwenn as Jeanne Vaubernier, an 18th Century French working class woman who became King Louis Xv’s lover. Here’s the full synopsis:
“Jeanne du Barry” follows...
“Jeanne Du Barry” was the opening night film at the Cannes Film Festival last month, where it received a 7-minute standing ovation from the crowd in the Palais. But it was a controversial choice because of Depp’s continued career rehab following the highly publicized defamation trial between him and ex-wife Amber Heard, but also because of a report against Maïwenn that accused her of assaulting a journalist, an accusation she later admitted to.
The film stars Depp as the French King Louis Xv in a supporting role and primarily follows Maïwenn as Jeanne Vaubernier, an 18th Century French working class woman who became King Louis Xv’s lover. Here’s the full synopsis:
“Jeanne du Barry” follows...
- 6/7/2023
- by Brian Welk
- Indiewire
“The impertinence!” scream the courtiers of Louis Xv when his newly recruited mistress, Countess Jeanne du Barry, has the audacity to look him in the eye. It is just the latest in a long line of taboo-breaking outrages that surround the affair between the king and the commoner: She doesn’t have a title! She turns her back on him! She dresses like a man! For this reason alone, it’s easy to see why Maïwenn, one of France’s more controversial directors, saw fit to topline herself with Johnny Depp in a film that’s entirely about class and status and whose leading characters are bent on committing reputational suicide.
Jeanne du Barry also flexes the specifically French cultural views surrounding the topic of sexual impropriety. While the Cannes Film Festival continues to appear to be wilfully deaf to the topic of cancel culture, Maïwenn’s latest feature — which...
Jeanne du Barry also flexes the specifically French cultural views surrounding the topic of sexual impropriety. While the Cannes Film Festival continues to appear to be wilfully deaf to the topic of cancel culture, Maïwenn’s latest feature — which...
- 5/16/2023
- by Damon Wise
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Wild Bunch International (Wbi) has released a fresh image of Johnny Depp as Louis Xv in French director Maïwenn’s ambitious costume drama Jeanne du Barry, in which she also co-stars as the titular courtesan, and unveiled a raft of first theatrical deals.
The historical love story has been acquired for France (Le Pacte), Benelux (Paradiso Filmed Entertainment), Switzerland (Frenetic Films), Italy and Spain (Notorious Pictures), Greece (Spentzos Film), Portugal (Pris Audiovisuais), ex-Yugoslavia (McF), Hungary (Ads Service), Czech Republic (Film New Europe), Romania (Independenta), Poland (Gutek) and Cis (World Vision).
Post-production is currently underway on the film after an 11-week shoot at locations including the Palace of Versailles and other chateaux in the Paris region as well as in the studio.
Why Not Productions (Rust And Bone and A Prophet) lead produces with IN2 and France Télévisions also on board as producers.
The production marks Depp’s first feature film role in three years,...
The historical love story has been acquired for France (Le Pacte), Benelux (Paradiso Filmed Entertainment), Switzerland (Frenetic Films), Italy and Spain (Notorious Pictures), Greece (Spentzos Film), Portugal (Pris Audiovisuais), ex-Yugoslavia (McF), Hungary (Ads Service), Czech Republic (Film New Europe), Romania (Independenta), Poland (Gutek) and Cis (World Vision).
Post-production is currently underway on the film after an 11-week shoot at locations including the Palace of Versailles and other chateaux in the Paris region as well as in the studio.
Why Not Productions (Rust And Bone and A Prophet) lead produces with IN2 and France Télévisions also on board as producers.
The production marks Depp’s first feature film role in three years,...
- 11/1/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: France’s Why Not Productions has unveiled a playful first teaser image of Johnny Depp in the role of King Louis Xv in French director Maïwenn’s historical love story Jeanne du Barry, in which she also co-stars as the titular courtesan. Check it out below.
Rust And Bone and A Prophet production company Why Not has also confirmed that shoot began on July 26 for 11 weeks, with locations including Versailles and other chateaux in the Paris region as well as the studio.
The production marks Depp’s first feature film role in three years, and follows hot on the heels of his victory in his turbulent defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard.
The ambitious drama is freely inspired by the life of Jeanne du Barry, Louis Xv’s last royal mistress at the Court of Versaille, after Madame de Pompadour.
Born into poverty, she is a young working-class woman...
Rust And Bone and A Prophet production company Why Not has also confirmed that shoot began on July 26 for 11 weeks, with locations including Versailles and other chateaux in the Paris region as well as the studio.
The production marks Depp’s first feature film role in three years, and follows hot on the heels of his victory in his turbulent defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard.
The ambitious drama is freely inspired by the life of Jeanne du Barry, Louis Xv’s last royal mistress at the Court of Versaille, after Madame de Pompadour.
Born into poverty, she is a young working-class woman...
- 8/10/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
The film will be released to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s Folio in 2023.
Dominic Dromgoole, the former artistic director of London’s The Globe Theatre, will direct and produce Folio! Folio!, a feature comedy about the publication of the ground-breaking edition of Shakespeare’s works.
The film is aiming to shoot in summer 2022, produced by Marcus Coles’ UK company Folio 400 Productions. The company was founded to celebrate the 400th anniversary in 2023 of the publication of Shakespeare’s Folio – the first full collection of his plays, including the previously unpublished Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night and The Tempest.
Dominic Dromgoole, the former artistic director of London’s The Globe Theatre, will direct and produce Folio! Folio!, a feature comedy about the publication of the ground-breaking edition of Shakespeare’s works.
The film is aiming to shoot in summer 2022, produced by Marcus Coles’ UK company Folio 400 Productions. The company was founded to celebrate the 400th anniversary in 2023 of the publication of Shakespeare’s Folio – the first full collection of his plays, including the previously unpublished Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Twelfth Night and The Tempest.
- 6/2/2021
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Roadside Attractions is releasing Finding You, a coming of age romantic drama based on Jenny B. Jones’ novel There You’ll Find Me and written and directed by Brian Baugh. The pic, which is available in theaters today, stars Rose Reid, Jedidiah Goodacre, Katherine McNamara, Patrick Bergin, Saoirse-Monica Jackson, with Tom Everett Scott, and Vanessa Redgrave
In the movie, after an ill-fated audition at a prestigious New York music conservatory, violinist Finley Sinclair (Reid) travels to an Irish coastal village to begin her semester studying abroad. At the B&b run by her host family, she encounters gregarious and persistent heartthrob movie star Beckett Rush (Goodacre), who is there to film another installment of his medieval fantasy-adventure franchise.
As romance sparks between the unlikely pair, Beckett ignites a journey of discovery for Finley that transforms her heart, her music, and her outlook on life. In turn, Finley emboldens Beckett to reach...
In the movie, after an ill-fated audition at a prestigious New York music conservatory, violinist Finley Sinclair (Reid) travels to an Irish coastal village to begin her semester studying abroad. At the B&b run by her host family, she encounters gregarious and persistent heartthrob movie star Beckett Rush (Goodacre), who is there to film another installment of his medieval fantasy-adventure franchise.
As romance sparks between the unlikely pair, Beckett ignites a journey of discovery for Finley that transforms her heart, her music, and her outlook on life. In turn, Finley emboldens Beckett to reach...
- 5/14/2021
- by Amanda N'Duka
- Deadline Film + TV
Vertical Entertainment has obtained worldwide distribution rights to indie horror, The Resort, from writer-director Taylor Chien and executive produced by rapper Quavious “Quavo” Marshall of the Migos. Starring Bianca Haase (Hot Tub Time Machine 2), Brock O’Hurn (Tyler Perry’s Boo! A Madea Halloween), Michael Vlamis, and Michelle Randolph (5 Years Apart), the plot centers on four friends who head to Hawaii to investigate reports of a haunting at an abandoned resort. It’s beautiful there, but they soon learn you have to be careful what you wish for. The pic, which will be released theatrically and on-demand on April 30, was produced by Will Meldman, Sam Mobley, Justin Chien, Chien, Gary Goldman, Joe Homokay, James Penland, and Sarai Rollins.
“The location itself was extremely creepy and essentially acts as the fifth character throughout the film,” said the writer and director. “Using that eerie setting as a starting point,...
“The location itself was extremely creepy and essentially acts as the fifth character throughout the film,” said the writer and director. “Using that eerie setting as a starting point,...
- 3/19/2021
- by Amanda N'Duka
- Deadline Film + TV
Will Disney’s live-action remake of “Mulan” follow in the footsteps of the 1998 animated classic by equaling or exceeding its awards haul? It is entirely possible that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and motion picture academy might respond to Harry Gregson-Williams‘ rousing score. He’s already a 2006 Globe nominee for “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe,” so he’s at least on the awards radar. Similarly, the original song from the film, “Loyal Brave True,” performed by pop star Christina Aguilera and penned by Gregson-Williams, Jamie Hartman, Rosi Golan and Billy Crabtree, might also score a nomination from both groups.
The $200 million China-set action drama was directed by Niki Caro (“Whale Rider”) and stars actress Liu Yifei in the title role and co-stars Donnie Yen as Commander Tung, Jason Scott Lee as Bori Khan, Yoson An as Cheng Honghui, with Gong Li as Xianniang and Jet Li as the Emperor.
The $200 million China-set action drama was directed by Niki Caro (“Whale Rider”) and stars actress Liu Yifei in the title role and co-stars Donnie Yen as Commander Tung, Jason Scott Lee as Bori Khan, Yoson An as Cheng Honghui, with Gong Li as Xianniang and Jet Li as the Emperor.
- 2/3/2021
- by Rob Licuria
- Gold Derby
Set in the picturesque landscapes of rural France, The Man in the Hat (played by Game of Thrones star Ciarán Hinds) journeys across the country in his Fiat 500 with nothing but a framed photo of an unknown woman on the passenger’s seat. After witnessing what seems to be something of a criminal nature, he takes off and starts the adventure of a lifetime, however, he is somewhat ‘followed’ by the Five Angry Men in a Citroën Dyane. The cars, along with the jaunty french music, gives quite a nostalgic feel, and brings back memories of when good old Mr Bean was back on our screens in 2007 with Mr Bean’s Holiday. Albeit he had a yellow Mini, and not a blue Fiat 500, but it was nostalgic and similar nonetheless.
Written and directed by John-Paul Davidson and Stephen Warbeck, The Man in the Hat is a weird and wonderful yet wacky piece of comical entertainment.
Written and directed by John-Paul Davidson and Stephen Warbeck, The Man in the Hat is a weird and wonderful yet wacky piece of comical entertainment.
- 9/22/2020
- by Alex Clement
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
France looks beautiful from a Fiat 500 in this picturesque fantasy about a man on the (very slow) run
The English composer Stephen Warbeck won an Oscar for his work on Shakespeare in Love, but has never directed a film before. He makes his writer-director debut, in collaboration with John-Paul Davidson (director of various Michael Palin and Stephen Fry-fronted travelogues) on this whimsical road movie that has little dialogue but plenty of music. Ciarán Hinds stars as the titular hat-wearer, who we meet dining on razor clams and rosé at an empty harbourside restaurant, with only a framed photograph of an unnamed woman for company. He inadvertently witnesses some apparent criminal activity and makes a quick escape in a Fiat 500 (the photo carefully placed on the passenger seat), followed by five angry men in their Citroën Dyane.
So begins a picturesque odyssey across the French countryside, the best Provençal driving holiday you’ve never had.
The English composer Stephen Warbeck won an Oscar for his work on Shakespeare in Love, but has never directed a film before. He makes his writer-director debut, in collaboration with John-Paul Davidson (director of various Michael Palin and Stephen Fry-fronted travelogues) on this whimsical road movie that has little dialogue but plenty of music. Ciarán Hinds stars as the titular hat-wearer, who we meet dining on razor clams and rosé at an empty harbourside restaurant, with only a framed photograph of an unnamed woman for company. He inadvertently witnesses some apparent criminal activity and makes a quick escape in a Fiat 500 (the photo carefully placed on the passenger seat), followed by five angry men in their Citroën Dyane.
So begins a picturesque odyssey across the French countryside, the best Provençal driving holiday you’ve never had.
- 9/17/2020
- by Ellen E Jones
- The Guardian - Film News
Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” topped U.K. and Ireland box office charts for the third weekend in a row, collecting $1.58 million from 612 locations for Warner Bros. according to Comscore.
“Tenet” now has a running total of $15.9 million from the territory. The movie, starring John David Washington and Robert Pattinson, has made over $200 million globally to date.
Though “Tenet” led in ticket sales, Shear Entertainment’s young adult romance drama “After We Collided,” was the big gainer of the week, with box office receipts soaring 73% to take £442,661 from 386 sites, and a total of $763,664.
Elsewhere, Trafalgar Releasing’s concert film “Break The Silence: The Movie,” featuring globally popular K-pop sensation BTS, collected £249,997 from 363 locations, for a total of £374,060.
Disney’s “X-Men” universe film “The New Mutants” is still struggling to pull in crowds, taking in £200,660 from 542 sites for a total of £1,101,989.
Among holdovers, Disney’s animated adventure “Onward” continued its impressive run...
“Tenet” now has a running total of $15.9 million from the territory. The movie, starring John David Washington and Robert Pattinson, has made over $200 million globally to date.
Though “Tenet” led in ticket sales, Shear Entertainment’s young adult romance drama “After We Collided,” was the big gainer of the week, with box office receipts soaring 73% to take £442,661 from 386 sites, and a total of $763,664.
Elsewhere, Trafalgar Releasing’s concert film “Break The Silence: The Movie,” featuring globally popular K-pop sensation BTS, collected £249,997 from 363 locations, for a total of £374,060.
Disney’s “X-Men” universe film “The New Mutants” is still struggling to pull in crowds, taking in £200,660 from 542 sites for a total of £1,101,989.
Among holdovers, Disney’s animated adventure “Onward” continued its impressive run...
- 9/15/2020
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Pierce Brosnan has been attached to star in The Last Rifleman for director Terry Loane (Mickybo And Me), with WestEnd Films boarding the project’s sales rights ahead of TIFF.
Inspired by a true story, Brosnan will play Artie Crawford, a World War II veteran living in a care home in Northern Ireland who has just lost his wife. On the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, he decides to escape his care home and embarks on a journey to France to pay his final respects.
Developed with funding from Northern Ireland Screen, the film was written by Kevin Fitzpatrick and is produced by Katy Jackson and John Leslie from Wee Buns (Zoo). It is co-produced by Jacqueline Kerrin and Dominic Wright from Ripple World Pictures (Never Grow Old). Oscar nominee Mark Huffam (The Martian), Kevin Jackson (Zoo), Nick Leese, Eloise Singer (Rare Beasts) and Tommy Curran are executive producing.
Inspired by a true story, Brosnan will play Artie Crawford, a World War II veteran living in a care home in Northern Ireland who has just lost his wife. On the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, he decides to escape his care home and embarks on a journey to France to pay his final respects.
Developed with funding from Northern Ireland Screen, the film was written by Kevin Fitzpatrick and is produced by Katy Jackson and John Leslie from Wee Buns (Zoo). It is co-produced by Jacqueline Kerrin and Dominic Wright from Ripple World Pictures (Never Grow Old). Oscar nominee Mark Huffam (The Martian), Kevin Jackson (Zoo), Nick Leese, Eloise Singer (Rare Beasts) and Tommy Curran are executive producing.
- 9/1/2020
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Calling a film “Hampstead” invites immediate comparisons with “Notting Hill,” the Richard Curtis-penned rom-com that put that particular West London enclave on the global map back in 1999.
Director Joel Hopkins may be hoping for similar success, although I doubt the fine residents of Hampstead itself are looking forward to an influx of foreign tourists along their leafy and quaint streets.
In any case, the area of north London’s Hampstead on which this film focuses is the Heath, a great expanse of wood and wild park land that immediately features in the movie’s twinkling opening sequence, following a child’s kite as it flies across the Heath’s famous views of the city skyline, floating above picnicking families, striding dog walkers, pert joggers and recumbent lovers. It’s a shot, I suppose, intended to rival Hugh Grant’s “walk through the seasons” along Portobello Market in “Notting Hill.
Director Joel Hopkins may be hoping for similar success, although I doubt the fine residents of Hampstead itself are looking forward to an influx of foreign tourists along their leafy and quaint streets.
