Cannes: Un Certain Regard, FIPRESCI, Queer Palm, Semaine de la Critique, Acquisitions...

Some early prizes at the 63rd annual Cannes Film Festival were given out today, in the Un Certain Regard sidebar (which was presided over by Claire Denis), as well as the FIPRESCI (Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique) awards, the Grand Prix of the Semaine de la Critique, the Art Cinema Award and Short Film Prizes of the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs... et plus.

Un Certain Regard Award: HaHaHa, d. Hong Sang-soo, South Korea
- Jury Prize: Octubre [October], d. Daniel Vega, Diego Vega, Peru/Venezuela/Spain
- Un Certain Regard Award for Best Actress: Adela Sanchez, Eva Bianco, Victoria Raposo, Los labios [The Lips]

FIPRESCI Awards
- Competition: Tournée [On Tour], d. Mathieu Amalric, France
- Un Certain Regard: Pál Adrienn [Adrienn Pál], d. Ágnes Kocsis, Hungary/Austria/France/Netherlands
- Quinzaine des Réalisateurs: Todos vós sodes capitáns [You Are All Captains], d. Oliver Luxe, Spain/Morocco

Queer Palm: Kaboom, d. Gregg Araki, USA/France
Grand Prix de la Semaine de la Critique: Armadillo, d. Janus Metz, Denmark
Art Cinema Award (Quinzaine des Réalisateurs): Pieds nus sur les limaces [Lily Sometimes], d. Fabienne Berthaud, France
Prix SFR (short films, Quinzaine des Réalisateurs): Căutare [Quest], d. Ionuţ Piţurescu, Romania; Mary Last Seen, d. Sean Durkin, USA

As expected, IFC Films snatched up the most films this year. Araki's Kaboom, Xavier Dolan's Heartbeats [Les amours imaginaires], Bertrand Tavernier's The Princess of Montpensier [La princesse de Montpensier], Jorge Michel Grau's We Are What We Are [Somos lo que hay] and Abbas Kiarostami's Certified Copy [Copie conforme] have all been picked up by the studio since the start of the festival. Prior to that, they had already struck a deal for Olivier Assayas' Carlos, along with The Sundance Channel (they're owned by the same company); The Sundance Channel will air the 333-minute-long version later this year, followed by a theatrical release from IFC of a shorter, three-hour-long cut.

The other US distributor that typically returns from Cannes with several films added to their roster, Sony Pictures Classics, has been more conservative than usual in their purchases thusfar (possibly due to the reportedly weak line-up this year), taking only Xavier Beauvois' Of Gods and Men [Des hommes et des dieux] and Mike Leigh's Another Year. They had already secured Woody Allen's You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger and Stephen Frears' Tamara Drewe, both playing out of competition. The only other US purchase at the festival so far came from Magnolia's genre arm, Magnet Releasing, who picked up Quentin Dupieux's horror/comedy Rubber. Rubber, which screened during the Semaine de la Critique, stars Roxane Mesquida and Stephen Spinella (Milk, Love! Valour! Compassion!). The official closing ceremony of the 63rd Cannes Film Festival will begin in just a few hours.

White Material, Making Plans for Lena and Rompecabezas at IFC

Though I didn't find any official announcements of such, it looks as if Claire Denis' White Material and Christophe Honoré's Making Plans for Lena [Non ma fille, tu n'iras pas danser] have landed at IFC Films. BAMcinématek is presenting a three-day spotlight on IFC Films beginning 19 March, and both films are on the line-up along with Ken Loach's Looking for Eric, Elia Suleiman's The Time That Remains, Kim Ji-woon's The Good, the Bad, the Weird, Bruno Dumont's Hadewijch, Johnnie To's Vengeance and Tales from the Golden Age. For those in NYC, both Honoré and star Chiara Mastroianni will be present for a Q&A following the 20 March screening of Making Plans for Lena; this will be the fourth Honoré film that IFC has released following Dans Paris, Les chansons d'amour and La belle personne. More information here. In addition to the films above, IFC did officially announce their acquisition of Puzzle [Rompecabezas], the directorial debut of Natalie Smirnoff who previously worked as an assistant director on Lucrecia Martel's La ciénaga and The Holy Girl and casting director on The Headless Woman. Starring the amazing María Onetto, Puzzle was the sole Latin American film in competition at this year's Berlin International Film Festival.

