Tag Archives: Digital

Anchor Bay Entertainment Canada and IndustryWorks Studios Announce WRECKER Home Entertainment Distribution Plans in Canada

One Road Trip, Two Friends, A Wrong Turn

Anchor Bay Entertainment Canada is proud to announce plans with IndustryWorks Studios, the producers of American Mary, to bring the new horror-thriller film Wrecker to Canada.

Wrecker tells the story of best friends Emily (Anna Hutchison of The Cabin in the Woods) and Lesley (Andrea Whitburn of Lonesome Dove Church) who take a road trip to a music festival in the desert. When Emily makes a decision to turn off the busy highway and onto a lone, desert road, all hell breaks loose. They soon find themselves the target of a relentless tow truck that forces them into a dangerous game of cat and mouse. Harrowing escapes, deadly situations and near captures, turning their road trip in to a living, breathing nightmare.

“Wrecker takes road rage to a new level, it is a game of supernatural cat and sexy mice. Reminiscent of Duel, Wrecker will demolish audiences!” says Susan Curran, Director of Marketing and Acquisitions for Anchor Bay Entertainment Canada of the new addition to the company’s catalogue. Evan Tylor, President of IndustryWorks Studios, echoes the enthusiasm for this deal, “We are proud to have Anchor Bay Entertainment as our Canadian distribution partner. It was exciting to create a unique take on such a familiar genre.”

About Anchor Bay Entertainment Canada
Anchor Bay Entertainment Canada is the Toronto based office of Anchor Bay Entertainment, a leading independent home entertainment company celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2015. Anchor Bay acquires and releases a wide array of filmed entertainment in the theatrical and home entertainment markets, including STARZ Original series, children’s entertainment, fitness (Anchor Bay Fitness), sports and specialty films on Blu-ray™ and DVD formats. The company has long-term distribution agreements in place for select programming with The Weinstein Company, AMC Networks and RADiUS, among others. Headquartered in Beverly Hills, CA, Anchor Bay Entertainment (www.anchorbayentertainment.com) is a full service distributor in the North American market. Anchor Bay Entertainment is a Starz (NASDAQ: STRZA, STRZB) business, www.starz.com. For more information visit www.anchorbayentertainment.ca

About IndustryWorks Pictures/Studios – Canada, International
IndustryWorks is a fully integrated Distribution, Production, Finance and New Media, worldwide content provider. IndustryWorks sets itself apart by having a keen sense of recognizing the potential in projects for distribution and is dedicated to releasing unique and marketable content to the world market place. The Company has several in-house projects in development and acquires films from producers around the world. IndustryWorks distributes its content to through all media outlets, including box office, VOD, SVOD, broadcast, airlines, internet and digital platforms, retail and rental outlets.

Social Media Handles

Website: industry-works.com, anchorbayentertainment.com
Twitter: @IWPictures, @Anchor_Bay
Facebook: facebook.com/IndustryWorksPictures

Contact The Promotion People

Lesley Diana – Founder, President and Publicist
lesley@thepromotionpeople.ca
604.726.5575

Website: thepromotionpeople.ca
Twitter: @PromotionPeople
Facebook: The Promotion People
Instagram: @thepromotionpeople

Roham Rahmanian And His Company, The Astronauts Guild, Developing One Of The First Stereoscopic 180 And 360 Degree Camera Systems To Capture First-Person, Live-Action Virtual Reality Experiences

The Astronauts Guild’s Roham Rahmanian, producer, director and a feature and commercial Digital Imaging Technician in the International Cinematographers Guild, announced today that he and his partners at The Astronauts Guild have begun test trials on 180 and 360-degree camera systems to capture first-person virtual reality experiences. The Astronauts Guild partners are Roham Rahmanian, Founder | Supervising Producer, Scott Connolly – Founder | Head of Production, and Ian Spohr – Founder | Creative Director. Tests and previews will be available online at www.theastronautsguild.com in October of 2014.

The rush is on for content providers for the new technologies, and CGI content has already made a splash in gaming and for early-adopters and developers. However, the live-action content is much more technically challenging to create.

