All Screen articles in 21 March 2003
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News
Saban buys broadcasting group from insolvent KirchMedia
Hollywood mogul Haim Saban (pictured) has taken the first step in buying the assets of KirchMedia by acquiring German TV broadcaster ProSiebenSat.1 Media.US billionaire media mogul Haim Saban has founded a new subsidiary of his Saban Group to acquire 36% of the ordinary shares (72% of the voting rights) in ...
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Reviews
Forest (Rengeteg)
Dir. Benedek Flieghauf. Hungary. 2003. 95mins.With a First Film award and the Gene Moskovitz prize at the Hungarian Film Week and a slot in the Berlin Forum, Benedek Flieghauf's debut feature looks set to be a regular on this year's festival circuit. Rough, gritty, quite plotless and using non-professional actors ...
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Pathe UK starts shooting Scorpio's Natural History
Pathe UK this week started shooting on Natural History, the debut picture from ex-Renaissance Films chief Stephen Evans' Scorpio Films.The feature debut of commercials director Shona Auerbach, which is shooting in Glasgow and Greenock, stars Emily Mortimer and Gerard Butler. The film revolves around a single mother's choice of whether ...
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Reviews
The United States Of Leland
Dir: Matthew Ryan Hoge. US. 2003. 108mins.First-time director Matthew Ryan Hoge delivers a highly questionable first feature in Sundance dramatic competition entry The United States Of Leland, a star-studded independent ensemble about upset affluent people which comes close to being offhand in its treatment of the murder of an autistic ...
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Reviews
Seville South Side (Poligono Sur)
Dir: Dominique Abel. Spain/France. 2003. 106mins.Flamenco is fertile territory for a DV documentary crew with a mission to go beyond the tourist cliches. And this is what French actress-turned-documentarist Dominique Abel and a fast-moving group of technicians headed up by cinematographer Jean-Yves Escoffier (Good Will Hunting, Nurse Betty) have done ...
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News
Boyle to make Millions for Pathe, Mission
Danny Boyle is to begin shooting Mission Pictures' Millions, his first film since zombie horror hit 28 Days Later, for Pathe UK starting May 5.The high-profile project will shoot for 10 weeks in Liverpool in the UK. Pathe Distribution will distribute the quirky comic tale in the UK and France, ...
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UK p&a spend climbs to record levels
UK film distributors spent more than $403.2m (£255m) on prints and advertising in 2002, around one-third of the total value of UK cinema ticket sales during the year.According to the Film Distributors' Association (FDA) yearbook, published this month, print and advertising spend passed the quarter of a billion pound threshold ...
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Japan takes film sequel route
The sequel to splatterfest Battle Royale is set to wrap shooting next month, one of a string of high profile sequels in production in Japan at the moment. In fact, so many sequels are shooting or preparing to film in Japan, that some are asking whether the country is set ...
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Nansun Shi to advise new Chinese video distribution joint venture
Despite her recent resignation from Media Asia Group, Hong Kong's film industry veteran Nansun Shi is to stay on as senior advisor to the group.Shi took up the top post 18 months ago after Peter Lam has become the largest single shareholder of the group. One of her main roles ...
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Cast lines up for Miramax's Battle Of Shaker Heights
Shia LaBeouf (Holes), Elden Henson (The Butterfly Effect), Amy Smart (Roadtrip), Kathleen Quinlan (Breakdown), William Sadler (Shawshank Redemption), Shiri Appleby (Swimfan), and Anson Mount (City By The Sea) have joined Miramax's second Project Greenlight competition winner, The Battle Of Shaker Heights. Screenwriter Erica Beeney and directors Kyle Rankin and Efram ...
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Sweden's Sundvall begins The Threat
One of Sweden's most successful directors, Kjell Sundvall, starts shooting his new film The Threat (Hotet) on March 19. Principal photography is to take place in and around Alvsbyn in the north of Sweden until April 15, when filming will continue in Stockholm.Following last year's biggest Swedish box office hit, ...
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Mar del Plata risks losing its 'A' grade festival status
Domingos De Oliveira's Breaking Up (Separacoes) from Brazil won the Golden Ombu for best film at the 18th Mar del Plata International Film Festival in Argentina on Saturday (15 March) amid heated controversy over the inclusion of local film Valentin in competition. The festival is now in danger of losing ...
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Italy pushes 8 Mile towards $100m int'l box office
Universal's 8 Mile continued to swagger toward $100m at the international box office over the weekend, driven chiefly by a record opening in Italy.Opening on Friday (Mar 14), the drama grossed $516,000 at 235 sites for the biggest March opening day of all time in the territory. By the end ...
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Soren Fischer dies, aged 62
Highly-regarded film publicist and festival rep Soren Fischer died last week in London aged 62.Fischer, who had a history of heart problems, was the British representative for the Berlin International Film Festival for 20 years, until he decided to step down last year.Born and educated in Denmark, Fischer joined the ...
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News
Maid cleans up again, Gale blows into second place
Columbia TriStar's hit romantic comedy Maid In Manhattan held strong in the UK this weekend to take the top spot for the second week running. The film kept a host of new releases at bay, including UIP's death row drama The Life Of David Gale which claimed second place.Maid In ...
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Lions Gate takes The Grudge for North America
Lions Gate Entertainment has acquired all North American rights to Takashi Shimizu's Japanese horror hit The Grudge (Ju-On).The announcement was made yesterday (Mar 17) by Peter Block, president of home entertainment, acquisitions and new media. A theatrical release date will be set later.Lions Gate has also picked up Ju-On and ...
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Two Weeks Notice continues int'l roll-out
Warner Bros' romantic comedy Two Weeks Notice grossed $4m in international markets over the weekend for an estimated $87.7m cumulative score including Village Roadshow territories.Opening in Argentina, the picture took $93,200 with more than 93,000 admissions from 35 screens. The performance surpassed openings by About A Boy by 109%, Bridget ...
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TV-Loonland sells stake in Korea's SRE Corp.
German integrated media company TV-Loonland has sold its 72.6% stake in the loss-making South Korean media house SRE Corporation to Seoul-based Moohandae Media LtdIn a statement, TV-Loonland pointed out that SRE had already posted losses of Euros 1.1m in the 2001 financial year on revenues of Euros 14.7m and these ...
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Reviews
Gololed
Dir. Mikhail Barshinsky. Russia. 2003. 70mins.A former film critic, who also moonlighted as a Siberian train conductor, a Turkish restaurant waiter and a DJ on Bourbon Street New Orleans, Mikhail Barshinsky's directorial debut promises that he intends to be as eccentric in his new career as he has been in ...