All Screen articles in 18 February 2003
View all stories from this month.
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News
New kind of tax-based German production fund proposed
German feature film producers could receive an injection of Euros 70m-80m worth of fresh cash from an unexpected source - the pay-TV platform Premiere.The offer came after Premiere CEO Georg Kofler criticised the different VAT rates which apply in Germany for those subscribing to pay television (16%) and taking out ...
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News
South Korean cinema risks becoming a victim of its own success
If the signals emerging from the South Korean film world these days seem a bit contradictory, it may be because the industry is on the brink of a transformation. Despite producing numerous award-winning films and an amazing 47% local market share in 2002, Korean cinema finds itself facing a host ...
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Aurora provides a ray of hope in Australia
Every cinema-producing country is always abuzz about which up-and-coming writers and filmmakers are worth watching. Cate Shortland is one of Australia's. Her script, More Than Scarlet, was one of four chosen from a field of 40 for last year's inaugural Aurora intensive scriptwriting workshop."I suddenly found myself in a room ...
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UK animation grows up
A clutch of major UK animation features are cranking up, most with US Studio backing. Aardman aims to start shooting a new spoof-horror Wallace And Gromit movie with backing from DreamWorks SKG by September. Pathe is already in production on The Magic Roundabout, while Walt Disney Co has North America ...
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Cyprus becomes MEDIA Programme's 25th member
Cyprus has become the 25th member of the European Union's MEDIA Programme following the Slovak Republic which signed its association agreement on January 10. Both agreements have been back-dated to January 1, 2003.While the Slovak Republic has committed to pay Euross 160,000 annually as its financial contribution towards the MEDIA ...
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Two Weeks Notice an international smash for Warner
Warner Bros enjoyed hugesuccess over the weekend with Castle Rock comedy Two Weeks Notice, grossing $15m in 23 territories. The film whichstars Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant remained at number one in the UK in itssecond weekend with $3.6m (£2.19m) at 417 sites beating Fox's opener Daredevil and bringing its ...
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Gordon Green teams with ContentFilm for Undertow
Hot on the heels of hiscritically acclaimed Sundance Film Festival prize-winner All The Real Girls, hot US director David Gordon Green has set his nextfilm Undertow at Edward Pressman and John Schmidt's ContentFilm with DermotMulroney, Josh Lucas and Jamie Bell in the lead roles.The project has been indevelopment for over ...
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Joint venture to distribute Hispanic films in the US
Spanish production company Plural Entertainment, Mexican producer-distributor Televisa Cine and Miami-based talent management and marketing firm Latin World Entertainment have formed a joint venture to distribute Hispanic films in the United States.The new venture aims to capitalise on the growing Latino market in the US and release at least five ...
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Rom-com holds off Daredevil in the UK
Romantic comedy Two Weeks Notice proved the big winner in the UK over Valentine's Day weekend despite the launch of 20th Century Fox's potential blockbuster, Daredevil.The top placed Warner Bros comedy showed an impressive second week performance, dropping off just 11% from its opening weekend to take a weekend score ...
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Mar del Plata completes competition line-up
Miguel Pereira, the new artistic co-ordinator of Mar del Plata, South America's leading film festival, has completed the competition line-up for his debut event, which runs March 6-15. The latest additions are Hugo Santiago's Le Loup De La Cote Ouest (France/Portugal), Matti Ijas' Blue Corner (Finland), David G Green's All ...
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Reviews
Blind Shaft (Mang Jing)
Dir: Li Yang. China-Ger. 2003. 92 mins.For most festival-goers at Berlin, the two first-time directors in competition were George Clooney and an unknown Chinese director. In the end, however, it was the latter who won the recognition, for Li Yang 's Blind Shaft is a solid, impressive debut. A watchable, ...
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Australian directors to honour Fred Schepisi
Fred Schepisi is to receive the major honour at the second annual awards ceremony of the Australian Screen Directors Association (ASDA). The outstanding achievement award recognises excellence for a body of work and will be presented by the president of the European Film Academy, German director Wim Wenders, at a ...
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Indian delegation heads for AFM
Led by Mrs. Anjuli Duggal, joint secretary of India's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, a 25-strong delegation of Indian film directors, producers and financiers is heading for the AFM. The delegation, the first ever to visit the AFM, plans to promote the Indian film industry in an international context amongst ...
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Infernal Affairs leads Hong Kong Film Award nominations
Hit crime thriller Infernal Affairs leads the race for the 22nd Hong Kong Film Awards with 16 nominations including best film, best director, for Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, and an impressive five nods in the best actor and supporting actor categories. The Media Asia production, which topped the Hong ...
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Minghella promotes location Romania
Ever since director Anthony Minghella finished his shoot of Cold Mountain, he's been asked one question repeatedly by fellow directors: what's it like to shoot in Romania.The $80m Civil War epic starring Nicole Kidman, Renee Zellweger, Jude Law shot late last year in the Carpathian mountains of Romania's Transylvania. Speaking ...
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European Film Market closes with flurry of deals
The European Film Market came to a close with a flurry of last-minute deals.One of the most notable deals was MK2's sale of Claude Chabrol's competition film The Flower Of Evil to Wanda Films for Spain and Portugal - two territories which because of the pay-TV crisis have been ...
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Verhoeven, Hauer classic to be remade by van de Velde
Classic Dutch cult TV series Floris, that first united director Paul Verhoeven and Rutger Hauer in 1969, is to be remade for the cinema. Jean van de Velde (Leak, All Stars) is set to direct the adventurous epic, about the heroic knight Floris and his sidekick Sindela. The original series ...
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European broadcasters called on to increase film funding
German broadcasters have been called on to double their financial contribution to the German Federal Film Board to bring them into line with the cinema owners' annual payments of Euros 21m.In a declaration on the revision to the German Film Funding Law (FFG), the four German exhibitor trade ...
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Blind Shaft director readies debut follow-up
With the applause still ringing in his ears from the screening of his first feature, Blind Shaft, Chinese director Li Yang (pictured) has already put together most of the pieces for his follow-up, set during the Cultural Revolution.As yet untitled, the new film will, said Li, be "much closer to ...
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Kosslick reflects on his second Berlinale
As the Berlinale drew to a close with the out of competition screening of Gangs Of New York, festival director Dieter Kosslick for one was happy.With the threat of war being declared on Iraq at the back of people's minds during the festival, Kosslick observed that the festival's motto ...