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Chicago, Il Hong Kong New Talents program, initiated by the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society (Hkiffs) with financial support by Create Hong Kong, has been on tour since June this year in Europe is making its first stop in North America at Asian Pop-Up Cinema, Chicago.

A special touring program post Covid-19’S disruption to the film industry’s ecosystem, Hong Kong New Talents program introduces and promotes Hong Kong’s new generation of filmmakers to international audiences. The selection of exhilarating new films highlights the strong creativity and artistry of the emerging filmmakers, giving the global film community a glimpse of the refreshing landscape of Hong Kong cinema.

Asian Pop Up Cinema’s upcoming Season 13th will feature five 1st & 2nd time directors’ work, screening from September 15 – October 6. They are:

Drifting (Jun Li), The Dishwasher Squad (Shum Shek Yin), Just 1 Day (Erica Li), Time (Ricky Ko), and Hand...

Exclusive: Universal Pictures has set Tiffany Haddish to star in I.F., a live-action hybrid family comedy that has Mike Mitchell set to direct a script by Darren Lemke. The film blends animation with live action, in the vein of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The picture is the story of an imaginary friend.

Lemke’s scripting credits include Goosebumps and Shazam! Mitchell directed Shrek Forever After (which Lemke co-wrote), and The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part.

Haddish is producing through her She Ready banner with Safehouse Pictures partners Tory Tunnell and Joby Harold.

As an actress, Haddish has upcoming the Paul Schrader-directed drama The Card Counter, and She Ready is developing Tracey’s Life Matters, The Bardess, The Untitled Aida Rodriguez Project, Mystery Girl, Homecoming Queen, The Untitled Flo Jo Biopic and Down Undercover, this after the Emmy nominated special Tiffany Haddish: Black Mitzvah for Netflix and two...

One of the many repercussions of the protests in Hong Kong which took place in the last years is that it showed the vast difference between certain parts of the population and the political caste. At the same time, it shed some light on the social differences of the city, the social chasm symbolized by gigantic skyscrapers for the super-rich and luxurious condos on the one hand, and a growing number of people forced to either leave the city for good or who became part of the homeless. With his acclaimed directorial debut “Tracey” filmmaker Jun Li has already proved his keen eye for these social issues in his home country, and his follow-up “Drifting”, based on a true story, is no exception. Focusing on the problems of the homeless, and a court case against the Hong Kong government, Jun Li discusses the concept of class, but also themes such as dignity,...

Full Frontal with Samantha Bee’s Emmy campaign appears to have been pretty prescient.

“Celebrating almost 25 years of male late-night host winners,” the TBS show’s FYC billboards joked.

This year’s late-night Emmy will be won by a man after the former Daily Show correspondent’s show, which has been nominated for the last four years, missed out on a nomination for Outstanding Variety Talk Series.

Bee was replaced in the category by Conan, ten years after the show’s last main nomination, sending mixed messages to the folk who run the WarnerMedia basic cable network. On the one hand, they will be thrilled that they’ve remained in the game and the TV Academy voters have deigned to give Conan O’Brien a lovely leaving gift, but on the other, they’ve robbed their last remaining late-night show of a spot at the table.

Late-night giveth and late-night taketh away.

One of the many repercussions of the protests in Hong Kong which took place in the last years is that it showed the vast difference between certain parts of the population and the political caste. At the same time, it shed some light on the social differences of the city, the social chasm symbolized by gigantic skyscrapers for the super-rich and luxurious condos on the one hand, and a growing number of people forced to either leave the city for good or who became part of the homeless. With his acclaimed directorial debut “Tracey” filmmaker Jun Li has already proved his keen eye for these social issues in his home country, and his follow-up “Drifting”, based on a true story, is no exception. Focusing on the problems of the homeless, and a court case against the Hong Kong government, Jun Li discusses the concept of class, but also themes such as dignity,...

The 10th Chinese Visual Festival (Cvf) will be held in London 15 – 25 July at BFI Southbank and Genesis Cinema. The UK’s only festival dedicated to the cinema of the Chinese language speaking world, this year’s event sees a highly anticipated return to in-person screenings for Cvf, giving audiences the chance to catch a carefully curated selection of fantastic films on the big screen where they belong. This year’s line-up features a programme of unprecedented variety, covering a wide range of genres, forms and subjects, welcoming film lovers back to cinemas with ten days of unmissable films. Cvf 2021 is supported by the Department of Film Studies, King’s College London and the Taipei Representative Office in the U.K. and the Ministry of Culture, Taiwan (R.O.C.).

This year’s festival opens with the UK Premiere of Drifting, from Hong Kong writer director Jun Li, whose ground-breaking trans drama Tracey screened...

It's Homer Simpson's birthday and fans of The Simpsons are celebrating the occasion on social media. In a classic episode of the animated sitcom that originally aired in the mid-90s, Homer's driver's license can be seen featuring his actual birthdate: May 12, 1956. Because the Simpson family never actually ages, Homer will forever be a 38-year-old, but if Homer had aged normally since his established birthdate, he would now be 65 years old.

Leading the charge in wishing Homer Simpson birthday wishes on what should be his 65th birthday is actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt. On Twitter, Gordon-Levitt posted a tweet wishing Homer a happy birthday along with a screenshot of his driver's license. Thousands of fans have liked and retweeted the image.

Fans of The Simpsons are getting in on the fun. Referencing another scene where a teenage Homer buys beer using a fake ID with the name Brian McGee, one fan asks:...

