Authors — Jason Guerrasio

GOTHAMS FIND NEW VENUE

In an announcement this morning, the IFP‘s 18th Annual Gotham Awards will take place at the posh Cipriani Wall Street on Tuesday, Dec. 2. Last year the event was housed at Brooklyn’s Steiner Studios. The Gothams is the kick off to the awards season each year and honors independently-distributed American features. This year’s nominees will be announced on Oct. 20. For more on the Gothams go to gotham.ifp.org
by Jason Guerrasio on Jul 7, 2008
BALLAST LEAVES IFC FOR STRAND

According to Variety, Lance Hammer‘s Sundance award-winning film Ballast has dropped out of its deal with IFC and has moved to Strand Releasing. An excerpt: “Obviously, we’re disappointed, but how can we not support him if he tries to take control of this himself?” IFC Entertainment veep of acquisitions Arianna Bocco said. “We wanted the movie, we love the movie, and we think that we would have done really well with it. It’s the first time that’s happened with us.” “The budget was big enough that it would be hard in the current model to see that money back,” Hammer […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jun 20, 2008
“HEAVY METAL IN BAGHDAD”

Highlighted in The New York Times as well as our magazine during it’s impressive run through the festival circuit that included Toronto, Berlin and SXSW, Eddy Moretti and Vice magazine creator Suroosh Alvi‘s documentary on the only heavy metal band in Iraq is a gripping account of survival and the escape that music can bring. The band, Acrassicauda (English translation: Black Scorpion), is comprised of a group of twentysomethings who learned how to speak English through watching Hollywood movies and listening to bootleg tapes of Metallica and Slayer. Moretti and Alvi first heard of the band soon after the fall […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Jun 14, 2008
Moral Burdens

Turkish-German filmmaker Fatih Akin’s The Edge of Heaven is a fierce, generous melodrama of boundaries and passions, of blood and yearning, the second of a trilogy about émigré culture patterned after Fassbinder’s “BRD Trilogy” (The Marriage of Maria Braun, Lola, Veronika Voss) of post World War II German history. His fiery prior feature, Head-On, is the “love” component, with Edge comprising “death” (with “evil” on the way). Comparisons can be drawn to other work by the late German director, especially with his inclusion of Fassbinder stalwart Hanna Schygulla in a major, moving role. Akin seems to have found his métier […]
by Jason Guerrasio on May 21, 2008
IFP ANNOUNCES ’08 DOC LAB PARTICIPANTS

Created to support high-quality, independent projects at the rough cut stage of production prior to submission to film festivals, IFP announced today the films that will take part in its May Documentary Lab that connects first-time feature filmmakers with leading industry mentors, which this year includes filmmakers Doug Block (51 Birch Street), Liz Garbus of Moxie Firecracker Films (The Farm: Angola, USA) and editor Keiko Deguchi (Cats of Mirkitani). Excerpts from the films will then screen at IFP’s Independent Film Week in New York City this September. The 10 selected films include: Burning in the Sun – A young entrepreneur […]
by Jason Guerrasio on May 13, 2008
ONLY IN CANNES…

Will you see a huge billboard of Robert Downey Jr. in blackface. The promotion is for the upcoming summer release Tropic Thunder, which also stars Jack Black and Ben Stiller (who co-wrote-directed) as a group of actors making the most expensive Vietnam War film and finding themselves in real combat. Downey Jr. plays super serious actor Kirk Lazarus who’s been cast in the role of a black solider. Not enough? Tom Cruise has a cameo as a bald, foul-mouthed studio head. Image courtesey of Variety’s The Circuit.
by Jason Guerrasio on May 12, 2008
GLENN KENNY OUT AT PREMIERE

Adding to the already long list of axed film critics, Glenn Kenny announced this morning on his blog that he’s been terminated from his position at Premiere.com. One of the only (if not thee only) survivors when Premiere closed its print edition over a year ago, Kenny’s blog has since been a marvelous edition to the blogsphere as his colorful style and almost scary knowledge of film was wonderful to read daily (and the comments were always entertaining to read). Here’s his post from this morning: I’ve just been informed that my position at Premiere.com is being terminated. What this […]
by Jason Guerrasio on May 8, 2008
CRITERION GOES BLU

There’s nothing like a film getting the Criterion treatment. And having this job I get the privilege of finding out before many what they have next up their sleeves. But the latest announcement doesn’t have to do with a film but of the company adapting to new technology. The Criterion Collection is preparing to put several of their titles on Blu-ray. Read below. The time has arrived! Several titles from the Criterion Collection are set for Blu-ray treatment beginning in October. These new editions will feature glorious high-definition picture and sound, all the supplemental content of the DVD releases, and […]
by Jason Guerrasio on May 7, 2008
SUNDANCE CHANNEL TO RAINBOW

In a move that has been rumored for months, Variety reports today that Rainbow Media (which also owns AMC and Independent Film Channel) has acquired the Sundance Channel for $496 million. According to the story: Rainbow Media will exchange about 12.7 million shares it owns in GE, tax-free, with a cash adjustment based on the value of the GE shares in relation to the total purchase price. GE will get all of the GE shares, and CBS and [Robert] Redford’s entities will get cash for their stakes.
by Jason Guerrasio on May 7, 2008
“BELLA”

Winner of the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto Film Festival in 2006 followed by an impressive festival circuit run, Mexican director Alejandro Gomez Monteverde‘s moving debut feature follows the events that occur during one day in New York City to a former soccer star turned Mexican restaurant cook (Eduardo Verástegui) and a fired waitress (Tammy Blanchard), who recently learned she’s pregnant. The two take a trip to the burbs that reveals how the events of the past have made them who they are today. A spotlight on Mexican family and commentary on Latino stereotypes as much as a touching […]
by Jason Guerrasio on May 5, 2008

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