Douglas Sirk + Barbara Stanwyck + Daria; DVD Update 12 February

Universal has announced a Barbara Stanwyck box set as part of their Blacklot Series. The six titles included are listed below, but the two that are most alluring are the two Stanwyck did with Douglas Sirk: All I Desire and There's Always Tomorrow. The set will be available on 27 April.

A couple of weeks ago, E1 Distribution announced their plans for a 50th Anniversary DVD and Blu-ray edition for Fellini's La dolce vita, set to be released sometime in 2010. In addition to that, they also acquired the rights to a quartet of Italian films: Vittorio De Sica's Shoeshine [Sciuscià] and Luchino Visconti's La terra trema, Bellissima and Ossessione. Image released Shoeshine, La terra trema and Ossessione previously.

And in distribution news, Strand acquired François Ozon's latest, The Refuge [Le refuge], which stars Isabelle Carré and Melvil Poupaud. Keep in mind that the date for The White Ribbon is likely to change if it wins the Oscar. The DVDs below are in descending order of release.

- The Crucifier of Blood, 1991, d. Fraser Clarke Heston, Warner, 30 March, w. Charlton Heston
- Marina Abramovic: 7 Easy Pieces, 2007, d. Babette Mangolte, Microcinema, 30 March
- The Italian Straw Hat [Un chapeau de paille d'Italie], 1928, d. René Clair, Flicker Alley, 6 April
- Lord, Save Us from Your Followers, 2008, d. Dan Merchant, Virgil Films, 20 April
- The Descent: Part 2, 2009, d. Jon Harris, Lionsgate, 27 April
- The End of Poverty?, 2008, d. Philippe Diaz, Cinema Libre, 27 April
- Euro-Fantastico Double Feature [The Black Cobra (Die schwarze Kobra) / No Survivors Please (Der Chef wünscht keine Zeugen)], 1963/1964, d. Rudolf Zehetgruber, Hans Albin, Peter Benies, VCI, 27 April
- Georgia O'Keeffe, 2009, d. Bob Balaban, Sony, 27 April
- The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, 2009, d. Terry Gilliam, also on Blu-ray, Sony, 27 April
- Is Everybody Happy But Me?, 1981, d. Bob Emenegger, VCI, 27 April
- The White Ribbon [Das weiße Band], 2009, d. Michael Haneke, Sony, 27 April
- California Dreamin' (Endless) [California Dreamin' (Nesfârşit)], 2007, d. Cristian Nemescu, IFC Films, 4 May
- Eye for an Eye, 2008, d. Ahn Kwon-tae, Kwak Kyung-Taek, Cinema Epoch, 4 May
- Paper Covers Rock, 2008, d. Joe Maggio, IFC Films, 4 May
- Daria, The Complete Series, 1997-2001, Paramount, 11 May
- Jermal, 2008, d. Ravi L. Bharwani, Rayya Makarim, Orlow Seunke, IndiePix, 11 May
- American Bandits: Frank and Jesse James, 2010, d. Fred Olen Ray, E1 Distribution, 18 May, w. Peter Fonda
- Gamera: The Giant Monster, 1965, d. Noriaki Yuasa, Shout! Factory, 18 May
- The Girl on the Train [La fille du RER], 2009, d. André Téchiné, Strand, 18 May
- Stigma, 1972, d. David E. Durston, Code Red, 18 May
- Bottomland, 1992, d. Ed Radtke, Facets, 25 May
- Dany Laferrière: Films from a Poet's Imagination [On the Verge of a Fever (La goût des jeunes filles) / How to Conquer America in One Night (Comment conquérir l'Amérique)], 2004, d. John L'Ecuyer, Dany Laferrière, Art Mattan/Facets, 25 May
- Kamikaze Hearts, 1986, d. Juliet Bashore, Facets, 25 May, w. Sharon Mitchell
- What's Underground About Marshmallows?, 1996, d. Jill Godmilow, Facets, 25 May
- Yesterday Girl [Abschied von gestern - (Anita G.)], 1966, d. Alexander Kluge, Facets, 25 May

