'Lost Land' wins at Jihlava doc fest

PRAGUE -- Low-tech demonstrated king with Czech auds in the 15th Jihlava Documentary Film Festival, where pre-digital filmmaking obtained large."Lost Land," a Belgian-Arabic doc by Pierre-Yves Vandeweerd on refugee strife in Western Sahara, won fest's primary prize Saturday within an off-beat ceremony that riffed on the Titanic theme."Documentaries show us the holes within the shell," fest topper Marek Hovorka had quipped in the Jihlava opening 5 days before, as fest filled the Czech fortress town with students, filmmakers and scouts from TV tv stations throughout Europe and also the U.S.Juror and filmmaker James Hong recognized "Lost Land," using its unique 8mm look, because of its artful method of an engaging problem.Leaders for example Canada's Steve Sanguedolce intrigued auds with hands-colored 16mm footage in "Blinding," concerning the subjectivity of vision, while Norway's Gunnar Hall Jensen added other-worldly 8mm footage to his study of spiritual mission, "Gunnar Goes God."Portugal's Marcelo Felix built his "Eden's Ark" on nitrate prints discovered in vaults.Georgia's study of economic collapse, "Bakhmaro" (Restaurant) by Salome Jashi won the Central-Eastern Europe prize while Martin Marecek's "Photo voltaic Eclipse," a glance at aid employees in Zambia, won for Czech doc and aud kudos. Austria's "Endeavor," produced from space shuttle footage by Johann Lurf, required experimental doc honors. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com

Robert P Niro Might Be The Comedian

A completely new drama from Sean PennAfter progressively joining together among whispers about company company directors and casting options, scathing drama The Comedian may ultimately start to see the light of day with Robert P Niro and Kristen Wiig inside the lead roles and Sean Penn behind the digital camera. The film remains discussed for more than a year, but little was stored in until mentions of Penn pointing and P Niro starring began to look the 2009 June.Now, P Niro will formally star becoming an angry comic who's searching revisit the fame loved playing a common TV character. The problem here's, he's real rage issues which is sentenced to community service after striking an irritating audience member inside the mind getting a microphone. However he meets a girl (Wiig) who brings some happiness into his existence.It might seem as being a thematic sister to P Niro's King Of Comedy (although a smaller amount strange and stalkery) which is good to find out Penn back pointing. Art Linson, which has labored just like a producer with all of them, is behind the script, they co-written with Jeffrey Ross.Penn is striving to start shooting in the year.

Madonna Burglar Sent To Psychiatric Hospital

First Published: October 25, 2011 10:34 AM EDT Credit: Getty Premium LONDON, U.K. -- Caption Madonna is seen at the W.E. press conference during the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival held at TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto on September 12, 2011A judge has ordered a stalker who twice broke into Madonnas homes to indefinite detention in a psychiatric hospital. Grzegorz Matlok was charged with burglary in March after breaking into the singers London mansion while she was in the United States. Prosecutors said the 30-year-old had previously been deported to Poland after breaking into Madonnas rural home in southern England, but returned to Britain. When arrested, he told police Madonna had given him permission to stay at her house. In a victim impact statement, Madonna said she did not know Matlok and felt alarmed and distressed by the actions of the defendant. Judge Deborah Taylor sentenced Matlok Monday at Londons Southwark Crown Court to hospital treatment, and barred him from contacting Madonna. Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

