All Screen articles in 4 February 2006
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Reviews
Salvage
Dirs/scr: Joshua and Jeffrey Crook. US. 2006. 79mins.The brothers Crook, Joshua and Jeffrey,previously made an urban thriller, SuckerPunch, and the title is dismayingly consistent with their new feature Salvage. In producing a structuralhorror movie, freely mixing the irrational and the incoherent, the brothers offer conflicted scenarios in relating the story ...
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Reviews
Lunacy (Sileni)
Dir/scr: Jan Svankmajer. Czech Rep/Slovakia.2005. 118mins.The latest nightmare from veteran Czech surrealistJan Svankmajer is, as the director puts it, "aninfantile tribute to Edgar Allen Poe and the Marquis de Sade."But audiences will also see affinities with various cinematic specialists indream logic, notably Luis Buñuel and Walerian Borowczyk.An exploration of madness,sanity ...
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Reviews
Wristcutters: A Love Story
Dir/scr GoranDukic. US. 2006.91mins.Croatian director Goran Dukic's endearingly oddball Wristcutters: A Love Story is a strange, somewhat unaccountable mess sharpenedby a brainy conceit and some wonderfully underplayed acting.It's an overstuffed roadmovie brimming with ideas and feeling about a lost world of disaffected souls. Steepedin a mordant black humour about suicide ...
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Reviews
Firewall (Firewall)
Dir: Richard Loncraine. US. 2005. 100mins.Though it boasts a rare star turn by Harrison Fordand a strong supporting cast, Firewallis a kidnap thriller that's driven more by its high tech gadgets than by itsunder-pressure characters. Ford's presence, the story's family theme and theappeal to digital age paranoia could help the ...
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Reviews
One Last Dance
Dir: Max Makowski.Singapore. 2006. 100mins.Here's a puzzle: Brazil-born film-maker Makowski (The PigeonEgg Strategy, Taboo) makes hisfirst film in Cantonese - a Singapore-set crime thriller which is soaked in thevisual stylistics and artificial dialogue one has come to expect from homages to Hong Kong action films.But One Last Dance delivers an ...
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Reviews
Curious George
Dir: Matthew OCallaghan. US. 2005. 77mins.Curious George, the mischievous monkey known togenerations of kids from the classic picture books by Margretand H A Rey, finally makes it to the big screen inthis slight but sweet animated tale from Imagine and Universal.Aimed firmly at youngerchildren (probably in the three- to eight-year-old ...
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News
Kelly Reichardt, Manuel Nieto Zas and Han Jie win Tigers
Kelly Reichardt's Old Joy, Manuel Nieto Zas's The Dog Poundand Walking On The Wild Side, by Han Jie, have won the three VPRO Tiger Awards at this year'sRotterdam International Film Festival.A total of 14 films competed forthe awards, which are given annually to first or second-time film-makers. The 35th Rotterdam ...
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News
Istvan Szabo defends past involvement with communist police
Friday morning at Budapest's Millenium Theatre, Istvan Szabo spoke with journalists in an attempt to shed morelight on his involvement with the state police in the 1950s.With classmates Judit Elek,Eva Singer Karmento, Zsolt Kezdi-Kovacs and Janos Rosza, Szabo related thecircumstances that led to his unwilling cooperation with the communistauthorities: Police ...
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News
Ireland revamps production tax breaks
A vociferous chorus of approval has greeted the Irishfinance minister's radical overhaul of the Section 481 tax break for filmproduction. The maximum threshold for Irish spend has been raised from 55%-66%to 80% of budget, for all productions irrespective of size. And the cap on thetotal amount that may be raised ...
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News
Warner Bros, Italia head appointed president of Anica
PaoloFerrari, the head of Warner Bros. Italia, has been appointed president of Anica, Italy's national film body.Hereplaces Gianni Massaro, the Italian entertainmentlawyer and former head of European production fund Eurimages,who has lead Anica since 2001.Ferrariwill head the powerful Italian organization until the end of 2007."Ihave a specific task, which is ...
