News

After Netflix's Depp v. Heard brought some heavy renewed interest in the legal battle between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, a new title has overcome the docuseries on Netflix's Top 10 list.

Who Is Erin Carter?, a new limited series, made its debut on Netflix on Aug. 24. Less than a week later, the latest Netflix Top 10 list revealed that the series has debuted in the No. 1 spot for the Top 10 English-language series on the streamer. According to Netflix, it takes the spot with 75.4 million hours viewed, or 13.2 million views (which Netflix defines as the "total hours viewed divided by the total runtime"). Depp v. Heard falls to No. 2 with 20.1 million hours viewed with 8.3 million views. Rounding out the rest of the top five for the category are Painkiller with 27.8 million hours viewed and 5.6 million views; Untold: Swamp Kings Season 1 with 15.5 million hours viewed and 5 million views; and The Ultimatum: Marry or Move On...

Sky Orders Soccer Transfer Window Docs Series ‘The Window’ From Universal Pictures Content Group & Pitch Productions

European pay-tv giant Sky has ordered a four-part doc series looking into the chaotic soccer transfer window, in which millions swap hands in last-minute deals as players join new clubs. Billed as a returnable format, The Window will come from Sky’s London-based NBCUniversal cousin Universal Pictures Content Group and Pitch Productions. It will air on Sky Documentaries and through streamer Now in November in the UK, Ireland, Italy and Germany. Sales to other international broadcasters are being negotiated. Justin Webster (Fc Barcelona Confidential) is directing, with Adam Darke (All Or Nothing: Juventus) producing. Pitch’s Jon Owen and Jonathan Rogers and Universal Pictures Content Group’s Helen Parker are executive producers.

Altitude Release Trailer For Diana Doc ‘The Princess’

Upcoming doc The Princess has its first trailer, released via Altitude. The HBO and Sky doc,...

The Walloon Audiovisual Investment Fund has announced the results of its 89th session, at which an overwhelming majority of the support has been granted to TV projects. For its 89th session, the Wallimage Walloon Audiovisual Investment Fund is throwing its weight behind five new projects, four of which are primarily intended to be aired on television. This marks a fairly drastic change in the profiles of the projects backed by the fund, which until now have essentially been destined for the big screen. Logically, this change of direction goes hand in hand with the relatively recent creation of a new support fund for Belgian series made in the French language as well as the increasing number of international series being filmed on Belgian soil. And so, for this session, Wallimage is supporting Pandore, a project dreamed up by a newly formed trio made up of filmmakers Savina Dellicour (All Cats.

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival has unveiled its 2015 line-up which includes films representing 54 countries, 23 world premieres and 53 U.S. premieres. The U.S. premiere of Niki Caro’s McFarland USA will close out the 30th fest. Based on the 1987 true story and starring Kevin Costner and Maria Bello, the film follows novice runners from McFarland, an economically challenged town in California’s farm-rich Central Valley, as they give their all to build a cross-country team under the direction of Coach Jim White (Costner), a newcomer to their predominantly Latino high school. The unlikely band of runners overcomes the odds to forge not only a championship cross-country team but an enduring legacy as well.

The festival runs from January 27-February 7.

Below is the list of World and U.S. Premiere films followed by the list of titles by sidebar categories.

World Premieres

A Better You, USA

Directed by Matt Walsh

Cast: Brian Huskey,...

A self-acknowledged "showcase for Academy Award frontrunners," the Santa Barbara International Film Festival is often overlooked for the actual films that earn it festival status. An amalgamation of international discoveries and ’merica’s circuit highlights, the Sbiff curates a week of best-of-the-best to pair with their star-praising. The 2015 edition offers another expansive selection, bookended by two films that aren’t on any radars just yet. Sbiff will open with "Desert Dancer," producer Richard Raymond’s directorial debut. Starring Reece Ritchie and Frieda Pinto, the drama follows a group of friends who wave off the harsh political climate of Iran’s 2009 presidential election in favor of forming a dance team, picking up moves from Michael Jackson, Gene Kelly and Rudolf Nureyev thanks to the magic of YouTube. The festival will close with "McFarland, USA," starring Kevin Costner and Maria Bello. Telling the 1987 true story of a Latino high school’s underdog cross-country team,...

Projects from Terence Davies and Peter Greenaway among the titles being pitched at the Netherlands Production Platform (Npp).

The Holland Film Meeting (Sept 26-29), the Utrecht-based event dedicated to funding independent cinema, begins today.

Projects from Terence Davies (A Quiet Passion) and from Peter Greenaway (Eisenstein In Guanajuato) are among the titles being pitched at this year’s 15th anniversary Netherlands Production Platform (Npp).

The coproduction market includes both international and Dutch projects. 23 projects from 15 countries are at the Npp.

Acclaimed British director Davies has now delivered a final draft of the screenplay for A Quiet Passion, his biopic of reclusive New England poet Emily Dickinson.

The €4.6m project is being produced through Hurricane Films, run by Solon Papadopoulos and Roy Boulter. The company also produced Davies’ feature doc Of Time And The City and is working on his new feature Sunset Song, expected to shoot in early 2014. Boulter is due in Utrecht to present A Quiet Passion.

Boulter...

Check out the trailer for the upcoming drama Guilty Hearts. “Guilty Hearts” follows the lives of nine strangers living worlds apart as they look for love, happiness, success, and friendship against all odds. Carrying the burden of guilt, they must escape their pasts before they can move forward. Directed by George Augusto and Savina Dellicour, [...] Guilty Hearts Trailer is a post from: FilmoFilia...

We knew there was a Charlie Sheen straight-to-dvd movie out there just waiting to be released!

You can’t keep Charlie Sheen down when it comes to his work on disc (as we pointed out here a few weeks back)! Sheen will be back on the DVD scene with the upcoming release of Guilty Hearts, a title that we hadn’t heard of before today.

Phase 4 will release Guilty Hearts on DVD on June 28 for the list price of $29.99.

Charlie Sheen and Anna Faris provide the commentary in Spelling Bee, one of the short films in Guilty Hearts.

Here’s the official synopsis of the film from the Phase 4 site: “Follow the lives of nine strangers living worlds apart as they look for love, happiness, success, and friendship against all odds. Carrying the burden of guilt, they must escape their pasts before they can move forward.”

Okay, from what we can gather,...