News

Bellissimo! Bradley Cooper and his supermodel girlfriend, Irina Shayk, put their beach bodies on display while on vacation in Lake Garda, Italy. The American Sniper star, still sporting a thick beard, looked toned and muscular in a black bathing suit after taking a swim with his blue goggles. Shayk, meanwhile, was stunning as she put her assets on display in an itsy-bitsy black bikini. The globetrotting couple of nearly two years, who were recently spotted together enjoying Wimbledon, vacationed in Italy this time last year. The pair were seen kissing and cuddling on the peddle beaches of the Amalfi Coast last August.

Bellissimo! Bradley Cooper and his supermodel girlfriend, Irina Shayk, put their beach bodies on display while on vacation in Lake Garda, Italy. The American Sniper star, still sporting a thick beard, looked toned and muscular in a black bathing suit after taking a swim with his blue goggles. Shayk, meanwhile, was stunning as she put her assets on display in an itsy-bitsy black bikini. The globetrotting couple of nearly two years, who were recently spotted together enjoying Wimbledon, vacationed in Italy this time last year. The pair were seen kissing and cuddling on the peddle beaches of the Amalfi Coast last August.

Bradley Cooper and Irina Shayk have been flying under the radar as a couple lately after making headlines for their official red carpet debut together at the L'Oreal Red Obsession Party in Paris in March.  Shortly after that, the supermodel shared a photo on Instagram with her beau while vacationing, and last month, they both attended the Met Gala and were photographed at an after-party. So what's been going on for the love birds after ringing in their 1-year anniversary in April?  A source tells E! News they are doing absolutely "perfect." "Irina has been working non stop and is pretty exhausted but still has been making time to see Bradley," the insider...

Bradley Cooper and his supermodel girlfriend Irina Shayk aren't hiding their relationship anymore ... in fact, they're swapping spit for all to see. Bradley and Irina finally made their red carpet debut as a couple Tuesday night at the L'Oreal Red Obsession Party in Paris. It's been a long time coming ... they first began seeing each other last May, but tried to keep things on the hush hush. Mazel. Read more...

Lip-locked lovers! Bradley Cooper and model Irina Shayk had a romantic night out together at the L'Oreal Red Obsession Party in Paris on Tuesday - and couldn't seem to keep their hands off each other. The pair packed on the Pda as they posed for photographers inside the party, and even shared a sweet smooch. The duo were all smiles as they mingled with guests, with Cooper keeping his hand securely around his girlfriend's waist. Cooper looked sharp in a sleek black pin-striped suit with a white shirt, while Shayk, who was named the new face of L'Oreal Paris in October,...

Lip-locked lovers! Bradley Cooper and model Irina Shayk had a romantic night out together at the L'Oreal Red Obsession Party in Paris on Tuesday - and couldn't seem to keep their hands off each other. The pair packed on the Pda as they posed for photographers inside the party, and even shared a sweet smooch. The duo were all smiles as they mingled with guests, with Cooper keeping his hand securely around his girlfriend's waist. Cooper looked sharp in a sleek black pin-striped suit with a white shirt, while Shayk, who was named the new face of L'Oreal Paris in October,...

In Hollywood terms, this is taking the relationship to the next level. It's no surprise that love is in the air for Bradley Cooper and supermodel Irina Shayk, since these two have been open about their romance for quite a while now, but tonight, they embarked on a new adventure. The gorgeous pair stepped out together for the L'Oreal Red Obsession Party in Paris, marking their red carpet debut as a couple. The duo were all smiles as they posed together for photographers, with Cooper looking sharp and dapper in a black and white suit (sans tie), while his ladylove looked glamorous in an elegant red gown. Their red carpet appearance is just further proof of the love between these two. Cooper...

