Every week, I get several press releases, screening invitations and other notifications from a handful of studio contacts. While I won’t be sharing any information regarding my screening invites, some of the press releases might be of interest to my readers, so I thought I’d start sharing them in toto with all of you. These could include new image galleries for various films or important updates to upcoming releases from various smaller studios and art house production companies.
- Image Gallery: Mirror Mirror
- Image Gallery: SXSW Festival Slate – Brigade
- Press Release: SXSW Festival Slate – Brigade
- Press Release: SXSW Festival Slate – 42 West
- Press Release: ‘The Imposter’ Rights Acquired
- Press Release: ‘No Room for Rockstars’ One-Night Event
- Press Release: 42 West Spring Preview
Image Gallery: Mirror Mirror
Image Gallery: SXSW Festival Slate – Brigade
Press Release: SXSW Festival Slate – Brigade
Narrative Competition – Sean Baker’s STARLET (Acquisition Title)
Starring Dree Hemingway and Besedka Johnson
An exploration of the unlikely friendship between 21 year old Jane and 85 year-old Sadie, two women whose worlds collide in California’s San Fernando Valley.
Narrative Competition – Jonathan Lisecki’s GAYBY (Acquisition Title)
Starring Jenn Harris and Matthew Wilkas
Jenn and Matt, best friends since college who are now in their thirties, decide to have a child together, the old-fashioned way – even though Matt is gay and Jenn is straight.
Documentary Spotlight – Stephen Keller’s PAUL WILLIAMS STILL ALIVE (Acquisition Title)
Starring Paul Williams and Stephen Kessler
Documentary filmmaker tracks down actor/singer/songwriter Paul Williams in an attempt to find out what happened to his idol.
Emerging Visions – Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky’s FRANCINE (Acquisition Title)
Starring Melissa Leo
After serving time in prison, Francine tries to gain a foothold in small-town North America. As her human relationships falter, Francine looks to animals for support, and her path through life becomes much like an orbiting satellite: detached, lonely and ultimately destined to crash.
Emerging Visions – Amy Seimetz’s SUN DON’T SHINE (Acquisition Title)
Starring Kate Lyn Sheil and Kentucker Audley
A tense and mysterious road trip follows couple Crystal and Leo through the desolate yet hauntingly beautiful landscape of central Florida. As they travel up the Gulf Coast the disturbing details of their excursion gradually begin to emerge, revealing Crystal’s sinister past and the couple’s troubling future.
Festival Favorites – Craig Zobel’s COMPLIANCE (Magnolia Pictures)
Starring Ann Dowd & Dreama Walker
Inspired by true events, this harrowing story follows just how far one fast food restaurant manager will go to obey authority in the name of doing what’s “right.”
Festival Favorites – The Zellner Brothers’ KID-THING (Acquisition Title)
Starring Sydney Aguirre, Susan Tyrrell, Nathan Zellner, and David Zellner
A rebellious girl whose existence is devoid of parental guidance spends her time roaming the land, shoplifting, and vandalizing. While playing in the woods one day, her routine is broken when she hears a woman calling for help from a mysterious hole in the ground.
Festival Favorites – Mike Birbiglia’s SLEEPWALK WITH ME (Acquisition Title)
Starring Mike Birbiglia
Co-starring Lauren Ambrose, Carol Kane, James Rebhorn, Cristin Milioti
Co-written and produced by Ira Glass
Reluctant to confront his fears of love, honesty, and growing up, a budding stand-up comedian has a simultaneously hilarious and intense struggle with sleepwalking.
**************************************************
Narrative Competition – Sean Baker’s STARLET (Acquisition Title)
Starlet explores the unlikely friendship between 21 year-old Jane (Dree Hemingway), and 85 year-old Sadie (Besedka Johnson), two women whose worlds collide in California’s San Fernando Valley. Jane spends her time getting high with her dysfunctional roommates, Melissa and Mikey, while taking care of her Chihuahua, Starlet. Sadie, an elderly widow, passes her days alone, tending to her flower garden.
After a confrontation between the two women at Sadie’s yard sale, Jane uncovers a hidden stash of money inside a relic from Sadie’s past. Jane attempts to befriend the caustic older woman in an effort to solve her dilemma and secrets emerge as their relationship grows.
TRT: 103 minutes
**************************************************
Narrative Competition – Jonathan Lisecki’s GAYBY (Acquisition Title)
Jenn (Jenn Harris) and Matt (Matthew Wilkas) are best friends from college who are now in their thirties. Single by choice, Jenn spends her days teaching hot yoga and running errands for her boss. Matt suffers from comic-book writer’s block and can’t get over his ex-boyfriend. They decide to fulfill a youthful promise to have a child together… the old-fashioned way. Can they navigate the serious and unexpected snags they hit as they attempt to get their careers and dating lives back on track in preparation for parenthood? Gayby is an irreverent comedy about friendship, growing older, sex, loneliness, and the family you chose.
