The religulous release film telluride festival

Deal was done via subsidiary Granada9/30/08 3:27pm Event to be held
April 7-8 in Paris9/30/08 1:54pm “Blind Pig” enters Tiger Awards
race9/30/08 6:45am ‘Changeling,’ ‘Palermo Shooting’ on slate9/29/08
11:34am ‘Assembly, ‘Atonement’ take home top awards9/28/08 11:27pm

There’s a lot of pressure on Toronto to show the way ahead for the
film business, particularly the indies.
With a plethora of available titles — and many that are deemed quite
commercial — the festival could be the place where distributors start
filling out their 2009 slates. At least that’s what is driving the
hopes of sales agents. Buyers, on the other hand, continue to have
doubts that Toronto will be able to offer more than what the year’s
other festivals provided when it comes to marketable titles.

Distribution vet Mark Urman, who is in the midst of segueing from
ThinkFilm to Senator this month, says he anticipates more of the same
in Toronto. “I expect this year to be typical: Highly vaunted films
will disappoint, films that are below the radar will pop, and several
films will find homes a few weeks after the event, once expectations
and prices settle down,” he says, noting his focus in Toronto will be
on “transition.”

“There appear to be fewer buyers this year, and I think films that are
marginal or merely ‘interesting’ will be less in demand than in the
past,” Urman adds. “But, this is pretty much it until Sundance, so I’m
sure we’ll all be paying close attention, and several worthwhile
titles will emerge.”

Most every buyer or seller agrees it’s strange days for the indies,
with several distribs being shuttered (WIP, Picturehouse) or scaled
back (Par Vantage) recently.

Optimistically, though, sales agent John Sloss says he’s bringing a
crew of 20 employees. “We’re taking over an entire youth hostel,” he
jokes. He says it’s not that costly to fly over from New York to
Toronto, and adds that he secretly wishes Harvey Weinstein will make
an appearance at the fest to get things revved up on the acquisitions
front. “I miss him and his energy is lacking in the marketplace.”

But exiting Picturehouse topper Bob Berney predicts it’ll be tough for
sellers to incite bidding wars. “Buyers are going to be smart. They’re
looking at the market conditions and how much P&A; they want to
devote; they’ll have to limit the number of films they want to spend
the time on to release. That could be a trend for Toronto and beyond.”

Regardless of the loss of several indie buyers, sales agents note the
shuttered companies picked up few titles and that new shingles — such
as CBS Films and Vivendi — as well as the distribs ramping up VOD
options could be better homes for the types of midlevel films that
studios won’t take on and are too big for boutique indies.

In terms of fest titles in general, new TIFF co-topper Cameron Bailey
says he is impressed with the lighter fare in the lineup this year.
“One thing that’s a real pleasure to see is how much gratifying comedy
is coming out of the U.S. film sector,” he says, pointing to “Zack and
Miri Make a Porno,” “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist,” “Religulous”
and “Burn After Reading.” “Over the last few years, we’ve seen a major
shift in American cinema responding to the political and the world
situation. This year it’s clear that there’s a turn toward comedy.”

Still, unspooling in Toronto are titles such as “The Hurt Locker,” an
Iraq-set suspense pic centered around a bomb-diffusing specialists.
It’s also one of the bigger titles with U.S. rights available. And
Lionsgate/Roadside has soldiers’ homecoming tale “The Lucky Ones”
showing at the fest.

And, as usual, there are a number of titles gunning for early awards
consideration, such as Vantage’s “The Duchess” and Warner/Fox’s
“Slumdog Millionaire.” Toronto’s friendly, film-savvy auds can help
marketing mavens gauge what’s working and what’s not. They’re also
handy when it comes to goosing sales for the films without
distribution. The coming days will tell.

‘Che’ gets second act at NY Film Fest The makers of “Che” are hoping
the New York Film Festival will provide a fresh opportunity for an
iconic Argentine revolutionary to find new life on American shores.

Bumpy road for Asian film financing Asian film financing is in a
fog. For all its recent marching around, it is difficult to tell
whether it is moving forwards, backwards or simply around in circles.

