News

Shedding light on important issues through the power of narrative filmmaking can be a tricky proposition. The very nature of fictional storytelling can sometimes make the issues brought to the forefront seem less worthy of inspection (i.e.: 'it's just a movie'). At the same time, calibrating a film's emotional impact to a pitch perfect balance, somewhere between ineffective and sensational, is a razor-thin tightrope walk. Coldwater, directed by Vincent Grashaw and written by Mark Penney, unfortunately stumbles at the starting gate and never fully recovers. The film begins with teenager Brad Lunders (P.J. Boudousqué) being snatched from his bedroom in the middle of the night by unknown assailants. Within a few minutes, it's made clear that these strange men have come from a juvenile reform...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Exclusive: Breaking Glass Pictures and Bounty Films/Monster Pictures will partner on Us, UK and Australian distribution of Coldwater following a deal with Continental Media (Cm) at Afm.

Breaking Glass Pictures and Bounty Films/Monster Pictures have signed a deal with La-based Continental Media in the wake of Afm to partner on Us, UK and Australian distribution of Coldwater.

Christian Meinke of Mfa has picked up the title for German-speaking Europe and plans a 2014 theatrical release. Cm has also closed a South Korean deal with Mania 22 and licensed France to Kmbo.

Vincent Grashaw co-wrote the Coldwater screenplay with Mark Penney and directed. Joe Bilotta of Flying Pig Productions served as executive producer on the SXSW premiere about a remote juvenile prison camp run by a brutal retired military colonel.

Cm closed a number of sales on the romance Refuge starring Krysten Ritter and Brian Geraghty. Signature Entertainment has acquired UK rights, Accent Media Australia...

Shedding light on important issues through the power of narrative filmmaking can be a tricky proposition. The very nature of fictional storytelling can sometimes make the issues brought to the forefront seem less worthy of inspection (ie: "it's just a movie"). At the same time, calibrating a film's emotional impact to a pitch perfect balance, somewhere between ineffective and sensational, is a razor-thin tightrope walk. Coldwater, directed by Vincent Grashaw and written by Mark Penney, unfortunately stumbles at the starting gate and never fully recovers.    The film begins with teenager Brad Lunders (P.J. Boudousqué) being snatched from his bedroom in the middle of the night by unknown assailants. Within a few minutes, it's made clear that these strange men have come from a juvenile reform...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

South by Southwest (SXSW) is just one of many film festivals, we here at Sound On Sight cover yearly. The fest, which takes place every spring in Austin, Texas, began in 1987, and has continued to grow in size every year. The fest announced the first wave of films back in early January, and the lineup included some highly anticipated films such as The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, Evil Dead, Downloaded and Spring Breakers. Now the full lineup has been announced, and it just might be one of the best lineups the festival has ever programmed.

SXSW takes place March 8-16 in Austin Texas. Here are just some of the films we are excited about.

Narrative Feature Competition – This year’s 8 films were selected from 1,191 submissions. Each film is a World Premiere.

Awful Nice

Director/Screenwriter: Todd Sklar, Screenwriter: Alex Rennie

Estranged brothers Jim and Dave must travel to Branson together when...

Some of the best films of the 2012/2013 calender year from Richard Linklater, Harmony Korine, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Andrew Bujalski, Jeff Nichols, David Gordon Green, Shane Carruth and Joshua Oppenheimer are among the headliner names for the 2013 edition of the South by Southwest Film Festival. With a little over 100 plus film line-up (a whopping 2000+ titles were submitted), almost 70 are world premieres: there is the highly anticipated sophomore film (that has been on our radar since it first went into production) with M. Blash’s (The Wait), Joe Swanberg who makes SXSW his second home will premiere Drinking Buddies, veteran indie filmmaker John Sayles saddles in with Go For Sisters, and rounding out the Narrative Spotlight section we’ve got The Bounceback from Bryan Poyser, Loves Her Gun from Geoff Marslett along with titles we thought might break into Park City, but found an Austin home instead with Jacob Vaughan’s Milo and...

“In Production” is a regular column which focuses on notable independent films that are currently shooting. If you would like your film to be included in this space, please send an email to nick@filmmakermagazine.com

Bellflower producer Vincent Grashaw gets into the director’s chair for Coldwater, a drama-thriller about a teenage boy who is placed in a “wilderness juvenile center” overseen by a malevolent army veteran. Produced by Grashaw, Kris Dorrance, Dave Gare and Sarah Farrand and co-written by Grashaw with Mark Penney, Coldwater was originally slated to shoot in 2004 with a different director at the helm and a high-profile cast. Now, Grashaw is directing with a cast of unknowns including P.J. Boudousque (above in an exclusive shot from the film), Chris Petrovski and Scott MacArthur. Filming throughout California, Coldwater is being produced by Gare Farrand Entertainment, Skipping Stone Entertainment and Flying Pig Productions.

Four strangers’ suicide attempts...