European giant Beta Film, known for ambitious titles such as “Babylon Berlin” and “The Swarm,” has shared with Variety in exclusivity a first-look picture of 1o-part series “Rise of the Raven,” which it hails as “one of the most epic European TV productions of all time.”
“Rise of the Raven” weighs in as a passion project of Hungarian-born and Canada-based producer Robert Lantos, behind “Sunshine,” “The Sweet Hereafter,” “Barney’s Version,” “Eastern Promises” and “Crimes of the Future.”
A highlight at Beta Film’s showcase this Tuesday at the London TV Screenings, “Rise of the Raven” turns on the extraordinary feat of Hungarian army commander Janos Hunyadi, played by discovery Gellért L. Kádár, who in 1456 won a bloody, brutal Battle of Belgrade against a vast Ottoman force twice the size of his troops who were often farm labourers armed with just slings and patriotic fervor.
Hunyadi largely halted a full Ottoman...
“Rise of the Raven” weighs in as a passion project of Hungarian-born and Canada-based producer Robert Lantos, behind “Sunshine,” “The Sweet Hereafter,” “Barney’s Version,” “Eastern Promises” and “Crimes of the Future.”
A highlight at Beta Film’s showcase this Tuesday at the London TV Screenings, “Rise of the Raven” turns on the extraordinary feat of Hungarian army commander Janos Hunyadi, played by discovery Gellért L. Kádár, who in 1456 won a bloody, brutal Battle of Belgrade against a vast Ottoman force twice the size of his troops who were often farm labourers armed with just slings and patriotic fervor.
Hunyadi largely halted a full Ottoman...
- 2/27/2024
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Claire Denis, Leox Carax, Jim Sheridan, Atom Egoyan and Martin Hernandez will be the Masters for the 10th edition of Qumra, the Doha Film Institute’s annual incubator event.
The four directors plus sound designer and editor Hernandez will discuss their careers in individual talks with the Qumra delegates.
This year’s Qumra will run from March 1-6, with the 10th edition a key milestone for a Middle Eastern film event.
“As the Arab world’s first-of-its-kind talent incubator, Qumra has served as the preeminent platform for emerging talents to give their projects a distinct advantage through invaluable networking sessions with leading industry professionals,...
The four directors plus sound designer and editor Hernandez will discuss their careers in individual talks with the Qumra delegates.
This year’s Qumra will run from March 1-6, with the 10th edition a key milestone for a Middle Eastern film event.
“As the Arab world’s first-of-its-kind talent incubator, Qumra has served as the preeminent platform for emerging talents to give their projects a distinct advantage through invaluable networking sessions with leading industry professionals,...
- 2/5/2024
- ScreenDaily
Maple Syrup Massacre is an editorial series where Joe Lipsett dissects the themes, conventions and contributions of new and classic Canadian horror films. Spoilers follow…
It would be disingenuous to suggest that Atom Egoyan’s The Adjuster is a horror film.
Psychological thriller is more apt descriptor, though audiences seeking scary set pieces will walk away unsatisfied. Despite this, The Adjuster has a narrative of thriller tropes, including a large number of psychosexual relationships, characters adopting dual roles (or simply role playing) and an ending that encourages audiences to re-evaluate what they have seen.
Egoyan is one of Canada’s most significant contemporary directors, though internationally his work is known principally in art cinema and film festival circles. In the 90s, Egoyan was a symbol of national pride; he, along with David Cronenberg, was essentially the face of English-language Canadian film. His most famous film is the Sarah Polley-starring The Sweet Hereafter,...
It would be disingenuous to suggest that Atom Egoyan’s The Adjuster is a horror film.
Psychological thriller is more apt descriptor, though audiences seeking scary set pieces will walk away unsatisfied. Despite this, The Adjuster has a narrative of thriller tropes, including a large number of psychosexual relationships, characters adopting dual roles (or simply role playing) and an ending that encourages audiences to re-evaluate what they have seen.
Egoyan is one of Canada’s most significant contemporary directors, though internationally his work is known principally in art cinema and film festival circles. In the 90s, Egoyan was a symbol of national pride; he, along with David Cronenberg, was essentially the face of English-language Canadian film. His most famous film is the Sarah Polley-starring The Sweet Hereafter,...
- 1/30/2024
- by Joe Lipsett
- bloody-disgusting.com
Filmmaker Michael Goorjian set out to create a different kind of film about Armenian nationality when developing “Amerikatsi,” the country’s submission in the international feature category for this year’s Academy Awards. Along with directing, Goorjian also stars as Charlie, an American who repatriates to Armenia after World War II — but ends up in a Soviet prison for simply wearing a tie. The circumstances are absurd and bleak, but Goorjian was intent on finding a light, affirming tone for the story.
“There had been a lot of Armenian films usually focused on the genocide. I just wanted to make something that would be hopeful. But also I wanted to make a film that Armenians could be proud of, but wouldn’t be hard to share — that was enjoyable to watch,” Goorjian shared in a conversation with fellow director Atom Egoyan. “Today there’s so much crazy stuff going on.
“There had been a lot of Armenian films usually focused on the genocide. I just wanted to make something that would be hopeful. But also I wanted to make a film that Armenians could be proud of, but wouldn’t be hard to share — that was enjoyable to watch,” Goorjian shared in a conversation with fellow director Atom Egoyan. “Today there’s so much crazy stuff going on.
- 12/19/2023
- by J. Kim Murphy
- Variety Film + TV
Near the climax of Richard Strauss’ opera “Salome,” the title character performs the Dance of the Seven Veils for her stepfather, King Herod. The dance is done as a barter: In exchange, Herod will behead the man Salome loves so that she may kiss his lips. The Dance of the Seven Veils finds Salome swaying and whirling erotically with a set of scarves, landing somewhere between an object of sexual fascination for her onlookers and a lovestruck woman reaching for agency through movement.
“Seven Veils,” written and directed by Atom Egoyan (“The Sweet Hereafter”), follows an opera director who is staging a production of “Salome” and, like the tragic heroine, clashes with a series of men in her quest to recover a sense of control. This slippage between art and life, sincerity and trickery, is key to deriving some sense of meaning from this strange and sultry but ultimately exasperating film,...
“Seven Veils,” written and directed by Atom Egoyan (“The Sweet Hereafter”), follows an opera director who is staging a production of “Salome” and, like the tragic heroine, clashes with a series of men in her quest to recover a sense of control. This slippage between art and life, sincerity and trickery, is key to deriving some sense of meaning from this strange and sultry but ultimately exasperating film,...
- 9/14/2023
- by Natalia Winkelman
- Indiewire
Atom Egoyan’s “Seven Veils,” which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this week is built around this year’s Canadian Opera Company production of Richard Strauss’s “Salome,” which Egoyan also directed.
The film repurposes the stage production’s performers, props and sets, but this is far from one of those Fathom Events concert films. It continues Egoyan’s exploration of familiar themes such as semiotics, authorship, trauma, video vs. memory, and the personal vs. the communal.
Egoyan doesn’t play the director here. Rather, Amanda Seyfried stars as theater director Jeanine, who has spent an extended time away from opera and is tasked to remount the Coc production of “Salome” and recreate the vision of her mentor, Charles, who died last year. She has to deal with a difficult primo donno, Johann. Meanwhile, Clea (Rebecca Diddiard), who works in the props department, must create...
The film repurposes the stage production’s performers, props and sets, but this is far from one of those Fathom Events concert films. It continues Egoyan’s exploration of familiar themes such as semiotics, authorship, trauma, video vs. memory, and the personal vs. the communal.
Egoyan doesn’t play the director here. Rather, Amanda Seyfried stars as theater director Jeanine, who has spent an extended time away from opera and is tasked to remount the Coc production of “Salome” and recreate the vision of her mentor, Charles, who died last year. She has to deal with a difficult primo donno, Johann. Meanwhile, Clea (Rebecca Diddiard), who works in the props department, must create...
- 9/14/2023
- by Martin Tsai
- The Wrap
Art and life are inextricably entangled in Atom Egoyan’s Seven Veils, a wildly ambitious, visually intoxicating reinterpretation of the Richard Strauss opera, Salome, that proves to possess almost as many layers as the Biblical princess’ famous dance routine.
