News

Writer-director Rod Blackhurst has wrapped production in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on horror film “Dolly.”

Blackhurst is the Emmy and Critics Choice nominated director and producer of Netflix original documentary “Amanda Knox” and the Tribeca Festival audience award-winning “Here Alone.” “Dolly” follows his acclaimed crime-thriller “Blood for Dust,” which premiered at Tribeca and won the narrative competition award at San Diego.

“Dolly,” described by the filmmakers as a blend of New French Extremity and 1970s American horror, follows Macy, a young woman abducted by a deranged, monster-like figure who wants to raise her as their child.

The cast includes Fabianne Therese (“John Dies at the End”), Seann William Scott (“American Pie”), Ethan Suplee (“Babylon”), Russ Tiller (“Blood for Dust”) and Michalina Scorzelli (“Shoplifters of the World”). The film also introduces current Nwa TV Champion Max the Impaler, aka The Non-Binary Nightmare, in the titular role of Dolly.

Blackhurst and Brandon Weavil (“Babygirl”) wrote the screenplay,...

Rock Hudson’s life as a closeted Hollywood icon is now captured in documentary “Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed.”

Helmed by Stephen Kijak (“We Are X,” “Shoplifters of the World”), the HBO film charts the “Giant” heartthrob’s career as an actor of the studio system until his final role in “Dynasty” ahead of his 1985 death from AIDS.

Among the most iconic Hollywood men of the 1950s and ’60s, Rock Hudson embodied masculinity and straightness until his diagnosis and death from AIDS in 1985 shattered those notions in the eyes of the public. “Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed” tells the story of Hudson as a man who lived a double life; while his public persona was meticulously curated by his handlers, controlled by the studio system, and falsely anchored by a lavender marriage, Hudson had to keep his homosexuality behind closed doors due to anti-gay sentiments at the time,...

Stars: Daniel Caltagirone, Adam Deacon, Lois Brabin-Platt, Max Lohan, Eric Roberts, Marco Leonardi, Georges St-Pierre, Lucas Aurelio, Elijah Rowen, Bentley Kalu | Written and Directed by Savvas D. Michael

Twenty-five years on from Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels the British gangster revival is still going strong. Case in point Hitmen, the new film from writer/director Savvas D. Michael who has already made several contributions to the genre including The Bezonians, Smoking Guns and Original Gangster.

Luke and Lauren are having marital issues. But that doesn’t mean she’s thrilled when Jackie starts hitting on her and when she mocks him, hitting her. This leads to a beating which in turn leads to Jackie’s death.

That would be bad enough, but Jackie’s grandfather Michael is a wealthy CEO with some rather shady connections. When they’re acquitted by reason of self-defense he puts a million-dollar contract on the couple.

Joe Manganiello is set as a lead opposite Emma McDonald and Dominic Monaghan in AMC’s utopian drama series Moonhaven.

Created, written and executive produced by Peter Ocko, Moonhaven is about a utopian colony on the Moon that may hold the keys to preserving life on Earth, which has become increasingly perilous. The series, produced by AMC Studios, is set to debut on AMC and AMC+ next year.

The suspense thriller focuses on Bella Sway (McDonald), a lunar cargo pilot and smuggler 100 years in the future who finds herself accused of a crime and marooned on Moonhaven, a utopian community set on a 500 square mile Garden of Eden built on the Moon to find solutions to the problems that will soon end civilization on Mother Earth. A skeptic in Paradise, Bella is sucked into a conspiracy to gain control of the artificial intelligence responsible for Moonhaven’s miracles and teams with a local detective,...

Sydney Film Festival has revealed the first 22 titles on its line-up for this year, which will see the festival return to cinemas around the city after 2020’s virtual iteration.

Leading the pack are a contingent of local docos including Philippa Bateman’s Wash My Soul in the River’s Flow; Amanda Blue’s Step into Paradise and Eddie Martin’s The Kids, recently selected for Tribeca.

