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Before he had the budget to stage elaborate films like “The Fountain” and “Noah,” Darren Aronofsky got his start with “Pi,” a microbudget indie that hit theaters in July 1998. Shot in stark black and white, the story of an obsessive mathematician looking for the number that can unlock the secret to nature received acclaim and earned Aronofsky a Director’s Prize at Sundance, but faded into relative obscurity as he broke through to the mainstream with “Requiem for a Dream” and “Black Swan.” But in 2023, “Pi” got a new lease on life when Aronofsky sold the film’s rights to A24, and the studio celebrated with a 25th-anniversary re-release of the film in IMAX theaters. The re-release happened on — you guessed it — Pi Day.

One year later, A24 is celebrating Pi Day again with two new releases. The first is an all-new Blu-ray release of the film, which is available...

There’s much to celebrate this September thanks to Plex! The free streaming service is adding 23 new titles to its library of over 50,000 this month, and even though the list may seem short, especially compared to some of the major streamers’ lists, Plex is flexing its movie muscles with major titles such as “L.A. Confidential,” “The King of Comedy,” and more.

Check out The Streamable’s top picks for the coming month and the full list below!

Watch Now $0+ / month plex.tv What are the 5 Best Shows and Movies Coming to Plex in September 2023? “Pi” | Friday, Sept. 1

Before “Requiem for a Dream,” “The Whale,” and the rest of his filmography, Darren Aronofsky made his feature directorial debut with the black-and-white psychological thriller “Pi.” Starring Sean Gullette, the film follows Max Cohen, a paranoid mathematician with an obsession to find order in the world amongst the diametrically opposed concepts of human irrationality and mathematical rationality.

In the 23 years since “Fantasia 2000” became the first studio movie to get a theatrical release in IMAX, the format has been associated primarily with expensive spectacles like “The Dark Knight Rises” and “Avengers: Endgame.” But March 14 — Pi Day — sees the IMAX premiere of an independent film shot on a $60,000 budget. To celebrate its 25th anniversary, Darren Aronofsky’s “Pi” screens in IMAX auditoriums around the country, preceded by a live-streamed Q&a with Aronofsky, cinematographer Matthew Libatique, and other special guests at the Tcl Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

“When we sold ‘Pi’ 25 years ago in Sundance, we truly never imagined this day would come,” Aronofsky told IndieWire. Back then, Aronofsky and Libatique chose to shoot their film on 16mm black and white reversal stock, both for economic and aesthetic reasons.

“It was a relatively rare stock to shoot, but the contrast and grain it could achieve were unparalleled at the time,...

The late 1990s might be remembered as a pretty good time for science fiction at the movies. There were Hollywood blockbusters with origins in sci-fi literature and loaded with VFX razzle-dazzle, while at the same time smaller and/or independent productions were offering up more cerebral, complex, concept-driven ideas.

Nestled in the middle of all this, appearing in theaters at the tail end of 1998, was a film that was perhaps the tiniest of all with regards to budget and production, but at the same time one of the biggest in terms of its central premise: Pi (aka the Greek letter π), the writing and directing debut of filmmaker Darren Aronofsky that tackled numbers theory, Jewish mysticism, and the meaning of all existence, all within 80 minutes and largely confined to one main (very cramped) set and a handful of characters.

If you’re lucky enough to live in a participating city,...

Do you feel that? The final Oscar window voting is mere days away, which means distributors are pulling out all the stops to have their nominees gain a bit more share of the spotlight. The latest development comes from A24 and Darren Aronofsky, attempting to bring some attention to their divisive drama The Whale and its Best Actor contender Brendan Fraser by going back to the director’s roots.

For Pi Day on 3.14, they will be releasing a new 8K and Atmos restoration of Aronofsky’s debut Pi (better known as π) in IMAX theaters for the film’s 25th anniversary. The event includes a live Q&a with Aronofsky, cinematographer Matthew Libatique, composer Clint Mansell, actor Sean Gullette and other special guests live from Los Angeles followed by a screening of the restored film. The 1998 surrealist psychological thriller stars Gullette as a mathematician who becomes obsessed with searching for...

"This is insanity, Max!" "Or maybe it's genius!" A24 has unveiled a brand new trailer for an 8K re-release in IMAX of Darren Aronofsky's very first feature film titled Pi, that debuted in 1998. Yes, you read it right, this is getting an 8K restoration!! Which is pretty intense for a film that was originally shot on grainy B&w 16mm stock. Join director Darren Aronofsky on Pi Day (3.14) for a special IMAX screening + discussion to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his groundbreaking first feature Pi. This one-day only event will include a live Q&a with Aronofsky and other special guests in Los Angeles followed by a screening of the indie film. In Pi, a paranoid mathematician searches for a key number that will unlock the universal patterns found in nature. The film stars Sean Gullette, Mark Margoils, Ben Shenkman. The special screening event will include a Q&a with Aronofsky,...

