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Memento International has boarded “The Ugly Stepsister,” the ambitious feature debut of Norwegian director Emilie Blichfeldt. The company will kick off sales at this year’s Cannes.

Combining comedy and horror, the film is a daring and unexpected take on the world-famous tale, seen through the eyes of the Cinderella’s stepsister, Elvira.

The gory film follows Elvira as she battles to compete with her insanely beautiful stepsister in a kingdom where beauty is a brutal business. She will go to any lengths to catch the prince’s eye.

“The Ugly Stepsister” is produced by Maria Ekerhovd in Norway for Mer Film, and is co-produced by Lizette Jonjic for Zentropa Sweden (“Another Round”), Mariusz Włodarski for Poland’s Lava Films (“The Girl With The Needle”), Theis Nørgaard for Denmark’s Motor (“The Dead Don’t Hurt”), Zefyr and Film i Väst. With support from the Norwegian Film Institute, the Polish Cash...

Elle Fanning (“The Great”), Christopher Abbott (“Poor Things”) and Nadia Tereszkiewicz (“The Crime is Mine”) are set to headline “The Maid of Orleans,” Sarah Elizabeth Mintz’s daring follow up to “Good Girl Jane.” Loosely inspired by Mintz’s real-life experiences, “The Maid of Orleans” will explore sexual power dynamics on and off set.

Jessica Chastain’s Freckle Films is set to produce alongside Fanning’s Lewellen Pictures. Memento International will introduce the hot project to buyers at the Cannes Film Market. Filming is scheduled to begin early 2024 in France.

Fanning will star as Rebecca Spielman, a young film school graduate who travels to Paris to work as the assistant to the brilliant, yet tortured up-and-coming director Sammy Lindberg (Abbott). As the production of Sammy’s new “Joan of Arc” movie ramps up, Rebecca finds herself struggling to satisfy the growing maze of demands made by her new boss, all the while,...

Can personal connections heal the mind as well as the body? An actress discovers more than she expected in her search for medical treatment in “My Happy Ending.”

Read More: ‘Good Girl Jane’ Review: Sarah Elizabeth Mintz’s Piercing Debut Tracks The Grooming Of A Young Teenage Girl [Tribeca]

In the upcoming film, Andie MacDowell plays an actress whose medical issues lead her on an unexpected journey of self-discovery.

Continue reading ‘My Happy Ending’ Trailer: Andie MacDowell Stars As An Actress On A Healing Journey On February 24 at The Playlist.

Sarah Elizabeth Mintz moved back to New York this month after a seven-year stint in Los Angeles while she was working out Good Girl Jane, her debut feature that just landed with a splash, winning Best Narrative Film at the Tribeca Festival as well as Best Actress for star Rain Spencer.

In a conversation with Deadline, Mintz describes the long path and motivation behind the drama of teenage alienation and addiction inspired by her real-life freshman year in high school. “Substance abuse carries a lot of shame a lot of misconception,” she said. “What mattered was to shed some light on the isolation I felt. I know that had I seen that type of isolation on the screen, it would truly have affected me, made me feel less alone.”

The film follows lonely L.A. teenager Jane (Spencer), struggling to fit in at a new school after being bullied in...

New York – The 21st Tribeca Film Festival announced their Jury Prizes for 2022 on June 16th. Best U.S. Narrative was rewarded to “Good Girl Jane,” an adolescent story of young love, written/directed by Sarah Elizabeth Mintz. Best International Narrative goes to “January” and Best Documentary is “The Cave of Adullam.”

“January” is a Lativian/Lithuanian/Polish production concerning an aspiring filmmaker searching for “sides” in the backdrop of Latvian independence, directed by Viesturs Kairiss. “The Cave of Adullam” (USA) regards raising boys under the auspice of martial arts, and it’s directed by Laura Checkoway.

Best U.S. Narrative Feature for 2022 is ‘Good Girl Jane,’ directed by Sarah Elizabeth Mintz

Photo credit: Tribeca Film Festival

Awards were distributed in the following feature film competition categories – U.S. Narrative, International Narrative, Documentary, New Narrative Director, and the Nora Ephron Prize, honoring a woman writer or director. Awards were also given...

Good Girl Jane named best US narrative feature

Latvian coming-of-age story January has won international narrative feature at Tribeca 2022 while Mexican filmmaker Michelle Garza Cervera was named best new narrative director.

Viesturs Kairiss’ Latvia-Lithuania-Poland January follows an aspiring filmmaker as he discovers his identity against the backdrop of Latvian independence. Kārlis Arnolds Avots and Alise Danovska star.

