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Kaleidoscope Film Distribution has acquired worldwide international sales rights, alongside U.K. and Ireland distribution, for Warchief, the upcoming film from BAFTA-winning director/writer/actor Stuart Brennan and Golden Globe-winning producer Gareth Wiley.

The previously unannounced feature is now filming in the English county of Suffolk and will delivered by the end of 2022, with the first elements available for viewing at the Toronto Film Festival in September.

Warchief follows a band of guardians who escort a mysterious messenger to their king, unaware that they are being hunted by bloodthirsty orcs. Brennan writes, directs and stars in the feature along with Michael Lambourne (Cashback), Andrea Vasiliou (Wonder Woman), Suzanne Packer (BAFTA nominated, Casualty), Mark Wake (Kingslayer) and newcomer Rosanna Miles.

Cinematography veteran Doug Milsome, whose credits include Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, A Clockwork Orange and Stanley Kubrick titles such as The Shining, Barry Lyndon and Full Metal Jacket,...

Ld Entertainment has unveiled a trailer for its gothic thriller The Cursed, starring Boyd Holbrook, Kelly Reilly and Alistair Petrie, also announcing that it will be released in theaters nationwide on February 18.

The film from writer-director Sean Ellis, formerly titled Eight for Silver, is a reimagining of the werewolf legend for a modern-day audience, which made its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. It picks up in the late 1800s and watches as a once-peaceful remote country village comes under attack—by who or what, no one knows. Villagers spread rumors of a cursed land, supernatural forces, and even demonic creatures, as the disappearances and killings continue. But when pathologist John McBride (Holbrook) arrives to investigate the danger, he comes to discover something much deeper and more sinister than he ever could have imagined.

Ellis...

Ld Entertainment announced today that they will release the werewolf-themed gothic thriller “The Cursed” in theaters nationwide on Feb. 18, 2022.

Formerly titled “Eight for Silver,” the film premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and takes place in the late 1800s, following a once-peaceful country village that is under attack by an unknown force. When rumors spread of a cursed land and demonic creatures, a pathologist named John McBride (played by Boyd Holbrook) arrives to investigate the danger and soon finds himself in far deeper than he imagined.

Sean Ellis wrote, directed, produced and shot the film, which has been updated with a new score, new effects and a different edit since its Sundance debut. “Sundance is always an incredible place to showcase your work,” Ellis said in a statement. “In the time that has followed that valuable experience, we took the opportunity to invigorate the film with an updated score by...

“We took the opportunity to invigorate the film,” says writer-director Sean Ellis.

Mickey Liddell’s Ld Entertainment has set a wide US theatrical release next month for Sean Ellis’s Sundance 2021 werewolf thriller The Cursed (formerly Eight For Silver).

The film will open on February 18 more than a year after it premiered at Sundance. Boyd Holbrook, Kelly Reilly and Alistair Petrie star in the story set in the late 19th century about a pathologist who arrives at a remote country village plagued by killings and rumours of a curse.

Ellis, whose credits include Metro Manila, Anthropoid and Cashback, produced alongside Liddell and Pete Shilaimon.

Horror has many dimensions still to be explored, says Dp, director and writer Sean Ellis in describing his film screening in the Camerimage Film Festival’s main competition, “Eight for Silver.”

A dark and brooding story of evil’s long tail, the film is Ellis’ fifth feature since an impressive debut with the surreal “Cashback” in 2006 and follows his Prague-shot true-story thriller “Anthropoid,” a remarkably detailed and accurate account of the most successful assassination plot of World War II against a top Nazi commander, Reinhard Heydrich.

“Eight for Silver” opens theatrically in the U.S. next spring or summer and is also set in the past, on a French country estate where a different kind of overlord tempts fate with evil deeds. But in this case the veil of time allows for an immersive world in which curses, monsters and possession come around to ensure a terrifying dose of karmic payback.

In an unprecedented move, Kate del Castillo’s Cholawood and Fabrica de Cine’s Gaston Pavlovich, producer of Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” and “Silence,” have teamed up with Endemol Shine Boomdog (Esb) to co-produce “El Agente Mexicano” (“The Mexican Agent”).

The series is loosely based on the true story of Francisco García, a young photographer who is recruited by the CIA after inadvertently saving President Kennedy from an assassination attempt during a 1962 visit to Mexico.

In the first season, now being penned by Rodrigo Ordoñez, the naive photographer transforms into a genuinely ruthless spy. Carlos Bolado is attached to direct what promises to include elements of action, suspense and a good dose of romance. Esb’s head of scripted, Leo Zimbron oversees the production, which will likely run for multiple seasons.

In 2019, the Spanish-language division of Endemol Shine North America inked an overall development and production pact with Pavlovich.

Romance gets a bad rap at the movies. Until you behold the best romantic movies on Hulu.

Yes, Hulu is on the case with an expansive collection of romantic movies for you to connect with your softer side… or the side of you that screams in an eternal tormented shriek, desperately trying to find a mate whose shrieks match your tone in this expansive disappointing nothingness of existence. Love is hard. Anywho, here are the best romantic movies on Hulu right now.

Sense and Sensibility

This Jane Austen character really seems to have a handle on romance. The 1995 film Sense and Sensibility is adapted from the Austen novel of the same name and has a great deal of talent both in front of and behind the camera. Oscar winner Ang Lee directs while Emma Thompson wrote the script.

Thompson stars alongside Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman and Hugh Grant. The movie,...

When word got out that Metro Manila director Sean Ellis was premiering a film about werewolves at the 2021 Sundance Festival, it immediately became one of the most anticipated films for this year’s fest. Ellis had already proved himself a competent director, both with his BAFTA nominated film Metro Manila as well as his Oscar nominated short film debut Cashback, so the idea of him returning to the festival with his take on one of Hollywood’s most iconic movie monsters was bound to turn some heads.

It is almost unheard of for a monster film to be programmed in the premiere category at Sundance, as most often than not, these films tend to be sequestered to the rowdy and rambunctious crowds that stalk the festival at night. All early indicators showed that this was going to be a horror movie for the ages, and boy did it not disappoint.