Barbara Stanwyck Collection, Universal, 27 April
- Internes Can't Take Money, 1937, d. Alfred Santell
- The Great Man's Lady, 1942, d. William A. Wellman
- The Bride Wore Boots, 1946, d. Irving Pichel
- The Lady Gambles, 1949, d. Michael Gordon
- All I Desire, 1953, d. Douglas Sirk
- There's Always Tomorrow, 1956, d. Douglas Sirk

Blu-ray

- Dune, 1984, d. David Lynch, Universal, 27 April
- The Jackal, 1997, d. Michael Caton-Jones, Universal, 27 April
- Out of Africa, 1985, d. Sydney Pollack, Universal, 27 April
- Traffic, 2000, d. Steven Soderbergh, Universal, 27 April
- Escape from L.A., 1996, d. John Carpenter, Paramount, 4 May
- K-19: The Widowmaker, 2002, d. Kathryn Bigelow, Paramount, 4 May
- The Getaway, 1972/1994, d. Sam Peckinpah, Roger Donaldson, Warner, 8 June
- Mutiny on the Bounty, 1935, d. Frank Lloyd, Warner, 16 November

Foreign Oscar Short-List, BAFTAs, IFC Deals for Noé and Solondz, Berlinale Competition

The Academy announced the nine finalists in the Foreign Language Oscar category yesterday, which will be narrowed down to five once the Oscar nominations are announced on 2 February; 65 films were submitted for the category, which I listed a couple of months ago. Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon [Das weiße Band], from Germany, and Jacques Audiard's A Prophet [Un prophète], from France, made the final cut, as expected. Sony Pictures Classics has The White Ribbon in a limited release now, and A Prophet will expand on 26 February. Another SPC title, Juan José Campanella's The Secret in Their Eyes [El secreto de sus ojos] from Argentina, was also among the nine; Campanella was previously nominated for Son of the Bride. Rounding out the rest of the pack are Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani's Ajami from Israel (to be released by Kino this spring), Claudia Llosa's The Milk of Sorrow [La teta asustada] from Peru (which won the Golden Bear at the 2009 Berlinale), Warwick Thornton's Samson and Delilah from Australia, Martin Koolhoven's Winter in Wartime [Oorlogswinter] from The Netherlands, Stephan Komandarev's The World Is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner from Bulgaria and Ermek Tursunov's Kelin from Kazakhstan. Campanella is the only previous nominee in this category (Haneke's Caché was disqualified from the running when Austria submitted it in 2005). Among the upsets, the omissions of Corneliu Porumboiu's Police, Adjective [Poliţist, adj.], from Romania, and Bong Joon-ho's Mother, from South Korea, were the biggest surprises. Xavier Dolan's I Killed My Mother [J'ai tué ma mère], from Canada, and Giuseppe Tornatore's Baarìa were also expected to make the list from the former's festival credentials and the latter director's previous Oscar win (thank God for no Tornatore is all I have to say).

In distribution news, IFC announced their acquisitions of both Gaspar Noé's Enter the Void and Todd Solondz's Life During Wartime. Both played at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival, though Enter the Void made its official premiere, in an unfinished version, at Cannes in May. Life During Wartime will make its way onto screens in the U.S. over the summer, as well as on IFC's On Demand program. Enter the Void will bow sometime later this year.

The official line-up for the 2010 Berlinale Competition titles was unveiled yesterday, including films from Kôji Wakamatsu, Noah Baumbach, Nicole Holofcener, Benoît Delépine and Gustave de Kervern, Zhang Yimou, Thomas Vinterberg, Lisa Cholodenko, Wang Quan’an and Michael Winterbottom. As usual David Hudson at The Auteurs Notebook has a fabulous round-up of the titles.

