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5 items from 2013

15 May 2013 6:38 PM, PDT | Variety - Film News | See recent Variety - Film News news »

Fox International Prods. has acquired remake rights to Sean Ellis’ Philippine heist thriller “Metro Manila,” four months after its won the audience award for world cinema at Sundance.

Fox announced the deal at Cannes on Wednesday.

“Metro Manila” was directed by Ellis and Mathilde Charpentier and written by Ellis and Frankie E. Flowers. Ellis directed the film in Tagalog — a language he doesn’t speak.

The story centers on a poor farmer who leads his family out of their impoverished life in the rice fields of the northern Philippines for a brighter future in the megacity Manila. In order to survive he must take the most dangerous job in the city, driving armored transports.

Ellis won an Oscar in 2005 for his short film “Cashback,” which he expanded into a feature. He also directed “The Broken,” which premiered at Sundance in 2008.

ICM Partners represents Ellis, and negotiated the deal on his behalf. »

- Dave McNary

24 April 2013 5:19 PM, PDT | Obsessed with Film | See recent Obsessed with Film news »

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Though many will be quick to make comparisons between this film and Gareth Evans’ slam-bang actioner The Raid, Metro Manila is in fact very much the inverse of that film. If Evans’ frantic video game-style movie compensated for its lack of substance with merciless, technically accomplished action, this third feature from Sean Ellis (Cashback, The Broken) goes the opposite way, eschewing relentless set-pieces in favour of well-drawn characters and compelling drama.

Oscar (Jake Macapagal) and Mai (Althea Vega) are a couple who, after being forced to sell their rice stock for one-fifth of its usual value, decide to move with their two children to Manila, with the hope that they can start a new, more prosperous life. After losing their savings through fraud and having to squat in an empty shack, things look up once Oscar gets work as an armoured-truck driver, making friends with his »

- Shaun Munro

30 January 2013 9:00 AM, PST | ioncinema | See recent ioncinema news »

A Better Life: Ellis’ Latest a Masterful Drama of Sacrifice

British director Sean Ellis brings us to the Philippines with his third feature film, Metro Manila, a bleak and often harrowing portrait of a family’s struggle to build a better life for themselves. Ellis first made headlines for his 2006 debut, romantic comedy Cashback, followed by the international led cast of his oblique 2008 horror film, The Broken, and his latest only proves he’s a filmmaker of varying and styles and techniques. Ellis, also serving as cinematographer for the first time, brings us a grim exercise set in the urban underbelly of Manila and it is as desperately moving as it is unpredictable.

When the price of rice drops significantly, poverty stricken Oscar Ramirez (Jake Macapagal) and wife Mia (Althea Vega) decide to move with their two children to Manila to see if they might have better luck in the urban metropolis. »

- Nicholas Bell

17 January 2013 11:30 AM, PST | ioncinema | See recent ioncinema news »

#5. Interior. Leather Bar

Who: While everyone may be familiar with actor/director James Franco, they not be as aware of the filmmaker he’s paired with to direct Interior. Leather Bar, Travis Mathews. With a background in documentary, Mathews professes to use this and his Masters in Counseling Psychology to make films that focus on gay men and intimacy. He already has a series of short films about gay men and bedrooms and a well received 2012 feature film, I Want Your Love to his name.

What: His pairing with Franco on a project aims to recreate the lost 40 minutes of footage that William Friedkin was forced to cut from his controversial 1980 film Cruising.

Where: Franco’s interview also features a clip, while Franco’s co-director posted the trailer on his vimeo channel.

When: Shot in Los Angeles, CA over the course of a day in July, 2012, produced by RabbitBandini Productions »

- Nicholas Bell

8 January 2013 9:12 AM, PST | Thompson on Hollywood | See recent Thompson on Hollywood news »

Haut et Court has taken the French distribution rights to Sean Ellis' thriller "Metro Manila" a couple weeks before the film's debut at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. It centers on a destitute countryman in the Philippines who is sucked into a dangerous crime ring when he moves to the country's bustling capital, Manila. Haut et Court will release the film in France in May. No word yet on American distribution. Director Ellis is Oscar-nominated for his 2006 short film "Cashback," which he then went on to develop into a feature of the same title. He has also helmed BAFTA-nominated short "The Business Trip" and the feature-length thriller "The Broken," which premiered at Sundance in 2008. "Metro Manila" isn't the only film to get nabbed before its Sundance debut -- Ashton Kutcher-starrer "jOBS" was picked up January 3 by Open Road Films, with an American release planned for April. »

- Beth Hanna

5 items from 2013