News

It’s shaping up to be a Huston family Christmas.

Siblings and Hollywood royalty Anjelica and Danny Huston are teaming on a new project, The Christmas Witch Trial of La Befana, a hybrid animated and live-action feature film that is currently shooting in Los Angeles and Ontario, Canada.

HighballTV confirmed the details of the film, which was written by David James Brock and HighballTV’s Melissa D’Agostino based on an idea they conceived with Matt Campagna who is also directing with D’Agostino, a frequent creative partner. Johnathan Sharp is producing.

The plot follows a peculiar court case that unspools after the children in a rural Italian village kidnap their legendary Christmas witch, played by Huston, and put her on trial in an attempt to stop her annual judgment from their lives. While casting a spell through witches, fantasy and Italian folklore, the project is said to touch on universal themes of grief,...

Gravitas Ventures has acquired US rights to Mother Of All Shows, a dark musical comedy from Canadian multi-hyphenate Melissa D’Agostino.

Gravitas, which made the deal at the Cannes market with sales representative Cut Entertainment Group, will release the film on TVoD on July 16. The company and the filmmakers are also planning a limited US/Canada theatrical release on that date.

D’Agostino directed the film, wrote the script with David James Brock and co-stars as Liza, a woman trying to cope with the impending death of her estranged mother Rosa, played by Wendie Malick. In her mind, Liza retreats into...

HighballTV has released a first-look photo for its musical feature film Mother of All Shows, starring Emmy-nominated actress Wendie Malick (Young Sheldon, Hot in Cleveland, Bojack Horseman).

The film is directed by and also stars Melissa D’Agostino (Tactical Girls), as well as cast members Ann Pornel (Baroness Von Sketch Show), Darryl Hinds (Overlord and the Underwoods), Juan Chioran (Sneakerella) and Phil Luzi (Bad Blood), Tara Consoli (Kim’s Convenience), Michael Miranda (Murdoch Mysteries) and Trevor Martin (Six Guns for Hire).

Written by D’Agostino and David James Brock, Mother of All Shows follows Liza (D’Agostino) as a woman coping with the impending death of her estranged mother. In her mind, she retreats to a 70’s variety show where the all-powerful host is Liza’s own mother, Rosa (Malick), who leads an all-singing, all-dancing cast of players from Liza’s past and present. Scene by scene, song by song, Liza works...

Exclusive: Enrico Colantoni and Mindy Cohn have been announced as key cast for Canadian dark comedy Mother Father Sister Brother Frank as it begins principal photography in Ontario.

The production revolves around a painfully suburban family as their dissolute uncle crashes a Sunday dinner with a nasty surprise, pushing them to contemplate murder.

It is among five original productions recently announced by Toronto-based indie streamer HighballTV as part of a slate, representing Can$21M ($15.6M) of investment.

The genre comedy is the first feature of actor and filmmaker Caden Douglas.

Colantoni, who is best known for Veronica Mars and Just Shoot Me! and was recently seen in HBO Max’s limited series Station Eleven, takes on the role of the father.

Cohn, best known for The Facts of Life and as the voice of Velma Dinkley in the Scooby Doo franchise for Warner Brothers and soon to be seen in AppleTV+’s Mrs. American Pie,...

Exclusive: Burgeoning Toronto-based indie streaming platform HighballTV has announced five original titles it plans to put into production in 2023, with an overall investment of 15.6M.

The new slate consists of Caden Douglas’ genre comedy Mother Father Sister Brother Frank, music documentary Working On The Radio, anthology film The God Of Frogs, Andre Rehal’s crime drama Jin And The Wild Dog and Alice Moran’s comedy film Bash. (scroll down for more details).

The company has raised the slate financing via private investors and loans with the Royal Bank Of Canada and will also tap into the regional film tax incentives.

“We’re looking at being 50:50 between the two types of financing (private financiers and Rbc),” said HighballTV head of production Matthew Campagna. “They really believe in us and our company with its slow, careful organic growth.

“We’ve got the corporate guarantees and the tax returns to back...