A quick glance at the shortlist for the 2006 Oscars is a reminder that many accomplished directors start in the smaller format, with the contenders including Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri helmer Martin McDonagh, whose Six Shooter would go on to win, British director Sean Ellis and this affecting drama from Icelander Rúnar Rúnarsson.

Rúnarsson has since proved himself something of a master of telling poignant stories with economy, using no fewer than 56 vignettes in his most recent feature Echo. This low-key affair has engaging visual storytelling from the start as we watch the elderly Hrafn (Jón Sigurbjörnsson) go about his work on the farm, although what the job in hand is will only be revealed further through the runtime.

Returning to his remote farmhouse we see him talking to his daughter as G. Magni Ágústsson's camera watches him through a window, creeping...

Anthropoid Bleecker Street Cinema Reviewed by: Harvey Karten, Shockya Grade: C Director: Sean Ellis Written by: Sean Ellis, Anthony Frewin Cast: Jamie Dornan, Cillian Murphy, Charlotte Le Bon, Anna Geislerová, Toby Jones Screened at: NYC, Opens: August 12, 2016 Sean Ellis, whose 2004 film “Cashback” deals with how supermarket workers on the night shift spend […]

The post Anthropoid Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

Of all the World War II movies about the plots to kill the architects of the Third Reich, Anthropoid is guilty of being the dullest. And there’s really no excuse for it. Operation Anthropoid was the real name of the mission in which the Czechoslovakian resistance sought out Reinhard Heydrich, Hitler’s third-in-command, to perform the symbolic gesture of killing the rat bastard. The two paratroopers picked for the job are the oddly impassive Jan Kubiš (Jamie Dornan, nowhere near as sadistic as he was to poor Dakota Johnson...

The sheer infinity of World War II stories has proven to be one of cinema’s most renewable sources of inspiration, and — like a puzzle that slowly reveals its with the addition of every new piece — each movie made about that extraordinary period of time has the effect of enhancing them all. But with so many stories to tell, it’s unsurprising that even some of the most remarkable ones have been overlooked (if only, as is often the case, because there doesn’t seem to be much money in telling them).

Sean Ellis’ “Anthropoid” may not be a particularly compelling piece of drama, but it earns its place in the pantheon of World War II movies by virtue of the urgency with which it reaches into the pages of Czech history books, retrieves an enormously pivotal episode from them, and renders it for all to see on the silver screen.

The first trailer for World War II thriller Anthropoid has arrived online, starring Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan as two Czech operatives tasked with the assassination of an SS officer.

With the movie set to arrive later this summer, it’s a wonder why we’ve heard so little about it until now – especially with a trailer that’s this intriguing. Cashback director Sean Ellis sits at the helm of this espionage pic, whose title refers to a specific mission where two operatives set about hunting down one of Hitler’s highest-ranking officials, SS Reinhard Heydrich. While the cinematic canon includes a lot of World War II thrillers, and many that involve espionage, Anthropoid looks like it’s planning to pack quite a punch thanks to the performances of its strong acting line-up.

Speaking of the cast, Murphy and Dornan are joined by a stellar support roster that includes Toby Jones,...

It was just this week with the arrival of the Denial trailer that we commented it wouldn’t be awards season without a Holocaust drama. While Anthropoid is centered moreso around taking down Nazis and it arrives just before the standard award season, we’ll count it. Coming from director Sean Ellis (Metro Manila, Cashback), the first trailer has now arrived.

Led by Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan, they star as a pair of Allied soldiers who attempt to take down an SS General. Also starring Charlotte Le Bon, Anna Geislerová, Harry Lloyd, Alena Mihulová, Marcin Dorociński, Bill Milner, Sam Keeley, Jiří Simek, Mish Boyko, Václav Neuzil, Andrej Polák and Toby Jones, check out the trailer, photos, and poster below.

Anthropoid is based on the extraordinary true story of Operation Anthropoid, the World War II mission to assassinate SS General Reinhard Heydrich. The Reich’s third in command after Hitler and Himmler, Heydrich was the main architect behind the Final Solution and the leader of occupying Nazi forces in Czechoslovakia whose reign of terror prompted Allied soldiers (Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan) to hatch a top-secret mission that would change the face of Europe forever.

Anthropoid opens on August 12, 2016.

You might not know the name Sean Ellis, but you may know of his work. The director first earned some buzz with his 2006 effort “Cashback,” but it was 2013’s acclaimed thriller “Metro Manila” that truly put him on the radar. Picking up numerous honors for that film, including an Audience Award at the Sundance […]

The post The Mission Begins In First Trailer For WWII Thriller ‘Anthropoid’ Starring Cillian Murphy & Jamie Dornan appeared first on The Playlist.

"Metro Manila" and "Cashback" director Sean Ellis returns with the WW2 thriller "Anthropoid" about an undercover mission by two Czech army soldiers (Cillian Murphy, Jamie Dornan) who parachute into an occupied Prague to assassinate SS officer Reinhard Heydrich - the architect behind the infamous Nazi 'Final Solution'. Charlotte Le Bon, Harry Lloyd, Bill Milner and Toby Jones also star in the project which opens August 12th.

Meet some of the best directors working today, who haven't gone down the blockbuster movie route...

Ever find it a bit lame when the same big name directors get kicked around for every high profile project? Christopher Nolan, Jj Abrams, maybe the Russo Brothers? With so much focus on blockbuster films these days, getting a major franchise job seems like the main acknowledgement of success for a filmmaker. And yes, both the financial and creative rewards can be great. But there are plenty of other directors out there, doing their own thing, from art house auteurs to Dtv action specialists.

Here are 25 examples.

Lee Hardcastle

Even if you don’t know his name, you’ve probably seen Lee Hardcastle’s ultraviolent claymations shared on social media. He first started getting noticed for his two-minute remake of The Thing, starring the famous stop motion penguin Pingu. Far from just a cheap one-joke mash-up,...

The first image is up from writer/director/cinematographer Sean Ellis' ("Metro Manila," "Cashback") "Anthropoid," now filming in Czech Republic. Set in 1941, the World War II picture stars Cillian Murphy and Jamie Dornan and centers on the real-life assassination attempt on SS general and Holocaust engineer Reinhard Heydrich. The film follows two Czech paratroopers tasked with taking out Reinhard, known in their homeland as "The Butcher of Prague." Read More: Netflix War Drama 'Jadotville' Lines Up Macho Cast "Anthropoid" is written by Ellis and Anthony Frewin ("Colour Me Kubrick") and produced by 22h22's Leonard Glowinski, Anita Overland, Chris Curling, Krystof Mucha and David Ondricek.