'Simpsons' Cast Blinks in Salary Showdown With Fox

By Alex Ben Block and Kim Masters October 7, 2011 It's high noon for "The Simpsons" also it seems the voice cast has blinked.The audience of lead stars is near to saying yes to an alternative deal to help keep TV's longest running entertainment show around the air, based on a resource. Which includes Serta Castellaneta (Homer, Grampa Simpson, Krusty the Clown, yet others), Julie Kavner (Marge yet others), Nancy Cartwright (Bart yet others), Yeardley Cruz (Lisa), Hank Azaria (Moe, Chief Wiggum and Apu), and Harry Shearer (Mr. Burns, Principal Skinner, and Ned Flanders, amongst others). As the cast is able to accept a pay cut in the $400,000 per episode they've been making since 2008, the origin stated that's less deep because the 45% decrease in salary that Fox has required, which may have meant they get about $250,000 a chapter. The show's top producers, based on reviews, have previously agreed to lower their current compensation, however the large difference in the cast is the fact that a number of them have "back finish" deals that outlay cash additional amounts according to profits all the revenue sources associated with the show for example certification, retailing and distribution of reruns to local Tv producers. The cast is not compensated a cut from the back finish profits, and isn't likely to have any within this new contract. Harry Shearer released an argument early Friday saying he'd have a cut of around 70% in salary when the network provided a share of back finish profits, but his statement adds that Fox has continued to be steadfast in the refusal to do this. Clearly the cast wants the show to carry on. It is not a significant work load (many of them do other jobs too), and contains been an excellent professional phone card for that 23 years the show continues to be around the air. On Friday, Nancy Cartwright stated inside a statement about her need to begin to see the show continue: "Absolutely! "The Simpsons is really a amazing chronicle in our occasions. I have wanted to get this done since i have was 16! And I wish to carry on doing it until I'm 86! Lengthy live the Simpsons!"This is actually the latest inside a lengthy good reputation for salary squabbles between your network and also the voice cast. The series continued in 1989, using the cast making about $30,000 per episode,and also the first large fight happened in 1998 when Fox threatened to exchange the cast. There have been other tough discussions in 2004 and 2008, once the stars woke up for their current salary.The main difference now would be that the show's rankings have ongoing to erode, together with individuals on most primetime shows. Even though it is still tugging enough audiences to should stick to the environment, the studio demands the deficit to create the animated shows has risen to some extent where it's unacceptable for them. That's why Fox has threatened to finish the show when they can't create a deal.Obviously Fox may also re-cast the voice stars with talent in a lower salary, but that will bring them lots of bad pr.What we should can say for certain would be that the Friday noon deadline set through the studio has passed nor Fox or even the stars says anything. The stars as well as their reps were inside a lengthy business call Friday morning however the response to what it really every means remains "D'oh?" The Hollywood Reporter

