Press Releases Archive for July, 2011

CHRISTINA KOUNELIAS NAMED CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER FOR THE MOTION PICTURE ACADEMY

Beverly Hills, CA – Christina Kounelias has been named to the newly created post of Chief Marketing Officer for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, it was announced today by Academy CEO Dawn Hudson. Kounelias will assume her new role on August 1 and will report directly to Hudson. “As the Academy expands…

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THE FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER announces the North American Premiere of Roman Polanski’s CARNAGE as Opening Night Gala selection for the 2011 NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL

New York, NY, July 29, 2011 — The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced today that Roman Polanski’s CARNAGE will make its North American Premiere as the Opening Night film for the upcoming 49th New York Film Festival (September 30 – October 16). “From KNIFE IN THE WATER (which screened at the first edition of…

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EMILIO ESTEVEZ’S THE WAY STARRING MARTIN SHEEN FINDS ITS WAY TO AMC THEATRES® ON OCTOBER 7TH

Estevez and Elixir Films Partner with Producers Distribution Agency and ARC Entertainment on Release; Film Will Launch in AMC Theatres As Part of Strategic Marketing Partnership With The Theatre Chain New York – July 28, 2011 –  Emilio Estevez and Elixir Films’ David Alexanian announced today that they have partnered with John Sloss and Bart…

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PRODUCTION BEGINS ON HYDE PARK ON HUDSON, STARRING BILL MURRAY AND LAURA LINNEY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NEW YORK and LONDON, July 28, 2011 – Academy Award nominees Bill Murray and Laura Linney star in the historical tale Hyde Park on Hudson, which began filming this week in the U.K. for co-producers and co-financiers Focus Features and Film4. BAFTA Award winner Roger Michell (Film4’s Venus) is directing from a…

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SUNDANCE INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES EXPANSION OF ARTIST SERVICES INITIATIVE, OFFERS ACCESS TO ONLINE DISTRIBUTION OPPORTUNITIES FOR SUNDANCE INSTITUTE FILMS

iTunes,  Amazon Instant Video, Hulu, Netflix, SundanceNOW and YouTube to Participate, with New Video as Exclusive Aggregation Partner; Topspin Media to Provide Direct-to-Fan Marketing Tools; First Titles to Include Connected: An Autoblogography about Love, Death & Technology, Jess + Moss, Lord Byron, New Low, Obselidia, On the Ice, The Oregonian, Space Tourists and The Woods…

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WERC WERK WORKS FINDS A “DARLING COMPANION” IN SONY PICTURES CLASSICS

New York, NY (July 27, 2011) – Sony Pictures Classics has preemptively acquired all domestic rights to Lawrence Kasdan’s DARLING COMPANION from production company Werc Werk Works, it was announced today by Sony Pictures Classics and Werc Werk Works CEO Elizabeth Redleaf. DARLING COMPANION is written by Meg Kasdan and Lawrence Kasdan and directed by…

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SUNDANCE SELECTS CONVERTS U.S. RIGHTS TO NANNI MORETTI’S HABEMUS PAPAM

New York, NY (July 26, 2011) – Sundance Selects announced today that the company is acquiring U.S. rights to director Nanni Moretti’s (Palme d’Or winner THE SON’S ROOM, DEAR DIARY) comedic drama HABEMUS PAPAM. Moretti produced the film with Domenico Procacci (GOMORRAH, QUIET CHAOS) and co-wrote the film with Francesco Piccolo and Federica Pontremoli. He also…

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TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES STELLAR LINE-UP OF GALAS AND SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS

July 26, 2011, Toronto – Now in its 36th year, the Toronto International Film Festival® today unveiled a selection of films in the 2011 Galas and Special Presentations programmes. The selection comprises 10 Galas and 43 Special Presentations, including 31 World Premieres. Running from September 8 to 18, this year‟s Festival presents the world premieres…

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BLOCKBUSTER TO OPERATE MORE THAN 1,500 STORES

More than 15,000 Jobs Saved Nationwide MCKINNEY, Texas, July 21, 2011 – Blockbuster L.L.C. announced today it has assumed contracts with property owners nationwide and will maintain operations of more than 1,500 U.S. Blockbuster stores that would have closed under liquidation, as approved in a New York bankruptcy court this week. Blockbuster also will retain…

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Filmmaker Magazine announces 2011 “25 New Faces of Independent Film”

