Abbreviations

September 30, 2002

- The Internet Movie Database (IMdb) reports that Killing Me Softly will be released in Australia in April 2003. There are also various July Sinbad Release dates and a February US Leo Release date at the same place.

September 23, 2002

- Two articles from the ScreenDaily Webpage:

NYC's No Borders co-production market unveils full line-up
Staff reporters in New York
01 August 2002

A total of 36 projects have been accepted into No Borders, the international co-production section of the IFP Market that will run from Sept 27-Oct 4 in downtown Manhattan. In addition to the 13 previously-announced international entrants, No Borders will include new works from US indie veterans Jay Craven and Barbara Hammer, the first documentary feature from Alison Maclean, the directorial debut of Hollywood screenwriter Malia Scotch-Marmo, as well as projects from producers-on-the-rise Jasmine Kosovic and Matthew Greenfield.

Since 1995, No Borders has been linking experienced producers with US and international distributuros, TV buyers, investors, and agents. It is one of the four principal sections of the now revamped IFP Market, including Emerging Narrative, Spotlight on Documentaries, and the Film Conference & Expo, and is the only section exclusively dedicated to presenting projects in development by established narrative and documentary producers.

The international entrants, among them the latest films from directors Stefan Schwartz, Carine Adler and Tim McCann, not to mention the Sally Hibbin-produced Blind Flight starring Joseph Fiennes, were all first made public on June 30 (see ScreenDaily).

... (see the Screen Daily article for the rest of this article).

Deltamac is newest distributor to enter Hong Kong market
Staff writers in Hong Kong
01 September 2002

Hong Kong's increasingly competitive distribution sector has a new player Deltamac (HK) Ltd, which will handle the Hong Kong theatrical release of The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers in January next year.

The decade-old video distributor, owned by Taiwanese disc manufacturer CMC Magnetics Corp, has quietly put together a theatrical department and plans to acquire eight - 12 big ticket independent movies a year. Its first theatrical title, Blade 2, rolls out in Hong Kong on September 5, and will be followed by Simone, starring Al Pacino, in mid-October.

The company will also handle the next two films in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy. CMC owns Hong Kong rights to all three titles, but engaged the Hong Kong subsidiary of another Taiwanese company, Era, to handle the theatrical release of The Fellowship Of The Ring.

Hong Kong's theatrical distribution sector is becoming increasingly crowded with at least 12 companies acquiring independent product for a market of just seven million people. Lark International Holdings, which owns Hong Kong exhibitor UA Cinemas, launched a distribution arm, Lark Films Distribution, in February this year, while video distributor, Panorama Entertainment, unveiled plans to step up theatrical activity last month.

"We are aware that market conditions are tough but we have relationships with key suppliers such as Miramax and New Line through our parent company CMC," said Deltamac (HK) managing director, Clera Chu. On the video side, Deltamac has exclusive deals with Fox and MGM, while the studiostheatrical distribution is handled by Bill Kong's Kentac. Fox recently moved its regional headquarters from Hong Kong to Tokyo, and Deltamac has hired Heidi Po, formerly Fox's regional marketing co-ordinator, to head up its theatrical arm. It has also boosted its video unit by hiring former Yes TV content manager, Charlene Lai, as senior labels manager.

Meanwhile, Lark Films Distribution has unveiled its debut theatrical slate which kicks off with Woody Allen's Hollywood Ending on September 19. The company has also acquired Deathwatch, starring Jamie Bell, The Man From Elysian Fields, with Andy Garcia, Nicolas Cage's directorial debut, Sonny, and Leopold (Leo) starring Joseph Fiennes.
(The article appears here.)

September 21, 2002

- From the London Film Festival Site:

Leo

Thursday, 07 Nov 21.00 - Odeon West End Screen 1

Stern, secretive, Stephen (Joseph Fiennes) has just been released from a maximum-security prison in America's deep south, where he has served a 15-year prison sentence for murder. He gets a job serving in a diner, owned by God-botherer Vic (Shepherd)and populated by bullying rednecks, led by Horace (Dennis Hopper practically reprising his character from Paris Trout). In his spare time, Stephen writes, and another story emerges, that of a middle-class woman, Mary (brilliantlyportrayed by Shue), the wife of a professor at the local college, whose life becomes a chore due to jealousy, tragedy and drink. Moving seamlessly between the two stories, the film gradually and inventively draws them together,with both main protagonists haunted by their pasts. Using James Joyce's 'Ulysses' as a reference point, British director Norowzian, an Oscar nominee with his 1999 short, Killing Joe, has attracted a terrific cast and created a visually striking, complex and involving puzzle of a first feature.

Michael Hayden

Film Details:
Dir Mehdi Norowzian
Scr Amir Tadjedin, Massy Tadjedin
With Joseph Fiennes, Elisabeth Shue, Sam Shepard
UK-USA 2002
100 mins

September 20, 2002

- From the Institute of Contemporary Arts website:

Advertising and Film Film: Fri 20 Sep 2002. Medhi Norowzian discusses the role of the advertising industry as a stepping stone for young British film-makers.

In the absence of a studio system comparable to that of Hollywood, the British advertising industry is now perceived as a training ground for young creatives, but what are the repercussions? How do young directors graduate from five-day shoots and small crews into feature film production, the direction of star named actors, dealing with the demands of studio producers, lengthy production schedules and post-sales press and marketing? Are British creatives really geared up for Hollywood, or does our lack of a formal entry system leave them ill-prepared?

