Screen International Day 2 AFM 2016

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TODAY

SCREENINGS

» Page 38

SCRE E N I N G TOM O R R O W KO E N DE BOUW

TINE REYMER

C H A R LO T T E VA N D E R M E E R S C H

DIRK ROOFTHOOFT

STIJN VA N O P S TA L

SASKIA REEVES

A DA M GODLEY

FROM THE DIRECTOR OF LOFT AND THE ALZHEIMER CASE

- SCREENINGS -

Friday 4th November – AMC Santa Monica 2 – 9am Sunday 6th November – AMC Santa Monica 2 – 9am THE WORKS at the AFM - Loews 724 - +1 818 331 8675 In attendance: Clare Crean, Head of Sales, 2-8 November m: +44 7900 212 207 Edrianne Wenger, Sales & Marketing Executive, 2-8 November m: +1 301 785 9087 Credits not contractual

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Stallone joins mob for Assayas passion project Altitude to guarantee Money Back

BY ANDREAS WISEMAN

Altitude Film Sales has taken worldwide sales rights to comedy Dead In A Week (Or Your Money Back), in pre-production and set for an early 2017 shoot.

Two-time Oscar nominee Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton) and Aneurin Barnard (War & Peace) — who will be seen next summer in Christopher Nolan’s war drama Dunkirk — lead the cast alongside Marion Bailey (Mr. Turner).

Tom Edmunds’ feature debut charts the story of a man who outsources his suicide to an ageing assassin after his ninth unsuccessful attempt on his own life. Additional casting is underway.

Producers are Daniel-Konrad Cooper (Burn Burn Burn) and Nick Clark Windo (Blooded). Executive producer is Gina Carter (Bright Young Things) of Sprout Pictures.

Mike Runagall of Altitude Film Sales said: “The film is built around an arresting premise and has all the ingredients to be a fresh, crowdpleasing comedy with broad commercial appeal.”

BY JEREMY KAY

Lotus Entertainment has launched sales here on Idol’s Eye, Olivier Assayas’ cherished heist thriller that will now star Sylvester Stallone as Chicago mob boss Tony Accardo. Stallone replaces Robert De Niro and takes his place alongside Robert Pattinson and Rachel Weisz on the $25m project, which has been reassembled and is ready to shoot in Toronto in February after

WTFILMS TASTES ZOMBIE FEAST French genre specialist WTFilms is launching sales on Paris-set zombie survival picture The Night Eats The

Mara drama Una scores sales WestEnd Films has secured a string of deals on sexual abuse drama Una, starring Rooney Mara. Debuting at Telluride and Toronto, Benedict Andrews’ film has sold to Germany and Austria (Weltkino), Australia and New Zealand (Madman), Latin America (Swen), Canada (ABMO), Scandinavia (Non Stop), Benelux (Splendid Film), Middle East (ECS), Israel (United King), Portugal (Pris), Greece (Tanweer), Russia (Top

financing fell through in late 2014.

Lotus came on board to finance and sell international rights after Toronto International Film Festival. WME Global assembled the revised package and represents US rights.

Pattinson plays a petty thief who unknowingly steals a blue diamond from Accardo and sparks a war between the two men as they strive to stay ahead of the FBI. Charles

Gillibert, Alexandra Milchan, Scott Stuber, Scott Lambert and Michael Benaroya are producing.

Previous financier Benaroya Pictures pulled the plug over financing issues on the eve of production two years ago, when International Film Trust was the sales agent. Lotus’s AFM slate also includes Adrian Lyne drama Silence starring Halle Berry and Michael Douglas, set to shoot in the first quarter of 2017.

Films), Turkey (Mars), Hong Kong (Edko), Singapore (Shaw), Taiwan (Encore), Philippines (Captive) and China (DDDreams).

David Harrower adapted the script from his Olivier Award-winning play Blackbird. The film is produced

by Jean Doumanian and Patrick Daly alongside WestEnd, which is handling world sales. The film will have its market premiere on Friday.

Andreas Wiseman

Matt Dillon, news, page 8

NEWS Playing dead Sean Harris joins Bankside’s supernatural horror Possum. » Page 4

Going to extremes Zentropa producer talks Lars von Trier’s Matt Dillon casting. » Page 8

FEATURE Korean spice The hot projects from South Korea in this year’s market. » Page 14

SCREENINGS

» Page 38

Shochiku takes to Carrie Pilby

BY JEREMY KAY

F LO IRS OK T

Aneurin Barnard

TODAY

Shochiku has acquired Japanese rights from Radiant Films International to Carrie Pilby following its recent world premiere in Toronto.

The deal closed in the run-up to AFM, where Radiant president and CEO Mimi Steinbauer and her team continue to represent international rights. Earlier this week, it emerged The Orchard had picked up North American rights to the film, directed by Susan Johnson, about a conflicted genius, played

by Bel Powley.

World, which started shooting in the French capital last week. The Englishlanguage feature marks a return to genre for Haut et Court, which

produced hit TV series The Returned.

The film is the directorial debut of Dominique Rocher. Anders Danielsen Lie and Golshifteh Farahani star.

Memento, The Jokers enjoy spell in Thornton’s Sweet Country

BY MELANIE GOODFELLOW

Memento Films International has taken on world sales of Warwick Thornton’s Sweet Country, an Australian frontier drama set in the 1920s told from an aboriginal perspective. The film is scheduled to shoot mid-November in Alice Springs, Australia, and will be ready for Cannes. Confirmed cast include Sam Neill, Bryan Brown and Ewen Leslie.

Memento will be starting sales at script stage at AFM. Manuel Chiche’s Paris-based The Jokers has already taken French rights. It is Thornton’s third feature after Samson & Delilah and documentary The Darkside. Sweet Country is being backed by Screen Australia, Screen NSW and the South Australian Film Corporation. Transmission is on board as Australian distributor.

Nikkatsu, Wild Bunch join for Kurosawa sci-fi Japanese studio Nikkatsu is partnering with Wild Bunch to handle international sales on the next film from leading Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa. The as-yet-untitled project is a sci-fi suspense film produced by Nikkatsu and Japanese broadcasters Wowow and Nippon TV (NTV). The producers are keeping details under wraps but say the project is in postproduction and based on an unspecified play that balances satire, humour and science fiction. Nikkatsu is handling Asian sales, with Wild Bunch handling all other international territories.

Liz Shackleton

NEWS

Voltage Pictures scales Evans’ thriller Serpent

BY JEREMY KAY

Voltage Pictures swings into AFM with international sales rights to Distant Horizon’s upcoming thriller Serpent. Amanda Evans will make her feature directorial debut based on her screenplay, which was selected for the Berlin Co-Production Market in 2012.

Serpent takes place during a romantic getaway as a couple find themselves trapped in their tent with a venomous snake. As it becomes clear there may be no escape and the situation sparks a heated exchange, the lovers realise only one of them can make it out alive.

Production wrapped in late summer in South Africa and it is understood the producers are close to a US deal. Distant Horizon chief Anant Singh, Greig Buckle and Evans are producing the film, which stars Sarah Dumont (Scouts Guide To The Zombie Apocalypse) and Tom Ainsley (Versailles, The Royals).

Singh negotiated the deal with Voltage president and COO Jonathan Deckter.

Scott Free tends Monster Nanny

BY JEREMY KAY

Scott Free Productions has signed a deal to develop Finnish family fantasy bestseller Monster Nanny into a feature. Tuutikki Tolonen’s book tells the story of a halfhuman, half-beast nanny that comes to look after three children when their mother wins a holiday.

Producer Gudrun Giddings brokered the deal on behalf of Finland’s Elina Ahlback Literary Agency with Sam Roston of Justin Alvarado-Brown on behalf of Scott Free Productions.

“Nordic Noir has already proven a phenomenon and finally there is now the Scandinavian family adventure story Monster Nanny, to be developed and produced into a feature film by the exceptionally great Scott Free Productions,” said Giddings.

Sean Harris to play Possum in Fyzz horror

BY ANDREAS WISEMAN

Sean Harris, who stars in Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation and ’71, is to lead the cast in UK supernatural horror Possum, which Bankside Films is to launch at AFM. The film marks the directorial debut of UK actor-writerdirector Matthew Holness, who is best known for co-creating the Channel 4 UK comedy series Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace.

The shoot will kick off on

November 28 in Norfolk with additional cast to be announced.

Producers are James Harris, Mark Lane, Robert Jones and Wayne Marc Godfrey of The Fyzz Facility with production finance from Ingenious, Bankside Films and The Fyzz Facility. Bankside Films also funded the development of the screenplay with Creative England.

In Possum, after returning to his childhood home, a disgraced

children’s puppeteer is forced to confront his wicked stepfather and the secrets that have tortured his entire life.

Holness said: “Possum is a supernatural horror combining the stark psycho-drama of George Romero’s Martin with the uncanny terror of Dead Of Night. Possum will terrify in the best tradition of classic horror cinema, evoking an atmosphere of supernatural dread and creeping horror.”

AFM BRIEFS Laurent to helm Galveston Ben Foster and Elle Fanning are to star in crime thriller Galveston, to be directed by Inglourious Basterds actress Mélanie Laurent.

The shoot starts in January.

Embankment is handling sales.

IM Global boards Worthy IM Global’s Anthem label has come on board to handle sales here on Image Nation Abu Dhabi’s Arabic action thriller The Worthy.

Cinetic Media will represent North American rights and director Ali F Mostafa has signed with UTA for US representation.

Back our pros, China panel tells Hollywood

BY LIZ SHACKLETON

Bowie bandmate doc rocks it for Content Content Media has acquired worldwide sales rights to the music documentary Beside Bowie: The Mick Ronson Story. The company is introducing Jon Brewer’s film to the market this week. While the picture is expected to capitalise on global fascination for the late David Bowie, who died in January, the subject is his

frequent collaborator and guitar virtuoso Ronson.

Beside Bowie: The Mick Ronson Story features previously unseen archival footage and photographs chronicling Ronson’s career until his death in 1993 at the age of 46.

Brewer also produces the film, which Content Media chief Jamie Carmichael describes as “the rock

guitar version of 20 Feet From Stardom”.

Content’s AFM roster includes comedy An Actor Prepares with Jeremy Irons, Dan Bush’s supernatural heist thriller The Vault starring James Franco, and Maria Callas biopic Callas & Onassis starring Noomi Rapace.

Jeremy Kay

The Game Changer goes well with Well Go

BY LIZ SHACKLETON

Well Go USA has picked up rights for North America, the UK, Australia and New Zealand to Gao Xixi’s The Game Changer.

The period action title, which stars Huang Zitao (You Are My Sunshine), Peter Ho (The Monkey King) and Wang Xueqi (Iron

4 Screen International at AFM November 3, 2016

Man 3), has also gone to CDC United Network for Latin America. Hong Kong-based Young Live Entertainment is selling the film, which revolves around a trio of gangsters battling each other and rival mobsters in 1930s Shanghai.

Young Live has also added two

titles to its AFM slate: Pang Chun Chan’s Binding Souls, a horror film starring Kara Wai (Mrs K), and Run For Love, a romantic omnibus film with segments helmed by leading Chinese directors including Zhang Yibai, Guan Hu, Zhang Meng, Teng Huatao and Gao Qunshu.

Speaking at the UCFTI Expo on Tuesday, Wanda Pictures general manager Jiang Defu called on Hollywood to co-operate with China to raise the professionalism of Chinese film executives.

“China is lacking producers and marketing executives,” said Jiang, speaking on a panel about marketing US films in China.

“Only a few dozen people graduate from Beijing Film Academy every year and hundreds of Chinese companies are trying to snatch them. There’s a big gap in the Chinese movie industry. If we co-operate, we can match the level of sophistication in Hollywood and build a healthy film industry.”

Speaking on a separate panel on ‘The Art of Dealmaking’, Village Roadshow Entertainment Group Asia president Ellen Eliasoph advised Western companies to spend more time getting to know the Chinese audience when setting up co-productions and other collaborations. “You need to understand who you’re making the film for — the Chinese audience is the most sophisticated and discriminating audience in the world.

“They’re well informed and have a great appetite for every kind of film, also premium TV,” Eliasoph continued. “Your film doesn’t have to be a work of art — but it needs to be smart and well executed.”

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PRIVATE SCREENING – BUYERS ONLY

FRI | NOV 04 | 3 PM ARCLIGHT 3

COMING SOON AMAR is a film about intense emotions, in which the viewer’s gaze will be focused on the two main characters, reflecting a world of contradictions that are so typical of youth. Written and directed by Academy Award® nominated Esteban Crespo (“That Wasn’t Me”) starring María Pedraza, Pol Monen, Natalia Tena (“Game of Thrones”), Greta Fernández (“The Next Skin”) and Gustavo Salmerón.

MARKET PREMIERE A high-concept Sci-Fi-thriller with relatable characters on a nerve-wrecking journey. From producer Christian Alvart (director of “Nick – Off Duty”, “Case 39”, “Pandorum”, “Antibodies”) starring Iwan Rheon (Ramsay Bolton from “Game of Thrones”).

COMING SOON A gripping cross-culture drama about a husband torn between his loyalty to his family and his wife, from the producers of “Vincent” and “Moscow, Belgium”.

THU | NOV 03 | 3 PM AMC SANTA MONICA 5

An action-packed, high speed, high-stakes chase from Hamburg to Istanbul and Moscow with German superstar Til Schweiger (“Inglourious Basterds”, “The Guardians”, “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door“), staged by genre expert Christian Alvart (“Case 39”, “Pandorum”, “Antibodies”).

COMING SOON This thrilling sci-fi-drama is the first feature film by Danish director Max Kestner. Before an impressive setting of a flooded Copenhagen, it stars main actor Carsten Bjørnlund (“The Legacy”) and in a supporting role Sofia Helin. (Int. known as female detective Sage in the crime series “The Bridge”).

Contact at AFM Loews Hotel 6 th Floor, Suite 638 Phone +1 (0) 310 319 - 8404

GLOBAL SCREEN PRESENTS AT AFM 2016

MARKET PREMIERE – 2D

THU | NOV 03 | 11 AM BROADWAY CINEPLEX 3 SAT | NOV 05 | 11 AM BROADWAY CINEPLEX 3

COMING SOON Set in a magical world of fantasy, populated by mythical creatures, BAYALA is based on the very popular BAYALA® brand, the high-end line of fantasy figurines by Schleich.