Independent features shot all over the world, a new wave of smart science fiction films, and three different sets of curators transitioning to filmmaking are all found in Filmmaker Magazine’s 2011 “25 New Faces of Independent Film,” announced today. The feature is the 14th edition of the magazine’s annual look at the new, up-and-coming talent…

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SUNDANCE SELECTS TAKES NORTH AMERICAN RIGHTS TO JONATHAN CAOUETTE’S WALK AWAY RENEE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE New York, NY (July 19, 2011) – Sundance Selects announced today that the company is acquiring all North American rights to director Jonathan Caouette’s documentary WALK AWAY RENEE from Wild Bunch.  The film continues the story Caouette began with his award winning, ground breaking documentary TARNATION. Caouette once again appears with his mother Renee…

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Marvel’s CAP Opens At Comic-Con

BEFORE IT OPENS ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD, MARVEL’S “CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER” TO OPEN FIRST IN COMIC-CON Exclusive Comic-Con Keepsakes to be Given Away Throughout the Day HOLLYWOOD, CA (July 18, 2011) – Before it opens anywhere else in the world, CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER will open first in Comic-Con. Convention goers…

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MIDNIGHT IN PARIS BECOMES WOODY ALLEN’S HIGHEST GROSSING FILM OF ALL TIME IN NORTH AMERICA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NEW YORK, NY (JULY 17, 2011) – Sony Pictures Classics announced today that MIDNIGHT IN PARIS has become Woody Allen’s highest grossing film of all time in North America.  MIDNIGHT IN PARIS has grossed $41,792,695 to date. This is Allen’s 42nd feature film that he has written and directed and his fourth film with…

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“Digital movie delivery is a deceit,” says Facets Multimedia

Membership in Facets Multi-Media’s DVD rental service has soared by nearly 40% in the past year. Membership affords free rentals from Facets’ library of over 65,000 titles, including art house, classic, foreign, documentary and silent films on DVD, and – for those with the technology to support it – VHS. “At this moment, the digital…

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FlickLaunch Showcases First Movie Distribution Platform Built on Facebook® for Viewing Independent Films

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE THE PERFECT HOUSE to Premiere on Facebook on October 1 for 750M+ Global Users on the film’s Fanpage/Online Movie Theater BERKELEY, CA, July 15, 2011 – FlickLaunch, the first movie distribution platform built on Facebook for independent filmmakers, will premiere the horror thriller THE PERFECT HOUSE on October 1, 2011 as a…

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MovieTickets.com Stats On HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART 2

MovieTickets.com, the leading global provider of remote movie ticketing, has seen incredible trends in advance ticketing for the upcoming release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.  The increase in sales is not only apparent when compared with past films in the Harry Potter franchise but also when compared to large releases this…

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HBO DOCUMENTARY FILMS SECURES MARTIN SCORSESE’S GEORGE HARRISON: LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD DOCUMENTARY

NEW YORK, July 13, 2011 – HBO has acquired the North American TV rights to Martin Scorsese’s GEORGE HARRISON:  LIVING IN THE MATERIAL WORLD from Grove Street Pictures.  The film was produced by Scorsese (through his Sikelia Productions banner), Olivia Harrison (through her Grove Street Pictures banner) and Nigel Sinclair (through Exclusive’s documentary label, Spitfire…

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“Harry Potter” Is Already Fandango’s Top Ticket-Seller of the Year, Selling Out 5,000 Showtimes Before Its Friday Opening

“Deathly Hallows: Part 2” is Trending to Become #2 Top Pre-Seller in Fandango History LOS ANGELES, July 13, 2011 – Although there are two more days before the July 15 release date, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” has already leaped over the year’s previous box office winners to become Fandango’s top-selling title…

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Sundance Institute to Host a Week of Independent Film Producing Initiatives

Los Angeles, CA — Sundance Institute today announced the participants for its annual Creative Producing Labs and Creative Producing Summit, both held in the same week at the Sundance Resort in Sundance, Utah. Nine projects have been selected to participate in the Labs (July 18-22) and receive ongoing creative and strategic support throughout the year,…

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HOT DOCS EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES: PROGRAMMING DIRECTOR AND CINEMA PROGRAMMER/BOOKER

Hot Docs is currently accepting applications for the positions of Director of Programming and Cinema Programmer/Booker. The Director of Programming will be responsible for developing the programming vision for the Festival, continuing Hot Docs’ reputation for presenting a high-calibre documentary slate each year. The Director of Programming will also be expected to contribute to the…

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon