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EVERGREEN GOES DIGITAL
In a promising sign for indies, the Sundance '04 feature Evergreen will premiere theatrically September 10 on 115 AMC theater screens via a satellite link and digital projection. Via Movie City News comes this press release in which AMC Film Group Chairman Dick Walsh says, "This engagement also showcases the capability of AMC's DTDS system to bring quality programming directly to our theatres on a national basis."Says the release, "Written and directed by promising newcomer Enid Zentelis and screened at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, Evergreen tells the story of Henri, a teenage girl who lives in poverty with her mother, who goes to great lengths to become part of her boyfriend's affluent family. Shot on location in Everett, Washington, the cast features Mary Kay Place, Cara Seymour, Bruce Davison and Addie Land as Henri...
"AMC will present the film digitally, using AMC's proprietary Digital Theatre Distribution System (DTDS). The DTDS system eliminates the need for the production and distribution of 35mm film prints, a costly process which the producers of independent films often cannot afford. The digital file of the movie will be distributed to each AMC theatre via satellite."
According to director Zentelis, she spoke with Walsh at Sundance where the theater exec saw the film, loved it, and spoke of his interest in getting the film in front of audiences. UTA agent Jeremy Barber worked out the deal between the filmmakers and AMC. For more info on the film visit the website.
# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 8/28/2004 03:40:45 PM Comments (0)
DECODER
"Genesis P-Orridge is talking about the day he was asked to rescue a series of radical movies made by William [S.] Burroughs, artist Brion Gysin and filmmaker Antony Balch from a skip. It was 1980 and P-Orridge was living on the dole in Hackney, east London, fronting art-punk band Throbbing Gristle. 'Brion called me from Paris,' recalls P-Orridge. 'Antony had died, and all the films they had made in the 1950s and 1960s were about to be destroyed. 'Here's the address,' he said. 'Do what you can to save them. Go and get them, and they're yours. You'll know what to do with them.' " No, this isn't the sequel to The Da Vinci Code.
According to The Guardian, the episode really did take place, and Genesis P-Orridge rescued the films on which Burroughs, Gysin and Balch collaborated -- including Towers Open Fire and The Cut Ups -- from imminent destruction.
# posted by Steve Gallagher @ 8/27/2004 10:31:51 AM Comments (0)
SUMMER BLOCKBUSTERS
Via the dishy Weblog A Fly on the Wall comes the following link to Jennifer Shiman's hilarious animated 30-second "re-enactments" of popular movies, including Alien, The Shining, Titanic and The Exorcist. As in her previous films, Shiman's latest masterpiece, Jaws in 30 Seconds, is re-enacted entirely by bunnies.
# posted by Steve Gallagher @ 8/26/2004 10:40:32 AM Comments (0)
TORONTO COMPLETES LINEUP
With Tuesday's announcement of 10 more titles, the Gala Presentations program of the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival is now complete. Among the additional titles announced are:
Mike Barker's A Good Woman, a world premiere and a charmingly comedic tale of high-society Americans in Italy starring Helen Hunt and Scarlett Johansson; Kevin Spacey's Beyond the Sea, a world premiere starring Kevin Spacey as Bobby Darin;
Oliver Hirschbiegel's Downfall, an intense thriller that dramatizes the fall of Berlin at the end of the Second World War starring Bruno Ganz and Juliane Kohler;
John Stephenson's Five Children and It, a dazzling combination of live action and animation starring Kenneth Branagh and Freddie Highmore; the world premiere of Jean-Paul Salome's Arsene Lupin, the thrilling and passionate story of the whirlwind adventures of a legendary hero starring Romain Duris and Kristin Scott Thomas;
the international premiere of Carlo Mazzacurati's An Italian Romance, which follows two estranged lovers and the passionate love affair that ensues when they reunite;
Mick Davis's Modigliani, a world premiere starring Andy Garcia that recounts the untold story of the bitter rivalry between Modigliani and Picasso;
Bille August's Return to Sender, a world premiere starring Kelly Preston and Aidan Quinn in the rivetting story of a cynical lawyer who fights to exonerate a woman on death row;
Walter Salles's The Motorcycle Diaries, which traces the youthful origins of revolutionary Che Guevara; and a fascinating look at the theater during the height of the English Restoration, Sir Richard Eyre's Stage Beauty.