It's been announced that Fifty Shades Of Grey actor Jamie Dornan will star opposite Cillian Murphy in Anthropoid, a World War II thriller from Cashback director Sean Ellis. Dornan and Murphy will play a pair of Czech soldiers who were involved with the 1942 assassination of high ranking Nazi official Reinhard Heydrich, also known as "The Butcher of Prague." Sean Ellis co-wrote the script with novelist and former Stanley Kubrick assistant Anthony Frewin, and the...

“Fifty Shades of Grey” star Jamie Dornan is striking while the iron is hot, so to speak, as he has signed on to star opposite Cillian Murphy in the World War II thriller “Anthropoid,” it was announced Monday. Sean Ellis (“Cashback”) will direct the film, which examines the assassination attempt on Nazi general Reinhard Heydrich, aka “The Butcher of Prague,” who many believed would succeed Adolf Hitler. Dornan and Murphy will play a pair of Czech soldiers tasked with the deadly mission. Also Read: ‘Fifty Shades’ Sequel? Universal Not Talking but There Are 245 Million Reasons to Say Yes Ellis co-wrote the.

Irish actor Jamie Dornan, currently on the big screen in "Fifty Shades of Grey" and on Netflix's moody crime drama "The Fall," has yet another project on his busy horizon. Dornan is set to star opposite Cillian Murphy in Oscar-nominated director Sean Ellis' ("Cashback," "Metro Manila") World War II picture "Anthropoid" about the real-life assassination attempt on SS general and Holocaust engineer Reinhard Heydrich. The film follows two Czech paratroopers tasked with taking out Reinhard, known in their homeland as "The Butcher of Prague." This year, Dornan will also shoot Netflix-acquired historical drama "Jadotville" as a Un commander who fell under siege in the Congo in 1961. The film debuts on the streaming service in 2016. Dornan also has roles in two films currently in post: an untitled John Wells chef comedy and Alexandre Aja's mystery-thriller "The 9th Life of Louis Drax." And of course,...

Not just a one hit wonder! Coming off of the success of Fifty Shades of Grey, leading man Jamie Dornan has already been cast in a new film. The Irish actor, 32, who portrayed kinky billionaire Christian Grey, will next appear in a World War II drama Anthropoid, The Guardian reports.  Dornan will play a Czechoslovakian soldier involved in the real-life assassination attempt on SS officer Reinhard Heydrich. The film is being directed by Brit Sean Ellis, who is best known for his independent films Cashback and [...]...

Exclusive: Sean Ellis to direct, Cillian Murphy to co-star in assassination film.

Jamie Dornan and Cillian Murphy are to lead cast in WWII thriller Anthropoid, about the attempted assassination of prominent Nazi official Reinhard Heydrich.

The film’s title refers to the code-name for the Allied operation to assassinate Heydrich, the head of the SS who was one of the main architects of the Holocaust and was widely considered number three in the Nazi ranks behind Hitler and Himmler .

Operation Anthropoid was led by two soldiers (trained by British forces) from Czechoslovakia’s army-in-exile who were parachuted into their homeland to carry out the mission against the Nazi nicknamed “The Butcher of Prague”.

Oscar and BAFTA-nominated British filmmaker Sean Ellis (Metro Manila, Cashback) will direct from a script co-written by Ellis with Anthony Frewin (Colour Me Kubrick: A True…ish Story).

Producers are Leonard Glowinski (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly) for 22h22, Anita Overland ([link...

Alec Baldwin (The Departed, Mission: Impossible 5, Blue Jasmine) and Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon, series, Saw, The Color Purple) headline the cast of Andron - a sci-fi, action adventure movie from Ambi Pictures Group, the movie development, finance, production and distribution group owned and run by Andrea Iervolino and Lady Monika Bacardi.

Iervolino and Lady Bacardi are financing and producing the film and Ambi's international sales arm, Ambi Distribution, is handling worldwide sales.

Franceso Cinquemani wrote the screenplay and is directing the film, marking his feature directorial debut.

Principal photography will commence this month in Malta, in collaboration with the Malta Film Commission, and in Italy.

The movie begins when a group of young men and women awake in a dark, claustrophobic maze. They don't remember who they are or how they got stuck in the black labyrinth of Andron. The group must learn to decipher codes, understand the signals,...

Metro Manila

Written by Sean Ellis & Frank E. Flowers

Directed by Sean Ellis

UK/Philipines, 2013

Manila has the highest population density on the planet. Per square mile there are 111,002 people; by comparison my home of Chicago is only 11,868. While many economists look at the Phillipines as an marketon the rise, the disparity in wealth is the worst in Asia, with the richest families accounting for over 50% of the country’s total family income while the poorest account for less than 5%. In Manila, the rich live in gated communities while the poor live in slums, squatting on abandoned government-owned land. It’s important to know these facts when approaching Sean Ellis’ Metro Manila, because the city plays such a large role in determining the destiny of its characters.

Oscar Ramirez (Jake Macapagal) and his wife Mai (Althea Vega) are rice farmers who decide moving to the city will yield better opportunities...

A Better Life: Ellis’ Latest a Masterful Drama of Sacrifice

British director Sean Ellis brings us to the Philippines with his third feature film, Metro Manila, a bleak and often harrowing portrait of a family’s struggle to build a better life for themselves. Ellis first made headlines for his 2006 debut, romantic comedy Cashback, followed by the international led cast of his oblique 2008 horror film, The Broken, and his latest only proves he’s a filmmaker of varying and styles and techniques. Ellis, also serving as cinematographer for the first time, brings us a grim exercise set in the urban underbelly of Manila and it is as desperately moving as it is unpredictable.

When the price of rice drops significantly, poverty stricken Oscar Ramirez (Jake Macapagal) and wife Mia (Althea Vega) decide to move with their two children to Manila to see if they might have better luck in the urban metropolis.

