The winners of the Directors Guild of America Outstanding Directorial Achievement Awards for 2010 were announced over the weekend and Tom Hooper won the DGA’s Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film for The King’s Speech. The DGA’s Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film has traditionally served as a near-perfect barometer for the Academy Award for Best Director. Only six times since the DGA Award’s inception in 1948 has the winner not gone on […]
The Jury, Audience, NEXT! and other special award-winners of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival were announced last night at the Festival’s Awards Ceremony The Grand Jury Prize: Documentary was presented to How to Die in Oregon, directed by Peter D. Richardson. In 1994 Oregon became the first state to legalize physician-assisted suicide. How to Die in Oregon gently enters the lives of terminally ill Oregonians to illuminate the power of death with dignity. The Grand […]
In their first 2011 Sundance Film Festival acquisition, Focus Features has picked up worldwide rights to writer-director Dee Rees’ ‘Pariah.’ Pariah screened in the U.S. Dramatic Competition category and featured a cast that includes Adepero Oduye, Pernell Walker, Kim Wayans, Charles Parnell, and Aasha Davis. At the club, the music thumps, go-go dancers twirl, shorties gyrate on the dance floor while studs play it cool, and adorably naive 17-year-old Alike takes in the scene with […]
In their third pick-up of Sundance 2011, Roadside Attractions has acquired all North American rights to Miranda July’s second feature THE FUTURE. ‘The Future premiered at 2011 Sundance Film Festival and features a cast including Hamish Linklater, Miranda July, David Warshofsky, Isabella Acres, and Joe Putterlik. In the eagerly anticipated follow-up to her Camera d’Or winning debut, internationally acclaimed artist and author Miranda July writes, directs and stars alongside Hamish Linklater in the story of […]
New Video announced that the Company has acquired THE FLAW , a new documentary directed by British filmmaker David Sington (In the Shadow of the Moon) which made its U.S. premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and will be released under New Video’s Docurama Films brand later this year. The film’s title was inspired by former U.S. Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan’s acknowledgment that he’d found a flaw in his model of how the world […]
Sony Pictures Classics announced that they have acquired the rights in North America, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand to Take Shelter. The film is written and directed by Jeff Nichols (Shotgun Stories) and stars Academy Award® nominee Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Shea Whigham, Katy Mixon and Kathy Baker. The film is in dramatic competition at the Sundance Film Festival. Take Shelter is produced by Tyler Davidson under his Strange Matter Films banner, and Sophia […]
Lionsgate has reportedly closed the deal for North American rights on Lee Tamahori’s thriller ‘The Devil’s Double’ where premiered at 2011 Sundance Film Festival. The film centers on Dominic Cooper’s breakout role as Uday Hussein and his body double Latif Yahia. The cast also includes Ludivine Sagnier, Mimoun Oaissa, Raad Rawi, and Philip Quast Based on actual events, The Devil’s Double recounts the remarkable tale of Latif Yahia, an Iraqi army lieutenant who was summoned […]
IFC Films announced from the 2011 Sundance Film Festival that the company is acquiring North American rights to director David Mackenzie’s romantic thriller PERFECT SENSE, which had its world premiere in the Premieres section this week. Directed by Sundance alum Mackenzie (who was at the festival in 2009 with Spread), with a screenplay by Kim Fupz Aakeson, the film reunites Mackenzie with star Ewan McGregor (who he directed in the critically acclaimed Young Adam). The […]
IFC Films and Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions (SPWA) announced from the 2011 Sundance Film Festival that the companies are partnering to acquire North American rights to George Ratliff’s ‘Salvation Boulevard’, which premiered this week in the festival’s Premieres section. The film, with a screenplay by Ratliff (whose previous films include Hell House and Joshua) and Doug Max Stone, based on the novel by Larry Beinhart, stars Pierce Brosnan, Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, Greg Kinnear, Jim […]
The documentary ‘These Amazing Shadows’ about The National Film Registry, was picked up by IFC under their new banner, “Sundance Selects.” IFC will make These Amazing Shadows available via VOD beginning January 22 (the date of the World Premiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival) for 30 days. It will be available in approximately 40 million homes on most major cable systems including Bright House, Comcast, Cablevision, Cox, and Time Warner Cable. After the 30 […]
Motion Film Group, Inc., a newly formed independent film venture from entertainment financier Fotis Georgiadis, has acquired the worldwide sales and distribution rights to writer/director Rashaad Ernesto Green’s debut feature Gun Hill Road, which premiered to a sold-out crowd and standing ovation at Sundance on Monday, January 24 in the U.S. Dramatic Competition. The coming-of-age drama set in The Bronx stars Esai Morales (“Caprica,” “NYPD Blue”), Judy Reyes (“Scrubs”), and Isiah Whitlock Jr. (Cedar Rapids, […]
The 2011 Sundance Film Festival announced the jury prizes in shorts filmmaking and gave honorable mentions based on outstanding achievement and merit. The 2011 Short Film jurors are Barry Jenkins (director, writer, Medicine for Melancholy); Kim Morgan (Film and Culture writer, Sunset Gun, The Hitlist) and Sara Bernstein (Vice president, HBO Documentary films; supervising producer, Baghdad ER, White Light, Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki). The Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking was awarded […]
This year Berlin International Film Festival Panorama is presenting 16 feature films in its main programme, 14 in Panorama Special, 20 works in its Panorama Dokumente series and three supporting films. They are from 29 countries, 27 of which are screening as world premieres, 12 are directorial debuts. Opening films of the main programme, Panorama Special and Panorama Dokumente The main programme will open on February 10 in CinemaxX 7 with Tomboy, French director Céline […]
The 2nd Detroit Independent Film Festival will take place March 9-12 at the Burton theater and on the Wayne State University campus in Detroit Michigan.
Atlanta Businessman and Real Estate Investor, Duane Dixon of Imagery Films, will debut Rendezvous, his first of many feature films in Atlanta this spring. After watching the real estate market unravel, Dixon chose to diversify his business interests and pursue a lifelong dream of writing and directing his own film. Born in Queens in 1967, Dixon says at an early age he knew he wanted to be involved in entertainment. “My parents surrounded me with […]
The 2011 LDS Film Festival is scheduled for January 26-29, 2011, and will mark the 10th anniversary of the festival. It is also the 6th year the festival will take place at the historic Scera Center for the Arts in Orem, Utah. The festival features films from Mormon writers or directors or Mormon cultural themes and opens with the premiere of Michael Fisher’s “Midway to Heaven.” The schedule for the 10th LDS Film Festival 2011 […]
Magnolia Pictures announced they have acquired US theatrical rights to Mark Pellington’s I MELT WITH YOU, an ensemble film starring Thomas Jane, Rob Lowe, Jeremy Piven, Christian McKay, Carla Gugino and Sasha Grey. The film premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Richard (Thomas Jane), Ron (Jeremy Piven), Tim (Christian McKay), and Jonathan (Rob Lowe) are friends from college who gather for a weekend each year to celebrate their friendship and catch up with each […]
German film producer Bernd Eichinger, best known for movies such as “The Neverending Story,” “The Name of the Rose” and “Downfall,” has died, his production company told CNN. He was 61. Eichinger died of a heart attack Monday night in Los Angeles while dining with family and friends, his production company, Constantin Film, said in a statement. Read more …
Fox Searchlight acquired the dramatic film Martha Marcy May Marlene, starring Elizabeth Olsen (younger sister of Mary-Kate and Ashley), playing in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Directed by Sean Durkin, the cast also includes Brady Corbet, Hugh Dancy, John Hawkes, and Sarah Paulson. Haunted by painful memories and suffering from increasing anxiety, Martha escapes an abusive cult and returns home to live with her older sister, Lucy, and Lucy’s husband, Ted. […]
Sony Pictures Classics has reportedly close the deal to take domestic and Latin American rights to The Guard. The film screened opening night at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and is featured in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition category. Directed by John Michael McDonagh, the cast includes Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Mark Strong, Liam Cunningham, David Wilmot, and Dominique McElligot. Sergeant Gerry Boyle, a salty village cop in Ireland, has a subversive sense of humor, […]
Liddell Entertainment has acquired the horror film Silent House, a last minute addition to this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Directed by the Chris Kentis and Laura Lau ( the duo behind Open Water, which screened at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival) and starring Elizabeth Olsen (sister to the Olsen twins), Adam Trese, Eric Sheffer Stevens, Julia Taylor Ross, Haley Murphy, and Adam Barnett, the film is screening in the festival’s Park City at Midnight category. […]
Fox Searchlight continues its buying spree at Sundance Film Festival picking up Mark Cahil’s debut feature film “Another Earth” for a reported $1.5 million-$2 million. Another Earth which stars William Mapother, Brit Marling, Jordan Baker, Robin Lord Taylor, and Flint Beverage, is currently screening in the U.S. Dramatic Competition category. Rhoda Williams, a bright young woman recently accepted into MIT’s astrophysics program, aspires to explore the cosmos. John Burroughs, a brilliant composer, has just reached […]
The Upcoming Derby City Film Festival in Louisville, Kentucky is gearing up to be a big year, especially for local filmmakers. This year’s film festival includes 20 films from Kentucky filmmakers and 10 more from Indiana & Ohio. The latest press release from the festival follows below. Gritty crime dramas, quirky love stories, clay-mation sci-fi and stirring documentaries are just some of the themes being offered from films by Kentucky filmmakers at this year’s Derby […]
Nominations for the 83rd Academy Awards were announced today (Tuesday, January 25) by Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Tom Sherak and 2009 Oscar® winner Mo’Nique. “The King’s Speech,” emerged the frontrunner with 12 nominations including best picture, best director and best actor. Nominations for the 83rd Academy Awards Performance by an actor in a leading role * Javier Bardem in “Biutiful” (Roadside Attractions) * Jeff Bridges in “True Grit” (Paramount) * Jesse […]