TRT: 89 minutes
**************************************************
Documentary Spotlight – Stephen Kessler’s PAUL WILLIAMS STILL ALIVE (Acquisition Title)
He won Grammys and an Academy Award; wrote many #1 songs from Barbara Streisand’s “Evergreen” to the Carpenter’s “We’ve Only Just Begun” as well as Kermit the Frog’s biggest hit, “The Rainbow Connection”; starred in a Brian DePalma movie; put out his own hit records and albums; was a guest on The Tonight Show fifty times; and is the president of ASCAP… and you might not have heard of him. In the 1970’s, Paul Williams was the singer / actor / songwriter that emotional, alienated teenage boys all over the world wanted to be, a sex symbol before MTV, when sex symbols could be 5″2 and sing songs about loneliness with the Muppets. One of those boys was Steve Kessler, a chubby kid from Queens. Thirty years later, Kessler discovered something amazing: Paul Williams didn’t die. And no one had ever tried to make a documentary about him. A wistful musical journey that will re-introduce a new generation to Williams’ soulful classics, Paul Williams: Still Alive is the charmingly self-narrated story of Stephen Kessler’s lifelong obsession with the former superstar-and what happens when the nostalgic filmmaker finally catches up with him
TRT: 84 minutes
**************************************************
Emerging Visions – Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky’s FRANCINE
After serving time in prison, Francine settles down in small-town North America. Through a series of temporary jobs, she tries to regain a foothold in society. However, this security proves just as elusive as the connections she tries to forge with people in the town. As her human relationships falter, Francine looks to animals for support, a development that leads her in a tragically wrong direction.
Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky’s fiction debut Francine focuses on the title figure during a brief chapter in her life. Oscar winner Melissa Leo conveys the longings and woes of the distressed protagonist with remarkable precision, delivering a performance of tremendous force. The narrative provides no psychological backstory, and yet we grow increasingly close to this fragile person, whose life does not have a clear path but rather consists of a series of emotional states. As the protagonist moves through the film’s impressive locations, her path through life is much like an orbiting satellite: detached, lonely and ultimately destined to crash.
TRT:74 minutes
**************************************************
Emerging Visions – Amy Seimetz’s SUN DON’T SHINE (Acquisition Title)
Written and directed by acclaimed actress and emerging filmmaker Amy Seimetz (Silver Bullets, The Dish and The Spoon), Sun Don’t Shine follows Crystal (Kate Lyn Sheil) and her boyfriend Leo (Kentucker Audley) on a tense and mysterious road-trip through the desolate yet hauntingly beautiful landscape of central Florida. From the outset, the purpose of their journey is unclear, and the motivations behind their heated altercations and shady errands are hazy, but sporadic moments of tenderness illuminate the loving bond between the two that exists underneath their overt tensions. As the couple travels up the Gulf Coast past an endless panorama of mangrove fields, trailer parks, and cookie-cutter housing developments, the disturbing details of their excursion gradually begin to emerge, revealing Crystal’s sinister past and the couple’s troubling future. Filmed on location in the environs of Seimetz’s hometown of St. Petersburg, Florida, Sun Don’t Shine is a subtly cryptic story driven by the powerful performances of its lead actors and its eerily poetic setting.
TRT: 82 minutes
**************************************************
Festival Favorites – Craig Zobel’s COMPLIANCE (Magnolia Pictures)
Inspired by a chilling true story, Compliance explores just how far one might go to obey a figure of authority. On a particularly busy day at the local ChickWich, the fast food joint’s high-strung manager Sandra (Ann Dowd, Garden State) receives a phone call from a police officer saying that her employee Becky (newcomer Dreama Walker) has stolen money from a customer. Convinced she’s only doing what’s right, Sandra commences the investigation, following step-by-step instructions from the officer at the other end of the line, no matter how invasive they become. As we watch we ask the question, “Am I certain I wouldn’t do the same?”
The second feature from director Craig Zobel (the man behind the 2007 Sundance hit The Great World of Sound), Compliance recounts this riveting nightmare in which the line between legality and reason is hauntingly blurred. The cast delivers startlingly authentic performances that make the appalling events unfolding on screen all the more difficult to watch, but impossible to turn away from. Delving into the complex psychology of the story which inspired the film, Compliance proves that sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction.
TRT: 90 minutes
**************************************************
Festival Favorites – David Zellner’s KID-THING (Acquisition Title)
In the outskirts of Austin, the days of 10 year-old Annie (newcomer Sydney Aguirre) are filled with solitary mischief. Annie has no friends her age; her father (Nathan Zellner), a goat farmer-cum-demolition derby driver, does little parenting. Playing in the woods one day, she hears a plaintive call for help from a woman (Oscar-nominated actress Susan Tyrell) in an abandoned well. Though Annie feels driven to visit the well daily, she is unsure about how to deal with the woman’s plight.
Brothers David and Nathan Zellner have made an exciting discovery in Sydney Aguirre, an extraordinary child actor who gives Annie a rich inner life. Austin natives, the Zellners return to the festival, most recently with the acclaimed 2008 feature Goliath, with this carefully observed film that is both harsh and poignant, but one that retains their idiosyncratic humor. Atmospheric and visually striking, Kid-Thing is a haunting fable that explores the choices an isolated child might make when left to her own morality-free devices.
TRT: 83 minutes
**************************************************
Festival Favorites – Mike Birbiglia’s SLEEPWALK WITH ME (Acquisition Title)
“I’m going to tell you a story, and it’s true….I always have to tell people that.” So asserts comedian-turned-playwright-turned-filmmaker Mike Birbiglia directly to the viewer at the outset of his autobiographically inspired, fictional feature debut. Birbiglia wears his incisive wit on his sleeve while portraying a cinematic surrogate. We are thrust into the tale of a burgeoning stand-up comedian struggling with the stress of a stalled career, a stale relationship threatening to race out of his control, and the wild spurts of severe sleepwalking he is desperate to ignore.
