Filmmaking Feeds

RADiUS-TWC has made the first major deal of a film screening at Cannes: Jeremy Saulnier's "Blue Ruin," which is world premiering in the Director's Fortnight. Full press release below. Cannes - May 18, 2013:  RADiUS - TWC proudly announced tonight that it has acquired North American rights to BLUE RUIN, one of the select few American films world premiering in Director's Fortnight. Written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier's whose first feature MURDER PARTY was a cult hit, BLUE RUIN tells the story of a man who finds his quiet life upended by unwelcome news and subsequently sets off for his childhood home to carry out an act of revenge. Proving an improbable assassin, he winds up in a brutal fight to protect his estranged family." BLUE RUIN was produced by Anish Savjani, Richard Peete and Vincent Savino. RADiUS will release the film theatrically this Fall. According to RADiUS co-presidents Tom Quinn and Jason Janego: "BLUE RUIN is a masterpiece and a future cult classic. It is...

Kino Lorber has acquired all U.S. and Canadian rights to "The Rocket," the first feature film by director and writer Kim Mordaunt. Produced by Sylvia Wilczynski at Red Lamp Films, with funding from Screen Australia, the film had its US premiere at this year's Tribeca Film Festival and won three major awards: Best Narrative Feature prize, the Audience Award for Best Narrative Film and the Best Actor in a Narrative Feature award (given to 10-year-old Sitthiphon Disamoe). At this year's Berlinale, "The Rocket" also won the "Crystal Bear" (Generation Kplus prize for Best Film) as well as the Best First Feature award and The Amnesty International Award.   Kino Lorber is planning a national theatrical release for the film during the fall, followed by a digital, VOD and home media release in 2014. KinoLorber CEO Richard Lorber negotiated the deal for the film with Natja Noviani Rosner, LevelK's Sales Director out of the Cannes Market. The film as described by Kino Lorber: "A...

"That's a folk song," says Llewyn Davis (Oscar Isaac) in the opening scene of Joel and Ethan Coen's aptly titled "Inside Llewyn Davis," after playing a tender melody for the cozy room at New York's Gaslight Café circa 1961. One could usually make a similar pronouncement about the Coen brothers' usually eccentric works -- yep, that's a Coen movie, folks -- but this one's a different story. Light on plot, heavy on melody and feeling, "Inside Llewyn Davis" takes some inspiration from the career of folk singer Dave Van Ronk, but avoids focusing the trappings of a biopic or making broad pronouncements about the era. Instead, the nomadic Llewyn's fleeting misadventures, which find him drifting from one couch to the next while struggling to justify his career, contains a delicate, restrained portrait that results in a different kind of movie than anything else the sibling have produced. Littered with catchy tunes composed by T. Bone Burnett, "Llewyn Davis" is the musical opposite of their...

IFC Midnight bought North American rights to Cinipix’s action/thriller "Raze." Directed by Josh Waller and written by Robert Beaucage, the film stars Zoe Bell, Rachel Nichols, Tracie Thoms and Sherilyn Fenn. "Raze" made its world premiere at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival.  READ MORE: Tarantino's Go-To Stuntwoman Zoe Bell on Headlining the Bloody 'Raze' and What She Learned From the 'Death Proof' Director "Raze" follows a woman who's abducted to an underground lair where she's forced to battle for the amusement of unseen spectators. Said reviewer Gabe Toro from The Playlist in his review out of Tribeca: The women-in-prison genre gets a contemporary reworking in the grisly slugfest... Bechdel Test enthusiasts especially should take note of how insignificant men are in these womens’ lives. But perhaps it’s how we find titillation in the modern world – the cast takes turns getting brutalized by each other while under the rule of sadistic prison...

This year’s 66th Cannes Film Festival opened with a venerable love fest at the Jury Press Conference on Wednesday. Led by Steven Spielberg, this year’s panel drew an incredible mix of cinema talent Ang Lee, Nicole Kidman and Christoph Waltz, as well as Romanian director Cristian Mungiu and Scotland’s Lynne Ramsay. Spielberg and Lee admitted to the assembled press that they absolutely worshipped each other, despite being pitted up against each other at the Oscars this year. Although Spielberg said he was ready to judge, he claimed, “I look at this as two weeks of celebrating film, not two weeks …

In the opening minutes of "The Dance of Reality," cult director Alejandro Jodorowsky's first movie in 23 years, he appears onscreen reciting a poem that compares money to blood, Christ and Buddha, then equates death to consciousness and wealth. It's that combination of evocative prose and bizarre associations that define the director's appeal, which stretches back to the glory days of his midnight movie stardom with "El Topo" and "The Holy Mountain." While lacking their polished lunacy, "The Dance of Reality" maintains the gonzo spirit of its creator, virtually emerging directly from his psyche. The movie finds Jodorowsky reteaming with French producer Michel Seydoux, with whom the director collaborated on a famously ambitious, uncompleted adaptation of "Dune" (a story told in the documentary "Jodorowsky's Dune," premiering at Cannes' Directors Fortnight section alongside the new work). In contrast to that costly endeavor, "The Dance of Reality" is a noticeably small,...