Medhi Norowzian, an award winning ads director (of the One 2 One campaign featuring hostage victim John Mc Carthy, supermodel Kate Moss comedian Vic Reeves) and Oscar-nominated for his short Killing Joe, - is being heralded as the next Jonathan Glazer, having just directed his first full-lenght feature film. He will screen clips from his show-reel, as a prelude to a private ICA/APA screening of his feature, Leopold Bloom starring Joseph Fiennes, Elisabeth Shue, Sam Shepherd and Dennis Hopper. Leopold Bloom opens in the UK in Spring 2003.

Venue(s) : Cinema 1.
Fri 20 Sep 20:00 Cinema 1
Running time : 60 minutes.

September 19, 2002

- Yahoo News reports:

London Festival to Show 179 Films
Thu Sep 19, 8:29 AM ET

LONDON (AP) - This year's London Film Festival is expected to show 179 films from more than 48 countries in what executive director Adrian Wootton says is an "international spread."

The 46th annual festival opens Nov. 6 with Dirty Pretty Things, director Stephen Frears' look at immigrant London life. It will close on Nov. 21 with Thaddeus O'Sullivan's The Heart of Me, starring Helena Bonham Carter and Olivia Williams.

American selections include Curtis Hanson's 8 Mile, starring Kim Basinger and Eminem; Shekhar Kapur's The Four Feathers, co-starring Heath Ledger and Wes Bentley; and Antwone Fisher, Oscar-winning actor Denzel Washington's directorial debut.

Festival entries also include Michael Winterbottom's M1157811, which tells of a young Afghan refugee in London, Roman Polanski's The Pianist and Peter Mullan's The Magdalene Sisters.

A hefty section devoted to new British movies numbers among its entries Scottish director Gillies MacKinnon's Pure and Hoover Street Revival, a documentary from Sophie Fiennes, sister of actors Ralph and Joseph Fiennes.

...
See the London Film Festival Web site for more information about the festival.

- From the Festival Site:

Hoover Street Revival
Fri 15 Nov 21.00 - Ritzy Cinema
Sun 17 Nov 13.30 - Odeon West End screen 1

Film Details | Public Film Review

Film-maker Sophie Fiennes – who presented her short, Lars from 1–10 in the 1999 LFF, and who was also responsible for last year’s wonderful Because I Sing – is rapidly emerging as one of our finest documentary makers. Hoover Street Revival, which was prompted by a visit to hear the celebrated gospel choir of Los Angeles’ Greater Bethany Church, takes the form of an observational collage, albeit an unusually cinematic one. The church is in Watts, one of the most deprived districts in South LA, where the charismatic and seemingly self-appointed Bishop Noel Jones (brother of Grace) regularly attracts a congregation of over a thousand people. Fiennes juxtaposes Jones’ pulpit proselytising (and his ancilliary activities) with fragments of life for the church-goers and the community at large, finding revelations in small details. What emerges is a film free from the clumsier documentary conventions, a touching mosaic of a deprived and troubled community who seek spiritual solace as the secular world fails them.

Sandra Hebron

Film Details:
Dir Sophie Fiennes
UK 2002
100 mins
Metro Tartan Distribution

September 13, 2002

- Stealing Beauty on Bravo channel (US):

Stealing Beauty (1996)
Featuring: Joseph Fiennes, Liv Tyler
Bravo Friday Sep 13 10:30 PM EST
Bravo Saturday Sep 14 02:00 AM EST

- Family Fiennes on Bravo channel (US):

Friday, Sep 27 4:00 PM EST
Saturday, Sep 28 6:00 AM EST
Monday, Sep 30 4:00 AM

- SiL considered one of 100 best movies:

The new issue of Premiere magazine was all about celebrating their 15th anniversary so they decided to list what they thought the best 100 movies on DVD were and Shakespeare in Love was one. This is what they said: "With seemingly effortless grace, this behind the scenes romantic comedy about Shakespeare writing his plays reveals the art of storytelling by finding the point where theater, film, and the imagination converge. Passionate star turns by Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes." That was listed in a booklet in the mag and then in the mag itself they separated categories ie Best Kiss, Scene Stealer, etc. Under Best Romantic Film, English Patient won (at least it is still a Fiennes, nice caricature pic of Ralph btw) but Shakespeare was listed as also really great.

September 9, 2002

- Finally we are able to confirm the rental video and rental DVD release of Killing me Softly on October 8 in the Netherlands. No word yet on any video/DVD to buy.

- Total Magazine's comment on Company Magazine's KMS review:

Praise Be!
Company magazine scored a major coup by seeing a different cut of this film to everyone else. Their version was a "jump a minute thriller," as opposed to the "laugh a minute" movie the rest of us saw.<> Good Work people!

September 8, 2002

- From Company Magazine, July 2002:

Joseph Fiennes
Age: 32
Lives: You can find Ralph's little brother in West London's Notthing Hill, where he owns a 1.2 million house.
Big break: Comedy Martha, meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence in 1998.
Last seen in: Enemy at the Gates.
Love life: Joseph has been romantically linked with several ladies since splitting up with his long-time actress girlfriend, Sara Griffiths, after making Shakespeare in Love. He's rumoured to have dated Braveheart's Catherine McCormack, as well as Naomi Campbell, and is now going out with make-up artist Fiona Jolly.
Find him this summer: Playing the psycho-boyfriend-from-hell in chiller-thriller Killing Me Softly, out this month.

- On page 172 of the same mag, under "The month's best films", it says:

Killing Me Softly
Alice (Heather Graham) crosses the road and (literally) ends up in bed with a total stranger (Joseph Fiennes). In a moment of madness, she leaves her cosy domestic set-up to embark on a passionate affair with the stranger - a mountaineer called Adam - and moves in with him. But then, Alice discovers two of Adam's former girlfriends died in mysterious circumstances and begins to wonder whether she'll be next. A jump-a-minute thriller. Four stars