New Day Christian Distributors and Word Entertainment are pleased to announce an expanded distribution relationship. Effective January 2, 2017, all titles from Word Entertainment will be exclusively distributed in the physical format to Christian Retail by New Day. The agreement encompasses Word Entertainment’s record and film partners and all artists on the Word and Curb Christian rosters, including: Meredith Andrews, Chris August, Francesca Battistelli, Big Daddy Weave, Blanca, Castro, Everfound, Family Force 5, for KING & COUNTRY, Natalie Grant, Group 1 Crew, Mallary Hope, Love & The Outcome, Dara Maclean, Steven Malcolm, OBB, Plumb, Sarah Reeves, Selah, Sidewalk Prophets, Todd Smith, Stars Go Dim, VERIDIA, We Are Messengers and Zealand Worship.
“The first major label relationship we established after starting New Day in 1981, was with Word Records,” shared Dottie Leonard Miller, President & CEO of New Day. “Serving Christian Retail is our entire focus at New Day. To be able to exclusively represent Word Entertainment and Curb Records to Christian Retail, along with products from their distributed labels and film partners, is a career highlight. We are humbled by Mike Curb’s and Rod Riley’s trust in New Day.”
This exclusive distribution arrangement brings together two great, independent, Christian-owned companies. According to Nielsen Music’s SoundScan, combined Christian music market share YTD for New Day/Word exceeds 16%.
Rod Riley, President & CEO, Word Entertainment, adds, “I have been a big fan of Dottie, Ed, and the New Day team for many years now, and it is an honor to bring our companies together as we effectively move forward into the future of the music industry. As we sharpen our focus on content creation while continuing to be committed to Christian Retail, this new relationship will strengthen how we are able to serve our artists and our catalog of 65 years.”
Today’s announcement comes on the heels of New Day signing the TillyMann (Tamela Mann) label for Christian Retail distribution, and extending its exclusive Christian Retail distribution relationships with Reach Records (Lecrae, Andy Mineo, Trip Lee, Tedashii, KB) and Tooth & Nail/BEC/Solid State Records (Kutless, 7eventh Time Down, Disciple, Demon Hunter, David Dunn). New Day will now exclusively represent a historic collection of independent Christian labels and artists under one roof with artists representing all styles of the Christian genre, including: AC, Hip Hop, Rap, Rock, Gospel, Southern Gospel, Jazz, Bluegrass, Country, and Inspirational. Also, for the first time, New Day will offer Word performance tracks, adding to the market leadership of their Daywind line which features over 4,400 titles across genres.
Viewed by Larry Gleeson during TCM Classic Film Festival.
Shanghai Express, a 1932 Pre-Code U.S. production, based on a book by Harry Harvey, written by Jules Furthman, and directed brilliantly by Joseph von Sternberg, is a story of one-time lovers, Shanghai Lily, played by Marlene Dietrich, and Captain “Doc” Harvey played by Clive Brook, who rediscover each other during an exciting, yet dangerous, train ride from Peiping (Peking) to Shanghai. Complete with stabbings, machine gun fire, and plenty of physical altercations the Shanghai Express is a non-stop action/adventure with high production values encapsulated within a melodramatic narrative.
Interestingly enough, most passengers on the train are more concerned that the notorious Shanghai Lily is on board rather than the fact that the country is enmeshed in a bloody civil war. Shanghai Lily is referred to as a “coaster, a woman who lives by her wits along the China Coast.” In essence, it is a nice way of saying she is a woman who indulges in casual affairs as a means to an end – a lavish lifestyle of beautiful gowns and stunning jewelry. Yet, when Chinese guerillas stop the train and Captain Harvey is selected to be the hostage, Shanghai Lily foregoes her honor and manages to entice the elusive Mr. Chang, played by Warner Oland, to release the doctor by “praying all night,” and by agreeing to visit Mr. Chang at his castle. By the film’s end, the core group of passengers’ real identities have emerged. None of the characters were who they seemed to be when the train ride began.
