All Screen articles in 27 February 2004 – Page 2
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News
Cinema Service learns to speak Chinese
Korean major Cinema Servicehas tied up a multi-picture deal with Thomas Leong's Hong Kong productionoutfit Lotus Entertainment.While details of theagreement have yet to be finalised, the deal is understood to involve CinemaService financing a slate of Chinese pictures that Lotus will source, developand produce."We want to make genuinelyChinese films that ...
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See Grace Fly wins Oporto festival audience prize
Pete McCormack'sdrama See Grace Flyhas won the audience award at the Oporto International Film Festival(Fantasporto).The picture tells of a 38-year-old schizophrenic'sincreasingly erratic behaviour following her mother's death and stars GinaChiarelli, Paul McGillion and Benjamin Ratner.This is thethird prize for See Grace Fly following a Women in Film award for Chiarelli ...
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AFM and AFI Fest lay out the foundations of coordinated events
Aiming to fusethe benefits offered by the AFM and AFI Fest, organisers of both events saidyesterday they hoped the deliberate scheduling match in November would presentfilm-makers with a complete introduction to the global film community.While details stillneed to be firmed up, a picture is emerging of a co-ordinated agenda designedto ...
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Gaumont revamps senior management team
French major Gaumont, which has seen its films struggle tomake a significant impact at the local box office over the past two years, hasannounced a re-organisation of its management structure.The changes involve managing director Patrice Ledouxstepping away from the helm to concentrate on production while chairman NicolasSeydoux will play a ...
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Hanway enters Land Of Plenty
Hanway Films has picked uprights outside North America and the UK to Wim Wenders' Land Of Plenty, the low-budget film he made for digital filmmakingcollective InDigEnt.The movie, which is currently inpost-production, stars Michelle Williams (Dawson's Creek, The StationAgent) and John Diehl. The story, which takes placein post-9/11 America, tells the ...
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Buyers sink teeth into Open Water
Lions Gate Films Internationalhas sold key territories on Chris Kentis' low-budget shark thriller OpenWater, which it acquired from PlungePictures at Sundance and Lions Gate Releasing plans to release domesticallythis summer.All rights to the picture havegone to Universum Film in Germany, Movie Eye Entertainment and Presidio inJapan, and Gussi in a ...
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Top international buyers hold Grudge
Senator International has soldout Ghost House Pictures' The Grudge,a remake of the hit Japanese horror thriller Ju-On, in all major territories following deals with UIPfor the UK, Constantin for Germany, Metropolitan for France and VillageRoadshow for Australia.The project began shooting inTokyo in January and is being directed by Takashi Shimizu, ...
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US channel opens up for Asian films
The chances of Asian films getting North Americandistribution are set to increase with the launch later this year ofImaginasianTV, one of the US' first dedicated Asian entertainmentchannels.The company was set up last year at the initiative ofMichael Hong, a former Spelling Television and Paramount executive. Backed by aconsortium of asset ...
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Japanese arthouse market consolidates
Japanese productionand distribution group Artist House has acquired Cinema Parisien, themicro-distributor that has specialised in French and other foreign-languagefilms in Japan.Artist House, whichoperates the Artist Film distribution company, says the deal is a horizontalexpansion that will complement its video distribution strengths.Its 2004 video slateincludes art-house titles including 21 Grams, Lost ...
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Tartan, Arclight full of Grace with Killer
Tartan Films and ArclightFilms have teamed up with New York-based Killer Films to co-produce andco-finance the $12m Savage Grace,the first film from director Tom Kalin since his 1992 indie classic Swoon, which will star Julianne Moore.The film is currently inpre-production, and is scheduled to start shooting in July in the ...
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AFM: Tartan Films in horror double bill
The UK's Tartan Films has picked up The Park, the 3D horror film by Hong Kong director AndrewLau, better known for co-directing the sensational Infernal Affairs police trio with Alan Mak.Tartan has also picked up TheLast Horror Movie, the third feature fromWelsh director Julian Richards who shot the thrillers Silent ...
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DEJ acquires domestic rights to Employee Of The Month
DEJ Prods, the acquisitionand distribution arm of Blockbuster Entertainment, has bought domestic rightsto Employee Of The Month, Bull's Eye Entertainment's heist comedy starring MattDillon, Christina Applegate and Steve Zahn.Directed by Mitch Rouse andproduced by Cathy Schulman, Bob Yari and Tom Nunan of Bull's Eye, the filmworld premiered at this year's ...
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Reviews
Twisted
Dir: Philip Kaufman. US. 2003. 96 mins.Ashley Judd has made a profitable habit of playing strong, successful women at the centre of moody, otherwise male-dominated thrillers. Twisted (originally known on the international sales circuit as Blackout) is a serviceable addition to Judd's resume but one that lacks the charge necessary ...
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HONG KONG
Thai martial arts movie Ong-Bak, starring rising action hero Tony Jaa, tops the Hong Kong box office this week with US$732,775 from 30 screens which distributor Edko says is 'within expectations'. The film is already the second highest-grossing Thai movie ever in Hong Kong although it has a long way ...
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Fantasporto shares out top honours
Korean title A Tale Of Two Sisters and Spain's Killing Words shared the top prizes of the official Fantasy Film competition at the 24th annual edition of Portugal's leading film festival, the Oporto International Film Festival (Feb 20-Mar 1), better known as Fantasporto.Kim Jee-Woon's Sisters took the best film, director ...
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Hong Kong looks forward to Monkey business
For full Hong Kong production listings click HEREEmperor Motion Picture Group's The Twins Effect II, the sequel to last year's blockbuster action comedy which is currently shooting in China, seems to encapsulate many things about the current mood in the Hong Kong film industry.Firstly, the film is crammed full of ...
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AUSTRALIA
Icon's The Passion Of The Christ grossed A$3,610,618 from 145 screens in its first five days in Australian cinemas, giving it a whopping screen average of A$20,504. It opened on Wednesday, instead of the usual Thursday, but without its opening day tally it still came in just short of an ...
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South Australia launches Screen Industry Council
A screen industry council is to be formed in South Australia to bring under one roof all production sectors - from film and television to games and education - with the aim of sharing experiences and market intelligence."Our philosophy is that the industry needs to be more involved in policy ...
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Reviews
Agatha And The Storm (Agata e la Tempesta)
Dir: Silvio Soldini. It-Switz-UK. 2004. 123 mins.With his 1999 comedy Bread And Tulips, Silvio Soldini pulled off the increasingly difficult act of combining auteurish pretensions (albeit gentle and soft-centred ones) with commercial success: the film racked up an impressive $5m-plus in its home market alone - around four times its ...
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Final February AFM says sayonara
A handful of high value deals for Japan and a good flow into the US eased the pressure. But the curtain-closing February AFM is more likely to go down in history as one short on hot product or deals volume.Arguably the biggest deal of the week was the sale of ...