Julian Assange’s second film as producer is a doc about El Salvador.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s second film as producer is a cross-media documentary about El Salvador’s gang violence.
The Engineer, produced by Guerilla Pictures in partnership with Wikileaks (which partially funded via Sunshine Press Productions), looks at El Salvador’s brutal gang conflicts through the eyes of a man whose life revolves around murder.
Directors are Juan Passarelli and Mathew Charles.
The film will be available as a feature, a website and an app. The digital versions are multimedia and interactive, with a non-linear narrative structure introducing new characters.
Assange, who also recently produced documentary Mediastan, said: “Few realize how devastating the influence of Us criminal gangs has become throughout Central America.
“Two rival gangs originating in California - MS13 and 18 Street - kill thousands every year in El Salvador alone. This is the real globalized economy - cheap cocaine for Hollywood noses and...
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s second film as producer is a cross-media documentary about El Salvador’s gang violence.
The Engineer, produced by Guerilla Pictures in partnership with Wikileaks (which partially funded via Sunshine Press Productions), looks at El Salvador’s brutal gang conflicts through the eyes of a man whose life revolves around murder.
Directors are Juan Passarelli and Mathew Charles.
The film will be available as a feature, a website and an app. The digital versions are multimedia and interactive, with a non-linear narrative structure introducing new characters.
Assange, who also recently produced documentary Mediastan, said: “Few realize how devastating the influence of Us criminal gangs has become throughout Central America.
“Two rival gangs originating in California - MS13 and 18 Street - kill thousands every year in El Salvador alone. This is the real globalized economy - cheap cocaine for Hollywood noses and...
- 10/24/2013
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
The Toronto Film Festival is the springboard for movies with Oscar aspirations. The last six Best Picture winners played in Toronto, so when the festival named The Fifth Estate its opening-night premiere, people assumed that Bill Condon’s WikiLeaks movie starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the frosty Julian Assange was a bona fide Oscar contender. Condon has an Oscar pedigree (Gods and Monsters), Assange is a mysterious, polarizing figure who remains in the headlines, and Cumberbatch is an on-the-verge actor with a passionate fanbase. The Fifth Estate had all the makings of another Toronto success story, like Argo or Silver Linings Playbook.
- 10/21/2013
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW - Inside Movies
The Toronto Film Festival is the springboard for movies with Oscar aspirations. The last six Best Picture winners played in Toronto, so when the festival named The Fifth Estate its opening-night premiere, people assumed that Bill Condon’s WikiLeaks movie starring Benedict Cumberbatch as the frosty Julian Assange was a bona fide Oscar contender. Condon has an Oscar pedigree (Gods and Monsters), Assange is a mysterious, polarizing figure who remains in the headlines, and Cumberbatch is an on-the-verge actor with a passionate fanbase. The Fifth Estate had all the makings of another Toronto success story, like Argo or Silver Linings Playbook.
- 10/21/2013
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW - Inside Movies
This weekend, Bill Condon‘s The Fifth Estate suffered the worst opening of 2013, bringing in an unfathomable $1.7m from 1769 theaters. Getaway opened better. Movie 43 opened better. Naturally, nobody is more pleased with this news than comic book supervillain Julian Assange, who has sent signals from his lair inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to consistently voice his disproval of the project. Assange’s boycott against the film, which he condemned for portraying him in a biased and negative light, finally cumulated in the release of his own WikiLeaks film, a free documentary available on the website called Mediastan. In what is sure to definitely not be biased at all and portray him with a glowing halo, the documentary depicts “Operation Cablerun,” in which thousands upon thousands of American diplomatic cables were posted by WikiLeaks in collaboration with The Guardian and The New York Times. “This weekend,” Assange said in a statement, “instead...
- 10/21/2013
- by Samantha Wilson
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
The Fifth Estate has flopped at the Us box office, debuting to just $1.7 million (£1.05 million) from its 1,769 theatre locations.
The Bill Condon-directed drama, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, posted one of the worst debuts of 2013 over the weekend with a $969 per-screen average.
The DreamWorks and Disney release's box office debut is worse than the year's other high-profile releases Movie 43 ($4.8 million), Getaway ($4.5 million) and Paranoia ($3.5 million).
"We're disappointed with these results," The Hollywood Reporter quotes Disney distribution chief Dave Hollis as saying.
