Screen AFM 2014 Day 3

DA Y

3

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7 2014

AT AMERICAN FILM MARKET www.ScreenDaily.com

Editorial +1 310 922 5908

Advertising +1 213 447 5120

TODAY

SCREENINGS

» Page 46

DA Y

3

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7 2014

AT AMERICAN FILM MARKET www.ScreenDaily.com

Editorial +1 310 922 5908

Advertising +1 213 447 5120

Bankside to declare War with McDonagh Noomi Rapace

Rapace sets her Price

BY JEREMY KAY

Noomi Rapace will play the desperate mother of a kidnapped child in The Price, which worldwide rights holder Cargo Entertainment is selling at AFM. Buyers have responded strongly to the package about a woman who learns she can only recover her kidnapped son if she provides a blonde girl of the same age.

Writer-director Siofra Campbell and the producers are ramping up for a February shoot in Berlin.

Peggy Cafferty and Patrick Campbell serve as producers alongside Germany’s Sven Woldt.

Cargo president Mark Lindsay and his team have closed early deals in Spain (Corbi Media), Indonesia (PT Prima Cinema Multimedia), Philippines (Pioneer Films), Vietnam (Galaxy Studio) and Middle East (Phoenicia).

Lindsay’s sales slate includes Mickey Rourke drama Irish Thunder; Protozoa Pictures thriller Zipper, with Darren Aronofsky producing and Patrick Wilson playing a man who risks losing everything due to his obsession with women; Kill Me Three Times; and Welcome To Me.

BY WENDY MITCHELL

Bankside Films as boarded John Michael McDonagh’s War On Everyone, which has Garrett Hedlund and Michael Pena attached to star.

McDonagh, whose credits include The Guard and Calvary, will write and direct the black comedy. The story follows two corrupt cops in New Mexico who frequently blackmail criminals. They run into trouble when they take on an outlaw more dangerous than them.

Producers Chris Clark and Flora Fernandez Marengo of Reprisal Films will reteam with McDonagh after also working on his previous

two features. The film will shoot in New Mexico in March 2015.

Bankside’s sister company Head Gear Films is providing production finance.

Bankside is introducing the project to buyers here at AFM and will start pre-sales in key territories.

Wei Han, president of Bliss Media and producer of The Moon And The Sun, speaks at yesterday’s Hong Kong Day panel

Tarantino talks Hateful Eight Buyers were excited after meeting Quentin Tarantino at The Weinstein Company’s presentation of The Hateful Eight last night.

Tarantino attended an inviteonly presentation in Santa Monica yesterday evening for the talk.

Earlier yesterday, The Weinstein Company confirmed the cast of the film. The Hateful Eight are Samuel L Jackson as Major Marquis Warren, Kurt Russell as John ‘The Hangman’ Ruth, Jennifer Jason Leigh as Daisy

John Michael McDonagh

Bankside’s head of sales and marketing Stephen Kelliher said: “We are delighted to be working with such a distinctive film-maker.

War On Everyone is a high-octane action comedy that represents an exciting new direction in filmmaking for John. It is sure to leave audiences on the edge of their seats and with a pain in their side from laughter.”

Clark and Marengo added: “We are excited to be making John’s next film with Bankside Films and look forward to unveiling the project to distributors at AFM and moving towards production early next year.”

Domergue, Walton Goggins as Chris Mannix, Demian Bichir as Bob, Tim Roth as Oswaldo Mobray, Michael Madsen as Joe Gage and Bruce Dern as General Sanford Smithers.

As reported by Screen yesterday, Channing Tatum has also signed on for a role in the project. The shoot gets under way in Telluride next month.

The story is set six to 12 years after the Civil War in Wyoming.

Jeremy Kay

TODAY

Mike Tyson

FEATURE Boxing clever Mike Tyson and director Bert Marcus talk about their boxing doc Champs » Page 16

China rising Screen’s annual China focus looks at Sino-US collaborations. Plus, hot titles from China and Hong Kong » From page 26

SCREENINGS

» Page 46

Bloom Unlocks dazzling deals

BY JEREMY KAY

Bloom has reported strong sales at AFM on its thriller Unlocked led by a deal with Lionsgate UK. Noomi Rapace, Michael Douglas, Orlando Bloom, John Malkovich and Toni Collette star in the thriller that has started shooting in London.

Michael Apted directs the story of a CIA interrogator who must thwart a biological attack on London after she inadvertently provides information to terrorists.

Bloom chief Alex Walton has closed sales in Italy (Notorious Pictures), Germany (SquareOne), Benelux (DFW), eastern Europe (Forum), and Greece and India (Italia). Rights have also gone in Indonesia (PT Amero), Israel (United King), Latin America (Sun), Spain (Tripictures), Middle East and Turkey (Italia).

“Buyers truly resonated with Unlocked as it is an exceptional package,” said Walton. “Between the calibre of talent, film-makers and fresh script, it really has all the components to make a successful and commercial film worldwide.”

Buzz or buffer: buyers debate in-office reads

BY ANDREAS WISEMAN

One talking point in AFM halls this year has been The Weinstein Company and Wild Bunch’s decision to ask buyers to sit in their offices to read the scripts for Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight and Oliver Stone’s untitled Edward Snowden film, respectively.

While the move is not without precedent — the same ploy was adopted on The Hunger Games and Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master, among others — it has some in the industry questioning whether

the move is motivated by a desire to curb leaks or to ramp up buzz and entice increasingly cautious buyers to make those all-important offers.

“In the age of digital, it’s a necessary step to avoid leaks,” one seller told Screen. Tarantino has already had to contend with one script leak on The Hateful Eight.

“I think it’s a little bit of a stunt; a marketing gimmick,” countered a buyer. “Sales agents already watermark scripts so if you leaked them you would be in serious shit.”

“Reading the script in the office

for Snowden was an obligation considering the subject matter,” explained Wild Bunch co-chief Vincent Maraval. “People who read the script all understood why after reading it. It has nothing to do with anything else.”

Some complain about the crucial time that is lost during such in-office reads. Yet one veteran buyer said: “It’s not a problem for me. It’s usually only the cool projects that require it and it means you don’t have to read it at home on the weekend.”

News

AFM briefs MPI strikes for Redeemer MPI Media Group has acquired all North American rights to Redeemer from director Ernesto Diaz Espinoza and starring Chile’s Marko Zaror. XYZ Films launches international sales here at AFM.

Saban has key to Cage Saban Films has acquired North American rights to crime thriller The Trust, in pre-production to star Nicolas Cage. Ben Brewer and Alex Brewer will direct. Highland Film Group handles world sales.

CMG boards Septiembre Cinema Management Group has acquired worldwide rights to Venezuelan hit Liz En Septiembre.

Epic finds its Dog Epic Pictures Group will handle worldwide sales and serves as executive producer on rom-com Who Gets The Dog? starring Alicia Silverstone. Steven Miller will direct the story of a divorcing couple who fight over custody of their dog.

Carnaby has Brennan duo Carnaby International has come on to sell two films under its deal with film-maker Stuart Brennan: soccer drama London Town and He Will Hang, about a reporter racing to save a man from the death penalty.

Beta captures Emma Watson thriller Colonia

By Andreas Wiseman

Beta Cinema has picked up sales to director Florian Gallenberger’s anticipated thriller Colonia starring Emma Watson, Daniel Brühl and Michael Nyqvist.

Production outfit Majestic is currently shooting in Germany and will move to South America later this year.

The film is due for release in October 2015.

“Florian’s script is a real pageturner and the first rushes are more than promising. We can’t wait to introduce the film to buyers at this week’s AFM,” said Beta Cinema’s Dirk Schürhoff.

UTA Independent Film Group will be co-representing domestic rights. Producer Benjamin Herrmann said: “The combined pow-

Colonia

ers of Beta Cinema and UTA are perfect for this suspense-filled international thriller, which is inspired by true events.”

Gallenberger’s script, co-written with Torsten Wenzel, tells the story of Lena (Watson) and Daniel (Brühl), a young couple who become entangled in the Chilean

Red Sea parts for The Librarian

By Jeremy Kay

Roman Kopelevich’s Red Sea Media will handle all international sales on adventure comedy The Librarian starring Marcia Gay Harden and Spanish star Oscar Jaenada.

The film screens today and

centres on a teacher who travels to Costa Rica where she embarks on adventure and romance with a younger man.

Red Sea Media’s AFM sales slate includes screening titles Dawn Patrol starring Scott Eastwood and The Timber starring Josh Peck.

FilmSharks counts up its remake rights

By Jeremy Kay

FilmSharks International has been active on its remake catalogue, optioning Italian remake rights on Diego Kaplan’s hit Argentinian comedy 2 + 2 to Mediaset subsidiary TaoDue. FilmSharks CEO Guido Rud is in talks for US, German, South Korean and Mexican versions of the erotic swingers comedy produced by Disney-owned Patagonik. Paris Filmes previously acquired Brazilian remake rights.

Patagonik’s hit comedy Just Like Me is also being turned into an Italian feature following a deal with Colorado Film, while Rud added that a Brazilian deal was imminent.

FilmSharks has licensed the Chinese version of A Boyfriend For

military coup of 1973. Daniel is abducted by Pinochet’s secret police but Lena tracks him down to a sealed-off area called Colonia Dignidad.

Ostensibly a charitable mission run by a lay preacher (Nyqvist), Lena must join the cult in order to find her partner.

2+2

My Wife to New Classics Media, while Paris Filmes has taken the Brazilian version and producer Inna Payan is on board for the Mexican remake rights.

In another deal, Rishiraj Shukla and Abhijeet Singh Baghel from I-Shape Interactive have optioned Indian remake

8 Screen International at AFM November 7, 2014

rights to Santiago Segura’s production Unresolved Sexual Tension. The US version for the same property is imminent.

Rud has also optioned Spanish TV rights on Mexican comedy The Noble Family to Morena Films and Colombian-Argentinian feature remake rights to Patagonik.

Among Kopelevich’s market roster are Beyond Skyline, set to start production in December; sci-fi adventure The 7th Tear with producers including Brett Ratner; Squirrels produced by Timur Bekmambetov; and the sci-fi Chimera, produced by Hydraulx.

Horses race for Voltage Production has wrapped on Robert Duvall’s Wild Horses, which Voltage Pictures is selling internationally.

Duvall stars in the Western alongside James Franco, Josh Hartnett and Luciana Duvall.

Wild Horses is based on Duvall’s screenplay about the impact on a Texas rancher’s family when the Texas Rangers re-open an investigation into a missing person case.

Michael Mendelsohn of Patriot Pictures serves as producer alongside Rob Carliner and Duvall. Arnold Rifkin of Cheyenne Enterprises is executive producer.

Jeremy Kay

13 adds Kim

By Jeremy Kay

Jae-woo Kim has joined Los Angeles-based 13 Films as director of international sales and is at AFM talking up new titles Voice From The Stone, Extortion and Loitering With Intent.

Kim reports directly to company founder Tannaz Anisi and most recently served as international business manager at South Korean sales outfit 9ers Entertainment.

Action title Extortion is scheduled to shoot in Puerto Rico on November 17 and stars Frank Grillo, Ving Rhames, Jake McLaughlin, Barkhad Abdi and Nicky Whelan. Phil Volken will direct from his screenplay.

Adam Rapp’s comedy Loitering With Intent stars Marisa Tomei and Sam Rockwell; The Orchard holds US rights.

Supernatural thriller Voice From The Stone will star Emilia Clarke as a nurse working in a spooky villa in Tuscany. Production in Italy is scheduled for this month and Dean Zanuck and Stefano Gallini-Durante produce.

Buyers Prey together with Metrodome

By Andreas Wiseman

Metrodome International has closed major territory deals on horror Let Us Prey.

MPI Media Group’s Dark Sky Films has acquired all rights for the US; Raven Banner Entertainment in Canada; and Kaleidoscope has taken all rights for the UK. Liam Cunningham, Pollyanna McIntosh and Douglas Russell star in the horror about a mysterious stranger in a remote police station who takes over the minds of the inmates.

The festival hit has already sold to Germany (Pierrot le Fou), Benelux (Premiere TV), Middle East (Falcon) and Hong Kong (Sundream). Eddie Dick produced for Makar with Brendan McCarthy and John McDonnell for Fantastic Films while Brian O’Malley directed.

Metrodome has also sold homeinvasion thriller White Settlers to Magnet Releasing for North America.

www.screendaily.com

Contact in AFM:Siyun Wang Loews Hotel-Room 301 Email:siyun.s.wang@gmail.com Tel:+86 13802113362 www.tj-film.com

Tianjin North Film Group @ 2014 AFM

News

Calls for treaty at US-China summit

By John hazelton

Epic Pictures Group is handling international sales on Daniel Zirilli’s contemporary adaptation of Black Beauty. The film is in post and stars Luke Perry, Bruce Davison and Sarah Ann Schultz.

Spandau Ballet doc plays on By andreaS WiSeMan

Metro International Entertainment continues to close deals on George Hencken’s Spandau Ballet documentary Soul Boys Of The Western World.

Recently launched campaigns include Madman in Australia/New Zealand,

Nexo and Feltrinelli in Italy and September Films in Benelux. MCF has boarded rights for former Yugoslavia while negotiations are under way in the Middle East, Scandinavia, Spain, Germany and France.

Submarine is handling US rights.

The ups and downs of cross-border film finance and production was the central theme at the fifth annual US-China Film Summit in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday.

US assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs Charles Rivkin said at the event that co-operation between the US and Chinese film industries “can be an economic force for good, bringing prosperity and growth to both sides of the Pacific”.

Rivkin, a former CEO of The Jim Henson Company, added: “America and China each have the chance to maximise those benefits if

we can both operate with the certainty and security that comes from strong enforcement of intellectual property rights and protection of investor interests.”

Referring to talks at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation trade forum that began this week in Beijing, Rivkin stressed the “importance of completing our negotiations with China for a bilateral investment treaty”.

Bruno Wu, chairman and CEO of Seven Stars Entertainment and Media and producer of Hollywood Adventures, a Chinese project currently shooting in the US, said that while his company continues to make Chinese

films, “American Englishlanguage content is a better business. I would love to take Chinese casts global but it has to happen step by step.

I would love to see the Chinese language become the universal number-one spoken language but it’s going to take a little time.”

Yu Dong, CEO of Bona Film Group, which is doing a Chinese remake of Bride Wars with Fox International Productions, compared the sizes of US and Chinese film companies. The much lower market values of Chinese companies, said Yu, creates “a huge financing or merger opportunity for [US companies]. Our industry is not mature yet.”

AFM brieFs CMG gets a message Cinema Management Group (CMG) is handling international sales on The Messenger from Gateway Films and Ratio Film. David Blair directs and the cast features Robert Sheehan, Joely Richardson, Lily Cole and Tamzin Merchant.

Jinga calls time Jinga Films has sold Alejandro Hidalgo’s thriller The House At The End Of Time to Dark Sky Films for the US and Universum for Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

needs more honey Lightning Entertainment is offering an AFM screening of Wayne Hope’s Now Add Honey starring Portia de Rossi. Lightning and WME jointly represent US rights.

anchor stays scary

Titli’s Arora lines up with Q

By Wendy MitChell

Indian director Q has signed Titli star Shashank Arora to play the title role in B Naman.

The film, set in the early 1980s, is about a group of teenagers desperate to lose their virginities.

Q and Celine Loop’s production company Overdose is leading the production

and co-producers Steve Barron of Riley Productions and Alex Dunnett of Corniche Pictures are at AFM to discuss the project with potential international partners. The film has had offers from sales companies but not confirmed one yet.

It will shoot in December and January in Bangalore, Mysore and Calcutta.

Anchor Bay has taken all rights in the US, UK and Australia/New Zealand to Chad Archibald’s horror thriller The Drownsman, which Breakthrough Entertainment is selling at AFM.

ivanhoe hits a Wall Ivanhoe Pictures has acquired film rights to YA adventure novel The Walled City by Ryan Graudin.

triCoast goes into Battle Raven on

By JereMy Kay

Los Angeles-based TriCoast Worldwide has acquired worldwide sales rights to Virtu* Entertainment’s Battle Scars and is selling here at AFM. Danny Buday directs from his screenplay about an Afghanistan veteran who returns to his US homestead where he is sucked into a violent world that is as dangerous as the battlefield.

Zane Holtz, Heather McComb, Fairuza Balk, David James Elliott and MH-Color-City-ScreenInt.indd 1

12 Screen International at AFM November 7, 2014

24/10/2014 15:40:24

Ryan Eggold star and McComb also serves as producer alongside George Young Warner.

The producers said that Battle Scars has earned an endorsement from the Wounded Warrior Project and they will attend a press conference to promote the film at the Loews tomorrow.

Strathford Hamilton and Marcy Levitas Hamilton negotiated the deal for TriCoast Worldwide with Warner, McComb, Buday and Eric Thompson for Virtu* Entertainment.

road to Hell

Raven Banner is in talks with buyers here on a raft of titles led by fantasy horror Hellmouth from a screenplay by Pontypool writer Tony Burgess. XYZ represents US rights.

Raven’s slate also includes worldwide rights to Audrey Cumming’s horror Berkshire County and We Are Monsters from Swedish directors Sonny Laguna and Tommy Wiklund.

Jeremy Kay

www.screendaily.com

INTERVIEW BERT MARCUS AND MIKE TYSON

(From left) Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Bert Marcus

The ring leaders Director Bert Marcus and subject Mike Tyson tell Jeremy Kay about how their boxing documentary, Champs, transcends the world of sports

F

or the last few years Bert Marcus has been making a name for himself getting behind a certain type of documentary.

The Los Angeles-based head of Bert Marcus Productions — and former radio producer and correspondent — produced Teenage Paparazzo and How To Make Money Selling Drugs.

Champs, which The Works is selling here at AFM, marks his directorial debut and casts a spotlight on three of the most acclaimed US boxers of the last century — Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Bernard Hopkins.

Yet this is not primarily a film about pugilism. “We tried to create a story that transcends sport and touches on some of the subjects that [elicit emotions] we can all relate to,” says Marcus ahead of AFM. “Broken homes, poverty, lack of formal education, abuse and yet [these people] have the resources to be successful.

“The irony is these guys sought out one of the most violent sports to get away from violence. But there’s this cycle that gets them back to that. These guys are prepared to be champions inside the ring but not outside.

“We as a society turn a blind eye to it.

These guys are humans, people who have been through major, major life struggles.

They’re three of the most revered guys, but there’s something about their lives you will be able to relate to and that’s why they were encouraged to be a part of this.”

All three of the subjects in Champs have been world champions. Tyson and

16 Screen International November 7, 2014

Holyfield ruled the heavyweight divisions, while Hopkins fought predominantly as a middleweight.

Remarkably the latter is the reigning IBF and WBA light-heavyweight champion and at the age of 49 is due to defend his titles this weekend.

Rise to the challenge Marcus shot the film on and off for two years, visiting the men at their homes in Las Vegas (Tyson), Atlanta (Holyfield) and Philadelphia (Hopkins).