Von Sternberg, nominated for an Oscar for Best Director for his work in Shanghai Express, makes exquisite use of the camera and lighting in creating the effect of tight space with mesmerizing shadows and his extensive use of netting in delivering a phenomenal atmospheric of a train ride in the Orient is a visual treat. Dietrich’s performance as Shanghai Lily was alluring and she captivates with her emotionally wrought physicalities and exotic costuming. We first get a glimpse of her dressed in black with her face partially covered with a veil. She is often seen puffing on a cigarette as she paces sluggishly back and forth. Her heavy eyelids and sultry good looks, however, offset any semblance of an awkward accent. provided the cinematograpy and received an Oscar for his efforts. Controlling most of this production in China for Paramount Pictures, Sternberg claims to have collaborated extensively with Garmes and felt he was as much deserving of an Oscar as Garmes. In addition, the costuming, handled by Travis Banton (gowns) and Eugen Joseff (jewelry), was right on the mark. The film utilized over 1,ooo extras, primarily in the locales where the train made stops.
The screening was followed by a Q & A with Nicholas von Sternberg, son of Director Joseph von Sternberg, along with author and film historian, Jeremy Arnold. The younger von Sternberg shared an original script book from the 1932 film, Shanghai Express as well as how his father discovered Marlene Dietrich on a cabaret scene. The elder von Sternberg saw something in Dietrich he believed would be perfect for his upcoming film, The Blue Angel. The two would go on to collaborate on seven films between 1930 and 1935 with most film historians agreeing the 1932 Shanghai Expressto be the team’s best work.
In my opinion, Shanghai Express is a must-see treasure from Hollywood’s Golden Age of Glamour. This digitally restored version of Shanghai Express kept the refinement of the original film and provided a seamless viewing. Highly recommended.
Sophia Takal’s sophomore feature follows two friends, Anna and Beth, both actresses with varying degrees of success, as they travel to Big Sur for a weekend getaway in hopes of reconnecting and reestablishing a bond broken by years of competitiveness and jealousy. Once away, tension bubbles to the surface, forcing them to finally confront their issues — and to lose grasp of their own identities in the process. Building on the theme of jealousy that permeated her debut feature GREEN, Takal explores the nature of female friendships and what it means to be feminine in the eyes of others. Mackenzie Davis and Caitlin FitzGerald sink their teeth into the roles of Anna and Beth, straddling a delicate line between melodrama and realism. Reminiscent of films like Robert Altman’s 3 WOMEN (1977) and other films about “psychotic women” from the 1970s, ALWAYS SHINE is a modern take that marks Takal as an important filmmaker to watch.
AFI spoke with Takal about the film, her second at AFI FEST after 2011’s GREEN.
AFI: Did ALWAYS SHINE come out of wanting to explore the theme of jealousy — which you examined in your previous film GREEN — further?
Sophia Takal: Sort of. GREEN was a very personal exploration of my own issues around jealousy, friendship and sexuality. I worked through those issues with GREEN, and they no longer have the same stranglehold on me. But new issues cropped up. Instead of feeling threatened in my romantic partnership, I felt very threatened by other women’s career successes. Right around when GREEN came out, a lot of my friends started working more as actors and directors and I got very, very competitive.
The idea for the film came from this insane competitiveness that took over me. I became obsessed with my career and felt an insane pressure to be “feminine” — shy, deferential. I traced all of those fears back to early memories of childhood where I felt that I’d been shamed for not embodying these stifling notions of what it was to be a woman.
I started talking more about my feelings of inadequacy as a woman with friends and realized that no one I knew felt like a “woman” in the way we were taught to feel, either. ALWAYS SHINE began as a desire to examine the negative impact that these very confining ideas can have on a woman’s psychology.
ALWAYS SHINE
AFI: This film is reminiscent of the “psychotic women” films of the 1970s. Did you have any of those films in mind when making this? What influenced you while making the film?