What’s new, what’s hot, and what you may have missed, now available to stream.

streaming now, before it’s in theaters

Good Vibrations: true story about a legendary British rock producer has its easy charms, but it’s exceedingly familiar [at Amazon Instant Video]

streaming now, while it’s still in theaters

Mistaken for Strangers: perhaps the least bullshitting, most unostentatious rock doc ever, often as hilarious as This Is Spinal Tap, though with a different aim in mind in the end [my review] [at Amazon Instant Video]

streaming now, before it’s on dvd

August: Osage County: brilliant, bitter family dramedy, with more than a hint of black comedy; fantastic performances by Julia Roberts, Margo Martindale, Chris Cooper, and the whole wonderful ensemble [at Amazon Instant Video]

new to stream

Junebug: black, bitter family dramedy provides an early sweet dose of Amy Adams (and garnered her first Oscar nomination) [at Amazon Instant Video] The Muppets: if you can’t see Muppets Most Wanted again,...

Hollywood extravaganza The Great Gatsby dominates movie category while Redfern Now scoops best drama series

Video: Jacki Weaver - 'I'm a little bit overwhelmed'

A David-and-Goliath battle between a low budget film set in Laos and an extravagant Hollywood production of The Great Gatsby ended with the giant victorious at Australia's Academy Awards, the Aactas

Baz Luhrmann's blockbuster, filmed entirely in Sydney studios with computer graphics helping to create the F Scott Fitzgerald story's Long Island and New York backdrops, took six of the top prizes on 30 January, including best film, director, and adapted screenplay for Luhrmann and long-time collaborator Craig Pearce. This brought its tally to 13 following its sweep of the craft awards announced two days earlier at the country's top annual film and TV awards.

In the television categories, Jane Campion's quirky crime series Top of the Lake, a four nation co-production set in rural New Zealand,...

Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation wins every film category but two at the annual Australian awards ceremony.

The big budget Us-financed jazz age extravaganza The Great Gatsby won every film category but two at the annual Aacta (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television) Awards this evening Australian time in Sydney.

This included the best film gong, which goes to Australian producers Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin and Catherine Knapman and their Us counterparts Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher.

Luhrmann also scored best director and, with his high school friend and regular collaborator Craig Pearce, best adapted screenplay.

The only award The Great Gatsby could have won but didn’t was for best actress: that instead went to Rose Byrne for her small part — all the actors had small roles overall — in the bold anthology film The Turning, adapted from a book of short stories by popular novelist Tim Winton.

The Rocket, a festival hit made on a shoestring budget...

Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation wins every film category but two at the annual Australian awards ceremony.

The big budget Us-financed jazz age extravaganza The Great Gatsby won every film category but two at the annual Aacta (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television) Awards this evening Australian time in Sydney.

This included the best film gong, which goes to Australian producers Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin and Catherine Knapman and their Us counterparts Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher.

Luhrmann also scored best director and, with his high school friend and regular collaborator Craig Pearce, best adapted screenplay.

The only award The Great Gatsby could have won but didn’t was for best actress: that instead went to Rose Byrne for her small part — all the actors had small roles overall — in the bold anthology film The Turning, adapted from a book of short stories by popular novelist Tim Winton.

The Rocket, a festival hit made on a shoestring budget...

Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation wins every film category but two at the annual Australian awards ceremony.

The big budget Us-financed jazz age extravaganza The Great Gatsby won every film category but two at the annual Aacta (Australian Academy of Cinema and Television) Awards this evening Australian time in Sydney.

This included the best film gong, which goes to Australian producers Baz Luhrmann, Catherine Martin and Catherine Knapman and their Us counterparts Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher.

Luhrmann also scored best director and, with his high school friend and regular collaborator Craig Pearce, best adapted screenplay.

The only award The Great Gatsby could have won but didn’t was for best actress: that instead went to Rose Byrne for her small part — all the actors had small roles overall — in the bold anthology film The Turning, adapted from a book of short stories by popular novelist Tim Winton.

The Rocket, a festival hit made on a shoestring budget...

If the 3rd annual Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards could be categorised as a David vs Goliath battle between The Rocket and The Great Gatsby, Goliath is the hands-down winner.

Baz Luhrmann.s opulent romantic drama won six awards tonight, for best film, director, adapted screenplay, lead actor Leonardo DiCaprio, supporting actor Joel Edgerton and supporting actress Elizabeth Debicki.

That.s in addition to the six awards in craft categories plus the Aacta award for outstanding achievement in visual effects bestowed on Luhrmann.s film on Tuesday.

