Almost 70 emerging creatives have received over £120,000 in grants from Bafta through the Prince William Bursaries and Refugee Journalism Project.
Bafta is collaborating with the Refugee Journalism Project for the first time to award £30,000 to 11 individuals who have been forcibly displaced. Now based in the UK, the creatives come from places including Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Ukraine, and Gaza.
In its fourth year, the Prince William Bafta Bursaries awards 58 creatives from low socio-economic backgrounds with grants of up to £2,000.
Recipients include actors, filmmakers, costume designers, production assistants and camera and sound trainees. Grants can be put towards essential costs such as driving lessons,...
Bafta is collaborating with the Refugee Journalism Project for the first time to award £30,000 to 11 individuals who have been forcibly displaced. Now based in the UK, the creatives come from places including Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Ukraine, and Gaza.
In its fourth year, the Prince William Bafta Bursaries awards 58 creatives from low socio-economic backgrounds with grants of up to £2,000.
Recipients include actors, filmmakers, costume designers, production assistants and camera and sound trainees. Grants can be put towards essential costs such as driving lessons,...
- 5/1/2024
- ScreenDaily
Almost 70 emerging creatives have received over £120,000 in grants from Bafta through the Prince William Bursaries and the newly created Refugee Journalism Project.
The Refugee Journalism Project is awarding £30,000 to 11 individuals who have been forcibly displaced including filmmakers, producers and editors. Now based in the UK, the creatives come from places including Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Ukraine, and Gaza.
In its fourth year, the Prince William Bafta Bursaries awards 58 creatives from low socio-economic backgrounds with grants of up to £2,000.
Recipients include actors, filmmakers, costume designers, production assistants and camera and sound trainees. Grants can be put towards essential costs such as driving lessons,...
The Refugee Journalism Project is awarding £30,000 to 11 individuals who have been forcibly displaced including filmmakers, producers and editors. Now based in the UK, the creatives come from places including Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Ukraine, and Gaza.
In its fourth year, the Prince William Bafta Bursaries awards 58 creatives from low socio-economic backgrounds with grants of up to £2,000.
Recipients include actors, filmmakers, costume designers, production assistants and camera and sound trainees. Grants can be put towards essential costs such as driving lessons,...
- 5/1/2024
- ScreenDaily
Veteran producers announce new slate with supernatural thriller and Bhopal doc.
Veteran industry executives Colin Vaines, Hamish McAlpine and Carole Siller are joining forces on production outfit Broadstairs Films.
The company’s first slate features include Lost Girl - a London-based supernatural thriller about a kidnapping that goes awry with horrifying consequences, based on a story by McAlpine and written by Susan Everett.
Also on the slate is documentary Bhopal, about the deadly man-made disaster in India which saw an American-owned pesticide plant leak deadly chemical gas over densely packed slums.
Splitting their time between the UK and La, the partners will be at the Afm to cement relationships.
Siller said: “The reason the three of us have come together is because we each bring something extremely valuable to the table.
“We complement each other brilliantly, with Hamish’s proficiency in bringing movies to audiences, Colin’s expertise in filmmaking having produced an array of critically acclaimed...
Veteran industry executives Colin Vaines, Hamish McAlpine and Carole Siller are joining forces on production outfit Broadstairs Films.
The company’s first slate features include Lost Girl - a London-based supernatural thriller about a kidnapping that goes awry with horrifying consequences, based on a story by McAlpine and written by Susan Everett.
Also on the slate is documentary Bhopal, about the deadly man-made disaster in India which saw an American-owned pesticide plant leak deadly chemical gas over densely packed slums.
Splitting their time between the UK and La, the partners will be at the Afm to cement relationships.
Siller said: “The reason the three of us have come together is because we each bring something extremely valuable to the table.
“We complement each other brilliantly, with Hamish’s proficiency in bringing movies to audiences, Colin’s expertise in filmmaking having produced an array of critically acclaimed...
- 10/29/2013
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Veteran producers announce new slate with supernatural thriller and Bhopal doc.
Veteran industry executives Colin Vaines, Hamish McAlpine and Carole Siller are joining forces on production outfit Broadstairs Films.
The company’s first slate features include Lost Girl - a London-based supernatural thriller about a kidnapping that goes awry with horrifying consequences, based on a story by McAlpine and written by Susan Everett.
Also on the slate is documentary Bhopal, about the deadly man-made disaster in India which saw an American-owned pesticide plant leak deadly chemical gas over densely packed slums.
Splitting their time between the UK and La, the partners will be at the Afm to cement relationships.
Siller said: “The reason the three of us have come together is because we each bring something extremely valuable to the table.
“We complement each other brilliantly, with Hamish’s proficiency in bringing movies to audiences, Colin’s expertise in filmmaking having produced an array of critically acclaimed...
Veteran industry executives Colin Vaines, Hamish McAlpine and Carole Siller are joining forces on production outfit Broadstairs Films.
The company’s first slate features include Lost Girl - a London-based supernatural thriller about a kidnapping that goes awry with horrifying consequences, based on a story by McAlpine and written by Susan Everett.
Also on the slate is documentary Bhopal, about the deadly man-made disaster in India which saw an American-owned pesticide plant leak deadly chemical gas over densely packed slums.
Splitting their time between the UK and La, the partners will be at the Afm to cement relationships.
Siller said: “The reason the three of us have come together is because we each bring something extremely valuable to the table.
“We complement each other brilliantly, with Hamish’s proficiency in bringing movies to audiences, Colin’s expertise in filmmaking having produced an array of critically acclaimed...
- 10/29/2013
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
London – Producers Hamish McAlpine (Funny Games), Colin Vaines (Coriolanus) and Carole Siller (The Hillside Strangler) have joined forces under start-up production banner Broadstairs Films. The trio will collaborate to develop and produce joint projects. Photos: 11 British Actors Invading Hollywood's 'It List' Splitting their time between the U.K. and L.A., the partners will be at the American Film Market to cement relationships with both agencies and sales companies. Joining forces unites the trio's areas of expertise under one banner, they say. The new venture also allows all three partners to continue developing their own independent slates with
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- 10/29/2013
- by Stuart Kemp
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The director of Oldboy has featured vendettas, incest and even amateur dentistry in his movies. So what horrors does his first Hollywood film, the 'gothic fairytale' Stoker, have in store?
