MUMBAI: The 12th annual Marrakech International Film Festival, which wrapped up on 8 December, saw The Attack, a drama centered on the aftermath of a suicide bombing and its impact on an Arab surgeon living in Israel win the top honors, i.e. the Golden Star for best film.
The competition jury at the festival this year was headed by president John Boorman and consisted of Gemma Arterton and James Gray. The jury chose director Ziad Doueiri‘s politically-charged drama which was based on the novel by Yasmina Khadra as the winner this year.
Another big winner was Tobias Lindholm‘s dramatic thriller about the capturing of a Danish merchant ship by Somali pirates named A Hijacking. The film along with the Vahid Vakilifar‘s Iranian drama Taboor was awarded the Marrakech Jury Prize .it also won in the best actor category for Hijacking star Soren Malling. The best actress award went to Elina Reinold for her role in Mushrooming from Estonian director Toomas Hussar.
Category: International
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‘The Attack’ and ‘Hijacking’ shine at Marrakech Film Festival
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‘Zero Dark Thirty’ steals a march at critics awards
MUMBAI: Kathryn Bigelow‘s ‘Zero Dark Thirty‘ about the hunt by the C.I.A. for Osama Bin Laden has picked up many critics awards.
It won best picture from the National Board of Review, the New York Film Critics Circle, the Boston Society of Film Critics and the New York Film Critics Online.
The one critics group that awarded something else was the Los Angeles Film Critics Association which voted for the foreign film ‘Amour‘ as its best film. It also gave a much needed boost to ‘The Master‘ by naming Paul Thomas Anderson as best director. Bigelow was the runner up here.
Daniel Day Lewis has picked up a few awards for his portrayal of Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg‘s biopic. But so far ‘Lincoln‘ has not been named best picture or by anybody apart from the National board of review which included it in its top 10. Their top 10 list had some surprises like ‘The Perks of Being a Wallflower‘ getting in while films like ‘Life of Pi‘ were left out.
The Best actress Oscar is a fight between Jessica Chastain for ‘Zero Dark Thirty‘ and Jennifer Lawrence for ‘Silver Linings Playbook‘. Both have won critics awards. One surprise so far was Rachel Weisz winning best actor from the New York Film Critics Circle for ‘Deep Blue Sea‘. This week will be busy with the Screen Actors Guild announcing their nominees. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association will also be announcing their list of nominees for the Golden Globe Awards this week. The American Film Institute will also announce their list of top 10 movies of the year. -
Sycamore concludes licensing agreement with Starz Entertainment
MUMBAI: Sycamore Entertainment Group has concluded a licensing agreement with Starz Entertainment for ‘The Eye of the Storm‘.
Movie fans across the country will soon be able to enjoy another Oscar worthy performance by Geoffrey Rush, thanks to the recent acquisition of Rush‘s latest film.
"We believe Starz subscribers will be wowed by the performances in ‘The Eye of the Storm‘,‘" said Sycamore President and CEO Ed Sylvan.
"As an independent distributor, it‘s our job to sift through the more than 8500 films produced every year (of which less than 600 will ever get a distribution deal), so that we can bring the very best films and the true gems to movie fans everywhere."
‘The Eye of the Storm‘ is currently playing on Video on Demand and in select theaters across the United States.
It will be available on DVD/Blu-ray, 29 January. -
Cairo Film Festival cancelled as protests in Egypt escalate
MUMBAI: Egyptian directors have boycotted the Cairo Film Festival due to the continuing political protests in the country. The festival has also cancelled its closing ceremonies as Egypt witnessed yet another round of violent protests against the country‘s new president Mohammed Morsi.
The awards ceremony was replaced by a press conference at the Cairo Opera House where the jury under president Marco Mueller handed out the awards. There were no awards given in the best director and best screenplay. According to Mueller this was in response to the protests by Egyptian filmmakers, many of which had boycotted the festival.
Mueller‘s jury kept clear of any political controversy with its award choices, handing out all its trophies to non-Arabic films.
Anna Novion‘s French drama Rendez-vous a Kiruna won Best Film. Venezuelan newcomer Vanessa Di Quattro took Best Actress for her performance as a hearing impaired woman working in a textile company with her exploitive mother in A Breach in the Silence from directors Luis and Andres Rodrguez. Marian Dziedziel won Best Actor for his starring role in Jerzy Domaradzki‘s Polish drama The Fifth Season of the Year and a special prize went to Giuliano Montaldo for L‘industriale, a drama about a failing factory in northern Italy.The 35th Cairo Film Festival which started on 27 November initially defied the growing unrest in Egypt sparked by President Morsi‘s decree that stripped Egypt‘s judiciary of all powers to challenge his decisions. As the protests took a violent turn with protesters taking to the street, the festival oraganisers could no longer choose to ignore the ongoing revolt.
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Rupert Mudoch bereaved; cancels party of Life of Pi
MUMBAI: Rupert Murdoch has canceled the award season party of Ang Lee‘s Life of Pi because of the death of his mother Dame Elisabeth Murdoch aged 103 on Tuesday.
The cocktail party was scheduled to be held Wednesday night at Murdoch‘s Fifth Avenue home in New York.
Guests were to have included Lee and Fox Filmed Entertainment chairman-CEO Jim Gianopulos, as well as several awards tastemakers and Hollywood insiders.
Life of Pi was produced and financed by 20th Century Fox, the studio owned by Murdoch‘s News Corp. "Life of Pi masterpiece movie released last night. All at Fox rightly proud. Congrats to Liz Gabler [president of Fox 2000]," tweeted Murdoch following the film‘s 21 November opening.
Fox is waging an aggressive awards campaign for Lee‘s film, which has grossed north of $51 million domestically since opening during the long Thanksgiving holiday. Life of Pi is doing big business in Asia, where it has raked in roughly $53 million in China alone. All told, the movie has brought in $81 million internationally from only 11 markets.
Several studios are throwing similar parties and receptions touting their awards-season films. -
Skyfall is UK’s highest-grossing film of all time
MUMBAI: The latest James Bond film Skyfall has broken all records at the UK box office by becoming the highest grossing film in British cinema history.
The 23rd installment of the 007 franchise, that stars Daniel Craig as the suave superspy, was an instant hit with audiences and critics alike upon its release in October, grossing the biggest seven-day gross takings of all time in the UK, it has been reported.
The film has now broken all box office records by raking in 94.2 million pounds in 40 days overtaking the earlier record held by James Cameron’s Avatar that earned just over 94 million pounds in 2009.
"We‘re overwhelmed with gratitude to the cinema-going audiences in the UK who have made Skyfall the highest grossing film of all time. We are very proud of this film and thanks to everybody, especially Daniel Craig and Sam Mendes, who have contributed to its success," producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said in a statement. -
Cineworld acquires Picturehouse Cinemas in UK
MUMBAI: The second-largest British exhibitor Cineworld has taken over art house cinema chain Picturhouse Cinemas by buying out its parent company the City Screen Group for $76 million (?47.3 million) in cash.
The deal was finalised between Cineworld and City Screen majority owner Arts Alliance and will add 21 sites and 60 screens to its real estate along with Picturehouse Entertainment, the distribution arm operated by the group. Cineworld also made public the fact that it plans to open 10 new locations across UK in the near future. Arts Alliance has been the majority shareholder of Picturehouse since 2002.
Post the buyout, Picturehouse will operate as a separate business entity within the Cineworld Group and there will be no change in the existing Picturehouse management team that runs the outfit.For FY12 Picturehouse reported audited sales of $48.8 million (?30.3 million), profit before tax of $4 million (?2.5 million) and gross assets of $56 million (?35 million).
Cineworld CEO Stephen Wiener said, "This acquisition gives us an opportunity to accelerate our growth by reaching new audiences in a high value and growing part of the market. We recognize that Picturehouse is valued by its customers and we look forward to supporting the business through the next phase of its development."
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Freida Pinto is part of DIFF international jury
MUMBAI: The Dubai International Film Festival has inducted Freida Pinto as part of its international jury. She will join names like Michael Apted, Kerry Fox, Bruno Barreto, Chang Dong Lee, Fatemeh Motamed-Arya, and Emirati filmmaker Nayla Al Khaja as part of the jury.
The actress will be part of the judging panel for the short film competitions in the Muhr Arab, Muhr Asia Africa and Muhr Emirati categories, to be headed by film critic Mark Adams.
The Muhr Arab Documentary Jury will be led by British filmmaker Michael Apted who will be joined by Jordanian documentarian Azza El Hassan and Chris Fujiwara, artistic director of the Edinburgh international film festival (EIFF).
The filmmakers competing in the Muhr Arab Feature competition will be assessed by Brazilian director Bruno Barreto, who is also President of the Jury.
Assisting him will be Egyptian actor Asser Yassin, Tunisian film director Moufida Tlatli, Martin Schweighofer, CEO of the Austrian Film Commission and acclaimed author Adnan Madanat. -
Eddie Murphy in Forbes list of overpaid actors
MUMBAI: Featuring in the Forbes list is something everyone looks out for, but this one may be the exception.
Eddie Murphy has topped Forbes’ list of overpaid actors, with the publication estimating for every dollar Murphy was paid for his last three films (including last year’s disappointing Tower Heist), studios took in an estimated $2.30 at the box office.
Forbes created the list by culling actor earnings from its Celebrity 100 list and taking estimated box office grosses and budgets from Box Office Mojo. It used the actors’ past three wide releases from the past three years.
Katherine Heigl, who after starring in hits such as Knocked-Up and 27 Dresses was able to command a higher paycheck, followed Murphy by taking the No. 2 spot. Heigl‘s recent films, such as this year‘s One For The Money, bringing in a $37 million haul against a $40 million budget, failed to deliver at the box office. For every dollar she was paid, Heigl‘s films earned an average of $3.40 at the box office, the publication estimated. -
DiCaprio injured on the sets of Django Unchained
MUMBAI: Leonardo DiCaprio has been injured on the sets of his upcoming film Django Unchained when he banged his hand hard on a table and injured himself.
The actor needed stitches after smashing the glass that sliced open his hand while filming a dramatic scene as ruthless plantation owner Calvin Candie in the Quentin Tarantino film.
"Leo had slammed his hand on the table countless times and he moved his hand further and he crushed a crystal cordial glass," producer Stacey Sher said. "Blood was dripping down his hand. He never broke character. He kept going. He was in such a zone. It was very intense. He required stitches," she added.
Sher is confident that audiences will love DiCaprio‘s performance, adding, "Quentin has this great tradition of villains in his films and Calvin Candie is one of the most vibrant he‘s ever created."Leonardo didn‘t shy away from playing all of the different facets of a truly horrible human being. Their collaboration raised the stakes and made for an exciting atmosphere on set."