Category: International

MUMBAI: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt expressed their deep sorrow tonight at the widespread lost of life that has occurred in the Haiti earthquake.

In a written statement, they said, “We are devastated by the news from Haiti. We will work closely with our good friend Wyclef Jean to support the humanitarian efforts on the island and help those who have been injured and left without homes and shelter.”

Jolie and Pitt have visited the island in recent years to assist Wyclef Jean‘s charity Yele Haiti.

MUMBAI: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo has won the 21st Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival‘s (PSIFF) Mercedes-Benz Audience Award for best narrative feature.

The Most Dangerous Man In America: Daniel Ellsberg And
The Pentagon Papers (USA) directed by Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith received the audience award for best documentary feature.

The FIPRESCI Award for best foreign language film of the year went to Involuntary, Sweden‘s foreign language Oscar submission by Ruben Ostlund.

Tedo Bekhauri received the FIPRESCI Award for best actor for his performance in George Ovashvili‘s The Other Bank (Georgia/Kazakhstan) and Anne Dorval received the best actress award for her performance in I Killed My Mother (Canada) by Xavier Dolan.

The New Voices/New Visions jury of IFC Films‘ Arianna Bocco, Zeitgeist Films‘ Nancy Gerstman and Sara Rose from Apparition awarded its top prize to Ounie Lecomte‘s A Brand New Life (South Korea/France). An honorable mention went to Vladimir Paskaljevic‘s satirical Serbian entry Devil‘s Town.
The festival‘s programming team selected Haim Tabakman for the John Schlesinger Award For Outstanding First Feature (narrative or documentary) for his Israeli film Eyes Wide Open.

Letters To Father Jacob (Finland) directed by Klaus Haro received the Bridging The Borders Award presented by Cinema Without Borders.

“The festival that opened on 5 January culminates on Monday with the ‘Best Of The Fest‘ screenings.
 

MUMBAI: The Lumiere Awards were handed out in Paris on January 15 with the prize for best film going to Philippe Lioret‘s Welcome.

The prizes are France‘s equivalent to the Golden Globes, given by foreign journalists covering French cinema.

While Jacques Audiard took best director for A Prophet, France‘s entry for the foreign language Oscar, Tahar Rahim, the star of the film was voted best actor and Isabelle Adjani took the best actress award for La Journee De La Jupe.
The screenplay award went to Mia Hansen-Love for Le Pere De Mes Enfants.

Pauline Etienne for Lea Fehner‘s Qu‘Un Seul Tient Et Les Autres Suivront and Vincent Lacoste and Anthony Sonigo for Riad Sattouf‘s Les Beaux Gosses won the most promising newcomer prizes went to Best Francophone film went to Quebec‘s Xavier Dolan for J‘Ai Tue Ma Mere, which was a big prize winner in the Directors Fortnight section at Cannes.

MUMBAI: After raking in $41.3 million in its fifth weekend, Fox’s Avatar edged out Star Wars to become the third biggest North American release in history.

If things persist, James Cameron’s sci-fi adventure will secure second place within a week and will cross $500m by the end of Monday, the Martin Luther King Day public holiday.

While Avatar‘s domestic total stands at $491.8 million after garnering in another $41.3 million over the weekend, Star Wars had made $460.9 million domestically in its original run and several reissues. Titanic made $600 million while The Dark Knight amassed $533.3 million.

While Titanic’s $600.8 million haul may still be beyond Avatar’s reach, some experts believe Cameron’s new blockbuster can still reach the mark.

Buoyed by a $125 million overseas number one spot this weekend, Avatar’s international and worldwide tallies have reached $1.115 billion and $1.606 billion respectively, giving a hope that it will overtake Titanic within the next two weeks.

MUMBAI: Universal Pictures is in the process of developing The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde with Justin Haythe penning the script.

In all probability, Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn will direct the project, titled Jekyll. Keanu Reeves will develop a split personality for the film.

The story has been translated to the screen and stage dozens of times. Among the adaptations are comedy versions, kids‘ stories (Jekyll And Heidi) and gender-switch tales (1995‘s Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde). The story has undergone modern iterations as recently as 2007, when the BBC aired a miniseries that set the story in the present as Hyde ran amok in London.

Del Toro, who has an affinity for Gothic horror as well as creature features, aims to stick more closely to the Stevenson tale. His project is on the back burner, though, as he works on The Hobbit for New Line and MGM, a project that‘s expected to take up the next five years.

Refn‘s indie crime biopic Bronson, starring Tom Hardy, premiered this year at the Sundance Film Festival.

MUMBAI: Warner Bros. Entertainment is rebranding its in-house music label formerly known as New Line Records as WaterTower Music, it was announced Thursday.

The rebranding is designed to underscore that the label will support all divisions within Warners. WaterTower, led by Jason Linn, who created the old label in 2000, will begin operating under its new name with immediate effect.

He will report to Emmerich and Paul Broucek, president, music, Warner Bros. Pictures. 

Said Emmerich, “The notion of marketing music hand-in-hand with film has always been exciting to us. With both divisions now under the same umbrella, the sky is the limit.

