Press Releases Archive for November, 2012

END OF WATCH RETURNS TO THEATERS NATIONWIDE ON DECEMBER 7th

END OF WATCH RETURNS TO THEATERS NATIONWIDE ON DECEMBER 7th LOS ANGELES, CA, November 30, 2012 – END OF WATCH — the hit film starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña, written and directed by David Ayer, which opened to number one at the box office in September 2012 — will return to theaters nationwide on…

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11 LIVE ACTION SHORTS ADVANCE IN OSCAR® RACE

November 29, 2012 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BEVERLY HILLS, CA – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 11 live action short films will advance in the voting process for the 85th Academy Awards®.  A tie in the nominations balloting resulted in 11 films being shortlisted.  One hundred twenty-five pictures had originally…

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10 CONTENDERS REMAIN IN VFX OSCAR® RACE

10 films remain in the running in the Visual Effects category for the 85th Academy Awards®

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2013 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES FILMS IN U.S. AND WORLD COMPETITIONS, NEXT <=>

Park City, UT, November 28, 2012 — Sundance Institute announced today the films selected for the U.S. and World Cinema Dramatic and Documentary Competitions and the out-of-competition NEXT <=> section of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, January 17-27 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. Robert Redford, President & Founder of Sundance Institute…

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THE 28th ANNUAL FILM INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARD NOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE LOS ANGELES (November 27, 2012) – Film Independent, the nonprofit arts organization that produces the Film Independent Spirit Awards, the Los Angeles Film Festival and the Film Independent at LACMA Film Series, announced nominations for the 2013 Film Independent Spirit Awards this morning. Film Independent co-presidents Sean Mc Manus and Josh Welsh…

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TANGLED BANK STUDIOS, A PRODUCTION COMPANY FROM THE HOWARD HUGHES MEDICAL INSTITUTE, LAUNCHES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 26, 2012 Inaugural Productions Include Films on Cartography and Evolution Chevy Chase, MD-The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) today announced the launch of Tangled Bank Studios, a new film and media production company that aims to be a significant contributor to the science documentary arena. The new company, helmed by Michael…

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WGAw Issues A “Stop Work Order” Against Comedy Central

Dear Writers Guild Member, We are writing to alert you that you must refrain from writing for Central Productions, the production arm of Comedy Central, without first contacting the WGAW contracts department to ensure that the writing is Guild-covered. If you are currently writing on a Central Productions project, please contact us immediately. Central Productions…

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HOT DOCS BOARD OF DIRECTORS NEW APPOINTMENTS

At Hot Docs’ recent AGM, the organization said farewell to long-serving Board directors…

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Call for support to Bahman Ghobadi upon the arrest of his brother

The Thessaloniki International Film Festival wishes to express its fervent support to Kurdish Iranian film director Bahman Ghobadi and his brother, Behrouz Ghobadi, who was recently arrested and is currently detained by the Iranian authorities. Bahman Ghobadi, one of the honored directors during the 53rd Thessaloniki International Film Festival, which was concluded 10 days ago, has made…

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SIFF Receives Major Grant From The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

3-Year Commitment to Showcase African Films at Seattle International Film Festival

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Gilt Home to Sell Authentic Props from Ang Lee’s “Life of Pi”

Gilt HOME will exclusively sell authentic props from Academy Award®-winning director Ang Lee’s highly anticipated film, Life of Pi

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Cinemark to Acquire 32 Theatres from Rave Cinemas

Cinemark to Acquire 32 Theatres from Rave Cinemas

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MICHAEL KUTZA HONORED WITH 2012 POLLACK AWARD AT STAR-STUDDED AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE GALA HONORING BEN STILLER

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CHICAGO (November 16) – Michael Kutza, Founder and Artistic Director of the Chicago International Film Festival, was honored with the Sydney Pollack Award last night at the 26th American Cinematheque Gala, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, California. The star-studded black tie event included the presentation of the Sydney Pollack Award by…

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Flashback: MGM’S RED DAWN IS RISING AGAIN: LOS ANGELES, CA July 9, 2008

LOS ANGELES, CA July 9, 2008 — Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM) has assembled its production team for a new installment of the classic movie RED DAWN, it was announced today by Mary Parent, Chairman, Worldwide Motion Pictures Group, MGM. Carl Ellsworth will write a script for the new RED DAWN installment.  Ellsworth is moving forward with…

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ACADEMY’S TECH COUNCIL ADDS EIGHT NEW MEMBERS

November 15, 2012 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BEVERLY HILLS, CA – Doug Cooper, Paul Debevec, Ray Feeney, Josh Pines, David Stump, Steve Sullivan, Bill Taylor and Beverly Wood have accepted invitations to join the Science and Technology Council of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, bringing the Council’s 2012–2013 membership roster to 25.Doug Cooper…

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SPRING BREAKERS TO OPEN IN THEATERS NATIONWIDE SPRING 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ANNAPURNA PICTURES TEAMS UP WITH A24 TO RELEASE THE HARMONY KORINE FILM NEW YORK (November 15, 2012) – The highly anticipated SPRING BREAKERS will receive a Spring 2013 nationwide theatrical release courtesy of A24 and Annapurna Pictures. The film stars Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, and Rachel Korine as four college coeds willing…

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STAR TREK – Imax Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE WORLD PREMIERE EXTENDED PREVIEW OF J. J. ABRAMS’ “STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS” TO DEBUT IN IMAX 3D ON DECEMBER 14th  THE FIRST 9-MINUTES FROM THE ANTICIPATED SEQUELWILL BE RELEASED EXCLUSIVELY IN DIGITAL IMAX 3D THEATRES WORLDWIDE HOLLYWOOD, CA (November 14, 2012) – Paramount Pictures will release the first 9-minutes from J.J. Abrams’…

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21 ANIMATED FEATURES SUBMITTED FOR 2012 OSCAR® RACE

November 2, 2012 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BEVERLY HILLS, CA – Twenty-one features have been submitted for consideration in the Animated Feature Film category for the 85th Academy Awards®. The 21 submitted features, listed in alphabetical order by title, are: “Adventures in Zambezia” “Brave” “Delhi Safari” “Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax” “Frankenweenie” “From Up on Poppy Hill”…

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Cinema Eye Honors Announces Nominees for 6th Annual Nonfiction Film Awards

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: The Imposter and Searching for Sugar Man Receive Five Nominations Each Detropia, Only the Young, Room 237 and ¡Vivan las Antipodas! Net Four Nominations 5 Broken Cameras and Marina Abramović The Artist is Present Among Other Nominees for Top Award Only the Young’s Jason Tippet and Elizabeth Mims Lead Individuals with Four Nominations November 2, 2012, Los Angeles, Calif. – Thirty-one feature films and…

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Press Releases

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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