Exclusive: NBC Sports has acquired and set a premiere date for The Russian Five, a feature documentary about the first five Russians to play hockey together in the NHL. The film will air on November 6, following Nbcsn’s Wednesday Night Hockey game between the Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers.
The Russian Five tells the story of how Sergei Fedorov, Slava Fetisov, Vladimir Konstatinov, Slava Kozlov and Igor Larionov defected and then helped transform the Red Wings from perennial losers to back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions. Toward the end of the Cold War in the late ’80s, the Red Wings hatched an audacious plan to draft the best Soviet players from behind the Iron Curtain and help them defect to Detroit. The team snuck them out under cover of night and whisking them to the Motor City where they won the fans’ hearts and changed the way hockey is played in North America forever.
The Russian Five tells the story of how Sergei Fedorov, Slava Fetisov, Vladimir Konstatinov, Slava Kozlov and Igor Larionov defected and then helped transform the Red Wings from perennial losers to back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions. Toward the end of the Cold War in the late ’80s, the Red Wings hatched an audacious plan to draft the best Soviet players from behind the Iron Curtain and help them defect to Detroit. The team snuck them out under cover of night and whisking them to the Motor City where they won the fans’ hearts and changed the way hockey is played in North America forever.
- 10/31/2019
- by Erik Pedersen
- Deadline Film + TV
It’s been a couple months since the last edition of What’s Up Doc? placed Michael Moore’s surprise world premiere of Where To Invade Next at the top of this list and in the meantime much shuffling has taken place and much time has been spent on various new endeavors (namely my Buffalo-based film series, Cultivate Cinema Circle). Finally taking its rightful place at the top, D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hagedus’ Unlocking the Cage is in the midst of being scored by composer James Lavino, according to Lavino’s own personal site. Though the project has been taking shape at its own leisurely pace, I’d expect to see the film making its festival debut in early 2016.
Right behind, the American direct cinema masters is a Texan soon to make his non-fiction debut with Voyage of Time. Just two weeks ago indieWIRE reported that Ennio Morricone, who scored...
Right behind, the American direct cinema masters is a Texan soon to make his non-fiction debut with Voyage of Time. Just two weeks ago indieWIRE reported that Ennio Morricone, who scored...
- 11/5/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
The fall festival rush is upon us. Locarno is currently ramping up. Venice has released their line-up and Thom Powers and the Toronto International Film Festival team have dropped a bomb with a previously unannounced new feature from powerhouse docu-provocateur Michael Moore. It is truly a miracle that the production of a film such as Moore’s upcoming Where To Invade Next (see still above) managed to go completely undetected by the filmmaking community until it was literally announced to world premiere at one of the largest film festivals in the world. Programmed as a one of the key films in the Special Presentations section at Tiff, the film sees Moore telling “the Pentagon to ‘stand down’ — he will do the invading for America from now on.” Also announced to premiere at Tiff was Avi Lewis’ This Changes Everything, which has slowly been rising up this list, as well as...
- 8/7/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
It’s been a surprisingly interesting month of moving and shaking in terms of doc development. Just a month after making his first public funding pitch at Toronto’s Hot Docs Forum, legendary doc filmmaker Frederick Wiseman took to Kickstarter to help cover the remaining expenses for his 40th feature film In Jackson Heights (see the film’s first trailer below). Unrelentingly rigorous in his determination to capture the American institutional landscape on film, his latest continues down this thematic rabbit hole, taking on the immensely diverse New York City neighborhood of Jackson Heights as his latest subject. According to the Kickstarter page, Wiseman is currently editing the 120 hours of rushes he shot with hopes of having the film ready for a fall festival premiere (my guess would be Tiff, where both National Gallery and At Berkeley made their North American debut), though he’s currently quite a ways away from his $75,000 goal.
- 7/6/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Watch the new trailer for Z For Zachariah starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, Margot Robbie and Chris Pine.
The film will open in theaters August 21.
In the not-distant future, a disastrous radioactive event has obliterated most of civilization. Yet somewhere deep in the American South is a valley that remains untouched; evidence of a micro-climate or some other miracle. A young farm girl, Ann Burden (Margot Robbie), is grittily surviving on her own in this valley, fearing she may actually be the proverbial last woman on earth. Then, she discovers the most astonishing sight of her life: another human being.
