Category: Film Festivals

Steven Spielberg’s LINCOLN World Premiere To Close AFI FEST

The American Film Institute (AFI) announced today that LINCOLN, directed by AFI Life Achievement Award recipient and Academy Award®-winning director Steven Spielberg, and released by DreamWorks Pictures/Twentieth Century Fox, in association with Participant Media, will have its Official World Premiere on Thursday, November 8, as the Closing Night Gala of AFI FEST 2012 presented by Audi. The film stars Academy Award®winner Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role; Academy Award® winners Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones; Academy Award® nominees David Strathairn, Jackie Earle Haley, John Hawkes and Hal Holbrook; and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader and Jared Harris. Academy Award®-winning composer John Williams scored the film, with 2012 marking a collaboration between Spielberg and Williams that has enriched 26 of their films together. From an original screenplay by Academy Award® nominee Tony Kushner based in part on the best-selling book, “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln” by noted historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, the revealing drama explores our 16th President’s tumultuous final months in office during the Civil War.

”Steven Spielberg is an American master, enriching the cultural legacy of our nation with each new film in his extraordinary career,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI President and CEO. ”We are honored he has chosen AFI FEST for the World Premiere of LINCOLN, an historic cinematic event in itself as it brings the most dramatic American history to life for new generations.”

“Steven Spielberg epitomizes American filmmaking,” said Jacqueline Lyanga, Director, AFI FEST, “and who better to tell the story of one of the most significant figures in our country’s history. In this important presidential election year, Spielberg’s LINCOLN reminds us that the challenges of the past remain as relevant today.”

Spielberg has an impressive history with AFI. He was the recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1995, the highest honor for a career in film; five of his movies rate among the greatest films of all time on AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies list: SCHINDLER’S LIST (#8), E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (#24), JAWS (#56), RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK (#66) and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (#71); and last year he completed a one-hour special at the AFI Conservatory with friend and collaborator John Williams entitled TCM PRESENTS AFI’S MASTER CLASS: THE ART OF COLLABORATION that explored the four-decade friendship and working relationship between the two artists, among the most prolific and influential collaborations in film history. In addition, both Spielberg and producer Kathleen Kennedy serve on the American Film Institute’s Board of Trustees, which is chaired by Sir Howard Stringer, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Sony Corporation, and is comprised of leaders of the motion picture and television communities and leaders from global goods and services companies. Spielberg has been an AFI Trustee since 1986, Kennedy since 1994.

LINCOLN stars acclaimed actor Day-Lewis, who has been honored with two Academy Awards® for his lead performances in THERE WILL BE BLOOD and MY LEFT FOOT. His film credits also include GANGS OF NEW YORK, IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER, THE AGE OF THE INNOCENCE and THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS.

For the fourth consecutive year, AFI FEST will continue its unprecedented offer of free tickets to all screenings, but only the Star Patron Package and Marquee Patron Package will provide reserved seating at the Official World Premiere closing night gala of LINCOLN. These and other AFI FEST Patron Packages and Passes – which can include access to sold-out galas and other high-demand films and events – are on sale now at AFI.com/AFIFEST. The American Film Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational and cultural organization, and Patron Packages are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law.

Free individual tickets to AFI FEST screenings and galas will be available to AFI members on Wednesday, October 24 in a 24-hour advance window before they become available to the general public on October 25. In addition, AFI members Two Star level and above receive a 10% discount on all Patron Packages and Passes. Information about AFI Membership is available at AFI.com/membership.

AFI FEST, celebrating its 26th year, will take place November 1 through 8 in Hollywood, California, at the historic Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, the Chinese 6 Theatres, the Egyptian Theatre and the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

For more information about AFI, visit AFI.com or connect with AFI at facebook.com/AmericanFilmInstitute, twitter.com/AmericanFilm and youtube.com/AFI.

