Sales deal for Irish comedy ‘Damo & Ivor: The Movie’

The film, which started as a YouTube skit before getting picked up for two seasons by broadcaster RTÉ, is scheduled to open in theaters across Ireland on St. Patrick’s Day 2018. Before then, Damo & Ivor: The Movie will be screened at the American Film Market next week.

Blue Ink Films and Parallel Films are co-producing the film with Ruth Carter as producer and Johanna Hogan and Alan Moloney as executive producers.

Following the lives of identical twin brothers separated at birth, the film picks up their story just as they’re about to embark on a journey across Ireland in search of their long lost brother, John Joe.

CEO of Carnaby International, Andrew Loveday, said: “We are enormously excited to be bringing Damo & Ivor to market. Andy Quirke is an inspired comedic writer and this really translates on screen in this laugh-out-loud funny and heart-warming picture.”

In addition to Quirke, who plays both Damo and Ivor, the film also stars Ruth McCabe (Philomena), Tina Kellegher (In The Name Of The Father) and Simon Delaney (The Conjuring 2).

The film is supported by the Irish Film Board, RTÉ and the Broadcast Authority of Ireland.

Directors Ronan and Rob Burke commented: “Carnaby has been passionate about our film from the start and we are so excited to be working with them. We would love Damo & Ivor to reach as wide an audience as possible and Carnaby are the perfect company to make this happen.”

Carnaby previously handed 2016 Irish comedy The Young Offenders.

Carnaby acquires Andrea Bocelli-narrated ice-skating doc ‘Intimissimi On Ice’

London-based sales outfit Carnaby International has acquired worldwide sales rights to ice-skating film Intimissimi On Ice: A Legend of Beauty.

The company is set to screen promo footage from the filmed event at the American Film Market (AFM) in Los Angeles from next week, which will act as its official sales launch.

The film, which was shot at The Arena Di Verona in Italy and is part of the Opera on Ice series of events, is narrated by Andrea Bocelli and combines opera and figure skating.

It also stars Japanese figure skating champion Shizuka Arakawa, American ice-dancers Meryl Davis and Charlie White, and Canadian pair-skating duo Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford.

Director Damiano Michieletto said: “Working on this project with such amazing talent and people from all around the world was one of the highlights of my career.

“The beauty of this show and the amount of people who worked hard to make it happen is unlike anything I have ever seen in my career. We’re thrilled to be working with Carnaby to bring this incredible production to audiences worldwide.”

Andrew Loveday, joint CEO of Carnaby International, added: “I’m proud to be working alongside such a talented team on this phenomenal special event. We’re excited to bring this into the market.”

1271820_intedit_405910

Antonio Banderas’ ‘Gun Shy’ Aims to Crowdfund New Path to Success

http://www.thewrap.com/antonio-banderas-gun-shy-aims-crowdfund-new-path-success/

Here’s how “Expendables 2” director Simon West tapped a “small group of bright kids” from Cambridge to help finance his new movie.

gunshy

As the director of films like “Con Air” and “The Expendables 2,” Simon West has worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, including Nicolas Cage and Sylvester Stallone. But for his latest film, “Gun Shy,” he tapped some less-famous people: He crowdfunded.

The Saban Films comedy (based on the Mark Haskell Smith novel “Salty”) stars Antonio Banderas as an aging rock star who battles rebels in the South American jungle to rescue his kidnapped wife (Olga Kurylenko). It’s the first time a major theatrical release has been crowdfunded, setting U.K. fundraising records along the way.

But West actually started out on the traditional path, looking for equity, before one of his early investors suggested looking into the wisdom — and wallets — of the crowd.

“I didn’t really know about crowdfunding,” West told TheWrap. “I’d heard of Kickstarter and I thought in the past there were just donations from fateful followers and they got a T-shirt or pen.”

But West learned that the rules in the U.K. are different, meaning that investors who participate in crowdfunding actually receive real equity in the project. (Last May, the U.S. legalized equity crowdfunding through the adoption of Title III of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act.)

After evaluating a few potential funding platforms, West and his team decided to go with SyndicateRoom, a company developed by a “small group of bright kids” from Cambridge University.

 

“They were very enthusiastic about putting a film project on the platform,” he said. “I suppose for them it was a very sexy sell. Instead of a new headache tablet, it was sort of ‘Hollywood goes to the platform.’”

