Weekly indieWIRE Clicks: The Best News, Reviews & Features
This week on indieWIRE Oscar-winner James Marsh talked “Project Nim,” we asked the independent film community what they thought of film schools, Stanley Kubrick reached out from the dead and much more.
News
This week, we have good news and bad news. The bad news: New York’s weekend weather looks lousy. The good news: NYC’s PIX 11 Morning News recruited “Septien” director Michael Tully as its new weatherman.
Liddell Entertainment and Roadside Attractions have joined forces to acquire U.S. rights to the Glenn Close vehicle “Albert Nobbs,” from director Rodrigo Garcia (“Mother and Child”). The two companies are planning on a fall release this year. Full story here.
We were pretty intrigued by the fan mail we found this week from Kubrick to Bergman. Now we’re just waiting for Lars von Trier’s fan letters to Leni Riefenstahl.
Hot Docs, North America’s largest documentary festival have teamed up with Blue Ice Film to lease the landmark Bloor Cinema in downtown Toronto, the festival’s mainstay venue for 12 years. The theater is currently undergoing renovation. It will reopen this fall under this new revitalized management, with Hot Docs programming the century-hold film house year-round. More here.
It may be winter down under, but the Melbourne International Film Festival is gearing up for its 60th edition with Cannes Directors Fortnight opener “The Fairy” by Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy slated to launch the event July 21st. The film pays homage to Chaplin, Keaton and Jacques Tati, to which the filmmakers add a few contemporary socio-political twists. Overall, 300-plus films are on tap for this year’s festival, running July 21 – August 7. More here.
Ever since it was announced that Meryl Streep was set to embody Margaret Thatcher in “The Iron Lady,” awards pundits started placing their bets. The Weinstein Company are banking on Streep cleaning up by releasing the Phyllida Lloyd (“Mamma Mia!”) directed drama at the height of awards season in the U.S. on December 16th. Go here for the teaser.
Relativity Media acquired North American rights from Lionsgate to Marc Forster’s (“Monster’s Ball”) latest, “Machine Gun Preacher” starring Gerard Butler. The film will hit Los Angeles and New York on September 23.
In a letter circled to colleagues Monday, Leggat cited health issues for his departure, saying, “As you know, I have relished my leadership role in this dynamic, beloved organization. Unfortunately, health issues make it impossible for me to continue to serve effectively.”
More here.
IFC Midnight acquired North American rights to Joe Swanberg (“Hannah Takes the Stairs”) and Adam Wingard’s “Autoerotic.” This marks the fifth collaboration between Swanberg and IFC Films. The company plans to release the film on demand this month followed by a limited theatrical release this summer.
Reykjavik International Film Festival, running September 22-October 2, is seeking applicants for its Talent Lab 2011. The four day Laboratory is for young European and American talents to experience the latest in Reykjavik filmmaking and to network with film professionals who can aid and consult them on their debut features.
Reviews
“Project Nim” or “Zookeeper” this weekend? The choice is yours. In case you want to get a critic’s opinion on what to see and what not to see of this week’s new releases, check out what indieWIRE and The Blog Network has to say…
Features
We asked the indie film community to respond to Monday’s NYT Article, which professed to take the pulse of film school—its students, their expectations and the results of their education.
From the Oscar-winning team behind “Man on Wire,” “Project Nim” looks to be one of the summer’s most acclaimed documentary releases, topping a crowded week on criticWIRE.
Ted Hope, after moderating New Faces of Indie Film at Lincoln Center: “Yes, in the future when I am involved on a panel I will insist upon diversity, and yes, I will set a limit to the number of people on the panel. But I also learned from the answers folks gave I didn’t get to ask all of them, but had I, I had the list prepared. These are those questions…”
The following First-Person column was written by Nicole Holofcener in commemoration of the 15th anniversary of her first feature, “Walking and Talking.”
This week on Small Screens the director of “Moon” rackets up the suspense, eight French Christian monks stay put, Takashi Miike goes back in time and much more.
In case you were too busy celebrating America’s 235th birthday last weekend to check the latest indie film news, here’s a place to start.
Greg Araki shared with iW his thoughts on first films generally, and what “should drive” would-be filmmakers to plunge into making movies, recalling why he took on “Bewildered People.” He also gives his take on the state of the indie biz in the past two decades and also gives a shout-out to indieWIRE on the occasion of its 15th anniversary this month…
Interviews
Oscar winner James Marsh talked documentary structure, Herzog, and “March of the Penguins.”
Actor and filmmaker Michael Tully spoke extensively about a scene from his film “Septien,” which played at Sundance earlier this year and will be released by IFC Films this Friday.
indieWIRE caught up with “The Sleeping Beauty” director Catherine Breillat. Go here to check it out.
Sexploitation! T&A drive-ins! Incest! Dirty dwarves! If this has you all riled up in a good way, then you’re probably aware (or should be) of Severin Films, a five-year old studio dedicated to rescuing, restoring and releasing controversial oddities from around the world for DVD/Blu-ray and niche theatrical releases. To celebrate the company’s five years in the game, Brooklyn’s reRun Gastropub Theater tonight kicks off a one-week Severin Films retrospective with seven of their best films. We caught up with one of Severin Films’ three co-founders, David Gregory, to talk about his passion for all things outside the box.
Horror maestro John Carpenter is back after a 10-year feature film hiatus with “The Ward,” a psychological thriller set within a mental institution. Since wrapping “Ghosts of Mars” (2001), Carpenter has helmed two episodes of Showtime’s “Masters of Horror” series and seen Hollywood remake some of his seminal work (“Halloween,” “Assault on Precinct 13,” “The Fog” and the upcoming re-imaginings of “Escape from New York” and “The Thing”). We caught up with Carpenter to discuss his return to filmmaking and what he makes of all these remakes.
Andrew Haigh’s “Weekend” is getting a lot of buzz on the festival circuit, and its lead actor, Tom Cullen, spoke to us in Provincetown about what drew him to the project.
