Press Releases Archive for May, 2017

True/False And Catapult Set 2017 “Rough Cut Retreat”

[PR]  (Columbia, Missouri/San Francisco) – Catapult Film Fund and the True/False Film Fest are presenting the second year of the Rough Cut Retreat, a four-day workshop that unites filmmakers and mentors in a creative and engaged atmosphere. Rough Cut Retreat was borne out of Catapult’s and T/F’s shared mission of supporting work whose content and…

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IFC FILMS ACQUIRES U.S. RIGHTS TO LARS VON TRIER’S “THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT”

[PR] CANNES, FRANCE (May 25, 2017) – IFC Films announced today that they are acquiring U.S. rights to Lars Von Trier’s THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT.  The film stars Matt Dillon, Bruno Ganz, Uma Thurman, Riley Keough and Siobhan Fallon Hogan.  THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT is produced by Louise Vesth for Zentropa Group in co-production…

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Sony Classics Goes Whistleblowing With Watergate-Deep Throat Drama

[PR] SONY PICTURES CLASSICS ACQUIRES “THE SILENT MAN” STARRING LIAM NEESON AND DIANE LANE WATERGATE WHISTLEBLOWER DRAMA TAKES ON RENEWED RELEVANCE AMIDST CURRENT WHITE HOUSE INVESTIGATION  Sony Pictures Classics has acquired the North American rights to The Silent Man, the film based on the life of Mark Felt, the secret high-ranking FBI informant during the Watergate scandal…

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Annapurna Partners With Distribs In Japan, France, Italy

ANNAPURNA EXPANDS INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION WITH LONGRIDE, MARS, AND EAGLE/LEONE PARTNERSHIPS  Los Angeles, CA (May 24, 2017) – Continuing to grow its global reach, Annapurna has inked three new multi-year international distribution deals with Longride, Mars Distribution, and Eagle Pictures and Leone Film Group in select territories, it was announced today. Longride and Mars will be…

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Universal Dubs Series Of Monster IP Remakes The “Dark Universe”; New Danny Elfman Musical Theme For All

[PR] UNIVERSAL PICTURES UNVEILS “DARK UNIVERSE” WITH  NAME, MARK AND MUSICAL THEME FOR ITS CLASSIC MONSTERS SERIES OF FILMS Brand Logo to Debut in Theaters on The Mummy with All-New Musical Theme Composed by Four-Time Academy Award Nominee Danny Elfman Oscar Winner Bill Condon as Director of Bride of Frankenstein, the Next Dark Universe Film, to be Released in…

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Annapurna And eOne Partner For Distribution

ANNAPURNA PICTURES AND ENTERTAINMENT ONE INK MULTIYEAR DISTRIBUTION PARTNERSHIP  Kathryn Bigelow’s DETROIT set as first film under the new agreement  Los Angeles, CA (May 22, 2017) – Annapurna Pictures and Entertainment One (eOne) today announced a new distribution partnership.  The multi-year deal will begin this summer with Kathryn Bigelow’s DETROIT. The film, Annapurna’s inaugural release under…

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Julian Schnabel To Paint His Van Gogh

[PR] Rocket Science announced today that Golden Globe Winner® Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Before Night Falls) will direct At Eternity’s Gate, which will star Academy Award Nominee® Willem Dafoe (Spider-Man, John Wick) as Vincent van Gogh.  Based on a screenplay by Schnabel and Jean-Claude Carrière, the story focuses on the time…

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ANNAPURNA TO PRODUCE AND DISTRIBUTE JACQUES AUDIARD’S “THE SISTERS BROTHERS”

  Los Angeles, CA (May 19, 2017) – Annapurna will co-produce and co-finance award-winning filmmaker Jacques Audiard’s THE SISTERS BROTHERS, it was announced today. The company also holds the domestic distribution rights for the film. Why Not Productions will co-produce and co-finance the film alongside Annapurna with Page 114 also on board as producers. John…

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TIGER SHROFF TO STAR IN THE OFFICIAL INDIAN REMAKE OF RAMBO, DIRECTED BY SIDDHARTH ANAND

TIGER SHROFF TO STAR IN THE OFFICIAL INDIAN REMAKE OF RAMBO, DIRECTED BY SIDDHARTH ANAND CANNES (May 18, 2017) –– India/Bollywood’s rising action star Tiger Shroff (Baaghi, Heropanti) will star in the official Indian remake of Rambo, to be directed by Siddharth Anand (Bang Bang). M! Capital Ventures, Original Entertainment, Impact Films and Siddharth Anand…

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SONY PICTURES CLASSICS ACQUIRES STANLEY TUCCI’S FINAL PORTRAIT

NEW YORK (May 17, 2017) – Sony Pictures Classics announced today that they have acquired all rights in North America to Stanley Tucci’s FINAL PORTRAIT from Riverstone Pictures. The film had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival out of competition in a gala screening. Written and directed by Tucci, FINAL PORTRAIT stars Geoffrey…

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SPC Takes Zvyagintsev’s “Loveless”

Sony Pictures Classics announced today that they have acquired all rights in North America and Latin America to Andrey Zvyagintsev’s LOVELESS.  The Russian language film will premiere In Competition at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival on Thursday, May 18. Sony Pictures Classics and Zvyagintsev previously worked together on LEVIATHAN, winner of Best Screenplay at the…

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Poitras-Co-Produced Chelsea Manning Doc Launches In Cannes

ON THE DAY OF CHELSEA MANNING’S HISTORIC RELEASE FROM PRISON PULSE FILMS, IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE BRITISH FILM INSTITUTE AND FIRST LOOK MEDIA, ANNOUNCE “XY CHELSEA” THE DOCUMENTARY FOLLOWING HER EXTRAORDINARY STORY MANNING HAS GRANTED FILMMAKERS UNPRECEDENTED ACCESS LED BY DIRECTOR TIM TRAVERS HAWKINS AND EXECUTIVE PRODUCER & ACADEMY AWARD®-WINNER LAURA POITRAS SUBMARINE WILL LAUNCH…

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Academy Grants 2018 True/False Neither/Nor

TRUE/FALSE RECEIVES FUNDING FROM ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURE ARTS AND SCIENCES FOR NEITHER/NOR 2018 Columbia, MO –  The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has awarded True/False $10,000 for the continuation of its Neither/Nor Series. Neither/Nor is repertory film series in which True/False turns over the programming reins to a visiting critic. Now entering…

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Annapurna Production Deal To Pastel, Barry Jenkins And Adele Romanski’s Co

BARRY JENKINS AND ADELE ROMANSKI’S PASTEL JOINS ANNAPURNA WITH NEW PRODUCTION DEAL Los Angeles, CA (May 16, 2017) – Annapurna has partnered with PASTEL, the Academy Award®-winning production company behind MOONLIGHT. The two-year film production deal includes a feature project to be directed by Barry Jenkins in development at PASTEL, as well as future films…

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Nominees for 18th Annual Golden Trailer Awards Named

The Golden Trailer Awards, the entertainment industry’s most anticipated and fun-filled celebration devoted to the year’s most outstanding achievements in motion picture and television marketing, announced today the nominees in the 18th annual competition that has emerged as one of the most  recognized events acknowledging the work of film marketers and companies that create movie…

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Chicago Int’l Film Fest Names Mimi Plauché Artistic Director; Founder Michael Kutza Now President-CEO

[PR] Cinema/Chicago, the parent organization of the Chicago International Film Festival, announced the promotion of two long-time employees.  Mimi Plauché has been named Artistic Director of the Chicago International Film Festival and Cinema/Chicago, effective immediately. Michael Kutza, who founded the Festival in 1964 and has since served as Artistic Director, will continue to serve as…

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CAMSING Int’l Acquires Stan Lee’s POW! Entertainment

Deal Marks Camsing’s Foray into the Entertainment Space, Acquiring Famed IP for Production & Distribution Across Multiple Platforms LOS ANGELES  — CAMSING International Holding (HK Listed Code: 2662), one of China’s leading brand licensing, merchandising, and sports and entertainment marketing companies has acquired POW! Entertainment, the media and entertainment company founded by legendary comic creator…

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Film Society Of Lincoln Center Now Says “Film Lives Everywhere”

THE FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER DEBUTS FILM LIVES EVERYWHERE, A NEW INITIATIVE IN SUPPORT OF THE GLOBAL FILM COMMUNITY   Participants include Ava DuVernay, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Olivier Assayas, Agnès Varda, Guy Maddin, and more “I don’t want to be a filmmaker making movies in a scary and dangerous world. I want to be a…

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Lakeshore Ent Reups Financing, $250 Million For Another 5 Years

[PR] LAKESHORE ENTERTAINMENT REUPS FINANCING  JPMORGAN, VINE, AND ALL EXISTING CAPITAL PARTNERS RECOMMIT TO OVER $250 MILLION FOR ANOTHER 5 YEARS. LOS ANGELES, CA – Lakeshore Entertainment Group announced today that it has closed the fourth iteration of its revolving credit facility since the company began in 1994.  JPMorgan again led the deal as Sole Bookrunner…

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Annapurna Partners With Pitt-Gardner-Klein Plan B Entertainment

[PR] PLAN B PARTNERS WITH ANNAPURNA: Adam McKay’s untitled Dick Cheney project will be the companies’ first collaboration under the new deal Los Angeles, CA (May 4, 2017) – Plan B Entertainment, the Academy Award-winning production company behind the most recent Best Picture-winner MOONLIGHT, has signed a three-year production deal with Annapurna. Annapurna will handle marketing…

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Press Releases

Quote Unquotesee all »

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