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Sofia Meetings industry winners include UK project The Tentmaster’s Daughter; The Expendables 4 heads to Bulgaria.

Ralitza Petrova’s Godless was this year’s winner of the ‘Sofia City of Film’ Grand Prix at the 21st edition of the Sofia International Film Festival (Siff).

Petrova’s feature debut, which won the Golden Leopard for best film and the best actress Silver Leopard in Locarno last year, received the award for best Bulgarian feature film.

Petrova also won Turkey’s Yapim-lab young producer award for her second feature Dust which she presented with producer Poli Angelova as a project at the Sofia Meetings.

This is the third year in a row that a local Bulgarian film has won Siff’s international competition grand prix following Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov’s The Lesson in 2015 and Eliza Petkova’s Zhaleika in 2016.

Local Bulgarian films also featured among the other prize winners this year: Grozeva and Valchanov’s second film Glory...

Lotus International, the international sales agent and the U.S. distributor, Millennium Entertainment, will open “ Elsa & Fred” theatrically on November 7.

Writer-Director Michael Radford and stars Shirley MacLaine, Christopher Plummer, Marcia Gay Harden, Scott Bakula, George Segal and James Brolin team up to make an endearing film for many reasons.

The terms of endearment of Shirley Maclaine here are those of love, pure love as she takes three small steps with Christopher Plummer. Even at the ripe old ages of 75 and 80, love is young and ecstatic. And what memories septuagenarians and octogenarians have -- of Fellini, Anita Ekberg and Marcello Mastrioanni defining new versions of love. This is a targeted film, made on a budget easily recouped.

Christopher Plummer plays himself as an elegant, gorgeous, refined and gentle man, disguised as an old grump and Shirley plays herself, defining herself as a stunning older woman as beautiful as she was when young. In her case, even her face work is forgivable and almost lovable because she knows, and you know she “knows” you know.

My memories of Rome were awakened by the beauty of the city, my memories of Fellini. This device of making love to the audience, so successful in Woody Allen’s “Midnight in Paris” by allowing the audience’s eyes to caress the city, is also effective here. The movie also triggered my memories of walking and talking at two almost back-to-back film festivals with Michael Radford…for some reason I am thinking Mill Valley or Napa Valley in the fall and the Guadalajara Film Festival (Ficg)…where walking on new streets in new cities, we talked about our lives and his next film (which was not this one) and enjoyed being together in the collegial way festivals sometimes lend themselves to being.

And my memories of Shirley MacLaine, when I was training at 20th Century Fox International in Amsterdam, so homesick that when it was advertised she was playing live, I went to her hotel and introduced myself as working for Fox and welcoming her to Amsterdam. Her first words were she did not work with Fox (was involved in a lawsuit with them?) which I was prompt to report back to my boss, David Raphael. I remember especially her strong hand as she took my wrist and urged me to have tea with her at the hotel where she was staying and dismissed her entourage. We spent a good three hours talking about so many things, as I attempted to explain the Dutch and how I was experiencing my year in Amsterdam, and I felt so much better afterward.

The next thing I heard about her was when I went to 20th Century Fox’s home office to say my good-byes and they told me to go say hello to her as she was filming Herb Ross’ “The Turning Point” (1977) there on the lot of 20th Century Fox. I was too shy unfortunately to go see her. But it was a turning point in my life too.

This is a movie for women of “uncertain age”. It has a great cast, an accomplished director who is reflected in the character of Christopher Plummer. We hope it might cross over, but its budget is reasonable enough that it need not break box office records in order to break even. I notice that Intramovies, one of last two remaining independent international sales agent-production companies to remain standing in Italy (and both are owned by women of un certain age – Paola Corvino of Intramovies and Adriana Chiesa of Adriana Chiesa Enterprises) is the producer who brought in Rome, the eternal city of sacred and profane love.

