All Screen articles in 23 March 2005
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Au cranks up Nana in Hong Kong
Hong Kong's Daniel Wu and Chinese actress Zhou Xun are set tostar in Nana, the feature debut of acclaimed music video director SusieAu which starts shooting tomorrow (March 24) in Hong Kong. Producedby Philip Lee's October Pictures and Au's Handmade Films, the film will be shotin Hong Kong, Shanghai and ...
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Lau turns Focus onto Asian film-making talent
Hong Kong starAndy Lau's Focus Films plans to finance a series of six high definition (HD)features from up-and-coming Asian filmmakers, as part of a drive to bring newtalent into the Chinese-language film industry. The regionalproject, "Focus: First Cuts", was unveiled today at Hong Kong's FilMart. Focuswill oversee production and international ...
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Sundream launches with $38.5m production war chest
Sundream Motion Pictures, the new film venture of Hong Kong's pay TVoperator i-CABLE Communication, officially launched today at Filmart.Sundream plans to finance 15-20 feature films with a total investment of$38.5m (HK$300m) over two years.Tsui Siu Ming, executive director, programming services ofi-CABLE subsidiary Hong Kong Cable TV, will head the new ...
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Katapult takes on Fessenden's Winter
LA-basedKatapult Film Sales has taken on international rights to Larry Fessenden's $7msupernatural thriller The Last Winter, which stars Ron Perlman and is currently shooting inIceland.The story is setin Northern Alaska, where an oil crew succumbs to a mysterious fear after oneof their team is found dead. James LeGros, Connie Britton ...
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Indian film industry on course for rapid growth
The Indian film industry is projected to be worth $3.3bn(R143bn by 2010, up from R$1.35bn according to a new industry report.India is the world's largest producer of films by volume,producing almost 1,000 movies a year but accounts for only 1% of global filmindustry revenues, the report by consultant KPMG India ...
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US broadcaster, critic Mitchell brought on to guest curate LAFF
Broadcaster andcritic Elvis Mitchell has been named guest curator of the 2005 Los Angeles FilmFestival, which runs from Jun 16-26.Mitchell, alongtime unofficial supporter of the festival, will select a number of specialscreenings and moderate panel discussions. He joins festival director RichardRaddon and director of programming Rachel Rosen.The festivalincludes competitive strands ...
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Paramount confirms talks with Berman
Brad Grey'santicipated revolution at Paramount Pictures appeared to be underway yesterday[22] as it emerged that the studio was holding talks with Fox Entertainmentpresident Gail Berman.While a NewsCorp spokesman declined to comment on the development, Paramount confirmed thattalks had begun, throwing into uncertainty the current status of the leadingtelevision executive, who ...
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Atrix, Sola take on Toronto, Sundance hit Forest
Beatrix Wesle'sAtrix Films and Solveig Langeland's Sola Media, which has a sales partnershipthat has handled Austria's Antares and German thriller Silentium, has taken onworldwide sales rights excluding Germany and France to Sundance award-winner ForestFor The TreesDirected by Maren Ade, Forest For The Trees played at the Toronto International FilmFestival ...
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Atmosphere, Relativity team up for new Chiller
Mark Canton's production companyAtmosphere Entertainment and financing outfit Relativity Media have formedChiller Films, a joint venture to produce several films a year budgeted at upto $20m each. Canton andRelativity principal Ryan Kavanaugh will produce with Atmosphere's SteveBarnett and Relativity's Lynwood Spinks serving as executive producers. The partners arein talks with ...
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When Do We Eat' to open Palm Beach festival in April
The worldpremiere of Salvador Litvak's comedy When Do We Eat' and the US premiere of Jeff Hare's dramaChecking Out bookendthe 10th annual Palm Beach International Film Festival, which runs in Floridafrom Apr 14-21.Festivalorganisers unveiled a line-up yesterday [22] of 150 US and international titlesincluding 11 world premieres and six US ...
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Perrin issues statement about Chorus controversy
Producer JacquesPerrin has responded to threats of legal action by the father of one of thesingers in Christophe Barratier's Oscar nominated The Chorus by saying he will only answer to thecourts.FrancisHartmann, whose daughter sang on the award winning soundtrack, has alleged thather participation has not been properly remunerated. It was ...
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SPC finally completes deal to buy 2046
Sony PicturesClassics (SPC) has finally completed its acquisition of US and English Canadianrights to Wong Kar-wai's epic romance 2046, which first played in competition at Cannes last year.The film, whichhas already opened in the UK, France, Japan, Germany and most otherinternational markets, was recut after its Cannes screening by the ...
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First timer Bousman gets Saw 2 directing gig
First-time writer-director Darren Lynn Bousman will directSaw 2, the sequel to Twisted Pictures'2004 horror hit that grossed close to $100m worldwide through Lions Gate.Principalphotography is set to begin on May 2 in Toronto in time for a Halloween releasein North America.TwistedPictures' Gregg Hoffman, Oren Koules and Mark Burg are producing, ...
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French, Chinese film-makers eye closer co-operation
Searching for a new sort of entente cordiale betweenfilmmakers from France and China was at the heart of "French Day" at HongKong's Entertainment Expo.The day kicked off with a seminar on the common groundbetween the two industries. Interestingly, the lingua franca was English, withall six panellists from France, Hong Kong ...
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Australia's FFC gets involved in Hell
Australia's Film Finance Corporation (FFC) isto invest in Richard Frankland's To Hell And Bourke, only the thirdfeature ever to be made by an indigenous Australian writer/director.Following a board meeting yesterday, the FFC said itintended to finance the film if producer Ross Hutchens can raise the rest ofthe finance and meet ...
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Italian Amore powers into international chart
GiovanniVeronesi's comedy-drama Manuale d'Amore powered its way onto theinternational chart last weekend thanks to a strong opening in Italy.Thefilm, which tells four stories about different stages in relationships from afirst kiss to abandonment, took the country's lead spot with a superb $3.8m off482 screens - both a high figure and ...
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Darclight Films picks up kung-fu drama SPL
Darclight Films, the genre division of Australian-US saleshouse Arclight, has picked up international sales rights outside Asia to WilsonYip's forthcoming SPL.The$3.8m police kung-fu action drama is recently completed and was picked up byDarclight's Gary Hamilton on the eve of Hong Kong Entertainment Expo, the newevent which encompasses FilMart and the ...
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Lions Gate Family Entertainment joins Foodfight!
The fledgling Lions GateFamily Entertainment has announced its first feature project Foodfight!, a 3D animated story about the after-hours antics ofa supermarket that features the voices of Hilary and Haylie Duff.Lions Gate is co-producing with Larry Kasanoff's Threshold Animation Studiosand has acquired North American rights for an autumn 2006 release.Kasanoff ...
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April Snow set to engulf Asia
South Korean distributor Show East is enjoying anunprecedented media blitz from across Asia for its upcoming title April Snow- which is being marketed as Korea's first Asia-wide blockbuster ahead of itsSeptember release.On March 17, a visit to the film's setattracted over 350 local and international press members, including 100reporters who ...
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Quinta names Alatan as head of development
Tarak Ben Ammar's rapidlyexpanding group Quinta Communications has appointed Faruk Alatan as its head ofdevelopment. Industry veteran Alatan, who isbased in Rome, will continue in his present roles as head of film acquisitionfor Medusa and senior advisor to Mediaset's Film trade arm.The move underlines thebusiness development and film distribution ambitions ...