News

Also in the works is the next feature from ’Is There Anybody Out There?’ director and Screen Star of Tomorrow Ella Glendining.

UK production outfit Hot Property Films has unveiled a bustling slate of projects with partners and talent attached including The Worst Person In The World actor Anders Danielsen Lie and producer Emily Morgan.

Hot Property Films was set up in 1995 by producer Janine Marmot and writer-director Simon Pummell. Credits include Kieran Evans’ 2014 title Kelly + Victor, for which Evans won the Bafta for outstanding debut for a British writer, director or producer.

Lie is set to star in Grant Gee...

Arrow Films and Hot Property Films have kindly provided us with 2 ace DVD's to give away of their upcoming release of sic-fi thriller 'Identicals', which is available on DVD and Video on Demand from August 15.

Identicals, created by the BAFTA winning team Writer / Director Simon Pummell (Bodysong, Shock Head Soul, The Temptation of Sainthood) and Producer Janine Marmot (Kelly +Victor and Bodysong, Shock Head Soul).

Starring Lachlan Nieboer (Cross of Honour, The Necessary Death of Charlie Countryman) and Nora-Jane Noone (The Descent, The Magdalene Sisters, Savage), in Identicals. the organization Brand New-u identifies networks of Identicals– people who walk like you, talk like you, but are walking through different, better lives - and helps their customers make a life upgrade: eliminating the better-life donor, and relocating their client to that brand new life. Slater seems to have the perfect life, the perfect job and the perfect girlfriend. But...

Development titles revealed as sci-fi Identicals [pictured] picked up by Arrow Films for UK.

London-based Hot Property Films has revealed details of a new sci-fi project in development and a UK deal for psychological thriller Identicals (aka Brand New-u).

The production company, founded by producer Janine Marmot and BAFTA-winning writer-director Simon Pummell, has begun work on Piper. The sci-fi story is set on an abandoned space station and explores what happens when artificial intelligence creates new links between human and animal.

This is on top of the previously announced Dogfight, based a short story by cult sci-fi writer William Gibson, co-written with Michael Swanwick, that will be directed by Pummell. The film centres on a fighter who struggles to make good in a future world of illegal ‘simulated sensorium’ boxing and holographic gaming.

It marks the latest move into sci-fi for Hot Property, having previously made thriller Identicals, released in the Us by Samuel Goldwyn Films on March...

"There's a better life waiting for us." Samuel Goldwyn Films has released an official trailer for the sci-fi psychological thriller called Identicals, from director Simon Pummell, and it looks pretty damn cool. At least, it has some amazingly cool visuals that I really dig. Is it actually a good film? Well, I don't really know, I'm not so sure. Starring Lachlan Nieboer, Nora-Jane Noone, Nick Blood, Tony Way, and Jacinta Mulcahy. The film, originally called Brand New-u, is about a futuristic company called Brand New-u that allows people to create a brand new life using other people known as "Identicals" as some kind of surrogate. Obviously, not everything is going to go as planned. Watch the new trailer below and tell us what you think. Here's the first official trailer (+ poster) for Simon Pummell's Identicals, in high def from Apple: The organization Brand New-u identifies networks of Identicals—people who walk like you,...

Our master chief, quietearth, first brought Identicals to our attention last spring when he uncovered the first teaser trailer. Back then, the film was called "Brand New-u", but since it was picked up by distributor MGM it, itself, has been given a new identity.

Directed by Simon Pummell, Indenticals follows a similar line of speculation as the classic 60s film, Seconds, where it is possible to start life over again.

It is scheduled to hit iTunes on March 25, 2016.

Synopsis:

The organization Brand New-u identifies networks of Identicals—people who walk like you, talk like you, but are walking through different, better lives—and he [Continued ...]...

