French independent producer Haut Les Mains has come on board “A Useful Ghost,” a film project that is both topical and supernatural. The deal was announced on the margins of the Cannes Film Festival and its accompanying rights market.
“A Useful Ghost” follows March and Nat, a happily married couple, and their seven-year-old son Dot. Nat dies of respiratory disease caused by air pollution. A saddened March is worried that the same fate will befall his son, who gradually develops similar symptoms. Nat then returns as a ghost haunting the house vacuum cleaner to try and suck up the dust hurting her son. She also longs to be accepted as part of society and intends to prove that by getting rid of the less useful ghosts.
The film is produced by Cattleya Paosrijaroen and Soros Sukhum (Netflix film “Hunger”) for Bangkok-based 185 Films Co. Last year Singapore-based art house producer...
“A Useful Ghost” follows March and Nat, a happily married couple, and their seven-year-old son Dot. Nat dies of respiratory disease caused by air pollution. A saddened March is worried that the same fate will befall his son, who gradually develops similar symptoms. Nat then returns as a ghost haunting the house vacuum cleaner to try and suck up the dust hurting her son. She also longs to be accepted as part of society and intends to prove that by getting rid of the less useful ghosts.
The film is produced by Cattleya Paosrijaroen and Soros Sukhum (Netflix film “Hunger”) for Bangkok-based 185 Films Co. Last year Singapore-based art house producer...
- 5/24/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Zawya Distribution is ramping up its 2017 slate of Egyptian independent features with titles including Tamer El Said’s In The Last Days Of The City and Mohamed Rashad’s Diff competition title Little Eagles.
The Cairo-based distributor has also picked up Mahmoud Lotfy’s Experimental Summer, about the search to find a copy of Egypt’s first independent film, and Anna Roussillon’s award-winning documentary I Am The People for release next year.
Backed by Egypt’s Misr International, Zawya operates an arthouse theatre, Zawya Cinema, in Cairo, and is working with other exhibitors to expand the circuit for independent films. The company’s larger upcoming titles will be released in Alexandria, Ismailia and Port Said, in addition to Cairo.
“Although funding is difficult, Egypt’s independent scene remains vibrant – you can see that from the line-up here at Diff,” said Zawya head of acquisitions and sales Ahmed Sobky.
Little Eagles, which Zawya picked...
The Cairo-based distributor has also picked up Mahmoud Lotfy’s Experimental Summer, about the search to find a copy of Egypt’s first independent film, and Anna Roussillon’s award-winning documentary I Am The People for release next year.
Backed by Egypt’s Misr International, Zawya operates an arthouse theatre, Zawya Cinema, in Cairo, and is working with other exhibitors to expand the circuit for independent films. The company’s larger upcoming titles will be released in Alexandria, Ismailia and Port Said, in addition to Cairo.
“Although funding is difficult, Egypt’s independent scene remains vibrant – you can see that from the line-up here at Diff,” said Zawya head of acquisitions and sales Ahmed Sobky.
Little Eagles, which Zawya picked...
- 12/11/2016
- by lizshackleton@gmail.com (Liz Shackleton)
- ScreenDaily
FrancofoniaIt seems slightly off-kilter to term a film by Alexander Sokurov, everyone’s favorite Slavophile modernist, a “mash-up.” Yet Francofonia, which opened the Museum of the Moving Image’s fifth annual First Look festival, brings to mind an idiosyncratic synthesis of motifs derived from Godard’s Histoire(s) du cinéma and Volker Schlöndorff’s Diplomacy. With more than a passing resemblance to the ever-popular fiction/non-fiction hybrid film, Sokurov’s rambling meditation on the aesthetic imperatives of authoritarianism was an appropriate choice to open a festival that specializes in experimental hybridism. New work by such disparate filmmakers as Dominic Gagnon, Léa Rinaldi, and Louis Skorecki traverses generic boundaries—even though, for seasoned festival audiences, this sort of genre-bending is now more of a routine occurrence than a transgressive event. First Look’s desire to showcase subversive hybridity was evident in Quebecois filmmaker Dominic Gagnon’s double bill—Pieces and Love...
- 1/15/2016
- by Richard Porton
- MUBI
Locarno Film Festival is to host the 8th Doc Alliance Selection (Das) Award, after being announced during Cannes for the past seven years .
The seven European documentary festivals that make up Doc Alliance decided to make the move to Locarno in order to give the Das Award a higher profile away from the packed schedules of Cannes.
The winner of the $5,700 (€5,000) prize will be announced at a ceremony during Locarno’s Industry Days on August 8 by a jury of European film critics, including Switzerland’s Christian Jungen, Poland’s Piotr Czerkawski, Germany’s Annette Walter, and the Czech Republic’s Tomáš Stejskal.
