OVERVIEW

THE RETURN OF HANDMADE FILMS

The historical brand Handmade Films was resurrected at the American Film Market under the aegis of veteran sales agents Guy Collins and Michael Ryan. Collins and Ryan agreed to take on the task of re-launching the 20 year-old brand as part of a wider deal sealed with Handmade’s chairman Patrick Meehan who bought the sales duo’s own company Sequence/IAC for £4.4m.

At Handmade Films International, Collins and Ryan will handle worldwide sales, distribution and marketing on Handmade’s titles as well as their own Sequence/IAC films. Carl Clifton (formerly at Polygram and Film Four) has joined them as head of international sales, as well as Amanda Kenyon, head of marketing. All will report to Handmade’s chairman Meehan, managing director David Ravden and Antony Rufus Isaacs who runs Handmade Film Productions.

“Handmade represents a great name, a great company with a great history”, said Meehan. “We will take that reputation and tradition to build an even greater integrated UK-based entertainment company”.

Created in 1978 by George Harrison, Handmade has a library including the classics Withnail & I, Time Bandits and Monty Python’s Life of Brian. Sold in the early 90s, the company went through various owners until Meehan took over. Among the Handmade rights to be made into feature films is the Eloise franchise based on the children’s books by Kay Thompson. The first will be Eloise in Paris set to shoot next spring. Also planned is the remake of Mona Lisa to be directed by Larry Clark.

AMERICAN FILM MARKET

The 27th American Film Market had three pervading trends that show distributors and studios are taking a more international and specialist stance in their search for new waves and talent.

Remakes were a hot talking point this year, especially for Asian films. Universal Pictures won a hard-fought battle for the remake rights to Bong Joon-ho’s South Korean horror smash, The Host, which has already claimed the all-time Korean box-office record, taking more than $66 million. Meanwhile, Hong Kong-based Celestial Pictures introduced two remake projects of films from the Shaw Brothers library – Five Deadly Venoms and The Flying Guillotine.

The Documentary has made a comeback in theatres since Michael Moore’s record-breaking Fahrenheit 9/11 and, with Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth marked as one of the most influential films around the world this year, the genre continues its market appeal. At AFM, a more specific interest has stirred in music documentaries. Paramount have domestic rights to Martin Scorcese’s upcoming documentary on the Rolling Stones, having just shot two concerts in New York’s Beacon Theatre; Scorcese has already succeeded in this field with his Emmy Award-winning Bob Dylan documentary, No Direction Home. London and Sydney-based Becker International acquired foreign rights from Sidetrack Films to AJ Schnack’s documentary, Kurt Cobain: About A Son.

Meanwhile, Horror remains as popular as always but the biggest surprise in the genre came from New Zealand with horror-comedy, Black Sheep, which sees a genetic experiment transforming innocent sheep into bloodthirsty killers. Asia continues providing the new wave of horror to international buyers, including Hong Kong-based Golden Network Asia who sold two Thai horror titles, The Victim and Ghost Game, to Brazilian buyers.

BRITISH INDEPENDENT FILM AWARDS

15 Lottery funded films have been nominated for the British Independent Film Awards, which will take place on the 29th November 2006. John Woodward, UK Film Council Chief Executive Officer said, “The BIFAs are now an important event in the UK Film calendar as a focus and a showcase for British filmmaking and talent. So this year it's really good to see the large number of Lottery funded films that have received nominations, presenting established and new talent, from Ken Loach and Stephen Frears to Kevin Macdonald, Paul Andrew Williams and Menhaj Huda.”

Nominated films backed by the UK Film Council’s New Cinema Fund include: Andrea Arnold’s Cannes 2006 Jury Award winner Red Road, also backed by the Development Fund; Ken Loach’s Cannes 2006 Palme d’Or winner The Wind That Shakes The Barley; Shane Meadows’ Rome Special Jury award-winner This Is England; and Paul Andrew Williams’ Dinard and Edinburgh winner London To Brighton.

Roger Michell’s Venus, and Christopher Smith’s Severance, both backed by the UK Film Council’s Premiere Fund have also received nominations.

In addition, Menhaj Huda’s Kidulthood backed by both the Development and P&A funds has received two nominations.

Meanwhile Kevin Macdonald’s The Last King of Scotland, and Nicholas Hytner’s The History Boys, both developed with Lottery support from DNA Films, and Keith Fulton and Luis Pepe’s Brothers of the Head, co-funded by Screen East and EM Media have also received nominations.

Nominated films whose UK releases have been backed by the P&A Fund include Pedro Almodovar’s Volver; Michael Haneke’s Hidden; Michael Winterbottom and Matt Whitecross’ The Road to Guantanamo; Sophie Fiennes’ The Pervert’s Guide to Cinema; and Ed Blum’s Scenes of a Sexual Nature.