ITV

Category: Movies

  • RMIT University student shoots film in 18 days for AUD 2000

    MUMBAI: Drifting, a film made by RMIT University, Australia student David Ludlow, is being considered to be sent to film festivals around the world including Toronto, Sundance, Melbourne, Telluride and Slamdance.


    Ludlow developed the idea that he further wrote, produced, directed and starred in the lead role. He also cinematographed the film and took on roles of the casting director, costume designer and built a custom lighting rig at home to use during the filming.


    The film was shot on digital format and completed in 18 days for AUD 2,000.
     

  • Cannes Festival gets the buzz going

    MUMBAI: The seaside resort of Cannes in the French Riviera was buzzing with activity between 12 and 23 May 2010 after a relatively slower 2009. Critics carped that not enough was happening but in the end Cannes lived up to its promise.


    Surprise winners were announced, deals were struck in the market section, the stars descended on and down the famed red carpet and a good selection of films – both in the competition and non-competition section were screened.


    Festival managing director Thierry Fremaux and president Giles Jacob are probably pleased as punch.


    Kirsten Dunst, Salma Hayek, Diane Kruger, Emmanuel Beart, Juliette Binoche, jury member Kate Beckinsale, president Tim Burton, Woody Allen, Michael Douglas, our own Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Paris Hilton, you name the celeb and they made it to Cannes.


    The surprise of the festival was the Thai director-actor Apichatpong Weerasethakul‘s film Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives which went on to win the coveted Palme D‘Or. It bypassed frontrunners like Mike Leigh‘s Another Year and Korean films Poetry and Of Gods and Men. Apichatpong‘s work is only the sixth Asian film to win the top prize in the seven decades of the film fest.


    The award for best actor was shared by Mexican Javier Bardem (Biutiful) and Italy‘s Elio Germano (Our Life) while Juliette Binoche bagged the best actress award for Iranian film Certified Copy.


    French director Mathieu Amalric won the best director award for his film On Tour.
    Chadian director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun lapped up the jury prize, a mark of special recognition, besides the main awards, for the first film from sub-Saharan Africa, A Screaming Man.


    South Korean director Lee Chang-Dong‘s Poetry bagged the best screenplay award while France‘s Of Gods and Men won the Grand Prix award.


    The top award in the Un Certain Regard section was bagged by Hong Sangsoo‘s HaHaHa.


    India presence


    Like every year, India‘s film makers came out in large numbers to Cannes. An official entry of UTV‘s Udaan, the second appearance of Mrinal Sen‘s classic Khandahar and the participation of over 50 Indian companies with more than 150 films to sell, meant that India‘s presence was felt at the film fest.


    Prominent participants from the country included UTV Motion Pictures, IDream Independent Pictures (IDIP), Accel Animation Studio, Supreme Communications, Sarthak Movies and many others.


    While UTV‘s slate at the event also included films like Peepli Live, Harischandrachi Factory, Paan Singh Tomar and two animation films Arjun and Alibaba and Forty One Thieves, IDIP showcased horror film Fired, Love Sex Aur Dhokha (LSD) and I Am Kalam.


    Beyond Illusion, an animation studio under Supreme Communications which came to the market for the first time, showcased its 3D animation musical Return of Shree Krishna.


    The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) worked closely with The Film & Television Producers Guild of India Ltd., Film Federation of India, South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce for the B2B market.


    Business deals and acquisitions


    Beverly Hills-based production company Marquee Films announced its first production, an adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s musical Bombay Dreams, to be directed by Deepa Mehta. Lloyd Webber‘s Really Useful Group will co-produce the film with an undisclosed Indian production partner.


    Lorber Films has acquired the North American rights of The Red Chapel, directed by Mads Bruegger. The film, that won the 2010 Sundance Grand Jury Prize in the World Documentary category, was an official selection in the New Directors/New Films series, presented by MoMA and the Film Society of Lincoln Center.


    The distribution house intends to release the film in the US and Canada later this year. This will be followed by television broadcasts for the movie and a DVD release.


    IFC Films has teamed up with Sundance Channel for a multi-platform release of Olivier Assayas‘s Carlos that stars Edgar Ramirez in the title role.