The film premiered at Afm 2013 where Inferno was selling it. Something has transpired over the past year and Inferno’s product or Inferno itself has morphed into Lotus International (That is a story to look into another time), just as the U.S. distributor, Bill Lee’sMillennium Entertainment (“ Fading Gigolo” by John Turturro for Theatrical, Tv, Dvd-Video, Vod, Airline; “ The Assassin Next Door” (“Kirot”) by Danny Lerner and “Gacy” by Clive Saunders) and not to be confused with NuImage’s Millennium Films, is rumored to be about to change its name.

Lucky for me, I had not seen the Spanish-language original of “Elsa & Fred” directed by Marcos Camerole in 2005. I had heard such great things about it over a year of festivals and markets, but somehow always missed it. That Argentinean-Spanish coproduction won nine prestigious international awards.

It also sold well, although late to the U.S. where DistriMax took the rights (2008). But that is how “foreign” films fare in the U.S. Independent producers and financiers abroad don’t even bother factoring in the U.S. market – except for remake rights, if they are smart enough. But the story and movie itself was so good that it accomplished a rare feat of distribution: it crossed the borders of Latin American countries, something that rarely happens, and sold to both Venezuela - Amazonia Films and Chile - Four Films and played well in Spain -Altafilms Grupo Alta Classics and Argentina -Columbia TriStar Films de Argentina andLk-tel It also sold to Switzerland -Stamm Film Ag and the Netherlands - Filmfreak Distributie, It even sold to Taiwan which is a greater feat for Spanish language films.

According to Box Office Mojo its international gross was almost $3,000,000:

Foreign Total

-

7/28/05

n/a

-

$2,796,813

3/1/09

Argentina

Sony

7/28/05

$88,441

7.1%

$1,247,302

11/13/05

Belgium

Cnc

5/30/07

$2,153

100%

$2,153

6/3/07

Mexico

Zima

8/4/06

-

-

$804,202

11/16/06

New Zealand

Rialto

1/16/08

$3,018

10.2%

$29,679

3/9/08

Spain

Alta

11/11/05

$128,771

20.9%

$616,169

12/11/05

Taiwan

-

2/13/09

$3,160

33.2%

$9,509

3/1/09

Venezuela

-

10/17/08

$12,237

13.9%

$87,799

Information courtesy of The Internet Movie Database. Used with permission.

o Elsa & Fred (2014)

o Movie

o Director: Michael Radford (I), Production Co: Cuatro Plus Films [Us]

o Country: United States , Filming Location: New Orleans,… More

o Genre: Comedy | Family | Romance

o Elsa & Fred (2005)

o Movie

o Director: Marcos Carnevale, Production Co: Shazam S.A. [Ar]

o Aka: Elsa y Fred | Elsa és Fred | Intramontabile effervescenza

o Countries: Argentina | Spain , Filming Location: Madrid, Spain

o Genre: Comedy | Drama | Romance

The new and nearly word-for-word remake of the film has sold to Canada’sMétropole Films Distribution, Israel’sUnited King Films Ltd and Diamond Films for Argentina, the distributor of “The Hunger Games” trilogy and other exciting films. All three of these companies are top caliber which attests to the excellence of this film. If other rights are still available after one year, as they seem to be, this may the right time to acquire them – so listen up all you distributors out there in the world aiming at the cultured klatch of women who pay their own way to movies, theater, concerts and dancing! Reviewed at Wilshire Screening Room, October 12, 2014. Opens in theaters November 7, 2014.

"Twilight" star Kellan Lutz has signed on to star in Renny Harlin's $70 million epic "Hercules 3D" at Nu Image/Millennium.

The story deals with a romance between the son of Zeus and the mortal princess of Crete, who was promised to his older brother despite her love for Hercules.

Sean Hood, Harlin and Giulio Steve wrote the script, while Les Welden and Danny Lerner ("Olympus Has Fallen") are producing. Shooting kicks off mid-May in Bulgaria.