He had known Tyson for a while and the boxer introduced the film-maker to the other two fighters.

What unifies the three men is that each was raised by his mother and has experienced challenges, either due to poor choices in early life or difficulties that manifested themselves outside the ring later in their careers.

“They’re being proactive about making changes in the sport, so all three of

Champs

them are involved in working with amateur boxers and grooming them not just in the ring, but outside by surrounding them with lawyers and accountants and doctors,” Marcus notes.

“One of the things we get into in the film is the lack of proper support.”

Hopkins, who found boxing while in prison, is an executive at Golden Boy, a promotional company for young boxers.

“The idea now is to educate the younger fighters,” says the director.

“Mike and Evander are also doing this kind of work and they’re helping get the

‘What people don’t understand about this game is that it’s a lonely sport. You’re in your head most of your career’ Mike Tyson

sport back to where it was. This used to be the sport of kings.”

Champs is also the first film produced

by Tyson, who made a few calls and leveraged his standing in the boxing world after the “very persuasive” Marcus asked for help.

“What people don’t understand about this game is that it’s a lonely sport,” Tyson tells Screen. “You’re in your head most of your career. When you’re finished, you have to work on getting out of your head and live in the present.”

He prefers to praise his co-stars rather than dwell on his own accomplishments.

“I’m always happy to see him,” Tyson says of Holyfield, a famous old adversary with whom he now enjoys a genuine rapport.

“Bernard Hopkins is a very interesting guy,” he says. “He’s lived his whole life in such a unique way… He was a champion of the whole prison system and that’s just amazing. That’s real warrior school.”

The film, financed by a fund Marcus set up as well as returning investors from his previous documentaries, will open theatrically and on digital in the US in 2015 through Amplify and Starz.

What Marcus calls “a supporting cast” of celebrated fans including Ron Howard, Mark Wahlberg, Mary J Blige and Denzel Washington provides insight and commentary throughout the film.

Now the goal is to make fans out of AFM buyers. “It delivers an extraordinary story about the incarceration of American youth,” says The Works CEO Laurence s Gornall, who came on board in Toronto. ■

www.screendaily.com

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

MY

K

Feature chilewood

Aftershock

Welcome to Chilewood Eli Roth and his Santiago-based partner Nicolas Lopez talk to Jeremy Kay about how they are reinventing the rules of film-making and turning their energy and ideas into a genre boom in Chile

E

li Roth was not happy about the way things went down after the release of his breakout horror film, Cabin Fever, way back in 2003.

The little-known film-maker had created what would become a phenomenon, a $1.5m-budgeted primal scream that reinvigorated the US horror genre and went on to gross more than $21m through Lionsgate and a lot more on the small screen.

Roth was marked down as one to watch and turned out to be an astute observer himself, resolving early on to exert maximum control over his work as the avalanche of meetings threatened to engulf his life.

“People are stagnant in LA,” Roth says over the phone as he prepares to board another plane. It is mid-September and he and his Santiago-based partner, Nicolas Lopez, are about to receive the inaugural La De Dios award at Fantastic Fest’s Latin American genre co-production market in Austin, Texas.

“In LA, they sit around waiting for the big pay cheque and make a movie once every three years. I want to be like Woody Allen and make movies every year and never stop.”

20 Screen International November 7, 2014

The trip to Austin, will mark a homecoming of sorts, neatly paralleling the sense of belonging Roth has found with Lopez, the wünderkind with whom he has collaborated on the likes of Aftershock and the largely unseen The Green Inferno.

Two years ago Lopez brought Aftershock to the festival, hot on the heels of its Toronto world premiere. Now, the partners are all over Fantastic Fest: collecting the award, delivering a keynote speech about their selfstyled Chilewood venture and attending three sell-out screenings of their new world premiere, The Stranger.

Chilewood is a creative notion that encompasses Spanish-language films made through Lopez’s Sobras International Pictures and English-language titles in association with Roth, who describes the partnership as “creating movies in Chile for the world”. True to their word, the partners are churning out globally minded genre fare at a rate that would make Allen himself begin to feel his age.

Since the 2012 US premiere of Aftershock in Austin, the Chilewood factory has pro-

‘I want to be like Woody Allen and make movies every year and never stop’ Eli Roth, film-maker

duced The Green Inferno, The Stranger and Knock Knock, the Keanu Reeves starrer and one of the hit international sales titles in Cannes last summer for Voltage Pictures.

During all this, in between shooting days and wrap parties and pitch sessions, Lopez has continued to make Spanish-language fare for Chilean audiences.

These films are only distributed theatrically in Chile before Netflix’s exclusively negotiated international streaming window kicks in three months later.

Roth has been no slouch either, championing the likes of Netflix original series Hemlock Grove and taking regular trips down to Santiago.

Venture south How the Boston-born genre king came to become a frequent visitor to Chile lies in an origin story suffused with frustration and adulation. Rewind to 2004-05 and an impatient Roth, bristling with ideas, was trying to marry Hollywood’s best practices with his own copious energy in the most costeffective manner. »

www.screendaily.com

FEATURE CHILEWOOD

“Then I went through the craziness of having this movie that everybody liked and I got offers to make movies in the US.” There was a reason Roth and Lopez shared cinematic taste and spoke the same language: they are peas in a pod and neither has the patience to play by the old rules.

“I asked myself, ‘Why does everything [in Hollywood] take so long?’,” says Lopez.

“I sold one script and they paid me a lot of money but they never made it.”

Lopez was trying to get a rom-com about superheroes off the ground. It was called Santos and captured the attention of several studios. But the process dragged on and he eventually took an offer from Spain’s Telecinco to make it, slashing the budget from $40m to $6m and shooting in Chile.

Santos languished in post for three years and flopped when it finally opened in Spain in 2008. “I was 25 and thought my career was over,” says Lopez. “My company invested in the movie and we had to pay off debt and we had to lay off people. It was a nightmare.”

“I thought, ‘There has to be a better way to make a movie’,” he says, adding that he is always looking for the next production centre. “So I went to Prague to shoot Hostel and it was a great experience.”

By this time Lopez, a household name in Chile due to his TV work and a long-running witty newspaper column he had written since the age of 12, had just scored a local hit with his feature directorial debut, the comedy fantasy Promedio Rojo.

“Most of the movies people made in Latin America were about poor people with guns,” says Lopez. “All the movies were showing a version of Latin America that had nothing to do with my Latin America [where] everybody had wi-fi and iPods and was watching movies on IMAX. “My first movie was about that. I wanted to make a movie that had more to do with John Hughes than City Of God.” He wrote to Roth to say how much he Fever The older film-maker admired Cabin Fever. attended a screening of Promedio Rojo at the 2005 Los Angeles Film Festival and invited Lopez to see an early cut of Hostel.

Through Roth, Quentin Tarantino got wind of Promedio Rojo and cited it as one of the funniest films he saw that year. Hollywood came knocking.

“Eli and I liked a lot of the same movies,” says Lopez. “Besides my awful accent we talked the same language; we were very fluent in geek. We kept in touch.

22 Screen International November 7, 2014

(Top) Eli Roth and Nicolas Lopez on the set of Knock Knock and (above) The Green Inferno; (below) Fuck My Life

Costly lessons Roth too had faced challenges. On his return to the Czech Republic to make Hostel: Part II, which would come out in 2007, the strong euro meant it was no longer cost-effective to build sets that resembled the US. Several years later he would find himself producing The Man With The Iron Fists in China, another locale that required considerable production outlay.

“Nicolas had been telling me to get out to Chile,” says Roth. “I went down to Santiago and couldn’t believe how similar it was to LA in terms of geography and architecture.

It looks unbelievably American and has the same coast and foliage and streets. It looks like Santa Barbara.”

By this time, around 2011, Lopez had reconfigured his approach following the Santos debacle. “I knew I wanted to make movies but in the new economy I had to do it in a different way. So I went from making one of the most expensive movies in Latin America to one of the cheapest.”

He bought new equipment and with funding via product placement from brand sponsor Lopez raised $200,000 in a month.

He embarked on a 15-day Santiago shoot on Fuck My Life (Que (Que Pena Tu Vida Vida), a comedy inspired by what was at the time his shambolic private life.

The film beat The Social Network to number one at the local box office and stayed there for three weeks, eventually spawning a hit trilogy. “Because we owned the movie and didn’t have to pay anybody back, suddenly I made more money than if I’d had a big movie in the US.” Roth loved the look of the trailer. “We started

talking about it and I said, ‘Eli, fuck Hollywood. Let’s make a movie like this.’ He asked me if I was interested in horror and I said of course I was.” The inspiration for their first collaboration was at hand. On the first day of production on Fuck My Life an 8.8 magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of central Chile.

“I told Eli about the quake and he thought it would be an amazing movie and I said I already had the name, Aftershock. He flew to Chile and we partied for a week. He fell in love with the country and the people.”

Shaking things up Roth, Lopez and his regular writing partner, the Uruguay-born Guillermo Amoedo, cowrote Aftershock in early 2011 as a vehicle for Lopez to direct.

While they waited for financing to come together, the Chilean wrote Fuck My Wedding (Que Pena Tu Boda), the sequel to his comedy hit.

With private investment secured and FilmNation on board to pre-sell international rights at Berlin’s EFM in February 2012, production on the sub-$2m Aftershock began in Chile in January 2012 starring rising local talent Lorenza Izzo from Fuck My Wedding.

“Aftershock became our experiment to see if we could make a movie for the world,” says Roth. “We didn’t want it to be a Latin American movie. We wanted to make a straight-down-the-middle genre movie that looked great and was for audiences worldwide.”

The film premiered in Toronto later that year and Dimension acquired US rights, eventually releasing in May 2013.

The touchpaper had been lit. “I bullied Eli to stop producing movies for other people and make his movie [The Green Inferno],” says Lopez. “We wrote the script in one month before we shot Aftershock and in May 2012 I was shooting the third part of the trilogy, Fuck My Family (Que Pena Tu Familia) and in October we started shooting The Green Inferno.”

The US-Chilean Amazon-set cannibal film marked Roth’s return to the director’s chair for the first time since Hostel: Part II five years earlier. “There was nothing like it,” he says of the experience.

Even the unresolved postponement of the scheduled September 5 US release through Open Road — sparked by an issue with the film’s financier Worldview Entertainment over the P&A commitment — cannot dampen Roth’s passion for Chilewood.

“We went on a trip to Peru with Miguel [Asensio Llamas, producer],” says Roth.

“We found a village that was completely cut off from society. But we found a team of Chileans and Peruvians and went and shot in the Amazon.”

The Green Inferno stars Izzo and filmed from October to December 2012. “Every day, »

www.screendaily.com

EXTRAORDINARY

TALES

World Premiere based of the work An animation on in progress of EXTRAORDINARY the Masterpiece Edgar Allan TALES, an animationofinspired

by Poe the Masterpiece of Edgar Allan Poe

Written and directed by WRITTEN AND DIRECTED Raul Garcia

BY RAUL GARCIA NARRATED BY MARKET PREMIERE Christopher Lee Bela Lugosi

(work indel progress) Guillermo Toro Julian Sands Friday, November 7th - 1.00 pm Roger Corman Broadway Cineplex 4

AFM SCREENING

Narrated by Guillermo del Toro EXTRAORDINARY TALES Christopher Lee Market Screening of the work in progress Bela Lugosi Friday November 7 - 1.00 pm Julian Sands Broadway Cineplex 4 Roger Corman

TAJ MAHAL WORK IN PROGRESS

in production THETHE PRESIDENT PRESIDENT

TAJ MAHAL

EL ARDOR

GOLD HUGO BEST FILM

CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

2014

A thriller by

Nicolas SAADA

(scriptwriter of Sleepless Night and director of Spies)

starring

Stacy Martin

(Nymphomaniac)

Alba Rohrwacher

(The Wonders and Hungry Hearts)

THE PRESIDENT

by Mohsen MAKHMALBAF

RUN EL ARDOR

by Pablo FENDRIK SCREENINGS AT AFI-FEST IN NEW AUTEURS SECTION : Sunday 9 November Chinese Theatre 4 - 8.30pm Monday 10 November Chinese Theatre 3 - 4.15pm

BAC Films at AFM BAC Films at AFM

Loews LoewsHotel, HotelSuite #428 1700 Monica 1700Ocean OceanAve, Ave,Santa Santa Monica Ph: + 1 866 563 9792 CA 90401 UNITED STATES

Ph: + 1 866 563 9792 Suite #428 GILLES SOUSA Head of SOUSA sales GILLES + Head 33 6 26 98 85 59 of sales g.sousa@bacfilms.fr + 33 6 26 98 85 59 g.sousa@bacfilms.fr

FEATURE CHILEWOOD

to get to the village, we had to drive one hour along a dangerous mountain road and take motorboats for one-and-a-half hours.

“Filming with the villagers, there was nothing like it. And there’s nothing that looks like the place. The last person [to go near the area] was Werner Herzog on Aguirre, The Wrath Of God and we went even further up the Amazon.”

The experience was revelatory. “I knew I’d found this incredible team of creators [on Aftershock],” says Roth, referring to Lopez, Amoedo and Llamas.

After The Green Inferno the quartet would also collaborate on Knock Knock. “When the three of us [writers] combine on a script, we can do it in under three weeks. Writing on my own takes me three months.”

Beyond horror Next, Lopez filmed Best Worst Friends, the sequel to Promedio Rojo. Then in 2013, with backing from the Chilean government, they shot The Stranger, Amoedo’s passion project and feature directorial debut.

“I wanted to get The Green Inferno sequel going,” says Lopez. “Eli went to Los Angeles to write it. We watched this movie called Death Game, this lost movie from the ’70s that was never released, so I told Eli we had to remake it.

“In January [2014] Eli came to Chile and we spent two weeks with Guillermo and wrote the movie, and that movie is Knock Knock.” They cast Keanu Reeves as the lead in the psychosexual thriller alongside Izzo and filmed in April, with Chile standing in for the LA county enclave of Calabasas.

The project is in post and Roth declares himself excited by his latest directorial

The Green Inferno

effort. “It’s my first non-horror movie. I wanted to make something like an early Polanski movie or a Verhoeven movie. All the majors are sniffing around it now.”

The post-production is taking place in a mansion that Lopez purchased in Santiago, which operates as the Sobras International Pictures headquarters. Lopez inhabits a top-floor apartment and the building often serves as a haven for visiting friends and collaborators.

“This year we will have done five movies,” says Lopez. “If we make four a year, one is in Spanish for the local market and three are for international audiences.

“It’s like a monkey throwing darts — to hit the target you need a lot of darts. Budgets will range from $400,000 to $10m. We don’t want to go higher. With more money

‘It’s like a monkey throwing darts — to hit the target you need a lot of darts’ Nicolas Lopez, film-maker

comes more problems and more people making decisions.”

Coming up next are The Hive, Chilewood’s biggest project to date based on a sci-fi screenplay they wrote with none other than David O Russell, as well as found-footage horror Lake Mead directed by and starring Jessica Chandler. “The idea is to make these movies at a price,” says Roth. “The industry is so risk-averse but you need to find ways to make them at a price so they look like theatrical films and can compete with Guardians Of The Galaxy.

“We always want to make a profit and if one turns out to be a hit that’s great but if not, you’re always making money.”

He chuckles. “This is only the beginning.

The audience is turning global. We’re very s excited to be at the beginning of this.” ■

CHILEWOOD HIGHLIGHTS Spanish-language titles Promedio Rojo 2004 Director/writer Nicolas Lopez Producer Miguel Asensio Llamas Santos 2008 Director/writer Nicolas Lopez Producer Miguel Asensio Llamas Fuck My Life (Que Pena Tu Vida) 2010 Director Nicolas Lopez Writers Nicolas Lopez, Guillermo Amoedo Producer Miguel Asensio Llamas Fuck My Wedding (Que Pena Tu Boda) 2011 Director Nicolas Lopez Writers Nicolas Lopez, Guillermo Amoedo Producer Miguel Asensio Llamas El Crack TV movie, 2011 Directors Nicolas Lopez, Guillermo Amoedo Writers Nicolas Lopez, Guillermo Amoedo Producer Miguel Asensio Llamas

24 Screen International November 7, 2014

Nicolas Lopez Presents Special Forces (Nicolas Lopez Presenta Fuerzas Especiales) 2014 Director Jose Zuniga Writers Nicolas Lopez, Sergio Freire, Rodrigo Salinas, Diego Ayala Producers Miguel Asensio Llamas, Nicolas Lopez Best Worst Friends (Mis Peores Amigos: Promedio Rojo 2) 2013 Director Nicolas Lopez Writers Nicolas Lopez, Guillermo Amoedo Producer Miguel Asensio Llamas Fuck My Family (Que Pena Tu Familia) 2012 Director Nicolas Lopez Writers Nicolas Lopez, Guillermo Amoedo Producer Miguel Asensio Llamas

English-language titles Aftershock 2012 Director Nicolas Lopez Writers Nicolas Lopez, Guillermo Amoedo, Eli Roth Producer Miguel Asensio Llamas The Green Inferno 2012 Director Eli Roth Writers Eli Roth, Nicolas Lopez, Guillermo Amoedo Producer Miguel Asensio Llamas The Stranger 2013 Director Guillermo Amoedo Writer Guillermo Amoedo Producers Miguel Asensio Llamas, Nicolas Lopez, Eli Roth Knock Knock 2014 Director Eli Roth Writers Eli Roth, Nicolas Lopez, Guillermo Amoedo Producer Miguel Asensio Llamas

The Stranger

www.screendaily.com

Screen_Fri7_Ride.indd 1

29/10/14 18:43

CHINA TERRITORY FOCUS ■ OVERVIEW ■ NEW MONEY ■ CHINA BUZZ FILMS ■ HONG KONG BUZZ FILMS

Gone With The Bullets

THE SMART MONEY Fu Jun, Beijing Buyilehu Film and Culture Co Ltd

W

hile the dust is still settling on Alibaba’s record-breaking IPO, China’s box-office figures continue to boggle. In the first nine months of this year, theatrical revenues increased by 32% to reach $3.55bn, nearly equal to the 2013 full-year total.

Nine out of the top 10 films grossed more than $100m.

As usual the spoils are almost equally divided between local and foreign films.

In addition to the huge success of Trans-

formers: Age Of Extinction, Hollywood enjoyed hits with X-Men: Days Of Future Past, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes.

But the distinctions between Chinese and foreign films are becoming increasingly blurred with the exchange of money and talent between the world’s two biggest film markets. In Screen’s third China special, we look at the many forms of Sino-US collaborations from co-productions and sales partnerships

to studio financing deals. We also look at the trends that are shaping domestic production as it gears up for another year-end bumper box office with releases such as Jiang Wen’s Gone With The Bullets and John Woo’s The Crossing.

And no trend is bigger than the march into the movie business of China’s internet giants, Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent. We’ll be hearing a lot more about these digital behemoths.