    Magnet Releasing, a genre arm of Magnolia Pictures, has acquired the world rights of Mandrill, the new action film directed by Ernesto Espinoza.


    Meanwhile, Arrow Entertainment has acquired the world rights of Brigitte Berman‘s documentary, Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel that won this year‘s Oscar.
    French thespian Gérard Depardieu and newcomer Tahar Rahim joined Emilie Dequenne for Belgian director Joachim Lafosse‘s untitled film.


    Luxembourg‘s Iris Productions bought four new films that included Luxembourgian Academy submission Réfractaire, Drake Doremus‘ romantic comedy and Spooner.
     

  • UTV, Gravitas Ventures sign multi-movie VOD deal for US

    MUMBAI: UTV Motion Pictures has entered into a content sharing deal with Gravitas Ventures to make available its latest offerings on Video-On-Demand for Bollywood aficionados in the US.


    While two UTV titles Dev D and Kaminey are already available on the platform, Raajneeti will debut on-demand in early August and will be distributed through Gravitas Ventures‘ agreement with Warner Brothers Digital Distribution.


    On 4 June, political thriller Raajneeti will debut in theatres on over 125 North American screens.


    Directed by Prakash Jha, the movie is a political thriller that mirrors the flipside of democracy in present day India. The lust for power overtakes family ties and shakes the foundation of an elite political family.


    In the fourth quarter of 2010, Gravitas will release the UTV-produced English language film, ExTerminators, starring Heather Graham (The Hangover) and Amber Heard (Zombieland).


    Said UTV Motion Pictures, North America SVP Lokesh Dhar, “The partnership with Gravitas Venture will ensure UTV‘s penetration further into the US market and we hope that more people are able to experience the exciting cinema that our studio has backed.”


    Added Gravitas Ventures founder and CEO Nolan Gallagher, “In an evolving landscape for independent film, we look forward to collaborating with UTV on the distribution and marketing of these works from renowned Indian filmmakers and actors.”

  • Disney approaches Gores as talks with Weinsteins called off

    MUMBAI: After its negotiations with Weisteins and its investor Ron Burkle were called off, Disney is set to renew talks with the Gores Brothers for the acquisition of Miramax.


    The Gores had reportedly bid around $600 million for Miramax, but the amount was below the $625 million offered by the Weinstein/Burkle group and the $650 million bid by Pangea Group CEO David Bergstein.


    Regarding the Weinstein talks, Burkle apparently decided that $ 625 million was too high and asked for a reduction. That‘s when talks broke down and Disney, which sought $700 million for Miramax called off the exclusive negotiating period.


    Meanwhile, the Gores also are moving ahead with a bid of about $ 300 to acquire Overture Films and its related assets including the Anchor Bay home entertainment arm and animation companies, from Liberty Media.


    The Gores‘ vision is to use the Overture management, pay TV slots, home video and other distribution capability to launch a company that could hit the ground running and maximise the value of the Miramax assets.


    One reason the Weinsteins‘ backers believe they aren‘t done with Miramax is that whoever buys it will have to deal with Harvey and Bob Weinstein, who retained certain rights when they sold the company to Disney.
     

  • Alice among six films to cross $ 1 billion mark!

    MUMBAI: Tim Burton‘s Alice in Wonderland will soon become the sixth film in recent times to cross the $1 billion mark at the worldwide box-office.


    The adventure fantasy from the Disney stable that was recently released on home video, continues to play in theatres having grossed more than $332 million domestically and $667 million internationally.


    The film is Disney‘s second-biggest film to date behind Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man‘s Chest that grossed $1.07 billion globally in 2006.


    Other films in the billion-dollar club are Avatar Titanic, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man‘s Chest and The Dark Knight.
     

  • A comic book that talks on dangers of online piracy

    MUMBAI: School children across the country will soon be learning about the dangers of online film piracy through a comic book entitled ‘Escape from Terror Byte City‘, launched by the recently formed Bollywood-Hollywood anti-piracy coalition.


