All Screen articles in 25 February 2005

View all stories from this month.

  • News

    MGM fourth quarter figures hit by merger costs

    2005-02-25T04:00:00Z

    Merger costs, an$8.3m non-cash charge and falling revenue led to lower year-on-year fourthquarter income at MGM, which is in the process of being taken over by aconsortium of buyers led by Sony.The studioreported $38.5m net income or $0.16 per share for the fourth quarter of 2004,compared to $60.3m or $0.25 ...

  • News

    German-Turkish culture clash comedy makes Connection

    2005-02-25T04:00:00Z

    Hamburg-basedproduction house Wueste Film has signed the first deals with distributors fromAustria, Switzerland, Scandinavia and Turkey for Anno Saul's KebabConnectionTheculture clash comedy, starringDenis Moschitto and Norah Tschirner, had its internationalmarket premiere in the Berlinale's German Cinema section last week.Buyers includedSwitzerland's Cineworx and Turkey's R Films - both of whom released ...

  • News

    Warner ventures into Chinese DVD distribution

    2005-02-25T04:00:00Z

    Warner Bros has becomethe first US studio to establish an in-country DVD/VCD distribution andmarketing operation in China.Warner Home Videoannounced yesterday the formation of CAV Warner Home Entertainment Co., a jointventure with China Audio Video that is based in Shanghai and is nowoperational.The announcement followsextensive analysis by Warner Home Video of ...

  • News

    Payne presides over Un Certain Regard jury

    2005-02-25T04:00:00Z

    Oscarcontender Alexander Payne will preside over the jury for the Un Certain Regardsection of the 58th Cannes Film Festival (May 11-22), organizers said Thursday.TheUS filmmaker, whose Sideways, isup for five Academy Awards this weekend including picture, director and adaptedscreenplay, has traveled to Cannes in an official capacity once before: In2002, ...

  • News

    China centennial takes Centre Stage at HK Fest

    2005-02-25T04:00:00Z

    Thisyear's Hong Kong International Film Festival (March 22 - April 6) plans tocelebrate the 100th anniversary of Chinese cinema by screening a digitallyremastered version of Stanley Kwan's 1992 period drama Centre Stage.Theaward-winning film, one of a series of special digital presentations at thefestival, stars Maggie Cheung as 1930s Chinese actress ...

  • News

    Producer Salvi kick-starts new Italian buyer

    2005-02-25T04:00:00Z

    Italian producerVeronica Salvi has launched a new film production and distribution company,named Dujass Film.Salvi and partnerMarco Ambrosini formed Dujass after acquiring Esse&Bi Cinematografica, thecompany formerly run by Salvi and Italian director Paolo Modugno.Dujass is alreadyactive on the acquisitions front. In Berlin, the outfit picked up OlivierDucastel and Jacques Martineau's title ...

  • News

    Spanish box office hit gets sales lift at EFM

    2005-02-25T04:00:00Z

    Spanish salesconsortium Grupo Pi has announced a handful of deals concluded at the recentEuropean Film Market in Berlin.The outfit soldlocal box office hit 4th Floor (Planta 4a) to Movie Max in Italy, where the film is expectedto be released on around 50 prints, and to Jekino Films for Benelux.The BocaBocaproduction, ...

  • News

    Duguay revs up Villeneuve racing biopic

    2005-02-25T04:00:00Z

    Gabriella Martinelli'sToronto-based Capri Films will produce a bio-pic of legendary Formula 1 racerGilles Villeneuve. Christian Duguay (The Art Of War) has signed to direct from a screenplay to bewritten by documentary filmmaker Malcolm Clarke (Prisoner Of Paradise). The announcement was made in Montreal Thursday atthe nightclub owned by Villeneuve's son ...

  • News

    Berlinale trio seal German distribution deals

    2005-02-25T04:00:00Z

    HerbertKloiber's theatrical arm Concorde Filmverleih has acquired the French film TheBeat That My Heart Skipped, which screened in Official Competition at last week's Berlinale.JacquesAudiard's film, an homage to James Toback's 1970s' classic Fingers, went on to win the SilverBear for Best Film Music (by Alexandre Desplat).Inaddition, Concorde picked up directorial ...