Park Chan-wook is clearly in a very dark place. His head is bowed, his mood blue. What terrible circumstances could be troubling the South Korean director who masterminded the queasy excesses of Oldboy and the rest of his Vengeance trilogy? Recent incarceration by an unknown malefactor? Is he being hounded by a secret black-market organ-smuggling operation?
In fact, his cat has died, and he's still struggling to cope. "I'd had him for more than 10 years."
Mooka, Park's Russian Blue puss, was just one of the victims of a kitty reaper that stalked the set of his new film, Stoker. Composer Clint Mansell's mog died at the same time. "The only consolation is that it didn't happen during shooting, but during postproduction,...
Park Chan-wook is clearly in a very dark place. His head is bowed, his mood blue. What terrible circumstances could be troubling the South Korean director who masterminded the queasy excesses of Oldboy and the rest of his Vengeance trilogy? Recent incarceration by an unknown malefactor? Is he being hounded by a secret black-market organ-smuggling operation?
In fact, his cat has died, and he's still struggling to cope. "I'd had him for more than 10 years."
Mooka, Park's Russian Blue puss, was just one of the victims of a kitty reaper that stalked the set of his new film, Stoker. Composer Clint Mansell's mog died at the same time. "The only consolation is that it didn't happen during shooting, but during postproduction,...
- 3/1/2013
- by Phil Hoad
- The Guardian - Film News
All the news, reviews, comment and buzz from the Croisette on day six of the Cannes film festival
10.31am: Hello again: Cannes 2012 day six rolls round – after a very good weekend for the competition which we saw a wonderfully well reviewed Michael Haneke film, and good notices for two missing-in-action auteurs, Cristian Mungiu and Thomas Vinterberg, with Beyond the Hills and The Hunt (Jagten) respectively.
Outside the Palme d'Or nominees, things were a tad less rosy. "Pasty" Pete Doherty showed up for a screening of his acting debut, Confession of a Child of the Century: reaction, to be honest, was not good. Catherine will be filing a review later on – the word "catastrophic" was used. Brandon "son of David" Cronenberg debuted Antiviral: again, word was iffy; we'll have Peter's review launched fairly soon. And Henry appears to be giving girl group yarn The Sapphires a qualified thumbs-up: "sugary" would be the key concept here,...
10.31am: Hello again: Cannes 2012 day six rolls round – after a very good weekend for the competition which we saw a wonderfully well reviewed Michael Haneke film, and good notices for two missing-in-action auteurs, Cristian Mungiu and Thomas Vinterberg, with Beyond the Hills and The Hunt (Jagten) respectively.
Outside the Palme d'Or nominees, things were a tad less rosy. "Pasty" Pete Doherty showed up for a screening of his acting debut, Confession of a Child of the Century: reaction, to be honest, was not good. Catherine will be filing a review later on – the word "catastrophic" was used. Brandon "son of David" Cronenberg debuted Antiviral: again, word was iffy; we'll have Peter's review launched fairly soon. And Henry appears to be giving girl group yarn The Sapphires a qualified thumbs-up: "sugary" would be the key concept here,...
- 5/21/2012
- by Andrew Pulver
- The Guardian - Film News
Seasoned veteran Hamish McAlpine, one of the movie industry's most flamboyant characters, is back four years after he personally lost £5 million ($8 million) when his vertically-integrated company Metro Tartan went into administration. A familiar face on the international scene for more than 20 years, McAlpine took a year out of the business after his beloved company went into administration to recover and take stock, before "operating under the radar for the last two years or so," McAlpine said. His producer resume boasts Wild Side, starring Christopher Walken and Anne Heche and Michael Haneke's U.S. remake of
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- 5/21/2012
- by Stuart Kemp
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Black Hangar Studios — a 32,000-square-foot spread in Basingstoke, about a 40-minute train ride from London — was unveiled Wednesday. The UK is increasingly building its studio infrastructure. Warner Bros will launch the Leavesdon studios in June; that 500,000-square-foot facility, where all of the Harry Potter films were shot, is about 20 minutes from central London and has an 80-acre backlot. Also nearby London is the venerable Pinewood studios, which has recently been playing host to the latest James Bond pic Skyfall and to Tom Hooper’s Les Misérables. Black Hanger is set adjacent to the Lasham Airfield, a maintenance base that will also provide helicopter access for productions. Entrepreneur Alex Worrall is chairman of the studio with producer Carole Siller acting as CEO. Tartan Films founder Hamish McAlpine is acting as a consultant. Other talent involved includes head of art and production services Simon Lamont. Among his credits are the James Bond...
- 5/3/2012
- by NANCY TARTAGLIONE, International Editor
- Deadline TV
Former head of Tartan Hamish McAlpine is getting back into the film business and has announced a slate of new feature films that he'll be producing, which include a new ghost story. Read on for details.
McAlpine revealed to Screen Daily that he is working on a new feature with photographer and filmmaker Rankin. That project, a ghost story, is titled Lost Girl. The plan is to shoot in 2012.
There were no other details available at press time, but if you're looking to kill some time on this dreary Monday afternoon, you can check out some of Rankin's work here!
More as it comes.
Visit The Evilshop @ Amazon!
Got news? Click here to submit it!
Find girls in the comments section below.
McAlpine revealed to Screen Daily that he is working on a new feature with photographer and filmmaker Rankin. That project, a ghost story, is titled Lost Girl. The plan is to shoot in 2012.
There were no other details available at press time, but if you're looking to kill some time on this dreary Monday afternoon, you can check out some of Rankin's work here!
More as it comes.
Visit The Evilshop @ Amazon!
Got news? Click here to submit it!
Find girls in the comments section below.
