FILMMAKING ON THE RISE IN CUBA

Now that US & Cuba have confirmed the official opening of their respective embassies this month, interest in Cuba continues to mount, not just among US film makers, but also amongst producers from Latin America & Europe. “Ever since both countries announced the thaw in their relations, more film & TV producers from the US, Latin America & Europe have been making inquiries & visiting Havana to explore and in some cases, begin developing their projects here,” said Lia Rodriguez, the Havana Film Festival’s industry department head. A Spanish – German mini series, ‘Vientos De Cuaresma’, is currently shooting in Havana. Some American film makers have managed to make their feature films in Cuba, despite current restrictions, including documentary footage & reenactments to qualify. To date, only US docs are allowed to shoot in Cuba. The 1st such US film to hit the big screen is Rhode Islander Ben Chace’s ‘Sin Alas’ (‘Without Wings’), which had its world premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival in Jun, 2015 preempting Bob Yari’s English language Hemingway biopic ‘Papa’, which was shot roughly at the same time in Cuba and is also seeking a US distribution.

MENEMSHA FILMS AQUIRES ‘DOUGH’

LA based Menemsha Films has acquired all North American right to John Goldschmidt’s dramedy ‘Dough’. Repped by Umedia, ‘Dough’ is set to open the 35th San Francisco Jewish film festival on 23rd Jul, 2015, ahead of its theatrical release. Set in London’s East End, ‘Dough’ tells the story of an old Jewish baker (Jonathan Pryce) whose failing business gets an unexpected boost when his young Muslim apprentice (Jerome Holder) accidentally drops cannabis into the dough and the chollah starts to fly off the shelf. Menemsha’s founder & prexy Neil Friedman described “‘Dough’ as an endearing film with great breakout potential.” Friedman added, “The film is very funny with a tender cross cultural friendship at its core, beautifully showcasing our shared humanity.” ‘Dough’ is produced by Docler Entertainment’s György Gattyán & András Somkuti, Viva Films’ John Goldschmidt & Three Coloured Dog Films’ Wolfgang Esenwein. The UK -Hungarian co – production was penned by Yehuda Jez Freedman & Jonathan Benson.

AZ ACQUIRES NORTH AMERICA ON ‘MARSHLAND’

Todo Cine Latino, the speciality label of Paul Hudson’s Outsider Pictures, has teamed with Canada’s AZ Films to acquire North America rights to ‘Marshland’ (‘La Isla Minima’), one of Spain’s biggest recent movie hits. The 5th feature from Alberto Rodriguez, ‘Marshland’, a noir – ish period cop thriller, has ticked multiple boxes, including scooping 10 Spanish Academy Goya Awards, among them are “Best Picture”, “Best Director’ & “Best Actor” (Javier Gutierrez). Produced by Atresmedia Cine, Sacromonte Films & Atipica Films and a competition frontrunner at San Sebastian, where it world premiered on 20 Sept, 2014, winning the jury prize & “Best Actor” (Gutierrez), ‘Marshland’ went on to gross €7.5 million ($8.4 million) in Spain, a standout achievement for its distributor, Warner Bros. Entertainment España. With the North American deal in place, Film Factory has sold ‘Marshland’ to every major territory worldwide. After ‘Wild Tales’ (10 nominations), ‘Marshland’ now figures with 9 category recognitions as the leading contender for 2015’s Platino Awards, taking in movies from Spain, Latin America & Portugal, which takes place on 18th Jul, 2015 in Marbella.

TRANTER TO LEAVE BBC WORLDWIDE PRODS

Jane Tranter will step down as head of BBC Worldwide Productions & Adjacent Productions to launch her own
production company, BBC Worldwide North America announced recently. She will be replaced by Matt Forde, whose title will change from EVP of TV sales & digital distribution to EVP of content production, sales & distribution. He will split his time between New York & Los Angeles as his role expands to cover Los Angeles based productions. Forde will report to incoming BBC Worldwide North America prexy Ann Sarnoff, who takes the reins from Herb Scannell in Aug, 2015. “Since arriving in US, Jane has systematically grown & diversified our production base in Los Angeles,” commented Scannell. “She energized ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ which concluded its 20th season this year; took the company into scripted development & production with ‘DaVinci’s Demons’ & ‘Getting On’ & grew our network of partners by building relationships with highly regarded cable channels. We wish her the very best in her new venture. Matt is unmistakably a champion of producers, writers & creators, this coupled with his passion for BBC’s unrivaled, high quality output will no doubt prove to be a win for the company and our valued partners.

