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Andras Hamori, the Hungarian film and television producer whose credits included Atom Egoyan’s The Sweet Hereafter, István Szabó’s Sunshine and David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ, has died. He was 71.

Hamori died Sept. 2 in Budapest after a long illness that prevented him from working in recent years, his friend Mia Taylor announced.

Hamori, who worked out of Toronto early in his career and was a partner in Alliance Entertainment, also guided the cult horror classic The Gate (1987), starring Stephen Dorff in his first major role; Stephen Frears’ Chéri (2009), starring Michelle Pfeiffer; and the 2014 History Channel miniseries Houdini, starring Adrien Brody.

The Sweet Hereafter (1997), which earned Egoyan Oscar nominations for best director and adapted screenplay, revolved around a school bus accident in a Canadian town that killed 14 children.

Sunshine (1999) told the story of several generations of a Jewish family set against the backdrop of Hungarian history. It starred Ralph Fiennes, was...

Jeremy Podeswa will direct the pilot episode and serve as producing director and executive producer on Prime Video’s “Blade Runner 2099”

The live-action limited series, which will premiere exclusively on Amazon’s streaming service in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide, comes from Alcon Entertainment and Scott Free Productions.

In 2011, Alcon Entertainment secured film, television and ancillary franchise rights to produce prequels and sequels to the iconic 1982 science-fiction thriller “Blade Runner.” Since that time, Alcon has financed and produced the critically acclaimed epic “Blade Runner 2049,” which earned rave reviews and won two Academy Awards, as well as the recent “Blade Runner: Black Lotus,” an anime series that debuted late last year on Adult Swim and Crunchyroll.

Legendary filmmaker Ridley Scott and Silka Luisa (“Shining Girls”) will serve as executive producers. Luisa will also serve as the series’ showrunner. “Blade Runner 2049” writer Michael Green will serve as a non-writing executive producer,...

Filming is underway in Europe on David Cronenberg’s Crimes Of The Future, starring Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux, Kristen Stewart and Scott Speedman.

Joining the cast are Tanaya Beatty (Yellowstone), Nadia Litz (Big Muddy), Yorgos Karamichos (The Durrells), and Yorgos Pirpassopoulos (Beckett). Also previously announced were Welket Bungué (Berlin Alexanderplatz), Don McKellar (Blindness), and Lihi Kornowski (Losing Alice).

The film shoots in Athens, Greece until September 2021.

The film takes a deep dive into the not-so-distant future where humankind is learning to adapt to its synthetic surroundings. The evolution moves humans beyond their natural state and into a metamorphosis, altering their biological makeup. While some embrace the limitless potential of ‘transhumanism’, others attempt to police it. Either way, “Accelerated Evolution Syndrome”, is spreading fast.

“As we begin filming Crimes Of The Future, just two days into this new adventure with David Cronenberg, it feels like we’ve entered a story he...

Having not directed a film since 2014’s Maps to the Stars, we’ve been patiently awaiting the return of Canadian master David Cronenberg. Viggo Mortensen finally let slip earlier this year that he was reuniting with his Eastern Promises and A History of Violence director for a new film this summer—a “strange film noir story” that will find him going back to his origins. Now, the first official details have arrived.

Cronenberg is confirmed to be headed to Greece this summer to shoot a sci-fi film with the title of Crimes of the Future, reports Kftv (via Screen Daily). Fans of the director’s early work will of course recognize it is the same title as one of his first films, made in 1970 and set in 1997, following a mad dermatologist who searches for his mentor after a cosmetic invention gone wrong kills the entire population of sexually mature women.

The sci-fi movie is one of many big projects set to shoot in the country, including Disney’s Greek Freak

David Cronenberg is set to shoot a sci-fi film with the working title Crimes Of The Future in Greece this summer.

Cronenberg wrote and directed a 1970 film of the same name about the director of a dermatological clinic who goes searching for his mentor after a plague has killed off all women.

Shooting will take place over 30 days from August 2 to September 10, mostly around the capital, Athens, including at the Iris cinema, Arcade of Anatolia and harbour of Piraeus. Local...

John (Robbie Tann) and Mary (April Matthis). Jason Neulander: ' I was like, you know, what, this is going to be a weird experimental film, and I am simply not going to worry about mainstream Hollywood rules for this project' Photo: Courtesy of Poff Director Jason Neulander: 'I’m not a young person a more so to feel like I've been stretched in this way just made me feel like I was 23 all over again, which is really magical' Photo: Jason Neulander Fugitive Dreams, the debut film from Jason Neulander takes us on the road with Mary (April Matthis) and John (Robbie Tann), both homeless and lonely in their own ways. We follow them on an odyssey that is as much psychological as physical - and that dips into memory and the imagined - as they encounter others, including Israfel (Scott Shepherd) and his disabled mother Providence (O-Lan Jones...

If Waiting For Godot's Vladimir and Estragon had a couple of American cousins, they might look a little like Mary (April Matthis) and John (Robbie Tann), the central characters in Fugitive Dreams, which director Jason Neulander and playwright Caridad Svich have taken from stage (where it was named Fugitive Pieces) to screen in a way that gains scope with the transition.

