The Machine Wins Home Entertainment Campaign of the Year at Screen Awards 2014
Red and Black Films, Content Films, Anchor Bay Entertainment, Shear Entertainment, East London Film Collective, ARPR and Incite are delighted to announce that their award-winning Sci-Fi Thriller The Machine now adds an award for its ground breaking self-distribution campaign. At last night’s prestigious Screen Awards, double nominee The Machine walked away with Home Entertainment Campaign of the Year of 2014.
The jury recognised the successful marketing mix of PR, promotion, social media and sales which saw The Machine hit number 2 on the iTunes chart on its opening weekend, combined with a strategy of festival screenings that saw the film win a string of awards including Best Film at Raindance, Best Film at BAFTA Cymru and a British Independent Film Award.
The Machine was also nominated for Premiere of the Year with its innovative robotics based event that secured a highly original and educational panel Q&A including a live Skype linkup to Japan with the World’s leading Robotics specialist Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro and his humanlike doppelganger ‘Geminoid Robot’, King’s College London Professor of Robotics, SFX and Chaired by New Scientist. High profile talent were also secured to promote the premiere, including two generations of Star Wars – Ewan McGregor and Denis Lawson which helped elevate the premiere event across national and Sci-Fi press. The campaign was funded by Film Cymru Wales and Ruby Moon who both saw the opportunity of funding such a new type of campaign.
Directed by Caradog James, Produced by John Giwa-Amu and starring Toby Stephens, Caity Lotz, Denis Lawson, Sam Hazeldine and Pooneh Hajimohammadi, The Machine is a sci-fi thriller set in the near future with a global war looming. As top MOD scientist Vincent (Toby Stephens) is briefed with developing the ultimate killing machine, he creates the first fully conscious robot, but against orders he makes it in the image of his lost love, plunging him into a battle for his survival.
Director Caradog James and Producer John Giwa-Amu said: “We were honoured to have been nominated among such established and well known distributers. To win was wonderful and a real testament to the amazing team that worked on our campaign. What they lacked in resources they made up for in imagination, creativity, brilliant strategy and a sense of fun that really engaged our audience and helped drive word of mouth about our movie and generate commercial success far beyond our expectations."
Hollie Richmond, Head of Marketing at Anchor Bay Entertainment said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have picked up this award, particularly in the face of such amazing competition. The campaign was a joy to work on, the creative stunning (a big thank you to Coffee & Cigarettes for such a great job). I'm sure I speak for all of Team Machine when I say we're all ecstatic and hugely proud of this title.”
Andrew Woodyatt director of East London Film Collective said "This award recognises a whole new distribution model for producers, where they can control every aspect of their films release, and chose the best suited agencies and creative talent. It's been a terrific experience working with such a brilliant team and on a great movie that was commercially engineered to meet the needs of a specific genre audience."
Alex Rowley, Director of ARPR said “We’re thrilled that the hard work from the team paid off. It’s exciting when so many elements of a campaign come together to help elevate a film to the next level, and we’re so happy the campaign has been recognised by the Screen Awards.”
The Machine Film Page | The Machine Review| Caity Lotz Interview | Caradog James Interview | Caity Lotz Profile
THE MACHINE is available on DVD, Blu-ray, Netflix and iTunes.
For further information visit The Machine Website, Facebook and Twitter
About Red and Black Films
Red and Black Films is run by award winning filmmakers John Giwa-Amu and Caradog James. Their films have been selected in festivals around the world including Moscow International Film Festival, The London Film Festival, Raindance and the British Independent Film Awards. Their feature film Little White Lies received two BAFTA Cymru awards, winning Best Film at Cartagena and the Nantes Film Festival. It was also listed in Variety’s top 10 British Films of that year. They have adapted screenplays from bestselling novels including ‘The Wishing Game’ by Patrick Redmond and Douglas Coupland’s ‘Miss Wyoming’ as well as developing a raft of original screenplays. Their short films have screened in Oberhausen, Clermont-Ferrand, won the BBC Best New Filmmaker Award and a BAFTA Cymru.
