‘Back To Reality’ is a dark comedy from writer-director Anders Thomas Jensen.
TrustNordisk has acquired international sales rights to two upcoming features from Denmark’s Zentropa, including a new film from acclaimed comedy filmmaker Anders Thomas Jensen.
Jensen’s Back To Reality (working title) is a dark comedy, about a bank robber recently released from jail, who must unlock his traumatised brother’s memory to recover stolen loot.
Zentropa is producing the title, which is at script stage with no cast yet attached; Nordisk Film Distribution will release the film in Scandinavia. Producers are Sisse Graum Jorgensen and Sidsel Hybschmann for Zentropa,...
TrustNordisk has acquired international sales rights to two upcoming features from Denmark’s Zentropa, including a new film from acclaimed comedy filmmaker Anders Thomas Jensen.
Jensen’s Back To Reality (working title) is a dark comedy, about a bank robber recently released from jail, who must unlock his traumatised brother’s memory to recover stolen loot.
Zentropa is producing the title, which is at script stage with no cast yet attached; Nordisk Film Distribution will release the film in Scandinavia. Producers are Sisse Graum Jorgensen and Sidsel Hybschmann for Zentropa,...
- 5/19/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
You may know him as the villain Le Chiffre from the James Bond movie Casino Royale, or as the cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter in NBC’s TV series Hannibal. He has also starred in a number of Hollywood blockbusters, including Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Doctor Strange. But before he became an international star, Mads Mikkelsen was just a shy boy from Denmark who never expected to achieve such fame.
From humble beginnings to becoming an acclaimed actor on both the big and small screen, this is Mads Mikkelsen’s story. Here we will explore how he rose to fame, discuss his greatest achievements and shed light on some lesser known facts about the man behind the character. Along the way you’ll discover what drives him, what makes him special and how he has stayed true to himself while engaging with Hollywood superstardom.
Mads Mikkelsen. Depostiphotos...
From humble beginnings to becoming an acclaimed actor on both the big and small screen, this is Mads Mikkelsen’s story. Here we will explore how he rose to fame, discuss his greatest achievements and shed light on some lesser known facts about the man behind the character. Along the way you’ll discover what drives him, what makes him special and how he has stayed true to himself while engaging with Hollywood superstardom.
Mads Mikkelsen. Depostiphotos...
- 5/16/2023
- by Movies Martin Cid Magazine
- Martin Cid Magazine - Movies
International sales and aggregation outfit LevelK has picked up darkly funny feature “The Cake Dynasty,” toplining Anders Thomas Jensen regular Nicolas Bro. The feature is adapted from the eponymous stage play by debut director Christian Lollike.
One of Denmark’s most lauded contemporary playwrights and stage directors, Lollike is well-known for his topical and often politically-charged works staged in Europe, Australia and the U.S.
Co-written by Lollike and Sigrid Johannesen, “The Cake Dynasty” turns on debt-ridden cake factory owner Niels Agger whose numerous suicide attempts have failed miserably. His wife Else tries to save the factory by asking her daughter and son-in-law for help. The young business school graduates suggest a comprehensive modernisation of the factory, focusing on trendsetting healthy food. Stressed about these new ideas, Niels instead falls in love with the factory’s new cleaning lady, Zeinab, originally from Iraq.
Cast against Nicolas Bro as the crisis-stricken...
One of Denmark’s most lauded contemporary playwrights and stage directors, Lollike is well-known for his topical and often politically-charged works staged in Europe, Australia and the U.S.
Co-written by Lollike and Sigrid Johannesen, “The Cake Dynasty” turns on debt-ridden cake factory owner Niels Agger whose numerous suicide attempts have failed miserably. His wife Else tries to save the factory by asking her daughter and son-in-law for help. The young business school graduates suggest a comprehensive modernisation of the factory, focusing on trendsetting healthy food. Stressed about these new ideas, Niels instead falls in love with the factory’s new cleaning lady, Zeinab, originally from Iraq.
Cast against Nicolas Bro as the crisis-stricken...
- 8/25/2021
- by Annika Pham
- Variety Film + TV
"We're just gonna talk to him." Magnet Releasing has debuted an official US trailer for the Danish revenge dark comedy titled Riders of Justice, from filmmaker Anders Thomas Jensen. We've already been featuring the original Danish trailers for this since last year, and it's now opening in May in the US (both in theaters and on VOD). Mads Mikkelsen stars as Markus, a military vet who has to go home to his teenage daughter, Mathilde, when his wife dies in a tragic train accident. It seems to be plain bad luck - but it turns out that it might have been a carefully orchestrated assassination, which his wife ended up being a random casualty of. A few passengers find him and they set out to enact revenge. The cast includes Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Gustav Lindh, Roland Møller, Nicolas Bro, Jacob Lohmann, and Lars Brygmann. I saw this at IFFR and it's awesome!
- 4/15/2021
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
TrustNordisk has closed key territory sales on “Riders of Justice,” Anders Thomas Jensen’s dark comedy starring Mads Mikkelsen.
“Riders of Justice” revolves around a military man Markus (Mikkelsen), who returns home to his teenage daughter after his wife dies in a tragic train accident. When a passenger on the wrecked train surfaces with claims of foul play, Markus begins to suspect the accident may have been a carefully orchestrated assassination.
Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Lars Brygmann, Nicolas Bro, Gustav Lindh and Andrea H. Gadeberg also star. The movie, which won four Danish Film Awards, was produced by Sisse Graum Jørgensen and Sidsel Hybschmann for Zentropa Entertainments3.
Jensen is the screenwriter behind Susanne Bier’s Oscar-winning drama “In a Better World.” His directorial credits include “Men & Chicken,” “Adam’s Apples,” “The Green Butchers” and “Flickering Lights” — all of which star Mikkelsen.
TrustNordisk sold the film to Canada (Mongrel Media), Spain (La Aventura...
“Riders of Justice” revolves around a military man Markus (Mikkelsen), who returns home to his teenage daughter after his wife dies in a tragic train accident. When a passenger on the wrecked train surfaces with claims of foul play, Markus begins to suspect the accident may have been a carefully orchestrated assassination.
Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Lars Brygmann, Nicolas Bro, Gustav Lindh and Andrea H. Gadeberg also star. The movie, which won four Danish Film Awards, was produced by Sisse Graum Jørgensen and Sidsel Hybschmann for Zentropa Entertainments3.
Jensen is the screenwriter behind Susanne Bier’s Oscar-winning drama “In a Better World.” His directorial credits include “Men & Chicken,” “Adam’s Apples,” “The Green Butchers” and “Flickering Lights” — all of which star Mikkelsen.
TrustNordisk sold the film to Canada (Mongrel Media), Spain (La Aventura...
- 3/2/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Danish black comedy also picked up for Switzerland, Anz and Brazil.
France and Japan are among several new territories to snap up Anders Thomas Jensen’s Riders Of Justice, starring Mads Mikkelsen, from TrustNordisk.
The Danish black comedy has been acquired by France (Snd – Groupe M6), Japan (Klockworx), Switzerland (Ascot Elite), Australia and New Zealand (Rialto), and Brazil (Synapse).
Recent deals were closed for the US (Magnet Releasing) and UK (Vertigo Releasing).
The film had its local release in Denmark on November 19, reporting 150,000 admissions on its opening weekend – the biggest in Denmark this year. It also ranked as the biggest...
France and Japan are among several new territories to snap up Anders Thomas Jensen’s Riders Of Justice, starring Mads Mikkelsen, from TrustNordisk.
The Danish black comedy has been acquired by France (Snd – Groupe M6), Japan (Klockworx), Switzerland (Ascot Elite), Australia and New Zealand (Rialto), and Brazil (Synapse).
Recent deals were closed for the US (Magnet Releasing) and UK (Vertigo Releasing).
The film had its local release in Denmark on November 19, reporting 150,000 admissions on its opening weekend – the biggest in Denmark this year. It also ranked as the biggest...
- 12/7/2020
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Danish dark comedy hopes to receive a theatrical release in 2021.
Vertigo Releasing has acquired UK and Ireland rights to Anders Thomas Jensen’s Danish dark comedy Riders Of Justice, starring Mads Mikkelsen, from TrustNordisk.
The distributor is hoping to release the film in spring 2021.
The story centres on military man Markus (Mikkelsen), who returns home to his teenage daughter after his wife dies in a tragic train accident. But when a passenger on the wrecked train surfaces with claims of foul play, Markus begins to suspect the accident may have been a carefully orchestrated assassination.
Alongside Mikkelsen, who was recently...
Vertigo Releasing has acquired UK and Ireland rights to Anders Thomas Jensen’s Danish dark comedy Riders Of Justice, starring Mads Mikkelsen, from TrustNordisk.
The distributor is hoping to release the film in spring 2021.
The story centres on military man Markus (Mikkelsen), who returns home to his teenage daughter after his wife dies in a tragic train accident. But when a passenger on the wrecked train surfaces with claims of foul play, Markus begins to suspect the accident may have been a carefully orchestrated assassination.
Alongside Mikkelsen, who was recently...
- 12/1/2020
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
"What is it for?" "I want to avenge my wife." Nordisk Film has debuted the full-length official trailer (with English subtitles this time!) for a Danish revenge dark comedy titled Riders of Justice, from filmmaker Anders Thomas Jensen. The film is opening in Denmark this fall, but still has no international dates set. Mads Mikkelsen stars as Markus, a military vet who has to go home to his teenage daughter, Mathilde, when his wife dies in a tragic train accident. It seems to be plain bad luck - but it turns out that it might have been a carefully orchestrated assassination, which his wife ended up being a random casualty of. A few passengers find him and they set out to enact revenge. The cast includes Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Gustav Lindh, Roland Møller, Nicolas Bro, Jacob Lohmann, and Lars Brygmann. This looks so awesome! I love Mads and his beard,...
- 10/20/2020
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Danish dark comedy is directed by Anders Thomas Jensen
TrustNordisk has closed the first crop of deals on Danish dark comedy Riders of Justice, directed by Anders Thomas Jensen and starring frequent collaborator Mads Mikkelsen.
