ITV

Category: Movies

  • Eros appoints Ram Mirchandani as CCO

    MUMBAI: Eros International Media has appointed Ram Mirchandani as chief creative officer(CCO) of Eros India. He will be joining the company on 1 November.

    Mirchandani recently stepped down from UTV Motion Pictures where he held the position of chief creative officer.

    Said Eros International Media group CEO A.P.Parigi, “We are in the process of strengthening our leadership team; in line with our corporate growth plans and are happy to welcome Ram Mirchandani into our wings. I believe that Mirchandani‘s expertise in the area of entertainment, particularly filmed entertainment, will be an asset to the Eros brand. ”

    Speaking about his decision Mirchandani averred, “I am very happy and proud to be associated with Eros that has such a rich heritage and I believe my job would be very exciting.”

    Ram Mirchandani has held number of key positions in the Media and Entertainment sector. He is acknowledged as one of the key members of the startup team of the Motion Pictures Production venture of UTV working for approximately seven years.

    He is credited with having played an influential role in the making of Rang De Basanti, Metro and Fashion.

  • Teen film The Trotsky wins audience prize at Tokyo film festival

    MUMBAI: A film about an eccentric teen who believes he‘s the reincarnation of Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky has won the audience prize at a Japanese festival. The Trotsky starring Jay Baruchel got the most votes from viewers at the Tokyo International Film Festival.


    Writer-director Jacob Tierney and producer Kevin Tierney were on hand to receive a cash prize of US$10,000 along with a trophy and certificate last Saturday.
    The festival‘s website quotes Jacob Tierney as saying that he was “moved and very humbled” by the honour.


    Set in Montreal, The Trotsky follows the sometimes-inflammatory measures taken by a 17-year-old boy as he tries to replicate the political and romantic milestones of his Bolshevik hero.


    The film is expected to be released next year.

  • Ricky Gervais named Golden Globes host

    MUMBAI: Actor, director Ricky Gervais has been selected to host of the 67th annual Golden Globe Awards to be held in California on 17 January.


    Gervais is best known for creating and starring in the TV comedy series Extras as well as the original British version of The Office. He has also appeared in films like The Invention of Lying, Ghost Town and Night at the Museum.
    In a statement Gervais said, “Not only is this the biggest Hollywood celebration of the industry which includes both film and TV, but also an environment where I feel I can get free reign as a host. I have resisted many other offers like this, but there are just some things you don‘t turn down.”


    Said NBC and Universal Media Studios executive vice president of alternative programming Paul Telegdy, “Ricky is certainly one of the funniest people on the planet and has provided some of the most hilarious and memorable awards show moments in recent memory.”

  • Michael Haneke film wins Screen International Hollywood World Award

    MUMBAI: Michael Haneke‘s The White Ribbon beat a selection of films including Jacques Audiard‘s A Prophet, Jane Campion‘s Bright Star, Jessica Hausner‘s Lourdes and Luca Guadagnino‘s I Am Love to win the Screen International Hollywood World Award at the Hollywood Awards gala in Los Angeles last night.


    In Haneke‘s absence, the award was accepted by US distributor Sony Pictures Classics‘ co-president Tom Bernard.


    The star-studded event also saw JJ Abrams‘ Star Trek named film of the year by the public online voters of the Yahoo! Movies wevsite.
    Winners whose names were previously announced include Robert De Niro, Hilary Swank, Christoph Waltz, Julianne Moore, Jeremy Renner, Carey Mulligan, Bradley Cooper, Gabourey Sidibe. Lee Daniels, Nora Ephron, Shohreh Aghdashloo, Melanie Lynskey, Zachary Quinto, Kathryn Bigelow, Lee Daniels, Pete Docter and Ryan Kavanaugh.


    Steven Spielberg, Ron Meyer, Ed Asner, Kate Beckinsale, Ewan McGregor, Kathleen Kennedy, Diane Kruger, Michael Mann, Morgan Freeman, Sandra Bullock, Pierce Brosnan, Charlize Theron, Maria Bello, Diablo Cody, Zooey Deschanel, Marisa Tomei and Anthony Mackie were among the presenters.

  • Goldwyn Films acquires US rights of To Save a Life

    MUMBAI: Samuel Goldwyn Films has lapped up the US theatrical rights of Brian Baugh‘s To Save a Life. It will partner with Outreach Films and New Song to market the film‘s release, set for 22 January.


    The film starring Randy Wayne, Deja Kreutzberg, Kim Hidalgo and Sean Michael Afable is the story of an all-American teen (Wayne) coping with the death of a friend.


    Cinematographer Baugh makes his directorial debut with the feature that has been written by Jim Britts.


    Goldwyn previously worked with Outreach on the release of Fireproof and Amazing Grace.