Darren Aronofsky’s “Pi” is heading back to the big screen for a 25th anniversary celebration, courtesy of A24 and Imax.

As part of his original deal, Aronofsky had the film’s rights returned to him. He has now sold them to A24, which will oversee the re-release.

A special screening before a wider release later this year will fittingly take place on March 14 in Los Angeles and feature a live Q&a with Aronofsky, cinematographer Matthew Libatique, composer Clint Mansell, actor Sean Gullette and other special guests.

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Stylized as π, Aronofsky’s debut feature stars Gullette as a mathematician who becomes obsessed with looking for patterns in the universe as part of his quest to find meaning. It premiered at Sundance Film Festival in 1998, where Aronofsky won his first Director’s Award. The...

Few filmmakers have blended art, religion, and science to a greater extent than Darren Aronofsky has. In the 25 years since his first film, “Pi,” was released, the director has carved out a niche for himself, telling stories about people obsessed with finding order in a chaotic universe. Sometimes those people are mathematicians, other times they’re saints, but they’re all chasing forbidden knowledge hidden in the universe.

With those themes in mind, Aronofsky recently sat down with Pioneer Works director of sciences Janna Levin for a conversation about the scientific influences on his work. The panel, which was part of the museum’s Science vs. Fiction series, touched on all eight of Aronofsky’s feature films.

The conversation began with a discussion about “Pi.” While the 1998 film — which is getting an IMAX re-release next month — is a considerably smaller affair than most of Aronofsky’s other films, it remains...

Requiem for a Dream is a movie directed by Darren Aronofsky featuring Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Ellen Burstyn and Marlon Wayans. Based on the novel by Hubert Selby Jr.

A brutal movie, both because of the subject as well as the aesthetics, about the world of drugs.

This is a story about degradation which, led by the poetry of despair, has become (well deservedly) a cult movie.

Movie Review

This is a movie with a brutal potential for aesthetics: it moves and perverts and degrades and attracts, all in the whirlpool of emotions the characters experience who are submerged in the world of drugs. A misleading “hand camera” film that takes us through the stories of four characters in their four personal hells and the Requiem they all entone together with a social and systemic point of view, because the réquiem is also pertinent socially.

However, what we are interested...

The films of Darren Aronofsky are not subtle. They are films that you have to confront head on, whether you love them, hate them, or waffle between those two extremes.

Throughout his nearly 25 years of directing features, Aronofsky has crafted celebrated character dramas, bizarre biblical epics and trippy horror films, and somehow almost every single one of those seemingly disparate pictures is unified in its dramatic and thematic bombast. He may be the only Oscar-nominated filmmaker whose most conventional work can be found in a violent full-motion video Windows 95 game.

Here are the feature films of Darren Aronofsky, ranked from worst to best:

8. “The Whale” (2022)

Brendan Fraser plays a creative-writing professor who, after the tragic death of his boyfriend, gains so much weight that his health deteriorates, and his death is now imminent. Surrounded by people who view him as a project, a burden, a tragedy or a monster, his innate decency always shines through.

Darren Aronofsky’s latest film “The Whale” opens in select theaters next week, but the Oscar nominee is looking backward as much as forward these days. In an upcoming interview for IndieWire’s Awards Spotlight series, the “Requiem for a Dream” director revealed that he’s plotting an IMAX re-release of his first film, “Pi,” next year to commemorate its 25th anniversary.

“When I sold the film at Sundance in 1998, I fought really hard that the filmmakers would get the movie back,” he said. “They didn’t really want to do it and they were like, ‘Fine, we’ll give it back to you in 25 years.’ So that’s about to happen and we’ve been actually scanning the negative at 8k, and we are working on an Atmos mix and polishing it up, and we’re planning to do an IMAX release on March 14, for the movie.” IMAX did...

Darren Aronofsky is back. The polarizing Oscar nominee is causing a quite a stir with his latest movie, the Jennifer Lawrence-starring “mother!,” but anyone familiar with Aronofsky’s six previous features knows he’s always been a filmmaker who forces a strong reaction out of people. He’s been pushing the boundaries of his own filmmaking voice ever since “Pi” caused a frenzy at the Sundance Film Festival in 1998, and “mother!” proves he has no signs of stopping.

With “mother!” opening in theaters nationwide, we put all seven Aronofsky features against one another for the ultimate director ranking.

Read More:‘mother!’: Inside the Secretive Marketing Designed to Hide Darren Aronofsky’s Controversial Film 7. “Noah” (2014)

“Noah” is unquestionably Aronofsky’s weakest film, but that doesn’t mean it’s a total disaster. The biggest misstep the director makes in this $125 million Biblical epic is turning the odyssey of Noah into a sword-and-sandals showdown,...

