Film News Roundup: Burt Young-Sally Kirkland’s ‘Sarah Q’ Wraps Production

In today’s film news roundup, production on “Sarah Q” wraps, Danny DeVito gets an honor, and “Path of Blood” gets distribution.

PRODUCTION WRAP

John Gallagher’s indie drama “Sarah Q,” starring Academy Award nominees Burt Young and Sally Kirkland, has wrapped production.

The cast includes “The Sopranos” stars Tony Sirico, Vincent Pastore, Federico Castelluccio, William DeMeo, and Artie Pasquale. Emmy James stars in the title role, with newcomers Ashlee Macropoulos, Samantha Scaffidi, Tamara Skylar Jones and Sarah Seeds — alumni of Gallagher’s acting classes at One on One NYC.

Written by Gallagher and Joe Benedetto from a story by Gallagher, the movie is described as a serio-comic tale of a young girl’s struggle to succeed at a Manhattan acting conservatory. Gallagher produced with Benedetto, Shing Ka and Paul Mammano.

Gallagher will complete the film in the coming months with his frequent collaborators Ernie Mannix (music composer) and editor Alexander Yew. “Sarah Q” is a production of Goddess Girl Films.

HONOR UNVEILED

Actor-producer-director Danny DeVito has been named the recipient of the 2018 Jack Valenti — Los Angeles Italia Legend Award.

Named in memory of Valenti, it is the festival’s highest honor and is given annually to an outstanding Italian-American who has made major contributions to the global motion picture industry. Al Pacino, Anjelica Huston, Liza Minnelli and Sylvester Stallone are the prior recipients.

The award will be presented to DeVito on March 2 during the festival’s closing night ceremonies at the TCL Chinese Theatres. This year’s festival is dedicated to Italian icons Lina Wertmuller, Franco Zefferilli and Bernardo Bertolucci.

The festival will also honor “Call Me by Your Name” director Luca Guadagnino and producer Marco Morabito, set decorator Alessandra Querzola and production designer Dennis Gassner for their work on “Blade Runner 2049” and Melissa Leo as Italian-American Actress of the Year.

DOCUMENTARY DISTRIBUTION

Paladin has made a deal for the US distribution of OR Media’s documentary feature, “Path of Blood,” described as a glimpse into the world of jihadi terrorism.

Directed by Jonathan Hacker and based on his book of the same title, the film was executive produced by Mark Boal (“Zero Dark Thirty” “The Hurt Locker”) and Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures. The Film Sales Company represented the filmmaker in striking the deal with the distributor.

Paladin plans a multi-city summer release in 2018. The movie was drawn from jihadi home-movie footage that was captured by Saudi security services and centers on Muslim terrorists targeting Muslim civilians and brought to justice by Muslim security agents.

“I was shocked at how powerful the imagery was,” Hacker said. “The footage took the viewer behind the scenes with Al Qaeda and had a genuine intimacy. I felt, for the first time, that I was seeing these disturbed young men as real human beings.”

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