NEWS CANNES BRIEFS


Miramax dusts off Tux Miramax is reviving comedy The Golden Tux, one of many scripts dug out of the vaults by the new management team under CEO Mike Lang. Justin Timberlake is in early talks on the story of a groom who hires a best man.


Spotlight pushes Pressed Spotlight Films sales chief Jack Campbell has closed several deals on the Luke Goss thriller Pressed. Rights went to G2 for the UK, HOM for Benelux, Big Movie for CIS, Cinematic Vision for Scandinavia, Playarte for Brazil, Eagle for the Middle East and Prorom for Romania.


Seven &Seven sells Archie UK sales company Seven & Seven Producers’ Sales Service has sold UK comedy thriller Eliminate: Archie Cookson to Eagle Entertainment for Australia/New Zealand and Eagle Films for the Middle East. Maura Ford made the deal on behalf of Agent Pictures.


RT develops with Fellowes


BY GEOFFREYMACNAB Ambitious Brazilian production outfit RT Features (which is developing films in the US and Latin America) is developing a new feature set in Russia, written by Julian Fellowes. Motherland is adapted from the


novel by Brazilian writer Ber- nardo Carvalho about a mother- daughter relationship. The film is said to be in the vein of The Hours or The Reader. “The idea is to finance it out of


Europe,” said Fernando Loureiro of RT. “We financed development for this project and we will also finance equity for it.” RT is also working on Games


Of 1940 with The King’s Speech writer David Seidler.


At the Estonian Pavilion in Cannes, Director Naomi Kawase announced 60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero — a non- profit project dedicated to the preservation of 35mm film. There will be 60 directors involved, including Kawase, Albert Serra, Joshua and Ben Safdie, and


Pen-Ek Ratanaruang. The funding for the project is provided by European Capital of Culture Tallinn 2011, the Estonian Ministry of Culture and EU-Japan festival committee. Pictured are author Taavi Eelmaa, Kawase and executive producer Sten Saluveer. Andreas Wiseman


Finecut sells festival pair to Japan


BY LIZ SHACKLETON South Korea’s Finecut has sold both its Un Certain Regard titles to Japan — Kim Ki-duk’s Arirang to Crest International, and Hong Sangsoo’s The Day He Arrives to Bitters End. Bitters End also bought Hong’s


previous films Hahaha, Oki’s Movie and Like You Know It All. Finecut has also sold mystery thriller Midnight FM to Japan’s King Records. The Seoul-based sales agent


also pre-sold action thriller Blind to MFA for Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland.


The Day He Arrives Spy action film Athena: Goddess


Of War, starring Jung Woo-sung, went to Peaks Makers for Thailand, following sales to Taiwan’s Catchplay and Turkey’s


Horizon earlier in the market. Meanwhile, Night Fishing, the


33-minute iPhone film from Park Chan-wook and Park Chan- kyong, went to Magnolia Pictures for North America and Sundream for Hong Kong. Sundream also bought Troubleshooter, Bedevilled, Enemy At The Dead End and The Outlaw. Animation Leafie: A Hen Into


The Wild also continues to sell. The film, which will be released wide in Korea and China this summer, has been picked up by TDH Home Entertainment for the Middle East.


Wide sells Panahi’s Not A Film in France, Italy


BYNANCYTARTAGLIONE Wide Management has closed a French deal on Jafar Panahi and Mojtaba Mirtahmasb’s Official Selection title This Is Not A Film. In Italy, Cinecitta Luce has acquired the title. Negotiations are under- way in the US, the UK and Japan. American Translation was sold


to TLA Releasing for the US and UK and in Japan (Only Hearts) and South Korea (Lumix). Private Romeo sold to Salzgeber & Co Medien for Germany/Austria and A Wedding Most Strange went to Pro-Fun Media for German- speaking territories. Wide’s documentary arm, Wide


House, sold A Life For Ballet, pro- duced by Wide’s Loic Magneron, to Alcine Terran in Japan with deals under way in France, Ger- many and South Korea. The division is also in talks on


Donald Trump documentary You’ve Been Trumped with US and UK deals imminent.


