Director Samir Mallal has joined bicoastal/international production house Smuggler for U.S. representation.
A native Canadian, Mallal studied communications at Concordia University in Montreal. Upon graduating, he interned at the National Film Board of Canada, a longstanding pioneer of documentary filmmaking. After a riot erupted at Concordia between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli activists, Mallal followed and filmed three students closely involved. The footage evolved into Discordia, his first of three collaborations with director Ben Addelman. Discordia was an unexpected hit on the documentary circuit and traveled the world as part of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival.
Mallal spent six months in India and followed a group of hard working and hard partying outsourced call-center employees for his next effort, Bombay Calling, also co-directed with Addelman. The documentary was nominated for a Canadian TV Academy Award (Gemini) and won the Grand Jury Prize at the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles.
Nollywood Babylon, Mallal’s third film teaming him with Addelman, examines the explosive popularity of Nollywood, Nigeria’s burgeoning film industry. It was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Nollywood Babylon was picked up by Lorber Films and was selected for special showcases at the British Museum, MOMA and the Smithsonian Institute.
Tropicana’s “Arctic Sun,” Mallal’s first commercial–produced by Radke Film Group, Toronto–won a Gold Lion at the 2010 Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. Also at the Cannes Ad Fest, Mallal was also selected for the Saatchi and Saatchi New Directors Showcase largely on the strength of “Arctic Sun.”
Actor Gene Hackman, Wife Betsy Arakawa and Their Dog Were Dead For Some Time, Warrant Shows
Oscar-winner Gene Hackman, his wife and one of their dogs were apparently dead for some time before a maintenance worker discovered their bodies at the couple's Santa Fe home, according to investigators. Hackman, 95, was found dead Wednesday in a mudroom and his 63-year-old wife, Betsy Arakawa, was found in a bathroom next to a space heater, Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office detectives wrote in a search warrant. There was an open prescription bottle and pills scattered on a countertop near Arakawa. Denise Avila, a sheriff's office spokesperson, said there was no indication they had been shot or had any wounds. The New Mexico Gas Co. tested the gas lines in and around the home after the bodies were discovered, according to the warrant. At the time, it didn't find any signs of problems and the Fire Department found no signs of a carbon monoxide leak or poisoning. A sheriff's detective wrote that there were no obvious signs of a gas leak, but he noted that people exposed to gas leaks or carbon monoxide might not show signs of poisoning. The gruff-but-beloved Hackman was among the best actors of his generation, appearing as villains, heroes and antiheroes in dozens of dramas, comedies and action films from the 1960s until his retirement in the early 2000s. "He was loved and admired by millions around the world for his brilliant acting career, but to us he was always just Dad and Grandpa. We will miss him sorely and are devastated by the loss," his daughters and granddaughter said in a statement Thursday. Worker found bodies of Hackman and his wife A maintenance worker reported that the home's front door was open when he arrived to do routine work on Wednesday, and he called police after finding the bodies, investigators said. He and... Read More