ST: Definitely! Robert Altman’s 3 WOMEN was a huge inspiration as was his film IMAGES — as were Ingmar Bergman’s PERSONA, John Cassavetes’ A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE and Lynn Ramsay’s MORVERN CALLAR.
Lawrence Levine, the screenwriter, read a number of books about celebrity obsession, narcissism and feminism. Books we referenced frequently were “Down from the Pedestal” by by Maxine Harris and “Fame Junkies” by Jake Halpern.
AFI: While you played one of the leads in GREEN, here you stayed behind the camera. Talk about that decision, and how you found Mackenzie Davis and Caitlin FitzGerald.
ST: Deciding not to be in the film was something that I thought about for a long time. Ultimately, I didn’t feel like I would be making the film better by acting and directing. To me, the joy of acting is losing myself in a character; being a director makes that an impossibility. I’m always worried about the camera, or the other actors’ performances. When Mackenzie said she wanted to be in the film, I knew that I found someone who would be infinitely better at bringing Anna to life than I would have been.
I cast Mackenzie and Caitlin the “traditional” way, through agents and casting directors. It was important to me to work with actors I had never worked with before. I wanted to challenge myself to be a sharper communicator and better director and I thought that by casting such talented actors, whom I didn’t know, I would be encouraged to do the best I could.
AFI: As someone who has worked both in front of and behind the camera, how do you approach your actors? Does being an actress yourself help with this process?
ST: Being an actor definitely helps with this process. I can’t imagine knowing how to direct actors without experience as an actor myself. Acting is such a vulnerable, exposing process. I think all directors should learn acting as part of their training.
This was a very intimate shoot with a lot of intense, emotionally complex scenes, so it was important to me to create a very relaxed, collaborative environment. We did meditation and acting warm-ups with the cast and crew. Breaking the barrier between the cast and crew was especially important. I wanted the actors to feel free to fail and to explore and play and I felt that by bringing the crew into the process (with warm-ups), the actors would feel safer. We did a week of rehearsals, too, which helped Mackenzie and Caitlin get to know each other.
ALWAYS SHINE screens Tuesday, November 15 as part of New Auteurs.
Sarah Adina Smith’s sophomore feature is the story of Jonah, a man who has been split in two by grief — one who lives in the woods and another who is trapped at sea — with each incarnation looking for a reckoning with God. Actor Rami Malek delivers an exceptional performance, playing fractured parts of the same man and imbuing each persona with a wholly different performance. Kate Lyn Sheil and DJ Qualls round out the cast, as Jonah’s sensitive wife and a drifter who contributes to Jonah’s downward spiral, respectively. Director/writer Smith expertly crafts a darkly humorous and touching film that explores the nuances of the human condition with elements of conspiracy theory and quantum entanglement. BUSTER’S MAL HEART is a visceral, mind-bending mystery that will keep you pondering long after it turns your world upside down.
AFI spoke with Smith about the film.
AFI: This film deals with some pretty complex ideas — identity fracturing, parallel realities. Talk about how the premise of this screenplay came to you.
Sarah Adina Smith: The idea for BUSTER’S MAL HEART grew pretty naturally out of [my 2014 film] THE MIDNIGHT SWIM. Both movies propose a cosmology, seen through the eyes of a so-called “insane” character.
Suppose that your soul is a traveler along the path of everything that ever was and everything that ever will be. THE MIDNIGHT SWIM shows us a character becoming conscious of that path. BUSTER’S MAL HEART takes it one step farther, showing us a character who rebels against that path.
THE MIDNIGHT SWIM was about a woman who was never fully at peace with being born, who chooses a conscious death. She’s the psychological equivalent of an astronaut — boldly launching herself into the darkness, surrendering herself to fate with eyes open. She successfully achieves conscious reincarnation. Her journey is an illumination of the path of eternal recurrence — the ceaseless unfolding of space-time that churns out the magnificent picture show we call “reality.”
