Joaquin Phoenix’s apparent mission to work with all the best contemporary independent filmmakers is about to continue. Following his highly acclaimed Ari Aster collaboration “Beau Is Afraid,” the Oscar winner is teaming up with Todd Haynes on a new original love story.
Speaking to IndieWire’s Eric Kohn during a conversation at the American Pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival, Haynes teased that he is plotting a variety of upcoming projects in the film and television spaces. Notably, the auteur revealed that he and Phoenix co-developed a period gay romance with frequent Kelly Reichardt collaborator Jonathan Raymond that Haynes plans to shoot as his next film.
“All I can do is just keep hunkering down and committing to each project,” Haynes said when asked about the differences between working in film and television. “I have more features planned. I have also episodic projects coming that are planned, that are really exciting.
Speaking to IndieWire’s Eric Kohn during a conversation at the American Pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival, Haynes teased that he is plotting a variety of upcoming projects in the film and television spaces. Notably, the auteur revealed that he and Phoenix co-developed a period gay romance with frequent Kelly Reichardt collaborator Jonathan Raymond that Haynes plans to shoot as his next film.
“All I can do is just keep hunkering down and committing to each project,” Haynes said when asked about the differences between working in film and television. “I have more features planned. I have also episodic projects coming that are planned, that are really exciting.
- 5/22/2023
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
Aside from the warmer temps and the arrival of the big Summer blockbuster flix, the waning days of Spring also bring the conclusion of the school year for many students from public schools and colleges. So, how about a fairly somber film set in the world of academia? And to get more specific, perhaps a slice of life set in an art school, a place filled with folks working on projects for display from paint on canvas to hanging bits of string and fabric would “fit the bill”. Yes, that’s the setting for this character study about an artist that learns that much of the hard work of her creative life is focus, determination, and simply Showing Up.
The artist in question is Lizzy (Michelle Williams), who spends most of her time in the workshop space she’s set up in the garage of the house she’s renting.
The artist in question is Lizzy (Michelle Williams), who spends most of her time in the workshop space she’s set up in the garage of the house she’s renting.
- 4/28/2023
- by Jim Batts
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for the newly released “Showing Up,” directed by notable auteur director Kelly Reichhardt and featuring recent Oscar nominee Michelle Williams. Currently in theaters, since April 7th.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Michelle Williams is Lizzy, a masters degree level sculptor in an Oregon academic community setting. She is on the cusp of being recruited into the New York City art world, with an important gallery show coming up. But for the moment she lives a spartan life in an artist’s community, aided by her colleague and landlord Jo (Hong Chau), and her continued connection to her divorced parents Bill (Judd Hirsch) and Jean (Maryann Plunkett). When her brother Sean (John Magaro) has an episode related to his ongoing bi-polar disorder, Lizzy’s gallery show is heading towards disruption.
Click Here for a interview with co-writer/director Kelly Reichardt of “Showing Up” by Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Michelle Williams is Lizzy, a masters degree level sculptor in an Oregon academic community setting. She is on the cusp of being recruited into the New York City art world, with an important gallery show coming up. But for the moment she lives a spartan life in an artist’s community, aided by her colleague and landlord Jo (Hong Chau), and her continued connection to her divorced parents Bill (Judd Hirsch) and Jean (Maryann Plunkett). When her brother Sean (John Magaro) has an episode related to his ongoing bi-polar disorder, Lizzy’s gallery show is heading towards disruption.
Click Here for a interview with co-writer/director Kelly Reichardt of “Showing Up” by Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.
- 4/9/2023
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Art can be taken in (or, from a more mercenary point of view, consumed) as something abstract, enlightening, subtextual, subversive, thought-provoking, transcendental. The actual making of it, however, depends on a very specific inspiration-to-perspiration ratio. Showing Up is all about putting the work into artwork, what it takes to marshal the blood, sweat, and tears to produce something personally expressive and profoundly moving. Or even something pretentious and self-involved and elitist to a fault — those sculptures and paintings and, yes, motion pictures can’t all be masterpieces. Anything creative requires labor,...
- 4/7/2023
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
Showing Up contains many of the hallmarks of a classic Kelly Reichardt picture: a Pacific Northwest setting, a Jonathan Raymond co-writing credit, Christopher Blauvelt cinematography, a rich ensemble cast, and an unrivaled attention to locations, production design, and wardrobe. There’s also Michelle Williams appearing in her fourth Reichardt film, their collaboration having begun with 2008’s Wendy and Lucy.
In Showing Up, Williams is Lizzy, a talented sculptor who finds herself a bit worn down by the realities of modern life. By all accounts she has a decent day job––something she likely wouldn’t refute––working in the office of the liberal arts college she attended. Outside of offering her rent and cat food money, the position keeps Lizzy plugged into the local art scene and most importantly grants her free access to the campus kiln (operated by André Benjamin in a joyful role).
Outside of Williams, that aforementioned...
In Showing Up, Williams is Lizzy, a talented sculptor who finds herself a bit worn down by the realities of modern life. By all accounts she has a decent day job––something she likely wouldn’t refute––working in the office of the liberal arts college she attended. Outside of offering her rent and cat food money, the position keeps Lizzy plugged into the local art scene and most importantly grants her free access to the campus kiln (operated by André Benjamin in a joyful role).
Outside of Williams, that aforementioned...
- 4/6/2023
- by Caleb Hammond
- The Film Stage
Chicago – The acclaimed director Kelly Reichardt has been an influencer in cinema since her debut film “River of Grass” in 1994. Her multi-award winning films include “Wendy and Lucy” (2008), “Meek’s Cutoff” (2010) and “First Cow” (2019). Her most recent film, set to release April 7th, is “Showing Up.”
Long time Reichardt collaborator Michelle Williams portrays Lizzy, an academic sculptor artist in Oregon (where Reichardt sets her films) who is getting some recognition feelers from New York City. But for the moment she lives a spartan life in an artist’s community, aided by her colleague and landlord Jo (Hong Chau), and her continued connection to her divorced parents Bill (Judd Hirsch) and Jean (Maryann Plunkett). When her brother Sean (John Magaro) has an episode related to his ongoing bi-polar disorder, one of the Lizzy’s most important gallery shows is heading towards disruption.
Michelle Williams in ‘Showing Up,’ Co-Written/Directed by Kelly Reichardt...
Long time Reichardt collaborator Michelle Williams portrays Lizzy, an academic sculptor artist in Oregon (where Reichardt sets her films) who is getting some recognition feelers from New York City. But for the moment she lives a spartan life in an artist’s community, aided by her colleague and landlord Jo (Hong Chau), and her continued connection to her divorced parents Bill (Judd Hirsch) and Jean (Maryann Plunkett). When her brother Sean (John Magaro) has an episode related to his ongoing bi-polar disorder, one of the Lizzy’s most important gallery shows is heading towards disruption.
Michelle Williams in ‘Showing Up,’ Co-Written/Directed by Kelly Reichardt...
- 4/6/2023
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Creativity comes in fits and starts, but stagnation can often feel like death to someone whose livelihood survives on their art output. For some, art pays the bills, and when you’re not creating, it means the difference between heat in your house and eating ramen for dinner for the sixth night in a row. In A24‘s Showing Up trailer, Lizzy (Michelle Williams) is a sculptor preparing to open her new show, but she’ll have to manage her creative life and daily drama first.
Kelly Reichardt directs Showing Up from a script she co-wrote with Jonathan Raymond. The film presents a funny portrait of art and craft, with Lizzy’s family and friends adding to her stress, challenging her patience, and questioning every move she makes. Joining Williams for Reichardt’s dramatic comedy are Hong Chau, Andre Benjamin, Maryann Plunkett, John Magaro, James Le Gros, and Judd Hirsch.
Kelly Reichardt directs Showing Up from a script she co-wrote with Jonathan Raymond. The film presents a funny portrait of art and craft, with Lizzy’s family and friends adding to her stress, challenging her patience, and questioning every move she makes. Joining Williams for Reichardt’s dramatic comedy are Hong Chau, Andre Benjamin, Maryann Plunkett, John Magaro, James Le Gros, and Judd Hirsch.
- 12/16/2022
- by Steve Seigh
- JoBlo.com
Showing Up Trailer — Kelly Reichardt‘s Showing Up (2023) movie trailer has been released by A24. The Showing Up trailer stars Michelle Williams, Hong Chau, Maryann Plunkett, John Magaro, André Benjamin, James Le Gros, and Judd Hirsch. Crew Jonathan Raymond and Kelly Reichardt wrote the screenplay for Showing Up. “Produced by Neil Kopp, Vincent Savino, and Anish [...]
Continue reading: Showing Up (2023) Movie Trailer: Sculptor Michelle Williams tries to balance Her Creative Life, Family, & Friends...
Continue reading: Showing Up (2023) Movie Trailer: Sculptor Michelle Williams tries to balance Her Creative Life, Family, & Friends...
- 12/15/2022
- by Rollo Tomasi
- Film-Book
The title of "best Michelle Williams performance in recent years" is officially up for debate. This much, everyone can agree on: she absolutely dazzles in Steven Spielberg's autobiographical ode to cinema, "The Fablemans," stealing the show as the free-spirited mother who encourages Sammy's artistic sensibilities. But that just makes it all the more stunning to catch a glimpse of her in "Showing Up," where she plays a frazzled Portland sculptor whose professional and personal lives are crumbling around her. Based on early reviews out of Cannes and NYFF, this is yet another masterclass performance from Williams and another showcase for the talents of director Kelly Reichardt.
Given Reichardt's track record with contemplative dramas about the American working class, the premise of "Showing Up" should be no surprise. Per the synopsis, "A sculptor (Williams) preparing to open a new show must balance her creative life with the daily dramas of family and friends,...
Given Reichardt's track record with contemplative dramas about the American working class, the premise of "Showing Up" should be no surprise. Per the synopsis, "A sculptor (Williams) preparing to open a new show must balance her creative life with the daily dramas of family and friends,...
- 12/15/2022
- by Shania Russell
- Slash Film
On Thursday, A24 released the first official trailer for the upcoming drama film “Showing Up,” directed by “First Cow” filmmaker Kelly Reichardt, who also penned the script for the film alongside Jon Raymond.
The film follows an artist on the verge of a career-changing exhibition who finds inspiration in the chaos of life.
You can check out the trailer here:
It stars Michelle Williams (her fourth collaboration with Reichardt), Hong Chau, Judd Hirsch, Maryann Plunkett, John Magaro, Andre Benjamin, Heather Lawless, Amanda Plummer, Larry Fessenden, James Le Gros, and Izabel Mar.
The film was produced by Neil Kopp, Vincent Savino, and Anish Savjani under the production banner of FilmScience.
“Showing Up” is scheduled to be released in theatres by A24 in 2023.
The film follows an artist on the verge of a career-changing exhibition who finds inspiration in the chaos of life.
You can check out the trailer here:
It stars Michelle Williams (her fourth collaboration with Reichardt), Hong Chau, Judd Hirsch, Maryann Plunkett, John Magaro, Andre Benjamin, Heather Lawless, Amanda Plummer, Larry Fessenden, James Le Gros, and Izabel Mar.
The film was produced by Neil Kopp, Vincent Savino, and Anish Savjani under the production banner of FilmScience.
“Showing Up” is scheduled to be released in theatres by A24 in 2023.
- 12/15/2022
- by Caillou Pettis
- Gold Derby
Three years after dazzling audiences with the Oregon Trail period piece “First Cow,” Kelly Reichardt is returning to the state for another animal-centric film. “Showing Up,” Reichardt’s new film from A24, tells the story of a struggling Portland sculptor (Michelle Williams), who befriends a wounded pigeon while she prepares for a major art show as her professional and personal lives crumble around her.
“Showing Up” marks the fourth collaboration between Reichardt and Williams. They first worked together on “Wendy and Lucy,” the 2008 film about a homeless woman’s quest for a lost dog, which helped establish Reichardt as a major independent filmmaker. They collaborated again on Meek’s Cutoff, a 2010 period piece about the harsh conditions that Oregon settlers faced in the mid-1800s. Most recently, Williams starred alongside Kristen Stewart and Laura Dern in “Certain Women,” Reichardt’s innovative adaptation of three Maile Meloy short stories that followed...
“Showing Up” marks the fourth collaboration between Reichardt and Williams. They first worked together on “Wendy and Lucy,” the 2008 film about a homeless woman’s quest for a lost dog, which helped establish Reichardt as a major independent filmmaker. They collaborated again on Meek’s Cutoff, a 2010 period piece about the harsh conditions that Oregon settlers faced in the mid-1800s. Most recently, Williams starred alongside Kristen Stewart and Laura Dern in “Certain Women,” Reichardt’s innovative adaptation of three Maile Meloy short stories that followed...
- 12/15/2022
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
Showing Up (2022).Sometimes, nothing happens: nothing happens but waiting, saving and making do in the meantime. How do we make stories from these passages of time? Kelly Reichardt not only directs such stories but has also lived them—because sometimes, as a woman filmmaker, as many as twelve years pass by between making a first feature and making a second one. Between River of Grass (1994) and Old Joy (2006), Reichardt tried to make experimental films and turned to teaching. Since Old Joy, she has managed to make six features, most of which are shot in the Pacific Northwest and most of which focus, fittingly, on the day-to-day efforts of ordinary people—to fix their car, to find their dog or to find water, to make a living.Perhaps passages of time like that between River of Grass and Old Joy make a gatherer of the woman filmmaker. Speaking to critics and...
- 10/4/2022
- MUBI
"I won't get the time back," the artist laments. Alas, a day off from work should have been a sacred loss of productivity. But little worries slip through the cracks and nag at her.
In the hands of a less astute director, a portrait about a distressed artist — a sculptor in this case — may give into the worst impulses of indulgence or overexploitation. Luckily, director Kelly Reichardt never lets "Showing Up" (a simple and sparing screenplay by writer Jon Raymond) stumble into any of those pitfalls. It can be paired with "Tár" and "The Eternal Daughter," both (compelling) New York Film Festival selections that also focus on the tribulations of women nailed to their projects.
Though unlike Cate Blanchett's egomaniac conductor and Tilda Swinton's mournful screenwriter in these respective films, Michelle Williams' Portland sculptor in Reichardt's picture does not hail from a background of more lavish resources nor are her stakes as melodramatic.
In the hands of a less astute director, a portrait about a distressed artist — a sculptor in this case — may give into the worst impulses of indulgence or overexploitation. Luckily, director Kelly Reichardt never lets "Showing Up" (a simple and sparing screenplay by writer Jon Raymond) stumble into any of those pitfalls. It can be paired with "Tár" and "The Eternal Daughter," both (compelling) New York Film Festival selections that also focus on the tribulations of women nailed to their projects.
Though unlike Cate Blanchett's egomaniac conductor and Tilda Swinton's mournful screenwriter in these respective films, Michelle Williams' Portland sculptor in Reichardt's picture does not hail from a background of more lavish resources nor are her stakes as melodramatic.
- 10/4/2022
- by Caroline Cao
- Slash Film
There has been an outpouring of love for Kelly Reichardt as of late, with the “Showing Up” helmer awarded a Carrosse d’Or at Cannes – only the fourth woman to be honored this way – and now a Pardo d’Onore Manor at Locarno.
But it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for the U.S. director, described by the Swiss festival as a “committed, political and independent auteur.”
“Things have gotten easier over time,” Reichardt tells Variety ahead of the event, looking back on her 28-year career.
“I have done a lot of work in the last two decades and I work in a similar kind of mode and budget size. People are familiar with my producers and know them to be very reliable people. I’m not having to prove myself at every outing.”
Since her 1994 debut, “River of Grass,” Reichardt has been celebrated for intimate, simple stories. A...
But it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for the U.S. director, described by the Swiss festival as a “committed, political and independent auteur.”
“Things have gotten easier over time,” Reichardt tells Variety ahead of the event, looking back on her 28-year career.
“I have done a lot of work in the last two decades and I work in a similar kind of mode and budget size. People are familiar with my producers and know them to be very reliable people. I’m not having to prove myself at every outing.”
Since her 1994 debut, “River of Grass,” Reichardt has been celebrated for intimate, simple stories. A...
- 8/2/2022
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
First Cow, Kelly Reichardt’s latest foray into the northwest past, is a period piece set in 1820s Oregon Territory, where a couple of outcasts (John Magaro’s Cookie and Orion Lee’s King-Lu) embark on a picaresque financial venture involving a cow, stolen milk, and delicious pastries. Co-written with Jonathan Raymond and based on his novel The Half Life, it’s a zero-sum struggle between haves and have-nots that harkens back to what A.A. Dowd at the A.V. Club sees as “a national creation myth”—a film that’s concerned with tracing “the roots of our ballyhooed entrepreneurial spirit, and the harsh reality of how it often collides with established wealth.” Such roots, Karen Han contends at Polygon, draw from the American Dream itself, of which Reichardt’s film offers a small-scale rendition:The conversations the two men have about what they’re doing — the balance between risk and reward,...
- 7/24/2020
- MUBI
Starting with her debut River of Grass (1994), Kelly Reichardt managed to capture, using her unique and particular style of patience, the underlying issues of the U.S. identity, using non-flamboyant narratives of the quotidian to explore the inner and physical travels of the characters, on this long, exhausting journey known as capitalism.Her latest film, First Cow, is a slow-pace buddy anti-western in which two loner misfits (John Magaro and Orion Lee) and a cow (Eve) cross each other’s paths searching for a better life through milk theft and entrepreneurship in 18th century Oregon. This simple plot idea is the starting point for Reichardt, who makes use of her magnificent abilities—such as the sublime handling of arid comedy, her particular and empathetic sensibility, and her power to convert the most austere narrative, cinematographic or physical gesture into a blunt expression—to turn this almost anecdotal story of two...
- 3/12/2020
- MUBI
Kelly Reichardt’s signature minimalism permeates “First Cow,” a good-natured friendship tale — enmeshed with a subtle critique of capitalism — set in the mid-19th-century Oregon Territory. Based on Jonathan Raymond’s novel “The Half-Life,” the adaptation follows John Magaro’s recluse chef Cookie and Orion Lee’s immigrant runaway King Lu, two dreamers who launch a mischievously lucrative business, frying up biscuits made with milk stolen from the region’s first cow, owned by a wealthy Englishman.
Reichardt entrusted prior collaborators Dp Christopher Blauvelt and costume designer April Napier, to help deliver the film’s look. They drew inspiration from Reichardt’s references, such as “Ugetsu,” Kenji Mizoguchi’s mystery-drama about wartime profiteers, and “The Apu Trilogy,” Satyajit Ray’s coming-of-age classics.