    A local adaption of a comic originally developed by New Zealand Federation Against Copyright Theft, the book tells the story of two boys who are trapped in a virtual city after downloading an unauthorised copy of a film from a peer-to-peer file sharing site.


    The comic book, endorsed by the Department of Information Technology, Mumbai Police, Data Security Council of India (DSCI) and the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), will be published in three languages Hindi, Marathi and English.


    In the coming months, 10,000 comic books will be distributed in Mumbai to children aged five to ten in schools, multiplexes and malls.


    Revealing the intention behind bringing out the comic book, UTV Motion Pictures vice president Prakash Nathan said, “Internet piracy is becoming increasingly rampant among online audiences. We must begin to reach out to people across age brackets and social strata.


    “School children are at an impressionable age and do not always know the distinction between legal and illegal. The comic book is a valuable step in educating them about online piracy.”


    Internet piracy jeopardises the ability of a film to make money and impacts the level of investment available for new films.


    Averred Motion Picture Dist Association (India) MD Rajiv Dalal, “As the first building block of our brand-new educational initiative, we are targeting kids who are influenced by what they read and see.


    “We hope that putting this in comic form makes the message more accessible, interesting and exciting to the children. We look forward to working with the Ministry of Human Resource Development to extend this initiative and have this comic distributed to all school children across the country.”

  • Board of Directors of SAG for one union for performers

    MUMBAI: The Regional Branch Division (RBD) board of directors of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) has endorsed the creation of a single union to cover all performers.


    The RBD board held its annual meeting in Washington, D.C. over the weekend.


    The possibility of creating one union from the members of SAG and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) has once again been inching back on to the entertainment labour agenda.


    60 per cent of members in both unions must vote in favor in order to make the merger of SAG and AFTRA effective. While AFTRA‘s members have been favouring the merger, members of SAG have repeatedly defeated attempts to unite the organizations.


    The RBD includes 20 branches from Boston to Hawaii.
     

  • Disney’s Toy Story 3 to premiere at Taormina Film Fest

    MUMBAI: Disney Pictures‘ Toy Story 3 will have its premiere at this year‘s Taormina Film Festival that is due to commence on 12 June and end on 18 June.


    The film‘s premiere will help solidify the 56-year-old film festival‘s reputation as a major launch pad for big-budget films.


    In the recent past, the festival has served as the starting point for Michael Bay‘s Transformers and John Woo‘s Mission Impossible II. But the screening of Toy Story 3 will be unlike those two screenings. The film will have a world premiere, with the festival screening preceding any other public screenings of the Disney film.
     

  • Kites grosses 650 million globally in first weekend


    MUMBAI: Reliance Big Pictures announced today that the Rakesh Roshan-backed Kites has grossed over 650 million worldwide in its opening weekend.


    Confirms Fun Cinemas COO Vishal Kapur: “Kites has had a good weekend. We got an additional day to do good business because we had a paid preview on Thursday.”


    Responding to the film‘s prospects in the coming week, Kapur believes,
    “The film has received a mixed response. I have a feeling that the coming weekend will be good, though it might see a drop in the box-office receipts during the week.”


    Echoes trade analyst Taran Adarsh, “Kites opened to a fantastic response releasing in major multiplexes with 25 to 30 plus shows every day.”


    “However, there have been some mixed reviews and viewer feedback. The tilt has been more towards the negative, however. Therefore, it will be interesting to see if the film stands firmly from Monday onwards,” he questions.


    The International version Kites-The Remix, a Brett Ratner presentation will hit the big screens on 28 May.

  • Simon Monjack is dead

    MUMBAI: Five months after the death of his actress-wife Brittany Murphy, 39 year-old British screenwriter Simon Monjack was found dead in the couple‘s Hollywood house on Sunday night.


    It is said that Murphy‘s mother, Sharon, saw Monjack in an unresponsive mode around 9.30 am and called the police. The writer was pronounced dead after the Los Angeles Fire Department was called to the residence for a medical emergency, say authorities.


    The cause of death was still unknown and officers were still at the scene investigating late Sunday. Since January, Monjack has been unwell.


    Murphy, 32, died in December due to pneumonia, an iron deficiency and multiple drug intoxication. The couple, who married in 2007, had no children.