Liz Shackleton, Asia editor

» 26 Screen International November 7, 2014

www.screendaily.com

CHINA OVERVIEW

A territory transformed The Chinese market once again proved its might with Transformers 4’s record-setting box office; but beyond the tentpoles are changing trends in finance, audiences and production. Liz Shackleton assesses the state of the industry in 2014

S

hould Hollywood have needed any more evidence that China is reshaping the global film business, it was delivered in spades this summer in the shape of giant robots and a $200m studio financing deal.

First, Paramount’s Transformers: Age Of Extinction stomped across the China market this summer, grossing an astounding $320m, compared to its North American haul of $245m. The film was custom-made for China with local cast, locations and product placement; a format Chinese audiences jokingly refer to as “special delivery to China”. But while it may have made them smile, it didn’t stop them spending money at the local box office. The fourth Transformers film is now the highest-grossing film ever in China, smashing the $220m record set by Avatar in 2010.

Around the same time, news broke that a Chinese conglomerate new to the film business, Shanghai-based Fosun International, would be investing $200m in former Warner Bros chief Jeff Robinov’s start-up Studio 8.

Earlier talks between Robinov and Huayi Brothers appear to have foundered, although the Beijing-based studio says it may still be involved in Studio 8, possibly in a distribution capacity. The Fosun deal marks the first time a Chinese entity has made a significant investment in a Western film studio, and is unlikely to be the last.

These two developments powerfully demonstrate what China has become to the international film business: both a major box-office territory and a potential source of finance for cash-starved studios, new and old. Robinov is not the only former studio chief pounding the streets of Beijing looking for partners, and Lionsgate shareholder Mark Rachesky is understood to be seeking a buyer for his 37% stake in the company, with Alibaba said to be a likely candidate.

China is also a chaotic, maturing market, and while it may be developing fast, there are

28 Screen International November 7, 2014

still many factors that can complicate doing business here. Whatever the agenda behind Chinese president Xi Jinping’s on-going crackdown on corruption, some private film companies that may have grown very fast due to political connections are now being investigated and could face major problems in the future. Even the success of Transformers 4 wasn’t without hiccups, with some of the sponsorship and product placement partners on the film attempting to delay its release, claiming they hadn’t been represented in the manner they expected.

But the potential gains in this market are too large for anyone to ignore and Transformers 4 has opened the floodgates for similar collaborations. Sponsors aside, Paramount benefited hugely from working closely with its local partners — China Movie Channel, M1905.com and Jiaflix Enterprises — to not only introduce Chinese elements, but also market the film. In a territory where online marketing is everything, Transformers 4 hit all the right digital buttons and started to create noise a year before its release through the casting of local actors via a reality TV show.

“We changed the marketing paradigm by blending what works in the China market with Hollywood-style publicity,” says Marc Ganis, cofounder of Jiaflix Enterprises, which oversaw the collaboration.

“Working with our Chinese partners, we had a lot more statistics than most people have available to them, so we could track pre-sales and adjust during the run where to put our marketing resources. We could target, not just provinces, but as far down as regions and cities.”

Of course, not every film is appropriate for this kind of collaboration, but what’s interesting about China is the many forms that Sino-foreign ventures are starting to take.

Transformers’ Bumblebee in the Qianmen district of Beijing, China

‘In future there will be three kinds of films — bigbudget movies with special effects; films that are closer to our life experience; and films that target a young demographic’ Yu Dong, Bona Film Group

(Left) Rise Of The Legend

The Continent

Increasingly, these tie-ups reflect the fact China doesn’t only want to be a source of finance and box office; it also wants to get involved in script development, VFX and the other technical aspects of international films.

Building tentpoles Rather than bringing an existing franchise to China, Legendary Pictures is developing a Chinese-themed, English-language tentpole, The Great Wall, to be directed by Zhang Yimou. Paramount’s next big-ticket China venture, Marco Polo, to be directed by Rob Cohen, will be much more organically Chinese than Transformers 4, which was classified as an ‘assisted’ rather than ‘full’ co-production.

In a similar vein, Dasym Entertainment and Talent International’s action comedy Skiptrace, directed by Renny Harlin and starring Jackie Chan and Johnny Knoxville, has

www.screendaily.com

Alamy

china box office top 10 (jan 1-Sept 30, 2014) Film title

Box office

1 Transformers: Age Of Extinction (US-Chi)

$321.4m (rmb1.98bn)

June 27

2 The Monkey King (Chi-HK)

$169.7m (rmb1.04bn)

Jan 31

3 Breakup Buddies* (Chi)

$157.9m (rmb970.2m)

Sept 30

4 X-Men: Days Of Future Past (US)

$117.6m (rmb722.3m)

May 23

5 Captain America: The Winter Soldier (US)

$117.2m (rmb720m)

Apr 4

6 Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes (US)

$115.8m (rmb711.5m)

Aug 29

7 Where Are We Going, Dad? (Chi)

$113.1m (rmb694.7m)

Jan 31

8 The Breakup Guru (Chi)

$108.1m (rmb664.4m)

June 27

9 The Continent (Chi)

$102.2m (rmb628.2m)

July 24

10 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (US)

$95.2m (rmb584.9m)

May 4

* Still on release

already started shooting at a range of Chinese locations (Bloom handles sales). Chan developed the story of the film, which Dasym’s Charlie Coker describes as the star’s love letter to China. “This is one of the few real co-productions. The story is designed for Chinese audiences but has enough Western elements to appeal internationally,” Coker says.

All these projects aim to hit the previously elusive double target of both Chinese and global audiences. But increasingly, foreign studios are also getting involved in Chineselanguage projects, which are primarily targeted at local audiences. DreamWorks Animation’s Shanghai-based joint venture, Oriental DreamWorks, is developing a whole slate of live-action and animated movies with local producers. Sony is an investor in Jiang Wen’s upcoming Gone With The Bullets; Universal recently boarded Wong Fei-hung biopic

www.screendaily.com

Release

Rise Of The Legend; and Fox aims to continue its string of successful Chinese-language productions with a remake of Bride Wars.

But much has changed in the past decade since Warner Bros and Sony first had a crack at Chinese-language production in the early days of the modern Chinese film industry. The more commercial projects do not require overseas financing, so foreign studios have a more difficult time convincing Chinese producers that they add value. And while the market is booming, costs are rising, top talent is scarce and the viewing habits of local audiences are notoriously difficult to track and define.

Bona Film Group founder and CEO Yu Dong observes that three strands of production are emerging. “In future there will be three kinds of films — firstly big-budget movies with lots of special effects; secondly films that are closer to our life experience, such as

Source: EntGroup Consulting

‘The market is maturing fast and it’s much more competitive than it was 10 years ago’ Dede nickerson, Sony pictures entertainment china

So Young and American Dreams In China; and finally films that target a young demographic and are released during the summer holidays,” says Yu. “The third kind — films like Tiny Times and The Continent — create a lot of discussion both online and offline, which contributes greatly to their box office.”

For overseas studios, the first kind of film offers the most potential for international exploitation, but they may find that local producers are more focused on the second and third types. These films are cheaper to make and even the bad ones can do well at the box office as marketing and distribution has become sophisticated, effective and almost exclusively digital in a short space of time.

Audience changes But Dede Nickerson, head of production and strategic development for Sony Pictures Entertainment China, believes that Chinese audiences will start demanding better quality pictures as the market grows. “Audiences are becoming more discerning; if you’re going to spend a significant amount on a ticket, then you have high expectations,” says Nickerson, who brought Sony on board Gone With The Bullets and is developing a slate of Chineselanguage films including remakes of My Best Friend’s Wedding and Flatliners. “The market is maturing fast and it’s much more competitive than it was 10 years ago.”

She adds that although the market is big, there is only room for so many $30m blockbusters and the small to medium-budget range is one of the most interesting spaces right now. “We see a larger volume of pictures in this bracket doing well. They’re being effectively marketed and distributed. The market is at the stage where you can’t look at projects as a standalone without considering the marketing and distribution,” Nickerson says.

Meanwhile the practice of simply selling films to China on a flat-fee basis, outside of the revenue-sharing quota, is also becoming much more competitive and has recently produced some notable hits. Over the summer, The Expendables 3 grossed $73m, Brick Mansions $30m and Non-Stop $17m. This business is also developing into two-way traffic with a growing number of foreign independents, including IM Global, Arclight Films and Relativity Media also selling Chinese pictures overseas.

However, local analyst EntGroup estimates that box office for flat-fee foreign films was down by 42% in 2013, accounting for just 8% of annual box office, which was due partly to the difficulty of securing strong timeslots in an increasingly competitive marketplace. As recent successes demonstrate, this business is also dominated by action titles, particularly with the rise of China’s less sophisticated Tier 3 and 4 markets. It may take time for foreign specialist fare to find a foothold in China, but as the market evolves so fast, it’s worth paying attention to potential entry points and emergs ing methods of distribution. n

November 7, 2014 Screen International 29

Revolutionising content

Getty

CHINA NEW MONEY

The three internet companies known collectively as BAT are having a major impact on the Chinese film industry. Liz Shackleton reports on what the major players are producing and why they want to sit across the entire value chain

Staff at Alibaba HQ, Hangzhou, celebrate the company’s September debut in US trading

W

hile China is transforming the global film business, there’s a force within the country that is reshaping its internal film industry: the digital triumvirate of Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent.

Known collectively as BAT, these internet giants emerged from different corners of the digital universe — Baidu from search, Alibaba from ecommerce, and Tencent from its WeChat and QQ messaging platforms and online games — but all three are now diversifying away from their core businesses in an attempt to remain competitive. All three are also moving aggressively into film production.

Earlier this year, Alibaba bought out Hong Kong-listed film and TV producer ChinaVision for $804m, later renaming it Alibaba Pictures and installing former China Film Group number two Zhang Qiang as CEO. A few months later, Baidu-owned streaming platform iQiyi announced the launch of iQiyi Motion Pictures, which plans to invest in eight films a year, starting with Jiang Wen’s Gone With The Bullets; rival Youku Tudou, in which Alibaba owns a 16.5% stake, set up Heyi Film; and Tencent announced the launch of film production arm Movie Plus (see sidebar).

Alibaba’s film plans hit a speed bump when it discovered “accounting irregularities” at ChinaVision following the acquisition, but has brought in PwC to sort out the issues and is pressing ahead on plans to work with talent such as Wong Kar Wai, Peter Ho-sun Chan

30 Screen International November 7, 2014

and Taiwanese director Giddens Ko. Most recently, the company said it would establish a joint venture with Hengdian World Studios, the huge facility just a few hours away from Alibaba’s headquarters in Hangzhou. “We believe our collaboration will make us more competitive and help raise our game in terms of content innovation, investment, production and distribution,” said Zhang Qiang, when announcing the deal.

These new outfits join Le Vision Pictures, the film affiliate of streaming platform LeTV, one of the first Chinese internet companies to see the value in moving upstream in the content value chain. Le Vision, which recently set up offices in Los Angeles, has produced films such as Zhang Yimou’s Coming Home and teamed with Youku Tudou on Old Boys: The Way Of The Dragon, based on a short film that became an internet sensation.

Sohu, which also has a streaming platform, has so far been quiet on the production front, but recently acquired a 6.4% stake in Korean talent management company KeyEast.

The value of IP Much like Netflix and its other US counterparts, these companies are using original content to attract subscribers and advertisers, scale back on high acquisition costs and achieve economies of scale. “If we have our own IP, we can use the same property to produce movies, TV series, animation and games,” explains iQiyi founder and CEO Gong Yu.

‘We aim to act as a catalyst along each segment of the value chain’ Allen Zhu, Youku Tudou and Heyi Film

These companies plan to work with traditional film studios while they learn the ropes, and eventually want to be involved in every part of the business. “We aim to act as a catalyst along each segment of the value chain,” says Youku Tudou senior vice-president and Heyi Film CEO Allen Zhu. “As a newcomer in this space, we’ll focus on script development, paying equal attention to those incubated on our platform and those from outside partners. We’ll also focus on investment, marketing and product placement.”

Most of these companies already excel in film promotion and marketing. Although they’re streaming content through their online platforms, they also handle marketing and sell tickets for theatrical releases — all part of the much-touted online-to-offline (O2O) concept of using the internet to drive sales in physical outlets. According to EntGroup, around 17% of last year’s $3.54bn box office was generated through online purchases, of which two thirds came through mobile phones.

And in further echoes of Netflix, these companies are also using ‘big data’ to create content they hope can dominate the market.

Youku Tudou mined user comments on the original Old Boys micro movie to find key words that informed the script of the theatrical version, while iQiyi is analysing data to determine casting.

“People like us working in this office have two characteristics — we live in big cities and we’re old,” says Gong. “We don’t represent »

www.screendaily.com

C

M

Y

M

Y

Y

MY

K

CHINA NEW MONEY

the mainstream audience in China, but big data can help us with that.” After crunching the numbers, iQiyi discovered young TV actors Chen Xiao and Yuan Shanshan have bigger followings than major stars such as Andy Lau and Zhang Ziyi.

While that may sound like a game-changer, Yu Dong, founder and CEO of traditional studio Bona Film Group, cautions that film industries can’t be built on data alone. Yu galvanised audiences at Shanghai International Film Festival, where he said “all traditional film companies will work for BAT eventually”.

But he also says that “creating content requires the ability to understand art and commerce together. The technology, media and telecoms companies may have enough money to invest in films, but it requires years of experience to create good content.”

Impending restrictions China’s new-age movie producers all seem to be hoping they’ll be fast learners. For those whose businesses have been based around streaming, such as Youku, LeTV and iQiyi, diversifying into production could also be a buffer against China’s shifting regulatory sands. China’s streaming business is a mostly ad-supported model — revenues reached $2bn in 2013 and are estimated to rise to almost $6bn by 2017. But there are questions over whether the industry can carve out a subscription model and now the government looks set to place restrictions on what has so far been a relatively free-wheeling sector.

A few months ago, international media reported that Chinese authorities are considering a 30% quota on the proportion of foreign TV content allowed on streaming sites.

While that hasn’t been confirmed, the government has been much more open about plans to limit the hardware and software that is used to stream content to set-top boxes and internet-enabled TVs. Worryingly for companies that have made big bets on China’s growing smart TV business, video-streaming companies were recently ordered to remove their internet TV apps from online stores.

These restrictions are less likely to affect internet giants BAT, as streaming is a tiny part of their empires. But original content — whether they’re streaming, marketing or selling theatre tickets for it — is another tool to draw eyeballs into a digital ecosystem that is increasingly being accessed through smart phones and also includes ecommerce, social media, financial services and online games.

Ecommerce is one area where battle lines are being drawn. Alibaba has an 85% share of China’s ecommerce market through its Taobao and Tmall sites — but Baidu recently bought out group-buying site Nu o m i a n d Te n c e n t invested in ecommerce platform JD. Wanda Group, a giant in the bricks-and-mortar

32 Screen International November 7, 2014

THE KEY PLAYERS

Alibaba Pictures Group Owned by Alibaba Who to know Zhang Qiang, CEO Alibaba launched its film arm after acquiring Hong Kong-listed film and TV producer ChinaVision. The company plans to produce 8-10 films a year, working with directors such as Wong Kar Wai, Peter Ho-sun Chan and Giddens Ko. It is also setting up a joint venture with Hengdian World Studios.

Heyi Film

Gone With The Bullets

‘If we have our own IP, we can use the same property to produce movies, TV series, animation and games’ Gong Yu, iQiyi

Jack Ma, founder and executive chairman of Alibaba

Owned by Youku Tudou Who to know Allen Zhu, CEO The film arm of streaming platform Youku Tudou plans to produce eight theatrical movies and nine internet films in its first year. Projects announced so far include The Master, co-produced with Beijing Century; Bad Sister, directed by Kim Taegyun; and Paris Holiday, co-produced with Hong Kong’s Universe Entertainment. The company is also adapting its web original shows such as Surprise, Yes Boss and Miss Puff for the big screen.

iQiyi Motion Pictures Coming Home

space, which is also ramping up its film investments, recently pacted with both Baidu and Tencent to create an $814m ecommerce venture that aims to drive business to Wanda’s hotels, cinemas and shopping malls.

Competition is also heating up in the financial services sector. Both Alibaba and Baidu are raising money for films through China’s own version of crowdfunding — basically insurance products that offer risk-free returns to small investors — although this exercise seems to be more about marketing and preselling movie tickets than raising funds. Internet banking is a bigger game for BAT — Alibaba and Tencent already offer electronic payment systems, some financial services and were recently awarded licences to operate online banks. Ultimately, they want to be involved in every aspect of their consumers’ lives.

And when they’ve conquered the Chinese consumer market, will BAT take on the rest of the world? Certainly, they are expected to expand overseas in the film business. Alibaba has already pacted with Lionsgate on a streaming venture and the company’s founder Jack Ma was recently in LA meeting with studio chiefs.

With market caps of $226bn and $155bn respectively, Alibaba and Tencent look set to become global companies with the capacity to build global platforms. And when BAT have achieved world domination, they may not be so dependent on that narrow bottleneck called theatrical distribution to export s their films. ■

Owned by iQiyi Who to know Li Yansong, president Launched in July, iQiyi Motion Pictures plans to produce seven Chinese films and one Hollywood movie each year. The company has made an equity investment in Jiang Wen’s Gone With The Bullets, for which it has VoD and gaming rights. It is working with parent company Baidu on areas such as crowdfunding, marketing, ecommerce and online games.

Le Vision Pictures Owned by LeTV Who to know Zhang Zhao, CEO The first film company affiliated to a Chinese streaming platform, Le Vision produces and distributes Chinese films such as Coming Home and the Tiny Times franchise. It’s also developing international co-productions and works with China Film to acquire and handle marketing on foreign films such as The Expendables 2 and 3.

Movie Plus Owned by Tencent Who to know SY Lau, president, online media group Tencent announced in September that it plans to produce four or five films a year, starting with a film version of its QQ racecar online game and an adaptation of Mo Yan’s novel The Treasure Map. Production on the slate is expected to start in 2016.

www.screendaily.com

C

M

Y

M

Y

Y

MY

K

China hot titles

The next big things From stories of modern romance in Beijing to Justin Lin’s Chinese-language debut and the controversial Crouching Tiger sequel, Liz Shackleton previews some of the hottest films coming out of China

T

he first half of 2014 was slightly quieter for local productions compared with 2013, which saw a string of midbudget domestic films, often with nostalgic or romantic themes, become huge hits at the China box office.

Chinese films had a market share of 48% in the first six months of 2014, compared with 59% overall in 2013.

Films that were both critical and commercial hits in the first half included Chen Sicheng’s romantic drama Beijing Love Story, Zhang Yimou’s Coming Home and Leste Chen’s mystery thriller The Great Hypnotist, the latter signalling a fresh trend toward high-quality, genre-oriented fare.

