All Screen articles in 2 February 2002 – Page 5

  • News

    Wild Bunch is crazy for Marceau's Love

    2002-01-29T00:27:00Z

    In a crowd-pleasing move made on the eve of the Rotterdam and Berlin festivals, French sales agent Wild Bunch has picked up Sophie Marceau's directorial debut Parlez-Moi D'Amour. The film stars Judith Godreche (who starred in Marceau's 1995 short L'Aube A L'Envers), Niels Arestrup, Anne Le Ny, Laurence Fevrier, Jean-Marie ...

  • News

    Hoyts' Johnson named ShoWest int'l exhib of year

    2002-01-29T00:12:00Z

    Paul Johnson, the CEO ofAustralia's Hoyts Cinemas Ltd, has been named international exhibitor ofthe year at worldwide exhibition convention ShoWest which is being held March4-7 in Las Vegas.Johnson, who will receivehis award at the international day luncheon on March 4, joined Hoyts in 1982 asa financial accountant and in 1984 ...

  • News

    Uncut Monster's Ball to screen at Berlin

    2002-01-29T00:11:00Z

    The official unrateddirector's cut of Marc Forster's Monster's Ball will screen in competition at the Berlin FilmFestival on Feb 8, not the version which was passed by the MPAA for its USrelease. The version to be seen at the festival was rated NC-17 for itssexually explicit content and was subsequently ...

  • News

    MDP Worldwide acquires Stephen Gaghan script Havoc

    2002-01-29T00:10:00Z

    Mark Damon's MDPWorldwide has acquired the screenplay Havoc by Stephen Gaghan, theOscar-winning writer of Trafficand director of the forthcoming Abandon for Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment.Havoc is a multi-layered drama in the vein of Traffic about a gang of wealthy teens from the upscale LosAngeles neighbourhood of Pacific Palisades who ...

  • News

    Film Critics of Australia announce nominations

    2002-01-28T21:33:00Z

    Lantana, Moulin Rouge, Mullet and The Bank have a chance of being crowned best film in the 2002 Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards with the trophy going to one of the producers, namely Jan Chapman, Baz Luhrmann (and others), Vincent Sheehan or John Maynard respectively.But the directors of each ...

  • News

    China's Yon Fan honoured at Mardi Gras fest

    2002-01-28T21:31:00Z

    Chinese director Yon Fan will be the guest of the 2002 Australian Mardi Gras Film Festival, (Sydney, Feb 13-24) as part of a special focus on contemporary gay Asian cinema that will see the screening of features from South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong. Fan's trilogy Bugis Street (1994), ...

  • News

    Oslo Cinemas reverse film rental decision

    2002-01-28T21:28:00Z

    Norway's largest cinema operator has been forced into a U-turn over its refusal to accept recently-implemented national film rental rates.In an unprecedented move, Oslo Cinemas opted out of a new film rental agreement (Screendaily Jan 9), choosing instead to negotiate terms on a film-by-film basis with each distributor. Norway's ...

  • News

    Court supports Telenor in Canal Plus case

    2002-01-28T21:21:00Z

    Norwegian legal authorities have ruled that telecommunications giant Telenor is not obliged to complete its takeover of Nordic pay-TV operator Canal Digital from Canal Plus before a distribution agreement is cleared by the EU Commission. However, Canal Plus has announced that will now take the dispute to arbitrators. Following ...

  • News

    Pippi Longstocking creator dies, aged 94

    2002-01-28T21:15:00Z

    Astrid Lindgren the godmother of Swedish children's literature and creator of world-famous characters like Pippi Longstocking, Emil From Lonneberga, Ronja Robber's Daughter and The Brothers Lionhearth has died after suffering from a serious virus infection for a month. The beloved and respected author was born in 1907 in Vimmerby in ...

  • News

    Alan Finney awarded Order of Australia medal

    2002-01-28T21:06:00Z

    Alan Finney, vice president and managing director of Buena Vista International (Australia and New Zealand), was among the Australians honoured as part of the weekend's Australia Day celebrations. His Order of Australia Medal (OAM) is a signal of his status as the most experienced distributor in the country and one ...

