Fantasporto, the Oporto Intl. Film Festival, kicked off Friday in Portugal’s Porto — a city famed for its elegant Romanesque cathedral, a bookstore that inspired “Harry Potter,” and the heady alcoholic drink — with an eclectic mix of titles but an emphasis on fantasy films.
Typifying the broad tastes of the festival chiefs, film critics Beatriz Pacheco Pereira and Mário Dorminsky, Canadian filmmaker Denys Arcand’s satire “Testament” opened the event’s 44th edition at Batalha Centro de Cinema, and Chinese fantasy epic “Creation of Gods I: Kingdom of Storms,” directed by Wuershan, closes it.
Although Pacheco Pereira and Dorminsky, who compete with the Brussels Intl. Fantastic Film Festival and Sitges for fantasy films in Europe, know they can’t please everyone in Porto with their selection “what is really important to us is whether the audiences applaud the films,” Dorminsky says. “This is not a job for us. It is a pleasure.
Typifying the broad tastes of the festival chiefs, film critics Beatriz Pacheco Pereira and Mário Dorminsky, Canadian filmmaker Denys Arcand’s satire “Testament” opened the event’s 44th edition at Batalha Centro de Cinema, and Chinese fantasy epic “Creation of Gods I: Kingdom of Storms,” directed by Wuershan, closes it.
Although Pacheco Pereira and Dorminsky, who compete with the Brussels Intl. Fantastic Film Festival and Sitges for fantasy films in Europe, know they can’t please everyone in Porto with their selection “what is really important to us is whether the audiences applaud the films,” Dorminsky says. “This is not a job for us. It is a pleasure.
- 3/2/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
The film shot on location in Kentucky and now in post-production at Lipsync Studios in London.
Veteran Dutch filmmaker Ate De Jong’ Heart Strings, a romantic drama set in the world of US reality television, has been picked up by Los Angeles and Rome-based House of Film.
The film shot on location in Kentucky and now in post-production at Lipsync Studios in London.
It is produced by Mulholland Films and coproduced and co-written by Steven Gaydos.
The film’s theme song, Americana, co-written by the film’s star, Sam Varga and Nashville recording artist Kalie Shorr, has been recorded for...
Veteran Dutch filmmaker Ate De Jong’ Heart Strings, a romantic drama set in the world of US reality television, has been picked up by Los Angeles and Rome-based House of Film.
The film shot on location in Kentucky and now in post-production at Lipsync Studios in London.
It is produced by Mulholland Films and coproduced and co-written by Steven Gaydos.
The film’s theme song, Americana, co-written by the film’s star, Sam Varga and Nashville recording artist Kalie Shorr, has been recorded for...
- 5/18/2023
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
“Americana Dream” has started production in Louisville, Ky., with all key roles cast in the forthcoming indie musical film. New Orleans-based singer Maggie Koerner will play Billie Carton, starring opposite Nashville-based music artist Sam Varga in the role of Lucky Fontana.
“With this amazing cast of real-life Americana music artists, we are on an exciting creative journey that will seem both familiar and completely unsettling to the millions of people around the world who watch reality TV music competitions,” said director and co-writer Ate de Jong.
The cast of “Americana Dream” also includes singer-songwriter Stephan Said as Ray Pursell, jazz vocalist Carly Johnson as Precious Blue, Aj Haynes as Lee Post and Michelle Malentina as Gabe. DJ Bombshell, Sylvia Walters, David Domine and Ian McConnell will play supporting roles in the film.
Variety exclusively reported in July that “The Voice” alum Mary Sarah was set to play Billie alongside Varga...
“With this amazing cast of real-life Americana music artists, we are on an exciting creative journey that will seem both familiar and completely unsettling to the millions of people around the world who watch reality TV music competitions,” said director and co-writer Ate de Jong.
The cast of “Americana Dream” also includes singer-songwriter Stephan Said as Ray Pursell, jazz vocalist Carly Johnson as Precious Blue, Aj Haynes as Lee Post and Michelle Malentina as Gabe. DJ Bombshell, Sylvia Walters, David Domine and Ian McConnell will play supporting roles in the film.
Variety exclusively reported in July that “The Voice” alum Mary Sarah was set to play Billie alongside Varga...
- 10/11/2022
- by Michaela Zee
- Variety Film + TV
Producers of the indie film musical “Americana Dream” have tapped Nashville-based music artists Mary Sarah and Sam Varga to play the story’s central couple, Billie Carton and Lucky Fontana.
Sarah and Varga nabbed the leading roles after an extensive nationwide search for singer-songwriters to act in the original musical written and directed by Ate de Jong and co-written by Variety’s Steven Gaydos.
“Americana Dream” takes viewers behind the scenes of the film’s titular reality TV music competition program, where Lucky and Billie transition from imposters willing to do anything for money and fame, to a real couple, willing to sacrifice their dreams of success for real love and their real music.
Sarah was a finalist on season 10 of NBC’s “The Voice” and is set to star in Justin Ward’s upcoming film comedy “Paradise: The Movie.” Sarah recorded her first album “Bridges,” when she was only...
Sarah and Varga nabbed the leading roles after an extensive nationwide search for singer-songwriters to act in the original musical written and directed by Ate de Jong and co-written by Variety’s Steven Gaydos.
“Americana Dream” takes viewers behind the scenes of the film’s titular reality TV music competition program, where Lucky and Billie transition from imposters willing to do anything for money and fame, to a real couple, willing to sacrifice their dreams of success for real love and their real music.
Sarah was a finalist on season 10 of NBC’s “The Voice” and is set to star in Justin Ward’s upcoming film comedy “Paradise: The Movie.” Sarah recorded her first album “Bridges,” when she was only...
- 7/19/2022
- by Angelique Jackson
- Variety Film + TV
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