From the producers of worldwide successes “Niko & The Way To The Stars” and “Ooops! Noah is Gone ...”.

MARKET PREMIERE Richard – a sparrow – is adopted by and grows up with a stork family, convinced he is himself a stork ... A fresh and entertaining, yet deeply touching 3D-animated feature, based on an award winning screenplay.

COMING SOON What better way to travel across the Spanish desert, the Alps and halfway around the world than on a 5-ton elephant? Join the three adventurers in this heart-warming and entertaining 3D animation. Family Entertainment at its best!

FRI | NOV 04 | 9:30 AM ARCLIGHT 4

Brimming with magic, humor and featuring a high-stakes race against time, the sequel to “The Christmas Family” is an enchanting Christmas movie for the entire family again. Pelle Krusbæk stars as Hugo, who began his career in Thomas Vinterberg’s Oscar-nominated “The Hunt”. Oscar-nominated (short film) producer Thomas Lydholm delivers.

COMING SOON A high-profile 3D animated feature film directed by Academy Award®-winning brothers Christoph and Wolfgang Lauenstein (“Balance”). Based on a fantastic screenplay full of verbal gags, action and adventure, it is to be great entertainment for a wide family audience.

NEWS

Epic finds the good in Badsville

Von Trier lures Dillon

BY JEREMY KAY

BY WENDY MITCHELL

Epic Pictures has acquired Below Her Mouth director April Mullen’s follow-up Badsville. It will introduce the film to international buyers at the market and distribute in the US towards the end of the year. Co-founder Shaked Berenson and CEO Patrick Ewald want to feed the pipeline of distribution division Epic Pictures Releasing, with director of US distribution Paula Moreno combing AFM for acquisitions.

Emilio Rivera (Sons Of Anarchy) and Robert Knepper (Prison Break) star in Badsville, a crime thriller set in the world of working-class greaser gangs. Ian McLaren and Benjamin Barrett wrote the script and are among the cast. Producers are David J Phillips of Phillm Productions and Douglas Spain. Mullen’s erotic drama Below Her Mouth premiered in Toronto.

Lars von Trier has cast Matt Dillon and Bruno Ganz in the lead roles of his upcoming serial killer story, The House That Jack Built.

Dillon will play the titular Jack, an intelligent serial killer. Downfall star Ganz will star as the mysterious Verge, who has a recurring conversation with Jack about his actions and thoughts.

“For Lars, it’s very important to meet someone who is really up for an adventure with him,” said pro-

ducer Louise Vesth of Zentropa, speaking exclusively to Screen.

“He develops a character all the way up to the shooting and he needs somebody who is prepared to take that long journey with him. Matt was keen to do that.”

The film, which starts shooting in spring 2017, will follow Jack over a 12-year period, capturing his development as he strives to perfect the art of killing. Vesth said the rest of the cast will include “four prominent female roles”,

with casting to be announced later this year or in early 2017.

TrustNordisk has already presold the film to territories including the UK (Curzon Artificial Eye), China (DDDream International Media), South Korea (Atnine Film), Latin America (California Filmes), Benelux (September), Poland (Gutek), Taiwan (Movie Cloud), former Yugoslavia (Cinemania), Czech Republic (Aero) and Romania (Independenta Film 97).

Spotlight on McGowan’s ghost hunter Spotlight Pictures has bolstered its AFM sales slate with supernatural horror The Sound, starring Rose McGowan. The company launches international sales on the film, which Jenna Mattison wrote and directed.

North Hollywood Films produces.

In post, the film follows a writer who discovers a connection to the paranormal world.

Jeremy Kay

Shadows embraces erotic Buddhist drama

BY LIZ SHACKLETON

Hong Kong-based sales company Asian Shadows has picked up worldwide rights to Norihiro Niwatsukino’s Suffering Of Ninko, marking the company’s first Japanese acquisition. Several years in

8 Screen International at AFM November 3, 2016

the making, the film combines animated painting and live action with eroticism, ghost stories, humour and Buddhist themes.

Niwatsukino self-produced and self-financed his debut feature, partly through a crowdfunding

campaign. The film follows a Buddhist monk who finds that women and some men are attracted to him and embarks on a journey to purify himself. The film received its world premiere at Vancouver International Film Festival.

Asian Shadows is also handling international sales on Chinese director Wang Xuebo’s Knife In The Clear Water, which won the New Currents award at this year’s Busan International Film Festival (jointly with Zang Qiwu’s The Donor).

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Torn apart by war. Brought together by love.

“KONO SEK AI NO K ATASUMI NI” Directed by Sunao Katabuchi (Mai Mai Miracle) Based on the award-winning manga by Fumiyo Kouno From the Producers of Millennium Actress and Tokyo Godfathers

“Incredibly endearing and affecting… a classic, destined to be discovered by viewers and revisited for years to come.”

Don Brown, The Asahi Shimbun Asia and Japan Watch

Coming Soon

©Fumiyo Kouno/Futabasha/Konosekai no katasumini Project

www.inthiscornermovie.com

Market Screenings: 3rd November, 3pm at ArcLight 7 • 7th November, 3pm at Monica Film Center 1 Visit us at our booth at the Japan Area in Arcadia Ballroom B, 5th floor, Loews Hotel

NEWS

Broadway, APL run Red Mile

CJ’s Housemaid cleans up key (Medyavizyon), Thailand (M Pictures), Philippines (Viva Communications), Mongolia (Bloomsbury), Hong Kong/ Macau (Deltamac), North America (CJ Entertainment America), pan-Asia pay TV (MATV) and in-flight worldwide excluding Korea (Emphasis).

The Housemaid is a haunted mansion thriller that takes place during Vietnam’s French colonial era. Derek Nguyen directs. The

BY JEAN NOH

BY JEREMY KAY

Andrew van den Houten’s 79th & Broadway Entertainment and APL Film have joined forces to sell worldwide rights to Justin McConnell’s thriller Red Mile at AFM. The film, told in real time and presented as a single take, follows a drug addict who wakes up next to a dead woman and must escape the consequences.

McConnell’s Toronto-based Unstable Ground is producing in association with Pasha Patriki’s 9 Light Entertainment of Toronto and New York-based 79th & Broadway Entertainment, which will represent US rights. APL Film handles international sales.

The film has just landed a world premiere slot at Whistler Film Festival in Canada. Van den Houten negotiated the deal with Warren Nimchuk and Brian Sweet of APL Film, and Unstable Ground’s McConnell.

Completed

South Korea’s CJ Entertainment has announced a slew of deals on Toronto buzz title Asura: The City Of Madness and Korea-Vietnam co-production The Housemaid.

Directed by Kim Sung-soo, crime thriller Asura: The City Of Madness has sold to Taiwan (Long Shong), German-speaking Europe (Splendid), Australia/ New Zealand (JBG Pictures), Tur-

Vietnamese and English-language film sold to Australia/New Zealand (JBG Pictures), Vietnam (VSTV/Vietnam), Philippines (Viva), Taiwan (Cai Chang) and Turkey (Medyavizyon).

At AFM today, CJ Entertainment is also launching two films with market premiere screenings: crime action film Master, starring Lee Byung-hun; and Vietnamese action comedy Saigon Bodyguards, starring To Thai Hoa.

Shadows, Wailing sing for Finecut Singapore (CJ E&M), Thailand (M Pictures) and Latin America (California Filmes). California Filmes also acquired The Wailing, which has also gone to Poland (Mayfly).

Yourself And Yours has gone to France (Les Acacia), Spain (La Aventura) and Taiwan (AV-Jet).

BY LIZ SHACKLETON

South Korean sales company Finecut has sealed a raft of additional deals on Kim Jee-woon’s The Age Of Shadows, Na Hongjin’s The Wailing and Hong Sangsoo’s Yourself And Yours.

The Age Of Shadows has been sold to the UK (Soda Pictures),

MARKET PREMIERE

BIG FISH & BEGONIA (3D)

Completed

MARKET PREMIERE

CHARMING (3D)

Completed

In addition, Finecut has sold Misbehavior, directed by Kim Taeyong, to Singapore (Clover Films), Taiwan (Creative Century) and Philippines (Viva).

Finecut has also sold The World Of Us, which premiered in Berlin, to Japan (Spring Has Come) and Turkey (SinemaTV).

MARKET PREMIERE

OZZY

AFM BRIEFS Gorton rises at Sierra Sierra/Affinity has promoted Jen Gorton to senior vice president of international sales as the market kicks off. Gorton served as vice president of international sales.

Lightning strikes Rock Lightning Entertainment Group under new owner James Walker has hired industry veteran Bobby Rock to be head of acquisitions.

The Santa Monica-based company is using the market to launch its 4K/Ultra HD initiative targeted at high-end films, and Rock will be scouring AFM for content.

Gillan gets space to direct Former Doctor Who regular Karen Gillan will write and star in her feature directorial debut as part of an inaugural slate from Los Angeles-based development and production company Mt. Hollywood Films. Tupperware Party is in pre-production.

SCREENING

Completed

2307: WINTER’S DREAM

3D FAMILY ANIMATION

3D FAMILY ANIMATION

FAMILY ANIMATION

SCI-FI ACTION

USD$85,000,000 Box Office in China

Producer: John H. Williams (Shrek franchise) Director: Ross Venokur

Producers: Nacho La Casa, Ibon Cormenzana Phyllis Laing, Ken Zorniak, Ignasi Estapé

Producers: Robert Beaumont, Ultramedia

Producers: Beijing Enlight Media, Coloroom Pictures, B&T Studio Writers/Directors: Liang Xuan, Zhang Chun

Director: Alberto Rodríguez

Writer: Lenore Venokur

Writer: Juan Ramón Ruiz de Somavía

Delivery: Delivery Q4 2016

Voice Cast: Demi Lovato, Avril Lavigne, GEM, Wilmer Valderrama, Ashley Tisdale

SCREENING

SCREENING (Invitation Only)

SCREENING

3rd Nov 5th Nov

5th Nov

2nd Nov 13:30 4th Nov 15:30

Broadway Cineplex 2 Broadway Cineplex 2

11:00 13:00

ArcLight 1 ArcLight 1

Disney (Spain)

11:00

Director: Joey Curtis (Quattro Noza for Lionsgate) Writer: Joey Curtis (Blue Valentine starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams) Delivery: Delivery Q4 2016

ArcLight 3

SCREENING 4th Nov

13:30

AMC Santa Monica 4

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AFM: Loews Hotel | Room #650 | +1-(310) 458-6700

LONDON: 56 Brewer Street | Soho | London | W1F 9TJ | t +44 (0)20 7287 1900 | e info@scfilmsinternational.com

10 Screen International at AFM November 3, 2016

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ALEX MURPHY CHRIS WALLEY HILARY ROSE PJ GALLAGHER DOMINIC MACHALE

★★★★

★★★★

ED SMITH, TODAY FM

RORY CASHIN, SPIN 103.8FM

“BRILLIANT”

“HILARIOUS”

A PETER FOOTT FILM

NOT ALL PLANS ARE IDIOT PROOF

“TEEN-BUDDY COMEDY OF IDIOCY...

NOW LOOKS SET TO CHARM INTERNATIONAL AUDIENCES” SCREEN INTERNATIONAL

"A GENUINELY CROWD-PLEASING COMEDY... THAT’S LIKELY TO PLAY IN A BIG WAY WITH AUDIENCES WHEREVER IN THE WORLD IT ENDS UP.” OLIVER LYTTELTON, THE PLAYLIST

“THE BEST IRISH FILM I’VE SEEN IN YEARS” RYAN TUBRIDY, RTE

“HILARIOUS, DESTINED TO BE AN INSTANT CLASSIC” ESTHER McCARTHY, SUNDAY WORLD

CARNABY INTERNATIONAL

OFFICE: ZUMA ROOM, next to the Open Atrium, 7th Floor, Loews Hotel For Sales inquiries please contact Tania Sarra, Director of International Sales via Jonathan Walik, Sales Coordinator E: jonathan@carnabyinternational.com T: +44 7793 654 713

BUZZ TITLES KOREA

A Day

Korea hits its stride Comedies, action thrillers and family films are just some of the highlights of the eclectic slate on offer from Korean film-makers here at AFM. By Jean Noh

C

ontemporary South Korean cinema has always been characterised as dynamic, with roots in the country’s turbulent social and political realities. This year’s crop of films has been no different. Critically acclaimed hits such as Kim Jeewoon’s espionage tale The Age Of Shadows, Na Hong-jin’s horror film The Wailing, Park Chan-wook’s erotic thriller The Handmaiden and two top disaster thrillers with social commentary — Kim Seong-hun’s The Tunnel and Yeon Sangho’s Train To Busan — have all showcased the country’s cinematic strengths.

The last of these is the year’s top local box-office hit to date. Train To Busan has grossed more than $83.5m in South Korea and almost $45m internationally, according to sales company Contents Panda. Other sellers at Busan’s Asian Film Market last month attributed the film’s success to renewed interest from buyers looking for more Korean content.

At this year’s AFM, Korean sales companies are offering another dynamic raft of films that range from Han Jae-rim’s political action drama The King to Park Jung-woo’s nuclear disaster film Pandora, as well as films that deal with more personal desperations and fantasies, such as mystery drama A Day or Yunjin Kim-starrer House Of The Disappeared, as well as lighter fare such as romantic comedy Because I Love You.

Because I Love You Dir Ju Ji-hong This romantic comedy stars Cha Taehyun (My Sassy Girl, Hello Ghost) as a man who is preparing to propose to his girlfriend when he is involved in a car accident and left in a coma. He wakes up to find himself in another person’s body with no memory of his former self.

But he learns that he is capable of waking in other people’s bodies and sets out to solve their problems — such as those of a couple on the verge of divorce or another couple in high school dealing with teen pregnancy.

Directed by Ju Ji-hong, the film is in post-production, aiming for a November release in Korea.

Contact Contents Panda sales@its-new.co.kr

Bluebeard Dir Lee Soo-youn

lord before a medical check-up, the old man starts to make a convincing confession to murder. Later, a young woman’s severed head is discovered in a butcher shop run by the landlord’s son, and the doctor begins to suspect father and son are serial killers. The film is in post-production.

Socialphobia) also stars. Cho Sun-ho makes his feature directorial debut. The film is in post-production and is set for local release in 2017.