Director Jun Li hopes his new film, “Drifting”, which made its Asian premiere at the 45th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF45) tonight, can spotlight Hong Kong’s homeless people for more public attention.

Joining Li at a star-studded gala screening at Hong Kong Cultural Centre was the ensemble cast, including Loletta Lee, Cecilia Choi, Chu Pak-hong, Baby Bo, Will Or, and Cecilia Yip in a special appearance. Selected for the International Film Festival Rotterdam’s Big Screen Competition earlier this year, “Drifting” is the young filmmaker’s second feature following “Tracey”, his critically-acclaimed debut in 2018.

Based on a true story, “Drifting” recounts how an ex-convict, played by Francis Ng, and his fellow drifters take their fight to court after the authorities had raided their makeshift homes and disposed of their belongings.

“I used to walk past the squatters in the Sham Shui Po underbridge every day on my way to school,...

Newcomer Hong Kong director Jun Li decided to begin his career in feature movies with a “bang” and a big pink wig on the head of one of the most recognisable Hong Kong actors. What a way to start! Aided by seasoned scriptwriter Shu Kei and Herman Yau’s regular collaborator Erica Li, Jun Li has co-scripted and directed “Tracey”, where he frankly introduces a transgender character and follows her struggle on the path to happiness and self-discovery.

Tracey is streaming on Focus Hong Kong

Tung Tai-hung (Philip Keung) is a quiet fifty-something man, a gentle but somehow distant middle-class husband and father of 2, and an earnest optometrist with his own shop. Fond of his sweet memories of adolescence and his school-time inseparable trio, Tung has always been a loyal friend to Jun (Eric Kot), a brash and jolly womaniser and Ching, talented and passionate war photographer, who has long...

After the first edition successful run in February, when UK audiences celebrated Chinese New Year with a great selection of new and classic Hong Kong films, Focus Hong Kong is back.

This Easter edition of the festival runs online from 31st March to 6th April 2021 inclusive,giving audiences across the UK the chance to watch a carefully curated selection of some of the best new Hong Kong films of the last year along with much-loved classics.

This time too, Focus Hong Kong features a fantastic and diverse line-up of films, including 3 UK premieres, as well as another free selection of Hong Kong Fresh Wave shorts.

Here are all the titles:

Romance “My Prince Edward” (2019) by Norris Wong – UK Premiere

one of the most acclaimed Hong Kong films of recent years, starring Stephy Tang.

Inspirational sports drama “I Still Remember” (2021) by He Liheng – UK Premiere

following characters trying to become runners...

New projects include Au Cheuk Man’s Stand Up Story, co-produced with Emp, and Chui Tze Yiu’s Remember What I Forgot.

Hong Kong-based One Cool Film Production is making good on its promise to get the pandemic-hit local film industry back to work. The company’s sales arm, One Cool Pictures, is attending Filmart Online with a slate of several new productions from both new and established filmmakers, including the first project from its partnership with Emperor Motion Pictures (Emp).

One Cool and Emp announced last year that they would co-produce and co-distribute a slate of films to support...

Just weeks ahead of The Simpsons‘ 700th episode, Fox has renewed the long-running animated comedy for Seasons 33 and 34, ensuring its run through at least 2023.

The announcement was made Wednesday during the Television Critics Association winter press tour, where Homer Simpson himself remarked, “Woo-hoo! With any luck, the show will soon be older than I am.”

More from TVLineThe Simpsons Replaces Harry Shearer With Black Actor Kevin Michael Richardson as Voice of Dr. HibbertSimpsons Will 'No Longer' Have White Actors Play Non-White CharactersProdigal Son's Midseason Finale Reveals What Ainsley Really Did

“It’s a sincere pleasure to announce the Season 33 and 34 pick-ups for The Simpsons,...

Jun Li studied journalism in Hong Kong and gender studies at Cambridge. He released two short films before directing his feature debut Tracey (2018), about a man in his 50s coming out as transgender. The film was nominated for three awards at Golden Horse Film Festival. Drifting (2021) is his second feature film, with its world premiere at IFFR.

We speak with him about the poor and homeless and the cleanings the Hong Kong government implemented, the challenges he had to face during the shooting, the casting, and many other topics.

What kind of research did you do for Drifting?

When the street cleanings in 2012 happened, to which I refer in particular, I was 20 year old. This impressed me much and since then, it was a topic I followed. I studied journalism at the university and wrote some articles on it in the student publication. To prepare for the film I went...

Exclusive: My5, the streaming service run by ViacomCBS’s UK network Channel 5, has acquired British comedy series Hapless, which first started life as a self-released project on Amazon Prime Video.

The six-part series was created, written, and produced by Gary Sinyor and stars Outlander and Paddington actor Tim Downie as Paul Green, a journalist on the UK’s fourth most successful Jewish newspaper.

The series first launched on Amazon last year under the title The Jewish Enquirer, but with industry production slowing down during the coronavirus pandemic, Sinyor saw an opportunity to pitch the show to a broadcaster. It goes live on My5 in March

Hapless co-stars Geoffrey McGivern (Little Dorrit) and Lucy Montgomery (Tracey Ullman’s Show) as Green’s father and sister, while Josh Howie (Call Me Alvy) features as the journalist’s best friend. Sinyor himself provides the voice of Green’s narrow-minded editor.

Here’s...

NBC’s long-running “Saturday Night Live” has won the Emmy for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series.

