All Screen articles in 28 November 2005 – Page 3

  • News

    France increases threshold on Soficas finance schemes

    2005-11-23T00:00:00Z

    France's Soficasinvestment schemes will see their limit increase by $11.7m (Euros 10m) to $66m(Euros 56m) next year.Prime ministerDominique de Villepin approved the measure at therequest of culture minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres.The Sofica system was created in 1985 to encourage individualinvestment in film. Essentially film-financing companies, the Soficas raise money ...

  • News

    Legal download sites launched in Hong Kong

    2005-11-23T00:00:00Z

    Two legal movie downloadsites are being launched in Hong Kong - by government-ownedIT flagship Cyberport and private film company Mei Ah Entertainment - amidindustry discussion about their feasibility and audience demand.Mei Ah's service, M@TV, has accessto a library of more than 1,000 movies including acquisitions and a few hundredtitles produced ...

  • News

    Pathe signs nine new deals for Frears' The Queen

    2005-11-23T00:00:00Z

    Pathe Pictures International has announced a slew of deals closed at the recent American Film Market. Pathe screened footage from Stephen Frears' The Queen for buyers and sold rights to Avex Entertainment for Japan, Vertigo for Spain, Sandrew Metronome for Scandinavia, Prooptiki for Greece and the former Yugoslavia, LNK for ...

  • News

    New German culture minister raises hopes for film finance

    2005-11-23T00:00:00Z

    Hopesfor a swift resolution of the German film funding crisis following thescrapping of media funds have been raised with the appointment of Germany's newState Minister For Culture, Bernd Neumann.The63-year-old has taken a strong interest in film finance issues. Earlier thisyear argued that support "doesn't have to be the funds in ...

  • Reviews

    The White Countess

    2005-11-23T00:00:00Z

    Dir: James Ivory. US. 2005.135mins.The finale to director James Ivory's longcollaboration with producer Ismail Merchant (who diedlast May, just as the film was being completed), The White Countess is an intimate period romance given historicalsweep by a script from The Remains Of TheDay novelist Kazuo Ishiguro.The tentative love affair atthe ...

  • News

    Potter release breaks IMAX records

    2005-11-23T00:00:00Z

    The box office phenomenonthat is Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire has been felt within the giant-screen realm. The fourth Potter film has broken every record for an IMAX Hollywoodtitle on simultaneous release. Debuting at 66 IMAX venues in North America, thefilm scored a three-day opening of $2.93m for ...

  • News

    Hong Kong lines up Chinese New Year blockbusters

    2005-11-23T00:00:00Z

    A live-actiontake on popular animated character McDull, martial arts legend Huo Yuanjia and a comedy about shopping are set to battle itout in Hong Kong and other Chinese-speaking territories next Chinese New Year.Peter Ho-sun Chanand McDull creator Brian Tseare producing McDull, The Alumni,which combines live-action and animated sequences to recount ...

  • News

    Four films pick up cash prize from Balkan Fund

    2005-11-23T00:00:00Z

    The four projects receiving awards from this year's Balkan Fund, have been announced at the ThessalonikiInternational Film Festival.The $12,000 (10,000 Euros) prizes go to:Conversation with SerafimScreenwriter and director Silviu Purcarete, producer Ozana Oancea (Libra Films, Romania)Asphyxiation Screenwriter and director Asli Ozge, producer Deniz Kunkut>(DKFY, Turkey) Cum ...

  • News

    The Proposition scoops best film at IF Awards

    2005-11-23T00:00:00Z

    Australian/UK co-production The Proposition, an often brutal 1880stale of conflict between brothers, was awarded best feature film at the IF(Inside Film) Awards in Sydneytonight (Nov 23). Look Both Ways won the best director and best writer categories for Sarah Watt. Theintimate drama picked up three awards in all while The ...

  • News

    International support backs Latin American film-makers

    2005-11-23T00:00:00Z

    New Latin American film-makers are to enjoy the support of a seriesof ambitious new development programmes backed by Argentinian foundations, foreignembassies, international funds and festivals.Firstly,the Proaand TyPA foundations, in association with the Buenos Aires Film Festival, have announceda new edition of Buenos Aires Lab (BAL), which offers advice, education andideas ...