“This is the vision Jason and I shared when we launched the label 10 years ago, and we‘re thrilled to be given this opportunity to expand within Warner Bros. and serve a multidivisional agenda.”

The label recently earned a Grammy nomination for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, a Golden Globe nomination for best original score for The Informant! and a Broadcast Film Critics nomination for Sherlock Holmes. Additionally, WaterTower‘s upcoming soundtrack of Valentine‘s Day will feature Taylor Swift‘s new song Today Was a Fairytale that will be released on 9 February.
 

MUMBAI: Imax Corp. has crossed the $100 million global box-office mark with the 3D version of Avatar.

With the sci-fi epic still set to screen for seven more weeks on Imax‘s giant screens, Avatar till date has grossed $68 million in premium North American ticket receipts and $33 million in overseas box-office since it opened on 18 December.

Imax CEO Richard Gelfond expects the record box-office receipts from Avatar to attract return-viewing for upcoming Hollywood 3D titles on his screens locally and internationally.

“There will be an Avatar halo. Some people went to an Imax theater for the first time to see Avatar. Many liked the experience and will come back again,” Gelfond said.

Besides continuing play from Avatar 3D, Imax‘s 2010 Hollywood release slate also includes from DreamWorks Animation How to Train Your Dragon 3D and Shrek Forever After 3D, Tron Legacy 3D and Toy Story 3 3D.

MUMBAI: Avatar and Inglourious Basterds bagged the most awards at Friday‘s Critics‘ Choice Awards but the top honour went to the Iraqi war drama The Hurt Locker and its director-producer Kathryn Bigelow.

Hurt Locker was named best picture and Bigelow the best director.

Accepting the best picture prize, screenwriter-producer Mark Boal said the award belongs to Bigelow “for her singular vision, for her endless inspiration and for never taking no as an answer.”

While collecting the best director‘s award, Bigelow had thanked Boal saying, “I stand here really because of one man and that‘s Mark Boal.”

“It‘s wonderful to have this honor,” she continued, “but the recognition should also go to the men and women who are in the field to this day.”

Avatar was named best action film and it collected a lot of technical awards, including honours for cinematography, editing, art direction, sound and visual effects.

The cast of Basterds was the critics‘ pick for best ensemble. The film‘s villain, Christoph Waltz, was named best supporting actor while Tarantino won for his original screenplay.

Crazy Heart was a double winner, with Jeff Bridges claiming the best actor prize for his turn as hard-drinking country singer Bad Blake. The film‘s theme, The Weary Kind won for the best song.

Up won a pair of prizes, too: Best animated feature and best score.

There were actually two winners in the actress category, with Meryl Streep and Sandra Bullock tying for the honor.
While Streep won for Julie and Julia, Bullock won for her performance in The Blind Side.

Jason Reitman, won best adapted screenplay for Up in the Air with co-writer Sheldon Turner.

Other honors went to Mo‘Nique, who was named best supporting actress for her visceral portrayal of an abusive mother in Precious while Saoirse Ronan won best young actress for her role in The Lovely Bones and The Hangover which was voted best comedy film.

While District 9 won for best makeup, Grey Gardens was adjudged best TV movie. The Cove was named best documentary.

Nine, that entered the contest tied with “Basterds” with a leading 10 nominations, ended up winless.

MUMBAI: Disney‘s president of international theatrical distribution Anthony Marcoly has quit the studio after two decades. This follows chairman Rich Ross‘s changes to the executive roster.

On the other hand, Disney brought in Sean Bailey as president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production following the departure of Oren Aviv recently.

In the wake of Marcoly‘s departure, President of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Chuck Viane will now oversee international sales and distribution across seventy countries. He will report directly to Bob Chapek, president of distribution for The Walt Disney Studios.

Marcoly first joined what was formerly as Buena Vista International (BVI) at its inception in 1992 as finance director and was part of establishing BVI as a stand-alone theatrical distributor.

He was soon promoted to lead the sales organisation at BVI and subsequently added acquisitions to his portfolio, going on to serve as president of sales and distribution before taking charge of international theatrical distribution.

Marcoly worked closely with former Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group president Mark Zoradi, who was ousted late last year.

In further changes, Christine Cadena, currently senior vice-president of marketing, synergy and franchise development, will now function as senior vice-president of multicultural initiatives and will leadall diversity and multicultural efforts.

Michelle Sewell has been promoted as senior vice-president, global publicity, overseeing the domestic and international publicity departments, and is responsible for formulating and executing worldwide publicity campaigns for all live-action and animated motion pictures.

The studio will also continue its re-organisation of the workforce at Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.

MUMBAI: Eric Raddatz has broken up with the Naples International Film Festival.

“He‘s a very talented guy,” said Rowan Samuel, co-founder and head of the festival‘s board of directors. “We certainly wish Eric the very best.”

Samuel said Raddatz‘s departure wouldn‘t change plans for the festival to return in 2010. Actually, he said he expects more from the fledgling festival.

“We all learned a lot in 2009,” he said adding, “We are planning on bringing a bigger, stronger festival to Naples this year.”

Said Raddatz: “The festival is still like a child to me. I want it to succeed. But I can‘t support, endorse, or take part in the festival as it moves forward in a direction I don‘t agree with.”