All articles by Adam Minns – Page 39
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Godard's Eloge De L'Amour to screen at LFF
Jean-Luc Godard's Eloge De L'Amour will screen as the French Gala film at November's London Film Festival.The Cannes competition title, being released in the UK by Will Clarke's Optimum Releasing, is billed as a study of memory and history told through the four stages of love - meeting, physical passion, ...
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Antonia Bird swoops on Run adaptation
Antonia Bird is to direct an adaptation of crime novel Run for recently-formed UK production outfit Hanthum Films and the director's own company, 4Way Pictures.Written by Douglas E Winter, the book revolves around the character of Burdon Lane, a gunrunner-businessman on a so-called milk run which goes wrong. Winter is ...
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Finn steps down as WT2 reshuffles exec deck
Jon Finn is stepping down as co-head of WT2, the low-budget division of production powerhouse Working Title Films which debuted with Billy Elliot.Natascha Wharton will continue at the division as head of WT2. Working alongside her will be Rachel Prior, promoted from story editor to development executive. Finn, who came ...
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UK film minister launches fund for English regions
Newly-appointed UK film minister Kim Howells will launch a $8.4m (£6m) National Lottery fund for regional investment in England later this month.Howells, who took over from Janet Anderson as minister for tourism, film and broadcasting after this month's UK general election, will unveil the fund in Cambridge on Wednesday June ...
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UK's Downtown secures extra time to pay back debts
Troubled UK distributor Downtown Pictures has won a stay of execution by securing a Creditors Voluntary Agreement (CVA), according to the company's financial head, Simon Clement-Davies.The distributor secured 93% approval from its creditors, who agreed that Downtown's debts would be paid back over a period of time. Clement-Davies declined to ...
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PACT, Equity draw lines in payment negotiations
UK producers body PACT yesterday appeared to be sticking to its line that it would not agree to profit sharing for actors, despite claims from performer's union Equity that it had "dropped its objections in principle" to additional payments for its members.The assertion was made by Andy Prodger, Equity's assistant ...
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UK's Film Council hands out training awards
UK support body the Film Council has allocated its first training grants for film-makers already working in the industry.The council's bursary programme will pay for three writers - Lorrie Sheehy, Phillippa Goslett and Michael Maynard - to attend this year's Moonstone International Screen Labs in Italy. The Moonstone scheme allows ...
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UK's Ealing Studios set for $100m revamp
Historic UK film facility Ealing Studios is to get a $100m (£70m) overhaul after its new owners secured planning permission on Wednesday night to revamp the site.Ealing's owners aim to build production offices, refurbish the studios and the historic White House, and transform the site into a state-of-the art media ...
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UK's Civilian cements TV aims by acquiring Isis
Civilian Content, the UK media concern which owns National Lottery franchise The Film Consortium and sales outfit The Sales Co, has cemented its move into TV by agreeing to acquire Isis Productions.Civilian is buying the production company, which specialises in music programming such as the Classic Albums series, from its ...
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Former Sky Pictures exec Mellor joins WAVEpictures
Danish-UK production company WAVEpictures has appointed Nadine Mellor, formerly at Sky Pictures, as head of creative affairs.Mellor joins WAVE's European co-production and financing department, currently run by Luke G-Jones in the UK and Andrea Cecilia Sterll and Bo Christensen in Denmark. Also new to the company is finance director Erik ...
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Partington steps into Preston's shoes at Metrodome
UK media concern the Metrodome group has promoted Alan Partington to the post of managing director of film distribution arm Metrodome Distribution, replacing Rupert Preston who resigned last week.Partington will take overall responsibility for both theatrical distribution and the video rental and sales operations. He joined Metrodome in April 1999 ...
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DNA unveils First Draft script prize winners
UK National lottery franchise DNA Films has unveiled the five winners of its First Draft scheme for new writers, this year run with training body The Script Factory.Aimed at encouraging writing at grass roots level, the scheme has selected Elizabeth Clarke Melville's All Rise, a true story about a young ...
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Sales Co confirms Aline Perry appointment
UK media outfit Civilian Content has confirmed former PolyGram Film International chief Aline Perry as chief executive of its overseas sales operation, The Sales Co.BBC Films business development head Jane Wright, who became acting chief executive last year after the departure of Alison Thompson, is to return to BBC Films ...
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BSkyB axes film production arm
UK satellite broadcaster BSkyB is axing Sky Pictures, the prolific film production arm that was out to challenge Channel 4 and the BBC's established feature operations.A spokesperson said on Thursday that the broadcasting giant expected to close the division within months. Sky Pictures' 17 staff were told this week that ...
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Pathe and Sky Pictures sign eight-picture deal
Pathe's UK arm and Sky Pictures, the film production arm of UK satellite broadcaster BSkyB, have signed a production and distribution agreement for up to eight films over the next two years.The partners will jointly select films, with Pathe handling distribution in the UK, France, Benelux and Switzerland and international ...
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Preston unexpectedly quits UK's Metrodome
Rupert Preston has quit as head of UK independent distributor Metrodome Distribution.Preston, who released titles including Human Traffic, Shadow Of The Vampire, and Chopper while at Metrodome, confirmed that he will leave the company in late August after overseeing upcoming releases. Metrodome group chairman John Hall said that the publicly-quoted ...
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UIP to go solo in Poland
Casting a vote of confidence in the local market, international distribution giant United International Pictures is to go it alone in Poland. It will release films through a newly-created local arm. Among the first UIP titles to go through the wholly-owned Polish subsidiary are The Mummy Returns, Shrek, Tomb Raider ...
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UK writer slams agency signing-on fees
UK novelist James Follett has launched an on-line attack on Avalon Films, accusing the British production company of using his name as "window dressing" to encourage would-be screenwriters to pay registration fees.Follett put up a warning on his own website after Avalon - which is not related to the UK ...
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AtomShockwave shuts up London shop
On-line film distributor AtomShockwave has confirmed that it is closing its London office as part of widespread cuts across the company only months after the on-line giant was created from the merger of AtomFilms and Shockwave.The San Francisco-based company, formed in December from the union of the two internet sites, ...
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Start-up Nighlight options Angel Of Zin
Start-up UK production venture Nightlight Pictures has optioned the film rights to Clifford Irving's novel about a murder investigation in a WW2 concentration camp, The Angel Of Zin.Set in 1943 in Berlin and occupied Poland, the murder mystery tells the story an SS Captain named Paul Bach who is sent ...