News

Exclusive: Nearly two decades after producing The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, a video game documentary that’s emerged as a cult classic since its unveiling at the 2007 Slamdance Film Festival, Ed Cunningham has wrapped production on Arcades & Love Songs: The Ballad Of Walter Day, a follow-up film picking up with his documentary subject, known as the father of Esports.

Directed by Seth Gordon, The King of Kong offered a look into the world of competitive arcade gaming with a focus on the quest for the high score in the classic arcade game Donkey Kong. The specific focus of the film is the intense rivalry between two gamers: the reigning champion, restaurateur Billy Mitchell, and underdog challenger, Steve Wiebe. As Wiebe relentlessly pursues the Donkey Kong high score, he faces obstacles and skepticism from the gaming community, particularly from Mitchell and the organization Twin Galaxies, which oversees video game records.

Company boards sales on Moments Like This Never Last, Shit & Champagne, Dilemma Of Desire

Robert Schwartzman’s US sales and distribution company Utopia has announced a raft of deals at EFM including 2020 SXSW, Toronto, and Outfest selection Shiva Baby.

Emma Seligman’s comedy has gone to HBO for the US, Pacific Northwest Pictures for Canada, Filmin for Spain, and Watcha for South Korea. As previously announced, Mubi has acquired the film for the UK, Germany, Latin America, India, and Turkey.

Rachel Sennott, Fred Melamed, Polly Draper, and Dianna Agron lead an ensemble cast in the story of secrets that erupt at a Jewish funeral.

Seth Gordon’s 2007 documentary, “The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters,” received a bonus life this month thanks to the stripping of “antagonist” Billy Mitchell’s “Donkey Kong” world records by independent video game achievements organization Twin Galaxies.

Steve Wiebe, who was the “protagonist” in the documentary, told Variety that being back in the news after 11 years has been “surreal.” He had heard gamers questioning the authenticity of Mitchell’s scores for years both in person at Kong Off events and online through the “Donkey Kong” forum, although there was never anything concrete until James Young recently revealed video evidence. And with Twin Galaxies finding Mitchell had cheated, Wiebe finally beat Mitchell.

“The more I thought about it from the ‘King of Kong’ days, it all seemed to make sense now,” Wiebe said. “All the things that were happening at the time… like why he didn’t come out and play me,...

In 2007, Shannon Whisnant, a bargain hunter from small-town Maiden, North Carolina, picked up a BBQ smoker at auction. After taking it home, he opened the grill to find a macabre surprise in the form of a crudely mummified human foot. The discovery naturally raised a lot of questions: Whose foot was it? How did it end up inside the grill? And why in the world would anybody have their own amputated limb preserved for posterity?

Thankfully, Bryan Carberry and Clay Tweel's documentary Finders Keepers has answers to all those questions.

Read More: Music and Movies Collide In This Sundance Next Fest-Inspired Mixtape In anticipation of Next Fest, Indiewire asked filmmakers with projects screening as part of the program to curate a selection of tracks that may have served as inspiration during the production process or are evocative of the world and themes explored by the film. The music for "Finders Keepers" played a bigger role than any other film I have been a part of. The tone bounces back and forth so many times between hilarious and tragic that we really leaned on our score to help us navigate this tricky balancing act. When we were compiling references and temp music for the edit we wanted to stay true to the geography of our story and so we went hunting for cues that would sound native to our characters and their surroundings. Our producers Seth Gordon, Ed Cunningham, co-director Bryan Carberry...

In a pair of late-breaking North American deals from Sundance, Alchemy has acquired political thriller Zipper while The Orchard has taken Finders Keepers.

Mora Stephens’ Zipper (pictured) stars Patrick Wilson, Lena Headey and Ray Winstone in the tale of a philandering attorney with political ambitions.

Cargo will represent international sales at the Efm later this week. Alchemy brokered the deal with CAA and Cinetic on behalf of the film-makers.

Stephens co-wrote with Joel Viertel and the producers are R Bryan Wright, Amy Mitchell-Smith, Mark Heyman, Joel Viertel and Marina Grasic.

Scott Franklin, Ari Handel, Darren Aronofsky, Danya Duffy, Jan Korbelin, Beau Chaney and Christian Oliver served as executive producers.

Richard Dreyfuss, John Cho, Dianna Agron, Christopher McDonald, Alexandra Breckenridge and Penelope Mitchell round out the key cast and Alchemy plans a theatrical and VOD release later this year.

The Orchard brokered the deal for Finders Keepers with Wme Global and plans a theatrical and digital release in 2015.

Clay...