After spending the past two and a half decades struggling to get his groove back following the 1997 success of The Sweet Hereafter, the filmmaker reconnects with his pet themes of alienation and family trauma, taking inspiration from his own revisionist staging of the opera, which he remounted for the Canadian Opera Company earlier this year. Using that production as a leap-off point, Egoyan interweaves a behind-the-scenes narrative involving a young director (Amanda Seyfried) who is challenged to put her own stamp on the oft-interpreted material while exorcising a number of personal demons in the process.
Handed its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival at the very same venue that...
After spending the past two and a half decades struggling to get his groove back following the 1997 success of The Sweet Hereafter, the filmmaker reconnects with his pet themes of alienation and family trauma, taking inspiration from his own revisionist staging of the opera, which he remounted for the Canadian Opera Company earlier this year. Using that production as a leap-off point, Egoyan interweaves a behind-the-scenes narrative involving a young director (Amanda Seyfried) who is challenged to put her own stamp on the oft-interpreted material while exorcising a number of personal demons in the process.
Handed its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival at the very same venue that...
- 9/9/2023
- by Michael Rechtshaffen
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Canadian auteur Atom Egoyan’s 40-year relationship with the Toronto International Film Festival helped put his movies on the map in Hollywood.
But that impressive trajectory out of Toronto of iconic Egoyan dramas like Next of Kin, Family Viewing, The Adjuster, Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter and Guest of Honor — often psychodramas about families shattered by death, loss and betrayal, as parents and children grow apart — got off to an inauspicious start in 1982 with an early short film that screened from a sidewalk outside the Uptown Theatre on Yonge Street.
“It was the ultimate act of chutzpah,” Egoyan recalls of joining fellow rag-tag filmmaker Bruce McDonald, both of whom had shorts rejected by Toronto fest programmers that year, when a feature by a close friend did get an invite.
Feeling a prized Toronto fest berth just beyond their fingertips, years before becoming inescapable fixtures on the TIFF red carpet, Egoyan and...
But that impressive trajectory out of Toronto of iconic Egoyan dramas like Next of Kin, Family Viewing, The Adjuster, Exotica, The Sweet Hereafter and Guest of Honor — often psychodramas about families shattered by death, loss and betrayal, as parents and children grow apart — got off to an inauspicious start in 1982 with an early short film that screened from a sidewalk outside the Uptown Theatre on Yonge Street.
“It was the ultimate act of chutzpah,” Egoyan recalls of joining fellow rag-tag filmmaker Bruce McDonald, both of whom had shorts rejected by Toronto fest programmers that year, when a feature by a close friend did get an invite.
Feeling a prized Toronto fest berth just beyond their fingertips, years before becoming inescapable fixtures on the TIFF red carpet, Egoyan and...
- 9/9/2023
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Atom Egoyan’s “Seven Veils” will have its world premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF organizers announced on Wednesday. The Canadian filmmaker of “Exotica,” “The Sweet Hereafter” and “Chloe” will present his film at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in a special Sept. 8 “Avant-premiere” screening held in partnership with the Canadian Opera Company.
“Seven Veils” stars Amanda Seyfried and was inspired by Egoyan’s recent experience with a revival of his 1996 version of the opera “Salome,” which he directed for the first time in 1996 for the Canadian Opera Company. In the film, Seyfried plays a theater director who is haunted by the past while mounting a version of that opera, the most famous work of her mentor.
Ambur Braid and Michael Kupfer-Radecky, who appeared Egoyan’s recent staging of the opera, will reprise their roles of Salome and John the Baptist in the film. After the Avant-premiere screening on Sept.
“Seven Veils” stars Amanda Seyfried and was inspired by Egoyan’s recent experience with a revival of his 1996 version of the opera “Salome,” which he directed for the first time in 1996 for the Canadian Opera Company. In the film, Seyfried plays a theater director who is haunted by the past while mounting a version of that opera, the most famous work of her mentor.
Ambur Braid and Michael Kupfer-Radecky, who appeared Egoyan’s recent staging of the opera, will reprise their roles of Salome and John the Baptist in the film. After the Avant-premiere screening on Sept.
- 7/19/2023
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
TheLifetimeAchievement Award of the twentiethSoundTrack_Cologne 2023goes to Mychael Danna.
Danna is an Academy Award and Emmy Award-winning film composer who has composed over 80 film scores and is recognized for his blending of non-western traditions with orchestral and electronic music. He composed the transculturally inspired, 2013 Oscar and Golden Globe winning film score for Ang Lee’s Life of Pi. Danna also composed the scores for Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm and Ride With the Devil.
Other well-known films Danna has composed music for include Academy Award-winning and Oscar-nominated films such as The Sweet Hereafter, Exotica and Ararat from his longtime collaboration with director Atom Egoyan; also Moneyball and Capote with director Bennett Miller, Monsoon Wedding, Little Miss Sunshine, Being Julia, Stillwater, The Addams Family 1 and 2, Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur and The Song of the Crayfish.
Danna won an Emmy Award for outstanding music composition for the mini-series World Without End.
Danna is an Academy Award and Emmy Award-winning film composer who has composed over 80 film scores and is recognized for his blending of non-western traditions with orchestral and electronic music. He composed the transculturally inspired, 2013 Oscar and Golden Globe winning film score for Ang Lee’s Life of Pi. Danna also composed the scores for Ang Lee’s The Ice Storm and Ride With the Devil.
Other well-known films Danna has composed music for include Academy Award-winning and Oscar-nominated films such as The Sweet Hereafter, Exotica and Ararat from his longtime collaboration with director Atom Egoyan; also Moneyball and Capote with director Bennett Miller, Monsoon Wedding, Little Miss Sunshine, Being Julia, Stillwater, The Addams Family 1 and 2, Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur and The Song of the Crayfish.
Danna won an Emmy Award for outstanding music composition for the mini-series World Without End.
- 4/4/2023
- by Music Martin Cid Magazine
- Martin Cid Music
Exclusive: Douglas Smith (Big Little Lies), Mark O’Brien (Arrival), Rebecca Liddiard (Alias Grace) and Vinessa Antoine have been cast opposite Amanda Seyfried (The Dropout) in Seven Veils, the new feature from filmmaker Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter).
The project wrapped principal photography in Toronto last week.
Seven Veils follows Jeanine (Seyfried), an earnest theatre director, who has been given the daunting task of remounting her former mentor’s most famous work, the opera Salome. Haunted by dark and disturbing memories from her past, Jeanine allows her repressed trauma to color the present as she re-enters the opera world after so many years away.
Smith and Seyfried previously worked together on HBO series Big Love, playing siblings Ben and Sarah Henrickson.
Pic is written and directed by Egoyan, who also produces alongside Niv Fichman (Enemy), Simone Urdl (The Captive), Fraser Ash (BlackBerry) and Kevin Krikst (BlackBerry).
The project is a...
The project wrapped principal photography in Toronto last week.
Seven Veils follows Jeanine (Seyfried), an earnest theatre director, who has been given the daunting task of remounting her former mentor’s most famous work, the opera Salome. Haunted by dark and disturbing memories from her past, Jeanine allows her repressed trauma to color the present as she re-enters the opera world after so many years away.
Smith and Seyfried previously worked together on HBO series Big Love, playing siblings Ben and Sarah Henrickson.
Pic is written and directed by Egoyan, who also produces alongside Niv Fichman (Enemy), Simone Urdl (The Captive), Fraser Ash (BlackBerry) and Kevin Krikst (BlackBerry).
The project is a...
- 3/14/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
A blockbuster film tied big records, a legendary actor set a new record, a viewership record was achieved and the Academy celebrated its platinum anniversary in a big way. Billy Crystal hosted the 70th Academy Awards on March 23, 1998, where one film made a “titanic” splash, and the ceremony saw its highest viewership of all time, with more than 55 million people tuning in — a record that stands today not only for the Oscars, but all live awards programs.
It’s a film that people either love or hate (or at least wonder what all the fuss is about), but either way, the huge impact that James Cameron‘s “Titanic” made on the film industry cannot be denied. The most expensive movie ever produced up to that time, many doubted that the romantic tragedy would result in box office gold. However, “Titanic” went on to become the highest grossing movie of all...
It’s a film that people either love or hate (or at least wonder what all the fuss is about), but either way, the huge impact that James Cameron‘s “Titanic” made on the film industry cannot be denied. The most expensive movie ever produced up to that time, many doubted that the romantic tragedy would result in box office gold. However, “Titanic” went on to become the highest grossing movie of all...
- 2/13/2023
- by Susan Pennington
- Gold Derby
Production scheduled to start in Toronto next week.