Harlin says: "It takes more than a good physique to portray the most legendary, mythological personality in history — and Kellan has exactly that, personality. He's not afraid to explore the strengths and vulnerabilities of the character, and he impressed me with his passion and heart."

The project is not to be confused with Brett Ratner's take on Hercules at MGM & Paramount starring Dwayne Johnson.

Source: THR...

Renny Harlin ("Cliffhanger," "Deep Blue Sea") is set to direct the $70 million-budget "Hercules 3D" at Millennium Films.

Millennium has been developing this revisionist take on the legend since 2007. Sean Hood and Hanna Weg penned the script which ditches the comic book and fantasy elements in favour of a "Gladiator" and "Troy"-style approach.

Eight leading roles are expected to be in the next few weeks, with production aiming to begin this coming May in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The aim is to get the film in theaters by March 2014, ahead of Brett Ratner's rival "Hercules" film at Paramount and MGM. That film stars Dwayne Johnson and is set for an August 8th 2014 release, and is expected to have more of a fantasy tone.

Les Weldon and Danny Lerner are producing.

Source: THR...

FilmDistrict has acquired U.S distribution rights to Antoine Fuqua's Olympus Has Fallen, starring Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart and Morgan Freeman. The action film finds release on April 5th, 2013 and follows Butler as a disgraced Secret Service agent who's brought back after the White House is overrun by terrorists. Olympus Has Fallen has a very talent group on board, with other star names like Angela Bassett, Robert Forster, Cole Hauser, Ashley Judd, Melissa Leo, Dylan McDermott, Radha Mitchell and Rick Yune (The Man with the Iron Fists) in the mix. Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt script the film which is being by Alan Diegel, Ed Cathell III, Danny Lerner and Mark Gill, Fuqua and Butler.

FilmDistrict has acquired U.S distribution rights to Antoine Fuqua's Olympus Has Fallen, starring Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart and Morgan Freeman. The action film finds release on April 5th, 2013 and follows Butler as a disgraced Secret Service agent who's brought back after the White House is overrun by terrorists. Olympus Has Fallen has a very talent group on board, with other star names like Angela Bassett, Robert Forster, Cole Hauser, Ashley Judd, Melissa Leo, Dylan McDermott, Radha Mitchell and Rick Yune (The Man with the Iron Fists) in the mix. Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt script the film which is being by Alan Diegel, Ed Cathell III, Danny Lerner and Mark Gill, Fuqua and Butler.

In Danny Lerner's The Assassin Next Door (2009), Olga Kurylenko (Quantum of Solace [2008], Max Payne [2008]) play Galia, a young woman who finds herself in a severe set of circumstances. Having left her husband and daughter in her native Ukraine, she travels to Tel Aviv, Israel. Whilst there she winds up in a dire situation, becoming embroiled with the local sex-traffic mafia and used against her will as an assassin for their seedy deeds.

Living in a run down Tel Aviv flat she befriends her neighbor, Elinor (Ninet Tayeb) – a grocery store cashier who submits herself to brutal beatings by her husband. As Galia disobeys her latest contract and Elinor discovers that she is pregnant, the two women become increasingly desperate to escape. As the film draws to a close the protagonists decide to take action against their oppressors, resulting in a tense and thrilling finale.

Although this may be a short opening synopsis,...

The Assassin Next Door

Stars: Olga Kurylenko, Ninet Tayeb, Vladimir Friedman | Written and Directed by Danny Lerner

Galia (Kurylenko) is an assassin involved against her will with the local sex-trafficking mafia. Eleanor (Yayeb) is a grocery store clerk and battered wife. All Galia wants to do is escape her “job” and be reunited with her young daughter at home in the Ukraine. Meanwhile all Eleanor wants to do is to escape her abusive husband. As new neighbours the two slowly get to know each before slowly realising that they both have something in common – their need to escape. With Galia refusing to kill her female target and Eleanor falling pregnant the two decide it’s now or never and take action against their oppressors in a fight for their freedom.