The complete Masters lineup boasts 21 films from 19 countries, including Buddhadeb Dasgupta's Chased by Dreams;
Brides from Pantelis Voulgaris;
Goran Paskaljevic's Midwinter Night's Dream;
Wong Kar Wai, Steven Soderbergh and Michelangelo Antonioni's portmanteau film, Eros; Low Life from Im Kwon-Taek;
Hou Hsiao-Hsien's Cafe Lumiere;
Bad Education from Pedro Almodovar;
Land of Plenty from Wim Wenders;
The Ninth Day from Volker Schlondorff;
Human Touch from Paul Cox;
and Theo Angelopoulos's Trilogy: The Weeping Meadow.
As Planet Africa celebrates its 10th anniversary, the Festival presents Ousmane Sembene's Moolaade and Spike Lee's Sucker Free City in Masters.
Planet Africa begins on Monday, September 13 with the North American premiere of Moolaade, the latest from novelist and veteran filmmaker Ousmane Sembene. Moolaade confronts female circumcision, a horrific ritual still practised in several African countries, through the dramatic and moving tale of a mother who challenges the established order to protect her daughter.
Spike Lee's latest is Sucker Free City, a world premiere. Nick (Ben Crowley), a white boy, and his family are forced to move from wealthy Mission Point to the poor black side of town, where they are harassed by the local gang. Planet Africa includes six features, and seven shorts, including three world, two international, and one North American premiere from 11 countries.
The complete Special Presentations lineup offers 31 films from 14 countries, 29 of which make their world, international, or North American premieres, including Florian Gallenberger's Shadows of Time, a tragic love story that traces the lives of two teenagers who meet in a carpet factory near Calcutta;
Danny Boyle's Millions, a comic fantasy about a pair of young Liverpudlian boys who stumble across the loot from a robbery and have one week to spend it; Sally Potter's Yes, a complex and arresting narrative about a distinguished scientist (Joan Allen) whose love affair with a Lebanese surgeon (Simon Abkarian) takes them on a global journey;
Laurence Dunmore's The Libertine, which follows the rise and fall of John Wilmot (Johnny Depp), Second Earl of Rochester -- a licentious wit and poet who frequented the court of Charles II (John Malkovich);
John Waters's NC-17 A Dirty Shame, an outlandish comedy from the cult-hero director featuring Tracey Ullman and Johnny Knoxville; and Jim Brown's Isn't This a Time! A Tribute Concert for Harold Leventhal, the first screening of which will be followed by a rare, live performance by The Weavers with Pete Seeger.
Contemporary World Cinema represents a rich diversity of world cinema, showcasing premieres and prize-winners from international directors. An additional 49 titles have been added to Contemporary World Cinema for a total of 58 features and one short, 51 of which are world, international, or North American premieres, from a total of 37 countries.
Highlights of this year's selection include Carlos Sorin's Bombon -- El Perro;
Frederic Fonteyne's La Femme de Gilles;
Robert Guediguian's Mon Pere Est Ingenieur;
Pawel Pawlikowski's My Summer of Love;Christophe Honore's Ma Mere;
Gregg Araki's Mysterious Skin;
Bahman Ghobadi's Turtles Can Fly;
Alex de la Iglesia's Ferpect Crime;
and Liu Bingjian's Plastic Flowers.
The complete lineup of documentaries throughout the Festival was announced on Tuesday, including the North American premiere of Mark S. Wexler's star-studded Tell Them Who You Are, which screens at the VISA Screening Room at the Elgin Theatre as part of Real to Reel. The Festival includes 38 documentaries from 18 countries, including 19 world and 10 North American premieres. In addition to Real to Reel, documentaries also screen in Masters, Special Presentations, Visions, and Planet Africa .
The Festival lineup also includes seven films in the National Cinema program, South Africa: Ten Years Later; 23 films in Wavelengths; 21 films from 14 countries in Visions; 28 features from 23 countries in Discovery; 10 films in Canada First!; 39 shorts in Short Cuts Canada; The Rowdyman as the Canadian Open Vault; the films of Pierre Perrault featured in Canadian Retrospective; and 10 films in Midnight Madness.