Oscar Index: Extremely Artist and Incredibly Horse

It’s week three of the 2011-12 Oscar Index, and the latest measurements, readings and conclusions are in from Movieline’s Institute for the Advanced Study of Kudos Forensics. And aside from a few startling exceptions, they don’t look that different than the ones disseminated here last week. But make no mistake: Like it or not, stuff is happening! Read on for the latest developments. [Click the graphs for full-size images.] The Leading 10: 1. War Horse 2. The Artist 3. The Descendants 4. Moneyball 5. The Ides of March 6. J. Edgar 7. The Help 8. Midnight in Paris 9. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close 10. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy Outsiders: The Tree of Life, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Iron Lady So last week, I finished up Oscar Index and then walked up to my local watering hole, where I proceeded, as usual, to ruthlessly drown the floating heads and other nightmarish visions that invade my consciousness in the feature’s immediate aftermath. And one of my friends, a pretty serious cinephile, says, “Yeah, I saw Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.” “Say whaaaa?”, I said. “I saw Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,” this friend repeated, explaining having attended a test screening here in NY over the preceding weekend. Pretty much everything this friend proceeded to tell me wound up corroborating another report from the same screening: Specifically, that Stephen Daldry’s adaptation of the Jonathan Safran Foer bestseller about a newly fatherless boy’s post-9/11 experience is really sad and affecting and looooong and contains Oscar-caliber work from Sandra Bullock and Max von Sydow. “Von Sydow?”, I said. “Say whaaaa?” More on the actors in a bit, but the bottom line is that with a few judicious trims, early word from actual viewers and our first glimpse at the film’s trailer suggests that Extremely Loud will supply the spirited emo boost Paramount is looking for in this year’s Oscar race. Which only affirms the suspicions of many Oscar-watchers who’ve long presumed the Scott Rudin production was the snake in the shimmering gold awards-season grass. Some sniffed at the trailer in particular as persuasive but inconclusive evidence of Oscar-worthiness, but come on. One look at the new War Horse trailer proves that if studio marketing drips like Oscar bait and smells like Oscar bait, then it’s Oscar bait. And with the Rudin/Daldry/Tom Hanks trinity at its core (to say nothing of Bullock and von Sydow and young X-factor Thomas Horn), you won’t likely go broke betting on it to at least make the Best Picture cut. Nevertheless, don’t think that anything yet comes close to matching War Horse’s profile. Surprisingly or not (mostly not), the nearest may now be The Artist, Michel Hazanavicius’s silent, audience-pleasing tribute to vintage Hollywood. As foreseen last week, master awards-pizzaiolo Harvey Weinstein is crafting one of his finest pies to date, with zesty punditry from Sasha Stone and Nathaniel Rogers among others boosting the Oscar flavor. Moreover, check out Harvey’s toppings at the moment, including the mogul’s own exhorting of Ides of March — which is shaping up for a middling critical and commercial response this weekend — as the film to beat in this year’s race. Genius! Nothing like foisting high expectations on a movie that won’t deliver them. That’s not to say that Harvey didn’t like it! But it’s a delicious insight into what he thinks his real competition is, at least in this early stage. Moneyball, meanwhile, could use that kind of seasoning: Last week’s reported Academy goodwill has deteriorated into guys like Scott Feinberg presenting this kind of statistic as encouraging news: “Moneyball, which opened at #2 at the box-office last weekend with nearly $20 million in sales, earned 43% less this Friday than it did last Friday, only a 3% worse drop-off than the one experienced by The Social Network last year.” Uh, what? Then there are the doubts as to whether or not the Academy will really go for a baseball movie, or the proposal that it could advance on the strength of guild-awards recognition, and it all just seems kind of… bleak. Unlike its subject, Moneyball will need more than hard numbers to get by the competition this fall. It needs longevity, visibility and some considerable luck. Maybe it can start with Harvey Weinstein not suggesting it will go all the way. The Leading 5: 1. Steven Spielberg, War Horse 2. Alexander Payne, The Descendants 3. Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist 4. Clint Eastwood, J. Edgar 5. Stephen Daldry, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close Outsiders: David Fincher, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo; George Clooney, The Ides of March; Bennett Miller, Moneyball; Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris; Tomas Alfredson, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; Tate Taylor, The Help; David Cronenberg, A Dangerous Method On the basis of their films’ Index boosts alone, Hazanavicius and Daldry were the week’s big directing beneficiaries, while Clooney is like, “Harvey, for Christ’s sake, stop it, already.” Relax, George! You’ve still got The Descendants, for which Payne remains a consistent darling in this category and for which you are a front runner for acting. Don’t get greedy!

