All Screen articles in 18 September 2001
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News
Neue Sentimental acquires Compass Films
Frankfurt-based German production group Neue Sentimental Film (NSF) has acquired the remaining 49% interest in New York's Compass Films to add to the initial 51% stake it had obtained in February as part of a restructuring of its US-based business. Compass, which like NSF concentrates on producing for the corporate ...
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News
German Mediability fund extends portfolio
Munich-based private media fund Mediability has added Hahn Film's Wildlife 2 to its portfolio of animation projects.The Euro 56m fund will put up 50% of the Euro 6.65m budget for the animation series with Hahn Film contributing the remaining 50%.Wildlife 2 picks up on the successful first Wildlife series which ...
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Leipzig fest premieres Syrian documentaries
Leipzig's Festival for Documentary and Animation Film (October 16-21)is to host the first ever international showcase of documentaries from Syria.Since Syrian filmmakers have to battle with restrictions and censorship, many of the films being screened in this regional focus from past and present works will also be world premieres.Meanwhile, retrospectives ...
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News
Chadha plans English-language Bollywood film
UK director Gurinder Chadha, whose credits include Bhaji On The Beach and the US-set What's Cooking', is to direct an English-language Bollywood-style film set in the UK.Chadha is aiming for the all-singing, all-dancing film to cross UK and Indian cultural barriers, doing for the Bollywood musical what Crouching Tiger, Hidden ...
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News
Spain's Sitges film festival reveals final line-up
The International Film Festival of Catalonia, better known as Sitges, has unveiled the final program for its forthcoming edition (Oct 4-13).More than 20 films will compete for 11 top awards, including the newly created make-up and production design prizes, in the event's longest-standing Fantastic section. Parallel section Gran Angular will ...
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News
Germany's NRW supports 14 new features
New features by Lars von Trier (Dogville), Ken Loach (Sweet Sixteen) and Alexander Sokurov (Vater Und Sohn) are among 14 film projects backed with over $3.8m (DM 8m) by the regional German public fund Filmstiftung NRW in its latest round of production funding.Among the other projects supported are Icelandic filmmaker ...
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News
Valladolid unveils local contenders for 46th event
Following tradition, Spain's International Film Week of Valladolid (Oct 26-Nov 3) gave a sneak preview of its forthcoming 46th edition by revealing the Spanish films and co-productions participating in the festival. Three Spanish feature films will compete in the official section, including Toni Salgot's Dama De Porto Pim, Manane Rodriguez's ...
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The Fast And The Furious races into the UK
Rob Cohen's action drama The Fast And The Furious roared into the UK at the weekend taking a three-day gross of $2.6m (£1.76m). However the film, which centres on the Los Angeles street-racing scene, was not able to dethrone last weekend's opener Moulin Rouge from its number one spot. Furious ...
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UK actors' union opts for strike - with exceptions
In a move that threatens to bring UK production to a virtual standstill, powerful local performers' union Equity has told its members not to agree to any contracts for feature films that would mean working on or after December 1.The call marks a serious turn in Equity's talks with UK ...
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Reviews
Christmas Carol: The Movie
Dir: Jimmy T Murakami. UK. 2001. 81 mins.Having survived The Muppets, Bill Murray and the music of Leslie Bricusse, the timeless Dickens tale is sturdy enough to emerge intact from a fresh animated overhaul that takes a few liberties with the tried and tested storyline. Serviceable rather than inspired, the ...
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Reviews
Life As A House
Dir Irwin Winkler. US 2001. 123 mins.Although New Line is releasing Life As A House in late October, in its theme and message it's the perfect Christmas film, a sort of a contemporary It's A Wonderful Life, and not solely due to the fact that, like the Jimmy Stewart's hero ...
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News
Arkoff, cult movie king, dies aged 83
Samuel Z. Arkoff, the maverick Hollywood producer responsible for than 500 low-budget cult movies, died of natural causes, aged 83 on Sunday Sept 16.Arkoff, many of whose movies were hugely profitable, tapped into the youth culture long before the major studios recognised the lucrative demographic market.Among his best-known titles were ...
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News
Beyond Films improves but still suffers loss
Australia's Beyond International made a profit of $1.1m (A$2.25m) for the 12 months to June 30, a reversal of fortunes given the $1.6m (A$3.2m) net loss recorded for the previous financial year. Total revenues grew by 10% to $48.5m (A$96.98m), about 85% of which came from television production and international ...
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News
Viennale unveils first titles in 130-film line up
Nanni Moretti's The Son's Room, Sean Penn's The Pledge, the Coen brothers' The Man Who Wasn't There, Manoel de Oliviera's I'm Going Home and Jean-Luc Godard's In Praise Of Love are among the titles making their local premieres in Viennale's main programme. The 130-title line-up, which includes many films not ...
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News
Film By The Sea honours The Weight Of Water
At the third edition of Film by the Sea (10-16 Sept) in the Dutch seaside town of Flushing, Katherine Bigelow's The Weight Of The Water picked up the Silver Mermaid award worth Euros 10,000. The festival's main competition has a theme of literary adaptations, and The Weight Of The Water ...
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News
Buena Vista Spain banks on established success
Buena Vista International Spain (BVIS) has picked up local distribution rights on forthcoming Spanish-language comedy Dirty Vivancos The Sequel (Vivancos El Sucio III), a "zany detective comedy" which boasts all the ingredients to repeat the success of biggest-ever domestic hit Torrente 2: Mission In Marbella (Torrente 2: Mision En Marbella). ...
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Working Title eyes Daldry for Backpacker film
Working Title Films is believed to be courting Billy Elliot director Stephen Daldry for a drama about a group of young backpackers travelling abroad.Under the working title The Backpacker Movie, the picture would be the first to emerge from a three-year deal which Daldry signed with Working Title in November ...
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News
Disney most bruised as media stocks get beaten up
Winchester Films has picked up international rights to New Best Friend, a college-age drama produced by Frank Mancuso Jr on which Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group has acquired domestic and Latin American rights. The film was formerly known as Mary Jane's Last Dance and was originally set domestically at MGM, ...
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3-way merger creates international PR powerhouse
Three of the UK's leading film public relations companies are merging to form an international publicity powerhouse with offshoots in Los Angeles and a new reach into television. Coming together under the new banner of Premier Public Relations are the well known Corbett & Keene, Falco Ink (London) and Joy ...
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News
Hardball
Dir: Brian Robbins. US. 2001. 106 mins. Set around a scruffy baseball diamond in a tough black neighbourhood of Chicago, Hardball is essentially a re-casting of seventies hit The Bad News Bears with less comedy and considerably more urban grit. As a family-oriented drama, it efficiently delivers its uplifting message ...