Tarf Media has acquired world sales rights excluding UK on romantic thriller White Widow, a debut feature from UK filmmaker Henry Mason.
Tarf will launch sales on the film at Cannes this week, with Yet Another Distribution Company representing UK sales rights.
Shot on location in London and Tanzania, White Widow follows a young man travelling home to Ireland to confront his dying father, when he meets a young American running from her recent past in Africa.
Written by Thomas Martin, the film is produced by established theatre producer Oliver Royds for his Bos Productions and Henry R. Swindell. Executive...
Tarf will launch sales on the film at Cannes this week, with Yet Another Distribution Company representing UK sales rights.
Shot on location in London and Tanzania, White Widow follows a young man travelling home to Ireland to confront his dying father, when he meets a young American running from her recent past in Africa.
Written by Thomas Martin, the film is produced by established theatre producer Oliver Royds for his Bos Productions and Henry R. Swindell. Executive...
- 5/13/2024
- ScreenDaily
The distributor has picked up Us, Latin American, Scandinavian, Benelux and Eastern Europen rights ahead of a December start on the family film starring Dan Stevens (pictured), Christopher Plummer and Jonathan Pryce.
Bleecker Street anticipates a 2017 holiday season release. The Solution Entertainment Group represents international sales on behalf of producers Parallel Films and Rhombus Media.
Bharat Nalluri will direct the film, which takes place in October 1843 as down-at-heel Charles Dickens races to self-publish A Christmas Carol, the celebrated fable that will change his fortunes and transform the perception of the holiday.
Stevens (pictured) will play Dickens, while Pryce will play his father, and Plummer will portray Scrooge. Susan Coyne adapted the screenplay from the novel of the same name by Les Standiford.
Robert Mickelson and Ian Sharples produce, while Paula Mazur, Mitchell Kaplan, Andrew Karpen and Vadim Jean are executive producers.
Kent Sanderson and Avy Eschenasy brokered the deal on behalf of Bleecker Street with CAA for the...
Bleecker Street anticipates a 2017 holiday season release. The Solution Entertainment Group represents international sales on behalf of producers Parallel Films and Rhombus Media.
Bharat Nalluri will direct the film, which takes place in October 1843 as down-at-heel Charles Dickens races to self-publish A Christmas Carol, the celebrated fable that will change his fortunes and transform the perception of the holiday.
Stevens (pictured) will play Dickens, while Pryce will play his father, and Plummer will portray Scrooge. Susan Coyne adapted the screenplay from the novel of the same name by Les Standiford.
Robert Mickelson and Ian Sharples produce, while Paula Mazur, Mitchell Kaplan, Andrew Karpen and Vadim Jean are executive producers.
Kent Sanderson and Avy Eschenasy brokered the deal on behalf of Bleecker Street with CAA for the...
- 11/7/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
FilmRise has acquired all Us and Canadian rights to Vadim Jean’s Angola Three documentary, which Content Media represents for international sales at the market.
Content’s executive vice-president of sales and distribution Jonathan Ford negotiated the deal with FilmRise’s Max Einhorn.
Cruel And Unusual centres on the plight of Albert Woodfox, Herman Wallace and Robert King, who were released after decades in solitary confinement. The trio speak on film about their ordeal.
Ford launched sales at Afm and has introduced a promo. Jean produced with Paul Brooks, Ian Sharples and Claudia Morris. Executive producers are Scott Niemeyer, Norm Wait and David Abraham.
Content’s Afm slate includes comedy An Actor Prepares with Jeremy Irons and Jack Huston; documentary Beside Bowie: The Mick Ronson Story; and Dan Bush’s supernatural heist thriller The Vault starring James Franco, Francesca Eastwoord, Taryn Manning and Scott Haze.
Content’s executive vice-president of sales and distribution Jonathan Ford negotiated the deal with FilmRise’s Max Einhorn.
Cruel And Unusual centres on the plight of Albert Woodfox, Herman Wallace and Robert King, who were released after decades in solitary confinement. The trio speak on film about their ordeal.
Ford launched sales at Afm and has introduced a promo. Jean produced with Paul Brooks, Ian Sharples and Claudia Morris. Executive producers are Scott Niemeyer, Norm Wait and David Abraham.
Content’s Afm slate includes comedy An Actor Prepares with Jeremy Irons and Jack Huston; documentary Beside Bowie: The Mick Ronson Story; and Dan Bush’s supernatural heist thriller The Vault starring James Franco, Francesca Eastwoord, Taryn Manning and Scott Haze.
- 11/4/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Ryan Lambie Jul 7, 2016
Marred by a troubled production, Event Horizon was a box office flop in 1997. But time has been kind to the sci-fi horror, Ryan writes...
