Monthly Archives: November 2016

distribution

Altitude Film Distribution nabs ‘Rock Dog’ family animation

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PanARMENIAN.Net – Altitude Film Distribution has acquired U.K. rights to family animation “Rock Dog”, featuring the voices of J.K. Simmons, Luke Wilson and Eddie Izzard. It is the first time the distributor has released an animated pic in movie theaters, Variety said.

The film, which received its European premiere this month at the BFI London Film Festival, is expected to be released next summer. The sale was handled by Ralph Kamp’s Timeless Films.

“Rock Dog” is helmed by Ash Brannon, who co-directed the Oscar-nominated “Surf’s Up” and “Toy Story 2,” and was produced by Amber Wang, Joyce Lou, David B. Miller, Rob Feng and Zheng Jun.

The film, which is based on a graphic novel by Chinese rock star Zheng Jun, centers on Bodi, a Tibetan Mastiff. He is expected to take over from his dad, Khampa, the job of guarding his village’s flock of sheep, but fears he doesn’t have the necessary passion to assume the role.

“Everything changes when a radio literally falls out of the sky and Bodi hears a song by rock legend Angus Scattergood, opening his heart to a musical world he must explore,” according to a statement. “Leaving home to chase his destiny in the big city, Bodi attracts the attention of Khampa’s nemesis, Linnux. Leader of a hungry wolf pack, Linnux believes that Bodi is his ticket back into the village and closer to delicious sheep. It is up to Bodi to save his family and friends without giving up his newfound dream.”

Altitude’s slate includes Raoul Peck’s “I Am Not Your Negro,” narrated by Samuel L. Jackson; “Lady Macbeth,” helmed by stage director William Oldroyd, and starring Florence Pugh; “The Eagle Huntress,” directed by Otto Bell and narrated by Daisy Ridley; and “Daphne,” directed by Peter Mackie Burns, and starring Emily Beecham and Tom Vaughan-Lawlor.

(Source:www.bignewsnetwork.com)

Cannes Film Festival

Five Soviet Movies That Shook The World

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2016 has been named ‘The Year of Cinema’ in Russia, with extra funds allocated for the local film industry. Russian Sputnik News service recalls five Soviet movies which left a lasting impression worldwide and are still looked up at as examples of stunning cinematography.

The Cranes are Flying, 1957 (Letyat Zhuravli)

This military drama, based on the play “Eternally Alive” (“Vechno zhivye”) by Viktor Rozov was directed at Mosfilm studio by the Soviet director Mikhail Kalatozov. The Cranes are Flying has become the first and so far the only domestic film to have been awarded the Palme d’Or — the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

With surprising emotional power, the film reveals a tragic story of two lovers, who were cruelly and permanently separated by war. Picasso himself was shocked, saying he had not seen anything like this in the last hundred years.

In order to film some of the epic scenes, Russian cinematographer Sergei Urusevsky invented and built the first operator’s circular rail. Some of the groundbreaking techniques he pioneered are still used by filmmakers. According to renowned American film critic Todd McCarthy, the influence of Kalatozov and Urusevsky was obvious in the 2015 Oscar-winning movie The Revenant.

Battleship Potemkin, 1925 (Bronenosets Potyomkin)

 

In 1958, this Soviet silent film directed by Sergei Eisenstein and produced by Mosfilm was named the greatest film of all time at the Brussels World’s Fair. Twenty years later, film critics worldwide rated this movie first on their hundred best films list. And in 2009, the Russian drama was cited as one of the top 15 blockbusters to have had the greatest impact on world cinema.

Created in just four months, Battleship Potemkin was ordered by the Soviet government, which needed propaganda material to mark the anniversary of the First Russian Revolution. In 1926 in Germany, the government tried to ban the film. A few years later, mutineers aboard the Dutch ship “De Zeven Provinciën” claimed that their revolt was inspired by this film.

Hundreds of examples can be found in world cinema copying the principles of the film’s famous shooting scene. The scene was directly quoted in Coppola’s Godfather, Gilliam’s Brazil, and De Palma’s The Untouchables. Even The Simpsons have referenced Eisenstein.