In any case, the area of north London’s Hampstead on which this film focuses is the Heath, a great expanse of wood and wild park land that immediately features in the movie’s twinkling opening sequence, following a child’s kite as it flies across the Heath’s famous views of the city skyline, floating above picnicking families, striding dog walkers, pert joggers and recumbent lovers. It’s a shot, I suppose, intended to rival Hugh Grant’s “walk through the seasons” along Portobello Market in “Notting Hill.
- 6/12/2019
- by Jason Solomons
- The Wrap
Exclusive: Here’s a nice first trailer for Irish boxing drama Float Like A Butterfly, which picked up the Fipresci Discovery Prize at the Toronto Film Festival.
The second film from writer-director Carmel Winters (Snap), Float was filmed on location in West Cork and follows 15-year-old Frances who has been raised in roadside camps in rural Ireland and wants to become a boxing champion like her idol Muhammad Ali. However, she must overcome cultural and familial hurdles to achieve her dreams.
The film, which is repped for world sales by WestEnd Films, also won the Audience Award in Cork where it had its Irish premiere in November. Starring are Hazel Doupe (Ripper Street), Dara Devaney (Camelot), Aidan O’Hare (The Wind That Shakes The Barley), Lalor Roddy (Hunger), Hilda Fay (The Cured), Packy Lee (Peaky Blinders) and newcomer Johnny Collins.
Producers are Martina Niland (Sing Street) for Port Pictures and...
The second film from writer-director Carmel Winters (Snap), Float was filmed on location in West Cork and follows 15-year-old Frances who has been raised in roadside camps in rural Ireland and wants to become a boxing champion like her idol Muhammad Ali. However, she must overcome cultural and familial hurdles to achieve her dreams.
The film, which is repped for world sales by WestEnd Films, also won the Audience Award in Cork where it had its Irish premiere in November. Starring are Hazel Doupe (Ripper Street), Dara Devaney (Camelot), Aidan O’Hare (The Wind That Shakes The Barley), Lalor Roddy (Hunger), Hilda Fay (The Cured), Packy Lee (Peaky Blinders) and newcomer Johnny Collins.
Producers are Martina Niland (Sing Street) for Port Pictures and...
- 12/17/2018
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
A line-up of 22 projects were presented at first edition of event.
Azerbaijan-born Elmar Ivanov’s debut feature End Of Season took home the main award of €20,000 in postproduction services from Mmc Film & TV Studios at the first edition of the new market platform European Work in Progress (Ewip) in Germany’s Cologne last week (October 10).
“We really need this prize!” said Ivanov who had shot the film about a family drama over 24 hours on location in his native Azerbaijan last autumn.
He and his partner Eva Blondiau of their company Color of May presented footage at Ewip to find support...
Azerbaijan-born Elmar Ivanov’s debut feature End Of Season took home the main award of €20,000 in postproduction services from Mmc Film & TV Studios at the first edition of the new market platform European Work in Progress (Ewip) in Germany’s Cologne last week (October 10).
“We really need this prize!” said Ivanov who had shot the film about a family drama over 24 hours on location in his native Azerbaijan last autumn.
He and his partner Eva Blondiau of their company Color of May presented footage at Ewip to find support...
- 10/12/2018
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
€20,000 in post services awarded to debut film from Elmar Ivanov.
End Of Season, the debut feature from Azerbaijan director Elmar Ivanov, won the main award of €20,000 in post-production services from Mmc Film & TV Studios, at the first edition of the new market platform European Work in Progress (Ewip), part of the Film Festival Cologne on Tuesday (October 11).
¨We really need this prize!¨ said Ivanov, who had shot the film about a family drama over 24 hours on location in his native Azerbaijan a year ago.
He and his partner Eva Blondiau of their company Color of May had presented footage at...
End Of Season, the debut feature from Azerbaijan director Elmar Ivanov, won the main award of €20,000 in post-production services from Mmc Film & TV Studios, at the first edition of the new market platform European Work in Progress (Ewip), part of the Film Festival Cologne on Tuesday (October 11).
¨We really need this prize!¨ said Ivanov, who had shot the film about a family drama over 24 hours on location in his native Azerbaijan a year ago.
He and his partner Eva Blondiau of their company Color of May had presented footage at...
- 10/11/2018
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
First look at Hinds in road comedy, exec producer by Dominic Dromgoole.
Ciarán Hinds is set to wrap filming on comedy The Thin Man, a road movie co-directed and written by Stephen Warbeck and John Paul Davidson. Warbeck won an Oscar for his score for Shakespeare In Love in 1999.
The UK-France project is produced by Daniel-Konrad Cooper of Rather Good Films whose credits include Dead In A Week (Or Your Money Back).
Theatre director-turned-film producer Dominic Dromgoole’s Open Palm Films is behind the production, on which Dromgoole serves as an executive producer. Set up in 2016, the company’s credits...
Ciarán Hinds is set to wrap filming on comedy The Thin Man, a road movie co-directed and written by Stephen Warbeck and John Paul Davidson. Warbeck won an Oscar for his score for Shakespeare In Love in 1999.
The UK-France project is produced by Daniel-Konrad Cooper of Rather Good Films whose credits include Dead In A Week (Or Your Money Back).
Theatre director-turned-film producer Dominic Dromgoole’s Open Palm Films is behind the production, on which Dromgoole serves as an executive producer. Set up in 2016, the company’s credits...
- 9/28/2018
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
“We are Ireland. We are inevitable.”
Each summer, while the multiplexes are filled with the big spectacles and epic blockbusters, the little gems that grip us with their humor, their tragedy and their humanity, manage to find their ways into the cinemas. This year it’s The Journey, the gripping account of how two men from opposite sides of the political spectrum came together to change the course of history.
In 2006, amidst the ongoing, decades-long conflict in Northern Ireland, representatives from the two warring factions meet for negotiations. In one corner is Ian Paisley (Timothy Spall), the deeply conservative British loyalist; in the other is Martin McGuinness (Colm Meaney), a former Irish Republican Army leader who has devoted his life to the cause of Irish reunification. Opposites in every way, the two men at first seem to have little chance of ever finding common ground. But over the course of an impromptu, detour-filled car ride through the Scottish countryside, each begins to see the other less as an enemy, and more as an individual—a breakthrough that promises to at last bring peace to the troubled region.
Driven by two virtuoso central performances, The Journey is a more-relevant-than-ever reminder of how simple humanity can overcome political division. Freddie Highmore, Toby Stephens, Catherine McCormack and John Hurt co-star. (Review)
I recently spoke with the director of The Journey, award winning director Nick Hamm. Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Hamm directed cult-classic The Hole (2001), starring Thora Birch and Keira Knightley, in her feature film debut. He also helmed Lionsgate’s thriller Godsend (2004), starring Robert DeNiro, Rebecca Romijn and Greg Kinnear.
Hamm later produced and directed the 80’s U2-centric comedy, Killing Bono (2011) for Paramount Pictures and Northern Ireland Screen, starring Ben Barnes, Robert Sheehan and Pete Postelwaite.
During our discussion about his latest movie, the British director and I talked about the film’s mixture of tension and humor, the human story and the message of The Journey.
We Are Movie Geeks: The Journey is a good story that should be told – the type that audiences don’t see anymore. It opened in 2016 in Toronto and then Venice, and finally had its premiere at the Belfast Film Festival in May 2017. What was the crowd’s reaction and how was it received?
Nick Hamm: That was a really extraordinary event. I’ve seen it now with thousands of people watching the movie and if you’re going to see a movie like this, you really need to take it back to Northern Ireland to see what they make of it. In the end, that’s where the authenticity of the film is. It is important to us. The event was attended by nearly a thousand people and political leaders from both sides of the community came so we had politicians from Sinn Féin and politicians from the Democratic Unionist Party (Dup). It was a very emotional and momentous event because in many respects it reminded people of something that they had achieved and had risked losing.
We Are Movie Geeks: It is such an interesting script by writer Colin Bateman, one that is funny, sad, and dramatic. Tell me about lead actors Timothy Spall (Paisley) and Colm Meaney (McGuinness – who died recently in March) and the casting. Their characters became known as ”the Chuckle Brothers”. Both actors were very impressive to watch.
Nick Hamm: What underscores everything is the fact that Colin’s script is so good and when that happens, you attract really good actors. Both Tim and Colm were fantastic partners on the film. Tim had to transform himself – he’s playing a six foot five, Northern Irish politician when in reality he’s a five foot nine London actor. We did some prosthetics on his chin and a little aging on his hair, along with the false teeth. The hair and makeup was done by Polly McKay. Tim became the character of Paisley which was fascinating to watch and he’s one of those actors that totally transforms himself.
Colm is one of Ireland’s best actors. What was important was to find somebody who could give McGuinness sympathy. This is a man whose background is well documented. What do you do? You start by making him human, you give him a life and a backstory. When you put someone like Colm Meany in that role, Colm transforms himself for that. He understands the culture from where that character comes, he understands the basis of that character’s ideology and he understands how that character ticks. If you have that and you are a good actor – which he is, then you have a good combination. It was great to watch him.
We Are Movie Geeks: I was very pleased to see the late John Hurt in the film in what was one of his final roles.
Nick Hamm: We all knew that John was very sick while he was doing the film. When we offered him the movie, he wanted to work until the end and play the part. It was real tribute to have him involved as a part of the film.
We Are Movie Geeks: Irish writer Seamus Heaney, although not a political animal was an artist like yourself. He was affected by “The Troubles” when his cousin Colum was killed as a result of the war – Heaney moved from Northern Ireland to Southern Ireland after that. Has it affected you in any way and was this a partial reason why you made the film?
Nick Hamm: It hasn’t affected me personally but I knew people who were. Growing up I was in school in Northern Ireland and I knew people who had real problems. I could see it with my own eyes, the difficulties back then, and it was an intense situation. The vast portion of the people in Northern Ireland went on about their daily life unaffected by it. The real heroes were the people who got on with their daily lives in that situation.
The Journey for me shows how a unique political friendship was achieved at the personal cost of both men. Both men were vilified by their respective communities, but it was one of the most unique political friendships that I had ever witnessed. For two people who were so antagonistic towards each other, who ultimately came to respect each other, and became friends with each other, is why I made the movie and to tell their story.
We Are Movie Geeks: Despite technically being set in Scotland, and on a plane, The Journey was filmed in Northern Ireland. There’s no green screen and it was filmed on the road with your director of photography Greg Gardiner. What was the approach when you took it out of the plane and into the car?
Nick Hamm: This device protected the claustrophobia that the film so demanded while allowing a political version of a road movie to take place. We decided to not be frightened by the tyranny of the car but rather embrace it and enjoy the conceit. Greg and I had discussed and ultimately rejected the idea of green-screen or back-projection very early. We filmed on the road, creating a ‘mobile studio’; our own little cinematic microcosm
We Are Movie Geeks: There is one scene in particular, where McGuiness and Paisley let down their defenses somewhat, set inside a church and then out in the cemetery, that has real depth.
Nick Hamm: I think in the cemetery scene when Colm breaks down, everyone expects Paisley to be sympathetic and wrap his arms around him, but he rebuffs him and shows him no pity or sympathy. Every scene was like a boxing match with each character winning a round.
We Are Movie Geeks: I appreciated the sound editing and especially the score from Stephen Warbeck who first became known for the music for “Prime Suspect” and won an Academy Award for his score for Shakespeare in Love. It is a really nice score.
Nick Hamm: It was something quite new for him and he really had a go at it.
We Are Movie Geeks: Did you speak to the families and to some of the individuals involved? And what was their reaction?
Nick Hamm: I met McGuiness before he died. The whole film came together very quickly from the start.. From the script to the financing, it was out in about two and a half years. It’s been a very quick process and very rare for an independent film. I did sit with McGuiness before we started filming about his friendship with Paisley and it was fascinating to hear him speak how important the relationship was and how important it was that they maintained contact up to its logical conclusion. I did talk to Paisley’s family and to his son. We wanted to reassure them we were not riding roughshod over the history. But at the same time it was important to be creatively independent. We did not share the screenplay with them at any stage. In the end both families really loved the movie.
Plus Sinn Féin and the Dup (Democratic Unionist Party) really liked the film, which is almost unheard of, both parties liking the same thing never mind the same movie. The most important thing for us was that the story was balanced.
We Are Movie Geeks: Brexit is seemingly in the news all the time now. As a result, checkpoints could be set up again to control borders. The timing of the film and its release couldn’t be more relevant. Will it cause a major headache between Northern Ireland and Ireland? Will it hinder Ireland’s reunification?
Nick Hamm: The question needs to be asked and it’s a dreadful situation. The idea that there will be a border back in Ireland again, I don’t think anybody wants that. I know for a fact that the Dup doesn’t want that and it would be suicide for both the economy and the welfare of the people to start putting border checks back up. That border in Ireland runs through people’s fields and farms. It was never designed to be a hard border, which it was during “The Troubles”. It would be an unmitigated tragedy to go back to that.
We Are Movie Geeks: Speaking of Indie Films, what are your thoughts on how people see films? Many are leaving the cinemas in favor of watching a film at home or on the computers with the advent of Netflix and Hulu, etc.
Nick Hamm: I like that at the beginning of a movie’s life that it has a public screening. I think the ways a film is distributed these days is really fascinating. I don’t distinguish between how and where a movie is watched. It’s changing so quickly, in five years-time it’ll change all again. Even the act of going to a movie theater is going to change. As long as they keep putting out these huge blockbuster films, in the cinemas is the best way to watch them. However some films work better on a smaller screen. I think screen size some people can get very worked up about.
We Are Movie Geeks: What’s your next project?
Nick Hamm: We are going to do the DeLorean story, Driven. It’s through the eyes of the guy who gave him up to the FBI. We’re hoping to shoot in September in Puerto Rico. The script is from The Journey’s Colin Bateman. Jason Sudeikis, Lee Pace and Timothy Olyphant are in the picture.
Synopsis:
Driven is the turbo-charged story about the FBI sting operation to entrap maverick car designer John DeLorean.
Sudeikis stars as Jim Hoffman, a con artist-turned-informer for the FBI in the war on drugs. Olyphant plays his handler, determined to snare the world-famous but enigmatic DeLorean (Pace) — desperate for cash to finance his dream of designing the ultimate car of the future — in a drug deal that would become the most lurid celebrity scandal of the 1980s.
From IFC Films, see The Journey in theaters now.
The post The Journey – Filmmaker Nick Hamm Discusses His New Film appeared first on We Are Movie Geeks.
Each summer, while the multiplexes are filled with the big spectacles and epic blockbusters, the little gems that grip us with their humor, their tragedy and their humanity, manage to find their ways into the cinemas. This year it’s The Journey, the gripping account of how two men from opposite sides of the political spectrum came together to change the course of history.
In 2006, amidst the ongoing, decades-long conflict in Northern Ireland, representatives from the two warring factions meet for negotiations. In one corner is Ian Paisley (Timothy Spall), the deeply conservative British loyalist; in the other is Martin McGuinness (Colm Meaney), a former Irish Republican Army leader who has devoted his life to the cause of Irish reunification. Opposites in every way, the two men at first seem to have little chance of ever finding common ground. But over the course of an impromptu, detour-filled car ride through the Scottish countryside, each begins to see the other less as an enemy, and more as an individual—a breakthrough that promises to at last bring peace to the troubled region.
Driven by two virtuoso central performances, The Journey is a more-relevant-than-ever reminder of how simple humanity can overcome political division. Freddie Highmore, Toby Stephens, Catherine McCormack and John Hurt co-star. (Review)
I recently spoke with the director of The Journey, award winning director Nick Hamm. Born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Hamm directed cult-classic The Hole (2001), starring Thora Birch and Keira Knightley, in her feature film debut. He also helmed Lionsgate’s thriller Godsend (2004), starring Robert DeNiro, Rebecca Romijn and Greg Kinnear.
Hamm later produced and directed the 80’s U2-centric comedy, Killing Bono (2011) for Paramount Pictures and Northern Ireland Screen, starring Ben Barnes, Robert Sheehan and Pete Postelwaite.
During our discussion about his latest movie, the British director and I talked about the film’s mixture of tension and humor, the human story and the message of The Journey.
We Are Movie Geeks: The Journey is a good story that should be told – the type that audiences don’t see anymore. It opened in 2016 in Toronto and then Venice, and finally had its premiere at the Belfast Film Festival in May 2017. What was the crowd’s reaction and how was it received?
