CINEMA

“What A Wonderful Place” to be Opening Night film at The 21^st Annual Israel Film Festival. DAVID LINDE, JAMES SCHAMUS OF FOCUS FEATURES; AMOS GITAI ADDED AS HONOREES   ON OPENING NIGHT DECEMBER 1, 2005. LOS ANGELES, California- Focus Features Co-Presidents David Linde and James Schamus and Israeli Filmmaker Amos Gitai will be honored at the Opening Night Gala of the 21st Annual Israel Film Festival, it was announced today by Festival Chairman Meyer Gottlieb, COO of Samuel Goldwyn Films.  The festival’s opening night film is “What A Wonderful Place,” written and directed by Eyal Chalfon....Read the full article

SPINNING INTO BUTTER

Spinning into Butter is currently filming on Governors Island in New York City.  Sarah Jessica Parker will be joined by Beau Bridges (The Ballad of Jack and Rose, The Fabulous Baker Boys), Miranda Richardson (The Hours, The film version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera) and Mykelti Williamson (Forrest Gump, Waiting To Exhale, Ali) in the film adaptation of SPINNING INTO BUTTER, based on the hit play by Rebecca Gilman. The cast also features: James Rebhorn (Independence Day, The Talented Mr. Ripley), Peter Friedman (I Shot Andy Warhol, Ragtime on Broadway), Victor Rasuk (Raising Victor Vargas), and Paul James (Cry Wolf). The film is directed by Mark Brokaw. Set in a New England college, SPINNING INTO BUTTER tells the story of Sarah Daniels (Parker) a Dean of Students who is thrust into a racial hate crime investigation against an African-American student. As the campus is thrown into an uproar, Sarah is forced to confront her emotions while trying to manage a politically correct administration. Financed independently, the film is being produced by Norman Twain, Lou Pitt, and Parker. This production is the first theatrical venture of Whitsett Hill Films; partners Wayne Thompson, Ryan Howe, Roger Howe and Mark Davis will serve as executive producers. Producer Lou Pitt commented, “The variety of looks available on the Island has exceeded our expectations; after all, we are filming New England in New York City. The people on Governors Island are immensely cooperative. We are having a wonderful experience.” Gilman, one of theatre’s best known new playwrights ("Boy Gets Girl," "Blue Surge," "The Sweetest Swing in Baseball," "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter," "A Doll’s House") and Doug Atchison have written the screenplay. SPINNING INTO BUTTER was first produced in 1999 by Chicago’s Tony Award winning Goodman Theatre and was hailed by Time magazine as one of the best plays of the year. It has subsequently been produced at Lincoln Center Theatre in the summer of 2000, London’s Royal Court and the top regional theatres in the United States. The production marks the film debut of acclaimed stage director Brokaw, whose credits include this summer’s hit Broadway production at the Roundabout, "The Constant Wife," "Reckless," starring Mary-Louise Parker, Pulitzer Prize winner "How I Learned to Drive" and "The Dying Gaul". Following the successful conclusion of "Sex and the City", Parker recently completed FAMILY STONE (20th Century-Fox) and FAILURE TO  LAUNCH (Paramount).