by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent So Martin Scorsese appears as “Self” in this documentary film, ONCE WERE BROTHERS: ROBBIE ROBERTSON AND THE BAND. Producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer are also behind this coming-to-life of The Band's homespun journey from backing Bob Dylan and touring with Ronnie Hawkins, to alternative fame in the 1970's. A knotted-bedsheet musical escape from the slick pop music hell-o of today, directed by Daniel Roher and based on...

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Corresondent Did you know that short films are among the fastest growing, must-make filmed entertainment circling around Hollywood right now? This is because shorts serve as a calling card, demo reel, and quick-hit to bundle for streamers and theatrical venues alike.  ShortsTV™ is "the pioneering platform dedicated to short entertainment, which has now partnered with Magnolia Pictures to unspool “THE 2020 OSCAR® NOMINATED SHORT FILM...

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent If you do an internet search for Gilda Radner, at least one thing comes up that would have made her laugh - a ridiculously maudlin celebrity website that asks “Dead or Alive? - Gilda Radner.” Well, the documentary LOVE, GILDA will bring her back to life in an endearing and lump-in-the-throat kind of way on Sept. 21, when Magnolia Pictures and CNN Films release it in theaters. This is a comedian even comedians revere beyond all ratio...

      Dear Friends,   We are excited to present our newest title THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ANDRE, a loving and absorbing documentary tribute to fashion influencer Andr...

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent Harry Dean Stanton, who died Friday, Sept. 15 at age 91, was in the first movie I ever covered as a film reviewer. On Monday, Feb. 2, 1985, the New Mexico Daily Lobo in Albuquerque published a halting, lukewarm review of Wim Wenders' PARIS, TEXAS. It was a college try at doing this sort of thing, but years later, what strikes me about Harry Dean Stanton is that a lot of us  lived the quirky way he did on screen....

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent What do we know about 29 year-old Canadian actor Michael Cera? Well, he was 16 on hit TV show “Arrested Development” and brought that wise-old-young-man sensibility to alternative-feeling benchmark films like NICK & NORA’S INFINITE PLAYLIST and SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD. Add odd roles in JUNO with Oscar nominee Ellen Page, and the zeitgeist turn in SUPERBAD that same year, 2007, he seemed poised to be a coming-of-age fixture...

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent "Hello World,” is usually a newbie’s first line of code in programming, but as of Wikileaks Vault 7 data dump about CIA covert hacking on Mar. 7, followed by Julian Assange’s “Press Conference” on Mar. 9, the whole world is actually reeling, as in the wake-up call: Hello World! But fear not, leave it to the much-maligned Entertainment Journalists to tread where no investigative reporter dare to go. Later on, ...

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent The first thing you hear when Stellan Skarsgård and Norwegian director Hans Petter Moland call at 8:00 am LA time for a phone interview from New York is Stellan’s unmistakable laugh. This is a far cry from the stoic Nils he plays in their new movie In Order of Disappearance that opens Aug. 26. Between the -40 celsius setting and the operatic violence, whereby Skarsgård picks off a succession of formidable enemies, including Bru...

  by Marc Halperin The Sundance Film Festival is in full swing, some  films are being bought and others are not. Understanding the reasons for these decisions is critical for independent filmmakers.  Film Independent recently produced a round table that focused on indie distribution. It’s an offshoot from their Filmmaker Forum, which was held over an entire weekend in early October. This discussion looked at the economics of distribution; traditional, DIY, and digital stra...

Sunday, September 7--------Has Che, the 4 hour plus biopic of revolutionary Che Guevera, finally found a U.S. distributor? The film, directed by Stephen Soderbergh and starring Benicio del Toro, left the Cannes Film Festival with no takers. Aside from the serious subject matter, one of the difficulties was Soderbergh's insistence on releasing the film in two parts, with six months in between....a huge gamble.Word comes from Lou Lumenick, senior film critic for the New York Post that Magnol...

Saturday, January 20----CRAZY LOVE, a documentary feature competing in the US Documentary Film Competition ,is one of the first to be close to a distribution deal, according to trade website IndieWire. Magnolia Pictures, a division of 2929 Entertainment, is set to pick up distribution rights to the film, which had its world premiere here on Friday night. The film by Dan Klores, a film publicist-turned-director, documents the long romance between a New York socialite and a shark-like lawyer, ...