daniel johnston movie???

[mummyboy]

Let's hear the skinny...

[dbeefy]

I'm keeping an eye on
http://parkcity.indiewire.com/ and www.filmthreat.com

but yeah, can't wait to hear the news..

[dbeefy]

from the Sundance Channel website , tantalising or what ?

"The greatest singer-songwriter alive today is introduced at Los Angeles' famous Key Club, and Daniel Johnston emerges from the backstage bowels and takes his place in the spotlight. As the crowd quiets, someone yells, "We love you, Daniel!" and Daniel launches into a song of unrequited love.

Daniel's mother Mabel and his father Bill take us through a family slide show of Daniel's early years offering reminiscences and looking backward for clues in those slides and snapshots of the portentous events to come. Daniel's early career as a filmmaker is examined as excerpts from his Super 8mm home movie "It Must Be Monday" in which he portrays himself and his mother, are shown.

Dave Thornberry, Daniel's childhood friend and art collaborator speaks of the early art years through high school. The eyeball art is introduced as a theme that will carry throughout the film. Daniel's song, "Story of an Artist" takes us inside his early home and family life, establishing the increasing alienation he will experience. Daniel's basement art factory is revealed and paralleled with his current-day art factory in his parent's garage. The tension builds around the adolescent Daniel's house, and as events reach a boiling point, the first of many audiocassettes that Daniel recorded to obsessively document his own life, is played."

[FatPatty]

so i guess we still dont know when the rest of us will get to see this??? its drivin me crazy to think maybe it could be a long time before the rest of us get to see it... 6 months? a year? ugh...

[catouse]

i think it is really great that daniel's family helped so much in the making of this film... they are to be commended for allowing the whole process to take place... thanks johnson family... history its self will show how much help you have given mankind for letting us into daniel's world and art(thanks to daniel too for everything of course)
i think it is a huge step foward as well for the way people with metal illnesses are to be looked at and treated in this country... a lot of families would try to hide the whole thing but you guys showed ton's of courage and caring... again thanks ain't enough but thanks a lot anyway!!!

[FatPatty]

im dieing to hear about the movie!! anyone see it yet??

[filmfan]

VARIETY

By DANA HARRIS, CATHY DUNKLEY, Tue., Jan. 25, 2005, 5:21pm PT

Sundance Film Festival

PARK CITY -- Lions Gate Films paid nearly $4 million for David Slade's drama "Hard Candy," taking worldwide rights outside the U.K., Spain and Australia. Pic bowed Sunday at the Sundance Film Festival.

A selection of the fest's Park City at Midnight section, "Hard Candy" is the tale of an unwise cat-and-mouse romance between a teenage girl and an older man that begins on the Internet. Pic was shot on HD and stars Ellen Page opposite Patrick Wilson.

Deal marks the second significant fest buy for Lions Gate, which earlier this week picked up worldwide rights on David LaChapelle's hip-hop doc "Rize."

William Morris Independent made the "Candy" deal, which includes a clause that gives the filmmakers 20% of the film's worldwide gross and a significant P&A commitment. It's slated for release in late summer or the first quarter of 2006. Lions Gate expects the film to garner an NC-17 rating.

"Lions Gate proved with 'Saw,' 'Open Water' and 'Cabin Fever' that they know exactly what to do with these kinds of movies," William Morris rep Cassian Elwes said.

David Higgins, Richard Hutton and Michael Caldwell produced the pic, with Jody Patton and Rosanne Korenberg as exec producers. Brian Nelson and Hans Ritter are co-producers.

Fest acquisitions showed no signs of slowing Tuesday. Next deal expected to close was for Gaby Dellal's "On a Clear Day," the tale of a laid-off Glaswegian shipyard employee who changes his life by swimming the English Channel. Pic is part of the World Dramatic Competition.

Sales also are expected for music doc "The Devil and Daniel Johnston," the David Schwimmer starrer "Duane Hopwood," John Asher's "Dirty Love" and Steve Buscemi's "Lonesome Jim," as well as for two competition titles, Mike Mills' "Thumbsucker," which features Keanu Reeves in a supporting role, and Noah Baumbach's dysfunctional family drama "The Squid and the Whale," with buyers planning to take another look at the films today.

[Stress Records]

I've now seen it twice and it's great great great. Gets better the more you see it.  All showings are sold out as is his show with Yo La Tengo tonight.  At the premiere Toby McGuire (Spiderman) was seated 3 seats down from Daniel and he told someone connected with the film that "it's the best movie I've ever seen".

I'll write more when I get back to Austin in a couple of days.

[dbeefy]

Great great great ! I hope it sells everywhere , talk about spreading the word

[devilfan]

The buzz is on...

VARIETY.COM

No biz like snow biz

By CATHY DUNKLEY, IAN MOHR, Wed., Jan. 26, 2005, 4:48pm PT

Sundance Film Festival

PARK CITY -- Execs began packing their bags -- many of them stuffed with pics -- at Sundance on Wednesday as the fest began to wind down and further deals closed behind condo doors.

