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Writer and director Andrea Arnold returns with coming of age drama Bird, and here’s the trailer for her new movie.

Over the course of the last two decades, writer and director Andrea Arnold has built up a terrific filmography.

She began her career with three short films, Milk, Dog and Wasp. Her 2006 feature directorial debut, the chilling psychological drama Red Road, about a CCTV operator in Glasgow who becomes obsessed with a man from her past, is a great example of how a low budget is no hinderance when you have a brilliant script. The film was the first in a planned trilogy called Advance Party, in which three directors use the same characters to tell different stories.

The next film, Donkeys, directed by Morag McKinnon, was released in 2010. Sadly, the third film, Copenhagen, which would have been directed by Mikkel Nørgaard, was stuck in development and never made.

“The Ugly Chickens,” a short film from “Game of Thrones” creator George R.R. Martin, is set to premiere at Hollyshorts Film Festival.

Starring Felicia Day (“Supernatural”), the short is based on Howard Waldrop’s Nebula Award-winning famous story. Science fiction author Waldrop was a friend of Martin’s. He died in 2024. Martin has plans to adapt a further three of Waldrop’s short stories into films.

Martin said: “Howard saw a rough cut of [“The Ugly Chickens”] before he died. He liked it, which pleases me no end. I only wish we had been able to screen the final cut for him.”

Jennifer Dale (“Coroner”), Natalie Charles (“Suits”) and Mag Ruffman (“Alias Grace”) also star in the short, which was shot on location in Toronto,

“Upon learning that the supposedly extinct dodo bird might still exist, ornithology professor Paula Linberl sets out on a cross-country expedition to unravel the mystery,” reads the synopsis.

Riley Green recently gave fans a show with his new ad with Gildan. It did not disappoint, and fans were happy about the ad. Riley Green is a popular country artist. He always has women drooling over him. His new ad made them drool even more. Keep reading to find out more about this.

Riley Green Makes Connections

Riley Green continues to collaborate with other artists. He is making connections and putting out new music often. He did a collaboration with Ella Langley who was on tour with him. They made a popular song called “You Look Like You Love Me”. However, he also did one with Jelly Roll. He let fans know that they have been friends for a while, and he enjoyed making a song with him. Jelly Roll has done collaborations with other artists like Machine Gun Kelly and Post Malone as well.

“I’ve obviously been...

This year’s Tonys will be held on June 16, so the American Theatre Wing will likely be announcing its Lifetime Achievement Award recipient in the near future. Who do you think should take home this prestigious trophy, which honors an individual’s body of work? It has gone to veteran stage performers, directors, choreographers, playwrights, songwriters, producers and designers. In some years we get multiple recipients.

Last year these honors went to actor Joel Grey and composer John Kander. The following living male Broadway vets have also received this award in the past and thus won’t be chosen again: Paul Gemignani, Alan Ayckbourn, Athol Fugard, Marshall W. Mason, Tommy Tune, James Earl Jones, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Harold Wheeler.

Here are 10 possibilities featured in our poll below, all accomplished men over the age of 65. Vote to let us know who you’d like to see honored. And take a...

Will Poulter in Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 Image: Disney More Will Poulter? Yes please! A new deleted scene from Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3, shared exclusively with The A.V. Club, shows his character bound and determined to be his mother’s (Elizabeth Debicki) goodest boy—or rather,...

Danish filmmaker Christian Einshøj’s “The Mountains” has won Hot Docs’ Best International Feature Documentary Award and a Cnd. $10,000 cash prize, it was announced this morning in Toronto at the festival’s awards ceremony, held at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.

Produced by Made In Copenhagen, the film is an autobiographical family portrait using 30 years of home video, 75,000 photos, and a superhero road trip to explore the tragedy that led to the emotional distance between the men in the family. “The Mountains,” which premiered earlier this year at Cph:dox, now automatically qualifies for consideration in the Academy’s Best Documentary Feature category without the standard theatrical run, provided it complies with Academy rules. Cats and Docs is handling sales.

