Press Releases Archive for February, 2014

And the Oscar presenters are…

STARS COME OUT TO CELEBRATE ON OSCAR® SUNDAY

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The Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art Announce Complete Lineup for the 43rd Annual New Directors/New Films

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  March 19 – 30 Ana Lily Amirpour’s A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT is the Opening Night presentation, with Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard’s 20,000 DAYS ON EARTH starring Nick Cave slated for Closing Night Gillian Robespierre’s OBVIOUS CHILD is the Centerpiece selection New York, NY, February 20, 2014 — The…

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KINO LORBER SIGNS MULTI-YEAR DEAL WITH PALISADES TARTAN FOR HOME ENTERTAINMENT DISTRIBUTION OF ACCLAIMED LIBRARY IN U.S. AND CANADA

90 Titles Include Award Winning Masterworks from World Cinema’s Leading Directors and the “Asian Extreme” Collection NEW YORK, NY – FEBRUARY 19, 2014 – Kino Lorber announced today it has signed a multi-year agreement with Palisades Tartan to serve as the exclusive home entertainment distributor in the US and Canada (as available). The distribution deal includes…

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ZHANG YIMOU COMES HOME TO SONY PICTURES CLASSICS

 Film marks twelfth collaboration with the filmmaker and Sony Classics Team NEW YORK (February 18, 2014) – Sony Pictures Classics announced today that they have acquired all rights in North America, Latin America, Australia and New Zealand to Zhang Yimou’s COMING HOME starring Gong Li.  The film, currently in post-production, is produced by Bill Kong and…

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RACHEL DRATCH, WENDY MONIZ AND TREVOR ST. JOHN TOPLINE THE CASTING ANNOUNCEMENT FOR PATRICK WANG’S SOPHOMORE FEATURE; THE GRIEF OF OTHERS

Filmmaker’s Second Feature Follows Critically Acclaimed In the Family Companion iBook “Post Script: The Making of the Film, The Grief of Others” Available Now on iTunes Coincides with Announcement New York, NY – February 18, 2014 – Director Patrick Wang and Vanishing Angle today announced that Rachel Dratch, Wendy Moniz and Trevor St. John are…

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Creative Future Launches, with Ruth Vitale as Exec Director

Creative Community Coalition Expands and Launches as CreativeFuture, Independent Film Veteran Ruth Vitale Named Executive Director CreativeFuture Promotes the Value of Creativity in the Digital Age, Expanded Audience Access, and Voluntary, Cooperative Solutions that Preserve the Creative Process and Reduce Digital Theft LOS ANGELES – A broad-based coalition of more than 65 film and television…

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FINAL OSCARS® VOTING BEGINS FRIDAY

Closing on Tuesday, February 25, at 5pm PT.

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BOW TIE CINEMAS ZIEGFELD THEATER PRESENTS A FILM RETROSPECTIVE CELEBRATING THE CREATIVE COLLABORATION OF MARTIN SCORSESE AND LEONARDO DICAPRIO ON FEBRUARY 13 AND 14

FEATURING A PANEL CONVERSATION WITH DICAPRIO, THELMA SCHOONMAKER AND TERENCE WINTER ON FEBRUARY 13   NEW YORK, NY (February 10, 2014) – Bow Tie Cinemas Ziegfeld Theater will celebrate the longtime collaboration between Academy Award-winning filmmaker Martin Scorsese and Academy Award-nominated actor Leonardo DiCaprio with a two day, five film retrospective on  February 13 and 14. Kent Jones of the New York Film Society at Lincoln Center will moderate…

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WINNERS ANNOUNCED: 64TH ANNUAL ACE EDDIE AWARDS

“AMERICAN HUSTLE,” “CAPTAIN PHILLIPS” AND “FROZEN” WIN BIG AT THE 64TH ANNUAL ACE EDDIE AWARDS RECOGNIZING OUTSTANDING EDITING IN 2013 “THE OFFICE,” “BREAKING BAD” AND “HOMELAND” TOP TELEVISION WINNERS “20 FEET FROM STARDOM” TAKES FILM DOC PRIZE AND “THE ASSASINATION OF PRESIDENT KENNEDY” WINS TV DOC PRIZE PAUL GREENGRASS, RICHARD HALSEY, A.C.E., ROBERT C. JONES…

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THE FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER announces creation of new annual documentary-as-art showcase ART OF THE REAL

Opening Night  will be Raya Martin and Mark Peranson’s LA ÚLTIMA PELICULA with Robert Greene’s ACTRESS selected for Closing Night  New York, NY (February 6, 2014) – The Film Society of Lincoln Center announced today plans to present Art of the Real, a new documentary-as-art  series to take place April 11-26. Formerly a monthly series highlighting…

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GRAVITAS PREPARES TO WHIP OUT BAD JOHNSON

 Comedic dick pic coming soon to theaters and VOD Int’l rights currently being sold at Berlin Film Festival by the Salt Company  El Segundo, CA (February 6, 2014) – BAD JOHNSON, the new comedy from 2DS Productions, Roman Empire Productions, and director Huck Botko (THE VIRGINITY HIT, THE LAST EXORCISM), will hit theaters and VOD this spring…

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Magnolia Acquires Life Itself For Summer Theatrical

New York, NY (February 4, 2014) – The Wagner/Cuban Company’s Magnolia Pictures announced today that they have acquired US theatrical, VOD and home entertainment rights to LIFE ITSELF, a documentary about the life of Roger Ebert directed by Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Steve James (Hoop Dreams, The Interrupters). A Kartemquin Films and Film Rites production in…

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Sundance PING PONG SUMMER Locks Deal With Gravitas Ventures

Sundance PING PONG SUMMER Locks Deal With Gravitas Ventures Susan Sarandon, Amy Sedaris and newcomer Marcello Conte love the ’80s in this critically-acclaimed comedy which hits theaters this summer El Segundo, CA (February 3, 2014) – Following an uproarious Sundance premiere, one of the festival’s biggest crowd-pleasers, Michael Tully’s PING PONG SUMMER, has landed a deal with…

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TRIBECA FILM SETS RELEASE DATE FOR GIA COPPOLA’S DIRECTORIAL DEBUT, PALO ALTO, BASED ON JAMES FRANCO’S SHORT STORY COLLECTION

The acclaimed debut feature from writer/director Gia Coppola will open exclusively in theaters on Friday, May 9.

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RENDEZ-VOUS WITH FRENCH CINEMA 2014 COMPLETE LINEUP ANNOUNCED

NEW YORK –February 3, 2014 – The 19th edition of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Unifrance Films’ celebrated annual showcase of the newest and best in contemporary French film, sweeps across screens at The Film Society of Lincoln Center, the IFC Center and BAMcinématek, March 6 – March 16. The…

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Statement Regarding “Alone Yet Not Alone” Song Decision

The Board of Governors’ decision to rescind the Original Song nomination for “Alone Yet Not Alone,” music by Bruce Broughton, was made thoughtfully and after careful consideration.  The Academy takes very seriously anything that undermines the integrity of the Oscars® voting process. The Board regretfully concluded that Mr. Broughton’s actions did precisely that. The nominating process for Original Song is intended…

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SONY PICTURES CLASSICS ACQUIRES INFINITELY POLAR BEAR

The spirited girls don’t make the overwhelming task any easier in INFINITELY POLAR BEAR.

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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