John Loomis (Chiwetel Ejiofor) arrives in the valley a cipher; a distraught scientist nearly driven mad by radiation exposure and his desperate search for others. He and Ann share little in common beyond survival. Even so, as Ann nurses Loomis back to health, they build a fragile, imperative strand of trust across...
The film will open in theaters August 21.
In the not-distant future, a disastrous radioactive event has obliterated most of civilization. Yet somewhere deep in the American South is a valley that remains untouched; evidence of a micro-climate or some other miracle. A young farm girl, Ann Burden (Margot Robbie), is grittily surviving on her own in this valley, fearing she may actually be the proverbial last woman on earth. Then, she discovers the most astonishing sight of her life: another human being.
John Loomis (Chiwetel Ejiofor) arrives in the valley a cipher; a distraught scientist nearly driven mad by radiation exposure and his desperate search for others. He and Ann share little in common beyond survival. Even so, as Ann nurses Loomis back to health, they build a fragile, imperative strand of trust across...
- 6/4/2015
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Well folks, after a rather long and brutal winter (at least for me here in Buffalo), we are finally heading into the wonderful warmth of summer, but with that blast of sunshine and steamy humidity comes the mid-year drought of major film fests. After the Sheffield Doc/Fest concludes on June 10th and AFI Docs wraps on June 21st, we likely won’t see any major influx in our charts until Locarno, Venice, Telluride and Tiff announce their line-ups in rapid succession. In the meantime, we can look forward to the intriguing onslaught of films making their debut in Sheffield, including Brian Hill’s intriguing examination of Sweden’s most notorious serial killer, The Confessions of Thomas Quick, and Sean McAllister’s film for which he himself was jailed in the process of making, A Syrian Love Story, the only two films world premiering in the festival’s main competition.
- 6/1/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
It should come as no surprise that Cannes Film Festival will play host to Kent Jones’s doc on the touchstone of filmmaking interview tomes, Hitchcock/Truffaut (see photo above). The film has been floating near the top of this list since it was announced last year as in development, while Jones himself has a history with the festival, having co-written both Arnaud Desplechin’s Jimmy P. and Martin Scorsese’s My Voyage To Italy, both of which premiered in Cannes. The film is scheduled to screen as part of the Cannes Classics sidebar alongside the likes of Stig Björkman’s Ingrid Bergman, in Her Own Words, which will play as part of the festival’s tribute to the late starlet, and Gabriel Clarke and John McKenna’s Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans (see trailer below). As someone who grew up watching road races with my dad in Watkins Glen,...
- 5/1/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Now that the busy winter fest schedule of Sundance, Rotterdam and the Berlinale has concluded, we’ve now got our eyes on the likes of True/False and SXSW. While, True/False does not specialize in attention grabbing world premieres, it does provide a late winter haven for cream of the crop non-fiction fare from all the previously mentioned fests and a selection of overlooked genre blending films presented in a down home setting. This year will mark my first trip to the Columbia, Missouri based fest, where I hope to catch a little of everything, from their hush-hush secret screenings, to selections from their Neither/Nor series, this year featuring chimeric Polish cinema of decades past, to a spotlight of Adam Curtis’s incisive oeuvre. But truth be told, it is SXSW, with its slew of high profile world premieres being announced, such as Alex Gibney’s Steve Jobs...
- 2/27/2015
- by Jordan M. Smith
- IONCINEMA.com
Two weeks before the start of the Sundance Film Festival, one of its highest-profile titles has secured distribution, as Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions will partner on the release of Craig Zobel’s “Z For Zachariah,” which stars Margot Robbie, Chris Pine and Chiwetel Ejiofor, TheWrap has learned.
Grindstone Entertainment will present the sci-fi thriller, which was executive produced by the company’s Barry Brooker and Stan Wertlieb.
While its involvement had never been reported, Lionsgate has actually had the project for some time, though the company only recently decided on its release plans.
Also Read: Will Smith, Tom Hardy, Jared Leto,...
Grindstone Entertainment will present the sci-fi thriller, which was executive produced by the company’s Barry Brooker and Stan Wertlieb.
While its involvement had never been reported, Lionsgate has actually had the project for some time, though the company only recently decided on its release plans.
Also Read: Will Smith, Tom Hardy, Jared Leto,...