Over the summer, youth-oriented films such as Tiny Times 3 and road movie The Continent provided competi-

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend Dir Yuen Woo-Ping Michelle Yeoh has returned to star in The Weinstein Company’s sequel to Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, based on the same series of Wang Dulu novels as the original film. The project recently created a storm of controversy when Netflix announced the film would premiere simultaneously in Imax theatres and on its platform in August 2015.

Currently in production in New Zealand and China, it was scripted by John Fusco and also stars Donnie Yen. The Weinstein Company is co-producing with China Film Group and Pegasus Taihe Entertainment.

tion for Hollywood blockbusters. Both films are directed by film-makers with large online followings, which helped propel them to huge box-office results.

Tiny Times 3, the latest film in a popular franchise directed by YA novelist Guo Jingming, grossed $82m. The Continent, the directing debut of blogger and rally driver Han Han, took more than $100m.

Local productions look set to win

While some local films are making megabucks, the market remains concentrated around a small group of blockbusters

nies including Sparkle Roll Media Corp, Huayi Brothers, Shanghai Film Group, Home Media & Entertainment Fund, Tencent Video and China Film & TV Capital. The film is now in post-production and is being readied for release across Asia on February 19, 2015.

Contact Clarence Tang, Golden Network Asia clarence@goldnetasia.com

Dir Wong Jing Chow Yun Fat is reprising his role as a legendary gambler in the sequel to Wong Jing’s From Vegas To Macau, which grossed $85m in mainland China over Chinese New Year. The film also stars Nick Cheung, who plays an IT expert and

accountant for the mob; Shawn Yue, replacing the film’s original co-star Nicholas Tse; and Carina Lau as the love interest. Andrew Lau (Revenge Of The Green Dragons) is also returning to produce the sequel, which is in post-production and scheduled for release over Chinese New Year 2015.

Contact Angela Wong, Mega-Vision Project Workshop angelaolwong@ mvphk.biz

Dir Justin Lin Justin Lin, the Taiwan-born director behind the last four Fast & Furious films, is making his Chinese-language debut with this romantic comedy set in Los Angeles. Huang Xiaoming and Tong Dawei star as two best friends competing for the affections of a woman played by Vicky Zhao Wei. Currently in production, the film is co-produced by Beijing Enlight Pictures and Seven Stars Entertainment.

Dragon Blade Dir Daniel Lee

34 Screen International November 7, 2014

From Vegas To Macau 2

ria. China-France co-production Wolf Totem, directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, has been pushed back to early next year.

While some local films are making mega-bucks, the market remains concentrated around a relatively small group of blockbusters. According to a recent China Film Association report, around half of the 600-plus films produced in China each year never reach the big screen. Although many film industries around the world might envy the money flooding into Chinese film production, it has also resulted in rapidly rising costs and projects that start shooting before they’ve been properly developed. However, as the list below demonstrates, a growing number of local productions are achieving technical excellence and tapping into local, as well as international, market tastes.

Hollywood Adventures

Contact The Weinstein Company international@weinsteinco.com

John Cusack and Adrien Brody star alongside Jackie Chan in this $65m epic action film, inspired by historical records of a missing legion of Roman soldiers that travelled to China. The film has been touted as the most expensive Chinese production of all time and has pulled together financing from compa-

back further market share in the fourth quarter; hits over the recent National Day holiday period (October 1-7) included Peter Ho-sun Chan’s child kidnap drama Dearest and Ning Hao’s road trip comedy Breakup Buddies. Meanwhile, Roy Chow’s Rise Of The Legend, starring Eddie Peng as martial artist Wong Fei-hung, is scheduled to open on November 21.

In addition, three highly anticipated big-budget films are scheduled to open in December: John Woo’s star-studded romantic epic The Crossing (December 2); Jiang Wen’s Gone With The Bullets (December 18), set amid a courtesan pageant in 1920s Shanghai; and Tsui Hark’s 3D spy movie The Taking Of Tiger Mountain (December 24), about the battle of wits between a small military unit and a gang of bandits in 1940s Manchu-

Contact Zhang Yamin, Enlight Pictures zhangyamin@ewang.com

Love On The Cloud Dir Gu Changwei Dragon Blade

Angelababy and Chen He star in this romantic drama that revolves around a »

www.screendaily.com

Presents at AFM 2

The Pilgrim PAULO COELHO’S BEST STORY Directed by: Daniel Augusto Starring: Júlio Andrade, Ravel Andrade, Fabiana Gugli, Fabíula Nascimento, Enrique Díaz, Paz Vega Production: Dama Filmes, Babel Films Status: Completed Delivery: Fall 2014

Screening TODAY / Nov 7th / 3.00 p.m. / AMC Santa Monica 6

Pause WHEN THE STARS ARE SHAKING

Screening TOMORROW / Nov 8th / 9.00 a.m.

Doubletree 2

Head Office

Picture Tree International / Zur Börse 12 / 10247 Berlin / Germany Phone: +49.30 - 4208 248 - 0 / E-Mail: pti@picturetree-international.com / www. picturetree-international.com

M 2014

Our Office @ AFM | Loew’s Hotel | 6th Floor | Suite #630

Not my Day ANOTHER FAIL-SAFE PLAN Directed by: Peter Thorwarth Starring: Moritz Bleibtreu, Axel Stein, Jasmin Gerat, Anna Maria Mühe, Nele Kiper, Ralf Richter Production: Westside Filmproduktion in co-production with Donar Film, Deutsche Columbia Pictures, Mr. Brown Entertainment Status: Completed Delivery: Fall 2014

Screening TODAY / Nov 7th / 1.00 p.m. / Fairmont 5

Electroboy SUPERMODEL. VISIONARY. PRISONER.

Screening TOMORROW / Nov 8th / 11.00 a.m.

Doubletree 1

Attending

Andreas Rothbauer: +49.151-544 58 921 andreas@picturetree-international.com

Yuanyuan Sui: +49.151-50 617 388 yuan@picturetree-international.com

CHINA HOT TITLES

Women Who Flirt

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: The Green Legend

Love On The Cloud

group of aspiring film directors and actresses, and examines the impact instant messaging and social media are having on modern romance in Beijing.

Produced by Huayi Brothers, the film is being readied for release in December.

Gu Changwei previously directed Aidsthemed romantic drama Til Death Do Us Part (2011) and arthouse dramas And The Spring Comes (2007) and Peacock (2005).

the crew includes production designer Yohei Taneda (Kill Bill: Vol 1) and costume designer Yee Chung Man (Curse Of The Golden Flower).

Contact IM Global com

In production in China’s Shanxi province, the feature debut of young mainland Chinese film-maker Larry Yang is based on Ge Shuiping’s award-winning novel set in a remote village in the Taihang Mountains. When a husband and father who is new to the village dies suddenly, the villagers get to know his mute widow, who has the power to tell her story wordlessly. Co-produced by Hairun Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures Asia, the film stars Lang Yueting and Wang Ziyi, who both appear in Johnnie To’s upcoming Design For Living.

The script won

info@imglobalfilm.

Monster Hunt Dir Raman Hui After gaining fame as a supervising animator and lead character designer for films such as Antz and the Shrek franchise, Raman Hui is making his Chinese-language, live-action feature directorial debut with this $30m 3D fantasy adventure. Bai Baihe, Kai Ko, Eric Tsang and Sandra Ng head the cast of the film about a monster king who tries to bring about unity between monsters and humans.

Edko Films is producing and

38 Screen International November 7, 2014

Contact Julian Chiu, Edko Films chiujulian@edkofilms.com.hk

Mountain Cry

the prize for best artistic potential at Beijing International Film Festival’s Pitch and Catch event.

Contact Victoria Hong, Hairun Media victoria@hairunmedia.com

The Sword Master Dir Derek Yee

Dir Larry Yang

The cast of Hollywood Adventures

Hong Kong director Derek Yee’s first 3D project is based on wuxia novelist Gu Long’s classic work about an elite swordsman who is haunted by his skill and forced to fight a challenger who is determined to take his place at all costs.

Bona Film Group and Yee’s Film Unlimited are producing with another leading Hong Kong film-maker, 3D pioneer Tsui Hark, on board as producer. Lin Gengxin, Peter Ho, Jiang Yiyan and Jiang Mengjie head the cast. The film is scheduled for release in the second quarter of 2015 and the property is also being developed as a TV series.

Contact Virginia Leung, Distribution Workshop virginia@ distributionworkshop.com

Women Who Flirt Dir Pang Ho Cheung Set in Taiwan and Shanghai, the latest romantic comedy from Pang Ho Cheung

(Love In A Puff, Love In The Buff) tells the story of a besotted graduate who has lessons in flirting so she can take her friendship with a former classmate to the next level. Huang Xiaoming and Zhou Xun head the cast of the Huayi Brothers production, which is currently in post-production and scheduled for release in late November.

Contact IM Global com

info@imglobalfilm.

Zhong Kui: Snow Girl And The Dark Crystal Dir Zhao Tianyu Hong Kong’s Peter Pau is serving as producer, DoP and VFX supervisor on this big-budget 3D fantasy adventure starring Chen Kun and Li Bingbing. The film is produced by Desen International Media, which brought on board 3D stereographer Vincent E Toto (Dredd), Weta Workshop for character and set design, and Korea’s Macrograph for visual effects. Village Roadshow Pictures Asia, Warner Bros Pictures and Beijing-based Enlight Pictures have also signed on as co-financiers. Release is scheduled for February 19, 2015 over Chinese New Year.

Contact Derek Huang, Desen International Media dingister@ s yahoo.com ■

www.screendaily.com

Hong Kong Hot films

Buzz titles Hong Kong A host of films from Hong Kong are lining up at AFM, including Pang Ho Cheung’s return home, Soi Cheang’s sci-fi action thriller and Tsui Hark’s hotly tipped 3D spy movie. Sarah Cooper reports Aberdeen Dir Pang Ho Cheung Leading Hong Kong film-maker Pang Ho Cheung returns home from Beijing for this widely acclaimed drama revolving around the members of an extended family starring Louis Koo, Eric Tsang, Miriam Yeung and Gigi Leung. Produced by Pang’s Making Film Productions, the film — which opened Hong Kong International Film Festival — is co-produced by Sun Entertainment, SilMetropole Organization and Huayi Brothers.

Contact Ricky Tse, Bravos Pictures ricky.tse@bravospictures.com

Little Big Master

AlSo At tHe mArKet Aberdeen

Little Big Master Dir Adrian Kwan Miriam Yeung and Louis Koo star in this drama, based on a true story, about a teacher who works for a token salary in an attempt to keep a kindergarten from closing. Benny Chan is producing for Universe Entertainment and the film is in post-production.

Contact Alice Leung, Universe Films Distribution alice_leung@uih.com.hk

Unforgotten (working title) Dir Soi Cheang Following his success with Chinese New Year hit The Monkey King, Hong Kong film-maker Soi Cheang is turning his hand to a sci-fi action thriller with this $18m production for Mei Ah Entertainment revolving around two police officers who read victims’ memories to reveal details of the suspects. The film will start shooting early next year after the director wraps The Monkey King 2.

Contact Sara Law, Mei Ah Entertainment sara@meiah.com »

40 Screen International November 7, 2014

All Rights Entertainment is selling Rita Hui’s Keening Woman.

Bravos Pictures presents the market debut of Brian Tse’s animation McDull, Me & My Mum, as well as Nick Leung’s $3m thriller Get Outta Here (in post) and James Hung’s drama The Seventh Lie. China 3D Digital Distribution is at AFM with the market debuts of Patrick Kong’s $3.5m romantic drama Return Of The Cuckoo and Wilson Chin’s action film Special Female Force as well as 3D Lost In Wrestling, Delete My Love, Imprisoned: Survival Guide For Rich And Prodigal and Undercover Duet.

Distribution Workshop presents the market debut of Eric Khoo’s In The Room,

McDull, Me & My Mum

along with two Derek Lee titles, I Am Somebody and Sword Master (3D) and Jacob Cheung’s period drama The White Haired Witch Of Lunar Kingdom.

Edko films brings Ferris Lin’s documentary Boundless and Alan Yuen’s action film Firestorm to market.

Emperor motion Pictures is here with the market debut of Dante Lam’s action To The Fore, along with Teddy Chen’s Kung Fu Jungle, Herman Yau’s Sara and Lau Jo-leung’s Two Thumbs Up. fortissimo films’ Hong Kong offerings include Fruit Chan’s comedy horror The Midnight After. golden scene Company presents Philip Yung’s May We Chat, Amos Wong’s

Dot 2 Dot and Adam Wong’s The Way We Dance. media Asia film Distribution is also at AFM with the market debut of Leon Lai’s action drama Wine War, as well as Johnnie To’s romantic comedy sequel Don’t Go Breaking My Heart 2 and animation Monkey King Reloaded. mega-Vision Project Workshop brings Daniel Chan’s horror film Sifu Vs Vampire and Aman Chang’s comedy Flirting In The Air. mei Ah Entertainment has Carrie Ng’s horror Knock Knock! Who’s There?, Philip Yung’s $5m drama Port Of Call (in post), Sung Kee’s Untitled Love Comedy and Jo Ma’s 3D thriller On Fallen Wings. see movie is selling Ching Po Wong’s martial-arts movie Once Upon A Time In Shanghai. star Alliance sells two Jil Wong titles, $2m drama Guilty and erotic drama S For Sex S For Secrets, as well as Lee Pocheung’s action comedy Gangster Pay Day and Joe Chien’s $4m Zombie Fight Club.

Universe films Distribution presents two Vincent Kok titles, House Of Wolves and Shock Wave (working title) and James Yuen’s Paris Holiday (working title).

www.screendaily.com

HONG KONG HOT FILMS

The Taking Of Tiger Mountain Dir Tsui Hark Currently in post, Tsui Hark’s highly anticipated 3D spy movie, based on the novel Tracks In The Snowy Forest, is produced by Huang Jianxin for Bona Film Group and stars Zhang Hanyu, Tony Leung Ka-fai and Lin Gengxin.

Contact Virginia Leung, Distribution Workshop virginia@ distributionworkshop.com

SPL2 — A Time For Consequences

tainment for an expected 2015 release.

Contact Ricky Tse, Bravos Pictures ricky.tse@bravospictures.com Asian sales Star Alliance info@ staralliancemovies.com

Helios Dirs Sunny Luk, Longman Leung The directors’ follow-up to hit thriller Cold War focuses on a criminal wanted in South Korea who arrives in Hong Kong to sell a nuclear bomb to terrorists.

Jacky Cheung, Nick Cheung and Shawn Yue star.

SPL2 — A Time For Consequences

Dir Soi Cheang The prequel to the 2005 film SPL: Sha Po Lang is a $23m action thriller featuring Tony Jaa alongside Wu Jing and Simon Yam. Currently in production, the story follows a Hong Kong cop trying to save his daughter’s life. Fusing Chinese and Thai martial arts, it is produced

by Sun Enter-

Contact Fred Tsui, Media Asia frederick_tsui@ mediaasia.com

Helios

Additional reporting by Liz s Shackleton ■

The Taking Of Tiger Mountain

WW

Dubai

Film Market

THE LEADING BUSINESS PLATFORM IN THE ARAB WORLD

42 Screen International November 7, 2014

www.screendaily.com

33rd BRUSSELS INTERNATIONAL FANTASTIC FILM FESTIVAL 7  19 ApRIL RIL 2015 AT ThE BRUSSELS’ CENTRE FOR FINE ARTS

The first European Genre Film market Frontières 2015, the only European genrecinema co-production market ( part 5 ), more than 100 feature film premieres, 300 guests, producers, sales agents...

28th International Body Painting Contest

the 32nd Facial Make-Up Contest

© BIFFF & Simon Beuzart

the 9th Cosplay Contest 60,000 spectators…

FIFTH EDITION

BRUSSELS 9-11 APRIL 2015

BRUSSELS INTERNATIONAL FANTASTIC FILM FESTIVAL

Based in Brussels – during the BIFFF – the EGFM ( European Genre Film Market ) with the Frontières International Co-production Market is the one and only market place in Europe bringing together the genre film industry from all over Europe and North America. These events offer companies, both small and large, a unique European market place where they can make deals on projects and films, and exchange information and experiences. The EGFM is of course also open to Asian and Latin American buyers.

CONTACTS EGFM : Pascal Diot pascal@bifff.net • +33 (0)6 07 26 90 33 FRONTIERES : Julie Bergeron julie@vision-in-motion.com • +33 (0)1 43 58 29 55 BIFFF : Georges Delmote ( chairman ) georges@bifff.net • +32 (0)2 201 17 13 Freddy Bozzo & Chris Orgelt ( films ) freddy@bifff.net • chris@bifff.net

AFM 2014 Director Jan Komasa's new movie, "Warsaw 44", has taken just three weeks to become Poland's biggest box office hit of the year!!

Corporate Address: 7141 Valjean Ave. Ste. 200 Los Angeles, CA 91406 Phone: 818-752-2480 Fax: 818-752-9339 www.artistviewent.com info@artistviewent.com

LOEWS # 701

Screening Schedule FAIRMONT 4 November 7th, 2014 3:00pm FAIRMONT 4 November 8th, 2014 3:00pm

Executives Attending AFM 2014: Scott Jones – President, Jay Joyce – Vice President, World Wide Sales, Jennifer Dillon – Director, Distribution Services, Scott Freije - Manager, Sales & Acquisitions AFM office phone: (310) 458-6700 Ext. 701

ScreeningS edited by Paul Lindsell paullindsell@gmail.com

AFM tHeAtreS AMC SAntA MoniCA

loewS Hd Mini-tHeAtreS

1310 3rd Street Promenade, at Arizona Avenue

1700 Ocean Avenue — second floor

BroAdwAy Cineplex

oCeAn SCreening rooM

1441 3rd Street Promenade, just north of Broadway

1401 Ocean Avenue, at Santa Monica Boulevard

douBletree SCreening rooM

tunnel poSt SCreening rooM

1707 4th Street, enter on lobby level

233 Wilshire Boulevard, at northwest corner of 3rd Street

FAirMont SCreening rooMS

» Screening times and venues are correct at the time of going to press but subject to alteration.

See thefilmcatalogue.com for late changes

101 Wilshire Boulevard, enter from 2nd Street

market 8:45am Casanova variations

Drama/biography/ musical. 118mins.

Dir: Michael Sturminger.

Scr: Michael Sturminger.

Cast: John Malkovich, Veronica Ferres, Florian Boesch, Miah Persson.

Alfama Films.

“Viva la liberta!” Alone in a secluded mansion, Giacomo Casanova cries out… then collapses.

When the mysterious and beautiful writer Elisa von der Recke comes to visit, it breathes new life into the old man. The myth of the greatest seducer of all times, Giacomo Casanova. His story is told both through fiction and on-stage opera performances that unravel the tale of his adventures, his passions and, ultimately, his fear of death.

Fairmont 5

Guten taG, ramon

Drama. 120mins. Dir: Jorge Ramirez Suarez.

Scr: Jorge Ramirez Suarez. Cast: Kristyan Ferrer, Ingeborg Schoner.