Once the default mode, black and white has now become a bold statement of artistic intention. What that intention is, however, seems to be a little bit different for all of the recent films that have made the most of it. Often, monochrome is used as a pipeline to the past — in “Good Night, and Good Luck,” a lack of color not only speaks to how history remembers Edward R. Murrow, it also conjures the imagery of his television news broadcasts. Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon” similarly uses the technique to take us back in time, but is less about recreating an era than it is about establishing a chokehold of fatalistic austerity.

“The Man Who Wasn’t There” is another period piece, but the lack of color in the Coen brothers’ film — which was shot in color and then bled dry — assumes a moral quality, making Billy Bob Thornton...

A genre constantly overlooked at awards ceremonies, sci-fi cinema is full of stunning performances - like these...

Should we care whether the Academy likes science fiction or not? Does it matter that the genre and its best performances are regularly overlooked by most mainstream awards bodies? Probably not. But consider this: cinema is by now a long-established artform. Movies chart all aspects of the human condition: birth, death, happiness, sadness, ennui, fear, elation, empathy.

The best sci-fi movies arguably achieve the same thing. Where else is the sense of mystery and triumphant discovery felt more keenly than in, say, Solaris? What other genre could explore the nature of addiction with the same humour and pathos as A Scanner Darkly? Could the themes of ageing and disease in The Fly be transposed to a realistic drama and still be as thrilling, bizarre and tragic?

It’s still the case that science...

If you are a hammer - strike. How's that for a tagline? Today's trailer is for a film called Traitors made by American actor-turned-filmmaker Sean Gullette, who played mathematician Maximillian Cohen in Darren Aronofsky's Pi back in 1998. Gullette writes, produces and directs this film about an all-girl punk rock band from Morocco. Newcomer Chaimae Ben Acha stars as Malika in the film, who befriends Amal played by Soufia Issami as they take on a smuggling job to make some money to keep the band together. The film premiered at the 2013 Venice Film Festival, also playing at the Tribeca, Marrakesh, Dubai, Stockholm and Denver Film Festivals. It actually looks pretty good, there's a lot of heart and soul captured in this. Check it. Here's the first official trailer for Sean Gullette's Traitors, direct from Film Movement's YouTube: Traitors is both written, directed & produced by Sean Gullette. Synopsis: Malika,...

Review by Dana Jung

Traitors screens Friday November 14th at 2pm and Thursday November 20th at 12:15pm as part of the St. Louis International Film Festival. Both screenings are at the Plaza Frontenac Theater. For ticket information for the screening on the 14th, go Here. For ticket information for the screening on the 20th, go Here.

When asked why she doesn’t have a boyfriend, Malika replies, “It’s not my priority.” For Malika, the central character in the new film Traitors, the main focus in her life is her music. We are introduced to Malika’s passion for rock and roll in the movie’s introductory scene, as she practices with her all-female band. “I’m so bored!” she half sings, half screams into the microphone in a fierce expression of punk angst. But boredom is the least of Malika’s problems, because Malika is a young Moroccan...

10. Altered States (1980)

Directed by: Ken Russell

Is it a horror film? Many of Ken Russell’s films could be argued as such, but there’s enough in Altered States that makes it less horror and more science fiction/psychological thriller. Based on the novel by Paddy Chayefsky, Altered States introduced the world to William Hurt (and also featured the film debut of Drew Barrymore). Edward Jessup (Hurt) is studying schizophrenia, but branches out into sensory deprivation experimentation with a floating tank. Eventually, he travels to Mexico to visit a tribe that provides him with an extract which he begins to take before his trips into the flotation tank, resulting in bizarre imagery and eventual physical devolution, once to a primitive man and to a near primordial blob. Side effects start to occur, causing Edward to suffer from episodes of partial regression even without the hallucinogenic drug. Russell’s direction shifts...

Sean Gullette, writer and director of Traitors, is known for his many collaborations with Harvard friend and colleague Darren Aronofsky. Playing the lead role and sharing story credit in Aronofsky’s debut feature, Pi, Gullette has since acted in two dozen films, including Requiem for a Dream and Happy Accidents. Now Gullette is bringing his masterful crime drama to Tribeca 2014 as part of a special partnership with Venice Days, where a European film is showcased and selected to have its international premiere at Tff.

Recently, Sound on Sight had a chance to interview Guilette on his thoughts on filmmaking, the impact of strong female leads in today’s cinema, and his views on punk rock music.. For the review of Traitors, check out our coverage of Tribeca 2014.

Sos: What inspired you to make the 2010 short film version into a full-length film?

Sg: After the short screened at the 2011 New York Film Festival,...

From 2005 to 2010, Sean Gullette (still most commonly ID’d as the star of Pi) lived full-time in Tangier, Morocco. Expanding on a 30-minute short made in 2010, Gullette’s feature directorial debut Traitors tracks a Clash-esque femake punk rock band (their big chorus is “I’m so bored with Morocco”) stuck in Tangier. When frontwoman Malika (Chainmae Ben Acha) decides to pay for a demo recording session with a one-off drug run, the film’s second half takes her out of the city and up to the Rif Mountains. The Tribeca Film Festival is the latest stop on an extensive festival circuit […]...