Writer-director Simon Pummell goes for both thrills and emotional complexities in the tale of a sinister corporation that replaces humans with ‘identicals’

Here is a very distinctive science-fiction parable from writer-director Simon Pummell: it is filmed in a burnished, measured manner, but it has a Marmitey quality. It is as accessible as The Double, and even Total Recall, but has a texture and atmosphere that are very much its own.

Pummell is perhaps best known for his animated collage piece Bodysong, and subsequently straddled drama and nonfiction with Shock Head Soul, a highly stylised study of mentally ill judge Daniel Paul Schreber. With Brand New-u, Pummell has gone the whole hog and and come up with a film that bears some resemblance to an orthodox tech thriller, though with a Kafkaesque sense of bafflement and disjointedness.

Continue reading...

Feature is based on Orhan Pamuk’s novel The Museum Of Innocence.

Janine Marmot’s Hot Property Film is readying Grant Gee-directed Innocence Of Memories and is set to unveil the film at an autumn festival.

The Match Factory is handling sales of the feature, based on Orhan Pamuk’s acclaimed book, The Museum Of Innocence.

Marmot confirmed that Italian distribution rights have now gone to the film’s co-producers, In Between Art Film and Vivo Film.

Producing alongside Marmot is Keith Griffiths of Illuminations Films.

Nobel Prize winner Pamuk has provided original narration for the film, which is in the final stages of completion. Pamuk also appears on screen. The film was shot entirely in Istanbul.

Gee is best known for directing music videos for the likes of Radiohead and Blur.

Brand New-u

Marmot will be at the Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff) this weekend for the world premiere of Simon Pummell’s Brand New-u.

“This...

Those of you who remember the excellent Rock Hudson flick Seconds will notice some striking similarities with this storyline. For the uninitiated, I'd highly recommend Seconds as it's about a man who gets a new face and a new identity. Brand New-u is directed by Simon Pummell who did the excellently weird biopic Shock Head Soul. Brand New-u premiers at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Synopsis:

The film follows the 33-year-old Slater (Nieboer), who obsessively chases Nadia (Noone), the love of his life. When she suddenly disappears Slater wants to report her missing, but realizes he knows nothing about her. The only clue he has is Brand New-u [Continued ...]...

BAFTA-winner to adapt short story Dogfight, from cult sci-fi writer; currently in Rotterdam with Brand New-u.

BAFTA-winning British director Simon Pummell is preparing a new film based on Dogfight, a short story by cult sci-fi writer William Gibson, co-written with Michael Swanwick.

It will be made with his regular producing partner Janine Marmot of London-based Hot Property Films.

“It is a film about gambling,” Pummell explained. “When I talked to (William) Gibson about it, he said it was a riff on The Hustler. The backbone of the film is the idea that every idea of improvement, quality and happiness in our life can be accounted for in money.”

Pummel, who is scripting Dogfight, is currently putting the finishing touches to his new feature Brand New-u. The futuristic psychological thriller, sold internationally by Match Factory, is in advanced post-production and will be ready by March.

Brand New-u follows 33-year-old Slater, who obsessively chases Nadia, the love of...

British thrillers are having a bit of a resurgence of late. And we've got our hands on the world exclusive first snaps from a promising new BFI-funded psychoogical thriller, Brand New-u. Wirtten and directed by Simon Pummell, and starring Lachlan Nieboer and Nora-Jane Noone (The Descent), Brand New-u is an obsessive love story aiming to mess with your mind. Plot synopsis as follows... Brand New-u is a psychological thriller, a film stripped down and re-arranged into the looping logic of a nightmare. Imagine discovering you're not unique,...

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Swallows and Amazons

Dan Stevens ("Downton Abbey") will star in adaptation of Arthur Ransome's classic 1930 children's book "Swallows and Amazons". Stevens will be playing Uncle James in the project which begins shooting this Summer.