The film has sold to Germany and Austria (Splendid); Russia and Cis (Cappella); Benelux (September); Baltics (Estin); Czech Republic and Slovakia (Film Europe); Poland (Best Film); Hungary (Vertigo Media); and Albania, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia & Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia (Cinemania Groupicon).
The story centres on military man Markus (Mikkelsen), who returns home to his teenage daughter after his wife dies in a tragic train accident. But...
TrustNordisk has closed the first crop of deals on Danish dark comedy Riders of Justice, directed by Anders Thomas Jensen and starring frequent collaborator Mads Mikkelsen.
The film has sold to Germany and Austria (Splendid); Russia and Cis (Cappella); Benelux (September); Baltics (Estin); Czech Republic and Slovakia (Film Europe); Poland (Best Film); Hungary (Vertigo Media); and Albania, Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia & Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia (Cinemania Groupicon).
The story centres on military man Markus (Mikkelsen), who returns home to his teenage daughter after his wife dies in a tragic train accident. But...
- 10/5/2020
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
Produced by Danish outfit Zentropa, shooting on the €5.3m feature began this week.
Mads Mikkelsen is to star in Riders Of Justice, a dark comedy written and directed by Anders Thomas Jensen, which will be sold internationally by TrustNordisk.
Jensen is perhaps best known as the screenwriter behind Susanne Bier’s Oscar-winning In a Better World but has directed features including Men & Chicken, Adam’s Apples, The Green Butchers and Flickering Lights – all of which starred Mikkelsen.
The cast of his latest feature also includes Nikolaj Lie Kaas, star of the Department Q franchise, Lars Brygmann (That Time Of Year...
Mads Mikkelsen is to star in Riders Of Justice, a dark comedy written and directed by Anders Thomas Jensen, which will be sold internationally by TrustNordisk.
Jensen is perhaps best known as the screenwriter behind Susanne Bier’s Oscar-winning In a Better World but has directed features including Men & Chicken, Adam’s Apples, The Green Butchers and Flickering Lights – all of which starred Mikkelsen.
The cast of his latest feature also includes Nikolaj Lie Kaas, star of the Department Q franchise, Lars Brygmann (That Time Of Year...
- 1/14/2020
- by ¬0¦Thomas Messner¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Mads Mikkelsen is set to headline the dark comedy “Riders of Justice” written and directed by Anders Thomas Jensen, the well-known Danish helmer and screenwriter of Susanne Bier’s Oscar-winning “In a Better World.”
Mikkelsen will star in the film alongside Nikolaj Lie Kaas (“The Department Q Series”), Lars Brygmann (“That Time of the Year), Nicolas Bro (“Nymphomaniac”), Gustav Lindh (“Queen of Hearts”), Roland Møller (“Valhalla”) and the newcomer Andrea Heick Gadeberg (“Daniel”).
The story revolves Markus, a deployed military man who has to go home to his teenage daughter, Mathilde, when his wife dies in a tragic train accident. It seems to be plain bad luck – but it turns out that it might have been a carefully orchestrated assassination, which his wife ended up being a random casualty of.
Produced by leading Scandinavian company Zentropa, the €5.3 million movie is represented in international markets by TrustNordisk which is describing the...
Mikkelsen will star in the film alongside Nikolaj Lie Kaas (“The Department Q Series”), Lars Brygmann (“That Time of the Year), Nicolas Bro (“Nymphomaniac”), Gustav Lindh (“Queen of Hearts”), Roland Møller (“Valhalla”) and the newcomer Andrea Heick Gadeberg (“Daniel”).
The story revolves Markus, a deployed military man who has to go home to his teenage daughter, Mathilde, when his wife dies in a tragic train accident. It seems to be plain bad luck – but it turns out that it might have been a carefully orchestrated assassination, which his wife ended up being a random casualty of.
Produced by leading Scandinavian company Zentropa, the €5.3 million movie is represented in international markets by TrustNordisk which is describing the...
- 1/14/2020
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Mads Mikkelsen is leading the cast of Scandi pic Riders Of Justice, the latest feature from Oscar-Winning Danish filmmaker Anders Thomas Jensen.
Jensen is a noted screenwriter with more than 30 feature credits; he has collaborated with the likes of Susanne Bier and Lone Scherfig. As a director, he helmed a trio of Oscar nominated shorts in 1997, 1998, and 1999, winning for the latter. His features, characterized by their dark humor, include 2005 comedy-drama Adam’s Apples, 2003 pic The Green Butchers, and 2015 film Men & Chicken, all of which also starred Mikkelsen and screened at Toronto.
His latest film follows Markus, who has to go home to his teenage daughter, Mathilde, when his wife dies in a tragic train accident. It seems like an accident until a mathematics geek, who was also a fellow passenger on the train, and his two colleagues show up saying they are convinced someone is behind it.
Jensen is a noted screenwriter with more than 30 feature credits; he has collaborated with the likes of Susanne Bier and Lone Scherfig. As a director, he helmed a trio of Oscar nominated shorts in 1997, 1998, and 1999, winning for the latter. His features, characterized by their dark humor, include 2005 comedy-drama Adam’s Apples, 2003 pic The Green Butchers, and 2015 film Men & Chicken, all of which also starred Mikkelsen and screened at Toronto.
His latest film follows Markus, who has to go home to his teenage daughter, Mathilde, when his wife dies in a tragic train accident. It seems like an accident until a mathematics geek, who was also a fellow passenger on the train, and his two colleagues show up saying they are convinced someone is behind it.
- 1/14/2020
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Stranded in the Arctic, Mads Mikkelsen must fight to survive. Ticket sold! Admittedly, I'm an easy mark for anything involving Mads Mikkelsen, whose career I have happily followed ever since seeing him in Flickering Lights (2000). Others here at ScreenAnarchy go back even further, to his breakout role in Nicolas Winding Refn's Pusher (1996), a lacerating, brutal movie in which Mikkelsen is something of a phenom. Even as he made more polished films like The Green Butchers and Adam's Apples, he started to catch the attention of Hollywood, leading to his international breakthrough in Casino Royale. In recent years, he made the diabolical TV show Hannibal and appeared in 2016 as a delicious villain in Doctor Strange and a heroic father in Rogue One. Next...
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[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 4/19/2017
- Screen Anarchy
Kristy Best has appeared in 'Neighbours', 'Airlock', 'Teenage Kicks' and the upcoming 'Dance Academy' feature..
The biggest issue facing the Australian film or TV industry is: Time, opportunity and money for experimentation.
Best movie quote of all time: "You stop telling lies about me, I'll stop telling the truth about you". It's from Money Never Sleeps.—.don't judge me.
Do you Google yourself? Yes, mainly to see what nationality people think I am this week.
If you could live inside one of your shows, would you? Which one? I made a short some years ago called Something Fishy. I would live in that world in a second, regardless of how macabre it is.
Classics I would like to remake: American Psycho with an all-female cast.
Favourite comedy film/show of all time: Nothing has made me laugh more than the Danish black comedy Adam's Apples.
The biggest issue facing the Australian film or TV industry is: Time, opportunity and money for experimentation.
Best movie quote of all time: "You stop telling lies about me, I'll stop telling the truth about you". It's from Money Never Sleeps.—.don't judge me.
Do you Google yourself? Yes, mainly to see what nationality people think I am this week.
If you could live inside one of your shows, would you? Which one? I made a short some years ago called Something Fishy. I would live in that world in a second, regardless of how macabre it is.
Classics I would like to remake: American Psycho with an all-female cast.
Favourite comedy film/show of all time: Nothing has made me laugh more than the Danish black comedy Adam's Apples.
- 4/4/2017
- by Harry Windsor
- IF.com.au
“Rotten” doesn’t begin to describe the stench emanating from the state of Denmark in “Men & Chicken,” the latest — and by far most difficult to classify — feature from director Anders Thomas Jensen, best known abroad for his screenwriting collaborations with Oscar winner Susanne Bier. This staggering account of family dysfunction, secret-hoarding and tragedy on the far fringes of Danish society actually hews much closer to Jensen’s previous dark-comedy directorial efforts “Flickering Lights” and “Adam’s Apples,” being a bizarre parable of five ill-mannered and grotesquely disfigured half-brothers brought together by their father’s death. sure to perplex the gonzo-amenable audience most apt to embrace it abroad.
Beginning with the glowing good cheer of a fairy tale, but quick to reveal the sinister social satire that undermines its misleadingly whimsical opening narration, “Men & Chicken” presents two brothers, Elias and Gabriel (David Dencik), who have nothing in common but their generally disheveled appearance,...
Beginning with the glowing good cheer of a fairy tale, but quick to reveal the sinister social satire that undermines its misleadingly whimsical opening narration, “Men & Chicken” presents two brothers, Elias and Gabriel (David Dencik), who have nothing in common but their generally disheveled appearance,...
- 7/16/2015
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Though you wouldn't necessarily know it from his script writing work - work, it should be said, that has garnered multiple Oscars - those who know Denmark's Anders Thomas Jensen's directorial work already know that there's a deliciously dark streak that runs through the images he puts on screen when left to his own devices. And never has that streak been darker for the director of The Green Butchers and Adam's Apples than it is in the upcoming Men And Chickens.The film revolves around two special-natured brothers, Elias and Gabriel. Upon their father's passing, the two brothers, who are not very fond of each other, find out through the father's will, that they are adopted. Despite their disagreements, Elias and Gabriel decide to seek out...
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- 12/22/2014
- Screen Anarchy
Sometimes a man could use a little bit of privacy and Mads Mikkelsen just isn't getting any in the first teaser for Anders Thomas Jensen's upcoming Men And Chicken. The film marks the return of Jensen to the director's chair after a lengthy stint spent writing for others and he's bringing back his regular cast of players from earlier efforts The Green Butchers and Adam's Apples with Mikkelsen joined by Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Nicolas Bro and a host of other familiar faces in the cast. Also returning is Jensen's trademark dark wit.The film revolves around two special-natured brothers, Elias and Gabriel. Upon their father's passing, the two brothers, who are not very fond of each other, find out through the father's will, that they are...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 10/3/2014
- Screen Anarchy
We all were once invincible. High with puberty, we were indestructible with our first time sexual encounters, super secret crushes, and truckloads of alcohol. We talked with flair, mouthing fad words that are strange to adult ears. We walked with a peculiar bounce, carrying an imaginary heft while displaying our newly minted moustaches and Adam's Apples. Then adulthood happened. After several years of discovering our meager places in the largely frustrating adult world, we conjured something called nostalgia. Nostalgia momentarily brought us back to that time when we all were invincible. Only now, armed with the realities of the world, the past was something as silly as a standard sitcom. Joel Ferrer's Hello, World is bursting with nostalgia. It examines the typical and uneventful coming-of-age of...
