All Screen articles in 12 December 2004

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  • News

    Magiday leaves Focus to pursue production opportunities

    2004-12-12T04:00:00Z

    Lee Magiday isleaving her post as European vice president, acquisitions and production, forFocus Features to pursue opportunities in production.The well-likedexecutive, who is based in London, has been with Universal companies for thepast decade, starting out working with Graeme Mason as an acquisitionsexecutive at PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, then seguing into a ...

  • News

    German, Spanish pictures dominate European Film Awards

    2004-12-12T00:00:00Z

    Spanish and German pictureswere the big winners at this weekend's European Film Awards in Barcelona,although Spain's national hero Pedro Almodovar walked away empty handed.Hong Kong's Wong Kar-wai wason hand to receive the award for best non-European film with hissci-fi-retro-romance 2046 and in the process become the first two-timewinner of the ...

  • News

    Revolver runs with Saint Ralph in UK

    2004-12-10T04:00:00Z

    Revolver Entertainment has picked up the UK and Eire rightsto Toronto festival hit Saint Ralph.Directed by Michael McGowan, the film is abittersweet comedy about a Catholic schoolboy who attempts to save his mother'slife with a miracle by winning the Boston marathon. It was billed as 'theCanadian Billy Elliot' by Screen ...

  • News

    Greek film industry faces Olympic cuts

    2004-12-10T04:00:00Z

    Director KyriakosKatzourakis and producer Costas Labropoulos make a perfect match.The first, a well knownpainter, made a splash in 2003 with hisdebut docudrama The Way To The West.His film, which was hailedas the "best ever" by local critics, stormed the Greek State Cinema awards,toured an impressive round of international festivals (Yamagata, ...

  • News

    Harold Lloyd comedy to get Sony update by Gordon & Dana

    2004-12-10T04:00:00Z

    Producer Mark Gordon is teaming up with Columbia Pictures on SafetyLast, a contemporaryromance loosely based on Harold Lloyd's 1923 silent classic.Keith Bunin wrote the screenplay and the picture is being producedby Gordon and Jennifer P Dana. Lloyd's granddaughter Suzanne Lloyd will serveas executive producer.Lawrence Inglee will oversee the project for ...

  • News

    Incredibles set to soar for BVI in Germany

    2004-12-10T04:00:00Z

    Pixar's The Incredibles should still be the one to beat this weekend as Buena VistaInternational (BVI) releases the animated hit in Germany on Dec 9 and SouthAfrica a day later.The picture has already amassed $110m from its short run and isexpected to prosper in both markets and a host of ...

  • News

    Koch Lorber elopes with Syrian Bride in US

    2004-12-10T04:00:00Z

    Koch Lorber Films has acquired all US rights to The Syrian Bride, the political comedy that won prizes at Locarno and Montreal. World sales are handled by France's TF1 International.Structured as a French-German-Israeli co-production, Bride is the story of a woman who crosses from the disputed territory of theGolan Heights ...

  • News

    Beautiful City triumphs at India Film Festival

    2004-12-10T04:00:00Z

    Iranian film-maker Asghar Farhadi's The Beautiful Citywalked away with the top prize, the Golden Peacock, in the Asian competitivesection of International Film Festival of India which concluded in Goa onDecember 9.The film is the story of a sixteen year old murderer who hasreceivedthe death penalty but is being held in ...

  • News

    Salles to receive International Filmmaking Award at Palm Springs

    2004-12-10T04:00:00Z

    Walter Salles will receive the International Filmmaker Award atthe 16th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) in honour of TheMotorcycle Diaries andhis contributions to Latin American filmmaking in the fields of directing,producing and mentoring.Salles will collect theaward under the auspices of the festival's Cine Latino showcase and gala. ThePSIFF ...

  • News

    Alexander doesn't fit Hollywood formula, says Stone

    2004-12-10T04:00:00Z

    Despite Alexander's failure to conquer the US,writer-director Oliver Stone was in bullish mood at the Marrakech Festival,where his three hour sword and sandal epic was presented earlier this week.Stone told the press that the film would nothave been possible to finance or shoot in the US. 'The script was just ...