The Butler didn't do it for Oscar voters, but there are sharper ideas in some of last year's under-the-radar thrillers

If a film seemingly made for the express purpose of piling up Oscar nominations then receives precisely none, does it make a sound? Well, yes and no. Lee Daniels' The Butler (Entertainment, 12) was a surprise summer hit in the Us, where audiences weary of monsters fighting robots were apparently up for a windy dose of all-star, semi-fictionalised civil rights history, but that doesn't mean it has anything to say.

Awards voters, oddly, couldn't see the hokey Forrest Gump parallels in Forest Whitaker's Cecil Gaines, humble White House butler to every president from Eisenhower to Reagan. A noble cypher who stoically pours tea while history is made around him, he's a less-than-riveting presence around whom to centre the narrative; there's more going on back home, where his radical Black Panther...

The critically acclaimed and multi-award winning crime thriller Metro Manila, from Director Sean Ellis, will be available on demand 17th February and comes to DVD & Blu-ray 10th March 2014. The film was the biggest winner at the British Independent Film Awards 2013 picking up three trophies including Best British Independent Film and Best Director for Sean Ellis (Cashback, The Broken). It’s also been selected as the UK’s official submission in the Best Foreign Language Film Award category for the Oscars 2014. All in all it’s a cert buy. The only downer we can put on the whole thing is the DVD cover. Couldn’t they have picked something a little less...well...Beige? Synopsis: Oscar and Mai Ramirez (Jake Macapagal and Althea Vega) decide to move their two daughters from the poverty-stricken rice fields of the Northern Philippines, and journey towards the capital mega city of Metro Manila. Upon arrival,...

The critically acclaimed and multi-award winning crime thriller Metro Manila, from Director Sean Ellis, will be available on demand 17th February and comes to DVD & Blu-ray 10th March 2014. The film was the biggest winner at the British Independent Film Awards 2013 picking up three trophies including Best British Independent Film and Best Director for Sean Ellis (Cashback, The Broken). It’s also been selected as the UK’s official submission in the Best Foreign Language Film Award category for the Oscars 2014. All in all it’s a cert buy. The only downer we can put on the whole thing is the DVD cover. Couldn’t they have picked something a little less...well...Beige? Synopsis: Oscar and Mai Ramirez (Jake Macapagal and Althea Vega) decide to move their two daughters from the poverty-stricken rice fields of the Northern Philippines, and journey towards the capital mega city of Metro Manila. Upon arrival,...

A much-lauded director finally earns his stripes with this sensitive action thriller in Manila

Sean Ellis's first two features, Cashback and The Broken (the former expanded from an Oscar-nominated short) were self-regarding twaddle, so it's good to report that his third film pulls its creative finger out and starts to justify some of the praise poured too early upon the emergent film-maker.

Shooting with a tiny crew on the streets of Manila, with actors working in Tagalog (a language the director doesn't speak), Ellis pulls together a lean, character-based actioner set around the perilous profession of the security guard. Reining in his commercials-friendly gaze, Ellis takes his digital camera into the city's seedy enclaves; from the hostess bars where a young mother is forced to eke out a miserable living, to the backstreets through which her husband drives his armoured but still very vulnerable vehicle.

The elements may be familiar,...

★★★☆☆ British director Sean Ellis (Cashback, The Broken) swaps the comfortable environs of good ol' Blighty for the mean streets of the Filipino capital with Metro Manila (2013), a sincere if somewhat inconsequential portrayal of one family's beleaguered existence within the sprawling metropolis. Clearly indebted to the cinema of Scorsese (amongst others), Ellis' latest is a significant leap forward in terms of the filmmaker's own personal development, effectively drawing its audience into a volatile world of corruption and violence where the strong prosper and the weak face a daily struggle to survive life in the city's slums.

Unable to support their two young daughters on the poverty-stricken rice terraces of the Philippines' Banaue Province, Oscar and Mai Ramirez (Jake Macapagal and Althea Vega) make the difficult decision to up sticks and relocate the family to the nation's capital. Upon arrival in Manila, the naive farmers-by-trade prove easy game for all manner of nefarious types,...

Shot on a shoestring in a language he didn't understand, Sean Ellis's Metro Manila could be the most unlikely hit of the year. Damon Wise meets him

'In this country," says Sean Ellis, "our favourite word is no." Which is why, after making two feature films in the UK and being unable to drum up any interest in a third, the Brighton-born director decamped to the Philippines to shoot a character-based thriller in a country he had only visited once, in a language he didn't understand (Tagalog). The result is Metro Manila, one of the finest, under-the-radar surprises of the year: the story of a farmer named Oscar who, forced on to the streets of the Filipino capital after the price of rice drops, gets a job as an armoured-truck driver and generally falls into bad company, all so he can take care of his family.

"It was definitely a big adventure,...

John Arcilla and Jake Macapagal as Ong and Oscar in Sean Ellis' Metro Manila Metro Manila director Sean Ellis (Cashback, The Brøken) is just the latest British filmmaker to try his luck in a foreign language, with Gareth Evans' Indonesian set and scripted The Raid already set for an English language remake by Sony subsidiary Screen Gems. Now Ellis's drama/heist hybrid - co-scripted with Frank E Flowers - about a Oscar (Jake Macapagal) and his family, who migrate to Manila for work and find themselves preyed upon at every turn, is set for not just one but, possibly, several reworkings by Fox.

Speaking to him ahead of Metro Manila's release in the UK on September 20, the Brighton-born filmmaker said: "I think it's a great thing and Fox International has obviously seen potential in the remake and I can understand that because it's obviously a very universal story.

When heading to a film festival, you go in knowing that you can’t see anything, and knowing that in all likelihood, there’ll be at least one film you’ll regret not making room for. All of the good things I heard about Metro Manila at Sundance London this April gave me that feeling.

For an idea of why, check out Stefan’s five-star review here.

The film brought home the Audience Award in the Dramatic Category for director/co-writer Sean Ellis, the Oscar nominee behind Cashback (both the original short and the feature-length adaptation).

And with its UK release date on the horizon in a matter of weeks, we’ve got a new trailer to share.

