Category: International

MUMBAI: After 11 days and 10 starry nights, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival came to an end. During the course, the festival‘s jury announced films in a variety of categories and awards were handed out.

Top honors went to Exam directed by Stuart Hazeldine. The film received the Panavision Spirit Award for Independent Cinema. The film made its US premiere at the festival with Hazeldine, a native of England, receiving a camera package worth $60,000.

The film focuses on eight candidates for a job at a mysterious corporation who have reached the final stage of selection. In a windowless room, each candidate is faced with a simple question, three rules and a limited amount of time to decide how far they will go to secure their dream job.

“We are absolutely thrilled that the first film festival in America that we‘ve come to has embraced our film,” said an excited Hazeldine.

Festival organizers also handed out the Best International Film Award honouring Letters to Father Jaakob, a film from Finland directed by Klaus Haro. The story traces the life of a female prisoner who receives a pardon for her life sentence.
Another film that received plenty of recognition throughout the festival was Enemies of the People, a film directed by Rob Lemkin that delves into the events surrounding the killing fields of Cambodia, when the Khmer Rouge killed nearly 2 million people in the 1970s.

The film received the Best Documentary Award that includes a Blu-Ray authoring package valued at $15,000 as well as the Fund for Santa Barbara Social Justice Award that includes a $2,500 prize.

Other films that received honours during the award ceremony include The Wind Journeys, Mother, Katalin Varga, Ana‘s Playground and Urs.

The festival drew to an end on Sunday with the world premiere screening of Middle Men starring Giovanni Ribisi, Luke Wilson, James Caan, Kelsey Grammer and Kevin Pollack.
 

MUMBAI: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has launched its first Academy Awards application, the Oscars App, free for iPhone and IPod Touch users.

Designed by the Los Angeles-based Omelet, the application offers users a nominees list for each of the 24 Oscar categories, trailers for the 10 best picture-nominated films and the ability to predict winners in each of the categories.
Users‘ predictions will be saved to a database that can be shared via social networks such as Facebook and Twitter as well as by email and SMS text.

Said Academy‘s director of marketing Janet Weiss, “We want to connect with movie lovers wherever they are.”
 

MUMBAI: Nine Korean films including The Actresses by E J-yong have been invited to the Berlin International Film Festival, though none of these will participate in the official competition.

The Actresses was invited to the Panorama section and Hong Ji-young‘s The Naked Kitchen to the Culinary Cinema section. Dooman River by Korean-Chinese director Zhang Lu and A Brand New Life by Korean-born French filmmaker Ounie Lecomte will feature in the Generation 14Plus section.

The films to screen in the Forum section are Our Fantastic 21st Century by Ryu Hyung-ki of the Korean Academy of Film Arts, I‘m In Trouble by So Sang-min, and the documentary Sona, the Other Myself by Yang Yong-hi.

The short films Math Test by Jung Yu-mi and A Perm by Lee Ran-hee have been invited to the Berlinale shorts competition.

MUMBAI: Breaking away from tradition, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences plans to attach the winners‘ engraved nameplates to their statuettes at the Governors Ball immediately after the ceremony that will be broadcast live by ABC on 7 March from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood.

The Academy hands out unmarked Oscars to the winners onstage. Previously, winners had to bring their trophies to the Academy so the personalised nameplates could be attached.
This year, R.S. Owens, the company that manufactures the Oscar statuettes, will create 197 nameplates in advance, factoring in all the potential winners. Each engraving will include name, category, film title and year.

At the ball, that takes place at the Hollywood and Highland Centre next door to the Kodak Theatre, winners will be invited into a specially designed area, where technicians will affix the nameplates to each Oscar.

The unused nameplates will be recycled. “An Oscar statuette just isn‘t complete until a nameplate is attached,” Academy president Tom Sherak said, adding, “The Governors Ball is the perfect place for Oscar winners to add that final touch as they celebrate their accomplishment and the year‘s movies.”
 

MUMBAI: Director Doug Liman and screenwriter Geoffrey Fletcher have come together to re-create the 1971 Attica state prison uprising.

The four-day confrontation between prisoners and guards — described as a riot by some, a rebellion by others — inspired Al Pacino‘s famous chant of Attica! Attica!” in Dog Day Afternoon.

Liman brings a personal connection to the independently financed project, since his late father, Arthur Liman, served as chief counsel to the New York State Special Commission on Attica Prison.

In a recent blog posting, Limon described visiting the prison with Fletcher, an Oscar nominee for his Precious screenplay. He wrote, “The tour was astounding. We followed the steps the prisoners took as they overwhelmed the guards; saw the radiators they ripped off the walls and the gates they smashed open with them. We left with so many stories and names and contacts of people who were there to continue our research.”

Liman, director of The Bourne Ultimatum and The Bourne Identity has earlier directed Fair Game starring Sean Penn and Naomi Watts as Joseph Wilson and Valerie Plame, which will be released this year.
 

MUMBAI: Scott Kosar has been assigned to write the screenplay for Summit Entertainment‘s Vlad.

The original script written by actor Charlie Hunnam takes an action-oriented look at Dracula, or Vlad the Impaler, as a young prince.

Music video director and photographer Anthony Mandler will direct the project.

While Brad Pitt and Dede Gardner are producing the film, Summit president of production Erik Feig and vice president production Meredith Milton are overseeing the project.

It may be noted that Kosar is well-versed in storytelling. He wrote the script for the 2003 Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake, the 2005 Amityville Horror remake and The Machinist. He also co-wrote the screenplay for the remake of George A. Romero‘s The Crazies, which Overture will release on 26 February.
 

MUMBAI: Fox International Productions (FIP) is into development of a Japanese-language version of An Affair to Remember.

The script is being written by Hiroshi Saito who has earlier penned some recent successful Japanese films like April Bride that grossed $32 million and 252: Signal of Life that amassed $19 million.

Yukie Kito who had earlier produced Tokyo Sonata will produce the film. 

The original 1957 English-language version, starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, followed a couple who fall in love and agree to meet six months later at the Empire State Building. Pic also served as the inspiration for the Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan starrer Sleepless in Seattle.

Asia has featured prominently in the Fox lineup thanks to the movie production, distribution and marketing pact inked with Star to form a joint venture called Fox Star Studios in September 2008.

In January, FIP assigned Korean Director Na Hong-jin‘s new feature The Murderer along with Korean mini-major Showbox.

The move marked the first time that Fox has invested in a Korean project and the first time a US major invested in a Korean project at the script stage.

FIP‘s Shah Rukh Khan starrer My Name Is Khan that received its European premiere in Berlin, also opened over the weekend in India amid much controversy and big box-office.

MUMBAI: Stuart Hazeldine‘s Exam has bagged the Panavision Spirit Award for Independent Cinema at the 25th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Sunday.

Starring Luke Mably and Nathalie Cox, the film is a psychological thriller about eight candidates competing for a job at a mysterious corporation.

The best international film award went to the Finish feature Letters to Father Jacob that was directed by Klaus Haro. Ciro Guerra‘s The Wind Journeys took the Nueva Vision Award for best Spanish/Latin American film. The East Meets West Cinema Award went to South Korea‘s Mother (Madeo) directed by Bong Joon-ho while the Eastern Bloc award was awarded to Peter Strickland‘s Katalin Varga.

Rob Lemkin‘s Enemies of the People which returns to the killing fields of Cambodia, was named the best documentary. The documentary also claimed the Fund for Santa Barbara Social Justice Award, that for a non-fiction film that addresses social issues.
 

MUMBAI: Multiple sales have been locked up of the Mel Gibson action movie How I Spent My Summer Vacation by Icon Entertainment International at the European Film Market.

Summer is the first big pre-sale of the festival that could be a hopeful sign for other companies selling on scripts and unfinished films.

Covering most of Europe, Icon has closed deals with the Telemunchen for Germany, Eagle for Italy, Metropolitan for France, Paradiso for Benelux, Revolutionary Releasing for Eastern Europe, Svensk for Scandinavia, Odeon for Greece, Ascot Elite for Switzerland, Lusomundo for Portugal and Fida for Turkey.

Nu Metro picked up the film for South Africa while Prime Pictures snagged it for the Middle East.

The film, directed by Adrian Grunberg and written by Gibson, Grunberg and Stacy Perskie, sees the actor as a career criminal sent to a vicious Mexican prison where he has learn to survive any way he can.
 

MUMBAI: James Cameron‘s Avatar has emerged numero uno globally with a collection of $ 59 million from 8,543 screens in seventy one markets in its ninth week.

Cameron‘s blockbuster epic in 3D pushed its record-setting overseas gross total to $1.690 billion and its unprecedented worldwide total to $2.350 billion.The 20th Century Fox release was the sole holdover in the weekend‘s top five titles.
 

Topping market for Avatar in the weekend was Japan that generated $5.8 million from 569 spots drawing $121.9 million. Other big markets in order of market total are France ($156.4 million), China ($155.5 million), Germany ($125.3 million), the UK (124.4 million) and Russia ($108.5 million.)

Warner Bros‘ Valentine‘s Day followed Avatar in the second spot kicking off its foreign run at 4,562 venues in 52 markets for a weekend tally of $30.4 million at an average of $6,664 per-screen.

The Garry Marshall romantic comedy opened strongest in Australia (No. 1 with $6.4 million from 373 sites), the UK (No. 2 with $4.7 million from 432 spots) and Germany ($2.5 million from 410 sites). Domestically, in the US, the film grossed $52.3 million in the weekend.

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief opened in the third spot.

It grossed $28 million from 5,800 screens in 40 territories. It secured the No. 1 spot in South Korea, Brazil, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Venezuela.