China woos Hollywood

The proposed Hollywood Movie World would feature a CityWalk-style complex of shops and entertainment. An artist's rendering of the proposed Hollywood Movie World in China. Looking to capitalize on the growing number of production banners Hollywood is setting up in China, a consortium of investors is ponying up $3.3 billion to back the first phase of a studio lot, theme park and CityWalk-style entertainment complex outside Beijing.The venture, branded Hollywood Movie World East, is skedded to be completed by 2015. The studio will include soundstages, post-production and animation facilities to handle films and TV shows once completed.Backing the development is the government-run China Culture Industry Investment Fund, along with production shingle CC2 Media, which owns an undisclosed piece of Hollywood Movie Works, formed to manage the entertainment complex. Despite the name, no studios have yet to sign on to back the project or add movie-themed attractions to the planned theme park, reps told Variety. Many remain cautious after having quickly signed on to license their names in support of several high-profile entertainment complexes in the Middle East, many of which ended up never being built.That's largely because developers -- led by a group of American expats who set up shop in China to consult for companies seeking a way into the country -- have only just begun to reach out to the majors for deals, as well as global brands to sponsor key elements like hotels and other planned destinations.So far, Legendary Entertainment, Relativity Media, DreamWorks Animation, 20th Century Fox, Sony and Warner Bros. have been the most active in China.What might help attract entertainment partners is that Gary Goddard's North Hollywood-based Goddard Group is handling the design of the various phases.Goddard's firm designed several high-profile projects for Universal Studios, including its "Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man" and "Jurassic Park" rides, and "Terminator 2/3D: Battle Across Time" attraction, as well as the conceptual development of Six Flags' Dubailand and Six Flags Qatar. It also created the "Star Trek: The Experience" for the Las Vegas Hilton, Sanrio's "Hello Kitty"-based Puroland park in Japan, and the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. "The purpose of the project is to provide an official headquarters for the global film industry in China," said Ong Hong Hoon, president of the New China Culture Industry Investment Fund, formed in 2005.For now, Hollywood Movie Works will finance and produce pics through CC2 Media and Hong Kong-based film shingle Sil-Metropole. Productions will include English-language films with Chinese themes, but appeal to worldwide audiences, the companies said.CC2 Media is a subsid of ChinaClicks2 Group, a consulting firm run by co-chairman Susan Pattis, a former Edelman PR rep in China, who now aids brands operating in China. She also worked on Beijing's Summer Olympics campaign. Pattis also serves as co-chairman of HMW, with John Robison, a Beverly Hills-based venture capitalist. Sil-Metropole is managed by China's State Administration of Radio, Film and TV, enabling it to partner on co-productions with foreign studios seeking distribution in the country.The entire Hollywood Movie World is being developed as eight phases to be built over 10 years, at a cost of as much as $30 billion, with others to include the theme park, hotels and retail, offices, residential housing, sports facilities and a film school, according to HMWE's reps.The 6.5-sq.-mile venture is situated in the Mentougou district, a mountainous tourist destination about 16 miles from downtown Beijing that's connected by high-speed rail.The complex will face some stiff competition, however. China boasts some 3,000 theme parks all over the country, which have sprouted thanks to stimulus money from the government to encourage consumer spending. Many have struggled to turn a profit.But the Chinese government sees films as an advantage to bring business to Mentougou."I am delighted to see real progress take place between China and filmmakers from the west," said Toni Leonte, chairman of New China Culture Industry Investment Fund. "China is investing exponentially more capital in its number of physical screens and expecting more films to break through the $100 million mark at the box office. "For years we have been working with our partners in China to identify the very best place in China to locate this grand vision. Nothing like this can occur without government support and access to the entirety of the resources that Beijing and Mentougou can favorably provide." Contact Marc Graser at marc.graser@variety.com

No Rest for the Wicked (No habra paz para los malvados)