Seeking a better life, Oscar Ramirez and his family decide to move from the poverty stricken rice fields of the Northern Philippine mountain ranges, and journey towards the capital mega city of Metro Manila.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Though many will be quick to make comparisons between this film and Gareth Evans’ slam-bang actioner The Raid, Metro Manila is in fact very much the inverse of that film. If Evans’ frantic video game-style movie compensated for its lack of substance with merciless, technically accomplished action, this third feature from Sean Ellis (Cashback, The Broken) goes the opposite way, eschewing relentless set-pieces in favour of well-drawn characters and compelling drama.

Oscar (Jake Macapagal) and Mai (Althea Vega) are a couple who, after being forced to sell their rice stock for one-fifth of its usual value, decide to move with their two children to Manila, with the hope that they can start a new, more prosperous life. After losing their savings through fraud and having to squat in an empty shack, things look up once Oscar gets work as an armoured-truck driver, making friends with his...

Vol. I Issue 10 February 2013

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As this last weekend approached I was faced with marking my Academy Award ballot. This process is always really difficult. How does one sort out the “best” film or accomplishment of five or nine in the case of the Best Picture? For me it has been over 30 years of screenings. Thousand of films. Some really great films and many not so great. I also try to think what it means to be one of the nominees. What was the off-screen story but always more importantly what their contribution was to the work and how the film compares to others. What’s great about short films is that they can be made for almost nothing by a few filmmakers without a large budget, crew or cast.

The Academy has three nomination categories for films less than 41 minutes in length: short fiction, documentary and animation. Once nominated, there are public screenings and panels to celebrate the nominated films at the Academy in Beverly Hills. A group photograph of all the nominees is taken with a large Oscar in the lobby of the Academy headquarters. It is really a wonderful experience.

It wasn’t always like that. There were no special celebrations for the short or documentary films until the l980s. While the Foreign Language films had their seminar, nothing was done for these films. We tried to remedy that in the 1980s and started the Direct Cinema receptions and screenings with UCLA, USC and, a few years later, the Ida sponsored “Docuday” and the Academy started doing an annual reception for the shorts and documentary filmmakers. Today the Academy’s evening receptions for the short films, animated features (a relatively new Oscar category) and the documentaries are annual sell-out events. The filmmakers and their works are celebrated and it has become a highlight of the Oscar week for the filmmakers and those associated with the films.

When I first became a member of the Academy the short films and animation branch was headed by a number of extraordinary talents: T Hee, Saul Bass and June Forey. These three remarkable artists represented classic Disney animation (T. Hee), fiction and narrative short films (Saul Bass), and the television and theatrical films (June Forey, who voiced hundreds of characters.)

Saul Bass articulated the branch’s membership policy, “We want them to be part of our branch.” This liberal interpretation allowed documentary filmmakers like Ken Burns as well as voice artists and creatives like Stan Friedberg (and June Forey) to be part of a group that included IMAX filmmakers as well as classic character animation directors, colorists, layout artists, producers and other key short film and animation filmmakers. The animation filmmakers represent both the studio animators and the independent animators who work globally doing personal work as well as studio work. Other governors from 1979 to the present have included Hal Elias, who served on the Academy board for 37 years and was a short film publicist for MGM among other things; Bill Littlejohn, who worked on over 90 films as an animator ranging from Charley Brown, Peanuts Christmas Specials to working with the Hubleys’; Bill Scott, who acted and wrote over a hundred animated films, and Carl Bell, who worked on over 35 films at Disney in its animation department.

Unlike most of the other branches, the Short Films branch screens all of the submitted films in 16mm and 35mm and now in Digital Cinema, in an effort to find and nominate the best short films produced in the world. The branch rules allowed films to qualify in an effort to encourage more international entries in the 1990s by taking a first prize at key festivals in addition to the method that all Academy films can use to qualify, a theatrical week long (now three day for shorts) run in a theater in Los Angeles County. Branch screenings were expanded to New York to permit more members to participate in the nomination process in the 1990s. The final short listed screenings are in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Over one-third of the branch participates in the voting. The best change took place this year, sending DVD screeners to all Academy members of the short live action and animated nominated films. While this still won’t force members to watch them, members can’t claim they can’t see them. This is not only great for the branch but great for the nominated filmmakers. Who would not want to screen their short film for Academy members?

The process of the branch for selecting Nominees has remained unchanged for years—members screen the films in a theater rather than on DVDs, which is how the Documentary branch is dealing with the flood of feature docs and their unwillingness to trust committees. Nothing beats seeing films projected on a large screen with perfect sound and that is now lost. In a two step process, a committee (self selected from the branch membership) screens the films and the 15 films with the highest scores are short listed. The short listed films are then screened again and members vote.

The current Short Film Branch governors are Jon Bloom (pictured with the 2007 nominees), a 1983 fiction short nominee, filmmaker, editor and producer who chairs the branch, animator and Disney Creative Head and multi-Oscar winner, John Lasseter, and William "Bill" Kroyer,an award-winning director of animation and computer graphics commercials, short films, movie titles and theatrical films and faculty member Chapman College.

One of the challenges for the branch is how to grow live action producing members. With the addition of feature animation to the awards and the large number of feature animation films being released, the branch would like to have the most qualified animators to become members. The number of animators grows at a far faster rate than that of the live action filmmakers since only a few live action filmmakers can qualify for membership. The commercial success of animated features, the long production schedules and the large number of animators who work in qualifying positions allows for six plus individuals per picture to be eligible for membership. With five nominees a year, the number of individuals who can play a key role in two or three features becoming eligible for membership can easily approach 30 plus individuals annually. Add in the short animation nominees and competition for the limited new slots allocated to the branch can be brutal. The talent pool of animators is both astonishingly strong and suggests that Hollywood can easily double production from the 15 or so films made annually to 25 or 30 without having to compromise on talent.

Many of the filmmakers in the branch who make their Oscar nominated or winning live action short have made or are interested in making feature length works. A number of recent nominees or winners have made that transition. The following list looks at all of the live action nominees from 2001 to 2011, using the Internet Movie Database I looked up each nominee and listed what they reported they were doing professionally. Obviously, this is not intended to show everything. In each case, I listed credits or summarized credits shown in the IMDb listing.

