News

Exclusive: Kal Penn (Designated Survivor), Booboo Stewart (X-Men: Days of Future Past), and Nicole Elizabeth Berger (Runt) are attached to headline Contra, the directorial debut of Emmy nominated producer Artisha Mann-Cooper (Eyes in the Trees).

The thriller follows a streetwise chess prodigy pulled into a brutal underground circuit where every match is a deadly gamble. As the stakes escalate, he faces off against hustlers, criminals, and a ruthless kingpin who dominates both the board and the streets.

Production begins in mid-May on the film, based on an original screenplay by chess specialists Jerry Stokes and Ahyende Sandy, with additional writing by Garett Ratcliff and Luke Genton.

Sasha Yelaun (The Old Way), Jeremy O’Keefe (Eyes in the Trees), Burns Burns (Sympathy for the Devil) of Wooden Dice Productions, Damon H Chung (Ai Love You), and Nick Theurer (The Bay) will produce alongside Ryutaro Sato in a co-production with Overgrown Productions.

Galen Christy...

The melancholy story of the brief affair between a black soldier and a white waitress in Paris circa 1967, The Story of a Three-Day Pass was Melvin Van Peebles’s first feature length film. Filmed over six weeks at the cost of 200,000, the movie stars Harry Baird and Nicole Berger (Thérèse in Truffaut’s Shoot the Piano Player) as the star-crossed lovers.

The post The Story of a Three-Day Pass appeared first on Trailers From Hell.

Jules Dassin’s powerful picture was a hit in Europe but remained mostly obscure here, despite featuring the great Melina Mercouri and a score of Continental stars. Adapted by two blacklistees in exile it doesn’t try to hide its revolutionary aims — Nikos Kazantzakis’s uncompromised storyline places The Church as a main obstruction to social progress, justice, and life & liberty. It’s no wonder it wasn’t ‘movie of the week’ in 1957. It’s been beautifully remastered at its original CinemaScope width, uncut.

He Who Must Die

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1957 / B&w / 2:35 widescreen / 128 122 min. / Street Date September 6, 2022 / Celui qui doit mourir / Available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Jean Servais, Carl Möhner, Grégoire Aslan, Gert Fröbe, René Lefèvre, Lucien Raimbourg, Melina Mercouri, Roger Hanin, Pierre Vaneck, Nicole Berger, Maurice Ronet, Fernand Ledoux.

Cinematography: Gilbert Chain, Jacques Natteau

Production Designer: Max Douy

Film Editors: Roger Dwyre, Pierre Gillette

Original Music: Georges Auric

Written by Ben Barzman,...

1091 Pictures has just released the new trailer for the teen thriller Runt, starring the late Cameron Boyce. The trailer shows a troubled and bullied kid who has had enough of other teens' harassment and decides to take matters into his own hands. When his parents fail to help him, he has no other choice.

The official synopsis reads, "Runt tells the story of a group of neglected and misguided high-school seniors who are pulled into a downward cycle of violence when the adults in their lives fail them. Cameron Boyce portrays Cal, a high-school teenager, who after a troubling incident takes a stand, resulting in devastating consequences."

The thriller stars Boyce, the late star of Disney Channel's Descendants franchise/ HBO's Mrs. Fletcher), alongside co-stars Nicole Elizabeth Berger (Clover), Aramis Knight (Into The Badlands), Brianna Hildebrand (Deadpool 1 & 2), Cyrus Arnold (Run Hide Fight), Jason Patric (The Vanished), Charlie Gillespie (Julie...

Updated with trailer, release date: 1091 Pictures has set an October 1 release date for Runt, the indie drama that stars Cameron Boyce, the star of Disney Channel’s Descendants franchise and HBO’s Mrs. Fletcher who died in July 2019 at the age 20 following an epileptic seizure.

The film, directed and co-written by William Coakley, centers on a group of neglected and misguided high school seniors who are pulled into a downward cycle of violence when the adults in their lives fail them. Boyce portrays Cal, who after a troubling incident takes a stand, resulting in devastating consequences.

1091 acquired the film in June. It will be released on VOD and digital platforms October 19.

Check out the trailer above.

Previous Exclusive, June 1: 1091 Pictures has acquired North American distribution rights to Runt, with plans for a day and date release, in theaters and on VOD, this fall.

The first feature from William...

1091 Pictures have acquired the rights to distribute Cameron Boyce's final film Runt in North American territories. The studio will set a day and date for theatrical release, and will also oversee its release on Video-On-Demand, sometime this Fall.

Runt is the final film and on-screen appearance of actor Cameron Boyce, who passed away in July 2019, at the young age of 20. Boyce, who famously starred as Carlos, son of Cruella de Vil in Disney's musical fantasy Descendants and its sequel, suffered an epileptic seizure, which resulted in his sudden passing.