Einshøj also picked up the Emerging International Filmmaker Award, which includes a Cdn. $3,000 cash prize supported by the Donner Canadian Foundation. The jury said, “This unique, eloquent, and deeply honest look at...

In a Broadway season teeming with exciting plays, musicals, and revivals, a dramatization of a small city council meeting may sound dull. Perhaps in the hands of a lesser playwright than Pulitzer Prize-winner Tracy Letts, but his fictional Big Cherry bureaucracy at the center of “The Minutes” is anything but tame. The “August: Osage County” scribe re-teamed with director Anna D. Shapiro for this genre-defying political satire with a horrifying underbelly. The ensemble comprises both New York and Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre mainstays, featuring the likes of Blair Brown, Jessie Mueller, Austin Pendleton, and Letts himself, with Noah Reid making his Broadway debut. “The Minutes” opened at Studio 54 on April 17 for a limited engagement.

Letts’ latest work received overwhelmingly strong notices from critics. In a rave review, Naveen Kumar (Variety) calls the play a “cunning,” “sensational,” and “astonishing feat” handled with “brilliant finesse.” He applauds Letts for penning this “thrilling...

The 2021-2022 Broadway season has been quite a busy one for actor Brandon J. Dirden. First he appeared opposite Phylicia Rashad in Manhattan Theatre Club’s presentation of Dominique Morisseau‘s play “Skeleton Crew” this past winter. Now he can be seen in Second Stage Theater’s revival of Richard Greenberg‘s 2003 Tony-winning play “Take Me Out.” After having previously appeared in award-winning Broadway productions of “Clybourne Park” (2012), “All the Way” (2014), and “Jitney” (2017), will either of Dirden’s two main stem appearances from this past year make him a first-time Tony nominee?

In “Skeleton Crew,” Dirden played Reggie, the manager of one of the last auto stamping plants in Detroit. The company is on shaky ground and the workers have to make choices about how to move forward if their plant goes under. All the while Reggie is torn between doing right by his work family and the red tape in his office.

As of now, there is a lot of uncertainty around Covid when it comes to Broadway. Within the past couple of months, several shows had to suspend performances due to positive cases in their casts, some others had to close permanently, and a couple more are taking hiatuses. The American Theatre Wing also hasn’t announced key dates for this year’s Tony Awards yet.

With that being said, we are now about halfway through the Broadway season, and there are currently 11 productions of plays set to open this spring. Could we be seeing any of them contend at this year’s Tonys? Below is an overview of each play as well as the awards histories of their authors, cast, and directors, plus the opening and (where applicable) closing dates.

“Skeleton Crew” (opened January 26; closes February 20)

This new play by Tony nominee Dominique Morisseau is set in 2008 at a small automotive factory in Detroit,...

There are 30 projects in first physical event since 2019.

New works from One Child Nation director Jialing Zhang and Chuck Norris vs. Communism filmmaker Ilinca Calugareanu are among the 30 projects participating in Cph:forum, the financing and co-production market of Cph:dox film festival.

The Forum will run from March 28-31, and will be the first in-person edition since 2019.

Scroll down for the full list of titles

Massachusetts-based Chinese filmmaker Zhang is participating with German-Dutch co-production The Total Trust (working title), produced by Knut Jager through Germany’s Filmtank. The documentary will examine the growth of surveillance culture in China, from cameras to AI profiling.

By the time Garth Brooks name-checked Chris LeDoux in his debut single, 1989’s “Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old),” the real-life rodeo champ and balladeer was already a cult star. LeDoux wrote and sang detail-rich songs about the grueling rodeo circuit with a restless spirit and his own hard-won experience. His bronc-riding peers ate it up, buying LeDoux’s homemade tapes from the back of the singer’s truck.

But they also bootlegged their own copies of albums like 1971’s Songs of Rodeo Life and passed them around,...