Steven Spielberg directs two-time Academy Award® winner Daniel Day-Lewis in LINCOLN, a revealing drama that focuses on the 16th President’s tumultuous final months in office. In a nation divided by war and the strong winds of change, Lincoln pursues a course of action designed to end the war, unite the country and abolish slavery. With the moral courage and fierce determination to succeed, his choices during this critical moment will change the fate of generations to come.

Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, David Strathairn, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader, Hal Holbrook and Tommy Lee Jones, LINCOLN is produced by Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, with a screenplay by Tony Kushner, based in part on the book “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln” by Doris Kearns Goodwin. The DreamWorks Pictures/Twentieth Century Fox film, in association with Participant Media, releases in U.S. theaters exclusive on November 9, 2012, with expansion on November 16, 2012.

For additional information about LINCOLN, visit thelincolnmovie.com, like the movie at Facebook.com/Lincolnmovie or follow the movie at  twitter@Lincolnmovie.

The Academy Launches First-Ever “Film-to-Film” Festival – CARNIVAL OF SOULS, Terry Gilliam’s BRAZIL On Schedule

In celebration of its recent film preservation efforts, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will launch the first-ever “Film-to-Film” Festival, which will run September 27 through September 29, in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills and the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. A year ago the Academy Film Archive launched an ambitious effort called “Project Film-to-Film,” aimed at preserving as many films on film as possible over a two-year period. The initiative’s main goal is to take advantage of the current, but threatened, availability of film stock to create new prints of a diverse range of motion pictures, encompassing the whole history of the art form.

More than 390 new prints have already been created from the best available film elements, covering significant narrative features and documentaries, as well as experimental, animated and short film titles. The wide variety of titles range from “Navajo,” the only film to receive Oscar® nominations for both Documentary Feature and Cinematography, to “Naked Yoga,” a short once presumed lost, and “Carnival of Souls,” a cult favorite that has been rescued from late-night television and restored to the big screen.

The complete “Film-to-Film” Festival schedule is as follows:

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27

Samuel Goldwyn Theater, 7:30 p.m.

BRAZIL (1985), Original Director’s Cut (35mm, color, 142 min.)
Onstage discussion with Katherine Helmond and Arnon Milchan

Writer-director Terry Gilliam’s “Brazil” is set in an alternative reality “somewhere in the 20th century,” where civil servant Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce) fights a hopeless battle against a totalitarian state. The film earned Academy Award® nominations for Original Screenplay (Gilliam, Tom Stoppard, Charles McKeown) and Art Direction (Art Direction: Norman Garwood; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray). The stellar supporting cast includes Helmond, Jim Broadbent, Robert De Niro, Ian Holm, Bob Hoskins, Charles McKeown and Michael Palin.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28

Linwood Dunn Theater, 7:30 p.m.

ANIMATED AND LIVE ACTION SHORTS PROGRAM
This program illustrates the wide range of films preserved by the Film-to-Film initiative, including a rare short made by the Academy itself, intriguing works by noted animators and the big-screen debut of crooner Phil Harris.

OF MEN AND DEMONS, John Hubley and Faith Hubley (1969, 16mm, color, 9 min.)
Academy Award nominee: Cartoon Short Subject
SO THIS IS HARRIS, Mark Sandrich (1933, 35mm, black-and-white, 28 min.)
Academy Award winner: Comedy Short Subject 
THE UNICYCLE RACE, Robert Swarthe (1966, 35mm, color, 7 min.)
RAILWAY WITH A HEART OF GOLD, Carson “Kit” Davidson (1965, 16mm, color, 15 min.)
SCREEN ACTORS, (1950, 35mm, black-and-white, 9 min.)

Linwood Dunn Theater, 9:30 p.m.

EXPERIMENTAL FILM PROGRAM
The boundaries of the film medium are stretched, ignored and laughed at in these experimental shorts that manipulate sight, sound, narrative and the relationship between filmmaker and spectator.