Nick Hamm: That was a really extraordinary event. I’ve seen it now with thousands of people watching the movie and if you’re going to see a movie like this, you really need to take it back to Northern Ireland to see what they make of it. In the end, that’s where the authenticity of the film is. It is important to us. The event was attended by nearly a thousand people and political leaders from both sides of the community came so we had politicians from Sinn Féin and politicians from the Democratic Unionist Party (Dup). It was a very emotional and momentous event because in many respects it reminded people of something that they had achieved and had risked losing.
We Are Movie Geeks: It is such an interesting script by writer Colin Bateman, one that is funny, sad, and dramatic. Tell me about lead actors Timothy Spall (Paisley) and Colm Meaney (McGuinness – who died recently in March) and the casting. Their characters became known as ”the Chuckle Brothers”. Both actors were very impressive to watch.
Nick Hamm: What underscores everything is the fact that Colin’s script is so good and when that happens, you attract really good actors. Both Tim and Colm were fantastic partners on the film. Tim had to transform himself – he’s playing a six foot five, Northern Irish politician when in reality he’s a five foot nine London actor. We did some prosthetics on his chin and a little aging on his hair, along with the false teeth. The hair and makeup was done by Polly McKay. Tim became the character of Paisley which was fascinating to watch and he’s one of those actors that totally transforms himself.
Colm is one of Ireland’s best actors. What was important was to find somebody who could give McGuinness sympathy. This is a man whose background is well documented. What do you do? You start by making him human, you give him a life and a backstory. When you put someone like Colm Meany in that role, Colm transforms himself for that. He understands the culture from where that character comes, he understands the basis of that character’s ideology and he understands how that character ticks. If you have that and you are a good actor – which he is, then you have a good combination. It was great to watch him.
We Are Movie Geeks: I was very pleased to see the late John Hurt in the film in what was one of his final roles.
Nick Hamm: We all knew that John was very sick while he was doing the film. When we offered him the movie, he wanted to work until the end and play the part. It was real tribute to have him involved as a part of the film.
We Are Movie Geeks: Irish writer Seamus Heaney, although not a political animal was an artist like yourself. He was affected by “The Troubles” when his cousin Colum was killed as a result of the war – Heaney moved from Northern Ireland to Southern Ireland after that. Has it affected you in any way and was this a partial reason why you made the film?
Nick Hamm: It hasn’t affected me personally but I knew people who were. Growing up I was in school in Northern Ireland and I knew people who had real problems. I could see it with my own eyes, the difficulties back then, and it was an intense situation. The vast portion of the people in Northern Ireland went on about their daily life unaffected by it. The real heroes were the people who got on with their daily lives in that situation.
The Journey for me shows how a unique political friendship was achieved at the personal cost of both men. Both men were vilified by their respective communities, but it was one of the most unique political friendships that I had ever witnessed. For two people who were so antagonistic towards each other, who ultimately came to respect each other, and became friends with each other, is why I made the movie and to tell their story.
We Are Movie Geeks: Despite technically being set in Scotland, and on a plane, The Journey was filmed in Northern Ireland. There’s no green screen and it was filmed on the road with your director of photography Greg Gardiner. What was the approach when you took it out of the plane and into the car?
Nick Hamm: This device protected the claustrophobia that the film so demanded while allowing a political version of a road movie to take place. We decided to not be frightened by the tyranny of the car but rather embrace it and enjoy the conceit. Greg and I had discussed and ultimately rejected the idea of green-screen or back-projection very early. We filmed on the road, creating a ‘mobile studio’; our own little cinematic microcosm
We Are Movie Geeks: There is one scene in particular, where McGuiness and Paisley let down their defenses somewhat, set inside a church and then out in the cemetery, that has real depth.
Nick Hamm: I think in the cemetery scene when Colm breaks down, everyone expects Paisley to be sympathetic and wrap his arms around him, but he rebuffs him and shows him no pity or sympathy. Every scene was like a boxing match with each character winning a round.
We Are Movie Geeks: I appreciated the sound editing and especially the score from Stephen Warbeck who first became known for the music for “Prime Suspect” and won an Academy Award for his score for Shakespeare in Love. It is a really nice score.
Nick Hamm: It was something quite new for him and he really had a go at it.
We Are Movie Geeks: Did you speak to the families and to some of the individuals involved? And what was their reaction?
Nick Hamm: I met McGuiness before he died. The whole film came together very quickly from the start.. From the script to the financing, it was out in about two and a half years. It’s been a very quick process and very rare for an independent film. I did sit with McGuiness before we started filming about his friendship with Paisley and it was fascinating to hear him speak how important the relationship was and how important it was that they maintained contact up to its logical conclusion. I did talk to Paisley’s family and to his son. We wanted to reassure them we were not riding roughshod over the history. But at the same time it was important to be creatively independent. We did not share the screenplay with them at any stage. In the end both families really loved the movie.
Plus Sinn Féin and the Dup (Democratic Unionist Party) really liked the film, which is almost unheard of, both parties liking the same thing never mind the same movie. The most important thing for us was that the story was balanced.
We Are Movie Geeks: Brexit is seemingly in the news all the time now. As a result, checkpoints could be set up again to control borders. The timing of the film and its release couldn’t be more relevant. Will it cause a major headache between Northern Ireland and Ireland? Will it hinder Ireland’s reunification?
Nick Hamm: The question needs to be asked and it’s a dreadful situation. The idea that there will be a border back in Ireland again, I don’t think anybody wants that. I know for a fact that the Dup doesn’t want that and it would be suicide for both the economy and the welfare of the people to start putting border checks back up. That border in Ireland runs through people’s fields and farms. It was never designed to be a hard border, which it was during “The Troubles”. It would be an unmitigated tragedy to go back to that.
We Are Movie Geeks: Speaking of Indie Films, what are your thoughts on how people see films? Many are leaving the cinemas in favor of watching a film at home or on the computers with the advent of Netflix and Hulu, etc.
Nick Hamm: I like that at the beginning of a movie’s life that it has a public screening. I think the ways a film is distributed these days is really fascinating. I don’t distinguish between how and where a movie is watched. It’s changing so quickly, in five years-time it’ll change all again. Even the act of going to a movie theater is going to change. As long as they keep putting out these huge blockbuster films, in the cinemas is the best way to watch them. However some films work better on a smaller screen. I think screen size some people can get very worked up about.
We Are Movie Geeks: What’s your next project?
Nick Hamm: We are going to do the DeLorean story, Driven. It’s through the eyes of the guy who gave him up to the FBI. We’re hoping to shoot in September in Puerto Rico. The script is from The Journey’s Colin Bateman. Jason Sudeikis, Lee Pace and Timothy Olyphant are in the picture.
Synopsis:
Driven is the turbo-charged story about the FBI sting operation to entrap maverick car designer John DeLorean.
Sudeikis stars as Jim Hoffman, a con artist-turned-informer for the FBI in the war on drugs. Olyphant plays his handler, determined to snare the world-famous but enigmatic DeLorean (Pace) — desperate for cash to finance his dream of designing the ultimate car of the future — in a drug deal that would become the most lurid celebrity scandal of the 1980s.
From IFC Films, see The Journey in theaters now.
The post The Journey – Filmmaker Nick Hamm Discusses His New Film appeared first on We Are Movie Geeks.
- 6/23/2017
- by Michelle Hannett
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The Time Of Their Lives is written and directed by Roger Goldby.
Independent has boarded Bright Pictures and Daryl Prince Productions’ The Time Of Their Lives ahead of the Afm.
The company will represent available territories on the comedy written and directed by Roger Goldby and starring Dame Joan Collins, Pauline Collins and Franco Nero.
It follows former Hollywood siren Helen (Joan Collins) who, determined to gate-crash her ex-lover’s funeral, escapes her London retirement home with the help of repressed English housewife Priscilla (Pauline Collins). In a race to get to the funeral on time, they become involved in a romantic triangle with a reclusive Italian painter (Nero).
Produced by Sarah Sulick and Azim Bolkiah, the film is executive produced by Sir Tim Rice, who will also be writing a song for the film. Stephen Warbeck will be composing the music for the film.
Independent will be holding a screening to show first footage of the...
Independent has boarded Bright Pictures and Daryl Prince Productions’ The Time Of Their Lives ahead of the Afm.
The company will represent available territories on the comedy written and directed by Roger Goldby and starring Dame Joan Collins, Pauline Collins and Franco Nero.
It follows former Hollywood siren Helen (Joan Collins) who, determined to gate-crash her ex-lover’s funeral, escapes her London retirement home with the help of repressed English housewife Priscilla (Pauline Collins). In a race to get to the funeral on time, they become involved in a romantic triangle with a reclusive Italian painter (Nero).
Produced by Sarah Sulick and Azim Bolkiah, the film is executive produced by Sir Tim Rice, who will also be writing a song for the film. Stephen Warbeck will be composing the music for the film.
Independent will be holding a screening to show first footage of the...
- 10/28/2016
- by ian.sandwell@screendaily.com (Ian Sandwell)
- ScreenDaily
Michael Giacchino took Film Composer of the Year, while Antonio Sanchez took Film Score of the Year for Birdman.
Sitting alongside the 42nd annual Gent Film Festival in Belgium (October 13-24), the 15th edition of the World Soundtrack Awards doled out its musical honours with a coinciding orchestral concert featuring the works of leading composers Alan Silvestri, Patrick Doyle and Daniel Pemberton.
Michael Giacchino was awarded with top honours as Film Composer of the Year for Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, Inside Out and Jurassic World. He was previously the World Soundtrack Award’s Discovery of the Year in 2005 for his work on The Incredibles.
Antonio Sanchez was also a big winner, beating out Bruno Calais (Song Of The Sea), Alexandre Desplat (The Imitation Game), Hans Zimmer (Interstellar) and Johann Johansson (The Theory Of Everything) for Best Original Film Score of the Year (Birdman).
Sanchez also nabbed the Discovery of the Year Award.
“I remember...
Sitting alongside the 42nd annual Gent Film Festival in Belgium (October 13-24), the 15th edition of the World Soundtrack Awards doled out its musical honours with a coinciding orchestral concert featuring the works of leading composers Alan Silvestri, Patrick Doyle and Daniel Pemberton.
Michael Giacchino was awarded with top honours as Film Composer of the Year for Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, Inside Out and Jurassic World. He was previously the World Soundtrack Award’s Discovery of the Year in 2005 for his work on The Incredibles.
Antonio Sanchez was also a big winner, beating out Bruno Calais (Song Of The Sea), Alexandre Desplat (The Imitation Game), Hans Zimmer (Interstellar) and Johann Johansson (The Theory Of Everything) for Best Original Film Score of the Year (Birdman).
Sanchez also nabbed the Discovery of the Year Award.
“I remember...
- 10/28/2015
- ScreenDaily
A celebration of film and television music was once again at the heart of Krakow’s Film and Music Festival, now in its eighth year.
Running from May 27-31, the event brought together more than 58 international composers - including Stephen Warbeck (Shakespeare in Love, Mon Roi), Ramin Djawadi (Game of Thrones), Jeff Beal (House of Cards), John Lunn (Downton Abbey) and Trevor Morris (The Borgias, The Tudors) – for a culmination of performances, panels and master classes.
“Composers are not often given the attention they deserve,” said Artistic Director Robert Piaskowski. “So we wanted to create a space that presents film music as art, and where audiences can come and appreciate a score’s symphonic sounds.”
Piaskowski is not alone in his interests. The festival now aligns itself as the start of the season, with similar musical events taking place in Tenerife and Cordoba in July and Vienna and Gent (that also hosts the World Soundtrack Awards) in October...
Running from May 27-31, the event brought together more than 58 international composers - including Stephen Warbeck (Shakespeare in Love, Mon Roi), Ramin Djawadi (Game of Thrones), Jeff Beal (House of Cards), John Lunn (Downton Abbey) and Trevor Morris (The Borgias, The Tudors) – for a culmination of performances, panels and master classes.
“Composers are not often given the attention they deserve,” said Artistic Director Robert Piaskowski. “So we wanted to create a space that presents film music as art, and where audiences can come and appreciate a score’s symphonic sounds.”
Piaskowski is not alone in his interests. The festival now aligns itself as the start of the season, with similar musical events taking place in Tenerife and Cordoba in July and Vienna and Gent (that also hosts the World Soundtrack Awards) in October...
- 6/3/2015
- ScreenDaily
Works In Progress winner is Nataliya Kudryashova for Pioneer Heroes.
The Les Arcs Film Festival’s CoProduction Village wrapped its sixth edition on December 15, including the Works-In-Progress, Projects in Development, Low Budget Film Forum and for the first year, the Music Village Pro.
The Voice by György Pálfi was chosen as the prize winner for the Projects in Development, earning the Hungarian filmmaker €4,000 as part of a first time prize-fund sponsored by Arte.
The film centers around a young boy in search of his father who went missing in Stockholm thirty years ago. Pálfi, a Les Arcs regular, attributes much of his success to the CoProduction Village. “I am very supportive of this festival, it has benefitted me immensely over the years. But never did I think I would win this award.”
For the second year, Digimage Classics offered a €6000 prize in post-production services for the Works-In-Progress section, this year given to first-time feature director Nataliya Kudryashova...
The Les Arcs Film Festival’s CoProduction Village wrapped its sixth edition on December 15, including the Works-In-Progress, Projects in Development, Low Budget Film Forum and for the first year, the Music Village Pro.
The Voice by György Pálfi was chosen as the prize winner for the Projects in Development, earning the Hungarian filmmaker €4,000 as part of a first time prize-fund sponsored by Arte.
The film centers around a young boy in search of his father who went missing in Stockholm thirty years ago. Pálfi, a Les Arcs regular, attributes much of his success to the CoProduction Village. “I am very supportive of this festival, it has benefitted me immensely over the years. But never did I think I would win this award.”
For the second year, Digimage Classics offered a €6000 prize in post-production services for the Works-In-Progress section, this year given to first-time feature director Nataliya Kudryashova...
- 12/17/2014
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: UK sales outfit boards psychological thriller ahead of Toronto.
London-based sales outfit Parkland Pictures has boarded world rights to Steve Reeves’s thriller, Keeping Rosy, which will play at Dinard Film Festival (Oct 8-12).
Parkland will introduce the film to international buyers at Toronto.
Maxine Peake stars as a career-driven woman who is passed over for a long-expected promotion, leading to frustration which boils over with dire consequences.
The film also stars The Inbetweeners’ Blake Harrison and was produced by Richard Holmes (Eden Lake, Waking Ned), his third collaboration with French producer Isabelle Georgeaux after Jadoo and Resistance.
It marks Reeves’ first feature film, accompanied by DoP Roger Pratt (Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, Chocolat) and composer Stephen Warbeck (Shakespeare in Love, Billy Elliot).
The deal was negotiated by John Cairns and Pierre-Louis Manes-Murphy for Parkland Pictures and by Richard Holmes and Isabelle Georgeaux on behalf of Redemption Films.
London-based sales outfit Parkland Pictures has boarded world rights to Steve Reeves’s thriller, Keeping Rosy, which will play at Dinard Film Festival (Oct 8-12).
Parkland will introduce the film to international buyers at Toronto.
Maxine Peake stars as a career-driven woman who is passed over for a long-expected promotion, leading to frustration which boils over with dire consequences.
The film also stars The Inbetweeners’ Blake Harrison and was produced by Richard Holmes (Eden Lake, Waking Ned), his third collaboration with French producer Isabelle Georgeaux after Jadoo and Resistance.
It marks Reeves’ first feature film, accompanied by DoP Roger Pratt (Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, Chocolat) and composer Stephen Warbeck (Shakespeare in Love, Billy Elliot).
The deal was negotiated by John Cairns and Pierre-Louis Manes-Murphy for Parkland Pictures and by Richard Holmes and Isabelle Georgeaux on behalf of Redemption Films.
- 8/20/2014
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
This year the 12th edition of the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (Iffla) includes a lineup of narrative and documentary features and short films. The impressive program reflects the rich diversity of Indian cinema, as well as the future of Indian filmmaking, with cutting-edge filmmakers and emerging voices bringing their acclaimed films to Los Angeles.