- 9/19/2011
- by Uncle Creepy
- DreadCentral.com
In an article about former Tartan head Hamish McAlpine and his current endeavor to get into production with his latest label, Generation, a few genre projects were announced. Screen Daily says Generation will team with Rankin (John Rankin Waddell), famous UK photographer and sometimes filmmaker, for a ghost story entitled Lost Girl . Unfortunately, that's about all of the details Screen Daily has. Shooting is expected to begin in 2012. You'll find samples of Rankin's works via his website . Also chugging along at McAlpine's Generation: A thriller called Helter Skelter by Richard Jobson. Again, more details on that one as they come in.
- 9/19/2011
- shocktillyoudrop.com
The Jarman Award, Nationwide
British film might have been savaged by The Cuts, but it's good to see some survivors at the art film end of the spectrum, like this award giving recognition to experimental moving image artists. The shortlist is 10 strong, and a showcase of the work, accompanied by the makers, tours Britain before the winner is announced in October (part of the prize is a Channel 4 commission). Clio Barnard, director of The Arbor, is probably the best-known name among a diverse spread of young artists exploring "hierarchies of attention" to Greek mythology to (in the case of Ed Atkins) ghosts that weigh several billion tons and bleed tar.
Various venues, Tue to 1 Oct
Hackney Film Festival, London
If your notion of a film festival involves red carpets, celebrity guests, and major premieres, they're not having any of it in Hackney. In keeping with the borough's down-to-earth image,...
British film might have been savaged by The Cuts, but it's good to see some survivors at the art film end of the spectrum, like this award giving recognition to experimental moving image artists. The shortlist is 10 strong, and a showcase of the work, accompanied by the makers, tours Britain before the winner is announced in October (part of the prize is a Channel 4 commission). Clio Barnard, director of The Arbor, is probably the best-known name among a diverse spread of young artists exploring "hierarchies of attention" to Greek mythology to (in the case of Ed Atkins) ghosts that weigh several billion tons and bleed tar.
Various venues, Tue to 1 Oct
Hackney Film Festival, London
If your notion of a film festival involves red carpets, celebrity guests, and major premieres, they're not having any of it in Hackney. In keeping with the borough's down-to-earth image,...
- 9/9/2011
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
Arts Council England admit to a mistake, plus the playwright plumber, and Tate Britain's underlining fetish
Arts Council England admit to a mistake
There were 1,333 applications for Arts Council England (Ace)money this year and 695 winners. Except we can now make that 696 after Ace admitted – get ready – that it made a mistake.
Homotopia, the Liverpool-based gay, lesbian and transgender arts organisation, has been told it will receive £70,000 a year until 2015, after a complaint it made was upheld.
Keen-eyed readers might recall that appeals against refusal were not allowed, but a spokeswoman for Ace told the Diary there was a complaints process when arts organisations felt it had not followed its own procedures: "We wanted to make sure we were absolutely fair."
It received 28 complaints and decided that three should be reassessed, including Homotopia, which had initially been ruled ineligible because it did not have a business model. Homotopia successfully argued...
Arts Council England admit to a mistake
There were 1,333 applications for Arts Council England (Ace)money this year and 695 winners. Except we can now make that 696 after Ace admitted – get ready – that it made a mistake.
Homotopia, the Liverpool-based gay, lesbian and transgender arts organisation, has been told it will receive £70,000 a year until 2015, after a complaint it made was upheld.
Keen-eyed readers might recall that appeals against refusal were not allowed, but a spokeswoman for Ace told the Diary there was a complaints process when arts organisations felt it had not followed its own procedures: "We wanted to make sure we were absolutely fair."
It received 28 complaints and decided that three should be reassessed, including Homotopia, which had initially been ruled ineligible because it did not have a business model. Homotopia successfully argued...
- 8/2/2011
- by Mark Brown
- The Guardian - Film News
I hate waking up to bad news as it just bothers you the entire day. We knew that Tartan's US branch was in trouble and has all of their assets auctioned off to Palisades Media Corp. This morning some shocking news came right out of left field, Sources told Variety that Tartan employees found the London office doors closed Thursday June 26 and were then informed later in the day by Tartan topper Hamish McAlpine the company was closed for business. Read on for the official announcement. R.I.P. Tartan. Speculation over the future of Tartan has been rife for several months.
- 6/27/2008
- bloody-disgusting.com
LONDON -- Long-running world cinema distributor Tartan Films has gone into administration, with all 22 of its staffers made redundant, according to board director Alan Partington.
Partington was unable to give any more details about what will happen to Tartan, which was established more than 20 years ago by owner Hamish McAlpine. He said he was hopeful of a swift resolution of the administration and that more details would be announced soon.
The company, which recently shuttered its U.S. arm Tartan Video USA and auctioned its 100-film library to film print and advertising financing company Palisades Media, has been in trouble for some time.
The move may not affect home entertainment sales house World Cinema Ltd. beyond the loss of the Tartan product slate. World Cinema was long thought to be a joint venture between Tartan and Artificial Eye but sources say that McAlpine may hold a 50% share personally.
The sales house represents about seven labels including Artificial Eye, Axiom, ICA, Verve, Yume Pictures and Trinity.
Partington was unable to give any more details about what will happen to Tartan, which was established more than 20 years ago by owner Hamish McAlpine. He said he was hopeful of a swift resolution of the administration and that more details would be announced soon.
The company, which recently shuttered its U.S. arm Tartan Video USA and auctioned its 100-film library to film print and advertising financing company Palisades Media, has been in trouble for some time.
The move may not affect home entertainment sales house World Cinema Ltd. beyond the loss of the Tartan product slate. World Cinema was long thought to be a joint venture between Tartan and Artificial Eye but sources say that McAlpine may hold a 50% share personally.
The sales house represents about seven labels including Artificial Eye, Axiom, ICA, Verve, Yume Pictures and Trinity.
- 6/27/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
By now the phenomenon of a director remaking one of his own movies is hardly novel.
Alfred Hitchcock made two versions of The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Frank Capra turned Lady for a Day into the more lavish Pocketful of Miracles.