Contact Lotte Entertainment international@lotte.net

Dir Doo Lee

A Day Dir Cho Sun-ho Kim Myung-min (Proof Of Innocence) stars in this mystery drama as a man who keeps living the day he lost his daughter over and over, and tries to find the secret to saving her. Jo Eun-hyung, who played the young Hideko in Park Chanwook’s The Handmaiden, features as the daughter. Byun Yohan (Madonna,

Lee Soo-youn (The Uninvited) directs this mystery thriller, starring Cho Jin-woong The Handmaiden, Assas(The sination)) with Kim Daemyung (The Last Princess)) and Shin Gu ( T V ’s D e a r My ). When a docFriends).

Because I Love You tor sedates his land-

14 Screen International at AFM November 3, 2016

Contact Finecut cineinfo@finecut.co.kr

Hide-And-Never Seek Ryu Deok-hwan (Nobody’s Daughter Haewon) stars as VJ Glow, a video jockey on a hit horror-based online channel called Glow World. While looking for stories, urban legends and haunted places to showcase, he happens upon a frightening video featuring a girl who went missing while playing one-man hide-and-seek, a game that is said to call forth ghosts. In the video, the girl goes slowly mad. VJ Glow senses a hot scoop and starts searching for her, broadcasting live online. HideAnd-Never Seek is the feature debut from Doo Lee, who has a background in TV commercials.

Contact Finecut cineinfo@finecut.co.kr

House Of The Disappeared Dir Lim Dae-woong Yunjin Kim ((Ode To My Father, TV’s Lost) stars in » Father

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BUZZ TITLES KOREA

this mystery thriller along with K-pop group 2PM’s Ok Taec-yeon (A Night Before The Wedding). Directed by Lim Dae-woong (Horror Stories; To Sir, With Love) and written by Jang Jae-hyun (The Priests), House Of The Disappeared is about a housewife who is caught up in a mystery when she returns home after spending 25 years in prison for the death of her husband and her son’s disappearance. Currently in production, the film is planned for a 2017 release.

the course of four desperate days. The film is set for release in Korea on November 30.

Contact M-Line Distribution sales@mline-distribution.com

Pandora Dir Park Jung-woo Korea’s first nuclear disaster film, Pandora stars Kim Nam-gil (The Shameless, The Pirates) as a reluctant worker at a nuclear power plant where he lost his father and brother in an accident. With old pipes in the plant corroding, an unexpected earthquake hits and he must prevent an explosion and save his loved ones. The film also features Kim Youngae (Proof Of Innocence, TV’s Doctors), Jung Jin-young (Ode To My Father) and Kim Dae-myeong (Inside Men). Directed

by Park Jung-woo (Deranged), Pandora is in post-production. Backed by Next Entertainment World (Train To Busan), the big-budget film is set for wide release in Korea this December.

Contact Finecut cineinfo@finecut.co.kr

The King Dir Han Jae-rim Directed by Han Jae-rim (The Face Reader), The King is a political action drama about the glamorous lives, corruption and betrayals of the top 1% of powerful prosecutors in Korea. The film stars Cho In-sung (aka Zo In-sung from A Frozen Flower, A Dirty Carnival) as a young man from a poor family who works through politically turbulent times to become a prosecutor. Jung Woosung (Asura: The City Of Madness) appears as a member of an elite group of powerful prosecutors who draw him in and exploit him. The film also features Bae Seong-woo (Inside Men) and Ryu Jun-yeol (TV’s Reply 1988), and is in post-production.

Master

Contact Contents Panda sales@its-new.co.kr

The Prison

Hide-And-Never Seek

Contact Contents Panda sales@its-new.co.kr

Dir Na Hyun Starring Han Seok-kyu (The Royal Tailor, The Berlin File) and Kim Raewon (Gangnam Blues, Sunflower), The Prison tells the story of what happens when an ex-policeman convicted for a hit-and-run joins a secret crime syndicate behind prison walls, which includes not just inmates, but the warden and guards as well. Na Hyun directs the film, which is planned for release in the first quarter of 2017.

The Prison

Lucid Dream Dir Kim Joon-sung This fantasy thriller stars Ko Soo (The Royal Tailor, The Front Line), Sul Kyunggu (Cold Eyes) and Park Yu-chun (Haemoo). When Dae-ho’s son is kidnapped in a theme park, he gives up his career as a journalist to search for the boy, but to no avail. His psychiatrist friend suggests a new treatment whereby patients fall asleep with the awareness they are dreaming in order to recall lost memories. Dae-ho decides to use the treatment to search for his son and in the process, experiences various side effects and makes unexpected acquaintances.

Directed by Kim Joon-sung, Lucid Dream is in post-production.

Contact Showbox sales@showbox.co.kr

Missing

Contact Contents Panda sales@its-new.co.kr

(Twenty, The Con Artists). An investigation into Korea’s biggest pyramid scheme reveals a network of conspiracy and corruption extending to CEOs, politicians and bureaucrats. Produced by Zip Cinema, the film is in post-production and is planned for a December release.

Master

Contact CJ Entertainment filmsales@cj.net

Dir Cho Ui-seok Directed by Cho Ui-seok (Cold Eyes), crime action film Master stars Lee Byung-hun (The Magnificent Seven, Red 2), Gang Dong-won (A Violent Prosecutor, The Priests) and Kim Woo-bin

Missing Dir E.oni Directed by E.oni (Love Exposure), Missing stars The Phone, Uhm Ji-won (The

16 Screen International at AFM November 3, 2016

Vanishing Time: A Boy Who Returned

The Silenced) as a hardworking mother in the middle of a custody battle over her daughter. When the girl disappears with her nanny, played by Kong Hyo-jin Family (Boomerang Family, Blush Crush And Blush), her mother does not dare call the police for fear of losing custody.

Instead, she takes on the search herself, chasing after dwindling clues over (Left) Pandora

Vanishing Time: A Boy Who Returned Dir Um Tae-hwa Starring Gang Dong-won (A Violent Prosecutor) and Shin Eun-su in her feature debut, Vanishing Time: A Boy Who Returned is a fantasy drama directed by Um Tae-hwa (INGtoogi: The Battle Of Internet Trolls). Friends Su-rin and Sung-min venture into a cave and find a magical egg which, according to local folklore, contains a time-eating monster that turns children into adults. When Sung-min finds the egg and disappears, the police investigate the case as a kidnapping, but a mysterious grown man turns up and tells Su-rin he is actually her missing friend. The film is set for local release on November 10.

Contact Showbox s sales@showbox.co.kr ■

screen daily ads output.pdf 1 28/10/2016 上午8:42

@ AFM 2016

Loews Hotel #330A

Julian Chiu / (852) 9739 8628 / chiujulian@edkofilm.com.hk

MARKET SCREENING

NOV. 4 (FRI) | 15:00 | AMC SANTA MONICA 3

COLD WAR 2 GENRE DIRECTOR CAST

ACTION LONGMAN LEUNG, SUNNY LUK (Cold War, Helios) CHOW YUN FAT (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) AARON KWOK (The Monkey King) TONY LEUNG KA FAI (Bodyguards and Assassins) EDDIE PENG (Rise of the Legend)

Hong Kong’s highest-grossing Chinese film of all time, the story continues as the police commissioner struggles to outwit a powerful ex-police chief who conspires to corrupt the police force.

IN PRODUCTION C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

THE LIQUIDATOR GENRE DIRECTOR CAST

ACTION / CRIME XU JIZHOU DENG CHAO (The Mermaid) ETHAN RUAN (The Assassin) KARENA LAM (Zinnia Flower)

Based on a popular crime novel series, a criminal psychologist teams up with a forensic specialist to track down a vigilante serial killer.

IN POST-PRODUCTION

COMPLETED

CHERRY RETURNS

SOMEONE TO TALK TO

GENRE DIRECTOR CAST

GENRE DIRECTOR CAST

THRILLER CHRIS CHOW (Strawberry Cliff) CHERRY NGAN (Mojin: The Lost Legend) LAM KA TUNG (Firestorm)

A girl’s reappearance after missing for 12 years leads to a series of suspicious murder and the discovery of a long-hidden secret.

DRAMA LIU YULIN (Door God) MAO HAI LI QIAN (Back to 1942)

A single sister and her married brother take on various stages of inner turmoil while searching for the persons they could communicate with.

PROFILE YEON SANG-HO

Runaway train In the wake of Korea’s biggest box-office hit of 2016, zombie thriller Train To Busan, film-maker Yeon Sang-ho’s career is picking up steam. Jean Noh reports

Y

eon Sang-ho is conflicted. Following its world premiere at Cannes’ Midnight Screenings in May, his first live-action feature Train To Busan was released in South Korea in July, to become the market’s top hit of the year. With more than 11.5 million admissions and $83m at the box office, according to the Korean Film Council (KOFIC), the zombie thriller is also the country’s ninth biggest all-time hit. But the director is thinking about his indie animation roots and how to proceed from here. “For a long time, I only ever dreamed of being an animation director,” he says. “My dilemma right now is that the animation industry worldwide is a minor one.”

Yeon made his feature debut in 2011 with a gripping animation about school violence, The King Of Pigs, which had an award-winning world premiere at Busan and went on to play in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes. He followed it up with an even darker and more violent animation, The Fake, about an outcast who goes up against a fraudulent evangelical minister in a rural town. Both films travelled around the world with festivals and sales deals, but the sum total of their combined local box office was around $280,000.

Internationally, Train To Busan has clocked up a total of $45m at time of writing, according to Contents Panda, the sales outfit of investor/distributor Next Entertainment World (NEW). It took $2m at the North America box office but, more impressively, $10m in Taiwan and $9m in Hong Kong. Contents Panda is in talks for a remake (or two), and fans are clamouring for a sequel.

Train To Busan stars Gong Yoo as a career-obsessed father who is taking his young daughter (Kim Su-an) to see his ex-wife, but the high-speed train on which they are travelling becomes infested with a zombie virus as the epidemic spreads outside. The idea occurred to Yeon as he was making what is now called the Train To Busan prequel, Seoul Station, an animation that focuses on homeless people mistaken for zombies because of social prejudice (released almost a month after Train To Busan, Seoul Station took $1m at the local box office according to KOFIC).

“With Train To Busan, I just came up with the idea of a psychological thriller

Yeon Sang-ho on the set of Train To Busan

‘Zombies can be stylish and horrifying with the right mise-en-scene’ Yeon Sang-ho

Seoul Station

about what happens the day after Seoul Station, and wasn’t thinking of directing it myself,” he says. “But NEW had kept suggesting live action to me, and they suggested expanding on the idea. It’s a good thing they did.”

Zombie life Yeon says taking a primarily Western genre and creating something that mainstream Korean audiences wouldn’t find off-putting or ridiculous was a key focus.

“Putting a lot of zombie make-up on Koreans doesn’t work so I focused on movement — using bone-breaking choreography and looking at how we could shoot hordes of zombies and even their shadows inside trains and train stations,” he says. “Zombies can be stylish and horrifying with the right mise-en-scene.”

20 Screen International at AFM November 3, 2016

He goes on to expound that Korean audiences expect local films to be based in realism, even if they are zombie films like Train To Busan or mutant films like Bong Joon Ho’s The Host. “If an American actor [playing a superhero] appears in spandex, it’s fine. But if a Korean actor does, it looks weird,” he says. “So you have to come up with different ideas. The important thing is, how can we make it Korean? Not just with design, but with story. There are plenty of ways to take social circumstances and access them in a script.”

Yeon credits Katsuhiro Otomo, creator of animations Akira and Roujin Z, Gong Yoo in Train To Busan as a big influence in

terms of characters, lightness and social commentary. In that line, he is working on Superpower, a live-action black comedy. “It’s about the fuss that happens when a middle-aged loser gets superpowers,” he says, describing it as “a genre film with a bit of size”. Aiming to start production in the first half of 2017, he has cast Ryu Seung-ryong (Roaring Currents) and Shim Eun-kyung (Miss Granny), who voiced the leads in Seoul Station.

Despite rumours, Yeon denies having any plans for a Train To Busan sequel. “I want to keep doing new things. NEW wants me to do a sequel, but I’m fine with another director doing it,” he says. As a film-maker, he envies Hollywood its franchises, noting how Ridley Scott’s Alien set off a series of sequels directed by others, after which Scott could come back decades later to direct Prometheus. Maybe after Kim Su-an grows up, he can make a sequel with her character? s His face lights up at the suggestion. ■

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28/10/16 11:58

INTERVIEW JOHN TURTURRO

Finding Jesus Wrestling with Bertrand Blier’s 1974 comedy Les Valseuses, John Turturro had a flash of inspiration for his sixth directorial outing, Going Places. Jeremy Kay reports ‘You see The Jesus’s past, how he thinks, and there’ll be a lot of surprises’ John Turturro

J

ohn Turturro was flummoxed. Try as he might, he could not crack a key piece of his adapted screenplay Going Places, his sixth and latest directorial outing, based on Bertrand Blier’s novel and 1974 film Les Valseuses.

The actor and film-maker was excited about his “reimagining” of the French sex comedy following the misadventures of three misfits, but was struggling to update Jean-Claude, the character Turturro himself would play based on Gérard Depardieu’s original role.

Then it came to him and, in a flash, Turturro’s long-held desire to revisit an old friend and the wildest hopes of millions of fans of The Big Lebowski were destined to align. “I was calling him JC, and it reminded me of this character I’d done in a play many, many years ago [he declines to name the play but will say it was a Latino character] that had inspired Joel and Ethan [Coen] to write the character of Jesus Quintana,” says Turturro.

“So I thought, ‘Wow! We’ve talked about doing something with Jesus Quintana but it was always silly.’ I started playing around with it and I thought we could be on to something with his irony and the irreverence of the character.”

While Jesus Quintana in many peo-

ple’s minds is remembered as the pederast bowler from the Coens’ 1998 comedy, Turturro says of one of his most famous on-screen creations: “I knew him in a much more complex way than what people had seen in the movie, which was the trailer version of the character.”

He took the idea to the Coens to canvass their opinion, and showed them Les Valseuses. “It kind of blew their minds,” he says. “They thought it was a great idea and told me, ‘We’ve taken a character inspired from a stage play and now you want to put him in a movie which is a French movie, which was inspired by American road movies.’”

