All Screen articles in 9 October 2003
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News
Hong Kong star to Focus on distribution
Hong Kong star Andy Lau has established a new company, Focus Films, which will be involved in the co-financing, distribution and acquisition of both local and international films. The new outfit is part of a major restructuring of Lau's business interests which span production, distribution and artist management. Focus Films ...
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Oz post house Soundfirm opens China outpost
Australian post-production outfit Soundfirm, which has credits including Zhang Yimou's Hero and Moulin Rouge, has established an outpost in Beijing to provide services for both local and international projects. The Melbourne-based company has a strong track record with Asian film, stretching from Jackie Chan blockbuster Rumble In The Bronx through ...
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Mirovision wanders into horror Park
Korea's Mirovision has picked up international sales on the new picture by super hot Hong Kong director Andrew Lau Wai-Keung, one half of the team behind the Infernal Affairs sensations.The Park is a low-budget horror piece about a group of seven teenagers who step into a theme-park which has been ...
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Shochiku lines up Mullan for jazz drama
Expanding Japanese production and distribution group Shochiku is to unveil new historical drama Out Of This World by leading director Sakamoto Junji.Under the tagline 'Jazz Brings Peace', the film stars UK actor Peter Mullan and US actor Shea Whigham as American GIs who introduced jazz to Japan when the country ...
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Fortune Star set for MIPCOM debut
Fortune Star, the Hong Kong film and television production arm of News Corp's Star TV, makes its debut as an exhibitor tomorrow at MIPCOM (Oct 10-13) with an emphasis on the DVD sector and high definition content.The boutique, headed by former Media Asia distribution head Peter Poon, has yet to ...
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Brazilian film-maker set for Carnival exposure
For the first time in the history of Rio de Janeiro's centuries-old carnival, a samba school has chosen a filmmaker and his life's work as its theme. Carlos 'Caca' Diegues, best known internationally for Bye Bye Brazil, will be the inspiration for next year at the samba school of Barra ...
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Film Council plots public-private cash boost
Leading British support body the UK Film Council is to team with a private sector partner to raise new private investment through a dedicated Enterprise Investment Scheme, a tax-driven financing mechanism that will bankroll selected features alongside the council's National Lottery cash.The scheme, which could pave the way for a ...
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Snapper takes UK for Scorsese's The Blues
Snapper Music has acquired the UK theatrical, DVD, VHS and broadcast rights to the film series, The Blues. The Blues, executive produced by Martin Scorsese, is a seven-film series of personal and impressionistic films viewed through the lens of directors who share a passion for the music. In addition ...
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Foreign shoots 'little benefit' to local industry, say Moroccans
Morocco may be feeling the economic benefits of foreign productions coming to the country to shoot, but local film-makers this week voiced concerns that the influx of foreign money and crews was having no significant knock-on benefits to indigenous production.In a frank and wide-ranging round table discussion at the Marrakech ...
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BBC snares Calendar Girls in major Buena Vista deal
The BBC has struck an exclusive free-TV licensing deal with Buena Vista International Television for a package of over 100 titles, including Calendar Girls, Cold Mountain and Kill Bill.The multi-million pound deal covers titles from Walt Disney Pictures, Touchstone Pictures and Miramax Films. Other titles in the package include Chicago, ...
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Brazil poised for leap into digital age
Vastly underscreened Brazil is poised to take a quantum leap into the digital age. A fledgling local company, Rain Networks, plans to transform 100 existing independent screens in Brazil into digital screens by spring next year. In Rio de Janeiro alone, the city is planning to build 50 new screens ...
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Grant mucks in on African Farm
Richard E. Grant, who was born in Swaziland and spent his early years in South Africa, has finally returned home to star in the $2m production of The Story Of An African Farm.The film is currently shooting for six weeks in South Africa's dry and barren semi-desert Karoo 300kms north ...
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Thai exhibitor first Asian player to install 2K digital projector
Thailand's SF Cinema City has teamed up with Christie Digital Systems to become the first Asian exhibitor to install a 2K digital projector, the next generation in digital screening technology.The Thai cinema chain has installed the system at its signature theatre - the nine-screen SFX Central Ladprao in Bangkok. It ...
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Valenti showdown talks 'positive'
Fresh from a conferencecall with MPAA chief Jack Valenti, the heads of the studios' specialtydivisions are preparing a follow-up meeting in a bid to thrash out alternativesto the screener ban.Whilesources described Wednesday's showdown as "positive", details of the agendaremained sketchy other than proposals for less draconian anti-piracy measures.Itis understood neither ...
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Fuse lights up Marrakech jury
Pjer Zalica's Fuse was awarded the Golden Star (Etoile d'Or) at the third Marrakech International Film Festival, which wrapped yesterday(Oct 8. The Bosnian film also won the best actor prize for Bogdan Diklic's performance. Tom McCarthy's The Station Agent took the feature film Special Jury Prize, while Takeshi Kitano was ...
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FRANCE
Despite the beating it took from the critics, The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen opened at number one this week - largely due to a lack of strong competition, but also thanks to a very visible poster campaign that's been running for some weeks. Another surprise was the poor performance of ...
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Peter Sellers tickles UK and Down Under
IconFilm Distribution and Warner Home Video have teamed up to acquire theatricaland home video rights respectively in the UK and Australia/New Zealand for HBOFilms' star-laden The Life And Death Of Peter Sellers.BBCFilms had already secured all UK television rights to the film, which wrappedin London recently and stars Geoffrey Rush ...
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Kher named as Indian Censor chief
Indian actor Anupam Kher, who has appeared in Bend It Like Beckham has been appointed chief of India's Censor Board. The move was announced by the Indian information and broadcasting minister Ravi Shankar Prasad in New Delhi, who said Kher had worked in commercial cinema, cross-over cinema and had considerable ...
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Intermission joins landmark year at Irish box office
Intermission hit the Euros 2m milestone for BVI at Irish cinemas on Wednesdaynight, adding to the lustre of 2003 as a landmark year at the local box officefor films made in Ireland. With several strong titles yet to be released in the final quarterIrish-made films have already reached a combined ...
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Hungarian adaptations win state funding
Three literary adaptations have received distribution aid from the Motion Picture Public Foundation of Hungary.To qualify for the aid, filmmakers and distributors have to commit to generating 80-100,000 admissions. Eight films received aid, with the largest sums going to: Tamas Sas' adaptation of Apam Beajulna (This'd Make Daddy Faint) by ...