EYE MYTH, Stan Brakhage (1967, 35mm, color, silent 24fps, 9 seconds)
NIGHT MULCH & VERY, Stan Brakhage (2001, 35mm, color, silent 24fps, 6 min.)
EXPERIMENTS IN MOTION GRAPHICS, John Whitney (1968, 16mm, color, sound, 11min.)
MADAME MAO’S LOST LOVE LETTERS, Tom Leeser & Diana Wilson (1983, 35mm, color,
3 min.)
BABOBILICONS, Daina Krumins (1982, 35mm, color, 16 min.)
PENCIL BOOKLINGS, Kathy Rose (1978, 35mm, color, 14 min.)
FURIES, Sara Petty (1977, 35mm, color, 3 min.)
SONOMA, Sky-David, formerly known as Dennis Pies (1977, 35mm, color, 7 min.)
BACKGROUND, Carmen D’Avino (1973, 35mm, color, 20 min.) Academy Award nominee: Documentary Short Subject

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29

Linwood Dunn Theater, 2 p.m.

DOC PROGRAM #1
The afternoon’s first program illustrates the diverse topics of the documentaries covered by the initiative, with a short about the spiritual aspects of Hatha yoga, and the Maysles brothers’ portrait of movie distributor Joseph E. Levine.

NAKED YOGA, Paul Cordsen (1974, 35mm, color, 25 min.)
Academy Award nominee: Documentary Short Subject
SHOWMAN, Albert Maysles and David Maysles (1963, 35mm, black-and-white, 52 min.)

Linwood Dunn Theater, 4 p.m.

DOC PROGRAM #2
The afternoon’s second documentary program features two titles that use a semi-documentary approach to convey stories of World War II rumor-mongering and the cultural conflict faced by a young Navajo boy.

MR. BLABBERMOUTH!, Basil Wrangell (1942, 35mm, black-and-white, 19 min.)
Academy Award nominee: Documentary Short Subject
NAVAJO, Norman Foster (1952, 35mm, black-and-white, 70 min.)
Academy Award nominee: Documentary Feature; Black-and-White Cinematography

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 29

Linwood Dunn Theater, 7:30 p.m.

SPIDER BABY (1968, 35mm, black-and-white, 81 min.)
World premiere of the Academy Film Archive’s new restoration from the original negative, with special guest writer-director Jack Hill.

Filmed in 1964 but not released theatrically until 1968, this cult classic marked the solo directorial debut of Hill. The eerie story follows three siblings suffering from a rare genetic disorder that causes them to regress to a primal state of being and act out with savage, incestuous and animalistic behavior.

Linwood Dunn Theater, 9:30 p.m.

CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1962, 35mm, black-and-white, 78 min.)
World premiere of the Academy Film Archive’s new restoration from the original negative.

Director Herk Harvey’s only feature film was made on a tiny budget with a crew largely composed of industrial filmmakers from Lawrence, Kansas. Filled with evocative images, the film tells the story of a young woman who seemingly survives a car crash but is haunted by a ghostly figure that is somehow connected to an abandoned carnival pavilion.

Tickets for each screening in the “Film-to-Film” Festival are $5 for the general public and $3 for Academy members and students with a valid ID, and may be purchased online at www.oscars.org, in person at the Academy box office, or by mail. Each time slot listed indicates a separate ticketed program. The Samuel Goldwyn Theater is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. Doors open an hour before each program. Ticketed seating is unreserved. For more information, call (310) 247-3600 or visit www.oscars.org.

Fantastic Fest 2012: New Poster Revealed for SINISTER

Here’s the new abstractly curious and creepy poster for SINISTER, designed by SA Studios. SINISTER is playing at Fantastic Fest on Friday, 9/21 at the Alamo Drafthouse S. Lamar.

Synopsis: SINISTER is a frightening new thriller from the producer of the PARANORMAL ACTIVITY films and the writer-director of THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE.  Ethan Hawke plays a true crime novelist who discovers a box of mysterious, disturbing home movies that plunge his family into a nightmarish experience of supernatural horror.  SINISTER opens in theater October 5.