In the spring of 1997, movie journalism was dominated by discussions of doomed ships. James Cameron’s Titanic, originally scheduled for the lucrative 4th July slot that summer, had suffered yet another delay. It added fuel to the growing speculation that Cameron was at the helm of a potential disaster akin to Heaven's Gate. The cost of making the movie had swollen to such huge levels - $200m according to some accounts, and possibly higher according to others - that the financial burden was shouldered by two of Hollywood’s biggest studios, Fox and Paramount.
Speaking to the La Times in April that year, Titanic’s first assistant director Sebastian Silva admitted that “The horror stories are true” - referring to the news of an unhappy cast and crew,...
Marred by a troubled production, Event Horizon was a box office flop in 1997. But time has been kind to the sci-fi horror, Ryan writes...
In the spring of 1997, movie journalism was dominated by discussions of doomed ships. James Cameron’s Titanic, originally scheduled for the lucrative 4th July slot that summer, had suffered yet another delay. It added fuel to the growing speculation that Cameron was at the helm of a potential disaster akin to Heaven's Gate. The cost of making the movie had swollen to such huge levels - $200m according to some accounts, and possibly higher according to others - that the financial burden was shouldered by two of Hollywood’s biggest studios, Fox and Paramount.
Speaking to the La Times in April that year, Titanic’s first assistant director Sebastian Silva admitted that “The horror stories are true” - referring to the news of an unhappy cast and crew,...
- 7/5/2016
- Den of Geek
A good cast led by Kelsey Grammer lifts this comedy about banking, as an old-fashioned British firm falls foul of a shark-like Us investor, out of the doldrums
Like The Big Short earlier this year, this feature by the British director Vadim Jean (best known for his debut, Leon the Pig Farmer) attempts to generate comedy from the banking world and the ethically questionable people who run it – not a subject that would lend itself to hilarity, you would think. This crack at the subject is fluffier, more traditionally sitcom-like than Adam McKay’s docu-comedy about the 2009 savings and loan meltdown, but it’s diverting enough to pass muster, thanks to a seasoned cast. Kelsey Grammer plays bumbler Charles Bunbury who’s been running Tuftons, an investment bank that’s been in the family of his wife, Penelope (Tamsin Greig), for years. Charles is no match for the coup plotted...
Like The Big Short earlier this year, this feature by the British director Vadim Jean (best known for his debut, Leon the Pig Farmer) attempts to generate comedy from the banking world and the ethically questionable people who run it – not a subject that would lend itself to hilarity, you would think. This crack at the subject is fluffier, more traditionally sitcom-like than Adam McKay’s docu-comedy about the 2009 savings and loan meltdown, but it’s diverting enough to pass muster, thanks to a seasoned cast. Kelsey Grammer plays bumbler Charles Bunbury who’s been running Tuftons, an investment bank that’s been in the family of his wife, Penelope (Tamsin Greig), for years. Charles is no match for the coup plotted...
- 6/2/2016
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Guardian - Film News
Ron Moody in Mel Brooks' 'The Twelve Chairs.' The 'Doctor Who' that never was. Ron Moody: 'Doctor Who' was biggest professional regret (See previous post: "Ron Moody: From Charles Dickens to Walt Disney – But No Harry Potter.") Ron Moody was featured in about 50 television productions, both in the U.K. and the U.S., from the late 1950s to 2012. These included guest roles in the series The Avengers, Gunsmoke, Starsky and Hutch, Hart to Hart, and Murder She Wrote, in addition to leads in the short-lived U.S. sitcom Nobody's Perfect (1980), starring Moody as a Scotland Yard detective transferred to the San Francisco Police Department, and in the British fantasy Into the Labyrinth (1981), with Moody as the noble sorcerer Rothgo. Throughout the decades, he could also be spotted in several TV movies, among them:[1] David Copperfield (1969). As Uriah Heep in this disappointing all-star showcase distributed theatrically in some countries.
- 6/19/2015
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The halls are starting to hum softly here in Berlin as the European Film Market swings into gear. The first deals were announced yesterday before the event officially opened, with The Weinstein Co notably boarding Im Global’s The Man Who Made It Snow. This morning, FilmNation unveiled a series of offshore output deals for titles from Open Road, which will kick off with the Jamie Foxx/Michelle Monaghan-starrer Sleepless Nights.
Though it’s not likely to be a frenzy, and with currency concerns in the market internationally, Berlin should see more action in the coming days. Distributors are looking for product for 2016 and beyond, and some memorable buys have emerged here in recent years. In 2014, The Weinstein Company made a record-setting $7M deal for The Imitation Game which has now made about $140M worldwide and has an armful of Oscar nominations to boot.
Much of the pre-buy buzz...
Though it’s not likely to be a frenzy, and with currency concerns in the market internationally, Berlin should see more action in the coming days. Distributors are looking for product for 2016 and beyond, and some memorable buys have emerged here in recent years. In 2014, The Weinstein Company made a record-setting $7M deal for The Imitation Game which has now made about $140M worldwide and has an armful of Oscar nominations to boot.
Much of the pre-buy buzz...
