The New York Times List of the Best Movieson HULU Handpicked Hysteria!

You’ve probably seen plenty of Victorian-era serio-comic dramas, many featuring much of this prestige cast, which includes Hugh Dancy, Rupert Everett, Felicity Jones, Gemma Jones and Jonathan Pryce. 

But this is no starchy tale of class conflict or simmering romance; no, this is the story of how Dr. Mortimer Granville (Dancy), while pursuing treatments for “hysteria” (a onetime catchall medical term for troubles that affected women), invented the vibrator.

The director Tanya Wexler and her stiff-upper-lip cast clearly get a kick out of their randy subject matter and adjust their playing accordingly, while Maggie Gyllenhaal delights as a proto-feminist who seizes on this development and the power it contains.

Read more at the New York Times

Toronto: Judy Cairo Heads Back to Fest With ‘Boychoir’

 

During the height of the recession, producer Judy Cairo managed to break into the feature film business with a smallish indie called “Crazy Heart” through her Informant Media banner.

Since “Crazy Heart” became a major hit with Oscars for lead actor Jeff Bridges and the song “The Weary Kind,” Cairo’s been able to keep Informant in the business — so much so that she’s making her third trip the Toronto film Festival following “Hysteria” in 2011 and “Stuck in Love” in 2012.

Cairo, Carol Baum and Jane Goldenring are at TIFF this year with another music-based drama, “Boychoir,” starring Dustin Hoffman with Francois Girard (“The Red Violin”) directing. Informant is financing and producing. CAA is handling domestic sales; Embankment has international.

“It does give you confidence as a producer to get chosen for Toronto,” Cairo said. “They are great tastemakers.”

The story centers on a troubled 11-year-old who finds himself at an East Coast school, where he engages in a battle of wills with a demanding choir master, played by Hoffman. Eddie Izzard, Debra Winger, Josh Lucas, Kevin McHale and Garrett Wareing also star.

Embankment Films sold out most international markets at last year’s AFM — something Cairo credited to Hoffman’s appearance. She also praised his ability to make more of the character, above and beyond Ben Ripley’s script.

“Dustin has such a strong sense of improvisation,” she said. “During one scene, he started talking about Handel and opportunities and everyone on the set was in tears.”

Reposted from Varity

Informant Media's Judy Cairo Talks With the PGA on Creative vs. Financial Producing

Produced By: PGA East
Edited By: Diana Lampiasi
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The Producers Guild of America protects and promotes the interests of all members of the producing team in film, television and new media.

The PGA has over 5,000 members who work together to protect and improve their careers, the industry and community by facilitating members health benefits, encouraging enforcement of workplace labor laws, the creation of fair and impartial standards for the awarding of producing credits, as well as other education and advocacy efforts.

http://www.producersguild.org
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The Cast and Crew of ‘Writers

Greg Kinnear, Nat Wolff, director Josh Boone and producer Judy Cairo stopped by our THR lounge to discuss their new drama. The script follows these multi-general lines, the high school element, the college element and all of them just resonated with me in a way that felt very truthful and I had never gotten to play an author before. Novelist.. I liked the sound of that” added Greg. 




Video by: R. Laski, P. Teyssier-Verger, J. Laski, C. Smith, J. Kooistra, C. Austin, O. Pratten, S. Wilson, G. Kilday, M. Lizaso, N. Ali

...the buzz is building!

'Hysteria' Team Talks Vibrators, Medicine, and Culture

The KCET Cinema Series continued Tuesday night with a screening of "Hysteria" at the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in the NoHo Arts District.

After the screening, host Pete Hammond introduced Producers Judy Cairo and Tracey Becker, and Director Tanya Wexler. The audience was entertained by the lively discussion on the stage, which was full of puns and revealing stories about the making of independent film. Listen to the podcast