Fantastic Fest – Austin, Texas – September 20-27, 2012!

Look for more film and event programming announcements for Fantastic Fest in the weeks ahead. For the latest developments, tickets and badges visit the Fantastic Fest official site and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Final Wave of FANTASTIC FEST 2012 Films Announced

Austin, TX-Wednesday, September 12, 2012- Fantastic Fest is thrilled to announce the final installment of programming for Fantastic Fest 2012, including the world premiere screening of The Collection. Fantastic Fest will take place September 20-27 in Austin, Texas at the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar. Continue reading Final Wave of FANTASTIC FEST 2012 Films Announced

Fantastic Fest 2012 Announces Shorts Programming

Fantastic Fest recently announced their selection of more than 40 short films slated to slither and crawl into all the various orifices of this annual extravaganza of genre film. The biopsy of the best genre short films from around the globe will showcase works from several countries, including Spain, South Korea, Bangladesh, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands and more. Continue reading Fantastic Fest 2012 Announces Shorts Programming

First Look At Ben Affleck & Olga Kurylenko In Terrence Malick’s TO THE WONDER

Here’s the new photo of Ben Affleck & Olga Kurylenko in Terrence Malick’s TO THE WONDER, premiering tonight at the Toronto International Film Festival as a Special Presentation. Malick was nominated for Golden Lion award at the 2012 Venice Film Festival. That festival began on August 29 and finished on Saturday.

In TO THE WONDER, after visiting Mont Saint-Michel – once known in France as the Wonder – at the height of their love, Marina (Olga Kurylenko) and Neil (Ben Affleck) come to Oklahoma, where problems soon arise. Marina makes the acquaintance of a priest and fellow exile (Javier Bardem), who is struggling with his vocation, while Neil renews his ties with a childhood friend, Jane (Rachel McAdams). Such high drama!

Written and directed by Terrence Malick, TO THE WONDER is an exploration of love in its many forms. For those of you who are fans of this director – Terrence Malick is an award-winning director-writer-producer whose prolific career has spanned over four decades. His feature film Days of Heaven (78) earned him the Best Director award at Cannes and The Tree of Life (11) won last year’s Palme d’Or. His other features are Badlands (73), The Thin Red Line (98), The New World (05) and To the Wonder (12).

Malick studied philosophy at Harvard, and at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar; before he became a filmmaker, he translated Martin Heidegger. For all its visual poetry, his work shows a passionate interest in ideas. Where THE NEW WORLD and TREE OF LIFE open themselves to analysis of spirituality and ethics, TO THE WONDER continues that intellectual investigation into the realm of politics and faith. It is also, like TREE OF LIFE, gloriously engaged with cinematic form itself. Read Travis Keune’s TREE OF LIFE review HERE.

As Malick liberates himself more and more from the restrictions of conventional narrative and pursues a more associative approach, he gets closer to eliciting pure, subconscious responses from his viewers. It is gratifying to note that the same man who long ago wrote an uncredited draft of Dirty Harry now finds freedom in the transcendental.

Focus Features Grabs The Rights To Director Derek Cianfrance’s THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES; Stars Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes

The director of BLUE VALENTINE, Derek Cianfrance, is back in the movie news and I’m glad of it. Focus Features announced today at the Toronto International Film Festival that they have acquired the U.S. rights to the director’s THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES. The highly anticipated new drama, starring Academy Award nominee Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, and Eva Mendes, had its world premiere at Toronto last Friday and Saturday and the studio is planning for a 2013 release. You can read the review of it HERE. (HeyUGuys.co.uk)

The film powerfully explores the consequences of motorcycle rider Luke (Mr. Gosling)’s fateful decision to commit a crime to support his child. The incident renders him targeted by policeman Avery (Mr. Cooper), and the two men become locked on a tense collision course which will have a devastating impact on both of their families in the years following. Cianfrance has proven himself to be both an accomplished stylist and a filmmaker of substance. He trained under avant-garde master Stan Brakhage, and can craft moments of pure, transcendent emotion from simple combinations of image and sound. But he also understands the primal pleasure of narrative.