Sitges fest boosted by rise in genre biz In its 41st edition,
Europe’s largest genre movie event, the Sitges Intl. Film Festival,
shows no signs of age.

An intriguing docu about the intense history of a working-class barrio
in the south of Madrid, “Night Flowers” is a fine study of both a
particular community and the wider history of which it’s a part.

“Flash of Genius” stars Greg Kinnear and Lauren Graham sit down with
Variety at the Telluride Film Festival. ; Director Paul Schrader and
“Adam Resurrected” star Jeff Goldblum chat with Anne Thompson in
Telluride. ; Anne Thompson sits down with “Slumdog Millionaire”
director Danny Boyle at the Telluride Film Festival. ; A view from the
scenic Rocky Mountains in Telluride, Colorado. ; “Happy Go Lucky”
director Mike Leigh speaks to Anne Thompson at the Telluride Film
Festival. ; happy go lucky; telluride film festival; interview; Mike
Leigh; variety; Sony execs Tom Bernard and Michael Barker talk to
Variety at the 2008 Telluride Film Festival. ; sony; michael barker;
telluride film festival; video; variety; tom bernard; “Firaaq”
director and renown Indian actress Nandita Das talks to Mike Jones at
the Telluride Film Festival. ; Salman Rushdie; Firaaq director Nandita
Das; interview; actress; video; variety; ‘Walt With Bashir’ director
Ari Folman sits down with Mike Jones at the Telluride Film Festival. ;
‘Waltz With Bashir’ director Ari Folman; video; variety; Producer Ron
Colby and “Pirate for the Sea” star Paul Watson talk to Variety about
their new anti-whaling documentary. ; Anne Thompson meets some fellow
Telluride enthusiasts in Colorado. ; Anne Thompson; telluride 2008
film festival; variety; ‘Hunger’ director Steve McQueen talks to
Variety at the 2008 Telluride Film Festival.; telluride film festival;
hunger director Steve Mcqueen; video; variety; Director David Fincher
speaks at an outdoor Q&A; at the 2008 Telluride Film Festival in
Colorado. ; panel; zodiac; telluride film festival 2008 david fincher;
Brad Pitt; Benjamin Button; variety;

Film telluride festival in religulous release

Deal was done via subsidiary Granada9/30/08 3:27pm Event to be held
April 7-8 in Paris9/30/08 1:54pm “Blind Pig” enters Tiger Awards
race9/30/08 6:45am ‘Changeling,’ ‘Palermo Shooting’ on slate9/29/08
11:34am ‘Assembly, ‘Atonement’ take home top awards9/28/08 11:27pm

TORONTO — Cannes and Sundance are cinephile fests, and Telluride
courts the arty. But the Toronto Film Festival offers something few
other major festivals can boast: real audiences by which to gauge a
film.
That makes Toronto the friendliest of the friendly festivals, both for
buyers and for distributors launching their fall titles.

Heading into this year’s fest, the mood was grim. The specialty box
office has been abysmal since awards season, while the acquisitions
market has been flat.

By Sunday afternoon, however, spirits were actually high — all
because of strong audience reaction to a handful of titles. Some, like
“Slumdog Millionaire” and “Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist,” have
distribution. Others, like Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler” and
Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy “Management,” don’t, but that didn’t
stop auds from salivating.

“I think everybody thought Toronto would be off and depressing because
of the general state of indie films,” Picturehouse’s Bob Berney said.
“But I think it is looking really good. I don’t know if there will be
a lot of sales, but the quality of the films looks good, even though
some are very small.”

Deal-wise, the pace has been glacial, with all eyes on Sunday night’s
screening for buyers of “The Wrestler,” the Mickey Rourke comebacker
that just took the Golden Lion in Venice. “Management,” the Sidney
Kimmel romantic comedy with Aniston and Steve Zahn, was also set to
screen Sunday night.

CAA’s Micah Green, who is spearheading sales on “The Wrestler,” did
not screen the title for anyone after its hit run in Venice.
Negotiations with buyers are likely to center on how would-be distribs
would roll it out in Oscar season.