Atom Egoyan will direct Amanda Seyfried in Seven Veils, which the project’s co-financier XYZ Films will introduce to worldwide buyers at the EFM next week.
Production is scheduled to start in Toronto next week on the feature that sees Seyfried star as an earnest theatre director tasked with remounting her former mentor’s most famous work, the opera Salome, as she struggles with repressed trauma.
Seven Veils reunites XYZ Films with Ipr.Vc and Rhombus Media after their collaboration on the upcoming Berlin world premiere BlackBerry.
The project announcement also dovetails with...
Atom Egoyan will direct Amanda Seyfried in Seven Veils, which the project’s co-financier XYZ Films will introduce to worldwide buyers at the EFM next week.
Production is scheduled to start in Toronto next week on the feature that sees Seyfried star as an earnest theatre director tasked with remounting her former mentor’s most famous work, the opera Salome, as she struggles with repressed trauma.
Seven Veils reunites XYZ Films with Ipr.Vc and Rhombus Media after their collaboration on the upcoming Berlin world premiere BlackBerry.
The project announcement also dovetails with...
- 2/7/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Production scheduled to start in Toronto next week.
Atom Egoyan will direct Amanda Seyfried in Seven Veils, which the project’s co-financier XYZ Films will introduce to worldwide buyers at the EFM next week.
Production is scheduled to start in Toronto next week on the feature that sees Seyfried star as an earnest theatre director tasked with remounting her former mentor’s most famous work, the opera Salome, as she struggles with repressed trauma.
Seven Veils reunites XYZ Films with Ipr.Vc and Rhombus Media after their collaboration on the upcoming Berlin world premiere BlackBerry.
The project announcement also dovetails with...
Atom Egoyan will direct Amanda Seyfried in Seven Veils, which the project’s co-financier XYZ Films will introduce to worldwide buyers at the EFM next week.
Production is scheduled to start in Toronto next week on the feature that sees Seyfried star as an earnest theatre director tasked with remounting her former mentor’s most famous work, the opera Salome, as she struggles with repressed trauma.
Seven Veils reunites XYZ Films with Ipr.Vc and Rhombus Media after their collaboration on the upcoming Berlin world premiere BlackBerry.
The project announcement also dovetails with...
- 2/7/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Amanda Seyfried is reteaming with her Chole director Atom Egoyan on Seven Veils, an opera-themed drama that will begin shooting in Toronto next week.
The Mank and The Dropout star will play Jeanine, an earnest theatre director tasked with remounting her former mentor’s most famous work, an adaptation of the opera Salome from composer Richard Strauss, based on the play by Oscar Wilde. As she reenters the opera world after so many years away, Jeanine is haunted by dark and disturbing memories from her past and allows her repressed trauma to color the present.
Rhombus Media (Possessor, Enemy) will produce Seven Veils together with Ego Film Arts in association with Cinetic Media, Ipr.Vc, XYZ Films and the Canadian Opera Company. XYZ Films is selling worldwide rights to the film, introducing the project to buyer at Berlin’s European Film Market February 16. Elevation Pictures will release Seven Veils in Canada.
The Mank and The Dropout star will play Jeanine, an earnest theatre director tasked with remounting her former mentor’s most famous work, an adaptation of the opera Salome from composer Richard Strauss, based on the play by Oscar Wilde. As she reenters the opera world after so many years away, Jeanine is haunted by dark and disturbing memories from her past and allows her repressed trauma to color the present.
Rhombus Media (Possessor, Enemy) will produce Seven Veils together with Ego Film Arts in association with Cinetic Media, Ipr.Vc, XYZ Films and the Canadian Opera Company. XYZ Films is selling worldwide rights to the film, introducing the project to buyer at Berlin’s European Film Market February 16. Elevation Pictures will release Seven Veils in Canada.
- 2/7/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
This review originally ran Sept. 3, 2022, in conjunction with the film’s world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival.
Filmmaker Sarah Polley has always been a tireless miner of the female headspace, excavating gold out of thoroughly earned feminine wisdom. Relentlessly challenging the rules of a man’s world and putting their own stamp on societal conventions are acts that we came to expect from her women. After all, those were some of the defining traits of Polley’s very own mother, as we intimately got to learn in her masterpiece, “Stories We Tell.”
In that regard, the quietly powerful “Women Talking” — opulently adapted by Polley from Miriam Toews’ 2018 novel and world-premiering at the Telluride Film Festival this year — feels like a culmination of Polley’s curiosities as a storyteller.
It also has echoes of some of her secretive, silently aching on-screen parts as an actor in the likes of “The Sweet Hereafter...
Filmmaker Sarah Polley has always been a tireless miner of the female headspace, excavating gold out of thoroughly earned feminine wisdom. Relentlessly challenging the rules of a man’s world and putting their own stamp on societal conventions are acts that we came to expect from her women. After all, those were some of the defining traits of Polley’s very own mother, as we intimately got to learn in her masterpiece, “Stories We Tell.”
In that regard, the quietly powerful “Women Talking” — opulently adapted by Polley from Miriam Toews’ 2018 novel and world-premiering at the Telluride Film Festival this year — feels like a culmination of Polley’s curiosities as a storyteller.
It also has echoes of some of her secretive, silently aching on-screen parts as an actor in the likes of “The Sweet Hereafter...
- 1/20/2023
- by Tomris Laffly
- The Wrap
Could Sarah Polley join the ranks of Jane Campion, Chloe Zhao and Kathryn Bigelow by becoming only the fourth female filmmaker to win an Oscar for directing? Based on the rapturous reception that “Women Talking” received at the Telluride Film Festival on Friday, it certainly seems possible.
Even if that doesn’t happen, the ambitious film, a drama about a group of women in a tight-knit religious community grappling with a legacy of abuse, has put a stake in the ground as the festival’s first slam dunk best picture candidate. In fact, I think it’s going to be a contender across the board.
In a Telluride lineup that is heavy on documentaries and Cannes titles, Polley’s film is one of only four World Premieres for narrative features. But what a launching pad Telluride is shaping up to be for the film and its director, a critical favorite...
Even if that doesn’t happen, the ambitious film, a drama about a group of women in a tight-knit religious community grappling with a legacy of abuse, has put a stake in the ground as the festival’s first slam dunk best picture candidate. In fact, I think it’s going to be a contender across the board.
In a Telluride lineup that is heavy on documentaries and Cannes titles, Polley’s film is one of only four World Premieres for narrative features. But what a launching pad Telluride is shaping up to be for the film and its director, a critical favorite...
- 9/4/2022
- by Clayton Davis
- Variety Film + TV
Sarah Polley, at the Telluride Film Festival for the world premiere of Women Talking, her latest film as a director, acknowledged how lucky she was as an actress to have worked with so many female filmmakers. They told her to be “fierce” when they saw that she wanted to work behind the camera.
Women Talking, based on Miriam Toew’s celebrated novel about a group of Mennonite women having to confront sexual assaults committed by men feeding their desires, is a powerhouse exploration of the female imagination.
“This film began with three women talking a lot,” Polley said. She was referring to Dede Gardner as producer through Plan B Entertainment, and Frances McDormand as a cast member and producer via her Hear/Say Productions, and Polley herself.
Polley cited three female directors she’d worked with who helped pave the way for her as a director: Audrey Wells on her 1999 feature Guinevere; Kathryn Bigelow,...
Women Talking, based on Miriam Toew’s celebrated novel about a group of Mennonite women having to confront sexual assaults committed by men feeding their desires, is a powerhouse exploration of the female imagination.
“This film began with three women talking a lot,” Polley said. She was referring to Dede Gardner as producer through Plan B Entertainment, and Frances McDormand as a cast member and producer via her Hear/Say Productions, and Polley herself.
Polley cited three female directors she’d worked with who helped pave the way for her as a director: Audrey Wells on her 1999 feature Guinevere; Kathryn Bigelow,...
- 9/3/2022
- by Baz Bamigboye
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
When Sarah Polley was in her 20s, just starting to direct short films, she got lots of advice from female directors she worked with as an actor, like Kathryn Bigelow, Audrey Wells and Isabel Coixet. “These women grabbed onto me and said, ‘You’re doing it, and here’s how fierce you’re going to have to be,'” Polley said, speaking at her Telluride Film Festival silver medallion tribute Friday night, ahead of the first public screening of her new film, Women Talking. “Kathryn Bigelow said, ‘You have to be like a dog with a bone, and everyone’s going to try to take it away from you.'”