Blier, it turns out, loved old American road movies with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, and Les Valseuses was an homage of sorts. Turturro knew this first-hand, having got to know the French film-maker after approaching him seven years ago to remake Les Valseuses, which he had first seen in his youth. “It made a big impression on me,” says Turturro, who loved the performances of Depardieu and Patrick Dewaere, and went on to devour all Blier’s films. “I liked the

22 Screen International at AFM November 3, 2016

humour and the irreverence and the freedom. The men were always so perplexed by women even though they thought they had the answers, and there was a level of guile and naivety that went along with their Neanderthal behaviour.”

It turns out Blier liked Turturro’s work as an actor and agreed to what the latter calls a “reimagining more than a remake, involving guys who were older but stuck in their adolescence”. After a quick negotiation, Turturro began to write the script in between other projects. John Penotti, president of Sidney Kimmel

Turturro as Jesus Quintana in The Big Lebowski; and (above) on the November cover of Screen

Entertainment, was an early champion and the company committed to finance alongside New Element and Tribus P Film. Going Places shot in New York state over the summer and from what he has seen in the editing room these past six weeks, Turturro says he is delighted — not least with his cast, which includes Bobby Cannavale as the character originally portrayed by Dewaere, Audrey Tautou in the role played in 1974 by Miou-Miou, Susan Sarandon and Oscar contender and Aquarius star Sonia Braga.

Alison Thompson and Mark Gooder’s Cornerstone Films represents international sales and is showing a promo at AFM. ICM Partners, which represents Turturro, has teamed up with Penotti to handle North America and buyers are sniffing around. It is no surprise. While the overall package sounds tantalising — a trio of troublemakers, a gun-toting hairdresser and unexpected love — people will be desperate to see the return of Quintana, aka The Jesus.

Turturro says there is more to the bowling demon with the prodigious tongue and unsavoury past than we saw in The Big Lebowski. “You see his past, how he thinks, and there’ll be a lot of surprises,” he says. “He still has his robust side to him, but without giving away the movie, he’s not walking around like this angry guy — he wants to enjoy life a bit.”

Turturro says Quintana serves as “the perfect guide” to his characters.

“They’re losers with these great schemes and everything they do backfires, but they wind up doing good things for other people. They do stuff we’d all like to be able to do but there would be too many ramifications.”

Sidney Kimmel, Penotti, Robert Salerno, Fernando Sulichin and PaulDominique Vacharasinthu produce.

Bruce Toll, Max Arvelaiz and Michael s Lewis are executive producers. ■

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28/10/16 11:59

Andrew Humphries

INTERVIEW STUART FORD & DONALD TANG

Stuart Ford and Donald Tang at IM Global’s West Hollywood offices

GLOBAL

REACH Five months after Tang Media Partners took a 60% stake in IM Global, Stuart Ford and Donald Tang tell Jeremy Kay about their ambitions for the company to become a world leader in content creation and licensing

24 Screen International at AFM November 3, 2016

A

way from the eruption of announcements on new partnerships between China and Hollywood at last year’s AFM, Stuart Ford and Donald Tang had begun a discreet dialogue. It was a year after IM Global founder and CEO Ford first met Tang, the Los Angeles-based head of Tang Media Partners (TMP) and former Bear Stearns vice chairman who had advised AMC Entertainment on the $2.6bn acquisition by Dalian Wanda in 2012.

The men had got to know each other through mutual acquaintances at Huayi Bros and spotted an opportunity. They signed a deal memo in December, triggering five months of due diligence that resulted in the announcement last June that TMP had acquired a majority stake in IM Global. Tang bought a 60% stake in the entertainment company and became executive chairman of the board after previous majority owner Reliance Entertainment scaled back from its 70% share to match Ford on 20% apiece. The deal, coupled with a separate transaction that saw TMP and Chinese tech giant Tencent invest in IM Global Television, was worth around $200m.

While sources have suggested that in

light of these developments, IM Global is valued at around $300m — a figure Ford will neither confirm nor deny — it would be missing the point to assume this is a get-rich-quick enterprise in the manner that has characterised certain other China-Hollywood associations.

“When we first started talking, Donald and I and our respective teams had lengthy conceptual discussions about where we wanted to take the business,” Ford says during an interview with Tang at IM Global’s West Hollywood offices.

“We [talked about what] TMP is doing on a broader level and how to have a very clear plan to become a global content creation and licensing player that’s equally active and recognised in North America, China and internationally. We had that strategy established before »

‘The end user for us as a content creator, licensor and aggregator is increasingly becoming the digital universe’ Stuart Ford

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INTERVIEW STUART FORD & DONALD TANG

Heavyweight backers The relationship with TMP and its highlevel Chinese investors such as Tencent, Huayi Brothers, Sequoia Capital and China Media Capital gives IM Global myriad options to generate and exploit content across multiple platforms around the world. Tang saw in IM Global an investment opportunity in a well connected, scalable business that was willing to make smart bets on personnel, partners, content and, more broadly, where the entertainment business was headed.

“Stuart had a reputation for being a disciplined businessman in a creative community and I don’t know anybody better at that balancing act,” says Tang. “So Stuart will continue to do what he does and we will do what we can to assist.”

“One of the great things about Donald and his team is they’re an LA company day in and day out, so Donald has an extremely high level of relationships right across Hollywood,” says Ford. “So there’s huge added value for us as a search engine for content, quite separately from whatever corporate or corporate financial benefits come from the relationship. On the feature-film side, we brought Greg Shapiro [the Oscarwinning producer of The Hurt Locker] on board as head of production a month or so ago, which was a big ‘get’. We anticipate making half a dozen films next year under Greg’s supervision and TMP are working very hard with us on sourcing projects.”

IM Global might introduce the first Shapiro projects in Berlin. However, it will commence sales in Santa Monica on The Adventurers starring Jean Reno and Andy Lau. The Chinese and English-language action film hails from Flagship Entertainment, the joint venture established by Warner Bros, China Media Capital and Hong Kong broadcaster TVB. For the TV operation run by Mark Stern, former president of original content at Syfy, IM Global is lining up a handful of high-profile scripted shows backed by its $100m dedicated slate fund established through investment by Tencent in the Chinese giant’s first production deal outside Asia. It will also serve as deficit financier on select third-party series. IM Global Television has just closed a first-look deal with multi-

Andrew Humphries

we got into any material negotiation financially. It’s a roadmap that has enabled us even in the three or four months since we announced the deal to make a huge amount of progress on many fronts including film financing, scripted TV deficit financing, unscripted TV production and our Beijing operations, including the launch of the Go Global [marketing and PR] business.”

Donald Tang

‘Nobody does it better than Hollywood, so if the entire world wanted to learn that skillset, why is that bad?’

Donald Tang

hyphenate genre guru David Goyer and is poised to unveil a big push into unscripted TV production in the US and China with what Ford refers to as “an A-level US unscripted partner”.

If there is the sense everything is coming together quickly, it is the fruition of a strategy that saw Ford make frequent trips to the Far East several years ago, before he opened a Beijing office in 2013. He has gone on the record before to say his goal was the longer play and not solely money or distribution. “The key word is we wanted to be relevant,” he says. “We did that by bringing something to the table that there’s a shortage of in China, which is real know-how and infrastructure in exporting and monetising Chinese-language content internationally.”

Patience led to strong corporate ties with the likes of Huayi, Wanda, Enlight, China Film Group and Village Roadshow. The sales operation began licensing Chinese-language films around the world, scoring notable hits on The Mermaid, Mojin: The Lost Legend and Mr. Six. According to Ford, the Chinese sales slate has been profitable “pretty much from the get-go”, adding that while it was targeted initially at non-Chinese-language speakers, the rising number of commercial films of all genres from

26 Screen International at AFM November 3, 2016

Stuart Ford

China has signalled a change. “The target is Chinese speakers, of which there are tens of millions across the world, if not hundreds of millions,” he says. “So we’ve tailored our sales strategy to try to get the big Chinese films.”

Word travels fast, which means international digital distribution of Chinese films pegged as closely as possible to the release date in China increasingly looks like the way to go. “Looking forward a few years,” says Ford, “the broader trend I see for the independent film distribution sector is probably the way Amazon, a digital platform and an all-rights buyer, is outsourcing US theatrical releasing duties on bigger titles to independent distribution companies. It’s a model we’re going to see more and more internationally too.

“This goes to the heart of how IM Global is expanding under TMP,” he adds.

“The end user for us as a content creator, licensor and aggregator is increasingly becoming the digital universe.”

It is early days to talk about production, financing and local distribution of Chinese content, although Ford says IM Global and its partners will “absolutely” get involved at some point. Meanwhile, he and Tang insist the China-Hollywood inflection of IM Global ownership these days is not indicative of an exclusive focus on the Far East.

International scope Ford cites the “phenomenal level of output” at Mundial, the Latin American joint sales venture set up with Mexico’s Canana, as well as the emphasis on film and increasingly TV from all over the world. “We’re an international company,” he says, “and the Chinese influ-

ence in terms of taste and relevance plays into that, but it doesn’t define it.”

What does Tang think about the notion voiced in some quarters that China will abandon Hollywood once it has absorbed its storytelling nous? “Whoever says that is short-changing [Hollywood’s] core competency,” he says. “Content creation in Hollywood is not easy to learn; it is ingrained in a culture, in an education system. Look at the showrunner culture in TV. It’s an American phenomenon.”

As for calls by US Congressmen for a review into ownership of US entertainment assets, Tang is stoic. “Hollywood is the most democratic forum of people’s expression of thoughts and ideas,” he says. “Nobody does it better than Hollywood, so if the entire world wanted to learn that skillset, why is that bad?”

The leading lights in China’s media, technology and entertainment sectors move quickly because, Tang notes, there are few legacy businesses holding them back. They are eager to learn, share and make lasting friendships — but beware inefficiencies. “Everything about Hollywood is great except for the business model,” says Tang. “If the model is not somehow changed or improved, it’s going to be a problem and the Chinese will leave, because nobody wants to invest money and not see a return.”

He knows there is hard work ahead but the early signs have been encouraging and it can be fun. Why else would he invest in a Hollywood company? “I don’t have a secret formula,” says Tang. “What Hollywood possesses is the storytelling magic. American and Chinese cultures are cultures of pragmatic business. There are no cultures more alike than Ameris cans and Chinese.” n

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PRESENTS AT

Market Premiere

Egon Schiele – Death and the Maiden Screening TODAY / Nov 3rd / 1.00 p.m. / Monica Film Center 3

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We Used to be Cool Screening TOMORROW / Nov 4th / 3.30 p.m. / Monica Film Center 4

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Original Bliss Screening Saturday/ Nov 5th / 1.30 p.m. / Monica Film Center 4

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Picture Tree International GmbH / Husemannstr. 7 / 10435 Berlin / Germany

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Heart of Stone Screening TODAY / Nov 3rd / 3.00 p.m. / ArcLight 11

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Nowhere Screening Sunday / Nov 6th / 3.00 p.m. / Monica Film Center 5

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IN FOCUS CHINA BOX OFFICE

Fast but not so furious T

his was the summer when the unthinkable happened.

Growth at the Chinese box office, arguably the engine room of the global box office, at least for a few dozen Hollywood tentpoles each year, started to slow down.

The year got off to a strong start — box office increased 51% to hit $2.23bn in the first quarter of 2016, thanks to Disney’s Zootopia and a trio of local Chinese New Year releases, including Stephen Chow’s $503m juggernaut The Mermaid. But warning bells started ringing in April when Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice dropped 85% in its second week and was unceremoniously yanked from screens.

Throughout the rest of the second quarter, US studio films such as Chinabacked Warcraft, Captain America: Civil War and The Jungle Book performed well, but nowhere near the $373m grossed by Furious 7 in the second quarter of 2015.

The summer months, when release slots are usually reserved for local movies, were even weaker, with just a handful of domestic hits, including Time Raiders with $149m and Skiptrace with $132m — but again nothing on the level of last year’s Monster Hunt ($375m) or Lost In Hong Kong ($248m).

It soon became apparent that both local and imported movies were performing below expectations, despite the fact the number of screens is still growing rapidly — from 32,000 at the start of the year to nearly 38,000 at the end of September. By the end of the first half, growth had slowed to 21%, and following an abysmal September, slid even further during the first three quarters to 8.3% and a cumulative total of $5.28bn (rmb35.4bn).

These would be enviable results in other territories, but in a market that has become accustomed to breakneck growth, prompted a period of soulsearching about what had gone wrong.

In 2015, China’s box office grew 49% to $6.8bn, so it was predicted to reach $7.5bn-$9bn (rmb50bn-rmb60bn) this year and overtake North America in 2017. Some big films are scheduled for December, including Zhang Yimou’s action adventure The Great Wall, starring Matt Damon and Andy Lau. But hitting forecasts now seems unlikely unless we

China’s box office has seen local and imported films perform below expectation as 2016 reaches its final quarter

see some major surprises before the end of the year.

There are several reasons for the slowdown — including China’s weakening economy and the increase in screens in less affluent third and fourth-tier cities — but the two factors most often cited are the quality of the product and the end of online ticketing subsidies. “The content was just not as attractive this year for either local or imported movies,” says Luke Xiang, vice president of online ticketing giant WeYing Technology. “If you look at the North America market, Hollywood films were also slowing down there compared to last summer, while Chinese films were being rushed into production to capitalise on market growth.”

Beyond pricing Xiang also points to the decision of online ticketing platforms — including WeYing’s Yupiao (previously known as Wepiao),

30 Screen International at AFM November 3, 2016

Alibaba’s Taobao Piao Piao and Maoyuan — to end the practice of buying tickets from exhibitors and selling them to consumers at a steep discount. “All the major platforms have been subsidising ticket sales for the past few years because they were engaged in a battle for market share,” Xiang explains. But when losses started piling up, and the tech giants felt they’d stabilised their user base, the heavy discounting slowed substantially from May. “We’re now seeing more activities around the marketing of films, rather than just using pricing to drive audiences to the cinema,” Xiang says.

By the end of the summer, it had become clear the online ticketing wars had distorted the market Zootopia

‘The content was just not as attractive this year’ Luke Xiang, WeYing Technology

by inflating box-office sales but driving down average ticket prices. “When the subsidies stopped, a lot of cinema managers, especially in the smaller cities, were too scared to raise prices back to the usual levels,” says Jimmy Wu, chairman and CEO of upscale exhibitor Lumiere Pavilions.

