Category: International

MUMBAI: Five months after the death of his actress-wife Brittany Murphy, 39 year-old British screenwriter Simon Monjack was found dead in the couple‘s Hollywood house on Sunday night.

It is said that Murphy‘s mother, Sharon, saw Monjack in an unresponsive mode around 9.30 am and called the police. The writer was pronounced dead after the Los Angeles Fire Department was called to the residence for a medical emergency, say authorities.

The cause of death was still unknown and officers were still at the scene investigating late Sunday. Since January, Monjack has been unwell.

Murphy, 32, died in December due to pneumonia, an iron deficiency and multiple drug intoxication. The couple, who married in 2007, had no children.
 

MUMBAI: Yet Shrek Forever After, the latest Shrek film, has topped the North American box-office charts when it roped in $71.3 million in the first three days of its release.

But the film did not perform as well as its two predecessors, Shrek 2 and Shrek the Third, both of which grossed more than $100 million in their respective debut weekends. 

Featuring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy and Cameron Diaz, Yet Shrek Forever After is the first in the series to be screened in 3D.

Its chart-topping debut ended Iron Man 2‘s two-week reign as box-office heavyweight in the US and Canada.

The comic book sequel slipped to the second spot with its third weekend gross of $ 26.6 million taking its overall domestic tally to more than $251.2 million.

MUMBAI: The Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) unveiled its competition lineup on Thursday. Starting from 12 to 30 June the festival, coinciding with the Shanghai Expo is expected to draw its largest-ever audience.

Competing this year for the golden goblet, or Jin Jue Award, are films like the Spanish film ircuit, the Hungarian film Czukor Show and the Cinese film Ocean Heaven that has Jet Li in his first non-martial arts role. 

Hong Kong Chinese director John Woo will lead the SIFF‘s main jury that also has Hong Kong actress Charlie Yeung, director Pema Tseden, an ethnic Tibetan and three unnamed male directors from Britain, China and Japan.

Chongqing Blues, that is being shown at the Cannes is likely to open or close the festival.

Other competitors for the 2010 Asian New Talent Award include Red Dragonflies by Liao Jiekai of Singapore, Crossing the Mountain from China‘s Yang Rui and Goodbye Mom from South Korea‘s Jeong Gi-hoon.
 

MUMBAI: The first edition of The Beverly Hills Film, TV, & New Media Festival (BHFTNMF) will go underway on 21 October. In its inaugural year, BHFTNMF will exhibit a selection of both short and long-form works that will be a mix of the highest standards of creative excellence and technical achievement.

Qualifying projects will be judged by a jury of executives and industry experts and finalists will be reviewed by distributors for possible online, theatrical, or broadcast distribution.

The opening night inaugural party will be held in a private Beverly Hills residence followed by two days of screenings in the heart of the entertainment industry at The Clarity Theater in Beverly Hills.

The management team of the festival that comprises of Dr. Richard Benveniste, Nicole Holland, Donna Spangler and Rebecca Russell has Clinton H. Wallace, Hedi Khorsand, Ira Kurgan (Fox), Marvin Gleicher, Palak Patel (Roth Films), Patricia Saylor, Peter Reynolds, and Ted Unarce as its board members.

The jury comprises Arlene Sidaris, Bob Gros, Brittan Taylor, Dr. John Saylor, Eleanor Moscatel, Gregory Simms, Jessica “Sugar” Kiper, Michael Benveniste, Scott St. James, Tim Van Rellim, Troy Westergaard, and Yasser Hamed.

MUMBAI: Risk of offshore drilling is the topic of Stephen Baldwin‘s latest $1.5 million documentary The Will to Drill.

The focus of the film will be the impact of the current oil spill and its devastating, and almost certainly long-lasting, effects on the people and economy of the US Gulf Coast.

Talking on whether British Petroleum would be taken to task for its role in the accident, Baldwin was of the view that “everyone is to blame for this oil thing, for our over-dependence on it. Not just one company.”

“I want to talk to the world with this film. I want to create the story of the impact that then crescendos into motivating people to be pro-active in their own choices,” adds Baldwin.
For this film, Baldwin has involved his old friend and mentor Paul Cohen, a filmmaker and current director of Florida State University‘s Torchlight Center. Cohen was also associated with The Cove as an associate producer.