Kim Mordaunt's The Rocket, which had 12 nominations versus 14 for Gatsby, had to be content with just one trophy, for Mordaunt.s original screenplay.

The outcome is likely to reignite the debate about the near-impossibility of comparing a lavishly-mounted 3D film financed by Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures, which cost $160 million, with an independently-funded Lao-set film from a first-time director budgeted at about $2 million.

The Great Gatsby dominated. Aacta.s technical and short films awards today, collecting gongs in all six craft categories for which it was nominated, plus the Aacta award for outstanding achievement in visual effects.

The co-production Top of the Lake bagged two TV trophies while Matchbox Pictures. Nowhere Boys, created by Tony Ayres, was named best children.s TV series.

The TV documentary prize went to Redesign My Brain, which explores the revolutionary new science of brain plasticity, written and directed by Paul Scott and produced by Isabel Perez and Scott for ABC TV.

Writer-director Nick Verso's The Last Time I Saw Richard, produced by John Molloy, was honoured as best short fiction film. Developed and funded through Screen Australia.s Springboard program, the short is a prequel to the upcoming feature film Boys In The Trees, tracing the friendship between two teenagers in a mental health clinic in...

An analysis of the Australian films released in cinemas in 2013 makes for grim reading, with a handful of critical and/or commercial successes outnumbered by misfires and under-achievers.

On the positive side, the debut films from directors Kim Mordaunt (The Rocket), Catriona McKenzie (Satellite Boy) and Mark Grentell (Backyard Ashes) unearthed talent with plenty of potential.

The year ended on a strong note with the Boxing Day launch of Jonathan Teplitzy.s The Railway Man, which ranks as the second-highest local grosser behind Baz Luhrmann.s The Great Gatsby, which amassed $27.4 million to become the fifth-biggest Australian title of all time.

Tellingly, the drama starring Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman raked in more money in its first week than the lifetime earnings of every other title. According to If.s estimate, the combined B.O. tally of the 26 local films and documentaries is $38.88 million, well short of 2012.s $47.9 million.

Only...

1. Top Indies in iTunes: With select documentaries on sale in the iTunes store (and "Dirty Wars" a 99-cent Movie of the Week pick), it's not surprising that docs -- including new additions "Artifact," "Smash & Grab: The Story of the Pink Panthers" and "Red Obsession" -- dominated the list of top indies in the iTunes store this week. See the full list here. 2. Web Documentaries: Pov hosted a Twitter chat devoted to the world of web documentaries. Participants discussed how to get started making web docs, how to find collaborators and create social impact. Pov created a Storify about the event. Check it out here. 3. First Rites: Bill Mechanic, AMC CEO Gerry Lopez and Village Roadshow’s Robert Kirby have partnered on First Rites, a web portal for first-time filmmakers, Variety reports. The free site, which was "designed for filmmakers who are yet to acquire international distribution and for their early...

Each Monday we present you with the most up-to-date list of the top 10 (indie) movies in the iTunes store (combining rentals and purchases). With select documentaries on sale in the iTunes store (and "Dirty Wars" a 99-cent Movie of the Week pick), it's not surprising that docs -- including new additions "Artifact," "Smash & Grab: The Story of the Pink Panthers" and "Red Obsession" -- dominated the list. Thee top 10 indies in iTunes are listed below (number represents North American gross, where applicable): 1. Dirty Wars (IFC, $371,245) 2. Drinking Buddies (Magnolia Pictures, $343,341) 3. The Way, Way Back (Fox Searchlight, $21,502,690) 4.  Blackfish (Magnolia, $2,073,582) 5. Artifact (FilmBuff, N/A) 6. Smash & Grab: The Story of the Pink Panthers (Doppelganger Releasing, $18,938) 7. The Grandmaster (The Weinstein Co., $6,594,959) 8. Stuck in Love (Millenium...

The Great Gatsby has been nominated in 14 categories and The Rocket is in contention for 12 at the third annual Australian Academy of Cinema & Television Arts Awards.

In TV, Top of the Lake top scored with 10 nominations ahead of eight apiece for Mrs Biggs, Power Games: The Packer- Murdoch Story and Redfern Now series 2.

Gatsby and The Rocket are vying for best film with Dead Europe, Mystery Road, Satellite Boy and Tim Winton.s The Turning.

