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Exclusive: Edward Noeltner’s Beverly Hills-based international sales company is partnering with Richard Claus & Co and South Africa’s Spier Films on the Rivonia Trial drama.

Production on An Act Of Defiance is scheduled to begin on Saturday in South Africa and is scheduled for delivery in spring.

Cinema Management Group president Noeltner and vice-president of sales and operations Dené Anderberg will launch sales in Toronto on world rights excluding South Africa and Flemish-speaking Benelux.

Jean van de Velde directs from his adapted screenplay based on Joel Joffe’s book The State Vs. Nelson Mandela.

The film takes place during Apartheid era South Africa in 1963 as Nelson Mandela and nine others stand trial on charges of committing sabotage and violent acts against the government.

Represented by tenacious lawyer Bram Fisher, Mandela delivers his “I Am Prepared to Die” speech, in which he justifies the existence of the African National Congress and its anti-repression activities.

Peter Paul Muller, [link...

How could anyone dismiss The Silent Army? It's a sensitive film about a deeply troubling real-world issue (child soldiers in East Africa), made by a director who clearly feels very strongly about the subject matter both from a personal perspective (he grew up in the region) and a humanitarian angle (it's the right thing to do).

Well... if anything, perhaps Jean Van De Velde cares a little too much? This should have been a hard-hitting look at the callous savagery of an empty war - two children, one a rural villager kidnapped and press-ganged into fighting for the rebel army, the other a chef's son desperate to save him. Instead it becomes something halfway between Blood Diamond and any random 1980s gung-ho action flick sent straight to video.

Plot points founder under the weight of too much saccharine melodrama, tension ebbs away as the script heads nowhere in particular and...

Deathly Hallows Part 1 enjoys biggest ever three-day opening at the UK box office, but Alpha and Omega refuse to go down

The winner

With hardly any other major movies currently on release, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 was always on course to open with blockbuster box office. But even backers Warner Bros may have been pleasantly surprised by the number that did emerge: £18.32m. That is, by a considerable margin, the biggest ever three-day opening at the UK box office, beating Quantum of Solace's £15.38m. Previously, the biggest three-day opening for a Harry Potter film was Goblet of Fire's £14.93m in November 2005. Who knows what might have resulted had Warners continued with its original plan to release Deathly Hallows in 3D.

Due to the common practice of boosting blockbusters with a couple of days of previews, Deathly Hallows has technically not achieved the biggest "opening" of all time.

  Frankfurt, Germany -- The Academy has a new Dutch treat to sample after the Netherlands replaced Jean van de Velde's "The Silent Army" with Martin Koolhoven's "Winter in Wartime" as the official entry for next year's foreign-language Oscar race.

"The Silent Army," a story of African child soldiers, was rejected by the Academy under rules that require candidates for the foreign-language trophy to be original works, not new versions of an existing film. Van de Velde recut the original version of his own film before it screened in Cannes this year. The new, edited version was the one submitted by Holland Film for Oscar consideration.

Koolhoven's "Winter in Wartime," like so many foreign-language hopefuls this year, is set in World War II. It follows a Dutch boy who hides an English pilot from the German army. It was produced by Isabella Films and Fu Works.

The October 1st deadline for all countries wanting into the Academy Award's foreign-language film category has come and gone. According to IndieWIRE [1], The United Kingdom, which has predominantly submitted Welsh films over the years (if submitting at all), has surprisingly chosen the documentary Afghan Star as its 2009 submission for the Academy Awards. The last time the country received a nomination in this category was in 1999, when Paul Morrison's Welsh and Yiddish Solomon and Gaenor lost out to Pedro Almodovar's All About My Mother. Synopsis After 30 years of war and Taliban rule, pop Idol has come to Afghanistan. Millions are watching the TV series 'Afghan Star' and voting for their favorite singers by mobile phone. For many this is their first encounter with democracy. This timely film follows the dramatic stories of four contestants as they risk all to become the nation's favorite singer. But will they...