BUSTER’S MAL HEART is about a character who feels in his bones that there’s something essentially messed up about the great machine of the universe. The protagonist, Jonah, rebels against God, or lack thereof. He refuses to be a player in a game where he didn’t create or consent to the rules. He was born with a bad heart; that was his Fate. But he found love — tangible love — through his wife and daughter…and refused to let go. BUSTER’S MAL HEART puts forth the idea that love can defy the laws of the universe. That love has the power to rip space-time a new one.
We are all in pursuit of peace. We want release from a cycle that has no end. Because Hell is real, kinda. Hell is the dark factory that processes energy and creates all the beautiful events in the world. I am grateful for Hell because here I am, enjoying these momentary glimpses of “Heaven.” (The beautiful picture show of passing cataclysms.)
For the vast majority of eternity other than the tiny blip of our existence, we are the fuel that runs that factory. Our bodies are no different than the fire of every sun that was ever born…all energy that ever materialized longs to escape. We know for certain that we will die. That our bodies will become fuel for the great machine. The good news is that history repeats itself. The better news is that it’s never fully the same. We’ll rise again from the muck and live another blip.
Jonah is a man who wants release from the whole comedy show. He wants to be truly free. But freedom doesn’t mean anything if you’re enclosed by a cage with no walls. It isn’t possible. Buster’s heart cries out for a reckoning with God or gods or even just nature. He demands it. And he succeeds in calling that trial to session through the sheer power of his heart.
AFI: Why did you choose the film’s very specific setting — both in Montana and in the years leading up to the millennium?
SAS: One half of Jonah charges up the mountain seeking a reckoning with his maker, but encounters only the void. The other half tries to escape a reckoning with his maker down south, and is washed to sea, forced into a conversation he doesn’t want to have.
I chose Montana because it’s the place where Americans go to find themselves in solitude and seek a conversation with the divine. We also shot in the ocean off the coast of Mexico. I specifically wanted to shoot in Mexico because it’s the place where (archetypically) Americans go to run away from their sins and avoid fate.
AFI: How did Rami Malek come on board the project?
SAS: Casting the lead role was the biggest challenge because I was set on casting a Latino actor for the role, which I had written to be bilingual in Spanish and English. My producers and financiers felt equally strongly that we should cast a native Spanish speaker. We spent about six months trying to find the right fit and kept striking out on availability. It finally became clear that if we were going to make the film in 2015, we needed to broaden our search.
But it was really important to me that we cast an actor of color in the role because the character Jonah feels like an outsider in an otherwise very white community. We made a new list and pretty quickly we all realized that Rami Malek was at the very top. This is before MR. ROBOT came out, so I had only seen his work in SHORT TERM 12 and THE PACIFIC, but I thought he was incredibly compelling.
Plus, I did a tarot card reading and the cards don’t lie. I can’t imagine anyone else playing the part. Rami’s a disciplined craftsman and his own toughest critic. He’s one of the hardest working, most inventive and gracious actors I’ve ever met.
AFI: You have a knack for casting great character actors in your films, like Beth Grant in THE MIDNIGHT SWIM and Toby Huss and Lin Shaye in BUSTER’S MAL HEART. How does that casting process work for you?
SAS: Oh man, thank you for saying that. I really love casting. I had the great pleasure of working with the casting director Samy Burch on this movie and she brought so many beautiful ideas to the table.
Toby Huss had been on my radar from HALT AND CATCH FIRE. He has this natural charisma that I find very compelling — he’s playful and serious at the same time. Kind of a jester in the very best and most honorable sense of the word.
I believe it was my producer Travis Stevens who brought Lin Shaye to my attention. Lin’s such a terrific fit for the role. She’s an extremely dedicated actress, fiercely intelligent and a truly wonderful person. In the moment of a scene, Lin is all heart, which is a joy to watch.