  • News

    Oz FFC denies outgoing CEO was 'pushed'

    2002-01-28T21:03:00Z

    The Australian Film Finance Corporation (FFC) has been forced into releasing a statement confirming that it is Catriona Hughes' own decision to leave her job when her second contract as chief executive expires this year. The move was prompted by the publication of several articles implying she is being forced ...

  • News

    Das Werk picks up $17m worth of work

    2002-01-28T19:05:00Z

    The international postproduction group Das Werk has won contracts worth $17.2m (Euros 20m) which will keep its feature film facilities working to capacity throughout 2002.LA-based subsidiary CFX has been awarded a $10m contract to handle the effects on an unnamed Warner Bros./Village Roadshow project as well as $3m worth of ...

  • News

    Becker snaps up Australia's Globe Group

    2002-01-28T19:03:00Z

    Australian film distributor Becker Entertainment has acquired Richard Payten and Andrew Mackie's highly regarded distribution, marketing and audience research entity, The Globe Group. Managing director Richard Becker said the move both strengthens Becker's film division and increases Globe's capacity to handle films, but insists that Globe will continue to ...

  • News

    Orfeo's Helen Loveridge is Seattle-bound

    2002-01-28T19:01:00Z

    Helen Loveridge, who currently heads Cologne-based sales agency Orfeo Films, is to become managing director of a new Film Centre being developed in Seattle.Loveridge's move follows the recent announcement of the forthcoming closure of Orfeo and World Sales Christa Saredi (see Screendaily, Jan 11). The two sales agencies are present ...

  • Reviews

    Personal Velocity

    2002-01-28T17:20:00Z

    Dir: Rebecca Miller. US. 2001. 85minsThere's a muscular punch to Rebecca Miller's Personal Velocity, the winner of this year's Grand Jury Prize for best dramatic feature at Sundance, that propels her triptych of female portraits way above the soapy women-in-peril melodramas that have become stereotypical of so many trashy TV ...

  • News

    UK actors, not films, shine in BAFTA nominations

    2002-01-28T16:58:00Z

    The UK failed to secure any nominations for best film or best director at the UK's most prestigious film awards, the British Academy Film Awards, but UK actors saved face by dominating their sections.As well as underlining a disappointing year for local films, the best film nominations for A Beautiful ...

  • Reviews

    The Last Kiss (L'Ultimo Bacio)

    2002-01-28T14:33:00Z

    Dir: Gabriele Muccino. Italy. 2001. 117 mins.Thirty-five-year-old Roman director Gabriele Muccino is the only player on the contemporary Italian scene who has the potential to be as big as Roberto Benigni. His third film, L'Ultimo Bacio (The Last Kiss) was the top grossing Italian film of 2001, grossing Euros 13.1 ...

  • News

    Rings breaks Italian box office record

    2002-01-28T02:04:00Z

    New Line blockbuster The Lord of The Rings has smashed the all-time Italian box office opening record briefly held by Harry Potter, by grossing a massive $5m (Euros 5,841,147) from 503 screens on its first weekend.Six days after its Jan 18 release, the Peter Jackson picture had grossed $7.1m (Euros ...

  • News

    Spain's MediaPro buys French VCF

    2002-01-28T02:01:00Z

    Barcelona-based producer and rights broker MediaPro has acquired French production services outfit Video Communication France (VCF) for Euros 15m.The purchase forms part of MediaPro's international expansion. VCF is one of France's leading mobile TV production service providers.MediaPro has offices in Spain, Portugal, Argentina and the US, where it offers production ...

  • News

    Smith named male star of the year at ShoWest

    2002-01-28T02:00:00Z

    Will Smith has been named 2002Male Star Of the Year at this year's ShoWest convention in Las Vegas inMarch. He will personally attend to receive his award at the Gala awards banquet on March 7.It is Smith's fourthShoWest honour. He was named male star of tomorrow in 1995, won the ...