There even are cases of foreign directors helming the American remakes of their own hit movies. Francis Veber directed both the original French version of Les Fugitifs and the Hollywood version, Three Fugitives, with Nick Nolte and Martin Short.
But I'm not sure there has ever been anything comparable to the new version of Funny Games, in which Austrian director Michael Haneke has produced a shot-for-shot replica of his 1997 German-language movie.
Some will question whether we needed even one version of this unsavory story. No doubt Haneke would argue that the original had such a limited audience in America that a remake starring Oscar nominees Naomi Watts and Tim Roth, along with Michael Pitt, will bring the story to lots of new viewers. But does this exercise in sadism and psychological torture deserve a larger audience, or any audience at all?
That point will be argued by critics, though there's no disputing the fact that this film, like the original, is compelling and exceptionally well acted. It probably will develop a cult following, like all of Haneke's work.
Ann (Watts), her husband George (Roth), and their son Georgie (Devon Gearhart) arrive at their secluded vacation home on Long Island in the movie's opening scene. As they are settling in, they are greeted by two polite but slightly creepy young men (Pitt, Brady Corbet), who claim to be visiting one of their neighbors and need to borrow some eggs.
The interlopers, who call themselves Paul and Peter, quickly insinuate themselves into the household, incapacitate George, and hold the family captive as they initiate a series of increasingly sadistic games. The tension mounts as Georgie and Ann try to escape, which only stokes the cruelty of their captors. Haneke keeps the most horrific violence offscreen, but that does not mute the impact of these degrading and ruthless exercises.
Viewers who hope to glean some sociological or psychological insights will be disappointed. At one point Paul gives a lengthy, completely fictitious profile of his cohort, just to mock those who seek an explanation for such violent antisocial behavior. The two boys dressed in white are meant to be evil incarnate -- motiveless, unfathomable, inescapable.
The only comprehensible comment that the film makes is about itself and the role of cinema in encouraging voyeurism and tolerance for violence. (This theme also was at the heart of Haneke's most acclaimed film, Cache.)
There's an intriguing moment, identical in both the Austrian and American films, in which Paul uses a TV remote control to rewind the action we have seen and replay a different version. Even though the director might want us to contemplate the audience's role in sanctioning violence, he can't escape the whiff of exploitation that infects both movies.
Still, this version, like the earlier one, is skillfully executed. Roth doesn't match the gravitas of the late Ulrich Muhe, who played the husband in the 1997 film, but he's affecting. Watts is superb in conveying the emotional anguish of her character. Pitt demonstrates his versatility with an electrifying portrayal of the sinister, soulless Paul. The only weak link in the cast is Corbet, who was convincing in more sympathetic roles in "thirteen" and Mysterious Skin, but doesn't exude enough menace as Pitt's baby-faced accomplice.
Cinematographer Darius Khondji gives an ominous edge to the sun-dappled locations, which look remarkably like the settings in the European film. Even the music selections are virtually identical in the two films. Perhaps the best way to appreciate the picture, its few intellectual pretensions notwithstanding, is as a classy horror film with a particularly nasty edge. It's not exactly entertainment, but it casts a poisonous spell.
FUNNY GAMES U.S.
Warner Independent Pictures
Celluloid Dreams, Halcyon Pictures, Tartan Films, X-Filme International
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Michael Haneke
Producers: Chris Coen, Hamish McAlpine, Hengameh Panahi, Christian Baute, Andro Steinborn
Executive producers: Naomi Watts, Philippe Aigle, Carole Siller, Douglas Steiner
Director of photography: Darius Khondji
Production designer: Kevin Thompson
Co-producers: Andrea Occhipinti, Rene Bastian, Linda Moran, Adam Brightman, Jonathan Schwartz
Costume designer: David Robinson
Editor: Monika Willi
Cast:
Ann: Naomi Watts
George: Tim Roth
Paul: Michael Pitt
Peter: Brady Corbet
Georgie: Devon Gearhart
Fred: Boyd Gaines
Betsy: Siobhan Fallon Hogan
Running time -- 110 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Alfred Hitchcock made two versions of The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Frank Capra turned Lady for a Day into the more lavish Pocketful of Miracles.
There even are cases of foreign directors helming the American remakes of their own hit movies. Francis Veber directed both the original French version of Les Fugitifs and the Hollywood version, Three Fugitives, with Nick Nolte and Martin Short.
But I'm not sure there has ever been anything comparable to the new version of Funny Games, in which Austrian director Michael Haneke has produced a shot-for-shot replica of his 1997 German-language movie.
Some will question whether we needed even one version of this unsavory story. No doubt Haneke would argue that the original had such a limited audience in America that a remake starring Oscar nominees Naomi Watts and Tim Roth, along with Michael Pitt, will bring the story to lots of new viewers. But does this exercise in sadism and psychological torture deserve a larger audience, or any audience at all?
That point will be argued by critics, though there's no disputing the fact that this film, like the original, is compelling and exceptionally well acted. It probably will develop a cult following, like all of Haneke's work.
Ann (Watts), her husband George (Roth), and their son Georgie (Devon Gearhart) arrive at their secluded vacation home on Long Island in the movie's opening scene. As they are settling in, they are greeted by two polite but slightly creepy young men (Pitt, Brady Corbet), who claim to be visiting one of their neighbors and need to borrow some eggs.
The interlopers, who call themselves Paul and Peter, quickly insinuate themselves into the household, incapacitate George, and hold the family captive as they initiate a series of increasingly sadistic games. The tension mounts as Georgie and Ann try to escape, which only stokes the cruelty of their captors. Haneke keeps the most horrific violence offscreen, but that does not mute the impact of these degrading and ruthless exercises.
Viewers who hope to glean some sociological or psychological insights will be disappointed. At one point Paul gives a lengthy, completely fictitious profile of his cohort, just to mock those who seek an explanation for such violent antisocial behavior. The two boys dressed in white are meant to be evil incarnate -- motiveless, unfathomable, inescapable.