The Astronauts Guild succeeded as stereoscopic producers by staying lean & mean, and adapting current equipment and technology. Those experiences gave them the insight to develop 180 and 360-degree camera systems for shooting first person, live-action virtual reality experiences.

“The virtual-reality revolution is upon us, and The Astronauts Guild wants to be on the forefront of creating quality, live-action content for entertainment, and possibly more importantly, for medical applications. When 3D became the rave a few years ago, it took off with a Wild West, every man for himself explosion. No standardization and no quality control. This created a lot of content that was just plain bad, Because of this trend, many consumers had bad experiences” said Rah The Promotion People - Roham Rahmanian manian.

“I hope, the early content creators for Oculus Rift and Sony Morpheus, including The Astronauts Guild, can come to a consensus early on, about quality control and mathematically calculated standards for content, it is of the utmost importance that the consumer feels comfortable trying out virtual reality, and is excited to make it a part of their daily entertainment experience,” added Rahmanian.

The Astronauts Guild is a collective of dreamers, doers, artists and technicians. A group of talent which is equal parts Production Company, creative collective and technical development firm. They take on projects in the entertainment industry which require an advanced knowledge of production and cutting edge technology to achieve a creative end.

In addition to developing 3D camera rigs, new live-action virtual reality shooting systems, producing and directing, Rahmanian is an always-in-demand Digital Imaging Technician. Rahmanian has worked with many world class brands such as: BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, VW, Fiat, Dodge, Ford, Chevy, Coke Zero, Mountain Dew, Nintendo, Microsoft, Target, Walmart, Verizon, AT&T and many more.

The Promotion People - Roham Rahmanian Rahmanian was one of the stereoscopic producers on the “The Girl from Nagasaki” which was presented in the New Frontier Category at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. World-renowned photographer Michel Comte directed the stereoscopic feature film, a new interpretation of the classic Puccini Opera “Madame Butterfly”.

Additionally Roham and his partners have produced many advanced technology projects such as an art installations for the Soho House and the short film “Unbeleafable: A Girl Skateboards 3D Film,” created with the renowned skateboard director Ty Evans in partnership with the Levi’s Film workshop for the Museum of Contemporary Arts (MOCA) in Los Angeles and presented during their Art in the Streets Exhibition in 2013.

About Roham Rahmanian
Roham’s work has ranged from his first job as Assistant Props at the age of 16 to Fashion Photographer, Director of Photography, Digital Imaging Technician, Producer and finally Director. He has been involved in over 500 national/international spots since 2010.

Social Media Handles

Website: rohamrahmanian.ca, theastronautsguild.com
Facebook: facebook.com/pages/The-Astronauts-Guild
Instagram: @astronautroham
IMDb: imdb.com/name/nm2440237
Vimeo: vimeo.com/58491591

Contact The Promotion People

Lesley Diana – Founder, President and Publicist
lesley@thepromotionpeople.ca
604.726.5575

Website: thepromotionpeople.ca
Twitter: @PromotionPeople
Facebook: The Promotion People

‘THE BIRDER’ starring Tom Cavanagh, Fred Willard and Graham Greene to screen at the LA Comedy Festival in Los Angeles with an official selection for its U.S. release on May 2nd at 7:00pm

IndustryWorks Pictures is excited to announce that Theodore Bezaire’s Sophomore Indie Comedy THE BIRDER will be screening in Los Angeles at the LA Comedy Festival on May 2^nd at the Let Live Theatre at 7:00pm. This funny feature film is starring Tom Cavanagh (Ed, Scrubs), Mark Rendall (30 Days of Night), Jamie Spilchuk (Hard Rock Medical), Tommie-Amber Pirie (What If), Academy Award Nominee Graham Greene (Dances With Wolves, The Green Mile) and Hollywood funny man Fred Willard (Anchorman, Best in Show). The film makes its U.S. Premiere at the LA Comedy Festival.

Co-written by Theodore Bezaire & Mike Stasko and directed by Bezaire, THE BIRDER is a revenge-comedy set inside the world of bird watching. It’s the story of Ron Spencer (Cavanagh), a mild mannered birder who seeks revenge on a younger rival (Spilchuk) after losing the highly coveted position of Head of Ornithology at the National Park.

