Category: Movies

MUMBAI: Desert Flower producer Peter Herrmann and Dietmar Güntsche and producer Wolfgang Behr who made Der Grosse Kater, shared the best producer prize at the 31st Bavarian Film Awards held over the weekend.

The prize comes with a $287,644 that will be shared with a tag that it must be invested in new film productions.

Sherry Hormann‘s Desert Flower that attracted more than 1 miillion cinemagoers in Germany and has grossed $9.8 million since its release last September.

Meanwhile, Benjamin Heisenberg was awarded the newcomer director prize ahead of the world premiere of his second feature The Robber (Der Räuber) in the Berlinale‘s competition next month. 

The honours for best newcomer actor went to Friedrich Mücke for his performance in Markus Goller‘s drama Friendship!, that was released by Sony Pictures Releasing on 14 January.

Katharina Schüttler was named best newcomer actress for her role as the daughter of a former terrorist in Susanne Schneider‘s drama The Day Will Come (Es Kommt Der Tag).

Barbara Sukowa bagged the best actress award for her portrayal of Hildegard von Bingen in Margarethe von Trotta‘s Vision while Mark Waschke took best actor for playing the lead role in Juraj Herz‘s second World War drama Habermann that also won best director.

Other films recognised include Vickie The Viking and Petra Seeger‘s In Search Of Memory that won the best documentary award.
 

MUMBAI: After the phenomenal success of Avatar, James Cameron is all set to make Australia his next stop. The Golden Globe-winner is presently involved in a 30-million psychological thriller Sanctum that is being shot in Gold Coast. 

The Titanic filmmaker, serving as executive producer, praised Australian director Alister Grierson for his talent with the lens. “I am actually coming down to the set in a couple of weeks and I am going to stay there through the underwater shoot,” Cameron is reported as saying.

“They are doing great. Alister is a really talented director – his first film was Kokoda. I would be proud if that was my third film,” he added.
 

MUMBAI: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt expressed their deep sorrow tonight at the widespread lost of life that has occurred in the Haiti earthquake.

In a written statement, they said, “We are devastated by the news from Haiti. We will work closely with our good friend Wyclef Jean to support the humanitarian efforts on the island and help those who have been injured and left without homes and shelter.”

Jolie and Pitt have visited the island in recent years to assist Wyclef Jean‘s charity Yele Haiti.

MUMBAI: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo has won the 21st Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival‘s (PSIFF) Mercedes-Benz Audience Award for best narrative feature.

The Most Dangerous Man In America: Daniel Ellsberg And
The Pentagon Papers (USA) directed by Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith received the audience award for best documentary feature.

The FIPRESCI Award for best foreign language film of the year went to Involuntary, Sweden‘s foreign language Oscar submission by Ruben Ostlund.

Tedo Bekhauri received the FIPRESCI Award for best actor for his performance in George Ovashvili‘s The Other Bank (Georgia/Kazakhstan) and Anne Dorval received the best actress award for her performance in I Killed My Mother (Canada) by Xavier Dolan.

The New Voices/New Visions jury of IFC Films‘ Arianna Bocco, Zeitgeist Films‘ Nancy Gerstman and Sara Rose from Apparition awarded its top prize to Ounie Lecomte‘s A Brand New Life (South Korea/France). An honorable mention went to Vladimir Paskaljevic‘s satirical Serbian entry Devil‘s Town.
The festival‘s programming team selected Haim Tabakman for the John Schlesinger Award For Outstanding First Feature (narrative or documentary) for his Israeli film Eyes Wide Open.

Letters To Father Jacob (Finland) directed by Klaus Haro received the Bridging The Borders Award presented by Cinema Without Borders.

“The festival that opened on 5 January culminates on Monday with the ‘Best Of The Fest‘ screenings.
 

MUMBAI: The Lumiere Awards were handed out in Paris on January 15 with the prize for best film going to Philippe Lioret‘s Welcome.

The prizes are France‘s equivalent to the Golden Globes, given by foreign journalists covering French cinema.

While Jacques Audiard took best director for A Prophet, France‘s entry for the foreign language Oscar, Tahar Rahim, the star of the film was voted best actor and Isabelle Adjani took the best actress award for La Journee De La Jupe.
The screenplay award went to Mia Hansen-Love for Le Pere De Mes Enfants.

Pauline Etienne for Lea Fehner‘s Qu‘Un Seul Tient Et Les Autres Suivront and Vincent Lacoste and Anthony Sonigo for Riad Sattouf‘s Les Beaux Gosses won the most promising newcomer prizes went to Best Francophone film went to Quebec‘s Xavier Dolan for J‘Ai Tue Ma Mere, which was a big prize winner in the Directors Fortnight section at Cannes.

MUMBAI: After raking in $41.3 million in its fifth weekend, Fox’s Avatar edged out Star Wars to become the third biggest North American release in history.

If things persist, James Cameron’s sci-fi adventure will secure second place within a week and will cross $500m by the end of Monday, the Martin Luther King Day public holiday.

While Avatar‘s domestic total stands at $491.8 million after garnering in another $41.3 million over the weekend, Star Wars had made $460.9 million domestically in its original run and several reissues. Titanic made $600 million while The Dark Knight amassed $533.3 million.

While Titanic’s $600.8 million haul may still be beyond Avatar’s reach, some experts believe Cameron’s new blockbuster can still reach the mark.

Buoyed by a $125 million overseas number one spot this weekend, Avatar’s international and worldwide tallies have reached $1.115 billion and $1.606 billion respectively, giving a hope that it will overtake Titanic within the next two weeks.

MUMBAI: Universal Pictures is in the process of developing The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde with Justin Haythe penning the script.

In all probability, Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn will direct the project, titled Jekyll. Keanu Reeves will develop a split personality for the film.

The story has been translated to the screen and stage dozens of times. Among the adaptations are comedy versions, kids‘ stories (Jekyll And Heidi) and gender-switch tales (1995‘s Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde). The story has undergone modern iterations as recently as 2007, when the BBC aired a miniseries that set the story in the present as Hyde ran amok in London.

Del Toro, who has an affinity for Gothic horror as well as creature features, aims to stick more closely to the Stevenson tale. His project is on the back burner, though, as he works on The Hobbit for New Line and MGM, a project that‘s expected to take up the next five years.

Refn‘s indie crime biopic Bronson, starring Tom Hardy, premiered this year at the Sundance Film Festival.