For those looking for a little background on the film, THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES was written by Mr. Cianfrance, Ben Coccio, and Darius Marder. The movie was produced by Jamie Patricof and Lynette Howell through their Electric City Entertainment, Alex Orlovsky through his Verisimilitude, and SKE’s Sidney Kimmel; Mr. Patricof, Ms. Howell, and Mr. Orlovsky previously produced the award-winning BLUE VALENTINE, which starred Mr. Gosling and Academy Award nominee Michelle Williams.

The cast of THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES also includes Golden Globe Award nominee Rose Byrne (Damages), Mahershala Ali (Treme), Emory Cohen (Smash), Dane DeHaan (Chronicle), Gabe Fazio, Bruce Greenwood (Flight), Ray Liotta (Killing Them Softly), Ben Mendelsohn (The Dark Knight Rises), and Harris Yulin (Scarface).

Besides THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES, Focus Features has released some stellar films already this year. Some examples being Moonrise Kingdom, the hit movie from Wes Anderson; Sam Fell and Chris Butler’s delightful ParaNorman, the new 3D stop-motion comedy thriller from animation company LAIKA; Jamie Travis’ contemporary comedy For a Good Time, Call…, starring Ari Graynor and Lauren Anne Miller. Coming up is Closed Circuit, the suspense thriller directed by John Crowley and starring Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall; Paul Weitz’s comedy/drama Admission, starring Tina Fey and Paul Rudd; the historical tale Hyde Park on Hudson, directed by Roger Michell and starring Academy Award nominees Bill Murray and Laura Linney; Gus Van Sant’s Promised Land, the contemporary drama written by and starring Matt Damon and John Krasinski; and Joe Wright’s epic love story Anna Karenina, starring Keira Knightley, Jude Law, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson.

Toronto International Film Festival: Two-Time Oscar Nominee Tom Wilkinson Joins Thriller FELONY Opposite Joel Edgerton

Two-time Oscar nominee Tom Wilkinson (upcoming THE LONE RANGER, THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL, MICHAEL CLAYTON) joins the thriller FELONY opposite the previously cast male lead Joel Edgerton (upcoming ZERO DARK THIRTY, THE GREAT GATSBY), it was announced by The Solution Entertainment Group’s (“The Solution”) founders and partners, Lisa Wilson and Myles Nestel, and producers Rosemary Blight of Goalpost Pictures Australia and Edgerton for Blue-Tongue Films.

The feature film, set to start lensing in late October, will be directed by Matthew Saville (NOISE) from a script by Edgerton.

The Solution arranged the financing for the film, with Wilson and Nestel serving as executive producers. The company is representing the international rights to the film and is actively selling the title at the ongoing Toronto International Film Festival.

FELONY will be distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Roadshow Films. CAA is handling US rights.

Driving home after a celebration drink with his team after the long waited bust of a major gang, a decorated police officer (Edgerton) runs a young cyclist off the road.  As he gives CPR to the child, fellow officers arrive to take his statement.  In a split second decision he tells them a lie about the accident which will change all their lives in this edge of your seat thriller.

Wilkinson will play Detective Carl Summer, the lead police investigator who arrives on the scene following the accident.

“Tom Wilkinson is one of the most versatile actors around who inhabits every character he plays with an incredible energy and credibility. He is the ideal choice to co-star with Joel Edgerton in this tense and riveting thriller and will certainly drive buyers’ attention to this project in Toronto,” said Wilson.

“We had long hoped that Tom would agree to this role. We are thrilled an actor of his intelligence and caliber is on board for this exciting film,” said Blight.

