All articles by Adam Minns – Page 8
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Radclyffe options best-selling Edge Chronicles
UK producer Sarah Radclyffehas optioned 10-book children's fantasy series The Edge Chronicles.Jigsaw Films, the productionlabel for family films that Radclyffe runs with Courtney Pledger and BillGodfrey, aims to turn the series into a studio-level family action-adventurefranchise.The story of a younglibrarian knight, which Jigsaw optioned with support body the UK Film ...
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Supermarkets and specialists set to dominate DVD
A polarisation isthreatening to disrupt the UK DVD and video sector, according Alison Casey,head of content division at market researchers Understanding & Solutions.Speaking at ScreenInternational's DVD: The Home Cinema Summit, Casey warned that the UK'shigh street and internet retail and rental business faces a shake-up in whichthe middle ground could ...
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Gilliam, Winterbottom get benefit of Foresight
Terry Gilliam and MichaelWinterbottom's next productions are amongst the debut slate of titles to securea quarter of their budgets from start-up UK tax-based fund Foresight.Foresight has now raised£5m, meaning it is past its minimum subscription and halfway to its overalltarget. The fund has earmarked Gilliam's previously announced Tideland, which is ...
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Artificial Eye snags Moolaade for UK
ArtificialEye has picked up Moolaade, the winner of best film in Un Certain Regardat Cannes this year.TheUK distributor is opening the film in March next year. Directed by veteran Senegalese filmmakerOusmane Sembene, it deals with the subject of female genital mutilationcircumcision and is dedicated to women struggling to abolish the ...
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Obituary: Fred Turner
FredTurner, former head of Rank Film Distributors (RFD), has died aged 71.Turnerjoined Rank as a tea boy in 1946. He first worked for Eagle Lion, then Rank'soverseas distribution arm, before working his way up through the company tobecome financial controller and, in 1981, managing director.Heremained at Rank until 1997, when ...
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Till named as UK Film Council chairman
Stewart Till will be thenew chairman of the UK Film Council, Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell announcedtoday.Till, currently deputychair of the council and chief executive of UIP, takes up the post for fouryears and starts on July 30. He will take over from outgoing chairman AlanParker."Stewart is taking onthis key role ...
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Obituary: Oscar nominee Peter Barnes
Oscar-nominated British playwright, screenwriter anddirector Peter Barnes died this week.Oscar nominated for his screenplay Enchanted April, Barnes' prolific career included the Oscarnominated The Ruling Class,starring Peter O'Toole, Hard Timesand Olivier Award winner Red Noses.Barnes, whose plays are part of the British schoolcurriculum, wrote until his death and delivered his latest ...
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Gold Circle parts company with ICE
Gold Circle, the US indie behind smash hit My Big Fat Greek Wedding, has parted ways with its UK production partner ICE Productions.Gold Circle said it is restructuring as Ice'sErica Motley, Irene Ilias and Claire Bennett have decided to return toindependent production as several long-gestating projects are nearingproduction.Gold Circle UK ...
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Castle Hill takes Kiss to North America from The Works
UK-based sales agency The Works has sold all North American rights to Ken Loach's Ae Fond Kiss to US indie Castle Hill Productions.Castle Hill, which most recently handled What Alice Found, Pipe Dream and The Next Big Thing, plans a November release in two or three cinemas in New York, ...
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Allen cast grows as UK production activity swells
Brian Cox, Matthew Goode and James Nesbitt have joined the cast of Woody Allen's upcoming UK film.The trio will appear alongside Scarlett Johansson, Emily Mortimer and Jonathan Rhys-Meyers when principal photography starts July 12th on location in and around London.Financial partners in the film include BBC Films, Magic Hour Media, ...
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Allied Irish Banks hires Duffield in film finance move
Allied Irish Banks (AIB), the Republic of Ireland's largest bank, is entering film finance under former Dexia-BIL media head Gillian Duffield.Duffield is taking up thepost as head of media finance, based in London. She will focus on developing a new film financingdivision for the bank.Her appointment comes asrival Bank of ...
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Scottish Screen chief McIntyre quits
Steve McIntyre has quit as chief executive of ScottishScreen, the funding body confirmed on Thursday.McIntyre has said he does not want his contract renewed whenit expires at the end of August. The body, which administers National Lotteryfunding, will start the search for his replacement next week, offeringcandidates a three-year contract.Scottish ...
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Edinburgh festival to stage Lindsay Anderson tribute
Actor Malcolm McDowell is tolead a tribute to Scottish director Lindsay Anderson at August's EdinburghInternational Film Festival.McDowell, who made hisscreen debut with Anderson in 1968's If', will present on stage aone-man show of readings from thedirector's diaries, letters and critical writings. Commemorating the tenthanniversary of Anderson's death, the festival will ...
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Pilowsky, Leventhal team to form Priority Pictures
Marion Pilowsky, former head of international production for Myriad Pictures, and Colin Leventhal, a consultant to tax-based financier Grosvenor Park, have teamed to form UK production company Priority Pictures.The company's first film will be Three Bad Men, based on a script by Peter Straughan and to be directed by Paul ...
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European exhibition growth slows down
Asexhibitors prepare for next week's Cinema Expo in Amsterdam, a new report fromleading UK-based researcher Dodona Research says that exhibition growth isslowing across Europe.Exhibitors in the seven Western European countries -including the five largest box office markets in continental Europe - profiledin the report have completed extensive multiplex building programmes ...
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Civilian teams with SureFire for $46m tax fund
Civilian Content, thepublicly-listed UK media concern, has teamed with tax-based financier SureFireon a $46m (£25m) fund that could offer producers up to 50% of their budget.Civilian and SureFirestarted raising the cash last week for the fund, which will provide equity andsale and leaseback funding through UK tax mechanism Section 48. ...
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Winslet heads up Allen's London cast
Kate Winslet, Emily Mortimerand Jonathan Rhys Meyers are confirmed for Woody Allen's thirty-sixth feature.Allen is to start shootingin and around London this month on what will be a rare shoot outside of NewYork."I'm very excited about theprospect of making a film in London," he said. "I have a great admiration ...
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UK's Magic Light strikes Isle of Man deal
Martin Pope and MichaelRose's UK production company Magic Light Pictures has struck a developmentpartnership with the Isle of Man.The three-year deal providesMagic Light with overhead and an annual development fund for projects whichwill be co-financed by the Isle of Man.Magic Light was formed lastyear by producers with a focus on ...
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Kudos teams with Webster for film company
Paul Webster, formerly headof FilmFour, has formed Kudos Film as a joint venture with leading TV dramaproducers Stephen Garrett and Jane Featherstone, joint managing directors ofKudos Film and Television.The new stand-alone companyaims to exploit synergies between TV and film in terms of talent on both sidesof the camera."There is a ...
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Working Title finds its Darcy
Working Title Films hasfinally found its Darcy. The UK powerhouse has cast rising British actorMatthew Macfadyen as the arrogant but eligible male lead in its upcoming JaneAusten adaptation Pride And Prejudice.Macfadyen will star oppositeKeira Knightley, who plays the central Bennet daughter, Elizabeth. The other Bennet sisters will include TheLibertine and ...