- 2/6/2015
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline
Stanley Tucci hasn’t written and directed a film since 2007’s Blind Date, as the acting side of his career has kept him busy. But he’s headed back behind the camera for a drama called Final Portrait. And Tucci has hired Geoffrey Rush to star.Tucci is once more pulling double duty for the film, which will chronicle the friendship between American art critic James Lord who agrees to sit for a portrait by his friend, noted Swiss painter Alberto Giacometti. Unfortunately, though the two knew each other socially, Lord wasn’t quite prepared for the demanding nature of the artist at work and the experience tests their relationship to the limit.The script has been adapted from Lord’s writing on the experience, A Giacometti Portrait, and Tucci’s producers will be busy rustling up distributors at the Berlin International Film Festival this week. Rush is, as ever,...
- 2/2/2015
- EmpireOnline
Exclusive: Brian O’Shea and his team head to Berlin with world sales rights to Vadim Jean’s caper staring Kelsey Grammer.
Tamsin Greig and John Michael Higgins also star in the story of the bumbling head of a private bank who tries to save the institution after a rogue trader almost ruins him.
Roger Devlin wrote the screenplay to Breaking The Bank and the producer is Jake Seal of Black Hangar Studios.
The film premiered at the Dubai International Film Festival in December.
The Efm kicks off in Berlin on February 5.
Tamsin Greig and John Michael Higgins also star in the story of the bumbling head of a private bank who tries to save the institution after a rogue trader almost ruins him.
Roger Devlin wrote the screenplay to Breaking The Bank and the producer is Jake Seal of Black Hangar Studios.
The film premiered at the Dubai International Film Festival in December.
The Efm kicks off in Berlin on February 5.
- 2/1/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Geoffrey Rush is set to play composer and lyricist Lionel Bart for the musical feature "Consider Yourself" at BBC Films. Bart wrote the score for "Oliver!," the legendary musical adaptation of Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist".
Bart was an untrained musician who couldn’t read or write music and yet became the first person to have three West End musicals running and at one point was earning more in song royalties than the Beatles. Even so, he still managed to lose it all.
Vadim Jean directs the project which boasts a superb British cast including Stephen Fry, Olivia Colman, Eddie Marsan, Matt Lucas, Michelle Dockery and Al Weaver. Award-winning composer Elliot Davis penned the script while Jean and Paul Brooks are producing.
Source: Deadline...
Bart was an untrained musician who couldn’t read or write music and yet became the first person to have three West End musicals running and at one point was earning more in song royalties than the Beatles. Even so, he still managed to lose it all.
Vadim Jean directs the project which boasts a superb British cast including Stephen Fry, Olivia Colman, Eddie Marsan, Matt Lucas, Michelle Dockery and Al Weaver. Award-winning composer Elliot Davis penned the script while Jean and Paul Brooks are producing.
Source: Deadline...
- 1/29/2015
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
• Penelope Cruz and Diane Kruger are in final negotiations for This Man, This Woman. Isabel Coixet is directing from a script by Frederic Raphael. The story follows Matt Heller and Martha Parks (Cruz), a former romantic item who look back on their roller coaster past when they run into each other on a plane. Kruger takes the role of a talk show host, Kirsty Sachs, who has an affair with Heller, and alters his relationship with Parks as a result. [Deadline] • Geoffrey Rush will star as Lionel Bart in Vadim Jean's musical feature, Consider Yourself. Bart was a composer and...
- 1/29/2015
- by C. Molly Smith
- EW - Inside Movies
The developing Oliver Twist film has nothing to do with the famous musical, but those with a love for its show tunes can take heart. Director Vadim Jean is preparing a musical biopic of Oliver!'s composer and lyricist Lionel Bart. Geoffrey Rush has just signed on to play Bart in Consider Yourself, and he'll be joined in the cast by Stephen Fry, Olivia Colman, Eddie Marsan, Matt Lucas and Michelle Dockery. Al Weaver will play Bart / Rush as a younger man.Bart's is a rags-to-riches-to-rags story, more or less. From inauspicious beginnings in Stepney, he became one of the most successful songwriters in Britain, despite no formal musical training. Starting out writing pop hits (Cliff Richard's Living Doll was one of Bart's) he eventually moved on to musical theatre, and became the first person ever to have three West End productions running at the same time. Later productions like Twang!
- 1/29/2015
- EmpireOnline
Exclusive: Geoffrey Rush (The King’s Speech) will play composer-lyricist Lionel Bart, who famously wrote the score for Oliver!, in Vadim Jean’s musical feature Consider Yourself. Joining Rush is a stellar cast including Stephen Fry (Sherlock Holmes), Olivia Colman (Broadchurch), Eddie Marsan (Snow White And The Huntsman), Matt Lucas (Alice In Wonderland), Michelle Dockery (Downton Abbey) and Al Weaver (Marie Antoinette) as the younger Bart.