Runt is directed by Will Coakley in his directorial debut and will star a young cast featuring Boyce, Brianna Hildebrand, Nicole Elizabeth Berger, and Aramis Knight alongside Jason Patric, The film focuses on a teenage boy Cal (Cameron Boyce), who, due to extensive bullying and lack of adult support succumbs to self-destruction, pain, depression, and extinguished moral compass.

The...

Cameron Boyce’s final film “Runt” will hit theaters this Fall after 1091 Pictures acquired the North American rights to the feature thriller, the distributor announced Tuesday.

Nicole Elizabeth Berger, Aramis Knight, Cyrus Arnold, Jason Patric and Tichina Arnold also star in the directorial debut of William Coakley, based on a script by Coakley, Christian Van Gregg, and Armand Constantine.

“Runt” made its world premiere at the 2020 Mammoth Film Festival where it received a standing ovation and the Audience Award. Boyce plays a high-school teenager who after a troubling incident takes a stand, which brings devastating consequences. The film tells a story of a group of neglected and misguided teenagers and addresses topics like bullying, unsupervised youth and the senselessness of violence.

“Cameron was incredibly proud of this film. We believe his powerful performance will resonate deeply with all of his fans,” Boyce’s parents, Victor and Libby Boyce, said in a statement.

"Am I dreaming?" "I see the whole world in your eyes." Gravitas has released an official trailer for an indie feature titled The Place of No Words, made by actor / filmmaker Mark Webber, which first premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival last year. This deeply personal film stars real-life couple Mark Webber and Teresa Palmer, and their son Bodhi Palmer. The film explores the unanswerable question "where do we go when we die?" posed by three-year-old Bohdi and takes them on an imaginative adventure that explores how we cope with dying, and the love, laughter, and pain we can find within it. The original title of this was Freeka Reeka Sheeka Deeka and the Big Battle in the Forest, which is kind of awesome, but it makes sense for them to choose something different. Also starring Eric Christian Olsen, Nicole Elizabeth Berger, Anna Schafer, Phoebe Tonkin, and Sarah Wright. I've...

Exclusive: Gravitas Ventures has acquired North American rights to The Place of No Words, the fantasy-reality drama written and directed by Mark Webber and starring Webber, his real-life wife Teresa Palmer and their son Bodhi Palmer.

The pic, which originally premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival, will now be released in theaters and on demand on October 23.

Continuing Webber’s aesthetic of using elements from his real life to enhance his storytelling, he again has cast his own family members. The pic begins as Bodhi, age 3, asks “Where do we go when we die?” It launches his real family on an adventure that moves between the real world and a fantasy realm filled with mythical creatures to explore how we cope with dying, and the love, laughter and pain we can find within it.

Nicole Elizabeth Berger plays the fairy Esmeralda.

Byron Allen’s Freestyle Releasing handles North American rights.

Los Angeles-based Bleiberg/Dimbort has acquired international sales rights to the comedic crime thriller Clover starring Ron Perlman and Chazz Palminteri.

The company will introduce the ensemble film to buyers in the run-up to the autumn festival markets. Byron Allen’s Freestyle Releasing handles the North American release.

Jon Abrahams directed Clover, in which he stars alongside Mark Webber as two bumbling Irish twins who resort to extreme measures to pay off their father’s debt to a local mob boss.

Things go from bad to worse when the titular tough...

(l-r) Jon Abrahams and Nicole Elizabeth Berger in Clover. Photo courtesy of Freestyle Digital Media.

Clover is a crime action/comedy about a couple of Irish American brothers on the run from a Italian American crime boss, in the company of a precocious girl named Clover. The girl is there to make us think of Kick Ass, but Clover mines a host of other films in the crime action/comedy genre, pretty much to a fault. While the tropes are familiar, Clover puts them together well enough to present a serviceable popcorn entertainment for some audiences. It’s no Snatch, but it might do in a pinch for an afternoon of stay-at-home distraction, if you don’t expect too much..

Clover is not as clever as it thinks it is but it benefits from a strong cast, who provide much of the reason to watch it. Directed by Jon Abrahams...

There are more than enough streaming and VOD titles of all genres in the specialty arena making their debut this weekend as they shift from theatrical to streaming for your quarantine entertainment. For those who need to quench their thirst for a rom-com, Mike Doyle’s Almost Love is set to premiere.

The Vertical Entertainment film made its debut in 2019 at Toronto’s Lgbtq film fest Inside Out and already took a bow in the UK in March under the title Sell By. Now, audiences stateside can stream the ensemble pic starring Scott Evans.

More from Deadline'Resistance' Pivots To Digital Release, 'Tape' Sets Virtual Premiere, Kino Lorber And Music Box Films Launch Online Exhibitions - Specialty Streaming PreviewCoping With Covid-19 Crisis: Hard-Hit Publicists Fight To Survive In The Ashes Of CancellationsSearchlight, A24, Focus Features Alter Release Slate; 'Dosed', 'Human Capital' And More Shift Theatrical Plans - Specialty Box Office

The...

