Press Releases Archive for April, 2014

SIFF ANNOUNCES FULL LINEUP FOR 40th SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

 Seattle International Film Festival, the largest and most highly attended festival in the United States, announced today the complete lineup of films and events for the 40th annual Festival (May 15 – June 8, 2014).  This year, SIFF will screen 440 films: 198 features (plus 4 secret films), 60 documentaries, 14 archival films, and 168…

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2014 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES AWARD WINNERS

* * * ZERO MOTIVATION, POINT AND SHOOT, MANOS SUCIAS, KEEP ON KEEPIN’ ON WIN TOP AWARDS IN JURIED WORLD COMPETITIONS PLUS CLOUDS WINS THE BOMBAY SAPPHIRE AWARD FOR TRANSMEDIA * * * ZERO MOTIVATION WINS SECOND ANNUAL NORA EPHRON PRIZE * * * FESTIVAL AWARDS $190,000 IN CASH PRIZES   [April 24, 2014 – New York, NY] – The 13th…

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STEVE ELZER LAUNCHES BOUTIQUE PR FIRM SPECIALIZING IN MEDIA RELATIONS & STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS FOR EXECUTIVES, PRODUCTION COMPANIES AND INDUSTRY RELATED BUSINESSES AND ORGANIZATIONS

Rachel Falikoff Joins Firm As Senior Vice President; Launch Clients Include *Newzcard, Court Five Productions, Stradella Road (Los Angeles, April 24, 2014) — Corporate communications veteran Steve Elzer is launching Elzer & Associates, Inc, a new, boutique PR firm offering strategic communications counsel to help businesses build brands and support the ever-evolving media relations needs of…

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Sony’s New Digital Paper Goes Hollywood with Starring Role as Paper Replacement for Motion Picture and Television Industries

Pilot Program with Major Studios; Collaboration with Ease Entertainment’s Digital Start Paperwork Streamlines New Hire & Crew Onboarding Processes LOS ANGELES, April 22, 2014 – Sony’s new Digital Paper is taking a leading role in a pilot program with selec tHollywood studios to streamline the new hire and crew on-boarding process for motion picture and television productions. Starting…

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Sony Pictures Entertainment And Mattel Announce Plan To Bring The Iconic Character Of Barbie To Life On Screen

  Live-Action Comedy Set to Begin Production End of Year Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Next Global Franchise to be Produced by Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald and written by Jenny Bicks CULVER CITY, Calif., April 23, 2014 — Sony Pictures Entertainment, Mattel and Parkes+MacDonald/Image Nation today announced a partnership on a live-action comedy featuring the beloved and…

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SPC To Release FOXCATCHER November 14

Sony Pictures Classics announced today that they will release Bennett Miller’s FOXCATCHER in the United States on November 14.  The film will premiere in the In Competition Section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. Directed by Bennett Miller (MONEYBALL, CAPOTE), FOXCATCHER tells the gripping, true story of Olympic Wrestling Champion brothers Mark Schultz (Tatum) and…

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CRAIG ZADAN AND NEIL MERON RETURN TO PRODUCE THE 2015 OSCARS®

April 21, 2014 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  CRAIG ZADAN AND NEIL MERON RETURN TO PRODUCE THE 2015 OSCARS®   BEVERLY HILLS, CA – Motion picture, television and theater producing team Craig Zadan and Neil Meron will return to produce the Oscars for a third consecutive year, Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs announced today. The 87th Oscars will…

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Fassbinder: Romantic Anarchist Begins At FSLC

  Comprehensive retrospective celebrates the work and influence of Rainer Werner Fassbinder and will include features, television work, films starring Fassbinder, and films influenced by him   One-week exclusive theatrical run of the newly restored print of The Merchant of Four Seasons to coincide with series from May 16-23   New York, NY (April 18,…

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ACADEMY ANNOUNCES KEY DATES FOR OSCAR 2015

  The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the ABC Television Network today announced the dates for the 87th Oscars.  The Academy Awards® presentation will air live on ABC on Oscar® Sunday, February 22, 2015. Key dates for the Awards season are: Saturday, November 8, 2014 The Governors Awards Wednesday, December 3, 2014…