Wilkinson was seen earlier this year in the worldwide box office sensation, THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL opposite Judi Dench, Bill Nighy and Maggie Smith. He has been nominated for two Academy Awards, for his supporting role in MICHAEL CLAYTON and lead performance for IN THE BEDROOM. His other recent credits include his Emmy nominated performance as Joe Kennedy on the TV mini-series “The Kennedys,” THE GREEN HORNET and THE GHOST WRITER. He next stars in Gore Verbinski’s THE LONE RANGER, with Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer, set for release in 2013 through Disney.

Edgerton can currently be seen in theatres in Disney’s THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN opposite Jennifer Garner and will next appear in the highly anticipated ZERO DARK THIRTY, directed by Kathryn Bigelow and co-starring Jessica Chastain and Chris Pratt set for release through Columbia Pictures in December as well as Baz Luhrmann’s THE GREAT GATSBY opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan and Tobey Maguire to be distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures in 2013.

Producer Rosemary Blight of Goalpost Pictures most recently produced musical comedy THE SAPPHIRES, directed by Wayne Blair and starring Chris Dowd, Deborah Mailman and Jessica Mauboy, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival 2012 and will be released in the US through The Weinstein Company.  Other credits include Julien Temple’s THE ETERNITY MAN and INTRODUCING THE DWIGHTS starring Brenda Blethyn and directed by Cherie Nowlan, which screened at the Sundance Film Festival and was released by Warner Independent Pictures in the US. Rosemary was Executive Producer of THE TREE directed by Julie Bertuccelli and starring Charlotte Gainsbourg which was closing night film of the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.

Filmauro Takes Italian Rights From Exclusive Media To DISCONNECT; Directed By Henry-Alex Rubin – Stars Jason Bateman, Hope Davis & Alexander Skarsgård

Aurelio and Luigi De Laurentiis’ Italian distribution company, Filmauro, acquired Italian rights from Exclusive Media to Henry-Alex Rubin’s ensemble drama DISCONNECT, prior to its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival where it received a 12 minute standing ovation, it was announced today by Alex Walton, Exclusive Media’s President of International Sales and Distribution.

The film features an all-star cast including Jason Bateman (THE CHANGE UP, UP IN THE AIR), Hope Davis (REAL STEEL, HBO’s “Mildred Pierce”), Frank Grillo (GANGSTER SQUAD, THE GREY), Paula Patton (PRECIOUS, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL), Michael Nyqvist (THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO), Andrea Riseborough (BRIGHTON ROCK, W.E.), Alexander Skarsgård (HBO’s “True Blood,” MELANCHOLIA) and Max Thieriot (JUMPER), as well as Jonah Bobo (CRAZY STUPID LOVE), Colin Ford (WE BOUGHT A ZOO) and Haley Ramm (X-MEN).

Set for its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 11th, the drama is produced by Mickey Liddell and Jennifer Monroe of LD Entertainment and William Horberg of Wonderful Films from an original screenplay by Andrew Stern.  LD Entertainment will release the film in the US in spring 2013.

Exclusive Media’s Alex Walton negotiated the deal with Filmauro’s Giovanna Fulvi, Head of Acquisitions. Exclusive Media is handling international rights to the film.

“We are delighted to have Filmauro on board. They reacted so passionately in a highly competitive environment to acquire the film. We look forward to this passion driving their release plans in Italy,” said Alex Walton.

Aurelio and Luigi De Laurentiis continued, “We are extremely happy with the success of the film and how it was perceived by the public and the press at the Venice Film Festival.  The film marks the debut of a new and talented director and we wish the film similar success at the Toronto Film Festival, where the film will be shown next week on September 11th.”

Shot with eavesdropped naturalism, it marks the first fiction feature film from Henry-Alex Rubin, director of the Oscar-nominated MURDERBALL.

A hard-working lawyer, attached to his cell phone, can’t find the time to communicate with his family. An estranged couple uses the internet as a means to escape from their lifeless marriage. A widowed ex-cop struggles to raise a mischievous son who cyber-bullies a classmate. An ambitious journalist sees a career-making story in a teen that performs on an adult-only site. They are strangers, neighbors and colleagues and their stories collide in this compelling drama about ordinary people seeking a human connection.

