News

Exclusive: Tammie Rosen, a longtime Tribeca Enterprises executive who helped Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal build its centerpiece festival and several complementary businesses, is resigning her post.

After stepping down as Evp, Communications and Programming, Rosen later this summer will take on several consulting projects for companies including Tribeca. Her focus will primarily be on film, media and live events.

In a 12-year run in-house at Tribeca, which followed three years of leading its communications efforts via her former post at Rubenstein Communications, Rosen has worn many hats. The affable exec oversaw communications on a corporate and festival level, coordinating the agendas and schedules of hundreds of filmmakers, executives and sponsors in a given year. As Tribeca grew into a fixture in a booming 21st century city, Rosen was at the center of its efforts to help filmmakers and other creators connect with audiences.

Tribeca has expanded in many...

Here’s the latest episode of the The Filmmakers Podcast, part of the ever-growing podcast roster here on Nerdly. If you haven’t heard the show yet, you can check out previous episodes on the official podcast site, whilst we’ll be featuring each and every new episode as it premieres.

For those unfamiliar, with the series, The Filmmakers Podcast is a podcast about how to make films from micro budget indie films to bigger budget studio films and everything in-between. Our hosts Giles Alderson, Dan Richardson, Andrew Rodger and Cristian James talk how to get films made, how to actually make them and how to try not to f… it up in their very humble opinion. Guests will come on and chat about their film making experiences from directors, writers, producers, screenwriters, actors, cinematographers and distributors. They also shoot the breeze about their new films, The Dare, World of Darkness,...

“From Everything I’ve seen and learned, prison is not about helping people reform or rehabilitate, or learn to read, or get a job. It’s not about reconciliation or healing the victims of crime. It’s not about public safety, and it’s not about the wellbeing of our communities. It’s about two things: our worst instinct to revenge and the worship of money.”

Award winning Producer, Director & Human Rights Activist Matthew Cooke is using the power of crowd funding via Indiegogo to finish his film Survivor’S Guide To Prison, an exposé on the barbaric acts of the Us Prison system that holds 25% of the world’s prison population.

The film’s Executive Producers include Adrian Grenier and Susan Sarandon, and features interviews with Harry Belafonte, Deepak Chopra, Russell Simmons, Author of The New Jim Crow Michelle Alexander, Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine, and Brandon Boyd, the singer of Incubus.

His chilling exploration dives deep into the criminally abusive & socially unjust realities of incarceration through the perspectives of two prisoners who were convicted of crimes they did not commit. This is an all too common story in the Us where the Innocence Project estimates there could easily be anywhere from 40,000 to 100,000 people in Us prisons that haven’t committed a crime.

Your support of the film’s Indiegogo campaign will help to do more than just finish a film. It will help to give a loud roar to a nearly silent movement to end human rights abuses of an unfathomable scale.

Watch Cooke’s gripping and poignant call to action, and learn more about the chilling facts below:

The Us has the largest prison population on the planet, larger than China.

1/3 of all women prisoners in the world are in Us prisons.

If you’re an American, you’re more likely to go to prison here than anyone else in the entire world.

More Black men are in prison now, than the total enslaved in 1850.

The USA Has More Prisons Than Colleges And Universities.

More About Matthew Cooke:

In 2013 Cooke released his directorial debut How To Make Money Selling Drugs which he also wrote, narrated, shot, edited and art directed. Drugs was produced by Bert Marcus Productions and Adrian Grenier featuring Eminem, 50 Cent, Susan Sarandon, Woody Harrelson and others. Drugs was bought and distributed by Robert DeNiro's Tribeca Film where it debuted at #1 on iTunes and Amazon. Drugs won the audience award at the Champs-Elysees and Newport Film Festivals and the Best Writing Award from the International Documentary Association.

In 2007 Cooke produced and edited his first feature film. Deliver Us From Evil, written + directed by Amy Berg, was honored with the Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary film, made over 100 critics "best of" lists and Rotten Tomatoes top 100 best reviewed films of all time.

Congrats to Maggie Grace!

The Taken star announced her engagement to How to Make Money Selling Drugs director Matthew Cooke by posting romantic pics to Instagram on Wednesday.

Watch: How Maggie Grace Got 'Lost' in 'Californication'

"Matthew Cooke and I are so excited to share our engagement with you guys!" Grace wrote. "I could not feel more grateful to share my life with this incredible man."

The 31-year-old actress -- who's also been on such shows as Lost, Californication and The League -- and her husband-to-be had a photographer friend snap some fancy shots of the couple pics, as they were all dressed up for a Global Green event.

"Since we've got the photo thing covered should we just elope?!" Grace teased.

Watch: Kimye, Clooney and Brangelina: The Biggest Celebrity Weddings of 2014

Grace was once romantically linked to her Lost co-star Ian Somerhalder -- who played her brother on the show -- and admits that the two...