- 1/5/2015
- by Jeff Sneider
- The Wrap
We can still feel the heat generated from Craig Zobel’s Compliance. His sophomore film, which was made on a dime (his directorial debut Great World of Sound was made for a nickel and was also showcased at Sundance), got under the skin of select imbecile auds at its Park City premiere, but in the same token it intellectually tickled the critical masses. Adept in human discord in its purest form, this quality surely got infused on his third directing outing, Z for Zachariah, which is large scale humanity in crisis. You don’t often see Blacklist scripts (ranked #26th in 2009) break into Sundance, but in a Take Shelter scheme of things, this shot in New Zealand production benefitting from a plethora of producers on board could fit a sci-fi mold of Duncan Jones’ Moon. Despite the presence of A listers such as Chris Pine and Chiwetel Ejiofor, conceivably, big...
- 11/14/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
With only hope, a dream and one writing credit to his name (SXSW short film Kevin), J. Davis lassoed fellow low-budget filmmakers Linas Phillips (Bass Ackwards) and Jay Duplass (Baghead) and placed them in brotherly love roles. A family reunion type pic with a set of backdrops like no other, having raised a successful round of startup funds in late 2013 via Kickstarter, Manson Family Vacation didn’t drop in ’14, so we’re expecting this low-budget laugher to easily squeeze into the early ’15 fest circuit . It’ll need major funny bone to go with the freaky title to convince Sundance programmers.
Gist: Nick Morgan is a successful lawyer who’s devoted to his wife and young son. His adopted brother Conrad is a wayward soul who shows up in Los Angeles unannounced. Although the brothers have never gotten along too well, Nick decides to show his brother around town. But as it turns out,...
Gist: Nick Morgan is a successful lawyer who’s devoted to his wife and young son. His adopted brother Conrad is a wayward soul who shows up in Los Angeles unannounced. Although the brothers have never gotten along too well, Nick decides to show his brother around town. But as it turns out,...
- 11/13/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Manson Family Vacation
Director: J. Davis
Writer(s): J. Davis
Producer(s): Steve Bannatyne, Eric Blyler, J. Davis, J.M. Logan, Josh Polon, Alexandra Sandler
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available
Cast: Jay Duplass, Linas Phillips, Leonora Pitts
Among the newbie additions to the extended family of collaborators and conspirators related to the Duplass Bros., J. Davis’ previous cred was as the Kevin – the Jay Duplass directed short docu project. Davis and Duplass re-team on a funny bone project that could easily target next year’s Sundance-sxsw festivals as it has the girth of a film that was helped out with kickstarter coin and without much else (see co-star Bass Ackwards‘ creator Linas Phillips speak from the heart). on paper, the sharply titled Manson Family Vacation is the sort of perfect trifecta indie comedy as it includes: a. modes of transportation, b. confused souls in unique backdrops and c. family bonding.
Director: J. Davis
Writer(s): J. Davis
Producer(s): Steve Bannatyne, Eric Blyler, J. Davis, J.M. Logan, Josh Polon, Alexandra Sandler
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available
Cast: Jay Duplass, Linas Phillips, Leonora Pitts
Among the newbie additions to the extended family of collaborators and conspirators related to the Duplass Bros., J. Davis’ previous cred was as the Kevin – the Jay Duplass directed short docu project. Davis and Duplass re-team on a funny bone project that could easily target next year’s Sundance-sxsw festivals as it has the girth of a film that was helped out with kickstarter coin and without much else (see co-star Bass Ackwards‘ creator Linas Phillips speak from the heart). on paper, the sharply titled Manson Family Vacation is the sort of perfect trifecta indie comedy as it includes: a. modes of transportation, b. confused souls in unique backdrops and c. family bonding.
- 2/4/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
The cast for the feature version of post-apocalyptic novel Z for Zachariah is beginning to firm up with some high-profile actors, including the currently red hot Margot Robbie from The Wolf of Wall Street.
Per THR's Heat Vision Blog, Aussie actress Robbie is in negotiations to replace Amanda Seyfried, originally set to star in the adaptation as Ann Burden, a teen who is seemingly the sole survivor of a nuclear war (she dropped out due to scheduling issues). Should Robbie sign, the character will be aged up a bit.
Already confirmed for the film are Chris Pine (Star Trek, Carriers) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave, Children of Men). Craig Zobel is directing, and Nissar Modi wrote the script based on Robert C. O'Brien's thriller, which was published posthumously in 1974. O'Brien's real name was Robert Leslie Conly, and upon his death, the last few chapters of Z for Zachariah...
Per THR's Heat Vision Blog, Aussie actress Robbie is in negotiations to replace Amanda Seyfried, originally set to star in the adaptation as Ann Burden, a teen who is seemingly the sole survivor of a nuclear war (she dropped out due to scheduling issues). Should Robbie sign, the character will be aged up a bit.
