Pollack to direct film about 2000 elections

2006 AFF Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking award winner, Sydney Pollack has set his sights on the 2000 elections and the subsequent recounts for his next project.

From The Guardian:

Pollack to lead Recount Staff and agencies Tuesday April 3, 2007 Guardian Unlimited The morning after... competing headlines the day after the 2000 US election. Photograph: Henny Ray Abrams/AFP/Getty Sydney Pollack, the Oscar-winning director of Three Days of the Condor and Out of Africa, is to direct a film about the 2000 US elections that controversially brought George W Bush to power. Entitled Recount, the movie will chronicle the month-long storm that followed election day seven years ago, when the results of the poll - which made famous hanging chads and butterfly ballots - hung on a recount of votes in Florida. Read the full article

Journey From the Fall tops per screen B.O. average nationwide

Indie gem Journey From the Fall (AFF '06) stunned insiders when it topped the per screen box office average in parts of California beating out every studio, mini-major and indie movie in this category:

From indiewire.com:
"Journey From the Fall" did so well in Orange County and San Jose in California that it topped this week's indieWIRE Box Office Tracking Report (iWBOT) of independent/specialty films with a $21,861 average from four theaters. Directed and written by Ham Tran and about the Vietnamese refugee experience in America, it's the first film produced and financed by Vietnamese-Americans, according to distributor ImaginAsian Entertainment." 1

Let's hear it for the boy

Lets hear it for Nick Sidorovich--Sidorovich, Second Rounder at the Austin Film Festival in 2005 with his script BUCK FORTY NINE, was recently mentioned in Daily Variety for the soon to be film "The Miracle of Santa Rosa." He co-wrote the script with Frank Rainone. Rainone will be directing from the script, and production is set to begin this fall in Italy.

The story centers on an American who returns to his ancestral home in Italy to spread his father's ashes.

To read the complete article follow the link pasted below.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117960199.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&query=Miracle+of+Santa+Rosa

Congratulations to Karl Williams whose script PUNCTURED has recently been picked up by Shoreline Entertainment. Karl nearly swept every Screenplay Competition category in 2005 with both of his screenplays PUNCTURED and SUPER EGO. PUNCTURED walked away with both the Comedy and Sci-Fi awards. Production on the film is set to begin late Spring with Shari Hamrick producing and directing. To read more about Karl and the film you can check out this article in yesterday's Variety…
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117960587.html?categoryid=13&cs=1&nid=2564

And don't forget…AFF Screenplay and Teleplay Competition is now accepting entries for the 14th Annual Austin Film Festival. Screenplay Early Postmarked Deadline is May 15th ($40), Screenplay Late Postmarked Deadline is June 1st ($50), and Teleplay Postmarked Deadline is June 1st ($30).