Sff will also boast the Nsw premiere of Kiwi film The Justice of Bunny King, Gaysorn Thavat’s debut feature led by Essie Davis and Thomasin McKenzie; and Nz-Canadian co-production, NIght Raiders, directed by Danis Goulet and executive produced by Taika Waititi.

Festival director Nashen Moodley is excited to return to an in-person event come August, noting the festival already had a “incredible” response to its summer season in January at the State Theatre, when it screened High Ground, Firestarter, Girls Can’t Surf, Minari and Another Round.

Rlje Films is releasing Stephen Kijak's drama/comedy Shoplifters of the World on DVD and Blu-ray today. We have two Blu-rays to give away to our readers in the U.S. Look below for your chance to win a copy this week.   In the Summer of 1987, four friends, reeling from the sudden break-up of the iconic British band The Smiths, embark on a night out of partying to mourn their musical loss. At the same time, an impassioned Smiths fan takes a local radio DJ hostage at gunpoint and forces him to play nothing but Smiths tracks. With the radio station playing as the soundtrack to their night, the friends go on a wild journey of self-discovery that will transform them forever. Featuring an incredible soundtrack...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Rlje Films will release the drama/comedy Shoplifters Of The World on DVD and Blu-ray on June 1, 2021. The DVD will sell for an Srp of $27.97 and the Blu-ray for an Srp of $28.96

Now you can win the Win the DVD of Shoplifters Of The World We Are Movie Geeks has three to give away. Just leave a comment below telling us what your favorite movie is with the word ‘World’ in the title (mine’s The World Is Not Enough. It’s so easy!)

1. You Must Be A US Resident. Prize Will Only Be Shipped To US Addresses. No P.O. Boxes. No Duplicate Addresses.

2. Winner Will Be Chosen From All Qualifying Entries

Written and directed by Stephen Kijak (We Are X, Sid & Judy), Shoplifters Of The World stars Helena Howard (Amazon’s “The Wilds,” Madeline’s Madeline), Ellar Coltrane (Boyhood, Showtime’s “The Good Lord Bird”), Elena Kampouris (Children of the Corn,...

Music is one of the leading things in life that has the power to completely influence people’s existences. The young American protagonists of this spring’s musical comedy-drama, ‘Shoplifters of the World,’ follow that idea as they allow their favorite English rock band, The Smiths sway their perspectives on international culture and how they should lead […]

The post The Power of The Smith’s Music is Changing Ellar Coltrane’s Life in Shoplifters of the World DVD Giveaway appeared first on Shockya.com.

In the Mood for Morrissey: Kijak Languishes in Eighties Angst

Documentarian Stephen Kijak returns to narrative filmmaking for the first time since his 1996 debut Never Met Picasso with 1980s period piece Shoplifters of the World. At first glance, the title doesn’t provide any clues to the film’s intentions, but the specific time and place of this 1987 Colorado set tale will likely appeal to audiences holding the same sentiments as its main characters, a reverence for The Smiths. amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "ioncinema03-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "manual"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_design = "enhanced_links"; amzn_assoc_asins = "B007FGPZTS"; amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "ba7dc05fb23cb4c4823d8527d6c8269e";

The short-lived British indie band lasted five years and released four studio albums, defining an entire generation of angst-ridden teenagers drifting into a melancholically inclined adulthood.

The story goes that a young Smiths fan was so devastated by news of the band’s 1987 breakup that he drove to a Denver radio station with a loaded pistol and a harebrained plan to make the DJ broadcast literary mope-rock all night long. It’s a lot easier to say “please, please, please let me get what I want” with a gun in your hand. Being a Smiths fan, however, our heartbroken hero was too sensitive to point a gun at someone; if meat is murder, then murder would really be murder. So he sat in his car, sang “I Know it’s Over,” and turned himself in to the local police station where he could wallow in a cell worthy of his mood.

