News

Roger Frappier, one of the Bafta-winning producers of Jane Campion’s The Power Of The Dog, is in Cannes talking to potential partners about a feature adaptation of Canadian novel The Orange Grove.

Rising Arab filmmaker Murad Abu Eisheh is set to write and direct, and has joined Frappier in Cannes this week to discuss the project with financiers, actors, distributors and sales agents ahead of a planned shoot in 2025.

The story is based on the 2013 novel by Larry Tremblay and centres on a Middle Eastern theatre understudy whose chance to go on stage triggers memories of his war-torn childhood...

Hayley Law and Keith Powers are set to star in actor Avan Jogia’s debut feature, Door Mouse, which just wrapped production in Canada.

Also starring Famke Janssen and Donal Logue, the neo-noir thriller centers on a woman named Mouse (Law) who is stuck in a dead-end job, doing nothing with her life and going nowhere. Mouse works at Mama’s Burlesque Club all night, where her boss Mama (Janssen) encourages her to pursue her real passion of making comics. When a friend from work named Doe-Eyes goes missing and the cops do nothing about it, Mouse and her sidekick Ugly (Powers) take it upon themselves to find out what happened to her. What they discover is that corruption runs deep, monsters are real, and that sometimes, justice is meant...

Telefilm Canada, Northern Ontario Heritage Fund, Ontario Creates contributed to funding.

Production has wrapped in Canada on Highland Film Group sales title Door Mouse, the neo noir thriller starring Hayley Law, Keith Powers, Famke Janssen, and Donal Logue.

Actor Avan Jogia (Zombieland sequel) makes his feature writing and directing debut on the film about Mouse, a woman in a dead-end job at a burlesque club whose boss encourages her to pursue her passion for making comics.

When a friend from work goes missing, Mouse and her sidekick Ugly take it upon themselves to find out what happened and uncover corruption.

Joseph Baxter Jan 18, 2019

Fiber-optic cable line is the method by which Jesse Eisenberg and Alexander Skarsgard cheat the stock market in The Hummingbird Project.

The Hummingbird Project presents itself as a quasi-comedic modern-age heist drama of sorts. The film follows the quixotic quest of two ne’er-do-wells played by Jesse Eisenberg and Alexander Skarsgård in their attempt to gain an (obviously-illegal) advantage in the stock market by secretly laying high-speed fiber-optic cable halfway across the country, which would yield a valuable millisecond chronological edge in the day-trading arena.

The film, the written and directorial creation of indie auteur Kim Nguyen, premiered at the 2018 Toronto Film Festival, and is gearing up for its wide release debut, distributed by The Orchard.

The Hummingbird Project Trailer Video of The Hummingbird Project (2019) | Official Us Trailer HD

The trailer for The Hummingbird Project showcases a levity-laced tale that spotlights a rarely-acknowledged dirt-covered aspect of the Internet,...

"They're trying to screw us! I'm going to tear you down..." The Orchard has debuted the first official trailer for an indie drama titled The Hummingbird Project, which already premiered at the Toronto and Vancouver Film Festivals last fall, arriving in Us theaters this March. You don't want to sleep on this one. The film is the latest from Quebecois filmmaker Kim Nguyen, a thriller about two high-stakes traders with a plan to build a straight fiber-optic cable line between Kansas and New Jersey, so they can make millions. But of course it's easier said than done. The cast features Jesse Eisenberg, Alexander Skarsgård, Salma Hayek, Michael Mando, Johan Heldenbergh, Ayisha Issa, and Sarah Goldberg. This is described as a "modern epic" that "exposes the ruthless edge of our increasingly digital world." This looks totally wild and captivating, I'm very curious to watch. Dive right in. Here's the official trailer...

Everyone knows nerdy tech bros can’t be movie star handsome. That must be why, for his latest role as a guy building a new fiber-optic cable line to disrupt the stock exchange, Alexander Skarsgård had to go bald. At least it makes the Swedish actor more plausible to play cousin to Jesse Eisenberg, no offense to Eisenberg. Throw in a blonde Salma Hayek in aviator glasses, and color us intrigued.

