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Nic Cage's blunt remarks about Tom Burton's ill-fated Superman Lives film from the 1990s is the most Nic Cage comment you will read all day.

Chef Kevin Dundon has cooked for celebrities around the world, competed on the U.K. edition of Dancing with the Stars and hosts his own cooking show, Modern Irish Food. But there is nothing quite like cooking for the Queen.

Back in 1992, the monarch turned up at the Fairmont Palliser Hotel in Calgary, where Dundon was called upon to whip up a special meal.

“There was so much buzz around the hotel—it was completely refurbished before she arrived,” recalls Dundon, the owner of Dubrody Country House Hotel and Cookery School in County Wexford, Ireland, and the master chef at Raglan Road,...

This year’s festival will include an inaugural virtual reality strand and a co-production forum focused on UK-Ibero-American relations.Scroll down for line-up

The 24th Raindance Film Festival has revealed its line-up, with 90 feature films set to be screened in London September 21 – October 2.

This year’s jury will be comprised of Stephen Fry (V For Vendetta), Joanna Lumley (Absolutely Fabulous), Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake), Jodie Whittaker (Broadchurch), Anna Friel (Pushing Daisies), Jack Davenport (Pirates Of The Caribbean), Nicholas Pinnock (Top Boy) and American artist David Datuna.

They will preside over awards for a competition line-up that features the international premiere of Stephen Elliott’s After Adderall, a semi-autobiographical story about the production of the film adaptation of Elliott’s memoirs. Receiving its European premiere will be Japanese director Yoshiyuki Kishi’s A Double Life, about a young woman who is assigned to follow a stranger.

Among the seven UK premieres playing in competition are Indian drama [link=tt...

Deakin Edge, Federation Square.

The shortlist has been unveiled for Melbourne WebFest's live pitching comptetition, a joint initative between the festival and ABC iview.

The competition received 120 submissions on the theme .Anytime, Anywhere. and shortlisted 15..

Those 15 participants will have just two minutes to pitch their original web series idea to a live audience and judging panel at Fed Square's Deakin Edge on July 2.

In addition to the shortlisted pitches, guests attending will have an opportunity to submit a wild card entry during the weekend by tweeting to a hashtag that will be announced once the wildcard entries open on Thursday June 30.

Five wild card entries will be invited to pitch on the spot during the event along with the shortlisted 15.

Pitches will be judged on script potential, creativity and audience reaction by a panel of judges, which will consist of Rick Kalowski (ABC Head of Comedy), Kevin Mountain (Content Manager,...

Documentary festival announces winners.

Cameraperson, a documentary about the career of cinematographer Kirsten Johnson, has won the grand jury award at Sheffield Doc/Fest (June 10-15).

Johnson, who also directs the film, is the Us cinematographer behind Laura Poitras’ Oscar-winning Edward Snowden doc Citizenfour and Kirby Dick’s The Invisible War among many others.

The award, supported by Screen International and Broadcast, comes with a cash prize of £2,000 ($2,800).

The jury described the film as “a work that´s both expansive and intimate, formally ambitious and morally humble”.

“Though this filmmaker has travelled the world to tell others stories, her real...

File this one under: strange. Helena Bonham Carter recently had a radioactive pipe removed from underneath her and partner Tom Burton's home in Sutton Courtenay, England, making for the most peculiar Spider-Man related news of the week. The four-mile long radioactive pipe ran beneath Carter's garden and discharged "diluted chemical and radioactive components from Harwell's Atomic Energy Research Establishment into the Thames" river, according to BBC. The pipe was believed to contain low levels of radioactivity that had built up inside it since the 1940s. "From our previous experience excavating other sections of the pipeline, excavation and removal of the pipe will not release...