Based on the successful one-man show, Sleepwalk With Me engages in the kind of passionate and personal storytelling that transfigures intimate anguish into comic art. Produced and co-written by Ira Glass (NPR’s This American Life), Sleepwalk With Me features a stellar supporting cast that includes Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under), Carole Kane (Taxi), James Rebhorn (Meet the Parents), Cristin Milioti (30 Rock), and a sampling from the who’s who of today’s stand-up scene.
Bursting with sincerity, Mike Birbiglia’s foray into the medium marks the invigorating emergence of a strong and poignant American voice, at once hilarious and heartbreaking.
TRT:90 minutes
Press Release: SXSW Festival Slate – 42 West
SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST
DECODING DEEEPAK – Headliners
ELECTRICK CHILDREN – Emerging Visions
GIMME THE LOOT – Narrative Competition
KILLER JOE – Headliners
SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME – Narrative Spotlight
WAITING FOR LIGHTNING – Documentary Spotlight
**************************************************
DECODING DEEEPAK – Headliners
Journalist and filmmaker Gotham Chopra spends a year decoding his father Deepak Chopra, resolving the spiritual icon he is to the world vs. the real man known to his family. What starts as an intimate biopic becomes a deeper plunge into the meaning of identity itself.
**************************************************
ELECTRICK CHILDREN – Emerging Visions
Pregnant by music? On her 15th birthday, Rachel (Julia Garner), a young Mormon girl from a fundamentalist Utah community, discovers a gorvidden cassette tape with rock music on it. Having never heard anything like it, she has a miraculous experience and three months later, claims to have had an immaculate conception from listening to the music. Her parents arrange a marriage, but Rachel runs away to the closest city, Las Vegas, to search for the man who sings on the tape, thinking he has something to do with her mysterious pregnancy. Directed by Rebecca Thomas, the cast includes Julia Garner, Rory Culkin, Liam Aiken, Cynthia Watros, and Billy Zane.
**************************************************
GIMME THE LOOT – Narrative Competition
Malcolm and Sofia, two determined teens from the Bronx, are the ultimate graffiti-writers. When a rival gang buffs their latest masterpiece, they must hatch a plan to get revenge by tagging an iconic NYC landmark, but they need to raise $500 to pull off their spectacular scheme. Over the course of two whirlwind, sun-soaked summer days, Malcolm and Sofia travel on an epic urban adventure involving black market spray cans, illicit bodegas, stolen sneakers, a high stakes heist, and a beautiful, stoned girl whose necklace is literally their key to becoming the biggest writers in the City.
**************************************************
KILLER JOE – Headliners
When 22-year-old Chris (Emile Hirsch) finds himself in debt to a drug lord, he stumbles on the scheme of hiring a hit man to dispatch his mother, whose $50,000 life insurance policy is supposed to go to his sister Dottie (Juno Temple). Chris hires Joe Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a creepy, crazy Dallas cop who moonlights as a contract killer. When Chris can’t pay Joe up front, Joe sets his sight on Dottie as collateral for the job. Based on the play by Pulitzer and Tony Award winner Tracy Letts, Killer Joe is a garish, sexy, black comedy from Academy Award winning director William Friedkin (The Exorcist, The French Connection) and stars Emile Hirsch, Matthew McConaughey, Juno Temple, Thomas Hayden Church, and Gina Gershon.
**************************************************
SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME – Narrative Spotlight
A deadpan fable about time sneaking up; thirty-five years in the life of Max (Keith Poulson), his best friend Sal (Nick Offerman) and a woman they both adore, Lyla (Jess Weixler).
The trio stumbles through mandatory but seemingly unfulfilling entanglements, at weddings, funerals, hospitals, eateries, divorce courts and the tool shed.
**************************************************
Jacob Rosenberg’s WAITING FOR LIGHTNING – Documentary Spotlight
From the producers of STEP INTO LIQUID, comes WAITING FOR LIGHTNING, the story of visionary skateboarder Danny Way, who jumped China’s Great Wall and created a new movement in sport.
From the producers of STEP INTO LIQUID, comes WAITING FOR LIGHTNING, the story of Danny Way, a young boy from a broken home in Vista, CA, whose passion for skateboarding would one day bring him and his creation, a ramp of prodigious and dangerous proportions, across many cultural and ideological boundaries to attempt the impossible: jump China’s Great Wall on a skateboard. It’s a film about how much abuse the body can sustain, how deep you have to dig to survive the betrayals of family, and how high and far dreams can fly.
Press Release: ‘The Imposter’ Rights Acquired
INDOMINA ACQUIRES NORTH AMERICAN RIGHTS TO A&E INDIEFILMS’ THE IMPOSTER
Documentary meets Film Noir Was Critical Hit at Sundance and Will Be at SXSW
Beverly Hills, CA (February 22, 2012) — It was announced today that The Indomina Group, the fast-growing producer and distributor of film, TV and trans-media content, has acquired North American Rights to The Imposter, from A&E IndieFilms. Bart Layton’s directorial debut premiered to great critical acclaim at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and will be shown at the upcoming SXSW festival. Indomina is planning a theatrical release in 2012.
The Imposter was produced by Dimitri Doganis and executive produced by John Battsek (The Tillman Story, One Day in September), Academy-Award-winner Simon Chinn (Project Nim, Man on Wire), A&E IndieFilms’ Bob DeBitetto (The Tillman Story, The September Issue) and Molly Thompson (Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer, Jesus Camp) and Katherine Butler (Tyrannosaur, Kill List) of Film4 and Tabitha Jackson (Cave of Forgotten Dreams) of Channel 4.
