All Screen articles in 9 March 2008 – Page 2

  • News

    HONG KONG: TERRITORY OVERVIEW

    2008-03-07T00:00:00Z

    Looking solely at the numbers, the Hong Kong film industry had a tough time last year, with a further decline in the number of films produced to a record low of 50, according to figures from the Motion Picture Industry Association (Mpia). Their combined share of the Hong Kong box ...

  • News

    HKIFF:ADDING THE GLAMOUR

    2008-03-07T00:00:00Z

    Primarily an audience festival, the Hong Kong International Film Festival (Hkiff) nonetheless achieves greater international recognition by taking place at the same time as Filmart and the Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF). In turn, it helps to increase the film-maker quotient at both industry-heavy events.Nearly 300 films from ...

  • Features

    International - France plays joker

    2008-03-07T00:00:00Z

    French films accounted for nearly a quarter of the international top 40 revenue this weekend, spearheaded by a whopping $32.5m opening from top film Bienvenue Chez Les Ch'tis.The comedy, released through Pathe, played on 838 screens and boasted the highest screen average of the year so far with a mammoth ...

  • Features

    Hong Kong Overview - Financing - A lifeline for independent producers

    2008-03-07T00:00:00Z

    Launched last April, the Film Development Council (FDC) advises the Hong Kong government on policy for the promotion and development of the local film industry. It also oversees the $38m (hk$300m) Film Development Fund and related areas, such as training and promotion of film literacy.Designed to support small to medium-sized ...

  • News

    FILMART: MARKET HIGHLIGHTS

    2008-03-07T00:00:00Z

    HONG KONGFilmart's host country has a strong line-up of product this year, from social dramas and crime thrillers to big-budget martial-arts films.Media Asia is selling Dante Lam's The Sniper, starring Richie Jen and Huang Xiaoming, along with thriller Lady Cop & Papa Crook, co-directed by Alan Mak and Felix Chong ...

  • Features

    United Kingdom - Flying the flag for education

    2008-03-07T00:00:00Z

    The marriage of education and industry is often a forced one, but not at the UK's Met Film. The group, based at the legendary Ealing Studios, combines a film school with an ambitious production company and high-quality digital production and studio facilities. And it has been quietly putting together a ...

  • Features

    France - Critical faculties

    2008-03-07T00:00:00Z

    "He would never talk about his problems but it was impossible not to feel his anxiety," says young French director Mia Hansen-Love of producer Humbert Balsan, who she worked with on her debut feature, Tout Est Pardonne, winner of the prestigious Prix Louis Delluc in France last year.Later this year, ...

  • News

    Screen opinion: The heart of cinema

    2008-03-07T00:00:00Z

    Training is the industry's lifeblood.' So said a senior UK film figure this week in support of a government plan to create an apprenticeship system funded by a new mandatory levy on producers.Unsurprisingly, a number of independent film producers in the territory can see the potential costs rather more than ...

  • News

    CHINA VIEW: BREAKING THROUGH THE WALL

    2008-03-07T00:00:00Z

    With production volume and box-office revenue growing at more than 20% year on year, along with breakneck multiplex development, China is a film market the global industry cannot afford to neglect. However, entering the Chinese market also means tackling the country’s yet-to-be-resolved issues - censorship and piracy.

  • News

    HONG KONG BOX OFFICE: GOLDEN TICKETS

    2008-03-07T00:00:00Z

    Hong Kong's overall box office leapt 11% to just over $129.6m (hk$1bn) in 2007, marking the first time the territory's box office has bounced back above the hk$1bn level since 2001.The increase was due partly to new cinema openings, strong US studio product and a strengthening economy. Last year, the ...

  • News

    HAF: SUCCESS STORIES ATTRACT BIG NAMES

    2008-03-07T00:00:00Z

    Expanding from its Hong Kong roots to become a truly regional event, the Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) has been the springboard for many critically acclaimed as well as commercially successful projects.From last year's line-up, Korean director Kim Jee-woon's The Good, The Bad And The Weird and Kiyoshi ...

  • News

    FILMART: ASIA GETS DOWN TO BUSINESS

    2008-03-07T00:00:00Z

    The oldest and arguably most established film market in Asia, Filmart (March 17-20) has emerged as one of the leading events on the global film industry's calendar.Launched by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (TDC) back in 1997, the market is still dominated by Asian product and those who want ...

  • News

    Screen analysis- The end of the Line

    2008-03-07T00:00:00Z

    When Time Warner issued a brief statement last Thursday (March 28) announcing New Line Cinema would be absorbed into Warner Bros Entertainment as a genre unit, it was made very clear New Line's international sales activities would be terminated.'With the growing importance of international revenues, it makes sense for New ...

  • News

    North America - Hatched In Canada With French DNA

    2008-03-07T00:00:00Z

    Vincenzo Natali laughs ruefully at the notion that he is 'big in France'. As with seemingly every other notable English-Canadian film-maker, his work is more successful critically and commercially in France than in his own country.It is a proud tradition, which certainly places him in good company (David Cronenberg, Atom ...

  • News

    China's Jeboo settles with MPA over copyright infringement

    2008-03-06T17:01:00Z

    The Motion Picture Association (MPA) and five US studios reached a global settlement with Beijing Jeboo Interactive Science & Technology and two co-defendents on litigation over copyright infringement of 20 Hollywood films. Five MPA member companies - Disney, 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Columbia and Universal -jointly filed complaints in the ...

  • News

    Mini works with Future Shorts for UK short film programme

    2008-03-06T16:19:00Z

    Car company Mini UK is launching screenings of original short films in UK cinemas.The four month campaign starts on March 7 and will feature films supplied by Future Shorts.The three shorts screening from March to June are: Procrastination by Levni Yilmaz, Park Football by Grant Orchard and Neighbor by Eric ...

  • News

    Pan-European digital cinema pilot project to launch in autumn

    2008-03-06T16:13:00Z

    France's MK2, Hungary's Szimpla Film, Denmark's Nordisk Film and Belgium's Kinepolis Group are supporting a European 'Cinema on demand' film digitisation project entitled Europe's Finest which is being launched this autumn by Cologne-based reelport to digitise and distribute 30-40 European films.The project, which has been supported by the European Union's ...

  • News

    Huayi Bros to make donations to Jet Li's One Foundation

    2008-03-06T16:12:00Z

    Huayi Brothers Pictures has pledged to donate part of the box office revenues of its productions to Jet Li's charity group One Foundation. Starting from the release of Forbidden Kingdom, which starts Jet Li and Jackie Chan, Huayi Brothers will donate one mao (1.5 cents) from each ticket sold for ...

  • News

    Head of KOFIC An Cheong-sook resigns

    2008-03-06T16:04:00Z

    Chairperson of the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) An Cheong-sook has tendered her resignation to newly appointed minister of Culture, Sports & Tourism Yu In-Chon, citing personal reasons. Her three-year term, along with that of the other eight members of the 3rd KOFIC executive council, normally would end on May 27.In ...

  • News

    Vertigo signs deal for Contender to handle DVD releases

    2008-03-06T15:47:00Z

    UK-based distributor Vertigo Films has signed a DVD distribution deal with Contender Home Entertainment, which is part of Contender Entertainment Group (owned by Canada's Entertainment One).Contender will handle DVD distribution for Vertigo's forthcoming theatrical releases, starting with Tom Shankland's serial killer thriller WAZ starring Stellan Skarsgard, Ashley Walters, Melissa George ...