All Screen articles in 11 February 2004
View all stories from this month.
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News
Fuji TV to shoot submarine thriller
The Fuji TV network, the makers of last year's number one hit Bayside Shakedown 2, have announced the production of a submarine thriller set in the closing days of World War II.Titled Lorelei, the film will star Koji Yakusho (Eureka, Warm Water Under A Red Bridge) and 16-year-old newcomer Yu ...
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News
Strand falls for Thai ladies
New York-based specialist releasing operation Strand releasing has picked up North American rights on Thai comedy Iron Ladies II.The gender-bending sequel directed by Yongyouth Thongkunthun was a huge box office hit in its native Thailand, where it grossed Baht 100m, and has been a top seller for sales agent, Fortissimo ...
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News
Fox's Grass moves up to executive vice president
Christian Grass (pictured) has beenpromoted to Fox International's executive vice president of Europe, Middle Eastand Africa, effective immediately.Grass will continue tooversee the theatrical distribution, sales and marketing operations for all FoxFilmed Entertainment pictures in Europe as well as European co-productions andacquisitions as part of the distributor's ongoing strategy to partner ...
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Equinoxe launches production venture
Billy Bob Thornton is in talks to star in Three Bad Men, an $11m Canada-UK co-production backed by Myriad Pictures, Anthony Minghella's and Sydney Pollock's Mirage Enterprises, David Barron and Paul Weiland's UK production outfit Contagious Films and newly-launched Canadian venture Equinoxe Productions.Weiland is set to direct the Peter Straughan-scripted ...
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Korean war epic is multiple record-breaker
Kang Je-gyu's Korean War epic Taegukgi is enjoying a record-breaking opening in its native country, becoming South Korea's first film ever to reach 2 million admissions ($11.3m) in five days.Released by distributor Showbox on February 5 on a record 443 prints, the film has already broken the territory's records for ...
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News
Romania unveils film commission
One of the hottest destinations on the "soft money-low cost location" scene, Romania is to get its own form of film commission.The new body, Romanian Film Promotion, is a private sector initiative spearheaded by Tudor Giurgiu, an independent producer and chief selector of the Transylvania Film Festival."Ultimately, we want Romania ...
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MEDIA Programme chief moves on
Jacques Delmoly, who has headed the European Union's MEDIA Programme unit since 1995, is to leave his post at the end of March.He will take up a new role as the head of the European Commission's LINGUA project which promotes foreign language learning via the Internet.Delmoly's exit from the MEDIA ...
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News
Sisters sales boost Highpoint's Dutch ties
London-based outfit High Point Films, in Berlin for the first time, has concluded another sale on its Oscar-nominated Dutch title, Twin Sisters. The film (which is being released in the US by Miramax) has now gone to Sweden (Atlantic Film) following earlier deals with Germany (Kinowelt) and Japan. The major ...
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News
BAFTA/LA founding member Males dies suddenly in LA
William J Males, a director and founding member ofBAFTA/LA, has died aged 46.Males startedwork in the entertainment industry as a studio make-up artist and moved intoindependent production on such pictures as Family Reunion and Aftershock.While at Universal Pictures he worked in marketing,audience research and new media and played an integral ...
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News
Transit runs away with doc sales
End Of The Century: The Story Of The Ramones, the Berlin Panorama music documentary, has been bought for theatrical release by King Records of Japan and the UK's Tartan Films.Handled by documentary specialist Films Transit, the film had previously been pre-sold to US distributor magnolia.Film's Transit's Sundance award-winning documentary about ...
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News
Golden Network sells Takien, unveils martial arts pic
Hong Kong's Golden Network has had a busy time fielding sales started at the recent Bangkok Film Market, launching new Thai martial arts pictures and presenting a new Chinese project in Berlin's Co-Production market.New Select has bought Japanese rights to Takien, a supernatural rural tale directed by Chalerm Wongpin, which ...
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News
Germany's Movienet buys James Joyce adaptation
Germany's Movienet has acquired all German speaking rights for James Joyce adaptation Bloom, starring Stephen Rea and directed by Sean Walsh.'I was very successful with Siddhartha and The Dead and want to continue with high-class literary films in my programme,' commented Movienet's Lothar Seelandt who negotiated the deal with Matt ...
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Francesca Neri to produce erotic adaptation
Italian actress Francesca Neri has announced that she will soon produce her first film, an adaptation of Italy's literary sensation of 2003: an erotic diary written by a 17-year-old Sicilian schoolgirl.The diary, entitled Cento Colpi Di Spazzola Prima Di Andare A Dormire (literally, one hundred brushes before bed time) was ...
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News
SWEDEN
BVI's Brother Bear beat the thrills of the prolific Kjell Sundvall's latest action film The Threat, partly because of its massive 149 prints, although its screen average was only slightly better than last week's new local release The Ketchup Effect (Hip Hip Hora!), the feature debut from newcomer Terese Fabik.However, ...
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Reviews
Saw
Dir: James Wan. US. 2004. 100mins.Saw is a sub-Se7en B-movie serial killer chiller with more high concepts stuffed into its 100 minutes than it can handle. Riddled with plot holes and with a final twist which aficionados of the genre will spot a mile off, it nevertheless possesses a hankering ...
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UK's Soda scores with German Miracle
Effervescent new UK outfit Soda Pictures, set up in 2002 by Eve Gabereau and Edward Fletcher, confirmed yesterday that it has taken UK rights to The Miracle Of Berne from Bavaria Film.Soda plans to release the football-themed drama, set at the time of West Germany's 1954 World Cup win, in ...
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FINLAND
Scary Movie 3 literally terrified the Finnish box-office this weekend as it moved from seventh to first spot besting The Last Samurai and The Return Of The King with its strong 498 admissions screen average.The previews of Disney's Brother Bear easily put it into fifth from just 17 prints, while ...
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Reviews
Red Lights (Feux Rouges)
Dir: Cedric Kahn. France. 2003. 106 mins.Imagine a bleak and edgy feature-length episode of Mr Bean co-directed by Robert Bresson and Vincent Gallo. Then imagine that it's actually rather good. Dark and unconventional, this road thriller by Roberto Succo director Cedric Kahn gets under the skin in ways that it's ...
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Kroopf confirms Intermedia move
Scott Kroopf hasbeen confirmed as president of the motion picture group for Intermedia and willreport to the company's chairman and chief executive officer Moritz Borman.Kroopf willoversee all Intermedia's film production, development and acquisitionactivities and will work with Borman, vice-chairman and head of motion pictureoperations Jon Gumpert and chief operating officer ...
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Paramount Classics enters Mean Creek
Paramount Classics has acquired North American, UK and Australianrights to Jacob Estes' directorial debut Mean Creek, which premiered in American Spectrum atthe Sundance Film Festival last month to strong reviews.Based on Estes' original screenplay, the story centres on agroup of friends who are forced to confront the notions of friendship ...