Layton’s documentary is an A&E IndieFilms, Film4 and Channel 4 presentation of a RAW Production in association with Red Box Films and Passion Pictures. A+E Networks retains the television rights to the film.
“Few documentaries are able to draw you in and keep you captivated in the way that The Imposter does,” stated Indomina Group Vice Chairman and CEO Jasbinder Singh Mann. “This is a unique and highly engaging story that unfolds superbly on the screen. We’re excited to have it on our release slate.”
Notes Layton, “It’s very exciting that Indomina has come on board The Imposter. We have been particularly impressed by their passion for the film and their commitment to bringing our movie to North American audiences.”
“We are thrilled to partner with Indomina to bring The Imposter to theaters,” said Bob DeBitetto, President and General Manager of A&E Network and BIO Channel. “The Imposter is documentary filmmaking at its best, combining a riveting true story with elements of film noir, and we look forward to sharing it with audiences.”
The Imposter is a chilling factual thriller that chronicles the story of a 13-year-old boy who disappears without a trace from San Antonio, Texas in 1994. Three and a half years later he is found alive, thousands of miles away in a village in southern Spain with a story of kidnapping and torture. His family is overjoyed to bring him home. But all is not quite as it seems. The boy bears many of the same distinguishing marks he always had, but why does he now have a strange accent? Why does he look so different? Any why doesn’t the family seem to notice these glaring inconsistencies? It’s only when an investigator starts asking questions that this strange tale takes an even stranger turn.
The stranger than fiction mystery, which features many twists and turns, is told in a cinematic language that combines documentary and stylized visualizations. Perception is challenged at every turn, and just as the truth begins to dawn on you, another truth merges leaving you even more on edge.
The deal was brokered by Josh Braun at Submarine Entertainment and CAA on behalf of the filmmakers. Indomina’s Vice President of Acquisitions, Rob Williams, negotiated the deal for Indomina.
Recent acquisitions for The Indomina Group’s releasing division include Ice-T’s performance movie Something From Nothing: The Art of Rap, and Sheldon Candis’ LUV, starring Common that were both acquired this year at Sundance Film Festival. Additional acquisitions include, A Fantastic Fear of Everything starring Simon Pegg and the thriller Life Without Principle – the newest film from internationally acclaimed director/producer and contemporary maestro of Hong Kongese action cinema Johnnie To. Upcoming productions include a new live action Afro Samurai with Samuel L. Jackson, Cabin Fever: Patient Zero and Cabin Fever: Outbreak.
ABOUT INDOMINA
The Indomina Group is a vertically integrated independent studio launched in 2008 by Vice Chairman and CEO Jasbinder Singh Mann.
Operating in Los Angeles and the Dominican Republic, Indomina takes a transmedia approach to collaborating with content creators around the world to bring innovative entertainment properties to the market.
The company’s global operations include the production and distribution of motion pictures, television, music, interactive games, and the ownership of world-class studio facilities and production services.
ABOUT A&E INDIEFILMS
A&E IndieFilms is the feature documentary production arm of A&E Network. A&E IndieFilms is committed to developing the work of outstanding independent filmmakers and helping them reach the broadest possible audience. A&E IndieFilms commissions, acquires and provides finishing funds for feature documentaries intended for co-branded theatrical release. Films include the 2006 and 2007 Academy Award nominees for Best Documentary Feature, Murderball and Jesus Camp; Nanette Burstein’s American Teen, which received the Directing Award at Sundance Film Festival; Amir Bar-Lev’s My Kid Could Paint That; R.J. Cutler’s The September Issue; Amir Bar-Lev’s 2011 PGA Award nominee The Tillman Story and Alex Gibney’s 2011 PGA Award and DGA Award nominee Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer.
ABOUT FILM4
Film4, headed by Tessa Ross, is Channel 4 Television’s feature film division. Film4 develops and co-finances films and is known for working with the most innovative talent in the UK, whether new or established. Film4 has developed and co-financed many of the most successful UK films of recent years, films like Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours, Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges, Steve McQueen’s Hunger, Mike Leigh’s Another Year, Chris Morris’ Four Lions and Peter Mullan’s NEDS.
Recent releases include Richard Ayoade’s Submarine, Joe Cornish’s directorial debut Attack The Block, Ben Palmer’s The Inbetweeners Movie, Lone Scherfig’s One Day, Ben Wheatley’s Kill List, Paddy Considine’s debut feature Tyrannosaur, Miranda July’s The Future, Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights, Terence Davies’ The Deep Blue Sea, Carol Morley’s Dreams of a Life, Phyllida Lloyd’s The Iron Lady andSteve McQueen’s Shame.
Future releases include Pawel Pawlikowski’s The Woman In The Fifth, Bart Layton’s The Imposter, Sophie Fiennes’ The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology, Walter Salles’ On The Road, Peter Strickland’s Berberian Sound Studio, Roger Michell’s Hyde Park on Hudson, Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin, Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers, Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths and Danny Boyle’s Trance.