Already confirmed for the film are Chris Pine (Star Trek, Carriers) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave, Children of Men). Craig Zobel is directing, and Nissar Modi wrote the script based on Robert C. O'Brien's thriller, which was published posthumously in 1974. O'Brien's real name was Robert Leslie Conly, and upon his death, the last few chapters of Z for Zachariah...
- 1/19/2014
- by Debi Moore
- DreadCentral.com
Breaking: Margot Robbie, the 23-year-old Australian actress who made her breakout in The Wolf Of Wall Street, has signed on to play the female lead in Z For Zachariah. Directed by Craig Zobel, the film is an adaptation of the post-apocalyptic Robert C. O’Brien novel and focuses on a young small-town girl who survives a nuclear war. Robbie will star with Chris Pine and Chiwetel Ejiofor. She recently wrapped Focus opposite Will Smith, and Suite Francais. She’s also reportedly got the offer to star in Tarzan at Warner Bros. She’s repped by CAA, Management 360, and attorney Jeff Bernstein. Aran Michael is her Australian agent. Z For Zachariah is produced by Material Pictures’ Tobey Maguire and Matthew Ploffe with Skuli Malmquist, Thor Sigurjonsson and Joni Sighvatsson. Gary Ross and Stephen Bannatyne will exec produce with Claudia Bluemhuber and Lotus’ Jim Seibel and Bill Johnson. Michael Benaroya is financing.
- 1/19/2014
- by MIKE FLEMING JR
- Deadline
We wake from our December holiday production break slumber for a production month of January that has some notable American indie productions, foreign films projects worth signaling out. Tracking Shot is sponsored by Production Weekly. German auteur Wim Wenders returns to Montreal for the winter portion of filming on Everything is Fine – the 3D drama stars James Franco, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Rachel McAdams and Marie-Josee Croze. After distinctly break-out indie offerings in Great World of Sound and Compliance, Craig Zobel is packing his bags for New Zealand. Adapted from the classic novel, Z for Zachariah sees Chris Pine, Amanda Seyfried and Chewitel Ejiofor jousting a little during the end of the world. A neighboring production can be found in Australia, David Mamet (his last theatrical release was 08′s Redbelt) is set to unload Blackbird – this is about a grieving granddaughter of a famous special effects artist in Hollywood discovers secrets (plot...
- 1/1/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Material Pictures and Zik Zak Filmworks are pleased to announce Chris Pine, Amanda Seyfried, and Chewitel Ejiofor have joined the cast of Z For Zachariah. The film will be directed by Craig Zobel (The Great World of Sound, Compliance) from a script penned by Nissar Modi. Material Pictures’ Tobey Maguire and Matthew Plouffe will produce alongside Zik Zak Filmworks’ Skúli Malmquist, Thor Sigurjonsson and Palomar Pictures’ Joni Sighvatsson. Gary Ross and Lucky Hat Entertainment’s Stephen Bannatyne will executive produce, along with Silver Reel’s Claudia Bluemhuber and Lotus Entertainment’s Jim Seibel and Bill Johnson. Lotus will commence international sales at Cannes. CAA arranged financing for the project, and CAA and Wme will co-represent domestic rights. An adaptation of Robert C. O’Brien’s classic science fiction novel of the same name, Z For Zachariah is a psychological thriller about a girl who believes she is the only survivor after a devastating nuclear event,...
- 5/15/2013
- by MIKE FLEMING JR
- Deadline
Announced for development last summer , director Craig Zobel's ( Compliance ) Z for Zachariah has found its first three cast members in Chiwetel Ejiofor ( Children of Men ), Chris Pine ( Star Trek ) and Amanda Seyfried ( Mamma Mia! ). Nissar Modi is providing the screenplay for the post-apocalyptic thriller, adapting Robert C. O'Brien's 1974 novel. The story, a psychological thriller, follows a girl who believes she is the only survivor after a devastating nuclear event, but comes to learn she is not alone. Material Pictures. Tobey Maguire and Matthew Plouffe will produce alongside Zik Zak Filmworks. Skúli Malmquist, Thor Sigurjonsson and Palomar Pictures. Joni Sighvatsson. Gary Ross and Lucky Hat Entertainment.s Stephen Bannatyne will executive produce, along with Silver...