Mongrel International.

Tells the story of Ramon, a young man from a small northern Mexican town who has tried, unsuccessfully, to cross the US border five times.

Back home he refuses to become a criminal. He decides instead to travel to Germany and contact a

friend’s aunt, but his plans go awry when he can’t find her. He struggles to survive on the streets, not properly prepared for the harsh weather and carrying practically no money, until he meets Ruth, a retired and lonely woman.

They develop an amazing friendship.

Broadway 2

9:00am Captain saBertooth

Family/action/ adventure. 97 mins.

Dir: John Andreas Andersen. Scr: Terje Formoe. Cast: Tuva Novotny, Kyrre Haugen Sydness, Vinjar Pettersen, Sofie Ramirez Bjerke, Pia Tjelta, Anders Baasmo

Christiansen, Odd Magnus Williamson.

Sola Media.

The adventures of the great pirate Captain Sabertooth. Together with the captain and his crew, two courageous children set out on a thrilling quest to find King Rufus’s fabled treasure. amC santa monica 2

sorry iF i Call you love

Romance. 120mins.

Dir: Joaquin Llamas.

Scr: Fran Araujo. Cast: Paloma Bloyd, Daniele Liotti. Film Factory Entertainment.

Alex, 37 years old, is an attractive, intelligent, brilliant and successful advertising exec who’s anxious to gain emotional stability. Yet when he proposes to his girlfriend, he gets rejected. Unable to get over the blow, his seemingly idyllic life starts to fall apart. And then suddenly, without warning and like a gale force wind, Niki stumbles into his path. Alex is not only seduced by this 17-yearold student, he falls in love and sees his life turn upside down.

Doubletree 2

9:00am aFter the Ball

Comedy. 90mins. Dir: Sean Garrity. Scr: Jason Sherman, Kate Melville.

Cast: Portia Doubleday, Chris Noth, Lauren Holly,

46 Screen International at AFM November 7, 2014

Marc-Andre Grondin.

Myriad Pictures.

Kate Kassell’s dream is to design couture clothing, but after graduating no one will hire her. Sure, she’s got a fantastic eye, but she’s also the daughter of retail guru and knock-off pioneer Larry Castle, whose stores sell clothes “inspired” by the very designers Kate wants to work for. Kate is left with no choice but to join Castle Clothing, where she must navigate around a duplicitous stepmother and two wicked stepsisters, whose aim is to discredit her at every turn. But through a budding romance with a prince of a guy in the shoe department, her godmother’s vintage clothes and a shocking switch of identities, Kate is able to expose the evil trio, save Castle Clothing — and prove that it’s what’s on the inside that counts.

Broadway 1

aGainst the sun

Action/adventure.

99mins. Dir: Brian Falk.

Scr: Brian Falk, Mark David Keegan. Cast: Tom Felton, Garret Dillahunt, Jake Abel. Goldcrest Films.

A Second World War pilot, bombardier, and radioman find themselves adrift on a lifeboat without food or water after being forced to ditch their plane during a scouting mission.

Fairmont 2

asterix : the mansions oF the GoDs

Animation. 90mins.

Dir: Louis Clichy. Scr: Alexandre Astier. Cast: Roger Carel. SND M6 Group.

Julius Caesar unveils his latest plan to get rid of those indomitable Gauls once and for all.

As his army has not been able to crush “the last pocket of resistance”, he decides to try a stealth

invasion: civilisation delivered to the village gates! He builds a new Rome — The Land of the Gods — around Asterix’s village, pressuring the Gauls to assimilate or vanish. Despite Asterix and Obelix’s plans to stop the construction work, the buildings quickly rise and the Roman citizens start to peacefully invade their surroundings, bringing chaos to Asterix’s village.

Could this finally mean victory for Caesar? amC santa monica 3

Captain saBertooth see box, above

Darker than niGht 3D

Horror. 100mins. Dir: Henry Bedwell. Scr: Carlos Enrique Taboada.

Cast: Zuira Vega, Adriana Louvier, Erendira Ibarra, Ona Casamiquela, Margarita Saenz, Lucia Guilmain, Josemaria Torre. 6 Sales.

Greta inherits a huge mansion after her aunt Ofelia’s death with the only condition that she takes good care of her life companion, Becker, a cat. Greta moves in with three girlfriends.

One night Becker suddenly dies. In consequence, their carelessness will unleash unexplainable events that will make them feel horror in their own skin. amC santa monica 1

easy sex, saD movies

Romantic comedy.

90mins. Dir: Alejo Floh.

Scr: Jose Nolla. Cast: Ernesto Alterio, Quim Gutierrez, Marta Etura, Julieta Cardinali. Filmax International.

In Buenos Aires, Pablo is asked to write a romantic comedy that takes place in Madrid. Easy enough, he has mastered the genre, and we see the first steps of the love story between Marina and Victor. But soon Pablo enters into crisis mode. How can he write about love when his own love life is such a disaster? Can Victor and Marina reach their love story? amC santa monica 4

the Farewell party

Drama/black comedy.

93mins. Dir: Tal Granit, Sharon Maymon. Scr: Sharon Maymon, Tal Granit. Cast: Zeev Revah, Levana Finkelstein, Alisa Rozen, Ilan Dar, Rafael Tabor. Beta Cinema.

Yehezkel, age 75, living in a Jerusalem retirement home, decides to fulfil his terminally ill best friend Max’s wish to die in peace.

Despite the objections of his wife Levana, Yehezkel and Max’s wife Yana enlist the help of Dr Daniel, a veterinarian, and retired police officer, Raffi Segal, to help them with their mission. At the moment of truth the » www.screendaily.com

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

MY

K

SCREENINGS

age, a soaring free spirit continues to inspire. tPost 1

it’S only MAke Believe See box, left

kelly & CAl See box, below

leArning to drive

market 9:00am it’S only MAke Believe

Thriller/drama. 91 mins. Dir: Arild Ostin Ommundsen. Scr: Arild Ostin Ommundsen. Cast: Silje Salomonsen, Tomas Alf Larsen. Princ Films.

During a robbery Jenny tells her boyfriend Frank, a small-time criminal, that she is pregnant.

Frank is overjoyed and proposes to her on the spot. But the robbery is a disaster and they are caught in a chaotic gunfight. In the confusion Jenny shoots two people.

One of them is Frank.

group realise that none of them is willing to “pull the trigger”. A retired engineer and inventor, Yehezkel builds a machine for self-euthanasia, purely to help his friend. But after Max is gone, rumours about the machine begin to spread and the group receives more pleas for help. Meanwhile, Yehezkel refuses to face the reality of his wife’s deteriorating dementia. As Yehezkel navigates between new requests for the machine, and Levana’s growing dependency, boundaries begin to blur and the moral dilemmas the group face become impossible to bear. doubletree 1

the gAte

Drama/historical.

Many years later Jenny is released from prison.

With no job and living in a wobbly old house she sets out to establish a relationship with her 10-year-old daughter, Merete. Merete and Jenny start spending time together and a chemistry slowly evolves between them. Soon the past catches up with Jenny. A gang of criminals who lost money because of her, force her to yet again enter the criminal life she has worked so hard to leave behind. loews 3

95mins. Dir: Regis Wargnier. Scr: Regis Wargnier, Antoine Audouard. Cast: Raphael Personnaz, Olivier Gourmet, Kompheak Phoeung. Gaumont.

Two decades after forging an unlikely alliance in Pol Pot’s Cambodia, a French ethnologist and a former Khmer Rouge official meet again after the latter is arrested for crimes against humanity.

AMC Santa Monica 5

goodnight MoMMy

Thriller. 99mins.

Dir: Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala. Scr: Veronika Franz, Severin Fiala. Cast: Susanne Wuest, Elias Schwarz, Lucas Schwarz. Films Distribution.

In the heat of the summer.

48 Screen International at AFM November 7, 2014

An isolated house in the countryside between woods and corn fields. Ten-yearold twins wait for their mother. When she comes back, her head wrapped in bandages after plastic surgery, nothing is as it was before. Stern and distant now, she shuts the family off from the outside world. Starting to doubt that this woman is actually their mother, the boys are determined to find the truth by any means.

Broadway 4

iriS

Documentary. 76mins.

Dir: Albert Maysles.

Cast: Iris Apfel. Magnolia Pictures.

A charming documentary about fashion icon Iris Apfel, the quickwitted, flamboyantly dressed 93-year-old style maven who has had an outsized presence on the New York fashion scene for decades. More than a fashion film, the documentary is a story about creativity and how, even at Iris’ advanced

Romance/drama.

105mins. Dir: Isabel Coixet. Scr: Sarah Kernochan. Cast: Ben Kingsley, Patricia Clarkson. WestEnd Films.

When her husband of 20 years walks out on her, Wendy Shields watches her comfortable life crumble overnight. Struggling to reclaim her independence in New York City, she hits a unique roadblock: she never learned to drive. Her life is forever changed when she meets Darwan, a driving instructor and part-time cab driver on the brink of an arranged marriage.

In each other’s company, Wendy and Darwan find the courage to ask for directions, the strength to move forward, and a friendship for the ride.

97mins. Dir: Claudio Fäh. Scr: Bastian Zach, Matthias Bauer. Cast: Ryan Kwanten, Tom Hopper, Ed Skrein, Charlie Murphy. The Salt Company.

A band of Vikings cross enemy lines and a panicked race begins. The losers will pay with their lives.

AMC Santa Monica 6

PAinkillerS

Thriller/psycho-drama.

100mins. Dir: Peter Winther. Scr: Jason Groce, Kirk Roos, Peter Winther. Cast: Colm Feore, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Tahmoh Penikett.

Darclight Films.

A mercenary group is sent into Afghanistan for a highly secretive mission, only to wake up in a mental asylum with no memory of what happened, and half of their team dead. Fed a new PTSD medication to help trigger their memories, a secret comes to light that threatens their lives if they tell. loews 2

ocean

SPlit SeCond

northMen: A viking SAgA

Psycho-drama/mystery/ thriller. 82mins. Dir: Mike Criscione. Scr: Trevor Allen, Ricky Lloyd

Action/adventure.

hyenA

Thriller. 112mins.

Dir: Gerard Johnson.

Scr: Gerard Johnson.

Cast: Peter Ferdinando, Stephen Graham, Gerard Johnson, Neil Maskell.

Independent.

Michael Logan is an anti-hero for our times: a natural predator and a complex mix of highfunctioning addict and corrupt police officer.

But his dark world is evolving. A recent influx of ruthless Albanian gangsters is threatening to change London’s criminal landscape.

Michael’s razor-sharp instincts have always kept him one step ahead, but now his increasingly self-destructive behaviour and the sheer brutality of the new gang lords find Michael in a spiraling descent of fear and selfdoubt

market 9:00am kelly & CAl

Drama/comedy. 107 mins.

Dir: Jen Mcgowan. Scr: Amy Lowe Starbin. Cast: Juliette Lewis, Jonny Weston, Cybill Shepherd. Electric Entertainment.

Former rocker turned suburban mom Kelly is nostalgic for a life she can no

longer have and uncertain of a future where she doesn’t yet fit in.

Seventeen-year-old Cal is frustrated at his lack of control over a recent life-altering incident. When the two strike up an unlikely friendship it’s the perfect spark needed to thrust them both back to life.

Fairmont 4

»

Broadway 3

www.screendaily.com

Action Diva Media

VISIT MIMI LESSEOS AT LOEWS HOTEL 307 actiondivatv@gmail.com | 310-458-6700 Ext: 307 (Loews Hotel)

RAVEN BANNER ENTERTAINMENT

THE LOEWS HOTEL - SUITE 601 Michael Paszt mobile 647-997-0600 Sonia Lowe mobile 416-829-2373 James Fler mobile 416-428-3537 mpaszt@ravenbanner.ca

slowe@ravenbanner.ca

www.ravenbannerentertainment.com

RavenBanner AFM Ad 2014 Friday pg 1.indd 1

jfler@ravenbanner.ca

2014-11-04 12:03 PM

Rave

2:03 PM

RAVEN BANNER ENTERTAINMENT

THE LOEWS HOTEL - SUITE 601 Michael Paszt mobile 647-997-0600 Sonia Lowe mobile 416-829-2373 James Fler mobile 416-428-3537 mpaszt@ravenbanner.ca

slowe@ravenbanner.ca

www.ravenbannerentertainment.com

RavenBanner AFM Ad 2014 Friday pg 2.indd 1

jfler@ravenbanner.ca

2014-11-04 12:04 PM

SCREENINGS

VANTAGE M

E DI

S CR

2014

PREMIERES

M F A I VMEENING TODAY IO IONAL / VIS T A N R E T A IN

N MUSIC,

INC

George. Cast: Kaila Amariah, Catherine Hicks, Scott Bailey, Greg Evigan. Goliath Film & Media Holdings.

Layla wakes up in her bed one day with no memories of her surroundings, family or the horrible car crash that killed her father. As she slowly tries to recover, she begins to suspect that her mother and sister may somehow be involved in his death — but can she trust herself ?

tiger house

Thriller. 85mins.

Dir: Thomas Daley.

Scr: Simon Lewis.

Cast: Kaya Scodelario, Dougray Scott. Altitude Film Sales.

Kelly sneaks into her boyfriend Mark’s house, but tonight she’s not the only unwelcome visitor. As the situation spirals out of control the suburban house becomes a terrifying arena for violence.

11:00am Allies see box, below

Cowboys

Comedy. 104mins. Dir: Tomislav Mrsic. Scr: Tomislav Mrsic. Cast: Sasa Anocic. Wide.

A story of eight outsiders who will try to create a theatre play while breaking every rule of theatre craft. loews 2

AMC santa Monica 7

DeAth in buenos Aires

Fairmont 1

Horror/psycho-drama.

85mins. Dir: Chad Michael Ward. Scr: Chad Michael Ward, Pearry Teo. Cast: Robert Brettenaugh, Alexandra Bard. Bleiberg Entertainment.

When a brilliant but obsessive scientist goes to extremes to develop a universal cure for all disease, he finds himself infected with a bizarre parasite that begins to transform him into a bloodthirsty madman.

Time running out, and with the aid of his med student assistant, he must find a way to stop the monster that is growing within and prevent the rest of the world from being “cured”.

Thriller. 77mins.

Dir: Rupert Glasson.

Scr: Rupert Glasson.

Cast: Sophie Lowe, Beau Knapp. Arclight Films.

Seventeen-year-old Lola Franklin runs away from home but allows the world to believe she has been kidnapped. Intent on making her way across country, she meets a boy her age, Marlo, in a New Mexico diner. They fall instantly in love. But when Marlo learns of the reward for Lola’s safe return, he must confront his own past and decide whether to take Lola back home to collect the reward or help her continue her mysterious journey.

Suspense/thriller.

92mins. Dir: Natalia Meta. Scr: Natalia Meta. Cast: Demian Bichir, Chino Darin, Monica Antonopulos, Carlos Casella, Emilio Disi, Jorgelini Aruzzi, Humberto Tortonese. Film Factory Entertainment.

Detective Chavez, a family man and a tough cop, is put in charge of the investigation into a homicide that took place in the most exclusive circles of high society in 1980s Buenos Aires. At the crime scene, Chavez meets officer Gomez, nicknamed The Goose, a good-looking rookie who becomes his right-hand man and goes undercover as bait to catch the murderer.

Fairmont 3

loews 1

tPost 1

whAt lolA wAnts strAnge blooD

H T A E D R E AFT

M P 0 0 : 7 7 V O N , Y A D I FR ONT 2 th

FA I R M STANLEY

MON A

LOEWS 703

DING: ES ATTEN E XECUTIV , PRESIDENT M ELIS ANDRE RELIS@VMIWORLDWIDE.CO AR S E L A S T OR OF S, DIREC@VMIWORLDWIDE.COM IL F U A E B JD J.D. NT VELOPMIDEE.COM NS & DEVM W LD IO OR IT IW IS U SMONAHAN@ H A N, A C Q

VMI 1419 Wilcox Avenue los Angeles, cA 90028 usA Phone: 323.703.1115 FAx: 323.207.8024 sAles@vmiWorldWide.com WWW.vmiWorldWide.com

market 11:00am Allies

Action/adventure. 93 mins.

Dir: Dominic Burns. Scr: Jeremy Sheldon. Cast: Julian Ovenden, Chris Reilly, Matt Willis. Parkland Pictures.

August 1944. A team of British soldiers led by a US captain are dropped behind

enemy lines in France on a mission that could shorten the war. As nothing goes according to plan, commando Sergeant Harry McBain and Captain Gabriel Jackson know they must put aside personal animosity if the mission is to succeed. Inspired by true events, the story of friendship and survival.

Fairmont 2

»

52 Screen International at AFM November 7, 2014

www.screendaily.com

SCREENINGS

life. His wife, who couldn’t watch her husband perish day after day, goes in search of a model to encourage him to go back to work. Then one day she comes across a young mother with two children who suffered loss in the war. aMC Santa Monica 7

Luna

market 11:00am The DiaboLiCaL

Horror. 89 mins. Dir: Alastair Legrand. Scr: Alistair Legrand, Luke Harvis. Cast: Ali Larter, Patrick Fischler, Arjun Gupta. Content.

Madison, a single mother who with her children is

The DiaboLiCaL See box, above

eL aMeriCano: The Movie 3D

Animation/childrens.

100mins. Dir: Ricardo Arnaiz. Cast: Edward James Olmos, Lisa Kudrow, Rico Rodriguez.

FilmSharks International.

Cuco is a Mexican boy parrot that would rather imitate the crazy stunts of his TV super-parrot hero, El Americano, than help with his chores at the family bird circus. Yet when a gang of bully birds threatens his ringmaster father and takes over the circus, Cuco sets off on a hilarious and perilous journey to Hollywood to enlist his hero in his fight, only to discover the true hero within himself. broadway 3

eSio TroT

Family. 90mins. Dir: Dearbhla Walsh. Scr: Richard Curtis, Paul Mayhew-Archer. Cast: Judi Dench, Dustin Hoffman, James Corden.

The hero oF CoLor CiTy

awoken nightly by an increasingly strange and intense presence.

She seeks help from her scientist boyfriend, Nikolai, who begins a hunt to destroy the violent spirit that paranormal experts are too frightened to take on. broadway 4

Red Arrow International.

Mr Hoppy, a retired bachelor, harbours a secret passion for his neighbour, the lovely Mrs Silver. Unfortunately, she lavishes all her affection on another.. Alfie, her pet tortoise. Mr Hoppy yearns to talk to Mrs Silver, but tongue-tied and shy, his attempts always end in disaster. And when Mr Pringle, a boorish nextdoor neighbour, asks Mrs Silver out on a date, Mr Hoppy’s world falls apart.

Mrs Silver’s greatest wish is for her tortoise, Alfie, to grow a little bigger.