“Based on true intentions” (a real “uh oh” of an opening title card), Stephen Kijak’s long-gestating “Shoplifters of the World” essentially wonders what might...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Bad Trip (Kitao Sakurai)

The Eric Andre persona is best understood by his popular late-night Adult Swim series, succinctly titled The Eric Andre Show. In every episode Andre’s irreverent and self-destructive behavior leads him to trash his set, causing bodily harm, and torturing a slew of celebrities that range from Jimmy Kimmel to the Real Housewives of Atlanta. Andre is the equivalent of a magic mushrooms trip: wildly confusing, incoherent, sometimes causing one to burst at the seams with ecstatic comedic moments. Andre’s energy finds the perfect vessel in Bad Trip, his first starring role with a script he wrote with frequent collaborator and director Kitao Sakurai.

Director Stephen Kijak has made a string of documentaries that are focused on music, among them “We Are X,” “Jaco,” “Stones in Exile,” “Scott Walker: 30 Century Man” and “Sid & Judy.” That ought to mean that he’s got an understanding of the musical life – but more to the point for his new narrative film, “Shoplifters of the World,” it should mean that he has an understanding of fandom, too.

“Shoplifters of the World” may be titled after a song from the ’80s British band the Smiths, and it may play to a nonstop soundtrack of that and almost two dozen more songs from the Manchester-based maestros of morose, but it’s not a movie about the Smiths. It’s a movie about the fans, about what music can mean in the life of people who love it – as Fairuza Balk’s character, Sapphire, says in Cameron Crowe’s “Almost Famous,...

The Smiths are dead. That’s the news Cleo (Helena Howard) punctuates with a scream loud enough to wake everyone in Denver, Colorado but her own passed out drunk mother on the couch. So she drives to the one place she knows she’ll find a kindred spirit: the record store. Dean (Ellar Coltrane) is reading the news behind the counter as she walks in, the obvious air of depression looming above him before his boss (Thomas Lennon) stomps in to say that he needs to stop playing Morrissey and Marr’s music in memorialization since it’s always been too much of a downer. What he doesn’t realize that Cleo and Dean do, however, is that not everyone wants escapism from their art. Some seek an understanding that they aren’t alone.

That’s what this music gave a generation as its melodies became their home and saved...

Exclusive: Sarah Catherine Hook and Imani Lewis have been cast as the leads in First Kill, Netflix’s upcoming series executive produced by Emma Roberts.

Written by Felicia D. Henderson and best-selling author Victoria “V. E.” Schwab, First Kill is based on a short story by Schwab.

In it, when it’s time for teenage vampire Juliette (Hook) to make her first kill so she can take her place among a powerful vampire family, she sets her sights on a new girl in town named Calliope (Lewis). But much to Juliette’s surprise, Calliope is a vampire hunter, from a family of celebrated slayers. Both find that the other won’t be so easy to kill and, unfortunately, way too easy to fall for…

Hook’s Juliette Fairmont is a shy, kind teenage girl who was born a vampire and determined to not be a monster. Her family has always...

"This night... will open our eyes." Rlje Films has released an official trailer for an indie titled Shoplifters of the World, from a British director of music docs named Stephen Kijak. Set in the summer of 1987 in Denver, Colorado, the film follows four friends. One crazy night in the life of four friends reeling from the sudden demise of iconic British band The Smiths, while the local airwaves are hijacked at gunpoint by an impassioned Smiths fan. Starring Helena Howard, Ellar Coltrane, Elena Kampouris, Nick Krause, James Bloor, Thomas Lennon, and Joe Manganiello. This isn't the only Smiths tribute film (also: The More You Ignore Me) but it does look like this'll be good. "Featuring an incredible soundtrack – including 20 songs from The Smiths – Shoplifters of the World is a glorious ode to the craziness of the '80s and the power of music ...

AMC Networks-owned Rlje Films has swooped for U.S. rights to “Shoplifters of the World.”

Inspired by true events, “Shoplifters of the World” is set over the course of one night in the life of four friends who are reeling from the sudden dissolution of British band The Smiths. The same evening, a local radio station is also hijacked by an armed, impassioned Smiths fan, resulting in a madcap evening that sends up the spirit of the 1980s.