The win marks the fourth consecutive year that “Saturday Night Live” has earned the Emmy in the category. IndieWire’s Ben Travers recently predicted that “Saturday Night Live” would perform well during the Emmys due to its widespread popularity and recognition among Emmy voters.

“Over the three years it’s won Variety Sketch, ‘SNL’ had 18 total nominations in 2019 and won five times; 2018 saw 21 nods and eight wins; 2017 hit a recent high with 23 nominations and nine wins, including four acting trophies,” Travers said in his article on the category’s likely winner. “So Lorne Michaels’ juggernaut is trending down… and it’s still one of the most recognized programs at the Emmys. Even if voters agree Season 45 wasn’t the best iteration of the series, it’s built up decades of goodwill.”

“Saturday Night Live” beat...

The Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf) today announces 22 feature projects shortlisted for the Work-in-Progress Programme (Wip), comprising of ten fictions and 12 documentaries from territories including Hong Kong, China, India, Vietnam and the Philippines.

The Wip initiative, to run exclusively online this year in parallel with the main Haf programme, will take place from 26 to 28 August in conjunction with Filmart Online, the virtual platform of the 24th Hong Kong International Film & TV Market. Haf, Wip and Filmart were all postponed from March this year following the global outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Haf will announce details of the online arrangement for both Haf and Wip as soon as practicable.

Now in its fourth edition, Wip is designed to provide a platform for later-stage projects seeking completion funding, post-production partners, distributors and sales agents, film festival supports, and other industry services. The production on all shortlisted projects this year are completed,...

While Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie may get the lion’s share of credit for making “The Simpsons” work, the extended family also plays a vital role in the show’s humor. No character better exemplifies this than Abraham “Grampa” Simpson. To celebrate this endearing old coot’s sensibility and what he has brought to the show for the past 31 years, we’ve put together 20 hilarious instances of Grampa’s crazy and rambling diatribes.

“The Simpsons” originated from the mind of cartoonist Matt Groening and first started airing as shorts on “The Tracey Ullman Show” in the late 1980s. With the assistance of Oscar and Emmy winner James L. Brooks and Sam Simon, Groening developed the concept into a half-hour program that debuted on Fox in December of 1989. To date, the show has aired over 670 episodes, making it the longest running scripted series in primetime television.

Groening first came...

The Lgbtq+ voices get louder in Asian cinemas too. Generally, outside specific genres like sex comedies or erotic pictures, sex is rarely approached as a serious issue, unless you really look for it. Here are 5 films of 2019 that have broken the taboo and even taboo within the taboo and have discussed sex, sexual identity or orientation openly. Of course, we still swim in the not-exactly-mainstream waters, but the below listed five films hit several jackpots with bravado. And they are fabulous alternatives for the Valentine Days flick. Well, except for “Kalel, 15”, perhaps. But with the person queer in a fitting way…

The films are alphabetically ordered.

1. Born Beautiful (2019) by Perci Intalan

“Born Beautiful” is a sequel, or rather spin-off, of fabulous “Die Beautiful” (2016) by Jun Robles Lana. Now, the spotlight lights on Trisha’s (Paolo Ballesteros) Bff Barbs (Martin del Rosario) and her identity crises. Bearing the traces of Lana’s writing,...

Three UK features among first 15 films selected for Berlin’s Generations programme.Scroll down for list

The 2017 Berlin Film Festival has revealed the first raft of titles selected for its Generations sidebar, which features youth and children’s films.

Michael Winterbottom’s music documentary On The Road [pictured], which follows the band Wolf Alice on tour, will open the Generation 14plus programme this year.

Also playing in that strand will be Dash Shaw’s My Entire High School Sinking Into The Sea, which features the voices of Jason Schwartzman, Maya Rudolph, Lena Dunham and Susan Sarandon.

Further UK features playing in 14plus include the world premieres of Carol Salter’s Almost Heaven and Rafael Kapelinski’s Butterfly Kiss.

Titles selected for the separate GenerationKplus strand include the European premiere of Kriv Stenders’s Australian family feature Red Dog: True Blue.

The 2017 Berlin Film Festival takes place February 9-19.

Selected titles

Synopses provided by Berlinale press office.

Generation14plus

On The Road...

Weirdos, the latest film from the quintessentially Canadian auteur Bruce McDonald, is on its face just another road trip comedy with the spirit of Andy Warhol, but this time Warhol actually appears on screen — although for legal reasons, per the credits, Rhys Bevan-John plays “Not Andy Warhol.” It’s the summer of 1976 in Nova Scotia when Kit (Dylan Authors) takes out on the road with his radiant pal Alice (Julia Sarah Stone). She’s as confused as he is when she asks if they’ll be having “goodbye sex,” something they’ve been putting off for an obvious reason.

Kit and Alice bum rides, walk, and hitchhike from Antigonish to the shore where Kit hopes to escape his father’s unkind words at home and move in with his mother Laura (Molly Parker), a hippy who regrets she ever moved out of Toronto. She’s presumably more open-minded than his...

Much like like Steven Soderbergh or Richard Linklater, Canadian filmmaker Bruce McDonald doesn't easily fit into a single genre box. Often using his home country as a backdrop, the director has delivered movies as diverse as "Dance Me Outside," "Hard Core Logo," "The Tracey Fragments," and "This Movie Is Broken." But for his next move, McDonald is readying "Hellions," and he hopes it'll send a chill up your spine. Starring Chloe Rose, Robert Patrick, Rossif Sutherland, Rachel Wilson, Peter DaCunha, and Luke Bilyk, the horror/thriller takes place on Halloween night where more than just trick or treaters are up to trouble. Here's the official synopsis:  It is Halloween night in the town of Waterford, the so-called Pumpkin Capital of the World. Alone at home, teenager Dora Vogel is about to have a very long night. Free to roam undetected among the small town's trick-or-treaters, a group of masked demonic beings knock on.