Like Vladimir and Estragon, Mary and John are "tramps" of a sort, homeless and on the road when they encounter one another in a petrol station loo. And though through the course of the movie they will move around a lot more than Beckett's characters, this is as much a psychological journey as it is physical, and one that never loses its sense of humanism and hope.

Mary is on the brink of suicide when she meets John, while he is haunted by a past that often muscles its way in.

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We’ve scoured the episode commentaries from the Game Of Thrones season 5 Blu-ray set - and here are 125 things we found out.

Warning: contains spoilers for Game Of Thrones season 5.

You're busy people. We know this. Much as you'd like to, you may not have time to watch a dozen hours of Game Of Thrones episode commentaries in order to glean the odd fact with which to impress/bore your nearest and dearest.

That's where we come in.

Below are 125 Things We Learned from the Game Of Thrones season five Blu-ray set, packaged for your edification. Number 64 will blow your mind!!! Hang on, no, that one's not actually very interesting. But some of the rest of them are. A bit, anyway. Well, we thought so.

1. The original pilot script described the opening credits as from the perspective of a raven flying over a map from Castle Black to King’s Landing.

Rosamund Pike nearly stole the show in David Fincher's "Gone Girl" but he stole the hearts of the Palm Springs International Film Festival's committee members. The actress is getting the Breakthrough Performance Award! Last year, "12 Years A Slave's" Lupita Nyong'o received the same award and walked all the way to Oscar glory!

Pike is joining recently announced recipients Eddie Redmayne, Julianne Moore, and J.K. Simmons. Here's the press release:

Palm Springs, CA (November 21, 2014) . The 26th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (Psiff) will present Rosamund Pike with the Breakthrough Performance Award, Actress at its annual Awards Gala. The Gala will also present awards to previously announced honorees Julianne Moore, Eddie Redmayne and J.K. Simmons. Presented by Cartier, and hosted by Mary Hart, the Awards Gala will be held Saturday, January 3 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The Festival runs January 2-12.

.Rosamund Pike perfectly taps into Gillian Flynn.s...

Sneak Peek actress Nina Dobrev, star of The CW's 'vampire' TV series "The Vampire Diaries" in a new pictorial and video for the September 2013 issue of "Cosmopolitan" Magazine.

The Canadian actress started her performance career by modeling followed by commercials, then film acting in the features "Fugitive Pieces", "Away from Her" and "Never Cry Werewolf", before scoring a part in the long-running TV series, "Degrassi: The Next Generation".

After appearing in a number of Lifetime original movies, she played in the MTV movie "The American Mall", before landing the lead in The CW's vampire series "The Vampire Diaries".

In the series, still going strong, Dobrev plays the dual role of 'Katherine Pierce', a vampire loved by two human brothers during the American Civil War and Katherine's doppelgänger 'Elena Gilbert', a human who is caught between the same two brothers, who are now the vampires, 'Damon' and 'Stefan Salvatore'.

In 2011, Dobrev...

From a full programme of film and stage adaptations to a new James Bond novel, unpublished works by Rs Thomas and Wg Sebald and a new prize for women writers, 2013 is set to be a real page-turner

January

10th The Oscar nominations are announced unusually early this year. Keep an eye out for a bumper crop of literary adaptations, including David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas, Yann Martel's Life of Pi, the David Nicholls-scripted Great Expectations, as well as Les Miserables, Anna Karenina and The Hobbit.

18th A new stage adaptation of Henry James's The Turn of the Screw at the Almeida theatre in London. In the year of the centenary of Benjamin Britten's birth, his musical version will also feature around the country in both concert and stage performances.

24th The finalists for the fifth Man Booker International prize will be announced at the Jaipur festival.

With her statuesque beauty, Israeli-born actress Ayelet Zurer has made a strong impression in genre fare like “Vantage Point” and “Angels & Demons,” and especially heavy, hard-hitting dramas like “Fugitive Pieces,” ”Adam Resurrected” and Steven Spielberg’s “Munich,” in which she plays Eric Bana’s sympathetic wife and serves as his emotional mooring. Writer-director Lawrence Kasdan’s “Darling Companion,” then, represents a nice, unexpected change-up for Zurer, who plays Carmen, an exotic seasonal housesitter who ends up helping her employers (Diane Keaton and Kevin Kline) search for their missing dog, and in the process develops an unexpected connection with a member of their extended family, Bryan (Mark Duplass). ShockYa recently had a chance to sit down with Zurer one-on-one, and talk [ Read More ]...

Rosamund Pike surprised everyone when she was cast as a Bond Girl 10 years ago. And now she is spoofing that role in Johnny English Reborn

It feels strange to say that Johnny English Reborn is something of a revelation. It isn't the film itself – a tepid spy spoof sequel starring Rowan Atkinson and Dominic West, with the occasional blast of amusement and much slapstick. The unexpected element here comes in the form of Rosamund Pike, playing a top MI7 psychologist named Kate Sumner.

Pike provides both comic foil and love interest for Atkinson – all wide eyes, earnest expressions and fitted shift dresses. But her presence is never less than amusing; it's there in the tilt of her neck, the set of her shoulders, and, more than anywhere, in her face – the faint creases around the eyes and the corner of the mouth breathe humour into that famously crisp beauty. The...

