In the photo gallery, four films have been updated from the previous DVD resolution to wonderful high definition Blu-Ray screencaptures. Updates include “The House of the Spirits”, “The Bridges of Madison County”, “The Hours” and “Dark Matter”. Enjoy.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, First Independent Pictures will handle North American theatrical distribution for Chen Shi-Zheng’s dramatic thriller “Dark Matter,” starring Liu Ye, Aidan Quinn and Meryl Streep. Based on a true story, the film follows a Chinese science student (Liu Ye) invited by a professor (Quinn) to travel to the U.S. to study for his Ph.D., but the pressures of his new environment cause him to slowly unravel. Streep plays his mentor. The film will be released in April, followed by a DVD release via a home video deal that is now being finalized. “Dark Matter” won the Alfred P. Sloan award when it premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Festival.

Article courtesy The Times Online: Two Hollywood productions face being shelved indefinitely because their stories so grimly echo last week’s massacre on a university campus. Distributors are refusing to touch the films Dark Matter, starring Meryl Streep, which is about an alienated Asian student who shoots fellow students and professors, or The Killer Within, about an American student who goes on a similar rampage. They are wary of taking on films which bear striking parallels to the case of Cho Seung Hui, the Asian student who this month killed 32 students and professors at the Virginia Tech campus before turning his gun on himself in the worst single gun massacre in modern American history. One British distributor, who declined to be named, said: “These films are too close to the knuckle.” Dark Matter, in which Streep plays a university patron who tries to befriend the troubled student, took its inspiration from a 1991 tragedy in which a Chinese physics student opened fire in two buildings on the University of Iowa campus. He killed 6 people including a student and professors. Read the full article here.

Meryl’s upcoming thriller “Dark Matter” will have its world premiere at Sundance. Festival organizers on Thursday announced the remainder of the festival slate, covering the premieres, and the Spectrum, Park City at Midnight, Sundance Collection and New Frontier programs. A complete lineup and airdates for “Dark Matter” will be published by the Sundance Institute later in December. Visit the Official Website for more information.

According to ComingSoon.net, Aidan Quinn has joined the cast of the independent feature Dark Matter as production is underway in Salt Lake City. Quinn, who portrays a science professor in the film, is working with a renowned international cast that includes Academy Award winner Meryl Streep, Tony Award winner Blair Brown and Chinese star Liu Ye, who makes his American film debut. Dark Matter is financed by American Sterling Productions (ASP) and is produced by ASP in association with Saltmill LLC. Myriad Pictures is handling the films worldwide distribution. “We’re very honored to have actors in this cast who amaze us daily with their talent and generosity. It is a blessing to have an actor I’ve long admired, Aidan Quinn, join our production in such an important role,” said director Chen Shi-Zheng, who co-wrote the story with Billy Shebar, the film’s screenwriter. Dark Matter marks Chen’s transition to film from theater, where he is a renowned director. Inspired by a true story, Dark Matter depicts the humor, frustration and heartbreak that results when different cultures collide and communication falters. The film follows the story of Liu Xing, a brilliant Chinese science student, who strives to impress his mentor Jacob Reiser (Quinn) with his theories on the origins of the universe. Helping Liu Xing adapt but unable to protect him from academic politics are Joanna (Streep), a patron of the university with a passion for all things Chinese, and Hildy (Brown), Reiser’s secretary. “‘Dark Matter’ is a cross-cultural story, a sort of Spaghetti Eastern,” explains Chen Shi-Zheng. “It is about what happens when people from different cultures interact in a highly competitive environment, and the roller coaster ride of excitement, anxiety, and missed opportunity those interactions bring about.”

Meryl has been mentioned to star in “Dark Matter”, loosely based on the killings of five people by a disgruntled physics graduate at the University of Iowa in 1991. No official statements on the film or Meryl’s involvement have been announced yet. Read an article at The Iowa Channel.com