The festival is widely recognized as the premiere showcase of groundbreaking Indian cinema globally. Iffla will run April 8-13 at ArcLight Hollywood in Los Angeles, the festival’s home since its inception. Jadoo, an exploration of family bonds amidst two feuding brothers’ restaurants in England, will screen as the festival’s Closing Night Gala. The film is written and directed by Iffla alum Amit Gupta, and first premiered at the 2013 Berlinale. It features a wonderful ensemble cast that includes Kulvinder Ghir, Amara Karan, Harish Patel, Tom Mison, and Madhur Jaffrey. As previously announced, Iffla will open with Jeffrey D. Brown’s Sold, produced by Jane Charles and executive produced by Emma Thompson.
Iffla 2014 wil l present more than 33 films, including three world premieres, six North American premieres, six U.S. premieres, and 16 Los Angeles premieres. The films feature 10 different languages, from Hindi to Marathi, to Russian to Bengali. Additionally, Iffla supports American, Australian, British, Canadian, and European diaspora filmmakers from nine different countries telling their stories.
“I'm thrilled and proud that Iffla's line-up this year includes an especially diverse range of cinematic experiences, covering many regions of India and the diaspora,” said Iffla’s Artistic Director Jasmine Jaisinghani. "We would like to thank our Programming Advisor in India, Uma Da Cunha, for helping our programming team source some of these exceptional films."
Program highlights include: the North American premiere of Anurag Kashyap’s latest, Ugly an intense, masterfully directed psychological thriller that premiered in the 2013 Director’s Fortnight section of Cannes; Liar's Dice, the remarkable directorial debut of South Indian actress Geetu Mohandas that premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival; Anup Singh’s latest feature Qissa: The Tale of a Lonely Ghost, starring Irrfan Khan (Life of Pi, Slumdog Millionaire), winner of Netpac Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, and Dioraphte Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam; the Audience Award winner at the 2013 Slamdance Film Festival Hank and Asha , an exploratory, romantic look at two people bonding in the digital age by newcomer James E. Duff; Nagraj Manjule’s Fandry, a highly praised debut feature for its multilayered emotion and realism on the subject of caste discrimination; Brahmin Bulls starring Roshan Seth (Gandhi, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Mississippi Masala) and Sendhil Ramamurthy (Beauty and the Beast, Heroes) as an estranged father and son unexpectedly brought together to confront the family’s past; and Siddharth, a nuanced look at a family whose son goes missing, by lauded Canadian director and Iffla alum Richie Mehta (Amal).
The festival's feature documentary competition includes an eclectic mix of films from established and upcoming filmmakers that consider India's unique traditions and dynamic future. The films include: the world premiere of
The Auction House , an intimate and funny look at two brothers trying to keep their anachronistic family business going in the digital age; festival favorite Powerless, which depicts intense struggles over electricity in a mid-size Indian city; Faith Connections, Iffla alum Pan Nalin's beautiful and rare look at the Kumbh Mela; and the National Award-winning Shepherds of Paradise, about an arduous, mountainous trek through an animal drive in the Kashmiri winter.
The Bollywood by Night series returns this year with Bombay Talkies and Monsoon Shootout. Premiering at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, Bombay Talkies is a quartet of short films that celebrates 100 years of Indian cinema. The omnibus film features work by four of India’s most exciting contemporary directors: Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar, and Anurag Kashyap, as well as a stellar cast that includes Amitabh Bachchan, Rani Mukerji, and Katrina Kaif. Monsoon Shoutout is a thrilling debut by Iffla alum writer/director Amit Kumar about how a split-second decision made by a rookie police officer has rippling effects in his life and the lives of those around him.
The shorts competition showcases a diverse selection of 15 films that include narrative, documentary, experimental, and animated works. Highlights of this year’s program include Academy Award® shortlisted Kush; Sundance award winner Love.Love.Love.; and the world premiere of acclaimed director Umesh Kulkarni’s The Fly.
Festival Passes and Gala tickets are currently on sale at the festival's website.
For more information, please visit:
Website: www.indianfilmfestival.org.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ indianfilmfestival
Twitter: https://twitter.com /iffla
Tumblr: http://indianfilmfestival.tumblr.com/
About Iffla
Now in its 12th year, the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (Iffla) is a nonprofit organization devoted to a greater appreciation of Indian cinema and culture by showcasing films, honoring entertainment industry business executives, and promoting the diverse perspectives of the Indian diaspora.
Opening Night Gala
Sold
Los Angeles Premiere
USA/2014/97min
Director: Jeffrey D. Brown
Producer: Jane Charles
Executive Producer: Emma Thompson
Screenwriters: Joseph Kwong, Jeffrey D. Brown
Composer: John McDowell, Sammy Chand, Salim & Sulaiman Merchant
Cast: Susmita Mukherjee, Seema Biswas, Tillotama Shome, Niyar Saikia, Priyanka Bose, Ankur Vikal, Parambrata Chatterjee, Gillian Anderson, David Arquette
Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Jeffrey D. Brown adapts Patricia McCormick’s novel Sold – a National Book Award finalist – into a vivid, harrowing and inspiring story of a young girl’s resilience in the face of unspeakable cruelty.
Closing Night
Jadoo
Los Angeles Premiere
UK/2013/84 mins
Director: Amit Gupta
Producers: Amanda Faber, Isabelle Georgeaux, Richard Holmes, Nikki Parrott
Screenwriter: Amit Gupta
Composer: Stephen Warbeck
Cast: Kulvinder Ghir, Amara Karan, Harish Patel, Tom Mison, Madhur Jaffrey
Set in Leicester, England, Amit Gupta’s culinary comedy charts the chaos that ensues when young Shalini gets engaged to her longtime boyfriend Mark. The fact that Mark is not Indian is the least of Shalini’s concerns. Her father Raja and uncle Jagi have been at war for years. After a legendary falling out that caused them to close their family restaurant, each man opened his own establishment – directly across the street from one another! Shalini’s dream wedding would see both men put aside their differences and prepare the feast together, but resentment runs deep and neither man can hear mention of the other’s name without a spike in blood pressure. Both the prospect of disappointing their beloved Shalini and the threat of a new, hip restaurant opening in the area force Raja and Jagi to work together – but for how long? In this uproariously funny and heartfelt exploration of family bonds, shared history and gastronomic perfection, Gupta’s cast is endlessly appealing. Plus, there’s enough mouth-watering Indian food on display to have your stomach growling before the credits roll.
Feature Films
Before My Eyes (Ankhon Dekhi)
Los Angeles Premiere
India/2013/107min
Director: Rajat Kapoor Producer: Manish Mundra
Screenwriter: Rajat Kapoor
Cast: Sanjay Sanjay Mishra, Seema Pahwa, Rajat Kapoor, Taranjeet, Maya Sarao
Celebrated writer, director, and actor Rajat Kapoor (Midnight’s Children, Monsoon Wedding, Mixed Doubles, Mithya) paints an offbeat yet thought-provoking portrait of domestic life in modern day Delhi when an incident prompts head of the family Bauji to reject anything he himself has not experienced, much to the exasperation of his extended family but to the delight of his newfound philosopher disciples. Balancing the comical and the existential, both Bauji and the film ask the basic question, ‘Can you know truth without true experience?’
Brahmin Bulls
Los Angeles Premiere
USA/96min/2013
Director: Mahesh Pailoor
Producer: Yoshinobu Tsuji
Screenwriters: Anu Pradhan, Mahesh Pailoor
Cast: Sendhil Ramamurthy, Roshan Seth, Mary Steenburgen, Justin Bartha, Cassidy Freeman, Monica Raymund, Michael Lerner
Mahesh Pailoor's tender, funny, and touching debut tells the story of estranged father and son Ashok and Sid, who reunite at Sid's Los Angeles home when Ashok arrives unexpectedly. Each man is keeping secrets from one another, and when the truth is revealed, parent and child must work even harder to close the rift between them.
Fandry
North American Premiere
India/2013/103min
Director: Nagraj Manjule
Producers: Vivek Kajaria, Nilesh Navalakha
Screenwriter: Nagraj Manjule
Cast: Kishor Kadam, Chhaya Kadam, Somnath Awghade, Suraj Pawar, Rajshree Kharat, Sakshi Vyavhare, Aishvarya Shinde, Nagraj Manjule
Marathi poet Nagraj Manjule's impressive debut feature tells the story of Jabya, a Dalit boy, and his family's struggle against daily prejudice in their Maharashtra village. Jabya's carefree childhood desires and antics are soon stifled by his family's "untouchable" status, and the film's gradual transformation into an insightful and damning look at caste discrimination builds from a murmur to a defiant roar. Refusing to reduce his Dalit characters to victims – most explicitly at the film's explosive conclusion - Manjule's socially reflective film has received critical acclaim in India.
Hank and Asha
Los Angeles Premiere
USA/2013/73min
Director: James E. Duff
Producers: James E. Duff, Julia Morrison
Screenwriters: James E. Duff, Julia Morrison
Cast: Mahira Kakkar, Andrew Pastides
James E. Duff's feature directorial debut, the Audience Award winner at the 2013 Slamdance Film Festival, is an endearing tale of a long-distance connection in the digital age. Hank and Asha, two aspiring filmmakers separated by an ocean, connect with one another through video messages and quickly find themselves heading towards romance. That is, until Asha reveals some surprising news. Duff has created a captivating ode to the new possibilities open to us now that the world's gotten smaller.
Liar's Dice
Los Angeles Premiere
India/2013/104min
Director: Geetu Mohandas
Producers: Alan McAlex, Ajay G. Rai
Screenwriter: Geetu Mohandas
Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Geetanjali Thapa, Manya Gupta
Established actress Geetu Mohandas steps behind the lens for her bracing directorial debut. A woman named Kamala and her daughter journey from their remote Himalayan village to Delhi in search of Kamala's missing husband. They find a guide in an unfriendly wanderer whose interest may lie more in his personal gain than in any help he can offer them. Beautifully shot by Rajeev Ravi (Gangs of Wasseypur), Mohandas' film evokes a hazardous world where answers may never be clear and a helping hand always comes at a price.
Phoring
North American Premiere
India/2013/128min
Director: Indranil Roychowdhury
Producers: Anasua Roychowdury, Sugata Bal
Screenwriters: Indranil Roychowdhury, Sugata Sinha
Cast: Akash Adhikary, Sohini Sarkar, Sourav Basak, Ritwick Charaborty, Shankar Debnath, Senjuti Roymukherjee
Indranil Roychowdhury's stunning feature debut is an evocative, unpredictable tale of confused adolescence in a struggling North Bengal town. Phoring, an imaginative adolescent boy, and his beautiful new teacher Doel form a close friendship that soon arouses doubt and suspicion when Doel's presence in the town is revealed to have less-than-noble origins. Roychowdhury accomplishes a tricky feat with his first film by luring us with the promise of an inspirational teacher-student story before ultimately delivering a much more complex and truthful account of the joys and pains of growing up.
Qissa: The Tale of a Lonely Ghost (2013)
Los Angeles Premiere Germany-India-Netherlands/2013/109min
Director: Anup Singh
Producers: Bero Beyer, Johannes Rexin, Bettina Brokemper, Thierry Lenouvel
Screenwriter: Anup Singh, Madhuja Mukherjee
Cast: Irrfan Khan, Tisca Chopra, Tillotama Shome, Rasika Dugal
Set in 1940s Punjab, Anup Singh’s latest feature Qissa details the aftermath of the Indo-Pakistan Partition through the experiences of one Sikh family, headed by Umber (Irrfan Khan). Following the family’s forceful displacement from their village, Umber’s desire for a male heir is stronger than ever. When his wife gives birth to their fourth daughter, Kanwar, Umber makes the fateful decision to raise her as a boy. This tragic choice ends up dividing the family in violent ways, and provokes a series of increasingly unsettling situations for Kanwar as she grows up. While in a sense a ghost story, the source of pain and suffering is all too real.
Siddharth
Los Angeles Premiere
Canada-India/2013/96min
Director: Richie Mehta
Producers: David Miller, Steven N. Bray
Screenwriter: Richie Mehta
Cast: Rajesh Tailang, Tannishtha Chatterjee
A celebrated Iffla alum, Canadian director Richie Mehta returns to the festival with a heartbreaking story of parents Mahendra and Suman, whose son goes missing after being sent to work 200 miles north of Delhi. Carried by powerful yet restrained performances from Rajesh Tailang and Tannishtha Chatterjee as the parents, Mehta and cast capture the dignity of those facing the unthinkable. Mehta's chance encounter with a man searching for his lost son alerted him to the underreported plight of the families of 44,000 children estimated missing in India every year.
Ugly
North American Premiere
India/2013/128mins/Dcp
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Writer: Anurag Kashyap
Producers: Vikas Bahl, Madhu Mantena, Vikramaditya Motwane, Vivek Rangachari, Arun Rangachari
Cast: Rahul Bhatt, Ronit Roy, Tejaswini Kolhapure, Anshika Shrivastava
When ten-year-old Kali disappears from her father Rahul's car on the busy streets of Mumbai, the events that follow quickly spiral out of control and plunge into a morass of corruption and violence. Rahul and Kali's mother, Shalini, are divorced. Shalini is now married to Shoumik, the local police chief. When Shoumik learns that his stepdaughter is missing, he and Rahul clash in a breathless race to find the girl. With intricate plotting and vivid characterizations, Iffla alum Anurag Kashyap fashions a story that's sure to keep the heart racing.
Writers (Sulemani Keeda)
North American Premiere
India/2013/90min
Director: Amit V Masurkar
Writer: Amit V Masurkar
Producer: Datta Dave
Cast: Naveen Kasturia, Mayank Tewari, Aditi Vasudev and Karan Mirchandani
Writing partners Dulal and Mainak dream of shaking up Bollywood in director Amit Masurkar's slacker comedy. The two young men take a job from the wealthy, oddball son of a famous B-movie producer, but soon fear they're on the path to selling out. Masurkar's film captures the creative spirit of Andheri West, a Mumbai suburb where writers, directors, and actors come from all over India with the dream of working in the film industry, and is a sweet taste of things to come from the new "hindie" cinema.
Documentary Features
The Auction House: A Tale of Two Brothers
World Premiere
UK/2014/85min
Director: Ed Owles
Producers: Ed Owles, Giovanna Stopponi
The auction houses of Kolkata used to be where the rich and famous found the right high-end objects to decorate their homes. Today, the family-owned Russell Exchange is the last, and oldest, one to remain in India. Director Ed Owles follows two brothers, with the older brother moving back to Kolkata from London with hopes of using his Western business acumen to bring the Exchange into the 21st century. However, in a country radically transformed by technology and a rising youth culture, it may already be too late.
Faith Connections
Los Angeles Premiere
France-India/2013/115min/Dcp
Director: Pan Nalin
Producers: Raphaël Berdugo, Gaurav Dhingra, Pan Nalin, Virginie Lacombe
Every three years, Hindus gather at one of four rotating sites for Kumbh Mela, a religious celebration of faith and devotion marked by bathing in the sacred waters of the Ganges. With 100 million people at the 2013 Kumbh Mela, the pilgrimage is said to be the largest gathering on the planet. Iffla alum Pan Nalin crafts a moving and unique view of the mass gathering and presents unique stories of how individuals came to be there to share in the belief of the divine.
Powerless (Katiyabaaz)
Los Angeles Premiere
India/2013/82min
Director: Fahad Mustafa and Deepti Kakkar
Producers: Fahad Mustafa, Deepti Kakkar, Judy Tam, Leopold Koegler
Screenwriter: Fahad Mustafa
In Kanpur, a city of three million that has seen better days, one of the only ways for many residents to get electricity is to steal it. Co-directors Fahad Mustafa and Deepti Kakkar focus their attention on the likes of pirate engineers like Loha Singh and first female CEO at the local power authority Ritu Maheshwari. Coupled with beautiful photography of the intricately tied together powerlines of the city and a pulsating original score, they present a unique documentary about current-day India and its future battles over limited resources.
Shepherds of Paradise
U.S. Premiere
India/2013/50min
Director/Producer/Screenwriter/Cinematographer/Editor: Raja Shabir Khan
Composer: Bilal Iran
Nomadic herder Gafoor has to lead his large flock of goats, sheep, cows and horses across Jammu all the way to Kashmir so they can graze. Director Raja Shabir Khan presents lives few have ever seen, let alone lived, with simple beauty and real terror in a film that has won major National Awards in India. A cinematic wonder that must be seen to truly understand, Shepherds of Paradise is a testament of the power of film to transport us to other lands and experiences.