Rosamund Pike has been shaking off her taffeta-and-lace typecasting with a run of sharp comic roles lately. She talks to John Patterson about keeping things interesting

A discernible groundswell has slowly been building under Rosamund Pike's career since this actor, hitherto lumbered with a grave ice-princess image and a profile seemingly custom-sculpted for heritage telly, suddenly flexed her comedic muscles in An Education two years ago. She was the transcendentally vacant, dimwit-goddess girlfriend of one of its shadier characters. Seeing the ostensibly buttoned-down, corseted-up Pike fire off delirious comic fusillades one after another was like watching Monica Vitti suddenly burst into song, or Angela Rippon dancing with Morecambe and Wise: delightful, and totally unexpected. Who knew?

American critics are agreeing that Pike has become the best reason to see any movie she's in: she has crept up on them in a succession of tasty supporting roles since An Education.

First it was called Fury. Then it became Deathgames, to avoid confusion with a certain Marvel character. And what's now for the time being called The Killing Game has just landed Katia Winter as its female lead. She'll star alongside the other Fury himself, Samuel L Jackson, and Twilight's Kellan Lutz.The indie action thriller features Lutz as a poor schmo kidnapped by Jackson's evil mastermind, and forced to participate in gladiatorial combat for the pleasure of online gamblers*. Nina Dobrev from Fugitive PIeces and TV's Vampire Diaries, and Lost's Daniel Dae Kim are also already on-hand as fighters, as is James Remar as "Tall Man" (another one!). But the word "lead" suggests that Winter, as "Milla", will be the Sonja Blade / Nina Williams type that we're especially rooting for. We hope it doesn't just mean throwaway action movie eye candy love interest for Lutz.The Swedish Katia only moved to La in March,...

Stargate: SG1 and Farscape star Ben Browder is putting on a fedora to take down some rogue AI's. The Sf icon has been cast as the lead in a new webseries called Naught For Hire.

Set 20 years in the future, the 13 part webseries will follow Nick Naught, P.I., "...an an analog guy in a digital world who relies on instinct to guide him through a world filled with malfunctioning technology."

Other characters in the upcoming series include Naught's Phone (!), Elevator (!!) and Computer (!!!). It's like Doctor McCoy's nightmares come to life.

While I'm a bit tired of "analog detectives in a digital world" tropes, the webseries is by Jeffrey Berman, a former producer on The Kids In The Hall TV series and the well received feature film Fugitive Pieces (2007). The series premieres on-line this fall.

And now, some Ben Browder to get you in the mood:   

Source: GateWorld » Ben Browder...

The Twilight Saga: New Moon and Barney's Version star Rachelle Lefevre is slated to present Anne Michaels' The Winter Vault next Tuesday, November 10th, at the Scotiabank Giller Prize gala, according to a recent report. The gala is one which celebrates novels and their authors by awarding cash prizes for selection by a panel of judges. The first place winner of the award will receive $50,000. Lefevre is a notable proponent of the arts. In her tweets, she talks about various pieces of literature and film that she enjoys and encourages her followers and friends to check out books like Coco Before Chanel and Where The Wild Things Are. The author whose work she is presenting at the gala, Anne Michaels, also wrote the celebrated Fugitive Pieces: A Novel as well as other works like The Weight of Oranges/Miner's Pond, and Skin Divers (poetry coll ...

On January 9, 1989, Nina Dobrev, whose full name is Nina Const Dobreva, was born in Bulgaria. Nina’s parents are an artist and computer specialist. Nina has one sibling, an older brother. When she was two her family moved to Toronto, Ontario and she has lived there until recently moving to Los Angles and Georgia for filming her latest role. Nina is clearly full of great acting talent but she also has other interests. Nina attended J.B. Tyrrell Sr. Public School, Wexford Collegiate School for the Arts, and Dean Armstrong Acting School. She is interested in dance, gymnastics, theatre, music, acting, and modeling. At 5 ft. 6½ in., she is a graceful beauty to watch. Nina has competed professionally in gymnastics and loves to travel. She is fluent in Bulgarian, French, and English. Nina helped to create a school in Kenya called Free the Children. The school is a non-profit organization built...

The first episode of the third series of 'The Tudors', broadcast on BBC2 last Friday night, drew an average audience of 2.3 million over the 90-minute show which started at 9.00pm. This figure is almost 1 million more than the programme's usual audience average. Filmed in Ireland, Morgan O'Sullivan (P.S I Love You) returns as executive producer for the series, with Dearbhla Walsh (Little Dorrit), Ifta winner Ciaran Donnelly (Inspector George Gently) and Jeremy Podewsa (Fugitive Pieces) directing.

Brit actress Joely Richardson, best known for her role in 'Nip/Tuck', has joined the cast of 'The Tudors'. Richardson will portray Catherine Parr, Henry VIII's (Jonathon Rhys Meyers) sixth and last wife. Richardson will appear in a five-episode arc on the show's fourth and final season which is currently into the first month of its six month shoot in Ardmore Studios Co. Wicklow, Kilruddery House and Powerscourt Gardens. Morgan O'Sullivan (P.S I Love You) returns as executive producer for this final series, with Dearbhla Walsh (Little Dorrit), Ifta winner Ciaran Donnelly (Inspector George Gently) and Jeremy Podewsa (Fugitive Pieces) directing.

