Weekly indieWIRE Clicks: The Best News, Reviews & Features
This week on indieWIRE, we profiled the biggest up and comers to make their presence known this year, a slew of anticipated trailers dropped, TIFF revealed the majority of their lineup, Lars von Trier confirmed his next project and much more.
News
The World Premiere of Simon Curtis’ “My Week with Marilyn” will screen as the Centerpiece Gala at the upcoming New York Film Festival on October 9th, the Film Society of Lincoln Center said Thursday. Last Friday FSLC announced that Roman Polanski’s “Carnage” will open the 49th NYFF September 30th. For more go here.
Sure, his next film is the subtly titled “Nymphomaniac,” which follows the erotic life of a woman from infancy to middle age. But in a von Trier first, he’ll create two versions for theatrical release: one a hardcore cut, the other a softer version tailored for mainstream cinemas. Read more…and check out The Playlist’s coverage on the notorious director.
The Toronto International Film Festival announced a slew of new titles early this week, including 25 documentaries that includes work from Werner Herzog, Morgan Spurlock, Jessica Yu, Nick Broomfield, Wim Wenders, Jafar Panahi, Frederick Wiseman, Jonathan Demme, Alex Gibney, Mark Cousins and Gary Hustwit. Details here.
The Toronto International Film Festival added over 50 new titles to its lineup this week, including films in its Midnight Madness, Vanguard, City to City and TIFF Kids programs. Details here.
Move over Michael Moore and make way for Max Fisher. As the seventh edition of the Traverse City Film Festival (TCFF) came to a close over the weekend, the director making the biggest impression wasn’t the festival’s famous co-founder, but the young local who directed an 8-minute short known as “Traverse City LipDub 2011.”
U.S. and Canadian rights to actor/writer/director Edward Burns’ “comedic relationship drama” “Newlyweds” have been picked up by Tribeca Film. The feature, which closed out the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival where it had its world premiere, will be released via multiple platforms in late 2011. Go here for more details.
Todd Solondz and his “Happiness” producer, Ted Hope, reteamed for Solondz’s latest, “Dark Horse,” which will premiere at the Venice International Film Festival. And while it’s hard to top the iconic Daniel Clowes’ comic-book portraits that advertised their 1998 film, a little chest hair and a cursive name necklace can go a long way. The poster’s groovy design is courtesy Mojo, the same graphics house that produced one-sheets for Hope’s “SUPER” and Solondz’s “Life During Wartime” as well as “Greenberg,” “Where the Wild Things Are” and “300.” Go here to check it out.
Long a home to controversial hot-button political docs, this year’s Toronto International Film Festival promises much of the same, with the world premieres of, most notably, Nick Broomfield’s Sarah Palin documentary “You Betcha!” and Werner Herzog’s death row doc “Into the Abyss.” Go here to read more on Reel Politik.
Can you tell that Cameron Crowe‘s “We Bought A Zoo” is on the way? With TIFF and Venice now just around the corner, we presume that his first feature film in six years will soon be added to the lineups of one or both festivals, as the press train is now beginning to pick up some major steam. Following news over the weekend that Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi will be scoring the film, a batch of new images have emerged for the upcoming dramedy. Go here to check them out.
Director Jonathan Nossiter’s “Rio Sex Comedy” is headed to digital entertainment company, FilmBuff. The feature, starring Bill Pullman, Charlotte Rampling, Irene Jacob and Fisher Stevens, will launch via cable and broadband video-on-demand August 30th. Full press release here.
Drafthouse Films picks up their second release. Until “Zoolander 2” happens, “The FP” is the closest we’ll get to a whole movie about breakdance fighting and the film that created a buzz at SXSW this spring, now has a home.
The Sarajevo Film Festival completed its 17th edition over the weekend by handing out several awards.
In case you were away from your computer last weekend, here’s a tidy package of last weekend’s coverage.
