Category: International

MUMBAI: The 60th annual American Cinema Editors‘ Eddie Awards saw The Hurt Locker, The Hangover and Up winning the feature film competitions.

The editors of Locker Bob Murawski and Chris Innis earned the top trophy in a category that included Avatar, District 9, Star Trek and Up in the Air.

Hangover editor Debra Neil-Fisher topped the category for comedy or musical that included competitors like 500 Days of Summer, Julie & Julia, A Serious Man and It‘s Complicated.

Editor Kevin Notling earned the award for best edited animated feature film for Up. This category included films like Coraline and Fantastic Mr. Fox.
The Cove editor Geoffrey Richman won best edited documentary that had nominees like Food, Inc. and Michael Jackson‘s This Is It.”

Christopher Guest presented Rob Reiner with the ACE Golden Eddie Filmmaker of the Year Award.

Paul F. LaMastra and Neil Travis were honoured with career achievement awards. Travis had earlier won an Oscar and ACE Eddie for Dances with Wolves.
 

MUMBAI: Madonna is all set to direct her second film, a period drama that explores the scandalous affair of Kind Edward VIII.

W.E. will be a biopic about the relation between King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson that led to the British royal abdicating from the throne to marry his divorcee lover. 

Madonna will script the film with Alex Keshishian, who had earlier directed the singer Truth or Dare in 1991.

Madonna debuted as director in Filth and Wisdom which she directed in 2008.

While actress Vera Farmiga is said to be eyeing the role of Simpson, there is still no word yet on who will play the role of King Edward.
 

MUMBAI: James Cameron‘s Avatar and the war movie The Hurt Locker have locked horns claiming nine Oscar nominations each including best film, pitting the two against each other as front runners for the world‘s highest film honours.

The contrast between the two presents several intriguing elements. James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow, his ex-wife and director of Hurt Locker will compete against each other in the category for best director. 

Avatar is a big-budget science-fiction space adventure from major studio 20th Century Fox is the highest-grossing movie of all time after it eclipsed the‘s previous blockbuster Titanic.

O the other side is Hurt Locker, a low-budget film about soldiers who defuse bombs in Iraq. The film has been made by Summit Entertainment. Its worldwide ticket sales stand at a mere $16 million.

Only one nod behind Avatar and Hurt Locker was Quentin Tarantino‘s World War Two fantasy, Inglourious Basterds that is also in the best film and best director race.
 

MUMBAI: London-based feature film production outfit Film and Music Entertainment (F&ME) will soon embark on its biggest project yet.

The outfit, celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, is developing the $15 million The Spy Princess currently being written by Happy Feet and Babe: Pig in the City screenwriter Judy Morris.

Based on the biography by Shrabani Basu, The Spy Princess tells the true story of Noor Inayat Khan, a Muslim Sufi female secret agent who was awarded the George Cross and the Croix de Guerre.

A director will be announced shortly for the project, due to go into production in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Morris, a long time collaborator with George Miller was nominated for an Annie for her work on Happy Feet. Another (F&ME), project in pre-production in Durban and set to start shooting in 10 days, is Streetkids United.

Directed byTim Pritchard, Streetkids is about group of British and African street kids preparing for the Street World Cup. Produced by Downey, Taylor and Sandy Markwick the film is executive produced by Stephen Daldry.

The film, which is backed sports and media celebrities including Simon Mayo, Jamie Redknapp, Gary Lineker, Nancy Dell‘Olio and Alastair Campbell, will be ready in time to coincide with the 2010 World Cup.

Another film is Dominic Murphy‘s A Gift From the Culture that will also be shot in South Africa in September next. Shane Smith, who wrote Murphy‘s White Lightnin‘ has scripted the film based on a short story by Iain M. Banks.
 

MUMBAI: Prolific Danish outfit Nimbus has announced details of its upcoming films. Nimbus is in Berlin with titles like Thomas Vinterberg‘s Submarino and Alice de Champfleury Sun Shine (Sol Skin).

The slate is led by comedy-drama Superclasico, director Ole Christian Madsen‘s follow-up to his World War Two epic, Flame And Citron which starts shooting in Argentina on 10 May and is about a man seeking to patch up his marriage. Next in line is Louise Friedberg‘s The Experiment, which is still in the post-production stage. 

