All Screen articles in 19 December 2007

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  • News

    Indian director Vidhu Vinod Chopra signs with ICM

    2007-12-19T23:58:00Z

    Indianfilmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who directed the short documentary Oscar nomineeAn Encounter With Faces, has signed with ICM.Choprais preparing his English language debut, the thriller 64 Squares, and isdeveloping the Indian fantasy epic Talisman and a satire on India's educationalsystem.Hiscredits include the Bollywood Munna Bhai franchise as well as Parinda, ...

  • News

    Vivian Mayer-Siskind moves from Universal to Summit Entertainment

    2007-12-19T23:55:00Z

    Communicationsexecutive Vivian Mayer-Siskind has been named senior vice president ofworldwide publicity at Summit Entertainment.Mayer-Siskindwill report to Summit's soon to be named president of marketing and mostrecently served as senior vice president of publicity for Universal StudiosHome Entertainment (USHE) brand marketing division.'Vivianis the kind of seasoned executive that we have been ...

  • News

    Sundance adds Coogan comedy Hamlet 2 to premieres

    2007-12-19T22:54:00Z

    Sundance festival organisers have added Andrew Fleming's comedy Hamlet 2 starring Steve Coogan, Catherine Keener, Elizabeth Shue and Amy Poehler to the line-up.The film, the first to be produced and financed by fledgling Los Angeles-based L+E Productions, will receive its world premiere on January 21.Fleming and Pam Brady co-wrote the ...

  • News

    Tarak Ben Ammar acquires French post house Eclair

    2007-12-19T16:18:00Z

    Continuing his acquisition spree, Tarak Ben Ammar has acquired the entirety of French post-production company Eclair. The entrepreneur, who in November acquired control of Italian distributor Eagle Pictures, announced Wednesday that he has bought the 57% stake in Eclair which he did not already own. Ben Ammar had taken a ...

  • News

    International box office up 17% on last week boosted by Warlords

    2007-12-19T14:45:00Z

    Chinese heavy-hitter The Warlords was this weekend's highest non-US entry to the international chart, helping boost the top 40 revenue by 17.3% week-on-week.The top 40 international films generated $169.7m from 43,384 screens for the period of December 14-16.For the full international chart, compiled by Len Klady, click here.The period epic, ...

  • News

    Gerald Green arrested over Bangkok film festival bribes

    2007-12-19T14:18:00Z

    Los Angeles-based film executive Gerald Green and his wife Patricia of Film Festival Management (FFM) were arrested yesterday (Dec 18) in a Los Angeles federal court for paying bribes to obtain lucrative contracts for the Bangkok International Film Festival (BKKIFF). The US Justice Department announced that a criminal complaint alleges ...

  • News

    Contentfilm/Fireworks take on CBC library

    2007-12-19T11:20:00Z

    ContentFilm's division Fireworks International has struck a deal to acquire international distribution rights for CBC's international sales assets. The library includes a programme catalogue of about 135 titles, representing 700 hours of TV programming. Canada-based CBC still retains broadcasting rights and archives. The transaction is subject to due diligence and ...

  • News

    Berlin's EFM to welcome 25 new exhibitors including IM Global

    2007-12-19T11:11:00Z

    Companies from the US, the UK, Spain, Ukraine, and Brazil are among 25 first-timers confirmed so far as exhibitors at the Berlinale's forthcoming European Film Market (EFM). Participants with stands for the first time in the EFM's central venue of the Martin Gropius Bau include such sales agents as ContentFilm ...

  • News

    Maximum takes international rights to Rossellini's Green Porno shorts

    2007-12-19T11:06:00Z

    Maximum International has picked up international rights on Isabella Rossellini's short film series Green Porno. Commissioned by The Sundance Channel, the eight mobile-oriented short films feature the actress re-enacting the mating ritual of various insects and other creatures. The first three pieces -- Firefly, Dragon Fly, Spider -- will premiere ...

  • News

    No Country For Old Men gets top votes from Toronto Critics

    2007-12-19T10:59:00Z

    No Country For Old Men was named Best Picture and directors and screenwriters Joel and Ethan Coen took Best Direction and Best Screenwriting honours as the Toronto Film Critics Association announced its 2007 selection Wednesday.Javier Bardem was also named Best Supporting Actor for his role as the methodical killer in ...