Indiewire's Eric Kohn talks with filmmakers Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station) and Ava DuVernay (Selma) about the events they're staging today in conjunction with the Blackout Coalition's call for a nationwide boycott of Black Friday. Meantime, documentary filmmaker Amy Berg (Deliver Us from Evil, West of Memphis, An Open Secret), actor and activist Nate Parker (Beyond the Lights) and producer Matthew Cooke (How to Make Money Selling Drugs) have launched an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds for American Race, "a film on the black male crisis." More news and views: Prix Louis-Delluc, Pauline Kael on Jean-Luc Godard, Martin Scorsese on The Last Waltz and more. » - David Hudson...

Indiewire's Eric Kohn talks with filmmakers Ryan Coogler (Fruitvale Station) and Ava DuVernay (Selma) about the events they're staging today in conjunction with the Blackout Coalition's call for a nationwide boycott of Black Friday. Meantime, documentary filmmaker Amy Berg (Deliver Us from Evil, West of Memphis, An Open Secret), actor and activist Nate Parker (Beyond the Lights) and producer Matthew Cooke (How to Make Money Selling Drugs) have launched an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds for American Race, "a film on the black male crisis." More news and views: Prix Louis-Delluc, Pauline Kael on Jean-Luc Godard, Martin Scorsese on The Last Waltz and more. » - David Hudson...

The series will blend animation, comedy, nonfiction and narrative to investigate the current state of the Us economy. "We the Economy" will launch in October across VOD, online, broadcast, mobile and theatrical platforms. Here's the full list of directors, many of whom are respected film and TV actors and auteur filmmakers: Ramin Bahrani ("99 Homes," "Goodbye Solo")Bob Balaban ("Gosford Park," "The Exonerated")Joe Berlinger ("Brother’s Keeper," "Paradise Lost" trilogy) Jon M. Chu ("Step Up," "G.I. Joe: Retaliation") Marshall Curry ("Street Fight," "If a Tree Falls") Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady ("Jesus Camp," "Detropia")Adrian Grenier ("Entourage," "How To Make Money Selling Drugs") Catherine...

Actors Demian Bichir, Adrian Grenier and Nate Parker, along with the writing/directing/producing team of Jennifer Lee, Chris Buck and Peter Del Vecho, who earned Oscars for Frozen, will present at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 41st Student Academy Awards on Saturday, June 7, at 6 p.m. at the DGA Theater in Hollywood. The awards ceremony caps a week of industry activities for the 15 student filmmakers from the U.S. and abroad who were selected as winners this year.

Lee, Buck and Del Vecho took home Oscars earlier this year for the Animated Feature Film winner Frozen, the highest-grossing animated film of all time. Along with becoming the first female feature director in the history of the Walt Disney Animation Studios, Lee also wrote the screenplay for Frozen and co-wrote the 2012 Oscar nominee Wreck-it Ralph. Co-director Buck’s other animated feature credits include Pocahontas and Tarzan, and...

Editor's Note: This post is presented in partnership with Time Warner Cable Movies On Demand in support of May's Indie Film Month. "How to Make Money Selling Drugs" is currently available to view On Demand. Matthew Cooke's documentary "How To Make Money Selling Drugs" is just as provocative and informative as the title suggests. The slickly produced film functions as a how-to guide for blossoming drug dealers; employing a format of different "levels," the viewer can climb on the road from lowly street dealer to international cartel lord.With producers Adrian Grenier and Bert Marcus, Cooke provides an insightful guide to the lucrative and violent drug industry, ultimately revealing some of its deeper horrors and the imperfections of U.S. drug policy. The documentary enlists a lineup of law enforcement officers, drug dealers, and rights advocates (including Susan Sarandon, Woody Harrelson, and "The Wire" creator David Simon) that offer first-person accounts and fascinating.

1. Amazon: Amazon has acquired exclusive rights to the Oscar-nominated "The Broken Circle Breakdown" from Tribeca Film, the company announced today. As part of the licensing deal with Tribeca Film, Amazon also nabbed the rights to the documentary "How to Make Money Selling Drugs," "Greetings from Tim Buckley," "Sparrow's Dance" and the animated children's film "Moon Man." "The Broken Circle Breakdown" will make its exclusive subscription debut on Amazon Prime Instant Video on February 20, just a week before the Academy Awards on March 2 Read more about the news here. 2. Google: If you are searching for the latest episode of "House of Cards" on Google, you might be surprised with what the search engine comes up with first... not Netflix, where subscribers can stream the show for free, but Stream-tv.me, which is pointing users to episodes from both seasons "online free," WebProNews.com reports. Speaking of "House of Cards," Variety reports that about 2% of all U.