Strategic Partners, a presentation of the Atlantic Film Festival, has announced the producers selected to participate as part of the inaugural project exchange with Mexico’s Los Cabos International Film Festival and Brazil’s RioContentMarket, in addition to an incredible line-up of producers and projects. As part of a two year spotlight on Latin America, one Mexican producer with a feature film in development and one Brazilian producer with a television project in development have been invited to participate at Strategic Partners 2014, September 11 - 14 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. A Canadian feature film in development will then be selected from this year’s Strategic Partners to participate at Los Cabos International Film Festival, November 11 - 14, 2014. Additionally, a Canadian television project in development looking for Brazilian co-production partners will be chosen to attend RioContentMarket, February 2015. This initiative is sponsored by the Canadian Media Production Association.

Producer and co-founder of the Mexican production company Agrupación Caramelo Cinematografica, April Shannon, has been selected to participate in this year’s Strategic Partners from Los Cabos International Film Festival. Shannon’s impressive career includes working as producer on Bernardo Arellano’s "Between Night and Day" as well as production manager on James Franco’s "The Broken Tower." Shannon recently produced Arellano’s second feature "The Beginning of Time," now in post-production, to be released in late 2014. Shannon will bring the dark thriller "Franco’s Night" to Strategic Partners with production slated for 2015 in Mexico.

Brazilian producer Marcelo Galvão has been selected from RioContentMarket’s esteemed alumni of 2014. Galvão established production company Gatacine in 2001 and has since directed six features including "Farewell," "La Rina and Bellini"and the "Devil." He has won over 50 renowned awards including Best Film at the Gramado Film Festival, Best Director at the Los Angeles Brazilian Film Festival and Best Screenwriter at Paulína Film Festival (Brazil) among many others. Galvão will bring the highly anticipated television miniseries, The Gardener, to this year’s Strategic Partners.

“Ushering in the very first project exchange with producers April Shannon and Marcelo Galvão sets the bar incredibly high and truly complements the illustrious roster of delegates we will have at this year’s events,” says Strategic Partners Director, Laura Mackenzie. “The results couldn’t have been more ideal and I look forward to continuing our newly founded relationships with Los Cabos International Film Festival and RioContentMarket.”

A snapshot of the producers and 108 projects slated for Strategic Partners 2014:

"Prisoner’s Dilemma," (Feature Film, Sci-Fi Noir Thriller): Rebecca Knapp, The Content Providers/Dark Engine (UK), Director: Mark Anthony Galluzzo (RSVP), Attached: Lynn Collins ("X-Men Origins: Wolverine")

"Give Me Your Hand" (Feature Film, Romantic Comedy): Mariela Besuievsky, Tornasol Films (Spain), Director: Maria de Medeiros ("April Captains", "Je t’aime, moi non plus"), screenplay by Alicia Luna and Maria de Medicos

"Las Elegidas," (Feature Film, Drama): Marta Núñez Puerto, Canana (Mx), Director: David Pablos, ("The Life After")

"Dreamland,"(Feature Film, Fantasy): Amber Ripley, Foundation Features (Cad), Director: Bruce McDonald ("The Tracey Fragments," "Pontypool"), Attached: Stephen McHattie ("Watchmen," "300")

"Buzz Me," (Feature Film, Comedy): Raj Panikkar, Fifth Ground Entertainment (Cad), Director: Ken Girotti ("Vikings," "Orphan Black")

"A Prayer Before Dawn," (Feature Film, Action): Sol Papadopoulos, Roy Boulter, Hurricane Films (UK), Attached: Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy)

"The Sandman" (Feature Film, Horror): Daniela Tully, Shivertown Road (USA/Germany), Director: Dario Argento ("Philomena," "Opera"), Attached: Iggy Pop ("Trainspotting")

"The Portal," (TV Fiction, Fantasy): Andrew Nicholas McCann Smith, First Love Films (Canada). Director: Jonathan Williams ("The Portal"), Attached: Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica, Bomb Girls, Supernatural), Erin Karpluk (Being Erica)

"Are We A Bus" (TV Fiction, Comedy Drama): Mark Montefiore, New Metric Media (Canada), Show-runner: Daegan Fryklind (Bitten)

"Orovida" (TV Fiction, Romance): Mariela Besuievsky, Tornasol Films (Spain) - based on the novel by Yael Guiladi (portraying a passionate story of forbidden love at a time when an interracial liaison could result in death)

"Guardian Council" (TV Fiction, Procedural Drama): Carlos Andrade, Visom Digital (Brazil). Director: Rudi Lagemann ("Angels of The Sun")

A stellar line-up of some of the world’s most influential production companies will descend upon Halifax this fall including:

Sepia Films ("A Shine of Rainbows") - Canada

Blue Ice Pictures ("Nebraska") - Canada

Sienna Films ("Titanic") - Canada

Amaze Film + TV ("Call Me Fitz") - Canada

10x2y inc. ("The Samaritan") - Canada

Alazraki Entertainment ("Nosotros Los Nobles") - Mexico

Axman Productions ("Corn Island") - Czech Republic

Easy There Tiger ("Julie & Juila") - USA

Pampa Films ("The Games Maker") - Argentina

Utopia Group ("The Dead Man and Being Happy") - Argentina

Sikhya Entertainment ("The Lunchbox") - India

Each year, top Canadian and international industry players, including producers, investors, sales agents, funding agencies, broadcasters and distributors are selected to attend Strategic Partners. Offering over 1,000 pre-scheduled 1-2-1 meetings, co-production focused roundtable sessions, cutting edge panels, visionary keynote speakers, and screenings and receptions – Strategic Partners is a convergence of talent and innovation, producing tangible results.