In its newly released trailer, “The Hummingbird Project,” written and directed by Canadian filmmaker Kim Nguyen (“Two Lovers and a Bear”), promises high stakes comedy and biting indictments of our financial system. Think “The Big Short” meets “The Social Network,” but maybe not as good as that sounds.

The official synopsis reads: “Cousins from New York, Vincent (Eisenberg) and Anton (Skarsgård) are players in the high-stakes game of High-Frequency Trading, where winning is measured in milliseconds. Their dream? To...

Salma Hayek plays the nemesis to Alexander Skarsgard’s bald high-frequency trading scammer in this exclusive first look at the actress in The Hummingbird Project, from director Kim Nguyen (War Witch, Two Lovers and a Bear).

The film also stars Jesse Eisenberg. HanWay is showing first footage from the thriller in Berlin.

Written by Nguyen, The Hummingbird Project sees Eisenberg and Skarsgard play cousins who inhabit the high-stakes world of high-frequency trading and hatch a multimillion-dollar plan that involves plenty of danger if they fail. Hayek plays their arch-enemy, their brilliant but ruthless former boss.

The film — which...

Filmmaker Kim Nguyen has spent the last few years making an impression on arthouse circuit with films like “War Witch” and “Two Lovers And A Bear.” However, the director is now taking a step toward the mainstream with “The Hummingbird Project,” which is now in production.

Starring Jesse Eisenberg, Alexander Skarsgard, and Salma Hayek, the intriguing story follows ambitious cousins, who deal in the world of High Frequency Trading, who look to get a leg up on their competition by building a fibre-optic cable connection for their business.

Continue reading First Look: Jesse Eisenberg & Alexander Skarsgård In ‘The Hummingbird Project’ at The Playlist.

Salma Hayek is joining Jesse Eisenberg and Alexander Skarsgard in The Hummingbird Project, the next project from Kim Nguyen (War Witch, Two Lovers and a Bear), whose latest film Eye on Juliet will screen as a special presentation in Toronto.

Written by Nguyen, The Hummingbird Project will see Eisenberg and Skarsgard play cousins who inhabit the high-stakes world of high-frequency trading and hatch a multimillion-dollar plan that involves plenty of danger if they fail. Hayek will play their nemesis, their brilliant but ruthless former boss. 

The film, which was first introduced to buyers in Cannes by Hanway, who rep international sales...

A drone operator in Detroit who has just been dumped by his girlfriend adopts a North African girl who is about to be married off against her will as a long-distance pet project in Eye on Juliet, a surprisingly cliched and tone-deaf melodrama updated with some newish technology. This is director Kim Nguyen's second English-language film, after Dane DeHaan vehicle Two Lovers and a Bear from 2016, and like that film the setup and central conceit are promising but the storytelling is more often shaky than smooth. To make matters worse, the dark shadow of a white-savior complex hangs...

It's being reported today that Jesse Eisenberg (American Ultra, Zombieland) and Alexander Skarsgard (True Blood, The Legend Of Tarzan) are at the head of the pack to star in an upcoming drama set in the world of High Frequency Trading, where the winner of the deal is measured by a matter of nanoseconds. The project hails from Two Lovers And A Bear and War Witch helmer Kim Nyugen, who aims to... Read More...

Kim Nguyen is a celebrated filmmaker, but one whose achievements are mostly known on the arthouse circuit. If you’re a cinephile familiar with the Canadian director, then you’ll likely have heard of “War Witch” and his most recent effort, “Two Lovers And A Bear.” But now the director is going a bit more mainstream with tech thriller “The Hummingbird Project.”

Read More: Jesse Eisenberg To Write, Direct And Star In J.J.

Continue reading Jesse Eisenberg & Alexander Skarsgard To Star In ‘War Witch’ Director Kim Nguyen’s ‘The Hummingbird Project’ at The Playlist.

Jesse Eisenberg and Alexander Skarsgard are to topline The Hummingbird Project, an upcoming drama set in the high-stakes world of high frequency trading, where winning is measured in nanoseconds. 