AFI: We’ve had the chance to watch you grow as a filmmaker. What lessons did you learn on [AFI FEST 2014 Breakthrough Award winner] THE MIDNIGHT SWIM that you carried over to BUSTER’S MAL HEART?
SAS: THE MIDNIGHT SWIM taught me to trust my instincts, to stay open to surprises and to carry the heavy weight of a feature on my shoulders from start to finish.
I had a really hard moment in the middle of editing THE MIDNIGHT SWIM — kind of a heart of darkness. Because I had lived through it once, I knew it would likely come again on BUSTER. It did come, I was just more prepared to deal with it this time around. I learned to have more faith in the process and to release myself just a bit to fate, over which I have very little control.
BUSTER’S MAL HEART screens at AFI FEST 2016 on Wednesday, November 16, as part of New Auteurs.
How social media has influenced the relationship between stars and fandom.
Posted by Larry Gleeson
By Pobsiri Kriengkraisakul
Stars have played a paramount role in securing the financial success of Hollywood films since the dawn of time. Having the names of so called “A-List celebrities” such as Robert Downey Jr., Chris Pratt or Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, printed onto movie posters have considerably boosted the chances of a film becoming a hit with the audience.But why exactly is this the case? And why do well-known actors get paid more than newbies do in the entertainment industry?
Stars as icons: ‘The Rock’
Simply put, established stars are extremely recognizable and iconic to us consumers: We are constantly exposed to stars through the media and further spread our knowledge about our favorite celebrities through word of mouth. We talk about celebrity A and celebrity B splitting up (yet again) and how celebrity C is such a genuinely good person for donating money to a good cause. So basically, we associate specific social values and characteristics with stars through the information we obtain from various sources and media outlets. All this constitutes the image of a #star or in other words the way in which we, as consumers, perceive them. So, when we go to the movies and recognize the face of an actor we kinda know what to expect from him.
Let’s take a look at a contemporary and very well-known film star for example:
Ex-professional wrestler turned Hollywood actor Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson has been a household name in Hollywood in the past decade. But you wouldn’t really expect him to play the lead in a romantic comedy now, would you? This pretty much comes down to the fact that he has been mainly involved in action films – with a few notable exceptions such as Tooth Fairy (2010) – throughout his career. Outside of his films he is portrayed as a likable badass who’s worked really, really hard to get to where he is now – yeah, he’s pretty much the epitome of the American Dream.
Social media
This is the part where social media kicks in – sorry for the lengthy introduction btw! Before we had our very own (semi-)personalized, online social networks in the form of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, all the information we obtained about celebrities came from third party media outlets such as gossip magazines, film interviews and radio or television. Now in the age of social media we are directly connected to the celebrities that we choose to follow. This means that we get information and insights into their private lives outside of their professions directly from them – if the account isn’t run by some publicist that is. This further means that stars – and their PR team – are now for the very first time in history capable of managing and shaping their own images by interacting with the public on social media: They’ve become their very own obnoxious paparazzi.
The good old studio system
To put this into perspective, let’s take a trip down memory lane all the way back to the glorious 20s and the glamorous studio system. Back in the day, stars were contractually obliged to have their images produced and managed directly by the studios. Studios paid close attention to keep their stars’ images in accordance with their on-screen characters to maintain continuity. In order to accomplish this, studios even set up interviews in which they specifically instructed their stars what to say and how to behave. So, the construction of a star image had to be carefully and specifically prepared in advance.
Ultimately, if the studios proposed a star that the audience did not want to see the movies in which those stars starred in would naturally flop. In this sense, the making of a star is kind of a democratic procedure – and even more so in social media. Eventually, the studios gave up this approach of carefully nourishing and producing stars, which lead to actors becoming responsible for their own images.
With the rise of social media stars possess greater tools for managing their own images with a system that allows for immediate feedback in the form of likes, shares and follows.#socialmedia#therock.
