You are viewing the archive: “Dee Rees”

ICM Signs ‘Pariah’ Star Adepero Oduye

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday January 20, 2012 @ 8:09am PSTTags: Adepero Oduye, Dee Rees, ICM, Pariah
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: While talent agencies comb Sundance to find and sign new talent, ICM has signed Adepero Oduye, who turned in one of 2011 Sundance’s breakout performance as the star of the Dee Rees-directed Pariah. The Cornell University grad is nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead for her performance as Alike, a 17-year-old lesbian struggling with her identity in Brooklyn. But that accolade might pale compared to what happened last Sunday, when Meryl Streep gave Oduye a shout-out from the stage while accepting her Golden Globes Award for The Iron Lady. After auditioning for a role as an extra in the 2007 award-winning short film Pariah, Oduye was tapped by Rees to make her debut as the star of the feature, which was recently released in theaters by Focus Features. Oduye continues to be managed by Kathy Atkinson.

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Gotham Awards: ‘Tree Of Life,’ ‘Beginners’ Share Kudos For Best Feature

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday November 28, 2011 @ 7:23pm PSTTags: Beginners, Dee Rees, Felicity Jones, Girlfriend, Gotham Awards, Like Crazy, Pariah, Terrence Malick, The Tree of Life
Mike Fleming

Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life and Mike Mills’ Beginners shared the best feature award at Monday night’s 21st Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards. Other nominees for Best Feature were nominees were The Descendants, Meek’s Cutoff and Take Shelter. Girlfriend … Read More »

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2011 Toronto Festival Fills Out Slate And Sets Maverick Lecture Program

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Tuesday August 23, 2011 @ 5:42am PDTTags: Barrymore, Christopher Plummer, Dee Rees, Deepa Mehta, Francis Ford Coppola, Gus Van Sant, Jonathan Demme, Michael Barker, Neil Young, Pariah, Restless, Salman Rushdie, Tilda Swinton, Tom Bernard, Toronto Film Festival
Mike Fleming

The 2011 Toronto International Film Festival has filled out the rest of its slate, which consists of 268 features and 68 short films that will unspool next month. The fest announced that the likes of Brad Pitt (Moneyball), … Read More »

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Focus Features In Talks With Jeb Brody For Production Prexy Post As John Lyons Exits

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday August 15, 2011 @ 1:17pm PDTTags: Andrew Karpen, Colin Firth, Dee Rees, Ewan McGregor, Focus Features, Gary Oldman, James Schamus, Jeb Brody, John Lyons, Mike Mills, Tom Hardy, Tomas Alfredson
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: As John Lyons prepares to leave his production president post to focus on philanthropy, Focus Features top executives James Schamus and Andrew Karpen are in talks with Jeb Brody to replace him. Brody, who is currently president of production for producer/financer Vendome Pictures, is well regarded in the indie sphere. He was a producer of Sunshine Cleaning and was the executive producer of Little Miss Sunshine while he worked at Big Beach. Brody exec produced Vencome’s first two film productions, Source Code and Larry Crowne. Lyons made public his plan right after the Cannes Film Festival.

Lyons is leaving to devote more time to his pet project, the Edible Schoolyard/NYC. He is the founder and board chairman of the charity, which mixes his passion for the environment and growing food at the schools. He will oversee an expansion of the program to schools in the five New York boroughs, and he’ll also continue his work on the board of Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse Foundation, which is the national program for the Edible Schoolyard initative. He’s also on the board of GrowNYC, a non-profit that promotes environmental awareness and runs the city’s Greenmarket programs. Read More »

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Sundance 2011: Does 38 Film Deals Mean That The Indie Biz Is Back?

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday February 4, 2011 @ 4:43pm PSTTags: 2011 Sundance Film Festival, Dee Rees, Harvey Weinstein, HBO, Joe Drake, Michael Shannon, Oprah Winfrey, Ron Burkle, Steven Rales, Tobey Maguire
Mike Fleming

Dealmakers who came into Park City hoping to recapture the acquisitions momentum of last fall’s Toronto Film Festival returned this week with smiles on their faces. And why not? By my count, 38 transactions have been completed on Sundance films … Read More »

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Sundance: Focus Features Acquires ‘Pariah,’ Buys Filmmaker’s Next Project

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Friday January 28, 2011 @ 7:56am PSTTags: Adepero Oduye, Andrew Karpen, Dee Rees, Focus Features, James Schamus, John Sloss, Lisa Cholodenko, Spike Lee
Mike Fleming

EXCLUSIVE: Focus Features has closed an acquisition deal for worldwide rights for Pariah, the Dee Rees-directed coming of age story of a 17-year old African American teen from Brooklyn trying to find her place in the world, and coming to … Read More »

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Sundance Film Festival Sets Shorts Slate

By MIKE FLEMING JR | Monday December 6, 2010 @ 10:38am PSTTags: 2011 Sundance Film Festival, 2011 Sundance Shorts Program, Dee Rees, Movies, Rashaad Ernesto Green, Sean Durkin, Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute
Mike Fleming

Park City, UT— Sundance Institute announced today the program of short films selected to screen at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. This year the Festival’s Short Film Program comprises 81 short films from U.S. and international filmmakers selected from

… Read More »

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