“THE BIRDER is a wonderful film and an excellent comedy. The film is a perfect combination of laugh out loud moments and a heartwarming story that the whole family can enjoy.” says Caterina Scrivano, VP Marketing, IndustryWorks Pictures. “We’re very excited to partner with IndustryWorks and see our film take flight!” adds producer Gerry Lattmann of The Dot Film Company.

IndustryWorks plans a market release at The Marché Du Film in Cannes, France this May and will start its release schedule later this year.

SELECTED MEDIA QUOTES

“Easily one of the best comedies you’ll see all year.” – RAINDANCE

“The Birder is a sweet, hilarious film, which is so successful due to the performances of Cavanagh and Rendall.” – TORONTO FILM SCENE

“This is a funny movie!” – SLATE

About The Dot Film Company – The Dot Film Company develops and produces content for Film and Television. They have worked in association with some of Canada’s most reputable organizations, such as Telefilm Canada, CMPA, TVOntario, Corus Entertainment, VideoFACT, BravoFACT! and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

About IndustryWorks Pictures – IndustryWorks is a fully integrated company that distributes and produces feature films, television and new media content worldwide. IndustryWorks Pictures sets itself apart by having the keen sense of recognizing potential in projects for production and its primary function is to release unique and marketable content to the market place. IndustryWorks’ mandate is to release films that appeal to the mainstream and niche audiences. The company has several in-house projects in development on an ongoing basis. IndustryWorks distributes its content to all ancillary media outlets, including box office, VOD, SVOD, airlines, Internet and digital platforms, retail and rental outlets.

Social Media Handles

Website: industry-works.com, thebirdermovie.com, lacomedyfest.com
Twitter: @IWPictures, @TheBirderMovie, @LAComedyFest, @tbezaire, @CavanaghTom, @Fred_Willard
Facebook: facebook.com/IndustryWorksPictures

Contact The Promotion People

Lesley Diana – Founder, President and Publicist
lesley@thepromotionpeople.ca
604.726.5575

Website: thepromotionpeople.ca
Twitter: @PromotionPeople
Facebook: The Promotion People

Classic Romantic Comedy John Apple Jack To Premiere at VAFF in November

“For those with the luxury to live out loud and proud… now what?”

From Skycorner Entertainment Ltd., new generation film John Apple Jack addresses gay pride and self-acceptance. Producers Monika Mitchell, Rick Tae, and Selena Paskalidis are proud to introduce the fun crowd pleaser, where sexuality is secondary to dreams, self-worth, happiness, responsibility and family.

John Apple Jack will have its world premiere at the Centre Piece Gala Film during the Vancouver Asian Film Festival on Saturday, November 9^th at 7:00pm. For tickets visit: vaff.org/festinfo/vaff-17-day-3-program-8

The feature film will then move on to Montreal’s ImageNation before its network premiere on OUTtv.

Starring Chris McNally as John Jardine and Kent S. Leung as Jack Gaang, the romantic comedy has been featured on NovusTV, Daily Xtra, and GayVancouver.

Interview with NovusTV can be viewed online here: youtube.com/watch?v=lvWjrkyeEmY

About The Film

Set in Vancouver’s East-meets-West glamorous restaurant industry, the challenge for both John Jardine and Jack Gaang is to find a way to blend money, sex, love and family into one sumptuous recipe for life.

John Jardine is a handsome gay man and heir to a restaurant empire. John lives with extravagance – champagne, fast cars and fast men – bedding nearly every hot guy in town. After coming out to his parents, John looks for any opportunity to prove his worth to the world.

Jack Gaang is an overly responsible Asian-Canadian who has slept with no man. Jack finds himself settling into a full-time job, a gal pal, an offspring, and an ambition in the culinary industry to sidestep his feelings for John, his childhood crush. He has quietly given up hope that John would ever fall for him and support his dreams of running a restaurant together one day.

As years of mounting tensions culminate into an over-heated argument in the kitchen, Jack throws an apple at John’s head — bruising his boss’s ego and unfurling a series of ill-timed events that teach them both good reasons to grow up.