And finally, the BAFTA nominations were announced yesterday, with both Clint Eastwood's Invictus and Jane Campion's Bright Star left out of the race. Though even without Campion, two female directors made the cut this year, and three of the five nominees for British Film of the Year were also directed by women. Each year, the BAFTAs come closer and closer to mirroring the Oscars, so fingers crossed that the Academy follows suit with snubbing Lee Daniels, Nine and Sandra Bullock. Nominees below, full list at IndieWire:

Best Film

Avatar, d. James Cameron
An Education, d. Lone Scherfig
The Hurt Locker, d. Kathryn Bigelow
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, d. Lee Daniels
Up in the Air, d. Jason Reitman

Outstanding British Film

An Education, d. Lone Scherfig
Fish Tank, d. Andrea Arnold
In the Loop, d. Armando Iannucci
Moon, d. Duncan Jones
Nowhere Boy, d. Sam Taylor-Wood

Film Not in the English Language

Broken Embraces [Los abrazos rotos], d. Pedro Almodóvar, Spain
Coco Before Chanel [Coco avant Chanel], d. Anne Fontaine, France
Let the Right One In [Låt den rätte komma in], d. Tomas Alfredson, Sweden
A Prophet [Un prophète], d. Jacques Audiard, France
The White Ribbon [Das weiße Band], d. Michael Haneke, Austria/Germany/France/Italy

Animated Film

Coraline, d. Henry Selick
Fantastic Mr. Fox, d. Wes Anderson
Up, d. Pete Docter, Bob Peterson

Director

James Cameron, Avatar
Neill Blomkamp, District 9
Lone Schefig, An Education
Kathryn Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds

Leading Actor

Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart
George Clooney, Up in the Air
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
Andy Serkis, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

Leading Actress

Carey Mulligan, An Education
Saoirse Ronan, The Lovely Bones
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Meryl Streep, Julie & Julia
Audrey Tautou, Coco avant Chanel

Supporting Actor

Alec Baldwin, It’s Complicated
Christian Mckay, Me and Orson Welles
Alfred Molina, An Education
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Christoph Waltz, Inglourious Basterds

Supporting Actress

Anne-Marie Duff, Nowhere Boy
Vera Farmiga, Up in the Air
Anna Kendrick, Up in the Air
Mo’nique, Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
Kristin Scott Thomas, Nowhere Boy

Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer

Lucy Bailey, Andrew Thompson, Elizabeth Morgan Hemlock, David Pearson - Mugabe and the White African
Eran Creevy - Shifty Stuart
Hazeldine - Exam
Duncan Jones - Moon
Sam Taylor-Wood - Nowhere Boy

Original Screenplay

The Hangover - Jon Lucas, Scott Moore
The Hurt Locker - Mark Boal
Inglourious Basterds - Quentin Tarantino
A Serious Man - Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Up - Bob Peterson, Pete Docter

Adapted Screenplay

District 9 - Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell
An Education - Nick Hornby
In the Loop - Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire - Geoffrey Fletcher
Up in the Air - Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner

Cinematography

Barry Ackroyd, The Hurt Locker
Javier Aguirresarobe, The Road
Mauro Fiore, Avatar
Trent Opaloch, District 9
Robert Richardson, Inglourious Basterds

Acquisition Update, 17 December: Rivette and Co.

Cinema Guild announced today that they will be handling the US release of Jacques Rivette's latest Around a Small Mountain [36 vues vues du Pic Saint-Loup], which stars Jane Birkin, Sergio Castellitto and Jacques Bonnaffé, set for a spring '10. This marks Cinema Guild's third exciting acquisition in the past month following Maren Ade's Everyone Else and Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor's Sweetgrass.

Film Movement also announced today that they've picked up Phillippe Lioret's Welcome, which stars Vincent Lindon. The film won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the 2009 Berlinale, as well as the Best Screenplay prize at the Gijón International Film Festival.

