Alkemy X has signed director Glenn Holsten who comes aboard a company roster which includes helmers Robert Adamo, Kris Magyarits, Rob Markopoulos, John Romeo, Ira Rosensweig, Bex Schwartz and Scott Whitham.
Alkemy X executive producer Jim Huie recalled that he and Holsten “first collaborated in 2000 during the development phase of an IMAX film, and have remained friends and colleagues ever since. Years ago, as the category of ‘real people storytelling’ grew in popularity, I realized that Glenn’s heartwarming and affectionate documentary storytelling approach would translate well to the commercial arena. Glenn has the ability to immediately put the most guarded of subjects at ease and connect with them on an intimate level of uncompromised trust. When the cameras roll, Glenn makes his subjects feel in complete control in an otherwise intimidating film set comprised of the organized chaos that defines the production process. Through his feature film endeavors, Glenn has been a client of ours for years and I’m delighted that he’s welcomed our sales and production personnel into his commercial career.
Holsten pointed out that every film he’s made has in some way, been touched and made better by someone on the Alkemy X (formerly ShootersINC) team. “Over the years, I have worked with any number of strong and talented editors, colorists, sound mixers. They also have a remarkable staff behind the scenes in scheduling and administration–everyone cares about doing a first-rate job. Each experience here has made me a better director. I feel very, very lucky to have been in community with such a caring and supportive group of production pals, and can’t wait to see what new, wonderful things will come about now that I will be working more closely with the Alkemy X family.”
Holsten has directed more than a dozen full-length documentaries in his career, including Saints of 9/11 which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival. Holsten’s documentary about global artist Lily Yeh, The Barefoot Artist, was filmed on four continents and had its theatrical premiere in New York and Los Angeles last fall. His most recent national broadcast on PBS, The Barnes Collection, follows Dr. Albert Barnes’ remarkable rise from a working-class neighborhood to the top of the modern art world. Holsten is currently in postproduction for another documentary about mental health set in a beauty parlor in Philadelphia, Hollywood Beauty Salon, which will be completed in early 2015.
Review: Writer-Director Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance”
In its first two hours, "The Substance" is a well-made, entertaining movie. Writer-director Coralie Fargeat treats audiences to a heavy dose of biting social commentary on ageism and sexism in Hollywood, with a spoonful of sugar- and sparkle-doused body horror.
But the film's deliciously unhinged, blood-soaked and inevitably polarizing third act is what makes it unforgettable.
What begins as a dread-inducing but still relatively palatable sci-fi flick spirals deeper into absurdism and violence, eventually erupting โ quite literally โ into a full-blown monster movie. Let the viewer decide who the monster is.
Fargeat โ who won best screenplay at this year's Cannes Film Festival โ has been vocal about her reverence for "The Fly" director David Cronenberg, and fans of the godfather of body horror will see his unmistakable influence. But "The Substance" is also wholly unique and benefits from Fargeat's perspective, which, according to the French filmmaker, has involved extensive grappling with her own relationship to her body and society's scrutiny.
"The Substance" tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, a famed aerobics instructor with a televised show, played by a powerfully vulnerable Demi Moore. Sparkle is fired on her 50th birthday by a ruthless executive โ a perfectly cast Dennis Quaid, who nails sleazy and gross.
Feeling rejected by a town that once loved her and despairing over her bygone star power, Sparkle learns from a handsome young nurse about a black-market drug that promises to create a "younger, more beautiful, more perfect" version of its user. Though she initially tosses the phone number in the trash, she soon fishes it out in a desperate panic and places an order.
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