Distribution veteran Paul Federbush has been named International Director, Feature Film Program, at the Sundance Institute. Through his work at a number of companies over the years, Federbush is well known in the independent community. Most recently, Federbush formed the distribution company Red Flag Releasing with Laura Kim, and previously he was Senior Vice President of Acquisitions and Production at Warner Independent, where he developed such projects as Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, and Hany Abu Assad’s Paradise Now. From the press release: In his new role, Federbush is responsible for the planning and execution of the international work of Sundance […]
Factory 25 has acquired North American rights to Brian Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky’s Francine, a bold and mysterious drama starring Melissa Leo as a paroled convict who finds solace in caring for animals. The film premieres this week, on September 12, at MoMA in a theatrical release by The Film Sales Company, and it will continue to play across the country this fall. Factory 25 and The Film Sales Company will co-release the film on VOD and digitally beginning November 1. DVD and non-theatrical screenings will begin in Spring, 2013. Francine premiered this year at the Berlin Film Festival, and […]
Though she has more than a decade of experience directing short films (including The Third Note and Road) and episodic television (Redfern Now, My Place), Australian writer/director Catriona McKenzie is only now ushering her first feature in the world. A long-gestating project she has been working on since the mid 2000s, Satellite Boy is an evocative coming-of-age tale about a 12-year-old Aboriginal boy, Pete (Cameron Wallaby), who lives with his grandfather (David Gulpilil) in a crumbling outdoor cinema in the untouched beauty of Western Australia’s Kimberley country. When his home comes under threat from a mining company, Pete and his best […]
A recent NPR story, “When a Kickstarter Campaign Fails, Does Anyone Get Their Money Back?”, raised the issue of failed crowdfunding campaigns and financial restitution to supporters. It’s a relevant topic as Kickstarter is increasingly acting as a pre-sale, customer-financing platform for sundry consumer, tech, and design goods. iPod wristwatches, RAW-shooting cameras, tripods and remotes, aquariums — many projects, some from creators with manufacturing backgrounds and some without, are bypassing the angel investor round and raising start-up capital directly from their customers. And while these are creative projects, they’re different from the short films and features we highlight on our […]
Next week, we are off to IFP’s Spotlight on Documentaries, representing our work-in-progress, Rich Hill. It’s exciting and a bit daunting — as we haven’t shared much of anything with anyone yet. Neither of us relishes the notion of the “pitch,” but at the same time, we’ve been a two-person band, wearing many hats, for almost a year now, and we need to raise funds to complete production. We feel like we’re ready to bring on an executive producer, and, maybe even, to partner with a broadcaster. Will this be the week? We’re packing our bags, doing our research and, […]
A Bethlehem-born, Saudi Arabia-raised writer/director who earned her MFA in film at Columbia University in New York City, Annemarie Jacir was named as one of Filmmaker‘s “25 New Faces” in 2004 on the strength of her short film Like Twenty Impossibles. Her first feature, the romantic drama Salt of This Sea, premiered at Cannes in 2008, where it won the FIPRESCI International Critics’ Prize, and was later selected as Palestine’s official submission to the Academy Awards. Following her mentorship by the Chinese directing great Zhang Yimou in the Rolex Arts Initiative, Jacir completed her second film, When I Saw You […]
West of Memphis is a testament to the power of documentary–and celebrity–to effect social change. If that sounds grandiose then consider that Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky’s Paradise Lost documentaries inspired Johnny Depp (pictured at the Toronto International Film Festival press conference) to campaign for the release of three convicted child murderers. Rock stars Eddie Vedder and Henry Rollins performed benefit concerts and produced a CD to raise awareness and funds for them. Peter Jackson, known for directing fantasy blockbusters like Lord of The Rings and King Kong, financed a new investigation. In 1993, three teenage boys were sentenced to death for […]
Quebecois filmmaker Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette started off as a documentary director, making such features as Les Petits princes des bidonvilles (2000), focusing on young Hondurans growing up in Montreal, and Si j’avais un chapeau (2005), which is about children in Quebec, India, Tanzania and Palestine. In 2007, she progressed to fiction features with The Ring, a coming of age story centering on a 12-year-old in the Montreal neighborhood of Hochelaga. At TIFF 2012, she now premieres her second narrative effort, Inch’Allah, about Chloé (Evelyne Brochu), a 20-something doctor from Quebec, who works at a women’s clinic in Palestine, and gets drawn into the West […]
Premiering in Toronto this year is Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp, director Jorge Hinojosa’s portrait of the legendary black author and pimp, whose work influenced generations of rap artists as well as urban fiction — or Street Lit — writers. Making his directorial debut, Hinojosa has been Ice-T’s manager for the past 28 years and previously executive produced the features Urban Menace, The Wrecking Crew and Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap. In the below video, offered by Hinojosa to Filmmaker, he discusses the origins of the film, his interest in Slim and how he and his collaborators […]
Tall and part blonde/part brunette, Leslye Headland darted into our interview and gave me a warm greeting and an intense gaze. She explained that she had just run across town in Manhattan to walk her dog in between interviews while promoting her debut film, Bachelorette. The film is based on her stage play of the same name, about a gang of attractive girls (Kirsten Dunst, Lizzy Kaplan and Isla Fisher) behaving badly before their friend’s wedding. I ask what her dog’s name is. “His name is Ramius. Which is Sean Connery’s name in The Hunt For Red October,” she says, […]