Some observations about 11 years of Live Action Short Film Academy Award Nominees:

There were 86 nominations (out of a possible 110) This is because in some years only three films were nominated and in some cases only one filmmaker from a film was eligible for a nomination. Non-us based filmmakers dominate this category. Despite the huge number of short films being made annually in the Us, a majority of the nominated films come from filmmakers based abroad. In part this is due to the government subsidies available, but it is also due to the strong training programs, commercial support for the short films and a rich tradition of theatrical shorts. This year (2012) four of the five films in the live action category are from Us filmmakers. This is an unusual year. Few filmmakers have more than one nomination, only a handful of the nominees have made multiple Academy worthy short films. As one might expect, many of the filmmakers have continued their film work in television, some in features. The European Oscar winners (vs nominees) have done better at snagging features after a win than have their American counterparts. Again, this is likely a function of government support for entry features. Perhaps one of the short films seem to have been turned into a feature (or television) film. Some of the short films are intended to be sizzle reels for features, but it is not clear why so few of the nominated short films have been turned into features. A number of the Oscar winners have not continued working in film. No record of future productions are shown on IMDb. It would be interesting to see what they are doing now. Two of the Oscar winners have written critically award winning screenplays, one received two Academy Award nominations for his screenwriting. None of these nominees have gone on to win Oscars in directing or producing for feature films.

The data is from the Academy and the IMDb databases.

Apologies in advance, if credits were missed or other factual errors were made. In a week we’ll be able to add this year's winner.

2001 (74th)

Short Film (Live Action) (* won Academy Award)

*the accountant -- Ray McKinnon: Two Features: Randy and the Mob 2007 and Crystal 2004 Lisa Blount: Produced these features. Copy Shop -- Virgil Widrich Gregor's Greatest Invention -- Johannes Kiefer A Man Thing (Meska Sprawa) -- Slawomir Fabicki, Two Features: Loving 2012, Retrieval 2006 (Also wrote) Bogumil Godfrejow Has shot multiple features Speed for Thespians -- Kalman Apple, Shameela Bakhsh

2002 (75th)

Short Film (Live Action)

Fait D'Hiver -- Dirk Beliën, Anja Daelemans produced Comrade Kim Goes North I'll Wait for the Next One... (J'Attendrai Le Suivant...) -- Philippe Orreindy, Thomas Gaudin Inja (Dog) -- Steven Pasvolsky Feature, Deck Dogz Joe Weatherstone, produced episodic television. Johnny Flynton -- Lexi Alexander, directed 3 features: Lifted, Punisher: War Zone and Green Street Hooligans Alexander Buono as a Dp has shot series and features *This Charming Manon (Der Er En Yndig Mand) -- Martin Strange-Hansen, Mie Andreasen produced both features, series and documentaries.

2003 (76th)

Short Film (Live Action)

Die Rote Jacke (The Red Jacket) -- Florian Baxmeyer Multiple television films and series Most (The Bridge) -- Bobby Garabedian, William Zabka Mr. Zabka has appeared as an actor in numerous films and television shows Squash -- Lionel Bailliu Features: Fair Play and Denis (in post) (A) Torzija [(A) Torsion] -- Stefan Arsenijevic Directed: Lost and Found, Love and Other Crimes, and Do Not Forget Me Istanbul *Two Soldiers -- Aaron Schneider,Asc (Cinematographer numerous credits) and feature, Kiss the Girls, Andrew J. Sacks Series The Closer (98 episodes) and Major Crimes.

2004 (77th)

Short Film (Live Action)

Everything in This Country Must -- Gary McKendry Directed Killer Elite, Joseph and the Girl Little Terrorist -- Ashvin Kumar Produced and Directed features (2) and documentaries (2) 7:35 in the Morning (7:35 de la Mañana) -- Nacho Vigalondo Directed and written multiple films, series, shorts Two Cars, One Night -- Taika Waititi, Acted and directed and written multi television and films Ainsley Gardiner Nz based producer of multiple shorts, television and feature films *Wasp -- Andrea Arnold Actor, director and writer of numbers films, television programs

2005 (78th)

Short Film (Live Action)

Ausreisser (The Runaway) -- Ulrike Grote Ms. Grote has acted in over 42 programs, features, television series and films Cashback -- Sean Ellis, Director/Writer Metro Manila, The Broken Lene Bausager Producer, The Broken, Ginger and Rosa The Last Farm -- Rúnar Rúnarsson, Director/Writer Volcano, Thor S. Sigurjónsson Produced multiple features Our Time Is Up -- Rob Pearlstein, Director/Writer multiple television and a feature Pia Clemente Producer, documentaries *Six Shooter -- Martin McDonagh Writer/Director Seven Psychopaths, In Bruges

2006 (79th)

Short Film (Live Action)

Binta and the Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea) -- Javier Fesser, no other credits shown Luis Manso Produced multiple features Éramos Pocos (One Too Many) -- Borja Cobeaga Writer, multi films and television series Helmer & Son -- Søren Pilmark no other credits, Kim Magnusso Producer over 100 film, television films (4 Best Short Film Academy Award nominations) Won for Ernst & Lyset The Saviour -- Peter Templeman, no other credits Stuart Parkyn, Producer, multi-short film credits *West Bank Story -- Ari Sandel Director, one short, one documentary

2007 (80th)

Short Film (Live Action)

At Night -- Christian E. Christiansen, Directed, Features and television series Louise Vesth Producer, multi features Il Supplente (The Substitute) -- Andrea Jublin

*Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets) -- Philippe Pollet-Villard Actor and director short films, a television film

Tanghi Argentini -- Guido Thys, Director, Multiple television series Anja Daelemans, nominated for 2 Short Film nominations (Gridlock, 2002) Producer/Pm various The Tonto Woman -- Daniel Barber, Directed The Keeping Room, Harry Brown Matthew Brown Produced 2 shorts

2008 (81st)

Short Film (Live Action)

Auf der Strecke (On the Line) -- Reto Caffi Manon on the Asphalt -- Elizabeth Marre, Director, Television series Olivier Pont Director, Television series New Boy -- Steph Green, Director Run and Jump Tamara Anghie Producer Run and Jump The Pig -- Tivi Magnusson, Producer Over 64 titles many short films, Dorte Høgh Writer multiple series, (Directed The Pig) *Spielzeugland (Toyland) -- Jochen Alexander Freydank Producer of multiple television series

2009 (82nd)

Short Film (Live Action)

The Door -- Juanita Wilson, Director As If I Am Not There James Flynn Multiple Producer credits for over 50 titles, television and theatrical Instead of Abracadabra -- Patrik Eklund, Director, Television film and feature Mathias Fjellström Kavi -- Gregg Helvey Miracle Fish -- Luke Doolan, Multiple credits as editor Drew Bailey Multiple credits as Assistant Director *The New Tenants -- Joachim Back, no other credits shown as a director, Tivi Magnusson This is Mr. Magnusson’s first Academy Award and second nomination. See 2008.