There is no mistaking it—Brit Marling is having a moment. Arriving at Sundance earlier this year with two films, “Another Earth” and “Sound Of Your Voice,” performing triple duties on each film—acting, writing and producing—she soon saw major buzz surround both works, with Fox Searchlight picking up rights for the pair, and the former flick earning two prizes for director Mike Cahill. Certainly not a bad way to make your entrance into Hollywood and like Noomi Rapace and Jennifer Lawrence in 2010, this year Marling seems to be the new actress that everyone wants to have a piece of. Go here to learn what she’s up for.
It’s a good week in the eventful life of Morgan Spurlock (“Super Size Me”). In July he promoed his latest book and documentary “Comic-Con Episode Four: A Fan’s Hope” (2012), starring such fan-friendly fanaticals as Kevin Smith, Harry Knowles, Eli Roth, Seth Rogen, Stan Lee and Joss Whedon at Comic-Con’s Hall H. Now he’s taking the film to the Toronto Film Festival, and announces the first-ever long form original series on Hulu, “A Day in the Life.” Read more on Thompson on Hollywood.
Any kind of discovery of a lost film is something of a victory for movie lovers, but particularly so when one of the 17 or so silent-era films that the master Alfred Hitchcock was involved in—something of a Holy Grail for film restorers—are dug up, and good news has arrived today courtesy of the LA Times. The paper reports that The National Film Preservation Foundation has announced that three reels, totaling about 30 minutes, of “The White Shadow,” a 1923 film on which Hitchcock was the writer, assistant director, editor and production designer, have been discovered, and will be premiered at the Academy on September 22nd. Go here to read more details on The Playlist.
The world premiere of the French comedy “Intouchables,” from directors Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, will close the 59th edition of San Sebastian International Film Festival. Go here for more.
FLICKERS: Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF), August 9-14, announced the lineup for its 15th annual fest. This is the only Academy Awards-qualifying festival in New England. Go here for lineup.
The IFC Center, one of New York’s finest independent film theaters, has announced its August-September lineup, which launches this weekend with the opening of Raul Ruiz’s much-discussed “Mysteries of Lisbon” and includes ten US theatrical premieres as well as IFC’s regular slate of midnight repertory films and weekend classics. Go here for lineup.
Warner Bros. continues to get bold as it gets its Oscar dance cards in place. 2011 is filled with Stephen Daldry‘s “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” and Clint Eastwood‘s “J. Edgar” starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Now the studio is eyeing 2012, and surprisingly, has thrown a sci-fi genre picture into Academy contention. Go here for details.
Trailers
Drake Doremus’ “Like Crazy” was no doubt the biggest hit at Sundance this year. It nabbed the Grand Jury Prize and a Special Jury Prize for up-and-coming actress Felicity Jones. Check out the released trailer here.
Have we been punked? The first trailer for Francis Ford Coppola’s gothic horror pic, “Twixt,” hit the web this week (it’s the same footage he premiered at Comic-Con just over a week ago) and we’re sad to report it’s a cheap-looking snooze. Go here to watch it.
One of the strangest and most intriguing documentaries to premiere at Sundance this year, Jon Foy’s “Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles,” dropped its trailer and it looks mighty promising. Check it out here.
Just over a month ago the promising teaser for the anticipated spy flick “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” dropped and boded out of extremely good things to come. No big surprise really, given that it marks the first English language film from “Let the Right One In” director Tomas Alfredson and boats an amazing cast that includes the likes of Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong and Ciaran Hinds. If the first preview didn’t already have you all riled up, the film’s fleshed out trailer will be sure to do the trick.
A director like Roland Emmerich rarely registers as a blip of indieWIRE’s radar, but we couldn’t ignore the new trailer for “Anonymous,” which promises to be something of a departure for the undisputed king of the apocalyptical blockbuster (“Independence Day,” “2012”). Either that or it’s his misguided attempt to get some art house credentials.
Reviews
There’s a lot opening this week. That said, not everyone is going to want to see monkeys battle it out with James Franco and even fewer will want to brave Raul Ruiz’s 4-and-a-half hour epic “Mysteries of Lisbon.” That’s where we come in. Here you’ll find all the reviews published this week on indieWIRE and the Blog Network.
Go to page 2 for Features, Interviews and Exclusive Videos.
