Friday, July 20, 2007

For your viewing pleasure...

Thinking of going to this year's Melbourne International Film Festival, but don't want to waste your money on films that are going to have a local release within a matter of weeks or months?

Let me save some time for you. Here's a list of films at the festival that are confirmed for local distribution (as to when they open, just Google the title + Australia release date, and Bob's your auntie in drag):

LOCAL DISTRIBUTORS 2007


COMPANY

FILMS IN PROGRAMME


20th CENTURY FOX

DAY WATCH



JOSHUA





THE AV CHANNEL

DIRTY THREE


MADMAN

THIS IS ENGLAND


ENTERTAINMENT

WORDS FROM THE CITY



THE SIGNAL



EXIT



DIRTY CARNIVAL



AACHI & SSIPAK



INDIGENES



A WALK INTO THE SEA: DANNY WILLIAMS AND THE WARHOL



FACTORY



STRANGE CULTURE



REPRISE



BLIND MOUNTAIN


ARKLES

AFTER THE WEDDING


ENTERTAINMENT

RED ROAD





AZTEC

A FEW DAYS IN SEPTEMBER


INTERNATIONAL






DENDY FILMS

AWAY FROM HER



CONTROL



OUT OF THE BLUE



I DON'T WANT TO SLEEP ALONE



SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY



JOE STRUMMER: THE FUTURE IS UNWRITTEN



HOME SONG STORIES



INLAND EMPIRE



NIGHT


FORCE

SNOOP DOGG'S HOOD OF HORROR


ENTERTAINMENT












HOPSCOTCH

RESCUE DAWN



DEEP WATER



SEPTEMBER



BELLA



LAGERFELD CONFIDENTIAL



THE WORKSHOP



LADY CHATTERLEY


ICON FILMS

BLACK SHEEP



SEVERANCE



EAGLE VS. SHARK



ONCE


KOJO FILM

4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, 2 DAYS











PALACE FILMS

FORBIDDEN LIES








PARAMOUNT VANTAGE

YEAR OF THE DOG



BLACK SNAKE MOAN



A MIGHTY HEART





RIALTO

VITUS



I SERVED THE KING OF ENGLAND



STEPHANIE DALEY



HEARTBREAK HOTEL



CONVERSATIONS WITH MY GARDENER





SHARMILL FILMS

NOBODY KNOWS



DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY





SIREN VISUAL ENTERTAINMENT

HOLY MOUNTAIN, THE



EL TOPO





SMILEY FILM

PROMISED PARADISE


DISTRIBUTION

THE BLOOD OF YINGZHOU DISTRICT








SONY PICTURES/ COLUMBIA

PAPRIKA


TRISTAR FILMS

MY KID COULD PAINT THAT



TEKKONKINKREET


VILLAGE

GRACE IS GONE


ROADSHOW

TEETH


ENTERTAIINMENT

FAY GRIM



SICKO





9 comments:

shhh... said...

Thank you Richard. You are supremely excellent. You've just saved me hours (and $). See you there.

Paul Martin said...

That's great, Richard. I had the list of films with a release, but not the distributors (how did you get your hands on it?)

I've been collating release dates, and it'll be easier to find out with the distributor names. Interestingly, one film (Black Snake Moan) is being released before the festival is over, and 3 of them less than a week later.

FYI, the titles and current release dates that I have are:

Black Snake Moan - 2/8/07
After the Wedding - 16/8/07
Black Sheep - 16/8/07
This is England - 16/8/07
The Home Song Stories - 23/8/07
A Mighty Heart - 30/8/07
Once - 30/8/07
Rescue Dawn - 6/9/07
Day Watch - 13/9/07
Joe Strummer: the Future is Unwritten - 13/9/07
Searching 4 Sandeep - 20/9/07
Away From Her - 27/9/07
Vitus - 27/9/07
Bella - 11/10/07
Control - 25/10/07

Maybe we could do a bit of information sharing to complete our lists, as news comes to hand? The wonder of the internet!

Paul Martin said...

I should have mentioned that just because something has a release doesn't mean it will get to the cinema. A given film could go straight to DVD. Looking at the number of titles picked up by Madman - who distribute a lot of films only on DVD - I suspect this is the case. So I've been warning readers of the list on my blog to bear that in mind.

I had booked Fay Grim knowing that it was being released, but I figured that it might also be straight to DVD. But seeing the info you've provided, I'm confident that Village Roadshow will screen it. That's great, and thanks again for making this info available.

Paul Martin said...

Diving Bell and the Butterfly is not on my MIFF list, nor can I see it on the MIFF website.

Paul Martin said...

But wait, there's more...

The following titles have also been marked as having a release:

Red Road
Fido
Blind Mountain

Matt Riviera said...

Thanks, that's extremely useful work! And good to "meet" you, Richard, and your blog.

richardwatts said...

You're welcome Matt, Because She Made Me. Paul, thanks for the release dates - a handy bit of cross referencing, that!

As to where I got the distributor's list, MIFF publicity emailed it out at the same time as I was notified about how to use my media pass...

As well as the above films, there's probably some docos etc that will show on SBS in the coming months, on top of some being picked up by Madman, as you mention.

rickjacobs said...

I've seen a few of these films so I'll try to be helpful and make some recommandations:

DAY WATCH - not as good as NIGHT WATCH but watch-able.

THIS IS ENGLAND - excellent.

AFTER THE WEDDING - if this is the Danish film then I would go and see it. It's incredibly melodramatic but very well acted, and gives some interesting insight of how fucked-up Danish society can be.

4 MONTHS...- This won the top prize at Cannes and more info is here. I haven't seen it but it sounds so interesting:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
4_Months,_3_Weeks_and_2_Days

Paul Martin said...

And for the heads up on quite a number of films screening at MIFF, Matt Riviera has a good preview at Last Night With Riviera (which he saw at various festivals like Sydney, Toronto and Adelaide).

I didn't think much of Night Watch and have no interest to see Day Watch.