Coming from Kim Nguyen (Two Lovers and a Bear, War Witch), the film will see the two play cousins who hope to make millions from a fiber-optic cable straight between Kansas and New Jersey. One the hustler, the other the brains, the two push all around them to breaking point, while a psychopathic trader and former boss will stop at nothing to see them fail. 

The Hummingbird Project is being produced...

Exclusive: War Witch and Two Lovers And A Bear director Kim Nguyen is prepping his follow-up, The Hummingbird Project, with Jesse Eisenberg and Alexander Skarsgard set to star in the high-speed drama. Written by Nguyen and produced by Pierre Even of Item 7 in Montreal, the project is exec produced by Brian Kavanaugh-Jones (Loving) and Fred Berger (La La Land) of Automatik. Production is slated to begin in Montreal in October with HanWay handling international sales. CAA…...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

Blow Out (Brian De Palma)

In a career fixated on the machinations of filmmaking presented through both a carnal and political eye, Brian De Palma’s fascinations converged idyllically with Blow Out. In his ode to the conceit of Blow Up — Michelangelo Antonioni’s deeply influential English-language debut, released 15 years prior — as well as the aural intrigue of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation, De Palma constructs a conspiracy...

Netflix has announced the list of films that will be available to stream next month. The list includes new never-before-seen original films and documentaries, as well as acclaimed animated films, some comedies and more classic titles.

1. “Don’t Think Twice” (available May 1)

2. “Inglourious Basterds” (available May 22)

3. “The Place Beyond the Pines” (available May 16)

4. “Southpaw” (available May 24)

5. “Lovesong” (available May 15)

6. “Hunter Gatherer” (available May 8)

7. “War Machine” (available May 26)

David Michôd’s adaptation of the book “The Operators: The Wild & Terrifying Inside Story of America’s War in Afghanistan” by the late journalist Michael Hastings, stars Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton and Ben Kingsley. The part reality, part parody film follows a U.S. General’s roller-coaster rise and fall.

Here’s the rest of the incoming films:

“In the Shadow of Iris” (available May 1)

“American Experience: The Big Burn” (available May 1)

“American Experience: The Boys of ’36” (available May 1)

“Anvil!

The Clone Club has gone Hollywood. (Okay, maybe only Crystal did.)

The cast and creators of “Orphan Black” hit PaleyFest on Thursday night at Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre for its first ever panel to look back on the past four seasons and hint at the fifth and final season. The night kicked off with more than just a hint though. The Paley audience was given an exclusive early screening of the Season 5 premiere.

Read More: ‘Funny or Die’ Skit: Watch ‘Orphan Black’ Star Tatiana Maslany Promote the Sexual Assault Survivor Utility Belt

It was the best 44 minutes of Helena scarfing down food that we’ve ever seen. We’re kidding, of course, but we’d totally watch that. In the interests of not spoiling the fifth season, we’ll just say that the premiere picks up where Season 4 left off. When last we left the sestras, Rachel (Tatiana Maslany) was...

A year after first premiering at South by Southwest, “The Other Half” is due in theaters this month. Starring real-life couple Tatiana Maslany (“Orphan Black”) and Tom Cullen (“Downton Abbey,” “Weekend”), the romantic drama concerns the bond that forms between a man in the throes of grief and a woman living with bipolar disorder. Watch an exclusive clip below.

Read More: ‘Orphan Black’ Will Premiere Its Final Season This Summer, But Too Late for Emmy Consideration

In it, Maslany and Cullen’s characters lie on the grass in a park and have a half-serious, half-joking conversation: “So is this just what you do?” she asks him. “Go from girl to girl to girl?” They begin to embrace as our field of vision gets blurred, an intimate moment that gets interrupted by a lewd question from a man nearby.

Read More: Tatiana Maslany Wins Emmy For Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

Diana Bentley,...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

Crimson Peak (Guillermo del Toro)

Crimson Peak works as many things: a melodramatic romance; both the recreation of a period and a revival of the way movies have made us perceive it; a genre-jumping comedy; and a critique of capitalistic excess. It does these things earnestly and without compromise, and it’s far braver — far more admirable — for having done so. What Guillermo del Toro’s new film doesn...