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[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 10/6/2013
- Screen Anarchy
Just as you are unlikely to ever come across a more unlikely friendship than that which blossomed between browbeaten tax lawyer Mogens Glistrup and hedonist playboy Simon Spies through the 1960s in Denmark, you are equally unlikely to settle on a more unlikely filmmaker than Christoffer Boe to tell their story. Best known for serious fare that treads the line between arthouse and genre film while toying with ideas of love, memory and obsession, Boe here tackles a real life story of sex, drugs and discount airlines and the results are utterly compelling.Nicolas Bro (Adam's Apples) plays Mogens Glistrup, an intelligent but intensely socially awkward tax lawyer desperate to escape from the shadow of his overbearing father in law when he encounters his old school...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 9/8/2013
- Screen Anarchy
Tags: GLEEGlee recapsLea MicheleKate HudsonAmber RileyWAPIMDbtelevisionTV recaps
Previously on Glee, Blaine Warbler did some dumb stuff with Eli C. and so Kurt broke up with him forever — except for Christmas and weddings and funerals and Valentine's Day and Halloween and Arbor Day and Citizenship Day and Groundhog Day and Susan B. Anthony Day. Finally Blaine just told Kurt that they were going to be together for all the days, "And don't freak out, but my doctor says I've contracted Ultimate Tight Pants Syndrome (Utps) and apparently it's contagious." Rachel got a callback for Fanny Brice. Brittany got an invitation to MIT. And Finn Hudson joined Clown College.
Tardis En Route To Lima Via Bushwick
Rachel calls up Mr. Schue to tell him he's the number one main reason that she's about to land a major Broadway role at the tender age of 19. She says he inspired her so much that...
Previously on Glee, Blaine Warbler did some dumb stuff with Eli C. and so Kurt broke up with him forever — except for Christmas and weddings and funerals and Valentine's Day and Halloween and Arbor Day and Citizenship Day and Groundhog Day and Susan B. Anthony Day. Finally Blaine just told Kurt that they were going to be together for all the days, "And don't freak out, but my doctor says I've contracted Ultimate Tight Pants Syndrome (Utps) and apparently it's contagious." Rachel got a callback for Fanny Brice. Brittany got an invitation to MIT. And Finn Hudson joined Clown College.
Tardis En Route To Lima Via Bushwick
Rachel calls up Mr. Schue to tell him he's the number one main reason that she's about to land a major Broadway role at the tender age of 19. She says he inspired her so much that...
- 5/3/2013
- by stuntdouble
- AfterEllen.com
Previously on Glee, Emma left Will at the altar, and all the sex was had that day. Spurred into action by the memory of their many failed nuptials, Rachel and Finn did (unprotected?) things to each other. Buying into the guise of "bros helping bros," Kurt and Blaine also did things. Under the influence of much wine and even more dance floor canoodling, Quinn and Santana did scissor-type things — twice. Also, Kurt said "VapoRape" and Brittany and Santana stared forlornly at each other and Becky the Flower Girl was a modern marvel. Oh, and Brody was a gigolo.
Lima, Ohio
Emma Pillsbury is looking ever so fly in a lady-tuxedo and performing a black-and-white rendition of "You Are All the World to Me" a la Fred Astaire in Royal Wedding. It's edited together like a single take, which is almost as impressive as the fact this show has been able...
Lima, Ohio
Emma Pillsbury is looking ever so fly in a lady-tuxedo and performing a black-and-white rendition of "You Are All the World to Me" a la Fred Astaire in Royal Wedding. It's edited together like a single take, which is almost as impressive as the fact this show has been able...
- 3/8/2013
- by StuntDouble
- The Backlot
Tags: GLEEGlee recapsNaya RiveraHeather MorrisLea MicheleIMDbWAP
Previously on Glee, Emma left Will at the altar, and all the sex was had that day. Spurred into action by the memory of their many failed nuptials, Rachel and Finn did (unprotected?) things to each other. Buying into the guise of "bros helping bros," Kurt and Blaine also did things. Under the influence of much wine and even more dance floor canoodling, Quinn and Santana did scissor-type things — twice. Also, Kurt said "VapoRape" and Brittany and Santana stared forlornly at each other and Becky the Flower Girl was a modern marvel. Oh, and Brody was a gigolo.
Lima, Ohio
Emma Pillsbury is looking ever so fly in a lady-tuxedo and performing a black-and-white rendition of "You Are All the World to Me" a la Fred Astaire in Royal Wedding. It's edited together like a single take, which is almost as impressive as the...
Previously on Glee, Emma left Will at the altar, and all the sex was had that day. Spurred into action by the memory of their many failed nuptials, Rachel and Finn did (unprotected?) things to each other. Buying into the guise of "bros helping bros," Kurt and Blaine also did things. Under the influence of much wine and even more dance floor canoodling, Quinn and Santana did scissor-type things — twice. Also, Kurt said "VapoRape" and Brittany and Santana stared forlornly at each other and Becky the Flower Girl was a modern marvel. Oh, and Brody was a gigolo.
Lima, Ohio
Emma Pillsbury is looking ever so fly in a lady-tuxedo and performing a black-and-white rendition of "You Are All the World to Me" a la Fred Astaire in Royal Wedding. It's edited together like a single take, which is almost as impressive as the...
- 3/8/2013
- by stuntdouble
- AfterEllen.com
Tags: GLEEGlee recapsNaya RiveraHeather MorrisDianna AgronLea MicheleIMDb
Previously on Glee, Finn's evolution into the actual person of Will Schuester reached completion when he kissed Emma's face right on the lips. Tina's very misplaced crush on very gay Blaine reached very unacceptable heights when she roofied him with NyQuil and climbed aboard his body for some VapoRubbin' creep times. Kurt took his rightful place at the right hand of God atop Nyada's Iron Throne. And Santana moved her perfect ass right into Kurt and Rachel's Bushwick loft.
It's Valentine's Day and the reason you know it's Valentine's Day is because Glee's writers have penned us all a little love letter and it looks like this: Finn Hudson shouting at top volume, "I'm The Worst Person In The World." What has prompted such an accurate and heart-warming confession? It's time for Will and Emma's wedding and Finn's feeling like a real...
Previously on Glee, Finn's evolution into the actual person of Will Schuester reached completion when he kissed Emma's face right on the lips. Tina's very misplaced crush on very gay Blaine reached very unacceptable heights when she roofied him with NyQuil and climbed aboard his body for some VapoRubbin' creep times. Kurt took his rightful place at the right hand of God atop Nyada's Iron Throne. And Santana moved her perfect ass right into Kurt and Rachel's Bushwick loft.
It's Valentine's Day and the reason you know it's Valentine's Day is because Glee's writers have penned us all a little love letter and it looks like this: Finn Hudson shouting at top volume, "I'm The Worst Person In The World." What has prompted such an accurate and heart-warming confession? It's time for Will and Emma's wedding and Finn's feeling like a real...
- 2/15/2013
- by stuntdouble
- AfterEllen.com
Previously on Glee, Finn's evolution into the actual person of Will Schuester reached completion when he kissed Emma's face right on the lips. Tina's very misplaced crush on very gay Blaine reached very unacceptable heights when she roofied him with NyQuil and climbed aboard his body for some VapoRubbin' creep times. Kurt took his rightful place at the right hand of God atop Nyada's Iron Throne. And Santana moved her perfect ass right into Kurt and Rachel's Bushwick loft.
It's Valentine's Day and the reason you know it's Valentine's Day is because Glee's writers have penned us all a little love letter and it looks like this: Finn Hudson shouting at top volume, "I'm The Worst Person In The World." What has prompted such an accurate and heart-warming confession? It's time for Will and Emma's wedding and Finn's feeling like a real prick for kissing his best friend's future wife.
It's Valentine's Day and the reason you know it's Valentine's Day is because Glee's writers have penned us all a little love letter and it looks like this: Finn Hudson shouting at top volume, "I'm The Worst Person In The World." What has prompted such an accurate and heart-warming confession? It's time for Will and Emma's wedding and Finn's feeling like a real prick for kissing his best friend's future wife.
- 2/15/2013
- by StuntDouble
- The Backlot
Tags: GLEEGlee recapsNaya RiveraHeather MorrisLea MicheleIMDb
Previously on Glee, Brittany name-checked the Lesbian Blogger Community in such a way that the ladies said, "Oh, there's no way they can ever walk that back." And Tina fell in love with Gay Blaine in such a way that the fellas said, "Oh, well, it's not like anything amoral and totally fucking batshit crazy will come out of it."
Spoiler alert: Wrong on both counts, gaymos.
Lima, Ohio
Now that New New Directions are on their way to Sectionals, Finn is starting to worry that they won't be able to hold the audience's attention without Rachel and Kurt and Santana and Mercedes, which, as any viewer of season four can tell you, is a valid concern. Although, if he'd let Kitty stand on stage and roll her eyes for like three straight minutes, that'd go a long way to softening up the judges' hearts.
Previously on Glee, Brittany name-checked the Lesbian Blogger Community in such a way that the ladies said, "Oh, there's no way they can ever walk that back." And Tina fell in love with Gay Blaine in such a way that the fellas said, "Oh, well, it's not like anything amoral and totally fucking batshit crazy will come out of it."
Spoiler alert: Wrong on both counts, gaymos.
Lima, Ohio
Now that New New Directions are on their way to Sectionals, Finn is starting to worry that they won't be able to hold the audience's attention without Rachel and Kurt and Santana and Mercedes, which, as any viewer of season four can tell you, is a valid concern. Although, if he'd let Kitty stand on stage and roll her eyes for like three straight minutes, that'd go a long way to softening up the judges' hearts.