U.S classic horror fans rejoice! Synapse Films, Inc. has acquired the North American home-video rights to Dario Argento's 1977 classic horror film Suspiria, with an original soundtrack by European prog-rockers Goblin. Described as “one of the scariest films of all time” by Entertainment Weekly, Suspiria stars Jessica Harper (Brian De Palma's Phantom Of The Paradise, Woody Allen's Stardust Memories) as a young girl caught up in a coven of witches controlling a German dance academy, with a guest appearance by Udo Kier (Lars von Trier's Nymph( )Maniac, Andy Warhol's Frankenstein and Dracula). Synapse will work closely with Technicolor Rome and Technicolor Los Angeles to create an all-new high-definition 2K scan from the original negative for a possible 2014-15 video release. “It’s important to spend as much time as possible to create the definitive high-definition home video version for the fans,” May explains. “We’re going...

One of the longest prayed for Blu-ray releases is Finally on its way courtesy of Synapse Films. That's right, kids! The Dario Argento classic Suspiria is coming to get us all in high definition!

From the Press Release

Synapse Films, Inc. has acquired the North American home-video rights to Dario Argento's 1977 classic horror filmSUSPIRIA, with an original soundtrack by European prog-rockers Goblin. Described as “one of the scariest films of all time” by Entertainment Weekly, Suspiria stars the beautiful Jessica Harper (Brian De Palma's Phantom Of The Paradise, Woody Allen's Stardust Memories) as a young girl caught up in a coven of witches controlling a German dance academy, with a guest appearance by Udo Kier (Lars von Trier's Nymph( )Maniac, Andy Warhol's Frankenstein and Dracula).

“I’ve been involved in the restoration and release of many films in my career, but Suspiria has always eluded me,...

We’ve had plenty of interesting horror news to share with Daily Dead readers this Halloween and we’re not done yet. Synapse Films announced that they’ve acquired home video rights to Suspiria and will be creating an all-new high-definition 2k scan for a Blu-ray release:

“Romulus, Mi – Synapse Films, Inc. has acquired the North American home-video rights to the 1977 classic horror film Suspiria, directed by Italian horror master Dario Argento. Described as “one of the scariest films of all time” by Entertainment Weekly, Suspiria stars the beautiful Jessica Harper as a young girl caught up in a coven of witches controlling a German dance academy.

“I’ve been involved in the restoration and release of many films in my career, but Suspiria has always eluded me, until now,” says Donald May, Jr., President of Synapse Films. “It’s one of my favorite horror films and I’m ecstatic that my business partner,...

One of the films that I knew would be amazing on Blu-Ray is Dario Argento’s Suspiria. I actually imported a Region-Free Blu-Ray from Japan just to see it on my HDTV. It costed me a pretty penny but if you are willing to wait, those hooligans over at Synapse Films will be releasing Argento’s classic on Blu-Ray via a new 2K scan supervised by Technicolor!! Read below for more information!

From Synapse Films’ Facebook:

Romulus, Mi – Synapse Films, Inc. has acquired the North American home-video rights to the 1977 classic horror film Suspiria, directed by Italian horror master Dario Argento. Described as “one of the scariest films of all time” by Entertainment Weekly, Suspiria stars the beautiful Jessica Harper as a young girl caught up in a coven of witches controlling a German dance academy.

“I’ve been involved in the restoration and release of many films in my career,...

Northern California Premiere of Restoration

Palo Alto, CA - The Palo Alto International Film Festival (Paiff 9/29-10/02 ) is thrilled to announce that it will present the northern California premiere of Georges Méliès’ masterpiece, .A Trip to the Moon. (1902), in its original color version on Saturday, October 1, for two special screenings at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. The restoration was carried out by Lobster Films, Technicolor Foundation for Cinema Heritage and Groupama Gan Foundation for Cinema. Prior to each screening, Tom Burton (Technicolor), who supervised the restoration, will speak about the process of restoring 13,324 severely damaged color frames.

The color version of .A Trip to the Moon. premiered at the Cannes Film Festival during the Opening evening, on May 11, 2011, 109 years after its first release a fully restored color version is once again visible on screen, after being considered lost.