For program updates and information on all things co-production, you can now follow the newly developed Strategic Partners presence on social media:

Twitter: [At]SPcopromarket Facebook: www.facebook.com/atlanticfilmfestivalstrategicpartners Youtube: www.youtube.com/atlanticfilmdotcom

About Strategic Partners: An International Film, Television and Digital Co-Production Market The Atlantic Film Festival’s Strategic Partners is one of the world’s preeminent co-production/co-financing markets focusing on feature film, TV and web based fiction. Strategic Partners offers an intimate, organized forum for projects looking for financing as well as those still at an early stage, looking for the right partner.

Over the past 17 years, Strategic Partners has established itself not only as a one of a kind co-production market, but also as a cutting edge, intimate environment that delivers solutions to existing and foreseeable industry challenges. The intelligence and program offered at Strategic Partners is developed over many months of research into current global issues. However, this information is only a complement to Strategic Partners’ primary function – to build, establish and nurture relationships between producers and their partners. Strategic Partners is a part of the Atlantic Film Festival family of programs. Today’s Atlantic Film Festival is now a year-round celebration, growing beyond our eight-day cornerstone event in September to include: ViewFinders: Atlantic Film Festival for Youth, the Aff Outdoor Film Experience, and Strategic Partners. Learn more Here...

Twenty-five years ago, director Bruce McDonald first burst onto the Canadian film scene with his debut feature, the cult classic "Roadkill." And in the years since, he and his films have become a fixture in the country's indie movie landscape, from "Hard Core Logo" to his newest feature (and McDonald's 11th in total), "The Husband." While the movie isn't quite an anniversary celebration, it does act as a reunion of sorts, bringing McDonald back together with "The Tracey Fragments" actor Maxwell McCabe-Lokos, who co-wrote the script along with another former cast member of McDonald's, Kelly Harms.

Part drama, part comedy and even part thriller, "The Husband" takes the ripped-from-the-headlines premise of a female teacher convicted of sleeping with a 14-year-old student, and instead focuses on the one left out of the scandalous love triangle. McCabe-Lokos plays Henry, who's already struggling to cope with raising the couple's young child while attempting...

Bruce McDonald's dark comedy hits the big screen on this coming Friday with its theatrical run beginning at the Tiff Bell Lightbox in Toronto. And if you want a taste at the film's very dry sense of humor, well, look no further than the latest teaser to arrive on the scene.Maxwell McCabe-Lokos, who co-wrote the movie, stars as a man steadily unravelling as he cares for his infant son while his teacher wife (Sarah Allen) serves a jail sentence for sleeping with a teenaged student. The Husband stars Maxwell McCabe-Lokos (The Tracey Fragments, Lars and the Real Girl, Mouth to Mouth), August Diehl (Salt, Inglorious Bastards, The Counterfeiters, Mouth to Mouth), Sarah Allen (On The Road, Human Trafficking), and Jodi Balfour (Bomb Girls, Final Destination...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

With Bruce McDonald's ultra dark comedy The Husband gearing up for the start of its theatrical run at the Tiff Bell Lightbox in Toronto on March 14th the latest in a series of brief teasers have arrived online. And, yes, cars are hard.Maxwell McCabe-Lokos, who co-wrote the movie, stars as a man steadily unravelling as he cares for his infant son while his teacher wife (Sarah Allen) serves a jail sentence for sleeping with a teenaged student. The Husband stars Maxwell McCabe-Lokos (The Tracey Fragments, Lars and the Real Girl, Mouth to Mouth), August Diehl (Salt, Inglorious Bastards, The Counterfeiters, Mouth to Mouth), Sarah Allen (On The Road, Human Trafficking), and Jodi Balfour (Bomb Girls, Final Destination 5). Check out the latest teaser below....

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Veteran Canadian filmmaker Bruce McDonald has effectively moved between film and television over the course of his career, helming movies such as Pontypool, The Tracey Fragments, and Picture Claire, as well as episodes of Degrassi: The Next Generation, Queer as Folk, and Bomb Girls. His involvement in a project garners added interest, and such was also the case with his next feature. Titled The Husband, McDonald directs from a script by Kelly Harms and Maxwell McCabe-Lokos. McCabe-Lokos also stars in the feature, working alongside Sarah Allen, August Diehl, and Dylan Authors. A full trailer for the film has now been released, and can be seen below.

(Source: Twitch)

The post ‘The Husband’, the newest feature by Bruce McDonald, releases a full trailer appeared first on Sound On Sight.

One of my favourite Canadian filmmakers, Bruce McDonald (Hard Core Logo, Pontypool) is back at Tiff with his latest film, The Husband. The film stars Maxwell McCabe-Lokos (The Tracey Fragments), as Henry, a man who is left to care for his infant son after his wife is imprisoned for cheating on him with a minor. Tiff describes The Husband as “Slyly funny, with the structure of an Italian sex comedy of the 1960s”. For decades, McDonald has been producing, editing, and directing in both television and film, including Degrassi: The Next Generation, Instant Star, Twitch City and Queer as Folk. He’s also directed music videos for notable bands and eventually set up his own production company, named Shadow Shows. He might not be a household name like David Cronenberg, but his films have gained him considerable critical acclaim, and a cult following over the years. Watch the clip for The Husband below.