On his part, Baldwin has already shot some aerial footage of the devastated areas in south Louisiana. He plans to shoot for two months with mostly local crews and to finish editing by the end of September. The film is expected to premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January next.
 

MUMBAI: The Cannes Film Festival is well-known to be a place where films are sold and acquired. It is here that Sony Pictures Classics has acquired the US distribution rights of Mike Leigh‘s Another Year.

Incidentally, the film has been among the festival‘s most favoured films and has been attracting a lot of praise. Another Year centers on a happily married couple, some troubled friends and the nuanced emotions of aging.

Though details of SPC‘s distribution plans are unavailable, it is being said that the distribution house will have the film lined up for the Oscars next year.

SPC specialises in foreign-produced films and handled last year‘s Oscar winner in the foreign-language category, The Secret in Their Eyes.
 

MUMBAI: The organisers of the Vietnam International Film Festival (VNIFF) have announced that the first edition of the festival will be held in Hanoi from 17 to 21 October this year.

At a news conference in Cannes, the organisers asked the press to help them zero in on five to seven French films for a special section in the 60-film programme in which films from Vietnamese filmmakers will also be screened.

The festival that will showcase the old spirit of Vietnam and the development of the country will include short films, documentaries and narrative features along with Vietnamese features with English subtitles and some of the most important local films. 

The VNIFF will have Technicolor sponsoring a $25,000 Asia Award for post-production on the best Vietnamese film. A $10,000 UniFrance & K+ award will also be presented to the best French film selected by the Vietnamese spectators.

Hanoi‘s Opera House will host the festival screenings and its National Convention Center will be used for the opening and closing ceremonies.

While the deadline for the submissions of the festival has been fixed for 8 August, the lineup of films to be screened at the festival would be revealed in early September.
 

MUMBAI: Adrien Brody is set to be part of Woody Allen-directed romantic comedy Midnight in Paris along with Owen Wilson, Marion Cotillard, Rachel McAdams, Kathy Bates and Michael Sheen and the first lady of France, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
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Brody will co-star with Wilson after The Darjeeling Limited and Fantastic Mr Fox.

The film, that will go on the floors in Paris this summer, is a story about a family traveling for business to the City of Lights. The party includes a young engaged couple which is forced to confront the illusion that a life different from their own is better.

Midnight in Paris is being produced by Letty Aronson, Steve Tenenbaum and Jaume Roures.
 

MUMBAI: Lionsgate is soon nearing an agreement with Carl Icahn that includes giving the corporate a boardroom representation. Icahn may agree to withdraw his $7 per-share hostile tender offer in return for a board seat at the mini-studio.

Lionsgate‘s current management has so far been successful in denying Icahn in putting up his own representatives in the company‘s boardroom.

Given its disclosure requirements as a public company, Lionsgate would be required to disclose details of any specific settlement proposal with Icahn, which the company has yet to do.

Asked for details of the soon to be reached agreement Lionsgate vice chairman Michael Burns said only that his company did not publicly reveal details about conversations with major stockholders.

Representatives at the Icahn Group, which holds a near-19% stake in Lionsgate, were not available for comment at press time.

MUMBAI: Swarovski Entertainment and Adlabs founder-turned-producer Manmohan Shetty are funding Shekhar Kapur‘s Paani (Water) to the tune of $30 million (around Rs 1.4 billion).

Paani (Water) is a love story set in a mega city in a future where precious H2O has all but run out and corporations go to war over its control. The city is divided into two conflicting halves, in which the upper city hoards all the water and drip feeds the slums of the lower city. A girl from the upper tier meets a water rat boy and falls in love against this backdrop.

One of the key drivers behind the project is an aim to bring the growing global issue of a world without clean, drinking water and the threat to humanity it reps to the top of the global political agenda.

The project has been in Kapur’s mind since ten years which was liked by many to whom he had related. Danny Boyle and Shetty‘s both insisted that Kapur make the film and finally managed to convince him.

Kapur plans to shoot in November with additional backing from WalkWater in Singapore, Dubai and on large purpose-built sets being designed by John Myrhe.

Kapur said he plans to make the $30 million budget look like $150 million and will aim to seal a negative pickup studio deal with the aim of ensuring that the finished film is seen by as many people as possible.