- 2/8/2013
- by stuntdouble
- AfterEllen.com
Previously on Glee, Brittany name-checked the Lesbian Blogger Community in such a way that the ladies said, "Oh, there's no way they can ever walk that back." And Tina fell in love with Gay Blaine in such a way that the fellas said, "Oh, well, it's not like anything amoral and totally f*kking batshit crazy will come out of it."
Spoiler alert: Wrong on both counts, gaymos.
Lima, Ohio
Now that New New Directions are on their way to Sectionals, Finn is starting to worry that they won't be able to hold the audience's attention without Rachel and Kurt and Santana and Mercedes, which, as any viewer of season four can tell you, is a valid concern. Although, if he'd let Kitty stand on stage and roll her eyes for like three straight minutes, that'd go a long way to softening up the judges' hearts. Emma (hi, Emma!) suggests...
Spoiler alert: Wrong on both counts, gaymos.
Lima, Ohio
Now that New New Directions are on their way to Sectionals, Finn is starting to worry that they won't be able to hold the audience's attention without Rachel and Kurt and Santana and Mercedes, which, as any viewer of season four can tell you, is a valid concern. Although, if he'd let Kitty stand on stage and roll her eyes for like three straight minutes, that'd go a long way to softening up the judges' hearts. Emma (hi, Emma!) suggests...
- 2/8/2013
- by StuntDouble
- The Backlot
Tags: GLEEWAPTwitterGaySharks tweetsIMDb
Sometimes the only thing that'll get you through an episode of Glee is the AfterEllen #GaySharks faithful. And Heather Morris dancing. And liquor.
Glee is that friend that you only keep around because they borrowed your tool box 3 years ago & still haven't returned it#gaysharks
— Alex Simpson (@alexsimpson) January 25, 2013
Can I support Adam's Apples just because of the obvious dyke in it? #gaysharks
— Deliriumiriam (@meeryum) January 25, 2013
All I figured out from my feed is that last night's #Glee was very gay. Also slightly traumatic. I don't see how this is news. #gaysharks
— Vic Garcia (@MagnusVictoria) January 25, 2013
When you're not even sure if you care that Glee started again #gaysharks
— Chloe Penfold (@N3ps) January 25, 2013
Glee, what The Hell is wrong with you? This is out of control #gaysharks
— Elin (@gasolinerain_) January 25, 2013
Wow, Sam and Blaine really want those Menonnites to go to Regionals. #gaysharks
— Kristi (@yellowpride12) January...
Sometimes the only thing that'll get you through an episode of Glee is the AfterEllen #GaySharks faithful. And Heather Morris dancing. And liquor.
Glee is that friend that you only keep around because they borrowed your tool box 3 years ago & still haven't returned it#gaysharks
— Alex Simpson (@alexsimpson) January 25, 2013
Can I support Adam's Apples just because of the obvious dyke in it? #gaysharks
— Deliriumiriam (@meeryum) January 25, 2013
All I figured out from my feed is that last night's #Glee was very gay. Also slightly traumatic. I don't see how this is news. #gaysharks
— Vic Garcia (@MagnusVictoria) January 25, 2013
When you're not even sure if you care that Glee started again #gaysharks
— Chloe Penfold (@N3ps) January 25, 2013
Glee, what The Hell is wrong with you? This is out of control #gaysharks
— Elin (@gasolinerain_) January 25, 2013
Wow, Sam and Blaine really want those Menonnites to go to Regionals. #gaysharks
— Kristi (@yellowpride12) January...
- 1/25/2013
- by stuntdouble
- AfterEllen.com
Tags: GLEEGlee recapsHeather MorrisLea MicheleIMDb
Previously on Glee:
Let's do McKinley first today:
Tina Cohen-Chang leads a meeting of the Too Young to Be Bitter Club. In the case of most of the club's members — Becky, Lauren Zizes (er, hey, girl?), Marley — it's true; they are too young to be bitter. But Tina, whose entire existence is like getting live-action trolled Stranger than Fiction-style, deserves her bitterness. Honestly, if she could find an archenemy and develop a maniacal laugh, she'd be in possession of all the qualities and life experiences she needs to become a supervillain. Anyway, the club doesn't know it is trapped inside an episode of Glee, so the ladies decide it's time for some female-empowerment. Rather than waiting around for boys to validate their existence, the girls decide to throw a Sadie Hawkins dance, so they can actively seek out boys to validate their existence.
Previously on Glee:
Let's do McKinley first today:
Tina Cohen-Chang leads a meeting of the Too Young to Be Bitter Club. In the case of most of the club's members — Becky, Lauren Zizes (er, hey, girl?), Marley — it's true; they are too young to be bitter. But Tina, whose entire existence is like getting live-action trolled Stranger than Fiction-style, deserves her bitterness. Honestly, if she could find an archenemy and develop a maniacal laugh, she'd be in possession of all the qualities and life experiences she needs to become a supervillain. Anyway, the club doesn't know it is trapped inside an episode of Glee, so the ladies decide it's time for some female-empowerment. Rather than waiting around for boys to validate their existence, the girls decide to throw a Sadie Hawkins dance, so they can actively seek out boys to validate their existence.
- 1/25/2013
- by stuntdouble
- AfterEllen.com
High school is an awkward time. In that sense, the "Sadie Hawkins" episode of "Glee" represented the adolescent experience perfectly. This may have been the single most awkward hour of television aired in recent memory.
What were the most cringe-worthy moments? From 10 to 1, get ready to shudder:
10. Coach Bieste (Dot Marie Jones) equates a random high school dance with the empowerment of humanity.
9. Kurt (Chis Colfer) and Adam -- the latter of whom may be stalking the former -- use ballet as a semi-metaphor for flirting. Mostly this is awkward because it doesn't make any sense.
8. Rachel (Lea Michele) goes into hysterics because Brody was kind of late -- at least she has a strong man to talk some sense into her pretty little head!
7. Blaine (Darren Criss) has a crush on Sam (Chord Overstreet). There are issues with lip balm. Also, what's so great about Sam all of the sudden?...
What were the most cringe-worthy moments? From 10 to 1, get ready to shudder:
10. Coach Bieste (Dot Marie Jones) equates a random high school dance with the empowerment of humanity.
9. Kurt (Chis Colfer) and Adam -- the latter of whom may be stalking the former -- use ballet as a semi-metaphor for flirting. Mostly this is awkward because it doesn't make any sense.
8. Rachel (Lea Michele) goes into hysterics because Brody was kind of late -- at least she has a strong man to talk some sense into her pretty little head!
7. Blaine (Darren Criss) has a crush on Sam (Chord Overstreet). There are issues with lip balm. Also, what's so great about Sam all of the sudden?...
- 1/25/2013
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
Andrea Riseborough in James Marsh's Shadow Dancer Robert Pattinson/Bel Ami, Michael Fassbender/Haywire: Berlin Film Festival 2012 Below is the list of the latest movie additions to the Berlin Film Festival's Official Competition line-up: À moi seule (Coming Home). France. By Frédéric Videau (Le fils de Jean-Claude Videau, Varieté Française). With Agathe Bonitzer, Reda Kateb. World premiere. Bel Ami, Great Britain. By Declan Donnellan, Nick Ormerod (feature debut). With Robert Pattinson (The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1, Breaking Dawn Part 2, Eclipse, New Moon, Twilight, Remember Me, Water for Elephants, Cosmopolis), Uma Thurman (Henry & June, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Kill Bill: Vol. 2, Gattaca, Playing the Field), Kristin Scott Thomas (The English Patient, Dans la maison, Sarah's Key, Love Crime, Nowhere Boy, Tell No One, Gosford Park, The Horse Whisperer, Mission: Impossible), Christina Ricci (Speed Racer, Fear and the Loathing in Las Vegas, The Opposite of Sex,...
- 1/20/2012
- by Anna Robinson
- Alt Film Guide
Mads Mikkelsen will receive the European Film Academy's European Achievement in World Cinema 2011 Honorary Award "in recognition of a unique contribution to the world of film." Previous recipients include Milos Forman, Roman Polanski, Antonio Banderas, Lars von Trier, Isabelle Huppert, Maurice Jarre, Liv Ullmann, Roberto Benigni, Gabriel Yared, and Victoria Abril. Among the Danish-born Mikkelsen's credits are Nicolas Winding Refn’s crime dramas Pusher (1996) and With Blood on My Hands: Pusher II (2004); Anders Thomas Jensen's The Green Butchers (2003) and Adam's Apples (2005); Susanne Bier's Open Hearts (2002) and the Oscar-nominated After the Wedding (2006); and Ole Christian Madsen's Flame and Citron (2008). Outside of Denmark, Mikkelsen was the creepy villain with the bleeding eye in Martin Campbell's Casino Royale (2006); Igor Stravinsky in Jan Kounen's Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (2009); a corporate go-getter with a past in Peter Lindmark's Swedish drama Exit (2009); One Eye in Winding Refn's English-language Valhalla Rising...
- 10/25/2011
- by Steve Montgomery
- Alt Film Guide
We ran a list of "ugly-hot" men yesterday, and inquiries were made as to when our list of "ugly-hot" women was coming out. Since we fancy ourselves an equal-opportunity outfit, that should be a pretty straightforward question. And yet somehow, it is not. Because women continue to be judged based on their fealty to a relatively narrow version of beauty in most cultures, a lot of what passes in Movies or on TV for a female "ugly-hot" is actually just hot, with glasses, or hot, with an over-sized sweatshirt. See, for instance, Jennifer Aniston in the recent Adam Sandler comedy Just Go With It:
Ugly
Hot
Or here are two women that some might mistakenly categorize as ugly-hot:
Tina Fey
Judy Greer
These women are totally cute, endearing and fun to look at, even before they take off their glasses or pile on the cosmetics. Perhaps most crucially, these women are all very slim.
Ugly
Hot
Or here are two women that some might mistakenly categorize as ugly-hot:
Tina Fey
Judy Greer
These women are totally cute, endearing and fun to look at, even before they take off their glasses or pile on the cosmetics. Perhaps most crucially, these women are all very slim.
