Thompson on Hollywood

IFC Films to Re-Release Landmark Documentary Shoah

IFC Films is re-releasing Claude Lanzmann's nine-and-a-half hour landmark French documentary, Shoah to celebrate its twenty-fifth anniversary. On December 10 the film will screen at New York City's Lincoln Plaza Cinemas and at the IFC Center on Christmas Eve; it will break nationally in the new year.

By Sophia Savage
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November 2, 2010 5:05 AM
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Lena Dunham Talks Tiny Furniture, Writing for Hollywood, Rudin, HBO

The discovery of this year's SXSW (and best narrative feature winner) was 24-year-old New York writer-director Lena Dunham, who shot her semi-autobiographical micro-budget film Tiny Furniture at her family's Tribeca loft with herself, her sister Grace and her artist mom Laurie Simmons (The Music of Regret) in leading roles, along with indie professionals Jemima Kirke, Alex Karpovsky and Merritt Wever, who she met at SXSW when she debuted her first film Creative Nonfiction there. Dunham's painter father Carroll didn't want to be in the film, she admits during our flip cam interview during LAFF at L.A.'s Four Seasons (below, with trailer). "I was exploring a more female-centric thing." Her family worked their butts off during fifteen days of filming (Jody Lee Lipes is her cinematographer) and are "quite proud of it. We all went through that artistic process together."

By Anne Thompson
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October 30, 2010 2:02 AM
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TIFF: Genre Films Sell in Toronto Buying Spree

As TIFF wound down, the weekend sale of Will Ferrell's $6 million dark comedy Everything Must Go to Lionsgate/Roadside marked a more frenetic Toronto sales market than last year, when many sales took months to close. Horror film Insidious also sold, to Sony Worldwide Acquisitions Group, probably for 2011 Screen Gems release. "It's a genre distributor's wet dream," says IM Global's Stuart Ford, who wasn't worried about landing North American distribs for these and two more titles at Toronto this year--all were modestly-budgeted and pre-sold in foreign territories. "The market is still challenging, but healthier than it was a year ago. There's more supply and demand. While you're not seeing many movies sell on the spot, the stronger material is likely to find the right distribution home."

By Anne Thompson
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September 19, 2010 5:16 AM
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Colin Fitz Comes Back from the Dead: A Tale of Indie Resurrection

Director Robert Bella went thousands of dollars into debt to get his debut film Colin Fitz, an absurdist comedy about a dead rock legend starring William H. Macy, into Sundance in 1997. He then spent the next 13 years getting himself and the film--which earned good reviews--out of hock. At one low point, when he got sick of sleeping on friends' couches, he moved into his own storage space.

By Anne Thompson
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August 3, 2010 4:29 AM
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Parlay Media Expands Film Sales Division

Kevin Iwashina and Ross Dinerstein's Parlay Media is moving aggressively into the film sales gap left open by the departure from the indie sales field of William Morris's Cassian Elwes and a shift at Cinetic Media toward distribution and foreign sales. To that end, they've hired former T & C International exec Christine D'Souza as director of content acquisitions and sales for their film sales and finance advisory division, IP Advisors.

By Anne Thompson
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July 1, 2010 8:59 AM
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Cannes: Palme D'Or Winner is Uncle Boonmee, Best Actress Binoche, Best Actor Bardem and Germano

The Cannes Film Festival juries handed out their awards Sunday. Competition jury president Tim Burton announced the winner of the Palme d'Or: the complex critics' fave from Thailand, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul. The runner-up Grand Prix prize went to Of Gods and Men, directed by Xavier Beauvois. In a sign that the jury was not unanimous in support of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's Biutiful (comme tout le monde), the best actor prize was shared by Biutiful's Javier Bardem and Elio Germano for La Nostra Vita. Mike Leigh's well-reviewed Another Year was shut out of the awards, as best actress went to Cannes poster subject Juliette Binoche for Abbas Kiarostami's Certified Copy, rather than Lesley Manville. Best director was a surprise: French actor-turned-director Mathieu Amalric for his colorful burlesque film, Tournée. Best screenplay went to another well-reviewed film, Lee Chang-dong's Poetry.

By Anne Thompson
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May 23, 2010 6:02 AM
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Cold Weather Acquired by IFC

IFC has picked SXSW fave Cold Weather for North America and select foreign territories.

By Anne Thompson
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May 7, 2010 4:49 AM
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Cannes Update: Fair Game, Raavan, Biutiful, Tree vs. Tree

Cannes news and notes:

By Anne Thompson
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May 3, 2010 1:20 AM
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Breaking Upwards: Wein and Lister Jones Give DIY Primer

"Nothing is better than five weeks of word of mouth in a movie theater."

By Anne Thompson
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April 12, 2010 9:15 AM
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The Good, The Bad, the Weird: Must-See Oriental Western

Director Kim Ji-Woon calls The Good, The Bad, the Weird, his stunning $10-million homage to Clint Eastwood and Sergio Leone, an “Oriental Western.” His sixth film (which has continued his South Korean box-office winning streak) boasts masterful high-speed action like you’ve never seen before: think Stagecoach meets high-wire Jackie Chan meets The Road Warrior.