Wu adds there has been an upside to the ticketing wars in that they’ve “awakened the audience’s awareness to the convenience of buying tickets online”. Almost 80% of tickets are now sold online in China, compared to around 30% in the US. But there’s been a price to pay for the entry of the digital giants. “The ticketing subsidies may have created a price »

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China’s box-office growth slowed over the summer, but there are signs the deceleration is part of a natural progression towards a more rational and mature market. Liz Shackleton reports

FILMING IN THAILAND

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Thailand Film Incentive Measure start from January 2017. For more information kindly contact at Booth 5F

IN FOCUS CHINA BOX OFFICE

‘From next year, we’ll see a more rational market’ Jimmy Wu, Lumiere Pavilions

value expectation that will take some time to unwind,” says Rance Pow, president of theatrical consultancy Artisan Gateway. Meanwhile, it also emerged this year that some producers and distributors were also buying and discounting tickets — in their case attempting to boost the box office of their own films, in order to push them up the rankings on ticketing sites and increase the price of ancillaries. Chinese authorities have cracked down on this practice by issuing penalties and fines.

Now that legal discounting, along with more dubious ticket-buying activities, has declined significantly, we are starting to get a clearer picture of the real shape of the market. We’re also seeing the Chinese audience is becoming more selective and responding to quality product — at least in the more sophisticated tier-one and tier-two cities. Over the recent National Day holidays (October 1-7), Dante Lam’s Operation Mekong, a tightly scripted and packaged action thriller, grossed more than $150m (rmb1bn), overtaking Guo Jingming’s heavily marketed LORD: Lord Of Revenging Dynasties, which drew online criticism for the quality of its CGI. The local production industry appears to be taking notice. At this year’s Shanghai International Film Festival in June, local studios discussed the dangers of short-term and speculative capital, while guest of honour Ang Lee warned Chinese film-makers to slow down and focus on development and scripts. “We should see improvements from next year with producers paying more attention to quality and storytelling,” says Xiang.

At the same time, there is growing

pressure from some quarters of the exhibition industry for a larger and more diverse selection of imported movies.

“The Chinese audience is already tired of seeing a limited range of foreign movies — either action films or sci-fi. They should have an opportunity to see more genres,” says Wu. Addressing diversity China’s import quotas are up for discussion with the World Trade Organisation in 2017, but even before talks commence, there are signs the Chinese authorities are starting to address the lack of diversity in the market. After years of lobbying by local film-makers, the State Administration of Press, Publications, Radio, Film and Television appears to have sanctioned an arthouse circuit, operated by stateowned China Film Archive and an alliance of producers, distributors and exhibitors, which will give limited, platform releases to both local and imported specialist films.

Although details are still being ironed out, the circuit should in theory be able to handle films that struggle to make it onto the slates of the two state-sanctioned distributors of imported movies — China Film Group and Huaxia Film Distribution. An increase in the volume of imported arthouse films is unlikely to have a major impact on overall box office, but will contribute to a more mature market with viewing choices for a wider range of demographics, rather than the current focus on cinemagoers under the age of 25.

As for the online ticketing platforms, the price wars appear to be over, and companies such as WeYing plan to work more closely with distributors, using their data to help them become more sophisticated about marketing. “Pricing will be used more strategically during a film’s release — distributors will look at where and when to use discounting and who exactly they should be targeting,” says Xiang.

There’s also the possibility that, once the novelty wears off, Chinese audiences will grow tired with theatres and consume movies on cheaper digital plat-

The Jungle Book

32 Screen International at AFM November 3, 2016

Skiptrace

Operation Mekong

CHINA BOX OFFICE JANUARY 1 – SEPTEMBER 30, 2016 Title (country of origin)

Release date

1

The Mermaid (Chi)

February 8

Gross $503.4m (rmb3.4bn)

2

Zootopia (US)

March 4

$227.2m (rmb1.5bn)

3

Warcraft (US)

June 8

$218.5m (rmb1.5bn)

4

Captain America: Civil War (US-Ger)

May 6

$185m (rmb1.3bn)

5

The Monkey King 2 (Chi)

February 8

$178.2m (rmb1.2bn)

6

From Vegas To Macau 3 (HK-Chi)

February 8

$165.9m (rmb1.1bn)

7

Time Raiders (US-Sing)

August 5

$149.1m (rmb1.004bn)

8

Kung Fu Panda 3 (US-Chi)

January 29

$148.7m (rmb1.001bn)

9

The Jungle Book (US-UK)

April 15

$145.4m (rmb979.3m)

10

Skiptrace (US-Chi)

July 21

$132m (rmb889.3m)

11

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (US)

January 9

$122.5m (rmb825.4m)

12

X-Men: Apocalypse (US)

June 3

$119.1m (rmb802.7m)

13

Finding Mr Right 2 (Can-Chi)

April 29

$116.8m (rmb786.7m)

14

Ip Man 3 (HK-Chi)

March 4

$114.3m (rmb770.3m)

15

Detective Chinatown (HK-Mal)

December 31

$101.3m (rmb682.5m)

16

Cold War 2 (HK-Chi)

July 8

$100.7m (rmb678.1m)

17

Now You See Me 2 (US)

June 24

$94.8m (rmb638.8m)

18

Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice (US)

March 25

$91.9m (rmb619.1m)

19

Line Walker (HK-Chi)

August 11

$90m (rmb606.5m)

20

The Angry Birds Movie (US-Fin)

May 20

$76.3m (rmb513.8m)

Source EntGroup Consulting

forms at home instead — a spectre that haunts markets all over the world. “We believe the long-term risk of Chinese moviegoers migrating en masse to online viewing is low. However, this is a generation that did not grow up seeing movies in cinemas with their parents, so longer-term preferences are still being formed,” says Pow. But all sections of the industry are upbeat about long-term prospects.

“From next year, we’ll see a more rational market instead of the overheated market of the past few years,” says Wu. Xiang points out the average number of cinema visits per head is just one per year, so there’s still plenty of room for growth.

Indeed, the immediate impact of the slowdown over the summer appears to be that there’s now less of an obsession with being the biggest and more of a s focus on becoming the best. n

Time Raiders

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PROMOTIONAL FEATURE

Ang Lee and Ewan McGregor at Bafta LA’s Britannia Awards.

The stage is set The UK’s Department for International Trade, the Northern Powerhouse and Film Export UK have teamed up to ensure a great British presence at AFM

T

here will be a strong British flavour to AFM. For the first time since 2010, the UK has an umbrella stand in the Loews hotel. Run by Film Export UK and situated in the Yoga Room, it will provide meeting, stretching and office space for a number of UK companies, including Dogwoof Pictures, Film Constellation and Sheffield Doc/Fest. Several UK sales firms are also benefiting from ongoing government Tradeshow Access Programme (TAP) support, which helps to underwrite their visits to Los Angeles.

Meanwhile, the UK’s Department for International Trade (DIT) and the Northern Powerhouse are organising a film-sector trade mission to AFM. It will showcase emerging talent as well as established companies from cities including Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle and Sheffield among others. All this activity is part of the

34 Screen International at AFM November 3, 2016

DIT’s five-year creative industries campaign for the US. Film, it is very clear, is regarded by the UK government as a priority sector.

Export-related activities in Los Angeles are not confined to AFM. As part of the ongoing Film Is GREAT campaign, there was plenty of noise ahead of AFM around Bafta LA’s Britannia Awards. And on the horizon is the pre-Oscar party at the Consul General’s residence in Los Angeles in February. The DIT is working closely with the consulate team in the city on all these initiatives.

Two-pronged approach The DIT campaign has two obvious goals: to help UK companies increase export sales and to drive into the UK more direct inward investment from the film sector. However, all the AFM activity is primarily targeted at exporters. “For the last two or three years, we have been talking to various funding

‘AFM is a particularly good market to launch pre-sales on a new project’ Charlie Bloye, Film Export UK

partners about how there is still a case for an umbrella stand at AFM,” says Charlie Bloye, chief executive of Film Export UK. This year, after the UK referendum to leave the European Union, the argument for reestablishing the stand became yet more compelling.

AFM is an expensive event for UK sales agents to attend, and recent currency fluctuations have not helped. Nonetheless, it is a major market the buyers expect UK sellers to attend. Thanks to DIT support and the rebirth of the umbrella stand, this will be much easier for many of them. The international fund of the British Film Institute (BFI) also provided support for the stand.

The DIT has close relations with the BFI and works with all the other main UK film agencies — British Film Commission, Film Export UK and the regional bodies among them — to help companies in the British film

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industry grow their exports and attract more inward investment into the country.

As the UK looks for export opportunities, the creative industries are assuming an ever greater importance. There is an obvious logic in upping the UK presence at AFM. There are Asian and Latin American distributors in attendance who do not come to Cannes or the European Film Market in Berlin. “What I hear from our members is that AFM is a particularly good market to launch pre-sales on a new project,” Bloye notes. It is also considered one of the best events for “clearing inventory” or, as sellers sometimes put it, “mopping up”. Deals on older titles that may already have screened in Cannes or Berlin can be clinched here. AFM provides a unique opportunity to showcase both new and old product. Moreover, if UK sellers can find US buyers for their films, that will invariably trigger sales elsewhere.

Several DIT representatives will be in Santa Monica. Among them is Tony Humphreys, an executive with extensive film and TV experience who has been hired as a ‘screen specialist for creative content’ by the department. Humphreys sees his role as two-fold. On the one hand, he is helping the creative industries department “to have a slightly more in-depth knowledge of how the industry works”. He can explain the mechanics of the international film business as well as its nuances. Meanwhile, he

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and his colleagues will aim to strengthen further relations between the US and UK film industries.

According to a spokesperson for the DIT: “UK film has a global reputation for excellence and distinctiveness, based on worldclass creative and technical talent and a full range of film-making capability, second only to the US. Creative industries are an important pillar of GREAT and underpin highlevel activity in UK film’s two key export markets, the US and China.”

The DIT’s umbrella stand in the Yoga Room of the Loews hotel

‘All of the funds we share with Europe are very important for the development of our industry’ Tony Humphreys, Department for International Trade

Beyond AFM The DIT is not just supporting the Brits at AFM. It will also be helping UK companies, through Film Export UK, to attend Berlin’s European Film Market in February and Hong Kong’s Filmart in March. And through the Children’s Media Conference, it will aid children’s entertainment companies, including those from film, to attend February’s Kidscreen in Miami.

The DIT is also organising a high-level creative industries forum and showcase in December 2016 in Shanghai, just prior to the People to People dialogue, which will include discussion on how the UK and China can make the most of the film co-production treaty between the two countries.

Film sellers are by their nature optimistic. Even so, in the past they felt neglected by government because public support was geared toward production and exhibition.

Now, as the DIT championing of their activities at AFM and elsewhere underlines, they realise they are playing an absolutely central role in the ongoing British film export drive.

November 3, 2016 Screen International at AFM 35

John Salangsang/Invision for IFTA /AP Images

The DIT’s goal in supporting the UK presence at AFM is obviously to increase export business for its companies. However there is no expectation that this will happen instantly, so a five-year plan is in place. “It is very difficult in this industry to put together a short-term plan,” suggests Humphreys.

“Most feature films, even the smaller ones, will probably not come to fruition within a minimum of two to three years. It would be impossible to have a plan that was for less than five years. It wouldn’t have any meaning to the industry.”

Bloye endorses this point. He cautions against expecting an immediate surge in UK film exports as a result of the new investment. “A lot of people would love it if we could say that people on the [umbrella] stand had sold $6m this year, which is better than $5m last year, but I’m not sure how that helps in the whole picture. You’re not actually clear whether it’s the provision of the support, the fact that [the sellers] were there or the fact the market is up or down.”

In other words, there are many variables.

Over a five-year period, though, trends will become apparent.

As the UK targets the US and China as vital export markets, that does not mean the country is ignoring its neighbours in continental Europe.

“Before we think about Europe as a market, Europe is important as a source of codevelopment,” says Humphreys. “All of the funds and creative collaborations we share with Europe are valuable to the development of our industry [in the UK], and the UK film trade bodies and wider creative sector have said the UK government should do everything it can to protect those.”

FEATURED TITLES AFM OFFICE LOEWS HOTEL

S U I T E 6 1 7/ 6 1 9 1.424.278.4224

THE BIG QUESTION

“What job would you be doing now if you hadn’t entered the film industry?”

“I would be working for a humanitarian organisation in a third-world country, most probably in Africa.”

“If I hadn’t been bitten by the film bug, I probably would have set up a grilledlobster beach shack in front of a remote surf spot — my other life passion. It is still very much an option as a retirement plan.”

Judith Baugin

Senior VP of international marketing and communication, Content Media

“Handball coach. I used to play professionally until I got injured. I would enjoy being a coach, and making other people run.”

Fabien Westerhoff

CEO, Film Constellation

“Outside of this crazy business, my numberone passion is food. Cooking it, sharing it and, of course, eating it. I’ve always had a hankering to run my own delicatessen/café — quintessentially English but filled with mysterious delights from all over the world. I might not get rich, but I think I would be very happy.”

James Norrie

Partner, Salt Company

“A criminal litigator — probably defence. My father was a criminal litigator, and after my law-school graduation he said that if things didn’t go well in Los Angeles, I could come back to Texas and become one of his partners.”

Brian O’Shea

CEO, The Exchange

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“Being a firefighter was my childhood dream. My father’s best friend was a firefighter.

As a young kid, visiting him at the station with my dad was always magical. Sitting in the fire trucks and being allowed to turn on the sirens was something else.”

Kristinn Thordarson

Head of production, Truenorth

Tine Klint CEO, LevelK

“Travelling would always be part of what I do, and if not in the film industry, I could see myself in the world of food. Travelling the world as a food critic. A job to grow with — so a clothing sponsor would be required.”

Susan Wendt

“I would be a pastry chef. I even studied at Le Cordon Bleu for several years. And maybe in another life, I would have been a journalist or war correspondent — trying to be CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.”

Mimi Steinbauer CEO, Radiant Films International

Head of sales, TrustNordisk

“I would have loved to have been a professional footballer, playing in the 1970s and ’80s when men were men and there was none of this play-acting that goes on today. Crunching tackles, breaking bones and taking players out — that would have been fun, following in the footsteps of ‘Chopper’ Harris and Norman Hunter.”

Martin Myers

MD, Miracle Communications

Ron ‘Chopper’ Harris

“I probably would have remained an investment banker, but I certainly would have burned out and become either a maths teacher or an airline pilot.”

“I would be a ballerina or pianist. When I was young, my teachers told me I was talented.”