In director Mark Raso’s occasionally engaging but mostly frustrating sci-fi thriller, an unexplained event causes a massive electromagnetic pulse that fries most electronics and leaves nearly all of humanity incapable of sleep. From the mysterious incident onward, the characters slowly slide toward insanity as fatigue takes its toll, although it’s not clear how everyone on earth immediately recognizes (or believes) that the resulting restlessness is permanent. If the recent real-world pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that early in a health crisis, nobody knows anything, and the resulting confusion tends to be more exhausting than entertaining.

So, at the risk of sounding facetious, I confess that while exasperated ex-military, ex-junkie super-mom Jill (Gina Rodriguez) worries about whether she’ll ever be able to sleep again, I had no such problem. Between its low-energy suspense and all-around failure to grip, “Awake” took me three separate sittings to get through.

International documentary sales company Reservoir Docs has acquired Danish doc “Dark Blossom” ahead of its upcoming world premiere and international screenings at Cph:dox and Hot Docs respectively. Reservoir Docs has secured exclusive worldwide sales rights, with the exception of Denmark.

The feature debut of documentary filmmaker-music video director Frigge Fri, “Dark Blossom” is a visually and musically immersive story of three young Danish Goths who express their strong friendship through a shared love of darkness, macabre make-up and fashion, and social media expression. They channel a shared fascination with death to combat loneliness, inner demons, and the prejudices of small town life. But when one of them falls in love and plans an escape from the countryside, their deep bond is inexorably threatened.

“Dark Blossom,” a Made In Copenhagen production, was directed, written, and lensed by Fri, produced by Mathilde Hvid Lippmann, and executive produced by company CEO Helle Faber.

The Recording Academy knows when to hold ’em, where it’s fun to stay and that there’s a choice we’re making. Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler,” Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.” and USA for Africa’s benefit single “We Are the World” are among the 29 songs and albums added to the Grammy Hall of Fame today.

Also making the cut are seven debut LPs: Bruce Springsteen’s Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J., Pearl Jam’s Ten, Patti Smith’s Horses, Beastie Boys’ Licensed to Ill — the first rap disc to top Billboard 200 album chart — the Cars’ eponymous disc, John Mayall with Eric Clapton’s Blues Breakers and Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble’s Texas Flood.

The Gammy Hall now includes 1,142 recordings. See this year’s full list below.

“We are proud to announce this year’s diverse roster of Grammy Hall of Fame inductees and...

With the release of her new film Let Him Go, the actor recalls the sex and violence of 70s movies, doing the hustle to Troglodyte and falling in love with John Travolta’s cool desperation

I was the child actor in a travelling experimental theatre company, La MaMa. We were the American entry in these summer theatre festivals across Europe and beyond: Italy, Germany, France, Scotland, Finland, Greece, Lebanon, Iran, we did them all. We also did some red countries. I remember thinking: “What is a red country?” I didn’t understand. We went to see A Clockwork Orange in Copenhagen. It was nice to find a theatre where the films hadn’t been dubbed, and it was a hot ticket, so that was probably the criteria. I don’t think that the twentysomething cinema usher realised what Kubrick had in for us when she allowed nine-year-old me in to see it.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds have made their 2018 concert film, Distant Sky — Live in Copenhagen, available for free in its entirety on YouTube.

Directed by David Barnard, the film captures a particularly emotional October 2017 concert at Denmark’s Royal Arena. At the time, the band was touring in support of their then-most recent album, 2016’s Skeleton Tree, which was made in the aftermath of the death of one of Cave’s sons. The concert featured a career-spanning setlist that went back to the title track of their first album,...

Norwegian born actor, Baard Owe, lived for most of his life in Denmark but worked in the entire Scandinavia for over 55 years as an active actor, passed away at the age of 81 due to lungue cancer on Saturday, November 11, in his home in Copenhagen, Denmark. Baard Owe was energetic actor who worked up until the day before his passing. Baard Owe leaves behind his wife Marie-Louise Coninck, and four children, David Owe, Anja Owe, Rebekka Owe and Benjamin Owe. Both his wife and three of their children works as actors in Denmark. For a list of Baard Owe's body of work on film, please visit IMDb...