Press Release: ‘No Room for Rockstars’ One-Night Event
VANS OFF THE WALL & CINEDIGM TO RELEASE NO ROOM FOR ROCKSTARS FOR A NATIONWIDE, ONE-NIGHT THEATRICAL EVENT ON THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2012
Los Angeles (February 22, 2012) — Vans Off The Wall and Cinedigm Entertainment Group will present NO ROOM FOR ROCKSTARS in theaters across the country in an exclusive, one-night engagement on Thursday, March 1, 2012. The feature documentary is produced by Stacy Peralta and Agi Orsi (Dogtown and Z-Boys, Riding Giants), and directed by Parris Patton (Amazing Journey: The Story of the WHO), with Cecy Rangel as co-producer and Doug Palladini as executive producer. For a complete list of cities, theaters and showtimes for NO ROOM FOR ROCKSTARS, please visit: www.noroomforrockstars.com.
The one-night event includes a special appearance by NO ROOM FOR ROCKSTARS creators including Peralta, Orsi, Rangel, Patton and Palladini at Santa Monica’s Laemmle’s Monica 4-plex that featured band, Suicide Silence, will also attend.
NO ROOM FOR ROCKSTARS made its world premiere at the 2012 Slamdance Film Festival and will play next month at South By Southwest (SXSW). It will be released on iTunes on April 2 and DVD on May 15.
About NO ROOM FOR ROCKSTARS
For 17 years, the Vans Warped Tour has been a punk rock juggernaut, a misfit circus crisscrossing North America every summer as a wandering minstrel show for youth culture. Embracing a powerful, unifying ethic created by its founder Kevin Lyman, the Vans Warped Tour has grown and prospered as the music industry itself imploded and continues to sift through the rubble in search of a new way forward. Along the way, Warped has provided a launching pad for a dizzying array of talent, from Green Day and Blink 182 to Ice-T, Eminem and No Doubt, along with perennial punk legends such as Pennywise, All, Bouncing Souls and Bad Religion.
With more than 300 hours of film shot during the 2010 tour, NO ROOM FOR ROCKSTARS documents the true stories of modern era rock and roll from every possible angle. From the kids in the van playing parking lots to gain notice, to the veteran stage manager whose life was saved by the tour, to the musician who crosses over to mainstream success while on the road, NO ROOM FOR ROCKSTARS is cinema vérité story-telling at its finest. A historical retrospective or concert film this is not. NO ROOM FOR ROCKSTARS is meaningful insight into current state of rock and roll and the zeitgeist of youth culture. Running Time: 97 minutes. Rating: TBD.
Press Release: 42 West Spring Preview
NBC’S SMASH
Airing: Mondays at 10PM
Theresa Rebeck is the creator and executive producer of NBC’s new musical drama “Smash.”
Rebeck is also an acclaimed and widely produced playwright whose newest play, “Seminar” starring Alan Rickman, is currently playing on Broadway.
Rebeck’s extensive television credits include writer/co-producer for “NYPD Blue,” writer/co-executive producer for “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” co-executive producer for “Canterbury’s Law,” and writer for “L.A. Law,” “Third Watch,” “Dream On” and “Brooklyn Bridge.” For her work on “NYPD Blue,” Rebeck received two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Drama Series, the Writer’s Guild of America Award for Episodic Drama, a Peabody Award, and an Edgar Award. Rebeck has also written the screenplays for the films “Gossip” and “Harriet the Spy.”
Her past New York productions include “The Understudy,” “Mauritius,” “The Scene,” “The Water’s Edge,” “Bad Dates,” “The Butterfly Collection,” “Spike Heels,” “Loose Knit,” “The Family of Mann,” “View of the Dome” and “Omnium Gatherum” (co-written, Pulitzer finalist). Rebeck’s published works include “Collected Plays Volumes I-III” and “Free Fire Zone” with Smith & Kraus, as well as novels, “Three Girls and Their Brother” and “Twelve Rooms with a View.”
As a playwright, Rebeck has received numerous awards including the National Theatre Conference Award, the William Inge New Voices Playwriting Award, the PEN/Laura Pels Foundation Award, an Alex Award and a Lilly Award.
Rebeck is a Contributing Editor to the Harvard Review, an Associate Artist of the Roundabout Theatre Company, serves on the Board of Directors for the Lark, and she is the Treasurer of the Dramatist Guild. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, Jess, and two children, Cooper and Cleo.
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen
Release Date: March 9, 2012
Directed by: Lasse Hallström
Screenplay by: Simon Beaufoy, Based on the novel by Paul Torday
Produced by: Paul Webster
Executive Produced by: Jamie Laurenson, Paula Jalfon, Zygi Kamasa, Guy Avshalom, Stephen Garrett
Co-Executive Produced by: Samuel Hadida, Victor Hadida
Co-Produced by: Nicky Kentish Barnes
Cast: Emily Blunt, Ewan McGregor, Kristin Scott Thomas,
Amr Waked
Run Time/Rating: Running Time TBD / This film has not yet been rated by the Motion Picture Association of America.
SYNOPSIS:
From the beloved director of Chocolat and the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Slumdog Millionaire comes the inspirational comedy Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. A visionary sheik (Amr Waked) has a big dream – to bring salmon fishing to the desert. Willing to spare no expense, he instructs his representative (Emily Blunt) to turn his dream into reality, an extraordinary feat that will require the involvement of Britain’s leading fisheries expert (Ewan McGregor) who happens to think the project both absurd and unachievable. That is, until the Prime Minister’s overzealous press secretary (Kristin Scott Thomas) latches on for its potential as a ‘good will’ story. Now, this unlikely team will put it all on the line and embark on an upstream journey of faith and fish to prove the impossible, possible.