  • News

    TLA promotes Borock to director of legal and business affairs

    2004-12-10T04:00:00Z

    Jacqueline Borock has been promoted to director of legal and businessaffairs at Philadelphia-based US distributor TLA Releasing.Borock has worked with the division since its inception in 2001and in her new role will handle all contracts for film, television and videoacquisitions, intellectual property matters pertaining to film distribution,and other legal matters ...

  • News

    GREECE: Production Listings - 9 December

    2004-12-10T04:00:00Z

    GREECE December 8PRE-PRODUCTIONEDUARD(CL Productions), Co-prod: JostHering Filme (Germany), Budget: Euros 1.7m Int'l Sales: The Greek Film Centre ,Distrib: Odeon S.A. Drama. An Albanian illegal immigrant gets involved in akilling in Greece. Fleeing the country returns to Albania where he is facedwith the stormy social and political situation of his birth ...

  • News

    Development heaven for UK Film Council winners

    2004-12-10T00:00:00Z

    Capitol Films, EalingStudios, Pathe and Jeremy Thomas' Recorded Picture Company are amongstthe seven winners of the UK Film Council's development franchises, theGovernment-backed support body announced today.The consortia of producers,sales agents, financiers and distributors will pump £15m into the UKdevelopment sector over the next three years, half from the council'slottery coffers ...

  • Reviews

    Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom Of The Opera

    2004-12-10T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Joel Schumacher.UK-US. 2004. 140mins.After Jesus ChristSuperstar and Evita, this is the third feature-version of an AndrewLloyd Webber musical and it suffers from the same problems in translation whichbeset its predecessors. Although filled with pleasures and confidently directedby Joel Schumacher, Phantom remains filmed rock-opera and it fails toignite as dramatic ...

  • News

    Amazon piles into UK online DVD rental market

    2004-12-10T00:00:00Z

    Internet retailer Amazon has launched into the hugely competitive online DVD rentalmarket in the UK.The service was launched today (Dec 10), and is integrated into Amazon's UK site, which is already a popular DVD retail store.Unlike most other services,Amazon imposes a limit on the number of DVDs customers can ...

  • News

    FRANCE 10 December

    2004-12-10T00:00:00Z

    Both Pixar's powerhouse TheIncredibles and French cop drama 36, Quai Des Orfevres remained atthe top of the chart this week with a 33% and 38% drop off resepectively.New entry Narco, acomedy starring Guillaume Canet, opened strongly in third place with a $7,365per screen average. That film was followed by The ...

  • News

    HUNGARY 10 December

    2004-12-10T00:00:00Z

    The Incredibles saw off the challenge from seven newreleases at the Hungarian box office last weekend. The film managed to stay atthe top of the chart and is now standing at nearly 70,000 admissions. IstvanSzabo's Being Julia has also maintained its strong performance and hasalready passed the 55,000 admissions mark.The ...

  • News

    ROMANIA 10 December

    2004-12-10T00:00:00Z

    Despite challengesfrom Dodgeball and Exorcist: The Beginning, Cellular hasmaintained its top position at the Romanian box office despite a forty-twopercent loss in its second weekend admissions.Meanwhile Dodgeballgrabbed the second position of the chart with nearly three and a half thousandadmissions on six prints but it was outdone by Exorcist: The ...

  • News

    Tom Group invests in leading Chinese film outfit

    2004-12-09T21:59:00Z

    Hong Kong's Tom Group has joined the rush of overseas mediagroups investing in China's film and television industry by acquiring a 35%stake in leading private film producer and distributor Huayi BrothersInternational Holdings.The deal sees Tom Group acquire a 27% stake in HuayiBrothers for US$5m in cash. Tom will also subscribe ...

  • News

    Samuel Goldwyn says yes to Lila

    2004-12-09T04:00:00Z

    Samuel Goldwyn Films haspicked up North American rights to Ziad Doueiri's story of sexual awakening LilaSays (Lila Dit Ca).Doueiri's follow-up to WestBeirut stars newcomers Vahina Giacante, Mohammed Khouas and Karim Benhadou andrecently premiered at Toronto.The story centres on anattractive blonde who moves into a predominantly Arab neighbourhood and sets inmotion ...