The film shot in cold and wet terrain, but Blauvelt was well-equipped for the elements, having shot Reichardt’s other Pacific Northwest-based pictures, “Certain Women,” “Night Moves” and “Meek’s Cutoff.
Reichardt entrusted prior collaborators Dp Christopher Blauvelt and costume designer April Napier, to help deliver the film’s look. They drew inspiration from Reichardt’s references, such as “Ugetsu,” Kenji Mizoguchi’s mystery-drama about wartime profiteers, and “The Apu Trilogy,” Satyajit Ray’s coming-of-age classics.
The film shot in cold and wet terrain, but Blauvelt was well-equipped for the elements, having shot Reichardt’s other Pacific Northwest-based pictures, “Certain Women,” “Night Moves” and “Meek’s Cutoff.
- 3/11/2020
- by Tomris Laffly
- Variety Film + TV
Kelly Reichardt’s ability to capture the plight of everyday people is evident in works like Wendy and Lucy, Old Joy, and Certain Women, all of which perfectly capture the heightened feeling of isolation propelled by the modern world. Her brilliant observations on the ways in which we try to reach out to one another, and our desire to connect are at the center of a mid-career retrospective taking place at the Museum of Modern Art, where they are screening the six films she’s made since 1994. Reichardt is an American auteur in the tradition of mavericks like John Ford and John Cassavetes, who worked outside the system to make sure their visions were never compromised by studio interference.
In the two decades she’s been making films, Reichardt has also become an excellent chronicler of our times. Like the journals kept by the characters in Meek’s Cutoff, in...
In the two decades she’s been making films, Reichardt has also become an excellent chronicler of our times. Like the journals kept by the characters in Meek’s Cutoff, in...
- 9/19/2017
- by Jose Solís
- The Film Stage
Author: Andy Furlong
This week HeyUGuys sat down with acclaimed film director Kelly Reichardt at the BFI Southbank to discuss her latest film Certain Woman. Regarded by many critics as one of the seminal figures of the minimalist movement, Reichardt discusses the other films she has adapted such as Wendy and Lucy and OldJoy. She also talks about if she would ever consider transitioning to the medium of TV and how films can be interpreted and crafted in unpredictable ways.
Your films, I think, are often beautiful observations of characters and their stories. You have a unique way of making the audience wonder what a person is thinking or feeling deep underneath the surface, even when it is a character we glimpse briefly. That being said, Certain Women is adapted from Maile Meloy’s Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It, which is a collection of 11 stories in total.
This week HeyUGuys sat down with acclaimed film director Kelly Reichardt at the BFI Southbank to discuss her latest film Certain Woman. Regarded by many critics as one of the seminal figures of the minimalist movement, Reichardt discusses the other films she has adapted such as Wendy and Lucy and OldJoy. She also talks about if she would ever consider transitioning to the medium of TV and how films can be interpreted and crafted in unpredictable ways.
Your films, I think, are often beautiful observations of characters and their stories. You have a unique way of making the audience wonder what a person is thinking or feeling deep underneath the surface, even when it is a character we glimpse briefly. That being said, Certain Women is adapted from Maile Meloy’s Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It, which is a collection of 11 stories in total.
- 3/2/2017
- by Andy Furlong
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
In pacing, mood, and form, Certain Women is undoubtedly a Kelly Reichardt film (and we’re glad), but those who can make that distinction will be all the more likely to spot some incongruities. For one, it’s an omnibus film that takes the format and its possibilities very seriously, in turn giving its incidents an added tension – so it is when there’s simply less time to linger. It’s also set outside her beloved Oregon, a state she’s done more for than any working filmmaker, or perhaps just any filmmaker, period.
This became the crux of my interview with Reichardt, who I’d spoken to when her great (and perpetually under-appreciated) Night Moves opened in the spring of 2014. Now seated in a midtown hotel, we had a largely off-the-cuff conversation — short story: I wasn’t supposed to speak with her during the press day, so I just...
This became the crux of my interview with Reichardt, who I’d spoken to when her great (and perpetually under-appreciated) Night Moves opened in the spring of 2014. Now seated in a midtown hotel, we had a largely off-the-cuff conversation — short story: I wasn’t supposed to speak with her during the press day, so I just...
- 10/12/2016
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Mubi is showing Kelly Reichardt's newly restored debut River of Grass (1994) globally August 5 - September 3, 2016. In the United States and United Kingdom, more films by the director are also playing.“You meeting someone here tonight, Cozy?”“Nah, I just had the urge to get out.”“Yeah? I had the urge to drink. So it’s fate.”— Lee and Cozy, River of Grass “The wind’s not gonna be kind tonight.”— Solomon Tetherow, Meek’s Cutoff Kelly Reichardt’s is a cinema of misfits and margins. Of survival and getting by. In her debut feature, River of Grass (1994), a romantic naïf and her drifter boyfriend go on the run for a crime they’re convinced they’ve committed. In Old Joy (2006), a contentedly married man and soon-to-be father agrees to a road trip with an old pal, only to realize that the two are on divergent paths: the latter, frustrated by everyday pressures,...
- 8/11/2016
- MUBI
Exclusive: Todd Haynes, the toast of the Croisette following last night’s rousing reception for Carol, is angling to adapt Brian Selznick’s children’s book.
Screen understands that the director’s longtime collaborator Christine Vachon will produce Wonderstruck for Killer Films and the filmmakers are mulling over cast options.
Selznick, whose book The Invention Of Hugo Cabret inspired Martin Scorsese’s 2011 multiple Oscar winner Hugo, has adapted the story of two narratives set 50 years apart.
The book centres on two intertwining stories: one set in 1977 and told entirely in words as a boy pines for the father he never knew, while the other takes place half a century earlier and is told entirely in pictures about a girl who dreams of a mysterious actress.
One Los Angeles insider on the Croisette told Screen the script was “brilliant”.
At time of writing it was still early days and remained unclear when the project might come together. Haynes...
Screen understands that the director’s longtime collaborator Christine Vachon will produce Wonderstruck for Killer Films and the filmmakers are mulling over cast options.
Selznick, whose book The Invention Of Hugo Cabret inspired Martin Scorsese’s 2011 multiple Oscar winner Hugo, has adapted the story of two narratives set 50 years apart.
The book centres on two intertwining stories: one set in 1977 and told entirely in words as a boy pines for the father he never knew, while the other takes place half a century earlier and is told entirely in pictures about a girl who dreams of a mysterious actress.
One Los Angeles insider on the Croisette told Screen the script was “brilliant”.
At time of writing it was still early days and remained unclear when the project might come together. Haynes...
- 5/18/2015
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay) andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Kristen Stewart joins Untitled Kelly Reichardt Project (photo: Kristen Stewart in 'Clouds of Sils Maria') This news bit has been everywhere online, but just in case you've missed it: History-making César Award winner Kristen Stewart has joined three-time Oscar-nominee Michelle Williams and two-time Oscar nominee Laura Dern in an as yet untitled drama set in Montana and to be directed by Kelly Reichardt.* Deadline.com first broke the story last week (Feb. 27, 2015). If all goes as planned, Kristen Stewart will play Boise lawyer Beth, who, nervous after accepting a teaching position in a small Montana town, befriends a local woman, Jamie, auditing her class.† Kelly Reichardt's usual partners Neil Kopp and Anish Savjani are producing the project, which is supposed to consist of a series of vignettes based on short stories by Maile Meloy. Also in the cast: James Le Gros (Point Break), Jared Harris (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows...
- 3/4/2015
- by Zac Gille
- Alt Film Guide
Sundance Institute and The Royal Film Commission - Jordan announced the six projects selected for the 10th anniversary of the Rawi Screenwriters Lab, which took place October 28 to November 1 in Amman, Jordan. Created as a cornerstone of the Institute’s deep commitment to artists in the Middle East, the Lab has supported over seventy artists from more than a dozen countries.
The two first features produced from the inaugural 2005 Lab premiered at the Sundance Film Festival: "Pomegranates and Myrrh," written and directed by Najwa Najjar (Palestine) and "Amreeka," written and directed by Cherien Dabis (Palestine/Jordan/Us). Notable alums of the Lab also include Mohammed Al Daradji ( "Son of Babylon" ) and Sally El Hosaini ( "My Brother The Devil" ).
More recently, 2009 Rawi alumna Haifaa Al Mansour (Saudi Arabia) premiered her first feature "Wadjda" at the 2012 Venice Film Festival. It was soon acquired by Sony Pictures Classics and was distributed to critical and audience acclaim from around the world. "Wadjda" is the first feature film shot entirely in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the first ever by a Saudi female filmmaker.
The 10 th anniversary events in Amman included a panel on the craft of screenwriting led by Al Mansour, a public screening of "Zindeeq"by Lab Advisor Michel Khleifi, and a reception designed to connect local artists with filmmakers from across the region. Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute, said, “Stories told by independent artists, whether working in the U.S. or internationally, provide remarkable windows into other cultures, and deepen understanding. Ten years into our work in the Middle East, we look forward to continuing to give voice to artists in the region.”
Michelle Satter, Founding Director of the Feature Film Program, said, “We deeply value our collaboration with the Royal Film Commission as well as the artists we have supported in the Middle East over the past 10 years. The films that have emerged from the Lab have reflected upon many of the region’s important cultural and political moments over the past decade. I am proud to see the work of these artists enriching the broader culture with unique and impactful stories."
George David, General Manager of the Royal Film Commission, said,“We are proud of what this Lab has accomplished over the past ten years. It is safe to say that Rawi, with the support of the Sundance Institute has become a recognized contributor to the development of Arab feature films. Cinematic works, which were born in Rawi, have been featured in major films festivals and released in cinema screens globally, exposing our Arab culture and heritage to the world.”
Modeled on the Institute’s renowned Us-based Screenwriters Labs, the Rawi Screenwriters Lab provides an opportunity for filmmakers from the Middle East region to develop their work under the guidance of accomplished screenwriters in an environment that encourages storytelling at its highest level. The Lab is led by the Royal Film Commission of Jordan and managed by Deema Azar, in consultation with Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Program, under the direction of Founding Director Michelle Satter and International Director Paul Federbush.
The Creative Advisors this year included Pavel Jech (This Is Not An American Movie"), Rawi Screenwriting Lab alum Najwa Najjar ("Eyes Of A Thief" , "Pomegranates And Myrrh" ), Hanna Weg ( "Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet" ), Jon Raymond ( "Night Moves," "Wendy and Lucy" ), and Michel Khleifi ( "Zindeeq" ).
The six artists selected for the 2014 Rawi Screenwriters Lab include:
Shake
Writer and Director: Deema Dabis (Jordan)
Free-spirited Kareemah decides to leave her home in Los Angeles to pursue her lifelong dream when she accepts an offer to tour Palestine with an international circus troop. As she struggles to manage her insecurities as a first-time performer, she is continuously shaken up by the complexities of life in Palestine.
Dabis received an Mfa in Cinema from the Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts. From a young age she has always been in love with stories and believes fiercely that the power of creation and a new vision will not only bring healing and insight into our world but also has the potential to create alternative narratives and realities. She is working on a number of projects including her first short film The Sri Lankan , which received funding from the Jordan Film Fund.
Baghdad Perfume
Writer and Director: Roua Ahmad (Iraq)
The tale of a middle-class family and their struggles during the darkest period in Iraq between 2004 and 2006. As the occupation becomes more oppressive and water and electricity begin to run out, the family of three tries to stay together through kidnapping, illness, and the increasing danger of staying in Baghdad.
Ahmad was born on 1983 in Iraq. She received a certificate of participation from USC School of Cinematic Art and a Bachelor's degree in Computer Programming. She later got her Mfa in Directing and Editing from The Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts. Filmmaking has been her ambition since the age of 12. After graduation she worked as an editor and screenwriter for a television production company. Her short films include The Last Hour , and have been screened and nominated for awards in 12 film festivals around the world.
Killer of the Selawa
Writer and Director: Islam Azzazi (Egypt)
Co-Writer: Charles Akl (Egypt)
In the tense atmosphere following the revolution in Egypt, a man spends the night in a remote villa on the outskirts of Alexandria, trying to obtain a permit for his father’s weapons. After news spreads of a vicious, mythical beast in the area, the man finds himself caught up in a murderous accident.
Since his Dostoyevski inspired thesis project, Al-Kharaz (Beads) , Azzazi has directed and produced numerous Documentaries and short films. His documentaries include Wujouh Al-Fayoum (Fayoum Portraits) and Dominate Your Eyes. He has also produced and directed the short film Nahar we Leil (Day & Night), 2006. Azzazi has worked at El-Warsha Theatre Company where he coached actors and photographed theatrical productions. In 2007 he established a new production company Wika with three other filmmakers.
Charles Akl works as a writer, director, editor, art critic and photographer. After graduating from the University of Alexandria’s Faculty of Fine Arts in 2006, he has worked in several domains ranging from architecture design to writing and editing for several arts publications, including Magaz. Akl has also worked as the program coordinator at Al Mawred Al Thaqafy.
Tide
Writer and Director: Hussen Ibraheem (Lebanon)
A man and woman struggle in the aftermath of their son’s death. As the tide approaches their coastal home and they make their way by car to a relative’s house in the mountains, they must confront the tension the tragedy has created between them.
Ibraheem is an independent filmmaker, born in Beirut, Lebanon. After getting his BA in Architecture, Ibraheem followed his love for animation working as a freelance storyboard artist and character designer. Ibraheem was granted a scholarship from The Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts where he studied directing and cinematography. His second short film produced at Rsica, Typo, is currently touring 13 film festivals in Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece, USA, UK, and Italy.
The Golden Cap Club
Writer and Director: Merva Faddoul (Lebanon)
A young girl comes of age as the organized world of the adults crumbles during the invasion of Kuwait in the early 1990s. Determined to win a trip to Disneyland, she collects bottle caps in an attempt to find the ‘golden cap,’ as her family tries to distract her from the sudden challenges they face.
Faddoul is an award-winning writer and director. She recieved an Mfa in Film Production from the University of Southern California and a BA in Communications from the Lebanese American University. Her short films have won grants from National Geographic and the Doha Film Institute and they have screened at dozens of festivals worldwide including the Cannes Short Film Corner, Human Rights Nights (Italy), Doha-Tribeca Film Festival, and Tricycle Cinema in London. She is a member of the Writers Guild of America and the International Academy of WebTV.
Snow
Writer and Director: Omaima Hamouri (Palestine)
Eight year-old Dina believes that an old family curse is behind the conflict that arises each summer between her parents, and becomes convinced that snow is the only way to solve their problems. With the help of her grandmother, she resolves to delay her parents’ divorce until the first snowfall.
Hamouri was born in 1988 in Jerusalem. She received her bachelor degree in Mass Media from Al-Quds University, followed by an Mfa in Editing and Screenwriting from the Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts in Jordan. With a never-ending passion for telling human stories through film, Omaima is now working as an independent filmmaker.
The Sundance Institute Feature Film Program is supported by The Annenberg Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Rt Features, Time Warner Foundation, The Lincoln Motor Company, Red Crown Productions, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Hp, Steve Bing, Jeanne Donovan Fisher, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Microsoft, The Rockefeller Foundation, Nhk Enterprises, Inc., National Endowment for the Arts, 3311 Productions, The Ammon Foundation, Firestone / von Winterfeldt Family Fund, Ford Foundation, Philip Fung-A3 Foundation, SAGIndie, Grazka Taylor, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and The Ray and Dagmar Dolby Family Fund.
Sundance Institute Feature Film Program
Since its founding in 1981, the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program (Ffp) has supported an extensive list of ground-breaking independent films. Ffp films making their premieres this year include Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash (winner of the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival), Cutter Hodierne’s Fishing Without Nets (winner of the Directing Prize at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival), and Malik Vitthal’s Imperial Dreams (winner of the Best of Next Audience Award at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival). Additional notable films supported over the program’s history include Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station , Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox , Haifaa Al Mansour’s Wadjda , Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild , Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene , Dee Rees’ Pariah , Cary Fukunaga's Sin Nombre , Andrea Arnold's Red Road , Miranda July’s Me and You and Everyone We Know , Hany Abu-Assad’s Paradise Now , Josh Marston’s Maria Full of Grace , Peter Sollett’s Raising Victor Vargas , John Cameron Mitchell’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch , Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream , Kimberly Peirce’s Boys Don't Cry , Walter Salles’ Central Station , Chris Eyre and Sherman Alexie’s Smoke Signals , Allison Anders' Mi Vida Loca , Paul Thomas Anderson’s Hard Eight , and Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs .
undance.org/featurefilm
Sundance Institute Sundance Institute is a global nonprofit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981. Through its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, composers and playwrights, the Institute seeks to discover and support independent film and theatre artists from the United States and around the world, and to connect audiences to their work. The Institute promotes independent storytelling as art and as a compelling and powerful way to inform, inspire and unite people. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute has supported such projects as Beasts of the Southern Wild, Fruitvale Station, Sin Nombre, The Invisible War, The Square, Dirty Wars, Spring Awakening, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder and Fun Home. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook , Instagram,Twitter and YouTube.
The two first features produced from the inaugural 2005 Lab premiered at the Sundance Film Festival: "Pomegranates and Myrrh," written and directed by Najwa Najjar (Palestine) and "Amreeka," written and directed by Cherien Dabis (Palestine/Jordan/Us). Notable alums of the Lab also include Mohammed Al Daradji ( "Son of Babylon" ) and Sally El Hosaini ( "My Brother The Devil" ).
More recently, 2009 Rawi alumna Haifaa Al Mansour (Saudi Arabia) premiered her first feature "Wadjda" at the 2012 Venice Film Festival. It was soon acquired by Sony Pictures Classics and was distributed to critical and audience acclaim from around the world. "Wadjda" is the first feature film shot entirely in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the first ever by a Saudi female filmmaker.
The 10 th anniversary events in Amman included a panel on the craft of screenwriting led by Al Mansour, a public screening of "Zindeeq"by Lab Advisor Michel Khleifi, and a reception designed to connect local artists with filmmakers from across the region. Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute, said, “Stories told by independent artists, whether working in the U.S. or internationally, provide remarkable windows into other cultures, and deepen understanding. Ten years into our work in the Middle East, we look forward to continuing to give voice to artists in the region.”
Michelle Satter, Founding Director of the Feature Film Program, said, “We deeply value our collaboration with the Royal Film Commission as well as the artists we have supported in the Middle East over the past 10 years. The films that have emerged from the Lab have reflected upon many of the region’s important cultural and political moments over the past decade. I am proud to see the work of these artists enriching the broader culture with unique and impactful stories."