Amazon has acquired exclusive rights to the Oscar-nominated "The Broken Circle Breakdown" from Tribeca Film, the company announced today. The Belgium film, which debuted in the U.S. at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival, is nominated for Best Foreign Language Film. The feature, which follows a couple over the course of seven years as they fall in love and experience a family tragedy, is based on a play co-written by Johan Heldenbergh, one of the film's stars. The Flemish-language film was written by van Groeningen and Carl Joos and directed by Felix van Groeningen. As part of the licensing deal with Tribeca Film, Amazon also nabbed the rights to the documentary "How to Make Money Selling Drugs," "Greetings from Tim Buckley," "Sparrow's Dance" and the animated children's film "Moon Man." "The Broken Circle Breakdown" will make its exclusive subscription debut on Amazon Prime Instant Video on February 20, just a week before...

American Hustle | Anchorman 2 | The Harry Hill Movie | Walking With Dinosaurs: The 3D Movie | Moshi Monsters: The Movie | The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty | All Is Lost

American Hustle (15)

(David O Russell, 2013, Us) Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence. 138 mins

Big, brassy and outrageously coiffured, this crazed 70s crime epic leads you into a maze, then keeps you wondering if it knows the way out. Things starts out small, with Bale and Adams's petty con duo turned by Cooper's ambitious Fed, but stakes escalate, allegiances complicate, and deceptions multiply deliriously, carried along by lovably flawed characters and a manic energy.

Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (15)

(Adam McKay, 2013, Us) Will Ferrell, Steve Carell, Paul Rudd. 119 mins

The hype is over, as Ferrell reunites his news team and drags them into New York, the 80s and the 24-hour era. But this sequel's absurdity, cameo-fuelled mayhem and mild...

Welcome to the seventh installment of Trailer Park, our regular look at the latest trailers to hit the interwebs. This “volume” is packed with trailers for a whole host of new movies including: Interstellar, Edge of Tomorrrow, Calvary, How To Make Money Selling Drugs, Devil’s Due, Pompeii 3D, 300: Rise of an Empire, and The Devil’s Bargain.

Interstellar

Interstellar chronicles the adventures of a group of explorers who make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage.

Edge of Tomorrrow

The epic action of ‘Edge of Tomorrrow’ unfolds in a near future in which an alien race has hit the Earth in an unrelenting assault, unbeatable by any military unit in the world. Major William Cage (Cruise) is an officer who has never seen a day of combat when he is unceremoniously...

Jehane Noujaim's "The Square" edged out Joshua Oppenheimer's "The Act of Killing" to emerge as the big winner of the 2013 Ida Documentary Awards! The documentary about the 2011 Egyptian Revolution also beat Jason Osder's "Let the Fire Burn," Gabriela Cowperthwaite's "Blackfish," and Sarah Polley's Stories We Tell" for the prize.

Here's a full list of winners of the 2013 Ida Documentary Awards:

Best Feature Award

The Square

Director: Jehane Noujaim

Producer: Karim Amer; Executive Producers: Geralyn Dreyfous, Mike Lerner, Sarah Johnson, Jodie Evans, Lekha Singh, Gavin Dougan, Dan Catullo III, Lisa Nishimura, Adam Del Deo, Khalil Noujaim, Alexandra Johnes, Jeff Skol; Noujaim Films, Netflix Originals

Best Short Award

Slomo

Director: Josh Izenberg; Producer: Amanda Micheli; Executive Producer: Neil Izenberg; Big Young Films, Runaway Films

Best Limited Series Award

Inside Man

Producers: Kristen Vaurio, Lisa Kalikow, Shannon Gibson, Suzanne Hillinger, Lara Benario; Writers: Jeremy Chilnick, Morgan Spurlock; Executive Producers: Jeremy Chilnick,...

The International Documentary Association’s 2013 Ida Documentary Awards honoured Jehane Noujaim’s Egyptian activism story The Square with the best feature award on Friday night (December 6) in Los Angeles.

The best short award went to Josh Izenberg’s Slomo, about neurologist turned rollerblader Dr John Kitchin.

The Ida’s Career Achievement Award was presented to Alex Gibney, currently in awards contention with The Armstrong Lie.

The Ida Amicus Award went to Impact Partners co-founder Geralyn Dreyfous, who also founded the Utah Film Center. Dreyfous’ executive producer credits include The Square, Born Into Brothels, The Invisible War and The Crash Reel.

Laura Poitras received Ida’s Courage Under Fire Award in recognition of “conspicuous bravery in the pursuit of truth.” Poitras and Glenn Greenwald, broke the story of National Security Agency (Nsa) whistleblower Edward Snowden, revealing the Prism programme in the process.

Poitras is currently in Berlin editing a film about Nsa surveillance, the third of...