The concept of using Toronto as a springboard into the fall still has
a lot of validity, judging by Focus’ glitzy bow for “Burn After
Reading,” whose gala screening took over the town Friday. As it did
with last year’s “Eastern Promises,” Focus is using the first weekend
of Toronto, especially with this year’s Brad Pitt frenzy, as the
ultimate publicity fuel for a bow the following Friday.

Of course, positive audience reaction doesn’t always translate into
B.O. gold. Fest veterans like to joke that Canadian auds are too
polite to boo. “You could show them your high school movie and they’d
still love it,” one studio exec said.

Even grading on a curve, though, the resonance of the weekend’s preems
proved a tonic for the biz at large. On Saturday night, the Ryerson
theater was packed for a screening of Sony’s Michael Cera-Kat Dennings
comedy “Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist,” directed by Peter Sollett
and opening Oct. 3.

Big Sony doesn’t generally use Toronto as a launching pad, but in this
case, it decided to do so precisely because of the audience factor.
Plus, Cera is Canadian.

After the screening, the audience departed from convention and stayed
put for a Q&A; with the director and cast.

Lionsgate’s Bill Maher upcoming docu “Religulous” got a standing
ovation later Saturday. Outside, a small group of protestors picketed
the movie, directed by Larry Charles, who himself decided to speak
with those carrying picket signs decrying the movie as an attack on
religious beliefs. That kind of publicity generally only helps a
studio raise a film’s awareness level.

Among acquisition titles, several docs all had noteworthy debuts and
generated deal talk. That short list included LeBron James basketball
doc “More Than a Game”; “Chorus Line” backstager “Every Little Step,”
late-’60s music pic “Soul Power” and Davis Guggenheim’s star-studded
guitar story “It Could Get Loud.”

Celluloid Dreams bought all international rights to “Soul Power,”
about the landmark concert that preceded the Ali-Foreman fight in
Africa.

A handful of narrative pics like “Me and Orson Welles,” “Lovely,
Still,” “Dean Spanley” and “Daily Show” brainchild “Coopers’ Camera,”
won some admirers, but gun-shy buyers expressed some reservations.

One factor giving buyers pause was the sense that 2008, with all of
its turmoil and economic uncertainty, could go down as the year when
distribution models began their much-ballyhooed shift.

Filmmaker Wayne Wang met those forces of change head-on by announcing
an intriguing experiment with “The Princess of Nebraska.” It will
world-preem exclusively on YouTube Oct. 17 and will not receive a
theatrical release. Wang’s companion film, “A Thousand Years of Good
Prayers,” is scheduled for a theatrical release Sept. 19 by Magnolia.

Another model-disrupting setup came from Participant Films and
publisher PublicAffairs. They announced a deal whereby the publisher
will turn out books based on Participant’s films. The first in line
for the treatment is doc “Food Inc.,” the food industry expose which
had its world preem here Sunday and will be expanded into a paperback
original.

Edward Norton and Tim Blake Nelson also tackled marketplace issues
during a press conference Sunday with Nu Image/Millennium boss Avi
Lerner to tout their new pic, “Leaves of Grass.” A comedy spiked with
genre elements, the $9 million pic seems to risk falling into the zone
that has produced the most headaches lately.

“It’s trickier than it used to be,” Norton said, who also stars in
“Pride and Glory.” That upcoming New Line release was affected by Time
Warner’s shutdown of New Line but will still be released this fall as
a Warners pic.

“It feels so in flux,” Nelson agreed. “Now these companies have to
ask, ‘Is it DVD? Is it VOD?’ It’s certainly beyond me, and I really
study these things.”

Another in-the-works project being talked up during the fest is
Toronto-based helmer Brigitte Berman’s Hugh Hefner doc. The Oscar
winner (for a 1985 Arte Shaw pic) just wrapped shooting and expects to
have a cut ready by April. Canada’s Aver Media is handling sales.

“It’s not a biography that deals with babes and boobs,” Berman said.
Rather, it will revolve around his little-recognized social activism
in arenas such as First Amendment and abortion rights.

Amid all of Toronto 2008’s unexpected angles and the uncertainty
looming outside the fest gates, it was reassuring to know that some
sights were all too familiar. Gifting lounges are growing
exponentially here. Many of the suites are run by regulars at
Sundance, but now prefer the ease and talent concentration of Toronto.