2010 (83rd)

Short Film (Live Action)

The Confession -- Tanel Toom The Crush -- Michael Creagh *God of Love -- Luke Matheny Feature Love Sick and multiple Television series episode Na Wewe -- Ivan Goldschmidt Wish 143 -- Ian Barnes, Multiple directing credits Television Samantha Waite Credits as production coordinator on multiple titles

2011 (84th)

Short Film (Live Action)

Pentecost -- Peter McDonald, Credits as actor Eimear O'Kane Credits as Producer on The Shadows and on television programs. Raju -- Max Zähle, Director, Television series Stefan Gieren Producer-Writer credit on feature film, Kunduz: The Incident at Hadji Ghafur *The Shore -- Terry George, Writer Two Oscar nominations for screenplays In the Name of the Father and Hotel Riwanda Producer and director on films and television series Oorlagh George Numerous credits as Assistant on features, documentaries and television shows Time Freak -- Andrew Bowler Writer and actor in a short film Gigi Causey Production manager, producer shorts, series and films

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Credits: Editing by Jessica Just for SydneysBuzz

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Mitchell Block specializes in conceiving, producing, marketing & distributing independent features & consulting. He is an expert in placing both completed works into distribution & working with producers to make projects fundable. He conducts regular workshops in film producing in Los Angeles and most recently in Maine, Russia and in Myanmar (Burma).

Poster Girl, produced by Block was nominated for a Documentary Academy Award and selected by the Ida as the Best Doc Short 2011. It was also nominated for two Emmy Awards and aired on HBO. He is an executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning PBS series Carrier, a 10-hour series that he conceived & co-created. Block is a graduate of Tisch School and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business. He is a member of Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the Television Academy, a founding member of BAFTA-la and has been teaching at USC School of Cinematic Arts since 1979. Currently Block teaches a required class in the USC Peter Stark Producing Program.

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©2013Mwb All Rights Reserved All Rights Reserved. All information and designs on the Sites are copyrighted material owned by Block. Reproduction, dissemination, or transmission of any part of the material here without the express written consent of the owner is strictly prohibited.All other product names and marks on Block Direct, whether trademarks, service marks, or other type, and whether registered or unregistered, is the property of Block.

#5. Interior. Leather Bar

Who: While everyone may be familiar with actor/director James Franco, they not be as aware of the filmmaker he’s paired with to direct Interior. Leather Bar, Travis Mathews. With a background in documentary, Mathews professes to use this and his Masters in Counseling Psychology to make films that focus on gay men and intimacy. He already has a series of short films about gay men and bedrooms and a well received 2012 feature film, I Want Your Love to his name.

What: His pairing with Franco on a project aims to recreate the lost 40 minutes of footage that William Friedkin was forced to cut from his controversial 1980 film Cruising.

Where: Franco’s interview also features a clip, while Franco’s co-director posted the trailer on his vimeo channel.

When: Shot in Los Angeles, CA over the course of a day in July, 2012, produced by RabbitBandini Productions...

Haut et Court has taken the French distribution rights to Sean Ellis' thriller "Metro Manila" a couple weeks before the film's debut at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. It centers on a destitute countryman in the Philippines who is sucked into a dangerous crime ring when he moves to the country's bustling capital, Manila. Haut et Court will release the film in France in May. No word yet on American distribution. Director Ellis is Oscar-nominated for his 2006 short film "Cashback," which he then went on to develop into a feature of the same title. He has also helmed BAFTA-nominated short "The Business Trip" and the feature-length thriller "The Broken," which premiered at Sundance in 2008. "Metro Manila" isn't the only film to get nabbed before its Sundance debut -- Ashton Kutcher-starrer "jOBS" was picked up January 3 by Open Road Films, with an American release planned for April. ...

Mostly populated by unknowns filmakers (at least to us), among the dozen titles in Sundance’s World Dramatic Comp we do find some familair auteurs such as Sean Ellis’ (from Cashback fame) who returns with Metro Manila, we have Srdan Golubovic’s Circles (see still above – a drama we thought might end up playing in Cannes earlier this year) and finally, Sebastián Silva whose latest Crystal Fairy (not to be confused with Magic Magic which also stars Michael Cera) will open the fest. Here are the twelve selections of which eleven are world preems.

Circles / Serbia, Germany, France, Croatia, Slovenia (Director: Srdan Golubovic, Screenwriters: Srdjan Koljevic, Melina Pota Koljevic) — Five people are affected by a tragic heroic act. Twenty years later, all of them will confront the past through their own crises. Will they overcome guilt, frustration and their urge for revenge? Will they do the right thing, at all costs?...

Melbourne, Nov 08 – Actress Emilia Fox has advised women to try pole dancing or striptease as she found it ‘completely liberating’.

“I’ve always been the last one to get up on the dance floor or at a party. I’m just too self-conscious,” the Daily Telegraph quoted her as telling the Mail.

“Then I had to learn pole-dancing for my role in 2006’s Cashback and I found it completely liberating. It taught me how to feel confident about my body so that dancing came naturally.”

“I wouldn’t encourage any woman to get involved in the sex trade, but I’d.

I know you want more concept trailers for movies that are still years away. Yeah, you know you want to see it as much as I do.

The latest in the batch from our researcher Avery is The Container. The first full length feature from South African director Chris Greybe, it’s the story of a police detective with an unusual neurological disease who is trying to make out what parts of his life are reality and what parts aren’t. There’s a suggestion here that perhaps the detective’s condition has opened him up to some other events which are on the brink of unfolding – I’m excited to see where they’re going with this concept of time shifting and the apocalyptic overtones throughout the trailer.

Greybe and crew are currently working on funding the film which they hope to have completed for 2012. With this trailer and...