Women Talking, a United Artists film which will also screen at the Toronto International Film Festival next week ahead of opening in theaters Dec. 2, is potent evidence Polley took that message to heart.
When Sarah Polley was in her 20s, just starting to direct short films, she got lots of advice from female directors she worked with as an actor, like Kathryn Bigelow, Audrey Wells and Isabel Coixet. “These women grabbed onto me and said, ‘You’re doing it, and here’s how fierce you’re going to have to be,'” Polley said, speaking at her Telluride Film Festival silver medallion tribute Friday night, ahead of the first public screening of her new film, Women Talking. “Kathryn Bigelow said, ‘You have to be like a dog with a bone, and everyone’s going to try to take it away from you.'”
Women Talking, a United Artists film which will also screen at the Toronto International Film Festival next week ahead of opening in theaters Dec. 2, is potent evidence Polley took that message to heart.
- 9/3/2022
- by Rebecca Keegan
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Principal photography is underway near Budapest on “Rise of the Raven,” an epic drama series produced by veteran Canadian producer Robert Lantos’ Serendipity Point Films (“Crimes of the Future”) and Beta Film (“Gomorrah”) that marks the most lavish TV production in Hungary’s history.
Adapted from author Bán Mór’s bestselling novels, the 10-episode series tells the story of the Hungarian warrior Janos Hunyadi, who defeated the Ottoman army in 1456 at the Battle of Belgrade, halting its march across Europe.
Lantos, whose producing credits include “The Sweet Hereafter,” “Johnny Mnemonic” and “Eastern Promises,” spoke exclusively with Variety about a passion project more than a decade in the making. He was joined by Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning director Robert Dornhelm and Hungarian directors Attila Szász and Orsi Nagypal, who joined the conversation fresh off shooting an epic battle sequence outside Budapest.
The Hungarian-born Lantos, who was in Cannes this year with David Cronenberg...
Adapted from author Bán Mór’s bestselling novels, the 10-episode series tells the story of the Hungarian warrior Janos Hunyadi, who defeated the Ottoman army in 1456 at the Battle of Belgrade, halting its march across Europe.
Lantos, whose producing credits include “The Sweet Hereafter,” “Johnny Mnemonic” and “Eastern Promises,” spoke exclusively with Variety about a passion project more than a decade in the making. He was joined by Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning director Robert Dornhelm and Hungarian directors Attila Szász and Orsi Nagypal, who joined the conversation fresh off shooting an epic battle sequence outside Budapest.
The Hungarian-born Lantos, who was in Cannes this year with David Cronenberg...
- 8/9/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
The route that took Oscar-winning “Life of Pi” composer Mychael Danna from the basement of a Toronto church to an office on Hollywood and Vine and all the way to the stage of Zurich Film Festival, where he will receive a career achievement tribute on Sept. 30, kicked off – as such things often do – with an offhand comment.
It was the mid-1980s and Danna was a student of electronic music at the University of Toronto, paying his way through college by playing organ in local churches and by composing ambient pieces for the nearby planetarium. He’d also score plays on campus, mostly for kicks. Sitting in the sound booth one afternoon, and idly chatting with the neighboring lighting technician, Danna stumbled onto a new path. “My friend told me about another guy from campus who wanted to make a film and was looking for a composer,” Danna says. “That is literally how it happened.
It was the mid-1980s and Danna was a student of electronic music at the University of Toronto, paying his way through college by playing organ in local churches and by composing ambient pieces for the nearby planetarium. He’d also score plays on campus, mostly for kicks. Sitting in the sound booth one afternoon, and idly chatting with the neighboring lighting technician, Danna stumbled onto a new path. “My friend told me about another guy from campus who wanted to make a film and was looking for a composer,” Danna says. “That is literally how it happened.
- 9/27/2021
- by Ben Croll
- Variety Film + TV
The Zurich Film Festival will honor Oscar-winning composer Mychael Danna (Life of Pi) with its 2021 Career Achievement Award.
The Canada-born Danna has worked with such directors as Terry Gilliam (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus), Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter), Joel Schumacher (8Mm), James Mangold (Girl, Interrupted), and Denzel Washington (Antwone Fisher), but is perhaps best known for his collaborations with Ang Lee, for whom he composed scores for The Ice Storm (1997), Ride With the Devil (1999), Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (2016) and Life of Pi. The latter won him the Oscar for best original score in 2013.
Other notable works from the ...
The Canada-born Danna has worked with such directors as Terry Gilliam (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus), Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter), Joel Schumacher (8Mm), James Mangold (Girl, Interrupted), and Denzel Washington (Antwone Fisher), but is perhaps best known for his collaborations with Ang Lee, for whom he composed scores for The Ice Storm (1997), Ride With the Devil (1999), Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (2016) and Life of Pi. The latter won him the Oscar for best original score in 2013.
Other notable works from the ...
- 7/23/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Zurich Film Festival will honor Oscar-winning composer Mychael Danna (Life of Pi) with its 2021 Career Achievement Award.
The Canadian-born Danna has worked with such directors as Terry Gilliam (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus), Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter), Joel Schumacher (8Mm), James Mangold (Girl, Interrupted), and Denzel Washington (Antwone Fisher), but is perhaps best known for his collaborations with Ang Lee, for whom he composed scores for The Ice Storm (1997), Ride With The Devil (1999), Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (2016) and Life of Pi. The latter won him the Oscar for best original score in 2013.
Other notable works from the ...
The Canadian-born Danna has worked with such directors as Terry Gilliam (The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus), Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter), Joel Schumacher (8Mm), James Mangold (Girl, Interrupted), and Denzel Washington (Antwone Fisher), but is perhaps best known for his collaborations with Ang Lee, for whom he composed scores for The Ice Storm (1997), Ride With The Devil (1999), Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk (2016) and Life of Pi. The latter won him the Oscar for best original score in 2013.
Other notable works from the ...
- 7/23/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
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By Todd Garbarini
In January 1998 I attended a book signing in New York City emceed by author Russell Banks and film director Atom Egoyan. They were on hand to autograph copies of Mr. Banks’s 1991 novel, The Sweet Hereafter, which had been made into a 1997 film of the same name by Mr. Egoyan. Despite varying greatly, the novel and the film both concern the aftereffects of life in a small town in the Adirondacks when fourteen children die following an accident involving their school bus when it careens off a slippery, snow-covered road and sinks into the frozen waters of a nearby body of water. Mr. Egoyan claimed that he was inspired to make the film because, he felt, something terrible will happen to everyone at some point in his or her life, and they will need to find a way to move on.
By Todd Garbarini
In January 1998 I attended a book signing in New York City emceed by author Russell Banks and film director Atom Egoyan. They were on hand to autograph copies of Mr. Banks’s 1991 novel, The Sweet Hereafter, which had been made into a 1997 film of the same name by Mr. Egoyan. Despite varying greatly, the novel and the film both concern the aftereffects of life in a small town in the Adirondacks when fourteen children die following an accident involving their school bus when it careens off a slippery, snow-covered road and sinks into the frozen waters of a nearby body of water. Mr. Egoyan claimed that he was inspired to make the film because, he felt, something terrible will happen to everyone at some point in his or her life, and they will need to find a way to move on.
- 4/3/2021
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Atom Egoyan's They Will Take My Island collaboration with Mary Kouyoumdjian to have a digital première. Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
The MetLiveArts will host the world première of Atom Egoyan and composer Mary Kouyoumdjian’s film They Will Take My Island on Armenian American abstract painter Arshile Gorky on Tuesday, January 26 at 7:00pm (Est).
Kouyoumdjian’s score is performed by the Jack Quartet and the Silvana Quartet with interviews of Saskia Spender, President of the Arshile Gorky Foundation and granddaughter of Arshile Gorky, Parker Field, Managing Director of the Arshile Gorky Foundation, and Michael Taylor, Chief Curator and Deputy Director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. They Will Take My Island includes original short films by Egoyan and never before seen scenes from his films.
The event is supported by the Nazar and Artemis Nazarian, the Armenian...
The MetLiveArts will host the world première of Atom Egoyan and composer Mary Kouyoumdjian’s film They Will Take My Island on Armenian American abstract painter Arshile Gorky on Tuesday, January 26 at 7:00pm (Est).