Helmed by Co-Chairmen Nigel Sinclair and Guy East, Exclusive Media is a major force in the production and international distribution arena.  The highly anticipated END OF WATCH produced by Exclusive Media with John Lesher and director David Ayer and starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Peña, is world premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival and is set for domestic release on September 21st through Open Road Films. The company recently wrapped production of CAN A SONG SAVE YOUR LIFE? starring Keira Knightley, Mark Ruffalo, Hailee Steinfeld, Adam Levine, CeeLo Green, James Corden and Catherine Keener directed by John Carney (ONCE) and Hammer’s THE QUIET ONES directed by John Pogue and starring Jared Harris and Sam Claflin.  Also in post-production is Ron Howard’s epic RUSH starring Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl produced with production partners Cross Creek Pictures, Imagine Entertainment, Working Title, Brian Grazer, and Revolution Films with Universal Pictures set to release theatrically in the US; and SNITCH starring Dwayne Johnson and Susan Sarandon to be released by Lionsgate/Summit Entertainment; and teen action comedy SO UNDERCOVER starring Miley Cyrus.

Upcoming Exclusive Media productions include AGENT: CENTURY 21 starring Cameron Diaz and Benicio del Toro; THE WOMAN IN BLACK: ANGELS OF DEATH, a follow up to the box office hit THE WOMAN IN BLACK starring Daniel Radcliffe; and A WALK AMONG THE TOMBSTONES starring Liam Neeson produced with Cross Creek Pictures, Double Feature Films and Jersey Films from writer/director Scott Frank.

Exclusive Media also represents a dynamic slate of third party productions including ROBOT & FRANK starring Frank Langella and Susan Sarandon currently in release through Samuel Goldwyn Films; AT ANY PRICE, starring Dennis Quaid and Zac Efron selected for both Venice and Toronto International Film Festivals; LOOK OF LOVE, starring Annette Bening, Ed Harris and Robin Williams currently in post-production; THÉRÈSE also from producers Liddell and Horberg, starring Elizabeth Olsen, Jessica Lange, Oscar Isaac and Tom Felton; and GREEN INFERNO to be directed by Eli Roth.

Additionally, Exclusive Media is handling international sales and servicing for Scott Pictures International’s slate of films, all to be produced under the Scott Pictures banner, including Lynne Ramsey’s newly announced JANE GOT A GUN written by Brian Duffield and starring Natalie Portman.

Rosamund Pike and Christopher Plummer Join Simon Pegg In HECTOR AND THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS Cast

Rosamund Pike (AN EDUCATION, JOHNNY ENGLISH REBORN, CLASH OF THE TITANS) and Academy Award Winner Christopher Plummer (BEGINNERS, THE LAST STATION, THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS) have joined the cast of director Peter Chelsom’s upcoming drama comedy HECTOR AND THE SEARCH FOR HAPPINESS in which Simon Pegg (MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE -GHOST PROTOCOL, PAUL) will play the lead. The announcement was made by producers Judy Tossell of Egoli Tossell Film (THE LAST STATION, CARLOS, BLACK DEATH) and Christine Haebler of Screen Siren Pictures (HARD CORE LOGO, DAYDREAM NATION, FOREVERLAND). The Solution Entertainment Group (“The Solution”) is handling international rights to the film and will be selling to buyers in Toronto; United Talent Agency are representing US rights.

Adapted for the screen from the bestselling novel of the same name by François Lelord, the film is a German/Canadian co-production produced by Egoli Tossell Film and Screen Siren Pictures currently in pre-production and set to shoot in January 2013. Wild Bunch Germany are co-producing and distributing in German-speaking Europe and Entertainment One have acquired all rights for Canada.