Features
There’s a whopping 25 films listed on indieWIRE’s August calendar. From an apocalyptic love story to the best race-car driver who ever lived, check out indieWIRE‘s picks for the seven best options, and then check out the full calendar or iW’s summer movie preview; there’s many worthy films that didn’t make this list. Want to know what did? Go here.
Stretching from July 14-August 7, Montreal’s marathon genre-film lovefest the Fantasia International Film Festival kicked off with the Canadian premiere of “Red State” (without Kevin Smith) and featured other festival favorites like “Another Earth.” The closing film screens tomorrow night with the Guillermo del Toro-produced “Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark” and the world premiere midnight screening of the fifth installment in the “Final Destination” series. However, in a festival with a lot to love, they weren’t the best things about Fantasia. These were.
Legendary director Raoul Ruiz gives audiences the first film of his sixth decade of filmmaking with “Mysteries of Lisbon,” which topped four other specialty openers this weekend to be the criticWIRE pick of the week. An adaptation of a famous 19th-century novel by Portuguese author Camilo Castelo Branco, the film focuses on the child of an ill-fated romance between two aristocrats who are forbidden to marry. Many thought “Lisbon” would be Ruiz’s final film, but thankfully surgery for liver cancer saved his life. Go here for more.
Most DIY distributors would love to be in Edward Bates’ position: He’s a first-time distributor who’s handling a film with an enormous, passionate and plugged-in fanbase. He has theaters selling out before the film even opens. There’s one problem: Audiences are so eager to see Kevin Kerslake’s “Electric Daisy Carnival Experience,” a documentary about the culture of electronic dance music, that theaters are scared to screen it. More here.
If there is anything that defines Southeastern European films, it is, on the one hand the region’s diversity, and on the other, particular facts that the countries share. Distinct cultures, customs and values – with certain similarities – mark the personality and soul of each place. But almost all the countries in the region share a recent past of tyranny, war, radical political change, significant poverty and unemployment. The need for funds to produce films in the region is great, but even greater is the urgent need to tell stories. The films in competition at this year’s Sarajevo Film Festival – all from Southeastern Europe – were compelling, with a strong presence of new talent. Go here for the list of five must sees from the event.
This week on the small screen, an animated dog and its owner get up close and personal, a slacker becomes a sleuth and much more. Full list of picks here.
With 2,400 young and noisy YouTube fanatics, this weekend’s sell-out crowd could have been mistaken for a rave. However, VidCon 2011 was something even more radical: It’s a next-gen vaudeville show that wants to become a showcase for the future of entertainment. More here.
Interviews
Unimaginable, but with fall—and the onset of Awards Season—edging closer, it’s a good time to look back at this year’s fresh faces in independent film that we’ve featured in our Futures column in 2011.
Harmony Santana, a transgender actress, gives a breakout lead performance in Rashaad Ernesto Green’s coming-of-age scorcher “Gun Hill Road.” Santana plays Michael, a male teenager on track to transition into a woman. When his father returns from a long stint in prison, Michael finds himself facing off against a man unable to understand his son’s dilemma. The Bronx-set drama premiered at Sundance to positive notices, snagged a distribution deal with Motion Film Group and went on to open Outfest and close NewFest. Go here for our interview with her.
The Toronto International Film Festival is still weeks away from completing its lineup announcements, but for one of its most-anticipated elements—the documentaries—there’s enough for TIFF documentary programmer Thom Powers to give indieWIRE a heads up on what he sees as some of the most outstanding titles.
Exclusive Video
Here first-time feature filmmaker Larysa Kondracki shares an exclusive scene from her conspiracy thriller “The Whistleblower,” starring Rachel Weisz, Vanessa Redgrave, David Strathairn and Monica Bellucci. The film opens in limited release this Friday, August 5 through Samuel Goldwyn Films.
Here rookie feature filmmaker Scott Rosenbaum shares a scene for his passion project “The Perfect Age of Rock ‘N Roll,” starring Kevin Zegers, Jason Rutter, Taryn Manning and Peter Fonda. The rock drama opens in select theaters and hits VOD on August 5th.