CASA DE MI PADRE
A GARY SANCHEZ PRODUCTIONS and NALA FILMS PRODUCTION
Release Date: March 16, 2012
Armando Alvarez (Will Ferrell) has lived and worked on his father’s ranch in Mexico his entire life. As the ranch faces financial strains, Armando’s younger brother Raul (Diego Luna) shows up with his new fiancée, Sonia (Genesis Rodriguez) and pledges to settle all his father’s debts. It seems that Raul’s success as an international businessman means the ranch’s troubles are over, but when Armando falls for Sonia, and Raul’s business dealings turn out to be less than legit, the Alvarez family finds themselves in a full-out war with Mexico’s most feared drug lord, the mighty Onza (Gael Garcia Bernal).
This film is in Spanish
Run Time: 84 Minutes
Rating: R
Directed by: Matt Piedmont
Cast: Will Ferrell, Gael Garcia Bernal, Diego Luna, Genesis Rodriguez, Pedro Armendáriz Jr., Nick Offerman, Efren Ramirez, and Adrian Martinez
MUSICAL CHAIRS
Directed by: Susan Seidelman
Produced by: Janet Carrus and Joey Dedio
Starring: Leah Pipes, E.J. Bonilla, Priscilla Lopez, Jaime Tirelli, Laverne Cox, Nelson Landrieu, Angelic Zambrana, Morgan Spector, Auti Angel, Jerome Preston Bates, Dominic Colon and Joey Dedio.
Release Date: March 23, 2012 New York and Southern Florida / March 30, 2012 Los Angeles and Chicago
Running Time: 100 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Website: musicalchairsthefilm.com
Set against the exciting backdrop of competitive ballroom dancing, MUSICAL CHAIRS is about Armando a Bronx-bred Latino who aspires to be a dancer but whose only way in is as handyman at a Manhattan dance studio, and Mia, an Upper East Side princess who is the studio’s star performer. Though worlds apart, their shared passion for dance promises to bring them together until a tragic accident changes Mia’s life forever, and she finds herself wheelchair-bound at a rehab facility, with her dreams of a dance career shattered. Fortunately, Armando has enough dreams for both of them and, when he hears about a wheelchair ballroom dance competition that will soon be held in NY, he sees a way to return something to Mia that she thinks is lost forever. At first she is reluctant–wheelchair dancing, though highly popular overseas, is something she never even knew existed. But, with the help of several other patients at the rehab center, Armando organizes an intense training program that will bring them all center stage and in the spotlight. The prize is irrelevant; what they really stand to win back is their zest for life.
THE RAID
Opens March 23, 2012
Directed and written by: Gareth Evans
Produced by: Ario Sagantoro
*** OFFICIAL SELECTION ***
TORONTO INT’L FILM FESTIVAL 2011
SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2012
41st ANNUAL NEW DIRECTORS/NEW FILMS 2012
** Score by Mike Shinoda of Lincoln Park and Joe Trapanese **
Rama, a member of a special forces team, arrives at a rundown apartment block with a mission to remove its owner, a notorious drug lord. The building has become a sanctuary to killers, gangs, rapists and thieves seeking accommodation in the one place they know they cannot be touched by the police. When a spotter blows their cover, Rama and his team must fight their way through every floor and every room not just to complete their mission but to survive their bloody ordeal.
Opening NY/LA on March 23, 2012 | Runtime: 100 min | Not Yet Rated
BRAKE
A film by Gabe Torres
VOD: February 17
In theaters: March 23
Synopsis
Secret Service Agent Jeremy Reins (Stephen Dorff) is about to have a very bad day. He wakes up trapped in the dark, cramped trunk of a moving car with no recollection of how or why he’s there. The only light comes from the blood-red digital numbers ticking away above his head that signify one thing… he’s running out of time.
As the captors reveal themselves and their motives while torturing their hostage mentally and physically, Jeremy realizes he is a pawn in their potentially catastrophic plot. He will not be set free until he gives up information about the President he’s been trained not to reveal.
A nonstop action thriller from director Gabe Torries, BRAKE features a heroically unflinching performance by Stephen Dorff as well as supporting turns from Chyler Leigh (Grey’s Anatomy) and Tom Berenger (INCEPTION).
INTRUDERS
Directed by: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
Starring: Clive Owen, Carice Van Houten, Pilar López De Ayala, Daniel Brühl Kerry Fox and Héctor Alterio.
Though no one can see him, Hollow Face lurks in the corners, desperately desiring love but only knowing how to spread fear and hate. He creeps into the life of John Farrow (Clive Owen) after Farrow’s beloved 13-year-old daughter Mia (Ella Purnell) is assaulted in their home. The line between the real and the imaginary blurs as fissures start to open within the family unit. It seems that no security measure can keep Hollow Face out.
From visionary filmmaker JUAN CARLOS FRESNADILLO (28 Weeks Later, the upcoming Highlander reboot), INTRUDERS is the chilling story of two children living in different countries, each visited nightly by a faceless being who wants to take possession of them.
INTRUDERS stars CLIVE OWEN (Children of Men), CARICE VAN HOUTEN (Repo Men), PILAR LÓPEZ DE AYALA (Juana la Loca),DANIEL BRÜHL (Inglorious Bastards), KERRY FOX (Shallow Grave) and HÉCTOR ALTERIO (Son of the Bride).