Bollywood By Night
Bombay Talkies
North American Premiere
India/117min/2013
Directors: Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap
Producers: Ritesh Sidhwani, Farhan Akhtar, Guneet Monga
Screenwriters: Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti, Anurag Kashyap
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan , Rani Mukerji, Katrina Kaif, Randeep Hooda, Saqib Saleem, Nawazuddin Siddiqui
A quartet of short films directed by four of India’s most exciting contemporary filmmakers celebrates 100 years of Indian cinema in this omnibus film. Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar and Anurag Kashyap crafts a tale of ordinary people whose love of movies profoundly alters the course of their lives. Each story beautifully captures how lovers of cinema can’t help but carry that fascination into their day-to-day life. Haven’t we all wished, at one time or another, that our lives were more like a film?
Monsoon Shootout
Los Angeles Premiere
India-uk-Netherlands/2013/88min
Director: Amit Kumar
Producers: Trevor Ingman, Guneet Monga, Martijn De Grunt
Screenwriter: Amit Kumar
Cast: Vijay Varma, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Geetanjali Thapa
A split-second decision made by a rookie police officer propels writer/director Amit Kumar’s debut feature, which fascinatingly splinters into three separate, equally pulse-pounding scenarios. In a secluded alley drenched in the pouring rain, principled cop Adi aims his gun at Shiva, a vicious gangster on the run. What Adi decides to do next will reverberate throughout his personal and professional life in ways he could never imagine. Kumar thus explores the ripple effect our choices have, and how we unknowingly alter the lives of those around us.
Shorts
Aarti
Shorts Program 2
World Premiere
USA/2013/4min
Director: David Walter Lech
Producer: Terrie Samundra
A hypnotic look into the nightly “ceremony of light” ritual in a Hindu temple in Sheikhupur, Punjab.
Alchemy
Shorts Program 2
U.S. Premiere
India/2013/5min
Directors: Pranay Patwardhan, Shivangi Ranawat, Janmeet Singh
Producer: Pritesh Varia
A bold and vibrant song to the intricate fabric of modern day India, a kaleidoscope of voices, colors and traditions.
Bhiwani Junction
Shorts Program 1
Los Angeles Premiere
USA/2013/18min
Director: Abhi Singh
Producer: Abhi Singh
A poignant documentary portrait of Himanshu, a 12-year old boxer, whose formidable commitment to the sport makes his lofty dreams to become an Olympic champion appear well within reach.
Black Rock (Kaatal)
Shorts Program 1
U.S. Premiere
India/2012/22min
Director: Vikrant Pawar
Producer: Film and Television Institute of India
Two young lovers spend one last afternoon together. A beautiful meditation on the ephemeral nature of young love that has won three of India’s National Film Awards.
The Fly (Makhi)
Shorts Program 2
World Premiere
India/2013/31min
Director: Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni
Producer: Film and Television Institute of India
Employed as a Fly Killer in an upscale restaurant, Pipal must ensure a fly-free environment by smacking dead the flies that buzz over the patrons’ heads. When a nearby drainage is closed and the source of the fly infestation eradicated, Pipal must find a way to produce enough live flies to save his job, in this delightfully absurdist commentary on urban India’s emerging work culture.
Beloved (Humsafar)
Shorts Program 2
U.S. Premiere
India/2012/6min
Directors/Writers: Swapnil Awate, Laura Erbacher
Producer: Dsk Supinfocom
A sweeping single shot takes us on the breathtaking animated journey of two lovers and their eternal pursuit of harmony.
Jaya
Shorts Program 2
USA/2013/19min
Director: Puja Maewal
Producer: Puja Maewal
Young Jaya is able to survive the gruesome gang life in the unforgiving streets of Mumbai by posing as a boy. When she meets a wealthy businessman who looks like he could be the father who abandoned her, she sets out to reclaim her identity, in this engrossing drama that was shortlisted for a Student Academy Award®.
Kush
Shorts Program 1
India/2013/25min
Director: Shubhashish Bhutiani
Producer: Shubhashish Bhutiani
A bus full of schoolchildren boisterously makes its way back from a field trip when the news of Indira Gandhi’s assassination by her Sikh bodyguards breaks. As violence quickly erupts across the country, Kush, the only Sikh student in the class, must find a way to escape the unquenchable fury of retribution, in this gripping drama that was shortlisted for an Academy Award®.
Little Gypsy (Kachho Gadulo)
Shorts Program 1
Los Angeles Premiere
India/2012/6min
Directors: Saptesh Chaubal, Pranay Patwardhan, Shivangi Ranawat
Producer: D.S.K. Supinfocom
Inspired by the folk traditions of various parts of India, this stunning animated film sweeps us into a mythical journey that celebrates the power of play and imagination.
Love.Love.Love.
Shorts Program 2
Los Angeles Premiere
Russian Federation/2013/12min
Director: Sandhya Daisy Sundaram
Producers: Tanya Petrik, Guillaume Protsenko
An intimate ode to the wondrous force of love, as it takes new shapes and forms through the endless Russian winters. Love. Love.Love. won the Short Film Special Jury Award for Non-Fiction at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.
Outpost
Shorts Program 1
U.S. Premiere
India-usa/2013/17min
Director: Shiva Shankar Bajpai
Producer: Aditi Anand
In the barren desert of the India-Pakistan border, two lone army guards on the opposite sides of the line yearn for booze, mosquito repellent and some human contact, in this humorous glimpse into the absurdity of rigid immaterial divides.
Presence
Shorts Program 2
U.S. Premiere
India/2012/17min
Directors: Ekta Mittal, Yashaswini Raghunandan
Producers: Ekta Mittal, Yashaswini Raghunandan
Long days and nights spent within the bellies of the rising structural beasts that rapidly transform the city of Bangalore bring on visions of ghosts that speak of the construction workers’ memories, longings and fears, in this haunting meditation on the migrant experience.
Skin Deep
Screens with Writers
U.S. Premiere
India/2013/20min
Director: Hardik Mehta
Producers: Devang Bhavsar, Niraj Kothari
Sanjay and Sushma plan to elope to escape a looming arranged marriage. They are in love and their future together shines bright and perfect and filled with possibility--that is, as long as an extra piece of skin that complicates their sex life gets fixed in what should be a routine medical procedure. But Mumbai’s electricity gods have other plans in store for them.
Small Yellow Field (Tau Seru)
Shorts Program 1
Los Angeles Premiere
Australia-India/2013/8min
Director: Rodd Rathjen
Producer: Rodd Rathjen
In the remote vastness of the Himalayas, a young nomad's curiosity lies beyond the horizon. This stunningly photographed film made its world premiere at Cannes Critics’ Week.
The Puppet (Tamaash)
Screens with Shepherds Of Paradise
Los Angeles Premiere
India/2013/32min
Directors: Devanshu Singh, Satyanshu Singh
Producers: Datta Dave, Chaitanya Hegde, Omar Nissar Paul, Devanshu Singh, Satyanshu Singh
A mysterious puppet offers young Anzar the chance to escape his father’s relentless punishments over his poor school grades by granting him the power to inflict misfortune on his nemesis, his brilliant classmate, Sadat. However, his newfound peace is short-lived as Sadat falls severely ill and Anzar comes to realize that the puppet’s powers are spiraling out of his control...
The festival is widely recognized as the premiere showcase of groundbreaking Indian cinema globally. Iffla will run April 8-13 at ArcLight Hollywood in Los Angeles, the festival’s home since its inception. Jadoo, an exploration of family bonds amidst two feuding brothers’ restaurants in England, will screen as the festival’s Closing Night Gala. The film is written and directed by Iffla alum Amit Gupta, and first premiered at the 2013 Berlinale. It features a wonderful ensemble cast that includes Kulvinder Ghir, Amara Karan, Harish Patel, Tom Mison, and Madhur Jaffrey. As previously announced, Iffla will open with Jeffrey D. Brown’s Sold, produced by Jane Charles and executive produced by Emma Thompson.
Iffla 2014 wil l present more than 33 films, including three world premieres, six North American premieres, six U.S. premieres, and 16 Los Angeles premieres. The films feature 10 different languages, from Hindi to Marathi, to Russian to Bengali. Additionally, Iffla supports American, Australian, British, Canadian, and European diaspora filmmakers from nine different countries telling their stories.
“I'm thrilled and proud that Iffla's line-up this year includes an especially diverse range of cinematic experiences, covering many regions of India and the diaspora,” said Iffla’s Artistic Director Jasmine Jaisinghani. "We would like to thank our Programming Advisor in India, Uma Da Cunha, for helping our programming team source some of these exceptional films."
Program highlights include: the North American premiere of Anurag Kashyap’s latest, Ugly an intense, masterfully directed psychological thriller that premiered in the 2013 Director’s Fortnight section of Cannes; Liar's Dice, the remarkable directorial debut of South Indian actress Geetu Mohandas that premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival; Anup Singh’s latest feature Qissa: The Tale of a Lonely Ghost, starring Irrfan Khan (Life of Pi, Slumdog Millionaire), winner of Netpac Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, and Dioraphte Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam; the Audience Award winner at the 2013 Slamdance Film Festival Hank and Asha , an exploratory, romantic look at two people bonding in the digital age by newcomer James E. Duff; Nagraj Manjule’s Fandry, a highly praised debut feature for its multilayered emotion and realism on the subject of caste discrimination; Brahmin Bulls starring Roshan Seth (Gandhi, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Mississippi Masala) and Sendhil Ramamurthy (Beauty and the Beast, Heroes) as an estranged father and son unexpectedly brought together to confront the family’s past; and Siddharth, a nuanced look at a family whose son goes missing, by lauded Canadian director and Iffla alum Richie Mehta (Amal).
The festival's feature documentary competition includes an eclectic mix of films from established and upcoming filmmakers that consider India's unique traditions and dynamic future. The films include: the world premiere of
The Auction House , an intimate and funny look at two brothers trying to keep their anachronistic family business going in the digital age; festival favorite Powerless, which depicts intense struggles over electricity in a mid-size Indian city; Faith Connections, Iffla alum Pan Nalin's beautiful and rare look at the Kumbh Mela; and the National Award-winning Shepherds of Paradise, about an arduous, mountainous trek through an animal drive in the Kashmiri winter.
The Bollywood by Night series returns this year with Bombay Talkies and Monsoon Shootout. Premiering at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, Bombay Talkies is a quartet of short films that celebrates 100 years of Indian cinema. The omnibus film features work by four of India’s most exciting contemporary directors: Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar, and Anurag Kashyap, as well as a stellar cast that includes Amitabh Bachchan, Rani Mukerji, and Katrina Kaif. Monsoon Shoutout is a thrilling debut by Iffla alum writer/director Amit Kumar about how a split-second decision made by a rookie police officer has rippling effects in his life and the lives of those around him.
The shorts competition showcases a diverse selection of 15 films that include narrative, documentary, experimental, and animated works. Highlights of this year’s program include Academy Award® shortlisted Kush; Sundance award winner Love.Love.Love.; and the world premiere of acclaimed director Umesh Kulkarni’s The Fly.
Festival Passes and Gala tickets are currently on sale at the festival's website.
For more information, please visit:
Website: www.indianfilmfestival.org.
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ indianfilmfestival
Twitter: https://twitter.com /iffla
Tumblr: http://indianfilmfestival.tumblr.com/
About Iffla
Now in its 12th year, the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (Iffla) is a nonprofit organization devoted to a greater appreciation of Indian cinema and culture by showcasing films, honoring entertainment industry business executives, and promoting the diverse perspectives of the Indian diaspora.
Opening Night Gala
Sold
Los Angeles Premiere
USA/2014/97min
Director: Jeffrey D. Brown
Producer: Jane Charles
Executive Producer: Emma Thompson
Screenwriters: Joseph Kwong, Jeffrey D. Brown
Composer: John McDowell, Sammy Chand, Salim & Sulaiman Merchant
Cast: Susmita Mukherjee, Seema Biswas, Tillotama Shome, Niyar Saikia, Priyanka Bose, Ankur Vikal, Parambrata Chatterjee, Gillian Anderson, David Arquette
Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Jeffrey D. Brown adapts Patricia McCormick’s novel Sold – a National Book Award finalist – into a vivid, harrowing and inspiring story of a young girl’s resilience in the face of unspeakable cruelty.
Closing Night
Jadoo
Los Angeles Premiere
UK/2013/84 mins
Director: Amit Gupta
Producers: Amanda Faber, Isabelle Georgeaux, Richard Holmes, Nikki Parrott
Screenwriter: Amit Gupta
Composer: Stephen Warbeck
Cast: Kulvinder Ghir, Amara Karan, Harish Patel, Tom Mison, Madhur Jaffrey
Set in Leicester, England, Amit Gupta’s culinary comedy charts the chaos that ensues when young Shalini gets engaged to her longtime boyfriend Mark. The fact that Mark is not Indian is the least of Shalini’s concerns. Her father Raja and uncle Jagi have been at war for years. After a legendary falling out that caused them to close their family restaurant, each man opened his own establishment – directly across the street from one another! Shalini’s dream wedding would see both men put aside their differences and prepare the feast together, but resentment runs deep and neither man can hear mention of the other’s name without a spike in blood pressure. Both the prospect of disappointing their beloved Shalini and the threat of a new, hip restaurant opening in the area force Raja and Jagi to work together – but for how long? In this uproariously funny and heartfelt exploration of family bonds, shared history and gastronomic perfection, Gupta’s cast is endlessly appealing. Plus, there’s enough mouth-watering Indian food on display to have your stomach growling before the credits roll.
Feature Films
Before My Eyes (Ankhon Dekhi)
Los Angeles Premiere
India/2013/107min
Director: Rajat Kapoor Producer: Manish Mundra
Screenwriter: Rajat Kapoor
Cast: Sanjay Sanjay Mishra, Seema Pahwa, Rajat Kapoor, Taranjeet, Maya Sarao
Celebrated writer, director, and actor Rajat Kapoor (Midnight’s Children, Monsoon Wedding, Mixed Doubles, Mithya) paints an offbeat yet thought-provoking portrait of domestic life in modern day Delhi when an incident prompts head of the family Bauji to reject anything he himself has not experienced, much to the exasperation of his extended family but to the delight of his newfound philosopher disciples. Balancing the comical and the existential, both Bauji and the film ask the basic question, ‘Can you know truth without true experience?’
Brahmin Bulls
Los Angeles Premiere
USA/96min/2013
Director: Mahesh Pailoor
Producer: Yoshinobu Tsuji
Screenwriters: Anu Pradhan, Mahesh Pailoor
Cast: Sendhil Ramamurthy, Roshan Seth, Mary Steenburgen, Justin Bartha, Cassidy Freeman, Monica Raymund, Michael Lerner
Mahesh Pailoor's tender, funny, and touching debut tells the story of estranged father and son Ashok and Sid, who reunite at Sid's Los Angeles home when Ashok arrives unexpectedly. Each man is keeping secrets from one another, and when the truth is revealed, parent and child must work even harder to close the rift between them.
Fandry
North American Premiere
India/2013/103min
Director: Nagraj Manjule
Producers: Vivek Kajaria, Nilesh Navalakha
Screenwriter: Nagraj Manjule
Cast: Kishor Kadam, Chhaya Kadam, Somnath Awghade, Suraj Pawar, Rajshree Kharat, Sakshi Vyavhare, Aishvarya Shinde, Nagraj Manjule
Marathi poet Nagraj Manjule's impressive debut feature tells the story of Jabya, a Dalit boy, and his family's struggle against daily prejudice in their Maharashtra village. Jabya's carefree childhood desires and antics are soon stifled by his family's "untouchable" status, and the film's gradual transformation into an insightful and damning look at caste discrimination builds from a murmur to a defiant roar. Refusing to reduce his Dalit characters to victims – most explicitly at the film's explosive conclusion - Manjule's socially reflective film has received critical acclaim in India.
Hank and Asha
Los Angeles Premiere
USA/2013/73min
Director: James E. Duff
Producers: James E. Duff, Julia Morrison
Screenwriters: James E. Duff, Julia Morrison
Cast: Mahira Kakkar, Andrew Pastides
James E. Duff's feature directorial debut, the Audience Award winner at the 2013 Slamdance Film Festival, is an endearing tale of a long-distance connection in the digital age. Hank and Asha, two aspiring filmmakers separated by an ocean, connect with one another through video messages and quickly find themselves heading towards romance. That is, until Asha reveals some surprising news. Duff has created a captivating ode to the new possibilities open to us now that the world's gotten smaller.