Jaewoo Kim

Director, international sales, 13 Films

“I’d love to give you some fun response like I would have become a lobster fisherman, but seriously, I think I would have enjoyed becoming a Michelin-rated chef because I love good food. And like the French say, ‘If you would be well served, serve yourself’.”

Edward Noeltner President, Cinema Management Group

The Young Pope

Paul Hanson CEO, Covert Media

November 3, 2016 Screen International at AFM 37

SCREENINGS Edited by Paul Lindsell

paullindsell@gmail.com

AFM THEATRES AMC SANTA MONICA 1310 3rd Street Promenade, at Arizona Avenue ARCLIGHT SANTA MONICA Downtown Santa Monica, 395 Santa Monica Place #330 BROADWAY CINEPLEX 1441 3rd Street Promenade, just north of Broadway

Cast: various. Planeta Inform Film Distribution.

Incudes 20 minutes of new horror film “The Bride” and the first teaser of a historical epic “The Scythian”.

AMC Santa Monica 3

PREVENGE

MARKET 09:00 A BAG OF MARBLES

Drama. 113mins.

Dir: Christian Duguay.

Scr: Christian Duguay.

Cast: Patrick Bruel, Christian Clavier, Kev Adams, Elsa Zylberstein.

Gaumont.

A true story about two young Jewish brothers in German-occupied France who, with a mind-boggling mix of mischievousness, courage and ingenuity, are forced to fend for themselves to escape Nazi barbarism.

Monica 1

THE CHOSEN

Thriller, true story.

124mins. Dir: Antonio Chavarrias. Scr: Antonio Chavarrias. Cast: Alfonso Herrera, Hannah Murray, Henry Goodman. Filmax International.

A frenetically intriguing historical thriller about the Spanish man who assassinated Trotsky.

Broadway 2

DEEP

Animation, action, adventure, family.

95mins. Dir: Julio Soto Gurpide. Scr: Julio Soto Gurpide, Jose Tatay, Salvador Rubio, Baboon Animation. Cast: Justin

Felbinger, Stephen Ezra Hughes, Lindsey Alena, Elisabeth Catherine Gray.

Umedia International.

In a deep-sea world of the future where humans have abandoned the Earth and the oceans have risen, Deep, an adventurous octopus and the last of his kind, lives among a ragtag band of aquatic oddities protected by the keeper of the abyss, the mythical Kraken. But when an accident destroys their home in the deepest crevice of the ocean, Deep and his friends are forced to find a new home, facing formidable enemies and dealing with the most hilarious situations along the way.

ArcLight 1

GOODBYE BERLIN

Comedy. 93mins.

Dir: Fatih Akin.

Scr: Hark Bohm, Lars Hubrich, Wolfgang Herrndorf. Cast: Anand Batbileg, Tristan Gobel, Nicole Mercedes Muller.

StudioCanal.

A coming-of-age story of two friends taking the trip of a lifetime. While his mother is in rehab and his father is on a “business trip’” with his assistant, 14-year-old outsider Maik is spending the summer

38 Screen International at AFM November 3, 2016

09:00 THE KING’S CHOICE

Drama. 130mins.

Dir: Erik Poppe.

Scr: Jan Trygve Royneland, Harald Rosenlow Eeg. Cast: Jesper Christensen, Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Tuva Novotny, Karl Markovics, Katharina Schuttler, Juliane Kohler, Arthur Hakalahti. Beta Cinema.

On the night of April 9, 1940, a fleet of Nazi warships attack Oslo. holidays bored and alone at his parents’ villa, when rebellious teenager Tschick appears. Tschick, a Russian immigrant and an outcast, steals a car and decides to set off on a journey away from Berlin with Maik tagging along for the ride. So begins a wild adventure where the two experience the trip of a lifetime and share a summer they will never forget.

ArcLight 3

The biggest of them all, Hitler’s pride the Blucher, is sunk. When Germany presents an ultimatum for surrender, the Norwegian prime minister hands in his resignation. The country is falling apart but two men stand up for what they believe in, King Haakon of Norway and the German diplomat Curt Brauer. A race against time between mediation and warfare ensues.

Monica 2

Scr: Francesco Amato.

Cast: Toni Servillo, Veronica Echegui.

Rai Com. Elia is a Jewish psychoanalyst who lives on the same floor as his ex wife Giovanna, with whom he is still in love. After a minor illness, his doctor prescribes physical activity to lose a few kilos. That is how he meets Claudia, a personal trainer with the cult of physique, but not of mind.

Broadway 3

THE KING’S CHOICE See box, above

PLANETA INFORM PROMO REEL

LET YOURSELF GO!

Action, adventure.

100mins. Dir: various.

Scr: various.

Comedy. 107mins.

Dir: Francesco Amato.

Horror, black comedy.

88mins. Dir: Alice Lowe. Cast: Alice Lowe, Dan Renton Skinner, Gemma Whelan, Kayvan Novak, Kate Dickie.

Kaleidoscope Film Distribution.

Driven by the voice of her unborn child, a pregnant woman takes revenge for the death of her boyfriend, embarking on a killing spree that is both vicious and funny.

Monica 3

RETRIBUTION

Action, adventure, thriller. 78mins.

Dir: Danny Albury, David Bispham.

Scr: Danny Albury, David Bispham.

Cast: Dan Richardson, Olivia Popica, Sean Cronin. Princ Films.

A hardened debt-collector goes on a 24-hour rampage through London in an attempt to avenge the brutal attack on his teenage daughter.

Monica 5

SPLIT

Action, adventure, drama.

123mins. Dir: Choi Kookhee. Scr: Choi Kookhee. Cast: Yoo Ji-tae, Lee Jung-hyun. United Pictures.

Cheol-jong used to be a promising bowler but he ends up wandering around the betting world

MONICA FILM CENTER 1332 2nd Street OCEAN SCREENING ROOM 1401 Ocean Avenue, at Santa Monica Boulevard » Screening times and venues are correct at the time of going to press but subject to alteration. See thefilmcatalogue. com for late changes

of bowling. In order to pay back the debt he owes to his enemy “Toad”, Cheoljong and his gambling broker Hee-jin struggle on the bowling lanes. That’s when they run into an autistic boy named Younghoon, a naturally gifted bowler.

Monica 6 Invitation only

WESTEND PROMO SCREENING

115mins. WestEnd Films.

AMC Santa Monica 1

09:30 AND PUNCHING THE CLOWN

Comedy. 98mins.

Dir: Gregori Viens.

Scr: Henry Phillips, Gregori Viens. Cast: Henry Phillips, JK Simmons, Tig Notaro, Sarah Silverman. Octane Entertainment.

Hapless satirical songwriter Henry Phillips is lured to LA when a veteran TV producer decides to make a show about the life of a loser.

Broadway 4

THE BEAUTIFUL DAYS OF ARANJUEZ

Drama. 97mins.

Dir: Wim Wenders.

Scr: Wim Wenders.

Cast: Reda Kateb, Sophie Semin, Jens Harzer.

Alfama Films.

A beautiful summer day.

A garden. A terrace.

A woman and a man under the trees, with a soft summer wind. In the distance, in the vast plain, the silhouette of Paris.

A conversation begins: questions and answers between the woman and the man.

AMC Santa Monica 6

www.screendaily.com

»

SCREENINGS

HEAL THE LIVING

ACE THE CASE

Drama. 104mins.

Dir: Katell Quillevere.

Scr: Katell Quillevere, Gilles Taurand.

Cast: Tahar Rahim, Emmanuelle Seigner, Anne Dorval. Films Distribution.

It all starts at daybreak, three young surfers on the raging seas. A few hours later, on the way home, an accident occurs. Now entirely hooked up to lifesupport in a hospital in Le Havre, Simon’s existence is little more than an illusion. Meanwhile, in Paris, a woman awaits the organ transplant that will give her a new lease on life.

Family, comedy. 95mins.

Dir: Kevin Kaufman.

Scr: Kevin Kaufman.

Cast: Susan Sarandon, Ripley Sobo. Bleiberg Entertainment.

Left in the care of her teenage brother Miles while their mom is out of town, 10-year-old Olivia Haden takes her dog Charlie for a late-night walk and witnesses a brazen kidnapping on the deserted streets of New York City. But when she tells Miles what she has seen, he dismisses her, and when she reports it to the NYPD, only a sympathetic detective named Dottie will even listen. Without solid evidence, there’s nothing Dottie can do, so the intrepid tween sets out to solve the crime herself.

AMC Santa Monica 4

RED BILLABONG

Supernatural thriller.

90mins. Dir: Luke Sparke. Scr: Luke Sparke.

Cast: Tim Pocock, Jessica Green. Arclight Films.

Based on one of Australia’s oldest legends of strange occurrences in the remote and vast outback area.

Estranged brothers Dan Ewing and Tim Pocock find themselves stalked by a sinister supernatural creature.

Monica 4

ROBBY & TOBY’S FANTASTIC VOYAGER See box, right

SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS

Family, children’s, action, adventure. 97mins.

Dir: Philippa Lowthorpe.

Scr: Andrea Gibb.

Cast: Rafe Spall, Gwendoline Christie,

MARKET 09:30 ROBBY & TOBY’S FANTASTIC VOYAGER

Family. 89mins.

Dir: Wolfgang Groos.

Scr: Jan Berger.

Cast: Arsseni Bultmann, Alexandra Maria Lara, Sam Riley, Friedrich Mucke. ARRI Media International.

The story of Toby, the most creative 11-year-old boy and inventor you can think of. One day, the little robot Robby enters his life.

He’s been separated from his robot parents when Kelly Macdonald.

HanWay Films.

Set over an idyllic English summer holiday, the four

Monica 5

his spaceship crashed and now he is looking for them. Toby decides to help and the two become friends. They build an invention that can fly, float and drive on a road — a fantastic Voyager especially designed to help their search. Meanwhile, the unscrupulous Sir Joshua and his super bad agents are hot on their heels, wanting to use Robby and the fantastic Voyager for their own evil plans.

backdrop of the Lake District. The Walkers sail the agile Swallow and the Blacketts commandeer The Amazon, making camp on a nearby island. Their world is one of imagination — filled with pirates and canons, where boats are captured and the enemy has to walk the plank.

But when family friend Uncle Jim is revealed to be a spy, our motley crew are forced to put down their imaginary swords and band together to protect him from his Soviet enemies.

ArcLight 2

ArcLight 8

Walker children and their sailing rivals, the Blacketts, run amok in their boats against the stunning

TRUSTNORDISK PROMO REEL

Fantasy, true story, black comedy. 17mins.

Dir: various. Scr:

various. Cast: various.

TrustNordisk.

Sneak preview of selected 2017 titles from TrustNordisk.

AMC Santa Monica 2

11:00 A DARK SONG

Horror. 99mins.

Dir: Liam Gavin.

Cast: Steve Oram, Catherine Walker, Susan Loughnane, Mark Huberman. Kaleidoscope Film Distribution.

A determined young woman and a damaged occultist risk their lives and souls to perform a dangerous ritual that threatens to blur the boundaries between this world and the next.

Monica 1

THE BOUNCE BACK

Romance, comedy.

104mins. Dir: Youssef Delara. Scr: Youssef Delara. Cast: Shemar Moore, Nadine Velazquez, Bill Bellamy, Sheryl Underwood, Kali Hawk. DDI (Double Dutch International).

Father, author and relationship expert, Matthew Taylor is on a whirlwind book tour promoting his new best seller, “The Bounce Back”.

He’s got it all figured out until he meets the acerbic Kristin Peralta, a talk show circuit therapist who’s convinced he’s nothing but a charlatan.

Matthew’s life is turned upside down when he

»

40 Screen International at AFM November 3, 2016

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I M VORLDWIDE

W

16 0 2 M AF

DAY O T G NIN SCREE

SCREENINGS

inadvertently falls for Kristin and has to face the painful truth of his past relationship.

ArcLight 11

CHARMING (3D)

Animation, action adventure. 100mins.

Dir: Ross Venokur.

Scr: Ross Venokur.

Cast: Demi Lovato, Ashley Tisdale, Avril Lavigne. SC Films International.

An irreverent comedy about a young prince cursed with an irresistible appeal and the one kickass girl who wants him for nothing but money.

ArcLight 1 Invitation only

ETERNITE

Drama. 115mins.

Dir: Tran Anh Hung.

Scr: Tran Anh Hung.

Cast: Audrey Tautou, Melanie Laurent, Berenice Bejo, Jeremie Renier, Pierre Deladonchamps. Pathe International.

When Valentine marries Jules at the age of 20, the 19th century is ending. At the end of the following

Broadway 1

LADY MACBETH

Drama. 89mins.

Dir: William Oldroyd.

Scr: Alice Birch.

Cast: Florence Pugh, Cosmo Jarvis.

Protagonist Pictures.

Rural England, 1865.

Katherine is stifled by her loveless marriage to a bitter man twice her age, whose family are cold and unforgiving. When she embarks on a passionate affair with a young worker on her husband’s estate, a force is unleashed inside her, a force so powerful that she will stop at nothing to get what she wants.

ArcLight 5

MY BLIND DATE WITH LIFE

Comedy, drama.

115mins. Dir: Marc Rothemund. Scr: Saliya Kahawatte, Ruth Toma, Oliver Ziegenbaig.

Cast: Kostja Ullmann, Jacob Matschenz, Anna Maria Muhe.

StudioCanal.

The incredible and inspiring true story of a nearly blind man who overcomes adversity with extraordinary determination to fulfil his dream of working in a luxury hotel.

ArcLight 3

MY COOL DAD/LEONOV PROMOS

Animation, family, comedy. 45mins.

Dir: Viktor Glukhushin.

Scr: Ksenia Mtchtlidze.

Cast: Alexey Kolgan, Timur Rodrigez. Mirsand.

Monica 3

RICHARD THE STORK See box, below

SAM WAS HERE

Thriller. 90mins.

Dir: Christophe Deroo.

Scr: Christophe Deroo.

EAL

M P 0 3 : 1 D D AY, N O V 3 R

SCALES:

THUR S

RE R A S D I A ERM

century, a young Parisian woman, Valentine’s granddaughter, runs across a bridge and into the arms of the man she loves. Between these two moments, men and women meet, love and embrace over a hundred-year period, thereby fulfilling the destinies of love and establishing a genealogy… an eternity.

M

HT 2 G I L H C R TA A G N I N 703 E E T I SCRE U S s Loew

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MARKET 11:00 RICHARD THE STORK

Animation, family. 85mins.