From 2005 to 2010, Sean Gullette (still most commonly ID’d as the star of Pi) lived full-time in Tangier, Morocco. Expanding on a 30-minute short made in 2010, Gullette’s feature directorial debut Traitors tracks a Clash-esque femake punk rock band (their big chorus is “I’m so bored with Morocco”) stuck in Tangier. When frontwoman Malika (Chainmae Ben Acha) decides to pay for a demo recording session with a one-off drug run, the film’s second half takes her out of the city and up to the Rif Mountains. The Tribeca Film Festival is the latest stop on an extensive festival circuit […]...

Traitors

Written and directed by Sean Gullette

Morocco, 2013

An SUV drives across the Moroccan border, packed with drugs hidden from plain view. Two girls, Malika (Chimae Ben Acha) and Amal (Soufia Issami), smuggle the drugs across terrorist lines with little to lose. Malika, the newest recruit, is nervous but shows no sign of worry with her deadpan looks. Amal, although experienced in the trafficking game, has a poor poker face. With every passing mile, Amal looks at Malika with a profound sense of caution. Malika, on the other hand, approaches each mile with a sharp sense of focus. She just wants to finish the job and get back to her normal life. Whether she can get back to her life, and avoid the backlash of her boss Samir (Mourade Zeguendi), is another question. But it’s a question she’s willing to fight for. After a few tension-filled moments, Amal...

Over the course of a nearly-20-year filmmaking career, Darren Aronofsky has made movies about deranged mathematicians, drug addicts, doctors, down-on-their-luck athletes and dancers. When it was announced in 2007 that the Brooklyn-born director would be taking on Noah — the story of a man, a flood and one very angry deity — you could hear the scratching of heads. The man who showed us Jared Leto and Jennifer Connelly shooting up in Requiem for a Dream was making the first big-budget, A-lister–helmed biblical project since Mel Gibson's 2004 The Passion of the Christ?...

As we spend a month looking at the great Stanley Kubrick, we can also look at the filmmakers who were clearly influenced by Kubrick. “Kubrickian” films tend to exercise incredible control of the camera, are extremely ambitious, tend to deal with much weightier themes, and always maintain a sense of mystery, like a there’s an invisible fog always hovering over the film. This list could be sharply focused on about five directors working today but, though a number of these filmmakers appear in this list of 40, we’re spreading the wealth a bit. Let’s get to it.

40. Watchmen (2009)

Directed by Zack Snyder

What makes it Kubrickian? It’s surprisingly cold and detail-oriented, unlike most of Zack Snyder’s other work (well, detail-oriented in a positive way). Watchmen is based on the acclaimed graphic novel of the same name by David Gibbons and Alan Moore, about a desolate alternative...

By the looks of it, the Tribeca Film Festival might finally be growing out of their awkward teenage phase and moving into a new era where the nab more than just Sundance and SXSW festival rejects. Artistic Director Frederic Boyer has managed to nab some noteworthy American indie projects such as Lou Howe’s Gabriel (see pic above), Keith Miller’s Five Star, Adam Rapp’s Loitering with Intent, and Tristan Patterson’s Electric Slide.

On the docu front, we’ve got the latest from the likes of notable documentarians Marshall Curry and Jessica Yu. Think Ewan McGregor’s Long Way Round meets child solider movie for Curry’s awesomely titled Point and Shoot — where the Libyan rebel army take hold of Curry’s subject. Yu moves from water shortage in Last Call at the Oasis (read our review) to the biggest pandemic of all; Misconception looks at the consequences...

The 13th Tribeca Film Festival has announced half its slate for next month’s New York celebration, which runs April 16-27. Culled from more than 6,000 submissions, Tribeca 2014 includes 55 world premieres, 37 first-time filmmakers, and 22 female directors. “Variously inspired by individual interests and experience and driven by an intense sensibility of style, the array of new filmmaking voices in this year’s competition is especially impressive and I think memorable,” said Frederic Boyer, Tribeca’s artistic director. “The range of American subcultures and international genres represented here are both eclectic and wide reaching.”

On April 17, Gabriel will open the World Narrative competition,...

Tribeca Film Festival top brass have announced (4) the World Narrative and Documentary Competition film selections and Viewpoints titles, comprising 47 of the 89 features that will screen at the festival over April 16-27.

The World Narrative Feature Competition will open with the world premiere of Lou Howe’s Gabriel starring Rory Culkin, while the corresponding documentary category kicks off with the world premiere of Frédéric Tcheng’s Dior And I (pictured).