A total of 50 productions has been nominated across 39 awards categories. The Nsw Government announced today it would renew its partnership agreement for a further three years, from 2015-2017.

Aacta has signed a three-year deal with Foxtel which entails pay-tv rights and further collaborations. Aacta/AFI CEO Damian Trewhella tells If that in future years this may take the form of deeper coverage on Foxtel before or after the awards, spotlighting creative talent.

The Gatsby remake...

The combined B.O. tally of the Australian films and documentaries released theatrically this year will fall far short of 2012.s $47.9 million.

Through last Sunday, the 24 local titles had raked in about $37.5 million, according to If.s estimates. Only four titles earned more than $1 million and of those, Goddess. result was generally regarded as soft. Excluding Baz Luhrmann.s The Great Gatsby, which amassed $28.2 million to rank as the fifth-highest Australian grosser of all time, and Tim Winton.s The Turning, the per-picture grosses vary from modest to skimpy.

To be fair, the eight lowest-ranked titles had limited playing time and three, Uncharted Waters, Circle of Lies and Lasseter.s Bones, had Q&A screenings.

Australian B.O. takings should not be seen as the sole barometer of each film's success, given many have multiple viewings on VOD, pay-tv and free-to-air TV. Festival exposure and critical acclaim are also important,...

What’s new, what’s hot, and what you may have missed, now available to stream on Netflix and Amazon Instant Video.

streaming now, before it’s on dvd

Elysium: Neill Blomkamp cements his science-fiction credentials as a filmmaker with a genre vision the likes of which we haven’t seen since the socially conscious Sf of the 1970s; this is smart popcorn cinema with something to say [my review] [at Amazon Instant Video]

new to streaming

Red Obsession: sly and sometimes funny, this is a microcosm of the economic state of the world — the West faltering and China ascending — seen through the prism of France’s boutique wine industry [my review] [at Amazon Instant Video]

post-turkey Thanksgiving treats

Addams Family Values: featuring Wednesday’s subversive Pilgrims vs. Indians pageant [at Amazon Instant Video] The Ice Storm: one 1970s turkey day turns tragic; the great cast includes Sigourney Weaver, Joan Allen, Kevin Kline, Christina Ricci, and Elijah Wood [my review] [at Amazon Instant Video] Pieces of April:...

Some 17 Australian films including two documentaries have been released in Australian cinemas this year.

By If.s reckoning, the cumulative gross is $35.2 million. That may sound respectable but the average gross per title plummets if you exclude Baz Luhrmann.s The Great Gatsby, which raked in $28.2 million to rank as the fifth highest Australian grosser of all time.

At this rate, the Australian films have no hope of reaching last year.s tally of $47.9 million, a box office share of 4.3%, given Anne Fontaine.s Adoration (formerly Two Mothers) is getting a limited release next month via eOne Hopscotch after performing poorly in the Us and Jonathan Teplitzky.s critically-admired The Railway Man opens on Boxing Day.

In 2012 The Sapphires was No 1 with $14.5 million followed by Happy Feet Two ($8.2 million out of its lifetime gross of $10.7 million), Kath & Kimderella ($6.1 million), A Few Best Men ($5.3 million) and Mental ($4.1 million).

Apart from Gatsby...

Kim Mordaunt won the Australian Writers. Guild best original screenplay award for his debut film The Rocket and Cate Shortland and Robin Mukherjee got the feature film adaptation prize for Lore at the Awgie awards held in Melbourne on Friday night.

David Roach and Warwick Ross.s Red Obsession took the award for public broadcast documentary screenplay.

Underbelly again won best original mini -series and Robert Connolly.s Underground: The Julian Assange Story was named best telemovie adaptation.

The $25,000 Foxtel prize for a significant and impressive body of work in television went to Jacquelin Perske, whose screenwriting credits include The Secret Life of Us, Love My Way, Spirited and Little Fish.

The Good News Week writing team received a ninth Awgie for the final season of the series.

Playwright Alana Valentine picked up three awards including most outstanding script of 2013 and the inaugural David Williamson Prize.

Australian Writers. Guild president Jan Sardi said,...

