U.K.-French film company Alief has boarded Cinélatino winner Victoria Linares Villegas’ upcoming horror debut “No salgas” (“Stay Quiet”) as its world sales agent and co-producer, teaming up with El Perro de Argento, the Dominican Republic-based production company founded by Linares Villegas and Carlos Marranzini.
Alief partners Brett Walker and Miguel Angel Govea are heading to Cannes with a sizzle reel to meet with potential buyers and post-production partners at the Marché du Film. Pic is slated for completion by winter 2024, in time for the festival circuit.
Currently filming in the Dominican Republic, the queer coming-of-age horror pic stars Camila Issa (Nickelodeon’s “Are You Afraid of the Dark”) Cecile van Welie (San Sebastian’s New Directors Award winner “Carajita”) and Camila Santana (Berlinale Generation’s “Ramona”) as well as newcomer Gabriela Cortés.
In “No salgas,” van Welie portrays Liz, a college student grappling with her sexual identity. While...
Alief partners Brett Walker and Miguel Angel Govea are heading to Cannes with a sizzle reel to meet with potential buyers and post-production partners at the Marché du Film. Pic is slated for completion by winter 2024, in time for the festival circuit.
Currently filming in the Dominican Republic, the queer coming-of-age horror pic stars Camila Issa (Nickelodeon’s “Are You Afraid of the Dark”) Cecile van Welie (San Sebastian’s New Directors Award winner “Carajita”) and Camila Santana (Berlinale Generation’s “Ramona”) as well as newcomer Gabriela Cortés.
In “No salgas,” van Welie portrays Liz, a college student grappling with her sexual identity. While...
- 5/9/2024
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
American Fiction, Cord Jefferson’s drama starring Jeffrey Wright, Sterling K. Brown and Tracee Ellis Ross has officially moved ahead in the Best Picture race, winning the People’s Choice Award at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.
In a statement, Jefferson said, “My gratitude towards everyone who watched American Fiction, discussed it afterwards among friends and colleagues is endless. The film is now in your hands and I’m so grateful that it was embraced in this way.” The film edged out runners-up The Holdovers (directed by Alexander Payne) and Hayao Miyazaki’s on-again-off-again “final” film The Boy and the Heron.
American Fiction is in some fantastic company by winning the People’s Choice Award at TIFF. Check out the last 10 winners: The Fabelmans, Belfast, Nomadland, Jojo Rabbit, Green Book, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, La La Land, Room, The Imitation Game, and 12 Years a Slave. That...
In a statement, Jefferson said, “My gratitude towards everyone who watched American Fiction, discussed it afterwards among friends and colleagues is endless. The film is now in your hands and I’m so grateful that it was embraced in this way.” The film edged out runners-up The Holdovers (directed by Alexander Payne) and Hayao Miyazaki’s on-again-off-again “final” film The Boy and the Heron.
American Fiction is in some fantastic company by winning the People’s Choice Award at TIFF. Check out the last 10 winners: The Fabelmans, Belfast, Nomadland, Jojo Rabbit, Green Book, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, La La Land, Room, The Imitation Game, and 12 Years a Slave. That...
- 9/17/2023
- by Mathew Plale
- JoBlo.com
Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction picked up the top People’s Choice honor Sunday at the Toronto Film Festival, which wrapped up a 48th edition with little Hollywood star wattage amid the uncertainty of dual Hollywood strikes.
Jefferson’s feature directorial debut, an adaptation for Orion of Percival Everett’s 2001 novel Erasure, had its world premiere in Toronto at the Princess Alexandra Theatre on Sept. 8. MRC is the film’s studio and financier.
The American drama about U.S. racial dynamics portrays a Black academic, played by Jeffrey Wright, who grows frustrated that the only “Black books” that seem to find a wide (and white) audience are those that tread on stereotypes.
“My gratitude towards everyone who watched American Fiction [and] discussed it afterwards among friends and colleagues is endless. The film is now in your hands, and I’m so grateful that it was embraced in this way,” Jefferson said in a statement Sunday morning.
Jefferson’s feature directorial debut, an adaptation for Orion of Percival Everett’s 2001 novel Erasure, had its world premiere in Toronto at the Princess Alexandra Theatre on Sept. 8. MRC is the film’s studio and financier.
The American drama about U.S. racial dynamics portrays a Black academic, played by Jeffrey Wright, who grows frustrated that the only “Black books” that seem to find a wide (and white) audience are those that tread on stereotypes.
“My gratitude towards everyone who watched American Fiction [and] discussed it afterwards among friends and colleagues is endless. The film is now in your hands, and I’m so grateful that it was embraced in this way,” Jefferson said in a statement Sunday morning.
- 9/17/2023
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“American Fiction” has won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF organizers announced at an awards brunch on Sunday.
The Orion/MGM film by first-time director Cord Jefferson is a barbed satire that stars Jeffrey Wright as a writer who, to his dismay, achieves enormous success after as a joke writing a book filled with what he feels are the worst and most pandering cliches of Black representation. In its review, TheWrap called the film “an outlandishly assured directorial debut, a beautifully modulated film that takes a great actor, Jeffrey Wright, and gives him a spectacular showcase.”