The book is the first in a series about the Walker children who set sail on the Swallow and head for Wild Cat Island. Their days are disturbed by the Blackett sisters, the fierce Amazon pirates. The Swallows and Amazons decide to battle it out. [Source: The Sun]

Anchorman: The Legend Continues

Nicole Kidman has reportedly shot an uncredited cameo role in the highly anticipated comedy sequel "Anchorman: The Legend Continues" in Atlanta.

Vince Vaughn and Luke Wilson have also reportedly shot call roles in the film which includes roles for Greg Kinnear, Harrison Ford and Kristen Wiig alongside the returning regulars. [Source: THR

Brand New-u

Lachlan Nieboer ("Downton Abbey") and Nora-Jane Noone ("The Descent") have signed to star in...

One of the great joys of festivals is stumbling across a film that confounds your expectations or defies simple categorisation. I'm pleased to report Simon Pummell's docudrama Shock Head Soul is one such discovery at this year's Melbourne International Film Festival. A complex and visually arresting work about one of the most famous cases of mental illness, Shock Head Soul never shies away from the intellectually challenging aspects of its subject but still manages to provide moments of powerful emotion. [Continued ...]...

Australia’s Revelation Perth International Film Festival will be holding it’s explosive 15th annual edition on July 5-15 with one of it’s most jam-packed lineups yet.

One of the most special events that Revelation will be holding is July 14‘s retrospective of the films of Jeff Keen, the pioneering British underground filmmaker who very sadly just passed away on June 21. Keen’s work has been having a major resurgence lately and Revelation is the latest organization to so boldly feature his breathtaking experimental film work, from classics like 1967′s Marvo Movie to modern films like Artwar (1993) and Joy Thru Film (2000). This is absolutely an event not to be missed.

Another staggering event this year is a very special live presentation of Crispin Hellion Glover‘s notorious underground films What Is It? and It Is Fine! Everything Is Fine. (Click film titles for Bad Lit reviews!) These very...

Trailers are an under-appreciated art form insofar that many times they’re seen as vehicles for showing footage, explaining films away, or showing their hand about what moviegoers can expect. Foreign, domestic, independent, big budget: I celebrate all levels of trailers and hopefully this column will satisfactorily give you a baseline of what beta wave I’m operating on, because what better way to hone your skills as a thoughtful moviegoer than by deconstructing these little pieces of advertising? Some of the best authors will tell you that writing a short story is a lot harder than writing a long one, that you have to weigh every sentence. What better medium to see how this theory plays itself out beyond that than with movie trailers? Taped Trailer I, like many other boys, went through a Patrick Dempsey phase when I was younger. It all started with Can't Buy Me Love...

I’ll just fess up: Despite the fact that it’s in its 41st year, the International Film Festival Rotterdam is something I’ve kind of never heard about until today. (Let’s blame it on a slip in my geography skills.) This ignorance on my part notwithstanding, taking a look at their initial lineup for this year — when the event runs from January 25th to February 5th — has left me mightily impressed.

The biggest world premieres come from two directors on opposite ends of at least a few spectrum: Takashi Miike and James Franco. (Discounting the fact that they’ve both depicted amputations onscreen, in one way or the other.) The former is debuting his adaptation of the popular Nintendo DS game, Ace Attorney, while the latter will be exhibiting Francophrenia (Or: Don’t Kill Me, I Know Where the Baby Is). A movie based on a kid’s...

After Sandra Hebron's nine years as artistic director, the BFI London film festival is enjoying record attendance and international acclaim. She tells Adam Dawtrey how it was done

For someone who describes her own taste in movies as "austere", Sandra Hebron certainly knows how to give audiences at the BFI London film festival a good time. Her nine-year reign as artistic director, which ends with the 55th edition, has coincided with the rising popularity of the event, an increase in glitz and red carpet glamour without ever compromising its commitment to serious cinema, and its transformation into a festival of genuine international stature.

Hebron, an elfin figure whose trademark knee-high black leather boots have their own fans, is leaving the festival on an all-time high, with last year's attendance a record 132,000, up 20% from when she took over in 2003. No wonder that the British Film Institute made sure to protect the...