BREAKINGNEWS For the latest film business news see ScreenDaily.com


Trier plans to make Bombs


BY GEOFFREYMACNAB Joachim Trier, director of Un Cer- tain Regard title Oslo, August 31, is planning an American family drama, Louder Than Bombs. The film is being produced by


Norway’s Motlys AS, which also worked on Oslo as well as on pop- ular market title Turn Me On, Goddamit, an offbeat coming-of- age story. Bombs will now start casting


and looking for finance. Eskil Vogt, who also worked


with Trier on Reprise, will co-write the screenplay. Also on the Motlys slate is


Vogt’s feature directing debut, Stockholm Doesn’t Exist. The film is a thriller about a man who becomes a suspect when his girl- friend goes missing. Motlys is currently shooting


two new films, The Orheim Com- pany from Arild Andresen (direc- tor of The Liverpool Goalie) and sold by NonStop, and Dag Johan Haugerud’s Help.


Taiwan’s SSG goes on spree


BY JEREMYKAY Johnny Lin’s Taiwanese buyer SSG has closed multiple deals, taking rights from Sierra/Affinity to hot titles Ender’s Game, Parker and The Place Beyond The Pines. Lin also picked up QED Inter-


national’s Cry Macho with Arnold Schwarzenegger, the untitled Colin Firth and Emily Blunt project from Focus Features Inter-


national, and Voltage Pictures’ Fire With Fire to star Bruce Willis. SSG did a slew of deals with Nu


Image for The Expendables 2, The Big Wedding with Robert De Niro, Katherine Heigl and Amanda Sey- fried, The Texas Chainsaw Massa- cre 3D and The Paperboy, a steamy thriller to star Matthew McCo- naughey that Lee Daniels is lining up for a summer shoot.


Topanga’s Freerunner is jumping


BY JEREMYKAY Lawrence Silverstein’s Topanga Pictures has closed a slew of deals on parkour title Freerunner, with SND acquiring French rights, Horizon One moving on Australia and Eagle set to release in Italy. Further deals closed for Canada (Alliance), China (HGC), South


Korea (Sonamu), and Spain, CIS, South Africa and Eastern Europe (Daro). Sean Faris and Danny Dyer star


in the tale of a crime boss who sets up a televised parkour contest. As announced, Image Entertainment will distribute in the US, eOne in the UK and Tiberius in Germany.


MoscowBusiness Square adds Screenings Match Factory heads for Bypass


BYMIKE GOODRIDGE Moscow Business Square, the business platform of the Moscow International Film Festival, will take place June 27-29 and has added the Moscow Business Square Screenings, enabling pro- ducers to show content as yet unli- censed in Russia and showcase Russia-produced features to buy- ers and festival programmers.


The session will include round-


table discussions on co-produc- tion and distribution possibilities for Russia and Italy; the role of TV channels in film production in Russia and Europe; the CIS film industry; Georgia and the Baltic states; and documentary funding in Europe. A presentation has also been lined up of the most awaited Russian film projects in 2011-12.


n 2 Screen International at the Cannes Film Festival May 19, 2011 The Moscow co-production


forum will present 18 projects at different stages that are seeking foreign partners. This year’s pro- gramme focuses on projects from CIS, Georgia and Baltic states. Moscow Industry Showcase


will highlight production facilities, the possibilities for financing films and film distribution in leading European countries.


The Match Factory has announced an international rights deal with Third Films for Duane Hopkins’ upcoming feature Bypass. Hopkins’ short Cigarette At


Night screens here in Directors’ Fortnight. Hopkins’ Field (2001) and Better Things (2008) both screened in Critics’ Week.


Samm Haillay, co-founder and


producer with Third Films (and an EFP Producer on the Move), is financing Bypass. The film will relate to a new series of installation works by Hopkins, who is also known as an artist and photographer.


Geoffrey Macnab


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