George David, General Manager of the Royal Film Commission, said,“We are proud of what this Lab has accomplished over the past ten years. It is safe to say that Rawi, with the support of the Sundance Institute has become a recognized contributor to the development of Arab feature films. Cinematic works, which were born in Rawi, have been featured in major films festivals and released in cinema screens globally, exposing our Arab culture and heritage to the world.”
Modeled on the Institute’s renowned Us-based Screenwriters Labs, the Rawi Screenwriters Lab provides an opportunity for filmmakers from the Middle East region to develop their work under the guidance of accomplished screenwriters in an environment that encourages storytelling at its highest level. The Lab is led by the Royal Film Commission of Jordan and managed by Deema Azar, in consultation with Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Program, under the direction of Founding Director Michelle Satter and International Director Paul Federbush.
The Creative Advisors this year included Pavel Jech (This Is Not An American Movie"), Rawi Screenwriting Lab alum Najwa Najjar ("Eyes Of A Thief" , "Pomegranates And Myrrh" ), Hanna Weg ( "Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet" ), Jon Raymond ( "Night Moves," "Wendy and Lucy" ), and Michel Khleifi ( "Zindeeq" ).
The six artists selected for the 2014 Rawi Screenwriters Lab include:
Shake
Writer and Director: Deema Dabis (Jordan)
Free-spirited Kareemah decides to leave her home in Los Angeles to pursue her lifelong dream when she accepts an offer to tour Palestine with an international circus troop. As she struggles to manage her insecurities as a first-time performer, she is continuously shaken up by the complexities of life in Palestine.
Dabis received an Mfa in Cinema from the Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts. From a young age she has always been in love with stories and believes fiercely that the power of creation and a new vision will not only bring healing and insight into our world but also has the potential to create alternative narratives and realities. She is working on a number of projects including her first short film The Sri Lankan , which received funding from the Jordan Film Fund.
Baghdad Perfume
Writer and Director: Roua Ahmad (Iraq)
The tale of a middle-class family and their struggles during the darkest period in Iraq between 2004 and 2006. As the occupation becomes more oppressive and water and electricity begin to run out, the family of three tries to stay together through kidnapping, illness, and the increasing danger of staying in Baghdad.
Ahmad was born on 1983 in Iraq. She received a certificate of participation from USC School of Cinematic Art and a Bachelor's degree in Computer Programming. She later got her Mfa in Directing and Editing from The Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts. Filmmaking has been her ambition since the age of 12. After graduation she worked as an editor and screenwriter for a television production company. Her short films include The Last Hour , and have been screened and nominated for awards in 12 film festivals around the world.
Killer of the Selawa
Writer and Director: Islam Azzazi (Egypt)
Co-Writer: Charles Akl (Egypt)
In the tense atmosphere following the revolution in Egypt, a man spends the night in a remote villa on the outskirts of Alexandria, trying to obtain a permit for his father’s weapons. After news spreads of a vicious, mythical beast in the area, the man finds himself caught up in a murderous accident.
Since his Dostoyevski inspired thesis project, Al-Kharaz (Beads) , Azzazi has directed and produced numerous Documentaries and short films. His documentaries include Wujouh Al-Fayoum (Fayoum Portraits) and Dominate Your Eyes. He has also produced and directed the short film Nahar we Leil (Day & Night), 2006. Azzazi has worked at El-Warsha Theatre Company where he coached actors and photographed theatrical productions. In 2007 he established a new production company Wika with three other filmmakers.
Charles Akl works as a writer, director, editor, art critic and photographer. After graduating from the University of Alexandria’s Faculty of Fine Arts in 2006, he has worked in several domains ranging from architecture design to writing and editing for several arts publications, including Magaz. Akl has also worked as the program coordinator at Al Mawred Al Thaqafy.
Tide
Writer and Director: Hussen Ibraheem (Lebanon)
A man and woman struggle in the aftermath of their son’s death. As the tide approaches their coastal home and they make their way by car to a relative’s house in the mountains, they must confront the tension the tragedy has created between them.
Ibraheem is an independent filmmaker, born in Beirut, Lebanon. After getting his BA in Architecture, Ibraheem followed his love for animation working as a freelance storyboard artist and character designer. Ibraheem was granted a scholarship from The Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts where he studied directing and cinematography. His second short film produced at Rsica, Typo, is currently touring 13 film festivals in Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece, USA, UK, and Italy.
The Golden Cap Club
Writer and Director: Merva Faddoul (Lebanon)
A young girl comes of age as the organized world of the adults crumbles during the invasion of Kuwait in the early 1990s. Determined to win a trip to Disneyland, she collects bottle caps in an attempt to find the ‘golden cap,’ as her family tries to distract her from the sudden challenges they face.
Faddoul is an award-winning writer and director. She recieved an Mfa in Film Production from the University of Southern California and a BA in Communications from the Lebanese American University. Her short films have won grants from National Geographic and the Doha Film Institute and they have screened at dozens of festivals worldwide including the Cannes Short Film Corner, Human Rights Nights (Italy), Doha-Tribeca Film Festival, and Tricycle Cinema in London. She is a member of the Writers Guild of America and the International Academy of WebTV.
Snow
Writer and Director: Omaima Hamouri (Palestine)
Eight year-old Dina believes that an old family curse is behind the conflict that arises each summer between her parents, and becomes convinced that snow is the only way to solve their problems. With the help of her grandmother, she resolves to delay her parents’ divorce until the first snowfall.
Hamouri was born in 1988 in Jerusalem. She received her bachelor degree in Mass Media from Al-Quds University, followed by an Mfa in Editing and Screenwriting from the Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts in Jordan. With a never-ending passion for telling human stories through film, Omaima is now working as an independent filmmaker.
The Sundance Institute Feature Film Program is supported by The Annenberg Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Rt Features, Time Warner Foundation, The Lincoln Motor Company, Red Crown Productions, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Hp, Steve Bing, Jeanne Donovan Fisher, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Microsoft, The Rockefeller Foundation, Nhk Enterprises, Inc., National Endowment for the Arts, 3311 Productions, The Ammon Foundation, Firestone / von Winterfeldt Family Fund, Ford Foundation, Philip Fung-A3 Foundation, SAGIndie, Grazka Taylor, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and The Ray and Dagmar Dolby Family Fund.
Sundance Institute Feature Film Program
Since its founding in 1981, the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program (Ffp) has supported an extensive list of ground-breaking independent films. Ffp films making their premieres this year include Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash (winner of the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival), Cutter Hodierne’s Fishing Without Nets (winner of the Directing Prize at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival), and Malik Vitthal’s Imperial Dreams (winner of the Best of Next Audience Award at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival). Additional notable films supported over the program’s history include Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station , Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox , Haifaa Al Mansour’s Wadjda , Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild , Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene , Dee Rees’ Pariah , Cary Fukunaga's Sin Nombre , Andrea Arnold's Red Road , Miranda July’s Me and You and Everyone We Know , Hany Abu-Assad’s Paradise Now , Josh Marston’s Maria Full of Grace , Peter Sollett’s Raising Victor Vargas , John Cameron Mitchell’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch , Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream , Kimberly Peirce’s Boys Don't Cry , Walter Salles’ Central Station , Chris Eyre and Sherman Alexie’s Smoke Signals , Allison Anders' Mi Vida Loca , Paul Thomas Anderson’s Hard Eight , and Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs .
undance.org/featurefilm
Sundance Institute Sundance Institute is a global nonprofit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981. Through its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, composers and playwrights, the Institute seeks to discover and support independent film and theatre artists from the United States and around the world, and to connect audiences to their work. The Institute promotes independent storytelling as art and as a compelling and powerful way to inform, inspire and unite people. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute has supported such projects as Beasts of the Southern Wild, Fruitvale Station, Sin Nombre, The Invisible War, The Square, Dirty Wars, Spring Awakening, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder and Fun Home. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook , Instagram,Twitter and YouTube.
- 11/10/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Wadjda is one of the films to have previously benefited from the Rawi Screenwriters Lab The Sundance Institute and The Royal Film Commission - Jordan have announced the six projects selected for the 10th anniversary of the Rawi Screenwriters Lab, which took place October 28 to November 1 in Amman, Jordan. Shake, Bagdhad Perfume, Killer Of The Selawa, Tide, Snow and The Golden Cap Club all made the list.
Modeled on the Institute’s renowned Us-based Screenwriters Labs, the Rawi Screenwriters Lab provides an opportunity for filmmakers from the Middle East region to develop their work under the guidance of accomplished screenwriters in an environment that encourages storytelling at its highest level.
The Creative Advisors this year included Pavel Jech (This Is Not An American Movie), Rawi Screenwriting Lab alum Najwa Najjar (Eyes Of A Thief, Pomegranates And Myrrh), Hanna Weg (Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet), Jon Raymond (Night Moves, Wendy and Lucy...
Modeled on the Institute’s renowned Us-based Screenwriters Labs, the Rawi Screenwriters Lab provides an opportunity for filmmakers from the Middle East region to develop their work under the guidance of accomplished screenwriters in an environment that encourages storytelling at its highest level.
The Creative Advisors this year included Pavel Jech (This Is Not An American Movie), Rawi Screenwriting Lab alum Najwa Najjar (Eyes Of A Thief, Pomegranates And Myrrh), Hanna Weg (Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet), Jon Raymond (Night Moves, Wendy and Lucy...
- 11/5/2014
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning, Peter Sarsgaard, Alia Shawkat, Logan Miller, Kai Lennox, Katherine Waterston, James Le Gros, Traber Burns | Written by Kelly Reichardt, Jonathan Raymond | Directed by Kelly Reichardt
Director Kelly Reichardt has made a career out of making unassuming films that are mediations on the human conditions. Based on the subject matter of her latest film Night Moves one might think she is making a departure from her established style. This thriller follows a group of eco-terrorists as they attempt blowup a hydroelectric dam. As one would except with a director like Reichardt this thriller has camouflaged tension that only shows itself at the right opportunities. Night Moves is a lingering piece of entertainment that makes you the ultimate observer into a relatively untold world.
In the film Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning and Peter Sarsgaard play three ideological environmentalists who believe they have found a way to take a stand for Mother Nature.
Director Kelly Reichardt has made a career out of making unassuming films that are mediations on the human conditions. Based on the subject matter of her latest film Night Moves one might think she is making a departure from her established style. This thriller follows a group of eco-terrorists as they attempt blowup a hydroelectric dam. As one would except with a director like Reichardt this thriller has camouflaged tension that only shows itself at the right opportunities. Night Moves is a lingering piece of entertainment that makes you the ultimate observer into a relatively untold world.
In the film Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning and Peter Sarsgaard play three ideological environmentalists who believe they have found a way to take a stand for Mother Nature.
- 10/1/2014
- by Dan Clark
- Nerdly
Picking the best movies that come out in any given year is no easy feat. For film fans, a quality feature can come out at any time, from any one, and discovering an enjoyable and well-crafted feature is truly a pleasure. As we reach the halfway point of the year, many excellent films have already made their way to theatres, films that are well worth a watch. Below, you shall find the list of the top 30 films of 2014 to date, a list that ranges from science fiction thrillers to period dramas.
A few notes to keep in mind when reading our entry: Certain films from our 2013 list make a second appearance on this list. This is because the movies, while technically released this year, were seen by a select few in time for last year’s list, due to the benefit of film festivals and press screenings. The list itself is in no particular order,...
A few notes to keep in mind when reading our entry: Certain films from our 2013 list make a second appearance on this list. This is because the movies, while technically released this year, were seen by a select few in time for last year’s list, due to the benefit of film festivals and press screenings. The list itself is in no particular order,...
- 7/1/2014
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Meek’s Cutoff
Directed by Kelly Reichardt
Written by Jonathan Raymond
2010, USA
In the opening scene to Kelly Reichardt’s Meek’s Cutoff, the characters stop to gather water at a river. The year is 1845, and this group of travelers are made up of three families that are traversing the treacherous Oregon Trail. After obtaining the water, they leave. Reichardt’s camera stays. She lingers on the river just long enough to fill a viewer with a sense of foreboding. This is likely the last place of refuge for miles. Everything, from here on, will be trouble.
Words are secondary to Reichardt. For the first ten minutes of the film, nobody speaks. The characters simply amble through the harsh, desert-like landscape. While this makes the story appear aimless at times, in reality Reichardt is subtly building the tension. Like the river in the opening scene, she does not overstate conflict.
Directed by Kelly Reichardt
Written by Jonathan Raymond
2010, USA
In the opening scene to Kelly Reichardt’s Meek’s Cutoff, the characters stop to gather water at a river. The year is 1845, and this group of travelers are made up of three families that are traversing the treacherous Oregon Trail. After obtaining the water, they leave. Reichardt’s camera stays. She lingers on the river just long enough to fill a viewer with a sense of foreboding. This is likely the last place of refuge for miles. Everything, from here on, will be trouble.
Words are secondary to Reichardt. For the first ten minutes of the film, nobody speaks. The characters simply amble through the harsh, desert-like landscape. While this makes the story appear aimless at times, in reality Reichardt is subtly building the tension. Like the river in the opening scene, she does not overstate conflict.
- 6/4/2014
- by Staff
- SoundOnSight
Night Moves
Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning, Peter Sarsgaard
Directed by Kelly Reichardt
Written by Jonathan Raymond and Kelly Reichardt
USA, 2014
There is that old adage that states if one does not stand for something they very well could fall for anything. Well, this apt sentiment certainly applies in co-writer/director Kelly Reichardt’s simmering eco-terrorism thriller Night Moves. Methodical, moody and breezily reflective, Reichardt’s suspense piece has a slow-footed pacing but registers with quiet resonance in its message about lingering environmental indifference and the retaliation against the establishment that allows for such blatant negligence.
Night Moves’ genuine tension lies in its tranquility dipped in disdain and disillusionment by its band of radical environmentalists taking matters into their own hands. Reichardt and regular collaborator Jonathan Raymond revisit the familiar themes that drive home feelings of whimsy, exasperation and defiance. Reichardt, whose first feature in 2006′s Old Joy solidified the...
Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning, Peter Sarsgaard
Directed by Kelly Reichardt
Written by Jonathan Raymond and Kelly Reichardt
USA, 2014
There is that old adage that states if one does not stand for something they very well could fall for anything. Well, this apt sentiment certainly applies in co-writer/director Kelly Reichardt’s simmering eco-terrorism thriller Night Moves. Methodical, moody and breezily reflective, Reichardt’s suspense piece has a slow-footed pacing but registers with quiet resonance in its message about lingering environmental indifference and the retaliation against the establishment that allows for such blatant negligence.
Night Moves’ genuine tension lies in its tranquility dipped in disdain and disillusionment by its band of radical environmentalists taking matters into their own hands. Reichardt and regular collaborator Jonathan Raymond revisit the familiar themes that drive home feelings of whimsy, exasperation and defiance. Reichardt, whose first feature in 2006′s Old Joy solidified the...
- 6/3/2014
- by Frank Ochieng
- SoundOnSight
Portland-based Jon Raymond has four screenplay credits, all in the last decade, to his name, but his iMDB page only tells half the story. Raymond began his career and is still well known as a writer of novels and literary short fiction, and his film career has come not from the usual Black-Listed spec script but from adaptations of his work co-authored by a director/collaborator/friend, Kelly Reichardt. Two stories from his short story collection Livability, “Old Joy” and “Train Choir,” became Reichardt films (Old Joy and Wendy and Lucy, respectively), with the two co-authoring their scripts. That work, and the […]...
- 5/31/2014
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Portland-based Jon Raymond has four screenplay credits, all in the last decade, to his name, but his iMDB page only tells half the story. Raymond began his career and is still well known as a writer of novels and literary short fiction, and his film career has come not from the usual Black-Listed spec script but from adaptations of his work co-authored by a director/collaborator/friend, Kelly Reichardt. Two stories from his short story collection Livability, “Old Joy” and “Train Choir,” became Reichardt films (Old Joy and Wendy and Lucy, respectively), with the two co-authoring their scripts. That work, and the […]...
- 5/31/2014
- by Scott Macaulay
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
As Josh, the protagonist of Kelly Reichardt’s tense, crawly eco-activist thriller Night Moves, Jesse Eisenberg makes his eyes so tiny that they almost disappear under his caveman brow; he’s brusque, furtive, and paranoid even before the tragedy that drives him around the bend. He’s a big jump up the evolutionary ladder from the Santa Barbara murderer Elliot Rodgers, but on the same violently anthropophobic continuum. He’s such a seething, humorless prick that it almost doesn’t matter that the ideals he spouts are so high.Josh is Reichardt and co-writer Jonathan Raymond’s spokesman for the radical wing of the environmental movement, often associated with Earth First!: He holds forth in an angry but toneless voice about the “ticking time bomb of industrialization” and the arrogance of building golf courses all over the high desert, where there’s no water. (Would he approve of them if there were?...
- 5/30/2014
- by David Edelstein
- Vulture
"These are tough, this is like a little quiz." When we got a chance recently to chat with Kelly Reichardt, she was game if not a little trepidatious to take part in another of our semi-regular features in which we attempt to scavenge through a filmmaker's life in cinema, in hopes of finding out how the movies have influenced their life and work. The filmmaker's latest minimalist feature "Night Moves" which she directed, edited and co-wrote (with frequent collaborator, Oregon novelist and screenwriter Jonathan Raymond), begins rolling out to independent theaters across the country this Friday. In our review from Venice last year, Oli Lyttelton called the film a "perfect reminder that Reichardt is one of the most exciting directorial talents we have right now." Please keep in mind that Reichardt was answering on the fly with little preparation. But we could've talked film with her for hours. When we...
- 5/28/2014
- by Erik McClanahan
- The Playlist
Night Moves Cinedigm Reviewed for Shockya by Harvey Karten. Data-based on Rotten Tomatoes Grade: B Director: Kelly Reichardt Screenplay: Jonathan Raymond, Kelly Reichardt Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning, Peter Sarsgaard Screened at: Review, NYC, 5/14/14 Opens: May 30, 2014 In the musical “My Fair Lady,” Professor Higgins, falling for his pupil Eliza Doolittle, sings, “Damn, damn, damn, damn/ I’ve grown accustomed to her face.” And now, in the film “Night Moves,” three principal characters are damning…a dam! Kelly Reichardt, who cut her director’s teeth on fare taking place in the great outdoors such as “Meek’s Cutoff” (emigrants in 1845 wonder whether to trust a Native American guide) and “Old Joy” [ Read More ]
The post Night Moves Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Night Moves Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 5/26/2014
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
Night Moves
Written by Jon Raymond and Kelly Reichardt
Directed by Kelly Reichardt
USA, 2014
If you don’t know the work of American filmmaker Kelly Reichardt, get familiar. Her 2008 film Wendy and Lucy was a tear-jerker without being saccharine or manipulative, and her 2010 follow-up Meek’s Cutoff was as grim as Westerns get without being dour or angry. Her newest effort, Night Moves, pulls off a tougher feat than those two combined: it’s a film about violent crime that is mature but neither preachy nor amoral, and manages to be a first-rate thriller in the bargain.