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

During her downtime from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Elizabeth Olsen tends to fill her slate with a host of intriguing projects. Coming off the barnstorming Age of Ultron, it was musical drama I Saw the Light that offered the actress some respite from superhero fare last year and, in continuing that trend, Olsen has lined up the likes of Ingrid Goes West, Wind River and now Kodachrome, a road trip drama hailing from director Mark Raso (Copenhagen).

The Hollywood Reporter has the scoop, confirming that the actress has joined Ed Harris and Jason Sudeikis in the feature, one the centers on “a record label boss who embarks on a road trip across the U.S. in order to fulfill his father’s dying wish and have a roll of Kodachrome film developed, only to find there’s just one remaining shop accepting them.”

With Bruce Greenwood, Dennis Haysbert and Wendy Crewson also on board,...

Exclusive: Film marks debut feature by Hlynur Pálmason who made Toronto-selected short Seven Boats.

Lars Mikkelsen (House of Cards), Elliott Crosset Hove (Parents), Simon Sears (TV’s Follow The Money), and Victoria Carmen Sonne (The Elite) lead the cast of Winter Brothers (Vinterbrodre), which has wrapped its six-week shoot in Faxe, Denmark.

Iceland-born Hlynur Pálmason, whose short Seven Boats was selected for Toronto 2014, makes his feature directorial debut and also wrote the original screenplay.

Producer Julie Waltersdorph Hansen and executive producer Per Damgaard Hansen are attending Cannes until Monday (May 16) to discuss the project with sales companies. Winter Brothers is set for delivery by the end of the year.

Copenhagen-based Masterplan Pictures leads the production, with co-producer Anton Mani Svansson from Iceland’s Join Motion Pictures.

The story is about two brothers (played by Hove and Sears) working during a cold winter. “We follow two brothers, their routines, habits, rituals and a violent...

An extremely well-made horror film from Denmark, What We Become (original title: Sorgenfri) examines the churning emotional dynamics of a nuclear family when they are placed under extreme -- some might even call it apocalyptic -- stress. Mother Pernille (Mille Dinesen) and father Dino (Troels Lyby) live with their two children in Sorgenfri, a leafy suburban neighborhood just north of Copenhagen. While their youngest, a young girl, is sweet and obedient, Gustav (Benjamin Engell), their older child, is in the 'teenage rebellion' period of his life; nothing violent, just disagreeable. But even he is cheered up when he sees a pretty girl about his age move in with her family nearby. Besides these minor issues, what could go wrong? It's summer and the living is...

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

Jason Sudeikis, Ed Harris and Elizabeth Olsen are set to star in the road-trip drama "Kodachrome" for 21 Laps.

Based on A.G. Sulzberger's 2010 New York Times article, the story follows a father and son who take a road trip to Kansas in order to develop photographs at Kodak's last Kodachrome lab before it closes its doors forever.

Mark Raso ("Copenhagen") will direct from a script by Jonathan Tropper ("This Is Where I Leave You"). Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Shawn Levy and Dan Levine will produce.

Source: Variety...

Jason Sudeikis and Ed Harris are attached and Elizabeth Olsen is in talks to star in “Kodachrome,” which Mark Raso (“Copenhagen”) is set to direct for the Gotham Group and Shawn Levy‘s 21 Laps Entertainment, TheWrap has learned. Jonathan Tropper (21 Laps’ “This Is where I Leave You”) wrote the script, which is based on A.G. Sulzberger’s 2010 New York Times article about a father and son who take a road trip to Kansas in order to develop photographs at Kodak’s last Kodachrome lab before it closes forever. Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-Vein and Eric Robinson are producing with 21 Laps’ Levy.

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As UK remake The Tunnel returns, we celebrate Swedish/Danish crime drama The Bridge...