The film’s producers are ENRIQUE LÓPEZ-LAVIGNE (28 Weeks Later, The Impossible), BELÉN ATIENZA (Pan’s Labyrinth, The Impossible) and MERCEDES GAMERO (Planet 51, Torrente 4: Lethal Crisis). JESÚS DE LA VEGA (Hierro, The 2 Sides of the Bed) and RICARDO G. ARROJO (Planet 51, Julia’s Eyes) serve as Executive Producers. The script is by NICO CASARIEGO (Tú qué harías por amor?) and JAIME MARQUES (Takers).
Millennium Entertainment will release INTRUDERS on March 30, 2012.
NO ROOM FOR ROCKSTARS
Producers: Stacy Peralta and Agi Orsi
Co-Producer: Cecy Rangel
Director of Photogaphy: Josh Slazman
Editors: Parris Patton and Josh Altman
Director: Parris Patton
Executive Producer: Doug Palladini
Release Date: April 2, 2012 on ITUNES
Running Time: 97 Minutes
For 17 years, the Vans Warped Tour has been a punk rock juggernaut, a misfit circus criss-crossing North America every summer as a wandering minstrel show for youth culture. Embracing a powerful, unifying ethic created by its founder Kevin Lyman, the Vans Warped Tour has grown and prospered as the music industry itself imploded and continues to sift through the rubble in search of a new way forward. Along the way, Warped has provided a launching pad for a dizzying array of talent, from Green Day and Blink 182 to Ice-T, Eminem and No Doubt, along with perennial punk legends such as Pennywise, All, Bouncing Souls and Bad Religion.
With more than 300 hours of film shot during the 2010 tour, No Room For Rock Stars documents the true stories of modern era rock and roll from every possible angle. From the kids in the van playing parking lots to gain notice, to the veteran stage manager whose life was saved by the tour, to the musician who crosses over to mainstream success while on the road, No Room For Rock Stars is Cinema Vérité story-telling at its finest. A historical retrospective or concert film this is not. No Room For Rock Stars is meaningful insight into current state of rock and roll and the zeitgeist of youth culture.
Accompanying the film will be a blazing soundtrack of Vans Warped Tour all-time greatest hits. The project will also have a significant library of bonus content, some of which will be featured on the No Room For Rockstars mini-site at vans.com/warped and vanswarpedtour.com.
From the team that brought you the highly acclaimed Dogtown and Z-Boys, No Room For Rockstars will resonate beyond tour and punk rock fans to anyone seeking out the true stories of rock and roll.
http://noroomforrockstars.com/
“AMERICAN REUNION”
WRITERS / DIRECTORS
JON HURWITZ & HAYDEN SCHLOSSBERG
Universal Pictures will release on April 6, 2012
BLUE LIKE JAZZ
Director: Steve Taylor
Based on the New York Times Best Selling novel “Blue Like Jazz” by Donald Miller
Script by: Steve Taylor, Ben Pearson & Donald Miller
Release Date: APRIL 13, 2012
In Blue Like Jazz, Don (Allman), a pious nineteen-year-old sophomore at a Texas junior college, impulsively decides to escape his religious upbringing for life in the Pacific Northwest at one of the most progressive campuses in America, Reed College in Portland. Upon arrival, Reed’s surroundings and eccentric student body proves to be far different than he could possibly imagine from the environment from which he came, forcing him to embark on a journey of self-discovery to understand who he is and what he truly believes.
Starring: Marshall Allman (TRUE BLOOD), Claire Holt (THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, PRETTY LITTLE LIARS), and Tania Raymonde (LOST)
THE MOTH DIARIES
A film by Mary Harron
SYNOPSIS
Acclaimed director Mary Harron (AMERICAN PSYCHO, THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE) returns with the chilling story of Rebecca (Sarah Bolger), a young girl who, haunted by her father’s suicide, enrolls in an elite boarding school for girls. Before long, Rebecca’s friendship with the popular Lucy (Sarah Gadon) is shattered by the arrival of a dark and mysterious new student named Ernessa (Lily Cole). Lucy falls under Ernessa’s spell and becomes emotionally and physically consumed by her glamorous new friend. Rebecca, whose overtures of concern are rejected by Lucy, finds herself lost and confused. She begins to develop a crush on her handsome English teacher, Mr. Davies (Scott Speedman) and immerses herself in the Gothic vampire novel Carilla for his class. Rebecca starts to suspect that Ernessa is a vampire, but, despite the suspicious deaths that begin to occur, her fears are treated as simple girlish jealousy. As the bodies of young girls pile up and the line between reality and the supernatural starts to blur, Rebecca decides to take matters into her own hands and get rid of Ernessa. Who can say what is real and what is unreal to the heart consumed by passion and a mind afire with loss? Based on the bestselling novel by Rachel Klein, THE MOTH DIARIES is a harrowing story of the anxieties, lusts and fears of adolescence.
Running time: 85 minutes
Release Date: April 20, 2012
LOCKOUT
Release Date: April 20, 2012
Starring Guy Pearce (Memento, Prometheus) and Maggie Grace (Taken, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn) and set in the near future, Lockout follows a falsely convicted ex-government agent (Pearce), whose one chance at obtaining freedom lies in the dangerous mission of rescuing the President’s daughter (Grace) from rioting convicts at an outer space maximum-security prison. Lockout was directed by Stephen St. Leger and James Mather from their script co-written with Luc Besson, who is also a producer. Peter Stormare co-stars.