A cross between the classic French film La Femme Nikita and Thelma and Louise, The Assassin Next Door (aka Kirot...

By Ed Sum

3.5/5

Director/Writer: Danny Lerner.

Originally titled Kirot, this Israeli import is a satisfying watch on an emotional level. Well, that’s only if one wants to discover what life is like in a land where women are treated indifferently. The portrayal here is by no means a reflection of a different culture, but it can hit a chord with some viewers.

Actress Olga Kurylenko is better known for her role in James Bond, Quantum of Solace, and here, she shows off her acting chops as Galia, a prostitute turned hitlady. All she wants is money and a passport to go back to Russia, but the mafia’s not ready to let her go.

After giving her a place to live, she befriends her next-door neighbour, Eleanor (Israeli platinum recording artist Ninet Tayeb) and the resulting bond is what carries the movie.

This film is hardly an action-thriller.

Usually I'm rather suspicious when it comes to the independent filmmaking scene here in Israel. Though the heart is usually in the right place, most of indie films here lack in basic technical skills -- this deficiency makes many of these films unwatchable. However, there are a few exceptions to the rule. There was Danny Lerner's Frozen Days back in 2006, and it appears that a film titled Never Too Late might make low budget synonymous with overall quality. After directing a few shorts, and working in video-clips and in commercials, the Brooklyn-based visual artist Ido Fluk managed to raise a small amount of money via his website, and started shooting his feature film debut. The basic story line behind Never Too Late, revolves around a young man returning to Israel following the death of his father and the break up from his Australian girl friend. In the 8 years he's...

Immediately after she saw the George Clooney film, "The American," IFC.com editor Alison Willmore tweeted, "Are there ever any Happy assassins? They're always moping around by themselves. There has to be some upside to it as a career choice." She had an excellent point: movie after movie portray hitmen as dour, moody depressives. Presumably no one is forcing these people into the profession. The economy's not that bad, and it's not one of those jobs that's passed down from one generation to the next like a cobbler in Victorian England ("You want me to be like you Dad! But I'm not like you! I don't want to use an M40 rifle to lay down supressive fire!"). Surely their skills -- accuracy with guns and knives, making enigmatic conversations seem incredibly charming, doing lots of pushups without a shirt on -- would suit them well in other jobs. What about...

Generally speaking, I tend to like my action movies straight-forward, uncomplicated, and relatively free of needless melodrama or intricate plotting. Some of the best examples of the genre are the simplest, be it a balls-out martial arts free-for-all or a tightly-wound revenge flick teeming with brutal intensity. Once you start exploring deep-rooted character motivations and the backstories of everyone in the entire picture, my interest starts to wan, and I’m effectively removed from the proceedings at-hand. As always, there are exceptions, though typically I don’t stray far from this admittedly hair-brained philosophy. Director Danny Lerner’s dramatic 2009 action/thriller “The Assassin Next Door” (aka “Kirot”) delicately balances the character-oriented drama with the bloody, frequently vicious action that someone as demented as myself craves on a fairly regular basis. In many ways, it is the heir apparent to “La Femme Nikita”, though it’s nowhere near as iconic or...

A look at what's new on DVD today:

"The Assassin Next Door" (2009)

Directed by Danny Lerner

Released by First Look Studios

Retitled since its premiere at last year's Toronto Film Festival as "Kirot," Bond girl Olga Kurylenko is the one handling the gun in this thriller about two women -- an assassin and a grocery clerk -- desperate to leave their lot in life who hatch a plan to improve their situation and decidedly won't do the same for the men who stand in their way.

"Black Orpheus" (1959)

Directed by Marcel Camus

Released by Criterion Collection

Marcel Camus' Palme d'Or-winning Brazilian-set retelling of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurdice is reissued by Criterion Collection on Blu-ray and DVD with a completely new set of extras including the French documentary "Looking for 'Black Orpheus'" about the film's legacy and archival interviews with Camus and actress Marpessa Dawn.

"Burning Bright...