Josh (Jesse Eisenberg) and Dena (Dakota Fanning) are a pair of environmentalists who are planning … something. To say much more would involve spoilers, which are better left for the audience to suss out themselves. However, it’s clear that this plan must be hidden even from the fellow travelers at their local activist meetings,...
Written by Jon Raymond and Kelly Reichardt
Directed by Kelly Reichardt
USA, 2014
If you don’t know the work of American filmmaker Kelly Reichardt, get familiar. Her 2008 film Wendy and Lucy was a tear-jerker without being saccharine or manipulative, and her 2010 follow-up Meek’s Cutoff was as grim as Westerns get without being dour or angry. Her newest effort, Night Moves, pulls off a tougher feat than those two combined: it’s a film about violent crime that is mature but neither preachy nor amoral, and manages to be a first-rate thriller in the bargain.
Josh (Jesse Eisenberg) and Dena (Dakota Fanning) are a pair of environmentalists who are planning … something. To say much more would involve spoilers, which are better left for the audience to suss out themselves. However, it’s clear that this plan must be hidden even from the fellow travelers at their local activist meetings,...
- 4/28/2014
- by Mark Young
- SoundOnSight
Tribeca coverage with Glenn on the latest from Kelly Reichardt (Meek's Cutoff, Wendy & Lucy)
“Reserved, even by Kelly Reichardt’s standards.” That was the line I used to describe this Portland director’s latest, Night Moves, after its screening at Tribeca. Having premiered at last year’s Venice Film Festival, it’s understandable that it didn’t make all that much noise in the intermediate months given it’s such a quiet, guarded film despite its eco-thriller roots and name cast that includes Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning and Peter Sarsgaard. Like all of Reichardt’s films, however, it is that very low-key ingredient that makes it memorable. While it doesn’t soar to the breathtaking heights of Meek’s Cutoff, which just like Night Moves took a genre prone to testosterone-filled violence and twisted it into a elegant mood piece, her latest is a surprisingly thrilling experience even when its...
“Reserved, even by Kelly Reichardt’s standards.” That was the line I used to describe this Portland director’s latest, Night Moves, after its screening at Tribeca. Having premiered at last year’s Venice Film Festival, it’s understandable that it didn’t make all that much noise in the intermediate months given it’s such a quiet, guarded film despite its eco-thriller roots and name cast that includes Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning and Peter Sarsgaard. Like all of Reichardt’s films, however, it is that very low-key ingredient that makes it memorable. While it doesn’t soar to the breathtaking heights of Meek’s Cutoff, which just like Night Moves took a genre prone to testosterone-filled violence and twisted it into a elegant mood piece, her latest is a surprisingly thrilling experience even when its...
- 4/24/2014
- by Glenn Dunks
- FilmExperience
Kelly Reichardt cements her reputation as one of the most provocative and engagingly watchable American indie filmmakers with a quiet, tense thriller of morality and motive. I’m “biast” (pro): like Kelly Reichardt’s film, like Jesse Eisenberg
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
Three environmental activists in the Pacific Northwest are plotting to blow up a small dam as an act of protest: the plan is to pack a recreational boat with fertilizer and set free the water back to its natural flow. “How many golf courses does Bend, Oregon need?” gripes their leader, Josh (Jesse Eisenberg: Rio 2); there’s also bored rich runaway Dena (Dakota Fanning: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2), whose father is unwittingly bankrolling their plan, and former Marine Harmon (Peter Sarsgaard: Green Lantern), who knows about explosives. This is a thriller of a sort,...
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
Three environmental activists in the Pacific Northwest are plotting to blow up a small dam as an act of protest: the plan is to pack a recreational boat with fertilizer and set free the water back to its natural flow. “How many golf courses does Bend, Oregon need?” gripes their leader, Josh (Jesse Eisenberg: Rio 2); there’s also bored rich runaway Dena (Dakota Fanning: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2), whose father is unwittingly bankrolling their plan, and former Marine Harmon (Peter Sarsgaard: Green Lantern), who knows about explosives. This is a thriller of a sort,...
- 4/15/2014
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
After an international trailer for the indie that played festivals in Toronto and Venice arrived last week, the theatrical domestic trailer for Night Moves has arrived as well. Jesse Eisenberg stars in the film about three people (including Dakota Fanning and Peter Sarsgaard) who come together to bomb a hydroelectric dam. But the film ventures into the moral and ethical dilemmas they face, and seemingly the shifting dynamics among them, after their act of terror unfolds. It looks like a slow-burn, but surely a unique story with a tone that we might not otherwise get from a studio film. Maybe worth a look. Watch! Here's the Us trailer for Kelly Reichardt's Night Moves from Yahoo: Night Moves is directed by Kelly Reichardt and written by Jonathan Raymond, both of who collaborated on Wendy and Lucy and Meek's Cutoff. The film follows three clandestine activists scheming to blow up a...
- 3/27/2014
- by Ethan Anderton
- firstshowing.net
A little less than a week after the release of the French trailer for "Night Moves," Cinedigm has followed it up with its American counterpart, and if anything, it's even more tense than the last one. "Night Moves" follows three radical environmentalists, leader Josh (Jesse Eisenberg), his loyal follower Dena (Dakota Fanning) and former Marine Harmon (Peter Sarsgaard), as they plan to blow up a hydroelectric dam. The three all want to restore power to nature, but when the question of collateral damage comes up, they're a little less in tune with each other. "Night Moves" was directed by the great neo-neo-realist director Kelly Reichardt, the filmmaker behind "Old Joy," "Wendy and Lucy" and "Meek's Cutoff," and debuted last fall at the Venice Film Festival before playing at Tiff. Reichardt co-wrote the film with frequent collaborator Jonathan Raymond, and the film looks to show the same kind of tightly-wound, slow-burning...
- 3/27/2014
- by Max O'Connell
- Indiewire
After playing at Venice and Toronto last year, director Kelly Reichardt (Wendy and Lucy, Meek's Cutoff) has her latest film Night Moves poised for release in the United States this May. Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning and Peter Saarsgard star in the film as a trio of environmental activists who plan an action of eco-terrorism. More specifically, they're looking to blow up a dam. But this isn't a standard thriller, because it's the aftermath of this plan that really propels the story and lets us soak in these characters. This doesn't look like anything mind-blowing, but these three together have at least piqued my interest. Watch! Here's the first trailer for Kelly Reichhardt's Night Moves from Ad Vitam (via The Playlist): Night Moves is directed by Kelly Reichardt and written by Jonathan Raymond, both of who collaborated on Wendy and Lucy and Meek's Cutoff. The film follows three clandestine...
- 3/21/2014
- by Ethan Anderton
- firstshowing.net
Kelly Reichardt is one of the finest filmmakers working in American cinema today, and her new film "Night Moves" looks to rival her 2010 masterpiece "Meek's Cutoff" for maximum tension. "Night Moves" concerns three radical environmentalists (Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning, Peter Sarsgaard) as they plan the explosion of a hydroelectric dam. Their actions have unintended consequences, however, and it sets the three on a path of guilt and self-preservation. The film, which is written by Reichardt and frequent co-screenwriter Jonathan Raymond, played at last year's Venice and Toronto Film Festivals. The film was picked up by Cinedigm, and hits theaters on May 30. Watch the trailer below.
- 3/21/2014
- by Max O'Connell
- Indiewire
With movies such as Old Joy and Wendy and Lucy in her filmography, writer-director Kelly Reichardt has garnered critical acclaim and a number of fans in the international film community despite having made only 5 features over the course of her career. News that Reichardt was working on a new project thus got many interested. Titled Night Moves, Reichardt takes on directing duties alongside co-writing the screenplay with Meek’s Cutoff scribe Jonathan Raymond. The cast includes Jesse Eisenberg, Peter Sarsgaard, Dakota Fanning, and Alia Shawkat, and the first trailer for the film has now been released. The trailer can be seen below. Sound on Sight was able to see the film at Tiff 2013, and our review can be read here.
(Source: The Playlist)
The post ‘Night Moves’, the newest Kelly Reichardt film, releases its first trailer appeared first on Sound On Sight.
(Source: The Playlist)
The post ‘Night Moves’, the newest Kelly Reichardt film, releases its first trailer appeared first on Sound On Sight.
- 3/21/2014
- by Deepayan Sengupta
- SoundOnSight
The 13th Tribeca Film Festival has announced its complete lineup for next month’s New York celebration, which runs April 16-27. Culled from more than 6,000 submissions, Tribeca 2014 includes 55 world premieres, 37 first-time filmmakers, and 22 female directors. Half the slate had been announced on Tuesday, with Spotlight, Midnight, and Storyscapes films unveiled today, as well as special screenings. “Spotlight and special screenings are an especially dynamic aspect of this year’s program, both in range of styles and stories,” said Genna Terranova, Tribeca’s director of programming. “Many films feature real-life personalities who’ve accomplished extraordinary feats, while in other films we...
- 3/6/2014
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW - Inside Movies
The title of this panel was Financing and Packaging: From Indie to Studio, but in fact, the most studio-like film, Rush , by the major director, Ron Howard, and produced by Brit indie production company Revolution (Andrew Eaton) and Hollywood-based Cross Creek (Brian Oliver), is actually quite independent.
Rush (U.S. Universal, International Sales by Exclusive)
Ron Howard and his producing partner Brian Grazer whose imagine Entertainment have had an overall deal at Universal for 27 years, however, this mid-budget range film of some $50,000,000 was considered not "big enough" for the majors.
To read more about this complex and fascinating film and its international film business background, read the following articles which are quoted throughout this article with thanks and acknowledgement to:
· Variety September 13, 2013 (reprinted at the end of this blog) · Wall Street Journal, September 5, 2013 · The Hollywood Reporter September 28, 2011
Aside from major director Ron Howard himself, the second “major” element of the film is that Universal is the North American distributor of the film. This happens through the three year minimum-6-picture distribution deal Brian Oliver’s Cross Creek has with Universal in which Cross Creek produces and finances either its own films or films chosen from Universal’s development slate. Cross Creek is set up to generate up to four films per year, with Universal to distribute at least two of them with a wide-release commitment.
Isa (International Sales Agent) Exclusive Media is also an independent. This too is the result of Oliver’s deal with Exclusive to jointly finance two projects per year.
Cross Creek, putting its own cash into the project, split the cost of the picture with Exclusive who financed it through a bank loan made against pre-sales generated in 2011 at the Afm. With Howard there to promote the project to buyers, Exclusive secured around $33 million in foreign pre-sales. See Cinando’s list of distributors .
Additionally, Oliver and Eaton structured the project as a U.K.- German co-production, enabling them to secure about $12 million in soft money from Germany (Egoli Tossell) in accordance with U.K.’s co-production treaty. As a result, U.K. rights ended up with Studiocanal.
Brian Oliver is a “one of Hollywood’s biggest and more unusual financiers of risky films, with coin coming mostly from oil and real estate investments in Texas”. This major Hollywood financier/ producer takes chances which prove his astute, if askew, view of what makes a “Hollywood” picture an indie at the same time, as shown by his credits, The Ides of March and Black Swan.
Andrew Eaton is a British producer with deep Hollywood connections through the British community here, e.g., Eric Fellner of Working Title, the British production company currently owned by Universal. (Parenthetically, I bought U.S. rights to Working Title’s first film, My Beautiful Laundrette for Lorimar along with Orion Classics and so I was quite thrilled to have a chance to be in touch with the talented Brits once again).
Working Title had worked with Andrew Easton on Frost/Nixon. Eric Fellner loved the script and offered it to Universal for funding. However, as said, Universal passed on it because it was too small.
“It is going to be easy for people to think this is a Hollywood movie, and it just is not,” quotes Variety from the film’s British screenwriter, Peter Morgan, who penned Frost/Nixon which was also directed by Howard. “It is a British independent film directed by a Hollywood director.”
Eaton and Oliver spoke of how they put this film together.
“We must champion the fact that this is basically 80% a British film in terms of the people who worked on it, the way it was structured and the way we ran it,” says Eaton, who was behind such indie films as 24 Hour Party People and the Red Riding TV series.
Can a Song Save Your Life? (U.S. UTA, Isa: Exclusive)
Exclusive has another film here, Can a Song Save Your Life? which is also repped by Rena Ronson, Co-Head of the Independent Film Group of UTA. Directed by John Carney who came to the public’s attention with his micro-budgeted Once which plays on stage here in Toronto at the moment, in New York and elsewhere regularly. The Weinstein Company picked it up in Toronto, reportedly paying around a $7 million minimum guarantee for U.S. rights with a P&A commitment of at least $20 million.
UTA as an agency also packages both large (studio) and smaller indie films. Rena Ronson, the co-head of UTA Indie explained how her own indie roots -- first at indie distributor Fox-Lorber and continuing into international sales before becoming the “indie agent” at Wma, succeeding the “indie” founder, Bobbi Thompson, have taught her to speak the language of the international as well as the independent film business. She knows the major modes of operating as well as she knows the independent style of business. She further explained that the successes of the larger films permit the “smaller”, i.e., “indie” films to be made.
UTA repped films in Toronto are listed below. For a full report of rights sold, before, during and after Toronto, watch SydneysBuzz.com for the Fall 2013 Rights Roundup.
Can A Song Save Your Life?
Writer/Director: John Carney Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Keira Knightley, Hailee Steinfeld, Adam Levine, Catherine Keener, Mos Def, Cee-Lo Green Publicity: Falco / Shannon Treusch, Monica Delameter U.S. Producer Rep: UTA / CAA . Isa: Exclusive Media Group
U.S. rights were acquired at Tiff 13 by TWC for a record breaking $7 million.
Since first announcing it in Cannes 2012, Exclusive has made other deals as well for Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan (Tanweer), Germany (Studiocanal), Japan (Pony Canyon Inc), Philippines (Solar Entertainment), Russia (A Company), So. Korea ( Pancinema), Switzerland ( Ascot Elite Entertainment Group ), Taiwan ( Serenity Entertainment International ), Turkey (D Productions), the Middle East ( Front Row Filmed Entertainment).
Tiff Special Presentations:
Hateship, Loveship
Director: Liza Johnson Writer: Mark Poirier Writer (Novel): Alice Munro Starring: Kristen Wiig, Guy Pearce, Hailee Steinfeld, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nick Nolte Publicity: Prodigy PR, Erik Bright
North American Sale: UTA / Cassian Elwes. Isa: The Weinstein Co. Sena has rights for Iceland.
The F Word
Director: Michael Dowse Writer: Elan Mastai Writers (Play): Michael Rinaldi & T.J. Dawe Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Zoe Kazan, Rafe Spall, Adam Driver, Mackenzie Davis, Amanda Crew Publicity: Strategy PR / Cynthia Schwartz, Michael Kupferberg Us Sale: UTA / Lichter, Grossman, Nichols, Adler & Feldman. Isa: eOne
After UTA sold the The F Word to CBS Films for the U.S. for around $3 million in Toronto, Entertainment One Films International completed other international sales. Besides Canada and the U.K., eOne itself will release the film in Australia/New Zealand, Benelux and Spain feeding its own international distribution pipeline. Other sales include Germany to Senator Entertainment, Middle East to Front Row Entertainment, Nigeria toRed Mist, Russia to Carmen Film Group, Turkey to Mars Entertainment Group
Night Moves
Writer/Director: Kelly Reichart Writer: Jonathan Raymond Starring: Dakota Fanning, Jesse Eisenberg, Peter Sarsgaard, Alia Shawkat Publicity: Ginsberg/Libby, Chris Libby North American Sale: UTA Isa: The Match Factory
Tiff Vanguard
The Sacrament
Writer/Director: Ti West Starring: Joe Swanberg, Aj Bowen, Amy Seimetz, Kate Lyn Sheil, Gene Jones Publicity: Dda, Dana Archer, Alice Zhou North American Sale: UTA / CAA Isa: Im Global sold to Pegasus Motion Pictures Distribution Ltd . For China
As of this writing, rather 1 hour ago, Magnolia Pictures, which lost on an earlier bidding war here for Joe, is finalizing a deal for the picture reportedly for seven figures.
Coincidentallywith the beginning of the Toronto Film Festival, the front page of L.A. Times quoted Rena Ronson in an article called "Making history as cameras roll" (print edition) or "Wadjda' director makes her mark in Saudi cinema" (online edition) about Wadjda , (Isa: The Match Factory) last year’s Venice and Telluride film which Rena had spotted at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, where it won a script award. It was written and directed by a woman which is notable in such a male-dominated part of the world. She met the writer-director, Haifaa Mansour, and that led to working with her for the next two years to finance the film. Its $2.5m budget was backed in part by the Rotana Group, the largest media company in the Middle East, owned primarily by Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. The German production company Razor Film owned and operated by Gerhard Meixner and Roman Paul whose first coproduction in 2005, Paradise Now brought them into international prominence and who also picked up last year’s Tiff groundbreaking film from Afghanistan,The Patience Stone, and previously coproduced Waltz With Bashir, came on board and brought German broadcast deals and German film funds as well.
Doha and Film Financing
The fourth panelist was Paul Miller, Head of Film Financing, from the Doha Film Institute , Qatar's first international organization dedicated to film financing, production, education and two film festivals. Doha encourages submission for financing film financing opportunities from anywhere in the world. The Dfi Grants program supports first- and second-time filmmakers in producing and developing their own stories. There are two funding rounds per year. Applications are considered from three regions (basically divided into the Middle East, developing nations and the rest of the world – with some exceptions -- each with different eligibility criteria.
Consideration for funding is open to feature-length films in development, production and post-production, as well as short films in production and post-production. Since 2010, Dfi has provided funding to more than 138 filmmakers.
Beyond the regional grants program, Dfi also invests in a diverse slate of international productions to encourage greater collaboration, mentorship and co‑production opportunities between Gulf countries and the rest of the world. Co-financing applications apply to both Middle Eastern and international feature films, television and web series. Submissions are accepted on a rolling basis throughout the year.