Click here to read the full article.

Graham Greene is set to star alongside Alice Moran in the comedy mystery Paige Darcy and the Case of the Stoned Cat, from directors Melissa D’Agostino and Matt Campagna for HighballTV.

Greene, who earned an Oscar nomination for playing medicine man Kicking Bird in Kevin Costner’s Dances with Wolves and will also appear in Marvel’s Echo series, joins an ensemble cast that includes Linda Kash, Dan Jeannotte, Andrew Phung and Paloma Nunez.

Paige Darcy and the Case of the Stoned Cat is also written by Second City alum Alice Moran, who has also starred in Sunnyside and Man Seeking Woman. Moran plays a former precious tween sleuth, Paige Darcy, who is dragged into solving both a murder case and the mystery of how to put her life back together.

The movie is shooting in Hamilton, Ontario through August. “We’ve been...

Exclusive: Carlo Mendez will take over Alvaro Orlando’s role in the indie The Legend of Jack and Diane, following Orlando’s departure due to a scheduling conflict.

He joins a cast led by Tom Sizemore, which also includes Robert Lasardo, David Timlinson and newcomer Lydia Zelmac, with production currently underway in and around the Los Angeles area.

The film directed by Bruce Bellochi is a revenge thriller, which takes its name from John Mellencamp’s classic song “Jack & Diane.” It centers, of course, on Jack (Tomlinson) and Diane (Zelmac), who decide to leave Indiana for a new life in Los Angeles. When the pair discover secrets about the death of Diane’s mother, their worst fears are confirmed, and they are forced to run. On the way to Los Angeles to confront evil, they create a hit list to exact revenge on everyone involved.

Mendez will play Detective Stanley Montana,...

Exclusive: Deadline has your first look at Six Days to Die, the second film in a sci-fi western trilogy series by Matt Campagna, which he wrote, directed, shot and edited.

The film brought to life through virtual environments, comprised of elaborate 360-degree digital matte paintings, centers on a desperate gambler wrongfully accused of murder who flees through a post-apocalyptic frontier, with a vengeful Marshal doggedly hunting him down, on a bloody quest to bring order to the chaos.

The Umbrella Academy’s Colm Feore stars alongside Darryl Hinds, Melissa D’Agostino, Ari Millen and Kyra Harper. Breann Smordin and Elizabeth Frase produced the pic, which is eyeing a festival premiere next year, and is being sold worldwide by Forward Motion Entertainment. The third film in the trilogy series, Six Guns For Hire, is currently in post-production.

Check out the first still from Campagna’s latest, along with several character portraits, below.

HighballTV, the Canada-based subscription streaming platform that focuses on curated film collections from leading filmmakers and top titles from major film festivals, has unveiled its 2021-2022 slate of original productions. All of the films are directed by women directors and/or people of color, and every writing team is led by a woman or person of color.

Its 2021-2022 slate comprises three new projects, backed with a combined investment of $12 million. The films are Andre Rehal’s drama “Strangers in a Room,” Melissa D’Agostino’s dark musical comedy “Mother of All Shows,” and the mystery-drama “Paige Darcy: Former Teen Detective,” written by Alice Moran.

“Strangers in a Room,” Rehal’s feature directorial debut, follows a veteran actor in a slump who comes face to face with the idea that his dream is dead, following a micro-aggression steeped in industry politics. The cast includes Jonathan Kim (HBO Max’s upcoming series...

Stars: Colm Feore, Steven Morana, Holly Deveaux, Ari Millen, Art Hindle, Bobbie Phillips, Melissa D’Agostino, Marco Timpano, Mark Andrade, Nicole Stamp, Jon Cor, Supinder Wraich | Written by Matthew Campagna, Rudy Jahchan | Directed by Chris Green, Steven Morana

[Note: With the film now out on DVD in the UK, here’s a reposting of our review of Beast Within from its US digital release last year]

Essentially a horror version of Knives Out (or the many Agatha Christie films which inspired it) and filmed on a low-budget, of course, Beast Within is a whodunit creature feature which stars Steven Morana (Whiskey Business) and Holly Deveaux (The Mist) as a couple attending the launch party of their gaming app Werewolves Awaken. But when a guest is mysteriously found dead, they question who could be the killer, as everyone becomes a suspect and player in a deadly real-life version of the game.