Film rights to Gil Adamson's historical novel "The Outlander" have been picked up by Trudie Styler's Xingu Films, Sandra Cunningham's Strada Films and Robin Cass and Anna Stratton's Triptych Media.

Published last year by House of Anansi Press, "Outlander" tells the tale of a 19-year-old woman struggling to survive in the Canadian wilderness while being pursued by her late husband's brothers who are seeking revenge for his murder.

Xingu's most recent feature, "Moon," a sci-fi tale starring Sam Rockwell, was released last month by Sony Pictures Classics. Toronto-based Strada recently produced "Fugitive Pieces" with Serendipity Point Films. Triptych's credits include "Emotional Arithmetic," starring Susan Sarandon and Gabriel Byrne.

Traditionally, Canadian films have opened the Toronto International Film Festival. It's only natural -- one of the biggest film festivals taking place in Canada makes it the perfect springboard for Canuck cinema. Last year it was Paul Gross' Passchendaele. And before that: Fugitive Pieces, The Journals of Knud Rasmussen, and Water. But Darwin is once again changing things. That meddlesome man!

The Hollywood Reporter posts that Tiff has picked their opening film, and it will be the Charles Darwin film Creation from director Jon Amiel. (Starring the husband and wife team of Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly.) Fest co-director Cameron Bailey says: "By telling a story on many levels, weaving scenes from past and present, this depiction of Darwin promises to deeply move audiences by drawing them into the conflicted mind of a man who presented a concept that changed the world." But is it a story that needed to be told opening night?...

Shooting is scheduled to begin in Dublin on Monday, 15 June, on the fourth and final series of 'The Tudors'. Morgan O'Sullivan returns as executive producer, with Dearbhla Walsh (Little Dorrit), Ifta winner Ciaran Donnelly and Jeremy Podewsa (Fugitive Pieces) directing. Ten episodes have been commissioned for the series which carries a budget of €20 million. Written by Michael Hirst, crew includes Dop Ousam Rawi and Ifta and Emmy winning costume designer Joan Bergin returning to work alongside Production Designer Tom Conroy. Editing will take place in Canada.

It is being reported (http://www.javno.com/en-bestseller/rade-serbedzija-will-act-in-new-harry-potter_260476) today that the Croatian actor Rade Serbedzija (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0784884/) (Batman Begins, Eurotrip, Mission: Impossible II) has been cast in Deathly Hallows. No character name is specified but his role is said to be 'brief but very important'. He is said to begin in November. Having announced his casting at a press conference for Fugitive Pieces, he added that he knew he had the role six months ago. Photos of the actor can be seen here (http://www.snitchseeker.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=776). Image: http://www.snitchseeker.com/gallery/albums/userpics/13923/81521950.jpg Image: http://www.snitchseeker.com/gallery/albums/userpics/13923/81576388.jpg Image: http://www.snitchseeker.com/gallery/albums/userpics/13923/84034415.jpg Source: Harry Potter update (http://harrypotterupdate.multiply.com/journal/item/424/)...

The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television had announced the winners of the 2009 Genie Awards on Saturday night, April 4, and "Passchendaele" came up victorious. On the awards ceremony held at Canada Aviation Museum in Ottawa, the World War I drama was announced this year's Best Motion Picture in addition to receiving five other nods.

Being the one which collected the most prizes on the special night, this Paul Gross-directed war movie also won kudos for Achievement in Art Direction/Production Design, Achievement in Costume Design, Achievement in Overall Sound and Achievement in Sound Editing. It brought home the Golden Reel Award as well for being the biggest box office gross of the year.

"The Necessities of Life" was another big winner as the movie about an Inuit hunter stranded in a Quebec hospital grabbed four kudos at the awards. It collected Best Director title for Benoit Pilon and Best Leading Actor for Natar Ungalaaq.

The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television (Acct) have announced the nominees for the 29th Annual Genie Awards. Leading the pack for the awards honoring the best in Canadian film was "The Necessities of Life". The movie about an Inuit hunter stranded in a Quebec hospital collected eight gongs, including best picture, best director for Benoit Pilon and best original screenplay for Bernard Emond.

In the category of best pictures, Pilon's film will be up against "Amal", "Normal", "Passchendaele" and "Everything Is Fine". Meanwhile, for the best original screenplay title, it placed Bernard Emond in competition with Deepa Mehta of "Heaven on Earth", Travis McDonald of "Normal", Randall Cole of "Real Time" and Guillaume Vigneault of "Everything Is Fine".

While "The Necessities of Life" took the most nominations, "Fugitive Pieces", the Samuel Goldwyn Films drama based on best-selling novel by Canadian poet Anne Michaels grabbed six nods. Some of the...

The International Press Academy announced their nominees for the 13th Annual Satellite Awards and it is a mixed bag of snubs across the board and further proof the idea of separating Drama, Comedy and Musicals is just about the dumbest idea around as they are Really reaching by including Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist as a comedy or a musical. I would even say Happy-Go-Lucky and Vicky Cristina Barcelona don't fit the category. What was so funny about Poppy being attacked by her driving instructor? Where was the comedy in VCB? Gimme a break. it's going to be even worse when the Globes nominate something like High School Musical 3 and Mamma Mia! instantly giving them some kind of credibility. However, category distinction aside the absence of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button from all categories makes me wonder if any of these people even saw all the films. Take for...