Viewed during the Santa Barbara International Film. Laurence Anyways, is a visual feast as Canadian director, Xavier Dolan, tells a love story between two highly charged individuals, Fred, played by Suzanne Clement a fashionable female film and television producer, and Laurence, played by Melvil Poupad, an up and coming successful, thirty-something in his own right who has decided he wants to be a woman and that he’s always wanted to be a woman. Imagine that!
While definitely viewed as a game-changer Laurence’s decision to become a woman isn’t really the central focus of the film despite the amount of attention Dolan provides for it as we see Laurence first few awkward moments and then his full on embodiment and womanly maturation. Nevertheless, the film wouldn’t have the soul to evolve without the essence of Fred as his fiance. Despite all the hype about the film being a caricature of a transvestite it’s a real love story between Fred and Laurence that takes place over the course of the ten years we are privy to in Mr. Dolan’s long tale.girlfriend for this film is really a portrait of their relationship over the course of ten years. They play wonderfully off each other, immediately conjuring intimate undercurrent relationship squabbles, shared amusements, and deep understanding of one another and each ones personal and emotional needs.
Laurence isn’t gay per se, yet Fred unequivocally states she wants to be with a man. Respectfully and with tremendous courage both Laurence and Fred try to go with it. Also of interest to note about Laurence – his mother, played by Nathalie Baye, hated her son but now loves her daughter. Poupad really seems to capture the very assertive yet conflicted nature of Laurence as he meanders emotionally revealing deep scarring in his psyche. Yet by the end of the film it’s become obvious Suzanne Clements has literally stolen the show with her round-robin buildup of intense emotional pandering to the man she so deeply loves and it’s her eyes that treat the viewer to Laurance’s transformation.
Undoubtedly, Dolan is establishing himself as a filmmaker and editor of quite some skill, having won awards at Cannes and at Toronto, and here takes on the costume design as well. Granted often said the clothes don’t make the man but in Laurence Anyways, the costumes illuminate the characters and raise them to a level of such visual delight I would venture to say these costumes help make the characters and assuredly radiate their inner light. In addition, Dolan seems to handle the obvious story beats with a crisp, elegant, and understated style and permeates the screen with an eye for color, pattern, and composition and with a solid dose of fetishism. He also cuts a mean musical score here as well using Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony to accompany a superb montage of raw emotion as the causality of the relationship implodes.
The film runs at 2:45 minutes. In my opinion, the story needs a little more brevity. Still, I give it a strong endorsement as it hits a home run with the 80’s nostalgia, the actor’s powerful performance levels, the gorgeous cinematography, and the colorful characters magnified so profoundly by the extraordinary costume design. Highly recommended.
RVINE, Calif., Nov. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — VIZIO, Inc. announced today its third-year of collaboration with the American Film Institute, highlighted by a sponsorship of AFI FEST 2016 presented by Audi. With a joint mission to celebrate the art of filmmaking, the partnership between AFI and VIZIO connects cinema and technology to enhance the home entertainment experience. This year, VIZIO will showcase its complete VIZIO SmartCast line-up, including the VIZIO SmartCast™ P-Series™ Ultra HD HDR Home Theater Display collection, in the VIZIO Lounge at The Hollywood Roosevelt during the festival. The displays feature High Dynamic Range with Dolby Vision™ and HDR10 content support, culminating in a cinema-like entertainment experience at home.
VIZIO will host the Special Closing Night Gala Presentation of AFI FEST, featuring a red carpet celebration and screening of Patriots Day, directed by Peter Berg. The film stars Mark Wahlberg, Melissa Benoist and Michelle Monaghan and depicts an account of Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis’ actions in the events leading up to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing and the aftermath, which includes a city-wide manhunt to find the terrorists behind it. The Special Closing Night Gala Presentation of Patriots Day will take place at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on Thursday, November 17 at 7:00pm.