Simon Pegg plays Hector, an eccentric yet irresistible London psychiatrist in crisis: he’s going nowhere and his patients are just not getting any happier! Until one day, armed with buckets of courage and child-like curiosity, Hector breaks out of his sheltered vacuum of a life into a global quest to find out if happiness exists. More importantly, if it exists for Hector. And so begins an exotic, dangerous and hysterical journey.

Rosamund Pike has been cast as Hector’s long-term girlfriend, CLARA. English-born Pike shot to fame in 2002 as Bond Girl Miranda Frost in DIE ANOTHER DAY. This was followed by a slew of roles such as PROMISED LAND (2004) and THE LIBERTINE (2004), (for which she won the Best Supporting Actress award at The British Independent Film Awards), and Jane Bennett in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. It was her exceptional performances in: AN EDUCATION (2009), MADE IN DAGENHAM (2010), and the lead opposite Paul Giamatti in BARNEY’S VERSION (2010) that cemented her reputation as one of the top British actresses of her generation. As she continued her stage work in England, Pike appeared in the spy spoof JOHNNY ENGLISH REBORN (2011) and inhabited the role of Andromeda in the sci-fi epic CLASH OF THE TITANS (2012). She has since returned to action films with the female lead opposite Tom Cruise in JACK REACHER (2012).

Christopher Plummer will appear as Professor Coreman, leading guru for Happiness Studies at UCLA. Plummer’s 60-year acting career includes many hits on stage, in movies and on TV, plus an Oscar win at age 82, but he may still be best known for the role of the stormy Captain Georg von Trapp in the 1965 movie THE SOUND OF MUSIC. He has been nominated seven times for a Tony Award, winning twice. He has twice won Emmy Awards and was finally nominated for an Academy Award for his performance as Russian author Leo Tolstoy in the 2009 film THE LAST STATION; in 2012 he won the Academy Award as best supporting actor for his role in the film BEGINNERS.

Simon Pegg shot to international fame following his stand out performances in SHAUN OF THE DEAD, STAR TREK, HOT FUZZ, PAUL and most recently MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL opposite Tom Cruise reprising his role from MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE III and Thompson in Steven Spielberg’s THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN. Pegg is currently in post production on the next STAR TREK movie currently untitled and in pre-production on Edgar Wright’s THE WORLD’S END.

British-born Chelsom began his directing career with break out British films HEAR MY SONG and FUNNY BONES. These were followed by a string of romantic, feelgood hits including SERENDIPITY starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale, SHALL WE DANCE? starring Richard Gere and the award-winning THE MIGHTY starring Sharon Stone. His last two films SHALL WE DANCE? and HANNAH MONTANA: THE MOVIE enjoyed a combined worldwide box office of over US$ 325m.

This will be Chelsom’s third film with Academy Award winning costume designer Lindy Hemming (TOPSY TURVY, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, CASINO ROYALE). Award winning director of photography Hagen Bogdanski is also set to join the filmmaking team. His credits include the Academy Award winning THE LIVES OF OTHERS, YOUNG VICTORIA and Madonna’s W.E.

Egoli Tossell Film is the Berlin based production company helmed by Jens Meurer and Judy Tossell and backed by Film House Germany. This past year’s (co)-productions include Toronto’s closing gala film: Paul Andrew Williams’ SONG FOR MARION, Jon Baird’s adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s cult novel FILTH and Ron Howard’s Formula One drama RUSH. Other recent credits include the Academy Award and Golden Globe nominated THE LAST STATION, Olivier Assayas’ Golden Globe winner CARLOS THE JACKAL and Chris Smith’s BLACK DEATH.

Screen Siren Pictures is an established award winning Vancouver based production company that focuses on international co-productions. Helmed by Trish Dolman and Christine Haebler they have recently produced projects for Entertainment One, Alliance Films, Anchor Bay, Hasbro, BBC, A&E, ARTE, and Channel 4 their most recent productions include DAYDREAM NATION, FOREVERLAND, CLUE and ECO PIRATE.