And thanks to Keaton Kail from IFC Films' list on The Auteurs, it looks as though IFC has nabbed a number of films for 2010, aside from the ones we already knew about, like Andrea Arnold's Fish Tank, Marco Bellocchio's Vincere, François Ozon's Ricky and Kim Ji-woon's The Good, the Bad, the Weird. The titles, including Secret Sunshine which has been in distribution limbo for almost three years, are below:

- Bellamy, 2009, d. Claude Chabrol, France, w. Gérard Depardieu, Clovis Cornillac, Jacques Gamblin
- Le Donk & Scor-zay-zee, 2009, d. Shane Meadows, UK, w. Paddy Considine
- Leaving [Partir], 2009, d. Catherine Corsini, France, w. Kristin Scott Thomas, Sergi López
- My Enemy's Enemy, 2007, d. Kevin Macdonald, France/UK (originally a Weinstein title that was canceled shortly after its DVD was announced)
- Secret Sunshine, 2007, d. Lee Chang-dong, South Korea, w. Jeon Do-yeon
- Sounds Like Teen Spirit, 2008, d. Jamie Jay Johnson, UK
- The Time That Remains, 2009, d. Elia Suleiman, France/UK/Italy/Belgium
- Vengeance, 2009, d. Johnnie To, France/Hong Kong, w. Johnny Hallyday, Sylvie Testud, Anthony Wong Chau-Sang, Simon Yam

DVD/Acquisition Update, 5 December

Here's a quick DVD update, as I haven't posted one in a little while... there's not a lot of surprises to speak of, unless you consider the re-release of a made-for-television movie starring Casper Van Dien as James Dean (and Diane Ladd as his mother!) a serendipitous blessing. Only two Blu-ray releases seemed worthy of mentioning, both from Warner on 2 March: Desmond Davis' Clash of the Titans and, one of my childhood favorites, Wolfgang Petersen's The NeverEnding Story. As I told my friend Mike, I bet Limahl's theme song will sound truly breathtaking in high-definition sound (fingers crossed that the music video is included!).

It appears as though Kino will be the official DVD studio for Lorber Films, with the first title being Kay Pollak's As It Is in Heaven [Så som i himmelen], a 2005 Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Film from Sweden.

In (exciting) acquisition news, Cinema Guild picked up two films in the past week: Maren Ade's Everyone Else [Alle Anderen] and Ilisa Barbash and Lucien Castaing-Taylor's Sweetgrass. Both films screened at this year's New York Film Festival to some really positive notices. Look for them sometime in 2010.

Though I already posted about Strand picking up Catherine Breillat's Blue Beard [Barbe bleue], they informed me that the film, which also screened at the NYFF, will begin its limited run in NYC on 12 March, followed by a DVD release in June. And finally, the DVD release update is below, in descending order of release.

- The Invention of Lying, 2009, d. Ricky Gervais, Matthew Robinson, Warner, also on Blu-ray, 19 January
- Good Hair, 2009, d. Jeff Stilson, Lionsgate, 9 February
- The Sarah Silverman Program, Season 2, Volume 2, 2008, Comedy Central/Paramount, 9 February
- The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, 2009, d. Rebecca Miller, Screen Media, also on Blu-ray, 16 February
- The Damned United, 2009, d. Tom Hooper, Sony, also on Blu-ray, 23 February
- James Dean: Race with Destiny, 1997, d. Mardi Rustam, MPI, 23 February, w. Casper Van Dien, Diane Ladd
- The Last Hurrah, 2009, d. Jonathan W. Stokes, Cinema Libre, 23 February
- Mr. Right, 2006, d. David Morris, Jacqui Morris, Wolfe, 23 February
- The September Issue, 2009, d. R.J. Cutler, Lionsgate, 23 February
- Kiki's Delivery Service, 1989, d. Hayao Miyazaki, Disney, Special Edition, 2 March
- Ponyo, 2008, d. Hayao Miyazaki, Disney, also on Blu-ray, 2 March
- The Wedding Song [Le chant des mariées], 2008, d. Karin Albou, Strand Releasing, 9 March
- Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever, 2009, d. Ti West, Lionsgate, 16 February
- Coco Before Chanel [Coco avant Chanel], 2009, d. Anne Fontaine, Sony, 16 February
- The Beaches of Agnès [Les plages d'Agnès], 2008, d. Agnès Varda, Cinema Guild, 23 February
- Drool, 2009, d. Nancy Kissam, Strand Releasing, 23 March, w. Laura Harring, Jill Marie Jones
- The Lark Farm [La masseria delle allodole], 2007, d. Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani, Image Entertainment, 23 March, w. Paz Vega, Mortiz Bleibtreu, Ángela Molina, Arsinée Khanjian, Tchéky Karyo

Oh, More Distribution News...