Viewpoints opens with the world premiere of Onur Tukel’s Summer Of Blood and the section includes the North American premiere of Diao Yinan’s Berlin Golden Bear winner Black Coal, Thin Ice as well as the Us premiere of David Mackenzie’s Starred Up.

All three sections will commence on April 17. As previously announced, the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival will open with documentary Time Is Illmatic a day earlier.

Overall the festival will screen features from 32 countries including 55 world premieres, six international premieres, 12 North American...

A strong line-up of documentaries including Mahmoud Kaabour’s Champ Of The Camp and Jehane Noujaim’s The Square, about the Egyptian revolution, were attracting as much critical and public attention as the dramas at this year’s Diff, highlighting the growing strengh of factual filmmaking in the region.

Other stand-out docs included Ahmed Nour’s Waves and Mohamed Amine Boukhris’s War Reporter, which both received world premieres in the Muhr Arab documentary competition, and Jose A Alayon’s docu-drama Slimane, which premiered in Arabian Nights.

The Muhr AsiaAfrica documentary section also contained strong titles such as Sara Rastegar’s My Red Shoes, looking back at the Iranian revolution; Tan Pin Pin’s To Singapore, With Love and Riann Hendricks’ The Devil’s Lair.

Arab fiction titles such as Mohamed Khan’s Factory Girl; which also had its world premiere at Diff; Laila Marrakchi’s Rock The Casbah; Thierry De Peretti’s Apaches and Caroline Link’s [link...

A strong line-up of documentaries including Mahmoud Kaabour’s Champ Of The Camp and Jehane Noujaim’s The Square, about the Egyptian revolution, were attracting as much critical and public attention as the dramas at this year’s Diff, highlighting the growing strengh of factual filmmaking in the region.

Other stand-out docs included Ahmed Nour’s Waves and Mohamed Amine Boukhris’s War Reporter, which both received world premieres in the Muhr Arab documentary competition, and Jose A Alayon’s docu-drama Slimane, which premiered in Arabian Nights.

The Muhr AsiaAfrica documentary section also contained strong titles such as Sara Rastegar’s My Red Shoes, looking back at the Iranian revolution; Tan Pin Pin’s To Singapore, With Love and Riann Hendricks’ The Devil’s Lair.

Arab fiction titles such as Mohamed Khan’s Factory Girl; which also had its world premiere at Diff; Laila Marrakchi’s Rock The Casbah; Thierry De Peretti’s Apaches and Caroline Link’s [link...

Concerns are growing for Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof who had his passport confiscated and was banned from travelling outside of his native Iran by local authorities in September.

Some eight weeks later, Rasoulof remains blocked in Iran.

The director failed to make it to Los Angeles for the screening of his political thriller Manuscripts Don’t Burn (pictured) at the AFI Fest earlier this week and is also expected to be a no-show at the Stockholm International Film Festival (November 6-17).

Staff and guests at Stockholm – including Us actor Sean Gullette and Swedish director Tarik Saleh – stood blindfolded outside the Iranian embassy in Stockholm on Tuesday (November 12) protesting Rasoulof’s travel ban.

The blindfolds referenced a scene in Rasoulof’s Manuscripts Don’t Burn about a political prisoner who manages to secretly write his memoirs despite being under the constant surveillance of state security apparatus.

“We want to show that it is unacceptable to prevent filmmakers, artists...

Concerns are growing for Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof who had his passport confiscated and was banned from travelling outside of his native Iran by local authorities in September.

Some eight weeks later, Rasoulof remains blocked in Iran. The director failed to make it to Los Angeles for the screening of his political thriller Manuscripts Don’t Burn (pictured) at the AFI Fest earlier this week and is also expected to be a no-show at the Stockholm International Film Festival, running November 6-17.

Members of the Stockholm jury – including Us actor Sean Gullette and Swedish director Tarik Saleh – stood blindfolded outside the Iranian embassy in Stockholm on Tuesday protesting Rasoulof’s travel ban.

The blindfolds referenced a scene in Rasoulof’s Manuscripts Don’t Burn about a political prisoner who manages to secretly write his memoirs despite being under the constant surveillance of state security apparatus.

“We want to show that it is unacceptable to prevent filmmakers, artists...

Laila Marrakchi's family drama "Rock the Casbah," starring screen legend Omar Sharif, is among the titles picked to compete for the festival's Muhr Arab competition plaudit.

London -- Laila Marrakchi's family drama Rock the Casbah, the follow-up to the filmmaker's Marock, is one of a slew of titles to be scheduled to unspool as part of the 10th edition the Muhr Arab competition strand at the upcoming Dubai International Film Festival (Diff).

Marrakchi's movie features some of the Arab world’s most acclaimed actors including Hiam Abbass, Nadine Labaki, Lubna Azabal, Morjana Alaoui and icon Omar Sharif.