Consider Yourself (the title comes from one of the best-known songs from Oliver!, Bart’s musical adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist) tells the story of an untrained musician who couldn’t read or write music and yet became the first person to have three West End musicals running. At one point in the early 1960’s, Bart was earning more in song royalties than the Beatles — and still managed to lose it all. The film charts his rise and fall, using Bart’s catalogue of songs,...
Consider Yourself (the title comes from one of the best-known songs from Oliver!, Bart’s musical adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist) tells the story of an untrained musician who couldn’t read or write music and yet became the first person to have three West End musicals running. At one point in the early 1960’s, Bart was earning more in song royalties than the Beatles — and still managed to lose it all. The film charts his rise and fall, using Bart’s catalogue of songs,...
- 1/28/2015
- by Ali Jaafar
- Deadline
Vic Bateman, one of the UK’s longest serving international sales agents who handled films including The Deer Hunter and The Elephant Man, has died.
Tributes have been paid to Victor ‘Vic’ Bateman, the co-founder and vice chairman of London-based sales company Av Pictures, has died. He was 72.
Bateman’s career in film spanned more than 40 years. He began in the contract administration department of British Lion in 1961, where he developed detailed knowledge of the commercial, financial and legal terms governing distribution arrangements on a global basis. In the early 1970’s Vic was promoted to the international sales division of what was by then Emi Films.
Over the years, Bateman achieved notable sales successes and established his reputation with film buyers worldwide, handling major films such as The Deer Hunter, The Elephant Man, A Passage to India, All of Me, Highlander, The Hitcher, Death on the Nile, Murder on the Orient Express, The Last Emperor and [link...
Tributes have been paid to Victor ‘Vic’ Bateman, the co-founder and vice chairman of London-based sales company Av Pictures, has died. He was 72.
Bateman’s career in film spanned more than 40 years. He began in the contract administration department of British Lion in 1961, where he developed detailed knowledge of the commercial, financial and legal terms governing distribution arrangements on a global basis. In the early 1970’s Vic was promoted to the international sales division of what was by then Emi Films.
Over the years, Bateman achieved notable sales successes and established his reputation with film buyers worldwide, handling major films such as The Deer Hunter, The Elephant Man, A Passage to India, All of Me, Highlander, The Hitcher, Death on the Nile, Murder on the Orient Express, The Last Emperor and [link...
- 6/5/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Vadim Jean directing British comedy with the Fraiser star.
Principal photography has begun in London on independent British comedy Breaking the Bank, starring Kelsey Grammer (Frasier, X-Men).
The film, which plays out against the backdrop of the financial crisis, is directed by Vadim Jean, best known for 1992 comedy Leon the Pig Farmer and fantasy TV movies Hogfather and The Colour of Magic. The script has been written by ex-banker Roger Devlin, who has also provided “substantial finance” to the project.
The story centres on Charles Bunbury (Grammer), the bumbling, affable chairman of 200- year-old bank, Tuftons. Discovering that a rogue trader has left the bank in serious financial trouble - with rival Us and Japanese banks circling - Charles needs to attempt to secure Tuftons future. The only problem is Charles knows nothing about banking.
The cast also includes Episodes star Tamsin Greig as Charles’ frustrated wife; Gavin & Stacey’s Mathew Horne as Charles’ right hand man...
Principal photography has begun in London on independent British comedy Breaking the Bank, starring Kelsey Grammer (Frasier, X-Men).
The film, which plays out against the backdrop of the financial crisis, is directed by Vadim Jean, best known for 1992 comedy Leon the Pig Farmer and fantasy TV movies Hogfather and The Colour of Magic. The script has been written by ex-banker Roger Devlin, who has also provided “substantial finance” to the project.
The story centres on Charles Bunbury (Grammer), the bumbling, affable chairman of 200- year-old bank, Tuftons. Discovering that a rogue trader has left the bank in serious financial trouble - with rival Us and Japanese banks circling - Charles needs to attempt to secure Tuftons future. The only problem is Charles knows nothing about banking.
The cast also includes Episodes star Tamsin Greig as Charles’ frustrated wife; Gavin & Stacey’s Mathew Horne as Charles’ right hand man...
- 4/4/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
We expect limited collector’s edition DVDs to become expensive collectables over time. But what about paying nearly $100 for a Corey Feldman movie...?
The maturity of the DVD market has meant that, inevitably, over the years, plenty of releases have been deleted. Most of the time, that’s that. The disc disappears, nobody notices, we all move on.
Sometimes, that’s part of the plan. Numbered limited editions, scarce boxsets, time limited releases… it’s all part of the game in making a DVD release feel collectable, and thus more valuable. They taunt us with the prospect of us getting rich by selling the film on for a massive profit many years down the line.
However, there’s emerging an unlikely collection of rare and surprisingly valuable DVDs, films that you might never expect to double their retail value. See if you’ve got any of these on your shelf…...
