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A New World Order? Looking at AFI and Doha Tribeca Fests
8 hours ago
I traveled to two festivals on opposite ends of the globe last week and saw two vastly different approaches to adapting large film events to the new economic realities. My flight from New York to Doha, the capital of Qatar, was clearly a flight of choice for many attending the inaugural Doha Tribeca Film Festival, with Tribeca Film Festival co-founders Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff on board, along with “Amelia” director … »
Box Office: “Precious” Stuns With $100K Weekend Average
9 hours ago
Lee Daniels’ “Precious: Based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” has exceeded even the highest of expectations in its opening weekend, according to estimates provided by Rentrak earlier today. The film - which has been the source of much anticipation and buzz since its Sundance debut in January - grossed a stunning $1,800,000 from just 18 theaters over the weekend, averaging an essentially unheard of $100,000. That gives it the third … »
Box Office: “Precious” Soars On Opening Night; Averages $32K
7 November 2009 9:38 AM, PST
Anyone skeptical of the box office power of Lee Daniels’ “Precious: Based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” should brace themselves. Last night, on 18 theaters in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Atlanta, the film took in $585,000, finding a first day average of $32,500, according to distributor Lionsgate. The film sold out most of its shows, having to add prints to make up for the demand. Even with a … »
Audiard’s “A Prophet” Leads European Film Award Noms
7 November 2009 8:41 AM, PST
Six films are vying for the prize for best European Film of 2009 at the European Film Awards. Competing for the prize are Andrea Arnold’s “Fish Tank,” Tomas Alfredson’s “Let the Right One in,” Jacques Audiard’s “The Prophet,” Stephen Daldry’s “The Reader,” Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire,” and Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon.” Jacques Audiard’s “The Prophet” lead the Efa’s with six nominations, including best European Film, best director (Jacques Audiard), best … »
“Collapse” Director Chris Smith: “It was all an attempt to get the audience inside Michael’s head.”
6 November 2009 12:23 PM, PST
Chris Smith’s “Collapse” is a feature-length interview with conspiracy theorist Michael Ruppert, a man whose ideas are often as scary as they are true. For many, Ruppert is saying what the rest of us are too afraid to think about. From the financial crisis, to international politics and global warming, Ruppert is candid about his apocalyptic view on humanity and the world. The film became an instant water cooler hit at … »
cinemadaily | “Precious” Polarizes
6 November 2009 10:48 AM, PST
“‘Precious’ is a hybrid, a mash-up that might have been ungainly, but that manages to be graceful instead,” writes the New York Times’ A.O. Scott. “It’s partly a bootstrap drama of resilience and redemption, complete with a hardworking teacher wrangling a classroom full of disadvantaged girls. It’s also the nearly Gothic story of a child tormented by the cruelty of adults, as lurid as a Victorian potboiler or a modern-day tell-all … »
B.O. of the ‘00s: The Top Grossing Sundance Films
6 November 2009 8:12 AM, PST
With the 2010s fast approaching - 55 days and counting - indieWIRE has decided to start a weekly Friday chart devoted to glancing back at the past ten years. With a film opening that weekend as a starting point, we’ll be charting various sub-categories of 2000s film with regard to their box office. This week, with Lee Daniels’s “Precious: Based on the novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” opening in 18 theaters today, … »
All Fall Down: Chris Smith’s “Collapse”
6 November 2009 6:42 AM, PST
At the turns of decades and centuries, it’s fairly common for sky-is-falling prognostication to spike wildly. This angst often finds expression in popular entertainments, such as the appearance, as if on cue, of the clunky misfire “Knowing” and the upcoming sure-to-be tedious “2012.” What these kinds of spectacles provide is something like diversionary exorcism—the world outside may seem bad, but there’s some comfort in recognizing that visual effects artists can always … »
“Fish Tank” and “Woman” Share AFI Fest Top Prize
5 November 2009 6:13 PM, PST
Andrea Arnold’s “Fish Tank” and Javier Rebello’s “Woman Without Piano” are the joint winners of the AFI Fest New Lights Competition. The event hosted its awards ceremony Thursday night at the historic Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Blvd. following the closing night U.S. premiere of Tom Ford’s “A Single Man” at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. The film’s stars including Colin Firth, Ginnifer Goodwin, Nicholas Hoult, Matthew Goode, and Ryan Simpkins attended the screening … »
“The Cove” Leads Cinema Eye Honors Nominees
5 November 2009 2:00 PM, PST
Louie Psihoyos’ “The Cove,” received a record-tying seven Cinema Eye Honors nominations today when they were announced at the Sheffield International Documentary Festival in the UK. The film - about dolphin hunts in Japan - won dozens of prizes on the festival circuit this year, include Sundance’s Audience Award. The Cinema Eye Honors followed suit handing “The Cove” nods for Production, Cinematography, Editing, Original Score, Debut Feature and the top prize, … »
For Your Consideration: Assessing The Major Oscar Categories
5 November 2009 11:47 AM, PST
What’s been a slow awards season build since Toronto and Venice kicked things off two months ago is about to become an accelerated horserace. With Fox Searchlight’s announcement yesterday that they were bumping up awards bait “Crazy Heart” for 2009 Oscar consideration, it’s reasonable to believe that the final piece of this year’s candidate roster is complete. And while there are still a few major question marks remaining - namely Rob … »
cinemadaily | Will Us Audiences “Stare at Goats”?