Liar's Dice
Los Angeles Premiere
India/2013/104min
Director: Geetu Mohandas
Producers: Alan McAlex, Ajay G. Rai
Screenwriter: Geetu Mohandas
Cast: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Geetanjali Thapa, Manya Gupta
Established actress Geetu Mohandas steps behind the lens for her bracing directorial debut. A woman named Kamala and her daughter journey from their remote Himalayan village to Delhi in search of Kamala's missing husband. They find a guide in an unfriendly wanderer whose interest may lie more in his personal gain than in any help he can offer them. Beautifully shot by Rajeev Ravi (Gangs of Wasseypur), Mohandas' film evokes a hazardous world where answers may never be clear and a helping hand always comes at a price.
Phoring
North American Premiere
India/2013/128min
Director: Indranil Roychowdhury
Producers: Anasua Roychowdury, Sugata Bal
Screenwriters: Indranil Roychowdhury, Sugata Sinha
Cast: Akash Adhikary, Sohini Sarkar, Sourav Basak, Ritwick Charaborty, Shankar Debnath, Senjuti Roymukherjee
Indranil Roychowdhury's stunning feature debut is an evocative, unpredictable tale of confused adolescence in a struggling North Bengal town. Phoring, an imaginative adolescent boy, and his beautiful new teacher Doel form a close friendship that soon arouses doubt and suspicion when Doel's presence in the town is revealed to have less-than-noble origins. Roychowdhury accomplishes a tricky feat with his first film by luring us with the promise of an inspirational teacher-student story before ultimately delivering a much more complex and truthful account of the joys and pains of growing up.
Qissa: The Tale of a Lonely Ghost (2013)
Los Angeles Premiere Germany-India-Netherlands/2013/109min
Director: Anup Singh
Producers: Bero Beyer, Johannes Rexin, Bettina Brokemper, Thierry Lenouvel
Screenwriter: Anup Singh, Madhuja Mukherjee
Cast: Irrfan Khan, Tisca Chopra, Tillotama Shome, Rasika Dugal
Set in 1940s Punjab, Anup Singh’s latest feature Qissa details the aftermath of the Indo-Pakistan Partition through the experiences of one Sikh family, headed by Umber (Irrfan Khan). Following the family’s forceful displacement from their village, Umber’s desire for a male heir is stronger than ever. When his wife gives birth to their fourth daughter, Kanwar, Umber makes the fateful decision to raise her as a boy. This tragic choice ends up dividing the family in violent ways, and provokes a series of increasingly unsettling situations for Kanwar as she grows up. While in a sense a ghost story, the source of pain and suffering is all too real.
Siddharth
Los Angeles Premiere
Canada-India/2013/96min
Director: Richie Mehta
Producers: David Miller, Steven N. Bray
Screenwriter: Richie Mehta
Cast: Rajesh Tailang, Tannishtha Chatterjee
A celebrated Iffla alum, Canadian director Richie Mehta returns to the festival with a heartbreaking story of parents Mahendra and Suman, whose son goes missing after being sent to work 200 miles north of Delhi. Carried by powerful yet restrained performances from Rajesh Tailang and Tannishtha Chatterjee as the parents, Mehta and cast capture the dignity of those facing the unthinkable. Mehta's chance encounter with a man searching for his lost son alerted him to the underreported plight of the families of 44,000 children estimated missing in India every year.
Ugly
North American Premiere
India/2013/128mins/Dcp
Director: Anurag Kashyap
Writer: Anurag Kashyap
Producers: Vikas Bahl, Madhu Mantena, Vikramaditya Motwane, Vivek Rangachari, Arun Rangachari
Cast: Rahul Bhatt, Ronit Roy, Tejaswini Kolhapure, Anshika Shrivastava
When ten-year-old Kali disappears from her father Rahul's car on the busy streets of Mumbai, the events that follow quickly spiral out of control and plunge into a morass of corruption and violence. Rahul and Kali's mother, Shalini, are divorced. Shalini is now married to Shoumik, the local police chief. When Shoumik learns that his stepdaughter is missing, he and Rahul clash in a breathless race to find the girl. With intricate plotting and vivid characterizations, Iffla alum Anurag Kashyap fashions a story that's sure to keep the heart racing.
Writers (Sulemani Keeda)
North American Premiere
India/2013/90min
Director: Amit V Masurkar
Writer: Amit V Masurkar
Producer: Datta Dave
Cast: Naveen Kasturia, Mayank Tewari, Aditi Vasudev and Karan Mirchandani
Writing partners Dulal and Mainak dream of shaking up Bollywood in director Amit Masurkar's slacker comedy. The two young men take a job from the wealthy, oddball son of a famous B-movie producer, but soon fear they're on the path to selling out. Masurkar's film captures the creative spirit of Andheri West, a Mumbai suburb where writers, directors, and actors come from all over India with the dream of working in the film industry, and is a sweet taste of things to come from the new "hindie" cinema.
Documentary Features
The Auction House: A Tale of Two Brothers
World Premiere
UK/2014/85min
Director: Ed Owles
Producers: Ed Owles, Giovanna Stopponi
The auction houses of Kolkata used to be where the rich and famous found the right high-end objects to decorate their homes. Today, the family-owned Russell Exchange is the last, and oldest, one to remain in India. Director Ed Owles follows two brothers, with the older brother moving back to Kolkata from London with hopes of using his Western business acumen to bring the Exchange into the 21st century. However, in a country radically transformed by technology and a rising youth culture, it may already be too late.
Faith Connections
Los Angeles Premiere
France-India/2013/115min/Dcp
Director: Pan Nalin
Producers: Raphaël Berdugo, Gaurav Dhingra, Pan Nalin, Virginie Lacombe
Every three years, Hindus gather at one of four rotating sites for Kumbh Mela, a religious celebration of faith and devotion marked by bathing in the sacred waters of the Ganges. With 100 million people at the 2013 Kumbh Mela, the pilgrimage is said to be the largest gathering on the planet. Iffla alum Pan Nalin crafts a moving and unique view of the mass gathering and presents unique stories of how individuals came to be there to share in the belief of the divine.
Powerless (Katiyabaaz)
Los Angeles Premiere
India/2013/82min
Director: Fahad Mustafa and Deepti Kakkar
Producers: Fahad Mustafa, Deepti Kakkar, Judy Tam, Leopold Koegler
Screenwriter: Fahad Mustafa
In Kanpur, a city of three million that has seen better days, one of the only ways for many residents to get electricity is to steal it. Co-directors Fahad Mustafa and Deepti Kakkar focus their attention on the likes of pirate engineers like Loha Singh and first female CEO at the local power authority Ritu Maheshwari. Coupled with beautiful photography of the intricately tied together powerlines of the city and a pulsating original score, they present a unique documentary about current-day India and its future battles over limited resources.
Shepherds of Paradise
U.S. Premiere
India/2013/50min
Director/Producer/Screenwriter/Cinematographer/Editor: Raja Shabir Khan
Composer: Bilal Iran
Nomadic herder Gafoor has to lead his large flock of goats, sheep, cows and horses across Jammu all the way to Kashmir so they can graze. Director Raja Shabir Khan presents lives few have ever seen, let alone lived, with simple beauty and real terror in a film that has won major National Awards in India. A cinematic wonder that must be seen to truly understand, Shepherds of Paradise is a testament of the power of film to transport us to other lands and experiences.
Bollywood By Night
Bombay Talkies
North American Premiere
India/117min/2013
Directors: Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar, Anurag Kashyap
Producers: Ritesh Sidhwani, Farhan Akhtar, Guneet Monga
Screenwriters: Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar, Reema Kagti, Anurag Kashyap
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan , Rani Mukerji, Katrina Kaif, Randeep Hooda, Saqib Saleem, Nawazuddin Siddiqui
A quartet of short films directed by four of India’s most exciting contemporary filmmakers celebrates 100 years of Indian cinema in this omnibus film. Karan Johar, Dibakar Banerjee, Zoya Akhtar and Anurag Kashyap crafts a tale of ordinary people whose love of movies profoundly alters the course of their lives. Each story beautifully captures how lovers of cinema can’t help but carry that fascination into their day-to-day life. Haven’t we all wished, at one time or another, that our lives were more like a film?
Monsoon Shootout
Los Angeles Premiere
India-uk-Netherlands/2013/88min
Director: Amit Kumar
Producers: Trevor Ingman, Guneet Monga, Martijn De Grunt
Screenwriter: Amit Kumar
Cast: Vijay Varma, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Tannishtha Chatterjee, Geetanjali Thapa
A split-second decision made by a rookie police officer propels writer/director Amit Kumar’s debut feature, which fascinatingly splinters into three separate, equally pulse-pounding scenarios. In a secluded alley drenched in the pouring rain, principled cop Adi aims his gun at Shiva, a vicious gangster on the run. What Adi decides to do next will reverberate throughout his personal and professional life in ways he could never imagine. Kumar thus explores the ripple effect our choices have, and how we unknowingly alter the lives of those around us.
Shorts
Aarti
Shorts Program 2
World Premiere
USA/2013/4min
Director: David Walter Lech
Producer: Terrie Samundra
A hypnotic look into the nightly “ceremony of light” ritual in a Hindu temple in Sheikhupur, Punjab.
Alchemy
Shorts Program 2
U.S. Premiere
India/2013/5min
Directors: Pranay Patwardhan, Shivangi Ranawat, Janmeet Singh
Producer: Pritesh Varia
A bold and vibrant song to the intricate fabric of modern day India, a kaleidoscope of voices, colors and traditions.
Bhiwani Junction
Shorts Program 1
Los Angeles Premiere
USA/2013/18min
Director: Abhi Singh
Producer: Abhi Singh
A poignant documentary portrait of Himanshu, a 12-year old boxer, whose formidable commitment to the sport makes his lofty dreams to become an Olympic champion appear well within reach.
Black Rock (Kaatal)
Shorts Program 1
U.S. Premiere
India/2012/22min
Director: Vikrant Pawar
Producer: Film and Television Institute of India
Two young lovers spend one last afternoon together. A beautiful meditation on the ephemeral nature of young love that has won three of India’s National Film Awards.
The Fly (Makhi)
Shorts Program 2
World Premiere
India/2013/31min
Director: Umesh Vinayak Kulkarni
Producer: Film and Television Institute of India
Employed as a Fly Killer in an upscale restaurant, Pipal must ensure a fly-free environment by smacking dead the flies that buzz over the patrons’ heads. When a nearby drainage is closed and the source of the fly infestation eradicated, Pipal must find a way to produce enough live flies to save his job, in this delightfully absurdist commentary on urban India’s emerging work culture.
Beloved (Humsafar)
Shorts Program 2
U.S. Premiere
India/2012/6min
Directors/Writers: Swapnil Awate, Laura Erbacher
Producer: Dsk Supinfocom
A sweeping single shot takes us on the breathtaking animated journey of two lovers and their eternal pursuit of harmony.
Jaya
Shorts Program 2
USA/2013/19min
Director: Puja Maewal
Producer: Puja Maewal
Young Jaya is able to survive the gruesome gang life in the unforgiving streets of Mumbai by posing as a boy. When she meets a wealthy businessman who looks like he could be the father who abandoned her, she sets out to reclaim her identity, in this engrossing drama that was shortlisted for a Student Academy Award®.
Kush
Shorts Program 1
India/2013/25min
Director: Shubhashish Bhutiani
Producer: Shubhashish Bhutiani
A bus full of schoolchildren boisterously makes its way back from a field trip when the news of Indira Gandhi’s assassination by her Sikh bodyguards breaks. As violence quickly erupts across the country, Kush, the only Sikh student in the class, must find a way to escape the unquenchable fury of retribution, in this gripping drama that was shortlisted for an Academy Award®.
Little Gypsy (Kachho Gadulo)
Shorts Program 1
Los Angeles Premiere
India/2012/6min
Directors: Saptesh Chaubal, Pranay Patwardhan, Shivangi Ranawat
Producer: D.S.K. Supinfocom
Inspired by the folk traditions of various parts of India, this stunning animated film sweeps us into a mythical journey that celebrates the power of play and imagination.
Love.Love.Love.
Shorts Program 2
Los Angeles Premiere
Russian Federation/2013/12min
Director: Sandhya Daisy Sundaram
Producers: Tanya Petrik, Guillaume Protsenko
An intimate ode to the wondrous force of love, as it takes new shapes and forms through the endless Russian winters. Love. Love.Love. won the Short Film Special Jury Award for Non-Fiction at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.
Outpost
Shorts Program 1
U.S. Premiere
India-usa/2013/17min
Director: Shiva Shankar Bajpai
Producer: Aditi Anand
In the barren desert of the India-Pakistan border, two lone army guards on the opposite sides of the line yearn for booze, mosquito repellent and some human contact, in this humorous glimpse into the absurdity of rigid immaterial divides.
Presence
Shorts Program 2
U.S. Premiere
India/2012/17min
Directors: Ekta Mittal, Yashaswini Raghunandan
Producers: Ekta Mittal, Yashaswini Raghunandan
Long days and nights spent within the bellies of the rising structural beasts that rapidly transform the city of Bangalore bring on visions of ghosts that speak of the construction workers’ memories, longings and fears, in this haunting meditation on the migrant experience.
Skin Deep
Screens with Writers
U.S. Premiere
India/2013/20min
Director: Hardik Mehta
Producers: Devang Bhavsar, Niraj Kothari
Sanjay and Sushma plan to elope to escape a looming arranged marriage. They are in love and their future together shines bright and perfect and filled with possibility--that is, as long as an extra piece of skin that complicates their sex life gets fixed in what should be a routine medical procedure. But Mumbai’s electricity gods have other plans in store for them.
Small Yellow Field (Tau Seru)
Shorts Program 1
Los Angeles Premiere
Australia-India/2013/8min
Director: Rodd Rathjen
Producer: Rodd Rathjen
In the remote vastness of the Himalayas, a young nomad's curiosity lies beyond the horizon. This stunningly photographed film made its world premiere at Cannes Critics’ Week.
The Puppet (Tamaash)
Screens with Shepherds Of Paradise
Los Angeles Premiere
India/2013/32min
Directors: Devanshu Singh, Satyanshu Singh
Producers: Datta Dave, Chaitanya Hegde, Omar Nissar Paul, Devanshu Singh, Satyanshu Singh
A mysterious puppet offers young Anzar the chance to escape his father’s relentless punishments over his poor school grades by granting him the power to inflict misfortune on his nemesis, his brilliant classmate, Sadat. However, his newfound peace is short-lived as Sadat falls severely ill and Anzar comes to realize that the puppet’s powers are spiraling out of his control...
- 4/8/2014
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
From April 8th to the 11th, Indian films will once again be showcased in the Us at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (Iffla). In its 12th year, Iffla boasts an incredible lineup of fabulous films that reflects the rich diversity of Indian cinema. Iffla’s Artistic Director Jasmine Jaisinghani says, “I’m thrilled and proud that Iffla’s line-up this year includes an especially diverse range of cinematic experiences, covering many regions of India and the diaspora.”
Iffla 2014 presents 33 films that include feature films, documentaries and shorts. The festival will have three world premieres, six North American premieres, six U.S. premieres, and 16 Los Angeles premieres. The films feature 10 different languages, from Hindi to Marathi, to Russian to Bengali. Additionally, Iffla supports American, Australian, British, Canadian, and European diaspora filmmakers from nine different countries telling their stories.
Bollywood will be well represented with three outstanding films all showing during the festival’s run.
Iffla 2014 presents 33 films that include feature films, documentaries and shorts. The festival will have three world premieres, six North American premieres, six U.S. premieres, and 16 Los Angeles premieres. The films feature 10 different languages, from Hindi to Marathi, to Russian to Bengali. Additionally, Iffla supports American, Australian, British, Canadian, and European diaspora filmmakers from nine different countries telling their stories.
Bollywood will be well represented with three outstanding films all showing during the festival’s run.
- 3/21/2014
- by Stacey Yount
- Bollyspice
Exclusive: UK sales outfit acquires international rights to doc about late golf legend.
Salt has picked up worldwide sales rights, excluding Spain, to Seve Ballesteros documentary Seve.
Produced by Stephen Evans, Jonathan Evans and Romilly Evans of Renaissance Films, John-Paul Davidson directs the story of the Spanish golf legend.
The documentary charts Ballesteros’ early life learning to play golf with a broken club on the beach of his small home town to becoming the youngest ever Open champion of the modern era. The charismatic Spaniard went on to win the Masters, five majors and become world number one.