The maturity of the DVD market has meant that, inevitably, over the years, plenty of releases have been deleted. Most of the time, that’s that. The disc disappears, nobody notices, we all move on.
Sometimes, that’s part of the plan. Numbered limited editions, scarce boxsets, time limited releases… it’s all part of the game in making a DVD release feel collectable, and thus more valuable. They taunt us with the prospect of us getting rich by selling the film on for a massive profit many years down the line.
However, there’s emerging an unlikely collection of rare and surprisingly valuable DVDs, films that you might never expect to double their retail value. See if you’ve got any of these on your shelf…...
- 3/28/2012
- Den of Geek
If you live in New York City and you missed the 3 previous screenings of Raoul Peck’s latest offering, Moloch Tropical, well, you’ll get a 4th chance to see it! Come on folks – you have zero excuses now! I expect every (ok, maybe not every) New Yorker who reads this blog to have seen this film already, and if you haven’t, make an effort to see it when it screens this weekend, the 20th, as a selection of the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, which begins tomorrow, the 10th, and runs through the 24th of June.
There are a number of other films worth checking out, including: In the Land of the Free (a NY premiere), Vadim Jean’s documentary on the Angola 3, who were convicted of the murder of a prison guard (sans physical evidence and credible eyewitnesses), after they were targeted by prison officials for...
There are a number of other films worth checking out, including: In the Land of the Free (a NY premiere), Vadim Jean’s documentary on the Angola 3, who were convicted of the murder of a prison guard (sans physical evidence and credible eyewitnesses), after they were targeted by prison officials for...
- 6/9/2010
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
Lourdes (U)
(Jessica Hausner, 2009, Aus/Fra/Ger) Sylvie Testud, Léa Seydoux, Elina Löwensohn. 99 mins
Handsomely photographed and coolly observant, this excursion to the French pilgrimage town manages to be both a penetrating study of the spiritual tourism racket and a genuine mystical inquiry. Testud is our central pilgrim, paralysed from the neck down and, like many others, in search of a miracle. But unlike those others, she gets one. Or does she? We're given much to think about.
No One Knows About Persian Cats (12A)
(Bahman Ghobadi, 2009, Iran) Negar Shaghaghi, Ashkan Khoshanejad. 107 mins
A suitably guerrilla-style tour of Iran's underground (often literally) music scene – a place where even gentle indie rock is considered seditious. Mostly factual and shot illegally, it's eye (and ear)-opening stuff.
The Blind Side (12A)
(John Lee Hancock, 2009, Us) Sandra Bullock, Quinton Aaron. 128 mins
Bullock might have got her Oscar but that doesn't make it any...
(Jessica Hausner, 2009, Aus/Fra/Ger) Sylvie Testud, Léa Seydoux, Elina Löwensohn. 99 mins
Handsomely photographed and coolly observant, this excursion to the French pilgrimage town manages to be both a penetrating study of the spiritual tourism racket and a genuine mystical inquiry. Testud is our central pilgrim, paralysed from the neck down and, like many others, in search of a miracle. But unlike those others, she gets one. Or does she? We're given much to think about.
No One Knows About Persian Cats (12A)
(Bahman Ghobadi, 2009, Iran) Negar Shaghaghi, Ashkan Khoshanejad. 107 mins
A suitably guerrilla-style tour of Iran's underground (often literally) music scene – a place where even gentle indie rock is considered seditious. Mostly factual and shot illegally, it's eye (and ear)-opening stuff.
The Blind Side (12A)
(John Lee Hancock, 2009, Us) Sandra Bullock, Quinton Aaron. 128 mins
Bullock might have got her Oscar but that doesn't make it any...
- 3/27/2010
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
British composer David Buckley began his career by writing television music and jingles in his homeland before he was introduced to Harry Gregson-Williams. After working on some of the composer's most recent projects (from the Shrek sequels to Gone Baby Gone), David gained enough experience to write his own full-length film scores. His most visible credits up to now include Joel Schumacher's Town Creek and The Forbidden Kingdom - the movie that united martial arts superstars Jackie Chan and Jet Li. His latest movie entitled From Paris With Love once again teams up a mismatched couple - now in the form of Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and John Travolta, who play characters getting on like a house on fire. Based on a story by Luc Besson, the French action picture gave its composer an opportunity to provide a high-energy, percussive score which is counterpointed by sensuous songs on the soundtrack. We...
- 3/26/2010
- Daily Film Music Blog
This hard-hitting documentary about the plight of the Angola 3 exposes the appalling conditions in American prisons, writes Xan Brooks
The Angola 3 are a trio of onetime Black Panthers who have spent the bulk of their life in solitary confinement, deep within the bowels of Louisiana's state penitentiary, aka the Farm. Now along comes Vadim Jean's crusading polemic, lobbying for the release of the two who remain behind bars and lifting the lid on all manner of institutionalised American madness. The judge is a racist and the chief eyewitness is legally blind, and out in the prison yard the convicts are thrown to the bulls for the entertainment of a paying public. Errol Morris's The Thin Blue Line was sharper, tougher, more in command of its brief. But this, in its way, is just as horrific.