The only comprehensible comment that the film makes is about itself and the role of cinema in encouraging voyeurism and tolerance for violence. (This theme also was at the heart of Haneke's most acclaimed film, Cache.)
There's an intriguing moment, identical in both the Austrian and American films, in which Paul uses a TV remote control to rewind the action we have seen and replay a different version. Even though the director might want us to contemplate the audience's role in sanctioning violence, he can't escape the whiff of exploitation that infects both movies.
Still, this version, like the earlier one, is skillfully executed. Roth doesn't match the gravitas of the late Ulrich Muhe, who played the husband in the 1997 film, but he's affecting. Watts is superb in conveying the emotional anguish of her character. Pitt demonstrates his versatility with an electrifying portrayal of the sinister, soulless Paul. The only weak link in the cast is Corbet, who was convincing in more sympathetic roles in "thirteen" and Mysterious Skin, but doesn't exude enough menace as Pitt's baby-faced accomplice.
Cinematographer Darius Khondji gives an ominous edge to the sun-dappled locations, which look remarkably like the settings in the European film. Even the music selections are virtually identical in the two films. Perhaps the best way to appreciate the picture, its few intellectual pretensions notwithstanding, is as a classy horror film with a particularly nasty edge. It's not exactly entertainment, but it casts a poisonous spell.
FUNNY GAMES U.S.
Warner Independent Pictures
Celluloid Dreams, Halcyon Pictures, Tartan Films, X-Filme International
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Michael Haneke
Producers: Chris Coen, Hamish McAlpine, Hengameh Panahi, Christian Baute, Andro Steinborn
Executive producers: Naomi Watts, Philippe Aigle, Carole Siller, Douglas Steiner
Director of photography: Darius Khondji
Production designer: Kevin Thompson
Co-producers: Andrea Occhipinti, Rene Bastian, Linda Moran, Adam Brightman, Jonathan Schwartz
Costume designer: David Robinson
Editor: Monika Willi
Cast:
Ann: Naomi Watts
George: Tim Roth
Paul: Michael Pitt
Peter: Brady Corbet
Georgie: Devon Gearhart
Fred: Boyd Gaines
Betsy: Siobhan Fallon Hogan
Running time -- 110 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 3/10/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
- #28. Funny Games Director/Writer: Michael HanekeProducers: Christian Baute, Chris Coen, Hamish McAlpine, Andro Steinborn Distributor: Warner Independent Pictures The Gist: This is an English-language remake of his 1997 film, but the setting will now be the Hamptons. The film is about a middle-class family on holiday who are terrorized by two young men. Fact: This is an exact copy of his 1997 film: literally shot by shot with only 1 minute more in length than the original. The question is why? See It: Notorious for making quality-infused uncomfortable narratives - his filmography acts as one big masterwork for the 7th art form. Release Date/Status?: Wip releases this March.14th. ...
- 1/31/2008
- IONCINEMA.com
- Okay folks here we have it - the cream of the crop of this fall's movie going season. Coincidently 3 of the 4 picks have the potential to make some viewers squirm and actress Naomi Watts might be part of these nightmares. And now, without much further ado here are Ioncinema.com's final four... 4. Eastern Promises Release date: September 14th Limited Release/ Opens wide 21st Screenwriters: Steve Knight Director: David Cronenberg Distributor: Focus Features Fests: 3 Falls fest back to back: Toronto, San Sebastián and opening London Producers: Robert Lantos (Where the Truth Lies) and Paul Webster (Atonement) Ioncinema Preview: View Here Movie Trailer: Click Here The Gist: Penned by Steve Knight, this follows the mysterious and ruthless Nikolai (Mortensen), who is tied to one of London's most notorious organized crime families. His carefully maintained existence is jarred when he crosses paths with Anna (Watts), an innocent midwife trying to right a wrong,
- 8/31/2007
- IONCINEMA.com
LONDON -- Hamish McAlpine's Tartan films has picked up U.K. and Eire rights to eight titles from last month's Festival de Cannes, including Summit Entertainment's horror title "P2," starring Wes Bentley, the company said Thursday.
Tartan also acquired Carlos Reygadas' "Silent Light", joint winner of the Jury Prize, and Gus Van Sant's 60th anniversary prize-winning title "Paranoid Park", about a teenager who accidentally kills a security guard.
To complement the "Paranoid Park" acquisition, Tartan also has picked up "Mala Noche", Van Sant's long-unavailable and now fully restored first feature film, a gay love story about a man who falls in love with an illegal Mexican immigrant.
Tartan has extended its relationship with Korean director Kim Ki-duk by picking up the death row love story "Breath" as well as the helmer's earlier movie "Time", an obsessive love story about a woman who undergoes extensive plastic surgery to save her relationship.
Tartan previously released Kim's "The Isle", "Bad Guy" and "Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter ... and Spring."
Tartan also prebought "The Good, the Bad and the Weird," Kim Jee-Woon's epic and action-packed oriental Western set in 1930s Manchuria.
Tartan also acquired Carlos Reygadas' "Silent Light", joint winner of the Jury Prize, and Gus Van Sant's 60th anniversary prize-winning title "Paranoid Park", about a teenager who accidentally kills a security guard.
To complement the "Paranoid Park" acquisition, Tartan also has picked up "Mala Noche", Van Sant's long-unavailable and now fully restored first feature film, a gay love story about a man who falls in love with an illegal Mexican immigrant.
Tartan has extended its relationship with Korean director Kim Ki-duk by picking up the death row love story "Breath" as well as the helmer's earlier movie "Time", an obsessive love story about a woman who undergoes extensive plastic surgery to save her relationship.
Tartan previously released Kim's "The Isle", "Bad Guy" and "Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter ... and Spring."
Tartan also prebought "The Good, the Bad and the Weird," Kim Jee-Woon's epic and action-packed oriental Western set in 1930s Manchuria.
Variety reports that Tim Roth will star opposite Naomi Watts in Celluloid Dream's remake of the 1997 Austrian film Funny Games. Based on Michael Haneke's thriller about a young couple (Roth and Watts) and their son who are held hostage in their vacation home by a pair of sadistic villains. Haneke's on hand to write and direct the English-language adaptation, which goes in front of cameras next month. Tartan Films' Hamish McAlpine and Halcyon Pictures' Chris Coen will co-produce the project.