All is lost for Mr Hoppy until he has the brightest, most devious of ideas. Mr Hoppy’s wildly ingenious plot to defeat his rival and win the love of his lady will delight and amaze, involving, as it does, a cryptic riddle and no fewer than 140 tortoises, large and small. ocean private screening — invitation only

Animation/childrens.

80mins. Dir: Frank Gladstone. Scr: Jess Kedward. Cast: Christina Ricci, Rosie Perez, Wayne Brady, Craig Ferguson. Moviehouse Entertainment.

An imaginative tale chronicling the adventures of a diverse band of crayons as they strive to protect not only their magical multihued homeland but the imagination of children everywhere from a terrifying monster.

See box, right

54 Screen International at AFM November 7, 2014

Loews 3

MiLLionaire Dog

Family. 94mins. Dir: Tom Fernandez. Scr: Tom Fernandez. Cast: Ivan Massague, Patricia Conde. DeAPlaneta International.

Since winning the lottery,

Fairmont 5

Mourning grave

Horror/mystery. 90mins.

Dir: Oh In-Chun. Scr: Lee Jong-Ho. Cast: Kang Ha-Neul, Kim So-Eun. 9ers Entertainment.

A teenager with the ability to see ghosts returns to his hometown to face his demons.

Fairmont 1

aMC Santa Monica 3

L.a. SLaSher

Fantasy/comedy. 86mins.

Dir: Martin Owen.

Scr: Abigail Wright, Elizabeth Morris, Martin Owen. Cast: Abigail Wright, Andy Dick, Danny Trejo, Dave Bautista, Drake Bell, Eric Roberts, Mischa Barton.

Archstone Distribution.

Incensed by the tabloid culture which celebrates it, the L.A. Slasher publicly abducts a series of reality TV stars, while the media and general public in turn begin to question if society is better off without them.

A biting, social satire about reality TV and the glorification of people who are famous for simply being famous.

Fairmont 3

LaTe Spring The Forger

Shin Yang-Joong. Cast: Park Yong-Woo, Kim Seo-Hyung. M-Line Distribution.

In post-war Korea, the government decides to dispatch troops to Vietnam in an attempt to rebuild the country’s devastated economy. A genius sculptor and renowned figure in the art scene of the day is diagnosed with a progressive disorder that eventually leads to total paralysis of the body. In despair, he abandons work and loses the meaning of

Fantasy/drama. 104mins.

Dir: Dave McKean.

Scr: Dave McKean.

Cast: Dervla Kirwan, Ben Daniels, Stephanie Leonidas, Michael Maloney. Media Luna New Films.

After losing their baby, Grant and Christine visit an old friend with a new partner in his isolated and idyllic seaside house. Over a long weekend, secrets are revealed and the life of the dead child is lived out in a series of fantastical dreams that become an opportunity for spiritual healing.

Pancho enjoys a life of luxury, indulging his every whim. His PA Alberto administers his tremendous fortune, trying unsuccessfully to make him responsibly rich, to persuade him to give up his squandering ways. One day, Pancho receives a proposal from unscrupulous billionaire Montalban, who wants to make Pancho a toy industry superstar.

Despite the expert advice of Patricia, a beautiful young woman who’d been friends with Alberto at university, Montalban’s plans come to nothing.

So he decides to kidnap Pancho with the help of henchmen Marcos and Tenazas. Pancho discovers the unexpected dangers of real life, discovers more about himself and learns that true wealth is a good friend.

Drama. 100mins. Dir: Cho Keun-Hyun. Scr:

market 11:00am The Forger

Heist. 115 mins. Dir: Philip Martin.

Scr: Richard D’Ovidio. Cast: John Travolta, Christopher Plummer, Tye Sheridan, Jennifer Ehle, Anson Mount, Abigail Spencer, Marcus Thomas. The Solution Entertainment Group.

Tells the story of a former child art prodigy and second-generation petty thief, Ray Cutter, who arranges to buy his way out of prison to spend time with his ailing son. Ray and his father, Joseph, must come together to carry out one last big job for the syndicate that financed his early release.

Doubletree 2

»

www.screendaily.com

media luna AFM screenings Thursday 06th Nov

Friday 07th Nov

Friday 07th Nov

Thursday 06th Nov

Thursday 06th Nov

Sitges

no thank you valkama F I L M kinotar P R E S E N T S A samuli

BY BASED ON THE NOVEL

anna-leena härkönen

anu sinisalo ville virtanen kai vaine

media luna new films Kaiser-Wilhelm-Ring 38 • 6th Floor • 50672 Cologne • Germany

COSTUME DESIGNER KAROLIINA KOISO-KANTTILA MAKE-UP DESIGNER KATI KOSKELA DESIGNERS media luna new films Kaiser-Wilhelm-Ring 38 • 6th Floor • 50672 Cologne • Germany mediaSETluna new TYTTIfilms TIRI &Kaiser-Wilhelm-Ring OKKU RAHIKAINEN38 • 6th Floor • 50672 Cologne • Germany Tel.: +49 221 510 91891 • Fax: +49 221 510 91899 • idamartins@medialuna.biz • www.medialuna.biz +49 221 510 91891 • Fax: +49 221 510 91899 • idamartins@medialuna.biz • www.medialuna.biz PRODUCTION MANAGER MIKKO TENHUNEN SOUND DESIGNER PANU RIIKONEN EDITOR HARRI Tel.: COMPOSER CINEMATOGRAPHER YLÖNEN TIMO LASSY ANSSI LEINO F.S.C

Tel.: +49 221 510 91891 • Fax: +49 221 510 91899 • idamartins@medialuna.biz • www.medialuna.biz

Loews 1 media luna new films 8:45am Loews 3 11:00am

Kaiser-Wilhelm-Ring 38 • 6th Floor • 50672 Cologne • Germany Tel.: +49 221 510 91891 • Fax: +49 221 510 91899 • idamartins@medialuna.biz • www.medialuna.biz

Visit us!

Loews 2 1:00pm

Loews 1 5:00pm

SCRIPT HEIKKI PAAVILAINEN & SAMULI VALKAMA PRODUCERS LASSE SAARINEN & RIMBO SALOMAA DIRECTOR SAMULI VALKAMA

facebook.com/eikiitoselokuva

media luna new films Aachener Strasse 24 • 50674 Cologne • Germany Tel.: +49 221 510 91891 • Fax: +49 221 510 91899 • idamartins@medialuna.biz • www.medialuna.biz

Loews 3 3:00pm

media luna new films @ AFM: Loews #625

www.medialuna.biz

Ida Martins • Mobile: +49 170 966 7900 • info@medialuna.biz Sunday 09th Nov

Saturday 08th Nov

Friday 07th Nov

Friday 07th Nov

Saturday 08th Nov

Sunday 09th Nov

Sitges

no thank you valkama F I L M kinotar P R E S E N T S A samuli

BY BASED ON THE NOVEL

anna-leena härkönen

GRAEME SQUIRES

GRAEME SQUIRES

NICHOLAS GUNN

THE

DREAM CHILDREN

anu sinisalo ville virtanen kai vaine

COSTUME DESIGNER KAROLIINA KOISO-KANTTILA MAKE-UP DESIGNER KATI KOSKELA SET DESIGNERS TYTTI TIRI & OKKU RAHIKAINEN PRODUCTION MANAGER MIKKO TENHUNEN SOUND DESIGNER PANU RIIKONEN EDITOR HARRI YLÖNEN COMPOSER TIMO LASSY CINEMATOGRAPHER ANSSI LEINO F.S.C SCRIPT HEIKKI PAAVILAINEN & SAMULI VALKAMA PRODUCERS LASSE SAARINEN & RIMBO SALOMAA DIRECTOR SAMULI VALKAMA

NICHOLAS GUNN

THE

DREAM CHILDREN A FILM BY ROBERT CHUTER

FAT KID FILMS PRESENTS “THE DREAM CHILDREN” GRAEME SQUIRES NICHOLAS GUNN JESSIKAH BROWN CHRISTOPHER PENDER MUSIC BY ANDREW BISHOP COSTUME DESIGNER ALBAN FARRAWELL EDITED BY SASHA DYLAN BELL PRODUCTION DESIGNER EMMA WICKS DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY MICHAEL SCHOELL EXECUTVE PRODUCERS JULIA BRITTON SUZANNE OPITZ ANDREW POTTS ANTHONY COE PRODUCERS ROBERT CHUTER CHRISTOPHER PENDER ASSOCIATEPRODUCER JOHN HARVIE MORRIS SCREENPLAYBY ANGUS BROWN BASEDONTHEORGINALSTAGEPLAYBY JULIA BRITTON DIRECTEDBY ROBERT CHUTER

facebook.com/eikiitoselokuva

media luna new films Kaiser-Wilhelm-Ring 38 • 6th Floor • 50672 Cologne • Germany Tel.: +49 221 510 91891 • Fax: +49 221 510 91899 • idamartins@medialuna.biz • www.medialuna.biz

media luna new films Aachener Strasse 24 • 50674 Cologne • Germany

media luna new films Kaiser-Wilhelm-Ring 38 • 6th Floor • 50672 Cologne • Germany Tel.: +49 221 510 91891 • Fax: +49 221 510 91899 • idamartins@medialuna.biz • www.medialuna.biz

media luna new films Kaiser-Wilhelm-Ring 38 • 50672 Cologne • Germany Tel.: +49 221 510 91891 • Fax: +49 221 510 91899 • idamartins@medialuna.biz • www.medialuna.biz

Loews 3 3:00pm

Loews 2 9:00am

Loews 2 11:00am

A FILM BY ROBERT CHUTER Tel.: +49 221 510 91891 • Fax: +49 221 510 91899 • idamartins@medialuna.biz • www.medialuna.biz

Loews 3 11:00am

FAT KID FILMS PRESENTS “THE DREAM CHILDREN” GRAEME SQUIRES NICHOLAS GUNN JESSIKAH BROWN CHRISTOPHER PENDER MUSIC BY ANDREW BISHOP COSTUME DESIGNER ALBAN FARRAWELL EDITED BY SASHA DYLAN BELL PRODUCTION DESIGNER EMMA WICKS DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY MICHAEL SCHOELL EXECUTVE PRODUCERS JULIA BRITTON SUZANNE OPITZ ANDREW POTTS ANTHONY COE PRODUCERS ROBERT CHUTER CHRISTOPHER PENDER ASSOCIATEPRODUCER JOHN HARVIE MORRIS SCREENPLAYBY ANGUS BROWN BASEDONTHEORGINALSTAGEPLAYBY JULIA BRITTON DIRECTEDBY ROBERT CHUTER

media luna new films Kaiser-Wilhelm-Ring 38 • 6th Floor • 50672 Cologne • Germany Tel.: +49 221 510 91891 • Fax: +49 221 510 91899 • idamartins@medialuna.biz • www.medialuna.biz

Loews 2 9:00am

media luna new films Kaiser-Wilhelm-Ring 38 • 50672 Cologne • Germany Tel.: +49 221 510 91891 • Fax: +49 221 510 91899 • idamartins@medialuna.biz • www.medialuna.biz

Loews 2 11:00am

media new media luna luna new films films Kaiser-Wilhelm-Ring Kaiser-Wilhelm-Ring 38 38 • • 6th 6th Floor Floor • • 50672 50672 Cologne Cologne • • Germany Germany phone.: +49 221 510 91891 • Fax: +49 221 510 91899 • www.medialuna.biz phone.: +49 221 510 91891 • Fax: +49 221 510 91899 • www.medialuna.biz

SCREENING AT AFM

PIRATE’S CODE: THE ADVENTURES OF MICKEY MATSON

SHELBY: THE DOG WHO SAVED CHRISTMAS

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5TH AT 1PM

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7TH AT 5PM

AMC SANTA MONICA 4

FAIRMONT 5

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9TH AT 1PM DOUBLETREE 1

SUITE 466 LOEWS HOTEL

SCREENING AT AFM

KATHERINE HEIGL BEN BARNES WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY AMI CANAAN MANN THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6 AT 1PM AMC SANTA MONICA 3 THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6 AT 3PM DOUBLETREE 2

OFFICIAL SELCTION OF THE VENICE FILM FESTIVAL

SCREENING AT AFM

HAILEE STEINFELD JESSICA ALBA SAMUEL L. JACKSON THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6 AT 11AM BROADWAY CINEPLEX 1

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7 AT 1PM BROADWAY CINEPLEX 2

SUITE 466 LOEWS HOTEL

SCREENINGS

Yearning for a “normal” adolescence, Megan, a 16-year-old international assassin trained at the Prescott School for Girls, fakes her own death and enrolls in a suburban high school. When her disgruntled training master Maxwell Hardman and a dangerous arms dealer Victoria Knox track her down, Megan finds herself with more extracurriculars than any teenager could handle.

Broadway 2

BAttlE For SkyArk See box, below

BornInG

market 1:00pm thE BArBEr

Thriller. 90 mins. Dir: Basel Owies. Scr: Max Enscoe. Cast: Scott Glenn. Little Film Company.

John LaRue has been hunting for a serial killer — not to expose him but

thE PIrAtE

Action/adventure/ historical/true story.

101mins. Dir: Iannis Smaragdis. Scr: Iannis Smaragdis. Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Sebastian Koch, John Cleese. Vision Films.

An epic tale, spanning decades and continents, about Ioannis Varvakis, an Enlightenment-era rapscallion, who sided with the Russians in their 1768 war with the Turks, befriended Catherine the Great, built a fortune out of caviar — and then gave it all away to help his motherland fight the Ottoman Empire. loews 1

SkIn trADE

Action/adventure/thriller.

96mins. Dir: Ekachai Uekrongtham. Scr: Dolph Lundgren, Gabriel Dowrick, Steven Elder.

Cast: Tony Jaa, Dolph Lundgren, Ron Perlman, Michael Jai White, Peter Weller, Celina Jade. Hyde Park International.

After his family is killed by a Serbian gangster with

to learn the business.

Eugene is a small-town barber, beloved by the local community, but hiding a deadly secret.

They form a twisted bond and turn the town upside down as Eugene teaches John to kill.

Broadway 1

international interests.

NYC detective Nick goes to Southeast Asia and teams up with a Thai detective to get revenge and destroy the syndicates human trafficking network.

Broadway 1

SonG oF thE SEA

Animation. 90mins. Dir: Tomm Moore. Scr: Will Collins. Cast: Brendan Gleeson, Fionnula Flanagan. WestEnd Films.

Tlls the story of Ben and his little sister Saoirse — the last seal-child — who embark on a fantastic journey back to their home by the sea, across a fading world of ancient Irish legends and magic, a world that needs Saoirse to find her voice and sing the “Song of the Sea” to save all of fairy kind from being lost forever.

Broadway 2

SPl2 — A tIME For ConSEquEnCES/ZoMBIE FIGht CluB ProMo

Action/adventure.

25mins. Dir: Soi Cheang, Joe Chien. Scr: Joe Chien.

58 Screen International at AFM November 7, 2014

Cast: Tony Jaa, Louis Koo, Jing Wu, Simon Yam, Jin Zhang, Andy On, Jessica C, Philip Ng. Star Alliance Movies (HK) Co. Doubletree 1 Buyers only

thEEB

Drama/action/adventure.

100mins. Dir: Naji Abu Nowar. Scr: Bassel Ghandour, Naji Abu Nowar. Cast: Jacir Eid, Hassan Mutlag, Hussein Salameh, Jack Fox, Marji Audeh. Fortissimo Films.

In the Ottoman province of Hijaz during the First World War, a young Bedouin boy experiences a greatly hastened coming of age as he embarks on a perilous desert journey to guide a British officer to his secret destination.

1:00pm thE BArBEr See box, left

BArEly lEthAl

Action/adventure/ Comedy. 98mins. Dir: Kyle Newman. Scr: John D’Arco. Cast: Hailee Steinfeld, Jessica Alba, Samuel L Jackson.

Highland Film Group.

Action/adventure/ Comedy. 100mins. Dir: Hallvard Braein. Scr: Linn-Jeanethe Kyed.

Cast: Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Jenny Skavlan, Otto Jespersen, Sven Nordin. Svensk Filmindustri.

A group of car enthusiasts decide to stage an “illegal street race” from Oslo to the North Cape — a distance of 2,208 kilometers. Some 26 cars line up for the challenge,

which will be both personal and technical.

This high-tech production will feature car racing on the highest professional level, extreme stunts and wild comedy in addition to a strong, emotional father and daughter story.

AMC Santa Monica 7

CASuAl EnCountErS

Romantic comedy.

86mins. Dir: Zackary Adler. Scr: Sebastian J. Michael. Cast: Brooklyn Decker, Taran Killam, David Krumholtz, David Arquette. Carnaby International.

When Justin’s girlfriend of five years leaves him heartbroken and embarrassed after a public break-up, his helpful but somewhat misguided friends talk him into the strange world of online dating. Navigating through the trials and tribulations of dating in the 21st century, Justin’s search for Miss Right leads him through some wild, crazy and hilarious experiences.

But sometimes Miss Right is not even a click away.

Doubletree 1

AMC Santa Monica 1

yuGo & lAlA 2

Animation/family/action/ adventure. 76mins. Dir: Yunfei Wang. Scr: Yunfei Wang. Golden Network Asia.

Yugo, an adventurous and brave young girl, runs away from home after being scolded by her father. She returns to the fantastical kingdom in the clouds to find her friends Lala and Uncle Bear. Just as they’re celebrating their reunion, a crisis breaks out: all living creatures in the kingdom are shrinking.

market 1:00pm BAttlE For SkyArk

Sci-fi/action/adventure/thriller.

88 mins. Dir: Simon Hung. Scr: Simon Hung, Guy Malim. Cast: Caon Mortenson, Garrett Coffey, Taylor Coliee, Luke Davis. Empress Road Pictures.

In the near future the Earth has become desolate and dangerous. Taken over by a mysterious race of creatures, humanity has been forced to find refuge in the SkyArk, a man-made city in the

sky. But as populations grow, space becomes less and less and only the rich and powerful stay. An internal uprising begins, but the leading commander of the uprising loses his life. His son, Rags, is branded with 13 marks of shame and exiled to Earth, where he is met with his fellow exiles. There he learns that it was prophesied that “the son of the uprising commander with 13 marks” would come to save them. Rags must now lead his fellow orphans to safety.

AMC Santa Monica 2

»

AMC Santa Monica 6

www.screendaily.com

SCREENINGS

disappear with his loot.

But things do not work out that way and Till and Nappo escape together.

After the first shock, Till throws all caution to the wind and dives into adventure with his kidnapper.

dARK wAs the night

Thriller/horror.

97mins. Dir: Jack Heller.

Scr: Tyler Hisel. Cast: Kevin Durand, Lukas Haas, Bianca Kajlich.

Premiere Entertainment Group.

A long slumbering evil is awoken in the trees outside the remote town of Maiden Woods. Isolated and threatened, it sets its sights on the townspeople, as Sheriff Paul Shields attempts to overcome the demons of his past, so that he may protect those that he loves.

Fairmont 5

Possessed

Animation/black comedy/horror. 81mins.