Rating: 3/5
DocumentaryCriminal justiceXan Brooks
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of...
The Angola 3 are a trio of onetime Black Panthers who have spent the bulk of their life in solitary confinement, deep within the bowels of Louisiana's state penitentiary, aka the Farm. Now along comes Vadim Jean's crusading polemic, lobbying for the release of the two who remain behind bars and lifting the lid on all manner of institutionalised American madness. The judge is a racist and the chief eyewitness is legally blind, and out in the prison yard the convicts are thrown to the bulls for the entertainment of a paying public. Errol Morris's The Thin Blue Line was sharper, tougher, more in command of its brief. But this, in its way, is just as horrific.
Rating: 3/5
DocumentaryCriminal justiceXan Brooks
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of...
- 3/25/2010
- by Xan Brooks
- The Guardian - Film News
This week's podcast ventures into criminal underworlds both real and imaginary, as we take you from Louisiana's notorious Angola prison – possibly the scene of a horrific miscarriage of justice – explored In the Land of the Free, to the violent back streets of Dublin in Perrier's Bounty.
Director Vadim Jean comes into the studio to discuss his latest film, the documentary In the Land of the Free. Best known as the director of the 1993 comedy, Leon the Pig Farmer, Jean makes no apology for what some have called his hodge-podge career, and explains how his passion for telling a story has lead him to tackle widely different subjects. In this compelling film, Samuel L Jackson narrates the story of the Angola 3 about three men who, possibly as a result of connections to the Black Panther party, have spent a combined total of a century in solitary confinement for crimes they insist they did not commit.
Director Vadim Jean comes into the studio to discuss his latest film, the documentary In the Land of the Free. Best known as the director of the 1993 comedy, Leon the Pig Farmer, Jean makes no apology for what some have called his hodge-podge career, and explains how his passion for telling a story has lead him to tackle widely different subjects. In this compelling film, Samuel L Jackson narrates the story of the Angola 3 about three men who, possibly as a result of connections to the Black Panther party, have spent a combined total of a century in solitary confinement for crimes they insist they did not commit.
- 3/25/2010
- by Jason Solomons, Kate Taylor, Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
This is the review for In The Land Of The Free (directed by Vadim Jean and narrated by Samuel L. Jackson). Herman Wallace, Albert Woodfox and Robert King were strangers when jailed in the 1970s. A conviction for the murder of a prison guard and decades in solitary confinement now unite them as The Angola Three. King, released in 2001, spent 31 years in Louisiana State Penitentiary (also known as Angola) while Wallace and Woodfox remain there after 37. This documentary attempts to expose their continued mistreatment as a violation of their rights and a miscarriage of justice. It is clearly a labour of love and the film’s dedication to Anita Roddick hints at the philanthropy and moral action at its heart. Looking afresh in 2010, the situation that director Vadim Jean paints is staggeringly straightforward. These men should not be in jail. Decades of prejudice, discrimination and corruption driven by institutional racism...
- 3/20/2010
- by Joe Fraser
- Pure Movies
Gerard Butler will reportedly bare all in an upcoming film. The Law Abiding Citizen star has been lined up to portray Scottish poet and lyricist Robert Burns in a racy new movie directed by Vadim Jean. Speaking to the Sunday Mail, Jean said: "Gerard and I are both totally committed to the film. There's plenty of sex and nude scenes in it. "[Burns] was a notorious rake of (more)...
- 1/25/2010
- by By Marcell Minaya
- Digital Spy
It would be really easy to bash The Color of Magic (or The Colour of Magic, in its original spelling) for trying to be a cheaper version of Stardust or even Lord of the Rings – but that would be unfair. Those films (books, etc.) may form the foundation of the genre and the standard against which others are measured, but they’re really only relevant when a film is actually trying to mimic them. The Color of Magic isn’t in their tradition. Instead, The Color of Magic is best compared to the made-for-television mini-series The 10th Kingdom, a fairytale romp as humorous as it was flawed. Celebrated fantasy author Terry Pratchett’s novels received a decent made-for-television film adaptation in The Color of Magic, but even when measured against a lower standard like The 10th Kingdom, it falters and eventually fails.
Brian Cox’s less than iconic voice narrates...
Brian Cox’s less than iconic voice narrates...
- 7/25/2009
- by Lex Walker
- JustPressPlay.net
Poor Scotland -- it seems only if you have Mel Gibson or Liam Neeson in a kilt can you get one of your native heroes onscreen. Not that Gerard Butler hasn't tried. He's long cherished plans of starring in a biopic of Scottish poet Robert Burns. The problem has always been one of financing -- even after 300, Butler wasn't able to convince anyone to fund the film, apparently due to a combination of no one outside of Scotland remembering or caring who Robert Burns was, and no one quite knowing who this "Gerard Butler guy" was. (I imagine Scottish heroes are probably easier to market to overseas audiences if they're wielding massive claymores instead of pens.)
