All Screen articles in 28 February 2003
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News
Golden Harvest takes The Grudge
Hong Kong studio Golden Harvest has become one of the first international distributors to sign on for Ghost House Pictures' remake of Japanese director Takashi Shimizu's The Grudge (Ju-On). The company has acquired Hong Kong and Malaysian rights to the film which will be the second production from Ghost House, ...
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News
Forced exit for Tobis distribution head
Marlies Weber, head of distribution at Berlin-based Tobis Film, has been forced to vacate her position as of today.Speaking to Screendaily.com, Weber (pictured) said that she was "not going of her own free will" and does not yet have anything else lined up.Meanwhile, Magnus Vortmeyer, Tobis Film's head of press ...
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News
Canada pursues commerce over culture
Ararat and Crash producer Robert Lantos is readying a series of big-budget films with international casts - in line with Canadian funding body Telefilm's aim to support films with box office potential.It has been almost a year since federal funding body Telefilm spelled out its aim of focusing on supporting ...
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News
Co-productions boost Czech release slate
Nearly half of all Czech films scheduled for release during 2003 are co-productions with Slovakia, the Republic's erstwhile partner in the former Czechoslovakia.One of the few female Czech directors, Michaela Pavlátová (pictured), makes her debut with Lassitude In Two, a psychological drama based on a novel by Slovak author Tina ...
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News
New films by Rohmer, Akerman and Fridriksson get Eurimages cash
New feature films by Eric Rohmer, Chantal Akerman and Fridrik Thor Fridriksson are among nine projects awarded over Euros 3.3m by Eurimages.Two projects were backed in the funding category for larger projects with commercial promise: Euros 700,000 for Didier and Thierry Poiraud's French-German-UK co-production Le Retour De James Bataille and ...
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News
Taipei film festival unveils 5th edition line-up
The Taipei Film Festival has unveiled the line-up for its fifth edition (March 9-22) which includes a special focus on cinema from Australia and Japan. Among the eight films that will screen in the Australian New Current section are four from Tony Ayres, including last year's critical hit Walking On ...
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News
Digital cinema and piracy top ShoWest 2003 agenda
The roll-out of digital cinema and the growing threat of piracy are to be among the chief talking points when industry delegates convene in Las Vegas for ShoWest 2003. With domestic admissions reaching record levels in 2002 and the relatively low 2.5% hike in ticket prices compared to other entertainment ...
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News
Warner Bros signs Indonesian free TV deal
Warner BrosInternational Television Distribution (WBITD) has signed a multi-year deal withIndonesia's Pt Duta Visual Nusantara Tivi Tujuh for free televisionrights to a raft of pictures, television series, animated series, TV movies,miniseries and documentaries for broadcast on the company's channel TV7.The dealincludes broadcast rights to Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone, ...
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News
Palm signs on for Assayas Cannes pic demonlover
Chris Blackwell's PalmPictures has acquired all US and Caribbean rights to Olivier Assayas'thriller demonlover, with plansfor a theatrical release in the autumn followed by a DVD release in 2004.The multi-layered storycentres on a corporate mole who discovers an online torture chamber. ConnieNielson (Gladiator, One Hour Photo),Chloe Sevigny (Boys Don't Cry),Gina ...
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News
IMAX records first profitable year since 1999
IMAX Corporationhas reported its first profitable year since 1999, with annual revenues (endingDec 31 2002) of $130.7m compared to $118.7m in 2001. Fourth quarter revenueswere $37.3m compared to $33.9m for the same period the year before.Thecompany's co-chairmen and co-CEOs Richard L Gelfond and Bradley JWechsler said they expected IMAX to ...
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Reviews
Facing Windows (La Finestra Di Fronte)
Dir: Ferzan Ozpetek. It/UK/Turkey/Port. 2003. 105mins.Ferzan Ozpetek is one of the few contemporary Italian directors who manages to straddle the arthouse-commercial divide. Born in Turkey, the director drew strongly on Anatolian themes in his first two films, The Turkish Bath (1997) and Harem Suare (1999), but with his last, 2001's ...
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News
UK's BFI appoints new head
The British Film Institute (BFI) has appointed Amanda Nevill as director, the UK film and TV body announced on Friday.Nevill, who is currently head of the National Museum of Photography, Film and TV in Bradford, Yorkshire, will take up the post in June. The move has raised eyebrows as many ...
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News
India's Tata steps in to film production
Indian conglomerate the Tata Group has entered the Indian film production business, stepping in to rescue stalled production on Bollywood title Aitbaar.The company announced its plans to co-produce the big-budget movie, starring Bollywood super star Amitabh Bachchan and model-turned-Indian actress Bipasha Basu (pictured), after funding failed to materialise for producer ...
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News
Spanish cinema takes heart from new figures
The Spanish box office looks to have enjoyed a better year last year than estimates predicted, as new figures from the state film institute ICAA reveal.Meanwhile, local films have started the year off with a bang thanks to the record-breaking performance of Javier Fesser's comic book-inspired action-adventure Mortadelo & Filemon ...
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Hong Kong - the sequel means business
With box office for local films down by nearly 25%, last year marked a low point for the Hong Kong film industry. So it's hardly surprising that filmmakers are now revisiting familiar material. At least three sequels are set to start shooting in Hong Kong over the next few months ...
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News
German politician urges Jackass boycott
On the eve of its German opening, a Bavarian politician has called on cinema-owners to drop Jackass - The Movie from their programmes.In a statement, Markus Soeder, who is chairman of the of the conservative Christian Social Union party's Media Committee, said that "the series and film contain repulsive and ...
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Mixed bag for international box office markets last year
2002 was the year the US majors clawed back market share at the international box office after the previous 12 months which had seen homegrown hits enjoy an unprecedented period of glory in their local markets.Record-breaking audiences were seduced by the second instalments in the Harry Potter (Chamber Of Secrets) ...
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News
Audiovisual Eureka to close by end of June
The European Union's enlargement eastwards and changes in its membership have resulted in Audiovisual Eureka deciding to close down in June, leaving Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and states of the former Yugoslavia without a broad support programme.In a statement, the Brussels-based body explained the context for the decision: "the geopolitical developments ...
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News
Zeidman leaves Landmark for Lions Gate, Peckos leaves Lions Gate for Landmark
Marty Zeidmanhas joined Lions Gate Films Releasing as senior vice president and generalsales manager, at the same time as Jay Peckos has left Lions Gate from his postas vice president of distribution to become film buyer at Landmark.Zeidman was headfilm buyer for the US arthouse theatre circuit, and in his ...
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News
Daly's MFD secures P&A fund from Filmstar Releasing
MiracleEntertainment chairman John Daly has signed a three-year revolving P&A fundwith Filmstar Releasing to support the newly-formed Miracle Film Distribution's(MFD) forthcoming domestic theatrical releases. MFD and Filmstar Releasing willshortly announce the first picture to come under the new arrangement.'I am very pleased tobe partnered with Jon Gentile and his Filmstar ...