PHOENIX, AZ–(Marketwired – Nov 11, 2016) – Rising India, Inc. (OTC: RSII), a company focused in undervalued opportunities in entertainment, media and hospitality, announces today that fully owned subsidiary TomCat Films has closed deals on 27 film distribution licenses at the American Film Market last week with South Korea being the key buying territory of the market.
TomCat has inked a deal with Mania 22. The South Korean buyer has signed to distribute 20 titles from the TomCat catalog of new films, including “2021”, “3 Tails: A Mermaid Adventure”, “All In Time”, “Appleton”, “Forced Move” and more.
Action, Sci-Fi film, “Genesis: Fall of the Crime Empire” was picked up by Radice, Inc. of South Korea for All Rights.
Six titles went to Jaye Entertainment Co., Ltd. For South Korean rights, including, “Dutch Kills” with Peta Wilson, “Lazarus Rising” starring Eric Roberts and C. Thomas Howell, “All I Need” starring Caitlin Stasey, “Most Dangerous Game”, “Paramedics” and “Watch Me Die”.
Mermaid family film, “3Tails: A Mermaid Adventure” was picked up for Video rights in Germany by Lighthouse Home Entertainment.
U.S. DVD and VOD rights of 3-D horror film, “American Mummy”, were acquired by Wild Eye Releasing.
China’s FirstBrave acquired rights to two love stories, “Love Meet Hope” with Ed Asner and “All In Time” which is currently in U.S. theaters.
COO Ted Chalmers states, “We are very pleased with the deals and we are anticipating further results from the AFM to report to shareholders in the coming days and weeks, alongside news on new acquisitions and potential revenue streams”. TomCat will also be attending the European Film Market (EFM) in February.
The Love Witch is the second feature film from Anna Biller and it recently received distribution from Oscilloscope Laboratories. Biller’s first feature was Viva(2007), a dramedy about two Los Angeles suburbanites who experiment with drugs, sex and bohemia in the 1970’s. Both films are shot in 35mm. Biller wrote, directed and produced The Love Witch and also made many of the props and paintings and is credited with Costuming and Production Design. Biller also devoted time and efforts to the film’s musical score and composition and has quickly become known for using classic and outdated film genres to communicate the feminine role within contemporary culture. Interestingly, with The Love Witch Biller creates a visual style that pays tribute to the Technicolor thrillers of the 1960’s while exploring aspects of female fantasy along with the repercussions of pathological narcissism.
In the film’s opening, blood-red, gothic text provides introductory credits. Soon we see the film’s protagonist Elaine, a stunningly, good-looking young witch, played by the svelte Samantha Robinson, driving in a mint-condition, red mustang convertible from the mid-to-late 1960’s. An inner voice-over narration informs the viewer Elaine is leaving the city (San Francisco) driving into the redwoods where no one will know her. A flashback to the scene of her former husband Jerry’s death and more voice-over indicate Elaine suffered a nervous breakdown after he “left her” and she’s under suspicion.
As Elaine is driving the Mustang convertible in the first scene Biller appears to pay homage to Hitchcock’s Psycho with some nice camera work from cinematographer M. David Mullen with a police cruiser appearing in the rear view mirror coupled with a closeup of an eyeball. Other closeups are provided in this sequence of a Tarot deck and a heart card with swords through it as well as an opened pack of cigarettes. It becomes quite clear Elaine is hell-bent on having a man to love her.
Without much adieu, Elaine moves into a small-town (presumably in or near Eureka, California) and holes up in a three-story, royal purple Victorian home. Her friend Barbara, another witch, played by Jennifer Ingrum, has made available an apartment space within. The apartment décor seemed rather peculiar to the interior decorator, Trish, played by Laura Waddell, who welcomed Elaine and showed her the place. Trish commented she had decorated the apartment with the peculiar color scheme from a soft tarot deck while Barbara and “her students” provided the occult paintings and other similarly styled wiccan décor adornments.
