All Screen articles in 5 December 2001
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News
Guglielmi leaves Istituto Luce for joint venture
Angelo Guglielmi, a veteran of the Italian distribution scene, is to step down from Istituto Luce, where he has been president for the last five years.In the short term he will be replaced by Antonio More, a fellow board member at the state-backed production and distribution operation. But recently appointed ...
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Polish blockbusters dominate local box office
The appetite of Polish audiences for home-grown blockbusters remains undiminished with Witchman (Wiedzmin), directed by Marek Brodski and produced by Warsaw-based Vision Film Production and Heritage Films, holding the number one position for the second week in a row with a gross of $1.37m (zlo5.7m).The $18m Polish blockbuster Quo Vadis, ...
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Sundance 2002: the full line-up in detail
Sundance 2002: the full competition, premieres and World cinema line-ups.DRAMATIC COMPETITIONBARK Dir: KasiaAdamikA comedyabout misfits in which a veterinarian becomes involved with a client, whosewife has begun acting like a dog. Lisa Kudrow plays the vet while Lee Tergensenis the frazzled husband, whose marriage is going to the dogs. Hank ...
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News
Colombia considers new film tax proposals
The Colombian government is considering a proposal that would see the current revenues raised from a tax on cinema tickets redirected into a film fund which would feed loan advances, minimum guarantees and co-production money to finance local productions in Colombia.Seventy percent of the new fund would be allotted to ...
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News
Toei records bumper first half, predicts growth
Toei, one of Japan's leading distributors and exhibitors, has recorded a net operating profit of $10.5m (Y1.3 billion) in the first half of fiscal 2001, ending in September.The increase is largely attributed to the success of Hotaru, a romantic drama starring Japanese screen legend Ken Takakura which grossed $18m (Y2.3 ...
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News
UK production trend develops into horror
Don't look now, something spooky is occurring in the UK's development vaults. Elisabeth Murdoch's Shine Entertainment this month unveiled a slate of low-budget horror suspense titles with The Hole director Nick Hamm, while rising new directors such as Ratcatcher's Lynne Ramsay and Sexy Beast's Jonathan Glazer are bringing their own ...
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News
Cuckoo wins 2001 Oscar Moore script prize
This year's Annual Oscar Moore Screenwriting Prize of £10,000 has been won by Marcus Lloyd for his dark, urban thriller Cuckoo.Launched in 1997, The Oscar Moore Foundation is supported by the British film industry and administered by film trade bible Screen International. Set up in memory of Screen's late ...
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News
Norway's distributors re-negotiate rental rates
Norwegian film distributors are attempting to increase local rental rates for their future releases. The current level of film rental charges is regulated by a Film Rental Agreement between local distributors and exhibitors. The current agreement, however, expires on January 1, and is now undergoing active re-negotiation. Early talks ...
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News
Wait-and-see approach to video-on-demand
The introduction of video-on-demand will not be an overnight revolution, but will take place gradually over the next five years. Globally, just 26 million households will be capable of accessing VoD services by 2005, with the vast majority - 83%, located in the USA. According to Screen Digest's Video On ...
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News
Loeb & Loeb lawyer Greg Schenz joins Intermedia
Greg Schenz, formerly of LA entertainment law firm Loeb & Loeb LLP, has joined Intermedia's Los Angeles office as vice president, business/legal affairs. Schenz reports to vice chairman Jon Gumpert and focuses on film finance and talent transactions.As an associate at Loeb & Loeb, Schenz's practice focused on development, ...
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Reviews
The 51st State
Dir: Ronny Yu. UK/Canada. 2001. 92minsA lurid, laddish, bad ass romp, 51st State is so primed and pumped up that It's almost laughable. A wild-eyed enthusiasm for the delights of bloodshed, body fluids and expletive-filled banter should hit the mark with a target audience of young males who like their ...
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News
Amelie walks off with European film academy crown
As widely anticipated, Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amelie was the big winner at the 14th European Film Awards in Berlin's new Tempodrom venue on Dec 1, taking home four separate prizes, comprising: best European film, best director, cinematographer as well as the people's choice award for best director.Indeed, it was very much ...
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Festival heads criticise industrialisation, press
At an unprecedented meeting of selectors and officials in Berlin, top film festival directors from three continents bemoaned the industrialisation of festivals and the increasing difficulty of getting press coverage they feel their events deserve. Toronto's Piers Handling described how both Europe's major state-founded festivals and North America's private-backed events ...
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News
Italian film distributors unveil their 2002 slates
Italian state distributor Istituto Luce, whose president Angelo Guglielmi recently stepped down, has unveiled its 2002 distribution slate which includes Wong Kar-Wai's widely anticipated new film 2046, Theo Angelopoulos's upcoming film about Greek exiles, The Weeping Field, and French actor-writer-director Michel Blanc's Embrassez Qui Vous Voulez. Other distributors who unveiled ...
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Controversy looms at Italy's state-backed orgs
A high ranking member of Silvio Berlusconi's Italian government has openly criticized Cinecitta Holding's decision to appoint Antonio More managing director of state-run distributor Istituto Luce, after president Angelo Guglielmi stepped down last week. Leading Italian daily La Repubblica quoted Culture under-secretary Nicola Bono as saying: "The fairness which the ...
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News
EM.TV re-enters programme production
Following its radical programme of restructuring under the new CEO Werner Klatten, EM.TV & Merchandising is now planning to re-enter the arena of production in the field children's and family programming.In future, the Munich-based company intends to be involved annually in up to six animated or live-action series geared to ...
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News
Bank files insolvency suit against Kinowelt
The embattled German media group Kinowelt Medien reported that the restructuring measures aimed at streamlining operations had an "adverse effect" on its results for the first nine months of 2001.In an official communique, the company reported that the termination of the Warner Bros film package deal this week had ...
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Germany's Senator issues surprise profit warning
German market analysts have been caught unawares by Senator Entertainment's profit warning for the financial year 2001 - reducing its targetted revenues from Euros 197.1m to Euros 125m-130m and its EBIT from Euros 40m to Euros 2m-5m.As Markus Wallner and Marc Roehder of HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt observed, "the profit ...
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News
ABC acquires two Potters for reported $130m
US TV network ABC has acquired the television rights to Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone (Sorcerer's Stone in the US) and its sequel, Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets for a reported total of $130m, making it one of the most expensive such deals in TV history.The deal ...
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News
World mourns death of Beatle George Harrison
Tributes from around the world have been pouring in for former Beatle and film producer, George Harrison who died, aged 58, following a long illness.Buckingham Palace issued a statement saying that the Queen was "very sad" to hear the news, while British Prime Minister Tony Blair said "I think people ...