Homeland (Iraq Year Zero); Abbas Fahdel (Iq)
nominated by Visions du Réel
Walking Under Water; Eliza Kubarska (UK/Pl/De)
nominated by Docs Against Gravity Ff
Stranded in Canton; Måns Månsson (Se/Dk/Cn)
nominated by Cph:dox
Illusion; Sofia Marques (Pt)
nominated by Doclisboa
I Am the People; Anna Roussillon (Fr)
nominated by Jihlava Idff[p...
The seven European documentary festivals that make up Doc Alliance decided to make the move to Locarno in order to give the Das Award a higher profile away from the packed schedules of Cannes.
The winner of the $5,700 (€5,000) prize will be announced at a ceremony during Locarno’s Industry Days on August 8 by a jury of European film critics, including Switzerland’s Christian Jungen, Poland’s Piotr Czerkawski, Germany’s Annette Walter, and the Czech Republic’s Tomáš Stejskal.
Homeland (Iraq Year Zero); Abbas Fahdel (Iq)
nominated by Visions du Réel
Walking Under Water; Eliza Kubarska (UK/Pl/De)
nominated by Docs Against Gravity Ff
Stranded in Canton; Måns Månsson (Se/Dk/Cn)
nominated by Cph:dox
Illusion; Sofia Marques (Pt)
nominated by Doclisboa
I Am the People; Anna Roussillon (Fr)
nominated by Jihlava Idff[p...
- 5/17/2015
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Patrick Wang’s The Grief of Others set for international premiere in the selection.
France’s Association for the Diffusion of Independent Cinema (Acid) has unveiled the line-up for its 22nd Cannes showcase, running May 14-23.
The initiative aimed at giving greater visibility to up and coming, indie filmmakers will screen nine works – five of them first features and six of them without a distributor.
They include Us filmmaker Patrick Wang’s The Grief of Others, which premiered at SXSW earlier this year.
An adaptation of Leah Hager Cohen’s novel about a family who come to terms with the recent loss of a baby through the arrival of a pregnant, teenager stepdaughter in their care, it is Wang’s second film after the much-praised In the Family.
Paris-based Ed Distribution has just acquired the film for France.
Launched in 1993, Acid’s Cannes showcase has put the spotlight on more than 200 works on the Croisette including early works...
France’s Association for the Diffusion of Independent Cinema (Acid) has unveiled the line-up for its 22nd Cannes showcase, running May 14-23.
The initiative aimed at giving greater visibility to up and coming, indie filmmakers will screen nine works – five of them first features and six of them without a distributor.
They include Us filmmaker Patrick Wang’s The Grief of Others, which premiered at SXSW earlier this year.
An adaptation of Leah Hager Cohen’s novel about a family who come to terms with the recent loss of a baby through the arrival of a pregnant, teenager stepdaughter in their care, it is Wang’s second film after the much-praised In the Family.
Paris-based Ed Distribution has just acquired the film for France.
Launched in 1993, Acid’s Cannes showcase has put the spotlight on more than 200 works on the Croisette including early works...
- 4/23/2015
- ScreenDaily
The Association for Independent Film Distribution announced that it'll be screening nine features from May 13 through 23 in Cannes, five of them world premieres: Lionel Baier's La vanité, Emilie Brisavoine's Pauline s'arrache, Philippe Fernandez's Cosmodrama, Benoît Forgeard's Gaz de France, Julia Kowalski's Crache coeur, Nathan Nicholovitch's De l'ombre il y a, João Pedro Plácido's Volta a terra, Anna Roussillon's I Am the People and Patrick Wang's The Grief of Others. Plus: Ken Loach leads a protest against the Locarno Film Festival for its partnership with the Israeli Film Fund. And Toronto's jumping on the television bandwagon. » - David Hudson...
- 4/21/2015
- Keyframe
The Association for Independent Film Distribution announced that it'll be screening nine features from May 13 through 23 in Cannes, five of them world premieres: Lionel Baier's La vanité, Emilie Brisavoine's Pauline s'arrache, Philippe Fernandez's Cosmodrama, Benoît Forgeard's Gaz de France, Julia Kowalski's Crache coeur, Nathan Nicholovitch's De l'ombre il y a, João Pedro Plácido's Volta a terra, Anna Roussillon's I Am the People and Patrick Wang's The Grief of Others. Plus: Ken Loach leads a protest against the Locarno Film Festival for its partnership with the Israeli Film Fund. And Toronto's jumping on the television bandwagon. » - David Hudson...
- 4/21/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
Laura Bispuri’s Sworn Virgin won the Firebird Award in the Young Cinema Competition at this year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival (Hkiff), which wrapped on Monday night.
The Italian-Albanian co-production is a socio-political and magical tale about a girl from the Albanian mountains who escapes a life of servitude by pledging her eternal virginity in return for a male body. Bispuri collected the award at the Hkiff awards gala on April 3, which included a screening of Tsui Hark’s The Taking Of Tiger Mountain.
In the same competition, Chinese director Xin Yukun’s The Coffin In The Mountain received a Special Mention, while Kafka-esque fable K, directed by D.E. Bulag and Emyr ap Richard, picked up the Jury Prize as well as the Fipresci award. The Mongolian production was produced by Jia Zhangke.