Paladin and 108 Media have partnered to acquire all North American rights to Sean Ellis' Sundance Film Festival prize winning "Metro Manila." The film -- which won the audience award in the World Cinema Dramatic program at Sundance -- has been picked up internationally , including France (Haut et Court),Spain (Festival Films), Scandinavia (NonStop), Japan (New Selects), Middle East (Front Row), Latin America (HBO), Hungary (Vertigo), Greece (Seven Group), Ex Yugoslavia (Cinemania), Singapore (indies Entertainment), and the Philippines (Captive). Full press release below. CANNES (May 18, 2013) - Distribution partners 108 Media and Paladin have acquired all North American rights to Sean Ellis’ acclaimed thriller, METRO MANILA, it was announced by 108 CEO Abhi Rastogi and Paladin President Mark Urman.  The film had its world premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival where it won the Audience Award for “Best Film” in the World Cinema dramatic competition. Urman and...

After romancing Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the Sundance/Berlinale hit "Don Jon," Julianne Moore is again putting the moves on a much younger co-star (Michael Angarano) in the indie comedy "The English Teacher," currently playing in select theaters and available on VOD. In the Cinedigm/Tribeca Film release, Moore plays Linda, a 40-year-old unmarried high school English teacher who mounts a play by a former student (Angarano), only to find herself falling for him. Greg Kinnear co-stars as the aspiring playwright's overbearing father, while Nathan Lane pops up as a wacky colleague. READ MORE: Julianne Moore On Playing a Troubled Rock Star in 'What Maisie Knew' and Why Acting Doesn't Scare Her Indiewire sat down with Moore and Angarano to discuss working together, that age difference and Moore's busy year (she also stars is "What Maisie Knew," currently out in limited release). Michael, when you learned that you were going to be sharing most of your scenes opposite someone...

Phase 4 Films announced today from Cannes that the company has acquired all North American rights to Academy-Award nominated filmmaker Lucy Walker's documentary "The Crash Reel." HBO, who helped to finance the film, will retain U.S. television broadcast rights. Phase 4 is planning an early Winter 2013 theatrical release for the film, which premiered at Sundance earlier this year.   Weaving 15 years of verite footage with a soundtrack that includes music from Chemical Brothers, Underworld and Moby, "The Crash Wheel" tracks the surprising journey of Shaun White and Kevin Pierce, childhood friends who became legends in the world of competitive snowboarding. "'The Crash Reel' is an extraordinary film for audiences of all ages, and it is the type of film that surely requires more than one viewing," said Meyerowitz. Walker was nominated for an Oscar for for her feature documentary "Waste Land" and for her documentary short "The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom."

Zeitgeist Films will release two new documentaries: Sophie Fiennes’ "The Perverts' Guide to Ideology" and Fredrik Stanton’s "Uprising." "The Perverts' Guide to Ideology" follows philosophy superstar Slavoj Zizek ("The Perverts' Guide to Cinema") as he uses cinema and psychoanalysis "to explore the mechanisms that shape what we believe and how we behave." The film premiered at the 2012 Toronto Film Festival and will open at the IFC Center this Fall, with a national release to follow. "Uprising"examines the spontaneous social media eruption that brought millions of Egyptians into the streets to protest -- and eventually overthrow -- dictator Hosni Mubarek after years of oppression. It will play selected cities this summer and fall. Zeitgeist’s other 2013 theatrical releases are Neil Barsky’s "Koch," "One Track Heart" by Jeremy Frindel and Margarethe von Trotta’s "Hannah Arendt."  

At last night's Weinstein Co. annual Cannes preview, the clear standout of the evening was a scene from "Drive" director Nicolas Winding Refn's Palme d'Or contender "Only God Forgives," that featured Kristin Scott Thomas like you're never her seen before. READ MORE: Five Minutes of Nicole Kidman As 'Grace of Monaco' Is Not Enough: The Weinstein Co. Underwhelms With Cannes Preview In the thriller, an icy blond Thomas plays Crystal, the menacing matriarch of a drug empire and mother to Julian (Ryan Gosling), a manager of an illegal Thai boxing ring, who she orders to hunt down his brother (and her son's) killer. As evidenced by the scene, Crystal is the type of mother you don't want to cross. Upon meeting Julian's new squeeze, who introduces herself as an "entertainer," Crystal greets her by scoffing, "How many cocks can you entertain in that cum dumpster of yours?" Later, she laments how her dead son's "cock" (her word choice, not mine) was bigger than...

In early April, Brooklyn-based cinematographer and filmmaker Jeremy Saulnier was en route to shooting a corporate video in Cleveland when he learned that his movie had been accepted to the Cannes Film Festival. It was quite the validation: To make the tense, violent crime drama "Blue Ruin," the first feature Saulnier directed since his scrappy horror-satire "Murder Party" in 2007, Saulnier relied on financing from his wife's retirement fund, his own Amex card, and a last-minute Kickstarter campaign. But Sundance had rejected him and he had started to think the movie might not get out there for another year. Instead, Cannes' esteemed Directors Fortnight section catapulted "Blue Ruin" to international attention at the biggest film gathering in the world. Recalling that day, Saulnier said, "it made it a lot easier to go shoot B-roll for IBM, knowing what was in store for me." A month and a half later, Saulnier sat down on the lawn of the Grand Hotel at Cannes and surveyed the scene....

