Category: Movies

MUMBAI: The Berlin Film Festival, which runs from 5-15 February, is set to honour Oscar-winning French composer Maurice Jarre with lifetime achievement award.

84-year-old Jarre, winner of three Oscars for Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago and A Passage to India, will receive his Golden Bear at a ceremony on 12 February.

“Film composers often are in the shadows of great directors and acting stars. It‘s different with Maurice Jarre; the music of Doctor Zhivago, like much of his work, is world-famous and remains unforgotten in the history of cinema,” said Berlinale festival director Dieter Kosslick.

MUMBAI: The Screen Actors Guild (Sag) will hold a town hall meeting in Los Angeles on 17 November in the evening. Sag is seeking a strike authorisation vote from its members and ballots go out next month.

Sag notes that the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) has failed to address the needs of actors at the bargaining table despite the efforts of the negotiating team and the intervention of a federal mediator.

A Sag statement says, “Your national negotiating committee has directed that a strike authorisation ballot be sent to paid up Sag members for their consideration and approval.

“This Town Hall meeting will give Hollywood members an update on the negotiations and a chance to ask questions about the upcoming strike authorization ballot referendum. A strike authorisation from Sag members will show the AMPTP that the unique needs of actors cannot be addressed by a pattern of bargaining. Actors needs must be addressed for deal to be made.”

The AMPTP says that it hopes that working actors will study its contract offer carefully and come to the conclusion that no strike can solve the problems that have been created by Sag‘s own failed negotiation strategy.

Meanwhile, several top actors including George Clooney, Tom Hanks, Cameron Diaz and Edward Norton have signed a letter that is being circulated among Sag‘s membership. The letter looks to persuade actors not to give the authorisation to the Sag board to strike.

“We feel very strongly that Sag members should not vote to authorise a strike at this time. We don‘‘t think that an authorisation can be looked at as merely a bargaining tool. It must be looked at as what it is an agreement to strike if negotiations fail.

“None of our friends in the other unions are truly happy with the deals they made in their negotiations. Three years from now all the union contracts will be up again at roughly the same time. At that point if we plan and work together with our sister unions we will have incredible leverage,” the letter says.

MUMBAI: After distributing 15 Hindi movies, UTV Software Communications is apparently exiting the home video business.

The company has entered into a strategic alliance with Moser Baer Entertainment Limited (MBEL), selling its exclusive home video distribution rights for 25 movies. UTV has been paid an undisclosed MG (minimum guarantee) amount and after a particular threshhold is reached, it will also enjoy a revenue share with Moser Baer.

As per the alliance, MBEL will get domestic rights to UTV‘s home video catalogue which comprises 10 Bollywood films. Moser Baer Entertainment will also get home video rights to all UTV productions released until mid 2009.

The acquisition gives Moser Baer Entertainment access to premium content from UTV, which is planning to release 15 new films over the next six months.

Says UTV Motion Pictures CEO Siddharth Roy Kapur, “The home video business in India is growing significantly and with the kind of revenue potential it has, it can no longer be seen as just another ancillary revenue stream. It makes strategic sense for us to license home video rights of our films to a company like Moser Baer Entertainment, which has particular expertise in this area and is instrumental in growing the home video market in the country. This gives our movies unparalleled access to millions of potential new viewers.”

UTV will also hand over the home video rights to the slate of world cinema titles it has acquired. “We will be doing a separate deal with Moser Baer for world movies in the first quarter of next year,” Kapur says.

The DVDs for the Hindi movies are being priced at Rs 99. The time window for DVD will vary between 4-8 weeks of theatrical release.

Says MBEL CEO Harish Dayani, “Moser Baer‘s entertainment business is working towards the consolidation of the home video space in India. Our strategy is based on the twin pillars of affordable prices to curb piracy and everywhere distribution to drive mass consumption. UTV has emerged in recent times as one of the leading studios in the country and its home video titles add lustre to our product line. This development further reinforces our position as the dominant player in the home video space in India.”

Moser Baer has a predominant collection of catalogue movies. The deal with UTV will help it to expand widely into new film content.

Moser Baer is also looking at releasing sports DVDs over the next six months, Dayani adds.

MUMBAI: Australian actor Hugh Jackman will host the 81st Academy Awards.

The announcement was made by the show‘s producer Laurence Mark and Executive Producer Bill Condon. This will be Jackman‘s first time centre stage at the Oscar show, although he has previously been a presenter.

Mark and Condon in a joint statement said, “Hugh Jackman is a consummate entertainer and an internationally renowned movie star. He also has style, elegance and a sense of occasion. Hugh is the ideal choice to host a celebration of the year‘s movies and to have fun doing it.”

The Oscar Awards take place on 22 February 2009 and will air in India on Star Movies. Jackman stars opposite Nicole Kidman in Australia directed by Baz Luhrmann. He will next be seen in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, having portrayed the title character in the previous three X-Men movies.