The awards season has been kicked off as International Press Academy announces its nominees for the 13th Annual Satellite Awards on Sunday, November 30. Through the 22 categories for feature film, it is revealed that "Frost/Nixon", "Milk", "The Dark Knight", "Slumdog Millionaire", "Revolutionary Road", "Australia" and "Quantum of Solace" are among the strong contenders for the coveted awards since each of them receives multiple nods.

Competing for the Best Drama Film category are The Reader", "Slumdog Millionaire", "Revolutionary Road", "Frost/Nixon", "Milk" and "Frozen River". Meanwhile, "Happy-Go-Lucky", "Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist", "Vicky Cristina Barcelona", "Tropic Thunder", "In Bruges" and "Choke" are listed as the contenders for Best Comedy or Musical Film.

The nominations also see actresses, like Angelina Jolie, Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet, Meryl Streep, Kat Dennings and Debra Messing, and actors, such as Mickey Rourke, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Ricky Gervais, Michael Cera and Mark Ruffalo, in the performers categories.

Samuel Goldwyn Films has picked up U.S. distribution rights to the drama "American Violet" which Tim Disney helms. Written by Bill Haney ("The Price of Sugar"), the film is based on true events and tells of a mother in Texas who's mistakenly swept up during a drug raid. Alfre Woodard and newcomer Nicole Beharie star. Also in the cast are Tim Blake Nelson, Michael O'Keefe and Charles S. Dutton. This is apparently due for release by Samuel Goldwyn Films in March next year. The studio has a strong reputation with some indie gems on offer, the most recent including "Trumbo," "2 Days in Paris," "Fugitive Pieces," "Goya's Ghosts" and the recent box office surprise "Fireproof" starring Kirk Cameron which is still enjoying the fruits of its labor.

• Canada's New kid on the block, is the brainchild of Robert Lantos.  Maximum Films has the Romanian film Boogie in the Director's Fortnight and Egoyan's latest in the comp. Here are three I'm looking forward to: the Ioncinema.com profiled Sophie Barthes and Cold Souls, the Sundance docu favorite Trouble the Water and of course the Egoyan film. Adoration by Atom Egoyan - Completed     American Trap (Piege Americain)  - Completed     Americaneast  by Hesham Issawi - Completed     Before The Rains  by Santosh Sivan - Completed     Boogie by Radu Muntean - Completed     Chicago 10  by Brett Morgan - Completed     Cold Souls  by Sophie Barthes - Post-Production     Fugitive Pieces  by Jeremy Podeswa - Completed     Otto; Or, Up With People  by Bruce Labruce - Completed     Real Time  by Randall Cole - Completed     The Guitar  by Amy Redford - Completed     The Waiting Room  by Roger Goldby - Completed     Trouble The Water  by Carl Deal,

...

In the opening scenes of Jeremy Podeswa's adaptation of Anne Michaels' novel Fugitive Pieces, a young boy hides in his house in Poland in 1942, and through the cracks in the baseboard, he watches Nazis kill his parents and abduct his sister. Throughout the film, Podeswa cuts back and forth between the story of how that little boy survived the war and how as an adult (played by Stephen Dillane) he tries to make a new life for himself in Canada as an author and professor. Yet even as Dillane is living in a well-appointed home with lovely young social butterfly Rosamund Pike, he still takes a worm's-eye view of life, always peering through the cracks. By and large, Fugitive Pieces is a familiar Holocaust survivor's tale, in that it's about a group of people—Dillane and the remaining people he knows from back home—who are so scarred by their.

By Neil Pedley

The Tribeca Film Festival is in full swing, but if you don't live in New York, there's no need to fret. No less than three films ("From Within," "Mister Lonely" and "Redbelt") on this list of coming attractions have played the festival in recent days. Then again, if you are in New York and want to catch something outside the fest, there's always that intimate character drama starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow and a red and gold metal suit of armor.

"The Favor"

Writer/director Eva J. Aridjis brings us a quiet tale of angst and alienation starring former New York subway busker Ryan Donowho as Johnny, a high school loner who's taken in by Lawrence (Frank Wood), a quiet pet photographer, after his mother (Paige Turco) is killed in an accident. In order to be the father he needs, Lawrence must fight through Johnny's rebellious...

• When Jakob was a boy, the last thing his mother said to him as she hid him underneath a covered table was not to come out, no matter what. In the moments that followed, Jakob watched as his mother took a rifle to her head, his father then shot dead and his older sister was dragged out of their home by her hair. It’s no wonder Jakob would grow up to become a man who lives his life as if he were still cowering under that same table. The connection between past and present centers the vast story of Canadian director, Jeremy Podeswa’s Fugitive Pieces. Based on the prize-winning novel of the same name by Anne Michaels, Fugitive Pieces follows Jakob from his childhood through the rest of his life, from his escape from Nazi-controlled Poland to his exile in Greece alongside his surrogate father, Athos, and finally to Canada,

...

