All Screen articles in 7 April 2000
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FilmFour, Whitaker strike production pact
The UK's FilmFour has partnered with US actor Forest Whitaker and his production company Spirit Dance Entertainment to find, develop and produce projects by black and Asian film-makers.FilmFour will have first look on projects that the two companies work on together. The partners aim to work with established film-makers and ...
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Telefonica delays media subsidiary float
Juan Villalonga, president of Spanish multimedia giant Telefonica, announced at a shareholders meeting on Friday (April 7) that the company has postponed its planned flotation of audiovisual unit, Telefoncia Media, due to concerns over falling prices for media and Internet stock."Content companies around the world are undervalued and if we ...
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Alliance, TV-Loonland strike $75m children's pact
Canada's Alliance Atlantis Communications (AAC) and Germany's TV-Loonland have sealed a $75m (C$110m) children's content deal covering production, distribution, home video, merchandising, ecommerce and webcasting. As part of the deal, the German children's specialist will sub-distribute or co-produce up to nine children's and animation series with AAC's kids division into ...
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Messier keen on Canal Plus, Platco collaboration
Vivendi chairman Jean-Marie Messier would like to see a link-up between Vivendi-owned Canal Plus and News Corp's planned digital platform, Platco, according to Reuters. Messier stated Thursday, April 6, that a merger between Canal Plus and part News Corp-owned BSkyB - in which Vivendi and Canal Plus have a 24.5% ...
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Jim Henson appoints Blake to US development post
The Jim Henson Company, which was recently acquired by German powerhouse EM.TV, has appointed Juliet Blake as senior vice president, creative affairs at Jim Henson Television.In her new position Blake will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of primetime programming including the development of new comedy and drama series, movies ...
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Haugesund to open with Norway's Jesus
Highly-anticipated Norwegian title When I Hit Jesus (Da Jeg Traff Jesus) is to open this year's Haugesund International Film Festival (August 26 - Sep 2). The comedy is produced by one of Norway's most successful film-making teams, Petter Borgli and Thomas Backstroem, whose credits include The Telegrafist, Blessed Are Those ...
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Redbus hoards rights ahead of VoD launch in UK
The fast-surging UK media concern Redbus Film Group has accumulated a number of studio-level films for its upcoming video-on-demand service through a television package deal struck with German rights broker Intertainment.Intertainment, which has been busy of late concluding several free TV sales across Europe, announced this week television deals in ...
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New Euro TV powerhouse eyes US broadcasting stake
Pearson TV (PTV) and CLT-Ufa are to join forces, creating Europe's largest integrated production and broadcast group that now has its eye on North American broadcasting.Friday's merger announcement is the biggest yet in the rapid consolidation of the European television and new media sectors and was accompanied by an on-going ...
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Jolie to play cyberbabe Lara Croft in Tomb Raider
Oscar winner Angelina Jolie will play cyber action-babe Lara Croft in Paramount Pictures' live action version of the blockbuster video game Tomb Raider that will start shooting this summer at the UK's Pinewood Studios.Jolie, who recently won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in Girl, Interrupted, beat out ...
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Pollock replaces Ashmore at UIP South-East Asia
UIP has appointed Roger Pollock as vice president, sales for South-East Asia, replacing Steve Ashmore who left the company earlier this week - reportedly as part of a cost-cutting exercise following MGM's withdrawal from the joint distribution venture.Pollock will combine the position with his current role as general manager for ...
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Hofer surfaces at BW Film Academy
Former Studio Babelsberg Independents (SBI) chief Arthur Hofer has been appointed artistic head at the Baden-Wuerrttemberg Film Academy in Ludwigsburg. He succeeds Albrecht Ade who founded the academy in 1991.Hofer resigned from his Babelsberg post last month citing the resignation of studio boss Friedrich-Carl Wachs as a reason for his ...
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Taxi 2 breaks first week record in France
Arp Selection's Taxi 2 has broken another French box office record, selling more tickets in its first week - 3.48 million - than any other film in French box office history.The record was previously held by another French title - Gaumont's The Visitors 2 : The Corridor of Times, which ...
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Info Avenue launches film investment web-site
Info Avenue, an e-commerce design and consulting company whose shareholders include the Itochu trading house and Sun Microsystems, has launched a web-site for raising film finance from film fans. Called cinem@net.com, the site recruits individuals for site-sponsored "support groups" based around specific projects. The "supporters" purchase membership in return for ...
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Canal Plus to up investment in Italian production
Canal Plus and its Italian pay-TV operation TelePiu have pledged to step up their involvement in Italian films by investing L90bn in 2000-2001, compared to L60bn in 1998-1999.The agreement, signed April 6 with Italian minister of culture Giovanna Melandri, is the second step in a two-part deal. The first step ...
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Universal takes Kinowelt package
German sales and distribution group Kinowelt Medien has sold a package of 70 films to Universal Studios Networks Deutschland and a further four titles to state-owned free broadcaster ZDF.The pictures licensed to ZDF are Tony Bui's Sundance hit Three Seasons, Neil LaBute's forthcoming Nurse Betty, Pavel Chukhraj's The Thief (Vor) ...
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Production report: Hong Kong stages a comeback
The arrival of US and European financiers and the dot.com frenzy ripping through Asia has allayed fears that the Hong Kong film industry is on its way out. With rampant video piracy and declining box-office receipts during the late 1990s, industry analysts predicted a doom and gloom scenario. But the ...
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London Production Fund launches 2000 funding round
The London Film and Video Development Agency (LFVDA) has launched the first round of the London Production Fund for 2000. The fund provides grants of up to £15,000 to animation, short film or documentary projects from independent filmmakers living or working in London.Backed by Carlton Television, FilmFour and UK film ...
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Bird swoops on top prize at Fribourg
The Bird Who Stops In The Air, by South Korean film-maker Jeon Soo-il, won the top prize at the 20th edition of the Fribourg International Film Festival in Fribourg, Switzerland (March 12-19).Special mention went to Darkness And Light, by Taiwanese director Chang Tso-Chi, while the festival's international jury gave the ...
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Disney ups Johnson as de Villiers resigns
The Walt Disney Co. has promoted Michael Johnson to the post of president of Walt Disney International while the overseas outfit's European chief Etienne de Villiers has resigned. Johnson has headed up Walt Disney International, Asia since June 1999. One of his first tasks in his new role will be ...
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Bollywood For You plans Indian launch
Hindi film channel, Bollywood For You (B4U), backed by UK entrepreneur Lakshmi Mittal, is preparing for an ambitious launch in the Indian market in the second half of this year. The seven-month-old channel has already bought domestic TV rights for more than 1,000 films in preparation for its launch ...