All Screen articles in 7 April 2003 – Page 2
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Reviews
Pater Familias
Dir: Francesco Patierno. Italy. 2003. 94mins.For really vibrant Italian cinema, it is not a bad idea to look away from the industry hubs of Rome and Milan. Naples, in particular, has built a healthy homegrown scene around such directors as Mario Martone (L'Amore Molesto) and Antonio Capuano. Newest boy on ...
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Reviews
The Core
Dir: Jon Amiel. US. 2003. 136 mins. This end-of-the-world action opus is an efficiently executed but unexceptional popcorn flick, which will fail by a long way to produce the big box office numbers its studio maker Paramount Pictures designed it to. The Core's biggest problem is that it falls squarely ...
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News
Tribeca hosts world premieres of InDigEnt film, restored Leone classic
Kill The Poor, the latest low-budget feature from the festival-winning digitalvideo collective InDigEnt, are among the many additional films that will bereceiving their world premieres at this year's Tribeca Film Festival in earlyMayDirected by Alan Taylor, whose Palookaville won the award for best first feature atthe Venice Film Festival, Kill ...
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News
UK's easyCinema to test low-cost cinema concept
Ending months of speculation, the UK's easyCinema has leased the first site in the roll-out of its innovative low cost cinema concept: UCI's 10-screen multiplex, The Point in Milton Keynes. EasyCinema, part of Greek entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ioannou's no-frills empire easyGroup, will sell tickets for as low as 20p if booked ...
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News
The Punisher catches Dream star
Thomas Jane, currently starring in Warner Bros' Dreamcatcher,has signed to play the lead role in Artisan Pictures and Marvel Studios' superheroadaptation The Punisher.Set to start shooting in July with a view to a Summer 2004 release,the project is the latest example of the joint venture between Artisan andMarvel to develop, ...
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News
Miramax bulks up on Chinese video rights
Miramax Films and Hong Kong-based content providerCelestial Pictures have signed a long-term deal giving the US mini-major aswathe of video and video-on-demand (VoD) rights to numerous titles within the renowned Shaw Brotherslibrary as well as English-language remake rights for two Chinese films.Under the deal, Miramax has video distribution rights for ...
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Reviews
Basic
Dir: John McTiernan. US 2003. 95mins In a rather odd coincidence of timing, US majors have released three military-themed thrillers in the space of a month: Tears Of The Sun, The Hunted and, now, Basic. More of a whodunnit than the previous two, Basic finds action-director McTiernan (Die Hard) ...
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News
Russian distributors focus on foreign-language films
Russia's box office grew by a stellar 45% last year - and with the chief beneficiaries being the Hollywood majors, Russian distributors are increasingly relying on foreign-language films.Animation and major releases aside, one of the things that characterises the Russian market is the popularity of French films. Thirty-eight French films ...
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News
German broadcasters to double film funding
Germany's public and private broadcasters have agreed to double their financial contribution to the German Federal Film Board (FFA) to Euros 22.4m from 2004, State Minister for Culture Christina Weiss (pictured) announced on unveiling the draft German Film Law (FFG) on Wednesday (April 2).While public channels ARD and ZDF will ...
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News
Italy follows France in big budget stakes
Taking a lesson from the French industry, Italian producers are lining up a string of big budget features in a bid to wow local and international audiences.Cast an eye over many of Italy's forthcoming films and one things stands out: despite the financial woes of the local industry, a slew ...
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News
European Film Promotion to tour Argentina
Pan-European promotional body European Film Promtion (EFP) will presenting a touring programme of new European films through Argentina in May and June as part of a first collaboration this year with the Buenos Aires V Festival Internacional de Cine Independente (BA FICI) (April 16-26)Organised under the banner 'New Directors/New Directions', ...
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News
Menemsha takes North American rights on El Bonaerense
Neil Friedman's LA-based sales and distribution outfit Menemsha Films has acquired North American rights to Argentine police drama El Bonaerense, the second feature from Pablo Trapero. Menemsha secured all rights (with the exception of pay-TV, which went to HBO) from Wild Bunch/ TVOR.Trapero won widespread critical acclaim with his ...
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The In-Laws gets world premiere at Tribeca
FranchisePictures and Warner Bros' comedy The In-Laws, which stars Michael Douglas and AlbertBrooks, will receive its world premiere at the second Tribeca Film Festival onMay 10, co-founders Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal announced today (Apr 3).The picturefollows the uneasy relationship between two prospective fathers-in-law whosechildren are to be married. ...
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Franchise, Warner land Monkeyface
ElieSamaha's Franchise Pictures has signed on to finance the $52m heistthriller Monkeyfaceto star Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones and to be directed by StephenFrears. Laura Bickford and Mark Shorrock are producing the film which will be distributedin North America by Warner Bros per its distribution agreement with Franchise.The deal comesjust ...
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News
Film-maker partners with HBO, Magnolia on US release of Friedmans
Capturing TheFriedmans, AndrewJarecki's galvanizing documentary which was the talk of this year'sSundance Film Festival and winner of its documentary grand jury prize, will bereleased in US theatres in a three-way partnership between Jarecki himself,Eamonn Bowles' Magnolia Pictures and HBO Documentary Films. The team hasopted for an exclusive run in New ...
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News
UIP signs content deal with Neos Interactive
UnitedInternational Pictures (UIP) has signed a non-exclusive content deal with NeosInteractive, the developers of upscale hospitality digital entertainment systemNeosTV (formerly known as IRIS).The deal wasfacilitated by content procurement specialist Federal Hill Communications,which was appointed by Neos Interactive to oversee talks with the majorstudios.The UIP packagefeatures a range of titles including ...
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News
Visionbox, Small Planet team on US release of Charlotte
Los Angeles-basedproduction outfit Visionbox Pictures has teamed up with fledgling USdistributor Small Planet Pictures on the theatrical release of itsaward-winning drama Charlotte Sometimes, with a roll-out scheduled for May in Los Angeles, SanFrancisco, Chicago and Hawaii.The film, written and directed by Eric Byler (Kenji'sFaith), centres on a love triangle betweena ...
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Filardi boards Armada's Drum
Bringing DownThe House screenwriterJason Filardi has signed on as executive producer on independent financing,production and distribution company Armada Pictures' upcoming thriller, Drum.Filardi will supply creative input on the screenplay aswell as other aspects of the production, which is inspired by real events andcentres on two South African journalists involved in ...
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US arthouse renamed after benefactor who donated $2.5m
As a reflectionof philanthropy many arthouse film theatres might envy, the Rafael Film Centrein northern California has changed its name to the Christopher B Smith RafaelFilm Centre to honour donations of $2.5m from benefactor Smith.Smith hails from a family of philanthropists andentrepreneurs and is a long-time supporter of the centre, ...
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News
Matrix Reloaded confirmed for Cannes
Likely to deliver some of the most spectacular images on the Croisette this year, Matrix Reloaded has been confirmed as receiving a place in the Cannes Festival's official selection.The film, which is the second installment of the Matrix trilogy and is directed by the Wachowski brothers, will be given a ...