• Samuel Goldwyn Films are still in the game - the indie distributor looked north towards its cold cousin for Toronto film festival opener Fugitive Pieces. Writer/director Jeremy Podeswa's drama is based on the novel by Anne Michaels, Fugitive Pieces tells the story of Jakob Beer (Stephen Dillane), a man whose life is haunted by his childhood experiences during the Second World War. As a child in Poland he is orphaned during wartime then saved by a compassionate, Greek archaeologist. He then spends the rest of his life trying to come to terms with the losses he has endured. Through his writing, and then through the discovery of true love, Jakob is given the opportunity to free himself from the legacy of his past.Look for the film to get a May release and expect to see Ioncinema.com's exclusive interview with Jeremy sometime in that area.  ...

...

Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired the World War II-era drama Fugitive Pieces and has set its U.S. premiere for Feb. 2 at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

The deal was negotiated by Goldwyn vp acquisitions Peter Goldwyn and John Sloss of Cinetic Media on behalf of the filmmakers.

Goldwyn plans a May release for the film, which first bowed on opening night at the Toronto International Film Festival and garnered a best actor prize for Rade Sherbedgia at the Rome International Film Festival.

Jeremy Podeswa, who helmed such series as Showtime's Dexter and Six Feet Under, wrote and directed the film, produced by Robert Lantos (Eastern Promises).

Fugitive Pieces, based on the novel by Anne Michaels, revolves around Jakob Beer (Stephen Dillane), a Polish orphan who is saved by a Greek archaeologist and attempts to deal with his losses through writing and the discovery of true love.

The film is the latest addition to Goldwyn's 2008 slate, which includes Priceless, Roman De Gare and Trumbo.

• The Toronto International Film Festival Group (Tiffg) announced this year's top ten Canadian feature films including higher-profile pics and items from a set of new-comers. In addition, this year's group of 10 is actually a group of 20 - they've included a ten-list of short films as well. Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski's Madame Tutli-putli (whom we featured here on Ioncinema.com - read our Q and A with the pair of filmmakers here) is the short film that has fairly great chances at making an appearance at this year's Acamdey Awards. The top ten list is part of a series of Q&As by filmmakers and panel discussions to be held in Canada's cap - from January 25 to February 5 at Cinematheque Ontario in Toronto. In alphabetical order:l’ÂGE Des TÉNÈBRES – Denys Arcand (Alliance Odeon Films)Amal – Richie Mehta (Seville Pictures)Continental, Un Film Sans Fusil – Stéphane Lafleur (Christal Films

...

TORONTO -- Denys Arcand's The Age of Darkness and David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises on Tuesday landed on the Toronto International Film Festival's top 10 list of Canadian films for 2007.

Other titles making the Toronto festival cut include Peter Raymont's A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman, Richie Mehta's Amal, Martin Gero's Young People Fucking and Yung Chang's Up the Yangtze.

Also turning up on the annual list, which is chosen by a 10-member panel of industry professionals, is Stephane Lafleur's Continental, Un Film Sans Fusil, Jeremy Podeswa's Fugitive Pieces, Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg and Bruce McDonald's The Tracey Fragments.

The Toronto festival list encompasses home-grown films that opened in 2007, or appeared in a Canadian festival.

Toronto also released for the first time a top 10 list of home-grown short films, which includes works by Canadian directors Chris Lavis and Maciek Szcerzerbowski, Jeff Barnaby and Cam Christiansen.

"Both the top 10 features and shorts demonstrate the exceptional vitality and the cinematic achievements of our industry," said Piers Handling, director and CEO of the Toronto International Film Festival Group.

ROME -- Jason Reitman's Juno -- a comedy about a pregnant girl who tries to find a couple to adopt her baby -- won the top prize at the second RomaCinemaFest on Saturday.

The U.S.-made film, which started being mentioned as a favorite after it premiered Thursday, stars Ellen Page as Juno, a Minnesota teenager facing an unwelcome pregnancy. The film, the runner-up for the people's choice award at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, will go into limited release in the U.S. in December and in Europe early in 2008.

Croatian Rade Serbedzija won the best actor prize for his role in Fugitive Pieces as a Greek archeologist who saves a Jewish orphan during World War II. And Jang Wenli of Le Chun (And the Spring Comes) won the best actress prize for her portrayal of a provincial opera singer with big dreams.

The awards for the 10-day festival were announced during a gala ceremony at the main auditorium at the Italian capital's Parco della Musica.

• Now in only its 2nd edition, Rome has whipped up quite the festival. A mention-worthy selection of titles, some U.S pics for glam and a jury process that I especially like not 5 or 6 but a group of 50 - this year No Man's Land director Danis Tanovic serves as the jury head for 50 international cinema-goers. Notables are Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth.Below you'll find the complete stats on the fest that begins in less than 3 weeks from now. When: October 18th to 28th, 2007 Counting Down: updateCountdownClock('October 18, 2007'); Where: Rome, Italy Official Website: www.romacinemafest.orgNot just a great city, but the city of cinema par excellence, will host the Fest which will transform its centre - the Auditorium Parco della Musica - in the Parco del Cinema for nine days. The second edition of Cinema. Festa Internazionale di Roma - RomeFilmFest will be held from

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• It was a packed house at the press/industry screenings for day 1 in Toronto - many journalists having arrived the day before were in full festival mode cranking out back to back screenings at the Varsity theater (conveniently located in a mall means that there was more than popcorn aroma during in between screening breaks). The more popular titles were The Brave One - Jodie Foster who finds her mean streak in a revenge flick from Neil Jordon, Michael Clayton - the George Clooney pic with the great poster one sheet, there was a heavy crowd for one of my Cannes favorites in Control (the rise and fall of the lead singer of Joy Division, there was the opening film of the fest in Jeremy Podeswa's Fugitive Pieces and while I saw Michael Moore (he walks funny) I didn't see his documentary about wrestling with pro-Bush college seniors in Captain Mike Across America.

