Adam Wingard’s THE GUEST
The South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival taking place March 7 to15, 2014, in Austin, Texas, unveiled the films in the Midnighters section, and the short film lineup.This year’s Midnighters sections includes eight world premieres, and one U.S. premiere including STAGE FRIGHT, the feature film debut of writer/director Jerome Sable, and Adam Wingard’s THE GUEST which premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival.
STAGE FRIGHT, described as a horror/comedy/musical about “bloodthirsty gorehounds and musical theatre geeks,” which world premieres in the Midnighters section at March’s SXSW Film Festival, will be released in the U.S. by Magnet Releasing, the genre division of Magnolia Pictures. STAGE FRIGHT is the feature film debut of writer/director Jerome Sable, director of the award-winning, festival favorite short, “The Legend of Beaver Dam” and stars Allie MacDonald and Douglas Smith, with Minnie Driver and Meat Loaf. Magnet is releasing the film in its Ultra VOD program, launching it on iTunes and On Demand on April 3rd, followed by a theatrical release on May 9th.
Magnolia Pictures announced today that they have acquired LIFE ITSELF, a documentary about the life of Roger Ebert directed by Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Steve James (Hoop Dreams, The Interrupters) which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Magnolia is eyeing a summer release, followed by an exclusive broadcast on CNN later this year, reprising a successful collaboration with CNN Films on the hit documentary Blackfish.
Director Steve James with Chaz Ebert
One week after its World Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, close to 200 people braved the inclement weather to attend the Rooftop Films and Piper-Heidsieck hosted sneak preview of the new Roger Ebert documentary, “LIFE ITSELF” at The Paley Center for Media in New York City. On hand to see the screening were the late critic’s wife Chaz Ebert, Director Steve James, Actress Yael Stone (Orange Is The New Black), Director Alex Ross Perry, and indie actress Kate Lyn Shiel along with noted film critic A.O. Scott (The New York Times) who conducted a Q&A with Chaz, Steve and filmmaker Rahmin Bahrani.
Michael Tully’s PING PONG SUMMER, considered one of the Sundance Film Festival’s biggest crowd-pleasers,has landed a deal with Gravitas Ventures. Gravitas plans to release PING PONG SUMMER theatrically and digitally early this summer, with a home video release later in 2014.
THE LUNCHBOX, winner of the Viewer’s Choice Award, Grand Rail d’Or, winner at the 2013 Critics’ Week at Cannes Film Festival will open February 28, 2014 in at the Lincon Plaza and Angelika Cinemas in New York, and also in Los Angeles. Written and directed by Ritesh Batra, the film stars Irrfan Khan (“Life of Pi”), Nimrat Kaur and Nawazuddin Siddiqui.
PALO ALTO, the debut feature from writer/director Gia Coppola will open exclusively in theaters on Friday, May 9th in New York and Los Angeles. A national release will follow. PALO ALTO screened last year in the Venice, Telluride and Toronto Film Festivals. The film is based on several linked stories in James Franco’s book of the same name, chronicling the complicated ties and heightened emotions among a group of high school students. It stars James Franco, Emma Roberts, Jack Kilmer, Nat Wolff, Zoe Levin, Chris Messina, and Val Kilmer. The film features music from Devonté Hynes of the band Blood Orange and Robert Coppola Schwartzman.
“Untitled New York Review Of Books Documentary” directed by Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi has been added to the 64th Berlin International Film Festival Berlinale Special, where it will be shown as a work in progress, followed by a discussion with the filmmakers and key contributors.
CONCERNING VIOLENCE
The Panorama Dokumente section of the 2014 Berlin International Film Festival will present 16 films, including ten world premieres. Panorama Dokumente will open on February 7 with the world premiere of the Dutch co-production LAST HIJACK by Tommy Pallotta and Femke Wolting. The film depicts what motivates piracy in Somalia.
Other films on the lineup with an African focus include the Ethiopian fictional feature DIFRET, and Swedish filmmaker Göran Hugo Olsson CONCERNING VIOLENCE which World Premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival. CONCERNING VIOLENCE is described by the festival as a strong commentary on Africa’s decolonization, cites Frantz Fanon’s “The Wretched of the Earth” – and with narration by singer Lauryn Hill. Olsson presented THE BLACK POWER MIXTAPE 1967-1975 about the Afro-American civil rights movement in Panorama in 2011. In Thomas Allen Harris’ THROUGH A LENS DARKLY: BLACK PHOTOGRAPHERS AND THE EMERGENCE OF A PEOPLE, the history of photography is shown from an Afro-American perspective.
THE SELFISH GIANT
The 33rd London Critics’ Circle Film Section held its annual awards on Sunday night and THE SELFISH GIANT was one of the big winners, taking home two awards – British Film and Young British Performer for Conner Chapman – giving filmmakers Clio Barnard and Tracy O’Riordan and actors Chapman, Shaun Thomas and Lorraine Ashbourne a chance to celebrate on stage. Other winners present include Andre Singer, producer of Documentary of the Year THE ACT OF KILLING. The ceremony opened on a solemn note with the announcement of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death, which was confirmed just as the event was starting. Hoffman won Supporting Actor at last year’s CC Film Awards for his role in THE MASTER.
NEBRASKA by Alexander Payne
The UPC Audience Award of the 43rd International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) was won by NEBRASKA by Alexander Payne, and the Dioraphte Award went to the official opening film, QISSA, by Anup Singh. NEBRASKA tells the tragicomic story of a father and son who travel through economically blighted Nebraska on their way to find a million dollars.
ANATOMY OF A PAPER CLIP (Yamamori clip koujo no atari) by Ikeda Akira
The winners of International Film Festival Rotterdam’s 19th Hivos Tiger Awards Competition, as well as of the second Big Screen Award Competition and of the NETPAC, FIPRESCI, KNF, and Moviezone awards were announced at the award ceremony on Friday night. The winners of the three Hivos Tiger Awards 2014 are ANATOMY OF A PAPER CLIP (Yamamori clip koujo no atari) by Ikeda Akira, SOMETHING MUST BREAK (Nånting måste gå sönder) by Ester Martin Bergsmark, and HAN GONG-JU by Lee Su-Jin.