- 8/24/2006
- IMDbPro News
Tartan USA has picked up all U.S. rights to Festival de Cannes In Competition entry Red Road, which was well-received in Cannes. The British family drama from first-time feature director Andrea Arnold, who won an Oscar for her short Wasp, is the first of three projects for Lars von Trier to be shot in Glasgow, Scotland, by different directors on a six-week schedule using the same nine cast members. Tartan USA, the two-year-old U.S. arm of Hamish McAlpine's U.K. distributor Tartan Films, had a busy festival, also picking up all rights for the Danish animated film Princess and Denis Dercourt's Un Certain Regard thriller La Tourneuse de pages. The distributor's upcoming releases include The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, Lady Vengeance, Hidden Blade and In My Father's Den. Jane Giles and Marie Therese Guirgis of Tartan USA (formerly of Wellspring) and Natja Rosner, sales executive for Trust Film Sales, negotiated the deal.
- 5/30/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
LONDON -- U.K. indie distributor Tartan Films said Thursday it has snapped up U.K. and Ireland rights to a pair of titles set to unspool during this year's Festival de Cannes. Tartan secured the rights to Re-Cycle, the latest film from Thai horror specialists the Pang brothers (The Eye), and Australian writer-director Sarah Watt's directorial debut Look Both Ways. Tartan Films struck a deal with Universe Films Distribution for Re-Cycle, written and directed by Oxide and Danny Pang after Tartan Films owner Hamish McAlpine pre-bought the film at script stage. The movie is the closing night film for Director's Fortnight. It details the story of a female novelist who finds herself plunged into a hellish world of discarded ideas.
- 5/11/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PUSAN, South Korea -- Korean and Middle Eastern titles dominated the awards for projects competing for film financing at the Pusan Promotion Plan, which wrapped here Wednesday night alongside a mini-market that saw surprisingly brisk business. Numerous sales to the U.S. were completed despite the event's proximity to the American Film Market in early November. Twenty-three companies participated in the Promotion Plan's trade show at host hotel the Paradise, including 11 Korean sales companies and key Hong Kong outfits Golden Network Asia and Fortissimo Film Sales. Particularly active on the acquisitions front was Tartan Films, with head Hamish McAlpine confirming U.S. and U.K. buys of at least four films, including Taiwanese hit Heirloom, Korean offering Cello from Tube Entertainment, and Japanese titles Prayer and Booth, both from Pony Canyon.
- 10/13/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands -- Scottish moviemaker Richard Jobson has secured £392,200 ($740,193) from the U.K. Film Council's new cinema fund for his next film, A Woman in Winter, the council announced here Thursday. Written and directed by Jobson, Winter stars British newcomer Jamie Sives (Mean Machine), French actress Julie Gayet (Clara et Moi), Jason Flemyng (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) and Brian Cox (The Bourne Supremacy). The script tells the story of an astronomer in Edinburgh, Scotland, who embarks on a passionate and destructive love affair with a French photographer. The movie will be shot using HD digital technology and will be produced by longtime Jobson collaborator Chris Atkins (Sixteen Years) and Tartan Films chief Hamish McAlpine. No further budget details were available.
- 1/28/2005
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
NEW YORK -- U.K.-based Tartan Films has acquired U.S. rights to Joseph Mealey and Michael Paradies Shoob's political documentary Bush's Brain, with plans to release the project as its first-ever title under its new Stateside banner, Tartan USA. Based on James Moore and Wayne Slater's best-selling book Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential, the docu follows the powerful political consultant Rove's influence on the Bush candidacy. Tartan will release the film later this month, followed by an October home entertainment window. In May, Tartan -- headed by Hamish McAlpine -- expanded its U.K. operation by forging a strategic alliance in the U.S. with M.J. Peckos and Bob Myerson's Dada Films and David Schultz's Vitagraph label. The triumvirate releases films jointly, splitting marketing expenditures.
Edinburgh International Film Festival
EDINBURGH, Scotland -- "16 Years of Alcohol" is a full-flavored, absorbing tragedy of a young man's life of booze-driven violence. Told in flashback with a searching and often poetic narrative voice-over, it is a grim tale that has many evocative treasures along the way. Written and directed by Richard Jobson and starring Kevin McKidd in a memorably vital performance, the film tells the tale of one individual confronting traits both inherited and taught.
Unlikely to please a wide audience, "16 Years of Alcohol", which was awarded a special commendation by the Edinburgh jury, should do very well on the festival and art house circuit. It also establishes first-timer Jobson as a filmmaker who will have a substantial contribution to make.
Making full use of Edinburgh locations, the film shows the city's ancient stone buildings, steeply stepped alleyways and cobbled streets in a way that become part of the fabric of the story. We first meet Frankie (McKidd) as he is being chased down one of those alleys by three men who quickly put the boot in. As Frankie lies on the ground kicked, pummeled and bleeding, we hear him in voice-over: "Sometimes for some people things don't work out the way they might have hoped."
That's an understatement as we soon see from three extended flashbacks that make up almost the entire movie. First, there's Frankie as a kid Iain De Caestecker), watching his adored father as he romances his mother. He joins Frankie playing cowboy shoot-ups and sings handsomely in the local pub. Then Frankie spies his dad (Lewis Macleod) leaving a pub with a pretty blonde and discovers them rutting against a wall. His home becomes a place of fighting, screaming and broken dishes. At the pub, his dad buys him whisky.
By the time Frankie is a teenager, he's a thug, bullying and fighting with a trio of other thugs, including the resentful, nasty Miller Stuart Sinclair Blyth). He has a poster of "A Clockwork Orange" on his wall. Only when he meets a pretty record-shop girl named Helen (Laura Fraser) does he begin to question his life of violence and alcohol.