Shot in Greenland, the film shows an ill-fated 1950s experiment to turn 16 children into model citizens in the post-war Danish welfare state. Also in the post-production stage is Kaspar Munk‘s debut feature Hold Me Tight.

Other films under development are a European love story from Madsen; S?ren Kragh-Jacobsen‘s long-gestating Chopin drama Incognito, Charlotte Sieling‘s Maestro; Natasha Arthy‘s Ziggy; Nils Gr?b?l‘s My Friendship With Jesus Christ and Hans Fabian Wullenweber‘s Bora Bora Bora.

MUMBAI: Roman Polanski‘s new film The Ghost Writer premiered at the Berlin Film Festival yesterday.

The director could not walk the red carpet for the debut of his film that stars Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan because he is under house arrest. In spite of hos absence, Polanski was still the star of the party, feted by his actors, producer and screenplay writer.

And in a new twist, the Swiss Justice Ministry declared it would make “no sense” to shift Polanski from house arrest until US courts ruled definitively that he must be sentenced in person to further jail time for having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl.

“When the question is still open, why should he be extradited?” Rudolf Wyss, the ministry‘s deputy director, told the press, adding, “As long as the question is still open, our decision depends on that.”

“Even if we decide on extradition, he can still appeal. This would take many months,” he added.

Polanski‘s extradition is a complicated and diplomatically sensitive decision, as it deals with a three-decade-old case full of alleged wrongdoing by a Los Angeles judge, a confused sentencing procedure and the director‘s own flight from justice.

The Ghost Writer, based on the novel by Robert Harris, is among the 20 films competing for the Berlin festival‘s top Golden Bear honour to be awarded on 20 February.

MUMBAI: Magnolia Pictures has lapped up the North American theatrical rights of Lucy Walker‘s documentary Countdown to Zero that centres around the escalating nuclear arms race.

The film is set for release this year.

In another development, History Channel picked up the US TV broadcast rights.

The film, which vouches for nuclear disarmament features global figures as Jimmy Carter, Mikhail Gorbachev, Pervez Musharraf and Tony Blair.

Countdown has been produced by Lawrence Bender and developed, financed and executive produced by Participant Media and the World Security Institute.

MUMBAI: Chairman of Sony Pictures Worldwide Marketing & Distribution Jeff Blake announced that Spider-Man will release in theaters worldwide in 3D in July, 2012.

The new film, still untitled, will go into production later this year and will be directed by Marc Webb from a screenplay by James Vanderbilt. The film will be produced by Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin who represent Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios respectively. 

Making the announcement, Blake said, “Spider-Man is the ultimate summer movie-going experience and we‘re thrilled the filmmakers are presenting the next instalment in 3D.

Spider-Man is one of the most popular characters in the world, and we know audiences are eager and excited to discover Marc‘s fantastic vision for Peter Parker and the franchise.”

MUMBAI: Shekhar Kapur has been signed to direct The Three Lawrences for K5 International and Convergence Entertainment.

Shekhar Kapur will produce the film along with K5‘s Oliver Simon and Daniel Bauer.

The film, a thriller is due to go into production this autumn is about a police officer, a junkie and a cave-dwelling recluse, whose lives are changed by a brutal murder during a fierce storm.

The script of the film has been written by Iris Yamashita, and Tim Kwok, Ksana Golod.

K5 will handle worldwide sales of the film.

Head of sales at K5, Bill Stephens felt that it was a ‘great honour‘ to work with Kapur again having been previously associated with the director‘s earlier releases Bandit Queen and Elizabeth.
 

MUMBAI: Lionsgate has acquired the US rights to Daniel Stamm‘s horror film The Last Exorcism from StudioCanal. The film was earlier titled Cotton.

Eli Roth and Strike Entertainment‘s Marc Abraham, Eric Newman and Tom Bliss produced the film. 

The film starring Patrick Fabian and Ashley Bell is the tale of a disreputable priest who invites a film crew to record his final days as a fraudulent exorcist and must find his inner strength when he comes face-to-face with pure evil.

The deal with StudioCanal was negotiated by Lionsgate president of acquisitions and co-productions Jason Constantine, senior vice-president of acquisitions and co-productions Eda Kowan and executive vice-president of business and legal affairs, acquisitions and co-productions Wendy Jaffen.