Jurors for the Young Cinema Competition included Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf, critic Jonathan Rosenbaum, Hong Kong actress...
The Italian-Albanian co-production is a socio-political and magical tale about a girl from the Albanian mountains who escapes a life of servitude by pledging her eternal virginity in return for a male body. Bispuri collected the award at the Hkiff awards gala on April 3, which included a screening of Tsui Hark’s The Taking Of Tiger Mountain.
In the same competition, Chinese director Xin Yukun’s The Coffin In The Mountain received a Special Mention, while Kafka-esque fable K, directed by D.E. Bulag and Emyr ap Richard, picked up the Jury Prize as well as the Fipresci award. The Mongolian production was produced by Jia Zhangke.
Jurors for the Young Cinema Competition included Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf, critic Jonathan Rosenbaum, Hong Kong actress...
- 4/7/2015
- by lizshackleton@gmail.com (Liz Shackleton)
- ScreenDaily
Iffr reveals Big Screen Awards nominees and the complete line-up for its Bright Future and Spectrum strands, including world premieres from the Us, China and the Netherlands.
Second Coming, starring Idris Elba and Nadine Marshall, has been named as one of 10 films up for the Big Screen Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) (Jan 21 - Feb 1).
The UK film, written and directed by Debbie Tucker Green, will be vying for a prize of €10,000 ($12,000) awarded specifically to support theatrical distribution of the film in The Netherlands
The 10 nominees are from Iffr’s Bright Future and Spectrum programmes with the winner chosen by a specially selected audience jury. Other titles include Lisandro Alonso’s Cannes Fipresci winner Jauja and Carlos Vermut’s San Sebastian winner Magical Girl.
The nominees are:
I Swear I’ll Leave This Town, Danial AragãoJauja, Lisandro AlonsoKey House Mirror, Michael NoerThe Lesson, Kristina Grozeva, Petar ValchanovMagical Girl, Carlos VermutA...
Second Coming, starring Idris Elba and Nadine Marshall, has been named as one of 10 films up for the Big Screen Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) (Jan 21 - Feb 1).
The UK film, written and directed by Debbie Tucker Green, will be vying for a prize of €10,000 ($12,000) awarded specifically to support theatrical distribution of the film in The Netherlands
The 10 nominees are from Iffr’s Bright Future and Spectrum programmes with the winner chosen by a specially selected audience jury. Other titles include Lisandro Alonso’s Cannes Fipresci winner Jauja and Carlos Vermut’s San Sebastian winner Magical Girl.
The nominees are:
I Swear I’ll Leave This Town, Danial AragãoJauja, Lisandro AlonsoKey House Mirror, Michael NoerThe Lesson, Kristina Grozeva, Petar ValchanovMagical Girl, Carlos VermutA...
- 1/7/2015
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Academy Awards
On December 2, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that they’d whittled down the 134 eligible documentary submissions to a 15 film shortlist. The chosen films include:
Art and Craft – Purple Parrot Films
The Case Against 8 – Day in Court
Citizen Koch – Elsewhere Films
Citizenfour – Praxis Films
Finding Vivian Maier – Ravine Pictures
The Internet’s Own Boy – Luminant Media
Jodorowsky’s Dune – City Film
Keep on Keepin’ On – Absolute Clay Productions
The Kill Team – f/8 filmworks
Last Days in Vietnam – Moxie Firecracker Films
Life Itself – Kartemquin Films and Film Rites
The Overnighters – Mile End Films West
The Salt of the Earth – Decia Films
Tales of the Grim Sleeper – Lafayette Film
Virunga – Grain Media
EntreVues Belfort International Film Festival - France - November 22nd – November 30th
The 29th edition of the Entrevues Belfort International Film Festival jury members announced the 2014 Awards, giving Anna Roussillon’s Je suis le peuple,...
On December 2, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that they’d whittled down the 134 eligible documentary submissions to a 15 film shortlist. The chosen films include:
Art and Craft – Purple Parrot Films
The Case Against 8 – Day in Court
Citizen Koch – Elsewhere Films
Citizenfour – Praxis Films
Finding Vivian Maier – Ravine Pictures
The Internet’s Own Boy – Luminant Media
Jodorowsky’s Dune – City Film
Keep on Keepin’ On – Absolute Clay Productions
The Kill Team – f/8 filmworks
Last Days in Vietnam – Moxie Firecracker Films
Life Itself – Kartemquin Films and Film Rites
The Overnighters – Mile End Films West
The Salt of the Earth – Decia Films
Tales of the Grim Sleeper – Lafayette Film
Virunga – Grain Media
EntreVues Belfort International Film Festival - France - November 22nd – November 30th
The 29th edition of the Entrevues Belfort International Film Festival jury members announced the 2014 Awards, giving Anna Roussillon’s Je suis le peuple,...
- 12/31/2014
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
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