As per usual, the day after I make a post about several US distribution deals several more are announced. Sony Pictures Classics paid top-dollar for Juan José Campanella's The Secret in Their Eyes [El secreto de sus ojos], a box office smash in its native Argentina and the country's official submission for the 2010 Academy Awards. Sony previously released the director's Son of the Bride [El hijo de la novia], which did nab an Oscar nomination in the foreign category. In addition to those films, Campanella has directed episodes for numerous US television shows, from 30 Rock to Law and Order to Strangers with Candy.

Strand has picked up Sarah Watt's comedy My Year Without Sex, which recently screened at the Toronto International Film Festival. NeoClassics has taken the rights to Geoffrey Enthoven's The Over the Hill Band [Meisjes]. And finally Cinema Epoch will be releasing Jean-Paul Lilienfeld's Skirt Day [La journée de la jupe], which stars Isabelle Adjani and Denis Podalydès, in spring 2010. I'm sure a bunch of other films will be picked up tomorrow...

Import/Export, You, the Living in the US; More Studio Canal Blu-rays in the UK; Plus Acquisition Update

Palisades Tartan has announced the DVDs of Roy Andersson's You, the Living and Ulrich Seidl's Import/Export for 12 and 26 January respectively. HBO re-announced the first season of the first season of The Life and Times of Tim, perhaps in preparation for a second season (though I haven't heard anything of the like, so who knows...). We can all utter a sigh of relief that IFC announced Joe Swanberg's Alexander the Last through their MPI deal; had it appeared on the Criterion label, I'd be whining for years to come. And finally, Unearthed Films, now back from the dead, will release John Albo's Flexing with Monty, apparently quite an oddity that's premiering on DVD after fourteen years of production; its star Trevor Goddard died six years ago, but I don't know that his death was the hold-up. As usual, the releases are in descending order of release.

DVD

- Flexing with Monty, 2010, d. John Albo, Unearthed Films/Breaking Glass Films, 5 January
- Big Fan, 2009, d. Robert D. Siegel, First Independent, 12 January
- Love + Hate, 2005, d. Dominic Savage, Cinema Guild, 12 January
- You, the Living [Du levande], 2007, d. Roy Andersson, Palisades Tartan, 12 January
- The Butch Factor, 2009, d. Christopher Hines, Wolfe, 19 January
- Import/Export, 2007, d. Ulrich Seidl, Palisades Tartan, 26 January
- Whip It, 2009, d. Drew Barrymore, Fox, also on Blu-ray, 26 January
- As It Is in Heaven [Så som i himmelen], 2004, d. Kay Pollak, Kino, 2 February
- No Boundaries, 2009, d. Violet Mendoza, Jake Willing, Breaking Glass Pictures, 2 February
- The Vanished Empire, 2008, d. Karen Shakhnazarov, Kino, 2 February
- The Life and Times of Tim, 2008, d. Steve Dildarian, HBO, 9 February
- Alexander the Last, 2009, d. Joe Swanberg, IFC, 23 February
- Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, 2009, d. John Krasinski, IFC, 23 February
- Colour from the Dark, 2008, d. Ivan Zuccon, Vanguard, 23 February
- Dead Snow [Død snø], 2009, d. Tommy Wirkola, IFC, also on Blu-ray, 23 February
- An Englishman in New York, 2009, d. Richard Laxton, Breaking Glass Films, 23 February
- Paris, 2008, d. Cédric Klapisch, IFC, 23 February
- Swedish Auto, 2006, d. Derek Sieg, IFC, 23 February
- Three Blind Mice, 2008, d. Matthew Newton, IFC, 23 February
- The Vicious Kind, 2009, d. Lee Toland Krieger, Image, 23 February
- Old Enough, 1984, d. Marisa Silver, Scorpion Releasing, 27 April

Date Changes

I wonder if Ichi the Killer will ever come out on Blu-ray; it's been moved more than Billy Jack.