That may soon change. According to The Times, Butler hopes to get his chance in 2009. Vadim Jean is attached to direct, and James Cosmo is set to produce. (Presumably, Butler might as well since...
That may soon change. According to The Times, Butler hopes to get his chance in 2009. Vadim Jean is attached to direct, and James Cosmo is set to produce. (Presumably, Butler might as well since...
- 1/26/2009
- by Elisabeth Rappe
- Cinematical
"300" star Gerard Butler is set to play the Scottish poet Robert Burns in an upcoming biopic. He will be starring alongside Julia Stiles in the Vadim Jean directed film.
According to The Times, the movie has been given a budget of 5 million pounds, or approximately million. The project has been given a go after a government-backed campaign was able to raise funds.
The film will detail the poet's love affairs with his wife Jean Armour and society hostess Agnes "Clarinda" McLehose.
Butler, who was born in Glasgow, admits he is delighted to play the part of his country's national figure.
According to The Times, the movie has been given a budget of 5 million pounds, or approximately million. The project has been given a go after a government-backed campaign was able to raise funds.
The film will detail the poet's love affairs with his wife Jean Armour and society hostess Agnes "Clarinda" McLehose.
Butler, who was born in Glasgow, admits he is delighted to play the part of his country's national figure.
- 1/26/2009
- icelebz.com
RHI Entertainment, the Mob Film Co. and Sky One have teamed for "The Colour of Magic", a miniseries based on Terry Pratchett's fantasy novel to star Sean Astin, Tim Curry, Christopher Lee and David Jason.
The live-action/CGI project, a follow-up to the trio's successful adaptation of Pratchett's "Hogfather" as a miniseries last year, was written by Vadim Jean ("Hogfather"), who also is directing.
Beyond its 2008 premiere on Sky One, RHI is looking to distribute "Magic" as a theatrical movie in some territories.
RHI recently set up "Hogfather" for a U.S. debut on Ion Television as part of the RHI Movie Weekend franchise. There is no U.S. outlet yet for "Magic".
"Magic" is the first novel in Pratchett's series of novels set in Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants. It follows Discworld's first-ever tourist, Twoflower (Astin); the inept wizard Rincewind (Jason); and their scheming nemesis Trymon (Curry).
Lee will voice Death, a prominent character in the novels.
" 'Hogfather' was an unparalleled success in every way we could have imagined, which makes it even more exciting to see that with this unbelievable cast already on board, 'The Colour of Magic' is set to go even further beyond our expectations," said Richard Woolfe, director of programs at Sky One, Two and Three.
The live-action/CGI project, a follow-up to the trio's successful adaptation of Pratchett's "Hogfather" as a miniseries last year, was written by Vadim Jean ("Hogfather"), who also is directing.
Beyond its 2008 premiere on Sky One, RHI is looking to distribute "Magic" as a theatrical movie in some territories.
RHI recently set up "Hogfather" for a U.S. debut on Ion Television as part of the RHI Movie Weekend franchise. There is no U.S. outlet yet for "Magic".
"Magic" is the first novel in Pratchett's series of novels set in Discworld, a flat world balanced on the backs of four elephants. It follows Discworld's first-ever tourist, Twoflower (Astin); the inept wizard Rincewind (Jason); and their scheming nemesis Trymon (Curry).
Lee will voice Death, a prominent character in the novels.
" 'Hogfather' was an unparalleled success in every way we could have imagined, which makes it even more exciting to see that with this unbelievable cast already on board, 'The Colour of Magic' is set to go even further beyond our expectations," said Richard Woolfe, director of programs at Sky One, Two and Three.
- 7/31/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Screened at the Toronto International Film Festival
TORONTO -- It's not every year that the Toronto International Film Festival finds a closer as ideally suited as Martin Short's Jiminy Glick in LalaWood.
Not only is the comedy crammed with celebrity appearances (just like the festival itself), but a number of them were captured on camera doing the red-carpet thing at last year's event.
While giving Short's fawning, Skip E. Lowe-inspired interviewer the feature-length treatment comes with the hit-and-miss baggage often associated with big-screen extensions of small-screen concepts, whenever the heavily improvised picture hits its mark, it often does so with potent comic accuracy.
The whole package may not be as tidy as Christopher Guest's satiric gems, but Short, drawing heavily on the spirit of his SCTV/Saturday Night Live past, keeps the chuckles coming.
After a brief prologue introduci ng unofficial narrator David Lynch (at least, Short doing a savagely dead-on impersonation), Glick leaves his Butte, Mont., base for the glitzy Toronto festival, accompanied by his wife, Dixie (Jan Hooks), and equally rotund twin sons Modine and Matthew. He and Dixie were big fans of Birdy.