Shooting underway in Montreal on historical drama features Vincent Perez and French-Canadian rapper Samian.

Anick Poirier and her team will launch sales in Berlin next week on the story that François Girard (The Red Violin) directs from his own screenplay.

Roger Frappier, whose credits include Two Lovers And A Bear and Jesus Of Montreal, produces through his Max Films.

Hochelaga spans 750 years and five stories set on the site of Montreal that link an Iroquoian massacre in 1267, Jacques Cartier’s first voyage in 1535, the purple fever epidemic in 1687, the Patriots uprising in 1837 and brain surgery at the Montreal Neurological Institute in 1944.

Perez and Samian are among an ensemble that includes Naiade Aoun, Raoul Trujillo, Emmanuel Schwartz, David La Haye, Karelle Tremblay, Caroline Dhavernas, Linus Roache, and Sian Phillips.

Seville International senior vice-president of international sales Poirier described the project as “a sweeping, beautiful and unique story that we’re excited to launch in Berlin and bring to audiences...

Set in the snowy, isolated northernmost reaches of Canada, Two Lovers And A Bear provides only a brief glimpse of any living organism not included in its title. Both Roman (Dane DeHaan) and Lucy (Tatiana Maslany) deliberately came to the small outpost called Apex in order to flee unpleasantness back in civilization, and the movie proves to be a battle between their dueling buried traumas. Lucy, who drives a cab (even though snowmobiles seem to be the region’s primary vehicle most of the time), initially seems the more stable of the two, albeit prone to panic attacks in response to an unidentified, threatening male figure who repeatedly appears out of nowhere. Indeed, Lucy has even applied to a university somewhere back in the larger world, intending to study biology. When she’s accepted, Roman, who says he’d rather kill himself than go back to wherever he came from...

Amat Escalante’s The Untamed (pictured) and Andrea Arnold’s American Honey will compete for the Cinemax Award for the best competition film at the Mexican festival, set to run from November 9-13.

The other selections in the Competencia Los Cabos main competition strand are: Antonio Campos’ Christine, Kristopher Avedisian’s Donald Cried, Matt Johnson’s Operation Avalanche, Gabe Klinger’s Porto, Rafi Pitts’ Soy Nero, Joey Klein’s The Other Half and Kim Nguyen’s Two Lovers And A Bear.

Competing for top honours in Mexico Primero are: Maria José Cuevas’ Beauties Of The Night, Sebastián Hiriart’s Carroña, Rodrigo Cervantes’ Los Paisages, Lucía Carreras’ Tamara y La Catarina, Ricardo Silva and Omar Guzmán’s William, The New Judo Master, and Juan Andrés Arango’s X500.

Festival heads said most of the Mexico Primero entries came through the festival’s Gabriel Figueroa Film Fund.

The winners of the Cinemax Award for best film in the Competencia...

Two Lovers And A Bear producer Roger Frappier of Max Films has received the Canadian Media Producers Association’s (Cmpa) Established Producer Award at the Feature Film Producer Awards on Thursday.

The film receives its North American premiere in the Toronto International Film Festival’s (Tiff) Special Presentations section on September 13.

Hany Ouichou of Art & Essai received the Cmpa’s inaugural Emerging Producer Award and produced Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves. That receives its world premiere at Tiff in Platform on September 13.

“I’m thrilled to celebrate the work of these two remarkable producers and congratulate both Roger and Hany for their terrific films and their meaningful contributions to independent Canadian cinema,” said Cmpa president and CEO Reynolds Mastin.

Legendary East CEO Peter Loehr will deliver the Visual Effects Society keynote at the 8th annual Summit What is Real? on October 29.The Master Cleanse, Trash Fire and The Crucifixion are among the line-up...