While not as much of a household name as David Cronenberg, Canadian director Bruce McDonald ("Hard Core Logo," "Pontypool") largely exemplifies the spirit of Canadian film with his oddball narratives and low budget inventiveness. The 54 year old has become a well-known favorite of the Toronto International Film Festival, where his latest opus, the dark comedy "The Husband," premiered last night. We're very happy to exclusively debut the poster for the film, some new photos, plus you can watch the trailer below. It's a McDonald McOverload!The film stars Maxwell McCabe-Lokos (whoa appeared in McDonald's "The Tracey Fragments"), as Henry, a man whose wife is in jail for sleeping with a 14-year-old boy. This leaves him to care for their infant son alone and his self-destructive tendencies, as he waits for her release, spiral out of control after he has a chance encounter with the young boy who slept with his wife.

Bruce McDonald's latest film, the dark comedy The Husband, is set to have its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Monday, September 9. The film was co-written by his lead actor, Maxwell McCabe-Lokos, who has worked with McDonald before on The Tracey Fragments. The trailer has dropped ahead of its premiere next week and you will find it below. Henry, the hero of Bruce McDonald's gutsy The Husband, is having a really bad year. His wife, Alyssa, a former teacher, is in jail for sleeping with a fourteen-year-old student, leaving Henry to raise their infant son alone. He loathes his ad agency job -- and his co-workers even more. Moreover, the burden of single-parenting has essentially cut Henry off from his friends, leaving...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Variety reports that director Bruce McDonald is set to helm the supernatural thriller, 'Dark Highway.' It's a change of pace for the Canadian born director who is often attached to either low-budget films or television series. The film is described as:  "Story follows a man being chased who is trying to get to a certain place in one day. He doesn't know whether the situation is real or his imagination." Sounds wacky and befitting of the director if you're familiar with some of his other works. 2008 saw the release of his low-budget zombie film, 'Pontypool.' As opposed to having buckets of blood and violence, the film focused on the way a small-town radio station staff reacted to words themselves becoming infected, causing a sort of mental breakdown. With an estimated budget of only $1.5 million, the film managed an 83% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The director's other work includes films,...

While starting to gather up the best movie posters of the year and looking for anything I might have missed I came across these two canny posters for a documentary I had never heard of (even though it played for a week at the IFC Center in New York in August). Directed by Bruce McDonald (Hard Core Logo, The Tracey Fragments), Music from the Big House follows singer Rita Chiarelli on a pilgrimage to the birthplace of the blues, which, according to this film, is the Louisiana State Maximum Security Penitentiary, better known as Angola Prison (a point of no return already memorably documented in Liz Garbus's devastating doc The Farm).

As little known as this film is (the film’s website has no information on upcoming screenings or DVD release) it is blessed with two superbly conceptual posters: one in which the strings of a guitar are transformed...

Canadian actor Stephen Amell, British actor Aiden Turner and Australian actor Liam McIntyre have emerged as the three main candidates to replace outgoing leading man Andy Whitfield in Starz' "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" series reports Deadline.

Whitfield had to drop out of the ancient Roman gladiator-themed cable series in order to receive further treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma which it was previously announced that he had managed to recover from.

Starz apparently had been heavily weighing up its options and ultimately have decided to recast the role for the second season. Last month "Prison Break" star Wentworh Miller apparently expressed interest, however that deal never seemed to materialise.

All three candidates are being flown to New Zealand for screen tests and to meet with the show's cast and crew with the final decision expected as early as the end of this week.

29-year-old Amell has mostly popped up in guest star...

A trailer for People Live Still in Cashtown Corners (Tony Burgess) is now available on ChiZine Publications’ website and in high definition on its YouTube channel The 60-second trailer was officially unveiled at the ChiZine Publications (Czp) launch party for its six Fall 2010 titles held on Friday, October 22 in Toronto, Ontario. Shot in a single afternoon at Tony Burgess’s Stayner, Ontario house, the trailer was directed by noted Canadian filmmaker Bruce McDonald (Pontypool, The Collector, Hard Core Logo, The Tracey Fragments). Burgess and McDonald collaborated before in bringing Burgess’s novel Pontypool Changes Everything to the screen as the 2008 film Pontypool. (McDonald confirmed on the day of the trailer shooting that Pontypools 2 and 3 are currently in development.) After the success of Pontypool, Savory looked to McDonald to bring to life what Burgess envisioned for the Cashtown trailer. “I saw what Bruce had done on Pontypool and [...]...

Bruce McDonald is as renegade a filmmaker you’ll find these days, with an ever-shifting style. The common link between his works is an impulse to tell narratives through experimental techniques. However, as “experiments” they are tightly controlled and never appear to be style over substance. The brilliance of his films, as opposed to someone like Tim Burton, are that the visuals (including photography, film stock, format) serve the story, even when he fails you see where he’s going.

In this respect, Trigger is a traditional character driven comedy/drama that evolves slowly into a touching tribute to actress Tracey Wright, who was dying slowly during filming. Telling the story of two women: a Toronto based musician (Wright) and a Los Angeles-based television executive (Molly Parker) that were once a popular grunge duo known as Trigger, imaginary Canadian contemporaries of girl grunge rockers Hole and The Breeders.