9pm, Saturday night, BBC Four. For the few of us who still, on occasion, watch television when it’s actually broadcast, that timeslot means only one thing: high-quality drama from outside the anglophone world. Okay, so some of the series are less impressive than others, and one or two are in English (remember Australia’s The Code?) but these are exceptions to the rule. What began as a fad, accompanied by much reductive talk of ‘Scandi noir’ and a mildly disturbing national obsession with Sarah Lund’s knitwear, has culminated in a golden age for telly addicts. Our initial resistance to subtitles has faded, and a whole world of often beautifully acted, compellingly plotted drama has opened up. We haven’t strayed very far outside Europe yet, but it’s a start.

Much...

An extremely well-made horror film from Denmark, What We Become (original title: Sorgenfri) examines the churning emotional dynamics of a nuclear family when they are placed under extreme -- some might even call it apocalyptic -- stress. Mother Pernille (Mille Dinesen) and father Dino (Troels Lyby) live with their two children in Sorgenfri, a leafy suburban neighborhood just north of Copenhagen. While their youngest, a young girl, is sweet and obedient, Gustav (Benjamin Engell), their older child, is in the 'teenage rebellion' period of his life; nothing violent, just disagreeable. But even he is cheered up when he sees a pretty girl about his age move in with her family nearby. Besides these minor issues, what could go wrong? It's summer and the living is...

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

levelFILM’s Copenhagen, in select theatres and on premium VOD nationwide Dec. 5 Canadian filmmaker Mark Raso bets on his audience in his terrific feature Copenhagen. It’s about an American called William (Game of Thrones Gethin Anthony) pretending to be Canadian while touring Europe. He tends to get into trouble a lot so he believes it adds another layer of fake “nice”. He is one of the most obnoxious male leads in films in a long while, a naturally abrasive, selfish and narcissistic spoiled child, who at 30, can’t reign himself in. When he meets Effy (Frederikke Dahl Hansen) someone he actually cares […]...

Exclusive: Picture marks Danish Bo Mikkelsen’s feature debut after critically acclaimed short Tabu.

Paris-based Indie Sales has acquired international rights to Danish director Bo Mikkelsen’s upcoming horror thriller What We Become ahead of the Afm.

The feature, shot in Mikkelsen’s hometown of Sorgenfri in the suburbs of Copenhagen, revolves around a family’s fight to survive after a virulent strain of flu breaks out prompting panic amid the population.

The Johanssons are forced into quarantine in their home but when they come under attack from a riotous, bloodthirsty mob they are forced to take extreme measures to escape alive.

The film, which has just wrapped, marks Mikkelsen’s feature debut after a number of shorts including the well-travelled Tabu, which was produced by Nicolas Winding Refn and Lene Børglum at Space Rocket Nation.

The cast features Mille Dinesen and Mikael Birkkjær, who both appeared in hit Danish TV series Borgen, as well as...

Exclusive: Picture marks Danish Bo Mikkelsen’s feature debut after critically acclaimed short Tabu.

Paris-based Indie Sales has acquired international rights to Danish director Bo Mikkelsen’s upcoming horror thriller What We Become ahead of the Afm.

The feature, shot in Mikkelsen’s hometown of Sorgenfri in the suburbs of Copenhagen, revolves around a family’s fight to survive after a virulent strain of flu breaks out prompting panic amid the population.

The Johanssons are forced into quarantine in their home but when they come under attack from a riotous, bloodthirsty mob they are forced to take extreme measures to escape alive.

The film, which has just wrapped, marks Mikkelsen’s feature debut after a number of shorts including the well-travelled Tabu, which was produced by Nicolas Winding Refn and Lene Børglum at Space Rocket Nation.

The cast features Mille Dinesen and Mikael Birkkjær, who both appeared in hit Danish TV series Borgen, as well as...