He collected a diverse group of 164 investors. One was a film fan who worked at Radio Shack and scrounged to come up with the minimum investment of £3,000 (about $4,000.) West also won over one skeptic, a finance guy from the City of London who came to one of the few days of shooting in the U.K. to monitor his investment.

“He came with his defenses up — what are these slick Hollywood types doing with my money?” West said. “But he ended up being so enthusiastic, I ended up putting him in the film. Giving him a line.”

 

West was also able to get the rights to the novel the film was based on — and more — from Smith, the writer, in a highly unorthodox fashion.

“For a bottle of tequila — a good bottle of tequila — I got the option to the book rights and the first draft of the script,” West said.

West said he was pleasantly surprised by the success he had in meeting his fundraising targets, given how many internet ventures go awry. But he positioned himself for the best shot at success.

“I tried to choose a film that modestly budgeted with very broad appeal,” he said. “To give it its best chance. I wasn’t going to make a very obscure, small film that had a very small audience. I tried to make it commercial, broad appeal action-comedy.”

And as “Gun Shy” prepares to hit screens this weekend, that investment will start bearing fruit — and at least a theater full of very loyal fans.

“They’ve got a lottery ticket in their hand,” he said. “They’re actually real shareholders. And I’ve got 164 people who are going to see the movie.”

 

‘Gun Shy’ Starring Antonio Banderas Lands at Saban

Olga Kurylenko also stars in the film helmed by Simon West.

C4aEm7cW8AEORfh

Saban Films has acquired North American distribution rights to Simon West’s Gun Shy, starring Antonio Banderas and Olga Kurylenko.

The action film was written by Toby Davies and Mark Haskell Smith. West and Jib Polhemus produced under the Simon West Productions banner alongside Harry Stourton.

Adapted from the novel also written by Haskell Smith, Gun Shy (formerly titled Salty) follows Turk Henry (Banderas), an aging mid-level rock star whose supermodel wife (Kurylenko) is suddenly kidnapped while they are vacationing in Chile. Accustomed to his extravagant lifestyle and lacking basic life skills, Turk finds himself perplexed in having to navigate the back alleys of Santiago and South American jungles to save his wife from the renegades.

Gun Shy is a supremely entertaining film,” said Saban Films’ Bill Bromiley. “Our audiences will delight in Antonio Banderas’ raucous performance and director Simon West’s unique and wild vision.”

Gun Shy will be released in theaters on Sept. 8 in key cities throughout the U.S. and Canada. Ness Saban and Bromiley negotiated the deal on behalf of Saban Films, with London-based Carnaby International handling worldwide rights.

Carnaby launches Middle East-set sci-fi ‘The Shrine’

UK sales outfit Carnaby International has acquired worldwide sales rights to sci-fi thriller The Shrine and will be introducing the project to buyers at Cannes.

Set against the backdrop of war in the middle east, when a US drone strikes a rebel convoy, a blackout engulfs the Syrian-Turkish border. The US and Turkish military team up to investigate, stumbling upon a shrine at a mosque in a deserted town. What they find buried beneath will test the soldiers’ faith.

Sebastian Pearson is producing for his banner Pearson Films, his previous credits include Snatch and Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels as an associate producer. Anthony Hickox (Waxwork, Hellraiser III) will direct and has penned the screenplay.

Production is slated for early 2018, with cast to be announced at a later date.

The deal was brokered by Carnaby’s joint CEO Sean O’Kelly with Seabastian Pearson.

Pearson commented: “Our original Idea was to take a high concept, action sci-fi idea and set it in a Mosque amongst the Syrian conflict to highlight the craziness of all religious prejudices. Much like Get Out used classic horror to highlight racism in the US”

Cannes: Nick Frost to Play ‘Captain Pugwash’ in Chinese-Backed Live-Action Movie

 

Mandatory Credit: Photo by Stewart Cook/REX/Shutterstock (4106675i) Nick Frost 'The Boxtrolls' film premiere, Los Angeles, America - 21 Sep 2014
Mandatory Credit: Photo by Stewart Cook/REX/Shutterstock (4106675i)
Nick Frost
‘The Boxtrolls’ film premiere, Los Angeles, America – 21 Sep 2014

British actor Nick Frost is set to play classic British children’s character “Captain Pugwash” in a live-action movie from Atticus Pictures, Carnaby International and China’s Costar Culture & Media. Carnaby is introducing the project to buyers at the Cannes Film Market this week.

“Besides Winston Churchill and Henry VIII, Captain Horatio Pugwash seems like a role I was born to play. I cannot wait to get going,” said Frost.