Andrei Rublev, 1966

A sincere biographical historical drama directed by Andrei Tarkovsky and co-written with Andrei Konchalovsky is loosely based on the life of Andrei Rublev, the great 15th-century Russian icon painter. A version of the film was shown at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the FIPRESCI prize from The International Federation of Film Critics).

Tarkovsky sought to create a film that shows the artist as “a world-historic figure” and Christianity “as an axiom of Russia’s historical identity” during a turbulent period of Russian history. It became a real eye-opener for Western audiences, which had perceived the Soviet Union as a bastion of atheism and godlessness.

At home, the film was often labeled as “Anti-Russian, antipatriotic and ahistorical.” The Soviet government refused to release the movie until 1971, when a censored version of the film was released. According to a 1978 survey of world film critics, the film had become one of the hundred best movies in the history of cinema. The European Film Academy in 1995 included it in its ten best films of world cinema.

War and Peace, 1966-67

Leo Tolstoy’s immortal novel has been adopted for the silver screen and television several times. The Soviet war drama written and directed by Sergei Bondarchuk won the Golden Globe Award in 1969 for Best Foreign Language Film. It was the first Soviet picture to win the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and also the longest film ever to receive an Academy Award. Produced by the Mosfilm studios and released in four parts, the film became the most expensive one ever made in the USSR, at a cost of 8,291,712 Soviet rubles, equal to 9,213,013 USD in 1967 or over 66 mln USD in today’s money. In 1967, the film was entered into the 1967 Cannes Film Festival outside of the competition; it was sent there instead of Andrei Tarkovsky’s Andrei Rublev.

Bondarchuk’s War and Peace became known for its large-scale battle scenes and use of innovative panoramic filming of battlefields. Several scenes were shot using a hand-held 1KSSHR camera, which weighed about 10 kg and required uncommon physical strength when wielded by film operator Anatoly Petritsky.

Some unusual techniques were adopted by the film makers during the shooting. Some scenes of the Battle of Borodino were taken with the camera fixed on a 120-meter-long cable, which was stretched across the battlefield. To “dive” into the atmosphere of the Natasha Rostova’s first ball, Petritsky stood on roller skates and was moved among the waltzing couples by an assistant. These techniques were included in a documentary about filming the movie and were later used as study material for the training of future operators.

Hedgehog in the Fog, 1975

This Soviet animated film was directed by Yuriy Norshteyn and produced by Soyuzmultfilm animation studio in Moscow. In 1976, the cartoon won its first prizes at the All-Union festival of animated films in Frunze and at the Festival of Films for Children and Young Adults in Tehran. In 2003, the cartoon was crowned the best animated film of all time in Japan and worldwide from among a top-150 list created by 140 critics and animators from different countries. The main hero of this animated film, the Hedgehog, received its own sculpture in Kiev. The film was also referenced in one of the episodes of the animated comedy series Family Guy, “Spies Reminiscent of Us” in 2009.

Famous Japanese film director Hayao Miyazaki, who created such anime masterpieces as My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle, named this Soviet story about a little hedgehog his favorite work.

Interesting techniques were used during the cartoon’s creation. The fog effects were created by putting a very thin piece of paper on top of the scene and slowly lifting it up toward the camera frame-by-frame until everything behind it became blurry and white. The film also used a trick of combined filming; for example, the water was real, albeit hatched by the artist.

(Source: https://sputniknews.com)

distribution, Feature Film

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jackie Chan to play in Russian-Chinese film on Gogol story

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Russia and China are currently working on a film project under the tentative title Viy 2: Journey to China, the press service of the producer of the film, Gleb Fetisov, said.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jackie Chan and Jason Flemyng are said to be involved in the project.

“The filming with Schwarzenegger is held in China. There is another Hollywood star taking part in the making of Viy 2 – Jackie Chan,” RIA Novosti quoted the producer’s press service.

