Downfall director Oliver Hirschbiegel who has made two high profile movies set during the Hitler years is now hatching plans for a new film that will unfold during the First World War.
The German filmmaker’s latest feature 13 Minutes portrayed the life of a small town carpenter Georg Elser who failed to assasisin Hitler.The Oscar-nominated Downfall was set at the end of the Second World War, depicted the final ten days of Adolf Hitler’s reign over Nazi Germany in 1945. Now, Hirschbiegel wants to turn his attention toward the first World War of 1914-18.
“It is very much in the wake of Jean Renoir and of (Stanley) Kubrick,” the German director told an international film Magazine of the project, which is at a very early stage.
Two of its points of reference are Renoir’s La Grande Illusion (1937), the First World War classic about three French prisoners in German captivity, and Kubrick’s anti-war movie, Paths Of Glory (1957).
“For the first time, it would give me the chance to direct in French, which I have always wanted, even though my French is appalling, but I grew up with French films. They were probably the most important factor in my becoming a filmmaker,” Hirschbiegel commented of the film, which will dramatise the Battle Of Marne.
Cold War miniseries
Hirschbiegel will be going into production on August 24 on new miniseries The Same Sky (formerly known as Back To Back).
The Cold War drama is scripted by Paula Milne (The Virgin Queen) and produced by German outfits Beta and UFA Fiction as well as the UK’s Rainmark Films.
The series is set in east and west Berlin during 1973. Tom Schilling has come on board to play the lead, a young Stasi agent sent over to west Berlin to seduce an English woman.The English lead will be announced shortly.
Hirshcbiegel was speaking in London following the UK premiere of 13 Minutes last month at Edinburgh International Film Festival.
13 Minutes is set to be released in the UK on July 17 by StudioCanal.
The 68th edition of the much reputed Locarno Film Festival is scheduled from August 5th – 15th, 2015. The recent news from the corner is regarding the details of two world premieres which will be screened in the International Competition section of the festival.
The World Premieres of ‘Right Now, Wrong Then’ directed by South Korean filmmaker Hong Sangsoo and ‘Cosmos’ filmed by Andrzej Zulawski will be conducted at this reputed platform.
Sangsoo is not a new name at Locarno Film Festival. He has previously won the ‘Pardo’ award in 2013 for ‘U ri Sunhi’. He was also a jury member in the judging panel of 2009 festival. Sangsoo is often referred as the ‘Korean Woody Allen’, and the film festival organizers are reportedly happy to have his movie’s world premiere in Locarno.
‘Cosmos‘ directed by Andrzej Zuwalski is the direct film adaptation of a nivel writtten by Polish author Witold Gombrowic. The movie will showcase the life of two young men who wish to taste the solitude of their country. But things started going out of their hands due to some random occurrences.
Zuwalski also has a bright legacy at the Locarno Film Festival. He was the festival’s jury president in 1981, and in the same year, his movie ‘Posession’ was screened in the non competitive section.
US-based FUNimation Entertainment has taken up North, Central and South American rights to upcoming Japanese dark fantasy live- action manga adaptation Attack On Titan from Japanese studio Toho.
The film which has two parts is directed by Shinji Higuchi.’ Attack on Titans’ will receive its world premiere at the Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles on Tuesday, July14. Shinji Higuchi will make a visit to San Diego Comic-on July 12 , two days ahead of the world Premiere.
Haruma Miura and Kiko Mizuhare, the two stars of the film are also expected to attend the world premiere along with the director Shinji Higuchi.
Toho is releasing the two parts of the film on Japan on August 1 and September 19, 2015.
The Attack On Titan manga has sold more than 50 million copies and inspired four spin-off manga, as well as a 25-episode anime series, which FUNimation simulcast and released on home video in North America.
The story follows a world where most of humanity has been destroyed by giant humanoid creatures called Titans and the last of mankind fights to survive behind three concentric walls that were once impenetrable to the giants.
Series creator Hajime Isayama worked directly with the film’s producers to create the live-action adaptation.
“Attack On Titan is truly a worldwide phenomenon and we are excited to bring the live action movie to theatres across the Americas later this fall,” said FUNimation CEO Gen Fukunaga.
The Los Cabos International Film Festival initiative will present five awards at this year’s event, set to run from November 11-15 in Mexico.