Canadian filmmaker Kim Nguyen burst onto the international scene a few years back with “War Witch,” with the picture winning Prize of the Ecumenical Jury – Special Mention and Silver Bear Best Actress at the Berlin Film Festival, and picking up more honors along the way. Four years later and he’s back with “Two Lovers And […]

The post Dane DeHaan & Tatiana Maslany Go North In Trailer For Kim Nguyen’s ‘Two Lovers And A Bear’ appeared first on The Playlist.

Over the last decade, Kim Nguyen has emerged as one of Canada’s most essential filmmakers. The director’s 2012 drama “War Witch” earned an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, on top of winning 10 prizes at the Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Picture. His next film, “Two Lovers And A Bear,” is looking to find similar global attention thanks to leading duo Tatiana Maslany and Dane DeHaan. The indie drama premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and will next screen at Tiff in September.

Read More: ‘Two Lovers and a Bear,’ Starring DeHaan and Maslany, Heads for Great White North

The “Orphan Black” Emmy nominee stars opposite DeHaan in this romance about two star-crossed lovers who find that even the icy expanses of the Arctic offer little refuge from their pasts. The film’s new trailer combines the expanse of the beautiful arctic landscapes with the increasingly claustrophobic storyline...

Deadline's studio at the 69th Cannes Film Festival has been greeting fest-goers on the Croisette all week long including recent visits by Nicolas Winding Refn, director of The Neon Demon; Adam Driver from Paterson; Tatiana Maslany of Two Lovers And A Bear; Riley Keough from American Honey; and many more. Photographer Mark Mann is behind the lens for our series of photo sessions and video interviews taking place throughout the festival at Nikki Beach. Click on the photo to…...

There’s an adorably bad joke in “Two Lovers And A Bear” that involves two lovers, a bear, and an octopus. Without spoiling it for fans of Canada’s rising-star director Kim Nguyen (who broke out with “War Witch“ in 2012), the octopus is the soul of the joke. As the film trudges along its snowy grounds, […]

The post Cannes Review: Kim Nguyen’s Trite And Vacuous ‘Two Lovers And A Bear’ Starring Dane DeHaan & Tatiana Maslany appeared first on The Playlist.

Canadian helmer Kim Nguyen is making his first appearance in Directors' Fortnight with what is also his first English-language film, Two Lovers And A Bear. The official screening is this evening. The War Witch director was nominated for a Foreign Language Oscar in 2012 after scoring myriad prizes at home and abroad. That film was set in sub-Saharan Africa, so the follow-up marks a drastic change — it's set in a small town near the North Pole. The first reviews out of the…...

Joe Cole [pictured] and Lina El Arabi star in the forthcoming love story from the director of War Witch.

Paris-based Films Distribtion will handle international sales on Kim Nguyen’s forthcoming drama Eye On Juliet.

2011 Screen Star of Tomorrow Joe Cole (Peaky Blinders) will star as a drone operator who falls in love with a young Middle Eastern woman, played by Lina El Arabi (Ne M’Abandonne Pas), who he encounters during a remote mission.

Despite being separated by distance, Cole’s character does everything in his power to help the young girl, who has been promised in marriage to an older man she doesn’t love.

Pierre Even will produce via his company Item 7, who also produced Nguyen’s Oscar-nominated feature War Witch.

Director Nguyen has his latest film Two Lovers And A Bear, starring Dane DeHaan and Tatiana Maslany, premiering in Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.

eOne Entertainment subsidary Seville Films will handle the Canadian release of [link...

Although there are a few films here and there left to be added to the Cannes 2016 line-up, the slate has now been mostly set thanks to the arrive of the Directors’ Fortnight side-bar line-up. Notable selections includes Paul Schrader‘s drama Dog Eat Dog, starring Nicolas Cage and Willem Dafoe, as well as Laura Poitras‘ Citizenfour follow-up Risk, which looks at Julian Assange.

There’s also Pablo Larraín‘s Gael Garcia Bernal-led biopic Neruda, Alejandro Jodorowsky‘s Endless Poetry, the latest film from Gangs of Wasseypur director Anurag Kashyap, as well as new films from Marco Bellocchio and Joachim Lafosse. Also of interest is War Witch director Kim Nguyen‘s Two Lovers and a Bear, a Canadian drama which teams Tatiana Maslany and Dane DeHaan. Check out the line-up below.