The Fifth Estate similarly under-performed in the UK, earning £502,495 to chart at number six.
Cumberbatch's other release 12 Years a Slave had a stronger opening, making $960,000 from its limited release in 19 theatres.
WikiLeaks released its own film Mediastan to counter The Fifth Estate, which Assange has described as "Hollywood propaganda".
Mediastan has been downloaded more than 500,000 times.
Photo gallery - The Fifth Estate in pictures:...
The Bill Condon-directed drama, starring Benedict Cumberbatch as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, posted one of the worst debuts of 2013 over the weekend with a $969 per-screen average.
The DreamWorks and Disney release's box office debut is worse than the year's other high-profile releases Movie 43 ($4.8 million), Getaway ($4.5 million) and Paranoia ($3.5 million).
"We're disappointed with these results," The Hollywood Reporter quotes Disney distribution chief Dave Hollis as saying.
The Fifth Estate similarly under-performed in the UK, earning £502,495 to chart at number six.
Cumberbatch's other release 12 Years a Slave had a stronger opening, making $960,000 from its limited release in 19 theatres.
WikiLeaks released its own film Mediastan to counter The Fifth Estate, which Assange has described as "Hollywood propaganda".
Mediastan has been downloaded more than 500,000 times.
Photo gallery - The Fifth Estate in pictures:...
- 10/21/2013
- Digital Spy
Did Julian Assange get the last laugh? Assange's longtime campaign against Bill Condon's WikiLeaks movie, The Fifth Estate, culminated with the renegade website offering free downloads of its own documentary Mediastan just as Fifth Estate was released in North America by Disney's Touchstone label. Photos: Benedict Cumberbatch: Exclusive Portraits of 'The Fifth Estate's' Leading Man "This weekend," Assange said in a statement, "instead of wasting your time and money on Hollywood propaganda, why not get all your friends around and spend your time watching Mediastan instead?" Regardless of what role Mediastan played, Fifth Estate quickly died, grossing a paltry
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- 10/20/2013
- by Pamela McClintock
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: Julian Assange-produced doc sees VOD success; heads for free Us release.
WikiLeaks documentary Mediastan, produced by Julian Assange and Ken Loach’s Sixteen Films, is being released for free online in step with the global theatrical release of DreamWorks’ WikiLeaks drama The Fifth Estate.
The unusual release strategy has been adopted in part to piggyback off the buzz generated by the marketing of DreamWorks’ drama starring Benedict Cumberbatch and in part as a riposte from Assange who has been widely critical of the Hollywood film.
‘Road-documentary’ Mediastan follows a small group of WikiLeaks associates as they travel through remote parts of Central Asia seeking national newspaper editors prepared to publish sensitive cables about the local area obtained by WikiLeaks.
The documentary was made available for free in the UK on YouTube last weekend and was also available globally to stream and buy via four online sites, starting at £1 per transaction.
According to [link...
WikiLeaks documentary Mediastan, produced by Julian Assange and Ken Loach’s Sixteen Films, is being released for free online in step with the global theatrical release of DreamWorks’ WikiLeaks drama The Fifth Estate.
The unusual release strategy has been adopted in part to piggyback off the buzz generated by the marketing of DreamWorks’ drama starring Benedict Cumberbatch and in part as a riposte from Assange who has been widely critical of the Hollywood film.
‘Road-documentary’ Mediastan follows a small group of WikiLeaks associates as they travel through remote parts of Central Asia seeking national newspaper editors prepared to publish sensitive cables about the local area obtained by WikiLeaks.
The documentary was made available for free in the UK on YouTube last weekend and was also available globally to stream and buy via four online sites, starting at £1 per transaction.
According to [link...
- 10/17/2013
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Julian Assange-produced doc sees VOD success; heads for free Us release.
WikiLeaks documentary Mediastan, produced by Julian Assange and Ken Loach’s Sixteen Films, is being released for free online in step with the global theatrical release of DreamWorks’ WikiLeaks drama The Fifth Estate.
The unusual release strategy has been adopted in part to piggyback off the buzz generated by the marketing of DreamWorks’ drama starring Benedict Cumberbatch and in part as a riposte from Assange who has been widely critical of the Hollywood film.