They meet again,...

The Toronto International Film Festival announced their complete slate of Canadian titles today, including the first announced midnight title in Michael Dowse's Fubar II. The Canadian slate this year looks to be a pretty compelling slate of newcomers and familiar names. Check all the news below!

Galas

A Beginners Guide to Endings  Jonathan Sobol, Canada World Premiere

Raucous, charming and very funny, Jonathan Sobol's comedy A Beginners Guide to Endings follows three sons as they deal with their gambler father's somewhat complicated legacy. Featuring the legendary Harvey Keitel, the film also stars Scott Caan, Paolo Costanzo, Wendy Crewson, Tricia Helfer, Jason Jones, and J.K. Simmons.

Previously announced Canadian Galas include: The Bang Bang Club, Steven Silver; Barney's Version, Richard J. Lewis; Casino Jack, George Hickenlooper; Score: A Hockey Musical, Mike McGowan.

Special Presentations

Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie Sturla Gunnarsson, Canada World Premiere

At 75 years old,...

I've been pretty curious about Bruce McDonald's This Movie is Broken ever since it was first announced. The idea behind the film is definitely unique: it combines a fictional dramatic narrative with real live footage of the Canadian band Broken Social Scene [1]. To make things even more interesting, the live footage was crowdsourced -- in other words, they invited fans to submit their own videos of the band's concerts for use in the film. The movie premiered at SXSW a couple of months ago, and now it looks like it will get a theatrical release (in Canada anyway) sometime this summer. Bruce McDonald is certainly no stranger to oddball cinematic experiments, having directed such films as Hard Core Logo, The Tracey Fragments and Pontypool. I still really have no idea what to expect from this film, and I'm not even sure if it will appeal to anyone who isn't a fan of the band.

Canadian auteur Bruce McDonald has attracted a small but passionate following with movies like Hard Core Logo and The Tracey Fragments, experimental works with some fierce defenders. In a just world Pontypool, now playing in select theaters and on IFC On Demand, would exponentially increase the size of his fan base. That’s because it’s as smart and thought provoking a horror movie as any released in years. The screenplay by Tony Burgess, based on his novel “Pontypool Changes Everything,” imbues its zombie story with deep rooted philosophical underpinnings and McDonald brings it the meticulous technical expertise of a master filmmaker. Stephen McHattie stars as Grant Mazzy, a radio DJ working in the small Ontario town of Pontypool, forced to stay on the air one cold, blustery morning as mysterious foreboding events begin to happen outside the studio. In an exclusive interview, Film School Rejects spoke to the director. The...

Ah, more such classy horror flicks, please! Riffing on Orson Welles’ radio-show hoaxing with his War of the Worlds, Canadian filmmaker Bruce McDonald (The Tracey Fragments) gives us a zombie flick set almost entirely within the confines of a rural Ontario radio station, over the course of a single morning during which all hell breaks loose outside. Calls from listeners and reports from the traffic guy in the helicopter bring news of strange doings in town; later, the BBC phones in seeking on-the-ground details from morning jock Grant Mazzy (Stephen McHattie: Watchmen), the big-city guy exiled to the middle of nowhere who’d been hoping to shake things up, and who now finds himself anchoring the end of the world, maybe, without even being able to see what’s going on beyond his sound booth... What constitutes this clever iteration of zombie virus and how it spreads is a sly satire on shock radio,...

What's a zombie movie without zom bies? A dull zombie movie.

Take "Pontypool" by Canadian cult director Bruce McDonald, whose work includes the quirky road movie "Highway 61" (1991) and "The Tracey Fragments" (2007), featuring a pre-"Juno" Ellen Page.

"Pontypool" takes place almost entirely in the church-basement studio of a radio station in snowy, remotest Ontario.

The morning shock jock, Grant Mazzy -- played with gusto by Stephen McHattie, who looks...

Editor’S Note: This review was originally published as part of indieWIRE’s coverage of the 2009 SXSW Film Festival. I’m in the minority thinking that Bruce McDonald’s “The Tracey Fragments” made for one of the niftiest avant-garde movie experiences of 2008, but McDonald doesn’t try to please a large crowd, anyway. For years, the director has worked with complete autonomy, thriving off his community in Canada while still managing to attract stars …...

We're all for getting out in the summertime, but there might not be anything more refreshing than cooling off in a movie theater... or seeing a movie in the comfort of your air-conditioned home on demand, on DVD, or online... or better yet catching a classic on the big screen at a nearby repertory theater. With literally hundreds of films to choose from this summer, we humbly present this guide to the season's most exciting offerings.

May 1

"Eldorado"

The Cast: Bouli Lanners, Fabrice Adde, Philippe Nahon, Didier Toupy, Franise Chichy

Director: Bouli Lanners

Fest Cred: Cannes, Warsaw, Glasgow, Palm Springs,

The Gist: When Elie (Adde), a hapless young thief attempts to rob Yvan (Lanners), a 40-year-old car dealer, the two form a unlikely friendship that leads to a road trip across Belgium in this slight comedy that won the Best European Film at the Director's Fortnight at Cannes last year.

Roller derby diehards and grrl-power folks will be pleased to know that Drew Barrymore's directorial debut Whip It! has finally gotten a distributor and a release date: Fox Searchlight will be unleashing it in wide release on October 9th, 2009. Drew Barrymore is also an executive producer; her production company Flower Films is behind the release.

