efm 2018

EFM 2018: Well Go USA Nabs BUYBUST For A 2018 Theatrical Release

Well Go USA continues to prove itself to be a Mecca for genre speciality in Asian cinema for North America. The latest in point hails from breaking news from The Hollywood Reporter with word on the distributor’s acquisition of Erik Matti’s BuyBust, which opens theatrically in the Philippines pending a new release date to be announced. The On The Job and Honor Thy Father helmer directs from his own story scripted by Anton Santamaria in which Australian actress Anne Curtis plays the rookie member of an elite anti-drug narc squad forced to fight its way out of Manila’s most dangerous slum following a poorly-planned buy-bust. The film also stars MMA champion Brandon Vera, with Joross Gamboa, Mara Lopez, Nonie Buencamino, AJ Muhlach and Victor Neri rounding out the cast with stuntman and fight choreographer Sonny Sison (Broken Path, Nilalang) designating the brutal fight scenery, partly sampled in a proof-of-concept action sequence featuring Curtis last […]

SNOWFLAKE Trailer: Crime Comedy With A Touch Of Fisticuffs And The Crazy

Lee B. Golden III

Signaling a feature debut of their own, Adolfo J. Kolmerer and William James were proudly featured among the roster for Raven Banner’s presentation at EFM this week. Among the line-up is German action thriller, Snowflake, billed accordingly on the artwork and with a fine trailer now online that mixes and mingles crime comedy with a mix of gonzo that aims to assure a crowdpleaser for audiences. Take a dash of Tarantino, a splash of Coen brothers, a metric ton of pretzel-logic self-awareness, and a fast-paced series of humorously violent misadventures, and you’re halfway to grasping the magnificent German madness of this bizarre import. Hunting down the murderer of their families in a near-future Berlin, a gang of lowlife characters all want revenge on each other, but along the way they must contend with a myriad of wicked fairytale types—assassins, madmen, a blood-covered angel, and an electric-powered superhero—all apparently come to […]

EFM 2018: Jamie Dornan And Sam Clafin To Star In BORDERLAND

Lee B. Golden III

50 Shades trilogy star Jamie Dornan is switching gears as of this week with action thriller, Borderland, set to film in Dublin and London this summer. The BAFTA nominated actor will be joined by fellow actor Sam Clafin with BAFTA nominee Brian Kirk (Game of Thrones, Luther) directing from a script by Public Enemies scribe Ronan Bennett. Set in 1970’s London, Borderland is a high-octane character-driven thriller, in the vein of Michael Mann’s Heat. After his wife is accidentally shot dead in Ireland, a member of the IRA takes over an Active Service Unit in the English Capital. Their mission is to cause chaos and destruction while his mission is to hunt down his wife’s killer – an SAS captain (Sam Claflin) who is also hunting him. Chris Coen (The Childhood of a Leader, Funny Games) is producing at Unanimous Entertainment with Rebecca Brown (In the Dark), and Alan Moloney […]

EFM 2018: Action Thriller MANUSCRIPT Sets Scott Eastwood And Morgan Freeman To Star

Lee B. Golden III

Highland Film Group is out and about with their package in Berlin for buyers. Featured in their slate is Manuscript which, per The Hollywood Reporter, has Nick Cassavetes replacing John Moore to direct from a script by Louis Rosenberg and Joe Rosenbaum. In this cat and mouse style thriller, a jailed genius convict (Morgan Freeman), leads an ambitious junior editor, through clues in his memoir, to the 20 million in missing diamonds he stole years earlier. As the junior editor gets closer to finding out the truth about the mystery, he falls in to a greater criminal ploy that leaves his life in danger. Mike Witherill (John Wick) and Mark Williams (The Accountant) will produce next to Paris Film Inc.’s Rob Paris for the film’s New Orleans shoot in April. Eastwood, who has appeared in several major franchise pics – namely DC adaptation Suicide Squad and Universal’s The Fate Of The […]

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EFM 2018: Henry Rollins To Return For HE NEVER DIED 2

Lee B. Golden III

It’s not easy to crowdfund a film. Such was the case for filmmaker Jason Krawczyk who, despite falling short of Indiegogo goals, managed to push forward for his third feature length pic, He Never Died, a semi-supernatural tale dipped in blood and family drama about a social recluse with a biblical past whose penchant for eating people finds him rescuing his long lost daughter from a vengeful crimeboss’s kidnapping. The film eventually saw screens at SXSW in 2015 before hitting audiences in theaters and via streaming. Fast forward three years later and whatever the case might have been since then, it seems Krawczyk is now in line to shepherd a sequel per The Hollywood Reporter out of Berlin with Sons of Anarchy series and Bad Boys 2 co-star, actor Henry Rollins reprising the role that marked his feature debuted. There’s no word yet on further casting while Krawczyk plots a […]

AFTERBURN: Gerard Butler To Pair With ‘The Villainess’ Director

Lee B. Golden III

Den Of Thieves 2 isn’t all that’s stirring this week for actor and producer Gerard Butler. Deadline broke news on Thursday for his latest attachment to new action thriller, Afterburn, based on the 2008 Red 5 Comics publication, and with none other than Korean stunt favorite Jung Byung-Gil set to direct as the start of a hopeful new franchise. Butler will play a treasure hunter joined by a highly skilled weapons expert with an agenda of her own as they set out to collect and capitalize off of priceless artifacts in the wake of a massive solar flare that destroys all technology in Europe. Into The Blue scribe Matt Johnson is penning the script which will mind other storylines in the comics. Original Film and Butler’s G-BASE banner are all producing along with Jung’s partner, Lewis Taewan Kim (Okja) and Endurance Media who is also financing. Steve Barnett and […]