The BFI London Film Festival revealed the lineup for its 55th edition today, a total of 204 feature films and 110 shorts screening between October 12 and 27: "In addition to our previously announced opening and closing night films, Fernando Meirelles's 360 and Terence Davies's The Deep Blue Sea, Gala highlights include George Clooney's The Ides of March, Alexander Payne's The Descendants, Lynne Ramsay's We Need to Talk About Kevin and David Cronenberg's A Dangerous Method. This year's Archive Gala title is the BFI National Archive's restoration of Miles Mander's The First Born with a new score by Stephen Horne."

Nine strands make up the festival: Galas & Special Screenings, Films on the Square (sample highlight: Bruno Dumont's Outside Satan), New British Cinema (Simon Pummell's Shock Head Soul), French Revolutions (Gérald Hustache-Mathieu's Nobody Else But You), Cinema Europa (Rúnar Rúnarsson's Volcano), World Cinema (Sivaroj Kongsakul's Eternity), Experimenta (featuring,...

9 new British films funded by the Lottery Film Fund

selected for the BFI London Film Festival

including the Opening and Closing night Galas

London - Wednesday 7 September 2011. This year.s 55th BFI London Film Festival, in partnership with American Express, will showcase 9 new British feature films funded by the UK Film Council.s Film Fund, now with the BFI, including the Opening and Closing night UK Gala premieres of Fernando Meirelles. 360, written by Peter Morgan, and Terence Davies. The Deep Blue Sea.

The line-up of British films which have been developed and/or production funded by the Film Fund at the BFI London Film festival also includes:

Shame, directed by Steve McQueen and co-written with Abi Morgan; We Need To Talk About Kevin, directed by Lynne Ramsay and co-written with Rory Stewart Kinnear; Wuthering Heights, directed by Andrea Arnold and co-written with Olivia Hetreed; Trishna, written and directed by Michael Winterbottom; A Dangerous Method,...

The programme for the 55th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express launched today by Artistic Director Sandra Hebron, celebrates the imagination and excellence of international filmmaking from both established and emerging talent. Over 16 days the Festival will screen a total of 204 fiction and documentary features, including 13 World Premieres, 18 International Premieres and 22 European Premieres . There will also be screenings of 110 live action and animated shorts. Many of the films will be presented by their directors, cast members and crew, some of whom will also take part in career interviews, masterclasses, and other special events. The 55th BFI London Film Festival will run from 12-27 October.

Special Screenings

Opening the festival is Fernando Meirelles’ 360, written by Peter Morgan, and starring Sir Anthony Hopkins, Jude Law and Rachel Weisz. Weisz is also the star of Terence Davies’ closing night film, The Deep Blue Sea, alongside a cast which includes Simon Russell Beale and Tom Hiddleston.

From the 12th to the 27th of October the 55th BFI London Film Festival brings its annual box of delights to the capital. Earlier today the full programme was announced, and it look like being another fine year.

We already know that Fernando Meirelles’ latest 360 will open proceedings on the 12th and fifteen days later Terence Davies’ The Deep Blue Sea will bring the festival to a close but there are many more great films to come and see in London this October.

There was a familiar feeling creeping across the audience this morning that a lot of the films had, like last year, already played elsewhere but this is only a small consideration when you consider the scope of the festival’s remit. To bring a vital, fresh and horizon-expanding series of features, shorts and documentaries is no easy task, and while the more well known films have played...

Artistic director Sandra Hebron has announced the line-up for the 55th BFI London Film Festival this morning where they will screen “a total of 204 fiction and documentary features, including 13 World Premieres, 18 International Premieres and 22 European Premieres” plus “110 live action and animated shorts”.

