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HBO/New Line Cinema name joint venture Picturehouse

FUR marks Picturehouse’s first production - starring Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey Jr. Directed by Steven Shainberg

CANNES, FRANCE, May 13, 2005 — Coinciding with the world premiere of the company’s first release, Gus Van Sant’s LAST DAYS in Competition at Cannes, Chris Albrecht (Chairman and CEO, HBO), Michael Lynne (Co-Chairman and CEO of New Line Cinema), Colin Callender (President, HBO Films), and Bob Berney formally unveiled Picturehouse. Founded and jointly owned by HBO and New Line Cinema, Picturehouse is the new theatrical distribution company to be run by Bob Berney, who will serve as its President. The goal for Picturehouse is to be the theatrical distribution company of choice for a wide-ranging community of independent filmmakers, and to deliver a consistently high-quality slate of pictures to audiences. Picturehouse plans to release 8-10 pictures a year. Product flow for the new company will generate from four streams: HBO Films productions, New Line productions, a new slate of productions to be jointly funded by HBO and New Line, and acquisitions.

Picturehouse is proud to announce that it has acquired worldwide rights to FUR, starring Academy Award® Winner Nicole Kidman and Academy Award® Nominee Robert Downey Jr., written and directed by Steven Shainberg (SECRETARY). Set in New York in the late 1950’s, FUR conjures an image of visionary artist Diane Arbus by intertwining a fictional romance with aspects of Arbus’ life in order to explore the mysterious artistic development of a woman who is now regarded as one of the most influential photographers of all time. Co-financing and serving as producers are Bill Pohlad and Laura Bickford for River Road Entertainment. Executive Producers are Ed Pressman and Alessandro Camon. Additionally, Bonnie Timmerman and Andrew Fierberg are producers. Patricia Bosworth and Vincent Farrell serve as co-producers. Shooting commenced May 9th in New York. International sales will be handled by New Line International.

In addition, Picturehouse has acquired the rights to THE THING ABOUT MY FOLKS and USHPIZIN. Tribeca Film Festival crowd-pleaser THE THING ABOUT MY FOLKS stars Peter Falk and Paul Reiser in a semi-autographical film that Reiser wrote specifically for Falk. Directed by Raymond De Felitta (Sundance Audience Award winner TWO FAMILY HOUSE), THE THING ABOUT MY FOLKS tells the story of a sudden family crisis which throws a befuddled writer and his “loose cannon” dad together for an unexpected road trip. Directed by Giddi Dar, USHPIZIN is a heartwarming and humorous Israeli drama set in the customarily closed world of ultra-Orthodox Jews. USHPIZIN tells the story of Moshe and Malli, a married couple, who are suffering financial difficulties. Naturally they pray for help, but instead of a miracle, two suspicious strangers with criminal pasts appear on their doorstep. The couple believes their guests were sent to them by God as a test of faith.

"Picturehouse allows us to bring a wide variety of films, large and small, to a diverse audience. We hope that by utilizing the strength, taste and independent spirit of the two parent companies we will forge a new and unique home for filmmakers," said Berney.

"Our hope is that Picturehouse will come to represent ahome foruniquefilmmakers, those who are more established in the industry as well as those yet to be discovered, todo their best work and tell their most powerful stories. The name of the company is meant to recall the days of the silver screen when audiences went to ‘picture houses’ to be entertained and escape from their everyday lives. The diverse slate we are announcing today is representativeof the type of projects we feel can foster those same emotional ties," said Colin Callender and Michael Lynne.

Under Bob Berney’s leadership, the senior staff of Picturehouse will include:

Robert Schwartz as Chief Operating Officer. Schwartz has been part of Berney’s core senior team for ten years.
Drawing from both the Fine Line and HBO families, Marian Koltai-Levine and Dennis O’Connor will serve as Executive VPs of Marketing. Koltai-Levine will be based in New York and O’Connor will be on the west coast.
Former United Artist executive, Sara Rose will join Picturehouse as Senior Vice President of Acquisition. She worked with Berney previously at Orion Pictures.

All four executives will report to Berney.

And, rounding out the senior team will be longtime distribution executives from Newmarket Films, Bill Thompson and John Lange, who will serve as Senior Vice Presidents and co-General Sales Managers. Both Thompson and Lange will report to Schwartz.

“This group of real professionals and veterans deliver us a premiere, full-service marketing and distribution company,” said Berney. “I am proud to work with each of them at Picturehouse.”

Picturehouse is a company that is the product of two leaders of the entertainment community. Launched in 1972, Home Box Office, the pay television programming division of Time Warner Inc., is the most successful pay television network in the United States of America. HBO Films, a division of Home Box Office, produces movies for the networks as well as films for theatrical release. New Line Cinema is the most successful independent film company and is headed by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne.

The Picturehouse website is www.picturehousefilms.com.

PICTUREHOUSE'S CURRENT SLATE
(in order of release date and including titles previously announced)

ROCK SCHOOL

Release date: June 3rd, 2005
Directed by Don Argott
Produced by Sheena M. Joyce and Don Argott
Starring: Asa (as herself), C.J. (as himself), Paul Green (as himself), Madi (as herself), Tucker (as himself), Will (as himself)
(To be released under the Newmarket banner.)