For these two opposites, romance must ensue… especially when Jack is about to marry John’s sister! After John finds out about the wedding, passions ignite and his life spirals out of control… losing his job, his playboy reputation and his underwear – all while rushing to the altar to finally confess his love! Promiscuous John was once easy for Jack to ignore. But a newer, penniless, more soulful John may soon prove too hard to kick to the curb.

Chris McNally – imdb.com/name/nm2901423/?ref_=tt_cl_t1
Kent S. Leung – imdb.com/name/nm4141406/?ref_=tt_cl_t2
Mkenzie Scott – imdb.com/name/nm1745779/?ref_=tt_cl_t3

About The Crew

Monika Mitchell – Director/Co-Producer

Monika’s filmmaking career started with three independent films: Night Deposit, Witness and Break a Leg (2000-2003), attending 90 international film festivals, winning 27 awards and qualifying for Academy Award consideration with both shorts. Having won Slamdance’s Anarchy Audience Award in 2000, she was a programming contributor for the festival the following two years (2001, 2002). In 2009, she was chosen by Vancouver Olympic Committee and the Cultural Olympiad to curate the film program for Canada during the Olympics and Paralympics of 2010. She acquired, commissioned and/or produced 72 films that were enjoyed by over 13 million viewers worldwide. In 2011 her original script was chosen to participate in Whistler’s CFC’s Producer’s Lab. Monika continues to direct episodic television (beginning with Robson Arms in 2004) and has worked for networks including CBC, CTV, Lifetime and Logo, while developing her own feature projects. She most recently directed the pilot “The Switch” for Trembling Void Productions and OutTV in Summer 2013.

Rick Tae – Writer/Producer

Rick has created films, shorts, TV, multimedia and theatre content currently in various stages of distribution, production and development. He was selected for the NSI Totally Television Program and awarded Telefilm Canada support as a screenwriter/producer. In addition to writing/producing his first feature John Apple Jack, Walk the Dog sold to The Movie Network and Air Canada, and received a Canadian Comedy Award nod, while web-series Marco Chow Massage has garnered fans worldwide. Rick has worked with VAFF in previous years, coached actors and writers in Vancouver and LA, produced/directed Award winning and nominated theatre productions, garnered Gemini and Leo Award nods and a win for his acting work and assisted director/producer Roland Emmerich for Sony Pictures’ blockbuster “2012”.

Selena Paskalidis – Producer

Selena has worked her way up very quickly in Canada’s film, television and digital industries. She started her career as the head of business affairs in long form drama, moving effortlessly into development before taking the reins of production. In 2013 alone, she ushered two features through production, launched a digital brand and is just about to lock financing on her third feature to shoot in the spring of 2014. For the two features already in the can, Selena secured sales and festival gala premieres for John Apple Jack and Telefilm Post Production support for Naked Night Bike, a mid-life crisis comedy that is just completing post-production. Additionally this year, Selena launched a revolutionary digital brand for the creation of online networks, called Dotstudioz (www.dotstudioz.com); designed and implemented the digital strategy for Vic Sarin’s latest documentary, Hue and the iphone and web apps for the reality series Eat St. for Paperny Productions. In previous years, Selena saw the short film she produced Walk The Dog enjoy Official Selection in the 2009 CFC Humor Me Cross Canada Tour and Canadian Comedy Award nominations. Her project The Bryce Lee Story was selected for the Just For Laughs Comedy Boot Camp. Selena is dedicated to ensuring that the smart, funny writers and directors in her midst get their films made, seen and enjoyed by a world-wide audience.

