New Video On Demand Cable Service Will Create a National Art House for First Run Independent Films
First Films for New Day and Date Initiative Announced
CSA: The Confederate States of America; I Am a Sex Addict; Three Times; American Gun; Russian Dolls;
And Sorry, Haters
January 23, 2006 – New York, New York – IFC Entertainment announced today the creation of its new distribution banner, IFC’s First Take. Launching in March, the new initiative will look to develop and provide a voice to the many critically acclaimed independent films that are shown in New York, Los Angeles, and various Film Festivals, but lost within the marketplace each year. These films will be specifically distributed both theatrically and On Demand simultaneously, ensuring that each is guaranteed a nationwide release.
Unlike other Day Date concepts, IFC’s First Take will use Video On Demand technology to create the first centralized destination for critically acclaimed independent films. Cable subscribers for the new On Demand service will be able to access two new independent films every month from their digital set boxes on the same day and date as their theatrical release.
To help launch this new initiative, IFC also announced today that it has selected CSA: THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA, executive produced by Spike Lee; I AM A SEX ADDICT, 2005’s Gotham Award winner for Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You; THREE TIMES, named as 2005’s Best Undistributed Film by the Village Voice’s National Critics Poll; AMERICAN GUN, starring Donald Sutherland, Forest Whitaker, Marcia Gay Harden; RUSSIAN DOLLS, starring Audrey Tautou; and SORRY, HATERS, starring Robin Wright Penn and Sandra Oh, as the first films to will be distributed Day and Date.
In 2006, IFC’s First Take will look to distribute at least twenty-four Day Date films, with plans to develop a larger annual slate in the future. Additional films for this year will be announced in the coming weeks. This Day Date slate will supplement the traditional release schedule of IFC Films.
“In an era where opening weekend grosses determine the overall success of a film, it is important that we find a way to ensure that the important independent films of our time have the support to reach a national audience,” stated IFC Entertainment President Jonathan Sehring. “For over ten years, IFC has strived to provide independent film makers with a strong voice and to help expand the audience of independent film. We are doing more here than simply collapsing windows, IFC’s First Take will serve the independent community by creating an electronic national art house for independent films.”
IFC Entertainment is the theatrical distribution and production arm of Rainbow Media, an industry leader in the delivery and production of on demand content.
“Rainbow Media believes Video On Demand should connect indie film lovers to independent cinema. Our Day Date concept is unique within the marketplace because we are not only modernizing the distribution paradigm for a film, but we are fulfilling the ultimate promise of Video of Demand. Video On Demand is the future of entertainment viewing, it is service that we have a long history of maximizing, and it is tailor-made for the Day/Date model,” stated Rainbow President and CEO Josh Sapan. “Between the two cities of New York and Los Angeles, there is a vast country of indie film lovers who do not have access to the indie films they read about and want to see. IFC’s First Take is like having a film festival in your home, and will ensure that the smaller well respected films get the marketing and distribution respect they deserve.”
The following information details the initial six films selected for Day Date Distribution:
- CSA: THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA
Bold, satirical and wildly funny, the film poses the question: What would have happened if the South had won the Civil War? Played as a straight-faced Ken Burns-style documentary with uncanny parallels to our current society, CSA presents an alternative modern day America as a land in which slavery is alive and well throughout the 50 states, other non-whites and non-Christians are relegated to reservations, the country is in an ongoing Cold War with Canada and a Slave Shopping Network plays on TV. In the words of Spike Lee, an Executive Producer, the film is “eye opening and jaw dropping.”
Directed by: Kevin Willmott
Produced by: Rick Cowan and Spike Lee,
Starring: Charles Frank, Evermore Johnson, Rupert Pate Larry Peterson,
Rating: not yet rated
Festivals: Sundance 2004, Hamptons 2004
- I AM A SEX ADDICT
This semi-autobiographical comedy details the life of an insecure young man who becomes addicted to prostitutes, and finds himself unable to stop even though it destroys all of his relationships. He decides to make a film about his predicament resulting in this very original work. The film won of the 2005 Gotham Award for Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You.
Directed by/Written by: Caveh Zahedi
Produced by: Caveh Zahedi, Thomas Logoreci and Greg Watkins
Rating: not yet rated
Festivals: Tribeca 2005 - THREE TIMES
Taiwanese master Hou Hsiao Hsien (Flowers of shanghai, Cafe Lumiere) has delivered one of the most rapturously beautiful and romantic movies of the year. Told as three loves stories, each set in a different era – a 1966 pool hall, a 1911 brothel and present day Taipei, the film stars the same actors in all three sections – Shu Qi and Chang Chen. The film was voted 2005’s Best Undistributed Film by both The Village Voice’s National Critics Poll and Film Comment.
Directed by: Hou Hsiao Hsien
Starring: Shu Qi, Chang Chen
Rating: not yet rated
Festivals: Cannes 2005, Telluride 2005, Toronto 2005, New York 2005 - AMERICAN GUN
A powerful series of interwoven storylines, American Gun brings to light how the proliferation of guns in America dramatically influences and shapes lives. A gun shop owner, an ace student, a single mother, and a school principal are among those profoundly affected. AMERICAN GUN is the debut film of director/co-writer Aric Avelino,
Directed by: Aric Avelino
Produced by: IFC Productions Ted Kroeber, Forest Whitaker
Starring: Donald Sutherland, Forest Whitaker, Marcia Gay Harden, Linda Cardellini, Tony
Goldwyn, Christopher Marquette, Nikki Reed, Arlen Escarpeta, Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon,
Melissa Leo and Schuyler Fisk
Rating: not yet rated
Festivals: Sundance 2004, Hamptons 2004, Toronto 2005 - RUSSIAN DOLLS
Xavier hungers for everything. An aspiring novelist, his greatest achievement is a co-credit on an over-the-top TV soap. His romantic life is equally disappointing, consisting of one-night stands and unfinished romances. He can seduce beautiful, smart and successful women – but he ultimately sabotages even the most promising encounters. A chance meeting could be the answer to both his career slump and love life, but Xavier’s lack of direction (and will-power) threatens to turn his good fortune into the ultimate heart-break.
Directed by: Cidric Klapisch
Starring: Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Kelly Reilly
Rating: not yet rated - SORRY, HATERS
SORRY, HATERS is a psychological thriller with political and social undertones set in today’s New York. It’s a story of anger, revenge and retribution so timely it could be true. It begins when Ashade, a Muslim cab driver (Abdellatif Kechiche), picks up Phoebe (Robin Wright Penn) a well-heeled professional woman. Although Ashade and Phoebe have nothing in common, each holds troubling urges and hidden motivations. When Phoebe takes an interest in exonerating Ashade’s brother, a series of events are set in motion resulting in the revelation of a devastating hidden truth. SORRY, HATERS is that rare film that dares to capture the anxiety of a city on edge. With powerful performances by Robin Wright Penn, Abdellatif Kechiche, Sandra Oh and Josh Hamilton, it has the courage to ask the most forbidden questions about who we are, and suggest some surprising answers.
Directed by/Written by: Jeff Stanzler
Produced by InDigEnt (and IFC Entertainment Company)
Starring: Abdellatif Kechiche, Robin Wright Penn, Sandra Oh
Rating: not yet rated
Festivals: Toronto 2005
ABOUT IFC ENTERTAINMENT
IFC Entertainment consists of IFC Films, IFC Productions, InDigEnt (a digital production arm) and the new IFC Center in Greenwich Village. IFC Films is a leading theatrical film distribution company bringing the best of independent and specialized films to theaters. IFC Films releases approximately 10 films per year, building its slate of titles from an aggressive acquisitions program and selected in-house productions.
The company produced and distributed the award winning Me And You And Everyone We Know, which is currently in release across the country. Lars von Trier ‘s Manderlay is among the upcoming releases. IFC Films is executive producing Night Listener with Hart Sharp and is currently producing After the Wedding directed by Susanne Bier, which the banner will also distribute.
Notable IFC films include the Academy Award winning Boys Don’t Cry, Touching the Void which broke box office records to become among the top ten grossing documentaries of all time, 2003 Oscar®-nominated My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Alfonso Cuaron’s Y Tu Mama Tambien. IFC Films co-distributed Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11.
For more information and upcoming releases, please visit www.ifcfilms.com .