We are already knew Fernando Meirelles’ adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s erotic drama play 360 written by Peter Morgan and starring Anthony Hopkins, Jude Law and Rachel Weisz would open the festival and that The Deep Blue Sea, which incidentally is another adaptation of a play (Terence Rattigan’s) and also stars Rachel Weisz, will close it. Of Time and City’s Terrence Davies directed that movie which also stars Tom Hiddleston and Simon Russell Beale.

Now we know the in-between stuff from the Gala & Special Screenings and there’s a wide selection of extremely interesting films;

George Clooney is bringing his political thriller The Ides of March that...

Dueling festival lineups! It seems that for every announcement for the Toronto International Film Festival lineup comes a competing (and often overlapping)  one from Venice.  Here we're collecting the finalized Venice lineups so far. (Above image: Philippe Garrel's A Burning Hot Summer.)

Competition

The Ides of March (George Clooney, USA) (opening night) 4:44 Last Day on Earth (Abel Ferrara, USA) Alps (Yorgos Lanthimos, Greece) A Burning Hot Summer (Philippe Garrel, France) Carnage (Roman Polanski, France/Germany/Spain/Poland) Chicken With Plums (Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, France/Belgium/Germany) A Dangerous Method (David Cronenberg, Canada) Dark Horse (Todd Solondz, USA) The Exchange (Eran Kolirin, Israel/Germany) Faust (Alexander Sokurov, Russia) Himizu (Sion Sono, Japan) Killer Joe (William Friedkin, USA) Life without Principle (Johnnie To, Hk) Quando la notte (Cristina Comencini, Italy) Seediq Bale (Wei Desheng, Taiwan) Shame (Steve McQueen, UK) Terraferma (Emanuele Crialese, Italy) Texas Killing Fields (Ami Canaan Mann,...

Just a few days after Tiff had announced its first 50 films from this year’s festival slate, the Venice Film Festival has announced their own lineup, and I must say, it’s one hell of a collective.

Criterion Collection nuts will have a field day here, as various directors from the collection will be bringing their new films to Italy this year.

First up, in competition, David Cronenberg will be taking his new film, A Dangerous Method, to Venice this year, making it one of the bigger fall festival season players this year. Steve McQueen’s Shame will play this year, as will Andrea Arnold’s (Fish Tank) Wuthering Heights. Roman Polanski will debut his latest film, Carnage, at Venice this year, as will Todd Solondz, who brings Dark Horse this year.

Out of competition, Chantal Akerman and Whit Stillman will debut their next projects, La Folie Almayer and Damsels In Distress respectively.

The line-up for the 2011 Venice Film Festival was unveiled a little earlier today and this year’s edition looks particularly stacked on the English-language side of things with a large number of dramatic outputs from the U.K. and U.S.

Dozens and dozens of high-intrigue fare are set to be premiering over the two week event which kicks off proceedings on August 31st with the George Clooney directed political thriller The Ides of March as an in-competition film. A trailer was released last night and you can see it Here.

The other big headliners include;

Working Title’s attempt to bring the classic John Le Carre novel Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy to the big screen for the first time (though there was an amazing 70′s t.v. series with Alec Guinness that this film will need to go to some quality to beat) has been on our radar every...

Wedged between Sundance and Berlin is the extremely important Rotterdam film festival. Rotterdam functions as Europe's first major film fest of the year, but it seconds as a premiere destination for filmmakers such as Andrei Zvyagintsev (The Return), Amat Escalante (Sangre) and Juraj Lehotsky (Blind Loves) who make the kind of films that need a "helping hand". This list is of obvious interest because we'll be talking about this projects-turned-into-films down the road - we only need to look at Venice/Tiff for recent examples such as Samuel Maoz's Lebanon and Shirin Neshat's Women without Men to see the quality of films that got their start here. - Wedged between Sundance and Berlin is the extremely important Rotterdam film festival. Rotterdam functions as Europe's first major film fest of the year, but it seconds as a premiere destination for filmmakers such as Andrei Zvyagintsev (The Return), Amat Escalante...