All Screen articles in 2 October 2003
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News
...as Affairs prequel storms Hong Kong box office
Infernal Affairs II, the prequel to Andrew Lau and Alan Mak's hit crime thriller Infernal Affairs, shattered box office records on its opening night in Hong Kong grossing US$427,000 (HK$3.9m) and easily outpacing the opening figures for the original film. The Media Asia production received its world premiere at the ...
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New York indies send written objections to MPAA over screeners
Under the nominal leadership of IFP/New York executive directorMichelle Byrd, more than 30 prominent members of the independent community havesigned a joint statement condemning this week's ban on awards season previewtapes by the MPAA.Robert Altman, John Waters, Killer Films' Christine Vachon and PamKoffler, GreeneStreet's John Penotti and Fisher Stevens, This ...
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News
Greek multiplex expansion plans in jeopardy
The future expansion of multiplexes in Greece is in jeopardy following a legal dispute between country's Exhibitors Federation and the builders of a 10-screen new multiplex in the central Athens residential district of Ambelokipi. The planned opening this month of the City Plaza multiplex - leased by veteran film ...
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Kuhn's Qwerty Film recruits former FilmFour executive
Former FilmFour executive Andrew Hildebrand is to join Michael Kuhn's Qwerty Films as head of commercial and business affairs.Hildebrand joined FilmFour as director of business affairs at its inception, where he handled negotiations and contracts across all of FilmFour's co-financing, sales and distribution activities.Hidlebrand replaces Kathryn Craig, who is leaving ...
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News
Dutch films set for record market share
Dutch films look set to take a record share of their local market this year, according the country's cinema organisation NFC. Thanks to upcoming premieres for commercial titles such as Pietje Bell 2, Phileine Says Sorry, Polleke and Kees Jongen, the NFC expects local product to take a 14.5% of ...
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News
Spare Parts, Window dominate Slovenian fest
Leading Slovenian producer Danijel Hocevar's Emotionfilm has walked away with 13 awards for two of its productions - Spare Parts (Rezervni Deli) and Beneath Her Window (Pod Njenim Oknom )- at this year's Festival of Slovenian Films in CeljeDamjan Kozole's Spare Parts, which has been submitted as Slovenia's entry for ...
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News
CP Medien fund falls victim to German fund ruling
The recent amendments to Germany's Media Ruling on the running of private media funds (ScreenDaily.com, August 2003) have claimed their first victim with the Ludwigsburg-based CP Medien fund undertaking a corporate restructuring. In a press statement, the fund, which has supported such projects as Jean-Jacques Annaud's Enemy At The Gates ...
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News
Foreign Oscar deadline closes with heavyweight submissions
Two heavyweight film nations submitted their candidates for the Academy Awards foreign language category yesterday (Oct 1) - the final deadline day for entries.Italy chose Gabriele Salvatores's acclaimed thriller I'm Not Scared, while Spain submitted David Trueba's Salamina Soldiers.Italians will be hoping that Salvatores can repeat his 1992 best foreign ...
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UIP targets booming Russian market
UIP is considering opening its own distribution office in Russia, a country expected to become one of highest grossing cinema markets in Europe within five years.UIP currently distributes its films in Russia through East West, a local distributor which it has worked with for the past 13 years.A UIP source ...
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News
Weinstein pays tribute to Alexander Walker
A memorial service for Evening Standard film critic Alexander Walker was held last night at St Brides Church, Fleet Street in London. To mark the occasion, Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein sent the following tribute for Walker, who died suddenly in July aged 73:"At the start of Alex's magnificent overview of ...
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News
1000 Indian cinemas stage protest closures against tax rates
Almost 1,000 single-screen cinemas in the Indian state of Maharashtra will close from Oct 17 in protest against high entertainment taxes. Entertainment tax levels are set at 55% for Mumbai, 50% for major towns and cities and 45% for rural areas. The exhibitors want this to be brought down to ...
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News
UK/IRELAND
Warner Bros' release of British thriller Young Adam saw a good turnout last weekend when it claimed the eighth spot in the UK/Ireland chart from 133 locations. It was an ambitious gamble for the distributor, which financed David Mackenzie's adaptation of Alexander Trocchi's novel, which appears to have paid off.The ...
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SWITZERLAND
Record-breaking Swiss comedy Ready, Steady, Charlie! proved unstoppable in the German region of the country in its second week. The film actually rose 14% from its launch weekend, when it became the biggest local opener of all time, after adding six more screens to its run. Charlie has taken $2m ...
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News
Knibbs quits UCI for Vue
Steve Knibbs has been appointed as chief operating officer of UK exhibitor Vue Entertainment. Knibbs will report to Tim Richards, CEO of Vue.Knibbs joins from United Cinemas International (UCI) where he was senior vice president, Northern Europe. Former Warner Village UK managing director Melyvn Angell has been tipped by many ...
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News
HUNGARY
The third episode of the American Pie series took a strong, although not spectacular start at the Hungarian box office last weekend. With just over 62,000 admissions it is the year's fifth strongest opening and the 14th strongest of all time but fails to repeat the performance of the second ...
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Reviews
Evil (Ondskan)
Dir: Mikael Hafstrom. 2003. Swe. 113 minsEvil (Ondskan), the third feature of Swedish director Mikael Hafstrom, plays well enough on the big screen but, aside from likely appearances at a few of the bigger festivals like Toronto, where it showed in the Contemporary World Cinema section, it's not sufficiently accomplished ...
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News
Movie mogul plans revenge with comeback feature
Indian film producer Bharat Shah - one the biggest film financiers in the Mumbai film industry - has announced fresh plans to invest in Indian films. The move came on the day he was given a one year prison sentence for withholding information from police about the criminal underworld muscling ...
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News
Blanchett retuns to Oz for Little Fish
Academy-Award nominee Cate Blanchett is set to return Australia early next year to work on one of the features in a new slate of films approved by the Film Finance Corporation Australia (FFC). Blanchett will play the lead in Little Fish, a drama set in 'Little Saigon' in Sydney's western ...
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ARGENTINA
Local title Valentin climbed to the fifth slot from its seventh position last week after being officially selected to represent Argentina at the Oscars race next year. The film has received 84,224 admissions after 18 days on release.Robert Rodriguez's Once Upon A Time In Mexico opened to dominate the weekend, ...
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NORTH AMERICA
In the North American limited release arena there was another strong weekend for Focus Feature's slow burner Lost In Translation, which stayed in 10th place adding $3.7m for a $8.6m running total. It expanded by 305 to 488 sites and should be in 700-800 venues next weekend. Newmarket's acclaimed ...