- 3/4/2011
- by Dustin Rowles
Hans Petter Moland's dark ex-con comedy is reminiscent of Anders Thomas Jensen's humour, the Danish director responsible for Adam's Apples and The Green Butchers...
After twelve years in prison for killing his wife's lover, Ulrik (Stellan Skarsgård) is reluctantly released to a daunting changed world. Reunited with his ex-gangster chum Jensen (Bjørn Floberg), Ulrik is encouraged to avenge his downfall by killing the guy who ratted on him. But Ulrik is more interested in earning his the respect of long-lost son Geir (Jan Gunnar Røise). Studying to be an electrical engineer, replete with a pregnant girlfriend and decorated flat, Geir represents the life Ulrik now wants for himself.
During the time Ulrik spent in prison, his crim buddies have abandoned their underworld lifestyles, and consequently aren't as tough or respected as before, although Jensen misguidedly kids himself: “I look after my people, Ulrik. If my people show weakness,...
After twelve years in prison for killing his wife's lover, Ulrik (Stellan Skarsgård) is reluctantly released to a daunting changed world. Reunited with his ex-gangster chum Jensen (Bjørn Floberg), Ulrik is encouraged to avenge his downfall by killing the guy who ratted on him. But Ulrik is more interested in earning his the respect of long-lost son Geir (Jan Gunnar Røise). Studying to be an electrical engineer, replete with a pregnant girlfriend and decorated flat, Geir represents the life Ulrik now wants for himself.
During the time Ulrik spent in prison, his crim buddies have abandoned their underworld lifestyles, and consequently aren't as tough or respected as before, although Jensen misguidedly kids himself: “I look after my people, Ulrik. If my people show weakness,...
- 11/10/2010
- Shadowlocked
Every year the European Federation of Fantastic Film Festivals gives a pair of awards - the Golden Melies - to the best European Fantastic Films of the year with one prize going to a feature and the other to a short. And it has just been announced that this year's prizes are going to Rodrigo Cortes' Buried and Chema Garcia Ibarra's The Attack of the Robots From Nebulon Five. Here's the official announcement:
Buried wins the 2010 Méliès d'Or Award - Best European Fantastic Film
The 2010 Méliès d'Or Award - for Best European fantastic film went to Buried a Spanish thriller starring Ryan Reynolds. The award was handed out at the Méliès d'Or award ceremony during the 43rd Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival in Spain on the evening of October 14th 2010, with director Rodrigo Cortés in attendance.
Buried:
Paul Conroy is not ready to die. But when he wakes up...
Buried wins the 2010 Méliès d'Or Award - Best European Fantastic Film
The 2010 Méliès d'Or Award - for Best European fantastic film went to Buried a Spanish thriller starring Ryan Reynolds. The award was handed out at the Méliès d'Or award ceremony during the 43rd Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival in Spain on the evening of October 14th 2010, with director Rodrigo Cortés in attendance.
Buried:
Paul Conroy is not ready to die. But when he wakes up...
- 10/14/2010
- Screen Anarchy
[Our sincere thanks to the Fantasia Festival and Kier-La Janisse for offering up some of the excellent, exclusive materials from the festival blog for wider consumption here at Twitch.]
While Tomas Villum Jensen is familiar to Fantasia audiences from his acting turns in festival faves In China They Eat Dogs and Old Men in New Cars, as well as the arthouse hit Adam's Apples (2005), he's also got a hefty back-catalogue of directing credits, and it's safe to say that At World's End is his most ambitious film to date - not to mention that it also happens to be the first big-budget Danish adventure film!
A BBC film crew is massacred in the jungle of Sumatra and the shooter is alleged to be a Danish Citizen - who claims to be 129 years old and dependent on a rare flower to keep him young. With the shooter facing the death penalty, the Danish government hopes to bring him home and have him declared "mentally disordered", so they assign a bumbling young psychiatrist from the Danish Prison Service named Adrian (Nikolaj Lie Kaa...
While Tomas Villum Jensen is familiar to Fantasia audiences from his acting turns in festival faves In China They Eat Dogs and Old Men in New Cars, as well as the arthouse hit Adam's Apples (2005), he's also got a hefty back-catalogue of directing credits, and it's safe to say that At World's End is his most ambitious film to date - not to mention that it also happens to be the first big-budget Danish adventure film!
A BBC film crew is massacred in the jungle of Sumatra and the shooter is alleged to be a Danish Citizen - who claims to be 129 years old and dependent on a rare flower to keep him young. With the shooter facing the death penalty, the Danish government hopes to bring him home and have him declared "mentally disordered", so they assign a bumbling young psychiatrist from the Danish Prison Service named Adrian (Nikolaj Lie Kaa...
- 7/18/2010
- Screen Anarchy
This ridiculously fun adventure flick that combines 1980s style comedy-adventure film a la Romancing The Stone with the mannered deadpan sensibility of Danish comedy. That At World's End is an Anders Thomas Jensen screenplay is immediately obvious despite the grenades-and-jungle clothing. Shot all over the world, from Copenhagen to Jakharta to Sydney, it is an enthusiastic reminder of why we (I say that as those who grew up in the eighties era of Lucasfilm and Golan Globus) loved these films, but with more than a few surprises in where it goes and how the story plays out. Deep in the Sumatra jungles, there is a rare flower that (legend has it) provides eternal life for those who consume the pedals on a regular basis. The living proof of the legend is Severin, a European man born in the 19th century (making him 129 years old) living in jungle-isolation with Hedvig (his...
- 7/13/2010
- Screen Anarchy
You want the best of genre film from Canada, the Us and around the globe? Fantasia is the place.
Montreal, June 29, 2010 - For its fourteenth edition, the Fantasia Film Festival is proud to present over 50 titles from Asia. Once again, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Hong Kong and the People's Republic of China are widely represented, demonstrating the great quality and diversity of their industries. And, as always, the programming team is also dedicated to exposing several hidden gems hailing from emerging national cinemas. Through these, audiences can discover new visions and new sensibilities. Therefore, the public will be privy to works hailing from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and - a first for the festival - Indonesia. The filmic multicultural feast prepared by the 2010 Fantasia Film Festival promises to satisfy film lovers of all kinds.
Fantasia's 2010 occidental lineup of World Cinema is once again on fire with an astounding kaleidoscope of styles and sensibilities.
Montreal, June 29, 2010 - For its fourteenth edition, the Fantasia Film Festival is proud to present over 50 titles from Asia. Once again, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Hong Kong and the People's Republic of China are widely represented, demonstrating the great quality and diversity of their industries. And, as always, the programming team is also dedicated to exposing several hidden gems hailing from emerging national cinemas. Through these, audiences can discover new visions and new sensibilities. Therefore, the public will be privy to works hailing from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and - a first for the festival - Indonesia. The filmic multicultural feast prepared by the 2010 Fantasia Film Festival promises to satisfy film lovers of all kinds.
Fantasia's 2010 occidental lineup of World Cinema is once again on fire with an astounding kaleidoscope of styles and sensibilities.
- 6/29/2010
- Screen Anarchy
The European Film Promotion (EFP) and the San Sebastian International Film Festival (September 18-27) launched a new promotion initiative entitled "European Distributors: Up Next".
Ten independent distributors from Central and Eastern Europe attending the festival discussed the possibilities of theatrical distribution on a European level. Since the majority of European producers do not cross national borders, the meetings in San Sebastian were aimed to create possible platform and networking opportunities to improve the circulation of European productions.
• From Slovenia, Natasa Bucar, project manager of the cultural center Cankarjev Dom, a public institution that organizes many events promoting film, including the Ljubljana International Film Festival has been in art film distribution for the last 15 years. They distribute five to six titles every year to fill the gap in theatrical distribution of European high-profile films in Slovenia. Priority is given to established and not always well-known European and other international filmmakers. Their last distributed titles were Neil Jordan’s ‘Breakfast on Pluto’, Tony Gatlif’s ‘Transylvania’, Bent Hamer’s ‘Factotum’, Dagur Kari’s ‘Dark Horse’, Corneliu Porumboiu’s ‘12:08 East of Bucharest’, Roy Andersson’s ‘You, the Living’, Pascale Ferran’s ‘Lady Chatterley’, Marjane Satrapi’s ‘Persepolis’ and Shane Meadows’ ‘This Is England’.
Besides Cankarjev Dom, there are only four arthouse cinemas in Slovenia. They need more along with arthouse cinema networks to enable better film promotion. In Slovenia, like everywhere in Europe, the number of cinema viewers has fallen drastically. Audiences focus on fewer films, the top 20 films take up to almost 50% of the market in Slovenia.
• From Hungary, Rita Linda Potyondi of Cirko Film - Másképp Foundation, the only Hungarian distributor to operate as a non-profit-foundation, they also own one theater in Budapest. Working on a showstring budget, they are guided by personal tastes and focus on international and particularly European ‘difficult’ auteur films with targeted or limited audiences, especially those that explore themes related to discriminated groups: homosexuals, handicapped people, ethnic or religious minorities and victims of family abuse. Their last releases include films by Robert Guédiguian, Bruno Dumont, Fernando Leon de Aranoa, Baltasar Kormakur, Alain Corneau, Bruno Podalydès, Bertrand Bonello, Claire Denis, Ferzan Ozpetek, Catalin Mitulescu and Oskar Roehler. A recent surprise success was Anders Thomas Jensen’s ‘Adam's Apples’ which became a sort of cult film. They also did well with Palme d’Or-winner ‘4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days’, and ‘Persepolis’, Susanne Bier’s ‘After the Wedding, ‘Red Road’, ‘My Brother Is An Only Child’, ‘A Soap’, ‘Our Daily Bread’. Upcoming are the Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne's ‘Lorna’s Silence’, Gustave de Kervern and Benoit Belepine’s ‘Louise Michel’, Nic Balthazar’s ‘Ben X’, Simon Staho’s ‘Heaven’s Heart’, Ole Christian Madsen’s ‘Kira’s Reason’, Josef Fares’ ‘Leo’, Anders Thomas Jensen’s ‘The Green Butchers’ and ‘Flickering Lights’, and Ole Bornedal’s ‘Just Another Love Story’.