The film is set over three days in Tangiers, Morocco and revolves around the revelations and reconciliations between three sisters during a family gathering for the funeral of patriarch, Moulay Hassan (Sharif).

Story: Sean Gullette's Directorial Debut to Premiere at Dubai International Film Festival

Festival organizers also said award-winning Moroccan filmmaker Hicham...

Odd List Ryan Lambie Simon Brew 14 Nov 2013 - 06:19

The overlooked greats of the year 1998 come under the spotlight in our list of its 25 underappreciated movies...

Dominated as it was by the financial success of two giant killer asteroid movies, gross-out comedy hit There's Something About Mary and Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, 1998 proved to be an extraordinary year for cinema.

Okay, so history doesn't look back too fondly on Roland Emmerich's mishandled Godzilla remake, and Lethal Weapon 4 was hardly the best buddy-cop flick ever made, despite its handsome profit. But search outside the top-10 grossing films of that year, and you'll find all kinds of spectacular modern classics: Peter Weir's wonderful The Truman Show, John Frankenheimer's rock-solid thriller Ronin, and Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line.

Then there was The Big Lebowski, the Coen brothers' sublime comedy that has since become a deserved and oft-quoted cult favourite.

Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave to open festival; director Peter Greenaway to receive Visionary Award.Scroll down for full line-up

Steve McQueen’s historic drama 12 Years a Slave is to open the Stockholm International Film Festival (Nov 6-17) and is nominated in the Stockholm Xxiv Competition.

Starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, the drama about free black man kidnapped from his family and sold into slavery in the 1850s debuted at Telluride and has received positive reactions throughout its festival tour of Toronto, New York and London among others.

It will be released in Sweden on Dec 20 by Ab Svensk Filmindustri.

Screenwriter John Ridley, who will be present during the festival, is nominated for the Aluminum Horse in the category Best Script.

McQueen’s Hunger won Best Directorial Debut at Stockholm in 2008.

Line-up

The 24th Siff includes more than 180 films from more than 50 countries.

As previously announced, the spotlight of this year’s festival is freedom but Chinese artist...

★★★★☆ American director Darren Aronofsky has long probed minds caught in the vice-like grip of obsession; from the entropic addiction of Requiem for a Dream (2000) to the compulsive performers of The Wrestler (2008) and Black Swan (2010). His own personal preoccupation was evident from provocative debut film Pi (1998), which receives a 15th Anniversary Blu-ray release this week. Far more than a mere calling-card, it's a challenging and thought-provoking psychological thriller set within the unpredictably murky world of mathematics and the imperceptible line between genius and insanity.

Max (Sean Gullette) is a reclusive number theorist living behind a heavily locked door in a cramped apartment. He's a paranoid, agitated man who suffers from regular nose-bleeds and excruciating headaches, but his brilliance saw him receive his doctorate at just twenty. In between taking medication, he searches for the number pattern behind life itself. By understanding the mathematical patterns of nature (through studying the stock market...

The 10th anniversary of the Venice Film Festival's independent Venice Days sidebar announced their program, which will be nestled inside the 70th anniversary of Venice itself. Over the past decade the program has offered up many notable premieres, including Sarah Polley's "Stories We Tell" last year, as well as Ramin Bahrani's "Man Push Cart," Denis Villeneuve's "Incendies," Jean-Marc Vallee's "C.R.A.Z.Y." and Hubert Sauper's "Darwin's Nightmare." This year, 12 films will follow in their footsteps in a lineup that's unusually American-centric, which is partly due to a partnership the program made with the Tribeca Film Festival for this year. That partnership saw Tribeca choose a U.S. title to screen at the event (and then Venice will do the same at Tribeca). That film was Josh and Benny Safdie’s documentary "Lenny Cooke," which joins U.S. entries like Sean Gullette’s “Traitors,” John Krokidas's "Kill Your Darlings,...

The tenth edition of Venice Days has announced its lineup of 12 films in the official selection, three special events, two shorts in Women’s Tales and two special screenings (pre-opening and closing night).

Venice Days is presided over by Roberto Barzanti and directed by Giorgio Gosetti.

Official Selection

Alienation by Milko Lazarov (Bulgaria), world premiere, first film

A dialogue-light contemporary fairytale about a lost generation, seen through a middle aged man crossing the border between Greece and Bulgaria, collecting a child for illegal adoption.

La Belle Vie by Jean Denizot (France) world premiere, first film

Based on the true story of a French father who takes his two sons on the run.

Bethlehem by Yuval Adler (Israel) world premiere, first film

A political thriller about an Israeli secret service officer and a Palestinian informant.

Gerontophilia by Bruce Labruce (Canada) world premiere

A modern romantic comedy about an 18 year old who bonds with an 82 year old.

Kill Your Darlings by [link...

The tenth edition of Venice Days has announced its lineup of 12 films in the official selection, three special events, two shorts in Women’s Tales and two special screenings (pre-opening and closing night).

