EXCLUSIVE: The producers of Oscar winners Moonlight and Icarus, Oscar nominee Carol and Showtime series Billions, are among those bringing new projects to the IFP Project Forum, which runs during the 40th IFP Week (September 15 – 20, 2018) in New York. This year’s particularly buzzy Project Forum slate will comprise…

Thorsten Schumacher, a 13-year veteran of London-based sales company HanWay Films and managing director for the past five years, is exiting the company. No replacement has been announced. The company’s recent slate included last year’s awards-season staples Carol, Brooklyn and Anomalisa, which combined for 10 Oscar…

Sex is getting a raw deal in movies and TV. That rather unoriginal idea occurred to me this week as I revisited two sterling late-'60s movies, Goodbye Columbus and The Graduate, which treated sexuality both humorously and, well, lovingly (more on that later). No one would employ those terms today to describe sex as…

EXCLUSIVE– Getting one high-end, sophisticated independent film off the ground in today's climate is no mean feat. Carol producers Stephen Woolley and Elizabeth Karlsen and their company Number 9 Films seem to have cracked a way to turn good taste into a viable business. They are on the verge of having their biggest…

Open Road’s Oscar hopeful Spotlight swept the proceedings at the 31st annual Film Independent Spirit Awards this afternoon in Santa Monica. The drama about the Boston Globe investigation of the Boston Catholic Church’s child abuse scandal won four awards — Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best…

Four years ago Rooney Mara found herself at the Oscars, nominated for her epic metamorphosis into punk nihilist hacker Lisbeth Salander in Sony’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. This Sunday, the actress returns to The Dolby Theater, this time being recognized for her portrayal of Therese Belivet, a young…

EXCLUSIVE: Best Actress Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan will star in On Chesil Beach for Number 9 Films’ Elizabeth Karlsen and Stephen Woolley. Dominic Cooke (The Hollow Crown) will make his feature directorial debut with the adaptation of the acclaimed Ian McEwan novel. This is another classy project for Number 9, which…

When you've scored some 90-odd films and have a long-standing relationship with the Coen brothers, you could be forgiven for relaxing and taking a break. But not Carter Burwell. This season he snagged his first Oscar nom for his Carol score, worked on Anomalisa, Legend, Mr Holmes, Hail Caesar! and The Finest Hours…

Winners of the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts’ International Awards were announced in LA this evening. The 5th annual AACTAs honor big-screen excellence from the last year. While these are international prizes, they did largely go to a film with an Aussie pedigree. George Miller's hit return to the…

Easyjet’s deputy chairman Charles Gurassa has been appointed chairman of Channel 4, ahead of the possible privatization of the UK public broadcaster. Gurassa beat out other rumored candidates such as Mark Price, the former managing director of upmarket grocery chain Waitrose, and Simon Bax, chairman of publishing…

UK and Irish films and talent was recognised in a big way at the Academy Awards with a host of nominations in front of and behind the camera. Todd Haynes’ Carol, produced by UK indie stalwarts Liz Karlsen and Stephen Woolley’s Number9 Films, led the way with six Oscar noms, including best actress (Cate Blanchett)…

Carol, Spotlight, Room, Brooklyn, The Danish Girl, Anomalisa, Mustang, Son Of Saul and other specialties currently in release have been doing well in the runup to last night’s Golden Globe Awards and the Oscar nominations Thursday. Paramount’s stop-motion animated feature Anomalisa had the second-highest per theater…