A Cabos In Progress jury will select a winner from six Mexican documentary or fiction films at post-production stage in need of financing. The chosen project will receive $10,000.
Meanwhile FOX+ will offer $30,000 for broadcasting rights to one of the films and guarantee airtime on its channels in Latin America and the Caribbean, excluding Brazil.
For the second consecutive year the Chemistry prize will present a $45,000 post-production award.
Under the auspices of the Los Cabos Goes To Cannes Prize, four films from all projects enrolled in the section will take part in the 2016 Marché du Film and show their work to industry attendees.
The Los Cabos International Film Festival will cover transport expenses while the Marché du Film will provide industry accreditation.
For the third consecutive year the Gabriel Figueroa Film Fund Prize will award two projects $52,000 each in post-production services provided by Labodigital.
The deadline for feature project submissions is July 31.The picture that accompanies this article is taken from the 2015 edition’s official trailer.
As part of the Cabos Discovery scheme for projects in development from Mexico, the US and Canada, festival brass have partnered with the Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) under the latter’s No Borders international co-production market. One project from Cabos Discovery (Cabos Discovery Meetings and the Gabriel Figueroa Film Fund) will be selected to participate in co-production forums and/or industry meetings held by the Tribeca Film Institute (TFI), Strategic Partners, Cine Link-Sarajevo Film Festival and IFP. One project from each of IFP, TFI, Strategic Partners and the Sarajevo Film Festival will take part in the Cabos Discovery Meetings.
For the first time in the festival’s four-year history the International Federation Of Film Critics will present a FIPRESCI prize. A three-member jury will select the best film from the México Primero official selection for first-time and second-time filmmakers. Festival director Alonso Aguilar-Castillo said the involvement of the critics group bolstered Los Cabos’ goal of becoming “the most influential platform for international take-off [of] Mexican cinema.”
The Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature Film goes to Andrew Haigh’s 45 Years.The Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature Film at the 69th Edinburgh International Film Festival has gone to Andrew Haigh’s 45 Years, which received its UK premiere at the festival.The film follows an eldery married couple (Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay) in the five days leading up to their forty-fifth wedding anniversary. After the body of the husband’s first love is discovered, frozen and preserved in the icy glaciers of the Swiss Alps, their relationship becomes strained.
The award for Best Performance in a British Feature Film was shared between James Cosmo for his performance in The Pyramid Texts and Charlotte Rampling for her performance in 45 Years.The Michael Powell Jury, which also awarded the main acting prize, was chaired by LA Times film critic Kenneth Turan.
The award for Best International Feature Film went to Marielle Heller’s The Diary of A Teenage Girl (USA), which received its UK Premiere at EIFF, while Special Mentions in the category were given to Kyle Patrick Alvarez’s The Stanford Prison Experiment and J. Davis’ Manson Family Vacation.
Best Documentary Feature Film prize was awarded to Crystal Moselle’s The Wolfpack (USA).
Scrapbook, directed by Mike Hoolboom, won The Award for Best Short Film and Special Mentions went to Juliana Bao’s performance in Maruani Landa’s Cipriani and Ahmet Simsek’s performance in Jannis Lenz’s Shadowboxer.
Voted for by the audience, The McLaren Award for Best New British Animation, supported by the British Council, went to Stems by director Ainslie Henderson.
The Student Critics Jury Award went to Black Mountain Poets, directed by Jamie Adams.
The EIFF Audience Award, voted for by the public, will be announced at Sunday’s Closing Gala, which concludes the 12-day festival with the world premiere of Scott Graham’s Iona.
The Michael Powell Jury said of 45 Years: “We’re delighted to present the Michael Powell Award for best British feature. This year it goes to a quietly explosive film which represents classic filmmaking at its best. This is a measured yet provocative film, a masterclass in understated acting that was the unanimous choice of the jury.”
Director Haigh added: “This is a real honour and made even more special when you consider the list of British films that have won before. All you can hope for when you make a film is that it resonates with people and that is why receiving an award such as this feels so fantastic.”