‘Road-documentary’ Mediastan follows a small group of WikiLeaks associates as they travel through remote parts of Central Asia seeking national newspaper editors prepared to publish sensitive cables about the local area obtained by WikiLeaks.
The documentary was made available for free in the UK on YouTube last weekend and was also available globally to stream and buy via four online sites, starting at £1 per transaction.
According to [link...
WikiLeaks documentary Mediastan, produced by Julian Assange and Ken Loach’s Sixteen Films, is being released for free online in step with the global theatrical release of DreamWorks’ WikiLeaks drama The Fifth Estate.
The unusual release strategy has been adopted in part to piggyback off the buzz generated by the marketing of DreamWorks’ drama starring Benedict Cumberbatch and in part as a riposte from Assange who has been widely critical of the Hollywood film.
‘Road-documentary’ Mediastan follows a small group of WikiLeaks associates as they travel through remote parts of Central Asia seeking national newspaper editors prepared to publish sensitive cables about the local area obtained by WikiLeaks.
The documentary was made available for free in the UK on YouTube last weekend and was also available globally to stream and buy via four online sites, starting at £1 per transaction.
According to [link...
- 10/17/2013
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
WikiLeaks founder talks about first feature production Mediastan and future projects after Raindance screening.
The Julian Assange and Sixteen Films-produced documentary Mediastan is heading to Russia after its world premiere last night at the Raindance Film Festival in London.
The documentary about censorship will next play on Sunday at Moscow’s 2morrow International Film Festival.
Mediastan follows a small group of journalists as they travel through remote parts of Central Asia seeking national newspaper editors prepared to publish sensitive cables about the local area obtained by WikiLeaks.
Assange, though under house arrest in Britain while the project was filming, joined meetings vicariously via Skype to explain the content and describe the ramifications of publishing it.
In a Skype interview with Assange after the Raindance screening, the WikiLeaks founder, who is living in London’s Ecuadorian Embassy, explained his reason for making the film: “We are exploring the borders of this place we live in called ‘[link...
The Julian Assange and Sixteen Films-produced documentary Mediastan is heading to Russia after its world premiere last night at the Raindance Film Festival in London.
The documentary about censorship will next play on Sunday at Moscow’s 2morrow International Film Festival.
Mediastan follows a small group of journalists as they travel through remote parts of Central Asia seeking national newspaper editors prepared to publish sensitive cables about the local area obtained by WikiLeaks.
Assange, though under house arrest in Britain while the project was filming, joined meetings vicariously via Skype to explain the content and describe the ramifications of publishing it.
In a Skype interview with Assange after the Raindance screening, the WikiLeaks founder, who is living in London’s Ecuadorian Embassy, explained his reason for making the film: “We are exploring the borders of this place we live in called ‘[link...
- 10/3/2013
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
WikiLeaks founder talks about first feature production Mediastan and future projects after Raindance screening.
The Julian Assange and Sixteen Films-produced documentary Mediastan is heading to Russia after its world premiere last night at the Raindance Film Festival in London.
The documentary about censorship will next play on Sunday at Moscow’s 2morrow International Film Festival.
Mediastan follows a small group of journalists as they travel through remote parts of Central Asia seeking national newspaper editors prepared to publish sensitive cables about the local area obtained by WikiLeaks.
Assange, though under house arrest in Britain while the project was filming, joined meetings vicariously via Skype to explain the content and describe the ramifications of publishing it.
In a Skype interview with Assange after the Raindance screening, the WikiLeaks founder, who is living in London’s Ecuadorian Embassy, explained his reason for making the film: “We are exploring the borders of this place we live in called ‘[link...
The Julian Assange and Sixteen Films-produced documentary Mediastan is heading to Russia after its world premiere last night at the Raindance Film Festival in London.
The documentary about censorship will next play on Sunday at Moscow’s 2morrow International Film Festival.
Mediastan follows a small group of journalists as they travel through remote parts of Central Asia seeking national newspaper editors prepared to publish sensitive cables about the local area obtained by WikiLeaks.
Assange, though under house arrest in Britain while the project was filming, joined meetings vicariously via Skype to explain the content and describe the ramifications of publishing it.
In a Skype interview with Assange after the Raindance screening, the WikiLeaks founder, who is living in London’s Ecuadorian Embassy, explained his reason for making the film: “We are exploring the borders of this place we live in called ‘[link...
- 10/3/2013
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
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