  • News

    Potter sets 20-year UK admissions record

    2005-11-23T00:00:00Z

    The UK took yet another positive turn in its road to box-officerecovery with a record breaking weekend for admissions.The 3.8 million cinemavisits narrowly took the record for highest admissions in a three-day weekendperiod since modern records started in the mid-1980s. "It was a phenomenalweekend," Mark Batey, FDA'schief executive told Screen ...

  • News

    Schloendorff under fire from Solidarity heroine

    2005-11-22T04:00:00Z

    Oscar-winning director Volker Schloendorff has comeunder fire from the mother of Poland's Solidarity movement Anna Walentynowiczfor his latest film Die Vergessene Heldin which began shooting atoriginal locations in the Baltic port of Gdansk at the end of October. In an interview with the Polish dailynewspaper Rzeczpospolita, 76-year-old Walentynowicz said that ...

  • News

    Franco-German call for extension to film fund

    2005-11-22T04:00:00Z

    Frenchand German producers and distributors want the $3.5m (Euros 3m)"mini-traite" co-production fund to be extended to include thesupport of the theatrical distribution in the two countries.Thecall came at this year's French-German Cinema Rendez-Vous in Cologne but faces significant obstacles if it is top succeed.Although a French-German distribution agreement is in ...

  • News

    THINKFilm, Screen Media buy Loverboy

    2005-11-22T04:00:00Z

    THINKFilm inpartnership with Screen Media Films has acquired North American theatricalrights to Kevin Bacon's Loverboy, which premiered at Sundance in Jan this year and stars Kyra Sedgwickas an obsessive mother.THINK plans aspring release to coincide with the launch of the second season of Sedgwick'stelevision crime series The Closer.Based on Victoria ...

  • News

    Dream picks up worldwide rights to I Am

    2005-11-22T04:00:00Z

    DreamEntertainment has picked up worldwide rights to Dorota Kedzierzawska'sPolish-language title I Am (Jestem),which premiered recently at Toronto.The LosAngeles-based company plans to self-distribute the film in the US for the firsttime in its history.I Am tells the story of an orphaned boy insearch of life and identity who finds love with ...

  • News

    District 13 goes to US via Magnolia

    2005-11-22T04:00:00Z

    Magnolia Pictures has picked up North American rights toPierre Morel's futuristic crime thriller District 13 (Banlieue 13), which attracted close to 1 million admissions in its native France.The film is co-written and produced by Luc Besson.Magnolia plans aspring 2006 release for the story, set in the Paris ghettos around 2010 ...

  • Reviews

    Melissa P

    2005-11-22T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Luca Guadagnino. It-Sp. 2005. 102mins. "Loosely based on" ascandalous bestselling book which purports to recount the true sexualexperiences of a 16-year-old Sicilian schoolgirl, Sony Pictures Entertainment'sfirst Italian production Melissa Pstruggles gamely to be less of an adolescent sexploitation flick and more of acoming-of-age study.True,there is some teen sex ...

  • News

    Torres, Pardue star in Gossner's South Of Pico

    2005-11-22T00:00:00Z

    Gina Torres andKip Pardue are heading the cast of US drama South Of Pico, which has started shooting on LosAngeles under first-time feature director Ernst Gossner.Inspired by trueevents, the story tracks four seemingly ordinary people in Los Angeles whoselives are changed when they witness the accidental death of an 11-year-oldgirl.Paul ...

  • Reviews

    Just Friends

    2005-11-22T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Roger Kumble. US. 2005. 94mins.Sporting a rich premise, Just Friends ultimately fails to live up to its early potential,instead settling into broad comedy that shortchanges the film's romanticpossibilities.Opening in the USon Nov 23 during the packed Thanksgiving weekend, the holiday-themed film(rated PG-13) stands out as the only date movie ...

  • News

    Film Source picks up Indian epic Time Heals

    2005-11-22T00:00:00Z

    Alex Massis' Florida-basedmarketing and sales company The Film Source has picked up for worldwiderepresentation Ravi Ojha's Indian epic Time Heals.The picture centres on modern-day lovers who discover theymay be the reincarnation of star-crossed freedom fighters struggling againstBritish rule in India.Kalidas Ojhaproduced the picture, which stars Koneenica Banerjee, Saswata Chatterjee andVictor ...