Venice Days is presided over by Roberto Barzanti and directed by Giorgio Gosetti.

Official Selection

Alienation by Milko Lazarov (Bulgaria), world premiere, first film

A dialogue-light contemporary fairytale about a lost generation, seen through a middle aged man crossing the border between Greece and Bulgaria, collecting a child for illegal adoption.

La Belle Vie by Jean Denizot (France) world premiere, first film

Based on the true story of a French father who takes his two sons on the run.

Bethlehem by Yuval Adler (Israel) world premiere, first film

A political thriller about brothers in the West Bank.

Gerontophilia by Bruce Labruce (Canada) world premiere

A modern romantic comedy about an 18 year old who bonds with an 82 year old.

Kill Your Darlings by [link...

The tenth edition of Venice Days has announced its lineup of 12 films in the official selection, three special events, two shorts in Women’s Tales and two special screenings (pre-opening and closing night).

Venice Days is presided over by Roberto Barzanti and directed by Giorgio Gosetti.

Official Selection

Alienation by Milko Lazarov (Bulgaria), world premiere, first film

A dialogue-light contemporary fairytale about a lost generation, seen through a middle aged man crossing the border between Greece and Bulgaria, collecting a child for illegal adoption.

La Belle Vie by Jean Denizot (France) world premiere, first film

Based on the true story of a French father who takes his two sons on the run.

Bethlehem by Yuval Adler (Israel) world premiere, first film

A political thriller about brothers in the West Bank.

Gerontophilia by Bruce Labruce (Canada) world premiere

A modern romantic comedy about an 18 year old who bonds with an 82 year old.

Kill Your Darlings by [link...

Moments before the Toronto Int. Film Festival makes their first wave announcement of 70 plus titles, Venice Days (which several in the industry equate to Venice’s answer to Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight) have announced their line-up of twelve competing films with a slew of special screenings. Among the familiar items we find a pair from Sundance in John Krokidas’ Kill Your Darlings and Cherien Dabis’ May In The Summer seemingly receiving their international premieres. The North American strong section also includes the world preems in Bruce Labruce’s Montreal-shot (see pic above) Gerontophilia, Sean Gullette’s (expanded short into feature length film) Traitors, and the India-Canadian co-production of Richie Mehta’s Siddharth (the tale of a chain-wallah who travels across India in search of his missing son) which on papers comes across as a more potent version of fantasy film Slumdog Millionaire. Also from the U.S. and part of the growing trend of festival-pairing,...

Scott Steindorff’s Scott Pictures, an affiliate of Stone Village Productions, has launched a new international sales company, Scott Pictures International (Spi) under a unique and exclusive three year partnership with leading sales agent Exclusive Media, it was announced today by Steindorff, Chairman of Spi and Alex Walton, President of International Sales and Distribution for Exclusive Media.

Exclusive Media will handle the international sales and servicing for all Scott Pictures. theatrical feature film productions under this new separate Spi label.

Production and financing company Scott Pictures anticipates producing between 3 . 5 major feature films per year and those will be serviced under the deal. The first film to be announced is the Natalie Portman starrer Jane Got A Gun, to be directed by Lynne Ramsay (We Need To Talk About Kevin) from a script by Brian Duffield. Steindorff and banker Peter Nathanial will finance and produce the action movie with Portman through...

Emjag Productions, Stone Village, Battleplan Productions, Film 360 and Dro Entertainment announced today that the companies will jointly produce the psychological abduction thriller Land of the Living , with Scott Pictures -- Stone Village.s finance arm -- fully financing the film. Olivier Megaton ( Colombiana , Taken 2 ) will direct the film from a screenplay by Sean Gullette. The feature film, based on the best-selling British novel by Nicci French (the pseudonym of British husband-and-wife team Nicci Gerard and Sean French), will be produced by Emjag's Alexandra Milchan, Stone Village's Scott Steindorff, Battleplan Productions' Marc Frydman, Film 360's Scott Lambert and Dro Entertainment.s Peter Fruchtman. Stone Village's Dylan Russell and Scott Lastaiti will executive produce...

Olivier Megaton ("Colombiana," "Taken 2") has signed on to direct the abduction thriller "Land Of The Living" for Scott Pictures says Deadline.

Sean Gullette has penned the adaptation of the British novel by Nicci French which follows a young Los Angeles advertising executive who is abducted. She escapes and tracks down her would-be killer on her own.

Alexandra Milchan, Scott Steindorff, Marc Frydman, Scott Lambert and Peter Fruchtman will produce. Shooting is expected to kick off in January.

Olivier Megaton (Columbiana, Taken 2) has just about the coolest name I've ever encountered, and as its presence in an article renders everything that comes after utterly uninteresting I'll keep this short.  Megaton has signed on to direct an adaptation of the novel Land Of The Living as scripted by Sean Gullette (Pi), the story of which deals with "Abbie Devereaux, a young advertising executive who is abducted on the streets of Los Angeles, manages to escape and --with almost...

