Exclusive articles:
Film Movement Grabs Un Certain Regard Standout
I think Film Movement's company motto should be "no excellent film gets left behind". I've repeatedly missed out Lee Isaac Chung's debut film on the festival circuit, but it looks like FM have given a second life to the debut of a promising new director (Chung was fittingly nominated for the Indie Spirit's Someone to Watch Award). The company is looking at a May release.
Daniel Barnz
When I wrote the script, Phoebe originally walked out of her door into her back yard and immediately saw the Red Queen running. Bobby hit upon the magical idea of creating a sequence out of it – Phoebe sees flashes of the Red Queen behind a tree, then chases after her – the Queen is always just out of reach. This ended up creating exactly the kind of visceral, infectious excitement we needed in introducing Wonderland.
Killer Films Calm Rupert Friend Down with ‘Lullaby’
In an exclusive bit of news that hasn't made the trades yet, Killer Film's Christine Vachon confirmed that Rupert Friend, the young actor who was the breakout thesp in Berlin Film Festival's Stephen Fry's Cheri and gave a formidable perf in Jean-Marc Vallee's The Young Victoria will topline Lullaby for Pi. The France/Canada co-production will begin lensing shortly in the prairie provinces of Canada.
Christine Vachon Unplugged
Even though she has a French name, I was surprised to see that a festival showcasing the best in past and upcoming Quebecois cinema (Les Rendez-Vous Du Cinema Quebecois) had managed to lasso a very busy, legend producer in American Independent Cinema. For those who have seen clips of her masterclasses and/or have read two great books on what is it to be an indie producer know that Christine Vachon tells it likes it is.
Seven Cesars for Provost’s Seraphine
A biopic about an unknown painter cleaned up the 34th edition of the Cesar awards (France's equivalent to the Oscars). You would have thought that it was an homage to Sean Penn (the actor was in attendance, first row ticket) and the dearly departed Claude Berri, but this was Martin Provost's night upsetting favorites Jean-François Richet and Mesrine (who won for Best Director and Best Actor) and the Palme d'Or winner The Class from Laurent Cantet winner went home with only the Best Adapted Film. Séraphine won a total of seven awards.
