Press Releases Archive for January, 2013

SONY PICTURES CLASSICS ACQUIRES FOR NO GOOD REASON

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         NEW YORK (January 30, 2013) – Sony Pictures Classics announced today that they have acquired all North American rights to Charlie Paul’s directorial debut, FOR NO GOOD REASON from Itch Film.   Foreign sales…

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SXSW FILM ANNOUNCES 2013 FEATURES LINEUP

Austin, Texas – January 31, 2013 – Marking its 20th Anniversary, the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival is thrilled to announce the features lineup for this year’s Festival, running March 8 – 16, 2013 in Austin, Texas. The 2013 lineup continues the SXSW Film celebration of the intersection between culture and creativity, revealing…

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CINEDIGM ACQUIRES NORTH AMERICAN DISTRIBUTION RIGHTS TO SHAUL SCHWARZ’S SUNDANCE 2013 COMPETITION TITLE “NARCO CULTURA”

Cinedigm Plans Theatrical and Awards Qualifying Run This Year LOS ANGELES, CA (January 30, 2013) – Cinedigm (NASDAQ: CIDM) has acquired North American distribution rights to Israeli photographer and filmmaker Shaul Schwarz’s NARCO CULTURA, which world premiered last week at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival in the Documentary Competition section. The film was produced by…

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BARBRA STREISAND TO PERFORM ON THE OSCARS® FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 36 YEARS

January 30, 2013 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BEVERLY HILLS, CA– Two-time Academy Award® winner Barbra Streisand, who has sung on the Oscars only once before, will perform on the upcoming Oscar® telecast on February 24. Streisand last sang the love theme from “A Star Is Born” on the March 28, 1977 show, winning the Best Original…

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Music Box Films acquires LE WEEKEND, directed by Roger Michel and starring Jim Broadbent, Lindsay Duncan and Jeff Goldblum

Chicago, IL, January 29, 2013 — Music Box Films has acquired all US rights to LE WEEKEND, directed by Roger Michel (‘Hyde Park on Hudson’) from a script by Hanif Kureishi, and starring Academy Award-winner Jim Broadbent, Lindsay Duncan and Jeff Goldblum.  The film recently finished shooting in Paris and will be released theatrically this summer. …

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ADRIAN SMITH NAMED PRESIDENT, SONY PICTURES RELEASING DOMESTIC DISTRIBUTION

The promotions are part of a realignment of the studio’s domestic distribution division.

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Sundance Film MILKSHAKE Acquired For Kevin Smith Movie Club

Phase 4 Films acquires Sundance 2013 NEXT film, MILKSHAKE, the directorial debut of David Andalman and Mariko Munro, for its Kevin Smith Movie Club New York, January 28, 2013 – Berry Meyerowitz, President & CEO of Phase 4 Films, announced today that the Company has acquired the dark comedy MILKSHAKE from Sundance’s NEXT program.  Starring…

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IFC FILMS TAKES U.S. RIGHTS TO DAVID LOWERY’S DRAMATIC COMPETITION TITLE AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS AT SUNDANCE FILM FEST

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara, Ben Foster, Nate Parker Star PARK CITY, UT (January 25, 2013) – IFC Films announced today from the 2013 Sundance Film Festival that the company is acquiring U.S. rights to writer-director David Lowery’s second feature AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS, which premiered on January 20 at the 2013 Sundance Film…

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2013 Sundance Film Festival Awards

For Immediate Release January 26, 2013 2013 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES FEATURE FILM AWARD. Blood Brother, Fruitvale, A River Changes Course and Jiseul Earn Grand Jury Prizes Audience Favorites Include Blood Brother, Fruitvale, The Square (Al Midan), Metro Manila and This is Martin Bonner Park City, UT — Sundance Institute this evening announced the Jury,…

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PHASE 4 FILMS ACQUIRES SUNDANCE HIT ‘NEWLYWEEDS’

Berry Meyerowitz, President & CEO of Phase 4 Films, announced today that the Company has acquired all North American rights to NEWLYWEEDS.

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ENTERTAINMENT ONE EATS UP THE US RIGHTS TO JIM MICKLE THRILLER WE ARE WHAT WE ARE

CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED SUNDANCE FILM ACQUIRED BY eONE FOR U.S. THEATRICAL DISTRIBUTION   LOS ANGELES/TORONTO – January 26, 2013 – Entertainment One (“eOne”) has acquired the U.S. rights to Jim Mickle’s suspenseful horror thriller WE ARE WHAT WE ARE for a theatrical release planned for later this year.  The film premiered to major critical acclaim this…

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SONY PICTURES CLASSICS ACQUIRES SUNDANCE FAVORITE BEFORE MIDNIGHT

The third installment to BEFORE SUNRISE and BEFORE SUNSET.

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OSCARS TO FEATURE TRIBUTE TO MOVIE MUSICALS OF THE LAST DECADE

 January 25, 2013 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BEVERLY HILLS, CA – The Oscars will include a special celebration of movie musicals of the last ten years, the telecast’s producers announced today. “The musical as a motion picture genre has had a remarkable renaissance in the last decade,” said producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron.  “We are excited…

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Magnolia takes North American rights to David Gordon Green’s PRINCE AVALANCHE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Wednesday, January 23, 2013 Park City, UT – January 23, 2013 – The Wagner/Cuban Company’s Magnolia Pictures announced today that they have acquired North American rights to PRINCE AVALANCHE after its rapturously received Sunday premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. The new film from writer/director David Gordon Green, PRINCE AVALANCHE stars Paul…

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2013 Sundance Film Festival Announces Jury Awards in Short Filmmaking

For Immediate Release January 22, 2013 2013 Sundance Film Festival Announces Jury Awards in Short Filmmaking Park City, UT — Sundance Institute this evening announced the jury prizes and honorable mentions in short filmmaking at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. The awards were presented at a ceremony in Park City, Utah. This year’s Short Film program…

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2013 SUNDANCE INSTITUTE | MAHINDRA GLOBAL FILMMAKING AWARDS

Four directors from India, Italy-US, Brazil and UK-Germany honored for their visionary projects PARK CITY, UT, U.S.A. — Sundance Institute and India’s Mahindra Group today announced the four winners of the 2013 Sundance Institute |Mahindra Global Filmmaking Awards, in recognition and support of emerging independent filmmakers from around the world. The winning directors and projects are: Sarthak Dasgupta, THE…

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SONY PICTURES CLASSICS ACQUIRES SUNDANCE HIT KILL YOUR DARLINGS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         NEW YORK (January 22, 2013) – Sony Pictures Classics announced today that they have acquired all US, Australian, New Zealand, South African, African TV, and Eastern European (minus CIS which has already been…

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FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES ACQUIRES “THE WAY, WAY BACK”

Directed and written by Academy Award® winners Nat Faxon and Jim Rash

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RADiUS / THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY KNOCKS IT OUT WITH ‘CONCUSSION’

BOUTIQUE LABEL MAKES SECOND BIG PURCHASE OF FEST AFTER ACQUIRING OPENING NIGHT FILM ’20 FEET FROM STARDOM’ Park City – January 21, 2013:  RADiUS – TWC proudly announced tonight that it has acquired North American rights to CONCUSSION, one of the most provocative and well received films at this year’s Festival that is drawing endless…

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A24 Acquires Sundance breakout THE SPECTACULAR NOW

Park City, UT (January 21, 2013) – A24 announced the acquisition of North American rights to Sundance favorite THE SPECTACULAR NOW.  The James Ponsoldt directed film, from a script by Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber, has become one of the darlings of the Sundance Film Festival and features breakout performances by Miles Teller and Shailene Woodley….

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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