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• The final tally and full list of films presented at this year's Tiff have been announced today and hardcore cinephiles will have many options available to them out of the 261 film selected. With a massive slate comes massive headache. What to choose? Where to begin? I’ll be examining the selections – and hopeful offer you readers some cool coverage on films that won't be popping into theaters weeks and/or months from now. Our provisional coverage begins with preview pages listed below - simply click on the links for more info (we'll be updating the list daily) - and hopefully will have every angle covered. Galas: "Across the Universe," Julie Taymor, U.S."The Days of Darkness (L'Âge des ténèbres)," Denys Arcand, Canada"Blood Brothers," Alexi Tan, Taiwan/China/Hong Kong"Caramel," Nadine Labaki, Lebanon/France"Cassandra's Dream," Woody Allen, Britain"Cleaner," Renny Harlin, U.S."Closing the Ring,

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TORONTO -- Charlotte Mickie, former head of North American operations at Dreamachine, on Tuesday was named head of a Maximum Films International, the new Canadian film sales firm launched by veteran movie producer Robert Lantos.

As managing director of Toronto-based Maximum, Mickie will buy and sell first-run films internationally for theatrical release. The company's initial slate includes a host of films from Lantos' Serendipidity Point Films shingle including Jeremy Podeswa's Fugitive Pieces, which is scheduled to open the Toronto International Film Festival.

Other titles include Randall Cole's Real Time, starring Randy Quaid and Jay Baruchel, Atom Egoyan's Adoration, Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg and Santosh Sivan's Before the Rains, which stars Linus Roache and Rahul Bose.

Lantos also is launching Maximum Film Distribution, a Toronto-based movie releasing company, with Tony Cianciotta on board as managing director for English-speaking Canada. The new shingle has just signed an output deal with U.S.-based IFC Films, grabbing the Canadian rights to its feature films.

Maximum's initial Canadian release slate includes Fugitive Pieces, Cannes award winner Jelly Fish, Kenneth Branagh's The Magic Flute and Sophie Barthes' Cold Souls.

Lantos' return to the distribution game follows his sale last year of a nearly 50% stake in THINKFilm.

Related story: Three at fest headed to IFC

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TORONTO -- The Toronto International Film Festival on Wednesday unveiled its most American-friendly lineup in years, capped off with new titles from Renny Harlin, Paul Schrader and Robin Swicord.

Toronto boasts no official competition. But the Hollywood contingent booked for the twice-nightly gala screenings at Roy Thomson Hall looks set to turn the high-profile venue into an industry shindig.

Among the six new gala titles are Harlin's "Cleaner", a Sony Pictures Entertainment thriller starring Samuel L. Jackson as a cop-turned-crime scene cleaner; the Richard Attenborough-directed love story "Closing the Ring", starring Shirley MacLaine, Mischa Barton and Neve Campbell; and Schrader's "The Walker", a ThinkFilm release starring Woody Harrelson and Lauren Bacall that comes to Toronto by way of Berlin, Cannes and Sydney.

Also joining the Roy Thomson Hall party are two Sony Pictures Classics releases: Kenneth Branagh's Michael Caine-Jude Law starrer "Sleuth", which first bowed in Venice, and Swicord's "The Jane Austen Book Club", starring Jimmy Smits, Amy Brenneman and Maria Bello. Also booked for a gala is French director Alain Corneau's "Le Deuxieme Souffle", starring Daniel Auteuil and Monica Bellucci.

Those titles join such earlier Roy Thomson Hall entries as Julie Taymor's "Across the Universe", Woody Allen's "Cassandra's Dream", Tony Gilroy's "Michael Clayton", Gavin Hood's "Rendition", Terry George's "Reservation Road" and Aristomenis Tsirbas' "Terra".

Toronto, which in recent years has stepped up efforts to make its festival more Hollywood friendly, also has included 28 U.S.-produced films in its 50-strong Special Presentations sidebar.

The latest Special Presentations titles include the Michael Moore documentary "Captain Mike Across America", Sidney Lumet's "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," Melisa Wallack and Bernie Goldmann's "Bill", Gillian Armstrong's "Death Defying Acts" and Jason Reitman's "Juno", the follow-up to "Thank You for Smoking", which was a Toronto festival breakout hit two years ago.

Also joining today are the latest works from Jonathan Demme, Alison Eastwood, Brian De Palma, Thomas McCarthy and Anand Tucker.

Toronto will unspool 352 films between Sept. 6 and 15 -- 261 features and 91 shorts. The lineup includes 101 world premieres and 108 North American premieres, many of which will bow in Venice before jumping the pond to Toronto. In addition, 71 of the films are directorial debuts.

The festival lineup promises a strong French contingent, including a dozen titles arriving in Toronto with U.S. distribution deals in hand.