This is a tough awards season! Lots of great movies to see, so little time! I'm catching up like crazy before we vote for the Critics' Choice Movie Awards for the Broadcast Film Critics Association. So I apologize if I haven't updated you with the latest on the awards season 2013-2014! And there were many award-giving bodies announcing nominations.

We already told you about the Rome Film Festival and the Film Independent Spirit Awards, now let's talk about the 2013 Gotham Awards, the Ida Documentary Awards, the Cinema Eye, and the Producers Guild announcing its best documentary choices.

First stop, we have the 2013 Gotham Awards where Steve McQueen's "12 Years a Slave" topped the nominations with three nods including best feature, best actor for Chiwetel Ejiofor and breakthrough actor for Lupita Nyong'o.

Winners will be announced on Dec. 2nd where Richard Linklater, Forest Whitaker, and Katherine Oliver (head of the NYC...

Joshua Oppenheimer and Sarah Polley’s respective docs have begun their year-end duke out for best docu of 2013. The International Documentary Association’s Ida Awards have announced the nominations for their Best Documentary Feature category and joining the pair we have the Sundance preemed Blackfish (Gabriela Cowperthwaite) and Jehane Noujaim’s The Square with Jason Osder’s Let the Fire Burn. Already selected award winners include Pablo’s Winter (cinematography by Julian Schwanitz) will be recognized with the award for Best Cinematography; Let the Fire Burn (edited by Nels Bangerter) will receive the Best Editing award; Narco Cultura (original music by Jeremy Turner) will be presented with the Best Music award; and How To Make Money Selling Drugs (written by Matthew Cooke) will receive the Best Writing award. The Ida Awards also honor docu in several other categories outside of theatrical released feature length films – head on over to see the complete list.

You can vote until November 5th in the first round to select the nominees for 23rd Gotham Independent Film Awards' Audience Award.  The 5 nominees will be chosen from your votes and will be invited to attend the Gotham Awards where the winner will be announced live. The second round of voting will begin on November 8, 2013, and will feature the top 5 films from round one. The winner will be announced on December 2, 2013. The finalists -- made up of audience award winners from across the Top 50 Us and Canadian film festivals -- are below. Click here to vote for one of them. 12 Years A Slave A Will For The Woods American Revolutionary Bending Steel Best Kept Secret Blood Brother Bridegroom Desert Runners Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey Far Out Isn't Far Enough Fruitvale Station Gideon's Army Good Ol' Freda Hank And Asha Harana How To Make Money Selling Drugs Inequality For All...

As the Toronto Film Festival acquisitions market gets cracking, I find it helpful to see how some of last year’s titles fared at the box office. It’s an instructive way to keep things in perspective. Titles below reflect theatrical grosses, but remember, multi-platform business is not reflected and in some cases has turned films into profitable winners. Related: Toronto 2013: Will Deals Take Back Seat? Toronto Film Festival 2012 Acquisitions at the Domestic B.O. Title (distributor) Domestic B.O. (in millions except where noted) The Place Beyond the Pines (Focus Features) $21.4 Spring Breakers (A24) $14.1 Much Ado About Nothing (Roadside Attractions) $4.27 Frances Ha (IFC) $4.05 Emperor (Roadside Attractions) $3.35 Stories We Tell (Roadside Attractions) $1.59 Girl Most Likely (Roadside Attractions) $1.38 The Lords of Salem (Anchor Bay) $1.17 What Maisie Knew (Millennium Ent.) $1.07 Still Mine (Samuel Goldwyn) $587K The Reluctant Fundamentalist (IFC) $529K Arthur Newman (Cinedigm) $208K No Place on Earth (Magnolia) $200K John Dies at the End...

The 7th annual Sydney Underground Film Festival, which runs this year on September 5-8 at the Factory Theatre, opens with a real bang when they will screen cult filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky’s latest cinematic odyssey, The Dance of Reality. This is Jodorowsky’s first film in over twenty years and is an imaginative and playful quasi-autobiography.

The rest of the four-day celebration is packed with more film oddities and excursions into surreal and transgressive territory. One particular highlight that is not to be missed is Don Swaynos’ incredibly crowd-pleasing comedy Pictures of Superheroes, about a slacker cleaning woman’s descent into an absurd world she can’t escape. Read the Underground Film Journal’s review of Pictures of Superheroes here.

Other twisted fiction films screening include Drew Tobias’s sick and twisted See You Next Tuesday, Cody Calahan’s apocalyptic Antisocial and Lloyd Kaufman’s highly-anticipated sequel Return to Nuke ‘Em High: Vol.

In the following article, "How To Make Money Selling Drugs" co-producer Bert Marcus explains how he crafted his film about the War on Drugs. The film is available now, in theaters and on demand, after a day-and-date release from Tribeca Film. In my early twenties, I experienced a disheartening, drug-related loss when a close family member was not lucky enough to beat a battle with addiction. As a result, I reached out to friends and family for support, leaning on those closest to me. I realized that I was in the majority, that most people I spoke with had a link. Almost every person in some way or another has personally, or through a relationship, experienced a drug-related episode that has drawn him or her into the industry to play some role in what has been called “the war on drugs.” The more conversations and stories that were sparked by friends and family,...

