All Screen articles in 21 March 2002
View all stories from this month.
-
News
Aurora beams for Australian script development
Australia has created its own version of development "hothousing" on the back of four feature scripts and their creative teams. The New South Wales Film and Television Office (NSWFTO) examined overseas models including Sundance, Moondance and Equinoxe before putting together its own A$500,000 Aurora programme, which has filmmaker Jane Campion ...
-
News
Kinowelt sells more cinemas, production arm
Debt-laden Kinowelt is close to completing its withdrawal from the exhibition sector having sold the Kinopolis multiplex chain. It now expects to dispose of its 25% minority holding in a clutch of Village Roadshow-controlled complexes by the end of this month.The group, which is in insolvency discussions, said that it ...
-
News
Constantin unveils first fruit of RTL distrib deal
German distributor Constantin Film and private broadcaster RTL Television have unveiled the first three titles to be released under a deal struck last September. Constantin will handle theatrical distribution of US teen comedy Van Wilder, to be released on July 4, the Alicia Silverstone/Woody Harrelson-vehicle Scorched and Chen Kaige's erotic ...
-
Reviews
E.T. The Extra Terrestrial: The 20th Anniversay
Dir Steven Spielberg. US. 1982. 120mins.Despite some new footage and astute digital enhancements, the 20th anniversary reissue of E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, Steven Spielberg's most beloved alien fable, shows that the film is very much a product of its times, reflecting the zeitgeist and technology of 1982. That ...
-
Reviews
Blade II
Dir Guillermo Del Toro. US. 2002. 117mins.Gruesome and ghastly violence, state-of-the-art special effects, fast-moving action and stylish cutting and framing can't conceal the fact that there's a big blank space at the centre of Blade II. Largely this is the fault of David Goyer's slender, meandering, and uninvolving scripting ...
-
News
Canada's Remstar acquires new package
Montreal-based distributor Remstar has picked up Canadian rights to Jacob Berger's Aime Ton Pere (Honour Thy Father), currently in post-production. The feature debut of writer-director Berger, the $5m suspense drama sees the reunion of father and son actors Gerard and Guillaume Depardieu in starring roles. The story follows the plan ...
-
News
Advanced Medien's financial statements exposed
Auditors have exposed 'dubious' transactions within Germany's Advanced Medien's financial statements for 1999 and 2000, rendering them 'ineffective' and according to some analysts, potentially fraudulent.In an ad-hoc statement, the Munich-based concern declared that, "as part of the required corrections, the sale of film rights with a total volume of Euros ...
-
News
Canadian film board launches co-production unit
Canada's National Film Board (NFB) will launch an International Co-production Unit (ICU) with the goal of developing key partnerships and framework agreements with international broadcasters and other organisations. NFB chairman Jacques Bensimon said that the move was precipitated by cutbacks at public-sector institutions internationally. "The NFB has a duty to ...
-
News
Pre-Oscar marketing fever goes global
March is the richest month for Oscar-nominated films in the North American market, as cinema-goers scramble to see the contenders before March 24. The international picture, however, is different. Mike Goodridge looks at the films with nominations in key categories and how they are being opened across the world to ...
-
News
Cool & Crazy bags Jensen first ever repeat award
The multiple-award-winning Norwegian documentary Cool & Crazy, which generated more than half a million admissions in its home territory last year, has secured filmmaker Knut Erik Jensen his second national Film Critics Award, the first time a director has ever won the prize twice. Jensen first picked up the prize ...
-
News
From Berlinale to Biennale - De Hadeln gets Venice
After weeks of political machinations, intrigue and rumour, the Venice Film Festival has named former Berlin head Moritz De Hadeln (pictured)as artistic director of the next edition of the Biennale. De Hadeln replaces Alberto Barbera, who has been in charge of Venice since 1999.Initial reaction to the last-minute, stop-gap appointment, ...
-
News
Talk To Her leads European resistance
Although the European box office has seen a host of high profile US product take top spots in several territories at the weekend, including the European launch of DreamWorks SKG's The Time Machine in The Netherlands, a raft of local productions, led by Spain's Talk To Her (Hable Con Ella) ...
-
Reviews
From Nought To Ten (Dazeroadiec)
Dir: Luciano Ligabue. Italy, 2002. 100mins.Italian rockstar Luciano Ligabue rather showed up the country's army of under- achieving full-time directors when his first film, Radiofreccia, turned out to be both a critical and a commercial success. But hubris - at least on the critical front - has not been long ...
-
News
Macquarie, Nine Net launch major production fund
Macquarie Bank and the Nine Network's production subsidiary today (March 21) formally announced a bold plan to entice investors to provide up to $33.2m (A$62.5m) for the production of eight feature films, two TV series and two telemovies. The third partner in the equation is Hoyts Distribution, which will distribute ...
-
News
Germany's Premiere unveils low-cost package
Leo Kirch's beleaguered pay TV platform Premiere is to launch a new "taster" package from May 1 as part of managing director Georg Kofler's plans to make savings of around Euros 500m each year from 2003 and reach a positive operating result (EBITDA) a year later.In his business plan, which ...
-
News
Dutch producer assembles cast for Turmoil
Producer Rob Houwer (Soldier Of Orange, Turkish Delight) is assembling a major Dutch cast for his latest movie Het Woeden Der Gehele Wereld (The Turmoil Of The World), a thriller based on the best-selling novel by Dutch author Maarten 't Hart. Houwer is hoping to assemble a cast including: Jeroen ...
-
News
India's first film completion guarantor launched
Los Angeles-based Film Finances and Bandit Queen producer Bobby Bedi's Kaleidoscope Films have launched India's first film completion guarantee company, with Indian director Yash Chopra also expected to join the outfit.Richard M Soames, president of Film Finances, revealed that the Indian joint venture will seek to provide completion guarantees for ...
-
News
Cannes Critics' Week adopts slimmed-down look
Under its new chief Claire Clouzot, the Critics' Week sidebar of the Cannes festival is to present a tightened-up programme.With Clouzot as artistic director, Critics' Week (May16-24) will screen seven features and seven shorts. In recent years the event had expanded to take in a number of other films not ...
-
News
Swiss film scores at local box office
Swiss comedy Ernstfall In Havanna claimed the top spot in its home country with a strong four-day opening (March 14-17) of $292,603 (SFr 484,551). Playing on 31 screens in Switzerland's German-speaking region the film beat several high profile Hollywood titles including A Beautiful Mind at number two in its third ...
-
News
Icon picks up first Oz film for distribution
The Australian office of Icon Film Distribution has picked up local rights on its first Australian film. Paul Goldman is to direct the UK/Australian co-production The Night We Called It A Day which draws on singer Frank Sinatra's notorious 1974 tour of Australia, during which he became very unpopular with ...