High-profile French titles looking for U.S. distribution include Amos Gitai's "Disengagement", Claude Chabrol's "La Fille Coupee En Deux", which will bow in Venice, and Eric Rohmer's "Les Amours D'Astreet et De Celadon," another North American premiere by way of Venice.

John Kochman, executive director of Unifrance USA, said the strong French presence in Toronto is due primarily to festival co-directors Piers Handling and Noah Cowan remaining "unreconstructed Francophiles" eager to program French titles in their event.

Other new titles announced Wednesday include Wayne Wang's "The Princess of Nebraska" and "A Thousand Years of Good Prayers," both portraits of Chinese immigrants in the U.S. Wang will bring the two indie titles films to the festival's Masters program.

Toronto added eight more documentaries to its Real to Reel section, including films by Paul Crowder and Murray Lerner, Olga Konskaya and Andrea Nekrasov, Julian Schnabel, Ran Tal, Philippe Kholy and Grant Gee.

In addition, the previously announced "Body of War", co-directed by Ellen Spiro and talk show legend Phil Donahue, will see its premiere accompanied by a live performance by Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, who wrote original songs for the Iraq documentary.

The festival has its usual complement of films about war and political protest that, according to festival co-director Noah Cowan, reflect a "seriousness of purpose and a real sense of drive to tell political stories."

"In many ways, the body of films recalls the American independent movie of the 1970s," he added.

American auteur films including Alan Ball's "Nothing Is Private", a drama about sexual politics and bigotry set against the backdrop of the 1991 Gulf War, De Palma's war drama "Redacted" and Sean Penn's "Into the Wild" reflect anti-war "provocation," Cowan said.

Toronto's lineup also includes a surprising number of crime-themed dramas, including Alexi Tan's "Blood Brothers", a drama about three friends taking on a life of big-city crime; Comeau's fugitive drama "Le Deuxieme Souffle"; Lumet's "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," a thriller about a botched robbery; Brad Furman's "The Take", about the aftermath of an armored car heist; and Ira Sachs' "Married Life", a drama about a husband who kills his wife to spare her the shame of divorce.

Cowan said that the crime-themed movies this year recall the '70s-era vigilante movies that coincided with Vietnam.

"When the U.S. is faced with wars that are frustrating in their inability to be totally understood, that comes out in their films," Toronto's top programr said.

"Just as the 1970s, there's films that reflect paranoia about government and police corruption and which come from a frustration and rage about what's happening in the world," he added.

Other Toronto highlights announced Wednesday include talks by President Carter and his wife, Rosalynn Carter, an update on Bill Maher and Larry Charles' anti-religion documentary and a briefing on the ongoing crisis in Darfur courtesy of International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo and Don Cheadle.

Toronto is set to open Sept. 6 with Jeremy Podeswa's "Fugitive Pieces" and close 10 days later with another Canadian film, Paolo Barzman's "Emotional Arithmetic".

A complete list of titles screening at Toronto follows:



Galas:

"Across the Universe", Julie Taymor, U.S.

"L'Age Des Tenebres", Denys Arcand, Canada

"Blood Brothers", Alexi Tan, Taiwan/China/Hong Kong

"Caramel", Nadine Labaki, Lebanon/France

"Cassandra's Dream", Woody Allen, Britain

"Cleaner", Renny Harlin, U.S.

TORONTO -- Departing from tradition, the Toronto International Film Festival on Wednesday chose the homegrown drama Emotional Arithmetic, starring Susan Sarandon and Christopher Plummer, to close its 32nd edition.

Toronto, which has previously chosen lighter movies, often from major studios, as closing-night films, this year tapped Paolo Barzman's drama about three Holocaust survivors separated by the Nazis reuniting 35 years later on a bucolic Quebec farm.

Rounding out the cast for the Canadian movie is Gabriel Byrne, Roy Dupuis and Max von Sydow.

Emotional Arithmetic was touted as a possible opener for Toronto but was beaten by another homegrown Holocaust-themed movie, Jeremy Podeswa's Fugitive Pieces.

The movie will receive a high-profile gala at Roy Thomson Hall before Toronto's closing-night party Sept. 15.

"We are proud that the festival now opens and closes with vibrant and high-profile Canadian films," festival co-director Noah Cowan said. "The inclusion of this powerful film reflects the robust nature of our industry."

Producing credits on Emotional Arithmetic go to Suzanne Girard of BBR Prods.

TORONTO -- The world premiere of Fugitive Pieces, the latest work from Canadian director Jeremy Podeswa, will launch the The Toronto International Film Festival 32nd edition, organizers said Thursday.

Podeswa's third feature, following Eclipse and The Five Senses, tells the story of a man haunted by his childhood experiences during the Holocaust, who eventually finds solace and love in Toronto.

The drama was shot last year in Greece and Canada at a cost of $9.5 million.

The choice follows in the tradition of Toronto selecting a homegrown director to launch the festival before star-driven Hollywood releases and other high-profile international entries take center stage.

Last year, Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn's opening-night film, The Journals of Knud Rasmussen, had a bit of it's thunder stolen when projection problems halted the midnight world premiere of Larry Charles' Borat: Cultural Leanings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

Despite the snafu, the Sacha Baron Cohen-starring comedy from 20th Century Fox became the most-hyped movie of Toronto in 2006.