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;

The religulous bill maher religion maher film

TORONTO (AFP) — Sure to irk US evangelicals, Muslims and
Hasidic Jews alike, satirist Bill Maher aims to subvert what he claims
is mankind’s biggest threat: organized religion.

Maher, 52, was born and raised Catholic, but says he gave up on
religion as a young man.

“Religion is the ultimate taboo, and the one in most need of
debunking,” he told reporters at the premiere of Larry Charles’s film
“Religulous” at the Toronto film festival this week.

“A world without religion is clearly a lot safer than a world with
it,” echoed Charles, who previously directed “Borat: Cultural
Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan”
(2006).

“We don’t want to just debunk (organized religion), we want to destroy
the whole system,” he said.

In the film, Maher — best known for his hit US television show
“Politically Incorrect” — travels to Jerusalem, Vatican City and Salt
Lake City to interview locals about their faith in God, asking
polarizing and unsettling questions about God and religion.

It dashes from the serious, such as why bad things happen to good
people, to the silly: what’s with all the beards?

Week popwatch comment in religulous movie

Last week was exhausting! We worked the VMA red carpet with Rihanna
and Britney, attended the Toronto Film Festival, and stared at a dude
with translucent skin. Okay, maybe we didn’t exactly do all of that —
but we did blog about it — and as usual, it resulted in some potent
opinions in the PopWatch nation. So check out of last week!

10. Owen Gleiberman gave us the scoop on of the painfully mediocre
telecast, PopWatch was alive with the sounds of lip-syncing and ho-hum
celebrity stunts MTV’s Video Music Awards.

Everyone’s been crapping on this year’s VMAs, but I have to say, there
were SOME memorable moments:

The rules: Keep it clean, and stay on the subject — or we may
delete your comment. If you see inappropriate language, . An asterisk
(*) indicates a required field.

When you click on the “Post Comment” button above to submit your
comments, you are indicating your acceptance of and are agreeing to
the .

Maher media film in religulous movie

America’s corrosive culture wars, in which evangelical Christians are
never far from the front line, are about to be reignited by a Borat-
style take on organised religion.

A new ‘documentary’ by the man behind Borat – and made using the same
hit-and-run techniques – will open in New York at the beginning of
next month. Provocatively titled Religulous (think ‘religious’ and
‘ridiculous’), it will mock the beliefs of the world’s major
religions, recruiting unwitting assistance from the ranks of the
faithful.

The project has already inspired protests at its premiere at the
Toronto film festival earlier this month, and US satirist Bill Maher
and director Larry Charles have been accused of misleading
participants. Maher has conceded that several sleights of hand were
necessary to persuade people to perform. ‘It was simple: We never,
ever, used my name. We never told anybody it was me who was going to
do the interviews. We even had a fake title for the film. We called it
A Spiritual Journey. It didn’t work everywhere. We went to Salt Lake
City, but no one would let us film there at all.’

Unlike Borat, which simply sought to satirise, both Charles and Maher
– former host of the talk show Politically Incorrect for Comedy
Central – have made clear that, while they were looking for comic
potential from their engagements with believers, their ultimate aim
was not to poke gentle fun but to demolish.

Employing the same robust approach as Supersize Me and Bowling For
Columbine, Religulous sees Maher challenge his interview subjects over
their knowledge of the literal historic facts of their religions.

‘I don’t think “debunk” is the right word,’ said Charles at a press
conference. ‘I want to destroy more than debunk, just destroy the
whole system.’ Maher was equally blunt: ‘I was raised a Catholic. But
by the time I became an adult, scientific thought and rational
evidence led me to believe otherwise. You know, when I was a kid and
got a cavity I had mercury drilled into my teeth. Then, when I got
older, they drilled it out – you can do the same with religion.’

Going further in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Maher
described the type of audience he hoped to provoke: ‘Any religious
person. The point is to question what is usually made to be
unquestionable in this country. Normally if you say the word “faith”,
the debate is over – no matter what incredibly nonsensical,
destructive, ridiculous tenet comes out of your mouth. I could say,
“My faith is the tooth fairy and Klingons are coming”. But I’m not
going to play by those rules.’

The determination to offend is not limited to the US market. A
specially commissioned international poster, unveiled this month,
depicts three monkeys as a rabbi, the Pope and an imam.

While Maher has claimed he has an ‘ecumenical approach’ to mocking
literal beliefs, so far it appears to have been the Roman Catholic
church that is threatening to take the most offence, perhaps because
of Maher’s connection.

‘As far as the poster’s concerned, it’s fairly innocuous,’ says Bill
Donahue, the president of the Catholic League, who has already weighed
into the controversy. ‘The problem is not the poster. It’s Bill Maher.
He has said some of the most vile things. He can say all he wants
about being ecumenical, but it’s only one religion he really has it
out for, and it’s the Catholic religion.’

Spokesmen for other faith advocacy groups in the US so far have been
cautious about rising to a bait so deliberately dangled by Maher and
Charles, instead advising members likely to be offended to avoid the
film.

Predictably, Maher has not been slow to exploit the recent selection
of Sarah Palin – an avowed creationist – as Republican nominee for
Vice-President in support of his film. ‘When I saw her get the
nomination, as a citizen I was not happy,’ he said at the Toronto
festival. ‘But I said selfishly, “this is not going to be bad for my
little movie”.’

looking for a seasoned audio person with or without own rig for hd
feature. please send reel only to address listed, must be from the ny
ct are or willing to… . ct.

our media relations manager, you will develop, administer and maintain
strategic media campaigns and media… knowledge of the news media,
strong interpersonal… . az.

ascent media group is the world-wide leader in providing media
services to content owners in broadcast… and ingesting arriving
media in traffic management… . ct.

May 12 2008: In the summer of 2006, French football international
Vikash Dhorasoo endured a miserable World Cup – and made a film about
it