Feature Films

Dog Eat Dog, dir: Paul Schrader – Closing Night Film

Divines, dir: Houda Benyamina*

L’Economie Du Couple,...

Exclusive: The Witch exec readies horror from writer-directors Jeremy Gillespie and Steve Konstanski.

UK sales outfit Salt will be looking to ink further deals at Afm on horror The Void, from genre writer-directors Jeremy Gillespie and Steve Konstanski (The ABCs of Death 2).

Shoot is due to get underway in Canada on Nov 17 on the horror in which a lone police officer and a group of staff band together to fortify themselves within the walls of an isolated hospital which is under threat from a violent cult.

As the group prepares for the fight of their lives they discover the real terror is already inside.

Xyz and CAA will handle North American deals.

Producers are Casey Walker of Cave Painting Pictures and Jonathan Bronfman (The Witch) of JoBro Productions. Executive producers are Ross Dinerstein (The Nightmare), Jeremy Platt, Zach Hagen and Todd Brown.

New York-based 120dB, backers of The Harvest, are providing...

The funding body’s Canada Feature Film Fund allocation applies to the 2014-15 cycle and includes films from Kim Nguyen and features actors such as Dane DeHaan and Catherine Keener.

The projects selected for funding are:

Away From Everywhere (Justin S Simms);

Chokeslam (Robert Cuffley);

Coconut Hero (Florian Cossen);

Destroyer (Kevan Funk);

The Education Of William Bowman (Ken Finkleman);

Grand Unified Theory (David Ray);

The Sabbatical (Brian Stockton);

The Saver (Wiebke von Carolsfeld);

The Second Time Around (Leon Marr);

Todd & The Book Of Pure Evil: The End Of The End (Craig David Wallace);

Two Lovers And A Bear (Kim Nguyen);

Unless (Alan Gilsenan);

The Unseen (Geoff Redknap); and

Your Money Or Your Wife (Iain Macleod).

“I’m delighted to see the variety of genres and stories represented by these new productions, which truly reflect the diversity, scope and originality of Canadian filmmaking,” said Telefilm Canada executive director Carolle Brabant.

“This selection includes dramas, comedies and thrillers...

For our money one of the most watchable and unusual young actors about, Dane DeHaan has been mixing quirky indie films with bigger box-office fodder. For every ill-fated (in every sense) appearance in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, there’s been a Kill Your Darlings and a Place Beyond The Pines, and now he’s dipping his toes back into indie waters with romance Two Lovers And A Bear.The film will take him to the freezing climes of Canada’s Arctic and pair him up with Orphan Black lead Tatiana Maslany. They’ll play Roman and Lucy, a young couple battling the weather, their own emotional tumult and the sense of isolation that comes with living on the edge of the world. Either they're really slow to announce casting or the bear is some kind of metaphor for their plight.Directing this and making sure no-one forgets to wrap up...

Principle photography has begun on “Two Lovers and a Bear” in chilly Timmins, Northern Ontario, where it is snowing, and will continue in Iqaluit in the Nunavut territory. Set in the frigid cold of the North Pole, the film stars Dane DeHaan (“The Amazing Spider-Man 2,” “Life”) and Tatiana Maslany (“Orphan Black”) as two young adults looking for love who not only have to deal with the harsh elements, but their own inner demons. Roger Frappier of Max Films is producing the film, which is written and directed by Kim Nguyen (Oscar-nominated Foreign Film “War Witch”). Co-producers are Jonathan Bronfman (“War Witch”) and Ellen Hamilton ("Kajutaijuq: The Spirit That Comes), with Jeff Sackman as executive producer. The cinematographer is Nicolas Bolduc ("War Witch," "Enemy"). Entertainment One (eOne)/Les Films Seville will distribute the film across Canada. TF1 International has acquired worldwide distribution rights and will sell the film at the.