BEST WORST MOVIE

Toronto – UNION PICTURES acquires the Hot Docs hit BEST WORST MOVIE!

“Strangely moving… insightful… consistently funny and smart about celebrity, vanity and bad movies – and what makes them lovable.”
–John Anderson, Variety

BEST WORST MOVIE is a hilarious documentary about the makers and stars of TROLL 2, a horror film from 1980‘s that is widely regarded as the worst movie ever made. Directed and produced by Michael Paul Stephenson, the grown-up child star from TROLL 2, the documentary features the director of the original film, Claudio Fragasso, and its star turned dentist, George Hardy, as they grapple with their dubious place in cinematic history.

When BEST WORST MOVIE hits Canadian screens this fall, Union pictures will launch a special event-style release in select theatres across Canada.

Dates and details of the release, as well as special guests, will be announced soon.

For more information, please check the Union Pictures facebook page and Best Worst Movie website.

High Life DVD Available Now!

Toronto – Union Pictures, D Films and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Canada are proud to announce the release of the DVD for High Life, which is now available at your favourite rental and retail stores/outlets. (Including Amazon or Chapters)

The Canadian DVD release of the film Maclean’s called “A Canadian answer to the Coen brothers, with a Tarantino kick” contains the following special features:

-    Exclusive interviews with the cast and director Gary Yates
-    Behind-the-scenes featurette
-    English Captioning for the hearing impaired
-    A new transfer of the film directly from the original master materials
-    Discrete Dolby 5.1 and 2.0 Audio Mixes for improved audio quality

For more information on the “High Life” DVD please visit the film’s official website at: http://www.highlifethemovie.com

“High Life is an often brilliant, funny crime story. [...] If you didn’t see High Life when it was in theatres… don’t make the same mistake when it shows up at your corner video store.”
- Ian Hamilton, CBC, ‘DVDs in 7′ on Sirius Radio

Download Press Release (pdf)

New deal with Morningstar Entertainment!

TORONTO – Canada’s MORNINGSTAR ENTERTAINMENT, a leading distributor of home entertainment products, has secured exclusive Canadian licensing rights to represent and distribute DVD programming from Union Pictures. The products will be available in Canada beginning August 2010.

Union Pictures is a full service distribution and production company that produces and releases a steady stream of commercially viable and critically acclaimed Canadian and foreign films. Founded in Canada in 2008, Union Pictures titles have been showcased at film festivals throughout North America, including the Toronto International Film Festival.

“We are extremely excited about representing the upcoming UNION PICTURES catalogue of films”, says Blair Moody, Vice President of Sales & Development, KNIGHTSCOVE MEDIA CORP. (Morningstar Ent. Inc.).

Recent UNION theatrical titles feature terrific, creatively directed films and thought provoking, highly entertaining documentaries, with marquee talent including Timothy Olyphant, Peter O’Toole and Sam Neill, to name a few. “We know our customers will respond favourably to Union Pictures’ feature films and unique documentaries that inform, enthrall and entertain. These high quality productions reinforce and reflect KNIGHTSCOVE’S strong focus and ongoing commitment to providing the very best in home entertainment.”

Union Pictures’ Cam Haynes says, “we’re delighted to be aligned with Morningstar and look forward to seeing our diverse and growing slate handled by the Morningstar team.”

If you would like more information on Union Pictures, please visit their website at www.unionpictures.ca.

ABOUT MORNINGSTAR ENTERTAINMENT INC.

Since inception in 1992, Morningstar Entertainment has promoted television, film and niche market properties, with over 1,400 DVD titles in its current library and distributes to all mass merchant and specialty retail outlets throughout North America. For more information please visit click here. Morningstar Entertainment is a division of Knightscove Media Corp. (TSXV: KC.A & KC.B).

For more information, interviews, images or DVDs, please contact:
Lauren Jelicic
Morningstar Entertainment
416-444-7900 x.226
lauren.jelicic@morningstarent.com

Download press release (pdf)

"High Life" opens January 15th in Toronto and Winnipeg

Toronto – Union Pictures, in association with Triptych Media and Buffalo Gal Pictures are pleased to present the comedic heist High Life to audiences across Canada. Directed by Gary Yates and written by Lee MacDougall, High Life opens on the heels of successful screenings at International Film Festivals in Berlin, Edinburgh and Shanghai and a North American Premiere at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. High Life will play at Toronto’s Scotiabank Theatre and Winnipeg’s SilverCity Polo Park starting on Friday, January 15. Additional screenings across Canada will be announced in the coming weeks.