Tickets are selling fast for the 46th Annual Awgie Awards, to be held in Melbourne on October 4.

To be hosted by writer, comedian and singer Sammy J, the ceremony will honour the achievements made by Australian writers for performance. The Awgie Awards are the only Australian awards judged solely by writers on the basis of the script . the writer's intention . rather than the finished production.

"The Awgies are the highlight of the year for us and a unique chance to celebrate the oft-unsung but stellar work created by Australian writers of the script," says Awg.s President and Academy Award nominee Jan Sardi..

.It.s a night that really just celebrates the importance of story and storytelling. And that.s what sets us apart from other animals in the end, the ability to tell stories..

Sardi says the slate of nominated work is once again a strong one.

.It.s...

Leading digital distributor takes VOD and TV rights to Canadian boutique distributor’s catalogue, including Down Terrace [pictured].

FilmBuff has picked up VOD and TV rights through Canada to Evokative Films’ library.

Titles in the Canadian company’s library include Satoshi Miki’s Adrift in Tokyo, Ben Wheatley’s debut feature Down Terrace and Cédric Anger’s The Killer.

Stephanie Trepanier, Evokative Films founder, commented: “I very much wanted to input the Evokative library on the new VOD channels, but they were not yet ready to take in international films from an independent distributor.

“This past spring, I met the good people at FilmBuff, who saw the potential of Evokative’s library of films. Hopefully, we will very soon see these films on iTunes, Netflix and other VOD channels and TV stations.”

FilmBuff’s head of content partnerships Steven Beckman added: “We are thrilled to be working with Stephanie to make these films available digitally in Canada. Our distribution...

Red Obsession, the first documentary made by Australian filmmakers Warwick Ross and David Roach, is narrated by Russell Crowe. “That voice of Maximus lingered with me,” Ross says, which is why he tapped the Oscar winner for the film, about Bordeaux wine and its unlikely China connection. Born in Hong Kong, Ross always had a “fascination with China,” but beyond that he is both a scripted filmmaker and a winemaker, neither of which ultimately had much to do with his documentary. “We started off making a film about wine but it became something else; that political and economic

read more...

Australian documentary Red Obsession looks set to reap the rewards of a multi-platform release in the Us.

The doco narrated by Russell Crowe, co-written and co-directed by David Roach and Warwick Ross, began a staggered cinema roll-out in New York and Miami on September 6 and was released on Video-On-Demand platforms the same day.

Over the weekend Ross, who.s in New York, told Roach that iTunes gave their film a 5 star rating and it shot up from No. 7 to No. 2 on the list of most downloaded docs.

Subsequently distributor FilmBuff told Roach the film ranked at No. 11 on the independent chart and No. 3 on the documentary chart. The film also appears among the top docs on Google Play and is featured in the special releases room on Amazon Instant Video.

Roach hasn.t seen any stats for the buy-rates yet but he told If the distributor .seems very excited and...

Ticket sales at Australian cinemas last weekend slumped to their lowest level of 2013 as none of the new entrants proved to be appealing and most of the holdovers struggled.

The 93 films currently in release collectively raked in a measly $7.6 million, down 14% on the previous weekend.

After bombing in the Us, the mediocre debut of Roland Emmerich's White House Down was no surprise. The action thriller starring Jamie Foxx and Channing Tatum grabbed $1.8 million, the only title to crack $1 million-plus.

Aussie director Robert Luketic's corporate espionage thriller Paranoia fetched a miserable $144,000 on the heels of its Us demise, despite the high-profile cast led by Harrison Ford, Liam Hemsworth, Gary Oldman and Richard Dreyfuss.

Action comedy Red 2 tumbled by 43% to $824,000 in its second assignment, propelling its total to a ho-hum $2.8 million.

The Steve Jobs biopic Jobs declined by 42% to $330,000 after an unimpressive opening, bringing its total to $1.1 million.

In the specialised area,...

Economics by the Glass: French Elixir Battles China’s Thirst on Unfair Ground

Part informative introduction to the exclusive world of fine wine and part horror tale about China’s voracious venture to take over every single industry known to man and narrated by Russell Crowe, David Roach and Warwick Ross’ engrossing documentary Red Obsession deals with much more than just the pleasure of sipping fermented grape elixir at $50, 000 a bottle. On the contrary, the implications that this product has on global markets and economies are, to say the least, revelatory.

