All Screen articles in 24 December 2004
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2004: A taxing year in the UK
It has been a taxing year. The Treasury's February'bombshell' outlawing tax partnerships such as Ingenious'Inside Track and Grosvenor Park's First Choice knocked a hole through thefinancing of many productions.In the wake of that decision, the emphasis was on damagelimitation. Though few could work out how the government's much-vaunted20% tax credits ...
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2004: Almodovar, Vega lead Spanish crusade
In March, the Socialist party ousted the ruling PopularParty in a surprise upset in Spain's national elections. Thepredominantly left-leaning film industry was jubilant with the win, temperedonly by the fact that it was preceded three days earlier by a series of deadlyterrorist bombs set off on commuter trains in Madrid.The ...
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2004: Japan toasts samurai, love and Miyazaki
The three main themes of the Japanese box office in 2004were samurai, love and Miyazaki. Unlike most Hollywood films set in Japan, TheLast Samurai was embraced by localaudiences as one of their own. The film outpaced Harry Potter And ThePrisoner Of Azkaban, Finding Nemo and TheReturn Of The King at ...
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2004: Farce and Passion in France
The year started brightly with the implementation of atax-credit scheme meant to bolster production at home - and ended bleaklywith the ruling that a film French to its Tricolore core, Jean-PierreJeunet's A Very Long Engagement,did not qualify for state subsidies.The pedigree of its production company, 2003 Productions,was considered American given ...
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2004: New Zealand on a roll
The country is on a roll. Producers are financing localfilms at unprecedented budget levels, footloose productions are arriving fromHollywood with great frequency and audiences are swarming into cinemas to watchthe pick of the local crop.Moreover, film-maker Peter Jackson is pumping money intoinfrastructure and skills development that can be accessed by ...
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2004: Russia comes in from the cold
This year was dominated by the boom in Russian film-making.Some 120 features have been shot in 2004 and every week Moscow sees thepremiere of at least one or two new local titles.The big winner on both the production and distributionfronts was Timur Bekmambetov's Night Watch, which broke all box-office records ...
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2004: All eyes on South Korean cinema
In 2004, Korean cinema saw two films, Silmido and Taegukgi, pass the hitherounscaled 10 million admissions mark.The industry also made key strides in its most importantoverseas market - Japan. However, moves by Korea's major studiosled to fears of a 'monopolistic' accumulation of power.CJ Entertainment won a bitter struggle for exhibition ...
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2004: Clouds on horizon for Swedish film
Two major wrangles defined the year for the Swedish filmindustry: the renewal of the Swedish film agreement, and the proposed sale ofSandrew Metronome's exhibition business to rival chain SF Bio.The renewal of the Swedish film agreement, which is designedto generate money for local production, has been delayed until 2005. The ...
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2004: Italy racked by Venice, Mifed and funding troubles
2004 began with a serious case of deja vu, as a questionmark once again hung in the air over who would head up the Venice filmfestival.In April, the Italian government ousted Venice artisticdirector Moritz de Hadeln, and picked the popular Marco Mueller. But despite arich selection and a glitzier line-up ...
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2004: Oz despairs as production levels plummet
Despair and hope characterised 2004. Local production levelsfell, only a few films found audiences, and everyone had a moan about the rest.But hopes are high that the relatively new and still freshFilm Finance Corporation Australia chief executive Brian Rosen - helpedby his new sidekicks - really will prove to be ...
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2004: German film blasts off in Dreamship year
Local comedies Dreamship Surprise - Period 1, DerWixxer and 7 Dwarfs drove soaring admissions in 2004. German audiencesalso responded well to the more idiosyncratic titles including OliverHirschbiegel's The Downfall,Fatih Akin's Golden Bear winner Head-On, and the family film Lauras Stern.In the first nine months of the year, German films'market share ...
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2004: Barbarian leads the way for Canada
2004 was the year of living on the edge, as the Canadiandollar's value soared against the US currency. And thegovernment-mandated push for box-office results only served to highlight thedisparity between the popularity of French-language films in Quebec versus lackof interest in non-English-language fare in the rest of Canada.The person of ...
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2004: Indian film rides big budget wave
The year was marked by the release of several high-budgetfilms such as the $9m Kisna, producedand directed by Subhash Ghai, and the $7m Indian-UK historical epic TheRising, directed by Ketan Mehta.The industry also endured controversies including the sackingof Anupam Kher as the head of the Indian censors for clearing two ...
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2004: Danes strike a serious tone
The Danes struck a more serious tone in front of the camerain 2004, moving away from the tried-and-tested formula of contemporary familydrama with a touch of tragedy but plenty of heart and humour.Not every 'feel-bad' movie, including In YourHands and Aftermath, was embraced by local audiences. But Brothers, dealing with ...
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2004: Hong Kong film flattened by US competition
There was cautious optimism among Hong Kong producers at thestart of the year as the box office appeared to be recovering and mainlandChina opened its doors through the much-vaunted Cepa trade agreement.But after a dispiriting summer - during which localsfilms were flattened by the US competition and production levels started ...
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BVI full of good cheer as The Incredibles passes $200m
Buena Vista International(BVI) executives were in fine fettle going into the holiday break after The Incredibles' passed $200m at the international box office on Dec 22.The Pixar hit has amassed $202m and BVI chiefs will look to a pair of strong openings in Russia on Dec 24 and Australiatwo days ...
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Germany's X-Verleih earns exhibitor wrath
Germany's exhibitorassociations HDF and AG Kino have criticised distributor X Verleih for planningto release Dani Levy's comedy Alles Auf Zucker! on free-TV station WDRjust three months after its Jan 6 theatrical premiere.AG Kino said it feared that 'a precedent' wasbeing set to undermine release window dates. Earlier in the year, ...
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Turkey in good spirits heading into Christmas
Agreat year for local product in Turkey in 2004 was capped by comedy smash G.O.R.A.which now ranks as the highest grossing film of the last 20 years in theterritory having grossed $17.4m (TKL 24.5bn).Fiveof the year's top six releases were local productions with only Troy, inthird place, preventing a clean ...
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BBC viewers vote for best films of 2004
Viewers of the BBC's leading film review programme, Film 2004 with Jonathan Ross, have voted The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King astheir Film of the Year.Massappeal blockbusters such as Spider-Man 2 and The Incredibles lineup in the top 10 alongside the subtitled martial arts epic Hero ...