Red & Black Films are currently developing a slate of films with support from private equity, The Film Agency for Wales and the BFI. Sci-fi thriller The Machine, was selected from over 6,000 films to premiere at Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Film Festival, winning Best Film at Raindance, Best Film at BAFTA Cymru and a British Independent Film Award. The film secured distribution in all international territories reaching number 2 on the UK iTunes chart and number 5 in the US above Gravity and Thor 2 - the UK distribution campaign, also run by Red and Black Films, was nominated for two Screen Awards and won Best Home Entertainment Campaign 2014. Red and Black Co-Production, The Silent Storm, starring Damian Lewis and Andrea Riseborough had its world premiere at this year’s London Film Festival. Supernatural Horror Don't Knock Twice, produced by John and directed by Caradog is lined up to shoot spring 2015.
About Content Film, a division of Content Media Corporation Ltd
Content Film is the worldwide film and library sales arm of Content Media Corporation Ltd.
Content specializes in high quality and commercial feature films, and is able to assist film producers in securing finance. Content handles worldwide sales, marketing, and publicity on all titles. The Feature Film Library arm also manages international sales on over 230 titles.
Content titles include: Toronto’s world premiere Jimi: All Is By My Side directed by John Ridley; The live-action adventure Pudsey: The Movie currently in produciton; The supernatural horror Dark Summer directed by Paul Solet; The Machine starring Caity Lotz and Toby Stephens; Nothing Left to Fear produced by Slash starring Clancy Brown, Anne Heche, Ethan Peck, James Tupper, Jennifer Stone and Rebekah Brandes; the violent SAS action thriller He Who Dares; the ultra-violent medieval actioner Ironclad: Battle for Blood; Mr. Jones starring Sarah Jones and Jon Foster; the cult genre Outpost III: Rise of the Spetsnaz, Sundance’s and Berlinale’s Panorama selection Concussion; Sundance’s Director Award Winner, World Dramatic Cinema Crystal Fairy starring Michael Cera and directed by Sebastian Silva and action thriller The Numbers Station starring John Cusack and Malin Akerman.
Content attends all major markets and festivals including Cannes, Venice, Toronto, AFM, London, Rome, Sundance and Berlin. Content Film is being managed in an executive capacity by Jamie Carmichael, President - Film Division.
About Anchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Films is a division of Anchor Bay Entertainment and provides quality distribution with operations in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and offers distribution capabilities in other key territories. Anchor Bay Films uniquely offers the creative community a fully integrated distribution capability on all platforms and an international solution extending beyond the United States. The company focuses on a platform release strategy for its films with an eye toward maximizing their potential across all ancillary distribution platforms. Upcoming theatrical releases include Anchor Bay’s first UK production “We Still Kill The Old Way” starring James Cosmo, Ian Ogilvy, Steven Berkhoff Chris Ellison, Dani Dyer, Alison Doody, Danny-Boy Hatchard, Lysette Anthony and Red Madrell alongside home entertainment releases of Tokarev (Nicolas Cage, Danny Glover) and Starz production Black Sails (Toby Stephens). Anchor Bay Entertainment is a Starz (NASDAQ: STRZA, STRZB) business.
Shear Entertainment
Shear Entertainment is a new consultancy company, set up in April 2013, working with Distributors, Producers and Film makers. We use new and innovative methods to distribute films and work with a diverse range of personel and film teams to bring creative skills, thoughts, and ideas to the table.
East London Film Collective
The East London Film Collective is an award winning agency run by exhibition and distribution veteran Andrew Woodyatt, it's a creative hub where specialised freelance teams are bought together for projects that cover aspect of production and distribution. @ELFilmCollectiv
About ARPR
ar:pr is a boutique Film & Entertainment PR Agency. We offer Theatrical, VoD & Home Entertainment Publicity; Broadcast, Online and Print Publicity; Social Media, Promotions, Sponsorship & Media Partnerships, Unit & Festival Publicity and Premiere, Event and Talent Management. We are passionate about executing dynamic, first class PR campaigns and building long lasting relationships with clients and journalists based on trust and consistently delivering results. ARPR has previously worked on Academy Award nominated Margin Call, How To Survive a Plague, the 50th Anniversary of Lawrence of Arabia and Secret Cinema Presents Back to the Future. @arpublicity