Category: International

MUMBAI: Christopher Nolan, who gave us films like Inception and Batman Begins will be honoured at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBFF) when he will receive the Modern Master Award to be held in California next year. The Santa Barbara film festival will celebrate its 26th annual event next year.

The SBFF is an annual event which honours Hollywood stalwarts by paying respect to their talents every year. The Modern Master Award is the highest honour that a person is conferred with at this annual film festival. 

The organizers of the SBFF make sure that every deserving person from the world of Hollywood cinema, ranging from actors to directors and technicians, is honored at the annual event.

In the previous years too the Santa Barbara International Film Festival has passed on the Modern master Award to popular personalities like Michael Douglas, Jodie Foster, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Diane Keaton, Sean Penn, Jeff Bridges, Peter Jackson, George Clooney, Will Smith, Cate Blanchett, Clint Eastwood, and James Cameron.
 

MUMBAI: Veteran Michael Caine is in plans to write a novel after he completes the next Batman film. The-77-year-old Oscar-winner says he is sick of lawyers telling him that he cannot write about certain things in his autobiography and wants freedom as a writer.
 
Caine just released his second autobiography The Elephant to Hollywood, and he has promised his fans that his next book will be a work of fiction. “I love writing so much that once I‘m finished with Batman, I‘m going to write fiction, he said.

Caine, best known for his performances in Alfie, The Italian Job, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Cider House Rules and Batman franchise, has appeared in over hundred Hollywood films. He recently role was in Leonardo DiCapiro starrer Inception.

MUMBAI: Film posters from the tines of Roman Polanski’s Chinatown to Chen Kaige’s Yellow Earth to Jia Zhangke’s The World are on display in the 10-day Movie Art China exhibition starting today in Beijing.

Organized by an art history teacher, Julian Fisher, the exhibition will be open to the public for free. A large number of the posters, such as one from Poland for Yellow Earth depicting a cracked eggshell covered in blood are also on display.

The exhibition, sponsored by Chinese online movie fan site MTime.com and Broadway Cinematheque at MOMA, will also feature talks about the history of the Chinese film industry and the future of 3D in China.b

MUMBAI: Vanessa Hudgens is most likely to play the female lead in Journey 2: The Mysterious Island the sequel to Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D. The script of the film is losely based on Jules Verne‘s The Mysterious Island.

The film in which Josh Hutcherson is reprising his role as burgeoning explorer Sean Anderson will be directed by Brad Peyton. Dwayne Johnson will also be part of the film being produced by Beau Flynn and Tripp Vinson of Contrafilm.

 The story has Hutcherson and Johnson forced to go a trip to a mythical and monstrous island to find his missing grandfather. Hudgens plays a Pacific Islander who gets swept into the adventure and end up falling for Hutcherson.

The film is scheduled to roll in late October in North Carolina and Hawaii.

MUMBAI: Chinese film The Matrimony will have its North American premiere when it features as the closing night feature at the International Horror Film Festival (Spooky Movie Film Festival), Washington, D.C. on 25 October.

A thrilling film that has an amalgamation of romance and horror The Matrimony stars Hong Kong top singer Leon Lai, Taiwanese actress Rene Liu and mainland Chinese beauty Fan Bingbing.

The third feature film by new generation director Teng Huatao, The Matrimony unfolds an eerie love story set in 1930s Shanghai. Rich young man Junchu (Leon Lai) cannot pluck up his courage to propose to his broadcaster girlfriend Manli (Fan Bingbing), who dies in a traffic accident before becoming his wife. In deep regret, Junchu locks himself up in his creepy old mansion.

His mother marries him to a young woman Sansan (Rene Liu), hoping to alleviate his grief but with little success. To their surprise, Manli‘s ghost still lingers in the house and even possesses Sansan‘s body in order to have a taste of finally being Junchu‘s wife. This is now the third year that Spooky Movie has closed the festival with an “Extreme Asia” premiere.

In addition to The Matrimony, the horror fest will screen ten new features including Herschell Gordon Lewis‘ The Uh-Oh Show!, the terrifying Dark Souls, Oz-ploitation, ElL Monstro Del Mar!, The Echo Game, Stephen King‘s Everything‘s Eventual, the documentary on the career of Count Gore De Vol, Every Other Day Is Halloween, double features Colin and Broken Springs and Tucker & Dale vs. Evil.

In addition to the 11 features, 31 outstanding and diverse international shorts from nine countries will also screen. Horror, comedies, suspense, science-fiction, ghosts, experimental, vampires, animation, creepy kids, musicals, werewolves, maniacs and even a zombie western will accompany the feature films for each block, giving the lucky Spooky Movie patrons a fuller festival experience.

The Spooky Movie Film Festival runs from 21 to 25 October.