CAST: GUY PEARCE (Memento, The King’s Speech, upcoming Prometheus), MAGGIE GRACE (Taken, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Parts 1 & 2, upcoming Taken 2), PETER STORMARE (Fargo, The Big Lebowski, upcoming Last Stand), LENNIE JAMES (Colombiana, HBO’s Hung)
DIRECTOR: James Mather and Stephen St. Leger
WRITERS: Stephen Saint Leger, James Mather & Luc Besson
THINK LIKE A MAN
Release Date: April 20, 2012
Based on Steve Harvey’s best-selling book, Think Like a Man follows four interconnected and diverse men whose love lives are shaken up after the ladies they are pursuing buy Harvey’s book and start taking his advice to heart. When the band of brothers realize they have been betrayed by one of their own, they conspire using the book’s insider information to turn the tables and teach the women a lesson of their own. The movie is directed by Tim Story and written by Keith Merryman & David A. Newman.
Directed by: Tim Story
Written by: Keith Merryman & David A. Newman
Based upon the book: “Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man” by Steve Harvey
Produced by: Will Packer
Executive Producers: Steve Harvey, Rushion McDonald, Rob Hardy, Glenn S. Gainor
Cast: Michael Ealy, Jerry Ferrara, Meagan Good, Regina Hall, Kevin Hart , Taraji P. Henson, Terrence J, Jenifer Lewis, Romany Malco, Gary Owen, Gabrielle Union
This film is not yet rated by the MPAA. For future ratings information refer to http://www.filmratings.com. Credits not final
BERNIE
Directed by Richard Linklater
Starring Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine and Matthew McConaughey
On behalf of Millennium Entertainment, you and a guest are invited to an advance press screening of BERNIE.
In the tiny, rural town of Carthage, TX, assistant funeral director Bernie Tiede was one of the town’s most beloved residents. He taught Sunday school, sang in the church choir and was always willing to lend a helping hand. Everyone loved and appreciated Bernie, so it came as no surprise when he befriended Marjorie Nugent, an affluent widow who was as well known for her sour attitude as her fortune. Bernie frequently traveled with Marjorie and even managed her banking affairs. Marjorie quickly became fully dependant on Bernie and his generosity and Bernie struggled to meet her increasing demands. Bernie continued to handle her affairs, and the townspeople went months without seeing Marjorie. The people of Carthage were shocked when it was reported that Marjorie Nugent had been dead for some time, and Bernie Tiede was being charged with the murder.
In this dark comedy, director Richard Linklater captures all the hilarity, friendliness, eccentricity and absolute strangeness of small-town Texas life. Jack Black plays Bernie Tiede, Shirley MacLaine plays Mrs. Nugent, and Matthew McConaughey plays the town’s blustery real-life District Attorney, Danny Buck Davidson, who was determined to get to the bottom of the crime. Co-written by Linklater and Skip Hollandsworth, BERNIE is a Mandalay Vision and Wind Dancer Films production.
Millennium Entertainment will release BERNIE on April 27, 2012.
Running Time: 104 minutes
MEN IN BLACK 3
Release Date: MAY 25, 2012
Director Barry Sonnenfeld has found commercial and artistic success with such films as MEN IN BLACK I & II, GET SHORTY, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES, WILD WILD WEST, BIG TROUBLE and RV. He has produced or executive produced LADYKILLERS, LEMONY SNICKET’S A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS, OUT OF SIGHT, and ENCHANTED.
His next film is the highly anticipated MEN IN BLACK III that is being released Memorial Day Weekend 2012.
Sonnenfeld began his career as a cinematographer, collaborating with the Coen Brothers on their first feature film, BLOOD SIMPLE and continuing with RAISING ARIZONA and MILLER’S CROSSING. In addition, Sonnenfeld served as Director of Photography on Penny Marshall’s BIG, Danny DeVito’s THROW MOMMA FROM THE TRAIN, and two Rob Reiner films, WHEN HARRY MET SALLY and MISERY.
Sonnenfeld received a 2007 Prime Time Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series and the 2007 DGA Award for his directorial achievement on PUSHING DAISIES, PIE-LETTE. He has directed numerous Clio award winning commercials for Nike, Reebok, and Isuzu.
For television, he has executive produced KAREN SISCO, and directed and executive produced MAXIMUM BOB, THE TICK, NOTES FROM THE UNDERBELLY and PUSHING DAISIES.
For the past 8 years, Sonnenfeld was a Contributing Editor for Esquire Magazine where he wrote a monthly column, “The Digital Man.” He is also an elected board member of the Eastern Directors Council of the Directors Guild of America.
He lives in East Hampton, New York and Telluride, Colorado with his beautiful wife, Susan and worries about his strong willed daughter, Chloe.
KILLER JOE
When 22-year-old Chris (Emile Hirsch) finds himself in debt to a drug lord, he stumbles on the scheme of hiring a hit man to dispatch his mother, whose $50,000 life insurance policy is supposed to go to his sister Dottie (Juno Temple). Chris hires Joe Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a creepy, crazy Dallas cop who moonlights as a contract killer. When Chris can’t pay Joe up front, Joe sets his sight on Dottie as collateral for the job. Based on the play by Pulitzer and Tony Award winner Tracy Letts, Killer Joe is a garish, sexy, black comedy from Academy Award winning director William Friedkin (The Exorcist, The French Connection) and stars Emile Hirsch, Matthew McConaughey, Juno Temple, Thomas Haden Church, and Gina Gershon.
LD Distribution will release Killer Joe in early summer 2012.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.