joe berlinger Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Indie Roundup reviews the past week of news from the independent film community and provides a peek at what's coming soon.

Deals. Both Eugene Hernandez at indieWIRE and Anne Thompson at Thompson on Hollywood described the sale of Tom Ford's A Single Man as an electrifying event at the Toronto International Film Festival. Riding a wave of good buzz from the Venice festival, the debut feature from the famed fashion designer stars Colin Firth "at a turning moment in his life after the death of his longtime lover," Eugene wrote. "Despite a distinctly gay storyline, there was little doubt that this universal story of middle-aged lonliness and isolation in the 1960s would quickly find a home." Anne notes that it's "gorgeously designed ... it's an idealized L.A. shot like an Italian movie of the period, plus a stunning digitally-enhanced color palette." The Weinstein Company won the bidding war, as Monika Bartyzel noted this morning.

Festivals. Speaking of Toronto, be sure to check out all the great coverage from our team of writers on the scene to find out what's been hot -- and not so hot -- during the first half of the fest.

News. Not much news has been happening outside Toronto during the past week. In fact, in my usual rounds of news sites and search engines, I have found ... nothing much of interest! (Sorry if you made some news that you thought was notable and either I don't agree or don't know about it.) Come back next week, and I'm sure something interesting will have happened by then. In the meantime, did I mention our great coverage from Toronto?

How do you make crude oil sizzle? Find out in Indie Weekend Box Office -- after the jump!

Deals. What a busy seven days! Cannes starts in a week, so distributors are clearing the decks by firming up their release schedules for the next several months in anticipation of more deals to come. We've already reported on the acquisitions of Blood: The Last Vampire and The Eclipse, but that just scratches the surface (complete details can be found at indieWIRE):

Crude. First Run Features picked up Joe Berlinger's documentary about a lawsuit pitting 30,000 rain forest dwellers in Ecuador against oil giant Chevron. (60 Minutes broadcast a story on the case this past Sunday.) A theatrical bow is planned in New York on September 9, followed by expansion to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and other cities.

Beeswax. The Cinema Guild acquired rights to Andrew Bujalski's low-key comedy / drama. They plan to open the film in New York on August 7, followed by a national release. Jette Kernion called it "a good movie that does some surprising things in a quiet way."

Also acquired: Uruguayan comedy Gigante, crime drama La Linea, psycho-sexual tale Death in Love, and bleak but black comedy Sugisball, whose very cool trailer (in Estonian!) is embedded below.

Box Office. Was it the power of my review? (Probably not.) Jim Jarmusch's very fine The Limits of Control raked in $18,607 per-screen at the three theaters in New York and Los Angeles where it opened over the weekend, according to Box Office Mojo, demonstrating Wolverine-like power. The film expands to eight more locations on Friday. Tyson, James Toback's doc about the controversial former heavyweight boxing champ, and Il Divo, Paolo Sorrentino's dramatic biopic about a controversial former Italian prime minister, followed modestly behind, grossing $5,757 and $5,657 per-screen, respectively.

After the jump: New Sundance Director of Programming; festivals in Los Angeles and Seattle unveil lineups.