Full list of winners:
Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature Film: 45 Years (Andrew Haigh)
Best Performance in a British Feature Film: James Cosmo (The Pyramid Texts) and Charlotte Rampling (45 Years)
Best International Feature Film: The Diary of a Teenage Girl (Marielle Heller)
Best Documentary Feature Film Award: The Wolfpack (Crystal Moselle)
The McLaren Award for New British Animation: Stems (Ainslie Henderson)
Student Critics Jury Award: Black Mountain Poets (Jamie Adams)
Best Short Film: Scrapbook (Mike Hoolboom)
The Japanese film and television star makes his English-language debut in Lava Bear Films’ supernatural thriller, currently in production in Japan.Good Universe continues international sales on the project. Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions previously acquired rights in multiple territories including Australia, Spain, Eastern Europe and all of Asia excluding Japan.
Natalie Dormer, Taylor Kinney and Eoin Macken star in the film about a woman that goes in search of her missing sister in the notorious suicide site of Aokigahara Forest at the base of Mt Fuji.Ozawa will portray the forest guide Michi. His credits include the NHK historical drama Tokugawa Yoshinobu, The Pig’s Retribution, April Fools, The Hot Road and The Brain Man.
Jason Zada directs from an original idea by David S Goyer. Sarah Cornwell and Nick Antosca wrote the screenplay and Tory Metzger and David Linde of Lava Bear produce with Goyer via his Phantom Four.
Len Blavatnik, Aviv Giladi and Lawrence Bender serve as executive producers for co-financiers AI Film. Gramercy Pictures has scheduled a January 8, 2016 nationwide US release.
China’s Alibaba Pictures is making its first move into Hollywood, partnering with Paramount Pictures on Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation.
The film arm of the ecommerce giant is making an unspecified investment into the picture and cooperating with Paramount on online ticketing, merchandising and promotion.
Alibaba Pictures said earlier this month that it is raising $1.6bn through a share issue to fund acquisitions and investments.
Mission: Impossible 5 will be promoted through Alibaba’s Taobao Movie ticketing platform, while merchandising will be sold through its ecommerce channels. The last few films in the franchise were big hits in China and Mission: Impossible 3 was partly filmed in the country.
In a statement, Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore said Alibaba founder Jack Ma, Paramount chairman Brad Grey and Alibaba Pictures CEO Zhang Qiang had met in Los Angeles last autumn to discuss ways to cooperate.
“We hope today’s announcement is the first of many collaborations between us,” said Moore. “We are thrilled to be working with them to create a successful campaign for one of our studio’s most popular franchises.”
Alibaba Pictures CEO Zhang Qiang said: “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation is our first step toward internationalisation, and Alibaba Pictures looks forward to collaborating with more international movie studios where we can consolidate resources, technologies and talents to establish a world class integrated entertainment platform for the film industry.”
The film is scheduled for US release on July 31, while the China release date hasn’t been confirmed.
AwesomenessTV is ramping up its film business in the wake of the 2014 social success of Expelled and has brought on the Chapter One Films founder as president of Awesomeness Films.
Kaplan brings Robyn Marshall and Max Siemers with him and will build operations alongside Brian Robbins, the founder and CEO of AwesomenessTV, the online network and content creator in which Dream Works Animation holds a 75% stake and Hearst a 25% stake.Awesomeness Films is lining up a pipeline of 12-15 films for theatrical and digital film distribution and is in production on the recently announced Shovel Buddies.
The company aims to produce and acquire “elevated young adult material” of varying budgets for wide and limited releases and will cast from established and digital talent.The development follows comments by AwesomenessTV chief digital officer Kelly Day at the Stream conference in Santa Monica earlier this month about the company’s desire to explore theatrical avenues and cater to an underserved younger audience.
Robbins echoed those sentiments when he welcome Kaplan and said, “Major Hollywood studios have largely ignored Generation Z. As we demonstrated with Expelled, which premiered in December and immediately shot to No.1 on iTunes, there is an enormous appetite for movies that speak to this audience.”
Kaplan said he was looking forward to championing material that fell beyond the remit of traditional studios and referred to the “formidable power” of digital creators and the “unrivalled ability to connect young adult audiences to feature films like never before.”Kaplan founded Chapter One Films in 2013 and signed a first-look deal with Blumhouse Productions. The company’s feature credits include The Lazarus Effect, Viral and 6 Miranda Drive and Kaplan also produced the Syfy mini-series Ascension.
Prior to Chapter One he served as svp of development and production at Lionsgate. He was also director of digital development at CBS.