MUMBAI: Neil Patrick Harris, known for his film How I Met Your Mother is in plans to direct his debut feature, a romantic comedy Aaron and Sarah. Emma Roberts and Josh Hutcherson will feature in the film as its leads.

Written by Chad Gomez Creasey and Dara Resnik Creasey, the film follows a geeky guy and a popular girl who become friends as freshmen in high school and see their relationship deepen through the four years, four proms and one funeral before graduation. 

Originally titled B.F.F., the film was earlier purchased by Rogue Pictures several years ago before Fox 2000 picked it up.

The film is being produced by Sandy Stern for Single Cell Pictures along with Beau Bauman and Jesse Israel.
 

MUMBAI: The American Film Institute wll honour Morgan Freeman with its AFI Life Achievement Award. The award will be presented to Freeman at a gala tribute on 9 June next year in Los Angeles and will be broadcast on TV Land PRIME later that month.

A five-time Academy Award nominee, Freeman last won the Oscar for best supporting actor in 2005 for his role in Million Dollar Baby.

Said Howard Stringer, chair of the AFI board of Trustees, “Morgan Freeman is an American treasure”. Across decades, whether playing a prisoner, a president or God, he embodies a calm authority that demands respect for the character and for the art form. His gifts to the cultural record are also underscored by his unmistakable voice that echoes through the hearts and minds of movie lovers around the world.”

Freeman is only the second black actor to receive the honor, the first being Sidney Poitier in 1992.

Freeman‘s credits include Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption, Batman Begins and its sequel The Dark Knight.

He next action film Red is set to release this Friday.

MUMBAI: David O. Russell will write and direct Columbia Pictures‘ Uncharted: Drake‘s Fortune, an action-adventure-based upon the bestselling PlayStation 3 game. The film will be produced by Avi Arad, Charles Roven, Ari Arad and Alex Gartner.

The story follows the adventures of treasure hunter Nathan Drake. The game, developed by the team at Naughty Dog, was one of Sony Computer Entertainment‘s best-selling and most critically acclaimed games for the PS3. 

Said Columbia Pictures president Matt Tolmach, “David is a tremendous choice to take on this film. He‘s equally adept at combining all the classic elements involved in this property: great character development, strong comedy, and amazing action sequences. He has a brilliant vision for this material and we know he will bring his original, unique voice to this adaptation.”

Named IGN‘s Best Action Game and Best PS3 Game, Uncharted: Drake‘s Fortune sold one million copies in the first 10 weeks of its release when it released at the end of 2007 on its way to moving more than 2.6 (confirm) million copies.

The huge popularity warranted a sequel. The sequel, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, was a major commercial and critical success having won ‘ Game of the Year‘ honors from several influential critics. It sold more than 3.8 million copies worldwide.

Both games are among the all-time best-selling games for the platform.
 

MUMBAI: Warner Bros has cancelled its earlier plans of 3D conversion of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 because it says that the process would have delayed the film‘s release. The film will now release in standard 2D format on 19 November.

The studio said it could not complete the 3D conversion in time for its UK and US release date. 

“Despite everyone‘s best efforts, we were unable to convert the film in its entirety and meet the highest standards of quality. We do not want to disappoint fans who have long-anticipated the conclusion of this extraordinary journey,” the studio said in a statement.

“We, in alignment with our filmmakers, believe this is the best course to take in order to ensure that our audiences enjoy the consummate Harry Potter experience,” the statement added.

The studio apparently does not want to rush the 3D experience that could have backfired by upsetting loyal fans not willing to shell out extra for the sake of technology.
 

MUMBAI: Samoa, the Pacific Island is to get its first full-length feature film The Orator (O Le Tulafale), thanks to the hard work of its filmmaker Tauti Tusi Tamasese and a group of New Zealanders. The film, financed by the New Zealand Film Commission happens to be the first feature to be entirely shot in Samoa, in the Samoan language, with a Samoan cast and story.

Tamasese previously made a short film titled Sacred Spaces (Va Tapuia) set in a cyclone- ravaged Samoan village.

Said Samoa‘s deputy prime minister Misa Telefoni, “The film a beautiful and poignant love story that will provide a moving tribute to the magnificent splendor of Samoa and our people.”

Produced by Catherine Fitzgerald with associate producers like Maiava Nathaniel Lees and Michael Eldred, the film is the story of Saili, a small man with a big heart, who must find the strength to speak up for those that he loves.

The film, that will star newcomers Fiaula Sanote as Saili and Tausili Pushparaj as his wife Vaaiga will be shot by New Zealand-based cinematographer Leon Narbey.

While Australia‘s Transmission Films will distribute the film in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific, NZ Film, the sales arm of the New Zealand Film Corporation will handle the world sales of the film.

The film will start rolling on 27 October.