While the film did not come into the festival as one of its highest profile selections, it was an immediate sensation after its Friday night premiere at the Princess of Wales Theatre, drawing some of TIFF’s most positive reviews. It currently stands at 86% positive on Rotten Tomatoes...
The Orion/MGM film by first-time director Cord Jefferson is a barbed satire that stars Jeffrey Wright as a writer who, to his dismay, achieves enormous success after as a joke writing a book filled with what he feels are the worst and most pandering cliches of Black representation. In its review, TheWrap called the film “an outlandishly assured directorial debut, a beautifully modulated film that takes a great actor, Jeffrey Wright, and gives him a spectacular showcase.”
While the film did not come into the festival as one of its highest profile selections, it was an immediate sensation after its Friday night premiere at the Princess of Wales Theatre, drawing some of TIFF’s most positive reviews. It currently stands at 86% positive on Rotten Tomatoes...
- 9/17/2023
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
The People’s Choice Award from the just-wrapped 2023 Toronto Film Festival has gone to Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction. First Runner-Up is Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers. Second Runner-Up is Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron. The Documentary Award goes to Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe, and the Midnight Madness winner is Dicks: The Musical.
Orion and MRC’s American Fiction stars Jeffrey Wright and comes from writer-director Jefferson. It is a scathing satire on the publishing industry and its treatment of serious works by Black writers, one whose name is Thelonious “Monk” Ellison. He travels back to his hometown of Boston to attend a book festival, but the turnout is low in favor of another book seminar with author Sintara Golden’s (Issa Rae) bestseller We Lives in Da Ghetto. It is scheduled to be released in theaters in November.
Voted by audience members since 1978 and...
Orion and MRC’s American Fiction stars Jeffrey Wright and comes from writer-director Jefferson. It is a scathing satire on the publishing industry and its treatment of serious works by Black writers, one whose name is Thelonious “Monk” Ellison. He travels back to his hometown of Boston to attend a book festival, but the turnout is low in favor of another book seminar with author Sintara Golden’s (Issa Rae) bestseller We Lives in Da Ghetto. It is scheduled to be released in theaters in November.
Voted by audience members since 1978 and...
- 9/17/2023
- by Pete Hammond
- Deadline Film + TV
After a two week run that included a slew of buzzy world premieres and screenings of previous favorites from the international festival circuit, the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival has come to a close. Toronto is often considered the unofficial kickoff to Oscar season (along with the Venice and Telluride film festivals), so the films that take home the coveted People’s Choice Awards often get an early boost for their award campaigns.
The top prize went to “American Fiction,” Cord Jefferson’s publishing industry satire that stars Jeffrey Wright as a novelist who finds massive success after writing a deliberately stupid novel about Black life. Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers” and Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron” were honored as the first and second runners up, respectively.
The MRC title could have a bright future at the Academy Awards, as 11 of the last 14 People’s Choice Award winners...
The top prize went to “American Fiction,” Cord Jefferson’s publishing industry satire that stars Jeffrey Wright as a novelist who finds massive success after writing a deliberately stupid novel about Black life. Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers” and Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron” were honored as the first and second runners up, respectively.
The MRC title could have a bright future at the Academy Awards, as 11 of the last 14 People’s Choice Award winners...
- 9/17/2023
- by Christian Zilko
- Indiewire
Toronto: “Humanist Vampire,” “Solo” Heat Up Market for Toronto’s Quebec Feature Slate
By Jennie Punter
Toronto has long been a go-to place for Quebec filmmakers to launch new work, connect directly to the U.S. marketplace and, by extension, propel their careers to the next level — Denis Villeneuve, Phillippe Falardeau and Jean-Marc Vallée, for example, premiered most of their early films here.
Many of this year’s bumper crop of mostly world-premiering Quebec titles explore less familiar corners of society — First Peoples and newcomer stories, the drag scene — and there are also fresh takes on romantic dramedy (Monia Chokri’s “The Nature of Love”), true-story-inspired WWII drama (Louise Archambault’s “Irena’s Vow”) and horror comedy.
Five of the festival’s eight Quebec features are directed by women. Sophie Dupuis, whose third film, the drag-scene character study “Solo,” told Variety that support from government funding agencies Telefilm and Sodec (Quebec...
By Jennie Punter
Toronto has long been a go-to place for Quebec filmmakers to launch new work, connect directly to the U.S. marketplace and, by extension, propel their careers to the next level — Denis Villeneuve, Phillippe Falardeau and Jean-Marc Vallée, for example, premiered most of their early films here.
Many of this year’s bumper crop of mostly world-premiering Quebec titles explore less familiar corners of society — First Peoples and newcomer stories, the drag scene — and there are also fresh takes on romantic dramedy (Monia Chokri’s “The Nature of Love”), true-story-inspired WWII drama (Louise Archambault’s “Irena’s Vow”) and horror comedy.
Five of the festival’s eight Quebec features are directed by women. Sophie Dupuis, whose third film, the drag-scene character study “Solo,” told Variety that support from government funding agencies Telefilm and Sodec (Quebec...
- 9/10/2023
- by Jennie Punter
- Variety Film + TV
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