The holidays are winding down and that means we at Ioncinema.com are gearing up for our annual pilgrimage to Park City where an A-list of documentaries is now set to premiere. Earlier this month Tabitha Jackson and the Sundance doc programming team let the cats out of the bag, unsurprisingly announcing much anticipated Us Doc Competition titles such as the Ross Brothers’ Western, Louie Psihoyos’ Racing Extinction, Marc Silver’s 3 1/2 Minutes and Lyric Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe’s (T)Error, along with some surprises like Bryan Carberry and Clay Tweel’s bizarro Kickstarted doc Finders Keepers (see trailer below). Having been produced by the fine folks behind The King of Kong and Undefeated, the film bears all the markings of its well regarded pedigree, yet appears to be of even odder ilk, following the story that unfolded when a severed human foot was discovered in a grill bought at a North Carolina auction.

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. "Finders Keepers" Tweetable Logline: Man finds leg in grill. Amputee wants leg back. Man sues amputee for leg. Things get ugly, go viral, are documented in "Finders Keepers." Elevator Pitch: "Finders Keepers" follows recovering addict and amputee John Wood in his stranger-than-fiction battle to reclaim his mummified leg from Southern entrepreneur Shannon Whisnant, who found it in a grill he bought at an auction. Production Team:Director Bryan Carberry learned the finer points of documentary filmmaking with Ed Cunningham and the rest of the 'King of Kong' team on their film 'Make Believe,' Bryan's first project after graduating from USC's film program. The other points he picked...

Undefeated producer Ed Cunningham is turning his attention to the strange case of an amputated foot for his next documentary. The producer, whose credits also include Seth Gordon's The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, announced production on Finders Keepers and is launching a Kickstarter campaign to fund the final stages of physical production as well as post-production. Cunningham, who also announces college football for Espn, will produce through his World Record Headquarters shingle and has put together a team that includes director Bryan Carberry and indie producer Adam Gibbs. With more than 50 hours of footage already shot, Finders Keepers

read more...

What is Movie News After Dark? Mostly, it’s a nice little nightly column about movies and entertainment. Before you came along, it was nothing. We begin tonight with a first shot of an independently produced Portal animated movie. It’s from an artist and animator named Alex Zemke, who plans to make a Portal short called Companionship. This reminds of Dan Trachtenberg’s indie short Portal: No Escape, but with some pretty cool animation. We’ll have to keep an eye on it. Over on Espn’s Front Row, college football analyst Ed Cunningham writes about producing Undefeated, the Oscar nominated doc about a high school football team. If you didn’t know, Cunningham also co-produced King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, one of the best documentaries of recent years. He’s basically the man. On Game of Thrones, it’s the women who rule. Yes. IndieWire writer Bethany E. Larson...

Following a triumphant win at this year.s Oscar ceremony, Exclusive Media has sold international rights in a number of key territories to its Academy Award® Winning documentary feature film Undefeated, it was announced today by Exclusive Media, President of International Sales and Distribution, Alex Walton.

Deals have been completed with the leading documentary distributor Dogwoof in the UK and to Madman Entertainment in Australia as well as with Cdc in Latin America, Independent Films in Benelux, Impuls Pictures/Rialto in Switzerland, Sam Films in Iceland and United King in Israel. Additional sales were made withCathay in Singapore, Pt Amero in Indonesia, Lots Home Entertainment in Taiwan and M Pictures in Thailand. Negotiations are currently underway with a number of remaining territories.

On finalizing the sales, Walton said, .Undefeated is a universally crowd pleasing film exploring the triumph of the human spirit and it is attracting some of the leading...

New clip from the Undefeated football documentary on the Manassas Tigers’ 2009 football season. Helmed and edited by Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin, the Weinstein Co-distributed documentary opens on February 10th and features Coach Bill Courtney, Montrail “Money”, Chavis, O.C. and Coach Mike Ray. Thanks to Belief.net, we have a new exclusive movie clip from the film produced by Rich Middlemas, Dan Lindsay, Seth Gordon, Ed Cunningham and Glen Zipper. Set in the inner-city of Memphis, Undefeated chronicles the Manassas Tigers’ 2009 football season, on and off-the-field, as they strive to win the first playoff game in the high school’s 110-year history. A perennial whipping boy, in recent decades Manassas had gone so far as to sell their home games to the highest bidder, but that all changed in the spring of 2004 when Bill Courtney, a former high school football coach turned lumber salesman, volunteered to lend a hand.

New clip from the Undefeated football documentary on the Manassas Tigers’ 2009 football season. Helmed and edited by Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin, the Weinstein Co-distributed documentary opens on February 10th and features Coach Bill Courtney, Montrail “Money”, Chavis, O.C. and Coach Mike Ray. Thanks to Belief.net, we have a new exclusive movie clip from the film produced by Rich Middlemas, Dan Lindsay, Seth Gordon, Ed Cunningham and Glen Zipper. Set in the inner-city of Memphis, Undefeated chronicles the Manassas Tigers’ 2009 football season, on and off-the-field, as they strive to win the first playoff game in the high school’s 110-year history. A perennial whipping boy, in recent decades Manassas had gone so far as to sell their home games to the highest bidder, but that all changed in the spring of 2004 when Bill Courtney, a former high school football coach turned lumber salesman, volunteered to lend a hand.