What’s cooler than a revenge story centered around a female assassin and her quest to save a battered housewife from her abusive relationship? Not much, really. Writer/director Danny Lerner’s sensitive action flick “The Assassin Next Door” (aka “Kirot”) sounds like a cross between “Le Femme Nikita” and “The Professional”, with a bit of good, old-fashioned human drama thrown in for good measure. Somewhere deep within the heart of France, action guru Luc Besson is kicking himself for not executing this intriguing concept himself. The embedded trailer is, simply put, fantastic, and should provide enough of an adrenaline boost to carry you through the rest of the morning. I make no promises. Here’s a snazzy synopsis to help clarify the plot: In an old apartment building on the wrong side of the tracks, two women, unknown to each other, live across the hall on the second floor.

Israel's Ophir Awards (the Oscar equivalent) ceremony takes place every year around Rosh-Hashanah (this year's New Year's Day takes place on September 9th) – which means the race for the awards has unofficially commenced. - Israel's Ophir Awards (the Oscar equivalent) ceremony takes place every year around Rosh-Hashanah (this year's New Year's Day takes place on September 9th) – which means the race for the awards has unofficially commenced. The films qualifying for this year were produced, and not necessarily distributed in the last year are currently receiving special screenings for Academy members – here's how I see the race so far: The Israeli Film industry proved to be highly effective when it comes to dramas, but other genres were left almost untouched - Danny Lerner's Kirot fits the action thriller bill with Bond girl Olga Kurylenko (see above), and winner of the Israeli version of "American Idol" winner Ninet Tayeb...

Israel's Ophir Awards (the Oscar equivalent) ceremony takes place every year around Rosh-Hashanah (this year's New Year's Day takes place on September 9th) – which means the race for the awards has unofficially commenced. The films qualifying for this year were produced, and not necessarily distributed in the last year are currently receiving special screenings for Academy members – here's how I see the race so far: The Israeli Film industry proved to be highly effective when it comes to dramas, but other genres were left almost untouched - Danny Lerner's Kirot fits the action thriller bill with Bond girl Olga Kurylenko (see above), and winner of the Israeli version of "American Idol" winner Ninet Tayeb team up in a story of two women who strike up a friendship that will change both their lives. The film's strong suits come in the supporting male characters and cinematography, but problems with the...

Kirot, or The Assassin Next Door was shot in Tel Aviv, Israel and this female-empowerment film puts the guns in the hands of women, with the release date expected in mid-August. The Bleiberg Entertainment Group has helped produce this film with several other film companies and First Look Pictures will distribute the film within the United States. The Assassin Next Door involves two women attempting to escape the domination of ruthless men who force both Eleanor and Galia to cruel punishment and misdeeds. If you can handle brutal violence step inside director and writer Danny Lerner's world of terror with help from this trailer below.

The synopsis for Kirot/The Assassin Next Door here:

"In an old apartment building on the wrong side of the tracks, two women, unknown to each other, live across the hall on the second floor. Galia is an assassin involved against her will with the local sex-traffic mafia.

Olga Kurylenko has certainly been keeping busy. The Quantum Of Solace actress has no less than three films currently in production, including Neil Marshall's Centurion and her newest release Kirot has finally got a trailer. A stylish and (hopefully) violent action film from director Danny Lerner whose previous film, Frozen Days, garnered quite a bit of critical acclaim, but not much else. Kirot recently debuted at the Toronto Film Festival and received mixed reviews. I suspect that the movie will please those who are in it more for the idea of women looking for revenge and killing a lot of people than those looking for anything else, but we'll see.

The Toronto and Other Fall Festivals Rights RoundUp list looks quite sizeable for what is claimed to have been a quiet festival season. Though it's true business down, the large number of acquisitions has not been viewed as such and yet is the result of a new trend which has been sneaking up over the past few years and has now taken hold. Distributors and sales agents now acquire Before the festivals rather than during. It developed out of Cannes' prescreenings which have mostly been discontinued, and it could go so far as to change the pre-Sundance adage Not to show the film to anyone before Sundance.

