News

Five docs making their world premiere at the fesitival

The UK’s Sheffield DocFest has selected nine films for its International Competition, with five of the documentaries making their world premiere at the festival. It runs from June 23-28.

The docs come from a broad span of countries - Australia, Brazil, Lebanon, Mexico, Poland, Spain, UK, US, and Ukraine.

The films in selection reflect the full spectrum of documentary production, from collective filmmaking on the frontline of war in the world premiere of Volodymyr Tykhyy’s One Day In Ukraine to the experimental exchange of video letters during the pandemic...

Casting

Nomzamo Mbatha (“Coming 2 America”) is set to star in period drama “Shaka Ilembe” about the iconic African king. The series is set in 1700s and will also star Lemogang Tsipa and newcomer Ntando Zondi, who will both play Shaka at different ages, Thembinkosi Mthembu as King Dingiswayo and Senzo Radebe as King Senzangakhona.

Mbatha, who will play Queen Nandi, Shaka’s mother, will also executive produce. “I am honoured to bring the giant that is Queen Nandi to life,” she said. “History will remember those who informed its people of where we come from, to better understand who we are. I am fortunate to be part of a project that is much bigger than ourselves and to tell this story in our own language. Impi iyeza!”

The series comes from MultiChoice and Bomb Productions.

Screen Summit

Wales is set to host an inaugural screen summit showcasing the film...

In his memoir But Enough About Me, screen legend Burt Reynolds tells all about his life and and his famous loves, including Dinah Shore, Sally Field and ex-wife Loni Anderson."I wanted to set the record straight," Reynolds, 79, tells People about his book, out this fall. "Not only about my relationships with Dinah, Sally and Loni, but also about the things that people don't know about me." There's a lot more to the star of Deliverance, Smokey and the Bandit and, more recently, Boogie Nights, than a '70s sex symbol famous for his 1972 nude centerfold in Cosmopolitan. Such as?...

Isle of Man government recouped just £6.3m of its £34m investment in local film industry, according to Treasury figures

The Isle of Man's attempts to generate a self-sustaining film industry have cost the local government upwards of £27m, according to figures released by the Treasury. Since 2007 the Manx economy has invested nearly £34m into 13 productions based on the island. It has recouped just £6.3m.

The news looks likely to tarnish the Isle of Man's reputation as a destination of choice for independent film-makers. Figures suggest that the government-funded production company CinemaNX ploughed £12m into the 2009 Richard Linklater film Me and Orson Welles for a return of only £2m. It also wrote off £2.2m of its £2.9m investment in the Burt Reynolds comedy A Bunch of Amateurs and £717,000 of its £1.4m investment in Heartless, an arthouse horror film by Philip Ridley.

"Film is an industry which is, by reputation, risky," said treasury minister Anne Craine.

The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader has been selected for this year's Royal Film Performance. The third big screen adaptation of C.S. Lewis's fantasy saga will get its world premiere in the presence of members of the Royal Family and the movie's cast and crew in late November. Dawn Treader is the second movie in the Narnia franchise to be screened for royalty following The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe in 2005. It will also mark the first time a Royal Performance has been shown in 3D. The annual premieres are the principal fundraising events for The Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund, the trade charity for UK film and TV industries. Previous selections include The Lovely Bones, A Bunch Of Amateurs and Casino Royale. Ctbf chief executive Brian Robertson (more)...

Mike Vile, general manager of Rialto Distribution, admits that, “to be absolutely blunt about it, we are looking for a film that is going to make us money!”

What were your strongest performing films of the 2009/2010 financial year?

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo has grossed $5.7m in Australia so far and $1.3m in Nz. I Am Love has grossed $1.3m in Australia (yet to be released in Nz). The Secret in Their Eyes grossed $815k in Australia and $600k in New Zealand.

In New Zealand our joint venture release with Becker Film Group, The Last Station, has grossed over $1m.

What titles didn’t necessarily meet your expectations?

In Australia, Topp Twins, and A Bunch of Amateurs and Secret of Moonacre in New Zealand.

Were there any surprises, positive or negative?

The longevity of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – in week 21 and continues to take approximately $30k per week – has been a surprise,...

It was London Luvvies on parade in Leicester Square for the Royal Charity Premiere of A Bunch of Amateurs, starring Burt Reynolds, Derek Jacobi and Imelda Staunton.The film is about an aging actor who leaves Hollywood for what he believes is a run at The Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of King Lear in Stratford Upon Avon, only to find out that it is actually an amateur dramatic society performance in Stratford St John, Suffolk. Jacobi and Staunton were on hand to welcome Her Royal Highness The Queen to the premiere, but main man Reynolds wasn’t in town. However, co-star Samantha Bond stepped in to talk about the moustachioed one, saying: “it was completely awesome to work with him." She also admitted a rather interesting crush: "When Burt tells stories about Frank Sinatra and the like, I kept thinking, in terms of a game of six degrees of separation,...