The digital restoration of Méliès’ masterpiece took place at Technicolor Creative Services in Los Angeles,...

Palo Alto, CA - The Palo Alto International Film Festival (Paiff) has announced its speaker series for the 2011 festival. The series will feature eight panels and more than 30 speakers exploring the collaborative nature of the creative process and celebrating the game-changers whose work catalyzes innovation in film and media.

Paiff.s speaker series includes panels on the future of global cinema, character animation and hybrid entertainment, along with a panel on the impact of technology on the distribution and marketing of today.s films. Several of the speakers, including visual effects artists, animators, sound designers, independent film and video game producers, writers, entrepreneurs and financiers, have worked on film projects that are household names, while others are instrumentally involved in the future of film and media in ways that are less obvious. Additionally, Paiff will be broadcasting several of the panels live at www.paiff.net.

.Audiences will hear what...

At today's D23, Walt Disney released the logo for Tom Burton's stop-motion animated film, Frankenweenie. If you're not aware, Burton came up with the idea for Frankenweenie in the early 80's, but due to budget constraints and never having directed a feature, he decided to make it as a short film. Which, at the time, proved to be a great calling card, as the short led him to directing features. And now it's come full circle, as Burton has been hard at work bringing Frankenweenie to life as a feature film, and it's getting released October 5, 2012. Shortly after showing the packed D23 audience a sizzle reel, I was able to speak with producers Allison Abbate and Don Hahn backstage. They talked about what they showed today, the visual look of the film (it's both in 3D and black and white) and what year it takes place, the music and score,...

Film Lineup Set For Inaugural Palo Alto International Film Festival

Palo Alto, CA . The Palo Alto International Film Festival (Paiff) has announced its film program for the 2011 festival. The lineup includes 20 features and 74 short films curated from award-winning films and film festival favorites that exemplify Paiff.s theme of innovation in art, film and technology.

Paiff proudly presents a lineup that challenges the art form, taking creative risks with technology in films like Braden King.s cross-platform feature .Here,. to the artistically inventive .Bombay Beach. by music video director Alma Har.el to documentaries like .Something Ventured. which delves into the world of Venture Capital firms.

.We.re seeing a new movement emerging . films are trying to live outside the cinema. They.re breaking out of traditional storytelling structures,. said Paiff.s Director Programming Alf Seccombe. .This festival spotlights the creative risk-taking that is inherent in innovation..

The 2011 festival kicks...

Beverly Hills, CA - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will present “A Trip to the Moon” (1902) on Tuesday, September 6, at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills. This historic touchstone film by Georges Méliès’s will be screened in its original hand-colored version direct from its re-premiere at the Cannes Film Festival this May.

An original color print of “A Trip to the Moon” was recently discovered in poor condition and underwent delicate work to rescue and digitize the elements. The restoration was carried out by Lobster Films, the Groupama Gan Foundation for Cinema and the Technicolor Foundation for Cinema Heritage, and took place at Technicolor Los Angeles. The French band Air composed an original soundtrack to accompany the film.

The program will be introduced by film historian and archivist Serge Bromberg of Lobster Films and Tom Burton, head of the...

Movie technology needed to catch up to the imagination of author Roald Dahl. By the time that occurred in the 1980s Dahl was in his final years and barely got to enjoy proper adaptations of his works. His imaginative fiction was incredibly vivid and picturesque while also having a dark undercurrent, an edge that set them apart from other children’s literature.

His widow, Liccy, finally allowed his 1961 novel, James and the Giant Peach, to be adapted by the team of producers Denise Di Novi and Tom Burton and director Henry Selick. They had previously proven their mettle as a team with the delightful A Nightmare Before Christmas and were seeking something else to do with their stop-motion wizardry. The results in 1996 were a stripped down adaptation, but one that Liccy and children around the world embraced.

Walt Disney Home Entertainment is finally releasing the movie on Blu-ray this Tuesday.