Starring Timothy Olyphant, Stephen Eric McIntyre, Joe Anderson and Rossif Sutherland High Life features the music of April Wine, Creedence Clearwater Revival, 3 Dog Night and New Order.

Based on the play by Lee MacDougall, High Life is a comedic heist story from the flip-side of the 80’s consumer dream. It’s 1983, and petty-thief Dick gets a surprise visit from his unhinged former cellmate, Bug. When Bug gets Dick fired from his first straight job, Dick devises the perfect plan for some much needed, fast cash. The problem is, his crew is so rife with loathing that just getting to the bank’s front door will take a miracle as the plan starts to unravel before Dick’s eyes.

For more information, please visit www.highlifethemovie.com

“HIGH LIFE” TO BE SCREENED @2009 WHISTLER FILM FESTIVAL – December 5, 2009 at 1pm

Toronto – Union Pictures, in association with Triptych Media and Buffalo Gal Pictures are pleased to announce the screening of Gary Yates’ comedy feature High Life at the 2009 Whistler Film Festival at December 5th at 1pm. Starring Timothy Olyphant, Stephen Eric McIntyre, Joe Anderson and Rossif Sutherland, this comedic heist features the music of April Wine, Creedence Clearwater Revival, 3 Dog Night and New Order. Co- star Stephen Eric McIntyre will be in attendance. Ticket Passes and Packages are now on sale. For more information, please visit http://www.whistlerfilmfestival.com/

High Life premiered at the 2009 Berlin International Film Festival, and was well received at the Shanghai and Edinburgh Film Festivals before having its North American Priemere at the Toronto International Film Festival. It will be released in theatres across Canada on January 15, 2010.

Based on the play by Lee MacDougall, High Life is a comedic heist story from the flip-side of the 80’s consumer dream. It’s 1983 and Dick and his pals have been botching jobs and racking up prison time for years, but this time Dick has the perfect plan for the perfect heist and enough dough to buy he and his posse some “self-respect”. With the arrival of his slightly unhinged cell-mate, Bug, on the scene its going to take all Dick has just to keep his crew from killing each other, let alone pulling off the heist. Ripe with humour and manic, high-wire tension, High Life’s lovable losers will stop at nothing as they bungle their way through their pipe dream of easy money and easy street.

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For more information, please visit  www.highlifethemovie.com

"Genius Within" Special Screenings @The Royal in Toronto December 3 to 6 and December 8, 2009

Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould
directed by Peter Raymont and Michèle Hozer

Special Presentation Screenings
The Royal in Toronto Thursday, December 3 – Sunday, December 6,  & Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Screening in select venues across Canada: December 2009 – February 2010 including Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg, Waterloo, Ottawa and Montreal.

After a successful launch at TIFF 2009, Union Pictures and White Pine Pictures are pleased to bring Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould to audiences across Canada with a series of Special Screenings in select venues beginning with The Royal in Toronto from December 3 – 6. Confirmed dates in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg, Waterloo, Ottawa and Montreal will be announced in the coming weeks.

Intimately revealing the man behind the myth, Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould casts a fresh light on the mysterious pianist whose ideas were as controversial, and his private life as passionate, as his music.

Although undoubtedly one of the most famous artists of his time – what do any of us really know about the man Glenn Gould, who would turn his back on celebrity for the sake of his art and whose devotion to his craft cost him the relationships most dear to him? A collaboration between award-winning documentary director Peter Raymont and award-winning editor Michèle Hozer in her directorial debut, Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould explores these questions and humanizes the icon.

Featuring never-before seen footage of Gould, photographs and excerpts from his private home recordings and diaries, plus personal memories from Gould’s most intimate friends and lovers, some who have never spoken about him publicly before, Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould takes a fresh look at the artist who continues to captivate twenty-seven years after his untimely death.

website: www.glenngouldmovie.com Running time: 108 minutes

For further information:
Virginia Kelly, V Kelly & Associates, (416)466-9799 info@vkpr.ca

"Genius Within" Special Screenings @Cinema du Parc in Montreal – December 4 to December 17, 2009

Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould
directed by Peter Raymont and Michèle Hozer

Special Presentation Screenings

Cinéma du Parc in Montreal
Friday December 4 – Thursday December 17, 2009

After a successful launch at TIFF 2009, Union Pictures and White Pine Pictures are pleased to bring Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould to audiences across Canada with a series of Special Screenings in select venues beginning with The Royal in Toronto and the Cinéma du Parc in Montréal. Confirmed dates in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Regina, Winnipeg, Waterloo, and Ottawa will be announced in the coming weeks.