Huesera stars in the story of a woman who experiences extreme visions after becoming pregnant. XYZ Films handles worldwide sales on the horror and as Screen reported last week the feature debutante has lined up to direct That Summer In The Dark (Ese...

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The 2022 Tribeca Festival presented awards in its competition categories on Thursday, with Good Girl Jane and The Cave of Adullam among this year’s top winners.

Good Girl Jane won the Founders’ Award for best U.S. narrative feature, with a 20,000 prize, with star Rain Spencer winning best performance in the U.S. narrative competition. The film, written and directed by Sarah Elizabeth Mintz, also stars Andie MacDowell, Patrick Gibson, Odessa A’Zion, Olan Prenatt and Eloisa Huggins.

The movie follows Spencer’s lonely high schooler Jane, bullied out of private school and at odds with her divorced parents, as she spirals out of control after falling for a charismatic drug dealer. Other awards in the U.S. Narrative Competition went to Allswell (best screenplay) and Next Exit (best cinematography), with the screenplay winner receiving 2,500. The U.S. narrative jury also gave a special...

Coming-of-age drama Good Girl Jane, written and directed by Sarah Elizabeth Mintz, took the Tribeca Festival Founders’ Award for Best U.S. Narrative Feature on Thursday while its star Rain Spencer won for Best Performance at the fest, which announced its winners ahead of wrapping this weekend.

The film follows lonely teenager Jane, bullied out of private school and at odds with her divorced parents, who spirals out of control after falling in with a hard-partying crowd and becoming smitten with a dangerously charismatic bad boy, played by Patrick Gibson. Andie MacDowell is Jane’s beleaguered mom. It’s produced by Fred Bernstein, Dominique Telson, Lauren Pratt, Mintz and Simone Williams.

January (Janvaris) by Viesturs Kairiss, from Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, about an aspiring filmmaker searching for identity against the backdrop of Latvian independence, was named Best International Narrative Feature.

Best Documentary Feature and Editing awards went Laura Checkoway’s The Cave of Adullam.

The 2022 Tribeca Festival has officially announced the slate of award-winning films, marking the end of the 21st annual event.

Presented by Okx, the Tribeca Festival unveiled the winning storytellers in its competition categories on June 16 at the awards ceremony at New York City restaurant Thalassa. Awards were given in the following competition categories: Feature Film, Short Film, Audio Storytelling, Immersive, Games, Human/Nature, and Tribeca X.

“Good Girl Jane” took home the top prize, the Founders’ Award for Best U.S. Narrative Feature. Written and directed by Sarah Elizabeth Mintz, the film marked its World Premiere at the festival. “Good Girl Jane” follows a private school dropout teen who falls in love with a charismatic drug dealer. Lead star Rain Spencer also won Best Performance for her turn as Jane.

Latvian drama “January (Janvaris)” won Best International Narrative Feature. Written and directed by Viesturs Kairiss it’s about an aspiring...

Tribeca Film Festival wrapped up its competition Thursday by announcing awards for “Good Girl Jane,” “January (Janvaris)” and “The Cave of Adullam,” among other films.

Sarah Elizabeth Mintz’ “Good Girl Jane,” about a lonely, bullied high schooler lured into the hard-partying scene by a charming bad boy, took home the Founders’ Award for Best U.S. Narrative Feature. Its star, Rain Spencer (“The Summer I Turned Pretty) also picked up the award for Best Performance in a U.S. narrative film.

The top prize for international narrative feature went to Latvian coming-of-age drama “January (Janvaris),” written and directed by Viesturs Kairiss. The film follows an aspiring filmmaker who tries to figure out who he is amidst the struggle for Latvian independence.

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Best Documentary Feature was awarded to “The Cave of Adullam,” Laura Checkoway’s portrait of sensei Jason Wilson,...

The fraught world of teenage girlhood has long proven to be a fertile one for filmmakers. And, over the last decade, it’s provided a way for creators to go back into the past to re-examine the way teenage girls were overly sexualized and cast adrift in the wild world of the late 1990s and early aughts. Director Sarah Elizabeth Mintz returns audiences to 2005 with her feature, “Good Girl Jane,” a feature-length narrative based off her short film of the same name. While the film features several moments that are truly harrowing and are anchored by powerful performances by her young cast,

When the film opens, Jane (Rain Spencer) has transferred to a new school in Los Angeles after a series of bullying incidents at her old school. While her sister is able to make the adjustment with ease, Jane is still adrift, losing herself in harsh music and isolation.

By Abe Friedtanzer

Everyone’s experience of high school includes something they wish they hadn’t done. It’s much easier to reflect back on what that might have been as an adult; you have more distant to consider the impact and meaning of a moment or relationship that might not have problematic or regrettable at the time. For some, there’s a great deal of regret from a repeated pattern of behavior that had an undeniable effect on their lives. With time, humor can also be found in deeply disturbing events, and Good Girl Jane does that exceptionally well.