Matthew Cooke's "How to Make Money Selling Drugs" is a cheeky take on America's decades-long war on illegal narcotics. Mixing caustic satire with dead-serious elements, Cooke uses his animation background to add visual elements that tie the disparate parts together.

Cooke managed to get a wide variety of participants to discuss the premise, from David Simon, creator of "The Wire" and "The Corner," near definitive takes on this virtual conflict, to rappers 50 Cent and Eminem, who provide their own unique experiences within the culture that help perpetuate certain myths about drug culture.

Moviefone spoke exclusively to Matthew on the phone while he was in Paris, France.

Moviefone: First of all, how do you make money selling drugs?

Matthew Cooke: Very easily! The United States has the highest demand for illegal narcotics in the world, the demand is already there. You don't need to convince people to buy the stuff,...

Eminem is opening up about his past drug abuse for one of the first times in a new documentary.

"I don't know at what point exactly it started to be a problem. I just remember liking it more and more," the rapper also known by his real name, Marshall Mathers, confesses in How to Make Money Selling Drugs.

Read More >...

Eminem has opened up about his brush with death due to prescription drug abuse.

The rapper, now 40, reveals the harrowing details of his journey with addiction in a new documentary, "How To Make Money Selling Drugs" (produced by former "Entourage" star Adrian Grenier).

"Once I took my first Vicodin, it was like this feeling of, 'Ahhhhh,' like everything was not only mellow, but ...

Copyright 2013 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Eminem has opened up about his addiction to prescription drugs, admitting in a new documentary that the pills he once popped in excess almost killed him.

"People tried to tell me that I had a problem," the rapper said in "How to Make Money Selling Drugs," a film described as "an indictment on the war on drugs" by the Los Angeles Times. "I would say 'Get that f***king person outta here. I'm not out there shooting heroin. I'm not f***king out there putting coke up my nose. I'm not smoking crack."

Instead, Eminem, born Marshall Mathers, explained to filmmaker Matthew Cooke that it was prescription drugs like Xanax and Valium that proved life-threatening.

"My organs were shutting down. My liver, kidneys, everything," he said of the time when he was hospitalized after a night of excessive pill-popping. "They were gonna have to put me on dialysis. They didn't...

In a new documentary How to Make Money Selling Drugs, Eminem is opening up about his scary drug abuse, revealing that he almost died during one overdose.  The rapper, who entered rehab for sleeping pill addiction in 2005 and addressed the problem in his 2010 album Recovery, has admitted in the past to taking 10 to 20 Vicodin (painkiller) pills daily. "Valium, Ambien, the numbers got so high I don't even know what I'm taking," he told Vibe magazine after his rehab stint. Now, in the new documentary, the [...]...

Under certain circumstances, selling drugs to earn a living becomes a choice for many. Humans are nothing if not survivors, eking out a living by any means necessary to put food on the table, pay bills, and stay afloat. Beyond teaching viewers the correct way to pronounce sheeeeit, "The Wire" gracefully portrayed the lack of options for many people, proving the drug game isn't everything, it's the only thing. But what if we could actually choose what we want to do with our lives, and the moral quandary wasn't an issue? Just like Sonny told the "The Godfather," "There's a lot of money in that white powder." Writer/director Matthew Cooke (along with Vinnie Chase himself, Adrian Grenier, on board as producer) does away with moral compunctions in "How to Make Money Selling Drugs," a sort-of modern day response to hilariously misguided propaganda films like "Reefer Madness." The film is often compelling,...

He’s had a career full of epic highs and depressing lows, and Eminem almost died as a result of his substance abuse issues.

The “Real Slim Shady” rapper opens up about his addiction in the new documentary “How To Make Money Selling Drugs” noting that he almost didn’t come out alive.

Em begins, “When I took my first Vicodin, it was like this feeling of ‘Ahh.’ Like everything was not only mellow, but didn’t feel any pain. I don’t know at what point exactly it started to be a problem. I just remember liking it more and more. People tried to tell me that I had a problem.”

“I would say ‘Get that f**king person outta here. I can’t believe they said that sh*t to me. I’m not out there shooting heroin. I’m not f**king out there putting coke up my nose....