• Czech distributor Artcam’s Managing Director Premysl Martinek knows he is fighting an uphill battle. In 2007 combined total admissions for Artcam's films were under 50,000 — 0.4 percent of the national total. By comparison, leading distributor Falcon drew more than 4,000,000 viewers with its films, nearly a third of the market. However Martinek is convinced there is room in the market for small distributors and is interested in the shared challenges, from the opportunities offered by digital distribution and video-on-demand to how to negotiate with producers on minimum guarantees. The main problem is cultivating an audience. “It's very different from in Holland or Germany, where there are audiences for arthouse films,” he says.
Most of Artcam's target market is in Prague, home to roughly 1,000,000 people where European film is largely restricted to a handful of single-screen theatres, while the city's 14 multiplexes focus primarily on Hollywood imports and successful local films.
Artcam has distributed some of the most widely heralded European films of recent years, including Ole Madsen's drama ‘Prague’, ‘Persepolis’ and ‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’. The international success of such films has attracted the attention of larger distributors who are now crowding the arena. This year in Cannes when they tried to acquire ‘Waltz with Bashir’, there was greater competition. Martinek says arthouse is an important part of any film culture, and lack of access to European films is hurting Czech cinema because if they lack exposure to the cinema of other countries, from new ways of narration, they cannot develop their own cinema. The Czech Ministry of Education has introduced media studies to secondary school curricula to show young people that film is “not just fun and popcorn. It's also art.”
• Polish distribution company Gutek’s Jakub Duszyński, artistic director and head of programming (along with Roman Gutek) at the Muranow movie theater also programs for the different festivals held at the theatre and for Poland’s largest film event, the Era New Horizons Film Festival in Wroclaw. A lawyer by training and a fan of Asian genre films, Duszynski has also set up a distribution company (Blink) specializing in this type of film.
Gutek Film has always been a launching pad for auteur films and has released films by Lars Von Trier, Pedro Almodóvar, Jim Jarmush and Wong Kar-Wai. Every year, they distribute two or three films not aimed solely at auteur film enthusiasts, but also at multiplex audiences. Among such titles are Tom Tykwer’s ‘Perfume: The Story of a Murderer’ and ‘Control’. Coming up are Polish features including Jerzy Skolimowski’s ‘Four Nights With Anna’, Piotr Lazarkiewicz’s ‘0_1_0’ and Katarzyna Adamik’s ‘Boisko bezdomnych’. They distribute almost exclusively European films. The box office is certainly dominated by US films, but by only a few titles which often have, interestingly, something European about them, for example they may be inspired by European literature.
• Slovakia’s Michal Drobny is marketing manager for Slovak distributor Continental Film. Slovakia sees 2,500,000 to 3,000,000 admissions in a year. A successful film for Continental is 10,000 to 15,000 admissions, as compared to one of the Harry Potter films which will have 200,000 admissions.
Continental releases 30 to 40 films a year and, thanks largely to its partnership with Warner Bros, enjoys a market share of 20%–30%. Continental also serve as Slovak distribution partners for Hollywood Classic Entertainment, which often buys rights to European and arthouse titles for several Eastern European territories at once. Continental acquires other titles through direct negotiation with the producers, usually from the Czech Republic. Drobny seldom attends festivals other than Berlin. This year is his first visit to San Sebastian.
Margins are tight for Continental, which is the second or third largest distributor in Slovakia. Continental is also a 30% shareholder in Slovak multiplex chain Cinemax, which owns nine cinemas countrywide. Continental also operated Bratislava's only arthouse cinema until it was turned into a congress hall.
Continental counts on public money for a small portion of its operating budget. The Slovak Ministry of Culture gives support up to a maximum of SKK 160,000 (€5,500) for the distribution of European films which covers the cost of two or three prints. Continental also receives funding through the MEDIA automatic support scheme, typically receiving 40 to 60 cents per admission for European films.
Drobny says this public support is welcome but it's seldom enough to make a real difference to distributors. “A print for a US title costs $300 [€210]. For a European title, the cost is $1,000–1500 [€700–1,000] for the print, plus I still need to pay for the all the marketing materials and the cost of subtitles,” he says. “We can't be surprised that American films are everywhere.”
Not surprisingly few European films secure distribution in Slovakia. Cinemax promotes European and arthouse film through its Artmax program and screens independent films once a week, sometimes for free. Current titles in the selection include ‘Good Bye, Lenin!’, ‘The Secret Life of Words’, ‘The Science of Sleep’, ‘Volver’ and ‘Angel’. In cooperation with the Embassy of Spain, Continental and Cinemax are creating a Spanish Days celebration of Spanish cinema at Cinemax locations in November.
Drobny has hopes that digital cinema will help small distributors, but believes it will be five to ten years before the major studios settle on a common format. Even then, the costs of converting screens will be challenging for the private sector. “To install one 2K digital system costs SKK 3m–4m [€100,000–132,000] and we have 37 screens, so it's a lot of money,” he says. “We'd like to invest but it will take a long time to see a return on that investment.”
• From Romania, Transilvania Film, founded by Tudor Giurgiu and currently run by Stefan Bradea is one of the successful pioneers of arthouse film distribution in Romania. At first they distributed mainly British, German and Scandinavian features but gradually turned to quality Romanian films, genre pictures, even some mainstream American movies. Their eclectic selection is targeted to the highly educated public, basically university graduates under 35. Their latest premiere was ‘Non pensarci’ by Gianni Zanasi, an Italian comedy. Coming up are Gus Van Sant’s ‘Paranoid Park’ and a few Romanian films: Horatiu Malaele’s ‘Silent Wedding’, Adrian Sitaru’s ‘Hooked’ and Anca Damian’s debut, ‘Crossing Dates’. Their most profitable film was Tudor Giurgiu’s ‘Love Sick’ with 20,800 admissions and a box office gross of over €50,000. Other successful features were Neil Burger’s ‘The Illusionist’, with 11,500 admissions, and ‘Paris Je T’Aime’, with 9,715 admissions.
Film distribution business in Romania is rather unstable. There are eight active distributors bringing 150-160 features every year to 40-50 screens around the country. The number of distributors is growing and it is becoming a overserved field.
The Romanian mainstream public has little interest in European arthouse film and there are very few available screens, no arthouse cinemas and a poor DVD and TV arthouse market. And there is competition among distributors.
• Stefan Kitanov is the founder of the most important annual film event in Bulgaria, the Sofia International Film Festival. In 2001 he founded ART FEST Ltd., the company behind Sofia IFF. The same company is one of the key European film distributors in Bulgaria. ART FEST Ltd. has three components: production, distribution and exhibition.
Most recent releases include Fatih Akin’s ‘The Edge of Heaven’, ‘The Palermo Shooting ‘by Wim Wenders and ‘Delta’ by Kornel Mundruczo. The most successful releases were Francois Ozon’s ‘Swimming Pool’ and ‘Crossing the Bridge’ by Fatih Akin with 8,000 to 10,000 admissions.
Such a distribution business is not profitable. Festival audiences like European films but the general audience likes Hollywood films. Festival audiences don’t go to regular cinemas. The general audience goes to regular cinemas, therefore European films don’t go regularly to mainstream cinemas. There need to be events around the distribution of European films so that they be seen, such as a traveling package going to different towns, whether it is with 35mm or video screenings. There are less than 30 towns in Bulgaria with cinemas.
• From Estonia, Katrin Rajaare of Tallinnfilm, a state-owned company that used to produce the majority of Estonian films during the Soviet era has stopped production and sold its studio and now focuses on restoration of its archives. In 2004, Tallinnfilm began operating as an arthouse cinema and a year later started a distribution operation to ensure continuous programming for the cinema. Tallinnfilm acquires the rights to 12-16 films a year, mostly European films, with some titles from Asia and the US. As a state-owned company, Tallinnfilm buys mostly Estonian theatrical rights only. It is the second largest distribution company in Estonia, with a market share of 2.6%. In the Baltic countries, all rights are acquired for smaller films and shared with Lithuania’s Skalvija and Latvia’s Kino Riga. Their biggest hit in 2007 was ‘La Vie en Rose’ with 9,606 paid admissions. This film was number 43 in the 2007 national box office chart. Only US and Estonian films were at the top of the chart. Recent acquisitions include ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’ and ‘Vicky Christina Barcelona’ to be released around Christmas and the beginning of 2009.
There is a small, steady market for arthouse titles in the capital city of Tallinn, but the recent opening of a five-screen miniplex in the second city, Tartu (96,000 inhabitants), has brought hope from the outskirts as well. There are very few towns where you can screen European films, although the cinemas have received public support for technical equipment and should screen arthouse titles, but the reality is that you can’t force cinemas to screen certain films that won’t bring in audiences.
• From Lithuania Skalvija, an exhibitor since 1962 under the name of Planeta became the only arthouse in Lithuania in 1992. It has only one screen and 88 seats and is subsidized by the Vilnius Municipality. Located in the city center; it promotes quality cinema and pays special attention to young audiences and education. Its market share as an exhibitor is 1.11%. Two major multiplex theatres share 70 % of the entire Lithuanian exhibition market. Greta Akcijonaite heads its recent arthouse film distribution activity. Over the last two years they have released 10 films theatrically, and another 5 have been acquired for Lithuania and/or all the Baltic States. As a very small and specialized distributor, Skalvija has a market share of 0.64%. Most recent releases were the Danish film ‘Adam's Apples’, with almost 8,000 admissions and the Spanish film ‘Dark Blue Almost Black’ with over 6000 admissions. Recent acquisitions include Sam Garbarski’s ‘Irina Palm’ (Belgium/UK), Kornel Mundruczo’s ‘Delta’ (Hungary), the Palme d’Or winner ‘The Class’ (France) by Laurent Cantet, Thomas Clay’s ‘Soy Cowboy’ (Thailand/UK), Ruben Östlund’s’ Involuntary’ (Sweden), and Ilmar Raag’s ‘The Class’ (Estonia).
The market share of the European films released theatrically was 25% in 2007 although the share of admissions to European films was only 11%. There is definitely a lack of venues for screening European and quality films.