For a low-budget genre film, Beast Within has some truly fantastic effects work – from the over the top violence, blood...

Canada-based actor Colm Feore, whose credits include Netflix’s “The Umbrella Academy,” “My Salinger Year,” “The Amazing Spiderman 2” and multiple Oscar winner “Chicago,” is to star in post-apocalyptic Western “Six Guns for Hire,” which has just started principal photography in Toronto, Canada. The film also stars Maurice Dean Wint, Oyin Oladejo, and Patrick Kwok-Choon.

“Six Guns for Hire,” the third in a trilogy, is written and directed by Matt Campagna. It follows a vicious group of strangers who gather to divvy up the spoils of a train robbery, while an ace detective pursues hot on their trail. As the bandits realize they may not be strangers after all, the detective unearths a deadly conspiracy at the heart of their crime.

The three stories in the trilogy series, all developed and directed by Campagna, exist within the same post-apocalyptic world, without being traditional sequels or prequels to each other.

Melissa D’Agostino...

A third-party engaged on behalf of Canadian government funding body Telefilm has concluded that there was no legal wrongdoing by former employee Dan Lyon after launching an investigation last summer, following allegations by filmmakers.

In July, independent filmmaker Pavan Moondi (“Sundowners”) raised questions about the org’s selection criteria for funding and demanded clarity around its diversity standards. Other allegations of impropriety against Lyon were also raised, with actor-producer Melissa D’Agostino alleging on Twitter that the executive had made a sexually inappropriate comment to her when discussing a potential meeting.

Telefilm confirmed on Monday that it has concluded its investigation. “Based on a thorough interview and analysis processes undertaken by the firm le Cabinet Rh in conjunction with independent intercultural specialist Dr. Myrna Lashley, it was concluded that no harassment, discrimination or misconduct had occurred, pursuant to applicable law.”

Due to privacy and confidentiality concerns, the org said it was “unable to provide further details.

Stars: Colm Feore, Steven Morana, Holly Deveaux, Ari Millen, Art Hindle, Bobbie Phillips, Melissa D’Agostino, Marco Timpano, Mark Andrade, Nicole Stamp, Jon Cor, Supinder Wraich | Written by Matthew Campagna, Rudy Jahchan | Directed by Chris Green, Steven Morana

Essentially a horror version of Knives Out (or the many Agatha Christie films which inspired it) and filmed on a low-budget, of course, Beast Within is a whodunit creature feature which stars Steven Morana (Whiskey Business) and Holly Deveaux (The Mist) as a couple attending the launch party of their gaming app Werewolves Awaken. But when a guest is mysteriously found dead, they question who could be the killer, as everyone becomes a suspect and player in a deadly real-life version of the game.

For a low-budget genre film, Beast Within has some truly fantastic effects work – from the over the top violence, blood and copious amounts of guts to the werewolf transformations and make-up effects,...

Canadian government funding org Telefilm has launched an investigation into one of its top film executives following allegations of misconduct.

Telefilm has faced extensive backlash in the last week after Canadian independent filmmaker Pavan Moondi, who is now based in Los Angeles, raised questions about the org’s selection criteria for funding and demanded clarity around its diversity standards.

Moondi — a former “Schitt’s Creek” story editor and writer-director of feature films such as 2017’s “Sundowners” — took to Twitter on July 3 to share his experiences with Dan Lyon, Telefilm’s feature film executive for Ontario and Nunavut, whom Moondi named in an extensive thread that used screenshots of a recent email exchange between the two.

I will share with you today's email exchange with Dan Lyon, the Feature Film Executive for Ontario. If you don't know Dan, he is *the* guy, who basically makes or breaks you if you want to...