The mobster comedy is by now such familiar terrain that it ought to have its own nickname, and that familiarity does not make breathing new life into the subgenre easier. Alas, there isn’t much fresh air to be had in “Clover,”

Despite a capable cast and reasonably energetic execution from director Jon Abrahams, this violent caper lacks any real wit or novelty (beyond congratulating itself a bit too much for including a lesbian couple as “hitmen”), ultimately leaning on tired stereotypes rather than doing anything particularly clever with them. Launching on various cable and digital platforms April 3, it’s a just-passable entertainment that may seem better to those who think “Boondock Saints” is an enduring classic.

You can certainly sense that lowbrow cult favorite’s influence in the dynamic between the brothers Callahan, two orphaned “micks” in an unnamed East Coast city running their family’s corner bar. Or at least they were,...

There’s not much new ground covered in Jon Abrahams’ amiable “Clover,” which stuffs a slew of familiar character tropes — bickering Irish brothers, nattily-dressed mafia types, hardened guns-for-hire — into an overcooked crime caper that’s less about evil deeds and more about the people who do them. Yet Abrahams, who also stars in the film, has at least one thing down for his sophomore turn behind the camera: top-notch casting, the kind that can spice up even the blandest of projects. Fortunately for the fledgling filmmaker, “Clover” is

Abrahams and fellow multi-hyphenate Mark Webber star as a pair of down-on-their-luck Buffalo brothers, in debt to a local mobster (Chazz Palminteri — see? this thing practically casts itself) who cooks up a harsh plan for them to start chipping away at what they owe. It involves roughing up some other debtors, and turning tail on the other low-lives that skulk around the...

"Get them, before they get us!" Freestyle Digital has unveiled an official trailer for an indie mob thriller called Clover, just Clover (san -field), from actor / director Jon Abrahams. Two Irish brothers owe money to the wrong guy at the wrong time. While they go on the run trying to pull together the money, they become burdened with a teen girl and hunted by assassins they don't know are following their every move. Clover stars Jon Abrahams, Mark Webber, Nicole Elizabeth Berger, Chazz Palminteri, Ron Perlman, Julia Jones, Jessica Szohr, Michael Godere, Jake Webber, Erika Christensen, as well as Tichina Arnold. "The unexpected trio of Jackie, Mickey and Clover make for a modern twist on an American crime film - mixed with elements of dark comedy." This doesn't look so great, too much comedy not enough crime. Here's the first official trailer (+ two posters) for Jon Abrahams' Clover, direct from...

In today’s film news roundup, Rachel Brosnahan will try science-fiction, documentaries about Herb Alpert and Sasha Joseph Neulinger find homes, and Cameron Boyce’s “Runt” gets a premiere.

Casting

Rachel Brosnahan will star with Anthony Ramos in Amblin Partners’ upcoming comedic sci-fi film “Distant.”

Will Speck and Josh Gordon will direct from Spenser Cohen’s script about an asteroid miner who crash-lands on an alien planet and must contend with the challenges of his new surroundings while making his way across the harsh terrain to the only other survivor – a woman who is trapped in her escape pod.

Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, Fred Berger and Anna Halberg will produce. Speck and Gordon will also serve as executive producers, along with Jonathan Rothbart and Matt Hirsch.

Brosnahan has won an Emmy, two Golden Globes and two SAG Awards for her performance as “Miriam ‘Midge’ Maisel” in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” The news...

It wasn’t wise to borrow money from local mobster Tony Davolio (Chazz Palminteri), but brothers Mickey (Jon Abrahams) and Jackie (Mark Webber) didn’t have a choice. Running a bar isn’t easy these days and the added pressure of trying to keep one afloat after generations of family ownership forces their hands to make a deal with the Devil. After a shared history allows for a single extension on payment without increasing the vig, Jackie decides to gamble what they owe (recouped in full) the night before their deadline in hopes of easy profit. As Mickey (and many others) soon explains, however, thinking has never been that sibling’s strong suit. So how do we meet these two? Escorted empty-handed to Tony’s lair, their fate all but sealed.

Screenwriter Michael Testone does give them one more out, though. If the brothers go with Tony’s son Joey...

The Place of No Words Review The Place of No Words (2019) Film Review from the 18th Annual Tribeca Film Festival, a movie directed by Mark Webber, starring Nicole Elizabeth Berger, Eric Christian Olsen, Bodhi Palmer, Teresa Palmer, Anna Schafer, Phoebe Tonkin, Mark Webber, and Sarah Wright. How can a three-year-old possibly be such a good actor? It helps when his [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: The Place Of No Words: An Emotionally-difficult but Worthwhile Film [Tribeca 2019]...