Executive Producer: Todd Giroux
Associate Producer: Jhod Cardinal

Social Media Handles

Website: johnapplejack.com
Twitter: @johnapplejack
Facebook: John Apple Jack Movie
Trailer: youtube.com/watch?v=QKKUKIXqE5E
Vimeo: vimeo.com/77379732

Contact The Promotion People

Lesley Diana – Founder, President and Publicist
lesley@thepromotionpeople.ca
604.726.5575

Website: thepromotionpeople.ca
Twitter: @PromotionPeople
Facebook: The Promotion People

Rising young star Summer H. Howell stars as Alice ‘Curse of Chucky’ and as Nascien in the feature film “The Last Druid: Garm Wars”

Curse of Chucky to be released on Digital on September 24^th
and on Blu-ray^™ and DVD on October 8^th

Summer H. Howell, a young and upcoming actress is headed to the fast track of fame. This fall, Summer stars as Alice in the newest installment of the chilling Child’s Play franchise, Curse of Chucky. When a mysterious package arrives at the house of Nica, she doesn’t give it much thought. However, after her mother’s mysterious death, Nica begins to suspect that the talking, red-haired doll her visiting niece has been playing with may be the key to the ensuing bloodshed and chaos. Written and directed by Dan Mancini, the film stars Brad Dourif, Fiona Dourif and Danielle Bisutti. Curse of Chucky comes exclusively to Blu-ray™ and DVD on October 8 and will also be available on Digital on September 24. The North American premiere was held on August 2 in Montreal at the Fantasia Film Festival and the World premiere was held on August 22 at the London Fright Festival.

Summer also stars in the feature film ‘The Last Druid: Garm Wars’, which will be in theatres Spring 2014. In a world where clone soldiers from three military tribes are locked in a perpetual battle of air, land, and technology, one clone is separated from the battle, and finds herself on the run with a group of unlikely companions. Directed by Mamoru Oshii, the screenplay is written by Geoffrey Gunn, draws inspiration from an original story by author Kazunori Ito, and stars Melanie St. Pierre, Jordan Van Dyck, and Summer H. Howell.

The Promotion People - Summer H. Howell

Growing up in St. Andrews, Manitoba, Summer has just turned 9 years old. Summer recently became interested in acting when her twelve year old brother Chase was noticed by talent scouts through an open casting call in Winnipeg years ago. Although Summer was still too young and shy to audition at the time, her parents noticed her potential talent. They noticed her impromptu actions and discovered how quickly she memorized a Crest commercial provided at a casting call.

Summer began helping Chase with his auditions and also took some acting classes with PTE. She then took an audition intensive course with Casting Director Jim Heber, who started calling Summer to audition for larger roles. Jim Heber raved about both kids to Jessica Martin, one of Toronto’s top agents, who has high praise for Summer, and anticipated she would do well quickly.

Summer auditioned for two horror movies last spring and landed the second audition for the role of Alice for Curse of Chucky, which filmed in Winnipeg last fall 2012. Director Don Mancini was blown away with her acting ability and was impressed with her professionalism on a movie set, for being such a young age.

“I have worked with many child actors during my career, and Summer is easily one of the best. She is exceptionally gifted, extremely intelligent, versatile, and “direct able.” Pegging a major film role on a child’s performance can be an intimidating prospect for a director. On Curse of Chucky, the bottom line is that Summer made our movie work. “On top of all that, she is a total hoot and a pleasure to be around.” says Don Mancini, writer-director, Curse of Chucky.

In April 2013, she filmed ‘The Last Druid: Garm Wars’ in Montreal. Both films were a rewarding experience for Summer. Serious about acting, Summer plans to continue auditioning and studying for potential roles.

Her parents are supportive and say, “Our smart, mischievous, and talented little bug works hard at everything she does”. In addition to acting, Summer enjoys singing, drawing, reading, writing, and playing soccer. She has two dogs; Angel, a 7 year old Miniature American Eskimo-Sheltie cross and a 3 year old Havanese Lhasa Apso cross. Summer is a determined and talented young actress to watch for on television and in future feature films.

Social Media Handles

IMDb: Summer H. Howell
Website: heroartists.com
Twitter: @1_SummerHHowell, @RealDonMancini, @HeroArtists, @curseofchucky_
Facebook: facebook.com/HeroArtists

Contact The Promotion People

Lesley Diana – Founder, President and Publicist
lesley@thepromotionpeople.ca
604.726.5575

Website: thepromotionpeople.ca
Twitter: @PromotionPeople
Facebook: The Promotion People