Publicly traded, Englewood, Colo.-based cable and communications company Liberty Media Corp. has completed its acquisition of Four Media Company (4MC), the Burbank-headquartered, publicly held firm that is parent to several post/visual effects facilities (i.e. Santa Monica-based R!OT; Company 3, Santa Monica; Encore Hollywood; Anderson Video, Universal City, Calif.; 4MC Asia, Singapore)….Actor/director Christopher Reeve has signed with New York-based TAG Pictures for representation as a commercial helmer….Director Joe Chapura has joined Sandbank Films, New York….Venice, Calif.-based Lux Pictures has entered into an agreement with Frontier Pictures, London. Per the deal, Lux will handle Frontier directors Michael Abel, Robert Dowling, Grey Lipley and Aernout Overbeeke in the U.S. Lux’s directorial lineup—including Tom Finerty, April Greiman, Michael Oblowitz, Hugo Pallete and Mitchell Walker—will be repped in the U.K. by Frontier….Animation director Graham Morris has signed with Los Angeles-based Duck Soup Studios for exclusive spot representation….Director Duncan Sharp has come aboard Marina del Rey, Calif.-based spot production house Life of Riley.…Robert Wherry, former managing director and head of East Coast sales for bicoastal HKM Productions, has become a partner in bicoastal Go Film, the shop founded by executive producer Jonathan Weinstein….Tim Cloherty and Peter Klinger have opened Sound of Science, a New York-based music and sound design company….
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More