The House on Sorority Row, 12 January
No Impact Man: The Documentary, 19 January
Ichi the Killer Blu-ray, 23 February

Blu-ray

Paramount is releasing the first two Godfather films (and laughably not the third) on Blu-ray separately on 2 February. In foreign Blu-ray news, Studio Canal has announced another batch of releases in the UK: Joseph Losey's The Go-Between (previously announced with the last group, still shockingly MIA on even DVD in the US); Alexander Mackendrick's The Ladykillers; Jean-Luc Godard's Breathless [À bout de souffle] and Pierrot le fou; Just Jaeckin's Emmanuelle; and Christophe Gans' Brotherhood of the Wolf [Le pacte des loups]. Though Pierrot is already on Blu in the US from Criterion, I guess we'll find out around 15 February whether the discs are region locked or not.

- Atonement, 2007, d. Joe Wright, Focus Features, 26 January
- Pride & Prejudice, 2005, d. Joe Wright, Focus Features, 26 January
- The Godfather - The Coppola Restoration, 1972, d. Francis Ford Coppola, Paramoint, 2 February
- The Godfather, Part 2 - The Coppola Restoration, 1974, d. Francis Ford Coppola, Paramoint, 2 February

Coming Soon from IFC

After their success with the director's Summer Hours [L'heure d'été], IFC Films has already nabbed the latest project from Olivier Assayas, Carlos the Jackal. Carlos focuses on Venezuelan revolutionary Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, played by Édgar Ramírez (The Bourne Ultimatum, Che), and will premiere as a television mini-series, airing on The Sundance Channel next spring. IFC will be releasing an abridged version of the mini for a fall 2010 release. In another IFC pre-sale, the studio has picked up Julio Medem's Room in Rome [Habitación en Roma], which will likely make its premiere at next year's Berlinale. Room in Rome is the director's first English-language film as well as a remake of the Chilean film En la cama by Matías Bize, though the remake substitutes the original's heterosexual lovers with a hot lesbian duo in Elena Anaya and Natasha Yarovenko. Room in Rome also stars Enrico Lo Verso and Medem regular Najwa Nimri.

Other IFC Films in the pipeline include Ruba Nadda's Cairo Time with Patricia Clarkson; Bahman Ghobadi's No One Knows About the Persian Cats; Claude Chabrol's Bellamy; the Red Riding Trilogy; Josiane Belasko's A French Gigolo [Cliente] with Nathalie Baye and Eric Caravaca (which actually opened over the weekend); Marco Bechis' Birdwatchers; Hong Sang-soo's Night and Day; Nanda Anand's Return to Rajapur; Marco Bellocchio's Vincere; François Ozon's Ricky; Bruno Podalydès' Park Benches [Bancs publics (Versaille rive droite)]; Bruno Dumont's Hadewijch; Marina de Van's Don't Look Back [Ne te retourne pas]; Ryosuke Hashiguchi's All Around Us; Yannick Dahan and Benjamin Rocher's La horde; Alexis Dos Santos' Unmade Beds; Safy Nebbou's Mark of an Angel [L'empriente de l'ange]; Nicholas Winding Refn's Valhalla Rising; and more.

More Acquisitions

- I Am Love [Io sono l'amore], d. Luca Guadagnino, Magnolia [w. Tilda Swinton]
- The Exploding Girl, d. Bradley Rust Gray, Oscilloscope
- The Good Heart, d. Dagur Kári, Magnolia [w. Brian Cox, Paul Dano]
- Mother and Child, d. Rodrigo García, Sony Pictures Classics [w. Samuel L. Jackson, Naomi Watts, Annette Bening, David Morse, Kerry Washington, Amy Brenneman, Marc Blucas, Tatyana Ali, Jimmy Smits]
- The Misfortunates [De helaashied der dingen], d. Felix Van Groeningen, NeoClassics Films
- The Joneses, d. Derrick Borte, Roadside Attractions [w. Amber Heard, David Duchovony, Demi Moore, Gary Cole, Lauren Hutton]
- L'amour caché, d. Alessandro Capone, Cinema Epoch [w. Isabelle Huppert, Greta Scacchi, Mélanie Laurent, Olivier Gourmet]
- Accidents Happen, d. Andrew Lancaster, Image [w. Geena Davis]
- The Wind Journeys [Los viajes del viento], d. Ciro Guerra, Film Movement, available in February for members of Film Movement's monthly program