Kouyoumdjian’s score is performed by the Jack Quartet and the Silvana Quartet with interviews of Saskia Spender, President of the Arshile Gorky Foundation and granddaughter of Arshile Gorky, Parker Field, Managing Director of the Arshile Gorky Foundation, and Michael Taylor, Chief Curator and Deputy Director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. They Will Take My Island includes original short films by Egoyan and never before seen scenes from his films.
The event is supported by the Nazar and Artemis Nazarian, the Armenian...
- 1/22/2021
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
This Chilling Adventures of Sabrina article contains Major spoilers for the series’ ending. Obviously.
We bid farewell to Greendale (for now at least?) and explore what it all means.
This Chilling Adventures of Sabrina article contains nothing but spoilers. We have a spoiler-free review right here if you prefer.
As the credits rolled on the final chapter of the saga of Sabrina Spellman, she had given her life to protect all of existence itself. A noble death to be sure, but one that is steeped in permanence.
Or is it? For “The Sweet Hereafter” shares a more than passing resemblance to the nothingness aesthetic of “The Void,” giving the writers a potential loophole to exploit should this series somehow (hopefully) be resurrected. But as it stands now, Sabrinas Spellman and Morningstar died heroically — leaving behind loved ones, friends, and a universe that will never know how close it came to...
We bid farewell to Greendale (for now at least?) and explore what it all means.
This Chilling Adventures of Sabrina article contains nothing but spoilers. We have a spoiler-free review right here if you prefer.
As the credits rolled on the final chapter of the saga of Sabrina Spellman, she had given her life to protect all of existence itself. A noble death to be sure, but one that is steeped in permanence.
Or is it? For “The Sweet Hereafter” shares a more than passing resemblance to the nothingness aesthetic of “The Void,” giving the writers a potential loophole to exploit should this series somehow (hopefully) be resurrected. But as it stands now, Sabrinas Spellman and Morningstar died heroically — leaving behind loved ones, friends, and a universe that will never know how close it came to...
- 1/1/2021
- by Chris Cummins
- Den of Geek
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Black Is King (Beyoncé)
Four years ago, Beyoncé dropped the film version of Lemonade, which brought together directors Kahlil Joseph, Jonas Åkerlund, Mark Romanek, Melina Matsoukas, and more to deliver a visual album that, like many of her works, had an immense cultural impact. She is now returning with Black Is King, a film in production for an entire year that reimagines the tale of The Lion King through the perspective of the Black experience. Now available on Disney+, we imagine it’ll be the most-watched film of the weekend.
Where to Stream: Disney+
Bull (Annie Silverstein)
There’s not much to do around Kristyl’s (Amber Havard) hard...
Black Is King (Beyoncé)
Four years ago, Beyoncé dropped the film version of Lemonade, which brought together directors Kahlil Joseph, Jonas Åkerlund, Mark Romanek, Melina Matsoukas, and more to deliver a visual album that, like many of her works, had an immense cultural impact. She is now returning with Black Is King, a film in production for an entire year that reimagines the tale of The Lion King through the perspective of the Black experience. Now available on Disney+, we imagine it’ll be the most-watched film of the weekend.
Where to Stream: Disney+
Bull (Annie Silverstein)
There’s not much to do around Kristyl’s (Amber Havard) hard...
- 7/31/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Love them or hate them, Atom Egoyan consistently makes films that burrow under the skin and display his distinctive vision. The auteur's latest, Guest of Honour, debuted at the Venice and Toronto film festivals last fall, and is now heading for release in North America on July 10, 2020. David Thewlis, Laysla De Oliveira, Rossif Sutherland and Luke Wilson star in the drama. The official synopsis sets the stage: "Jim (David Thewlis) and his daughter Veronica (Laysla De Oliveira), a high school music teacher, attempt to unravel their complicated histories and intertwined secrets in the latest film from Academy Award nominee Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter), which weaves through time exploring perception and penance, memory and forgiveness. "A hoax instigated by an aggressive school bus...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 6/29/2020
- Screen Anarchy
As much as we adore and revere the theatrical experience, as theater chains prep to reopen amidst a virus that is spreading rapidly in certain areas of the country, one is far better off staying at home and enjoying films from around the world. There’s no better place to do that than The Criterion Channel, and now they’ve unveiled their July lineup.
Coming to the channel next month are retrospectives dedicated to the stellar early films of Atom Egoyan, works by Miranda July, films featuring Ryuichi Sakamoto scores, Olympic films (including their recent release Tokyo Olympiad), plus Kelly Reichardt’s masterful Certain Women, Med Hondo’s Soleil Ô (coming soon to disc with Scorsese’s next World Cinema Project release), Lizzie Borden’s Born in Flames, Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation, and much more.
See the lineup below and explore more on their platform. One can also see our weekly streaming picks here.
Coming to the channel next month are retrospectives dedicated to the stellar early films of Atom Egoyan, works by Miranda July, films featuring Ryuichi Sakamoto scores, Olympic films (including their recent release Tokyo Olympiad), plus Kelly Reichardt’s masterful Certain Women, Med Hondo’s Soleil Ô (coming soon to disc with Scorsese’s next World Cinema Project release), Lizzie Borden’s Born in Flames, Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation, and much more.
See the lineup below and explore more on their platform. One can also see our weekly streaming picks here.
- 6/26/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Alien, Lord Of The Rings, The Fifth Element, The Madness Of King George, The Sweet Hereafter and Chariots Of Fire. Moviegoers came to know Ian Holm in these films, along with countless others, and sadly the world of cinema has lost another great actor.
From Reuters:
British actor Ian Holm, best known for his roles in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and “Alien”, has died aged 88, the Guardian newspaper said on Friday.
The actor, who received an Oscar nomination for his performance in the 1981 film “Chariots of Fire”, had died from a Parkinson’s related illness, the paper said.
“It is with great sadness that the actor Sir Ian Holm Cbe passed away this morning at the age of 88,” his agent told the paper. “He died peacefully in hospital, with his family and carer. Charming, kind and ferociously talented, we will miss him hugely.”
Holm began his career...
From Reuters:
British actor Ian Holm, best known for his roles in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and “Alien”, has died aged 88, the Guardian newspaper said on Friday.
The actor, who received an Oscar nomination for his performance in the 1981 film “Chariots of Fire”, had died from a Parkinson’s related illness, the paper said.
“It is with great sadness that the actor Sir Ian Holm Cbe passed away this morning at the age of 88,” his agent told the paper. “He died peacefully in hospital, with his family and carer. Charming, kind and ferociously talented, we will miss him hugely.”
Holm began his career...
- 6/19/2020
- by Michelle Hannett
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Ian Holm, the Oscar-nominated British actor best known for playing Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” trilogies, died Friday at age 88.
“It is with great sadness we can confirm that the actor Sir Ian Holm Cbe passed away this morning at the age of 88,” the actor’s rep said in a statement. “He died peacefully in hospital, with his family and carer. His illness was Parkinson’s related.”
In addition to his work in the J.R.R. Tolkien-related films, Holm earned an Oscar nomination for playing Olympic running trainer Sam Mussabini in 1981’s “Chariots of Fire.” He also played science officer Ash in 1979’s “Alien,” Father Vito Cornelius in 1997’s “The Fifth Element” and voiced Chef Skinner in 2007’s “Ratatouille.”
Also Read: Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2020 (Photos)
A graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Holm got his start in theater,...
“It is with great sadness we can confirm that the actor Sir Ian Holm Cbe passed away this morning at the age of 88,” the actor’s rep said in a statement. “He died peacefully in hospital, with his family and carer. His illness was Parkinson’s related.”
In addition to his work in the J.R.R. Tolkien-related films, Holm earned an Oscar nomination for playing Olympic running trainer Sam Mussabini in 1981’s “Chariots of Fire.” He also played science officer Ash in 1979’s “Alien,” Father Vito Cornelius in 1997’s “The Fifth Element” and voiced Chef Skinner in 2007’s “Ratatouille.”
Also Read: Hollywood's Notable Deaths of 2020 (Photos)
A graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Holm got his start in theater,...
- 6/19/2020
- by Thom Geier
- The Wrap
”Charming, kind and ferociously talented, we will miss him hugely.”
UK actor Ian Holm, famous for his roles in Chariots Of Fire, Alien and the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, has died in London aged 88.
His agent told The Guardian: “It is with great sadness that the actor Sir Ian Holm Cbe passed away this morning at the age of 88. He died peacefully in hospital, with his family and carer. Charming, kind and ferociously talented, we will miss him hugely.” They added that his illness was Parkinson’s related.