The Chinese side sees the Viy 2: Journey to China as a potential blockbuster and hope to collect hundreds of millions of dollars in the local box office.

British actor Jason Flemyng (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch) will play the main role of British explorer Jonathan Green. In the film, Mr. Green receives an order from tsar Peter I to produce maps of the Far East of Russia and finds himself in China.

The premiere of “Viy 2” is scheduled for early 2017.

kinopoisk.ru

“Viy” is a horror novella by the Russian writer Nikolai Gogol that he published in 1835. The title of the story is also the name of the demonic creature.

“Viy” the motion picture was made in 1967 in the Soviet Union and became one of the leaders of Soviet film distribution in 1968 (32.6 million viewers). The 1967 motion picture became the USSR’s only horror film.

(Source: Pravda.Ru)

 

Feature Film

7 Questions with THE LOVE WITCH Director Anna Biller

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Posted by Larry Gleeson

Blossoming auteur, Anna Biller, makes her follow-up directorial to her self-headlined Viva with this fantastical, comedic, Technicolor thriller of Elaine, a beautiful young witch, with an undying determination to find a man to love her. In her gothic Victorian apartment she makes spells and potions, and then picks up men and seduces them. Her spills and potions work a little too well, leaving a string of helpless, hapless victims. After she finally meets up with the man of her dreams, her desperation to be loved drives her over the edge of insanity to commit murder.

Come see the Love Witch and a Q & A  with Director Anna Biller at the Los Angeles Nuart Theater!

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THE LOVE WITCH

Actress Samantha Robinson
Plus Principal Cast Members
Fri Nov 11, 7:00pm show w/Q&A*
Sat Nov 12, 7:00pm show w/Q&A
Sun Nov 13, 4:00pm show w/Q&A
*With Filmmaker Anna Biller

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

HollywoodGlee talked with Biller about the film screening in select theaters beginning November 11th. For detailed information on screenings click here.

  1. How Did the Premise Of The Screenplay for TheLove Witch come to you?

elaine_wayne-1I wanted to write something to do with women’s psychology.  So, I created a character who has a very complex psychology that allowed her to have power over men by using her sexuality. And, I wanted the audience to get to know my character. I spent the first phase of the process writing dialogue that would express the psychology of my characters. I wanted Elaine to be from the Golden Age of Film where intelligent women characters are interesting to learn about while getting to know who they are as people. I ended up cutting much of the other characters dialogue in the editing process.

2. Horror films about witchcraft and the occult often don’t have comedic tones.

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Anna Biller

The Love Witch isn’t necessarily meant to be comedy. It’s just the absurdity of the relationship aspect. Relationship issues are often comedic so I feel it’s an interesting dynamic that adds color to the witchcraft versus it all being dark and frightening.

 3. You’re credited with writing, directing, set design and costuming.

I enjoy making things with my hands. It took me seven years to create the props and the costumes. I didn’t have the financing of a studio so I could oversee it and still have control.

4. Your lead actor Samantha Robinson had been a stage actor and a model. What did she bring to the character of Elaine that surprised you?

She had been doing theater and was taking acting classes. She brought a strong presence with her poise and added a lot to the character with her subtle nuances.

 5. Any filmmakers have an influence on your work?

Alfred Hitchcock. He was a master technician. His use of lighting to convey meaning and emotion and his use of psychology especially with women are big influences. I spent a lot of time working out the character’s psychology and needed to re-write and adjust some of the dialogue to keep the pace of the film where I wanted it. I would have loved to have been able to fulfill all the characters.

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6. Why did you choose Technicolor for your films?

The films I watched were made in Technicolor so I wanted my films to look that way. I feel it’s a richer viewing experience with color. I use a lot of red.

7. What’s next?

I’d like to do a film about a sociopathic husband from the wife’s point of view as she uncovers the issues her husband has been hiding from her.

The Love Witch opens in Los Angeles  at the Landmark Nuart Theater on November 11th. For information on additional screenings click here.

Here is a Public Service Announcement courtesy of Oscilloscope Labs: