By Nick Holdsworth

ASTANA, KAZAKHSTAN -- Alien invasion may not be a theme one immediately associates with Kazakhstan, central Asia’s oil- and gas-rich republic, but a few days in the country’s capital, Astana, sets you thinking.

by Erin Maxwell

Bill Pohlad's Apparition is shifting its center to Los Angeles and has hired Tom Ortenberg, as the year-old company restructures and is laying off workers both coasts.

Ortenberg, the former Lionsgate prexy and Weinstein Co. vet, will help map out the changes to the company and oversee the launch of Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life."

"Over the last few weeks, circumstances have forced us to rethink the direction and operations of the company, and regrettably this has resulted in layoffs impacting our staff and changes for our colleagues," said Pohlad.  "Still, we very much believe in the mission set forth with Apparition, and welcome Tom Ortenberg's expertise and consultation in the coming weeks and months."

Bob Berney, who signed on with the company at its launch before the May 2009 Cannes, abruptly announced his Apparition exit just ahead of this year's Cannes.

 

LOS ANGELES, CA – June 30, 2010 – Bill Pohlad announced today the film distribution company Apparition is in the process of restructuring, beginning with the consolidation and shifting of its operations from New York to Los Angeles. In addition, Apparition significantly reduced its work force, with a number of executives and support staff from both New York and Los Angeles receiving severance packages.

Pohlad has enlisted former Lionsgate President Tom Ortenberg as a consultant to help plan the independent distribution company’s immediate future. Ortenberg is also serving as a consultant on the marketing and distribution strategy for Terrence Malick’s highly-anticipated mystical epic, The Tree of Life. 

“Over the last few weeks, circumstances have forced us to rethink the direction and operations of the company, and regrettably this has resulted in layoffs impacting our staff and changes for our colleagues,” said Pohlad.  “Still, we very much believe in the mission set forth with Apparition, and welcome Tom Ortenberg’s expertise and consultation in the coming weeks and months. In addition, he will be a valuable asset for us on preparing to bring The Tree of Life to audiences.”

“I very much respect Bill’s thoughtful approach to Apparition, and look forward to being helpful in its success,” said Ortenberg.  “I am thrilled to work with Bill and the rest of the team on Terry Malick’s profound film The Tree of Life.”

Written and directed by Academy Award nominee Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life is a mystical epic starring Academy Award nominated actor Brad Pitt and two-time Academy Award winner Sean Penn, and introduces Jessica Chastain.  The film tells the story of a family who must come to terms with a devastating loss.  In doing so, they discover life’s most important lessons of unselfish love and forgiveness. The film, a River Road Entertainment production, is produced by Pohlad, Sarah Green, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, and Grant Hill.

 

By Diana Lodderhouse

LONDON --- This year’s seventh London U.K. Film Focus (LUFF) is in full swing with more than 120 international buyers and fest directors buzzing around the export market to see some of the 47 pics screening.

The event  was launched for Brit sales agents to showcase local fare  for  international buyers and this year,  for the first time event  will include a small selection of Brit pics repped by foreign sales agents and non-Brit pics from U.K. sales agents , such as Morgan Spurlock’s “Freakonomics , ” sold by London-based Celsius Entertainment ,  and “Locked In,” sold by Spanish outfit 6 Sales.

"Hawthorne" thesp Abigail Spencer has joined the cast of "Cowboys and Aliens," this according to Olivia Wilde's Twitter account.

"Cowboys and Aliens," DreamWorks' sci-fi actioner directed by Jon Favreau, also stars Harrison Ford, Daniel Craig and Wilde.

Pic is currently shooting in Sante Fe, New Mexico and will be released on July 29, 2011.

Story revolves around a group of Apache Indians and Westerners who join forces when an alien spaceship crash-lands in their town.

Imagine Entertainment's Brian Grazer and Ron Howard are producing with Steven Spielberg and Platinum Studios CEO Scott Mitchell Rosenberg.

Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof wrote the script.

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Jean-Pierre Jeunet's "Amelie" has been named the best-shot film of 1998-2008 according to a recent online poll by American Cinematographer magazine.

Shot by Bruno Delbonnel, the Oscar-nominated pic stars Audrey Tautou as a young waitress who glides around the streets of Paris, trying to help others along the way.

“This is a real honor for me, especially considering the other movies in this list,” says Delbonnel. “These are some of the finest cinematographers, and I’m not sure I deserve to be among them, but I am very happy to be. They are all explorers.”

For the new poll, more than 17,000 around the world participated, most of whom were subscribers to American Cinematographer.

Here are the top 10 results:

1.   "Amélie:" Bruno Delbonnel, ASC, AFC (2001)

2.   "Children of Men:" Emmanuel Lubezki, ASC, AMC (2006)

3.   "Saving Private Ryan:" Janusz Kaminski (1998)

4.   "There Will Be Blood:" Robert Elswit, ASC (2007)

5.   "No Country for Old Men:" Roger Deakins, ASC, BSC (2007)

6.   "Fight Club:" Jeff Cronenweth, ASC (1999)

7.   "The Dark Knight:" Wally Pfister, ASC (2008)

8.   "Road to Perdition:" Conrad L. Hall, ASC (2002)

9.   "Cidade de Deus (City of God):" César Charlone, ABC (2002)

10. "American Beauty:" Conrad L. Hall, ASC (1999)

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The end is nigh Harry Potter fans.

Warner Bros. just debuted the first full-length trailer (see below) for "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows."

Split into two films, J.K. Rowling's final novel in the wizard franchise features an epic showdown between Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) and Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes).

"The Boy Who...comes to die!" Voldemort hisses in the new footage.

Also reprising their roles in "Deathly Hallows" are Harry Potter vets Emma Watson and Rupert Grint.

Warner Bros. will release Part I of the finale on November 19, 2010 while Part II will wrap up the series on July 15, 2011.

Watch the trailer below:

John C. Reilly and Jonah Hill have made a pretty hilarious spot for NotMileyCyrus.com, Fox Searchlight's campaign site for the Duplass brothers comedy "Cyrus."

Check it out below.

In other "Cyrus" news, the low-budget pic continues to perform well in its limited-run across the U.S., grossing $300,000 at 17 locations this weekend, bringing its domestic cume to $569,000.

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Playing more like a book promo than your average trailer (which, I suppose, makes sense if you enjoy puns), Sony's first teaser for "The Social Network" is exactly that.

As audio clips spiral over giant keywords like Genius, Billionaire and Traitor, the Facebook movie's first official teaser never actually shows any scenes from the film, instead focusing on dramatic interludes between stars Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake before culminating with an acervasted poster with the slogan "You Don't Get to 500 Million Friends Without Making a Few Enemies."

"The Social Network," directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin, tells the story of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's (Eisenberg) rise to Internet superstardom and is based on the novel, “The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal." Pic also stars Timberlake as Sean Parker, the Napster guru who (and Zuckerberg confidant) who later became founding president of Facebook. Andrew Garfield and Rashida Jones round out the cast.

"The Social Network" opens nationwide October 1, 2010.

Watch trailer:

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