A Warner Bros. release of a LaZona Films, Telecinco Cinema, Manto Films production in association with AXN, Canal Plus. (International sales: Filmax Intl., Barcelona.) Produced by Gonzalo Salazar-Simpson, Alvaro Augustin. Executive producer, Javier Ugarte. Directed by Enrique Urbizu. Screenplay, Urbizu, Michel Gaztambide.With: Jose Coronado, Helena Miquel, Rodolfo Sancho, Juanjo Artero, Pedro Maria Sanchez, Karim El-Kerem, Nasser Saleh, Nadia Casado, Younes Bachir.Film noir and contempo Spain make a near-perfect match in the explosive "No Rest for the Wicked," the kind of movie that gives dramas about bad cops a good name. Featuring a grippingly visceral central perf by Jose Coronado as a policeman who makes a big mistake at the outset and spends the remainder of the film paying for it, pic is credible, fast-moving, hard-nosed fare, confirming helmer Enrique Urbizu's reputation as one of Spain's sharper genre helmers. Spanish crix and auds have warmed to "Wicked," with offshore play a possibility for fans of upscale thrillers. Santos Trinidad (Coronado) is a grizzled cop who, with his cowboy boots and gunslinger swagger, is living out a desperado fantasy. An alcoholic with a troubled past, he wanders into a bar and, after a brief argument, shoots three people dead. A fourth (Karim El-Kerem), however, escapes. In a few beautifully compact scenes, Trinidad expertly covers his tracks and goes in search of the witness. Inspector Chacon (Helena Miquel), aided by Leiva (Juanjo Artero), is assigned to the case, and thereafter the pic shuttles between their pursuit of Trinidad and Trinidad's pursuit of the Colombian witness. Trinidad realizes the escapee is involved in drug trafficking and, with the help of nightclub dancer Celia (Nadia Casado), he succeeds in tracking down police informant Rachid (Younes Bachir) at about the same time Chacon does. It becomes clear the game doesn't stop with trafficking: The Colombian mafia and North African terrorists are in cahoots. Urbizu's work has always had a subversive edge, but this time he pulls out all the stops, as "No Rest for the Wicked" doubles as an excoriating examination of police incompetence in the lead-up to the Madrid 2004 bombings. The satisfyingly tricky plot does become a bit turgid in the second act, overloaded by a surfeit of minor characters; everything surplus to the action has been whittled away, meaning that most of the supporting roles remain on the wrong side of stereotype, including Santos' young sidekick Rodolfo (Rodolfo Sancho) and the incorruptible cops played by Chacon and Leiva. Only Urbizu stalwart Coronado is permitted a full character, but what a remarkable character he is -- psychopathic and obnoxious to the core, a man nobody loves, by his own admission, but who doesn't seem to care. Consuming rum and smoking to the extent that one fears for the thesp's own health, Coronado nonetheless manages to evoke some real sympathy for Trinidad's plight as he desperately sets about wiping away the traces of a murder whose reasons he himself doesn't entirely understand. (The character's moniker, a pun on "Holy Trinity," reps one of the pic's less subtle ironies.) Whether excruciatingly sewing up a knife wound in his stomach or oddly muttering "rock 'n' roll" in English, Coronado is gripping. Pic loves its noir iconography, never passing up the chance to exploit a shadow or shoot a scene through a half-empty glass. Locations are recognizably Madrid in the aughts, with shopping malls, wasteland outskirts and dingy nightclubs all reinvented by lenser Unax Mendia as noir locations. Amid all the tumult, pic finds time for moments of bleak humor and even lyricism; following a bloody knife fight, a disturbed butterfly is seen fluttering away.Camera (color, widescreen), Unax Mendia; editor, Pablo Blanco; music, Mario de Benito; art director, Anton Laguna; costume designer, Patricia Monne; sound (Dolby Digital), Licio Marcos de Oliveira, Nacho Royo-Villanova; casting, Tonucha Vidal, Andres Cuenca. Reviewed at San Sebastian Film Festival (competing), Sept. 19, 2011. Running time: 118 MIN. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com

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When Is Kristen Stewart Totally Team Jacob?

First Published: October 3, 2011 4:23 PM EDT Credit: Glamour LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Caption Kristen Stewart in Glamour magazines November 2011 issueKristin Stewart is totally Team Jacob when it comes to watching The Twilight Saga films. Its fun to watch with [Taylor Lautner] because we actually sit and watch it, the actress told Twilight series author Stephenie Meyer, who interviewed her for the November issue of Glamour magazine. Me and Taylor are actual Twilight fans, so we can sit there and be totally into it! Whereas I sit there with Rob [Pattinson]he likes it, but he has just such a different energy, she added. Stephenie admitted Taylor is a bit of a prankster, however. Oh, Rob and Taylor have completely different energy! Watching it with Taylor, you feel afraid that youll get ice down the back of your neck or a grape in your face, she said. In the feature, which hits newsstands on October 11, Kristen also offered advice on how to have a good relationship. Hmmgood relationship advice for me tends to be being honest and knowing yourself. Dont be an a**hole. Thats my advice. Dont be mean. Dont take s***. Dont settle, she added. Copyright 2011 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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