NEW DELHI: France is the focus country and a total of around 80 feature and short films from over 40 countries are to be screened at the 4th India International Women Film Festival which has commenced in Delhi.

The eight-day festival which concludes on 21 December will relate to women empowerment, where women are being showcased not just as objects of visual pleasure but behind the camera.

The Festival was inaugurated by renowned Kuchipudi dancer and social activist Shalu Jindal in the presence of Sevgi Boz who is the Cultural Attache in the Turkish Embassy, Amit Dev of Time Broadband Services Limited, and Sandeep Marwah of the Asian Academy of Film and Television which is an associate partner of the Festival.

Boz said making a film was difficult enough, but it became more difficult when the maker was a woman. She expressed the hope that the number of women filmmakers all over the world would increase.

Jindal said she had been encouraged by the fact that a woman had taken the initiative for a festival of this kind and sustained it for four years.

Marwah said cinema was the real cultural ambassador of any country, and festivals were the showcase for this. But he said this could only be done by people passionate about their work.

Dev felt that women were more creative behind the camera than many male filmmakers.

The Festival opened with the screening of ‘Istanbul My Love’ by Seckin Yang of Turkey.

MUMBAI: Chandigarh-based Compact Disc India (CDI) has roped in soccer player Pele to work on a 3D-animation feature film based on soccer.

MUMBAI: Paramount Digital Entertainment, a division of the Hollywood studio major Paramount, has announced that the Iron Man: Aerial Assault game for the iPhone and iPod touch is available on the Apple App Store.

The game is based on the 2008 Marvel Studios film, released by Paramount Pictures.

The game gives players the opportunity to play as Iron Man and engage in aerial combat and challenges that require quick maneuvering and accurate shooting. As players navigate through high altitude battles, they will soar through 12 different levels of airborne combat where menacing enemies will not rest until they have conquered the skies. To aid in the mission, players have access to high-powered weaponry and strategic flying mechanisms that will serve to eliminate those that stand in Iron Man‘s path.

Using an upgradeable, high-powered armor developed by Stark Industries, players will hone their skills by using a variety of weapons to battle through wave after wave of enemy units. With the touch of a thumb, players can access, charge and fire an arsenal of state-of-the-art weapons including repulsor blasts, missiles, and the devastating Unibeam.

Developed by doublesix, the game utilises the innovative technology in iPhone and iPod touch.

MUMBAI: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has shortlisted 15 films as semi-finalists for the achievement in visual effects category for the 81st Academy Awards.

These 15 films include Australia, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Cloverfield, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Hancock, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, The Incredible Hulk, Indiana Jones and the, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Iron Man, Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Quantum of Solace and The Spiderwick Chronicles.

Early January, the members of the Academy’s Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee, who voted for these semifinalists, will narrow the list to seven. The committee members will then be invited to view 15-minute excerpts from each of the seven short-listed films on 15 January, post which they will vote to nominate three films for final Oscar consideration.

The final nominations will be announced on 22 January.

MUMBAI: At next year‘s Oscar Awards, comic actor, director, writer and producer Jerry Lewis will get the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.

The award, an Oscar statuette, will be presented to Lewis during the 81st Academy Awards ceremony on 22 February.

The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award is given to an individual in the motion picture industry whose humanitarian efforts have brought credit to the industry.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Sid Ganis says, “Jerry is a legendary comedian who has not only brought laughter to millions around the world but has also helped thousands upon thousands by raising funds and awareness for those suffering from muscular dystrophy.”

Lewis first found fame as part of a nightclub act with his partner, Dean Martin. The comedy team of Martin and Lewis made their screen debut in My Friend Irma in 1949 and starred in 16 films together through 1956. Lewis went on to star in more than two dozen films, including The Bellboy, The Ladies’ Man and The Nutty Professor.

MUMBAI: The Screen Actors Guild (Sag) in the US has announced that strike authorisation ballots will be mailed to paid-up members on 2 January and will be tabulated on 23 January.

A yes vote by 75 per cent of members voting is required to pass the measure, which would authorise Sag‘s national board of directors to call a strike, if and when the board determines it is necessary.

Sag national president Alan Rosenberg said, ”Sag members understand that their futures as professional actors are at stake and I believe that Sag members will evaluate the AMPTP’s June 30 offer, and vote to send us back to the table with the threat of a strike. A yes vote sends a strong message that we are serious about fending off rollbacks and getting what is fair for actors in new media. I am encouraged by the response of the capacity crowd at our Los Angeles town hall meeting Monday night.”

Sag national executive director and chief negotiator, Doug Allen added, ”We want SAG members to have time to focus on this critical referendum, so we have decided to mail ballots the day after New Year‘s. We will continue our comprehensive education campaign and urge our members to vote yes on the strike authorization. I am confident that members around the country will empower our negotiating team with the leverage and strength of unified Screen Actors Guild members. Our objective remains to get a deal that Sag members will ratify- not to go on strike”.