Based on the novel Derby Girl by Shauna Cross, Whip It! is the story of a small-town Texas gal named Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) who channels her inner bad-ass with help from a roller derby league in nearby Austin. Cross is also a derby girl from Texas; her not-to-be-messed-with nom de rink is Maggie Mayhem.

Whip It! also stars Drew Barrymore as Smashley Simpson, Juliette Lewis as Dinah Might, Kristen Wiig as Malice in Wonderland, real-life stunt woman Zoe Bell as Bloody Holly, Eve as Rosa Sparks, and many more as derby grrls throwing...

I’m in the minority thinking that Bruce McDonald’s “The Tracey Fragments” made for one of the niftiest avant-garde movie experiences of 2008, but McDonald doesn’t try to please a large crowd, anyway. For years, the director has worked with complete autonomy, thriving off his community in Canada while still managing to attract stars to his projects. He does what he wants for whoever cares to pay attention. At the same time, …...

I’m in the minority thinking that Bruce McDonald’s “The Tracey Fragments” made for one of the niftiest avant-garde movie experiences of 2008, but McDonald doesn’t try to please a large crowd, anyway. For years, the director has worked with complete autonomy, thriving off his community in Canada while still managing to attract stars to his projects. He does what he wants for whoever cares to pay attention. At the same time, …...

Pontypool will be having it's world premier at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival (and we should have a review for you, yeah!) and is directed by Bruce McDonald (The Tracey Fragments), so I'm quite hopeful even though it sounds like another "hey we're stuck in a building surrounded by zombies" film. "It's set around a small radio station in Pontypool, Ontario. One day our hero, Grant, a talk radio DJ starts to get reports of strange, unnerving acts of violence that are happening in the area. They come realize this because the English language has been infected with a virus." So far so good, now let's get down to what he actually said about the "zombies", or what McDonald's calls "conversationalists". "There are three stages to this to this virus. The first stage is you might begin to repeat a word. Something gets stuck. And usually it's words that...

Yes, boys and girls, I think it is safe to say that much loved Canadian director Bruce McDonald is back where he belongs. After carving out a niche for himelf with intense road pictures like Hard Core Logo - the first major acting gig for Headstones frontman Hugh Dillon, who now plays the lead on Canuck export TV series Flashpoint - Highway 61 and Roadkill, McDonald ended up working largely in television for a number of years. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, the man worked on some of the best television to come out of this nation in recent days and certainly made Kevin Smith happy by helping to re-launch Degrassi, but McDonald has always belonged in features.

He returned to the big screen last year with The Tracey Fragments, his first feature since 2001, and now he’s back again with Pontypool. About to take its bow as...

Bruce McDonald's adaptation of Maureen Medved's stream-of-consciousness teen novel The Tracey Fragments turns the screen into an ever-shifting mosaic, with anywhere from two to 20 separate images appearing at the same time. Some show different angles on the same action, and some show what's going through the mind of the title character, played by a pre-Juno Ellen Page. Dubbed "the titless wonder" by her peers, Page is a miserable high-school student with a grumpy father and a distant mother. When her younger brother disappears on her watch, Page begins a cold journey through the Toronto night, winding up naked, wrapped in a shower curtain, and riding the city bus. As Page reflects on how she ended up this way, McDonald uses her anxiety as the foundation for an audacious formal experiment, intended to depict the inherent schizophrenia of the adolescent mind. McDonald isn't the first to play with multi-screens,...

Principal photography is underway in Toronto for Pontypool, a new film from director Bruce McDonald (Highway 61, Roadkill and recently, The Tracey Fragments, with Ellen Page). "It is set in a radio station in Pontypool and our morning team took reports in of extreme and bloody incidents of violence. The reason for this violence is that the English language has become infected with a virus," McDonald tells 680 News in an interview. From a script by Tony Burgess, the film stars Stephen McHattie, Daniel Fathers, Georgina Reilly and Beatriz Yuste. The great news is that Pontypool should be ready in time to debut at the Toronto International Film Festival, hopefully we'll catch it if it screens.

By Matt Singer and Alison Willmore

This week, "Juno"'s Ellen Page is back in theaters with "The Tracey Fragments," playing another troubled but eloquent teenager girl. Is it safe to say that Page is the wide-eyed, smart-mouthed face of the MySpace generation on the indie screen? In honor of her role, this week on the Ifc News podcast, we take a look at some of the better representations of teens on screen, from "Kes" to "Ghost World."

Download now (MP3: 27:56 minutes, 25.5 Mb) Podcast feeds: [Xml] [iTunes]

[Photo: "The Tracey Fragments," THINKFilm, 2007]...

By Neil Pedley

This week sees the return of the Wachowski brothers, Tarsem Singh ("The Cell") and Henry Bean ("The Believer") to the big screen, not to mention new films from documentarians Nick Broomfield ("Tupac and Biggie") and Doug Pray ("Scratch"). On the other hand, after running around Tribeca, we still need to catch up on last week's releases.

"The Babysitters"

The idea of the spunky teenage boy succumbing to the allure of an experienced older woman is the kind of Hollywood golden goose that launches major careers (think Dustin Hoffman). But when the roles are reversed, the result is the directorial debut of David Ross that sees an entrepreneurial high schooler (Katherine Waterston, daughter of Sam) and her friends turn their babysitting ring into a call girl service, realizing there are alternative ways to pay for college besides waiting tables. It stars when one local dad (John Leguizamo) goes...