Four films at Tiff that Doha has helped finance:
Mohammed Malas’s Ladder to Damacus, screening in Tiff’s Contemporary World Cinema section; Jasmila Žbanic’s For Those Who Can Tell No Tales in the Special Presentation section. Both films were co-financed by Dfi. Dfi grant recipients Néjib Belkadhi’s Bastardo and Mais Darwazah’s My Love Awaits Me by the Sea screening in the Contemporary World Cinema and Discovery sections, respectively.
The fifth panelist, Ted Hope, Director of the San Francisco Film Society, a non-profit training, festival, and funding operation is known to everyone from his history with Good Machine (which was acquired by Universal and renamed Focus Features), and from his blog Hope for Film/ Truly Free Film . In his always-inimitable fashion, Ted proposed a new sort of financing, called "staged financing", based on a progressive meeting of certain criterion from development through distribution. This way of financing is similar to the venture capital models of financing. His broad ideas on what has to change with the industry's funding and packaging methods brought the panelists and the audience to heel at attention. I reprint his blog after this because this idea goes against the current grain of financing an entire film which may or may not prove to be the final box office bingo winner it always purports to be when securing full financing.
The Sffs provided some funding to Thomas Oliver's 1982 which is in Tiff this year. Aside from winning Us in Progress’ $60,000 in post-production services at this year’s Champs Elysees Film Festival, 1982 also received Sffs’s $85,000 post production grant and participated in the Sffs’s A2E labs. The film is being represented by Kevin Iwashina’s Preferred Content.
The panel became very animated as Ted Hope and Rena Ronson faced off about whether a film is made for a broad audience or whether, if targeted correctly, it could actually make money with niche audiences. As always, the two of them, both equally astute, brought much to bear on both sides of the argument. And, I, as the panel’s moderator, hereby declare, They are both right.
The broader the audience the more potential for making money.
However, as Ted points out, with crowd sourcing, crowd funding and crowd theatrical exhibition, there are many other ways beyond ticket purchases that filmmakers can offer in order to make money with their targeted audience.
This, as well as the great contributions made by Doha’s Paul Miller and Revolution’s Andrew Eaton could have extended the panel into a full day. Paul Oliver of Cross Creek was the quietest, perhaps most reticent, of the speakers, but he amply demonstrated that he is one who puts his money where his mouth is. His acumen and taste make us all grateful for his existence as he is a pivotal point person in creating works of art that create substantial revenues for a sustainable art house film business.
The audience as well was most enthusiastic with their questions and post panel discussions with panelists who stayed to talk.
Articles Reprinted Here:
Truly Free Film
Staged Financing Must Become Film Biz’s Immediate Goal
Posted: 06 Sep 2013 05:15 Am Pdt
Each day I become more and more convinced that staged financing could be a cure to much of the Film Biz’s ills. Staged financing? What? Is the phrase not exactly center of your conversations right now? Why not?!! Whatsamattawidyou? Don’t you know a good solution when you see one?
Although it already exists in many fields, and even in a few small patches of our own yard, I recognize that a staged financing strategy is not yet the force behind Indieland’s own gardening. I am however growing convinced it could yield a far more fruitful harvest than our current methods. A staged-financing ecosystem can’t be built in a one-off manner though. Although it also does not need to the rule of the realm, it needs a permanent eco-system to support it.
Staged financing is part of a much bigger solution that we urgently need to bring to our industry: a sustainable investor class . We need smart money and need to stop seeking, encouraging, and propagating dumb money. Most film investors get out, win or lose, by their third film (I have been told this and don’t have the stats to back it up now, but if you do, please share — otherwise just trust that is what my experience has shown). The value of most independent money in the film biz is the money itself, and that is not good for anyone.
Staged financing is exactly what it says to be. I know in this world such literalness is a strange thing, but there is it. Staged financing is a funding process that is there for each distinct stage. In comparison, it is the opposite of up-front financing — the type that monopolizes the narrative feature world. I am proposing that we institutionalize the staged-financing process and make it easier to finance your film in drips and drabs. Why am I so bullish on what probably sounds like hell to many? Why do I think it will save indie film? Let’s count the ways.
Staged financing increases the predictability of success. Investors can base their continued commitment on a proof of prinicipal instead of just a pitch. The longer one waits the more they know — of course the longer one waits the lower the chance for their to be the opportunity for investment, so there. The more investors can project or even predict their success, the longer they will stay in the game, and the more that will gather to pay — i.e. more capital at play! Staged financing allows filmmakers and their supporters to pivot based on real world data. The old way had very little it could do when new information hit. Your film (and investment) could be rendered obsolete over night. But that does not have to be a done deal is this new world. This is just one of the many reasons for #1 above of course. Staged financing diversifies the creative class. Wouldn’t it be great if the film biz was actually a meritocracy? Well, if people had to make good movies to complete their financing, wouldn’t that be a bit closer to the case? Staged financing gives all people the opportunity to prove they have a good idea, whether that idea is completed or not. It is not about who you know, but about what you’ve done and can do. Documentary film — compared to the narrative world — already has a great deal of staged financing institutionalized — and benefits from gender proportional representation among directors. Need I say more?Staged financing allows ambitious artistic work to flourish. Instead of just having “commercial elements”, unique and inspiring work can be recognized for the potential it truly has. Instead of being rewarded for being able to earn trust or arrogantly claim to know what one is doing, staged financing allows good work to be rewarded for being good work. Currently, we mistake confidence for capability and those that boast to be able to predict what the end product will be (where there is no way that they will actually know what the 100+ decisions each day will yield), get to play — not the work that delivers something new and wonderful. Staged financing rewards quality over risk mitigation. Staged financing is actually a better form of risk mitigation than the present form that is only based on regurgitating what has already proven successful. When we limit risk by mimicking what has worked in the past, all we are doing is guessing and covering our ass — and this leads to a film culture of movie titles overrun with numerals. We live in an era of abundance, and as comforting as the familiar may be, we have more access to it than ever before. We rarely need the new version of it. We will however need truly original work more and more as time goes on as we will drowning in the repetitive. How will we prove what works? Staged financing, my friend, staged financing. Staged financing creates a better project as it incentivizes the creators every step of the way. Not that you truly need to incentivize those that are in the passion industries for the right reason, but it never hurts to weed out those that are in it for the wrong reason. When your financing is based on your work and not your connections or investors’ fears, you will do all you can to make each stage of financing shine, justify itself, and be truly competitive. Staged financing requires you to walk a series of steps, proving you have earned the right with every advance — and you better do your homework if you don’t want to get left behind. Staged financing requires you choose your initial partners wisely. It’s not just about the terms of the deal that should determine whom your investors are — but that is how we generally act nowadays. Everyone should instead seek value-add investors. You should get more than just money from your investors. You should benefit from their expertise. Filmmakers, agents, lawyers, and managers, often are willing to leap into bed with anyone who offers the most cash — there’s a name for that practice and it should not be film investment. Staged financing means the creators will have “skin in the game”. When it is an up-front finance model, the creators are not working for a payout in success but working just for the upfornt fees (or some semblance thereof); they may have “profit participation” but basically the only anticipated earnings are what is in the budget. It becomes increasingly difficult to motivate the creative team to be engaged in the needed work after the film premieres. Investors have long recognized that this is not the most beneficial arrangement, yet what can they do? The answer my friend, is… yup, you know the song I am singing: everyone loves that staged financing! Staged financing is a time-tested process that has already been adopted by many industries . Staged financing is the modus operandi of Silicon Valley and all the Vc firms. Other industries, from mining onwards, have seen real benefits from the process. Why do we limit our success and not apply proven models to our field? Could it be that somewhere someone is desperately clutching on to what ever paltry power they perceive themselves to possess? Hmmm… If they don’t offer the model you want at the store, build a new model — or maybe even a chain of stores. Staged financing gives producers of quality work more power. The main objection to staged financing is that it gives financiers more power. That is only true if you are making crap. Or mediocre work. If you are making something wonderfully astounding you will never struggle to progress to the next round — and in fact you will be able to improve your terms. And investors won’t complain either, because they now can have to know a good thing when they see one.
So if Staged Financing is this marvelous thing, why have our leaders not yet delivered it to you? Well, they don’t care about you; didn’t you know that?
And if Staged Financing could really save Indie Film, why has the community not constructed this marvelous ecosystem yet? Well, we’ve all been too busy chasing shiny objects and marveling at the reflections fed back of us.
But change is here. We have hope. We can build it better together. And I have already started. The San Francisco Film Society is committed to it. We have others who want to be part of. We are have spots for more to join in. And we are going to help a few select projects really rock this world.
Watch this space. Let’s do it together and truly astonish the world with your awe inspiring work. Just don’t be slack, okay?
Variety, August 21, 2013:
“Rush,” the high-octane car racing film about the public rivalry between legendary Formula One drivers Niki Lauda and James Hunt during the 1970s, has all the markings of tinseltown’s latest flashy biopic, withRon Howard at the wheel, Chris Hemsworth as its star, and Universal Pictures releasing the film Sept. 27. But that assumption couldn’t be further from the truth.
“It is going to be easy for people to think this is a Hollywood movie, and it just is not,” says the upcoming film’s British screenwriter, Peter Morgan, who penned “Frost/Nixon,” also directed by Howard. “It is a British independent film directed by a Hollywood director.” Get Weekly Online News and alerts free to your inbox
As the majors focus more on putting their money behind mega-budgeted projects with built-in brand awareness — sequels, reboots, films based on toys, videogames and comicbooks — filmmakers are finding Hollywood’s studio system rapidly shifting under their feet.
“Because studios are less interested in the midbudget area, there is a massive opportunity for independents to step into that (area) at the moment,” says “Rush” producer Andrew Eaton of London-based Revolution Films.
Indeed, it’s getting harder to set up a midbudget range original project at a studio, even for veteran filmmakers like Howard and his producing partner Brian Grazer, whose Imagine Entertainment has had an overall deal at Universal for 27 years (the longest standing deal U has had in its 100-year history with a production company). That’s forced directors to look elsewhere to tackle the kinds of films now considered too risky to make or the ones that won’t fill retail shelves with merchandise.
Another Hollywood vet, producer Marc Platt, who’s had a production deal at Universal since 1998 after stepping down as its production head, similarly had to find indie financing for his film “2 Guns” after Universal said it would not bankroll the picture but simply distribute it.
With “Rush,” Howard found himself in an entirely new role as the director of a $50 million film that was his first to be independently financed — through a series of bonds, contingencies and pre-sales. He also was a director for hire, replacing Paul Greengrass, who was originally set to bring the showy personalities of Hunt (Hemsworth), a British playboy; and the more serious Austrian champion Lauda (Daniel Bruhl) to the big screen.
“We must champion the fact that this is basically 80% a British film in terms of the people who worked on it, the way it was structured and the way we ran it,” says Eaton. The exec, who was behind such indie films as “24 Hour Party People” and the “Red Riding” series, is modest, and like most Brits politely shies away from the spotlight, tending not to grab credit even when its due.
But he believes “Rush” shows off Blighty’s mettle.
“These are the kinds of films we should be making in the U.K. because we can do it, and we can do it for better value of money,” he says.
Morgan began writing the story of Lauda, a friend of his wife’s, on spec some years ago, intrigued by the driver’s courageous comeback just 40 days after a devastating crash at the 1976 German Grand Prix that severely burned his face and saw him lapse into a coma, and how that might play against Hunt’s notorious womanizing and party lifestyle that gained him rock-star status.
Eager to work with Eaton again after Fernando Meirelles’ “360,” Morgan showed the producer the first draft of “Rush,” and Eaton was hooked.
“Andrew was always going to be a great fit for this project,” Morgan says. “If (the) responsibility was to make this at a price, Andrew could do this. He could make a $50 million film feel like a $150 million film.”
With Greengrass, another Brit, attached to direct, Morgan showed the script to close friend Eric Fellner at his Universal-owned British production outfit Working Title. Fellner, who had worked with him on “Frost/Nixon,” loved the new script and offered it to Universal for funding.
But the studio passed, considering it risky subject matter, given the biopic elements and low profile of F1 racing in the U.S. Universal also didn’t believe the film could be made for the right price. Still Fellner stayed onboard, and his contacts in the F1 arena proved invaluable. His relationships with Ferrari and McLaren thanks to his work on documentary “Senna” enabled “Rush” to enlist the brands in the pic without losing editorial control.
“Ron (Howard) jokes that my major contribution was engine noise,” Fellner says. “Maybe I can take credit for a bit of that.”
Soon after Universal passed, Cross Creek Pictures topper Brian Oliver reached out to Eaton to finance the project — so eager that he offered to put up $2 million before he even signed the deal so that Eaton could order replicas of the 1970s cars to be ready in time for the shoot. He also was instrumental in steering Hemsworth toward the project.
“Typically we don’t spend that kind of money without knowing the movie is going and the budget is done,” Oliver says. “But I was passionate about the script, and I really thought it was a film with a lot of heart, not just a race car movie.”
Cross Creek, also behind “The Ides of March” and “Black Swan,” has quickly become one of Hollywood’s biggest and more unusual financiers of risky films, with coin coming mostly from oil and real estate investments in Texas.
“He’s an unusual maverick in Hollywood because he really fought to get the budget to the highest level he could,” says Eaton of Oliver. “There’s no bullshit with him — he gets stuff done.” Adds Fellner: “Without Brian, the film wouldn’t have gotten off of the ground. He put his money where his mouth is.”
Shortly after funding started coming together, Greengrass dropped off the project due, ironically, to his issues with the budget. Within 24 hours, Morgan and Fellner enticed Howard to come onboard. The financing arrangement intrigued him, but what really attracted Howard was the ability to re-create the world of Formula One in the 1970s “when sex was safe and driving was dangerous,” as he has said in past interviews.
“Ron was incredibly gracious in trusting us to deliver,” Eaton says. “He was very smart about knowing we needed to make this film in a different way. He’d never made a film with a bond before, and never made a film with a contingency before, but he rolled up his sleeves and was ready to learn.” Some of that indie spirit has already rubbed off on Howard, who is now sticking with a mostly British crew on his next project, “In the Heart of the Sea,” including “Rush” cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle and costume designer Julian Day. “Heart” lenses in London.
Exclusive Media came in as the final partner on “Rush,” brought in by Oliver under his deal with Exclusive to jointly finance two projects per year.
Cross Creek split the cost of the pic with Exclusive, with the former putting its own cash in to the pic and the latter financing through a bank loan made against pre-sales generated in 2011 at the Afm, where Howard helped shop the project to buyers. The move proved a success, as Exclusive secured $33 million in foreign pre-sales.
Additionally, Oliver and Eaton structured the project as a U.K.-German co-production, enabling them to secure about $12 million in soft money.
As a result, U.K. rights ended up going to Studiocanal. Universal agreed to distribute “Rush” in the U.S. through its output deal with Cross Creek.
Eaton pressed to put all of the money raised on the screen. “Rush” became the highest-budget film he had ever worked with after 2000’s “The Claim,” which cost $18 million to produce.
“(‘Rush’) was financed in exactly the same way we finance every independent film, and we approached shooting in the same way as we do everything — you try to put as much money as you can onscreen,” Eaton says. “It’s about not wasting money on things you don’t need, like private jets and extravagances.”
Hollywood has tried to bring to life the world of Formula One before.
Sylvester Stallone directed “Driven,” which originally was set in the world of F1, before he changed course and based it on rival Cart racing, instead.
The reason? To gain access to F1, filmmakers must first get the greenlight from the often polarizing Bernie Ecclestone, the 82-year-old billionaire who holds a tight grip on the racing league that has long counted the elite as fans, including Carlos Slim, the world’s richest man, and celebs including Michael Fassbender, Patrick Dempsey, Gordon Ramsey, George Lucas, and Cirque de Soleil founder Guy Laliberte.
Although Stallone tried to gain Ecclestone’s approval, “I apologize to fans of Formula 1, but there is a certain individual there who runs the sport that has his own agenda,” Stallone said in 2000. “F1 is very formal, and it’s very hard to get to know people.”
David Cronenberg also planned to direct a tentpole around F1 for Paramount, in 1986, with the director scouting the project by attending Grand Prix races in Australia and Mexico. The film, “Red Cars,” would have revolved around American driver Phil Hill winning the world championship for Ferrari in 1961. Plans were shelved when Ecclestone decided not to support the project. Instead, Cronenberg published a limited edition art book based on the screenplay in 2005.
One of the few cinematic standouts so far is Asif Kapadia’s documentary “Senna,” about the charismatic Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna, killed in a race in 1994 that’s show in the docu. “Senna” went on to earn $8.2 million, and helped educate viewers of the sport by focusing not on the races but Senna’s iconic presence and his impact on pop culture.
“Rush” is looking to put a spotlight on the personalities behind the wheel and the often riveting rivalries between drivers — what many consider the real draw to the sport. Bruhl has compared them to “modern knights constantly facing death.”
As the film races toward its September release — it will be shown at the Toronto Film Festival out of competition — Howard has screened it for not only racing fans but Formula One, itself.
He recently showed the film to a group of F1 drivers (including Lauda, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Felipe Massa) at Germany’s Grand Prix, calling that audience the toughest test so far, and comparing the experience to screening “Apollo 13” to Nasa’s astronauts and mission controllers in 1995.
In his efforts to promote the film, Howard has called the Hunt-Lauda rivalry one of the greatest in all of sports. “Their story is so remarkable, you (could) only do it if it was true, because people wouldn’t quite believe it. They were willing to risk their lives to attain this elite status. They paid a price for it, but they defined themselves.”
Morgan also has been doing his part to reassure F1 fans that the film is authentic, stressing that it’s about the people in the cars, and not the sport itself.
Any way the wheel’s spun, it’s clear the film’s overall success will largely be driven by how it plays overseas. “Rush” will need to appeal to an international audience that’s more familiar with F1 — a sport second in popularity only to soccer — than to those in the U.S.
But Howard needs to hook moviegoers closer to home — making the American director’s job a much tougher sell.
It’s not really that surprising that there’s nothing all that American about “Rush.”
Formula One is still struggling to find an audience in the U.S. It’s looking to change that through a new $3 million broadcasting deal with NBC Sports that airs 13 races on the cable channel, two on CNBC, and four on NBC. The Monaco Grand Prix was the first of four F1 races to air live on NBC this year, with the final race taking place Nov. 24 from Brazil.
Ratings have averaged a 0.3 rating, although the Monaco race was watched by 1.5 million viewers, making it the most-watched Formula One race on U.S. television in six years, and up 40% over last year’s race when it aired on Speed TV, Nielsen said.