  • News

    Gitai's Free Zone proves hot seller for Bac

    2005-02-25T04:00:00Z

    Coming out of theEuropean Film Market, Bac International has announced fresh territorial saleson Amos Gitai's Free Zone, starring Oscar-nominee Natalie Portman.Free Zone was sold to Australia's Palace Films,Canada's Les Films Seville, Switzerland's Filmcoopi, Italy's Istituto Luce,Brazil's Imovision and Belgium's Cineart. The film,currently shooting in Israel and Jordan, caused an outcry ...

  • News

    Haggis to win inaugural screenwriting award at San Francisco

    2005-02-25T04:00:00Z

    Paul Haggis willreceive the inaugural Maurice Kanbar Award for excellence in screenwriting atthe 48th San Francisco International Film Festival, which runs from Apr 21-May5.Haggis, who isnominated for an adapted screenplay Oscar for Million Dollar Baby, will present a masterclass onscreenwriting accompanied by a screening of the drama Crash, which he ...

  • News

    Dutch wage two-pronged assault on Norwegian war satire

    2005-02-25T04:00:00Z

    Dutch producer 24fpsis working on a film version of Krig, the satirical Norwegian novel about a war betweenthe Netherlands and Norway that erupts after an incident during the Europeanskating championship.Producer AntonScholten is at the moment negotiating the project with some unnamed Norwegianproducers. Krig's estimated budget is Euros 3m. No director ...

  • News

    CNC creates public film archive at National Library

    2005-02-25T04:00:00Z

    France's NationalLibrary and the French Film Commission (CNC) have signed an agreement to createa film archive at the library.The archives, anoffshoot of the CNC's own French film archives, will be open to the public,providing access to "one of the largest collections of cinema in the world."Among the filmswill be catalogue ...

  • News

    Universal Japan leads buyer rush for April Snow

    2005-02-25T04:00:00Z

    Koreanproduction house Show East has licensed its now-in-production melodrama AprilSnow acrossAsia, including a key sale to Universal Pictures Japan. Theraft of deals should ensure that the Hur-Jin-ho-directed picture gets aday-and-date release across the Asian region.Inaddition to the sale to Universal, the film was licensed to Golden Scene for Hong Kong, ...

  • News

    Techine, Angelopulous book-end Belgrade festival

    2005-02-25T04:00:00Z

    The 33rd BelgradeInternational Film Festival kicks off on Jan 25 with Andre Techine's LesTemps Qui Changent and will beopened by the film's star Catherine Deneuve. Running until Feb 6, thefestival in the Serbian capital will feature some 80 films across seven sections, in a programmemostly comprising fare from the biggest ...

  • News

    Techine, Angelopulous book-end Belgrade festival

    2005-02-25T04:00:00Z

    The 33rd BelgradeInternational Film Festival kicks off on Jan 25 with Andre Techine's LesTemps Qui Changent and will beopened by the film's star Catherine Deneuve. Running until Feb 6, thefestival will feature some 80 films across seven sections, in a programmemostly comprising fare from the biggest world festivals of ...

  • News

    Trauma scares up North American deal via DEJ

    2005-02-25T04:00:00Z

    DEJ Productions has acquiredNorth America rights in all media from Myriad Pictures to Marc Evanspsychological thriller Trauma,which is scheduled for DVD release on Jun 14.The picture is the firstproject from Little Bird's specialist horror arm Ministry Of Fear and starsColin Firth and Mena Suvari in the tale of a man ...

  • News

    RSA, Black Dog sign Akerlund, Renck for commercials, music videos

    2005-02-25T04:00:00Z

    Film andcommercials production company RSA and Blackdog Films have signed Swedish directorsJonas Akerlund and Johan Renck for representation in the US and UK.RSA will handleall commercial work and Black Dog will represent the clients for music videos."The work ofJonas and Johan and their company RAF is groundbreaking and it is ...

  • News

    3Geez acquires film rights to Cheese Monkeys

    2005-02-25T04:00:00Z

    Los Angeles andToronto-based 3Geez Productions has acquired the rights to veteran book-coverdesigner Chip Kidd's debut novel The Cheese Monkeys.Partcoming-of-age novel, part introduction to graphic design, The Cheese Monkeys follows a group of students throughtheir first two terms majoring in art in university.The project will be producedby Amy Green and Sarah ...

  • News

    MPAA launches third wave of lawsuits at online pirates

    2005-02-25T00:00:00Z

    The MPAA haslaunched a third wave of lawsuits targeting online pirates of such currentOscar contenders as Spider-Man 2, Sideways and Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind.Officers havefiled an unspecified number of 'John Doe' civil suits with federal courtsacross the US in the latest round of legal action since November. It ...