Starring Joe Manganiello (“Magic Mike”) as the radio DJ and Ellar Coltrane (“Boyhood”) as the hijacker, the film also stars Helena Howard (“Madeline’s Madeline”) and Elena Kampouris (“Before I Fall”). “Shoplifters of the World” is written and directed by Stephen Kijak (“We Are X”) and also features 20 tracks from The Smiths.

The U.K.’s WestEnd Films, which is handling international rights, has also sold the film into Japan (Parco), China...

Kurt Wimmer’s reimagining of “Children of the Corn” has completed its coronavirus-defying shoot in Australia. The filmmakers employed stringent health and safety protocols, and multiple insurance policies.

The producers revealed the previously undisclosed cast of young actors, with Elena Kampouris (“Before I Fall”) and Kate Moyer (“When Hope Calls”) starring. They are accompanied by Australian talent Callan Mulvey (“Avengers: Endgame”) and Bruce Spence (“The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King”).

“You can theorize all you like about safety protocols, but until you get on set, you don’t really know. But I can now tell you it is impossible to keep a camera crew 1.5 meters apart,” producer Lucas Foster (“Ford v Ferrari”) told Variety.

Principal photography began in New South Wales in early March, when the Covid-19 outbreak forced the majority of productions around the world to shut down.

“We ended up taking hundreds of measures.

Exclusive: Joe Manganiello has signed with ICM Partners across the board.

The Pittsburgh, Pa native has a long resume with such distinguished roles as the alluring werewolf Alcide in 42 episodes of HBO’s cult vampire series True Blood and Big Dick Richie in the Magic Mike film franchise, as well as roles in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man, Pee-wee’s Big Holiday, Justice League, and last year’s $428M-grossing Dwayne Johnson movie Rampage.

Up next for Manganiello is The Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, the baseball drama Bottom of the 9th, and the comedy Shoplifters of the World which he starred in and produced through his production company 3:59.

Manganiello financed, produced and directed the 2014 feature documentary La Bare about male strip club La Bare Dallas. In 2017 Manganiello shared an Emmy win as the narrator of the documentary Pittsburgh is Home: The Story of the Penguins, which chronicled the first 50 years...

Exclusive: Former WWE star Jonathan Good, aka Dean Ambrose, is joining the cast of Mma-themed action feature Cagefighter.

Currently in pre-production, the film tells the story of a lauded Mma champion who unexpectedly loses a heavily promoted match to a professional wrestling star making his crossover debut in the Mma fighting world. Humiliated by the defeat, he must fight his way back to the top and earn his place for a rematch.

Starring are real-life Mma fighter and actor Josh Herdman (Harry Potter) alongside Michael Jai White (Universal Soldier), Gina Gershon (Face/Off), Michelle Ryan (Bionic Woman), and Jason Maza (Brotherhood). Mma stars set to feature include Anderson Silva, Georges St Pierre and Alexander Gustafsson.

Jesse Quinones (Calloused Hands) directs; producers are Lorianne Hall (Shoplifters of The World) with Trilight Entertainment’s Shayne Putzlocher (Dead Shack) and Anamorphic Media’s Sara Shaak (Cold Brook). Executive producer is former WWE star Jay “Christian” Reso.

Joseph Baxter Feb 11, 2019

Mark Millar comic book series Jupiter’s Legacy is heading to Netflix to be adapted as a live-action TV series.

Jupiter’s Legacy is starting to take shape over at Netflix, which has just announced the crew and main cast of the TV series adapting Mark Millar’s comic book series, which put an alternate-universe twist superhero tropes.

When Netflix acquired the Millarworld publishing brand back in July 2018 from its eponymous prolific Scottish comic book writer, we knew that the streaming giant had grand designs to create its own self-contained branding of comic book movies and televisions shows.