Promos have emphasized the speed of F1’s jetfighter cars, its international appeal and Olympics-like profiles of the drivers.
Formula One also is looking to rev up new fans in the U.S. through the opening of its first permanent track in Austin, Texas, last year, known as the Circuit of the Americas. Howard attended its first race, where Lauda also roamed the track’s garages.
What’s ironic is that Howard isn’t a very good driver. He proved that recently racing around the track of BBC’s hit show “Top Gear” to promote “Rush,” ending up in second to last place on the series’ celebrity leader board — behind Genesis’ Mike Rutherford.
Host Jeremy Clarkson was quick to mock him, saying “We finally found something you can’t do. Good at directing, brilliant in ‘Happy Days,’ a charming human being — but utterly crap at driving.”
Ron Howard's Risky Formula One Movie, 'Rush'
Can this Euro-centric car racing film play in the U.S.?
By Rachel Dodes Conn
Ron Howard's films, like "Apollo 13" and "Frost/Nixon," typically deal with issues very familiar to American audiences. His latest project, Mr. Howard's first independently financed film, is a bit of a departure: "Rush" chronicles the rivalry between Austrian Formula One racer Niki Lauda and his nemesis, the British driver James Hunt, over the course of the historic 1976 season. While competing in Nürburg, Germany during treacherous weather conditions, Mr. Lauda (Daniel Brühl, right) crashed his Ferrari and sustained severe burns to his face and lungs. Yet, fueled by a desire to beat Mr. Hunt (Chris Hemsworth, above), a playboy type whose wife (Olivia Wilde) ran off with Richard Burton, Mr. Lauda was back in his car just six weeks later—still wearing his bandages—to race against him in the Italian Grand Prix.
When Mr. Howard received the script on spec from screenwriter Peter Morgan ("Frost/Nixon," "The Last King of Scotland"), he wasn't a Formula One fan and didn't know who Messrs. Hunt and Lauda were. "I looked them up on Wikipedia," he admits. But as he read about the racers' personalities, he started to see broader themes that would appeal to U.S. moviegoers. "Maybe this is the American in me identifying this," he says, "but both these guys are utterly and entirely individuals—there was no Yoda telling them to seek their higher self."
For Mr. Howard, the process of researching "Rush" was surprisingly similar to learning about space travel for his "Apollo 13," because he found himself having to make arcane automotive engineering terms accessible to viewers. "It was really fun to understand a sport that combines cutting-edge technology with very dangerous competition," he says. "The visceral, cool and sexy element offered a kind of cinematic experience that nowadays exists only with sci-fi."
Formula One isn't nearly as popular in the U.S. as Nascar, and the subject matter is likelier to play well overseas, where the film's financing came from. It premiered Monday, in London, a few weeks before its U.S. opening. The filmmakers say it's more than just a sports picture, and they expect it to appeal to women as well as men.
Saudi Female Filmmaker Succeeds In Making A Movie About A Girl Who Wants A Bicycle
Los Angeles Times
By Rebecca Keegan
Sept. 6, 2013
In a country where women can't freely move around, Haifaa Mansour covertly films the story of a girl's quest for a bicycle.
The production lost two days to sandstorms. The crew faced a last-minute scramble when the nervous owner of a mall changed his mind about allowing filming there. Some days locals chased the cameras away; other days they brought platters of lamb and rice to the set, and asked to be extras.
Meanwhile, the director hid in a van, speaking to her cast via walkie-talkie. In Saudi Arabia, where driving a car is a subversive act for a woman, a 39-year-old mother of two has done something remarkable: written and directed what her distributor believes is the first feature film shot entirely in the ultraconservative kingdom.
Haifaa Mansour is the director of "Wadjda," a drama about a plucky 10-year-old girl who enrolls in a Koran recitation competition in order to win money for a bicycle she's forbidden by law to ride.
Like her young protagonist, Mansour's own story is one of feminine moxie.
In a sly protest of the country's ban on women behind the wheel, she drove herself to her wedding in a golf cart. Because women in Saudi Arabia can't mingle publicly with men outside their families, she shot her movie covertly on the streets of the capital, Riyadh. With movie theaters banned, she screened "Wadjda" in two foreign embassies and a cultural center.
Petite, self-assured, wearing white high-tops and blue nail polish, Mansour is modern in both her fashion and bearing. She speaks English quickly and colloquially, dropping frequent "you knows" into conversation. And she isn't afraid to counter misperceptions about her homeland, as when she gently corrected Bill Maher for calling Mecca the Saudi capital during a recent appearance on his HBO show.
Laced with empathy and humor, "Wadjda" is a quietly provocative portrait of a culture that straddles the centuries, where men wear the ancient white thobe but carry the latest iPads and women hold important jobs as doctors and news anchors but have yet to vote in an election.
"I didn't want to make a movie about women being raped or stoned," Mansour said in an interview in Beverly Hills in June. "For me it is the everyday life, how it's hard. For me, it was hard sometimes to go to work because I cannot find transportation. Things like that build up and break a woman."
The eighth of 12 children of a poet, Mansour grew up in a small town in a home that she describes as nurturing for a little girl.
"My family is very traditional, but my parents are very supportive, very kind," she said. "I never felt I can't do things because I'm a woman."
When Mansour was a teen, her mother removed the light veil she wore while picking her daughter up from school, a gesture that mortified the young woman at the time, but empowers her when she reflects on it now.
Though movie theaters have been shuttered in Saudi Arabia for decades for religious reasons, Mansour said her father, like others, often rented VHS tapes at Blockbuster for the family to watch -- she grew up on Jackie Chan movies, Bollywood productions, Egyptian cinema and Disney animated films. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was a particular favorite.
"In small-town Saudi, there is nothing to do. You don't get to exercise your emotions because nothing much is happening, you know?" she said. "So to see people falling in love and fighting, it's so powerful, you see beyond your small town."
After earning her bachelor's degree in comparative literature at the American University in Cairo, she returned to Saudi Arabia but quickly felt stymied.
"Going back to Saudi as a young woman, trying to assert yourself in the workplace, you have all those ideas … and all of a sudden you realize because you are a woman you are not heard," she said. "It was such a frustrating moment in my life. It was as if you are screaming in a vacuum."
The idea of women holding jobs still unnerves some Saudi men -- writer Abdullah Mohammed Daoud recently encouraged his more than 97,000 Twitter followers to sexually harass female grocery store clerks to intimidate women from working.
Recalling the freedom she found in movies, Mansour decided to make a short film with her siblings serving as cast and crew, a thriller about a male serial killer who hides under the black abaya worn by Muslim women. Her work -- two more shorts, a documentary and a stint hosting a talk show for a Lebanese network -- focused largely on the untold stories of Saudi women.
In 2005, at a U.S. embassy screening of her documentary, "Women Without Shadows," Mansour met her future husband, American diplomat Bradley Neimann. They now have two children, 2 and 5, and live in Bahrain, where Neimann works for the State Department.
When her husband was posted in Australia, Mansour pursued a master's in film studies at the University of Sydney, and wrote the script that became "Wadjda."
The story was inspired by her now teenage niece, who has tamped down her rambunctious personality to fit into Saudi norms.
"I thought, 'Wow, a woman writer from Saudi Arabia won?'" Rena Ronson said. "I had to meet her. She was so open and tenacious and smart."When Mansour's script for "Wadjda" won an award at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, it caught the eye of the co-head of the independent film group at United Talent Agency.
Over the next two years Ronson helped Mansour secure financing for her film, which cost a little less than $2.5 million. The primary obstacle, as far as many potential Middle Eastern producers were concerned, was Mansour's desire to shoot in Saudi Arabia, which she felt lent her story authenticity.
The production finally won the tacit approval of the Saudi government -- one of its backers is Rotana Group, an entertainment company primarily owned by Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. Another major financier is the German company Razor Film.
Finding actors was another hurdle. Mansour and her producers recruited child performers through small companies that hire folkloric dancers for the Eid holidays. Many of their parents were uncomfortable with a movie about empowering women.
A week before she was scheduled to start shooting, Mansour still hadn't cast her title character when 12-year-old Waad Mohammed entered the room in blue jeans, with headphones clapped over her ears. Singing along to Justin Bieber, she won over Mansour with her sweet singing voice and tomboyish style.
The movie's half-German, half-Saudi crew worked around the rhythms of Saudi life, using cellphone apps that alerted them of the five daily prayer calls. The Germans carried notebooks; the Saudis relied on oral planning.
On the first day of shooting, a start time of 7:20 a.m. came and went. "I don't know what we were thinking," said German producer Roman Paul. "I don't think 7:20 exists in Saudi time. We Germans learned to relax, and the Saudis learned that there is a benefit to doing things at a certain time."
Despite tension on the set -- both from disapproving observers and from the German and Saudi crews learning to work together -- Mansour was buoyant, Paul said.
"She's very fast in overcoming new difficulties, and in an upbeat spirit," Paul said.
Last summer "Wadjda" premiered at the Venice and Telluride film festivals, earning praise for Mansour's subtle direction and a U.S. release from Sony Pictures Classics, which handled the Oscar-winning 2011 Iranian drama "A Separation," about the dissolution of a marriage.
"'A Separation' was such an eye-opener to me in the sense that there were people questioning whether the film went too specific into the Iranian culture," said Michael Barker, co-president and co-founder of the Sony unit. "But if the overall story has a universal appeal, in 'Wadjda' it's about parents and kids and restrictions and freedom, that's something we can all relate to."
Sony Classics has been showing the film to noted feminists -- Gloria Steinem and Queen Noor of Jordan both attended screenings -- and will release it in the U.S. slowly over the fall, starting Sept. 13. (The movie premiered in multiple European countries this summer.)
Mansour said she plans to work in Saudi Arabia again. For her, screening her movie in the kingdom was a high.
"Film is about uplifting, embracing the love of life, it's about moving ahead, it's about victory," she said. "It's not about defeat."
One victory has already been won. This spring, a new law went into effect: With some restrictions, Saudi women are now allowed to ride bicycles.
Rush (U.S. Universal, International Sales by Exclusive)
Ron Howard and his producing partner Brian Grazer whose imagine Entertainment have had an overall deal at Universal for 27 years, however, this mid-budget range film of some $50,000,000 was considered not "big enough" for the majors.
To read more about this complex and fascinating film and its international film business background, read the following articles which are quoted throughout this article with thanks and acknowledgement to:
· Variety September 13, 2013 (reprinted at the end of this blog) · Wall Street Journal, September 5, 2013 · The Hollywood Reporter September 28, 2011
Aside from major director Ron Howard himself, the second “major” element of the film is that Universal is the North American distributor of the film. This happens through the three year minimum-6-picture distribution deal Brian Oliver’s Cross Creek has with Universal in which Cross Creek produces and finances either its own films or films chosen from Universal’s development slate. Cross Creek is set up to generate up to four films per year, with Universal to distribute at least two of them with a wide-release commitment.
Isa (International Sales Agent) Exclusive Media is also an independent. This too is the result of Oliver’s deal with Exclusive to jointly finance two projects per year.
Cross Creek, putting its own cash into the project, split the cost of the picture with Exclusive who financed it through a bank loan made against pre-sales generated in 2011 at the Afm. With Howard there to promote the project to buyers, Exclusive secured around $33 million in foreign pre-sales. See Cinando’s list of distributors .
Additionally, Oliver and Eaton structured the project as a U.K.- German co-production, enabling them to secure about $12 million in soft money from Germany (Egoli Tossell) in accordance with U.K.’s co-production treaty. As a result, U.K. rights ended up with Studiocanal.
Brian Oliver is a “one of Hollywood’s biggest and more unusual financiers of risky films, with coin coming mostly from oil and real estate investments in Texas”. This major Hollywood financier/ producer takes chances which prove his astute, if askew, view of what makes a “Hollywood” picture an indie at the same time, as shown by his credits, The Ides of March and Black Swan.
Andrew Eaton is a British producer with deep Hollywood connections through the British community here, e.g., Eric Fellner of Working Title, the British production company currently owned by Universal. (Parenthetically, I bought U.S. rights to Working Title’s first film, My Beautiful Laundrette for Lorimar along with Orion Classics and so I was quite thrilled to have a chance to be in touch with the talented Brits once again).
Working Title had worked with Andrew Easton on Frost/Nixon. Eric Fellner loved the script and offered it to Universal for funding. However, as said, Universal passed on it because it was too small.
“It is going to be easy for people to think this is a Hollywood movie, and it just is not,” quotes Variety from the film’s British screenwriter, Peter Morgan, who penned Frost/Nixon which was also directed by Howard. “It is a British independent film directed by a Hollywood director.”
Eaton and Oliver spoke of how they put this film together.
“We must champion the fact that this is basically 80% a British film in terms of the people who worked on it, the way it was structured and the way we ran it,” says Eaton, who was behind such indie films as 24 Hour Party People and the Red Riding TV series.
Can a Song Save Your Life? (U.S. UTA, Isa: Exclusive)
Exclusive has another film here, Can a Song Save Your Life? which is also repped by Rena Ronson, Co-Head of the Independent Film Group of UTA. Directed by John Carney who came to the public’s attention with his micro-budgeted Once which plays on stage here in Toronto at the moment, in New York and elsewhere regularly. The Weinstein Company picked it up in Toronto, reportedly paying around a $7 million minimum guarantee for U.S. rights with a P&A commitment of at least $20 million.
UTA as an agency also packages both large (studio) and smaller indie films. Rena Ronson, the co-head of UTA Indie explained how her own indie roots -- first at indie distributor Fox-Lorber and continuing into international sales before becoming the “indie agent” at Wma, succeeding the “indie” founder, Bobbi Thompson, have taught her to speak the language of the international as well as the independent film business. She knows the major modes of operating as well as she knows the independent style of business. She further explained that the successes of the larger films permit the “smaller”, i.e., “indie” films to be made.
UTA repped films in Toronto are listed below. For a full report of rights sold, before, during and after Toronto, watch SydneysBuzz.com for the Fall 2013 Rights Roundup.
Can A Song Save Your Life?
Writer/Director: John Carney Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Keira Knightley, Hailee Steinfeld, Adam Levine, Catherine Keener, Mos Def, Cee-Lo Green Publicity: Falco / Shannon Treusch, Monica Delameter U.S. Producer Rep: UTA / CAA . Isa: Exclusive Media Group
U.S. rights were acquired at Tiff 13 by TWC for a record breaking $7 million.
Since first announcing it in Cannes 2012, Exclusive has made other deals as well for Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan (Tanweer), Germany (Studiocanal), Japan (Pony Canyon Inc), Philippines (Solar Entertainment), Russia (A Company), So. Korea ( Pancinema), Switzerland ( Ascot Elite Entertainment Group ), Taiwan ( Serenity Entertainment International ), Turkey (D Productions), the Middle East ( Front Row Filmed Entertainment).
Tiff Special Presentations:
Hateship, Loveship
Director: Liza Johnson Writer: Mark Poirier Writer (Novel): Alice Munro Starring: Kristen Wiig, Guy Pearce, Hailee Steinfeld, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Nick Nolte Publicity: Prodigy PR, Erik Bright
North American Sale: UTA / Cassian Elwes. Isa: The Weinstein Co. Sena has rights for Iceland.
The F Word
Director: Michael Dowse Writer: Elan Mastai Writers (Play): Michael Rinaldi & T.J. Dawe Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Zoe Kazan, Rafe Spall, Adam Driver, Mackenzie Davis, Amanda Crew Publicity: Strategy PR / Cynthia Schwartz, Michael Kupferberg Us Sale: UTA / Lichter, Grossman, Nichols, Adler & Feldman. Isa: eOne
After UTA sold the The F Word to CBS Films for the U.S. for around $3 million in Toronto, Entertainment One Films International completed other international sales. Besides Canada and the U.K., eOne itself will release the film in Australia/New Zealand, Benelux and Spain feeding its own international distribution pipeline. Other sales include Germany to Senator Entertainment, Middle East to Front Row Entertainment, Nigeria toRed Mist, Russia to Carmen Film Group, Turkey to Mars Entertainment Group
Night Moves
Writer/Director: Kelly Reichart Writer: Jonathan Raymond Starring: Dakota Fanning, Jesse Eisenberg, Peter Sarsgaard, Alia Shawkat Publicity: Ginsberg/Libby, Chris Libby North American Sale: UTA Isa: The Match Factory
Tiff Vanguard
The Sacrament
Writer/Director: Ti West Starring: Joe Swanberg, Aj Bowen, Amy Seimetz, Kate Lyn Sheil, Gene Jones Publicity: Dda, Dana Archer, Alice Zhou North American Sale: UTA / CAA Isa: Im Global sold to Pegasus Motion Pictures Distribution Ltd . For China
As of this writing, rather 1 hour ago, Magnolia Pictures, which lost on an earlier bidding war here for Joe, is finalizing a deal for the picture reportedly for seven figures.
Coincidentallywith the beginning of the Toronto Film Festival, the front page of L.A. Times quoted Rena Ronson in an article called "Making history as cameras roll" (print edition) or "Wadjda' director makes her mark in Saudi cinema" (online edition) about Wadjda , (Isa: The Match Factory) last year’s Venice and Telluride film which Rena had spotted at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, where it won a script award. It was written and directed by a woman which is notable in such a male-dominated part of the world. She met the writer-director, Haifaa Mansour, and that led to working with her for the next two years to finance the film. Its $2.5m budget was backed in part by the Rotana Group, the largest media company in the Middle East, owned primarily by Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. The German production company Razor Film owned and operated by Gerhard Meixner and Roman Paul whose first coproduction in 2005, Paradise Now brought them into international prominence and who also picked up last year’s Tiff groundbreaking film from Afghanistan,The Patience Stone, and previously coproduced Waltz With Bashir, came on board and brought German broadcast deals and German film funds as well.
Doha and Film Financing
The fourth panelist was Paul Miller, Head of Film Financing, from the Doha Film Institute , Qatar's first international organization dedicated to film financing, production, education and two film festivals. Doha encourages submission for financing film financing opportunities from anywhere in the world. The Dfi Grants program supports first- and second-time filmmakers in producing and developing their own stories. There are two funding rounds per year. Applications are considered from three regions (basically divided into the Middle East, developing nations and the rest of the world – with some exceptions -- each with different eligibility criteria.
Consideration for funding is open to feature-length films in development, production and post-production, as well as short films in production and post-production. Since 2010, Dfi has provided funding to more than 138 filmmakers.
