27 October, 2005
EXCLUSIVE TO JEREMY KAY, SCREEN INTERNATIONAL A month after the company celebrated its third anniversary, ContentFilm International managing director Jamie Carmichael today announced a number of new projects on its AFM slate, including new films by Peter Greenaway, Keith Gordon and Paul Verhoeven, and that the company has picked up the star-studded comedy “The Moguls” from Michael Kuhn’s Qwerty Film. Since parent company ContentFilm’s strong move this summer into the library business with the acquisition of Fireworks International, ContentFilm International has found success in the American independent sector with such hot titles as “Transamerica” at Cannes and “Thank You for Smoking” at Toronto. In addition, the move has allowed Carmichael to focus more of his attention on European productions, such as Paul Verhoeven’s $20 million WW II thriller “Black Book,” which is currently in production in Holland starring Carice van Houten. “In this new incarnation of ContentFilm International, the library we built is now being handled by Fireworks on the television library side, freeing us up to become involved in more prestigious US and European projects of our choosing. Our plan is to represent between ten and twelve of these titles a year, and we’re looking to help about two thirds of those get financed, with the balance picked up fully financed or finished. We’ve found and are looking for quality films of distinction, directors with class, and cool cast,” said Carmichael. One such project is Peter Greenaway’s next film, “Nightwatching,” an extravagant period mystery that explores the extraordinary real-life circumstances behind Rembrandt’s most celebrated painting, The Nightwatch, a group portrait of the Amsterdam Muskateer Militia the master reluctantly agreed to paint in 1642. To be completed just as the 400th anniversary of the painter’s birth will be celebrated next year, “Nightwatching” is part romance, part murder mystery and part exposé of the hypocritical side of Dutch society in its Golden Age. “Nightwatching” is produced by Kees Kasander and Christine Haebler with Carlo Dusi serving as executive producer. Another such project is “A Thousand Days,” a literary romantic drama set in 1960s Spain written and to be directed by American Keith Gordon (“Waking the Dead,” “A Midnight Clear”). Produced by Nigel Thomas, Peter Watson-Wood and Lauri Apelian, the film centers on a writer for The New Yorker who, sent on assignment back to the Spain of his most virile days, recalls the painful choice he once made between his wife, a photographer, and a Matador with whom he had become obsessed. ContentFilm International has also picked up the comedy “The Moguls” from Michael Kuhn’s London based Qwerty Films. Written and directed by Michael Traeger and produced by Aaron Ryder, with Kuhn serving as executive producer along with Malcolm Ritchie and Jill Tandy for N1 European Film Produktions, “The Moguls” is about a group of small-town guys trying to change their fortunes by making an adult film. “The Producers” meets “Debbie Does Dallas,” “The Moguls” stars Jeff Bridges, Ted Danson, William Fichtner, Patrick Fugit, Lauren Graham, Glenne Headly, Tim Blake Nelson, Joe Pantoliano and Jeanne Tripplehorn. “The Moguls” has just been acquired for North American distribution by Bauer Martinez. Also on ContentFilm International’s AFM slate: the coming of age comedy “Driving Lessons,” written and directed by Jeremy Brock and starring Julie Walters, Rupert Grint and Laura Linney; and the erotic thriller “The Book of Revelation,” written and directed by Ana Kokkinos and starring Tom Long, Greta Scacchi and Colin Friels. Carmichael will be showing footage from these highly anticipated projects at the AFM, while the completed family adventure film “MEE-SHEE: The Water Giant,” featuring special effects via Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, will screen for the very fist time there in its entirety.
For further enquiries, please contact:
Judith Baugin
E-mail: [email protected]
or Jeremy Walker
Tel: +1 212-595-6161