Holm made his name on stage at the RSC in the 1960s,...
UK actor Ian Holm, famous for his roles in Chariots Of Fire, Alien and the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, has died in London aged 88.
His agent told The Guardian: “It is with great sadness that the actor Sir Ian Holm Cbe passed away this morning at the age of 88. He died peacefully in hospital, with his family and carer. Charming, kind and ferociously talented, we will miss him hugely.” They added that his illness was Parkinson’s related.
Holm made his name on stage at the RSC in the 1960s,...
- 6/19/2020
- by 14¦Screen staff¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Ian Holm, the classically trained Shakespearean actor best known to film audiences for his performances in films including the “Lord of the Rings” and “Hobbit” movies, “Chariots of Fire” and “Alien,” has died. He was 88.
A rep for the actor has said Holm died in hospital on Friday morning. The actor had been battling Parkinson’s Disease for a number of years. However, as recently as January, Holm appeared in person to collect the Newport Beach Film Festival’s Icon Award in London.
Holm, who was celebrated for interpretations of most of the Shakespeare canon, including a towering “King Lear,” also excelled onstage in the original production of Harold Pinter’s “The Homecoming,” which he also brought to Broadway. He began working in films only midway through his career, debuting with an adaptation of his stage performance in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in 1968.
In later years, however, he worked increasingly...
A rep for the actor has said Holm died in hospital on Friday morning. The actor had been battling Parkinson’s Disease for a number of years. However, as recently as January, Holm appeared in person to collect the Newport Beach Film Festival’s Icon Award in London.
Holm, who was celebrated for interpretations of most of the Shakespeare canon, including a towering “King Lear,” also excelled onstage in the original production of Harold Pinter’s “The Homecoming,” which he also brought to Broadway. He began working in films only midway through his career, debuting with an adaptation of his stage performance in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in 1968.
In later years, however, he worked increasingly...
- 6/19/2020
- by Carmel Dagan
- Variety Film + TV
Here are many more movies to watch when you’re staying in for a while, featuring recommendations from Steven Canals, Larry Karaszewski, Gareth Reynolds, and Alan Arkush with special guest star Blaire Bercy from the Hollywood Food Coalition.
Please support the Hollywood Food Coalition. Text “Give” to 323.402.5704 or visit https://hofoco.org/donate!
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Master of the Flying Guillotine (1976)
Groundhog Day (1993)
Kung Fu Mama a.k.a. Queen of Fist (1973)
Ali: Fear Eats The Soul (1974)
Portrait Of A Lady On Fire (2019)
In The Mood For Love (2000)
Hunger (2008)
The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
Fargo (1996)
Night of the Lepus (1971)
Dolemite Is My Name (2019)
Soylent Green (1973)
Silent Running (1972)
Canyon Passage (1946)
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
The Professionals (1966)
Ride Lonesome (1959)
Carrie (1952)
The Heartbreak Kid (1972)
Hello Down There (1969)
The Brass Bottle (1964)
The Trouble With Angels (1966)
Pollyanna (1960)
Tiger Bay (1959)
The Parent Trap (1961)
Endless Night (1972)
The Family Way (1966)
Take A Girl Like You (1970)
Freddy Got Fingered...
Please support the Hollywood Food Coalition. Text “Give” to 323.402.5704 or visit https://hofoco.org/donate!
Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode
Master of the Flying Guillotine (1976)
Groundhog Day (1993)
Kung Fu Mama a.k.a. Queen of Fist (1973)
Ali: Fear Eats The Soul (1974)
Portrait Of A Lady On Fire (2019)
In The Mood For Love (2000)
Hunger (2008)
The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
Fargo (1996)
Night of the Lepus (1971)
Dolemite Is My Name (2019)
Soylent Green (1973)
Silent Running (1972)
Canyon Passage (1946)
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
The Professionals (1966)
Ride Lonesome (1959)
Carrie (1952)
The Heartbreak Kid (1972)
Hello Down There (1969)
The Brass Bottle (1964)
The Trouble With Angels (1966)
Pollyanna (1960)
Tiger Bay (1959)
The Parent Trap (1961)
Endless Night (1972)
The Family Way (1966)
Take A Girl Like You (1970)
Freddy Got Fingered...
- 4/10/2020
- by Kris Millsap
- Trailers from Hell
Atom Egoyan (Exotica and The Sweet Hereafter) is back after five years with the thriller Guest of Honour starring David Thewlis (Naked), Laysla De Oliveria (Locke & Key), and Luke Wilson (The Royal Tenenbaums). While Kino Lorber recently picked up the film, which premiered on the fall festival circuit last year, for a North American release, the first international trailer has now arrived.
In the story, Veronica (De Oliveria) has been wrongfully convicted of sexually abusing a seventeen-year-old student and she has been sentenced to prison. However, she convinced she deserves the punishment as penance for an earlier crime in her youth and refuses to fight the charges. Jim (Thewlis), Veronica’s father, refuses to accept this course of action and utilizes his power as a food inspector to right certain wrongs.
Our review by John Fink praises the film as a return to form for Egoyan conveying, “If Egoyan wasn...
In the story, Veronica (De Oliveria) has been wrongfully convicted of sexually abusing a seventeen-year-old student and she has been sentenced to prison. However, she convinced she deserves the punishment as penance for an earlier crime in her youth and refuses to fight the charges. Jim (Thewlis), Veronica’s father, refuses to accept this course of action and utilizes his power as a food inspector to right certain wrongs.
Our review by John Fink praises the film as a return to form for Egoyan conveying, “If Egoyan wasn...
- 3/20/2020
- by Margaret Rasberry
- The Film Stage
Guest Of Honour director and rabbit competition winner Atom Egoyan with Anne-Katrin Titze’s Steiff Dürer Bunny at the Seven Grams Caffe in New York Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
At the Canada Now Opening Night U.S. premiere on February 13, of Atom Egoyan’s Guest Of Honour, starring David Thewlis and Laysla De Oliveira with Luke Wilson and Arsinée Khanjian, 99 Records founder Ed Bahlman asked Atom about his work with longtime composer Mychael Danna and Shannon Graham.
Guest Of Honour China poster from Atom Egoyan’s phone Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Ed Bahlman: Atom, it’s a beautiful score. Can you talk a little bit how you worked with the composer?
Atom Egoyan: The composer is someone I’ve been working with since Family Viewing, Mychael Danna. He’s a very brilliant composer. Because of the relationship, a lot of the visual composing...
At the Canada Now Opening Night U.S. premiere on February 13, of Atom Egoyan’s Guest Of Honour, starring David Thewlis and Laysla De Oliveira with Luke Wilson and Arsinée Khanjian, 99 Records founder Ed Bahlman asked Atom about his work with longtime composer Mychael Danna and Shannon Graham.
Guest Of Honour China poster from Atom Egoyan’s phone Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Ed Bahlman: Atom, it’s a beautiful score. Can you talk a little bit how you worked with the composer?
Atom Egoyan: The composer is someone I’ve been working with since Family Viewing, Mychael Danna. He’s a very brilliant composer. Because of the relationship, a lot of the visual composing...
- 3/19/2020
- by Anne-Katrin Titze and Ed Bahlman
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
In today’s film news roundup, “Guest of Honour” and “Skin Deep: The Battle Over Morgellons” have found distribution and Screen Gems is developing “Urban Legend.”
Acquisitions
Kino Lorber has acquired U.S. rights to Atom Egoyan’s drama, “Guest of Honour,” starring David Thewlis, Laysla De Oliveira and Luke Wilson.
The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2019 and was an official selection at the Toronto, Vancouver, London, and Busan International Film Festivals. The film will have its U.S. premiere on Feb. 13 as the opening night selection of the Canada Now 2020 event at IFC Center in New York.
Thewlis portrays a health inspector in Hamilton, Ontario and De Oliveria plays a high school music teacher who has been incarcerated for inappropriate behavior with students. She rebuffs his efforts to secure an early release, convinced she needs to be punished for crimes she committed earlier. The daughter also...
Acquisitions
Kino Lorber has acquired U.S. rights to Atom Egoyan’s drama, “Guest of Honour,” starring David Thewlis, Laysla De Oliveira and Luke Wilson.
The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2019 and was an official selection at the Toronto, Vancouver, London, and Busan International Film Festivals. The film will have its U.S. premiere on Feb. 13 as the opening night selection of the Canada Now 2020 event at IFC Center in New York.
