Variety is reporting the stunning news that Warner Bros. is shutting down both Picturehouse and Warner Independent. Speculation has been running in the indie community about the fate of the companies following the demise of New Line (which was a co-owner, with HBO, of Picturehouse) as a standalone studio and distributor. Observers had imagined a variety of scenarios, but I don’t think anyone thought that both companies would be folded. Here’s Warner prez and COO Alan Horn’s statement: “With New Line now a key part of Warner Bros., we’re able to handle films across the entire spectrum of genres and […]
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 […]
CNN is reporting that Weinstein Company head Harvey Weinstein engaged in a “heated phone call” with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in late April in which he pressured her to accept a plan in which he would finance primary revotes in Michigan and Florida. From the piece: In a heated phone call with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi late last month, Hillary Clinton supporter Harvey Weinstein threatened to cut off campaign money to congressional Democrats unless Pelosi embraced a new plan by the movie mogul to finance a revote of the Democratic presidential primaries in Florida and Michigan, according to three officials […]
Susannah Breslin has a positively surreal interview at Radar Online with Ira Isaacs, the 57-year-old L.A.-based director currently awaiting trial on obscenity charges for his, um… scat videos. Kudos to the photo editor at Radar for the two improbable shots that run with the piece — one of Marcel Duchamp’s famous urinal (voted in 2004 by a group of art critics as the most influential piece of art of all time), and the other of Martha Stewart. On her own Reverse Cowgirl blog, Breslin had previously written about Isaacs and the novel defense he’s mounting against the charges that his […]
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 […]
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.
ERIC MEHALACOPOULOUS IN DIRECTOR NICK BROOMFIELD’S BATTLE FOR HADITHA. COURTESY NICK BROOMFIELD. Immediately distinguishable by his understated good looks, laid-back, drawling English voice and, of course, the boom mike seemingly always in his hands, Nick Broomfield is an iconic figure in documentary filmmaking, as well as one of the form’s most talented artists. The son of English photographer Maurice Broomfield and a Czech refugee, Broomfield went to a Quaker boarding school before studying law at Cardiff University, political science at Essex University and finally film at the National Film School in his hometown of London. Combining his interest in sociopolitical […]
(Hat tips: GreenCine and Coudal Partners.)
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 […]
Over at his CinemaTech blog, Scott Kirsner writes about the new Seattle-based IndieShares, which is another one of those “democratize the process” companies that has sprung up around some aspect of the film business. Democracy, of course, is (mostly) good. Filmmaker‘s mission statement even includes the goal of democratizing the production process for beginning filmmakers. And last week I interviewed Lance Weiler and learned more about his From Here to Awesome festival (which I’ve concluded is a really cool and good thing, and I’m not just saying that because I know Lance and he’s a writer for the magazine), and […]