Universal specialty arm Focus Features, headed by David Linde and James Schamus, made its first acquisition of the fest, picking up North American rights to dramatic competition entry "On a Clear Day" for around $2 million from Cinetic Media and sales agent Icon Entertainment Intl. Icon Film Distribution is releasing pic in the U.K. and Australia.

Focus had been in the mix on the bidding for a number of high-profile films.

On the heels of grabbing this year's biggest headlines so far at Sundance -- by acquiring the John Singleton-produced "Hustle & Flow" with MTV Films -- Paramount was said to be one of several buyers, along with Lions Gate and Focus, interested in Slamdance opener "Mad Hot Ballroom."

Being sold here by Cinetic, the dance docu "Mad Hot" had its second Park City screening Tuesday and unexpectedly kicked up a bidding war.

Focus' "Clear Day" is Gaby Dellal's feature debut. Starring Peter Mullan and Brenda Blethyn, pic centers on a 55-year-old man, laid off from his job in a Glasgow shipyard, who seeks to soothe his strained familial relations and shore up his self-confidence by swimming the English Channel. Pic opened the fest for Sundance in Salt Lake City, while Don Roos' "Happy Endings" unspooled in Park City.

"Clear Day" is the only British feature in competition at this year's fest.

After "Hustle," Noah Baumbach's "The Squid and the Whale" was perhaps the pic most hotly tipped for a Park City pickup. But while "Hustle" closed mere hours after it made its Park City preem over the weekend, "Squid" was taking a bit longer to close; a bevy of buyers are interested.

Meanwhile, several buyers including Warner Independent were interested in Amy Sedaris pic "Strangers With Candy," though there was no deal in place Wednesday. Likewise, Sony Pictures Classics and others were said to be looking at "Brick," but no one has picked it up.

Other pics were in play: There were numerous offers in on "The Devil and Daniel Johnston," Jeff Feuerzeig's docu portrait of a musical genius; Phil Morrison's "Junebug," starring Embeth Davidtz and Alessandro Nivola; and Jenny McCarthy starrer "Dirty Love."

Studio execs in Los Angeles were understood to be taking a look at "Thumbsucker," being sold at the fest by UTA.

Rupert Murray docu "Unknown White Male," comedy doc "The Aristocrats" and doc "The Education of Shelby Knox" also were likely to sell by the end of the festival. "Male," the story of an amnesia victim who is piecing his life back together, has a raft of offers so far from film distribs and TV nets alike. Two studios are vying for remake rights.[/u][/b]

[Pascal]

any chance of showing this film in europe?

[The Devil]

Berlin Film Festival in February.

[devilfan]

http://parkcity.indiewire.com/onthescene/archives/000165.html

Much Ado About Documentaries

By Sarah Keenlyside

It dawned on me today as I was going over what films I’d seen that I almost exclusively watched documentaries at Sundance this year. This was not intentional. Thinking back, the majority of buzz I overheard around town was about the non-fiction films at the festival. Then I recalled that about 6 years ago, when the House of Docs was first launched at Sundance, I wrote a piece for indieWIRE about how docs "rarely make front page news…" My how things have changed.

I discussed the doc situation with my ex-colleague Kimberley Brown, managing editor for RealScreen magazine, a documentary trade publication. "I think we’re definitely starting to see more cinematic approaches to documentary, and that was reinforced at Sundance this year," she said.


I could see evidence of this on many levels – from rich soundtracks (as in "Why We Fight"), to high production values ("Rize"), to lush montage sequences (particularly evident in both "Unknown White Male" and "The Devil and Daniel Johnston"). Moreover, many of the films this year moved at a relaxed pace, as though they were constructed without concern for the constraints of the "television hour." ("The Devil and Daniel Johnston" came in at a whopping 109 minutes.)


Many questions have sprung to mind. Did Michael Moore put docs on the map? Or was it HBO? Has recent festival doc programming contributed? Are more filmmakers finding alternative sources for funding feature docs than broadcast presales and acquisitions? And has the rise of reality television contributed to the documentary’s surge in popularity?


"It’s interesting that three standout docs this year came from video diaries," says Brown noting that these kind of docs have the effect of reality television without the guilt. "They’re more real than reality TV." "The Devil and Daniel Johnston," "Unknown White Male" and "Grizzly Man" all utilized found footage to construct their narratives. This was also true of last year’s hit "Tarnation."


It's just a thought, but perhaps these films worked out so well because a lot of the winning footage was already in the can before production started. Or rather, inside a bunch of green garbage bags in Daniel Johnston’s parents’ garage.


But in spite of all the buzz at the festival, and all their cinematic virtues, will these films go on to clean up at the box office? Only time will tell…

[The Devil]

http://www.filmthreat.com/Reviews.asp?Id=6812

[Pascal]

Who should I contact to try to show the film in Paris?
thanks
Pascal