“We want coverage in a cluttered environment,” said one organizer, who
had a laundry list of directors and stars that have hauled out sacks
of goods.

Unlike Sundance, the lounges are located in or near the hotels where
talent sleeps, so it’s easy to avoid the potentially embarrassing
paparazzi picture. Many of the A-listers here have their suite already
lined with gifts, including hundreds of dollars in gift certificates
to local merchants.

The products are all over the map. While Anne Hathaway picked out
threads from French Connection, Zac Efron got ACE “man-sized” grooming
tools (37% more grip!). In a convoluted twist, celebs at some lounges
have the option to re-gift their swag to charity as they leave.

Buyers packed into Toronto’s Elgin Theatre for the North American
premiere of Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler,” which arrived at the
Fest with a Golden Lion from the Venice Film Festival. Aronofsky tried
to cool the crowd down, saying, “There’s no way we’re going to live up
to that hype. It’s a gentle, small film.” French sales company Wild
Bunch believed in the film, he said, and if any North American buyer
“is interested, I have a phone number for you afterward.”

That number belongs to CAA’s Micah Green, who will be taking calls
through the night as buyers decide how much they are willing to commit
to a 2008 late year release with a pricey Rourke Oscar campaign
attached.

Paramount’s John Lesher, New Line’s Toby Emmerich, Harvey Weinstein,
Fox Searchlight, Focus Features, Overture, Miramax, Sony Pictures
Classics, Summit, IFC and others were huddling afterwards. The likely
buyer will be taking a risk on a movie that could win over critics and
Academy actors but would be a challenge to bring to market, observers
agreed.

‘Che’ gets second act at NY Film Fest The makers of “Che” are hoping
the New York Film Festival will provide a fresh opportunity for an
iconic Argentine revolutionary to find new life on American shores.

Bumpy road for Asian film financing Asian film financing is in a
fog. For all its recent marching around, it is difficult to tell
whether it is moving forwards, backwards or simply around in circles.

Sitges fest boosted by rise in genre biz In its 41st edition,
Europe’s largest genre movie event, the Sitges Intl. Film Festival,
shows no signs of age.

An intriguing docu about the intense history of a working-class barrio
in the south of Madrid, “Night Flowers” is a fine study of both a
particular community and the wider history of which it’s a part.

“Flash of Genius” stars Greg Kinnear and Lauren Graham sit down with
Variety at the Telluride Film Festival. ; Director Paul Schrader and
“Adam Resurrected” star Jeff Goldblum chat with Anne Thompson in
Telluride. ; Anne Thompson sits down with “Slumdog Millionaire”
director Danny Boyle at the Telluride Film Festival. ; A view from the
scenic Rocky Mountains in Telluride, Colorado. ; “Happy Go Lucky”
director Mike Leigh speaks to Anne Thompson at the Telluride Film
Festival. ; happy go lucky; telluride film festival; interview; Mike
Leigh; variety; Sony execs Tom Bernard and Michael Barker talk to
Variety at the 2008 Telluride Film Festival. ; sony; michael barker;
telluride film festival; video; variety; tom bernard; “Firaaq”
director and renown Indian actress Nandita Das talks to Mike Jones at
the Telluride Film Festival. ; Salman Rushdie; Firaaq director Nandita
Das; interview; actress; video; variety; ‘Walt With Bashir’ director
Ari Folman sits down with Mike Jones at the Telluride Film Festival. ;
‘Waltz With Bashir’ director Ari Folman; video; variety; Producer Ron
Colby and “Pirate for the Sea” star Paul Watson talk to Variety about
their new anti-whaling documentary. ; Anne Thompson meets some fellow
Telluride enthusiasts in Colorado. ; Anne Thompson; telluride 2008
film festival; variety; ‘Hunger’ director Steve McQueen talks to
Variety at the 2008 Telluride Film Festival.; telluride film festival;
hunger director Steve Mcqueen; video; variety; Director David Fincher
speaks at an outdoor Q&A; at the 2008 Telluride Film Festival in
Colorado. ; panel; zodiac; telluride film festival 2008 david fincher;
Brad Pitt; Benjamin Button; variety;