Beyond the regional grants program, Dfi also invests in a diverse slate of international productions to encourage greater collaboration, mentorship and co‑production opportunities between Gulf countries and the rest of the world. Co-financing applications apply to both Middle Eastern and international feature films, television and web series. Submissions are accepted on a rolling basis throughout the year.
Four films at Tiff that Doha has helped finance:
Mohammed Malas’s Ladder to Damacus, screening in Tiff’s Contemporary World Cinema section; Jasmila Žbanic’s For Those Who Can Tell No Tales in the Special Presentation section. Both films were co-financed by Dfi. Dfi grant recipients Néjib Belkadhi’s Bastardo and Mais Darwazah’s My Love Awaits Me by the Sea screening in the Contemporary World Cinema and Discovery sections, respectively.
The fifth panelist, Ted Hope, Director of the San Francisco Film Society, a non-profit training, festival, and funding operation is known to everyone from his history with Good Machine (which was acquired by Universal and renamed Focus Features), and from his blog Hope for Film/ Truly Free Film . In his always-inimitable fashion, Ted proposed a new sort of financing, called "staged financing", based on a progressive meeting of certain criterion from development through distribution. This way of financing is similar to the venture capital models of financing. His broad ideas on what has to change with the industry's funding and packaging methods brought the panelists and the audience to heel at attention. I reprint his blog after this because this idea goes against the current grain of financing an entire film which may or may not prove to be the final box office bingo winner it always purports to be when securing full financing.
The Sffs provided some funding to Thomas Oliver's 1982 which is in Tiff this year. Aside from winning Us in Progress’ $60,000 in post-production services at this year’s Champs Elysees Film Festival, 1982 also received Sffs’s $85,000 post production grant and participated in the Sffs’s A2E labs. The film is being represented by Kevin Iwashina’s Preferred Content.
The panel became very animated as Ted Hope and Rena Ronson faced off about whether a film is made for a broad audience or whether, if targeted correctly, it could actually make money with niche audiences. As always, the two of them, both equally astute, brought much to bear on both sides of the argument. And, I, as the panel’s moderator, hereby declare, They are both right.
The broader the audience the more potential for making money.
However, as Ted points out, with crowd sourcing, crowd funding and crowd theatrical exhibition, there are many other ways beyond ticket purchases that filmmakers can offer in order to make money with their targeted audience.
This, as well as the great contributions made by Doha’s Paul Miller and Revolution’s Andrew Eaton could have extended the panel into a full day. Paul Oliver of Cross Creek was the quietest, perhaps most reticent, of the speakers, but he amply demonstrated that he is one who puts his money where his mouth is. His acumen and taste make us all grateful for his existence as he is a pivotal point person in creating works of art that create substantial revenues for a sustainable art house film business.
The audience as well was most enthusiastic with their questions and post panel discussions with panelists who stayed to talk.
Articles Reprinted Here:
Truly Free Film
Staged Financing Must Become Film Biz’s Immediate Goal
Posted: 06 Sep 2013 05:15 Am Pdt
Each day I become more and more convinced that staged financing could be a cure to much of the Film Biz’s ills. Staged financing? What? Is the phrase not exactly center of your conversations right now? Why not?!! Whatsamattawidyou? Don’t you know a good solution when you see one?
Although it already exists in many fields, and even in a few small patches of our own yard, I recognize that a staged financing strategy is not yet the force behind Indieland’s own gardening. I am however growing convinced it could yield a far more fruitful harvest than our current methods. A staged-financing ecosystem can’t be built in a one-off manner though. Although it also does not need to the rule of the realm, it needs a permanent eco-system to support it.
Staged financing is part of a much bigger solution that we urgently need to bring to our industry: a sustainable investor class . We need smart money and need to stop seeking, encouraging, and propagating dumb money. Most film investors get out, win or lose, by their third film (I have been told this and don’t have the stats to back it up now, but if you do, please share — otherwise just trust that is what my experience has shown). The value of most independent money in the film biz is the money itself, and that is not good for anyone.
Staged financing is exactly what it says to be. I know in this world such literalness is a strange thing, but there is it. Staged financing is a funding process that is there for each distinct stage. In comparison, it is the opposite of up-front financing — the type that monopolizes the narrative feature world. I am proposing that we institutionalize the staged-financing process and make it easier to finance your film in drips and drabs. Why am I so bullish on what probably sounds like hell to many? Why do I think it will save indie film? Let’s count the ways.
Staged financing increases the predictability of success. Investors can base their continued commitment on a proof of prinicipal instead of just a pitch. The longer one waits the more they know — of course the longer one waits the lower the chance for their to be the opportunity for investment, so there. The more investors can project or even predict their success, the longer they will stay in the game, and the more that will gather to pay — i.e. more capital at play! Staged financing allows filmmakers and their supporters to pivot based on real world data. The old way had very little it could do when new information hit. Your film (and investment) could be rendered obsolete over night. But that does not have to be a done deal is this new world. This is just one of the many reasons for #1 above of course. Staged financing diversifies the creative class. Wouldn’t it be great if the film biz was actually a meritocracy? Well, if people had to make good movies to complete their financing, wouldn’t that be a bit closer to the case? Staged financing gives all people the opportunity to prove they have a good idea, whether that idea is completed or not. It is not about who you know, but about what you’ve done and can do. Documentary film — compared to the narrative world — already has a great deal of staged financing institutionalized — and benefits from gender proportional representation among directors. Need I say more?Staged financing allows ambitious artistic work to flourish. Instead of just having “commercial elements”, unique and inspiring work can be recognized for the potential it truly has. Instead of being rewarded for being able to earn trust or arrogantly claim to know what one is doing, staged financing allows good work to be rewarded for being good work. Currently, we mistake confidence for capability and those that boast to be able to predict what the end product will be (where there is no way that they will actually know what the 100+ decisions each day will yield), get to play — not the work that delivers something new and wonderful. Staged financing rewards quality over risk mitigation. Staged financing is actually a better form of risk mitigation than the present form that is only based on regurgitating what has already proven successful. When we limit risk by mimicking what has worked in the past, all we are doing is guessing and covering our ass — and this leads to a film culture of movie titles overrun with numerals. We live in an era of abundance, and as comforting as the familiar may be, we have more access to it than ever before. We rarely need the new version of it. We will however need truly original work more and more as time goes on as we will drowning in the repetitive. How will we prove what works? Staged financing, my friend, staged financing. Staged financing creates a better project as it incentivizes the creators every step of the way. Not that you truly need to incentivize those that are in the passion industries for the right reason, but it never hurts to weed out those that are in it for the wrong reason. When your financing is based on your work and not your connections or investors’ fears, you will do all you can to make each stage of financing shine, justify itself, and be truly competitive. Staged financing requires you to walk a series of steps, proving you have earned the right with every advance — and you better do your homework if you don’t want to get left behind. Staged financing requires you choose your initial partners wisely. It’s not just about the terms of the deal that should determine whom your investors are — but that is how we generally act nowadays. Everyone should instead seek value-add investors. You should get more than just money from your investors. You should benefit from their expertise. Filmmakers, agents, lawyers, and managers, often are willing to leap into bed with anyone who offers the most cash — there’s a name for that practice and it should not be film investment. Staged financing means the creators will have “skin in the game”. When it is an up-front finance model, the creators are not working for a payout in success but working just for the upfornt fees (or some semblance thereof); they may have “profit participation” but basically the only anticipated earnings are what is in the budget. It becomes increasingly difficult to motivate the creative team to be engaged in the needed work after the film premieres. Investors have long recognized that this is not the most beneficial arrangement, yet what can they do? The answer my friend, is… yup, you know the song I am singing: everyone loves that staged financing! Staged financing is a time-tested process that has already been adopted by many industries . Staged financing is the modus operandi of Silicon Valley and all the Vc firms. Other industries, from mining onwards, have seen real benefits from the process. Why do we limit our success and not apply proven models to our field? Could it be that somewhere someone is desperately clutching on to what ever paltry power they perceive themselves to possess? Hmmm… If they don’t offer the model you want at the store, build a new model — or maybe even a chain of stores. Staged financing gives producers of quality work more power. The main objection to staged financing is that it gives financiers more power. That is only true if you are making crap. Or mediocre work. If you are making something wonderfully astounding you will never struggle to progress to the next round — and in fact you will be able to improve your terms. And investors won’t complain either, because they now can have to know a good thing when they see one.
So if Staged Financing is this marvelous thing, why have our leaders not yet delivered it to you? Well, they don’t care about you; didn’t you know that?
And if Staged Financing could really save Indie Film, why has the community not constructed this marvelous ecosystem yet? Well, we’ve all been too busy chasing shiny objects and marveling at the reflections fed back of us.
But change is here. We have hope. We can build it better together. And I have already started. The San Francisco Film Society is committed to it. We have others who want to be part of. We are have spots for more to join in. And we are going to help a few select projects really rock this world.
Watch this space. Let’s do it together and truly astonish the world with your awe inspiring work. Just don’t be slack, okay?
Variety, August 21, 2013:
“Rush,” the high-octane car racing film about the public rivalry between legendary Formula One drivers Niki Lauda and James Hunt during the 1970s, has all the markings of tinseltown’s latest flashy biopic, withRon Howard at the wheel, Chris Hemsworth as its star, and Universal Pictures releasing the film Sept. 27. But that assumption couldn’t be further from the truth.
“It is going to be easy for people to think this is a Hollywood movie, and it just is not,” says the upcoming film’s British screenwriter, Peter Morgan, who penned “Frost/Nixon,” also directed by Howard. “It is a British independent film directed by a Hollywood director.” Get Weekly Online News and alerts free to your inbox
As the majors focus more on putting their money behind mega-budgeted projects with built-in brand awareness — sequels, reboots, films based on toys, videogames and comicbooks — filmmakers are finding Hollywood’s studio system rapidly shifting under their feet.
“Because studios are less interested in the midbudget area, there is a massive opportunity for independents to step into that (area) at the moment,” says “Rush” producer Andrew Eaton of London-based Revolution Films.
Indeed, it’s getting harder to set up a midbudget range original project at a studio, even for veteran filmmakers like Howard and his producing partner Brian Grazer, whose Imagine Entertainment has had an overall deal at Universal for 27 years (the longest standing deal U has had in its 100-year history with a production company). That’s forced directors to look elsewhere to tackle the kinds of films now considered too risky to make or the ones that won’t fill retail shelves with merchandise.
Another Hollywood vet, producer Marc Platt, who’s had a production deal at Universal since 1998 after stepping down as its production head, similarly had to find indie financing for his film “2 Guns” after Universal said it would not bankroll the picture but simply distribute it.
With “Rush,” Howard found himself in an entirely new role as the director of a $50 million film that was his first to be independently financed — through a series of bonds, contingencies and pre-sales. He also was a director for hire, replacing Paul Greengrass, who was originally set to bring the showy personalities of Hunt (Hemsworth), a British playboy; and the more serious Austrian champion Lauda (Daniel Bruhl) to the big screen.
“We must champion the fact that this is basically 80% a British film in terms of the people who worked on it, the way it was structured and the way we ran it,” says Eaton. The exec, who was behind such indie films as “24 Hour Party People” and the “Red Riding” series, is modest, and like most Brits politely shies away from the spotlight, tending not to grab credit even when its due.
But he believes “Rush” shows off Blighty’s mettle.
“These are the kinds of films we should be making in the U.K. because we can do it, and we can do it for better value of money,” he says.
Morgan began writing the story of Lauda, a friend of his wife’s, on spec some years ago, intrigued by the driver’s courageous comeback just 40 days after a devastating crash at the 1976 German Grand Prix that severely burned his face and saw him lapse into a coma, and how that might play against Hunt’s notorious womanizing and party lifestyle that gained him rock-star status.
Eager to work with Eaton again after Fernando Meirelles’ “360,” Morgan showed the producer the first draft of “Rush,” and Eaton was hooked.
“Andrew was always going to be a great fit for this project,” Morgan says. “If (the) responsibility was to make this at a price, Andrew could do this. He could make a $50 million film feel like a $150 million film.”
With Greengrass, another Brit, attached to direct, Morgan showed the script to close friend Eric Fellner at his Universal-owned British production outfit Working Title. Fellner, who had worked with him on “Frost/Nixon,” loved the new script and offered it to Universal for funding.
But the studio passed, considering it risky subject matter, given the biopic elements and low profile of F1 racing in the U.S. Universal also didn’t believe the film could be made for the right price. Still Fellner stayed onboard, and his contacts in the F1 arena proved invaluable. His relationships with Ferrari and McLaren thanks to his work on documentary “Senna” enabled “Rush” to enlist the brands in the pic without losing editorial control.
“Ron (Howard) jokes that my major contribution was engine noise,” Fellner says. “Maybe I can take credit for a bit of that.”
Soon after Universal passed, Cross Creek Pictures topper Brian Oliver reached out to Eaton to finance the project — so eager that he offered to put up $2 million before he even signed the deal so that Eaton could order replicas of the 1970s cars to be ready in time for the shoot. He also was instrumental in steering Hemsworth toward the project.
“Typically we don’t spend that kind of money without knowing the movie is going and the budget is done,” Oliver says. “But I was passionate about the script, and I really thought it was a film with a lot of heart, not just a race car movie.”
Cross Creek, also behind “The Ides of March” and “Black Swan,” has quickly become one of Hollywood’s biggest and more unusual financiers of risky films, with coin coming mostly from oil and real estate investments in Texas.
“He’s an unusual maverick in Hollywood because he really fought to get the budget to the highest level he could,” says Eaton of Oliver. “There’s no bullshit with him — he gets stuff done.” Adds Fellner: “Without Brian, the film wouldn’t have gotten off of the ground. He put his money where his mouth is.”
Shortly after funding started coming together, Greengrass dropped off the project due, ironically, to his issues with the budget. Within 24 hours, Morgan and Fellner enticed Howard to come onboard. The financing arrangement intrigued him, but what really attracted Howard was the ability to re-create the world of Formula One in the 1970s “when sex was safe and driving was dangerous,” as he has said in past interviews.
“Ron was incredibly gracious in trusting us to deliver,” Eaton says. “He was very smart about knowing we needed to make this film in a different way. He’d never made a film with a bond before, and never made a film with a contingency before, but he rolled up his sleeves and was ready to learn.” Some of that indie spirit has already rubbed off on Howard, who is now sticking with a mostly British crew on his next project, “In the Heart of the Sea,” including “Rush” cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle and costume designer Julian Day. “Heart” lenses in London.
Exclusive Media came in as the final partner on “Rush,” brought in by Oliver under his deal with Exclusive to jointly finance two projects per year.
Cross Creek split the cost of the pic with Exclusive, with the former putting its own cash in to the pic and the latter financing through a bank loan made against pre-sales generated in 2011 at the Afm, where Howard helped shop the project to buyers. The move proved a success, as Exclusive secured $33 million in foreign pre-sales.
Additionally, Oliver and Eaton structured the project as a U.K.-German co-production, enabling them to secure about $12 million in soft money.
As a result, U.K. rights ended up going to Studiocanal. Universal agreed to distribute “Rush” in the U.S. through its output deal with Cross Creek.
Eaton pressed to put all of the money raised on the screen. “Rush” became the highest-budget film he had ever worked with after 2000’s “The Claim,” which cost $18 million to produce.
“(‘Rush’) was financed in exactly the same way we finance every independent film, and we approached shooting in the same way as we do everything — you try to put as much money as you can onscreen,” Eaton says. “It’s about not wasting money on things you don’t need, like private jets and extravagances.”
Hollywood has tried to bring to life the world of Formula One before.
Sylvester Stallone directed “Driven,” which originally was set in the world of F1, before he changed course and based it on rival Cart racing, instead.
The reason? To gain access to F1, filmmakers must first get the greenlight from the often polarizing Bernie Ecclestone, the 82-year-old billionaire who holds a tight grip on the racing league that has long counted the elite as fans, including Carlos Slim, the world’s richest man, and celebs including Michael Fassbender, Patrick Dempsey, Gordon Ramsey, George Lucas, and Cirque de Soleil founder Guy Laliberte.
Although Stallone tried to gain Ecclestone’s approval, “I apologize to fans of Formula 1, but there is a certain individual there who runs the sport that has his own agenda,” Stallone said in 2000. “F1 is very formal, and it’s very hard to get to know people.”
David Cronenberg also planned to direct a tentpole around F1 for Paramount, in 1986, with the director scouting the project by attending Grand Prix races in Australia and Mexico. The film, “Red Cars,” would have revolved around American driver Phil Hill winning the world championship for Ferrari in 1961. Plans were shelved when Ecclestone decided not to support the project. Instead, Cronenberg published a limited edition art book based on the screenplay in 2005.
One of the few cinematic standouts so far is Asif Kapadia’s documentary “Senna,” about the charismatic Brazilian driver Ayrton Senna, killed in a race in 1994 that’s show in the docu. “Senna” went on to earn $8.2 million, and helped educate viewers of the sport by focusing not on the races but Senna’s iconic presence and his impact on pop culture.
“Rush” is looking to put a spotlight on the personalities behind the wheel and the often riveting rivalries between drivers — what many consider the real draw to the sport. Bruhl has compared them to “modern knights constantly facing death.”
As the film races toward its September release — it will be shown at the Toronto Film Festival out of competition — Howard has screened it for not only racing fans but Formula One, itself.
He recently showed the film to a group of F1 drivers (including Lauda, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Felipe Massa) at Germany’s Grand Prix, calling that audience the toughest test so far, and comparing the experience to screening “Apollo 13” to Nasa’s astronauts and mission controllers in 1995.
In his efforts to promote the film, Howard has called the Hunt-Lauda rivalry one of the greatest in all of sports. “Their story is so remarkable, you (could) only do it if it was true, because people wouldn’t quite believe it. They were willing to risk their lives to attain this elite status. They paid a price for it, but they defined themselves.”
Morgan also has been doing his part to reassure F1 fans that the film is authentic, stressing that it’s about the people in the cars, and not the sport itself.
Any way the wheel’s spun, it’s clear the film’s overall success will largely be driven by how it plays overseas. “Rush” will need to appeal to an international audience that’s more familiar with F1 — a sport second in popularity only to soccer — than to those in the U.S.
But Howard needs to hook moviegoers closer to home — making the American director’s job a much tougher sell.
It’s not really that surprising that there’s nothing all that American about “Rush.”
Formula One is still struggling to find an audience in the U.S. It’s looking to change that through a new $3 million broadcasting deal with NBC Sports that airs 13 races on the cable channel, two on CNBC, and four on NBC. The Monaco Grand Prix was the first of four F1 races to air live on NBC this year, with the final race taking place Nov. 24 from Brazil.