Intimately revealing the man behind the myth, Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould casts a fresh light on the mysterious pianist whose ideas were as controversial, and his private life as passionate, as his music.

Although undoubtedly one of the most famous artists of his time – what do any of us really know about the man Glenn Gould, who would turn his back on celebrity for the sake of his art and whose devotion to his craft cost him the relationships most dear to him? A collaboration between award-winning documentary director Peter Raymont and award-winning editor Michèle Hozer in her directorial debut, Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould explores these questions and humanizes the icon.

Featuring never-before seen footage of Gould, photographs and excerpts from his private home recordings and diaries, plus personal memories from Gould’s most intimate friends and lovers, some who have never spoken about him publicly before, Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould takes a fresh look at the artist who continues to captivate twenty-seven years after his untimely death.

website: www.glenngouldmovie.com

Running time: 108 minutes

For further information:
Virginia Kelly, V Kelly & Associates, (416)466-9799 info@vkpr.ca

Sarah Polley to Star in Mika Kaurismaki’s "Queen Kristina"

SARAH POLLEY TO STAR IN EPIC DRAMA “QUEEN KRISTINA”
MIKA KAURISMÄKI TO DIRECT, ACCLAIMED WRITER MICHEL MARC BOUCHARD TO PEN THE SCREENPLAY

CANADA’S TRIPTYCH MEDIA, FINLAND’S MARIANNA FILMS AND GERMANY ’S HANK LEVINE FILM GMBH TEAM UP TO CO-PRODUCE QUEEN KRISTINA

Toronto – Toronto-based Triptych Media, Helsinki-based Marianna Films and Berlin-based Hank Levine Film today announced that they will produce the epic feature drama QUEEN KRISTINA, a Canada-Nordic co-production starring Sarah Polley (THE SWEET HEREAFTER, DAWN OF THE DEAD, MY LIFE WITHOUT ME) as the legendary Queen of Sweden.

The film will be directed by acclaimed director Mika Kaurismäki (ZOMBIE & THE GHOST TRAIN, HELSINKI-NAPOLI, ALL NIGHT LONG, THREE WISE MEN) from a screenplay by multi-award-winning Québecois playwright and screenwriter Michel Marc Bouchard (LILIES). The announcement was made by producers Anna Stratton and Robin Cass for Triptych Media, Mika Kaurismäki for Marianna Films and Hank Levine..

KRISTINA will shoot in Canada and Sweden in the winter/spring of 2011. It will be released in Canada by Union Pictures. (read more)

"High Life" to be Screened at 34th Toronto International Film Festival

“HIGH LIFE” TO BE SCREENED AT 34TH TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Union Pictures and Triptych Media announce High Life’s North American Premiere

Toronto – Union Pictures, Triptych Media and Buffalo Gal Pictures are pleased to announce the screening of Gary Yates’ comedy High Life at the 34th Toronto International Film Festival. The cast includes Timothy Olyphant, Stephen Eric McIntyre, Joe Anderson and Rossif Sutherland. (read more)

"The Outlander" Captured for Big Screen Adaptation

“THE OUTLANDER” CAPTURED FOR BIG SCREEN ADAPTION
Xingu Films, Strada Films and Triptych Media secure film rights to Gil Adamson’s critically acclaimed novel

Trudie Styler of Xingu Films, whose film Moon recently won the top prize at the Edinburgh Film Festival, has joined forces with Canadians Sandra Cunningham of Strada Films, and Robin Cass and Anna Stratton of Triptych Media to capture the film rights to “The Outlander,” first time novelist Gil Adamson’s best-selling historical adventure and gothic love story published by House of Anansi Press, which the Washington Post says “bolts off the opening page…An absorbing adventure from a Canadian poet and short story writer who knows how to keep us enthralled”. (read more)