Since IFP and Filmmaker began programming the reRun Theater in Brooklyn, we’ve been trying to bring audiences great films, but also do it in an interesting and different way whenever possible. One of the ideas that we came up with to bring a little variety to proceedings was our Secret Film Club, which kicks off tonight. In the next week, we’ll be playing 11 films over five different nights. The screenings will all be free. But we won’t be telling anyone what the films are. Cryptic clues will be distributed to give you something to go on, however, the first …

Director David Lassiter, whose short film The Opportunist is playing in the Critics’ Fortnight, is blogging about his Cannes experiences. You can read his first dispatch here. Day one at Cannes and we’re already off to the races! After almost a full day of travel (L.A. -> Toronto -> Zurich -> Nice -> Cannes) we checked into an Airbnb apartment owned by a charming Frenchman named Olivier, dropped off our bags, and hit the Croisette. Our first stop was the Palais de Festival, where we were warmly greeted by Julie Marnay and her lovely team at Semaine de la Critique. …

Coming off a banner year thanks to "Silver Linings Playbook" and "Django Unchained" netting over $100 million each domestically and three Oscars (two for "Django" and one for "Silver"), The Weinstein Company sailed into Cannes this year eager to kick off a follow-up via their annual slate preview. While last year saw their auteur-driven heavy hitters "Django," "Silver" and "The Master" debut pre-trailer footage that set the industry abuzz, this year's big reveal landed with more of a "meh." Or, as a journalist seated next to me to said, "Well, that was underwhelming." Not to say that their slate is unimpressive this year. Among their 2013 Oscar hopefuls are the Meryl Streep-Julia Roberts headlined family drama "August: Osage Country," Lee Daniel’s ridiculously star-studded "The Butler," Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize-winning sensation "Fruitvale Station" (aka "Fruitvale"), David Lowery's somber crime love story "Ain’t Them Bodies Saints" (they are handling foreign), and the Nicole...

Sunday, June 30th will mark the beginning of the end for "Dexter" -- Showtime made it official last month that the eighth season of its popular serial killer drama will also be its last. The premium network has released a trailer for the final season showing Dexter's (Michael C. Hall) relationship with his adoptive sister Deb (Jennifer Carpenter) in shambles and a new potential foe on the horizon -- an expert on psychopathy played by the regal Charlotte Rampling. Will Dexter survive his show, or go down with it? The endgame promises to be interesting.

While conversations about film revolve around directors, TV, it is often pointed out, is a writer's medium, led by story and dialog more than visuals. But lately TV has seen an influx of name directors, indie and otherwise, coming in to helm episodes of shows. Even more interesting has been the growing trend for series to hire recognizable filmmakers to direct their pilots. While overseeing an episode once a series has started means working within a set framework with relatively little ability to put a personal stamp on things, getting to direct a pilot offers more freedom to determine the look of a show in a way that everyone after will follow. It's also potentially lucrative, since it tends comes with an executive producer title. Here's a look at who's directing pilots in the upcoming 2013-2014 season -- and these are on the big networks, not even looking to cable. "About a Boy": "Iron Man" director Jon Favreau helmed the pilot for NBC's apocalyptic drama "Revolution," and will head...

Made quickly and on the cheap, prolific South Korean director Kim Ki-duk’s 18th film, Pieta, is an often disturbing revenge tale, moody and morally challenging, where redemption for one of recent cinema’s most dark-hearted anti-heroes seems just out of grasp. Kang-do (Lee Jung-jin) is a pitiless and anger-fueled debt collector for a equally brutal moneylender who specializes in forcing his often destitute debtors to commit insurance fraud in order to pay back what they owe him. Living a comfortless and filthy existence in the same slum as many of his victim, Kang-do has not a friend or a care in the …

Julianne Moore makes it terribly easy to like her. Her remarkable consistency has helped her remain a stellar screen presence for more than two decades. Her transformative abilities have morphed her into everything from a troubled hypochondriac (Safe) and a maternal porn star (Boogie Nights) to a 1950s housewife (Far From Heaven) and one half of a loving lesbian couple (The Kids Are All Right). And her singular, nature-defying beauty has continued to land her fashion cover shoots at the age of 52. All of this springs to mind when Moore greets an eager parade of press while promoting her new …

Another day, another bunch of clips from U.S. indies playing at Cannes. Above there is a quick snippet, featuring Marion Cotillard and Jeremy Renner, from James Gray’s period drama The Immigrant (previously called Lowlife). The Weinstein Company will be putting out the film (also starring Gray regular Joaquin Phoenix) later this year and, barring terrible reviews from Cannes critics, it should be a 2013 awards contender. Below are a teaser trailer and a clip from Jeremy Saulnier’s second feature, Blue Ruin, which looks incredibly compelling and has the potential to establish the director (who mostly plies his trade as a …