  • News

    Toronto film critic John Harkness dies at 53

    2007-12-19T10:56:00Z

    Toronto-based film critic John Harkness died at his home on Tuesday. A one-time Canadian correspondent for Screen International and the lead film writer for Toronto weekly NOW Magazine since its 1981 inception, Harkness was a constant figure at Cannes and widely-respected by Toronto cinephiles -- and feared by Canadian filmmakers. ...

  • News

    China Film raises capital for digital production centre

    2007-12-19T08:24:00Z

    Continuing its capital-raising streak, Chinese state-owned conglomerate, China Film Group Corporation, has issued $67.7m (RMB500m) in corporate bonds to finance digital film production and cinemas. The seven-year bonds have a fixed annual coupon rate of 6.1% and are available to domestic institutional investors. China Merchants Securities is the lead underwriter. ...

  • Reviews

    The Great Debaters

    2007-12-18T23:32:00Z

    Dir: Denzel Washington. US. 2007. 125 minutes.A strong and similarly emotionally resonant follow-up to his 2002 debut behind the camera, Antwone Fisher, Denzel Washington's second directorial effort is a familiarly structured but extremely effective drama. Lacking pretense and guile, The Great Debaters tells the true story of an African-American college ...

  • News

    Palm Springs unveils 'streamlined' festival line-up

    2007-12-18T23:12:00Z

    The Palm Springs International Film festival (PSIFF) will screen 222 films culled from more than 66 countries featuring four world, 40 US and 25 North American premieres.Pierre Salvadori's French romantic comedy Priceless starring Audrey Tautou and Gad Elmaleh will close the festival on January 14 2008 and as previously announced ...

  • News

    New Line, MGM team for two Hobbit movies with Peter Jackson

    2007-12-18T20:03:00Z

    Peter Jackson and New Line have buried the hatchet and will return to Middle Earth together in a two-film deal with MGM to bring JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit and an original sequel to the big screen.MGM and New Line will co-finance and co-distribute the projects, which New Line will release ...

  • News

    Even guided by Compass, UKbox office down 8.3% from 2006

    2007-12-18T16:23:00Z

    Entertainment Film Distributors' The Golden Compass led the running in the UK for the second weekend in a row with a $6m (£3m) take across 509 sites.The top 20 films in the UK/Ireland generated $20.9m across 3,779 screens from the period of December 14-16. This was collectively down 8.3% compared ...

  • News

    Berlinale's Generation unveils titles including Buddha Collapsed

    2007-12-18T15:14:00Z

    The first 15 titles unveiled by the Berlinale's Generation section include 19-year-old Hana Makhmalbaf's debut feature shot in Afghanistan Buddha Collapsed Out Of Shame, Danish masters Jannik Hastrup and Flemming Quist Moeller's action-packed animated love story A Tale Of Two Mozzies and Elissa Downs' The Black Balloon, a sensitive portrayal ...

  • News

    Indigenous film-makers line up To Hell And Back, Samson and Delilah

    2007-12-18T14:49:00Z

    Australia 's indigenous film-makers are telling their own stories with two features being prepared. Richard Frankland's road movie To Hell and Back finished its six-week shoot in Western Australia last week. Financed by Film Finance Corporation Australia and the local state agency ScreenWest, it has been dubbed the Australian version ...

  • News

    Berlin Talent Campus expands short film competition

    2007-12-18T12:44:00Z

    The Berlin Today Award (BTA), the Berlinale Talent Campus's short film competition, is being expanded for its next edition which will see the films focusing on the theme of 'My Wall' to mark the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 2009. Participants of previous Talent Campuses ...

  • News

    Czech box office climbs but 2008 might not continue trend

    2007-12-18T11:42:00Z

    The Czech box office is trending toward another healthy year, but questions remain whether the upward trend will continue in 2008. Czech admissions passed the 11m mark in October, well ahead of last year's numbers, which were at 10.4m at the end of November. Box office sales were at $57.3m ...