Cooke’s Holding, But Packing Light In Drug Exposé

Matthew Cooke pitches it just as urban legend purveys – anyone can make a living slinging sedatives and stimulants. All that’s necessary is a basic understanding of arithmetic, a hefty lot of self confidence and a slight lack of respect for the law. But like any burgeoning professional, you’ve gotta start at the bottom rung and work your way up – in this case, from the corner to the cartel. In How To Make Money Selling Drugs, Cooke takes a cynical look at the business of dealing and the government’s extreme counterpoint as the wasteful war on drugs, explaining in simple terms and arcade level structure what it takes to move from foot soldier to billion dollar business man with his provocative but shallow debut doc.

Spearheaded by a collection of convicted ex-drug lords and import experts of varying locality,...

Melbourne, Jun 28: Eminem has opened up about his prescription drug abuse issues and how he nearly died because of it, in a new documentary.

During an interview for 'How To Make Money Selling Drugs', the rapper recalled being rushed into the hospital in critical condition after a night of binging, the Courier mail reported.

The 'Not Afraid' hit maker told filmmaker Matthew Cooke that had he reached the hospital about two hours later, he would have died.

The 40-year-old singer asserted that his organs, liver, kidneys and everything, were shutting down.

He said that the docs were going to put him on dialysis, because.

Los Angeles, June 28: Rapper Eminem once thought he was going to die because of his addiction to prescription drugs. He said that his dependency on drugs almost killed him.

The "Lose Yourself" rapper also admitted that he went to rehab for treatment and is happy that he is no more dependent on drugs, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

"When I took my first Vicodin, it was like this feeling of 'Ahh'. Like everything was not only mellow, but I didn't feel any pain," said Eminem in new documentary "How To Make Money Selling Drugs".

"I don't know at what point exactly it started to be a problem. I just remember liking it more and.

The Tribeca Film acquisition, Bert Marcus Productions’ How to Make Money Selling Drugs, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall, is now in theaters. The documentary offers an in-depth look at the high-stakes world of drug dealing and drug enforcement by blending reportage with pop culture references. It takes a candid approach to its examination of how a street dealer can rise to cartel lord with relative ease, as well as how public policy and government drug enforcement have struggled to adapt to and effectively deter Americans from dealing drugs. It also shows how some of those same government enforces sometimes are tempted...

Give writer-director Matthew Cooke full credit. Not only is he clearly smart enough to grasp and present the complicated, interconnected issues surrounding American drug laws, but he also has the good sense to know that if you are going to tackle an issue as controversial and polarizing as this, then you damn well better find a way to present your argument in a way that people will actually listen to. And while the cheeky mock-educational approach of How To Make Money Selling Drugs may upset and offend some, it most certainly will spur many more to listen. And he's got plenty to say. Presented as a 'how to' guide for those who are unemployed, homeless or living in an economically depressed area of America, How...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

For a documentary to get noticed these days, it helps to have a fresh angle. But being creative with the form doesn’t necessarily result in an effective film, especially when it’s tackling a serious issue. Stunts occasionally work (see Super Size Me), as do innovative narrative devices (see 1965 Oscar-winner The War Game), but most docs with a gimmick unfortunately seem to hold that stylistic choice in front of the subject at hand. There’s no denying that How to Make Money Selling Drugs is a clever work of nonfiction, but we’re left thinking about the structure more than the film’s point. The real problem, however, might be that the film’s point is not even too clear anyway. Written, directed and heavily narrated by Matthew Cooke, the doc takes the form of, as the title suggests, an actual How-To guide to making money selling drugs. For a while it seems like an amusing...

The first act of writer-director Matthew Cooke's documentary How to Make Money Selling Drugs is smooth, seductive, and almost glib as it eases viewers into the big business world of doing just what its title promises, on a global scale. It almost seems intended to court, uncritically, the folks who have made Scarface a cultural bible and the documentary Cocaine Cowboys a lifestyle guide, especially as it appears to share with certain fans of those touchstones a willingness to turn a blind eye to those narratives' cautionary aspects. Tricked out with video-game graphics and sound effects, kicking off with 50 Cent once again burnishing his mythology as he recounts his childhood days selling drugs, and running on the giddy energy—the high, if you will&mda...

It's hard to imagine a much more provocative title than How To Make Money Selling Drugs, and believe it or not, this new documentary from Tribeca Film actually lives up to that promise. Following the paths taken by drug dealers from street-level slingers to kingpins, the documentary explains why the life of a drug dealer can be so appealing to millions of low-income Americans. and why so many of them face unbelievably damaging consequences to become part of it. The beginning of the film really is set up as a how-to guide, though as the cops and drug dealers experienced with the trade are replaced by scholars and other experts, the satire morphs into a scathing attack on the War on Drugs. What Richard Nixon dubbed the War on Drugs, way back in 1971, is the concentrated, decades-long campaign by American law enforcement to eradicate drugs that, by most measures, has...

He's come a long way from playing Vinny Chase: Adrian Grenier steps out this week as executive producer of the documentary "How to Make Money Selling Drugs."