The tenth installment of Dialogues: Talking With Pictures features seven films that have influenced the lives of the presenters, such as a restored version of Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate, as presented by cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond and MGM archivist John Kirk.
As a pilot project this year, the Festival collaborates with world-renowned curators of The Power Plant Art Gallery to present several film-based installation works by internationally recognized Canadian and international artists. Art Project: Role Play screens at various locations downtown. Additionally, the Festival presents the work of gifted cinematographer Christopher Doyle via a DVD installation of his work at the year-round Box Office. These installations are free and open to the public.
# posted by Steve Gallagher @ 8/25/2004 02:28:00 PM Comments (0)
McDONALD'S IS "LOVIN' IT"
As reported in The Guardian, "At first glance the text of the advert running in national newspapers [in th UK] today reads like an attack on the burger and fries giant McDonald's.
"The advert says it supports the core argument of a film where a man who eats burgers for 30 days piles on weight to such a health damaging extent that his doctors order him to stop eating them.
"But it is not placed by campaigners savaging the firm's nutritional record -- it is placed by McDonald's.
"So concerned is the multinational about the U.S. independent film Super Size Me, which [screened this past weekend] at the Edinburgh film festival and goes on general release in Britain in three weeks' time, that it decided to mount the unconventional campaign."
The ads are reportedly not unlike those the fast food corporation had previously run in Australia. Unlike the Austrailan ads, however, which challenged the conclusions of the documentary, the UK ads reportedly "support" the conclusions of Super Size Me film but challenge the film's methodology: "The ad claims the film is flawed because an average customer would take six years to eat the same amount of burgers as the filmmaker ate. It also claims the weight gain was exaggerated because the filmmaker cut his physical activity to a bare minimum."
As cited on the JKL Blog: [McDonald's rival] "Subway Restaurants, a U.S. sandwich chain, recently withdrew a highly controversial German ad campaign [promoting Super Size Me] due to mounting pressure from employees, consumers, think tanks, members of congress and bloggers" [which attacked the ad as anti-American]. The headline of the ad, which features a cartoon of an obese Statue of Liberty reads, in German, "Why are Americans so fat?""Earlier this year, Larry Light, McDonald Corp.'s chief marketing officer, said McDonald's has adopted a new marketing technique that he dubbed 'brand journalism', reports the Free Enterprise Blog... His insight? Offering a free DVD of Super Size Me for every ice tea sold."
# posted by Steve Gallagher @ 8/24/2004 01:30:52 PM Comments (0)
GENIUS QUOTE OF THE MONTH
Vincent Gallo in Sunday's New York Times:
Q: "Why aren't you married?"
A: "Intimacy always creates an urge in me that I am missing out on something."
Speaking of Gallo, via his Drowning in Brown Web site comes news that he will be performing live on August 25th at Rothko in New York.
Gallo will be performing with Sean Lennon in a rare live performance that will include music from Gallo's album "When." Tickets are $18 advance, and $22 day of the show. Tickets include a ticket to a screening of his latest film, The Brown Bunny.
# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 8/22/2004 08:28:46 PM Comments (0)
The last time I linked to the Cyan Pictures Web site it was to make fun of founder Josh Newman's constant posting of new film sales and starts that never seem to quite happen. So it's only fair that I eat some crow and link to the site again now that a new film, a doc called More than a Game has gone into production.
From the site: "Late this may, B'nei Sakhnin became the first Arab-led soccer team to win the Israeli national cup. Now the team heads off to Europe to represent Israel on the world stage of the UEFA tournament. Comprised of seven Arabs, four Jews and four foreigners, the team is a microcosm of the divided Israel that exists today; can they work through their differences in pursuit of a common goal?" Newman is regularly updating the blog with a blow-by-blow of MidEast doc producing. Check it out.
I got an e-mail from Todd Rohal thanking us for blogging his new feature, The Guatemalan Handshake. He noted in his e-mail that, a la George Washington, he shot the no-budget feature in 35mm anamorphic scope. Now he's got a lovely trailer up that appropriately whets one's appetite for the feature while showcasing the beauty of the 'Scope format.
# posted by Scott Macaulay @ 8/22/2004 08:07:40 PM Comments (0)
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© 2004 Filmmaker: The Magazine of Independent Film