Rocks Stars. Guitar Gods. Kids. At some point in almost everyone's life, they dream of becoming a rock star: feeling the roar of the crowd; basking in the adoration of legions of fans; experiencing the adventures of life on the road. Now imagine fulfilling that fantasy as a child. Welcome to ROCK SCHOOL. A meditation on talent and teaching, ROCK SCHOOL is a celebration of youthful promise and steadfast dreams. It is also a kick-ass music movie that should be played loud!

LAST DAYS

Release date: July 22nd, 2005
Written and directed by Gus Van Sant
Starring: Michael Pitt, Lukas Hass, Asia Argento, Scott Green
From HBO Films.
A Picturehouse Release.
(Premiering May 13 in Competition at Cannes)

LAST DAYS is filmmaker Gus Van Sant's meditation on the inner turmoil that engulfs a brilliant, but troubled, musician in the final hours of his life. Michael Pitt (THE DREAMERS, HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH) stars as Blake, an introspective artist who is buckling under the weight of fame, professional obligations, and a mounting feeling of isolation. LAST DAYS follows Blake through a handful of hours he spends in and near his wooded home, a fugitive from his own life. It is a period of random moments and fractured consciousness, fused by spontaneous bursts of rock & roll. Expanding on the elliptical style forged in his two previous films, GERRY and the Palme d'Or-winning ELEPHANT, Van Sant layers images and sounds to articulate an emotional landscape, creating a dynamic work about a soul in transition.

Although this film is inspired by the last days of Kurt Cobain, it is a work of fiction and none of the characters or events portrayed in the film are real.

THE CHUMSCRUBBER

Release date: August 5th, 2005
Directed by Ari Posin
Produced by Lawrence Bender and Bonnie Curtis
Written by Zac Stanford
Starring: Glenn Close, Ralph Fiennes, Lauren Holly, Rita Wilson and Jaime Bell
(To be released under the Newmarket banner.)

THE CHUMSCRUBBER is a surreal cautionary tale about an alienated youth forced to confront the disconnect between parents and teenagers in suburbia, rendered with a razor's edge balance of comedy and drama.

THE THING ABOUT MY FOLKS

Release date: September 2005
Directed by Raymond de Felitta
Produced by Paul Reiser, Robert F. Newmyer and Jeffrey Silver
Written by Paul Reiser
Starring: Peter Falk, Olympia Dukakis, Elizabeth Perkins, Mackenzie Connolly and Lydia Jordan
A Picturehouse Release.

THE THING ABOUT MY FOLKS, starring Peter Falk and Paul Reiser, is a semi-autographical film that Reiser wrote specifically for Falk, his all-time favorite actor. A sudden family crisis throws a befuddled writer and his “loose cannon” dad together for an unexpected road trip. Family secrets are uncovered and in a few surprising days, the two men learn more about each other – and have more fun – than either imagined possible. Directed by Raymond De Felitta (Sundance Audience Award winner TWO FAMILY HOUSE), THE THING ABOUT MY FOLKS is a story of fathers and sons, husbands and wives, and two men learning to love the women who love them.

A COCK AND BULL STORY

Release date: October 11, 2005
Directed by Michael Winterbottom
Produced by Andrew Eaton
Starring: Steve Coogan
A Picturehouse Release.

A COCK AND BULL STORY is the clever, comic, post-modern take on the construction of a film, from an intricate, hilariously complex autobiographical novel, “The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman” by Laurence Sterne.

USHPIZIN

Release date: Fall 2005
Directed by Giddi Dar
Produced by Rafi Bukai and Giddi Dar
Starring: Shuli Rand, Michal Bat-Sheva Rand, Shaul Mizrahi, Ilan Ganani, Avraham Abutboul and Daniel Dayan
A Picturehouse Release.

A heartwarming and humorous Israeli drama set in the customarily closed world of ultra-Orthodox Jews, USHPIZIN is the story of Moshe and Malli, a married couple, who are suffering through a financial crisis. Naturally they pray for help, but instead of a miracle, two suspicious strangers with criminal pasts appear on their doorstep. The couple believes their guests were sent to them by God as a test of faith. The film is reportedly the first made by members of the Israeli ultra-Orthodox community.

THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE

Release date: March 2006
Directed by Mary Harron
Produced by Pamela Koffler, Katie Roumel and Christine Vachon
Written by Mary Harron and Guinevere Turner
Starring Gretchen Mol, Lili Taylor, Jonathan M. Woodward, David Strathairn, Cara Seymour, Tara Subkoff and Kevin Carroll
From HBO Films.
A Picturehouse Release.

The most successful pin-up of the 1950s, Bettie Page's legendary bondage photographs made her the target of a Senate investigation into pornography, and turned her into one of the first sex icons.

FUR: AN IMAGINARY PORTRAIT OF DIANE ARBUS

Coming in Fall 2006
Directed by Steven Shainberg
Written by Erin Cressida Wilson
Inspired by the book "Diane Arbus: A Biography" by Patricia Bosworth
Produced by William Pohlad, Laura Bickford, Bonnie Timmermann, Andrew Fierberg
Executive Producers Edward R. Pressman and Alessandro Camon
Co-Producers are Patricia Bosworth and Vincent Farrell
Starring Nicole Kidman and Robert Downey Jr.
In production.
A Picturehouse Release.

Set in New York in the late 1950’s, Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus conjures an image of visionary artist Diane Arbus by intertwining a fictional romance with aspects of Arbus’ life in order to explore the mysterious artistic development of a woman who is now regarded as one of the most influential photographers of all time.

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