Indeed, Jupiter’s Legacy was one of the announced projects. Now, Netflix is moving forward with the series, which it has put under the purview of a serious showrunner in Steven S. DeKnight, who will serve as executive producer with Millar and the comic’s artist, Frank Quitely, along...

London-based sales agent WestEnd Films has released the first-look image for The Smiths-infused comedy-drama “Shoplifters of the World,” which Variety is publishing exclusively. WestEnd is screening footage to buyers at Berlin’s European Film Market.

Based on an urban legend, the film is set over the course of one night in the lives of four friends in Denver, who are reeling from the news of the split up of iconic British band The Smiths. The local radio station is hijacked by an impassioned Smiths fan with a gun, who makes the DJ play nothing but Smiths tracks for the entire night.

The still shows Ellar Coltrane (“Boyhood”), who plays the hijacker. Joe Manganiello plays the DJ. The cast also includes Helena Howard, Elena Kampouris, Nick Krause, and James Bloor. The film, written and directed by Stephen Kijak (“Scott Walker – 30 Century Man”), will feature 20 tracks by The Smiths.

The movie...

London-based sales agency WestEnd Films has released the first-look photo for “I Am Woman,” which Variety has exclusively. The movie follows the rise of singer-songwriter Helen Reddy, whose song “I Am Woman” became the anthem for the women’s movement in the 1970s. The shot features Tilda Cobham-Hervey, who plays Reddy.

“A film for our times, this is a story of fearless ambition and passion, about a woman who led the way for other women seeking equality by smashing through the patriarchal norms to become the international singing superstar she always dreamed of being,” according to WestEnd.

The film is directed by Unjoo Moon (“The Zen of Bennett”), and also stars Evan Peters as Helen’s manager and husband Jeff Wald, and Danielle Macdonald as the rock journalist Lilian Roxon.

The film is produced by Goalpost Pictures’ Rosemary Blight, and is written by Emma Jensen (“Mary Shelley”). The cinematographer is Dion Beebe,...

Jesse Quinones directing sports action film.

Michael Jai White, Gina Gershon, Josh Herdman, Michelle Ryan and Jason Maza have boarded the cast of Cagefighter, an Mma/WWE sports drama from writer-director Jesse Quinones (Calloused Hands).

The film follows mixed martial arts champion Reiss (Herdman) who unexpectedly loses a heavily promoted match to Randy Stone, a WWE star who is making his crossover debut in the Mma fighting world. It will shoot in the UK and Us.

Director Quinones is producing through his company Woolfcub Productions with Lorianne Hall (Shoplifters Of The World) and Terry Bird for Norton Place Pictures.

Hall...

Stephen Kijak: 'We just went full on... starting from a place of intimacy' Photo: Manga Entertainment/Passion Pictures Stephen Kijak’s documentary We Are X offers an up-close portrait of the iconic Japanese rock band X Japan. His preceding music documentaries Scott Walker: 30 Century Man, Stones in Exile, Backstreet Boys: Show ’Em What You're Made Of and Jaco follow a filmmaking career that began outside of music, with the narrative feature Never Met Picasso and the feature documentary Cinemania. Since the start, Kijak’s work has been music-centric and even his upcoming narrative feature Shoplifters Of The World focuses on a real-life moment that grew up in the wake of the demise of British band The Smiths. It offers an impression of a filmmaker with narrative intentions amid musical influences, forming a career built upon a unification of story and music.

In conversation with Eye For Film,...

Exclusive: Oscar-winning Ida producer Ewa Puszczynska is a co-producer on the Georgian-Russian drama.

London-based sales agent WestEnd Films has acquired world rights to Rezo Gigineishvili’s drama Hostages ahead of the film’s premiere in the Panorama strand of the Berlin Film Festival (Feb 9-19).

Screen can also reveal an exclusive first image from the film [pictured top], which is based on a true story about a young couple who enact a dangerous plot to escape the Soviet Union. Irakli Kvirikadze and Tina Dalakishvili star, they both previously appeared in Georgia-set anthology feature Tbilisi, I Love You.