3 MOVIES AMONGST HIGHLIGHTS AT FRIGHTFEST

Film4 FrightFest, UK’s leading genre film festival, promises to be “bigger, bolder & bloodier” in its 16th year with its largest ever line up. The gorefest, which runs from 27th to 31st Aug, 2015 will present 76 films across 5 screens, plus a host of special events. There are 16 European premieres & 26 UK premieres. Among the films from British & Irish talent receiving a showcase are David Keating’s ‘Cherry Tree’; the world premiere of Steve Oram’s hilariously disturbing ‘Aaaaaaaah!’, starring Toyah Willcox; Dominic Brunt’s sharp edged female revenge saga ‘Bait’; Ben & Chris Blaine’s sexually charged zom – rom -com ‘Nina Forever’; Mark Murphy’s tale of twisted minds ‘Awaiting’; Paul Hyett’s much anticipated ‘Howl’; Adam Levins’ sinister family drama ‘Estranged’; Howard J. Ford’s child abduction thriller ‘Never Let Go’; Corin Hardy’s Sundance sensation ‘The Hallow’; Ruth Platt’s morally challenging chiller ‘The Lesson’; Liam Regan’s gruesome revenge saga ‘Banjo’; Eugene McGing’s supernatural haunter ‘The Unfolding’ & ‘Afterdeath’, a hellish thriller by new directors Gez Medinger & Robin Schmidt. On the main screens are a mix of the monstrous, the macabre & the must see from around the world.

HALL UNVEILS A RESTRUCTURING PROGRAM

BBC Director General Tony Hall has unveiled a restructuring program that will result in the loss of more than 1,000 jobs. The measures will deliver £50 million ($78 million) in savings from merging divisions, cutting down management layers, reducing the number of managers & improving processes. “A simpler, leaner, BBC is the right thing to do and it can also help us meet the financial challenges we face,” Hall said. “We’ve already significantly cut the costs of running the BBC, but in times of very tough choices we need to focus on what really matters, delivering outstanding programs & content for all our audiences.” The BBC has already cut costs in recent years in order to deliver more than £1.5 billion ($2.34 billion) of savings a year by 2017. Much of this has been done through cutting administration & property costs, pay & headcount restraint and decisions like more daytime repeats & shared sports rights. The savings are necessary due to the Government’s decision to freeze for 7 years the license fee, which is the BBC’s primary source of funding.

CINESITE & IMAGE ENGINE MERGE

Leading visual effects companies Cinesite & Image Engine have merged, giving the 2 entities a combined staff of over 525 VFX & animation staff at their studios in London, Vancouver & Montreal. Cinesite, which opened its doors in London in 1994, has contributed BAFTA & Academy Award nominated and winning visual effects to films including ‘X – Men: Days Of Future Past’, ‘Iron Man 3’, the Harry Potter series of films, & ‘The Golden Compass’. It is working on productions including ‘Now You See Me: The Second Act’, ‘Ant-Man’, ‘Spectre’, ‘The Last Witch Hunter’, ‘Gods Of Egypt’, ‘Pride And Prejudice & Zombies’ & ‘The Revenant’. Founded in Vancouver in 1995, Image Engine has built a strong reputation for producing high quality visual effects for film & high end television. Nominated for an Academy Award for its work on Neill Blomkamp’s ‘District 9’ in 2009, the studio has gone on to work on such high profile productions as ‘Elysium’, ‘Chappie’, ‘Jurassic World’, ‘Game Of Thrones’ & ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’. Forthcoming releases include ‘Point Break’ & ‘Straight Outta Compton’.

ADAM TO DELIVER A KEYNOTE

Adam Crozier, CEO of ITV, UK’s biggest commercial broadcast, will deliver the Mipcom Media Mastermind Keynote. In it, he will discuss how he turned around ITV from a seemingly ailing TV network with limited growth potential both in UK and in the free – to – air broadcast business into a model of expansion, geographic & sectorial, driving energetically into the acquisition of production companies, primarily in US: Gurney Prods, High Noon Ent., Thinkfactory Media, DiGa Vision & Leftfield Ent. The largest producer of non – scripted TV in US, ITV has also bought John De Mol’s Talpa, producer of ‘Big Brother’ & ‘The Voice’, and upped the ante on its drama production biz via a US joint venture, Tomorrow Studios, with vet producer Marty Adelstein. Coinciding with the launch of ‘Beowulf’ & ‘Jekyll & Hyde’, Crozier’s keynote conversation will also take in ITV studios’ growing fiction content business, Mipcom organizer Reed Midem announced recently.

‘TERMINATOR’ HEADS SLOW WEEKEND

Opening on Thursday, ‘Terminator Genisys’ earned $11.1 million from 1.49 million admissions over 4 days. Giving prominent billing to Korean actor Lee Byung- Hun, the 5th instalment of the Terminator franchise is the 1st Paramount title locally handled by Lotte Entertainment since the 2 struck a long term distribution agreement in Mar, 2015. The numbers are on a par with ‘Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins’ which had earned $989,000 from 1.67 million admissions in 4 days in 2009 and went on to earn $26.5 million from 4.50 million admissions. Patriotic war drama, ‘Northern Limit Line’ dropped to 2nd place. Accounting for 33% of the total weekend box office revenue, the NEW release earned $6.88 million from 997,000 admissions between Fri & Sun, with a week – on week drop of 12%. It has amassed $21.9 million from 3.23 million admissions after 2 weekends on release. ‘Jurassic World’ took 3rd, with $2.44 million between Fri & Sun, extending its total to $38.72 million after 4 weekends. Local legal drama ‘Minority Opinion’ dropped to 5th place. Earning $258,000 between Fri & Sun, it has made $2.26 million since 24th Jun, 2015 release. Auteur Shin Su – Won’s Cannes Un Certain Regard selection ‘Madonna’ debuted Thurs, earning $69,700 from 9,920 admissions over the opening 4 days, including previews.