Bordeaux’s legendary chateaux have distilled the best wines in the world for centuries, their privileged geography and terrain have placed them at the top of their craft. Their product is the object of desire for millions of consumers across the globe, but also the best investment for billionaires and businessmen who don’t need to appreciate the taste...

Sly, sometimes funny documentary version of Bottle Shock, with China playing the role of 1970s Napa as it creeps up to smack the snooty Old World wine snobs. I’m “biast” (pro): mmm, wine…

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

Oooo, I wish I’d had a glass of wine to go with this! Red Obsession — Australian documentarians David Roach and Warwick Ross — starts out all very much tourist-board-y tour of the Bordeaux countryside, complete with the sun dappling through grapevines and narrator Russell Crowe telling us about how the Romans first planted grapes here and handsome chateaux operators swooning with French accents about the soul of the fruit. And then it gets even better, and morphs into a sly, sometimes funny version of Bottle Shock, except with China playing the role of Napa Valley in the 1970s as it...

Baz Luhrmann now occupies three of the top six slots in the list of Australia.s top-grossing films on home turf.

The director.s The Great Gatsby ranks as the sixth-highest grossing local film of all time, behind Peter Faiman's Crocodile Dundee ($47.7 million), his Australia ($37.5 million),. Chris Noonan's Babe ($36.7 million) George Miller.s Happy Feet ($31.7 million) and Baz's Moulin Rouge!

With earnings of $27.5 million, Gatsby is about $190,000 below Moulin Rouge!.s $27.7 million and won't catch it, having earned just $20,000 last week.

Here.s the updated scorecard of the Australian films released this year..

.

.

Australian Films Scorecard 2013

.

.

.

Title

.

Release Date

.

Total

1

The Great Gatsby

.May 30

$27,547,129

.

2

Goddess

March 14

1,636,018

.

3

Return to Nim.s Island

April 4

1,211,399

.

4

Drift

May 2

903,103

.

5

Save Your Legs!

Feb 28

380,488

.

6

Satellite Boy

June 20

310,433

.

7

.

Red Obsession

August 15

250,764

8

Blinder

March 7

.

101,027

9

The 25th Reich*

June 21

28,200

.

10

100 Bloody Acres

August 1

18,354

.

................... Source:. Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia

.

................. *Producer.s figure...

Sony.s hopes of launching a witches-and-warlocks franchise were severely dented if not dashed last weekend as The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones bombed in the Us, although the Australian opening was more respectable.

The saga of a 15-year-old (Lily Collins) who scours New York City for demons, based on young adult fantasy novels by Cassandra Clare, earned an estimated $US14 million in five days in the Us.

That was no match for second weekend of Lee Daniels. The Butler, an historical drama about a long-serving White House butler, starring Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey, and the third lap of raunchy comedy We.re The Millers.

Released in Australia by Roadshow, The Mortal Instruments rang up $1.6 million, ranked in fourth place. Sony executives insist a sequel is still "on the drawing board..

The top title in Oz again was sci-fi thriller Elysium, which hauled in $2.1 million in its second outing,...

Red Obsession co-director and co-writer David Roach says he made the documentary on power, passion and the Bordeaux fine wine industry as much for people like himself- a non-wine buff- as for those who love the stuff.

Judging by the opening weekend take of $92,000 at 18 cinemas last weekend, the docu is appealing to both segments of the audience.

That.s a solid number which Roach believes will help create a platform for DVD and TV sales and Video-on-Demand platforms.

Roach, who co-directed and co-wrote the film with the producer Warwick Ross, said the first weekend total is .better than we expected,. noting that it.s .always risky when you open a documentary on the big screen..

The filmmaker is full of praise for distributor Roadshow Films, stating, .They have given us the screens we wanted - the best art house cinemas in each capital city- and have been very supportive.

FilmBuff will release the wine documentary Obsession narrated by Russell Crowe on Sept 6 on VoD with exclusive theatrical engagements. Separately, Freestyle has set a date for Surviving Evil while Artsploitation will release Hidden In The Woods on DVD in September and GoDigital has picked up Sample This.