Thewlis portrays a health inspector in Hamilton, Ontario and De Oliveria plays a high school music teacher who has been incarcerated for inappropriate behavior with students. She rebuffs his efforts to secure an early release, convinced she needs to be punished for crimes she committed earlier. The daughter also...
- 2/11/2020
- by Dave McNary
- Variety Film + TV
It would take more explaining than the film merits to articulate why deep-fried rabbit ears are briefly a plot point in “Guest of Honour,” but so they are: The camera grazes over a platter of the oval-shaped delicacies, looking invitingly golden-crumbed and crunchy, and for a second any reservations you might have about the unusual menu item fall away. , in which a frayed father-daughter bond yields all manner of secondary indiscretions and traumas over a wildly careering 15-year timeframe. Incorporating stray narrative and thematic elements from Egoyan’s earlier (and far better) films into an odd kind of self-pastiche, this unwelcome “Guest” serves only to remind viewers how the director’s gifts have withered.
An Atom bomb even by his unreliable recent standards, “Guest of Honour” does, however, extend Egoyan’s mystifying run of major European competition berths for shaky genre pieces of limited artistic ambition. While the combination of...
An Atom bomb even by his unreliable recent standards, “Guest of Honour” does, however, extend Egoyan’s mystifying run of major European competition berths for shaky genre pieces of limited artistic ambition. While the combination of...
- 9/4/2019
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
, Atom Egoyan’s “Guest of Honour” layers one absurd turn on top of another with the confidence of a veteran architect, and yet — even at its most perversely entertaining — this very unpredictable movie only feels as if it’s working in spite of itself.
Egoyan, a Canadian filmmaker who found success at a young age with hits like “Speaking Parts” and “The Sweet Hereafter,” has long been fascinated by intimate stories about how painful truths come to light — but he’s never followed that process down such a bizarre path before. Few people have. After all, it takes a special kind of auteur to piece together a plot that starts with some illegal sexting, contains several different montages of David Thewlis using a meat thermometer, and splinters a tale of guilt and shame into so many parallel timelines that the whole thing feels like a soap opera directed by Christopher Nolan.
Egoyan, a Canadian filmmaker who found success at a young age with hits like “Speaking Parts” and “The Sweet Hereafter,” has long been fascinated by intimate stories about how painful truths come to light — but he’s never followed that process down such a bizarre path before. Few people have. After all, it takes a special kind of auteur to piece together a plot that starts with some illegal sexting, contains several different montages of David Thewlis using a meat thermometer, and splinters a tale of guilt and shame into so many parallel timelines that the whole thing feels like a soap opera directed by Christopher Nolan.
- 9/3/2019
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
When actress-turned-filmmaker Sarah Polley premiered her feature film, “Stories We Tell,” on the fall festival circuit in 2012, no one knew exactly what to expect, even Polley. While the Canadian star, known for such wide-ranging roles as the plucky protagonist in the kids’ series “Ramona” and a heartbreaking teen in Atom Egoyan’s tragic drama “The Sweet Hereafter,” had already directed two well-recieved narrative offerings, including the Oscar-nominated “Away From Her,” her third film was something different.
While it was billed as a documentary and early materials hinted at its personal nature, few were prepared for the shocking intimacy on display, which blended both doc and narrative elements and told the story of Polley’s own parentage. Combining “flashback” sequences in which the filmmaker cast actors as her own family interspersed with talking head interviews with the real people at its heart, “Stories We Tell” takes the concept of the “family...
While it was billed as a documentary and early materials hinted at its personal nature, few were prepared for the shocking intimacy on display, which blended both doc and narrative elements and told the story of Polley’s own parentage. Combining “flashback” sequences in which the filmmaker cast actors as her own family interspersed with talking head interviews with the real people at its heart, “Stories We Tell” takes the concept of the “family...
- 7/24/2019
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
“Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band” will rock the opening night of the Toronto International Film Festival.
The documentary recounts the story of one of Canada’s musical legends — a man who served as both lead guitarist and primary songwriter on a group that introduced the likes of “The Weight” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” into the pop culture lexicon. “Once Were Brothers” will have its world premiere at the festival. The gala presentation will be on Thursday, Sept. 5, at Roy Thomson Hall.
It’s the first time a Canadian-made documentary will open the festival. The track record of opening night films at Toronto is a spotty one. Last year, the festival got things started with Netflix’s “Outlaw King,” a period drama about Robert the Bruce that drew a muted response. Other openers, like the critically derided “The Fifth Estate” and the box office...
The documentary recounts the story of one of Canada’s musical legends — a man who served as both lead guitarist and primary songwriter on a group that introduced the likes of “The Weight” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down” into the pop culture lexicon. “Once Were Brothers” will have its world premiere at the festival. The gala presentation will be on Thursday, Sept. 5, at Roy Thomson Hall.
It’s the first time a Canadian-made documentary will open the festival. The track record of opening night films at Toronto is a spotty one. Last year, the festival got things started with Netflix’s “Outlaw King,” a period drama about Robert the Bruce that drew a muted response. Other openers, like the critically derided “The Fifth Estate” and the box office...
- 7/18/2019
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
President of uniFrance, Serge Toubiana, and I spoke about Robert Bresson's Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne, Jacques Rivette's La Religieuse, and how Diderot's language from Jacques the Fatalist shines in Emmanuel Mouret's Lady J. Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
At the Rendez-Vous With French Cinema luncheon on Park Avenue in New York, attended by the Executive Director of uniFrance, Isabelle Giordano; Russell Banks, uniFrance’s American ambassador for the festival; Sophie Fillières and Agathe Bonitzer (La Belle Et La Belle); Emmanuel Mouret (Lady J aka Mademoiselle De Joncquières); Hélène Fillières (Raising Colors); Pierre Salvadori and Pio Marmaï (The Trouble With You); Eva Husson (Girls Of The Sun); Judith Davis (Whatever Happened To My Revolution), and Mikhaël Hers (Amanda), I spoke with the President of uniFrance, Serge Toubiana, who was elected in 2017, replacing Jean-Paul Salomé.
Anne-Katrin Titze: This is your second edition of Rendez-Vous With French Cinema.
The Sweet Hereafter...
At the Rendez-Vous With French Cinema luncheon on Park Avenue in New York, attended by the Executive Director of uniFrance, Isabelle Giordano; Russell Banks, uniFrance’s American ambassador for the festival; Sophie Fillières and Agathe Bonitzer (La Belle Et La Belle); Emmanuel Mouret (Lady J aka Mademoiselle De Joncquières); Hélène Fillières (Raising Colors); Pierre Salvadori and Pio Marmaï (The Trouble With You); Eva Husson (Girls Of The Sun); Judith Davis (Whatever Happened To My Revolution), and Mikhaël Hers (Amanda), I spoke with the President of uniFrance, Serge Toubiana, who was elected in 2017, replacing Jean-Paul Salomé.
Anne-Katrin Titze: This is your second edition of Rendez-Vous With French Cinema.
The Sweet Hereafter...
- 3/5/2019
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
David Thewlis To Star In Atom Egoyan’s ‘Guest Of Honour’ With Laysla De Oliveira & Luke Wilson – Afm
Exclusive: David Thewlis has been set to star in Oscar nominee Atom Egoyan’s latest feature, Guest Of Honour. Thewlis will be joined by Laysla De Oliveira and Luke Wilson in the father-daughter drama. From a script by Egoyan, filming begins on November 5 in the Toronto area. The Film Farm’s Simone Urdl and Jennifer Weiss are producing; Egoyan is also producing for Ego Film Arts. Nicolas Brigaud-Robert, Sebastien Beffa and Noah Segal are exec producers. Elevation Pictures has Canadian rights, Playtime is handling international sales.
Thewlis plays Jim, dad to Veronica (De Oliveira), a young high-school music teacher. The two attempt to unravel their complicated histories and intertwined secrets in the film which weaves through time exploring perception and penance, memory and forgiveness.
When a hoax instigated by an aggressive school bus driver (Rossif Sutherland) goes very wrong, Veronica is accused of abusing her position...
Thewlis plays Jim, dad to Veronica (De Oliveira), a young high-school music teacher. The two attempt to unravel their complicated histories and intertwined secrets in the film which weaves through time exploring perception and penance, memory and forgiveness.