Best known for his eight-season portrayal of an often superficial and flighty star on the rise in HBO's "Entourage," Grenier is nowadays more interested in passion projects like this one. "How to Make Money" outlines the ins and outs of buying and selling recreational drugs, using a video game framing device that explains how to beat bosses (avoid cops) and level up (go from small-time dealer to kingpin).

The doc premiered at New York's Tribeca Film Festival to positive reviews, many of which cited its candid take on the tough issue of the drug war and the day-to-day reality of selling and using street drugs. Grenier, who avoids referring to himself as an activist, chatted with NextMovie prior to the movie's June 26 release...

Another one of Paula Deen's biz partners jumped ship today ... but Harv thinks there's been a rush to judge the TV chef. So, we're tackling the real question here: Is Paula really racist or just totally ignorant?Plus, "Entourage" star Adrian Grenier joins us to talk about his documentary film "How to Make Money Selling Drugs" -- a ballsy new take on the war on drugs.And, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is on a...

Matthew Cooke's documentary "How To Make Money Selling Drugs" is just as provocative and informative as the title suggests. The slickly produced film functions as a how-to guide for blossoming drug dealers; employing a format of different "levels," the viewer can climb on the road from lowly street dealer to international cartel lord.With producers Adrian Grenier and Bert Marcus, Cooke provides an insightful guide to the lucrative and violent drug industry, ultimately revealing some of its deeper horrors and the imperfections of U.S. drug policy. The documentary enlists a lineup of law enforcement officers, drug dealers, and rights advocates (including Susan Sarandon, Woody Harrelson, and "The Wire" creator David Simon) that offer first-person accounts and fascinating stories.I called up Cooke to discuss the drug industry, the crisis of democracy, and how to engage viewers in U.S. drug policy. "How To Make Money Selling Drugs" is now available nationwide on demand.

Adrian Grenier laughed when it was suggested that maybe he should run for political office. Not that he doesn't have politics on the mind: The "Entourage" star produced the new documentary "How to Make Money Selling Drugs," an often infuriating look at the failed drug war in America. The film (out June 26 in select theaters and available now via video-on-demand services) was directed by Matthew Cooke, Grenier's long-time friend and a collaborator on Grenier's own documentary, "Teenage Paprazzo."

"He had several ideas and they were all up on this idea board, and the one that stuck out was this title: 'How To Make Money Selling Drugs,'" Grenier told HuffPost Entertainment in a recent interview. "It became clear that this was the film we had to make because it was not only so important, but also because of the way Matthew wanted to cut through the apathy with something...

Written and Directed by: Matthew Cooke

Produced by: Bert Marcus and Adrian Grenier

Featuring: Eminem, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, "Freeway" Rick Ross, "Big John" Harriel Jr., Skipp Townsend, Brian O'Dea, "Pepe," Barry Cooper, Mike Walzman, Susan Sarandon

The "War On Drugs" has been waged, in different incarnations, since the first attempts at prohibition in the early years of the 20th century. It's a class war, and a race war, engineered by men like Harry J. Anslinger, first commissioner of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. He firmly believed most drug users in the 1930s could be classified as "…Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers. Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage. This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations with Negroes, entertainers and any others."

It's also a war waged by commercial interests determined to drive hemp — the high-yield wonder crop of the 20th century, cheap and easy to...

Us in Progress initiative to showcase five features by independent Us filmmakers.

Austin, Texas-based filmmaker Michael Tully’s [pictured] coming-of-age-vacation comedy Ping Pong Summer kicks off the latest edition of Us in Progress on Thursday.

The Us in Progress initiative, hosted by the Champs Elysées Film Festival, will showcase five features by independent Us filmmakers over the coming two days to some 30 European buyers.

Set against the Maryland beach resort of Ocean City, Ping Pong Summer combines a cast of unknown adolescent actors with established big screen stars Susan Sarandon and John Hannah.

The picture was among six recipients last year of a $300,000 grant from the San Francisco Film Society and the Kenneth Rainin Foundation. Other projects in that selection included Fruitvale and Short Term 12.

Tully’s previous films include Cocaine Angel, Silver Jew and Septien.

Also screening on Thursday is New York director Leah Meyerhoff’s I Believe in Unicorns about a teenager who runs...

The 2013 Tribeca Film Festival took place between April 17th and April 28th all across New York City theaters. Created in response to the 9/11 Attacks by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff in 2002, the festival has gone on to garner worldwide fame as one of the most celebrated festivals in the world.

The 12th Annual Tribeca Film Festival had over 450,000 attendees to the numerous screenings, panels, events and more all throughout the almost 2 week period. With over 89 feature films and 60 short films from more than 35 countries providing entertainment, the festival housed more than 117,000 people in their panels and screenings.

What proved to be remarkable about this year’s events was the fact that more people took advantage of the festival’s online festival (also known as the Tribeca Online Festival, or Tof), which gave people free screening s of select films and filmmaker panels. There was even an online...