Dir: SAM. Scr: SAM. Cast: Santiago Segura, Alex Angulo. FilmSharks International. doubletree 2

ocean

Red Knot enCounteR

Horror/drama/ supernatural thriller.

82mins. Dir: Susannah O’Brien. Scr: Susannah O’Brien. Cast: Justin Arnold, Andrea Nelson. Sahara Vision Productions.

A pair of newlyweds set up cameras in and around an old farm house for husband Ted’s grad school film thesis on orbs. It’s not long before they discover a dark and terrible secret that threatens their sanity and their lives.

Loews 1

evA BRAun

Erotic/drama. 82mins.

Dir: Simone Scafidi.

Scr: Simone Scafidi.

Cast: Andrea de Onestis, Susanna Giaroli, Federica Fracassi. Wide.

Takes inspiration from the actual sex scandals in the Italian Parliament and from the ‘120 Days of Sodoma’ by Marquis De Sade. This mix creates a grotesque journey through power, sex and the will of people who do everything to be successful.

Loews 2

extRAoRdinARy tALes

Animation. 80mins. Dir: Raul Garcia. Scr: Raul Garcia. Cast: Christopher Lee. BAC Films.

Five stories by Edgar Allan Poe, each crafted in a graphic design style uniquely suited to the individual segments and inspired by visual artists and illustrators, whose style best expresses the psychological depth and complexity of Poe’s

market 1:00pm sex, Love & theRAPy

Romantic comedy.

88 mins. Dir: Tonie Marshall. Scr: Tonie Marshall. Cast: Patrick Bruel, Sophie Marceau.

SND M6 Group.

Lambert is an addict. A sex addict. It once cost him his pilot job but he’s now trying to work it out through a support group and a new career as a couples therapist. Judith is a nymphomaniac who’s delighted to sleep with everyone she likes and especially the men

dark universe.

Broadway 4

FeAR oF wAteR

Romance. 102mins.

Dir: Kate Lane. Scr: Edward Davenport. Cast: Lily Loveless, Chloe Patridge. California Pictures.

Two teenage girls from very different backgrounds meet one summer to discover friendship and a sexual awakening.

Fairmont 3

gentLe

Drama. 98mins. Dir: Kiet Le-Van. Scr: Kiet Le-Van. Cast: Dustin Nguyen, Thanh Tu Nguyen.

Oration Films.

In contemporary Vietnam, Linh has just committed suicide. Sitting beside her body, her husband Thien recalls how they

60 Screen International at AFM November 7, 2014

the LAst woRd

the night CRew

she works with. Until it gets her fired. So now she’s crashing at her grumpy old uncle’s home, until she gets back on her feet. When Judith applies for a job at Lambert’s practice, they are instantly attracted to each other.

But the more she tries to seduce him, the more he wants to build a healthy relationship with her… not based on sex. It’s an uphill battle every day to keep her from jumping his bones.

Horror. 90mins.

Dir: Simon Rumley.

Scr: Ben Ketai. Cast: Mike Doyle, Erin Cummings, Sean Patrick Flanery. Altitude Film Sales.

After a man is wrongly convicted and executed for murder, the people responsible for his fate begin dying unexpectedly.

Can juror Adam Redman put an end to the curse before it’s too late?

Action/adventure/thriller.

92mins. Dir: Christian Sesma. Scr: Christian Sesma, Paul Sloan. Cast: Luke Goss, Danny Trejo, Bokeem Woodbine, Paul Sloan, Chasty Ballesteros.

Premiere Entertainment Group.

Centres on a group of hard-up bounty hunters who must survive the night in a desert motel against a horde of savage cartel killers when they realise their fugitive, a mysterious Chinese woman, is much more than she lets on.

AMC santa Monica 5

Animation/documentary.

78mins. Dir: Rong Tian.

Scr: Rong Tian. Cast: Yueting Wu, Jiayu Sheng.

China Film Promotion International.

met, their initially happy marriage, how he lost her to the church and their relationship’s disintegration.

But there is far more to the devastating story.

AMC santa Monica 4

Legend oF the PAndAs

Loews 3

LiFe PARtneRs

Drama/fantasy/ sci-fi. 103mins. Dir: Philip Heinrich, Aaron Youngblood. Scr: Philip Heinrich. Cast: Steven Pounders, Devin Perry, Fletcher Inzer, Stan Denman. Sandbox Productions.

A high school science teacher’s fascination with alternate universes and the metaphysical drive him to a dangerous obsession.

His niece must race against time to unravel his mysterious past and save him from himself.

Romantic comedy.

93mins. Dir: Susanna Fogel. Scr: Joni Lefkowitz, Susanna Fogel. Cast: Leighton Meester, Gillian Jacobs, Adam Brody, Gabourey Sidibe. Myriad Pictures.

Tells the comedic tale of two lifelong best friends, Paige and Sasha. The two are polar opposites who turn to each other for all of life’s up and downs. All is fine until Paige meets Tim, a young and charming doctor. As the relationship heats up, Paige and Sasha must learn how to work Tim into their friendship.

Fairmont 4

Fairmont 2

AMC santa Monica 1

in PARAdise

Drama. 84mins. Dir: Scott Cohen. Scr: Scott Cohen. Cast: Vincent Kartheiser, Olivia Thirlby, Billy Campbell. Umedia International.

A young New York couple fall into marital crisis while on board a research vessel en route to Antarctica. Isolated on the ship and separated from humanity by the vast, rugged landscape, Peter and Chloe must plumb the depths of their love to discover what each so desperately needs to move forward.

AMC santa Monica 6

sex, Love & theRAPy see box, left

Fairmont 1

shRew’s nest not My dAy

Comedy. 115mins. Dir: Peter Thorwarth. Scr: Peter Thorwarth. Cast: Moritz Bleibtreu, Axel Stein, Jasmin Gerat, Anna Maria Muhe. Picture Tree International.

Till, a bank teller in his mid-30s, is living an uneventful and average life. His marriage to Miriam is happy, but in danger of getting into a rut after all these years of harmony. Suddenly, Till is torn from his routine when a bank robber storms his branch and takes Till and his car hostage. When the kidnapper takes his mask off, Till recognises Nappo, a former con and unsuccessful loan applicant at Till’s bank.

As the police set up roadblocks, Nappo decides to abandon Till in the trunk of the car and

Horror/suspense.

91mins. Dir: Juanfer Andres, Esteban Roel.

Scr: Juanfer Andres, Sofia Cuenca. Cast: Macarena Gomez, Nadia De Santiago, Luis Tosar, Hugo Silva. Film Factory Entertainment.

Monte’s agoraphobia keeps her locked in a sinister apartment. But one day a neighbour falls down the stairwell and drags himself to their door. Someone has entered the shrew’s nest.. perhaps he’ll never leave.

Broadway 3

toKyo FiAnCee

Romance. 100mins. Dir: Stefan Liberski. Scr: Stefan Liberski. Cast: Pauline Etienne, Taichi Inoue, Julie Lebreton, Alice De Lencquesaing.

Films Distribution.

Her head filled with dreams, Amelie, 20, goes »

www.screendaily.com

SCREENING TODAY - 11:00AM FAIRMONT 5 OTHER SCREENINGS WATCH THE TRAILER HERE

-

NOVEMBER 8TH 1:00pM NOVEMBER 9TH 11:00AM

FAIRMONT 4 FAIRMONT 4

VISIT US AT LOEWS HOTEL, MALIBU ROOM, 7TH FLOOR

ARCHSTONE DISTRIBUTION WWW.ARCHSTONEDISTRIBUTION.COM

SCREENINGS

unveil the shadows hidden in the walls, he begins to descend into insanity, threatening the lives of everyone around him. fairmont 5

Let’s KiLL Ward’s Wife

Comedy. 92mins. Dir: Scott Foley. Scr: Scott Foley. Cast: Patrick Wilson, Amy Acker, Donald Faison. Epic Pictures Group. fairmont 3

CoMet

Romantic comedy.

91mins. Dir: Sam Esmail.

Scr: Sam Esmail. Cast: Emmy Rossum, Justin Long. Content. aMC santa Monica 5

GanGster Pay day

Comedy/action/ adventure. 97mins. Dir: Po Cheung Lee. Scr: Po Cheung Lee, Lily He. Cast: Anthony Wong, Charlene Choi, You Nam WONG. Star Alliance Movies (HK) Co.

market 3:00pm aGnieszKa

Drama. 98 mins. Dir: Tomasz E Rudzik. Scr: Tomasz E Rudzik. Cast: Karolina Gorczyca, Hildegard Schmahl, Lorenzo Nedis Walcher, Elisa Schlott, Jorg Witte. ARRI Worldsales.

“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth,” is the credo of Agnieszka Radomska. After serving five years in prison, Agnieszka flees Poland for Germany in an attempt to start over.

back to Japan, where she spent her childhood. To earn a living, she decides to give private classes in French and meets Rinri, her first and only student, a young Japanese man with whom she soon has an intimate relationship.

Between surprises, happy times and the pitfalls of a culture shock that is both poetic and amusing, she discovers a side of Japan she had never seen before. tPost 1

3:00pm the 7th dWarf

Family/animation.

88mins. Dir: Harald Siepermann, Boris Aljnovic. Scr: Bernd Eilert, Douglas Welbat, Harald Siepermann.

Cast: Nina Hagen. Global Screen.

When Bobo, the youngest

She swears she will never again let her feelings get the better of her or trust anybody. She finally ends up in Munich, where she meets lonely 70-year-old agency boss Madame. Madame takes Agnieszka in as if she was a daughter and arranges a job for her at an escort agency for dominatrixes. After her initial hesitation Agnieszka brings to the job what she can do best: hit hard. doubletree 1

of the seven dwarves, accidentally pricks Princess Rose (aka Sleeping Beauty) and sends the kingdom into a centurylong slumber, Bobo and the other six dwarves must travel into the future in order to revive Rose.. and find that even the smallest dwarf can be a king. fairmont 1

a darK refLeCtion

Thriller. 93mins. Dir: Tristan Loraine. Scr: Viv Young, Tristan Loraine.

Cast: Georgina Sutcliffe, Rita Romnani, Marina Sirtis, Mark Dymond, Nicholas Day. Artist View Entertainment.

Based on true events, a world-renowned female journalist uncovers one of the biggest conspiracies in aviation history when her air traffic controller boyfriend is suspended

62 Screen International at AFM November 7, 2014

following a series of in-flight incidents. fairmont 4

aGnieszKa see box, left

BouLevard

Drama. 88mins. Dir: Dito Montiel. Scr: Douglas Soesbe. Cast: Robin Williams, Bob Odenkirk, Kathy Baker.

Inception Film Partners.

Although Nolan Mack and his wife Joy wake up under the same roof each morning, they seem to be living in separate worlds. Even a work promotion cannot seem to lift the emptiness that permeates his soul.

But Nolan begins a surprising journey when he encounters a troubled young man named Leo who offers the incredible possibility of a new life.

the CanaL

Thriller/horror. 90mins.

Dir: Ivan Kavanagh. Scr: Ivan Kavanagh. Cast: Rupert Evans, Antonia Campbell-Hughes, Steve Oram, Hannah Hoekstra.

Jinga Films.

When a film archivist discovers that the home he shares with his wife and son was the scene of a ghastly murder, he suspects that the building’s sinister past is somehow responsible for the breakdown of his marriage. In his drive to

doubletree 2

the iGnoranCe of BLood

Thriller. 110mins. Dir: Manuel Gomez Pereira.

Scr: Nicolas Saad. Cast: Paz Vega, Juan Diego Botto. Latido Films.

Javier Falcon, Chief Inspector of Homicide, will have to face the Russian mafia and Islamic terrorists to solve two dangerous cases.

MarshLand

Suspense/thriller.

104mins. Dir: Alberto Rodriguez. Scr: Rafael Cobos, Alberto Rodriguez. Cast: Raúl Arevalo, Javier Gutierrez. Film Factory Entertainment.

The Spanish deep south, 1980. A series of brutal murders of adolescent girls in a remote and forgotten town bring together two disparate characters — both detectives in the homicide division — to investigate the cases. With deep divisions in their ideology, detectives Juan and Pedro must put aside their differences if they are to successfully hunt down a killer who for years has terrorized a community in the shadow of a general disregard for women rooted in a misogynistic past.

Broadway 1

Broadway 2

MooMins on the riviera KunG fu JunGLe see box, below

Animation. 80mins. Dir: Xavier Picard. Scr: Leslie

ocean

BranCusi froM eternity

Drama. 100mins. Dir: Adrian Popovici. Scr: Radu Aneste Petrescu, Pascal Ilie Virgil. Cast: Ioan Andrei Ionescu, Claudiu Bleont, Iulia Verdes. Artis Film Romania.

Three periods, three stories and three characters, a story that attempts to portray the personality of the sculptor Constantin Brancusi. Each character speaks in its own way, about talent and works of one of the greatest artists.

market 3:00pm KunG fu JunGLe

Martial arts. 100 mins. Dir: Teddy Chen.

Scr: Teddy Chen, Ho-leung Lau, Tinshu Mak. Cast: Donnie Yen, Baoqiang Wang, Charlie Young, Michelle Bai. Emperor Motion Pictures.

A vicious killer is going round Hong Kong killing top martial-arts exponents.

When convicted killer and kung-fu expert

Xia hears of this, he offers to help the police catch the killer, in return for his freedom. However, the canny and lethal killer eludes them again and again.

Although the latter has made it quite clear that Xia would be his ultimate challenge, Xia refuses to be drawn into a life or death duel — until the killer threatens the woman he loves most. aMC santa Monica 7

»

Loews 1

www.screendaily.com

SCREENINGS

market 3:00pm no ThAnk you

Comedy. 95 mins. Dir: Samuli Valkama. Scr: Heikki Paavilainen, Samuli Valkama. Cast: Anu Sinisalo, Ville Virtanen, Kai Vaine.

Media Luna New Films.

Heli’s husband is not in the mood. After many years of marriage a shoulder massage is the highest form of intimacy for him. When subtle hints, nice words and Steward. Cast: Russell Tovey. Indie Sales.

Features the entire Moomins clan as they embark on a hilarious adventure on the glamorous Riviera.

Snorkmaiden is dazzled by the attention of a playboy and Moomin learns that jealousy’s sting can be terribly painful.

When Moominpappa befriends an aristocrat and adopts the name “de Moomin”, an exasperated Moominmamma retires to the relative calm of their trusty old boat to wait for her family to come to their senses. For the very first time, the unity of the Moomins is threatened.

AMC santa Monica 2

fetching clothes won’t help, Heli turns to increasingly direct action — in vain. Then she meets the attractive Jarno, a stunning young man who, unlike her husband, prefers to play with her instead of computer games. Soon Heli and Jarno are having a passionate affair in which she will discover what she wants, and what she doesn’t want, in life.

Loews 3

When Cooper, who is now a big-city lawyer, returns home to a small northern town for his mother’s wedding, he plans to be in and out without a scratch.

But his deadbeat brother, Toph, has other ideas. He coerces Coop into driving to the remote alpine cabin where they spent their childhood summers. Their plan goes from bad to worse as bruised egos and buried resentments bubble to the surface. Cars explode, cabins burn, pot cookies are consumed, and when the smoke clears the brothers find themselves stranded in the punishing Rocky Mountain winter, fighting for both their relationship and their lives. fairmont 2

MounTAin Men

Comedy. 90mins. Dir: Cameron Labine. Scr: Cameron Labine. Cast: Chace Crawford, Tyler Labine. Myriad Pictures.

no ThAnk you see box, above

noW Add honey see box, right

64 Screen International at AFM November 7, 2014

The PiLGriM — PAuLo CoeLho’s BesT sTory

Biography. 112mins.

Dir: Daniel Augusto.

Scr: Carolina Kotscho.

Cast: Julio Andrade, Ravel Andrade, Paz Vega, Fabiana Guglio. Picture Tree International.

A chronicle of Paulo Coelho’s rise from his troubled life to become one of the most influential writers in Brazilian history.

The Match Factory.

AMC santa Monica 1

VenGeAnCe of An AssAssin

Action/adventure.

100mins. Dir: Panna Rittikrai. Scr: Wichit Wattananont. Cast: Dan Chupong, Nattawut Boonrupsup.

Sahamongkolfilm International.

Broadway 3

AMC santa Monica 6

sWord of VenGeAnCe

Action/adventure.

100mins. Dir: Jim Weedon. Scr: Matthew Read, Julian Unthank.

Cast: Stanley Weber, Anabelle Wallis.

Protagonist Pictures.

Returning to his homeland after long years of slavery, a Norman Prince seeks revenge on his father’s murderer — his uncle, the ruthless Earl Durant.

Gaining the trust of a band of exiled farmers, he leads them into battle against Durant, exploiting them in his inexorable quest for vengeance.

As one by one they get slaughtered in the brutal battle, will he sacrifice everything and everyone to avenge his father?

AMC santa Monica 4

TiGers

Drama. 90mins. Dir: Danis Tanovic. Scr: Danis Tanovic, Andy Paterson.

Cast: Emraan Hashmi, Danny Huston, Khalid Abdalla, Heino Ferch.

WiCked fLyinG Monkeys 3d (AkA sAVe oZ!) 3d

Animation/childrens.

100mins. Dir: Alberto Mar. FilmSharks International.

Ozzy is an enthusiastic and friendly flying monkey, son of the legendary Goliath, the brave warrior. They serve Evilene — the wicked witch — just as the rest of their kin. But Ozzy is not happy about it and when Evilene’s plans put Oz once again in peril, Ozzy reaches out to the “Champions of Oz” the Lion, the Scarecrow and the Tinman, three great friends with incredible qualities that have taken Emerald City to its maximum splendor.

Unfortunately, this will not be easy, they have not been themselves lately, and this is putting it mildly, they have gone bananas as of late (flying monkey pun intended), thanks to Evilene of course. On top of that, a very angry army of flying monkeys is bent on capturing Ozzy and making sure the Champions are no more.

TPost 1

ZoMBie — The resurreCTion of TiM ZoM

Documentary/urban/ biography. 72mins. Dir: Billy Pols. Scr: Billy Pols.

Cast: Tim Zom. Wide.

Tim Zom, born and raised in the south of Rotterdam, steps out of a dark past and stands at the point of becoming an international professional skateboarder.

His career takes him from the cold Dutch reality into the American Dream, with big companies like Nike and Monster Energy supporting him.

Loews 2

5:00pm ALL God’s ChiLdren

Drama. 100mins.

Dir: Adrian Popovici.

Scr: Valeriu Turcanu, Pascal Ilie Virgil. Cast: Emergian Cazac, Rodica Oanta, Ina Surdu, Alina Turcanu, Michael Ironside, Paolo Seganti, Vas Blackwood. Artis Film Romania.

Loews 3

Any dAy

Drama. 94mins.

Dir: Rustam Branaman.

Scr: Rustam Branaman.