Red Obsession [pictured] premiered in Berlin and chronicles the history and changing nature of the French wine industry in light of the booming Chinese market.

FilmBuff has partnered with event-based distributor Area 23A to release the film theatrically in New York and Miami and plans additional market roll-outs.

Freestyle has acquired digital rights to writer-director Terence Daw’s Philippines-set horror Surviving Evil and has set an Aug 20 VoD release. Billy Zane stars.

Artsploitation Films will release Chilean filmmaker Patricio Valladares’ 2012 horror Hidden In The Woods on DVD on Sept 17.

GoDigital has acquired Us theatrical and VoD rights to Dan Forrer’s hip hop documentary Sample This narrated by Gene Simmons of [link...

Palme d’Or winner to open Finnish festival, which has announced its gala films.

The 26th Helsinki International Film Festival (Sep 19-29) is to open with Cannes Palme d’Or winner Adele: Chapters 1 & 2 (La Vie d’Adèle: Chapitre 1 & 2).

Directed by Abdellatif Kechiche, it is a love story between two young women.

This year the festival showcases a record number of films, comprising 160 features and a short film series.

This year’s Hiff Gala Film is The Grandmaster, the new film from Wong Kar-wai that opened the Berlinale in February. The film, which spans the five first decades of the 20th century in China, depicts the life of legendary kung fu master Ip Man, portrayed by Tony Leung.

The Finnish Film Gala selection is Heart of a Lion (Leijonasydän) by Dome Karukoski (Lapland Odyssey, Forbidden Fruit).

The drama centres on neo-nazi Teppo (Peter Franzén), who falls in love with a woman that has a black son and finds...

Producer Bill Leimbach has hired Morgan O.Neill to direct Banjo & Matilda, an action romance revolving around Banjo Paterson and his iconic bush ballad Waltzing Matilda.

O.Neill, who co-directed the surfing-set drama Drift with Ben Nott, takes over from Bruce Beresford.

.We split up amiably,. Beresford told If. .Couldn't agree on the script and they wanted a younger,. more hip director, I think..

Beresford is in the Us working on the post production of Bonnie & Clyde, a four-hour miniseries that stars Holliday Grainger and Emile Hirsch as the infamous bank-robbing couple Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. The mini co-stars Holly Hunter and William Hurt and will air in the Us on A+E Networks History and Lifestyle.

Beresford had not formally committed to the Paterson project, telling this writer last year that he was awaiting a rewrite of the script.

Leimbach said O.Neill is finalising the screenplay with writer David Roach,...

Four Australian films and two feature-length documentaries will premiere at the 2013 Melbourne International Film Festival (Miff), which runs July 25 . August 11.

All were backed by the Miff Premiere Fund, which launched in 2008 and has supported more than 40 films and docos.

All told the festival will screen 310 films, 10 world premieres, 166 Australian premieres, 17 program strands, 26 forums, talks and master classes.

The curtain raiser, previously announced, is I.m So Excited! Pedro Almodóvar.s satire on contemporary Spanish society. The closer is All is Lost, the almost wordless survival-at-sea drama starring Robert Redford, writer-director J C Chandor.s follow-up to Margin Call.

Accorded the Centrepiece Gala slot is The Turning, the film adapted from the Tim Winton novel consisting of 17 chapters, each from a different director with a stellar cast led by Cate Blanchett, Rose Byrne, Hugo Weaving, Miranda Otto, Callan Mulvey, Susie Porter and Harrison Gilbertson.

The Australian Showcase section features Zak Hilditch.s These Final Hours,...

Bursting a bubble with Robert De Niro, how a trailer lead to Francis Ford Coppola, shooting in Bordeaux, ending up in China - in our conversation we learn from the astute filmmaking team David Roach and Warwick Ross what Red Obsession is all about. Their film, narrated by Russell Crowe, uncorks the craze taking place in Shanghai of buying wine as an investment and investigates the impact it has on the centuries-old vineyards of Bordeaux, the people who own them, and consumers worldwide.