A flighty Peter Pan meets his grounded Wendy in Copenhagen, Mark Raso's tender romance about the sliding scale of maturity. William (Gethin Anthony) arrives in the Danish capital already frustrated: Traveling companion Jeremy (Sebastian Armesto) is more focused on pleasing girlfriend Jennifer (Olivia Grant) than accompanying his needy best friend on a tour of European bars and hostels. Left to his own devices, William begins tracking down his grandfather in hopes that it will illuminate a family history of abandonment. He finds an eager guide in Effy (Frederikke Dahl Hansen), who's as calm and perceptive as William is rash and inconsiderate. She's also half his age, a fact that escapes the self-centered 28-year-old for an inordinate amount of time. William is a familiar ...

Heretic Films has appointed the producer and entertainment attorney as president. Separately, Mika Pryce has joined Red Granite as creative executive.

Segal (pictured) represented the company as its attorney on the Sundance entry Low Down starring Elle Fanning and John Hawkes, as well as Kevin Pollak’s upcoming Misery Loves Comedy and Slamdance best narrative feature audience award winner Copenhagen.

“Greg brings Heretic extensive experience in all phases of independent film production, as well as a keen knowledge of film finance and domestic and international film distribution,” said CEO Burton Ritchie.

Red Granite hire Mika Pryce will report directly to production president David Koplan and most recently served two years as story editor at Kevin McCormick’s Langley Park Pictures. Her experience includes time at Evolution Media Capital and Lionsgate International.

Exclusive: Level 33 Entertainment has snapped up North American rights to romance-adventure Copenhagen, starring Game of Thrones‘ Gethin Anthony and Danish actress Frederikke Dahl Hansen (Rebounce, You and Me Forever). A limited theatrical run and VOD release has been set for October 3. Mark Raso wrote and directed the film about 28-year-old William (Anthony), who finds himself in Copenhagen while traveling through Europe and links up with local girl Effy (Hansen) on a mission to find his grandfather, only to discover Effy is half his age. Sebastian Armesto, Tamzin Merchant, and Olivia Grant also star in the Slamdance Audience Award winner, produced by Mauro Mueller and Mette Thygesen. Deal was negotiated by Steven C. Beer of Franklin, Weinrib, Rudell & Vassallo, P.C. on behalf of the producers. Raso is repped by Wme and Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment.

The distributor has acquired Us rights to Sean Mullin’s romance starring Martin Starr, Paul Wesley and newcomer Dina Shihabi. Separately, The Film Arcade and Paramount Home Media Distribution have taken Love, Rosie and Level 33 has acquired Copenhagen.

Amira & Sam (pictured) premiered recently at the Seattle International Film festival and takes place in New York and charts the romance between an Army veteran and the niece of his Iraqi translator.

The film marks the feature directorial debut of West Point graduate and Army veteran Mullin of Five By Eight Productions.

Terry Leonard of Strongman and Erich Lochner and Matt Miller of Vanishing Angle produced Amira & Sam. Executive producers are James Ponsoldt, Meg Montagnino-Jarrett and Peter Sobiloff from Hole in One Productions.

Drafthouse plans an early 2015 limited theatrical and digital launch after negotiating the deal with Preferred Content, UTA Independent Film Group and Gray Krauss Stratford Des Rochers.

The Film Arcade and Paramount Home Media Distribution have teamed...

Michael Hurst will direct The Viking Wars for Cardinal Xd’s Cannes market roster, chief content officer Jeff Goldman announced.

Production will kick off at the end of the year in New Zealand on the story of a band of warriors who liberate Paris from the tyrannical Charles The Fat.

Cardinal’s Cannes slate includes Blood Reef directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith, set to open in 2015; Slamdance audience award-winner for best narrative feature romantic adventure, Copenhagen; and comedic drama Story Of Luke starring Seth Green, Cary Elwes and Lou Taylor Pucci.

“We are thrilled to be making our international debut at the world’s premiere film market and anticipate strong interest in our slate of upcoming and award-winning films,” said Goldman.