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“BEHAVING BADLY” Acquired by Vertical Entertainment

Nat Wolff/Selena Gomez Comedy set for August 2014 release   Los Angeles, April 9, 2014 – Vertical Entertainment has acquired all U.S. rights to Tim Garrick’s BEHAVING BADLY, starring Nat Wolff (“The Fault in our Stars”) and Selena Gomez along with Mary-Louise Parker, Elisabeth Shue, Dylan McDermott, Jason Lee, Heather Graham, Cary Elwes, Gary Busey, and Patrick Warburton.  The…

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JURIES ANNOUNCED FOR 2014 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL

Jurors Include Toni Collette, Lake Bell, Whoopi Goldberg, Catherine Hardwicke, Heather Graham, Regina Dugan, Anton Yelchin, Shelia Nevins and Paul Wesley New York, NY [April 8, 2014] – The 2014 Tribeca Film Festival (TFF), presented by AT&T, today announced its jurors – a diverse group of 33 industry leaders, including award-winning filmmakers, writers, producers, acclaimed actors, respected…

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MOVIE STUDIOS FILE LAWSUIT AGAINST MEGAUPLOAD AND ITS OPERATORS OVER MASSIVE COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT

Washington, DC – The major U.S. movie studios today filed a lawsuit against Megaupload and its key operators, alleging that the defendants facilitated, encouraged, and profited from massive copyright infringement of movies and television shows before the defendants were indicted on federal criminal charges and Megaupload was shut down. “When Megaupload.com was shut down in…

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RADiUS-TWC, THE DUPLASS BROTHERS AND BLUMHOUSE PRODUCTIONS JOIN FORCES ON ‘CREEP’ TRILOGY AFTER THE FILM’S FEAR-INDUCING SXSW PREMIERE

DISTRIB TO RELEASE ‘CREEP’ WHILE BLUMHOUSE/DUPLASS GO INTO PRODUCTION ON SECOND AND THIRD INSTALLMENTS   (New York, NY) April 7, 2014 – RADiUS-TWC is proud to announce that it has partnered with the Duplass Brothers and Blumhouse Productions on a CREEP trilogy after the film’s highly praised and fear inducing SXSW premiere.  CREEP stars Mark Duplass (SAFETY…

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SONY PICTURES CLASSICS TO RELEASE LAND HO! ON JULY 11

WILL ALSO SCREEN AT THE UPCOMING TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL AND LOS ANGELES FILM FESTIVAL NEW YORK (April 7, 2014) – Sony Pictures Classics announced today that it will release Martha Stephens & Aaron Katz’s LAND HO! on July 11 in New York and Los Angeles, followed by openings nationwide.  Additionally, LAND HO! will screen at…

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DISTRIB FILMS ACQUIRES U.S. RIGHTS TO PHILIPPE GARREL’S JEALOUSY

Distrib Films is a Paris-based company specializing in the theatrical distribution of French art house films and documentaries in the United States.

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WERNER HERZOG FILMS SET FOR EXCLUSIVE SVOD DEBUT ON FANDOR

16 Films To Launch April 10.

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Joe Bel Bruno New Editor Of LATimes’ Company Town

Joe Bel Bruno New Editor Of LATimes’ Company Town

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BONG JOON-HO’S SNOWPIERCER TO OPEN 20TH ANNIVERSARY 2014 LOS ANGELES FILM FESTIVAL

BONG JOON-HO’S SNOWPIERCER TO OPEN 20TH ANNIVERSARY 2014 LOS ANGELES FILM FESTIVAL FILM INDEPENDENT ANNOUNCES NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE OF BONG JOON-HO’S SNOWPIERCER FOR OPENING NIGHT AT 2014 LOS ANGELES FILM FESTIVAL – FESTIVAL TO RUN JUNE 11-19 AT L.A. LIVE – LOS ANGELES (April 1, 2014) – Today the Los Angeles Film Festival, presented by…

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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