Category: International

MUMBAI: Ray Barrett, one of the best-known veteran actors of the Australian film industry, died of a brain haemorrhage yesterday. He was 82.
Though in his sunset years, Barrett preferred to keep working rather than retire. in Australia he played the father of Nicole Kidman‘s character.

Barrett played a big role in the birth of the Australian film industry in the 1970s when he appeared in films like Don‘s Party and The Chant Of Jimmie Blacksmith, that fetched him the Australian Film Institute (AFI) Award for best supporting actor in 1977.

He won the AFI Award for best actor for Goodbye Paradise in 1982 and again in 1995 for Hotel Sorrento, and was nominated for AFIs for the films Brilliant Lies and In The Winter Dark.

He was also the recipient of several major awards including the Kodak Eastman Award for outstanding contribution to the Australian film industry in 1995 and the Raymond Longford Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.
Barrett is survived by his wife Gaye, his two sons, Reg and Jon and daughter Suellen.

MUMBAI: 51-year-old actress, Sharon Stone who is remembered for her role in Basic Instinct will attend the Hamptons Film Festival and receive its outstanding achievement in acting award on 11 October at Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor.
Stone is scheduled to appear in “A Conversation With . . . ,” the festival‘s popular question-and-answer series, that last year featured Frances McDormand and Jacqueline Bisset. She will also participate in the ‘Breakthrough Performers Program‘ that involves mentoring young actors.

“This is a great tradition,” Stone said of the program in a statement, “and I am humbled to be in the company of those who have mentored in the program before me, like Robert Altman and Gena Rowlands.”

The Hamptons International Film Festival runs from 8 to 12 October.

MUMBAI: Writer, director Sally Potter‘s Rage will release with a periodic premiere via Babelgum‘s free mobile application for iPhone and iPod devices from 21 September.The film will be shown in seven episodes with one episode per day for a full week through the application. This is the first time ever that a feature-length film will premiere on mobile phones.

Rage is a behind-the scenes story of a New York fashion show through a series of intimate interviews.
The film features Simon Abkarian, Steve Buscemi, Lily Cole, Judi Dench, Eddie Izzard, Jude Law, John Leguizamo and Dianne Wiest.

A Rage mobile channel will launch on September 21, when the episodes also start rolling out.

The mobile premiere will kick off a multi-platform, multi-territory release that includes the US DVD release on 22 September through Liberation Entertainment, an interactive satellite premiere in the UK on 24 September and the Adventure Pictures DVD release in the UK and Ireland on 28 September.

MUMBAI: UK-based distributor Revolver is going to launch a standalone production arm by the name of Gunslinger in order to develop, finance and produce feature films.The new outfit already has a number of projects in the pipeline, the first of which is action thriller Shank, the shooting of which has just commenced in London.

Filmed entirely on location in South London, Shank is written by Paul Carter who is the co-producer of the film along with Revolver‘s Nick Taussig. The film is being directed by Mo Ali.

The film tells the story of a gang member Junior, who trades in food but tries to avoid territory disputes and violence. He is forced choose between his principals or revenge after one his gang is killed.

The film stars Adam Deacon, musician Ashley Thomas, Michael Socha, Kaya Scodelario, Jan Uddin, and Jennie Jacques.

Revolver chief executive Justin Marciano said, “We have been quietly developing film projects for some time now. Gunslinger allows us to do what many others in the industry can‘t – by being in constant contact with the marketplace, we can essentially reverse engineer how we approach film production by delivering a product with the right sized budget to fit its market value.”

MUMBAI: 3D horror The Final Destination is ranking top in the North American box-office for a second week, beating competition from romantic comedy All About Steve.

Early figures show that the thriller, the fourth movie in the Final Destination franchise roped in $12.4m. All About Steve starring Sandra Bullock as a kooky crossword puzzle compiler in search of love, took in $11.2m (?6.8m) in its opening weekend. Sci-fi thriller Gamer starring Gerard Butler opened at number four.

Meanwhile, Quentin Tarantino‘s war film Inglourious Basterds dropped down by a place to number three roping in $10.8 (?6.6m) ahead of Gamer which amassed $9m (?5.5m).

The top five is rounded out by District 9 which took in $7m (?4.3m). The extra-terrestrial film was produced by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson.

MUMBAI: Aloe Entertainment, in association with IMG and Schroeder-Ptacek Productions, will soon produce a documentary on US President Barack Obama‘s late mother Dunham titled Stanley Ann Dunham: A Most Generous Spirit.

The documentary will delve into Dunham‘s work in micro-finance and explore her decision to send her 10-year-old son from Indonesia to live in Hawaii with her parents out of fear that her politically-sensitive work might endanger his life.

Charles Burnett who had earlier directed Killer of Sheep and Oprah Winfrey Presents: The Wedding among others has been signed to direct the feature.

Said executive producer Mary Aloe, “She gave a lot of the backbone to our current president and his compassion to the people. With these small-scale economies, she took a concept that was emerging just as women were getting their rights and got them to think outside the box. She is a fascinating woman, and she was ahead of her time.”

The project will begin shooting in Indonesia, Hawaii and Washington early next year. It is being said that efforts are on to get President Obama involved in the project.

MUMBAI: Walt Disney Co. is in plans to re-release its popular animated films

Toy Story and Toy Story 2 as a double feature introducing a new generation of kids to Woody, BuzzLight year and pals and taking them “to infinity and beyond.”

But the main surprise of the re-release is that it will be in 3-D. The double feature is scheduled to hit theatres on 2 October.

The purpose of the re-package is to set the stage for the release of the third instalment of the Toy Story series, Toy Story 3 that is expected to hot the theatres next year.
With Toy Story 3 releasing next summer, the double feature provides a good launching pad to reintroduce the characters,” comments Walt Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook.

Sources say that Disney expects the third in the series of its Toy Story franchise to be its most profitable film in years. The first two editions together garnered $847 million worldwide.

MUMBAI: The Toronto International Film Festival that presented a series of films spotlighting Israeli, a group of high-profile artistes and celebrities protested the move likening the programme to a celebration of apartheid-era in South Africa.

A statement published online signed by more than 50 artistes, academics and filmmakers accused the festival of taking direction from the “Brand Israel” campaign, which seeks to improve the country‘s image and has focused on Toronto as a test city.

Last week, Canadian filmmaker John Greyson pulled out his documentary Covered from the festival in protest. Earlier this year, the Ontario division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees passed a resolution to boycott Israeli academic institutions while Israeli Apartheid Week founded in Toronto in 2005, is held annually on several Canadian university campuses.

Officials of the Israeli consulate in Toronto did not immediately want to comment on the outcry.
The 34th edition of the festival will commence next Thursday.

MUMBAI: Filipino director, Raya Martin has dedicated the screening of Independencia at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) to two of his slain friends, Filipino-Canadian Alexis Tioseco and Slovenian Nika Bohinc.Martin‘s film, a black and white film in English and Tagalog (language spoken in the Philippines by around 22 million people) chronicles the colonial occupation of the Philippines. The tragic tale revolves around three generations of a family and is in the classic style of Filipino melodrama, with an emphasis of folklore.

The mourning Martin will not attend the festival and will remain in Manila to mourn the loss of his friends.

Tioseco, a regular faculty member of the arts department of the University of Asia and the Pacific, was a regular contributor for men‘s magazine UNO and had written for top newspapers including the Philippine Daily Inquirer and the Philippine Star. Bohinc was editor-in-chief of Ekran film magazine and a known personality in Slovenia.

MUMBAI: The Goldcrest Group has appointed industry veteran Penny Wolf as head of its sales and distribution business. The move comes as the company, one of the banner names in the British film industry, looks to strengthen its distribution activities.

Wolf, who took over the role on 1 September will be responsible for assembling a slate of feature films for the international market. She will also oversee the company‘s various sales and distribution activities for new titles.

Said Goldcrest executive director Nick Quested, “Penny‘s unquestionable experience, taste and contacts will provide the depth we need to rise to our distribution ambitions.”

Wolf has been the former managing director of Peace Arch Entertainment Group. She later took the same role at HBO Films London. Titles she oversaw included Gus Van Sant‘s Palme d‘Or winner Elephant, the multi-Emmy and Golden Globe winner The Life and Death of Peter Sellers and Maria Full of Grace.

Most recently, she launched The Film Consultancy Partners, a London-based boutique practice providing distribution and finance advice for clients including Target Entertainment Group, Enlightenment Films, World 2000 and Uncommon Productions.