Frost will play the bumbling and cowardly pirate, created by John Ryan, who has been a British children’s favorite since first appearing as a comic strip in 1950. A black-and-white animated television series featuring the character first appeared on the BBC in 1957, running until 1966, followed by a color series which first aired in the mid-1970s. Another more recent animated version was produced in 1997.

The film will see the cowardly captain on a mission to rescue cabin boy Tom’s father, who has been marooned on a volcanic island with a hoard of treasure protected by an army of angry ghosts. Jason Flemyng has also been announced to appear.

Written and directed by John Hay, who won an International Emmy for best kids TV movie/miniseries for his 2011 television drama “Lost Christmas,” the film will be produced by Elliot Jenkins and Justin Johnson for Atticus Pictures alongside Andrew Loveday and Sean O’Kelly for Carnaby International and Jiang Jun for Costar Culture & Media. Costar and Carnaby will co-finance the project.

Interlude in Prague: An exclusive look into recreating the sumptuous world of Mozart

Exclusive in The Independent

odeon2

Though Mozart’s cinematic story has been somewhat dominated by the towering classic that is Amadeus, new film Interlude in Prague looks to take inspiration from one of his most famous works, Don Giovanni.

Though the dates and locations here are real, the film makes daring use of Mozart’s opera to paint a new, fictitious story about the composer, in a similar manner to 1998’s Shakespeare in Love.

Taking place over the course of several visits to Prague, Mozart (Aneurin Barnard) is invited to the city by Baron Salok (James Purefoy), who bears a certain reputation for vanity and self-obsession.

That said, Mozart feels immediately at home with his new patron, and launches work on a new opera to be staged at the Nostitz Theatre.

However, Saloka’s betrothed, Zuzanna Lubtak (Morfydd Clark), a talent soprano, falls in love with Mozart and the pair begin a passionate affair, one that has disastrous and tragic consequences.

Directed by John Stephenson, the film also stars Les Miserables‘ Samantha Barks, Ade Edmondson, and Dervla Kirwan.

We’ve got an exclusive look at the making of the film, exploring both its use of magnificent real locations, and the creation of its extravagant, intricate costumes.

Interlude in Prague hits UK cinemas 25 May, before arriving on DVD and Digital HD from 29 May.

Dates announced for BEAUTIFUL DEVILS theatrical release!

 

 

portrait-hi-res-web

BEAUTIFUL DEVILS, a 21st-Century take on Shakespeare’s tragedy of Othello, will be released theatrically in the UK in March. Shifting the play’s action from the streets of Venice to the music scene of trendy East London, the film brings together a cast of emerging British actors to update this classic timeless story of jealousy and betrayal.

Osy Ikhile (Mission:Impossible – Rogue Nation, Kill Your Friends)

Rachel Hurd Wood (Dorian Gray, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer)

Elliot James Langridge (Primeval)

Iain Glen (Game of Thrones, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider)

 

UK theatrical screenings:

VUE SHEPHERD’S BUSH

22 MARCH 19:00 (SOLD OUT)

https://www.ourscreen.com/tickets/buy/43151

VUE CARDIFF

22 MARCH 19:00

https://www.ourscreen.com/tickets/buy/43254

VUE BIRMINGHAM

22 MARCH 19:00

https://www.ourscreen.com/tickets/buy/43147

VUE CROYDON GRANTS

22 MARCH 19:00

https://www.ourscreen.com/tickets/buy/43150

VUE STAINES

22 MARCH 19:00

https://www.ourscreen.com/tickets/buy/43148

VUE ISLINGTON

22 MARCH 19:00

https://www.ourscreen.com/tickets/buy/43149

VUE READING

22 MARCH 19:00

https://www.ourscreen.com/tickets/buy/43152

ODEON BRIGHTON

22 MARCH 20:30

https://www.ourscreen.com/tickets/buy/43310

ODEON GUILDFORD

22 MARCH 20:30

https://www.ourscreen.com/tickets/buy/43312

ODEON TUNBRIDGE WELLS

22 MARCH 20:30

https://www.ourscreen.com/tickets/buy/43314

CROUCH END PICTUREHOUSE

22 MARCH 20:30

https://www.ourscreen.com/tickets/buy/43146

VUE CHESHIRE OAKS

24 MARCH 19:00

https://www.ourscreen.com/tickets/buy/43249

ODEON WIMBLEDON

29 MARCH 18:00

https://www.ourscreen.com/tickets/buy/43331

 

 

Berlin: Olga Kurylenko Talks Getting ‘Salty’ With Antonio Banderas

Leaving James Bond behind, the actress takes on comedy as a kidnapped supermodel wife of an aging rock star.

