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Slamdance crowd-pleaser finds Us home

Source: Slamdance

Sundance Selects has bought Us rights from Submarine to Slamdance opening night crowd-pleaser Pick Of The Litter.

Dana Nachman and Don Hardy directed the film, which follows a litter of five puppies from birth to the day one ‘graduates’ as a Guide Dog

Pick Of The Litter debuted on Friday night in Park City and screened again this morning and will play again on Tuesday.

The directors also served as producers, while Submarine’s Ian Reinhard, Dan Braun and Josh Braun are executive producers.

Arianna Bocco brokered the deal on behalf of Sundance Selects/IFC Films with Matt Burke, Josh Braun and Ben Braun of worldwide rights holder Submarine for the filmmakers.

Slamdance has premiered crossover crowd-pleasers in the past, notably Mad Hot Ballroom, which Paramount Classics acquired for the world in 2005. The film went on to gross $8.2m at the North American box office.

Sundance Selects has picked up North American rights to the crowd-pleasing Slamdance documentary Pick of the Litter.

Directed by Dana Nachman and Don Hardy, the film follows a litter of puppies from the moment they’re born and begin their quest to become guide dogs for the blind. Cameras follow the pups through an intense two-year odyssey as they train. Along the way, they interact with a community of dedicated individuals who work with them.

Pick of the Litter was produced by Nachman and Hardy and executive produced by Ian Reinhard, Dan Braun and Josh Braun. The film made its world...

Exclusive: James Roday, Danny Glover and Robin Weigert star.

Shoreline Entertainment has reported it picked up worldwide rights in Berlin to Pushing Dead.

Sundance Lab veteran Tom E. Brown directed the film, about a writer and HIV-positive man who struggles to pay for his medications after he is dropped from his health plan.

James Roday, Danny Glover, and Robin Weigert star in the film.

“Pushing Dead is a very special film with an extremely timely subject matter,” Shoreline CEO Morris Ruskin said.

“We are excited and eager to share the film with audiences around the world.”

Melody Djavadi of Shoreline brokered the deal with producers Chris Martin, Ian Reinhard and Richard Lagravenese.

Warner Bros. Pictures has announced it will expand the release of New Line Cinema’s critically acclaimed documentary Batkid Begins.

The film, which chronicles the astounding worldwide response to a cancer-stricken child who wished to be Batman, just opened this past Friday in three markets: New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, where the Batkid event happened.

On July 10, the Studio will widen the distribution to Chicago, Toronto, Washington, DC, Boston, Philadelphia, Seattle, Denver, Dallas, and Minneapolis.

The film opens in St. Louis on July 24th.

Batkid Begins originally premiered at the 2015 Slamdance Film Festival and has since been applauded at film festivals across the country, winning Audience Awards for Best Documentary at the Cinequest, Omaha, Dallas, Ashland, and Rincón International Film Festivals. It has also been an official selection at the Bentonville and Chicago Critics Film Festivals. Since the making of the documentary, the filmmakers have also celebrated the fact that the Batkid,...

On one day, in one city, the world comes together to grant one 5-year-old cancer patient his wish.

The documentary Batkid Begins looks at the “why” of this flash phenomenon. Why did the intense outpouring of spontaneous support for a child reverberate around the world and become one of the biggest “good news stories” ever?

Have some tissues handy as you watch this trailer.

The film explores what happens when an event goes unintentionally viral, and reveals surprising truths about what happens when a nerve is touched in our digital society. Will Make-a-Wish fulfill its mission to help Miles reclaim his childhood after battling disease for more than half his short life?

In the end, the film leaves audiences to decide; did Miles need the world for inspiration? Or did the world need Miles?

Batkid Begins was directed by Dana Nachman, who also produced the documentary with Liza Meak. The...

Here's your daily dose of an indie film in progress; at the end of the week, you'll have the chance to vote for your favorite. In the meantime: Is this a movie you’d want to see? Tell us in the comments. "Test" Tweetable Logline: Dance like a man. San Francisco. 1985. Elevator Pitch: Test is a poignant, powerful story of friendship and hope in a time of crisis, set in the San Francisco modern dance scene of 1985 in the early years of the AIDS epidemic: when headlines threatened a gay quarantine, when nobody knew for certain how the disease spread, when dancers were afraid to touch each other because they might get it from sweat... Production Team: Writer/Director: Chris Mason Johnson Producers: Chris Martin, Chris Mason Johnson Co-Producer: Laura Heberton Executive Producers: Jenni Olson, Ian Reinhard, Nelson Gonzalez Cinematographer: Daniel Marks Editor: Adam Raponi About the...

Short filmmakers, including those working in the horror genre, have a new venue to show their stuff thanks to the recently launched IndieRoar on-line fest. In addition to exposure, this program is offering cash and prizes to those whose minimovies are voted the best.

IndieRoar is seeking entries in the horror, drama, comedy, animation and documentary categories; the films must be under 25 minutes, and each one submitted will be given its own page at the IndieRoar website. (I Kill To Live, pictured, and Match Work are already available for viewing on the horror page). There, the public will be able to vote on their favorites, with the top 20 finalists in each genre viewed by judges from the independent cinema field (for horror, it’s The Blood Shed’s Alan Rowe Kelly and Joshua Grannell of the upcoming All About Evil) to determine the final winners. The prizes in each category...