Recognitions seem to galore on Sohan Roy’s Oscar contented movie DAM999. The movie, a successful navigator of international film circuits has been selected to open Piton International Film Festival which takes place in Saint Lucia, North America from September 2nd- 6th, this year.
The Piton International Film Festival (PIFF) is a 12-month initiative that focuses on celebrating filmmaking, and seeks to work collaboratively with filmmakers from around the global community. PIFF is unique in that its focus is on education, collaboration, and celebration, instead of competition. Hence, filmmakers will be able to work together to inspire and influence the global community in a positive and uplifting manner.
With immense praise and appreciations pouring in from various film circuits DAM999 has no doubt, made a special place in the hearts of people across the world. The science fiction disaster film is based on the award winning short documentary ‘Dams The Lethal Water Bombs’ and the Banquio dam disaster of 1975 that claimed the lives of 250,000 people in china and anticipated calamity for outdated dams in the world.
‘DAM999’ in recent times have headed to many film festivals and garnered huge accolades worldwide. It’s array of awards and appreciations includes 5 Oscar selections in 3 categories (original score, original song and best picture), the only official selection from India at the Golden Rooster Award, Award of excellence for the Motion Picture Sound Track and Award of Merit for Original Score by Global Music Awards 2012 , Best International Feature Film, Special Jury Award, Best Movie of the Festival at International Film Festival for Environment, Health, and Culture 2013, declared Best English Film at Sangli Film Festival and adjudged as ‘Judges Favorite’ at International Film Festival – Antigua Barbuda.
Apart from these, ‘DAM 999’ has also been selected for screening at various global film festivals such as Tehran Film Festival, 10th Anuual Salento Film Festival, Jaipur International Film Festival, Kuala Lumpur Eco Film Festival, Malaysia, Chain NYC Film Festival, USA, Louisville’s International Festival of Film, USA and Trinity International Film Festival, USA.
Pierre Jolivet’s France-Belgium co-production The Night Watchman won best feature in the Golden Goblet competition of this year’s Shanghai International Film Festival (June 13-21), while Cao Baoping’s The Dead End won best director and actor.
The acting prize for The Dead End was split between Deng Chao, Duan Yihong and Guo Tao. The Jury Grand Prix went to Polish filmmaker Jacek Lusinski’s Carte Blanche, while best actress went to Krista Kosonen in Antti Jokinen’ Finland-Lithuania co-production The Midwife (see full list of winners below)
Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev headed the Golden Goblet jury, which also included Chinese director Cai Shangjun, Chinese actress Hao Lei, French filmmaker Philippe Muyl, Hong Kong producer Nansun Shi and US producer Ron Yerxa.
Last Thursday, Iranian filmmaker Hooman Seyedi’s 13 won best film and cinematography at the Asian New Talent Awards. Best director went to Japan’s Momoko Ando for 0.5mm, while best actress went to Tibet’s Yangchen Lhamo for River. Best actor went to Taiwan’s Sean Huang for (Sex) Appeal.
The festival, which had a special focus on “Asia, China and New Talent” this year, screened 391 films 1,275 times in 45 movie theaters across Shanghai, reaching an audience of more than 300,000. Ticket sales reached $2.9m (RMB18m).
SIFF 2015 GOLDEN GOBLET WINNERS:
Award for Best Feature Film – The Night Watchman (France/Belgium), directed by Pierre Jolivet
Jury Grand Prix – Carte Blanche (Poland), directed by Jacek Lusinski
Award for Best Director – Cao Baoping for The Dead End (China)
Award for Best Actor – Deng Chao, Duan Yihong and Guo Tao for The Dead End (China)
Award for Best Actress – Krista Kosonen in The Midwife (Finland/Lithuania), directed by Antti Jokinen
Award for Best Screenplay – Patrick Tobin for Cake (US), directed by Daniel Barnz
Award for Best Cinematography – Vladislav Opeliyants for Sunstroke (Russia), directed by Nikita Mikhalkov
Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement – The Shameless (Korea), directed by Oh Seung-uk
Award for Best Animated Film – Song Of The Sea (Ireland/Belgium/Denmark/France/Luxembourg), directed by Tomm Moore
Award for Best Documentary Film – The Verse Of Us (China) directed by Wu Feiyue and Qin Xiaoyu