Cologne, Germany -- Dutch/Irish co-production "Nothing Personal," a feature debut from Polish-born director Urszula Antoniak won big at this year's Golden Calves, the Dutch national film awards, taking four trophies, including that for best film.

The story of a woman who abandons her life and all her possessions in the Netherlands for a nomadic lifestyle in Ireland, also secured nods in the best director, best cinematography and best sound design categories. The film stars Lotte Verbeek and Stephen Rea.

Martin Koolhoven's World War II epic "Winter in Wartime" picked up three Golden Calves, for best actor Martijn Lakemeier, a 16-year-old first-timer, best supporting actor Raymond Thiry and best production design. Director Esther Rots, another first-timer, scooped three trophies for her intimate drama "Can Go Through Skin," taking Golden Calves for best actress Rifka Lodeizen and best editing prizes along with a special Jury award.

Dutch Oscar contender, Jean van de Velde...

  Cologne, Germany -- Two of Europe's tinier nations have entered the 2010 Oscar race, with the Netherlands putting forth Jean van de Velde's "The Silent Army" and little Luxembourg nominating "Draft Dodgers" as their candidates for next year's foreign-language film honor.

"The Silent Army" looks at the issue of child soldiers in Africa through the real-life story of a Dutch cook who tracks down his young son's friend after he is kidnapped by a local warlord. Its nomination could spark controversy at home, since the international version of the film, which screened in Un Certain Regard at Cannes this year, is substantially different from the version that bowed in the Netherlands. The film also contains substantial English dialogue, always a point of contention in the foreign-language category.

"Draft Dodgers" is the directorial debut of Luxembourg producer Nicolas Steil ("Contact High") and, like so many in foreign-language race, is set during WWII.

  Cologne, Germany -- The Netherlands has picked Jean van der Velde's child soldier drama "The Silent Army" as the official entry for the 2010 foreign-language Oscar race.

Based on real-life events, the film follows the young Ugandan boy Abu who is kidnapped by rebels and forced to fight in the country's civil war. After he disappears, the father of one of his friends, a Dutch expat, decides to track him down and bring him back.

"The Silent Army" was produced by Chris Brouwer, Richard Claus and Paul Brinks of Entertainment Group Films and premiered in Cannes Un Certain Regard sidebar this year.

The nominees for the 2010 Academy Awards will be announced Feb. 2. The 82nd Oscars will be held March 7, 2010.

As the festival enters its final weekend, things have grown quieter. That doesn't mean Friday lacked excitement, though. Undoubtedly, the big title of the day was Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, featuring Heath Ledger's final performance. Erik Davis rounded up the first reactions. The director and Verne Troyer (Aka "Mini Me") appeared in support of the film.

Another eagerly-awaited title also debuted: Gasper Noé's Enter the Void. Of course, the interest in Imaginarium has more to do with the stars (Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell, and Jude Law stepped in to finish the film after Ledger's untimely passing). Void, on the other hand, created anticipation because it is Noé's first feature-length work since his Irreversible generated considerable controversy at Cannes seven years ago.

Via David Hudson at IFC's The Daily, we learn that Enter the Void has already been compared to the Wachowskis' Speed Racer and Stanley Kubrick...

• So the inflatable doll magically coming to life tale was perhaps too “out there” for a main comp acceptance, but Hirokazu Kore-eda's Air Doll came on over to Un Certain Regard section along with expect works from Romanian filmmakers Cristian Mungiu (Tales From The Golden Age) and Corneliu Porumboiu (Police, Adjective), France's Denis Dercourt (Demain Des L'aube), Pen-ek Ratanaruang (Nymph) and Cannes regular (The Host, Tokyo!) Bong Joon-Ho and his latest film, Mother. Lee Daniels' Sundance fave is going to Cannes with a buzz worthy, shorter titled Push – this great news explains why the film was pulled out of the New Directors/New Films 2009 fest. Iranian filmmaker Bahman Ghobadi who gave us the devastating Turtles Can Fly a couple of year back comes to the Ucr section with another oddly titled film in Nobody Knows About The Persian Cats. And speaking of Sundance, Cannes' own Atelier de

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