The film, a Georgia-Russia co-production, was also produced by Gigineishvili through Nebo Film Company, alongside Mikhail Fenogenov from Russia, independent Georgian producer Tamara Tatishvili, and Vladimer Katcharava through Georgia’s 20 Steps Productions,

Oscar-winning Ida producer Ewa Puszczynska is a co-producer on the project through Polish outfit Extreme Emotions. Boris Frumin is also a co-producer.

The film was selected for the Sarajevo Film Festival...

Exclusive: American comedy-drama comes from Albert Nobbs producers Mockingbird Pictures.

UK sales outfit WestEnd Films has acquired international rights to American comedy-drama The Sweet Life, and will be showing the film to buyers at the forthcoming European Film Market in Berlin.

Directed by TV veteran Rob Spera (Criminal Minds), the film stars Chris Messina (Live By Night, Argo) and Abigail Spencer (Oz The Great And Powerful, Suits) in the story of two lost souls who embark on a road trip from Chicago to San Franscisco where they plan to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge together.

The film premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival last June.

Sweet Life was produced by Bonnie Curtis and Julie Lynn under their banner Mockingbird Pictures, the company behind Oscar-nominated Glenn Close drama Albert Nobbs.

The acquisition is a part of WestEnd’s recently-launched female audience brand WeLove, which is focusing on female-specific content and is developing projects from Agnieszka Holland and Alexis Zegerman...

Former Studiocanal and See Pictures exec Sophie Green has joined the UK sales outfit.

London-based sales and finance outfit WestEnd Films has appointed Sophie Green as head of acquisitions and development.

Green’s previous experience includes stints at Studiocanal in the legal and business affairs team, and recently in Australia with Jamie Hilton’s production outfit See Pictures, where she worked as acquisitions and business development manager.

Throughout her career, she has worked on titles including Todd Haynes’ Carol, Lenny Abrahamson’s Room, Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire and Terrence Malik’s Knight Of Cups.

In her new role, she will work across WestEnd’s current slate and will also develop the company’s recently launched female audience brand WeLove, which is developing female-specific content including projects from Agnieszka Holland and Alexis Zegerman.

WestEnd’s Efm line-up includes: animated feature The Breadwinner, which is produced in association with Angelina Jolie; Film4 and BFI-backed UK comedy Old Boys; [link...

“Tracking Shot” is a monthly featurette here on Ioncinema.com that looks at a dozen or so projects that are moments away from lensing and with June being a major production month we’ve got a slew of projects that we feel are worth signaling out. Music appears to be a common narrative theme surrounding several items – we find it infused in Once‘s John Carney’s U.S. production debut – a 10 million dollar production about a dejected music business executive forms a bond with a young singer-songwriter new to Manhattan. Scarlett Johansson was formerly attached to Can a Song Save Your Life?, now Knightley appears to be on board. Rock documentary filmmaker Stephen Kijak (Stones in Exile) is looking to make his second fictional feature based on the true story of a The Smiths fans who lost his bearings when the group announced its break-up. Shoplifters of the World...

Garrett Hedlund (Tron: Legacy, Country Strong, and the upcoming  On The Road and Inside Llewyn Davis), Oscar nominee Richard Jenkins (The Visitor), Jessica Brown Findlay (PBS. .Downton Abbey.), Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls), Oscar nominee Terrence Howard and three-time Oscar nominee Amy Adams (The Fighter) will star in acclaimed fine artist Andrew Levitas. comedy/drama Lullaby. It was announced today by Mimi Steinbauer, President and CEO of Radiant Films International, and producers Andrea Stone-Brokaw of Ananta Productions and Cary Brokaw (The Player, Short Cuts, Angels In America, Closer) of Avenue Pictures. Radiant Films will be offering the film to international buyers of the Cannes Film Market.

Levitas will direct the feature film from his own script which is set to start shooting in June 2012 in New York City. The Producers are in discussion with several domestic distributors but the North American rights have not been licensed.

Filled with considerable comedic beats,...