When a hoax instigated by an aggressive school bus driver (Rossif Sutherland) goes very wrong, Veronica is accused of abusing her position...
- 10/31/2018
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Paris-based outfit keen to board projects at earlier stage.
Playtime has partnered with Canada’s Elevation Pictures, Ego Film Arts and The Film Farm on Atom Egoyan’s Guest Of Honour, the second English-language project involving the Paris company to be announced out of Tiff.
Days after Playtime revealed it was remaking with Animal Kingdom the Austrian genre hit Goodnight Mommy, co-founder Nicolas Brigaud-Robert said Egoyan was preparing for a November production start in Ontario on his new “twisted morality tale”.
The Oscar-nominated writer-director of The Sweet Hereafter wrote the script about the relationship between a man and his imprisoned twentysomething daughter,...
Playtime has partnered with Canada’s Elevation Pictures, Ego Film Arts and The Film Farm on Atom Egoyan’s Guest Of Honour, the second English-language project involving the Paris company to be announced out of Tiff.
Days after Playtime revealed it was remaking with Animal Kingdom the Austrian genre hit Goodnight Mommy, co-founder Nicolas Brigaud-Robert said Egoyan was preparing for a November production start in Ontario on his new “twisted morality tale”.
The Oscar-nominated writer-director of The Sweet Hereafter wrote the script about the relationship between a man and his imprisoned twentysomething daughter,...
- 9/9/2018
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Atom Egoyan, the Oscar-nominated Canadian director, is set to direct “Guest of Honour,” a twisted psychological drama which will be produced by Playtime, Elevation Pictures, Ego Film Arts and The Film Farm.
Based on an original script by Egoyan, “Guest of Honour” explores the relationship between a father and his 20-something year old daughter who wants to remain in jail for a sexual assault she knows she’s been wrongfully indicted for. Father and daughter find themselves acting out of the bounds of good behavior as the past haunts them.
“I’m particularly excited and passionate about this script,” said Egoyan, adding that he was thrilled to be working with partners Playtime and Elevation Pictures, who have clarity and understand my vision for the film and are very well positioned to help me share this film with audiences around the world.”
The movie marks Egoyan’s follow up to “Remember,...
Based on an original script by Egoyan, “Guest of Honour” explores the relationship between a father and his 20-something year old daughter who wants to remain in jail for a sexual assault she knows she’s been wrongfully indicted for. Father and daughter find themselves acting out of the bounds of good behavior as the past haunts them.
“I’m particularly excited and passionate about this script,” said Egoyan, adding that he was thrilled to be working with partners Playtime and Elevation Pictures, who have clarity and understand my vision for the film and are very well positioned to help me share this film with audiences around the world.”
The movie marks Egoyan’s follow up to “Remember,...
- 9/9/2018
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
For two decades, Sarah Polley has been desperately trying to adapt Margaret Atwood's book about a young woman who was abused, mistreated and silenced in the mid-1800s. By the time the 38-year-old actor-turned-writer/director brought the author's 1996 historical novel Alias Grace to the small screen – the six-hour miniseries began streaming on Netflix in early November – she had no idea she'd end up discussing the very same issues taking place in the 21st century. "I was imagining when I did press for [this], I would be introducing this as a conversation,...
- 11/7/2017
- Rollingstone.com
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.
Cameraperson (Kirsten Johnson)
Kirsten Johnson brings us her memoirs by way of a videographic scrapbook. Bits and pieces of the numerous documentaries she’s shot in her years as a Dp have been woven together into a travelogue / ethnographic study / commentary on the nature of cinematic framing. What was an establishing shot in one doc becomes, here, a study of the vagaries of a camera operator’s job. Documentary...
Cameraperson (Kirsten Johnson)
Kirsten Johnson brings us her memoirs by way of a videographic scrapbook. Bits and pieces of the numerous documentaries she’s shot in her years as a Dp have been woven together into a travelogue / ethnographic study / commentary on the nature of cinematic framing. What was an establishing shot in one doc becomes, here, a study of the vagaries of a camera operator’s job. Documentary...
- 7/21/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Burbank, CA (May 22, 2017) – Unlock the mystery and dive into small town secrets as Warner Bros. Home Entertainment releases Riverdale: The Complete First Season on DVD on August 15, 2017. Premiering with 2.4 million viewers, The CW’s top new show across all major demos* is created by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Glee, Big Love), produced by Greg Berlanti (The Flash, Supergirl, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Blindspot), and stars Kj Apa (Shortland Street), Lili Reinhart (The Kings of Summer), Camila Mendes (Randy Doe), Cole Sprouse (The Suite Life of Zack and Cody), Marisol Nichols (Big Momma’s House 2), Madelaine Petsch (The Curse of Sleeping Beauty), Ashleigh Murray (Deidra & Laney Rob a Train), Mädchen Amick (Twin Peaks), and Luke Perry (Beverly Hills 90210). Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is also an executive producer, along with Sarah Schechter (Arrow, Blindspot, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow), and Jon Goldwater (Publisher/CEO, Archie Comics). The release contains all 13 gripping episodes from the first season,...
- 5/22/2017
- by ComicMix Staff
- Comicmix.com
The film “Rotterdam, I Love You”, like the previous entries in the ‘Cities of Love’ series, will be a kaleidoscope of stories about love in all kinds of interpretations. Every single segment has its own perspective and its own personal style, woven into the rhythm of this unique city by 11 different directors.
The creative team consists of 11 directors, 20 to 30 wonderful actors in main roles, top producers and screenwriters. The 11 directors will range from Dutch up-and-coming talents to internationally acclaimed directors from all over the world, including Koen Mortier, Paula van der Oest (“Zeus and Zo”), Barry Atsma, Shariff Nasr (“Oblivion”) and Atom Egoyan (“The Sweet Hereafter”). The Cities of Love family of directors already includes people like The Coen Brothers, Brett Ratner, Wes Craven, Guillermo Arriaga, Alexander Payne, as well as Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson and more.
“Rotterdam, I Love You” will show the real Rotterdam, in all its rough beauty,...
The creative team consists of 11 directors, 20 to 30 wonderful actors in main roles, top producers and screenwriters. The 11 directors will range from Dutch up-and-coming talents to internationally acclaimed directors from all over the world, including Koen Mortier, Paula van der Oest (“Zeus and Zo”), Barry Atsma, Shariff Nasr (“Oblivion”) and Atom Egoyan (“The Sweet Hereafter”). The Cities of Love family of directors already includes people like The Coen Brothers, Brett Ratner, Wes Craven, Guillermo Arriaga, Alexander Payne, as well as Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson and more.
“Rotterdam, I Love You” will show the real Rotterdam, in all its rough beauty,...
- 5/16/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
What to Watch: Thursday, May 11
What Is Going On Here?
(To find out, see what you missed last night!)
“Riverdale,” 9 p.m., The CW
Episode Title: “Chapter Thirteen: The Sweet Hereafter”
Network Synopsis: Archie and Veronica continue to grow closer. Betty is tired of her family acting as if nothing has happened and confronts her mother. Jughead finds himself in an unexpected situation, leaving Archie and the gang scrambling. Hermione makes Fred an offer that seems too good to be true. Meanwhile, the truth about Blossoms’ family business is revealed leaving Cheryl to take matters into her own hands.
Why You Should Watch: The big mystery of the season — who killed Jason Blossom — was resolved in last week’s episode, so tonight “Riverdale” sets up what’s to come in Season 2. Given how the series began, we can probably expect some casualties.
“I Love Dick,” streaming now, Amazon Prime
Episode...
What Is Going On Here?
(To find out, see what you missed last night!)
“Riverdale,” 9 p.m., The CW
Episode Title: “Chapter Thirteen: The Sweet Hereafter”
Network Synopsis: Archie and Veronica continue to grow closer. Betty is tired of her family acting as if nothing has happened and confronts her mother. Jughead finds himself in an unexpected situation, leaving Archie and the gang scrambling. Hermione makes Fred an offer that seems too good to be true. Meanwhile, the truth about Blossoms’ family business is revealed leaving Cheryl to take matters into her own hands.
Why You Should Watch: The big mystery of the season — who killed Jason Blossom — was resolved in last week’s episode, so tonight “Riverdale” sets up what’s to come in Season 2. Given how the series began, we can probably expect some casualties.
“I Love Dick,” streaming now, Amazon Prime
Episode...
- 5/11/2017
- by Liz Shannon Miller
- Indiewire
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