The movie Copenhagen, winner of the 2014 Slamdance Audience Award for Best Narrative (my review), has its Texas screening debut today and Thursday at the Dallas International Film Festival (Diff).

In his feature directorial debut, Canadian writer-director Mark Raso takes viewers on a personal journey for Will (Gethin Anthony), a young man who must face himself while seeking clues about his father. He is helped in his search by the young yet mature Effie (Frederikke Dahl Hanssen) who must deal with her own challenges at home.

While at Slamdance, I had an opportunity to speak with Raso, Anthony and Hanssen about Copenhagen. Here's what they had to say about the film.

read more...

The 2014 Dallas International Film Festival (Diff) is changing it up a bit this year with the film venues and number of screenings. Although there are fewer screenings per day, it will be easier to make it to consecutive movies centralized at the Angelika rather than catching a shuttle to the Magnolia, which is not a Diff venue this year.

The film festival opens on Thursday, April 3 at the Dallas City Performance Hall, with Words and Pictures starring Juliette Binoche and Clive Owen. This narrative feature portrays the challenges faced by educators in their attempts to inspire students in art and education in a day and age full of obsessions with social media, grades and status among peers.

I am looking forward to several of the international titles that are premiering in Dallas, including my personal 2014 Slamdance Film Festival favorite and Audience Award winner Copenhagen (screening times), written and directed by Mark Raso.

Us-based finance and production company Heretic Films has hired Sarah Scougal as vp of development and production.

Scougal was most recently based in London and brings more than a decade of experience in the field from her time at Working Title, Sprout Pictures and Vertigo Films.

Burton Ritchie and Ben Galecki co-founded Heretic in 2013 and produced recent Sundance premiere Low Down (pictured), as well as Slamdance selection Copenhagen.

Heretic’s Big Significant Things will premiere at SXSW and the pipeline includes Kevin Pollak’s directorial debut Misery Loves Comedy and Kristen Wiig vehicle Welcome To Me.

The Slamdance Film Festival tends to be overshadowed and thus overlooked by its larger concurrent counterpart, which is a shame due to the quality independent programming that takes place on the two screens at Treasure Mountain Inn in Park City.

This year was no exception, with writer/director Mark Raso leading the charge with the artistic storytelling of coming of age with his Slamdance Audience award-winning narrative feature, Copenhagen.

At first glance one might think this story transcends locale, but Raso's unique twists affirm the selection of Denmark's capital for the setting. The colorful facades of the 17th-century buildings and deep canals of the Nyhavn district serve as the background of a lushly told story of young love and personal redemption for its main characters, Will (Gethin Anthony) and Effy (Frederikke Dahl Hansen).

read more...

The 20th annual Slamdance Film Festival, which runs concurrently to Sundance in Park City, Utah, has announced its film winners.

The Jury Award for Narrative Feature went to Rezeta, directed by Fernando Frias De La Parra. Rezeta follows a “21-year-old model born in Kosovo, arrives in Mexico City after living off of her beauty in many different countries. Soon she meets Alex, the guy in charge of cleaning her trailer during her first commercial gig in Mexico. Their friendship unfolds naturally, but after two failed attempts at dating stereotypical Mexican males Rezeta becomes romantically interested in Alex” and the film chronicles their love story,...

The main competition lineup for the 2014 Slamdance Film Festival was announced today for the event which runs, parallel to Sundance, in Park City between January 17 and 23. The two titles two particularly catch my eye in the Narrative section are Copenhagen by Mark Raso, and Jay Alvarez’s I Play With The Phrase Each Other. Raso, a Student Academy Award winner in 2012, blogged for Filmmaker during the making of his low-budget feature debut, while Alvarez — also a first-time director — has ambitiously crafted a black-and-white film which is made up entirely […]...

The main competition lineup for the 2014 Slamdance Film Festival was announced today for the event which runs, parallel to Sundance, in Park City between January 17 and 23. The two titles two particularly catch my eye in the Narrative section are Copenhagen by Mark Raso, and Jay Alvarez’s I Play With The Phrase Each Other. Raso, a Student Academy Award winner in 2012, blogged for Filmmaker during the making of his low-budget feature debut (you can read those posts here), while Alvarez — also a first-time director — has ambitiously crafted a black-and-white film which is made up entirely […]...