It's Official; Inset Bad Pun About Finding a Home

I had heard a while back that Lorber Films were looking to, or had already, acquired Ursula Meier's Home, which stars Isabelle Huppert and Olivier Gourmet as bohemian parents of three children whose happy existence is threatened by the opening of a new highway about twenty feet in front of their once secluded abode. Home was selected as Switzerland's official submission for next year's foreign language Academy Award, and according to Variety, Lorber Films will release it in New York on 27 November. I'll be writing about the film soon. Think of a warmer The Seventh Continent. Or... maybe not.

Atom Egoyan's films really sell for 7 figures?

I read earlier today that Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisition Group had nabbed the latest from Atom Egoyan, but IndieWire is reporting (and maybe I missed this detail when I read it elsewhere) that Sony "negotiated the low seven figure deal" for Chloe, which premiered to lukewarm reception at Toronto last month. As of 27 September, Egoyan's last film Adoration has yet to cross $300,000 at the domestic box office, and that was a Sony release as well. I suppose Julianne Moore, Amanda Seyfried and Liam Neeson are a draw, but remember, Chloe is a remake of Anne Fontaine's abysmal Nathalie... from 2003, and that film had Fanny Ardant, Emmanuelle Béart and Gérard Depardieu. I have yet to see a film I wouldn't describe as a waste of my time from Fontaine, and while that's certainly not a claim I could make for Egoyan, his recent output has been dismal (and not exactly profitable). It's quite possible though that a low seven figure deal for worldwide rights is a modest deal. We'll just have to wait until spring to see how well this pays off.

Good News, Otherwise

Just a day after learning about the Catherine Breillat/Naomi Campbell team-up being canceled, Strand Releasing announced that it has picked up her latest Bluebeard [Barbe Bleue] for US distribution. Bluebeard premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year and screens at the New York Film Festival this weekend. Expect it sometime in 2010.

Altman's Streamers on DVD, Acquisitions, Foreign Oscar Submission Updates

Music Box Films acquired the first installment of the Millennium trilogy, based on the posthumously released novels of Stieg Larsson, entitled The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo [Män som hatar kvinnor] directed by Niels Arden Oplev (Worlds Apart). Part 2, The Girl Who Played with Fire [Flickan som lekte med elden], was released in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway on 18 September, and Part 3, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest [Luftslottet som sprängdes], is scheduled for 27 November in Scandinavia. The second and third installments are directed by Daniel Alfredson.

Film Movement picked up the Erik Poppe's Norwegian thriller Troubled Water for a 2010 release. Film Movement previously released Poppe's Hawaii, Oslo a couple years ago. Lorber Films have added two new documentaries to their slate in Niko von Glasow's Nobody's Perfect, about individuals with birth defects as a result of the drug Thalidomide, and N.C. Heikin's Kimjongilia, which interviews North Korean refugees about their experiences. Strand has also picked up Florian Gallenberger's biopic John Rabe, which stars Ulrich Tukur in the title role as well as Daniel Brühl, Steve Buscemi and Anne Consigny. The film premiered at Berlin earlier this year.

Two more titles have been added to the Foreign Oscar race. Columbia chose Ciro Guerra's Los viajes del viento [The Wind Journeys], and Havana Marking's documentary Afghan Star will represent the UK.

Shout! Factory announced a 19 January street date for Robert Altman's Streamers, which stars Matthew Modine, Michael Wright, Mitchell Lichtenstein and David Alan Grier and is based on the play by David Rabe. It's pretty minor Altman, in my opinion, but a noteworthy release nonetheless. Fox will release (500) Days of Summer on DVD and Blu-ray on 22 December. Gini Reticker's doc Pray the Devil Back to Hell will be released by Passion River on 10 November. And finally, Warner has announced Blu-ray released of Clint Eastwood's Mystic River and Morton DaCosta's The Music Man for 2 February 2010.

And some more date changes: Kino has pushed Loren Cass to 5 January. Paramount moved the first season of The United States of Tara to 29 December.