01/08/2008

Swedish genre filmmaker Anders Banke (Frostbite [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) has wrapped shooting in Film i Väst’s Trollhättan studios of the Russian/Swedish co-production Newsmakers, a remake of Johnnie To’s Breaking News.

In the film, a camera crew catches live images of a police operation that goes terribly wrong. An ambitious PR director at a police headquarters wants to brighten the police’s tarnished image by staging the capture of a gang as a reality show. Caught in the media spotlight, the criminals take up the challenge and use their mobile phones to webcast their own footage.

The idea for the film was developed by Sam Klebanov, a long-time buyer of European films for the Russian market (Maywin Media) and Russian TV presenter/producer, who shares his time between Moscow and Gothenburg, Sweden. Klebanov, who co-wrote the script with Pavel Lungin’s son Alexander, told Cineuropa: “I bought Breaking News for Russia and thought it would be great as a remake for Russia. Newsmakers is a smart action film with substance.”

Banke, who made his breakthrough in 2006 with the vampire film Frostbite, speaks fluent Russian after studying at Moscow’s famed VGIK film school. The cast includes some of Russia’s biggest names, including Sergei Garmash and rising star Evgeny Tsyganov.

This first-ever remake of an Asian film in Russia is produced by Klebanov and Anna Katchko for Moscow-based Tandem Pictures, in co-production with Sweden’s Peter Hiltunen (Illusion Film) and co-financing from Film i Väst. The premiere in Russia through Klebanov’s Cinema Without Frontiers – a leading arthouse distributor – is set for April 2, 2009.