Many filmmakers got their start on the independent film circuit.

So who will follow the greats such as Christopher Nolan (“The Dark Knight Rises”), Oren Peli (“Paranormal Activity”), Marc Forster (“World War Z”) and Jared Hess (“Napoleon Dynamite”)?

The Slamdance Film Festival announced their lineup for the Narrative and Documentary Feature Film Competition after receiving over 5,000 submissions this year.

All of the competing films are directorial debuts with less than $1 million and without Us distribution. The films include 11 world premieres, 4 North American premieres and one Us premiere.

The 2014 Slamdance Film Festival will take place January 17-23in Park City, Utah at the Treasure Mountain Inn, 255 Main Street.

Here’s the lineup:

Narrative Features Program

Copenhagen – Director & Screenwriter: Mark Raso

(USA, Canada, Denmark) World Premiere

A charming scoundrel visiting the city of his father’s birth, William is drawn to his impromptu guide Effy – wise, spontaneous, and half his age.

Cast: Gethin Anthony,...

Top brass at the upcoming 20th Slamdance Film Festival have revealed their narrative feature and documentary line-up, one day before the first programme announcements are due from Park City neighbour Sundance.

There are 10 narrative and eight documentary films including 11 world premieres, four North American and one Us.

Festival organisers sorted through more than 5,000 submissions to find the 18 titles, all of which are feature directorial debuts budgeted at under $1m and without Us distribution.

Jury awards are presented to feature films in both categories and all films are eligible for the Spirit Of Slamdance Award judged by the film-makers themselves. The festival also presents Audience Awards.

“The 2014 Feature Competition bristles with raw talent and innovative filmmaking,” said Slamdance president and co-founder Peter Baxter. “As an organisation run by film-makers for film-makers, we couldn’t imagine a truer way of representing the first 20 years and beginning our next.”

The 2014 Slamdance Film Festival will run concurrently with the Sundance Film Festival...

The Slamdance Film Festival has unveiled the Narrative and Documentary Feature Film Competition programs for its 20th fest, kicking off in Park City, Utah, January 17-23, 2014. What this means is that Sundance has already notified filmmakers of whether they got in or not. And these filmmakers were free to accept the Slamdance invitation. The lineup includes 10 narrative and 8 documentary films, including 11 World Premieres, 4 North American, and 1 Us Premiere. The fest, which is the smaller of the two Park City winter film festivals and runs parallel to the Sundance Film Festival (those announcements are rolling out December 4, 5, 9 and 10), received over 5,000 submissions this year.All competition films are feature film directorial debuts with budgets of less than $1 million and without Us distribution, and were programmed from blind submissions by the Slamdance filmmaking community.Narrative Features Program Copenhagen - Director & Screenwriter: Mark Raso(USA,...

Cloud Chamber, executive produced by long-time Lars von Trier collaborator Vibeke Windelov, among 35 cross-media projects presented at transmediameeting.

Paris-based transmedia event Cross Video Days opened its doors for the fourth time last week to present some 35 multi-platform projects from across Europe.

The two-day event — this year unfolding in the historic Warehouse and General Stores exhibition and industrial park on the outskirts of Paris — combined a pitching market with a series of conferences on the latest developments in the cross-media domain.

”Some 350 projects from 34 countries were submitted,” said Bruno Smadja, founding CEO of MobilEvent, the body behind the meeting.

Pitched projects ranged from Danish, online sci-fi game and drama Cloud Chamber, to the timely, Belgian web-doc Geek Politics, examining the world of hackers; to the German pre-school targeted, educational work Milli, about a snail discovering the world.

“Our philosophy from the start has been to present a real mix, so we’ve got youth-focused projects, politically engaged...