Things improve until an encounter with patronizing snobs at an art gallery provokes a response in him that is primitive and brutal. This causes Helen to flee from him. "The more familiar you are with hope, the less beautiful it becomes," Frankie the narrator says.
Still, he determines to change: "You can't escape who you are. You can only try to be a better person." He attends Alcoholics Anonymous and meets a similarly bruised woman, Mary (Susan Lynch). They join an amateur acting group. While he has to fight his hostility, Frankie appears to be gaining on his fate. Then a misunderstanding leads him down a false path and another encounter with the vengeful Miller and his cronies.
Jobson's work is deeply involving with beautifully framed images, haunting montages and a soundtrack that enhances the impact. The players have been well cast, especially Macleod's charming rogue of a father and the two women in Frankie's life.
McKidd carries the weight of the leading role squarely and delivers the narration in rich Scottish tones that bring an added power and depth to lines about love being "a place where people lost and lost badly" and about life being where "someone always has to pay that's the rule, the only rule."
16 YEARS OF ALCOHOL
A Tartan Works production with backing from Scottish Screen and the Fortissimo Film Sales Group
Credits: Director-writer: Richard Jobson
Producers: Hamish McAlpine, Mark Burton
Executive producers: Steve McIntyre, Michael J. Werner, Wouter Barendrecht
Director of photography: John Rhodes
Production designer: Adam Squires
Music: Keith Ateck
Costume designer: Carole Millar
Editor: Ioannis Chalkiadakis
Cast:
Frankie (teenager/man): Kevin McKidd
Helen: Laura Fraser
Mary: Susan Lynch
Miller: Stuart Sinclair Blyth
Budgie: Michael Moreland
Kill: Russell Anderson
Frankie (boy): Iain De Caestecker
Frankie's Father: Lewis Macleod
Frankie's Mother: Lisa May Cooper
Running time -- 102 minutes
No MPAA rating...
EDINBURGH, Scotland -- "16 Years of Alcohol" is a full-flavored, absorbing tragedy of a young man's life of booze-driven violence. Told in flashback with a searching and often poetic narrative voice-over, it is a grim tale that has many evocative treasures along the way. Written and directed by Richard Jobson and starring Kevin McKidd in a memorably vital performance, the film tells the tale of one individual confronting traits both inherited and taught.
Unlikely to please a wide audience, "16 Years of Alcohol", which was awarded a special commendation by the Edinburgh jury, should do very well on the festival and art house circuit. It also establishes first-timer Jobson as a filmmaker who will have a substantial contribution to make.
Making full use of Edinburgh locations, the film shows the city's ancient stone buildings, steeply stepped alleyways and cobbled streets in a way that become part of the fabric of the story. We first meet Frankie (McKidd) as he is being chased down one of those alleys by three men who quickly put the boot in. As Frankie lies on the ground kicked, pummeled and bleeding, we hear him in voice-over: "Sometimes for some people things don't work out the way they might have hoped."
That's an understatement as we soon see from three extended flashbacks that make up almost the entire movie. First, there's Frankie as a kid Iain De Caestecker), watching his adored father as he romances his mother. He joins Frankie playing cowboy shoot-ups and sings handsomely in the local pub. Then Frankie spies his dad (Lewis Macleod) leaving a pub with a pretty blonde and discovers them rutting against a wall. His home becomes a place of fighting, screaming and broken dishes. At the pub, his dad buys him whisky.
By the time Frankie is a teenager, he's a thug, bullying and fighting with a trio of other thugs, including the resentful, nasty Miller Stuart Sinclair Blyth). He has a poster of "A Clockwork Orange" on his wall. Only when he meets a pretty record-shop girl named Helen (Laura Fraser) does he begin to question his life of violence and alcohol.
Things improve until an encounter with patronizing snobs at an art gallery provokes a response in him that is primitive and brutal. This causes Helen to flee from him. "The more familiar you are with hope, the less beautiful it becomes," Frankie the narrator says.
Still, he determines to change: "You can't escape who you are. You can only try to be a better person." He attends Alcoholics Anonymous and meets a similarly bruised woman, Mary (Susan Lynch). They join an amateur acting group. While he has to fight his hostility, Frankie appears to be gaining on his fate. Then a misunderstanding leads him down a false path and another encounter with the vengeful Miller and his cronies.
Jobson's work is deeply involving with beautifully framed images, haunting montages and a soundtrack that enhances the impact. The players have been well cast, especially Macleod's charming rogue of a father and the two women in Frankie's life.
McKidd carries the weight of the leading role squarely and delivers the narration in rich Scottish tones that bring an added power and depth to lines about love being "a place where people lost and lost badly" and about life being where "someone always has to pay that's the rule, the only rule."
16 YEARS OF ALCOHOL
A Tartan Works production with backing from Scottish Screen and the Fortissimo Film Sales Group
Credits: Director-writer: Richard Jobson
Producers: Hamish McAlpine, Mark Burton
Executive producers: Steve McIntyre, Michael J. Werner, Wouter Barendrecht
Director of photography: John Rhodes
Production designer: Adam Squires
Music: Keith Ateck
Costume designer: Carole Millar
Editor: Ioannis Chalkiadakis
Cast:
Frankie (teenager/man): Kevin McKidd
Helen: Laura Fraser
Mary: Susan Lynch
Miller: Stuart Sinclair Blyth
Budgie: Michael Moreland
Kill: Russell Anderson
Frankie (boy): Iain De Caestecker
Frankie's Father: Lewis Macleod
Frankie's Mother: Lisa May Cooper
Running time -- 102 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 8/26/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
As cannibalistic serial killers go, they don't come more influential than Ed Gein.
Since committing his atrocities in 1957, the warped Wisconsin farmer has gone on to tickle the imaginations of "Psycho" author Robert Bloch and "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" filmmaker Tobe Hooper. He also prompted Thomas Harris to create the Buffalo Bill character in "The Silence of the Lambs".
Now he finally gets a picture to call his own with "Ed Gein", but other than serving to put a name on the infamous faces, this often hokey chiller fails to capture the macabre mystique of a man who has inspired dozens of Web sites, including at least one that sells Gein memorabilia.