""Where do we go when we die?" That's the question at the heart of this. One film from this year's Tribeca Film Festival that we're keeping a close eye on is actor / director Mark Webber's latest feature, The Place of No Words. This deeply personal film stars real-life couple Mark Webber and Teresa Palmer, and their son Bodhi Palmer. The film examines that unanswerable question posed by three-year-old Bohdi and takes them on an imaginative adventure that explores how we cope with dying, and the love, laughter, and pain we can find within it. The original title of this was Freeka Reeka Sheeka Deeka and the Big Battle in the Forest, which is kind of awesome, but it makes sense for them to choose something different now. Also starring Eric Christian Olsen, Nicole Elizabeth Berger, Anna Schafer, Phoebe Tonkin, and Sarah Wright. This looks fantastic! I'm a big, big...

The 18th edition of Tribeca Film Festival will get underway next month, featuring 103 films from 124 filmmakers, with 50% women-directed films in the three competition sections. Highlights include world premieres directed by Abel Ferrara, Werner Herzog, Christoph Waltz, as well as films by Sebastian Schipper, Mary Harron, Peter Strickland, and Andrew Ahn.

Check out the lineup below for the festival taking place April 24 – May 5.

U.S. Narrative Competition

Tribeca’s U.S. Narrative Competition showcases extraordinary work from breakout independent voices and distinguished filmmaking talent. These ten world premieres will vie for the Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Actor, and Best Actress. Last year, the award for Best Narrative Feature went to Kent Jones’ Diane while Jeffrey Wright was awarded Best Actor for his role in O.G. Other previous films from this section include Reed Morano’s Meadowland (2015), Ingrid Jungermann’s Women Who Kill (2016), and...

In today’s film news roundup, Jon M. Chu is honored by union publicists, Melissa McCarthy is honored by the Palm Springs Film Festival and the film “Ali’s Realm” gets a cast.

Publicists Honor

Hollywood publicists have selected “Crazy Rich Asians” director Jon M. Chu as recipient of the Motion Picture Showman of the Year Award.

He will be presented the award at the 56th Annual International Cinematographers Guild’s Publicists Awards for his unique contribution to the art of movies. The awards, which traditionally occur the week leading up to the Academy Awards, will be held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Feb. 22.

Steven Poster, national president of the Icg, said, “Jon M. Chu has made an extraordinary contribution to the art of filmmaking. His ‘Crazy Rich Asians,’ adored by audiences throughout the world, is the first studio modern day film to feature an all-Asian cast in a quarter of a century.

In today’s film news roundup, Paramount has moved “What Men Want” back four weeks, a short film will be screened ahead of John Cho’s “Searching” and coming-of-age drama “Runt” rounds out its cast.

Release Date

Paramount Pictures has moved back its Taraji P. Henson comedy “What Men Want” back a month from Jan. 11 to Feb. 8.

The move came a week after Lionsgate vacated the February date by moving its Seth Rogen-Charlize Theron comedy “Flarsky” to the summer season.

“What Men Want” is a remake of the Mel Gibson comedy “What Women Want.” Henson stars as sports agent who, after being passed up for a well-deserved promotion, gains the ability to hear men’s thoughts. The movie, directed by Adam Shankman, also stars Aldis Hodge and Tracy Morgan.

“What Women Want,” directed by Nancy Meyers, was a major hit for Paramount with $374 million in worldwide grosses.

Youtube Contest

Aneesh Chaganty,...

Exclusive: Young actress Nicole Elizabeth Berger has been cast as the lead opposite Cameron Boyce in indie, Runt, along with Jason Patric, Brianna Hildebrand, Tichina Arnold and Aramis Knight. William Coakley will direct the film, which is set to go before cameras this month in Los Angeles.

Described as a teenage dramatic thriller, the storyline follows high-school teenagers – artistic-loner Cal (Boyce) and lone-wolf, principled Cecily (Berger). Cal lusts after “hot girl” Gabriella (Hildebrand), while he is being bullied by her boyfriend, Vic (Knight), and his group of goons and jocks. Coach Wilkes (Patric), the Principal (Arnold) and Spanish teacher Talley (Mitch Silpa) – the adult figures at the high school – repeatedly fail the kids that they should be helping. With the insights of Cecily, Cal finds himself making pivotal life...

Producer Richard Guay announced the cast of the upcoming crime drama Clover. Jon Abrahams (Meet the Parents), who will also direct, will star alongside Mark Webber (Green Room), Nicole Elizabeth Berger (All At Once), Erika Christensen (Parenthood), Julia Jones (Wind River), Jessica Szohr (Gossip Girl), and Jake Weber. Ron Perlman (Sons of Anarchy) and Academy Award Nominee Chazz Palminteri (Bullets Over Broadway) will also star. The film, a production of Virtuoso Films…...