C4aEm7cW8AEORfh

Former Bond girl (Quantum of Solace) and Terence Malick muse (To the Wonder) Olga Kurylenko turns on the laughs alongside Antonio Banderas in Simon West’s comedy Salty, about an aging rock star whose supermodel wife is kidnapped by shipless pirates. Carnaby is screening the film to buyers at the EFM.

Is this your first comedy role?

I’ve been part of other comedies before, but the roles were never that big. I think this is the biggest and also the first time I really got the taste of comedy. It’s so much fun.

How funny is Antonio Banderas?

He’s hilarious. He’s very natural. He’s Spanish, so has this fire in him. He was going pretty far with the characters.

He wasn’t just doing his Puss in Boots voice all the time?

No, although I love that! What a shame he wasn’t doing it.

Could you be the pampered wife of an aging rock god, like your character?

If I could, I would have done it already! Believe me, I had many opportunities. I was a model, and it’s quite easy to end up surrounded by people who look for those kinds of wives. So if you wanted it, you just grabbed the opportunity. But you have to want it, and I did not. I think I’d die of boredom. But never say never!

You’re also in The Death of Stalin. Is this a different sort of comedy?

It’s a satire, so it’s not that first-degree comedy. But Armando Iannucci is an amazing writer – everything he writes is brilliant. But my role there was not very funny.

Who do you play?

I play Maria Yudina, who was Stalin’s favorite pianist. She was very insolent and hated him. And despite of this, he still admired her work. She was quite a strong woman and didn’t care about the regime and didn’t want to obey.

How are your piano skills?

I had to learn lots of big pieces – Mozart’s “Piano Concerto No. 23” and Chopin’s preludes … so basically I’m playing a lot of piano! But I did seven years of music school when I was a kid so I know how to play and read music.

Who should play the next James Bond?

There are so many guys. We have an actor in Salty, Ben Cura, who could be a good James Bond, but maybe he’s too young. He’s only 28.

Nominations at the National Film Awards!

Carnaby scores 6 nods at the National Film Awards, including 4 nominations for the cast & team behind KIDS IN LOVE!

KILstill

Best Actor
Max Records, (I Am Not a Serial Killer)
Michael Fassbender, (Trespass Against Us)
Shia Labeouf, (American Honey)
Steve Brandon, (My Feral Heart)
Eddie Redmayne, (Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them)
Will Poulter, (Kids in Love)
David Oyelowo, ( A United Kingdom)
Ewan McGregor, (Our Kind of Traitor)
Sacha Baron Cohen, ( Grimsby)
Mathew Horne, (Breaking the Bank)
Tom Sturridge, (Remainder)
Daniel Radcliffe, (Now You See Me 2)

Best Supporting actress
Avin Manshadi, (Under the Shadow)
Gemma Arterton, (The Girl with All the Gifts)
Naomie Harris, (Our Kind of Traitor)
Shana Swash, (My Feral Heart)
Joanna Lumley,(Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie)
Terry Pheto, (A United Kingdom)
Alma Jodorowsky, (Kids in Love)
Gemma Jones, (Bridget Jones’s Baby)

Best British Film
Kids In Love
Our Kind of Traitor
Grimsby
A United Kingdom
5 Greedy Bankers
Chicken
A Street Cat Named Bob
Adult Life Skills

Best Director
Mandie Fletcher for (Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie)
Jim O’Hanlon for (A Hundred Streets)
Noel Clarke for (Brotherhood)
Oliver Parker for (Dad’s Army)
Dexter Fletcher for (Eddie The Eagle)
Chris Foggin for (Kids in Love)
Ricky Gervais for (Life on the Road)
Susanna White for Our Kind of Traitor)
Fernando Coimbra for (Sand Castle)
Rachel Tunnard, (Adult Life Skills)
Babak Anvari, (Under the Shadow)
Amma Asante, ( A United Kingdom)

Best Action
Brotherhood
Eddie The Eagle
The Girl with All the Gifts
The Guv’nor
The Fall of the Krays

Best Independent Feature
Couple in a Hole
Under the Shadow
Chicken
The Fall of the Krays
Mob Handed
The Contract
Our Kind of Traitor
Stoner Express