- 5/15/2013
- Comingsoon.net
Tobey Maguire and "Compliance" director Craig Zobel are teaming for the post-apocalyptic drama "Z for Zachariah" says Variety.
Nissar Modi's script adaptation of Robert C. O'Brien's novel follows a teen girl who lives alone maintaining a farm in the only valley with breathable air in the wake of nuclear war.
Her world is turned upside down when two strangers wander in from the forest. Maguire will play a rugged scientist with a past whom the girl nurses back to health after he is weakened by a contaminated stream.
Maguire will also produce alongside Matthew Plouffe, Gary Ross, Steve Bannatyne, Joni Sighvatsson, Skuli Malmquist and Thor Sigurjonsson.
Nissar Modi's script adaptation of Robert C. O'Brien's novel follows a teen girl who lives alone maintaining a farm in the only valley with breathable air in the wake of nuclear war.
Her world is turned upside down when two strangers wander in from the forest. Maguire will play a rugged scientist with a past whom the girl nurses back to health after he is weakened by a contaminated stream.
Maguire will also produce alongside Matthew Plouffe, Gary Ross, Steve Bannatyne, Joni Sighvatsson, Skuli Malmquist and Thor Sigurjonsson.
- 8/15/2012
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
As a way of celebrating this year's nominees for the Spirit Awards in the weeks leading up to the ceremony, we reached out to as many as we could in an effort to better understand what went into their films, what they've gotten out of the experience, and where they've found their inspiration, both in regards to their work and other works of art that might've inspired them from the past year. Their answers will be published on a daily basis throughout February.
Frazer Bradshaw has held nearly position on a film crew imaginable, from his beginnings as an editor to a cinematographer who continues to work on other people's films such as "Babies" and the recent Sundance entry "These Amazing Shadows." So after creating a collection of shorts over the past decade, it was high time for the filmmaker to put it all together for "Everything Strange and New,...
Frazer Bradshaw has held nearly position on a film crew imaginable, from his beginnings as an editor to a cinematographer who continues to work on other people's films such as "Babies" and the recent Sundance entry "These Amazing Shadows." So after creating a collection of shorts over the past decade, it was high time for the filmmaker to put it all together for "Everything Strange and New,...
- 2/25/2011
- by Stephen Saito
- ifc.com
- Currently in the fine-tuning the script and financing stages of his Untitled Western period pic, and now in the post Goodbye Solo phase (the theatrical run is in it's final weeks/month with the DVD release coming out this August 25th), Ramin Bahrani will be making a trip out the Venice Film Festival for two reasons: he is one of three members on the international jury for first works, and second, he'll be presenting a short film entitled, Plastic Bag which will premiere as the opening night film of Corto Cortissimo (the short film section). For those lucky enough to be in the city of canals and rubber boots, you might want to circle the date and time of the 7th of September at 17:00 at Sala Perla. The eighteen minute short takes place in a not too distant future, where a Plastic Bag goes on an epic journey
- 8/16/2009
- IONCINEMA.com
by indieWIRE (January 4, 2009) Editors Note: This is part of a series of interviews, conducted via email, profiling dramatic and documentary competition and American Spectrum directors who have films screening at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
Wayne has a job, a wife, two kids, and a house. He's living the American Dream. There's a fine line, however, between a dream and nightmare, and Wayne finds himself at odds with the life he has and preoccupied by the life he thinks he wants. He floats passively in a swirling sea inhabited by his emotionally unpredictable wife, his out-of-control young children, and his embattled friends, who have demons of their own. As things change for others, Wayne's life takes emotional turns, which are sometimes subtle and sometimes violent but never enough to shake him off the track he doesn't remember choosing.
Everything Strange and New
Director: Frazer Bradshaw
Screenwriter: Frazer Bradshaw
Executive Producers: Stephen Bannatyne,...
Wayne has a job, a wife, two kids, and a house. He's living the American Dream. There's a fine line, however, between a dream and nightmare, and Wayne finds himself at odds with the life he has and preoccupied by the life he thinks he wants. He floats passively in a swirling sea inhabited by his emotionally unpredictable wife, his out-of-control young children, and his embattled friends, who have demons of their own. As things change for others, Wayne's life takes emotional turns, which are sometimes subtle and sometimes violent but never enough to shake him off the track he doesn't remember choosing.
Everything Strange and New
Director: Frazer Bradshaw
Screenwriter: Frazer Bradshaw
Executive Producers: Stephen Bannatyne,...
- 1/5/2009
- by brian
- indieWIRE - People
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