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News
Warner Bros and Alcon Entertainment sign new agreement
Warner Bros and AlconEntertainment have signed a new agreement continuing their eight-yearrelationship under which Warner Bros distributes features developed andfinanced by Alcon.The new deal will include a minimum of six pictures over thenext three years, starting with Richard Donner'sthriller 16 Blocks starring BruceWillis, and Neil LaBute's remake of The Wicker ...
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News
New president, Andrew Cripps, to start at Paramount International Theatrical January 2007
Andrew Cripps' start date as president of ParamountInternational Theatrical has been confirmed as January 2007.UIP's president and chiefoperating officer will be responsible for the marketing, distribution andoperations of the company's new global structure.As Paramount'stake-over of DreamWorks officially closed this week, it emerged that former president of Paramount Home Entertainment Tom ...
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News
Pathe, MTV, Vertigo Start Dirty Sanchez Film
Pathe Pictures, MTV FilmsEurope and London-based Vertigo Films have teamed up to start production on Dirty Sanchez: TheMovie.Pathe will distribute the filmin the UK and PathePictures International will handle worldwide sales. Jim Hickey directs withBobby Allen and Vertigo's Rupert Preston serving as producers. Jonathan Zilli, Allan Niblo, James Richardson,and Sean ...
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News
Voltage Pictures picks up international rights to Hector Lavoe biopic El Cantante
Voltage Pictures has picked up international rights to MarcAnthony and Jennifer Lopez's Hector Lavoe biopic El Cantanteand will commence sales at Berlinnext week.Anthony will play the celebrated salsa singer and Lopez willplay his wife Puchi. Leon Ichasodirected the story set in New York'ssalsa scene during the 1960s and 1970s.Production is ...
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News
Bleiberg Entertainment acquires rights to Danny Lerner's Frozen Days.
Los Angeles-based Bleiberg Entertainment has acquiredinternational rights to Danny Lerner's psycho-thriller Frozen Days.The picture won best film at the Haifa 2005 InternationalFilm Festival and centres on a woman who assumes the identity of her blind dateafter he falls into a coma following a bomb blast. AnatKlausner, Uli Sternberg andSandra Sade ...
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High hopes for Walk The Line as it begins its international run this weekend
Buoyed by five Academy Award nominations, 20th Century Fox'sWalk The Line begins itsinternational run this weekend.The acclaimed Johnny Cash biopic launches in 23 territoriesincluding Germanyon February 2, followed a day later in the UK,Mexico and Spain.Fox International chiefs will be relying on the picture'sstrong reputation to ensure solid debuts in ...
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Katapult Film Sales heads to Berlin with impressive slate
Katapult Film Sales will arrive atnext week's European Film Market in Berlin with its most prestigious slate ever.Heading up the roster are Sundance acquisitions TV Junkie and Destricted,as well as the Brazilian smash hit TwoSons Of Franciscoand BalthasarKormakur's LittleTrip To Heaven.Katapult holds internationalrights to TV Junkie, Michael Cain and Matt ...
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Moviemax acquires all Italian rights to The Darwin Awards
AmbitiousRome distributor Moviemaxhas acquired all Italian rights to Sundance title The Darwin Awards.Sold byIcon Entertainment International, TheDarwin Awards is a dark comedy starring Joseph Fiennes and Winona Ryder asinvestigators who check people's posthumous entitlement to awards celebratingludicrous accidental deaths. Thepicture, directed by Finn Taylor, was picked up for North America ...
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News
Rothman and Gianopulos sign new deals with Fox Filmed Entertainment
Fox Filmed Entertainment (FFE)chairmen Tom Rothman and Jim Gianopulos have signed new five-year deals withthe company and been named joint chief executive officers.The pair assumed their posts in2000, in which time 20 of the studio's pictures have grossed more than $100m atthe domestic box office and 26 have reached the ...
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News
Korea's CJ sells its DreamWorks stake to Paramount
Following the completion of Paramount's acquisition of DreamWorks, Korean conglomerate CJCorporation has sold its 4.95% stake in the studio to Paramount for $35.8m. CJ Corp gave public noticeof the Jan 31 sale of approximately 2.31 million shares yesterday (Feb 2). CJ Entertainment became amajor founding investor in DreamWorks in 1995 ...