5 November 2009 11:43 AM, PST
Grant Heslov’s “The Men Who Stare at Goats” is the first of three chances for George Clooney to prove himself this November. Clooney, who produced the film, stars as a Us soldier, stationed in Kuwait, who attempts to win the war with mental combat. Jeff Bridges plays the leader of this motley crew. His character was, in fact, a peacenik who tried to change the world through “Kumbaya"s until he discovered … »
Magnolia Has a “Good Heart”
5 November 2009 11:02 AM, PST
Another day, another late Toronto Film Festival pick-up. Magnolia Pictures has announced that it acquired Us rights to Dagur Kari’s “The Good Heart,” which stars an “L.I.E.” reunion in Brian Cox and Paul Dano. Cox as Jacques, the curmudgeonly owner of a gritty New York dive bar that serves as home to a motley assortment of professional drinkers. Jacques is determinedly drinking and smoking himself to death when he meets Lucas … »
“That Evening Sun” Director Scott Teems: “My kids say I look like Jesus”
5 November 2009 6:33 AM, PST
Editor’S Note: This interview was originally published as part of indieWIRE’s coverage of the 2009 SXSW Film Festival. Scott Teems’ “That Evening Sun” premiered at this year’s SXSW Film Festival, where it won both the audience award and a special jury prize for its ensemble cast. Since, its gone on to win awards around the U.S. festival circuit, from Atlanta to Newport to Nashville to Sarasota. Freestyle Releasing is releasing the … »
Scorsese on “The Red Shoes”: “It’s cinema as music”
5 November 2009 5:25 AM, PST
Nearly ten years ago, at the turn of the millenium, Martin Scorsese selected “The Red Shoes,” co-directed by his closest collaborator Thelma Schoonmaker’s late husband, Michael Powell, to be the first movie he’d project in his private screening in the year 2000. Scorsese, Schoonmaker and a few company colleagues watched the movie together. And then they had a two-hour conversation about it. “This film is music,” Martin Scorsese said on Tuesday … »
AFI Fest | Tapping in the Power of Free
4 November 2009 12:48 PM, PST
The 2009 edition of AFI Fest, which opened last Friday in Hollywood with the North American premiere of Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” reflects radical changes made in the past year to the basic DNA of the American Film Institute’s annual fall event. The festival’s central venue has shifted from the art-credible Arclight to the Mann’s Chinese, embedded within the tourist trap shopping complex on Hollywood and Highland that also hosts … »
Roadside Keeps Up With “Joneses”
4 November 2009 11:19 AM, PST
The second major Toronto Film Festival-related acquisition this week comes with Roadside Attractions nabbing the U.S. rights to Derrick Borte’s social satire “The Joneses.” The film - starring Demi Moore and Duchovny as a couple moving into a upscale gated community - premiered in Toronto this past September, and follows Sony Classics’ pick up of Tiff title “Mother and Child” on Monday. Plans for ancillary distribution are still being finalized with … »
Sundance Fest Going Nationwide, For One Night Only
4 November 2009 9:44 AM, PST
For one night during the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, the event will expand beyond Park City, Ut to theaters in eight American cities. On January 28, 2010, eight Sundance ‘10 filmmakers will take their films from San Franciso, CA to Brooklyn, NY and beyond. Dubbed Sundance Film Festival U.S.A, the new initiative is being pitched by the festival as “a night of ideas across the country.” In Park City on that … »
cinemadaily | On Point: “La Danse” in Theaters
4 November 2009 9:25 AM, PST
“In ‘La Danse: The Paris Opera Ballet,’ his 36th documentary in more than 40 years, Frederick Wiseman takes his camera into the stately and elegant Palais Garnier in Paris, observing rehearsals, staff meetings and, finally, performances of seven dances, including classics like ‘The Nutcracker’ and spiky new work by younger choreographers,” writes the New York Times’ A.O. Scott. “To say that the film, sumptuous in its length and graceful in its … »
Thessaloniki Confirms 240 Film Slate
4 November 2009 8:45 AM, PST
With less than ten days to go before the 50th Thessaloniki International Film Festival kicks off, the festival has announced its full slate of 240 films, as well as its seven member jury to judge the fest’s international competition. Theo Angelopoulos will head a jury that will eventually give 40,000 Euros to the competition’s winner, with a second prize of 25,000 Euros also awarded. Lissy Belaiche, Mirjana Karanovic, Eugenio Caballero, Lav … »
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