After recently wrapping the Liam Neeson sequel “Taken 2,” it appears the wonderfully-named director Olivier Megaton (“Transporter 3”) has been bitten by the abduction genre bug, and has quickly set up plans for another similar thriller, this time located on the streets of Los Angeles.

Emjag Productions, Stone Village, Battleplan Productions, Film 360 and Dro Entertainment announced today that Megaton will direct the independent actioner “Land of the Living,” scripted by Sean Gullette and based off the British novel by Nicci French (the pseudonym for husband-and-wife duo Nicci Gerard and Sean French). The film follows a young female ad exec, Abbie Devereaux, who is abducted on L.A. streets and manages to escape without police intervention, and finds herself - surprise, surprise - eager to inflict some much-wanted retribution upon her would-be killer.

It may come as a shock, but Luc Besson's name is nowhere near this project, although Megaton's previous film,...

With his many proteges, Luc Besson has created a network of directors that churn out action vehicles with every turn. Back in 2008, his Transporter franchise was handed over to one Olivier Megaton for the third entry. The director then went on to helm the Zoe Saldana actioner Colombiana and his upcoming film sees him commanding Liam Neeson for Taken 2. Now he’s set to helm a feature that’s somewhat smaller in scope, Variety reports.

Megaton has signed on to direct an adaptation of Nicci French‘s novel Land of the Living, with a script by Sean Gullette (Pi). One can see the synopsis below via Amazon for the abduction thriller, but this one could fall into very generic territory judging from those few sentences. Megaton’s last effort was over-produced and mindless, so here’s hoping narrowing his scope will reap benefits.

After Abbie Devereaux escapes a kidnapper,...

Olivier Megaton will direct "Land of the Living," an abduction thriller written by Sean Gullette. Emjag Productions, Stone Village, Battleplan productions, Film 360 and Dro Entertainment are all jointly producing. Megaton, whose directing credits include "The Transporter 3" and "Colombiana," should start shooting in January 2013. The film is based on a best-selling British novel penned by Nicci French, the pseudonym of husband and wife team Nicci Gerard and Sean French. Read more: Review: Unintentionally Campy 'Colombiana' Should Be Titled 'Panty Assassin' It chronicles Abbie Devereaux, a young advertising executive abducted in Los Angeles who...

Olivier Megaton will direct Land of the Living, a thriller from Emjag Productions, Stone Village, Battleplan Productions, Film 360 and Dro Entertainment. Stone Village’s finance arm Scott Pictures will fully finance the abduction thriller, which is eyeing a January 2013 start. Living tells the story of a young advertising executive who is abducted on the streets of Los Angeles, manages to escape and tracks down her would-be killer. Sean Gullette wrote the script, which is based on a best-selling British novel by Nicci French, the pseudonym of British husband-and-wife team Nicci Gerard and Sean French. Emjag's Alexandra Milchan,

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Taken 2 helmer Olivier Megaton will direct Land Of The Living, an abduction thriller scripted by Sean Gullette. It’s an adaptation of the British novel by Nicci French (the pseudonym of British husband-and-wife team Nicci Gerard and Sean French). The film will be produced by Emjag’s Alexandra Milchan, Stone Village’s Scott Steindorff, Battleplan Productions’ Marc Frydman, Film 360′s Scott Lambert, and Dro Entertainment’s Peter Fruchtman. Stone Village’s Dylan Russell and Scott Lastaiti will executive produce the film. Shooting is expected to begin in January 2013. Scott Pictures — Stone Village’s finance arm — is fully financing the film, which tells the story of Abbie Devereaux, a young advertising executive who is abducted on the streets of Los Angeles, manages to escape and — with almost no help from the police — tracks down her would-be killer.

If you're in with Darren Aronofsky, you're certainly in our good books. The writer-director has a keen eye for talent, shining a light on names like Sean Gullette, Clint Mansell, Matthew Libatique and Robert D. Siegel. And let's not forget the revitalization of Mickey Rourke. A recent addition to the Aronofsky stable has been screenwriter Mark Heyman ("Black Swan"), who's now teaming with Lionsgate for his latest script, "Xoxo," a Facebook-relationship thriller surely hoping to emulate the success of "The Social Network" and "Catfish." The story is described as the digital age's "Fatal Attraction" and follows a young executive on-the-rise,…...

The 2011 New York Film Festival has announced its two shorts programs, totaling 13 films. They include Stephen Kang's "Blue," which won the Grand Prix from Cannes Critics Week and "The Great Gatsby in Five Minutes," Michael Almereyda's adaptation of the novel, set in contemporary Los Angeles. Also of note is "Traitors," the half-hour directing debut of actor Sean Gullette, who may be best known as the lead in Darren ...