This Rights RoundUp for acquisitions executives, distributors, international sales agents, investors and producers is different from my previous Rr Reports. It is no longer a report based on data and FilmFinders is out of the equation. This listing of rights acquired Before the actual festival,...

I'm writing this the day after first posting this entry. I now regret it. The point I make about artists is perfectly valid but I realize I wasn't prepared with enough facts about the events leading up to the Festival's decision to showcase Tel Aviv in the City-to-City section. I thought of it as an innocent goodwill gesture, but now realize it was part of a deliberate plan to "re-brand" Israel in Toronto, as a pilot for a larger such program. The Festival should never have agreed to be used like this. It was naive for the plan's supporters to believe it would have the effect they hoped for. The original entry remains below. The first 50 or so comments were posted before these regrets.

¶ The tumult continues here about the decision to spotlight Tel Aviv in the City-to-City sidebar program of the Toronto Film Festival. The protesters say the festival...

Note: Click the image below to view full poster

Whenever your small-ish film is getting ready to enter a big, congested film festival, you need to get creative in order to get the word out there -- which is exactly what the folks behind the indie flick Kirot did with this fantastical upside down/sideways poster featuring a gun-toting Olga Kurylenko, who I'm sure you remember as the gal in both Quantum of Solace and Max Payne. Cinematical has received this exclusive poster ahead of the film's premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this coming Sunday.

The Israel-France-usa co-production was directed by Danny Lerner (Frozen Days) and stars Kurylenko as a woman who desperately wants to reunite with the daughter she left back home in Russia, though at the moment she's busy tending to her job as an assassin involved against her will with the local sex-traffic mafia. Already...

The Toronto and Other Fall Festivals Rights Round Up for acquisitions executives, distributors, international sales agents, investors and producers is different from my previous Rr Reports. It is no longer a report based on data and FilmFinders is out of the equation. This listing of rights acquired preliminary to the actual festival, during the festival and for a couple of months afterward can also be found on MDbPro who acquired FilmFinders in 2008 and where SydneysBuzz resides on the landing page and on IMDbPro's News Desk. Whenever possible, the list is alphabetical by international sales agent (linked to IMDbPro), and the Isa's titles are also linked to IMDbPro.

If you do not yet subscribe to IMDbPro, I would advise plunking down $100 for a year's subscription. You'll get more than your money's worth I promise. By going into Pro, you will be able to see all the territorial distributors for a particular title,...

• Following my top ten Tiff list of titles available piece that I published a couples of hours back, Tiff released the lengthy list of titles that are looking for deals. Among those that I didn't mention in my top ten but could have easily have been there is the omission of Micmacs à tire-larigot (I wasn't sure if Warner Bros. only had domestic rights for France and not world rights), and titles such as Neil Jordan's Ondine, Atom Egoyan's Chloe, Oliver Parker's Dorian Gray, Aaron Schneider's Get Low, Derrick Borte's The Joneses and Michael J. Bassett's Solomon Kane should be generating key interest from the buyers as well. Without further ado, here is the list. L’Affaire Farewell Christian Carion, France Ahead of Time Bob Richman, USA The Angel Margreth Olin, Norway/Sweden/Finland The Art of the Steal Don Argott, USA Baaria Giuseppe Tornatore,

...

Nu Image is boarding a remake of the 1980 horror film Terror Train.

Writer-director Gideon Raff (The Killing Floor) is set to write and director the remake, which Nu Image co-chairman Avi Lerner and Danny Dimbort announced Tuesday.

The film will revolve around a group of American college athletes who find themselves on a dangerous train in Europe. The film, to be produced by Boaz Davidson, Danny Lerner and Les Weldon, will shoot in the summer in Bulgaria.

The deal was negotiated by attorney Greg S. Bernstein on behalf of Raff and Lonnie Ramati on behalf of Nu Image.