It seems like every writer I idolize has the same history with Doctor Who as I do. As a young child growing up in Western New York, I stumbled across the show on PBS and the brief glimpse I saw gave me horrible, Horrible nightmares. I didn’t fully return to the series until its recent revival at the BBC. Let me tell you, I’m glad I did. More after the jump.

For those unfamiliar with Doctor Who, there is a vast history, but you can be brought up to speed with just the essential bits. With apologies to die-hard fans for this Reader’s Digest summary… The Doctor is a Time Lord (David Tennant), a being almost a millennia old, but don’t worry, he doesn’t look it. When gravely injured, The Doctor metamorphoses into a wholly new being both physically and personality-wise (though oddly enough, not...

I'm now halfway through Lionsgate's After Dark Horrorfest III box and I must say, so far I'm impressed with this year's offerings. However, we received the box a little too late to craft in-depth reviews of each film by Monday so I decided to take a shorter look at each film in two big mega-posts.

Continue on to read mini-reviews of The Broken, Perkins 14, Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations and Dying Breed.

***

Title: The Broken

Year: 2009

Director: Sean Ellis

Writer: Sean Ellis

IMDb: link

Trailer: link

Amazon: Purchase

Review by: agentorange

Rating: 7 out of 10

British newcomer Sean Ellis (Cashback) taps into early Polanski and blends it with Hitchcock's Veritigo in this classy urban thriller about a woman who becomes increasingly dislodged from reality when she sees what appears to be her doppelgänger driving down the street.

The Broken is, so far anyway, a stand out of the After Dark set...

[While our forum has been a quiet place for the last little while, there are still regular visitors that lurk there and drop some quality opinions on those little films from around the world we love so much. Because I am more than a bit jealous that regular reader Onderhond has seen this film and his thoughts are very well articulated, his review has been punted out of the forum and onto the main-site below:]

It is weird how The Broken seems to have slipped under so many radars. Cashback, Sean Ellis’ first film, gained the director many fans, many of whom should be more than excited to see his follow-up. Maybe it’s because The Broken is very different in style, maybe it’s because Mirrors has a superficially similar theme or maybe it’s just because this film could be quite difficult to market. While Cashback was quite light, humorous and even poetic in tone, The Broken is simply dark and menacing. Something Ellis’ claims to be closer to his home territory, and who can contradict him after seeing his newest film? Every part of the film is tweaked to inject some sense of real dread into the audience.

By Kim Voynar (original publication date: 1/23/08 -- Sundance Film Festival)

I'm not what I would call a serious fan of the horror genre overall, but I do like smart horror films, and The Broken, by Cashback director Sean Ellis, was a pretty smart film. I've had some arguments the past couple days about Cashback, and while that film has its weaknesses in the story structure, Ellis's strength as a director lies in imaginative visual sequences, a skill he uses to great effect in The Broken.

Gina (Lena Headey) and her boyfriend Stefan (Melvil Poupaud) go to Gina's father's house for a surprise birthday party. Her dad, who works for the Us Embassy in London, is nearing retirement. Gina's brother Daniel and his girlfriend Kate show up for the party as well; the party is nice but uneventful, until a large mirror in the dining room suddenly shatters for no apparent reason.

On a busy street in London, Gina thinks she sees herself drive past in her own car. Stunned by this strange event, Gina follows the mystery woman up to her apartment. From here, events take an eerie turn for the worse until Gina’s awareness slides from solid reality into a world that will haunt more than just her nightmares.

We have been tracking the progress of Cashback director Sean Ellis’ The Broken in these pages for some time now, pointing to both the French and Japanese versions of the trailer. Well, with an American release coming soon as part of the After Dark series we’re now pleased to add the Us version of the trailer to the mix. You’ll find it below the break in the Twitch Player.

Lena Headey ( Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles ) comes face-to-face with a spitting image of herself in The Broken , a new surreal thriller from British writer-director Sean Ellis. What transpires is a brooding, measured mystery that finds Headey's character questioning the true identity of her friends and loved ones as she seeks her imposter. The film played to audiences at Sundance at the outset of the year; genre festival screenings followed before it was acquired by After Dark Films for Horrorfest III (beginning January 9th). Ellis, a fashion photographer cum filmmaker, was nominated for an Academy Award for his short film Cashback in 2004. He turned that film into a feature two years later with Harry Potter 's Sean Biggerstaff and Emilia Fox. The Broken finds...

We’ve been tracking the progress of Cashback director Sean Ellis’ forway into the horror world for quite some time now and actually ran an early version of the French trailer for his latest effort, The Broken, a while back. But that version of the trailer featured some unfinished post production work and so we subsequently removed it from the site and have since only been able to show the very different Japanese trailer. Well, apparently the post is done, the official French website for the film has been launched and front and center is the now-official version of the trailer.

On a busy street in London, Gina thinks she sees herself drive past in her own car. Stunned by this strange event, Gina follows the mystery woman up to her apartment. From here, events take an eerie turn for the worse until Gina’s awareness slides from solid reality...

Rather recently, we showed you an international trailer hailing from Japan for Sean Ellis' The Broken . A French teaser has surfaced delivering on the same promising chills. The thriller is opening in France at the end of the month. U.S. audiences have to wait until January 9th, that's when it debuts as part of After Dark's Horrorfest III. Ellis, who also penned The Broken , previously helmed Cashback . You can take a look at the Horrorfest one-sheet here . Lena Headey ( Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles , 300 ) stars in the film as Gina, a radiologist working in London. One afternoon she believes she sees herself driving by in her own car. When she follows her mysterious doppelganger into an unfamiliar apartment, she isn't quite sure she can trust her own eyes until...

Check out a brand new movie poster from the upcoming horror film “The Broken” by director Sean Ellis (Cashback) and starring Lena Headey (Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Laid to Rest), Richard Jenkins (The Tale of Despereaux) and Asier Newman. Synopsis: On a busy street in London, Gina thinks she sees herself drive past in her own car. Stunned by this strange event, Gina follows the mystery woman up to her apartment. From here, events take an eerie turn for the worse until Gina’s awareness slides from solid reality into a world that will haunt more than just her nightmares. Stay tuned to Toxic Shock for the latest movie news and posters from “The Broken”...