By chance, the directors and I met on Earth Day and they suggested we rename it Terroir Day in honor of our talk. I started out with the distinct flavor of their documentary.

Anne-Katrin Titze: Red Obsession sets a different mood from other wine films, visually and especially by your choice of music. You start with I Put a Spell On You and end with Fever....

Tribeca Film Festival's Artistic Director Frédéric Boyer and I met up for a conversation at MoMA PS1 during Michelangelo Frammartino's World Premiere of the breathtaking 28 minute continuous cinematic installation Alberi in the Vw Dome. This is Boyer's second year at Tribeca, after running the Directors’ Fortnight program at the Cannes Film Festival. We discussed how to bring nature into an urban setting through films like Bruno Barreto's Reaching For The Moon, Reha Erdem's Jîn, Whitewash, directed by Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais, Hisham Zaman's Before Snowfall, and Red Obsession, directed by David Roach and Warwick Ross.

Interacting with cats, Lil Bub & Friendz, tree people, and being Tricked by Paul Verhoeven - Tribeca 2013 challenges the boundaries of cinema.

Anne-Katrin Titze: This is your second year at Tribeca.

Frédéric Boyer: Yes, my second edition as Artistic Director for the Tribeca Film Festival.

Akt:...

Did you hear that popping sound? That was me uncorking a bottle of red wine, which happens often enough at my house. But unlike a lot of wine enthusiasts out there, I.m not the most particular person when it comes to the region where the grapes were harvested. Blasphemy! It doesn.t take much education, however, to know that wines that come from the Bordeaux vineyards in France are some of the most cherished in the world, and are the subject of Red Obsession, a documentary from first time directors David Roach and Warwick Ross. Not even a tasting was necessary for distribution company FilmBuff to snatch up the rights, according to Variety. The film is making its premiere on April 20 at this year.s Tribeca Film Festival, and Red Obsession is the first acquisition, even though it technically happened before the festival began. The film, which is narrated...

This article first appeared in If Magazine issue #150

Producer Lizzette Atkins justifies the theatrical nature of Aim High In Creation! on several levels: the scale and scope of the ideas; its experimental style; the broad interest in the closed society of North Korea; and director Anna Broinowski.s cinematic eye.

.And Anna has proven she can sustain a story for 90 minutes,. says Atkins, referring to the bold Forbidden Lie$..

If the various threads can be woven neatly together, this intriguing project could be a pearler. Cinematic propaganda is the key theme and the film follows Broinowski as she travels to North Korea to meet with that industry.s leading lights and examine former leader Kim Jong-il.s passion for cinema and the filmmaking manifesto he published. Back in Australia, applying the advice she got on a script she took with her, Broinowski makes a short about a community overcoming gas frackers . after all,...

Tribeca Film Festival organizers on Wednesday announced 46 of the 89 feature films screening at the New York-set festival starting next month, including selections in the World Narrative and Documentary Competition film sections, as well as out-of-competition Viewpoints screenings.

"Big Men," a documentary about American corporations pursuing oil reserves in Africa, will serve as the opening night film for the World Documentary portion; "Bluebird," a small-town drama featuring "Girls" star Adam Driver, will kick-off the World Narrative slate. "Flex Is Kings," a documentary about Brooklyn street performers, is the Viewpoints opener. All three films premiere on April 18. The Tribeca Film Festival runs from April 17 through April 28, with "Mistaken For Strangers," a documentary about The National, serving as the fest's opening night film.

"Our competition selections embody the quality and diversity of contemporary cinema from across the globe,” Tribeca Film Festival Artistic Director Frederic Boyer said in a release. “The cinematic proficiency that...

The Tribeca Film Festival announced the first half of its 2013 movie slate today, including its World Narrative and Documentary Competition film categories, along with selections from the out-of-competition Viewpoints section, which highlights international and independent cinema. Festival organizers reviewed more than 6,000 submissions to select 89 feature-length films from 30 different countries for this year’s festival, which boasts 53 world premieres. “Our competition selections embody the quality and diversity of contemporary cinema from across the globe,” said Frederic Boyer, Tribeca’s artistic director. “The cinematic proficiency that harnesses this lineup is remarkable and we’re looking forward to sharing these new perspectives, powerful performances,...