The costuming and visual colors are alluring and highly feminine complete with a golden-haired harpist maiden and large pastel-colored hats in a Victorian Tea Room for ‘Ladies Only.’ Here Elaine reveals she has fairy princess fantasies and that all women are just little girls underneath with dreams of a prince carrying them off on a white horse. Trish agrees she has those fantasies too – commenting about how ridiculous it all is. After a slight pause Elaine confides she doesn’t think she’s found her Prince Charming yet. However, she believes she’s discovered the formula as she’s been studying parapsychology and now knows everything there is to know about men.
Her “formula” are spells and potions she conjures up in her apartment. She then proceeds to pick up her unsuspecting male victims, seduce them and leaves them forlorn and hapless. Finally, she at last meets her Prince Charming. However, her overriding and desperate need to be loved drives her to the edge of insanity and to murder.
The Love Witch is a beautifully lush film with its lavish, fetish costuming and meticulous set designs. It also has a 1960’s look and feel despite its contemporary setting and it makes extensive use of high-key lighting as it delves into female culturally defined roles with entrancing scene work. These filmmaking techniques and production design attributes allow Biller to encode feminist ideas within the frames of cinematic aesthetics and visual pleasure. And even though Biller was making a film for women, I can tell you after seeing this film, it’s a film made for men, too, with what could arguably have the longest running female tampon joke. The Love Witch is wholeheartedly recommended and dare I say…. “a film to die for.” It’s intriguing and, in my opinion, it’s fun!
Again, the film will be screening in Los Angeles at the Landmark Nuart on November 11th and in New York on November 18th, with additional screenings in select theaters across the country. Hope to see you there!
(Press materials provided courtesy of Marina Bailey PR)
LOS ANGELES, Nov 8 ― Netflix and South Korean film production and distribution company Next Entertainment World announced today an international licensing agreement for the anticipated nuclear disaster film Pandora.
Pandora will be available to stream exclusively on Netflix to its members in 190 countries, excluding South Korea, next year. In South Korea, the film will be available to stream after its theatrical release. Its opening date in Korean cinemas has not yet been set.
This is the first time a Korean title has been pre-sold to Netflix.
“We are excited to work with Next Entertainment World Netflix and South Korean film production and distribution company Next Entertainment World announced today an international licencing agreement for the anticipated nuclear disaster film Pandora.to bring such high-quality Korean titles like Pandora to our members worldwide,” said Rob Roy, vp content acquisition at Netflix. “Netflix is committed to bringing the best of global entertainment to the world and in an era where the Internet knows no bounds, this is another step towards delivering great stories to fans no matter where they live.”
Says Kim Woo-taek, CEO of NEW: “We are delighted to partner with Netflix, a world-class content distributor, to be able to present Pandorato global audiences in over 190 countries. Following the recent success of Train to Busan in Asia, we hope the nuclear-themed Pandora can win much love from the audiences worldwide.”
Pandora, a CAC Entertainment film, is directed by award-winning screenwriter-turned-filmmaker Park Jung-Woo, who is known for the science fiction horror film Deranged. Disaster strikes a nuclear power plant in a small, quiet town when an earthquake unexpectedly hits. The Pirates star Kim Nam-gil plays a man who risks his life to save his family and country from the impending nuclear disaster. The film also stars Kim Young-ae (The Attorney), Jung Jin-young (Miracle of Cell No. 7) and Kim Dae-myeong (Misaeng).
Netflix made headlines earlier this year when it announced that it was investing US$50 million (RM210 million) in Okja, a fantasy film by Bong Joon Ho that is also due for simultaneous release over Netflix and in cinemas next year. Top execs Reed Hastings and Ted Sarandos stated plans to expand Netflix’s slate of Korean originals in addition to shows such as Drama World that have recently premiered. ― The Hollywood Reporter/Bloomberg
Shanghai Express,
Ex-professional wrestler turned Hollywood actor 
Viewed during the Santa Barbara International Film. 