Ratings have averaged a 0.3 rating, although the Monaco race was watched by 1.5 million viewers, making it the most-watched Formula One race on U.S. television in six years, and up 40% over last year’s race when it aired on Speed TV, Nielsen said.
Promos have emphasized the speed of F1’s jetfighter cars, its international appeal and Olympics-like profiles of the drivers.
Formula One also is looking to rev up new fans in the U.S. through the opening of its first permanent track in Austin, Texas, last year, known as the Circuit of the Americas. Howard attended its first race, where Lauda also roamed the track’s garages.
What’s ironic is that Howard isn’t a very good driver. He proved that recently racing around the track of BBC’s hit show “Top Gear” to promote “Rush,” ending up in second to last place on the series’ celebrity leader board — behind Genesis’ Mike Rutherford.
Host Jeremy Clarkson was quick to mock him, saying “We finally found something you can’t do. Good at directing, brilliant in ‘Happy Days,’ a charming human being — but utterly crap at driving.”
Ron Howard's Risky Formula One Movie, 'Rush'
Can this Euro-centric car racing film play in the U.S.?
By Rachel Dodes Conn
Ron Howard's films, like "Apollo 13" and "Frost/Nixon," typically deal with issues very familiar to American audiences. His latest project, Mr. Howard's first independently financed film, is a bit of a departure: "Rush" chronicles the rivalry between Austrian Formula One racer Niki Lauda and his nemesis, the British driver James Hunt, over the course of the historic 1976 season. While competing in Nürburg, Germany during treacherous weather conditions, Mr. Lauda (Daniel Brühl, right) crashed his Ferrari and sustained severe burns to his face and lungs. Yet, fueled by a desire to beat Mr. Hunt (Chris Hemsworth, above), a playboy type whose wife (Olivia Wilde) ran off with Richard Burton, Mr. Lauda was back in his car just six weeks later—still wearing his bandages—to race against him in the Italian Grand Prix.
When Mr. Howard received the script on spec from screenwriter Peter Morgan ("Frost/Nixon," "The Last King of Scotland"), he wasn't a Formula One fan and didn't know who Messrs. Hunt and Lauda were. "I looked them up on Wikipedia," he admits. But as he read about the racers' personalities, he started to see broader themes that would appeal to U.S. moviegoers. "Maybe this is the American in me identifying this," he says, "but both these guys are utterly and entirely individuals—there was no Yoda telling them to seek their higher self."
For Mr. Howard, the process of researching "Rush" was surprisingly similar to learning about space travel for his "Apollo 13," because he found himself having to make arcane automotive engineering terms accessible to viewers. "It was really fun to understand a sport that combines cutting-edge technology with very dangerous competition," he says. "The visceral, cool and sexy element offered a kind of cinematic experience that nowadays exists only with sci-fi."
Formula One isn't nearly as popular in the U.S. as Nascar, and the subject matter is likelier to play well overseas, where the film's financing came from. It premiered Monday, in London, a few weeks before its U.S. opening. The filmmakers say it's more than just a sports picture, and they expect it to appeal to women as well as men.
Saudi Female Filmmaker Succeeds In Making A Movie About A Girl Who Wants A Bicycle
Los Angeles Times
By Rebecca Keegan
Sept. 6, 2013
In a country where women can't freely move around, Haifaa Mansour covertly films the story of a girl's quest for a bicycle.
The production lost two days to sandstorms. The crew faced a last-minute scramble when the nervous owner of a mall changed his mind about allowing filming there. Some days locals chased the cameras away; other days they brought platters of lamb and rice to the set, and asked to be extras.
Meanwhile, the director hid in a van, speaking to her cast via walkie-talkie. In Saudi Arabia, where driving a car is a subversive act for a woman, a 39-year-old mother of two has done something remarkable: written and directed what her distributor believes is the first feature film shot entirely in the ultraconservative kingdom.
Haifaa Mansour is the director of "Wadjda," a drama about a plucky 10-year-old girl who enrolls in a Koran recitation competition in order to win money for a bicycle she's forbidden by law to ride.
Like her young protagonist, Mansour's own story is one of feminine moxie.
In a sly protest of the country's ban on women behind the wheel, she drove herself to her wedding in a golf cart. Because women in Saudi Arabia can't mingle publicly with men outside their families, she shot her movie covertly on the streets of the capital, Riyadh. With movie theaters banned, she screened "Wadjda" in two foreign embassies and a cultural center.
Petite, self-assured, wearing white high-tops and blue nail polish, Mansour is modern in both her fashion and bearing. She speaks English quickly and colloquially, dropping frequent "you knows" into conversation. And she isn't afraid to counter misperceptions about her homeland, as when she gently corrected Bill Maher for calling Mecca the Saudi capital during a recent appearance on his HBO show.
Laced with empathy and humor, "Wadjda" is a quietly provocative portrait of a culture that straddles the centuries, where men wear the ancient white thobe but carry the latest iPads and women hold important jobs as doctors and news anchors but have yet to vote in an election.
"I didn't want to make a movie about women being raped or stoned," Mansour said in an interview in Beverly Hills in June. "For me it is the everyday life, how it's hard. For me, it was hard sometimes to go to work because I cannot find transportation. Things like that build up and break a woman."
The eighth of 12 children of a poet, Mansour grew up in a small town in a home that she describes as nurturing for a little girl.
"My family is very traditional, but my parents are very supportive, very kind," she said. "I never felt I can't do things because I'm a woman."
When Mansour was a teen, her mother removed the light veil she wore while picking her daughter up from school, a gesture that mortified the young woman at the time, but empowers her when she reflects on it now.
Though movie theaters have been shuttered in Saudi Arabia for decades for religious reasons, Mansour said her father, like others, often rented VHS tapes at Blockbuster for the family to watch -- she grew up on Jackie Chan movies, Bollywood productions, Egyptian cinema and Disney animated films. "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was a particular favorite.
"In small-town Saudi, there is nothing to do. You don't get to exercise your emotions because nothing much is happening, you know?" she said. "So to see people falling in love and fighting, it's so powerful, you see beyond your small town."
After earning her bachelor's degree in comparative literature at the American University in Cairo, she returned to Saudi Arabia but quickly felt stymied.
"Going back to Saudi as a young woman, trying to assert yourself in the workplace, you have all those ideas … and all of a sudden you realize because you are a woman you are not heard," she said. "It was such a frustrating moment in my life. It was as if you are screaming in a vacuum."
The idea of women holding jobs still unnerves some Saudi men -- writer Abdullah Mohammed Daoud recently encouraged his more than 97,000 Twitter followers to sexually harass female grocery store clerks to intimidate women from working.
Recalling the freedom she found in movies, Mansour decided to make a short film with her siblings serving as cast and crew, a thriller about a male serial killer who hides under the black abaya worn by Muslim women. Her work -- two more shorts, a documentary and a stint hosting a talk show for a Lebanese network -- focused largely on the untold stories of Saudi women.
In 2005, at a U.S. embassy screening of her documentary, "Women Without Shadows," Mansour met her future husband, American diplomat Bradley Neimann. They now have two children, 2 and 5, and live in Bahrain, where Neimann works for the State Department.
When her husband was posted in Australia, Mansour pursued a master's in film studies at the University of Sydney, and wrote the script that became "Wadjda."
The story was inspired by her now teenage niece, who has tamped down her rambunctious personality to fit into Saudi norms.
"I thought, 'Wow, a woman writer from Saudi Arabia won?'" Rena Ronson said. "I had to meet her. She was so open and tenacious and smart."When Mansour's script for "Wadjda" won an award at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, it caught the eye of the co-head of the independent film group at United Talent Agency.
Over the next two years Ronson helped Mansour secure financing for her film, which cost a little less than $2.5 million. The primary obstacle, as far as many potential Middle Eastern producers were concerned, was Mansour's desire to shoot in Saudi Arabia, which she felt lent her story authenticity.
The production finally won the tacit approval of the Saudi government -- one of its backers is Rotana Group, an entertainment company primarily owned by Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. Another major financier is the German company Razor Film.
Finding actors was another hurdle. Mansour and her producers recruited child performers through small companies that hire folkloric dancers for the Eid holidays. Many of their parents were uncomfortable with a movie about empowering women.
A week before she was scheduled to start shooting, Mansour still hadn't cast her title character when 12-year-old Waad Mohammed entered the room in blue jeans, with headphones clapped over her ears. Singing along to Justin Bieber, she won over Mansour with her sweet singing voice and tomboyish style.
The movie's half-German, half-Saudi crew worked around the rhythms of Saudi life, using cellphone apps that alerted them of the five daily prayer calls. The Germans carried notebooks; the Saudis relied on oral planning.
On the first day of shooting, a start time of 7:20 a.m. came and went. "I don't know what we were thinking," said German producer Roman Paul. "I don't think 7:20 exists in Saudi time. We Germans learned to relax, and the Saudis learned that there is a benefit to doing things at a certain time."
Despite tension on the set -- both from disapproving observers and from the German and Saudi crews learning to work together -- Mansour was buoyant, Paul said.
"She's very fast in overcoming new difficulties, and in an upbeat spirit," Paul said.
Last summer "Wadjda" premiered at the Venice and Telluride film festivals, earning praise for Mansour's subtle direction and a U.S. release from Sony Pictures Classics, which handled the Oscar-winning 2011 Iranian drama "A Separation," about the dissolution of a marriage.
"'A Separation' was such an eye-opener to me in the sense that there were people questioning whether the film went too specific into the Iranian culture," said Michael Barker, co-president and co-founder of the Sony unit. "But if the overall story has a universal appeal, in 'Wadjda' it's about parents and kids and restrictions and freedom, that's something we can all relate to."
Sony Classics has been showing the film to noted feminists -- Gloria Steinem and Queen Noor of Jordan both attended screenings -- and will release it in the U.S. slowly over the fall, starting Sept. 13. (The movie premiered in multiple European countries this summer.)
Mansour said she plans to work in Saudi Arabia again. For her, screening her movie in the kingdom was a high.
"Film is about uplifting, embracing the love of life, it's about moving ahead, it's about victory," she said. "It's not about defeat."
One victory has already been won. This spring, a new law went into effect: With some restrictions, Saudi women are now allowed to ride bicycles.
- 9/15/2013
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Night Moves
Written by Kelly Reichardt and Jonathan Raymond
Directed by Kelly Reichardt
USA, 2013
What separates life on the fringe of society from being outside of society entirely? It’s that line of demarcation that fascinates Kelly Reichardt, whose particularly American take on “slow cinema” collides with our own expectation of the requirements of the thriller genre in Night Moves, which cleverly cloaks its true thematic concerns in familiar story tropes.
Jesse Eisenberg’s usual performative tics, built up over a dozen or more films, are almost entirely absent here; he top-lines as Josh, a deeply serious (and self-serious) young man who divides his time between working for a farming cooperative and plotting direct-action protests with the aim of raising awareness of anti-environmental excesses. Along with two associates – his reclusive “brother” Harmon (Peter Sarsgaard) and rebellious but whip-smart rich girl Dena (Dakota Fanning), Josh is gearing up to execute a...
Written by Kelly Reichardt and Jonathan Raymond
Directed by Kelly Reichardt
USA, 2013
What separates life on the fringe of society from being outside of society entirely? It’s that line of demarcation that fascinates Kelly Reichardt, whose particularly American take on “slow cinema” collides with our own expectation of the requirements of the thriller genre in Night Moves, which cleverly cloaks its true thematic concerns in familiar story tropes.
Jesse Eisenberg’s usual performative tics, built up over a dozen or more films, are almost entirely absent here; he top-lines as Josh, a deeply serious (and self-serious) young man who divides his time between working for a farming cooperative and plotting direct-action protests with the aim of raising awareness of anti-environmental excesses. Along with two associates – his reclusive “brother” Harmon (Peter Sarsgaard) and rebellious but whip-smart rich girl Dena (Dakota Fanning), Josh is gearing up to execute a...
- 9/9/2013
- by Simon Howell
- SoundOnSight
Although filmmaker Kelly Reichardt only has a handful of films to her credit, her work has already caught the eye of many in the critical film community, with her 2008 feature Wendy and Lucy turning a lot of heads, both due to the work of Reichardt and lead Michelle Williams. The announcement of a new film from Reichardt was met with joy by many, especially when it was announced that she would be reteaming with frequent collaborator Jonathan Raymond for the screenplay. Reichardt works with a cast that includes Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning, Peter Sarsgaard, Alia Shawkat, and Katherine Waterston, and a new clip for the film, which shall be screening at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, has now been released.
(Source: The Playlist)
The post Tiff 2013: ‘Night Moves’, the new film from Kelly Reichardt, releases a clip appeared first on Sound On Sight.
(Source: The Playlist)
The post Tiff 2013: ‘Night Moves’, the new film from Kelly Reichardt, releases a clip appeared first on Sound On Sight.
- 9/3/2013
- by Deepayan Sengupta
- SoundOnSight
What happens to a person’s political principles when they find their back against the wall? We’ll soon find that out, because Kelly Reichardt‘s drama Night Moves is scheduled to be shown in the main competition section of the 70th Venice International Film Festival. Until the official trailer and clip for the movie arrive, check out the first images and posters for this pretty interesting project. Reichardt directed the movie from a script she co-wrote with Jonathan Raymond, which revolves around three radical environmentalists who come together to execute the most spectacular direct action event of their lives: the explosion of a hydroelectric dam. Why? Well,...
Click to read original and full article: Venice 2013: Night Moves Images and Poster on http://www.filmofilia.com...
Click to read original and full article: Venice 2013: Night Moves Images and Poster on http://www.filmofilia.com...
- 8/30/2013
- by Fiona
- Filmofilia
Coming off the back of the blockbuster hit, Now You See Me, Jesse Eisenberg will be heading to Venice in a few weeks’ time to launch Kelly Reichardt’s anticipated next feature, Night Moves.
Following its world premiere at Venice, Night Moves will then be heading across the Atlantic for its North American debut at Tiff. And now the first image of Eisenberg in the lead has landed online.
Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning and Peter Saarsgard star as radical environmental activists whose act of eco-terror plunges them into a moral maelstrom, in the highly anticipated new film from acclaimed American auteur Kelly Reichardt (Wendy and Lucy, Meek’s Cutoff).
Dakota Fanning and Peter Saarsgard complete a very promising leading trio, with Reichardt (Meek’s Cutoff) directing from a script she co-wrote with past collaborator and Emmy nominee Jonathan Raymond (Meek’s Cutoff, Mildred Pierce).
Night Moves will make its debut at Venice,...
Following its world premiere at Venice, Night Moves will then be heading across the Atlantic for its North American debut at Tiff. And now the first image of Eisenberg in the lead has landed online.
Jesse Eisenberg, Dakota Fanning and Peter Saarsgard star as radical environmental activists whose act of eco-terror plunges them into a moral maelstrom, in the highly anticipated new film from acclaimed American auteur Kelly Reichardt (Wendy and Lucy, Meek’s Cutoff).
Dakota Fanning and Peter Saarsgard complete a very promising leading trio, with Reichardt (Meek’s Cutoff) directing from a script she co-wrote with past collaborator and Emmy nominee Jonathan Raymond (Meek’s Cutoff, Mildred Pierce).
Night Moves will make its debut at Venice,...
- 8/6/2013
- by Kenji Lloyd
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Christian Bale is in line to reunite with Velvet Goldmine director Todd Haynes.
The actor has been offered a role in the filmmaker's new drama Act of God, reports The Tracking Board.
Written by Haynes and Jon Raymond, the film centres around a Kansas man who takes his local government to task following a devastating tornado.
The film will focus on the political aspects of the event, rather than being a disaster movie.
Bale starred in Haynes's Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There.
The director has also been working on Patricia Highsmith adaptation Carol. The film had Cate Blanchett and Mia Wasikowska attached, but nothing has been heard about it for some months.
Bale will next be seen in Out of the Furnace, Knight of Cups and American Hustle.
Watch a trailer for 1998's Velvet Goldmine below:...
The actor has been offered a role in the filmmaker's new drama Act of God, reports The Tracking Board.
Written by Haynes and Jon Raymond, the film centres around a Kansas man who takes his local government to task following a devastating tornado.
The film will focus on the political aspects of the event, rather than being a disaster movie.
Bale starred in Haynes's Bob Dylan biopic I'm Not There.
The director has also been working on Patricia Highsmith adaptation Carol. The film had Cate Blanchett and Mia Wasikowska attached, but nothing has been heard about it for some months.
Bale will next be seen in Out of the Furnace, Knight of Cups and American Hustle.
Watch a trailer for 1998's Velvet Goldmine below:...
- 7/29/2013
- Digital Spy
Peripheral Produce, the Portland, Or based underground film DVD distributor is having a major sale this summer, offering many of their discs for just $10.
Most of Peripheral’s products are compilation DVDs featuring the work of either a single artist or multiple filmmakers. Some of the discounted offerings include:
Naomi Uman: Milking and Scratching
Includes films: Leche, Mala Leche, Private Movie, Removed, and Hand Eye Coordination.
Matt McCormick: From Tugboats to Polar Bears
Includes films: Towlines (2004), Grounded (2004), American Nutria (2003), Past and Pending (2003), The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal (2001), Going to the Ocean (2001), The Vyrotonin Decision (1999) and Sincerely, Joe P. Bear (1999).
Deborah Stratman: Something Like Flying
Includes films: In Order Not To Be Here, Kings of the Sky, and From Hetty to Nancy.
The Auto-Cinematic Video Mix Tape
Includes films: Truth in Advertising by Negativland, Atlanta by Miranda July, Battles on the Astral Plane by Jon Raymond, Slow...
Most of Peripheral’s products are compilation DVDs featuring the work of either a single artist or multiple filmmakers. Some of the discounted offerings include:
Naomi Uman: Milking and Scratching
Includes films: Leche, Mala Leche, Private Movie, Removed, and Hand Eye Coordination.
Matt McCormick: From Tugboats to Polar Bears
Includes films: Towlines (2004), Grounded (2004), American Nutria (2003), Past and Pending (2003), The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal (2001), Going to the Ocean (2001), The Vyrotonin Decision (1999) and Sincerely, Joe P. Bear (1999).
Deborah Stratman: Something Like Flying
Includes films: In Order Not To Be Here, Kings of the Sky, and From Hetty to Nancy.
The Auto-Cinematic Video Mix Tape
Includes films: Truth in Advertising by Negativland, Atlanta by Miranda July, Battles on the Astral Plane by Jon Raymond, Slow...
- 7/18/2013
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
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