Cast: Sean Bean, Kate Walsh, Eva Longoria.

VMI Worldwide.

Centres on an ex-fighter Vian, who is transformed by the love and forgiveness he experiences through his 11-year-old nephew, Jimmy.

AMC santa Monica 5

market 3:00pm noW Add honey

Comedy/black comedy. 100 mins.

Dir: Wayne Hope. Scr: Robyn Butler.

Cast: Portia de Rossi, Lucy Fry, Phillipa Coulthard, Robyn Butler.

Lightning Entertainment Group.

Honey Halloway, a shining Hollywood teen star, returns home to Australia for

a short trip and finds her life crumbling into chaos when her mother is suddenly arrested, and Honey is forced to stay with her aunt Caroline in the suburbs of Melbourne. Honey’s once normal existence is turned upside down and she discovers her family is not so normal after all!

Broadway 4

» www.screendaily.com

Arclight_LastKnights_ScreenDailyAd_v1b.qxp_Layout 1 2014-11-03 11:48 PM Page 1

PREMIERE SCREENING at AFM 5 Nov — 5:00pm

AMC Santa Monica 3

9 Nov — 3:00pm Fairmont 3

AFM OFFICE Loews Hotel Suite #729

l

T 1 310 458 6700 x 729

www.arclightfilms.com

SCREENINGS

start a reluctant existence in his right arm.

breAkup buDDieS

Comedy/road movie.

116mins. Dir: Ning Hao. Scr: Yue XiaoJun, Xing Aina, Sun Xiaohang.

Cast: Bo Huang, Xu Zheng. IM Global.

Recently cuckolded and reeling from a messy divorce, a hapless former singer hits the road — and the bar — with his all-toohelpful best bud.

AMC Santa Monica 6

Shelby: The Dog Who SAveD ChriSTMAS

broadway 2

ChArlie’S FArM See box, right

ChASing TASTe

Comedy/romantic comedy/family. 89mins.

Dir: Sean Gannet. Scr: Lori Fischer. Cast: Lynn Cohen, Phil Vassar, Lloyd Kaufman, Joseph Gannascoli, Kevin Brown, Kirk McGee, Bill Dawes, Ty Jones, Jeff Hiller, April Wilkner, Uma Incrocci, Ryan McDonough, Jabari Grey. Aspire.

Down-and-out writer Chase Guidry is transformed overnight into NYC’s next big food critic before a freak accident robs him of his senses of taste and smell. In order to keep his new-found fame and pursue the love of his life, he relies on a team of super “smellers” and tasters to fake his reviews.

Riding his lie for as long as it will carry him, Chase is bound for a collapse of epic proportion. ‘Chasing Taste’ is a family friendly romantic comedy about lies, food, and affairs of the heart under a brilliant NYC skyline. loews 1

DeAr WhiTe people

Comedy/drama. 108mins.

Dir: Justin Simien. Scr: Justin Simien. Cast: Tyler James Williams, Tessa Thompson, Teyona Parrish. The Exchange.

The lives of four black students at an Ivy League college.

AMC Santa Monica 3

DinoSAur iSlAnD

Family. 100mins. Dir: Matt Drummond. Scr: Matt Drummond. Cast: Paul Padagas, Darius Williams, Nicole Yardley, Vicent Naviti. Arclight Films.

A ‘Wizard Of Oz’ type

market 5:00pm ChArlie’S FArM

Horror. 93 mins. Dir: Chris Sun. Scr: Chris Sun. Cast: Tara Reid, Kane Hodder, Bill Moseley. Shoreline Entertainment.

The violent history of Charlie’s Farm is brought brutally to life when four horrorseeking youths stumble across a legend that refuses to die.

AMC Santa Monica 4

feuds with his wife and kids for the other 12. But the pilot is starting to question the mission. Is he creating more terrorists than he’s killing? Is he fighting a war without end? One soldier’s tale with epic implications.

Fairmont 1

story of prehistoric creatures and ancient magic — a coming-of-age journey for a modern day 13-year-old boy, Lucas, who finds a crystal that creates a distortion in the fabric of time and space and a transports him to a strange island littered with the ghost ships, lost planes and fantastic creatures from throughout history. broadway 4

geT SAnTA

Action/adventure/family.

93mins. Dir: Christopher Smith. Scr: Christopher Smith. Cast: Jim Broadbent, Rafe Spall.

Altitude Film Sales.

Steve Anderson hasn’t always been the perfect father. It’s tough to be when you’re in prison for driving the getaway car in an attempted jewel theft.

But Steve served his time and getting out just before Christmas provides him with the perfect occasion to reconnect with his son, Tom. It’s been three years, it won’t be easy, but he his willing to do whatever it takes to win Tom over.

One evening Steve gets

66 Screen International at AFM November 7, 2014

a call from Tom: an old man claiming to be Santa is in his garage.

He’s crashed his sleigh, lost his reindeer and needs their help to get home. And just when Steve thinks it can’t get any worse, “Santa” gets arrested for a failed attempt at rescuing his reindeer. Not quite believing, but wanting to do the best for Tom, Steve reluctantly agrees to help. Together they must find Rudolph, befriend the elves, break Santa out of prison, all this while outrunning Steve’s tyrannical parole officer.

Will they be able to save Christmas in time? broadway 3

gooD kill

Drama/thriller. 103mins.

Dir: Andrew Niccol. Scr: Andrew Niccol. Cast: Ethan Hawke, January Jones, Bruce Greenwood, Zoe Kravitz, Jake Abel.

Voltage Pictures.

A fighter-pilot turned drone-pilot, based in Las Vegas, fights the Taliban by remote control for 12 hours a day, then goes home to the suburbs and

hAeMoo

Thriller/Drama. 111mins.

Dir: Shim Sung-bo.

Scr: Shim Sung-Bo, Bong Joon-Ho. Cast: Kim Yoon-Seok, Park Yu-Chun, Han Ye-Ri. Finecut.

Doubletree 1

MADAMe bovAry

Drama. 115mins.

Dir: Sophie Barthes.

Scr: Sophie Barthes, Rose Barrenche.

Cast: Mia Wasikowska, Paul Giamatti, Ezra Miller, Rhys Ifans, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Logan Marshall-Green, Olivier Gourmet, Laura Carmichael. Radiant Films International.

Gustave Flaubert’s classic story of Emma Bovary, a young beauty who impulsively marries a small-town doctor to leave her father’s pig farm behind. But after being introduced to the glamorous world of high society, she soon becomes bored with her stodgy husband, and seeks prestige and excitement outside the bonds of marriage.

Tpost 1

MiDnighT Sun

Family/action/adventure.

98mins. Dir: Roger Spottiswoode. Scr: Hugh Hudson, Bart Gavigan.

Cast: Dakota Goyo, Goran Visnjic, Bridget Moynahan. Hyde Park International.

In this epic adventure set among the ice fields of Northern Canada, 14-year-old Luke defies the dangerous elements of nature to reunite an abandoned polar bear cub with its mother. On his trek, Luke is aided

by Muktuk, a half Inuit and half Canadian, who knows the terrain like the back of his hand. When a dangerous storm rolls in, they are soon separated on the floating ice of the high Arctic, and Luke and the cub are left to protect themselves from bear attacks, giant icebergs and vicious elements.

Fairmont 3

pArASyTe

Action/adventure/sci-fi.

108mins. Dir: Takashi Yamazaki. Scr: Ryota Kosawa. Cast: Shota Sometani, Eri Fukatsu, Ai Hashimoto. Toho Co. One night by the seaside, tiny creatures or “parasytes” arrive on Earth to take over human bodies and prey on human kind. One parasyte latches on to a regular high schooler, Shinichi, but he prevents it from completely taking over his mind and body and instead it has to

Family. 91mins. Dir: Brian K Roberts. Scr: Jeremy Wadzinski.

Cast: Chevy Chase, Tom Arnold, John Paul Ruttan.

Highland Film Group.

In this heartwarming family adventure, a downon-his-luck orphaned dog ends up in the home of the loving young master magician Jake Parker on Christmas Eve, quickly causing chaos when a dog catcher is offered a big reward for his return.

Jake must now magically conceal his new friend from his family, the dog catcher and his uncle’s nasty great dane.

Fairmont 5

The Tenor liriCo SpinTo

Drama/biography.

121mins. Dir: Kim Sangman. Scr: Kim Sangman. Cast: Yoo Ji-tae, Yusuke Iseya. More In Group.

The talented Korean tenor Bae Jae-Chul, who penetrates the audience’s hearts through his delicate and powerful singing, is on the rise to stardom on the European opera scene. Koji Sawada, a japanese music producer, is searching for a new tenor for an upcoming performance. He watches a performance of Bae JaeChul and is amazed that an Asian can actually sing better than most European singers. Sawada invites Jae-Chul to Japan, which marks the beginning of a great friendship. But after a successful season of performances, tragedy strikes.

AMC Santa Monica 1

Turkey ShooT

Action/adventure/ thriller. 89mins. Dir: Jon Hewitt. Scr: Antony Ginnane. Cast: Dominic Purcell, Robert Taylor, Viva Bianca. Lightning Entertainment Group.

Disgraced Navy SEAL Rick Tyler — contestant #777 — can rot in a military prison for the rest of his life, or he can put that life on the line to »

www.screendaily.com

“The Cannes of genre films. In four days, we had some 40 meetings with industry leaders from Europe, North America, and Australia” —George Mihalka, Director, My BLOODy LOODy VALENTINE ALENTINE LOOD yV

e h t h t i w t C e n n o C ustry

d s n u i m l i ge n re f

5th Edition in Brussels, 9–11 April || 6th Edition in Montreal, 23–26 July

Brussels Brussels PrOJeCT PrOJeCT suBMIssIONs suBMIssIONs NOW NOW OPeN OPeN Frontières is a transatlantic biannual event taking place in April at the BRUssELs INTERNATIONAL FANTA sTIC FILM FEsTIVAL and in July at F Montreal's FANTA sIA INTERNATIONAL FILM FEsTIVAL . Meet the leaders F of the genre film industry at the first and only genre film co-production market to connect North America and Europe. suBMIssION DeaDlINe: DeaDlINe: 31 31 DeCeMBer DeCeMBer 2014 2014 suBMIssION Brussels Brussels INDusTrY INDusTrY reGIsTraTION reGIsTraTION WIll WIll OPeN OPeN JaNuarY JaNuarY 2015 2015

ANNOUNCING THE EUROPEAN GENRE FILM MARKET AT BIFFF

In order to create, develop and strengthen business bonds for the production, sales and distribution of quality genre films within and outside Europe, the EGFM is a unique business platform and market that will run from April 9–11, 2015 in Brussels.

Submissions & Inquiries

Sponsor & Partnership Opportunities:

Market Director lindsay@fantasiafestival.com

Managing Director, Frontières and EGFM pascal@bifff.net

LINDsAy PETERs

PAsCAL DIOT

For more information: FrontieresMarket.com INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

SCREENINGS

Suite 314, LoewS Santa Monica Beach hoteL, 1700 ocean avenue, Santa Monica, caLifornia 90401 Editor Wendy Mitchell, wendy. mitchell@screendaily.com, +44 7889 414 856 US editor Jeremy Kay, jeremykay67@ gmail.com, +1 310 922 5908 Chief reporter Andreas Wiseman, andreas. wiseman@screendaily.com, +44 7713 086 674 Production editor Mark Mowbray, mark. mowbray@screendaily.com, +44 7710 124 065 Sub editors Paul Lindsell, Adam Richmond Commercial director Andrew Dixon, andrew. dixon@screendaily.com, +44 7595 646 541 Sales manager Scott Benfold, scott.benfold@ screendaily.com, +44 7765 257 260 VP sales and business development, North America Nigel Daly, nigeldalymail@ gmail.com, +1 213 447 5120 US sales and business development executive Nikki Tilmouth, nikki. screeninternational@gmail. com, +1 323 868 7633 International sales consultant Ingrid Hammond, ingridhammond@mac.com, +39 348 5165 631 Production manager Jonathon Cooke, jonathon. cooke@mb-insight.com, +44 7584 333 148 Festival and events manager Jessica Stacey +44 7468 707 867, jessica.stacey@ mb-insight.com Group commercial director, MBI Alison Pitchford, alison. pitchford@screendaily.com Chief executive, MBI Conor Dignam Printer Sinclair Printing, Los Angeles Screen International London 1st Floor Unit F2/G, Zetland House, 5-25 Scrutton Street, London EC2A 4HJ Tel: +44 20 3033 4267 Subscription enquiries Tel: +44 1604 828 706 help@subscribe.screendaily. com

clear his name and win his freedom. A one-man force of nature, Tyler will have to compete against the most skilled and efficient killers on the planet, in the some of the world’s most unforgiving locations. But can Rick find redemption before “Game On” becomes “Game Over”? Tune in to Game #777 of the world’s highest-rated reality event, Turkey Shoot. It’s live, with death… It’s “Survivor with a body count”!

Loews 2

WeLcome to me See box. right

What We DiD on our hoLiDay

Comedy/family. 94mins.

Dir: Guy Jenkin, Andy Hamilton. Scr: Guy Jenkin, Andy Hamilton.

Cast: Billy Connolly, Rosamund Pike, David Tennant. Independent.

Explores the meaning of life and suggests how best to live and love.

Fairmont 2

Zero toLerance

Action/adventure.

90mins. Dir: Wych Kaosayananda. Scr: Wych Kaosayananda. Cast: Scott Adkins, Dustin Nguyen, Gary Daniels.

Phoenix Worldwide Entertainment.

Aa high-octane actionpacked revenge thriller starring a host of the brightest martial arts action movie stars on the planet.

Fairmont 4

7:00pm aFterDeath

Horror. 90mins. Dir: Gez Medinger, Robin Schmidt. Scr: Andrew Ellard. Cast: Miranda Raison. VMI Worldwide.

Five young people wake up dead. Washed up by the tide they scramble to an abandoned beach house, soon realising that the perpetual night and blasts of pain suggest this is some version of hell.

Fairmont 2

Bikini moDeL acaDemy

Comedy. 85mins. Dir: Straw Weisman. Scr: Straw Weisman. Cast: 68 Screen International at AFM November 7, 2014

market 5:00pm WeLcome to me

Comedy. 89mins.

Dir: Shira Piven.

Scr: Eliot Laurence.

Cast: Kristen Wiig, James Marsden, Wes Bentley, Tim Robbins. Cargo Entertainment.

Alice, obsessed with television and fame, wins $86 million on the lottery and decides to

LeaDinG LaDy

spend all of her money on a TV show about herself. The show reflects Alice’s larger-than-life personality but as the show becomes bigger and bigger, the people in Alice’s life start taking their distance from her, leaving Alice to decide whether celebrity and recognition really brings happiness.

Romantic comedy.

96mins. Dir: Henk Pretorius. Scr: Henk Pretorius, Tina Kruger.

Cast: Katie McGrath, Bok van Blerk, Gil Bellows.

Summer Hill Films.

A beautiful British actress journeys to South Africa where she meets a cynical farmer and his quirky family and friends.

Loews 1

Doubletree 2

Love aDDict

Gary Busey, Morgan Fairchild. New Films International.

When TJ and Benji, two California twentysomething, best buddies, lose their girlfriends, they start a home grown Bikini modeling academy to make money and meet new girls. With a little help from TJ’s Uncle Seymour, the guys begin recruiting pretty girls, until their old grade school enemy Grub Snout, who owns his own modeling school, tries to shut them down.

Fairmont 5

Dummie the mummy

Childrens/fantasy/ comedy. 80mins. Dir: Pim van Hoeve. Scr: Tijs van Marle. Cast: Julian Ras, Roeland Fernhout, Jennifer Hoffman. Dutch Features.

The first film in an upcoming successful family film trilogy about Gus and his mysterious Egyptian friend the Dummie. Gus is a normal kid living in a very quiet

Animation/childrens.

100mins. Dir: Ricardo Arnaiz. Cast: Edward James Olmos, Lisa Kudrow, Rico Rodriguez.

FilmSharks International.

Romantic comedy.

95mins. Dir: Charis Orchard. Scr: Chris Pentzell. Cast: Elliott Haddaway, Courtney Stodden, Alyshia Ochse, Zach Alden. TriCoast Worldwide.

A womanising divorce attorney undergoes hypnotherapy for his nicotine addiction and unwittingly finds himself “cured” of his addiction to sex.

tPost 1

Doubletree 1

Gone aStray

nick

Thriller/suspense/ psycho-drama. 85mins.

Dir: Mike Criscione.

Scr: Shawn Hoffman.

Cast: Kaila Amariah, Chris Trousdale, Louis Baldonieri, Matt Marraccini, Anna Sundstrand, Tracey Heggins. Goliath Film & Media Holdings.

A diverse group of students are sent on a field trip that scares them straight and forces them to come to terms with the place for faith and God in their lives.

Thriller. 92mins. Dir: Jose Pozo. Scr: Jose Pozo. Cast: Melina Mathews, Molly Malcolm, Timothy Gibbs.

MonteCristo International Entertainment.

A young boy with boundless imagination tries to solve a murder he witnessed.

village. Suddenly one day he walks into his bedroom and there’s an Egyptian mummy sitting on his bed.

Doubletree 2

eL americano: the movie 3D

Fairmont 3

Loews 3

reSiLient Love

Family. 89mins. Dir: Sean McNamara. Scr: Howard Klausner. Cast: Patrick Warburton, Lauren Holly. American

Cinema International.

When promising high school basketball player Eric “Hoovey” Elliott collapses on the court, doctors discover a lifethreatening brain tumour.

Hoovey survives the highrisk surgery, but at what cost? Can he relearn how to walk, read, or even to see clearly? The road to recovery is long. Meanwhile, overwhelming medical bills threaten to undo everything his parents, Jeff and Ruth, have taken a lifetime to build.

Fairmont 1

roarinG currentS (internationaL verSion)

Action/adventure.

126mins. Dir: Kim Han-min. Scr: Jeon Cheol-hong, Kim Hanmin. Cast: Choiminsik, Ryu Seung-ryong, Cho Jin-woong. CJ Entertainment.

Tells the story of one of Korean history’s most astonishing military victories by one of its most revered strategists, Admiral Yi Sun-shin. ocean

the timBer

Western. 95mins. Dir: Anthony O’Brien. Scr: Steve Allrich. Cast: Josh Peck, James Ransone.

Red Sea Media.

In the wild west, two brothers embark on a journey to collect a bounty: alive or dead, but what they find along the way is more than they bargained for.

Loews 2

www.screendaily.com

Where good ideas count IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund supports extraordinary filmmakers from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe in the realisation of their feature film projects. The Fund provides grants for Script, Project Development, Postproduction and through its minority coproduction programmes HBF Plus and HBF+Europe.

A M E R I C A N

F I L M

I N S T I T U T E

8 DAY

FILM FESTIVAL

NOV 6-13

DOWNLOAD THE MOBILE APP FOR THE FULL SCHEDULE

AFI.com

#AFIFEST