KUNG FURY 2: THE MOVIE Casts Arnold Schwarzenegger

Lee B. Golden III

The mega success of David Sandberg’s crowdfunded, stylish martial arts love letter to the 80’s Kung Fury, has opened the floodgates in fine form. The very shortfilm in question is the subject of the bustling news out of Berlin this week as Sandberg readies production on Kung Fury 2: The Movie with several big names attached, including that of actor Arnold Schwarzenegger as The Hollywood Reporter notes. The Maggie and Aftermath star is set to be joined by the newly added Michael Fassbender and David Hasselhoff with Sandberg directing as well as reprising in the title role. Sandberg is producing via his Laser Unicorns label with Fassbender next to It producers David Katzenberg, Seth Grahame-Smith at KatzSmith Productions with Aaron Schmidt. Also producing are Philip Westgren of B-Reel Films and Conor McCaughan with Pelle Strandberg executive producing on behalf of Laser Unicorns. Taking its myriad cues from ultra-lit 1980s fantasy […]

EFM 2018: Saban Picks Up Crime Comedy, THE ESCAPE OF PRISONER 614

Lee B. Golden III

Announcements out of Berlin are hailing Zach Golden’s latest crime comedy, The Escape Of Prisoner 614, as it screens this week at EFM. Film Mode Entertainment has sold the film to Saban Films for its U.S. release with a cast that includes Golden Globe Winner Ron Perlman (Hellboy, Hand of God) and Martin Starr (Knocked Up). After being fired by their overbearing Sheriff, two well-intentioned but simple-minded Sheriff’s Deputies, decide to go after an escaped prisoner in hopes of getting their jobs back. But when they realize that the supposed murderer they have hunted down is an innocent victim of a racist judicial system, they face a moral dilemma — return the prisoner and be hailed as heroes, or act on their principles in pursuit of true justice. Golden has several credits behind the lens while The Escape Of Prisoner 614 will serve as his debut. He wrote the script […]

EFM 2018: Filmax Picks Up Sales For Period Actioner, THE SILENT WAR

Lee B. Golden III

Alfonso Cortés-Cavanillas’s second directing effort has arrived by way of a 2008 Spanish graphic novel from David Muñoz and Rayco Pulido Rodríguez. For this, we turn to the brand new period thriller, The Silent War, which now has an international sales backing this week by Filmax. Spain, 1944. Thanks to the struggle of the Resistance and allied forces, the Nazi occupation has finally come to an end in France. Spurred on by this victory, a Spanish guerilla group decides to return from exile as part of an idealistic operation to reconquer the Spanish territory and overthrow General Franco. The group’s aim is simple: to destroy the regime’s infrastructure. But an unforeseen encounter with the Spanish army, as they try to blow up a bridge, leaves almost all of the rebel group dead. Of the two survivors, one (Vicente Roig) is arrested, while the other (Anselmo Rojas) manages to escape, despite […]

KUNG FURY 2: THE MOVIE Casts Michael Fassbender And David Hasselhoff

Lee B. Golden III

It was on Sunday that actor, producer and filmmaker David Sandberg teased forthcoming announcements for the long-awaited sequel, Kung Fury 2: The Movie. His social media posts on Twitter and Instagram featured conceptual artwork by Ivan Reiss, Marcelo Maiolo, Josan Gonzales, and Alexis Ziritt along with mentions of certain producers now tied to official trade news confirmed as of Monday about the upcoming summer shoot. Word has it that Michael Fassbender is joining the film in an undisclosed role along with actor David Hasselhoff who sang the theme to the 2015 shortfilm that successfully blew past its Kickstarter goals a few years earlier, now with more than 40 million views in its wake before confirming a feature film effort in summer of 2016. Bloom is handling international sales at EFM this week with Endeavor Content and CAA repping North America. Taking its myriad cues from ultra-lit 1980s cult fantasy fervor, […]

Epic Acquires Roel Reine’s Norse War Thriller, REDBAD, For North America

Lee B. Golden III

Director Roel Reine has been hard at work following up on films like The Admiral and Marvel’s The Inhumans, here and now with big scale sword-and-shield Viking pic, Redbad. The film is on track to screen a small portion for buyers at the upcoming European Film Market while Screendaily exclusively confirmed a U.S. pick-up by Epic Pictures distrib branch, Epic Releasing. The Admiral scribe Alex van Galen’s script sets the tone for the Norse war tale set in the 8th century amid Northern Europe where the Frisian king (Gijs Naber – The Heineken Kidnapping, Penoza) is blamed for his father’s death and the invasion of the Frankish army, and is subsequently cast away by his own people. Time away sees him marry a Viking princess before returning to his homeland to settle the score with ambitious warlord Pepijn van Herstal (Jonathan Banks – Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) and save […]

Hitman Action Comedy BUTTERFINGERS Casts Russell Brand

Lee B. Golden III

The Fyzz Facility is on deck to present its package at EFM and with it, the upcoming action comedy Butterfingers starring Get Him To The Greek and Forgetting Sarah Marshall co-star, actor, activist and comedian Russell Brand. I, Anna and upcoming Scarborough helmer Barnaby Southcombe is directing from a script by Percentages scribe Tom Nash with fully financing by The Fyzz Facility and Highland Film Group representing the film internationally. Butterfingers follows the story of a lonely and down-on-his-luck hitman Keith (Russell Brand) – also known as Butterfingers – as he competes against archrival Perry who is hot after the same target in Spain. When Perry beats Keith to the chase and kidnaps the target’s ex-love, Keith reluctantly takes their teenage son and 9-year-old daughter as secondary leverage, resulting in a race across Europe as he’s forced to deal with the antics of children while attempting to make it to […]