Dir: Toby Genkel, Reza Memari.

Scr: Reza Memari. Global Screen.

Richard — a sparrow — is adopted by, and grows up with, a stork family, convinced he is himself a stork.

Problems arise when the storks, as

migratory birds, leave for Africa to spend the winter. Richard wants to go with them, and starts hitchhiking through Europe — by bus, train and boat — joined by an eccentric owl and a narcissistic, disco-singing parakeet to prove to his stork family that he’s a stork.

Broadway 3

»

42 Screen International at AFM November 3, 2016

www.screendaily.com

SCREENINGS

Cast: Rusty Joiner, Sigrid La Chapelle. WTFilms.

Mojave Desert, California.

A strange red light appears in the sky. Sam, a salesman, becomes the target of a human hunt led by the host of a crazy radio show.

AMC Santa Monica 3

11:30 BEYOND SKYLINE See box, right

CENTRAL PARTNERSHIP LINE-UP VIDEO

Action, adventure, historical, fantasy.

40mins. Dir: various.

Scr: various. Cast: various. Central Partnership Sales House.

Broadway 2

COLD HELL

Thriller. 95mins.

Dir: Stefan Ruzowitzky.

Scr: Martin Ambrosch.

Cast: Violetta Schurawlow, Tobias Moretti, Sammy Sheik, Friedrich von Thun, Robert Palfrader, Stefan Pohl, Verena Altenberger.

Beta Cinema.

Ozge is a young Turkishborn taxi driver who attends evening classes and is also an ambitious Thaiboxer. She rarely speaks and trains hard. One day she witnesses an extremely brutal murder. The suspect is an insane serial killer, inspired by Islam — and he is convinced that Ozge has seen him. A life-anddeath struggle ensues. In his job as a police officer, Christian Steiner often has contact with people from immigrant backgrounds.

MARKET THE DROWNING

EAT LOCAL

DEAREST SISTER

Dir: Mattie Do. Scr: Christopher Larson.

Cast: Amphaiphun Phommapunya. Raven Banner Entertainment.

A village girl travels to the capital to care for her rich cousin, who has mysteriously lost her sight and somehow gained the ability to communicate with the dead.

Thriller. 95mins.

Dir: Bette Gordon.

Scr: Stephen Molton, Frank Pugliese.

Cast: Julia Stiles, Josh Charles, Avan Jogia.

Electric Entertainment.

Tom Seymour, a psychologist, jumps into an icy river to save a drowning man, only to discover that he’s the same boy he put away for murder 12 years earlier.

When the young man begins to mysteriously reappear around town and starts a suspicious new friendship with Tom’s wife, Tom realises his wife may suddenly be the victim of a revenge plot.

Thriller, horror. 90mins.

Monica 6

AMC Santa Monica 6

Action, adventure, thriller. 94mins.

Dir: Jason Flemyng.

Scr: Danny King. Cast: Charlie Cox, Mackenzie Crook, Dexter Fletcher, Tony Curran. GFM Films.

In a quiet country farmhouse, Britain’s vampires gather for their once-every-50years meeting. Others will be joining them too: unwitting Essex boy Sebastian Crockett, whose promise of a night of passion with ravishing cougar Vanessa quickly turns into a fight for survival after she decides to introduce him to some of her friends — the coven of hungry vampires.

11:30 BEYOND SKYLINE

Action, adventure.

106mins. Dir: Liam O’Donnell. Scr: Liam O’Donnell. Cast: Frank Grillo, Jonny Weston, Iko Uwais, Yayan

Some years ago his wife left him, taking their child with her. Since then Steiner has been living with his father and cares for him as best he can. Steiner finds it very difficult to trust other people, especially women.

ArcLight 10

Ruhian. Red Sea Media.

A tough-as-nails detective embarks on a relentless pursuit to free his son from a nightmarish alien warship.

ArcLight 12

As if Sebastian’s night couldn’t get any worse, a heavily armed band of mercenary vampire hunters, led by the steadfast Captain Bingham, crashes the party and much like the vampires, they’re out for blood. It is going to be a night to remember.

ArcLight 4

FANTASTIC JOURNEY TO OZ

Animation, children’s, family. 50mins.

Dir: Vladimir Toropchin.

Scr: Alexandr Boyarsky.

Cast: Vladimir Toropchin. Wizart.

The cunning and wicked Urfin wants to become ruler of Magic Land.

With an army of wooden

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44 Screen International at AFM November 3, 2016

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SCREENINGS

soldiers, he captures the Emerald City. He is all but ready to celebrate victory when his plans are ruined by an ordinary girl named Dorothy, who arrives in Magic Land at just the right time. She must return home, but not before she helps her friends — the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and newbrave Lion — defeat Urfin.

And in order to do that, they need to find out who he really is.

ArcLight 2

THE HIPPOPOTAMUS MARKET 11:30 THE INVISIBLE GUEST

Suspense, thriller. 106mins. Dir: Oriol Paulo. Scr: Oriol Paulo. Cast: Mario Casas, Barbara Lennie, Jose Coronado, Anna Wagener. Film Factory Entertainment.

Adrian Doria, a businessman on the crest of the wave, wakes up in a hotel room

that’s locked from the inside alongside the body of his lover, Laura. With no possible explanation to exonerate him, Doria hires the services of Virginia Goodman, a prestigious lawyer who prepares witnesses. Over one harrowing night, they work to clarify what happened in a frenetic race against time.

ArcLight 6

Comedy. 90mins.

Dir: John Jencks.

Scr: Blanche McIntyre, Tom Hodgson.

Cast: Roger Allam, Matthew Modine, Tim McInnerny, Fiona Shaw.

Truffle Pictures.

Fired from his job as a theatre critic, disgraced poet Ted Wallace jumps on the opportunity to lay low for a while at his

THE INVISIBLE GUEST

Cast: Dominique Frot.

Films Distribution.

On the last day of summer, Louise, an old woman, realises that the last train has departed without her.

She finds herself alone in a small seaside resort town, abandoned by everyone.

The weather quickly turns for the worse followed by the seasonal tides.

Fragile and coquettish, not nearly as well-prepared as a would-be Robinson Crusoe, Louise isn’t likely to make it through the winter. Yet, Louise takes her abandonment as a challenge. She’s going to survive, confronting the elements as well as her memories, which have found the perfect occasion to join in the adventure.

See box, left

Broadway 4

LOUISE BY THE SHORE

RABBIT SCHOOL — GUARDIANS OF THE GOLDEN EGG

friends’ country manor, Swafford Hall. A series of unexplained miracle healings have recently occurred and Ted tracks down the perpetrator of the phenomena, horny teenager David Logan, whose parents believe has healing hands.

Unaware that David is using some rather unorthodox methods, Lord and Lady Logan are set on sharing their son’s “gift” with the world. Among a colourful party of fellow guests, Ted sets out to prove the miracles are a hoax and save a young man from a lifetime of embarrassment.

AMC Santa Monica 2

Animation. 75mins.

Dir: Jean-Francois Laguionie. Scr: JeanFrancois Laguionie.

Animation, children’s, action, adventure.

»

46 Screen International at AFM November 3, 2016

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SCreening today!

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ARCLIGHT 4 - 11/03 - 15:30:00 9200 Sunset Blvd. Suite 600 West Hollywood, CA 90069 Work: (310) 271-8400 Fax: (310) 278-7500 Email: sales@highland.film http://www.highland.film

SCREENINGS

72mins. Dir: Ute von Munchow-Pohl. Scr: Katja Grubel. Cast: Animation. Sola Media.

Rabbits against foxes — what an uneven battle.

Until a city rabbit joins the famous rabbit school where time stood still, and legend meets street credibilty.

the fact that Jack’s dad is his chief competition because he coaches the regional champs, a team with a flawless record, a lavish Olympic-size pool, and a raft of sponsors.

Surely Jack has been set up by his own dad to fail?

Monica 2

THE FURY OF A PATIENT MAN

AMC Santa Monica 4

13:00 BOERNING2 — ON ICE

Action, adventure, road movie, comedy. 90mins.

Dir: Hallvard Braein.

Scr: Anne Elvedal, Linn-Jeanethe Kyed.

Cast: Anders Baasmo Christiansen, Henrik Mestad, Sven Nordin, Stig Frode Henriksen, Otto Jespersen, Jenny Skavlan. SF Studios.

The world’s first car racing film on winter road conditions.

AMC Santa Monica 3

BOYS IN THE TREES

Thriller. 112mins.

Dir: Nicholas Verso.

Scr: Nicholas Verso.

Cast: Toby Wallace, Gulliver McGrath.

Myriad Pictures.

On Halloween 1997, two estranged teen skaters embark on a surreal journey through their memories, dreams and fears.

AMC Santa Monica 5

EGON SCHIELE — DEATH AND THE MAIDEN

MARKET 13:00 EGON SCHIELE — DEATH AND THE MAIDEN

Drama, biography.

109mins. Dir: Dieter Berner. Scr: Dieter Berner, Hilde Berger.

Cast: Noah Saavedra, Maresi Riegner, Valerie Pachner, Marie Jung, Elisabeth Umlauft. Picture Tree International.

Austria 1906. After the death of his father, 16-year-old Egon Schiele, who has just been accepted at the Academy of Fine Arts, takes his younger sister

Gerti to the Italian seaside town of Trieste to paint her in the southern light. Twelve years later, and only a few days before the end of the First World War, he falls ill with the Spanish flu, a fatal epidemic that is plaguing Vienna.

Gerti is at Egon’s side once again. While she desperately tries to save the life of her beloved brother, memories of all the other women who influenced him throughout his life come flooding back.

Monica 3

See box, above

ELEMENTARY

Drama. 100mins.

Dir: Helene Angel.

Scr: Helene Angel.

Cast: Sara Forestier, Vincent Elbaz.

StudioCanal.

A moving story of how an inspiring and passionate teacher tries to guide the children in her life towards a happy and hopeful future. Florence is a young and motivated elementary school teacher with a class of final years, one of whom happens to be her son.

While she works diligently to push her students to success in the classroom, she struggles to manage the pressures of raising her son alone at home. Florence’s life is turned upside down by the arrival of a new

student, who has been abandoned by his mother, and also by her own son, who suddenly demands to live with his father.

Florence has a tough year ahead but must find a way to manage it all, while also leading her class towards a brighter future.

ArcLight 1

EVERYBODY’ S FINE

Drama. 106mins.

Dir: Meng Zhang.

Scr: Xiao Song.

Cast: Guoli Zhang.

TM Pictures Co. Follows a widower who embarks on an impromptu road trip to reconnect with each of his grown children, only to discover that their lives are far from perfect.

Broadway 1

48 Screen International at AFM November 3, 2016

IN SEARCH OF FELLINI

Drama, action, adventure. 98mins.

Dir: Taron Lexton.

Scr: Nancy Cartwright.

Cast: Ksenia Solo, Maria Bello, Mary Lynn Rajskub. AMBI Distribution.

Follows one girl’s journey searching for the legendary Italian film-maker Federico Fellini.

ArcLight 11

Vida, a middle-class cellist from London, falls in love with Arthur, a working class bike courier from Wales, but their relationship is put to the test when they meet each other’s families and are forced to confront class and cultural differences.

A fresh look at how conflicting family ties challenge love in a modern day “Romeo & Juliet”.

Monica 5

THE NIGHT WATCHMEN

Horror, comedy. 80mins.

Dir: Mitchell Altieri.

Scr: Dan DeLuca. Cast: Ken Arnold, Kara Luiz, James Remar. Automatic Entertainment.

Three inept night watchmen, aided by a young rookie and a fearless tabloid journalist, fight an epic battle to save their lives. A mistaken warehouse delivery unleashes a horde of hungry vampires, and these unlikely heroes must not only save themselves but also stop the scourge that threatens to take over the city of Baltimore.

Monica 1

LOVE IS THICKER THAN WATER

Romance. 105mins.

Dir: Emily Harris, Ate de Jong. Scr: Ate de Jong. Cast: Lydia Wilson, Ellie Kendrick, Henry Goodman, Juliet Stevenson, Johnny Flynn.

Jinga Films.

Opposites attract when

13:30 ACCIDENT

Action, adventure, thriller. 90mins. Dir: Dan Tondowski. Scr: Dan Tondowski. Cast: Roxane Hayward, Stephanie Shields, Keenan Arrison, Tyrone Keogh. The Exchange.

When four teenagers “borrow” a car for one night of fun, what starts as a wild joy ride turns into a nightmare. After a violent crash, they discover that being stuck at the bottom of a ravine in an overturned car is the least of their problems. The psychotic owner of the car that they stole has them in his cross-hairs. He will stop at nothing to get both the car and its contents back.

Monica 2

COACH OF THE YEAR

Comedy, family, true story. 82mins. Dir: David Stott. Scr: David Stott.

Cast: Harris Doran, Melissa Archer, Edward Herrmann, Hunter Gomez, Paten Hughes, Montana Marks, Chris Ceraso, James Mccraffrey, Kevin Brown. Match Productions.

Centres around Jack Wright, a perpetual undergrad who has long since abandoned the world of swimming to pursue a career as a standup comic. Following a scathing review of Jack’s latest gig, Jack’s father, himself a successful coach, loses patience with his son’s misguided goal and forces him to take a coaching job at a local school. The only catch is that there is barely a team there to coach, nor is there a pool in which to train.

Making matters worse is

Thriller. 91mins.

Dir: Raul Arevalo.

Scr: Raul Arevalo, David Pulido.

Cast: Antonio De la Torre, Luis Callejo. Film Factory Entertainment.

A man who loses his wife during a vicious robbery at a jewellery store quietly plans to find and exact revenge against the robbers responsible while the anger grows within him.

AMC Santa Monica 2

PRETENDERS

Thriller, psycho-drama, drama. 102mins. Dir: Vallo Toomla. Scr: Livia Ulman, Andris Feldmanis. Cast: Mirtel Pohla, Priit Voigemast.

Wide Management.

Monica 6

S IS FOR STANLEY

Documentary. 78mins.

Dir: Alex Infascelli.

Scr: Filippo Ulivieri.

Cast: Roberto Peticini, Vincenzo Scuccimarra.

Rai Com. The story of Emilio D’Alessandro, Stanley Kubrick’s personal driver – a friendship that lasted 30 years, helped create four cinema masterpieces, and brought together two apparently opposite people who found their ideal journey companion far away from their homes.