Sarah Elizabeth Mintz describes her directorial debut (she also wrote the screenplay) as loosely based on her own life but with considerable liberties taken and modifications made...

Set in the Fall of 2005, Sarah Elizabeth Mintz’s piercing feature debut, “Good Girl Jane,” tracks the grooming of the title character (Rain Spencer), Jane, an outcast teenager enduring an endless summer that nearly undoes her.

Jane and her older sister Izzie (Eloisa Huggins) have recently transferred to a new school. The popular girls look down on Jane, and the kids from her old school still bully her with spiteful messages online.

Continue reading ‘Good Girl Jane’ Review: Sarah Elizabeth Mintz’s Piercing Debut Tracks The Grooming Of A Young Teenage Girl [Tribeca] at The Playlist.

Andie MacDowell has been in Hollywood for almost 40 years, but for the long-time star, it can still seem like “Groundhog Dog” when it comes to gender equity on set.

“I have worked with so many difficult men!,” the actress recently told Marie Claire. “I’m really good with difficult men. I have great training, because I grew up in the South.”

The “Sex, Lies, and Videotape” star noted that while she typically would let “things roll off,” the #MeToo movement has shifted on-set dynamics. “I was always really good at not letting it affect me,” MacDowell said. “Sometimes I watch bad behavior and feel sorry for the person who’s behaving poorly, because they have to be suffering on some level to behave like that.”

The “Maid” actress did recall a “kind of crazy experience” in 2016 where she hit a breaking point during a production. “[It was] right after Trump got elected.

Exclusive: Orlando Bloom (Carnival Row) and Andie MacDowell (Maid) have signed on to star in Red Right Hand, an upcoming action-thriller from directors Ian and Eshom Nelms (Fatman).

The film written by Jonathan Easley centers on Cash (Bloom), who is trying to live an honest and quiet life, taking care of his niece Savannah in the Appalachian hills of Odim County. When the sadistic Queenpin Big Cat (MacDowell) who runs the town forces him back into her services, Cash learns he’s capable of anything—even killing—to protect the town and the only family he has left. As the journey gets harder, Cash is drawn into a nightmare that blurs the lines between good and evil.

Asbury Park Pictures is serving as the project’s financier and producing alongside Traction. Individual producers on board include John Wick‘s Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee, Asbury Park Pictures’ Mike Gabrawy, Traction...

Andie MacDowell and The Oa star Patrick Gibson are set to star in Good Girl Jane, which wrapped filming in Los Angeles this week following a 2020 production shutdown due to the pandemic.

Newcomer Rain Spencer leads the cast as a lonely young girl that falls hard for a charming drug dealer and becomes entangled in his meth ring run by Los Angeles teens.

Sarah Elizabeth Mintz makes her feature debut on the Astute Films project. Odessa A’Zion (Grand Army), Jules Lorenzo (Betty), Olan Prenatt (Mid90s), Diego Chiat, Eloisa Huggins and Gale Harold round out the cast with musical artists Yeek and Shakewell.

Astute Films’ Dominique ...

Andie MacDowell and The Oa star Patrick Gibson are set to star in Good Girl Jane, which wrapped filming in Los Angeles this week following a 2020 production shutdown due to the pandemic.

Newcomer Rain Spencer leads the cast as a lonely young girl that falls hard for a charming drug dealer and becomes entangled in his meth ring run by Los Angeles teens.

Sarah Elizabeth Mintz makes her feature debut on the Astute Films project. Odessa A’Zion (Grand Army), Jules Lorenzo (Betty), Olan Prenatt (Mid90s), Diego Chiat, Eloisa Huggins and Gale Harold round out the cast with musical artists Yeek and Shakewell.

Astute Films’ Dominique ...

Every week, IndieWire’s Filmmaker Toolkit rounds up the latest in opportunities that can help those looking to advance projects or get a career started in the film industry. The following grants, labs, fellowships, contests and other non-profit opportunities could be a great way to help kickstart your movie and TV dreams.

New Opportunities & Upcoming Deadlines

NBC’s Writers on the Verge

– NBCUniversal’s Writers on the Verge 12-week program focuses on polishing and preparing television writers for a staff writer position on a television series. Writers who are “almost there” but need assistance with their final bit of preparation with their writing and personal presentation skills are encouraged to apply. The program consists of two night classes, which will typically be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7 – 10 Pm weekly at NBCUniversal in Universal City, CA. Once accepted, students must attend all classes and turn in all written assignments.

Past...