New clip from the Undefeated football documentary on the Manassas Tigers’ 2009 football season. Helmed and edited by Dan Lindsay and T.J. Martin, the Weinstein Co-distributed documentary opens on February 10th and features Coach Bill Courtney, Montrail “Money”, Chavis, O.C. and Coach Mike Ray. Thanks to Belief.net, we have a new exclusive movie clip from the film produced by Rich Middlemas, Dan Lindsay, Seth Gordon, Ed Cunningham and Glen Zipper. Set in the inner-city of Memphis, Undefeated chronicles the Manassas Tigers’ 2009 football season, on and off-the-field, as they strive to win the first playoff game in the high school’s 110-year history. A perennial whipping boy, in recent decades Manassas had gone so far as to sell their home games to the highest bidder, but that all changed in the spring of 2004 when Bill Courtney, a former high school football coach turned lumber salesman, volunteered to lend a hand.

Magic is a quirky subculture where teens from all over the world, who would otherwise be considered outcasts by their peers, can meet with others that share their passion for the mysterious art form and bond in a way that closely resembles a family. Although they all compete against each other in the Teen Championship at the World Magic Seminar, they support each other for life and closely guard the secrets behind their tricks and illusions. This coming of age journey is documented in Make Believe, a new film from executive producers Ed Cunningham and Seth Gordon (the duo behind The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters), producer Steven Klein (who was a teen magician himself) and director J. Clay Tweel. At the film’s press day, which was held at the Magic Castle in Hollywood, four of the film’s six subjects talked about their life as dedicated...

The documentary Make Believe follows six young outsiders who all share an extraordinary skill and passion for the art of magic. Each with their own strengths and a dazzling array of tricks and illusions, these teenagers come from all over the country and various parts of the world to attend the annual World Magic Seminar in Las Vegas, where they strive to be named Teen World Champion by magic icon Lance Burton. Inspired by his own history as a teen magician, producer Steven Klein brought the idea for Make Believe to executive producers Ed Cunningham and Seth Gordon (the duo behind the acclaimed documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters), and they all chose to enlist J. Clay Tweel to be at the helm of this unusual coming-of-age story. At the film’s press day, appropriately held at the famed Magic Castle, producer Steven Klein and director J. Clay Tweel...

MuMo Record has released a soundtrack album for the documentary Make Believe. The album includes the original score by Lucas Vidal, as well as a couple of tracks by Serialmusique. For audio clips and to download the soundtrack, visit iTunes. Make Believe follows six of the world’s best young magicians as they battle for the title of Teen World Champion. The documentary is directed by J. Clay Tweel and is executive produced by Seth Gordon & Ed Cunningham (The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters). The film won the Best Documentary Award at last year’s Los Angeles Film Festival and is set to be released in theaters on May 13, 2011 in New York and two weeks later in Los Angeles. To find out more about the film, visit the official movie webpage.

As previously reported, Vidal has two high profile feature projects coming up, both of which have received...

[1] Sure, Harry Potter [2] can drive away Dementors or summon his broomstick with a wave of a wand -- but he only exists in fantasies. The kids in Make Believe are the real deal. The film, which won Best Documentary at the Los Angeles Film Festival last year, follows six teenagers as they journey to Las Vegas in order to attend the World Magic Seminar and compete for the title of Teen World Champion. Okay, so they're teen magicians, not teen wizards, but their tricks are all the more impressive for being the result of hard-earned finesse and not visual effects magic. Watch the trailer after the jump. [via Film School Rejects [3]] The kids represent a very diverse array of personalities and backgrounds, hailing from places as diverse as Malibu, Capetown, and Kitayama, Japan. Notable illusionist Lance Burton also appears, as does actor and real-life magician Neil Patrick Harris. Make Believe has drawn comparisons to Spellbound for obvious reasons,...

Austin, TX – The Foo Fighters have a documentary coming along which will coincide with the bands seventh studio album release this spring.

Foo Fighters: Back And Forth, chronicles 16 years of the Foo Fighters history, the formation, good times and rocky times for the band.

The film had its premiere here at the SXSW Film festival.

Iframe Embed for Youtube

Press Release

For Immediate Release

Exclusive Media Group’S Spitfire Pictures And RCA/Jive Announce Foo Fighters Feature-length Documentary

Film Theatrical Release Slated For Spring 2011

Directed by Academy Award winner James Moll

Produced By Spitfire Pictures

Co-Financed by Exclusive Media Group and RCA Records

To Have World Premiere at 2011 SXSW Film Festival in Austin, TX

Los Angeles, CA (February 1, 2011) – Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett and Pat Smear a/k/a the Foo Fighters and Nigel Sinclair, Co-Chairman of Exclusive Media Group, announced today that Exclusive’s documentary film...