The official trailer for How to Make Money Selling Drugs is now available via Tribeca Film. A shockingly candid examination of how a street dealer can rise to cartel lord with relative ease, the film is an insider.s guide to the violent but extremely lucrative drug industry. The fast paced, highly stylized film is told from the perspective of former drug dealers, and features interviews with Russell Simmons, Susan Sarandon, Arianna Huffington, and David Simon (.The Wire.), giving you the lessons you need to start your own drug empire while exposing the corruption behind the .war on drugs." The groundbreaking film will be available on nationwide VOD starting June 18, 2013 and will open in select theaters on...

Every bit as bold and confrontational as its title and articulate and well researched enough to defend itself from the inevitable backlash, Matthew Cooke's How To Make Money Selling Drugs is a detailed dismantling of the American war on drugs as told by an array of insiders ranging from street dealers to major importers to activists to law enforcement officials.A shockingly candid examination of how a street dealer can rise to cartel lord with relative ease, How to Make Money Selling Drugs is an insider's guide to the violent but extremely lucrative drug industry. Told from the perspective of former drug dealers, and featuring interviews with rights advocates Russell Simmons, Susan Sarandon, and David Simon (creator of "The Wire"), the film gives you the lessons...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Tribeca Film acquired U.S. rights to Bert Marcus Productions’ How to Make Money Selling Drugs, which had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall, and has now set a theatrical release date for June 26th, 2013. The provocative documentary offers an in-depth look at the high-stakes world of drug dealing and drug enforcement by blending reportage with pop culture references. Directed by Matthew Cooke, the film reunites producers Bert Marcus of Bert Marcus Productions and Adrian Grenier (HBO’s Entourage). Tribeca Film plans a June 26 theatrical release day and date with on-demand platforms, like...

Lightning Entertainment, the Santa Monica-based sales, production and distribution company, has acquired international rights to the hit South by Southwest Film Festival comedy, Gus, starring Michelle Monaghan (Source Code, Gone Baby Gone) Radha Mitchell (Olympus Has Fallen, Silent Hill) and Michael Weston (Fox’s “House,” HBO’s “Six Feet Under”), it was announced today by Robert Beaumont, President of Lightning.

The film, which premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival to rave reviews in March, marks the feature film debut of Jessie McCormack, who directed from her own script.

McCormack is also a producer alongside Kathryn Himoff, Kevin Fitzmaurice Comer and Erik Van Wyck. The film is executive produced by Richard N. Gladstein (Finding Neverland, The Cider House Rules, The Bourne Identity). The deal was negotiated by Lightning Entertainment’s Joseph Dickstein and ICM Partners on behalf of the filmmakers. ICM Partners represents Monaghan and Mitchell and is also...

Here’s a film that will never be viewed in D.A.R.E. class. How to Make Money Selling Drugs takes the form of an infomercial, probing into the seemingly endless war of drugs waged by Nixon and continuing to this very day, even as voters in some states say “enough is enough.” The film takes the structure of [...]...

Jonathan Lapaglia and Luke Hemsworth are joining The Reckoning, a film from Lightning Entertainment. The film will be directed John V. Soto (Crush). Hemsworth, much like the third Manning brother, is the lesser known of the Hemsworth clan, that has Thor and Gale as the other members. Lapaglia is the son of Without A Trace star Anthony Lapaglia. Check the press release for more deets on the film.

Los Angeles – Jonathan Lapaglia and Luke Hemsworth will star in the crime thriller The Reckoning, written and to be directed by John V. Soto (Needle, Crush), it was announced today by Robert Beaumont, President of Lightning Entertainment who is set to handle International sales rights to the film.

The Reckoning will start principal photography on April 29th on location in Australia. Deidre Kitcher (Needle, Crush) is producing. Robert Lundberg, Greg Coote, David Calvert-Jones, Roger Savill and Kim Savill will executive produce the film.

Jonathan Lapaglia and Luke Hemsworth will star in the crime thriller The Reckoning, written and to be directed by John V. Soto (Needle, Crush), it was announced today by Robert Beaumont, President of Lightning Entertainment who is set to handle International sales rights to the film.

The Reckoning will start principal photography on April 29th on location in Australia. Deidre Kitcher (Needle, Crush) is producing. Robert Lundberg, Greg Coote, David Calvert-Jones, Roger Savill and Kim Savill will executive produce the film.

The story revolves around a detective who discovers footage at a murder scene, shot by two teenagers, that provides clues to the identity of a killer. The teens have since gone missing, and as the detective retraces their journey, he soon uncovers a trail of deceit and murder that leads all the way back to him.

Kitcher says that the thriller is “best described as Memento meets Kalifornia.”

A Filmscope Entertainment production,...