While those fanatics will likely be drawn to this First Look release, their numbers probably won't be sufficient to keep the picture in theaters for any notable length of time, though it should prove to be a popular addition to those Gein collectibles on the Internet once it lands on video.
Steve Railsback, who previously dipped his feet in the dark side as Charles Manson in 1976's "Helter Skelter", gives a committed performance (he also takes an executive producer credit) as the introverted Gein.
Living alone in the home of his recently departed, very controlling mother (Carrie Snodgress), Gein finds company in the cadavers of women of a certain age that he has exhumed from the local cemetery. Armed with a copy of Gray's Anatomy and some sharp instruments, he converts the cadavers (mercifully off-camera) into some truly bizarre objets d'art.
With the scripture-quoting ghost of his dead mother egging him on, he then turns to living subjects, focusing on a raunchy bartender (Sally Champlin) and a grandmotherly general-store proprietor (Carol Mansell).
But shortly after their disappearance, it doesn't take too much detective work to figure out who the likely culprit is, seeing that it's hard for a weirdo to maintain a low profile in a a town of only 642 people.
OK, so make that 640.
Director Chuck Parello ("Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer 2") is proficient at establishing the delectably creepy atmosphere, but Stephen Johnston's flashback-riddled script is filled with the kind of hoary fright-night cliches that prevent the film from being more than an ersatz "Sling Blade".
That prevailing lack of imagination takes its toll on character development. While Railsback's Gein is believably disturbed, he's written so transparently as "the town psycho most likely to ..." that there's little the actor can do to compensate for the film's disappointing lack of dramatic tension.
The same applies to Snodgress' deep-voiced portrayal of Gein's bullying mother, which simultaneously summons up Piper Laurie in "Carrie" and Mercedes McCambridge in "The Exorcist".
Only Mansell and, particularly, Champlin manage to inject a spark of originality into the otherwise stock landscape.
In the end, the film not only fails to add anything significant to the Ed Gein screen legacy but -- in the wake of those suggested portraits by Hitchcock, Hooper and Jonathan Demme -- it can't help but feel like, for lack of a better expression, overkill.
ED GEIN
First Look Pictures
TARTAN Films presents a Chuck Parello film
Director: Chuck Parello
Screenwriter: Stephen Johnston
Producers: Hamish McAlpine, Michael Muscal
Executive producers: Karen Nichols, Steve Railsback
Director of photography: Vanja Cernjul
Production designer: Mark Harper
Editor: Elena Maganini
Costume designer: Niklas J. Palm
Music: Robert McNaughton
Color/stereo
Cast:
Ed Gein: Steve Railsback
Augusta Gein: Carrie Snodgress
Mary Hogan: Sally Champlin
Colette Marshall: Carol Mansell
Running time -- 89 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Since committing his atrocities in 1957, the warped Wisconsin farmer has gone on to tickle the imaginations of "Psycho" author Robert Bloch and "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" filmmaker Tobe Hooper. He also prompted Thomas Harris to create the Buffalo Bill character in "The Silence of the Lambs".
Now he finally gets a picture to call his own with "Ed Gein", but other than serving to put a name on the infamous faces, this often hokey chiller fails to capture the macabre mystique of a man who has inspired dozens of Web sites, including at least one that sells Gein memorabilia.
While those fanatics will likely be drawn to this First Look release, their numbers probably won't be sufficient to keep the picture in theaters for any notable length of time, though it should prove to be a popular addition to those Gein collectibles on the Internet once it lands on video.
Steve Railsback, who previously dipped his feet in the dark side as Charles Manson in 1976's "Helter Skelter", gives a committed performance (he also takes an executive producer credit) as the introverted Gein.
Living alone in the home of his recently departed, very controlling mother (Carrie Snodgress), Gein finds company in the cadavers of women of a certain age that he has exhumed from the local cemetery. Armed with a copy of Gray's Anatomy and some sharp instruments, he converts the cadavers (mercifully off-camera) into some truly bizarre objets d'art.
With the scripture-quoting ghost of his dead mother egging him on, he then turns to living subjects, focusing on a raunchy bartender (Sally Champlin) and a grandmotherly general-store proprietor (Carol Mansell).
But shortly after their disappearance, it doesn't take too much detective work to figure out who the likely culprit is, seeing that it's hard for a weirdo to maintain a low profile in a a town of only 642 people.
OK, so make that 640.
Director Chuck Parello ("Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer 2") is proficient at establishing the delectably creepy atmosphere, but Stephen Johnston's flashback-riddled script is filled with the kind of hoary fright-night cliches that prevent the film from being more than an ersatz "Sling Blade".
That prevailing lack of imagination takes its toll on character development. While Railsback's Gein is believably disturbed, he's written so transparently as "the town psycho most likely to ..." that there's little the actor can do to compensate for the film's disappointing lack of dramatic tension.
The same applies to Snodgress' deep-voiced portrayal of Gein's bullying mother, which simultaneously summons up Piper Laurie in "Carrie" and Mercedes McCambridge in "The Exorcist".
Only Mansell and, particularly, Champlin manage to inject a spark of originality into the otherwise stock landscape.
In the end, the film not only fails to add anything significant to the Ed Gein screen legacy but -- in the wake of those suggested portraits by Hitchcock, Hooper and Jonathan Demme -- it can't help but feel like, for lack of a better expression, overkill.
ED GEIN
First Look Pictures
TARTAN Films presents a Chuck Parello film
Director: Chuck Parello
Screenwriter: Stephen Johnston
Producers: Hamish McAlpine, Michael Muscal
Executive producers: Karen Nichols, Steve Railsback
Director of photography: Vanja Cernjul
Production designer: Mark Harper
Editor: Elena Maganini
Costume designer: Niklas J. Palm
Music: Robert McNaughton
Color/stereo
Cast:
Ed Gein: Steve Railsback
Augusta Gein: Carrie Snodgress
Mary Hogan: Sally Champlin
Colette Marshall: Carol Mansell
Running time -- 89 minutes
No MPAA rating...
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