    Said Goldwyn vp of acquisitions Peter Goldwyn, “We are confident that To Save a Life‘ will continue our proven track record of releasing faith-based films.”

  • Big Home Video launches ‘Gladiator‘ on blu-ray, plans media campaign

    MUMBAI: Big Home Video has partnered with Universal Pictures International BV to release Gladiator on blu-ray disc.

    The limited two disc-edition is priced at Rs 1999.


    Director by Ridley Scott, the blu-ray disc features 16 hours of content. Bonus content includes commentary by Scott and actor Russell Crowe along with deleted scenes, 200 minutes of production pods with interviews and behind-the-scenes material.


    The blu-ray format also has features like topic marker that allows consumers to select topics of interest on disc one and then find out more about them on disc two.

    The home entertainment company also has plans to promote the launch at retail stores supported with online marketing and an out-of-home media campaign on Digital Signage Network across 107 screens on pan India level.

  • 24 FPS Award goes global with entries from Canada and China

    MUMBAI: The 6th annual 24 FPS Awards, organized by Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics (MAAC) will be held at the SRPF Grounds in Mumbai on 6 November.

    Notably, the awards has gone global this year, with as many as 14 entries from animation students of Canada and China.


    This year, the 24 FPS Awards will have a record participation of over 800 delegates with more than 200 film entries from across India for 21 different award categories.


    Like every year, this year too the award has attracted a good response from Bollywood and industry professionals. Some of the entries from Bollywood include Quick Gun Murugan, What‘s your Rashee, Chandni Chowk To China, Ghajini, Raaz The Mystery Continues, Delhi 6 and 8×10 Tasveer which will compete for the Best Studio category award.


    In the advertisements section, entries have come from TVCs like Happy Dent Wave, Coke, Chloromint, Videocon LCD and Whirlpool Water Purifier that will compete for the Best TVC of the year.


    Jury members of this year‘s awards include Kireet Khurana of 2NZ, Merzin Tavaria from Prime Focus, Shelley Page from DreamWorks Animation, Nilesh Sardesai from Prana and Krishnakant Mishra of Sony Imageworks
    .
    Said Sanjiv Waeerkar, chief creative officer of MAAC, “As 24 FPS has entered its 6th annual edition, we wanted to take it to a different level as compared to its previous editions and what better way to give audiences the power to judge an entry of their choice.


    “Introducing the viewer‘s choice awards in 24 FPS is aimed to take the awards beyond the animators and professional fraternity. The new award will engage the youth in the target age group that we cater to. So, this year people from anywhere can cast their votes on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, that have all the 73 entries uploaded on the sites.”

  • Fans boycott Jacko’s This Is It

    MUMBAI: Fans of Michael Jackson have launched a campaign to boycott his forthcoming film This Is It. The online protest – called ‘This is NOT It‘, is being supported by thousands of people who claim that the film features the singer‘s deteriorating health and the stress of the planned 50 London shows leading up to his death in June.

    Michael‘s father Joe and sister La Toya have accused Sony Pictures of using stand-ins in the film.

  • Comedian Lou Jacobi no more

    MUMBAI: Lou Jacobi, to play comic roles and winning praise in dramatic ones too in his long career in theatre and films expired at the age of 95 last Friday. The death was confirmed by Leonie Nowitz, a social worker who had been taking care of him.

    Jacobi made his Broadway debut in 1955 in The Diary of Anne Frank in which he played one of the occupants of the Amsterdam attic where the Franks were hiding. He played the same role in the 1959 film version.


    Nine other Broadway plays that featured Jacobi include Paddy Chayefsky‘s Tenth Man in 1959 and Neil Simon‘s Come Blow Your Horn in 1961.


    Jacobi was also seen in other films like the Dudley Moore comedy Arthur, Woody Allen‘s Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex and Barry Levinson‘s Avalon.


    His last film was the 1994 film I.Q. in which he played the logician Kurt Godel, one of Albert Einstein‘s professor friends at Princeton.

  • Xavier Gens to direct The Fallout for ContentFilm Intl

    MUMBAI: ContentFilm International (CFI) has acquired the worldwide sales rights of action thriller The Fallout to be directed by Xavier Gens who had earlier directed Hitman. The film is due is due to start shooting in Feb 2010.

    The Fallout, set in a post-apocalyptic New York, is being produced by Ross Dinerstein, Darryn Welch and Tony Krantz. The film is billed as ‘a thriller that combines elements of‘Assault on Precinct 13 with Lord of the Flies.

    Said CFI‘s Carmichael, ‘”Xavier is a super talented, commercial filmmaker and a perfect match for this terrifying material. It‘s going to be a very stylish genre film and we‘re extremely excited to be working with him, Ross and Darryn.‘