• Latvia’s Oskars Killo heads Acme Film Sia the leading independent film distributor in Latvia, established in 2004 and owned by Acme, a Lithuanian based company. The rights for Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are bought by the mother company in Lithuania. In 2007, Acme Film had 62 theatrical releases and a 25% market share. In 2008, the number of films released will be the same, but the revenue is expected to be higher. In 2008, Acme Film has had such European successes as French films ‘99 Francs’ and ‘Asterix at the Olympic Games’, and Spain’s ‘The Orphanage’. The last European hit was ‘2 Days in Paris’, released on one print on July 4, 2008 and still in release with 12,500 admissions thus far. ‘Cash’ was released on one print on August 1 and has 8,500 admissions so far. The results for ‘2 Days in Paris’ and ‘Cash’ are comparable to recent US releases in Latvia such as ‘The X-Files 2’, and ‘Disaster Movie’. Recent European acquisitions include ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’, ‘Paris’, ‘JCVD’, ‘The Duchess’, ‘Vicky Christina Barcelona’, ‘Vinyan’, ‘Ne te retourne pas’ among others.
In 2007, European films had a 18.3% market share, US films a 66% market share, the rest of the world 10.1% and national films a 5.5% market share.
Ten independent distributors from Central and Eastern Europe attending the festival discussed the possibilities of theatrical distribution on a European level. Since the majority of European producers do not cross national borders, the meetings in San Sebastian were aimed to create possible platform and networking opportunities to improve the circulation of European productions.
• From Slovenia, Natasa Bucar, project manager of the cultural center Cankarjev Dom, a public institution that organizes many events promoting film, including the Ljubljana International Film Festival has been in art film distribution for the last 15 years. They distribute five to six titles every year to fill the gap in theatrical distribution of European high-profile films in Slovenia. Priority is given to established and not always well-known European and other international filmmakers. Their last distributed titles were Neil Jordan’s ‘Breakfast on Pluto’, Tony Gatlif’s ‘Transylvania’, Bent Hamer’s ‘Factotum’, Dagur Kari’s ‘Dark Horse’, Corneliu Porumboiu’s ‘12:08 East of Bucharest’, Roy Andersson’s ‘You, the Living’, Pascale Ferran’s ‘Lady Chatterley’, Marjane Satrapi’s ‘Persepolis’ and Shane Meadows’ ‘This Is England’.
Besides Cankarjev Dom, there are only four arthouse cinemas in Slovenia. They need more along with arthouse cinema networks to enable better film promotion. In Slovenia, like everywhere in Europe, the number of cinema viewers has fallen drastically. Audiences focus on fewer films, the top 20 films take up to almost 50% of the market in Slovenia.
• From Hungary, Rita Linda Potyondi of Cirko Film - Másképp Foundation, the only Hungarian distributor to operate as a non-profit-foundation, they also own one theater in Budapest. Working on a showstring budget, they are guided by personal tastes and focus on international and particularly European ‘difficult’ auteur films with targeted or limited audiences, especially those that explore themes related to discriminated groups: homosexuals, handicapped people, ethnic or religious minorities and victims of family abuse. Their last releases include films by Robert Guédiguian, Bruno Dumont, Fernando Leon de Aranoa, Baltasar Kormakur, Alain Corneau, Bruno Podalydès, Bertrand Bonello, Claire Denis, Ferzan Ozpetek, Catalin Mitulescu and Oskar Roehler. A recent surprise success was Anders Thomas Jensen’s ‘Adam's Apples’ which became a sort of cult film. They also did well with Palme d’Or-winner ‘4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days’, and ‘Persepolis’, Susanne Bier’s ‘After the Wedding, ‘Red Road’, ‘My Brother Is An Only Child’, ‘A Soap’, ‘Our Daily Bread’. Upcoming are the Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne's ‘Lorna’s Silence’, Gustave de Kervern and Benoit Belepine’s ‘Louise Michel’, Nic Balthazar’s ‘Ben X’, Simon Staho’s ‘Heaven’s Heart’, Ole Christian Madsen’s ‘Kira’s Reason’, Josef Fares’ ‘Leo’, Anders Thomas Jensen’s ‘The Green Butchers’ and ‘Flickering Lights’, and Ole Bornedal’s ‘Just Another Love Story’.
• Czech distributor Artcam’s Managing Director Premysl Martinek knows he is fighting an uphill battle. In 2007 combined total admissions for Artcam's films were under 50,000 — 0.4 percent of the national total. By comparison, leading distributor Falcon drew more than 4,000,000 viewers with its films, nearly a third of the market. However Martinek is convinced there is room in the market for small distributors and is interested in the shared challenges, from the opportunities offered by digital distribution and video-on-demand to how to negotiate with producers on minimum guarantees. The main problem is cultivating an audience. “It's very different from in Holland or Germany, where there are audiences for arthouse films,” he says.
Most of Artcam's target market is in Prague, home to roughly 1,000,000 people where European film is largely restricted to a handful of single-screen theatres, while the city's 14 multiplexes focus primarily on Hollywood imports and successful local films.
Artcam has distributed some of the most widely heralded European films of recent years, including Ole Madsen's drama ‘Prague’, ‘Persepolis’ and ‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’. The international success of such films has attracted the attention of larger distributors who are now crowding the arena. This year in Cannes when they tried to acquire ‘Waltz with Bashir’, there was greater competition. Martinek says arthouse is an important part of any film culture, and lack of access to European films is hurting Czech cinema because if they lack exposure to the cinema of other countries, from new ways of narration, they cannot develop their own cinema. The Czech Ministry of Education has introduced media studies to secondary school curricula to show young people that film is “not just fun and popcorn. It's also art.”
• Polish distribution company Gutek’s Jakub Duszyński, artistic director and head of programming (along with Roman Gutek) at the Muranow movie theater also programs for the different festivals held at the theatre and for Poland’s largest film event, the Era New Horizons Film Festival in Wroclaw. A lawyer by training and a fan of Asian genre films, Duszynski has also set up a distribution company (Blink) specializing in this type of film.
Gutek Film has always been a launching pad for auteur films and has released films by Lars Von Trier, Pedro Almodóvar, Jim Jarmush and Wong Kar-Wai. Every year, they distribute two or three films not aimed solely at auteur film enthusiasts, but also at multiplex audiences. Among such titles are Tom Tykwer’s ‘Perfume: The Story of a Murderer’ and ‘Control’. Coming up are Polish features including Jerzy Skolimowski’s ‘Four Nights With Anna’, Piotr Lazarkiewicz’s ‘0_1_0’ and Katarzyna Adamik’s ‘Boisko bezdomnych’. They distribute almost exclusively European films. The box office is certainly dominated by US films, but by only a few titles which often have, interestingly, something European about them, for example they may be inspired by European literature.
• Slovakia’s Michal Drobny is marketing manager for Slovak distributor Continental Film. Slovakia sees 2,500,000 to 3,000,000 admissions in a year. A successful film for Continental is 10,000 to 15,000 admissions, as compared to one of the Harry Potter films which will have 200,000 admissions.
Continental releases 30 to 40 films a year and, thanks largely to its partnership with Warner Bros, enjoys a market share of 20%–30%. Continental also serve as Slovak distribution partners for Hollywood Classic Entertainment, which often buys rights to European and arthouse titles for several Eastern European territories at once. Continental acquires other titles through direct negotiation with the producers, usually from the Czech Republic. Drobny seldom attends festivals other than Berlin. This year is his first visit to San Sebastian.
Margins are tight for Continental, which is the second or third largest distributor in Slovakia. Continental is also a 30% shareholder in Slovak multiplex chain Cinemax, which owns nine cinemas countrywide. Continental also operated Bratislava's only arthouse cinema until it was turned into a congress hall.
Continental counts on public money for a small portion of its operating budget. The Slovak Ministry of Culture gives support up to a maximum of SKK 160,000 (€5,500) for the distribution of European films which covers the cost of two or three prints. Continental also receives funding through the MEDIA automatic support scheme, typically receiving 40 to 60 cents per admission for European films.
Drobny says this public support is welcome but it's seldom enough to make a real difference to distributors. “A print for a US title costs $300 [€210]. For a European title, the cost is $1,000–1500 [€700–1,000] for the print, plus I still need to pay for the all the marketing materials and the cost of subtitles,” he says. “We can't be surprised that American films are everywhere.”
Not surprisingly few European films secure distribution in Slovakia. Cinemax promotes European and arthouse film through its Artmax program and screens independent films once a week, sometimes for free. Current titles in the selection include ‘Good Bye, Lenin!’, ‘The Secret Life of Words’, ‘The Science of Sleep’, ‘Volver’ and ‘Angel’. In cooperation with the Embassy of Spain, Continental and Cinemax are creating a Spanish Days celebration of Spanish cinema at Cinemax locations in November.
Drobny has hopes that digital cinema will help small distributors, but believes it will be five to ten years before the major studios settle on a common format. Even then, the costs of converting screens will be challenging for the private sector. “To install one 2K digital system costs SKK 3m–4m [€100,000–132,000] and we have 37 screens, so it's a lot of money,” he says. “We'd like to invest but it will take a long time to see a return on that investment.”
• From Romania, Transilvania Film, founded by Tudor Giurgiu and currently run by Stefan Bradea is one of the successful pioneers of arthouse film distribution in Romania. At first they distributed mainly British, German and Scandinavian features but gradually turned to quality Romanian films, genre pictures, even some mainstream American movies. Their eclectic selection is targeted to the highly educated public, basically university graduates under 35. Their latest premiere was ‘Non pensarci’ by Gianni Zanasi, an Italian comedy. Coming up are Gus Van Sant’s ‘Paranoid Park’ and a few Romanian films: Horatiu Malaele’s ‘Silent Wedding’, Adrian Sitaru’s ‘Hooked’ and Anca Damian’s debut, ‘Crossing Dates’. Their most profitable film was Tudor Giurgiu’s ‘Love Sick’ with 20,800 admissions and a box office gross of over €50,000. Other successful features were Neil Burger’s ‘The Illusionist’, with 11,500 admissions, and ‘Paris Je T’Aime’, with 9,715 admissions.