In 2011, Ballesteros died aged 54 following a battle with brain cancer.
Filming has recently completed in Spain on the film, which is a combination of archive footage and dramatic reconstruction, and was with the support of the Seve Ballesteros Foundation.
Executive producers are Roger Corbi and Yan Fisher of Fish/Corb Films.
Oscar-nominated Tariq Anwar (The King’s Speech) is editor...
Salt has picked up worldwide sales rights, excluding Spain, to Seve Ballesteros documentary Seve.
Produced by Stephen Evans, Jonathan Evans and Romilly Evans of Renaissance Films, John-Paul Davidson directs the story of the Spanish golf legend.
The documentary charts Ballesteros’ early life learning to play golf with a broken club on the beach of his small home town to becoming the youngest ever Open champion of the modern era. The charismatic Spaniard went on to win the Masters, five majors and become world number one.
In 2011, Ballesteros died aged 54 following a battle with brain cancer.
Filming has recently completed in Spain on the film, which is a combination of archive footage and dramatic reconstruction, and was with the support of the Seve Ballesteros Foundation.
Executive producers are Roger Corbi and Yan Fisher of Fish/Corb Films.
Oscar-nominated Tariq Anwar (The King’s Speech) is editor...
- 10/23/2013
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Ian Rickson directs Brendan Coyle Mickey, Rupert Grint Sweets, Daniel Mays Potts, Colin MorganSkinny, Ben Whishaw Baby and Tom Rhys Harries Silver Johnny in a major West End revival of Jez Butterworth's award-winning Mojo, reuniting director and writer who previously collaborated on the play's world premiere at the Royal Court in 1995. Mojo will preview at the Harold Pinter Theatre from 26 October 2013 with press night on 13 November and is booking to 25 January 2014. Designs are by Ultz with lighting by Charles Balfour, music by Stephen Warbeck and sound by Simon Baker. Check out the rehearsal photos below...
- 10/13/2013
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Digital Spy presents a list of winners and nominees at the BAFTA TV Craft Awards 2013, hosted by Stephen Mangan from The Brewery in London on Sunday, April 28, 2013:
Breakthrough Talent
Mike Bartlett - The Town
Julie Gearey - Prisoners' Wives
Rhys Thomas - Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender (Director's Cut)
Tim Whitnall - Best Possible Taste: The Kenny Everett Story - Winner
Costume Design
Amy Roberts - Mrs Biggs
Sheena Napier - Parade's End - Winner
Odile Dicks-Mireaux - Richard II (The Hollow Crown)
Lorna Marie Mugan - Ripper Street
Digital Creativity
Steve Boulton, James Rutherford - Channel 4 Paralympics - Winner
Production Team - Embarrassing Bodies: Live from the Clinic
Production Team - Foxes Live: Wild in the City
Production Team - The Great British Property Scandal
Director (Factual)
Katharine English - Our War
Ben Chanan - The Plot to Bring Down Britain's Planes - Winner
John Dower...
Breakthrough Talent
Mike Bartlett - The Town
Julie Gearey - Prisoners' Wives
Rhys Thomas - Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender (Director's Cut)
Tim Whitnall - Best Possible Taste: The Kenny Everett Story - Winner
Costume Design
Amy Roberts - Mrs Biggs
Sheena Napier - Parade's End - Winner
Odile Dicks-Mireaux - Richard II (The Hollow Crown)
Lorna Marie Mugan - Ripper Street
Digital Creativity
Steve Boulton, James Rutherford - Channel 4 Paralympics - Winner
Production Team - Embarrassing Bodies: Live from the Clinic
Production Team - Foxes Live: Wild in the City
Production Team - The Great British Property Scandal
Director (Factual)
Katharine English - Our War
Ben Chanan - The Plot to Bring Down Britain's Planes - Winner
John Dower...
- 4/28/2013
- Digital Spy
"Game of Thrones" has one of the most memorable opening credit sequences on TV, but it almost looked and sounded very different.
The HBO drama's unaired pilot script reportedly surfaced online this week, and io9 listed the main differences between the original pilot and what the cable network ended up airing after the first episode was rewritten and reshot.
In addition to adding more time with the Stark family and recasting the roles of Daenerys and Catelyn, producers D.B. Weiss and David Benioff altered the credits into the sprawling orrery apparatus that first introduced us to the vast geography of Westeros (accompanied here by the show's younger actors beatboxing the theme song).
According to io9, the original pilot's credits were envisioned thusly:
... there's a sequence where an old man, whose face we don't see, writes a message on a parchment scroll, which he ties to the leg of a raven.
The HBO drama's unaired pilot script reportedly surfaced online this week, and io9 listed the main differences between the original pilot and what the cable network ended up airing after the first episode was rewritten and reshot.
In addition to adding more time with the Stark family and recasting the roles of Daenerys and Catelyn, producers D.B. Weiss and David Benioff altered the credits into the sprawling orrery apparatus that first introduced us to the vast geography of Westeros (accompanied here by the show's younger actors beatboxing the theme song).
According to io9, the original pilot's credits were envisioned thusly:
... there's a sequence where an old man, whose face we don't see, writes a message on a parchment scroll, which he ties to the leg of a raven.
- 4/18/2013
- by Laura Prudom
- Huffington Post
Digital Spy presents a list of nominees for the BAFTA TV Craft Awards 2013, to be hosted by Stephen Mangan from The Brewery in London on Sunday, April 28, 2012:
Breakthrough Talent
Mike Bartlett - The Town
Julie Gearey - Prisoners' Wives
Rhys Thomas - Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender (Director's Cut)
Tim Whitnall - Best Possible Taste: The Kenny Everett Story
Costume Design
Amy Roberts - Mrs Biggs
Sheena Napier - Parade's End
Odile Dicks-Mireaux - Richard II (The Hollow Crown)
Lorna Marie Mugan - Ripper Street
Digital Creativity
Steve Boulton, James Rutherford - Channel 4 Paralympics
Production Team - Embarrassing Bodies: Live from the Clinic
Production Team - Foxes Live: Wild in the City
Production Team - The Great British Property Scandal
Director (Factual)
Katharine English - Our War
Ben Chanan - The Plot to Bring Down Britain's Planes
John Dower - Bradley Wiggins: A Year in Yellow
Ben Anthony...
Breakthrough Talent
Mike Bartlett - The Town
Julie Gearey - Prisoners' Wives
Rhys Thomas - Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender (Director's Cut)
Tim Whitnall - Best Possible Taste: The Kenny Everett Story
Costume Design
Amy Roberts - Mrs Biggs
Sheena Napier - Parade's End
Odile Dicks-Mireaux - Richard II (The Hollow Crown)
Lorna Marie Mugan - Ripper Street
Digital Creativity
Steve Boulton, James Rutherford - Channel 4 Paralympics
Production Team - Embarrassing Bodies: Live from the Clinic
Production Team - Foxes Live: Wild in the City
Production Team - The Great British Property Scandal
Director (Factual)
Katharine English - Our War
Ben Chanan - The Plot to Bring Down Britain's Planes
John Dower - Bradley Wiggins: A Year in Yellow
Ben Anthony...
- 3/25/2013
- Digital Spy
WhatCulture! recently sat down for an exclusive interview with renowned film composer Robert Folk. Best known for his work on ‘Beastmaster 2’, ‘The Neverending Story 2’, ‘Toy Soldiers’, ‘Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls’ and of course, ‘Police Academy’, the 63-year-old L.A based musician is spritely and charming. Folk, who was born in New York, has an East Coast accent with a soft warm roll in it; something which one comes to associate with the cultured and educated members of American society. Sporting a healthy glow, he sits in an office decorated with posters of the films he has previously scored – a customary sight amongst film professionals.
During our one-to-one in depth chat Folk talks about IMAX ballet, the ‘Police Academy’ reboot and his work as replacement composer on Roland Joffe’s soon to be released, re-cut, re-mixed, re-packaged historical epic ‘There Be Dragons’ entitled ‘There Be Dragons: Secrets of Passion’.
WhatCulture!
During our one-to-one in depth chat Folk talks about IMAX ballet, the ‘Police Academy’ reboot and his work as replacement composer on Roland Joffe’s soon to be released, re-cut, re-mixed, re-packaged historical epic ‘There Be Dragons’ entitled ‘There Be Dragons: Secrets of Passion’.
WhatCulture!
- 6/26/2012
- by Brad Williams
- Obsessed with Film
L’R du Trésor has released a soundtrack album for the French social satire Polisse. The album features the original score by Academy Award-winning composer Stephen Warbeck (Shakespeare in Love), as well as four songs from the movie by Anne Germain, Breakbot, Keedz and Urban Species. The soundtrack is now available to download on Amazon and audio clips from each track can be checked out below. Polisse is directed by Maïwenn Le Besco who also stars in the film as a journalist working on a story about the lives of cops assigned to a Paris juvenile division. The movie premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and has been picked up for domestic distribution by Sundance Selects. The film is opening in France this week and is awaiting a domestic release date.
Amazon.com WidgetsHere’s the album track:
1. L’île aux enfants – Anne Germain
2. Les roumains
3. Les roumains...
Amazon.com WidgetsHere’s the album track:
1. L’île aux enfants – Anne Germain
2. Les roumains
3. Les roumains...
- 10/18/2011
- by filmmusicreporter
- Film Music Reporter
MovieScore Media has announced a soundtrack release for last year’s historical drama Princess Kaiulani. The album features the original score from the film composed by Academy Award-winning composer Stephen Warbeck (Shakespeare in Love). The music is performed by the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra. The soundtrack will be released on CD and digitally on October 11, 2011. Princess Kaiulani is the feature directing debut of Marc Forby and tells the true story of Princess Ka’iulani’s attempts to maintain the independence of Hawaii against the threat of American colonization at the end of the 19th century. Q’orianka Kilcher stars as the princess, and Barry Pepper, Will Patton, Tamzin Merchant and Julian Glover are co-starring. The film is now available on DVD.
- 9/24/2011
- by filmmusicreporter
- Film Music Reporter
Three new movies are opening nationwide and this weekend:
The comic book adaptation Thor directed by Kenneth Branagh and starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Idris Elba, Ray Stevenson, Kat Dennings, Rene Russo and Stellan Skarsgaard is expected to top the weekend box office. Patrick Doyle has composed the score for the film and a soundtrack has been released on Buena Vista Records. Check out our announcement for details on the album and audio clips. Also visit Film Music Magazine for a short interview with Doyle on his first comic book/superhero score.
Also opening wide is the comedy Jumping the Broom directed by Salim Akil and starring Angela Bassett, Paula Patton, Laz Alonso, Loretta Devine, Mike Epps and Julie Bowen. Edward Shearmur composed the film’s score and a soundtrack with both score and songs from the film has been released earlier this week by Madison Gate Records.
The comic book adaptation Thor directed by Kenneth Branagh and starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Idris Elba, Ray Stevenson, Kat Dennings, Rene Russo and Stellan Skarsgaard is expected to top the weekend box office. Patrick Doyle has composed the score for the film and a soundtrack has been released on Buena Vista Records. Check out our announcement for details on the album and audio clips. Also visit Film Music Magazine for a short interview with Doyle on his first comic book/superhero score.
Also opening wide is the comedy Jumping the Broom directed by Salim Akil and starring Angela Bassett, Paula Patton, Laz Alonso, Loretta Devine, Mike Epps and Julie Bowen. Edward Shearmur composed the film’s score and a soundtrack with both score and songs from the film has been released earlier this week by Madison Gate Records.
- 5/6/2011
- by filmmusicreporter
- Film Music Reporter
Filed under: Reality-Free, TV News, Stay Tuned
'Game of Thrones' has parted ways with its Academy Award-winning composer, Stephen Warbeck. The much-anticipated HBO drama has hired a new composer, Ramin Djawadi.
Djawadi's most notable television projects have been 'FlashForward' and 'Prison Break,' and in the film realm, Djawadi wrote the scores for 'Iron Man' and 'Clash of the Titans.' Djawadi, who has worked frequently with composer Hans Zimmer, is also credited with composing "additional music" for movies such as 'Batman Begins,' 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl' and 'Something's Gotta Give.'
Djawadi will have to work fast: The fantasy drama premieres in just over 10 weeks, on April 17.
In other 'Game of Thrones' news, a member of the cast passed away recently and the show's executive producers, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss,...
'Game of Thrones' has parted ways with its Academy Award-winning composer, Stephen Warbeck. The much-anticipated HBO drama has hired a new composer, Ramin Djawadi.
Djawadi's most notable television projects have been 'FlashForward' and 'Prison Break,' and in the film realm, Djawadi wrote the scores for 'Iron Man' and 'Clash of the Titans.' Djawadi, who has worked frequently with composer Hans Zimmer, is also credited with composing "additional music" for movies such as 'Batman Begins,' 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl' and 'Something's Gotta Give.'
Djawadi will have to work fast: The fantasy drama premieres in just over 10 weeks, on April 17.
In other 'Game of Thrones' news, a member of the cast passed away recently and the show's executive producers, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss,...
- 2/2/2011
- by Maureen Ryan
- Aol TV.
Irish actors Stephen Don (Wilderness, Omagh) and Brian Fortune (Marú, The Bee Keeper's Son) have joined the cast of HBO's epic 'Game of Thrones'. The actors will join other newly announced cast and crew members such as Oscar winning English composer Stephen Warbeck (Shakespeare in Love, Billy Elliot) who will write the original music and score for the film, Emmy nominated American director Tim Van Patten (The Sopranos, Rome) and English actor Ian Gelder (Torchwood, Robin Hood).
- 11/9/2010
- IFTN
The Ghent International Film Festival will honor the late French director, actor and comedian Jacques Tati with an exhibition called "In Double Quick Time."
Produced by the Cinematheque Francaise in collaboration with Les Films de Mon Oncle, the exhibition is a collaboration between the fest and the East Flanders Cultural Center. The exhibit will run through Jan. 16.
Tati's body of work from 1949-74 includes numerous classics, beginning with "Jour de Fete." His pointed, off-kilter criticism of modernism was evident in all of his films including "Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot" (1953), "Mon Oncle" (1958), and "Trafic" (1971). The Monsieur Hulot character in "Trafic" was the perfect personification of the Tati touch.
A 310-page catalog will be produced for the exhibition.
The fest also celebrates the 10th anniversary of the World Soundtrack Awards, which will feature 11 top film composers performing with the Belgian Philharmonic Orchestra: Oscar winners Howard Shore (the "Lord of the Rings...
Produced by the Cinematheque Francaise in collaboration with Les Films de Mon Oncle, the exhibition is a collaboration between the fest and the East Flanders Cultural Center. The exhibit will run through Jan. 16.
Tati's body of work from 1949-74 includes numerous classics, beginning with "Jour de Fete." His pointed, off-kilter criticism of modernism was evident in all of his films including "Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot" (1953), "Mon Oncle" (1958), and "Trafic" (1971). The Monsieur Hulot character in "Trafic" was the perfect personification of the Tati touch.
A 310-page catalog will be produced for the exhibition.
The fest also celebrates the 10th anniversary of the World Soundtrack Awards, which will feature 11 top film composers performing with the Belgian Philharmonic Orchestra: Oscar winners Howard Shore (the "Lord of the Rings...
- 6/17/2010
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
By Steve Pond
For its 10th awards presentation, the World Soundtrack Awards has assembled what is likely the biggest group of heavyweight soundtrack composers to ever perform in at a single concert.
The performers include five Oscar winners: Eliot Goldenthal (“Frida”), Howard Shore (“The Lord of the Rings”), Gustavo Santaolalla (left) (“The Motorcycle Diaries”), Stephen Warbeck (“Shakespeare in Love”) and Gabriel Yared (“The English Patient”).
Also: Craig Armstrong (“Love, Actually”), Angelo Badalamenti (“Twin Pea...
For its 10th awards presentation, the World Soundtrack Awards has assembled what is likely the biggest group of heavyweight soundtrack composers to ever perform in at a single concert.
The performers include five Oscar winners: Eliot Goldenthal (“Frida”), Howard Shore (“The Lord of the Rings”), Gustavo Santaolalla (left) (“The Motorcycle Diaries”), Stephen Warbeck (“Shakespeare in Love”) and Gabriel Yared (“The English Patient”).
Also: Craig Armstrong (“Love, Actually”), Angelo Badalamenti (“Twin Pea...