Although the festival's got more celebs than you can shake a microphone at, including Sharon Stone, Whoopi Goldberg, Kevin Kline and Kiefer Sutherland, Jiminy ends up in the company of the sexy but alcoholic movie star Miranda Coolidge (Elizabeth Perkins) and her Eurotrash boyfriend, the language-mangling Andre Devine (Guest regular John Michael Higgins).
But things quickly turn positively Lynchian as Glick finds himself traveling down his very own Lost Highway, waking up in bed (or does he?) beside a dead Coolidge (or is she?) after spending a drunken night rapping in a Canadian hip-hop club called Pimps and Hosers.
Using an outline of a script as their jump-off point, Short and longtime collaborators Michael Short and Paul Flaherty, along with director Vadim Jean, deliberately keep everything loose and flexible, allowing the extensive improv to take it from there.
Of course, it's not all comic gold -- things have a habit of drifting too easily into bodily function territory -- but when Jiminy actually gets around to going one-on-one with his interview subjects, including Kurt Russell and specifically Steve Martin, the movie hits pay dirt.
And while it packs plenty of universal appeal, Jiminy Glick in Lalawood remains the quintessential Toronto movie. As personified by Glick and Lynch, the festival has earned a reputation for its enviable ability to seamlessly blend blatant star worship with artier cinematic aspirations.
TORONTO -- It's not every year that the Toronto International Film Festival finds a closer as ideally suited as Martin Short's Jiminy Glick in LalaWood.
Not only is the comedy crammed with celebrity appearances (just like the festival itself), but a number of them were captured on camera doing the red-carpet thing at last year's event.
While giving Short's fawning, Skip E. Lowe-inspired interviewer the feature-length treatment comes with the hit-and-miss baggage often associated with big-screen extensions of small-screen concepts, whenever the heavily improvised picture hits its mark, it often does so with potent comic accuracy.
The whole package may not be as tidy as Christopher Guest's satiric gems, but Short, drawing heavily on the spirit of his SCTV/Saturday Night Live past, keeps the chuckles coming.
After a brief prologue introduci ng unofficial narrator David Lynch (at least, Short doing a savagely dead-on impersonation), Glick leaves his Butte, Mont., base for the glitzy Toronto festival, accompanied by his wife, Dixie (Jan Hooks), and equally rotund twin sons Modine and Matthew. He and Dixie were big fans of Birdy.
Although the festival's got more celebs than you can shake a microphone at, including Sharon Stone, Whoopi Goldberg, Kevin Kline and Kiefer Sutherland, Jiminy ends up in the company of the sexy but alcoholic movie star Miranda Coolidge (Elizabeth Perkins) and her Eurotrash boyfriend, the language-mangling Andre Devine (Guest regular John Michael Higgins).
But things quickly turn positively Lynchian as Glick finds himself traveling down his very own Lost Highway, waking up in bed (or does he?) beside a dead Coolidge (or is she?) after spending a drunken night rapping in a Canadian hip-hop club called Pimps and Hosers.
Using an outline of a script as their jump-off point, Short and longtime collaborators Michael Short and Paul Flaherty, along with director Vadim Jean, deliberately keep everything loose and flexible, allowing the extensive improv to take it from there.
Of course, it's not all comic gold -- things have a habit of drifting too easily into bodily function territory -- but when Jiminy actually gets around to going one-on-one with his interview subjects, including Kurt Russell and specifically Steve Martin, the movie hits pay dirt.
And while it packs plenty of universal appeal, Jiminy Glick in Lalawood remains the quintessential Toronto movie. As personified by Glick and Lynch, the festival has earned a reputation for its enviable ability to seamlessly blend blatant star worship with artier cinematic aspirations.
- 9/20/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
TORONTO -- Guaranteeing strong star wattage this year, the Toronto International Film Festival said Tuesday that the festival will feature world premieres for David O. Russell's I Heart Huckabees, Bill Condon's Kinsey, Dan Harris' Imaginary Heroes and Vadim Jean's Jiminy Glick in Lalawood, which was chosen for the closing-night gala. The 29th Toronto International Film Festival is set to run Sept. 9-18. Other Hollywood draws this year include world premieres for Paul Haggis' Crash, John Duigan's Head in the Clouds, Frank Flowers' Haven, Alexander Payne's Sideways and James Toback's When Will I Be Loved, as well as a North American premiere for Niels Mueller's The Assassination of Richard Nixon, which bowed at the Festival de Cannes.
- 8/11/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Fans of Scottish poet ROBERT BURNS are incensed he will be portrayed in a film by the American actor Johnny Depp. The role in the movie to be directed by Vadim Jean had been expected to go to Scottish actor EWAN MCCGREGOR. But Scottish producer James Cosmo picked Sleepy Hollow (1999) star Depp to maximise the film's worldwide box-office appeal. Mr Cosmo says, "The poetry of Burns has an international resonance and this is by no means a small film. We need a guy who is hugely charismatic, as Burns was."...
- 3/27/2000
- WENN
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