Film distribution business in Romania is rather unstable. There are eight active distributors bringing 150-160 features every year to 40-50 screens around the country. The number of distributors is growing and it is becoming a overserved field.
The Romanian mainstream public has little interest in European arthouse film and there are very few available screens, no arthouse cinemas and a poor DVD and TV arthouse market. And there is competition among distributors.
• Stefan Kitanov is the founder of the most important annual film event in Bulgaria, the Sofia International Film Festival. In 2001 he founded ART FEST Ltd., the company behind Sofia IFF. The same company is one of the key European film distributors in Bulgaria. ART FEST Ltd. has three components: production, distribution and exhibition.
Most recent releases include Fatih Akin’s ‘The Edge of Heaven’, ‘The Palermo Shooting ‘by Wim Wenders and ‘Delta’ by Kornel Mundruczo. The most successful releases were Francois Ozon’s ‘Swimming Pool’ and ‘Crossing the Bridge’ by Fatih Akin with 8,000 to 10,000 admissions.
Such a distribution business is not profitable. Festival audiences like European films but the general audience likes Hollywood films. Festival audiences don’t go to regular cinemas. The general audience goes to regular cinemas, therefore European films don’t go regularly to mainstream cinemas. There need to be events around the distribution of European films so that they be seen, such as a traveling package going to different towns, whether it is with 35mm or video screenings. There are less than 30 towns in Bulgaria with cinemas.
• From Estonia, Katrin Rajaare of Tallinnfilm, a state-owned company that used to produce the majority of Estonian films during the Soviet era has stopped production and sold its studio and now focuses on restoration of its archives. In 2004, Tallinnfilm began operating as an arthouse cinema and a year later started a distribution operation to ensure continuous programming for the cinema. Tallinnfilm acquires the rights to 12-16 films a year, mostly European films, with some titles from Asia and the US. As a state-owned company, Tallinnfilm buys mostly Estonian theatrical rights only. It is the second largest distribution company in Estonia, with a market share of 2.6%. In the Baltic countries, all rights are acquired for smaller films and shared with Lithuania’s Skalvija and Latvia’s Kino Riga. Their biggest hit in 2007 was ‘La Vie en Rose’ with 9,606 paid admissions. This film was number 43 in the 2007 national box office chart. Only US and Estonian films were at the top of the chart. Recent acquisitions include ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’ and ‘Vicky Christina Barcelona’ to be released around Christmas and the beginning of 2009.
There is a small, steady market for arthouse titles in the capital city of Tallinn, but the recent opening of a five-screen miniplex in the second city, Tartu (96,000 inhabitants), has brought hope from the outskirts as well. There are very few towns where you can screen European films, although the cinemas have received public support for technical equipment and should screen arthouse titles, but the reality is that you can’t force cinemas to screen certain films that won’t bring in audiences.
• From Lithuania Skalvija, an exhibitor since 1962 under the name of Planeta became the only arthouse in Lithuania in 1992. It has only one screen and 88 seats and is subsidized by the Vilnius Municipality. Located in the city center; it promotes quality cinema and pays special attention to young audiences and education. Its market share as an exhibitor is 1.11%. Two major multiplex theatres share 70 % of the entire Lithuanian exhibition market. Greta Akcijonaite heads its recent arthouse film distribution activity. Over the last two years they have released 10 films theatrically, and another 5 have been acquired for Lithuania and/or all the Baltic States. As a very small and specialized distributor, Skalvija has a market share of 0.64%. Most recent releases were the Danish film ‘Adam's Apples’, with almost 8,000 admissions and the Spanish film ‘Dark Blue Almost Black’ with over 6000 admissions. Recent acquisitions include Sam Garbarski’s ‘Irina Palm’ (Belgium/UK), Kornel Mundruczo’s ‘Delta’ (Hungary), the Palme d’Or winner ‘The Class’ (France) by Laurent Cantet, Thomas Clay’s ‘Soy Cowboy’ (Thailand/UK), Ruben Östlund’s’ Involuntary’ (Sweden), and Ilmar Raag’s ‘The Class’ (Estonia).
The market share of the European films released theatrically was 25% in 2007 although the share of admissions to European films was only 11%. There is definitely a lack of venues for screening European and quality films.
• Latvia’s Oskars Killo heads Acme Film Sia the leading independent film distributor in Latvia, established in 2004 and owned by Acme, a Lithuanian based company. The rights for Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are bought by the mother company in Lithuania. In 2007, Acme Film had 62 theatrical releases and a 25% market share. In 2008, the number of films released will be the same, but the revenue is expected to be higher. In 2008, Acme Film has had such European successes as French films ‘99 Francs’ and ‘Asterix at the Olympic Games’, and Spain’s ‘The Orphanage’. The last European hit was ‘2 Days in Paris’, released on one print on July 4, 2008 and still in release with 12,500 admissions thus far. ‘Cash’ was released on one print on August 1 and has 8,500 admissions so far. The results for ‘2 Days in Paris’ and ‘Cash’ are comparable to recent US releases in Latvia such as ‘The X-Files 2’, and ‘Disaster Movie’. Recent European acquisitions include ‘Happy-Go-Lucky’, ‘Paris’, ‘JCVD’, ‘The Duchess’, ‘Vicky Christina Barcelona’, ‘Vinyan’, ‘Ne te retourne pas’ among others.
In 2007, European films had a 18.3% market share, US films a 66% market share, the rest of the world 10.1% and national films a 5.5% market share.
- 10/11/2008
- Sydney's Buzz
NEW YORK -- Day-and-date distributor Film Movement has acquired rights to three foreign films: Danish comedy Adam's Apples, Australian thriller Noise and Russian drama The Island.
Apples was Denmark's 2006 Oscar entry, and the latter two screened at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
Anders Thomas Jensen's Apples follows an idealistic preacher whose efforts to help small-town criminals are derailed by a neo-Nazi assistant. The film, an entry at last year's Sundance, won the Audience Award at the Warsaw Film Festival in October.
Matthew Saville's Noise follows a ne'er-do-well Australian police officer assigned to a remote post after suffering tinnitus, leaving him with an incessant buzz in his ears. His difficulties are compounded when a serial killer begins to haunt his town.
Pavel Lungin's Island is a parable following a haunted Russian Orthodox monk whose behavior confuses his colleagues but enthralls those who trek to his small northern Russian island to seek out his healing and soothsaying powers.
Film Movement president Adley Gartenstein negotiated each deal for the distributor.
Apples was Denmark's 2006 Oscar entry, and the latter two screened at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
Anders Thomas Jensen's Apples follows an idealistic preacher whose efforts to help small-town criminals are derailed by a neo-Nazi assistant. The film, an entry at last year's Sundance, won the Audience Award at the Warsaw Film Festival in October.
Matthew Saville's Noise follows a ne'er-do-well Australian police officer assigned to a remote post after suffering tinnitus, leaving him with an incessant buzz in his ears. His difficulties are compounded when a serial killer begins to haunt his town.
Pavel Lungin's Island is a parable following a haunted Russian Orthodox monk whose behavior confuses his colleagues but enthralls those who trek to his small northern Russian island to seek out his healing and soothsaying powers.
Film Movement president Adley Gartenstein negotiated each deal for the distributor.
- 3/27/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
NEW DELHI -- The week-long Kolkata Film Festival, India's only non-competitive festival, ended Friday with a screening of Kaalpurush by renowned Indian director Buddhadeb Dasgupta.
Now in its 12th year, a highlight of this year's festival was the first-ever participation from China, which saw four contemporary films screened including a Sunday premiere Sunday for 7 Colours, a collection of seven short films. One the film's seven directors, Lu Yitong, and actress Yang Qing were in attendance.
The Chinese flavor at the festival comes just a week before the official visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao to India.
Other Chinese films unspooling included Yang Li's noirish 2003 title Blind Shaft; 2005 Cannes Jury Prize winner Shanghai Dreams, directed by Xiaoshuai Wang; and 2005's Perpetual Motion, by director Ning Ying.
The festival, which opened with Danish filmmaker Andres Thomas Jensen's Adam's Apples, showcased 225 films, compared with 149 last year, from 53 countries, including a special showcase of eight films by Ingmar Bergman.
Also included were retrospectives of Italian filmmakers Luchino Visconti and Roberto Rossellini, whose birth centenaries are being observed this year.
Now in its 12th year, a highlight of this year's festival was the first-ever participation from China, which saw four contemporary films screened including a Sunday premiere Sunday for 7 Colours, a collection of seven short films. One the film's seven directors, Lu Yitong, and actress Yang Qing were in attendance.
The Chinese flavor at the festival comes just a week before the official visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao to India.
Other Chinese films unspooling included Yang Li's noirish 2003 title Blind Shaft; 2005 Cannes Jury Prize winner Shanghai Dreams, directed by Xiaoshuai Wang; and 2005's Perpetual Motion, by director Ning Ying.
The festival, which opened with Danish filmmaker Andres Thomas Jensen's Adam's Apples, showcased 225 films, compared with 149 last year, from 53 countries, including a special showcase of eight films by Ingmar Bergman.
Also included were retrospectives of Italian filmmakers Luchino Visconti and Roberto Rossellini, whose birth centenaries are being observed this year.
- 11/17/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
COLOGNE, Germany -- Twelve films, including Pedro Almodovar's Volver, Luc Jacquet's Oscar-winning documentary March of the Penguins, and claymation feature Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit have made the shortlist for this year's European Film Prize people's choice award. The European Film Academy announced the shortlist on Friday, which also includes the black comedy Adam's Apples from Danish director Anders Thomas Jensen; Oskar Roehler's adaptation of Michel Houellebecq's Elementary Particles; 2005 Palme d'Or winner L'enfant from Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne; Christian Carion's Oscar-nominated World War I film Merry Christmas and Roman Polanski's adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic Oliver Twist. Joe Wright's adaptation of another 19th century English classic, Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice made the EFA cut, along with Michele Placido's mafia drama Crime Novel and last year's San Sebastian winner Something Like Happiness from Czech director Bohdan Slama.
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