- 5/4/2010
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Ten international composers are joining forces for an all-star concert to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the World Soundtrack Awards, set for Oct. 23 in Ghent, Belgium.
The lineup includes Howard Shore, Elliot Goldenthal, Gabriel Yared, Gustavo Santaolalla, Stephen Warbeck, Angelo Badalamenti, Craig Armstrong, Alberto Iglesias, Bruno Coulais and Frederic Devreese as well as Nico Muhly.
The awards, honoring the best in film music, are presented by the Ghent International Film Festival's World Soundtrack Academy.
The festival, marking its 37th year, runs from Oct. 12-23.
On Oct. 21, composer John Barry will join the list of festival composers for a concert of his music and will receive the fest's Lifetime Achievement Award.
The lineup includes Howard Shore, Elliot Goldenthal, Gabriel Yared, Gustavo Santaolalla, Stephen Warbeck, Angelo Badalamenti, Craig Armstrong, Alberto Iglesias, Bruno Coulais and Frederic Devreese as well as Nico Muhly.
The awards, honoring the best in film music, are presented by the Ghent International Film Festival's World Soundtrack Academy.
The festival, marking its 37th year, runs from Oct. 12-23.
On Oct. 21, composer John Barry will join the list of festival composers for a concert of his music and will receive the fest's Lifetime Achievement Award.
Mark Rylance and Mackenzie Crook will lead the cast in the West End transfer of the Royal Court Theatre?s sell-out production of Jez Butterworth?s Jerusalem, directed by Ian Rickson. Jerusalem, which received its world premiere at the Royal Court in July and for which Rylance in particular received outstanding reviews, will have a strictly limited 12 week run at the Apollo Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue. Previewing from Thursday 28 January 2010, Jerusalem has its press night on Wednesday 10 February and is booking until Saturday 24 April 2010. Designed by Ultz, with lighting by Mimi Jordan Sherin, sound by Ian Dickinson and music by Stephen Warbeck, Jerusalem is produced in the West End by Sonia Friedman Productions and Royal Court Theatre Productions.
- 9/18/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
Ian Rickson will direct the European premiere of Jez Butterworth's Parlour Song which runs at the Almeida from 19 March - 9 May 2009 with press night on 26 March. Designs are by Jeremy Herbert, with lighting by Peter Mumford, sound by Paul Groothuis and music by Stephen Warbeck. Casting for Parlour Song will be announced shortly. Parlour Song is sponsored by Aspen Re.
- 3/23/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
Ian Rickson will direct the European premiere of Jez Butterworth's Parlour Song which runs at the Almeida from 19 March - 9 May 2009 with press night on 26 March. Designs are by Jeremy Herbert, with lighting by Peter Mumford, sound by Paul Groothuis and music by Stephen Warbeck. Casting for Parlour Song will be announced shortly. Parlour Song is sponsored by Aspen Re.
- 2/20/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
PARK CITY -- There is something about boats that bring out the worst in people, at least filmmakers seem to think so. "Cargo" uses a rundown transport ship as a claustrophobic hothouse for all sorts of twisted behavior. An atmospheric feature debut for Brit documentary veteran Clive Gordon, the film is effectively creepy but low on logic. After the festival circuit, it might find rough seas theatrically.
Inspired by a newspaper item about how cargo ships were throwing stowaways overboard rather than risk the legal penalties when discovered in European ports, "Cargo" details what happens to the human spirit when it's locked up and allowed to fester.
The hero of the film is ostensibly Chris (Daniel Bruhl), a young German traveler who gets into trouble in an African port town, loses his passport and stows away on a cargo headed for Marseilles. From the start, though, he is such a hothead he steals a bracelet in a street market and punches a cop that he is hard to root for.
Although he is more or less accepted into the motley crew of the Gull and taken under wing by the ship's taciturn Capt. Brookes (Peter Mullan), Chris continues to act recklessly. It seems he's not the only stowaway on board; a handful of Africans are hiding in the bowels of the boat. When crew members start mysteriously disappearing with only their boots left behind, the crew hunts down the interlopers and tosses them overboard.
Except one: a young woman named Subira (Nikki Amuka Bird), whom Chris befriends and brings food to even as she is pursued by the crew. But inside this game of cat and mouse is a penetrating character study. When Chris asks Brookes if there are any normal people on the ship, he answers, "just you."
There's the bearded and tortured cook Baptist (Luis Tosar), who has witnessed terrible things and done nothing about them; Herman (Gary Lewis), who climbs up the crow's nest naked, cackling like a bird; Rhombus (Samuli Edelmann), a blond, belligerent psychopath. And holding all these misfits in check is the brooding Capt. Brookes.
A man of few words, Brookes shares a terrible memory with his crew, which binds them together in a kind of secret society of cruelty. He is not a bad man, but one who has been bent out of shape by horrific events he should have but didn't control.
In a way the real main character is the ship itself, an old and rusting cargo boat salvaged by the film. Production designer Jordi Yrla has done a first-rate job dressing the sets, especially the ship's galley and cargo bay, to give them an ominous quality. Cinematographer Sean Bobbitt uses desaturated colors and documentary techniques to suggest the close quarters of the ship.
While other tech credits, including music by Stephen Warbeck, are accomplished and add to the feeling of authenticity, the film is ultimately betrayed by the storytelling. Gordon and writer Paul Laverty have not created a clear leading character and given the audience someone to care about. And Brookes big secret is too murky, as are some of the major plot points. In the end, as great as the film looks, it all leaves you a bit cold.
CARGO
Trauma and Wild Bunch present a Morena Films and Slate Films production
Credits:
Director: Clive Gordon
Screenwriter: Paul Laverty
Producers: Juan Gordon, Andrea Calderwood
Executive producers: Nigel Thomas, Pilar Benito, Tomas Eskilsson
Director of photography: Sean Bobbitt
Production designer: Jordi Yrla
Music: Stephen Warbeck, Sergio Moure
Costume designer: Bina Daigeler
Editor: Fernando Franco
Cast:
Brookes: Peter Mullan
Chris: Daniel Bruhl
Baptist: Luis Tosar
Herman: Gary Lewis
Rhombus: Samuli Edelmann
Subira: Nikki Amuka Bird
Ralph: Christopher Fairbank
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 90 minutes...
Inspired by a newspaper item about how cargo ships were throwing stowaways overboard rather than risk the legal penalties when discovered in European ports, "Cargo" details what happens to the human spirit when it's locked up and allowed to fester.
The hero of the film is ostensibly Chris (Daniel Bruhl), a young German traveler who gets into trouble in an African port town, loses his passport and stows away on a cargo headed for Marseilles. From the start, though, he is such a hothead he steals a bracelet in a street market and punches a cop that he is hard to root for.
Although he is more or less accepted into the motley crew of the Gull and taken under wing by the ship's taciturn Capt. Brookes (Peter Mullan), Chris continues to act recklessly. It seems he's not the only stowaway on board; a handful of Africans are hiding in the bowels of the boat. When crew members start mysteriously disappearing with only their boots left behind, the crew hunts down the interlopers and tosses them overboard.
Except one: a young woman named Subira (Nikki Amuka Bird), whom Chris befriends and brings food to even as she is pursued by the crew. But inside this game of cat and mouse is a penetrating character study. When Chris asks Brookes if there are any normal people on the ship, he answers, "just you."
There's the bearded and tortured cook Baptist (Luis Tosar), who has witnessed terrible things and done nothing about them; Herman (Gary Lewis), who climbs up the crow's nest naked, cackling like a bird; Rhombus (Samuli Edelmann), a blond, belligerent psychopath. And holding all these misfits in check is the brooding Capt. Brookes.
A man of few words, Brookes shares a terrible memory with his crew, which binds them together in a kind of secret society of cruelty. He is not a bad man, but one who has been bent out of shape by horrific events he should have but didn't control.
In a way the real main character is the ship itself, an old and rusting cargo boat salvaged by the film. Production designer Jordi Yrla has done a first-rate job dressing the sets, especially the ship's galley and cargo bay, to give them an ominous quality. Cinematographer Sean Bobbitt uses desaturated colors and documentary techniques to suggest the close quarters of the ship.
While other tech credits, including music by Stephen Warbeck, are accomplished and add to the feeling of authenticity, the film is ultimately betrayed by the storytelling. Gordon and writer Paul Laverty have not created a clear leading character and given the audience someone to care about. And Brookes big secret is too murky, as are some of the major plot points. In the end, as great as the film looks, it all leaves you a bit cold.
CARGO
Trauma and Wild Bunch present a Morena Films and Slate Films production
Credits:
Director: Clive Gordon
Screenwriter: Paul Laverty
Producers: Juan Gordon, Andrea Calderwood
Executive producers: Nigel Thomas, Pilar Benito, Tomas Eskilsson
Director of photography: Sean Bobbitt
Production designer: Jordi Yrla
Music: Stephen Warbeck, Sergio Moure
Costume designer: Bina Daigeler
Editor: Fernando Franco
Cast:
Brookes: Peter Mullan
Chris: Daniel Bruhl
Baptist: Luis Tosar
Herman: Gary Lewis
Rhombus: Samuli Edelmann
Subira: Nikki Amuka Bird
Ralph: Christopher Fairbank
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 90 minutes...
PARK CITY -- There is something about boats that bring out the worst in people, at least filmmakers seem to think so. "Cargo" uses a run-down transport ship as a claustrophobic hot house for all sorts of twisted behavior. An atmospheric feature debut for Brit documentary veteran Clive Gordon, film is effectively creepy but low on logic. After the festival circuit, pic may find rough seas theatrically.
Inspired by a newspaper item about how cargo ships were throwing stowaways overboard rather than risk the legal penalties when discovered in European ports, film details what happens to the human spirit when it's locked up and allowed to fester.
Hero of the film is ostensibly Chris (Daniel Bruhl), a young German traveler who gets into trouble in an African port town, loses his passport and stows away on a cargo headed for Marseilles. From the start, though, he is such a hothead--he steals a bracelet in a street market and punches a cop--that he is hard to root for.
Although he is more or less accepted into the motley crew of the Gull and taken under wing by the ship's taciturn Captain Brookes (Peter Mullan), Chris continues to act recklessly. It seems he's not the only stowaway on board; a handful of Africans are hiding in the bowels of the boat. When crew members start mysteriously disappearing with only their boots left behind, the crew hunts down the interlopers and tosses them overboard.
Except one--a young woman named Subira (Nikki Amuka Bird), whom Chris befriends and brings food to even as she is pursued by the crew. But inside this game of cat and mouse is a penetrating character study. When Chris asks Brookes if there are any normal people on the ship, he answers, "just you."
There's the bearded and tortured cook Baptist (Luis Tosar), who has witnessed terribly things and done nothing about them; Herman (Gary Lewis), who climbs up the crow's nest naked, cackling like a bird; Rhombus (Samuli Edelman), a blond, belligerent psychopath. And holding all these misfits in check is the brooding Captain Brookes.
A man of few words, Brookes shares a terrible memory with his crew, which binds them together in a kind of secret society of cruelty. He is not a bad man, but one who has been bent out of shape by horrific events he should have but didn't control.
In a way the real main character is the ship itself, an old and rusting cargo boat salvaged by the film. Production designer Jordi Yrla has done a first-rate job dressing the sets, especially the ship's galley and cargo bay, to give them an ominous quality. Cinematographer Sean Bobbitt uses desaturated colors and documentary techniques to suggest the close quarters of the ship.
While other tech credits, including music by Stephen Warbeck, are accomplished and add to the feeling of authenticity, the film is ultimately betrayed by the storytelling. Gordon and writer Paul Laverty have not created a clear leading character and given the audience someone to care about. And Brookes big secret is too murky, as are some of the major plot points. In the end, as great as the film looks, it all leaves you a bit cold.
CARGO
Trauma and Wild Bunch present a Morena Films and Slate Films production
Credits:
Director: Clive Gordon
Writer: Paul Laverty
Producers: Juan Gordon, Andrea Calderwood
Executive producers: Nigel Thomas, Pilar Benito, Tomas Eskilsson
Director of photography: Sean Bobbitt
Production designer: Jordi Yrla
Music: Stephen Warbeck, Sergio Moure
Costume designer: Bina Daigeler
Editor: Fernando Franco.
Cast:
Brookes: Peter Mullan
Chris: Daniel Bruhl
Baptist: Luis Tosar
Herman: Gary Lewis
Rhombus: Samuli Edelmann
Subira: Nikki Amuka Bird
Ralph: Christopher Fairbank
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 90 minutes...
Inspired by a newspaper item about how cargo ships were throwing stowaways overboard rather than risk the legal penalties when discovered in European ports, film details what happens to the human spirit when it's locked up and allowed to fester.
Hero of the film is ostensibly Chris (Daniel Bruhl), a young German traveler who gets into trouble in an African port town, loses his passport and stows away on a cargo headed for Marseilles. From the start, though, he is such a hothead--he steals a bracelet in a street market and punches a cop--that he is hard to root for.
Although he is more or less accepted into the motley crew of the Gull and taken under wing by the ship's taciturn Captain Brookes (Peter Mullan), Chris continues to act recklessly. It seems he's not the only stowaway on board; a handful of Africans are hiding in the bowels of the boat. When crew members start mysteriously disappearing with only their boots left behind, the crew hunts down the interlopers and tosses them overboard.
Except one--a young woman named Subira (Nikki Amuka Bird), whom Chris befriends and brings food to even as she is pursued by the crew. But inside this game of cat and mouse is a penetrating character study. When Chris asks Brookes if there are any normal people on the ship, he answers, "just you."
There's the bearded and tortured cook Baptist (Luis Tosar), who has witnessed terribly things and done nothing about them; Herman (Gary Lewis), who climbs up the crow's nest naked, cackling like a bird; Rhombus (Samuli Edelman), a blond, belligerent psychopath. And holding all these misfits in check is the brooding Captain Brookes.
A man of few words, Brookes shares a terrible memory with his crew, which binds them together in a kind of secret society of cruelty. He is not a bad man, but one who has been bent out of shape by horrific events he should have but didn't control.
In a way the real main character is the ship itself, an old and rusting cargo boat salvaged by the film. Production designer Jordi Yrla has done a first-rate job dressing the sets, especially the ship's galley and cargo bay, to give them an ominous quality. Cinematographer Sean Bobbitt uses desaturated colors and documentary techniques to suggest the close quarters of the ship.
While other tech credits, including music by Stephen Warbeck, are accomplished and add to the feeling of authenticity, the film is ultimately betrayed by the storytelling. Gordon and writer Paul Laverty have not created a clear leading character and given the audience someone to care about. And Brookes big secret is too murky, as are some of the major plot points. In the end, as great as the film looks, it all leaves you a bit cold.
CARGO
Trauma and Wild Bunch present a Morena Films and Slate Films production
Credits:
Director: Clive Gordon
Writer: Paul Laverty
Producers: Juan Gordon, Andrea Calderwood
Executive producers: Nigel Thomas, Pilar Benito, Tomas Eskilsson
Director of photography: Sean Bobbitt
Production designer: Jordi Yrla
Music: Stephen Warbeck, Sergio Moure
Costume designer: Bina Daigeler
Editor: Fernando Franco.
Cast:
Brookes: Peter Mullan
Chris: Daniel Bruhl
Baptist: Luis Tosar
Herman: Gary Lewis
Rhombus: Samuli Edelmann
Subira: Nikki Amuka Bird
Ralph: Christopher Fairbank
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 90 minutes...
- 1/30/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
BRUSSELS -- Tommy Lee Jones' directorial debut The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada won the Grand Prix at the Flanders International Film Festival in Ghent this weekend. The jury -- which included Brenda Blethyn, Arthur Lappin, Dominique Deruddere and Jose Luis Castineira de Dios -- awarded the festival's prestigious best music prize to Stephen Warbeck for John Madden's Proof. Best screenplay went to Singapore's Eric Khoo and Wong Kim Hoh for Be With Me, also directed by Khoo. China's Li Yu won the best director prize for his film Dam Street. The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, which won awards in Cannes for best screenplay (Guillermo Arriaga) and best actor (Jones), also stars Barry Pepper, Julio Cesar Cedillo, January Jones and Dwight Yoakam. A gruesome tale of a man who is shot in the Texas desert and hastily buried before being twice disinterred, it is already tipped to feature strongly in Oscar nominations.
- 10/24/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.