ArcLight 12

SCALES: MERMAIDS ARE REAL

Family, action, adventure fantasy. 88mins.

Dir: Kevan Peterson.

Scr: Kevan Peterson.

Cast: Elisabeth Rohm, Emmy Perry, Morgan Fairchild, Nikki Hahn, Kim Hidalgo, Sterling Sulieman, Noree Victoria.

Scales: Mermaids Are Real.

A young woman finds out she’s about to turn into a

www.screendaily.com

media luna @ AFM mermaid on the eve of her 12th birthday.

ArcLight 2

SOCIAL SUICIDE

Thriller. 92mins.

Dir: Bruce Webb.

Scr: Robert Klecha.

Cast: India Eisley, Olivia Hussey, Leonard Whiting, Neve McIntosh, Richard Cordery, Jackson Bews, Rollo Skinner.

Princ Films.

When two internetobsessed teenagers die in an unexpected fight and the lead suspect disappears, the police interrogate Balthazar, a fame-obsessed boy, while technical experts try to unravel his online history.

Meanwhile, teenagers everywhere send in clips, vines and memes to muddy the investigation. This is an investigative thriller revealing the extreme lengths teenagers will go for internet fame.

Monica 4

VAMPIRE CLEAN UP DEPARTMENT

Action, adventure, fantasy. 95mins. Dir: Pak Wing Yan, Sin Hang Chiu. Cast: Babyjohn Choi, Min Chen Lin, Siu Ho Chin, Richard Ng, Susan Shaw. Young Live Entertainment (HK) Co. Attacked by vampire, a born loser is saved by three street cleaners. When he

wakes up, he finds himself in a secret government facility hidden in a garbage collection station.

He then discovers that he has a special immunity to vampire attack, making him a perfect candidate to be an agent of the secret organisation the Vampire Cleanup Department.

ArcLight 6

15:00 BALLAD IN BLOOD

Thriller, true story, suspense. 95mins.

Dir: Ruggero Deodato.

Scr: Angelo Orlando.

Cast: Carlotta Morelli, Edward Williams, Gabriele Rossi, Noemi Smorra, Ernesto Mahieux. TVCO. It is the day after Halloween Night in Orvieto, Umbria. Jacopo and Duke wake up in Lenka and Elisabeth’s apartment. Jacopo is an Italian student, Duke is an African-American drug dealer. The dawn of the new day brings with it a horrible problem: Elizabeth is dead.

Someone has cut her throat. But there’s more, Neither Jacopo, nor Duke, nor Lenka remember what happened. They were too drunk and stoned.

Monica 3

BRICE FROM NICE

Comedy. 120mins.

Dir: James Huth.

Scr: James Huth.

Cast: Jean Dujardin, Clovis Cornillac, Bruno Salomone. Gaumont.

After being no more than a tourist attraction for passing Chinese visitors, our indolent surfer receives a text from his friend Marius. He then decides to jump on the next plane and go to his rescue.

And so begins a great adventure.

MISCHA BARTON

TODAY! 3:30PM Monica Film Center 4

Broadway 3

CALL OF HEROES See box, below

CJ ENTERTAINMENT PROMO REEL

Action, adventure.

Dir: Ui-seok Cho, Ken Ochiai. CJ Entertainment.

Ocean

DANCE TO DEATH

Sci-fi/action, adventure.

100mins. Dir: Andrey Volgin. Scr: Andrey Zolotarev. Cast: Ivan Zhvakin, Lukeria Iliashenko. Planeta Inform Film Distribution.

A deadly dance tournament is held in a city following a nuclear apocalypse. Energy is extracted from the losers so that the city can survive. A young guy from the street is forced to take part in the tournament and falls in love with girl who has volunteered to

Don’t let him out PAZ DE LA HUERTA

Getting axed in the corporate world has a new meaning Pre-selling

TARA REID

by Robert Reed Altman

MARKET 15:00 CALL OF HEROES

Martial arts, action, adventure. 120mins.

Dir: Benny Chan. Scr: Benny Chan, Wong Doug, Tam Wai Chin, Tim Tong, Chien I Chueh. Cast: Sean Lau, Louis Koo, Eddie Peng Yu Yan, Wu Jing, Yuan

Quan, Jiang Shu Ying. Universe Films Distribution Co. Set in 1914 following the collapse of the Qing dynasty, ‘Call Of Heroes’ tells the story of a group of villagers standing up to a cruel young warlord.

AMC Santa Monica 3

Pre-selling

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SCREENINGS

participate in the battle.

Will they survive or will the arena take their lives?

ArcLight 3

GORAN

MARKET 15:00 HEART OF STONE

Fantasy, action, adventure. 119mins.

Dir: Johannes Naber. Scr: Johannes Naber, Steffen Reuter, Christian Zipperle, Andreas Marschall. Cast: Frederick Lau, Moritz Bleibtreu, Milan Peschel. Picture Tree International.

Peter and Lisbeth are two young but unfortunate lovers living in a rigid rural community in the Black Forest.

She comes from a wealthy family, he is

from the lower end of society. To become rich and respected, Peter makes a pact with a devil named Dutch Michael, who rips out his heart and replaces it with a stone. Peter becomes a cold-hearted go-getter who rapidly achieves his goals.

But Lisbeth no longer recognises Peter as the man she once loved and turns against him. There is only one way for him to put things straight: Peter must get his heart back.

ArcLight 11

Thriller. 86mins.

Dir: Nevio Marasovic.

Scr: Gjermund Gisvold.

Cast: Franjo Dijak, Natasa Janjic. Wide Management.

Goran lives a simple life surrounded by his friends and family in the snow-covered Croatian highlands. This carefree existence is put to an end when his wife announces she is expecting a child.

Whereas they have every reason to celebrate, the good news will unleash the fiery personalities of the highlanders, leading to a darkly comic twist of events. The white winter will soon turn red.

Monica 5

HEART OF STONE See box, left

IN THIS CORNER OF THE WORLD

Animation. 125mins.

Dir: Sunao Katabuchi.

Scr: Sunao Katabuchi.

Genco.

Staged in the city of Kure, Hiroshima during the Second World War, this beautiful animation follows young Suzu as she loses everything except her positive attitude and teaches us the value of every day life.

ArcLight 7

NICK — OFF DUTY

Thriller, action, adventure. 120mins.

Dir: Christian Alvart.

Scr: Christoph Darnstaedt. Cast: Til Schweiger, Fahri Yardim, Luna Schweiger. Global Screen.

Tough cop Nick Tschiller lost his wife to the Turkish Mafia. When his teen daughter Lenny runs away to Istanbul to avenge her mother, Nick

and his partner Yalcin go after her and find her in the hands of ruthless Russian gangsters. Lenny is abducted to Moscow and winds up in an organ harvesting clinic. Nick has to race against time to save his daughter’s life.

AMC Santa Monica 5

OPERATION MEKONG

Action, adventure.

124mins. Dir: Dante Lam. Scr: Kang-ki Chu, Siu-kwan Lau, Waiching Tam, Eric Lin. Cast: Hanyu Zhang, Eddie Peng. Distribution Workshop.

Inspired by the true story known as the Mekong Massacre, two Chinese commercial vessels are ambushed while travelling down the Mekong River in the waters of the Golden Triangle, one of the largest drugmanufacturing regions in the world. Thirteen sailors are executed at

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gunpoint, and 900,000 methamphetamine pills are recovered at the scene. Upon discovery, the Chinese government immediately sends a band of elite narcotics officers led by Captain Gao Gang to the Golden Triangle to uncover the truth behind the murders.

ArcLight 5

US editor Jeremy Kay,

THE REHEARSAL

jeremykay67@gmail.com,

Drama/comedy. 102mins.

Dir: Alison Maclean.

Scr: Alison Maclean.

Cast: Kerry Fox, James Rolleston. Mongrel International.

Stanley, a naive first-year drama student meets Isolde and begins a sweet, first love affair. Goaded by Hannah, the charismatic, domineering head of acting, Stanley uncovers a talent and ambition he didn’t know he had.

When his group hits on a sex scandal that involves Isolde’s tennis prodigy sister as fertile material for their end-of-year show, Stanley finds himself profoundly torn.

+1 310 922 5908 Asia editor Liz Shackleton , lizshackleton@ gmail.com Deputy editor Andreas Wiseman, andreas.wiseman@screendaily. com, +44 7713 086 674 Group head of production & art Mark Mowbray, mark.mowbray@screendaily.com, +44 7710 124 065 Sub editors Paul Lindsell, Adam Richmond Advertising and publishing Publishing director Nadia Romdhani, nadia. romdhani@screendaily.com, +44 7540 100 315 Senior sales manager Scott Benfold, scott.benfold@ screendaily.com, +44 7765 257

Broadway 1

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VIKING

Historical, action, adventure. 80mins.

Dir: Andrey Kravchuk.

Scr: Andrey Kravchuk.

Cast: Danila Kozlovsky, Svetlana Khodchenkova.

Central Partnership Sales House.

See it to believe. From the time of heavy swords and dark laws of blood, when the pressure of great chaos gave rise to heroes. From the Dark Ages comes the story that changed Russia forever.

Monica 1

15:30 THE DARKNESS

Suspense, horror. 94mins.

Dir: Daniel Castro Zimbron.

Scr: Daniel Castro Zibron, Denis Languerand.

Cast: Brontis Jodorowsky.

Memento Films International.

The Earth has stopped spinning and days have stopped passing by. One toxic, dense fog covers the forest immersed in eternal twilight. Argel has spent his life with his two siblings, locked inside

54 Screen International at AFM November 3, 2016

MARKET 15:30 THE RUNAROUND

Comedy. 86mins.

Dir: Gavin Wiesen.

Scr: Seth W Owen.

Cast: JK Simmons, Emile Hirsch, Analeigh Tipton. The Solution Entertainment Group.

A workaholic father

the basement of an old cabin. They believe that a wild beast wanders in the forest’s depths. When his older brother mysteriously disappears, Argel undertakes a quest tht will cause him to break the order and the rules with which he has grown up.

ArcLight 10

DOWN UNDER

Comedy. 90mins.

Dir: Abe Forsythe.

Scr: Abe Forsythe.

Cast: Lincoln Younes, Rahel Romahn.

Embankment Films.

A black comedy set during the aftermath of the Cronulla riots. The story of two carloads of hotheads from both sides of the fight destined to collide.

ArcLight 8

EARTHQUAKE

Drama. 101mins.

Dir: Sarik Andreasyan.

Scr: Sergey Yudakov.

Cast: Konstantin Lavronenko, Maria Mironova. Covert Media.

Based on true events. The stories of several families fighting to survive the chaotic aftermath of a devastating earthquake

attempts to visit his daughter during a layover in LA, only to discover that she has disappeared. He is forced to team up with her awkward ex-boyfriend to find her over the course of one transformative night.

Broadway 4

that struck Armenia on December 7, 1988.

Rocked by an intensity that equaled the force of 10 atomic bombs, brave survivors work together to save their fellow citizens as countries around the world race to provide support.

Loved ones reunite and the world is brought together in this powerful story of hope, forgiveness, courage and love set in the face of incomprehensible tragedy.

Monica 2

THE EAVESDROPPER

Thriller. 90mins.

Dir: Thomas Kruithof.

Scr: Thomas Kruithof, Yann Gozlan.

Cast: Francois Cluzet, Alba Rohrwacher, Denis Podalydes, Sami Bouajila. WTFilms.

A burnt out man looking for work gets hired by a mysterious employer to transcribe phone conversations. Soon he gets caught up in a large-scale espionage plot.

DonnaLee Roberts.

Cast: DonnaLee Roberts, Ivan Botha, Andre Jacobs, Kelsey Egan. Princ Films.

Hugo, a successful travel photographer, returns home for the first time in 10 years. He arrives the day before Nina, his childhood first love, is about to get married. But her fairy tale moment turns into a devastating storm when her fiance chickens out and leaves Nina alone and humiliated at the altar. In shock and hysterical, she insists that the wedding reception goes ahead. After too much champagne and a long night of partying, Nina and Hugo wake up on an airplane as the captain’s voice welcomes them to Mauritius, the island of love.

Monica 6

HIRED GUN

Documentary. 90mins.

Dir: Fran Strine. Scr: Tim Calandrello. Cast: Alice Cooper, Liberty DeVitto, Phil X. Vision Films.

A documentary film about session and touring musicians who are hired by well established and famous bands and artists like Metallica, KISS and Billy Joel. These hired guns may not be household names but are still masters of their craft.

Broadway 2

AMC Santa Monica 6

THE MALEVOLENT FOREVER

Romance, road movie.

105mins. Dir: Jaco Smit. Scr: Ivan Botha,

Horror. 85mins.

Dir: Jordan Taratoot.

Scr: CJ Wells. Cast: Mischa Barton,

Velizar Binev, Carolina Bratanova, Clare Durant, Lee Partridge, Eduardo Maruri, Nikolay Todorov.

Media Luna New Films.

After a car accident confines him to a wheelchair for the duration of his prolonged recovery, Keith is all but imprisoned in his fourth- floor apartment. On the day of the accident, his live-in girlfriend had left him and taken almost all their shared belongings. In an attempt to amuse himself, and to find answers as to why his girlfriend left him, Keith dabbles with a spirit board and ends up unknowingly inviting a malevolent and shapeshifting entity into his life, one that takes on the guise of a beautiful and helpless young woman, presumably from the vacant apartment upstairs.

Monica 4

THE RUNAROUND See box, left

THE SHONKU DIARIES

Animation. 90mins.

Dir: Kamal Bansal.

Scr: Satyajit Ray. Highland Film Group.

In this family adventure a brother and sister, Mo and Melody, join up with the brilliant scientist and inventor Professor Shonku and his robot helper Robu to find their missing legendary explorer father.

Soon they find themselves deep in the Himalayas followed by the evil Franzotti, who is tracking a hidden treasure. Along the way they encounter unicorns and other magical creatures, and uncover a hidden paradise kept away from the world.

ArcLight 4

VENGEANCE

Action, adventure.

99mins. Dir: Johnny Martin. Scr: John Mankiewicz. Cast: Nicolas Cage, Don Johnson, Anna Hutchison, Deborah Kara Unger. Hannibal Classics/ Hannibal Pictures.

A police detective who served as a Marine in Iraq takes justice in his own hands after a horrible crime.

AMC Santa Monica 4 Invitation only

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AFM 2016 - LOEWS 317

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