All Americas articles – Page 322

  • News

    Admissions down in Argentina by 7% in first half of 2007

    2007-06-30T01:40:00Z

    Admissions figures in Argentina dropped by an estimated 7% for the first half of 2007. The period saw 18.2m admissions as opposed to 19.5m in 2006.However, total box office was up 15.5% from the same period last year because of the rise in the average ticket price from $2.65 to ...

  • News

    Katz named head of production at The Film Department

    2007-06-29T21:00:00Z

    Robert Katz has joined Mark Gill and Neil Sacker in their new independent venture The Film Department as president of production.While executive vice president of production for The Yari Film Group, Katz was in charge of production on 18 films including Crash, The Illusionist, Prime, The Matador, Hostage and The ...

  • News

    August Evening, Billy The Kid win $50,000 prizes at LAFF

    2007-06-29T19:52:00Z

    Chris Eska's August Evening won the Target Film-maker Award for best narrative feature at the 2007 Los Angeles Film Festival, while Jennifer Venditti's Billy The Kid won the Target Documentary Award for best documentary feature. Each film was awarded an unrestricted cash prize of $50,000 funded by Target.The awards, presented ...

  • News

    Paramount/Warner epic Beowulf to get IMAX treatment

    2007-06-29T16:56:00Z

    Robert Zemeckis' animated epic Beowulf is set to get the IMAX treatment. Backed by Paramount, Warner Bros. and Shangri-La Entertainment, the film will be digitally converted to the giant-screen 3D format and distributed through IMAX cinemas internationally within three weeks of the November 16, 2007 conventional release. Paramount will distribute ...

  • News

    Writers rights

    2007-06-29T00:00:00Z

    Screenwriters are looking to change the way they are treated by the industry - and win more recognition. As the UK's International Screenwriters' Festival (July 3-6) opens, John Hazelton explores the writers' lot. It's in the zeitgeist that the writers' lot must be improved in order for movies to get ...

  • News

    Screenwriting: odds even.

    2007-06-29T00:00:00Z

    Initiated at Sundance, screenwriters' group 1.3.9 hopes to work directly with actors and directors on film projects. So how will the arrangement work' John Hazelton reportsChristopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) and Erik Jendresen (TV series Band Of Brothers) hatched the idea for 1.3.9, their recently launched writers' co-operative, after stints ...

  • News

    European screenwriters' manifesto: world in motion

    2007-06-29T00:00:00Z

    Signatories from the US and Europe have backed a manifesto to give more rights to writers. John Hazelton reportsLaunched at this year's Berlin International Film Festival, the European Screenwriters' Manifesto had around 2,000 signatories as of late May.Most of them were writers, but the document has also been endorsed by ...

  • News

    Writers' co-op: singular vision

    2007-06-29T00:00:00Z

    John Wells' Writers' Co-Op draws together a stable of veteran writers to generate scripts and share in a project's upside. Unveiled three months ago, John Wells' Writers' Co-Op has been in the works for several years.For Wells (writer of ER and producer of movies including White Oleander and Doom) and ...

  • News

    Box office opinion: is word of mouth mere lip service'

    2007-06-29T00:00:00Z

    No-one really knows what word-of-mouth is, whether it works or how to measure it. So what use is it, asks Leonard Klady. There can be few businesses where the received industry wisdom is so often wrong. Or to be more diplomatic, by the time anything looks set as a rule, ...

  • News

    Ana Katz: the wandering star

    2007-06-29T00:00:00Z

    The Argentinian winner of San Sebastian's Films in Progress proved a true labour of love. Diego Batlle talks to the film's director. At just 31, Argentinian film-maker Ana Katz is one of the most prolific and versatile artists of her generation. A renowned film, theatre and commercials actor-writer-producer-director, Katz's second ...

  • News

    Die Hard 4.0, Transformers bring muscle to international box office

    2007-06-28T23:50:00Z

    Three more summer blockbusters - Transformers, Die Hard 4.0 and Ratatouille - make their international debuts this weekend, ramping up competition in a global marketplace already dominated by four major Hollywood earners.Fox International's Die Hard 4.0, with Bruce Willis returning after more than a decade for a fourth installment of ...

  • News

    Dobson elected to head LA-based Australians In Film

    2007-06-28T23:45:00Z

    Los Angeles-based public relations executive Susie Dobson has been elected president and chief executive officer of the board of directors of Australians In Film, the organisation for expatriate Australians in the US entertainment industry. Producer/business affairs consultant Paula Paizes has been elected the organisation's vice president, and manager/producer Rob Marsala ...

  • News

    Arthouse Films buys worldwide rights to The Cool School

    2007-06-28T21:13:00Z

    New York-based independent Arthouse Films has acquired worldwide rights to feature documentary The Cool School: How Los Angeles Learned to Love Modern Art. Directed by Morgan Neville and narrated by Jeff Bridges, the film focuses on the story of Los Angeles' legendary Ferus Gallery, which helped launch artists including Ed ...

  • News

    Rothblum promoted at Warner Bros International TV Distribution

    2007-06-28T19:54:00Z

    Warner Bros International Television Distribution (WBITD) has promoted Sylvia Rothblum to senior vice president and managing director, German-speaking territories.Based in Munich, Rothblum will supervise WBITD's operations in German-speaking Europe, overseeing the licensing of content including series, theatrical and TV movies and animation to free and pay TV operators over terrestrial, ...

  • News

    Tele Muenchen signs longterm free TV deal with MGM

    2007-06-28T17:34:00Z

    Tele Muenchen has signed a long term licensing deal covering free TV German-language rights to recent, forthcoming and future MGM and United Artists films and TV movies. Included in the deal between the Munich-based German media group and MGM International TV Distribution are the upcoming 22nd James Bond film; a ...

  • News

    Thessaloniki competitors to include Jonas Cuaron's Year Of The Nail

    2007-06-28T11:54:00Z

    Thessaloniki Film Festival director Despina Mouzaki has announced the first films selected for the 14-film competition section of 46th edition of the event (Nov 16-25). The competition is reserved to first and second features and the films already earmarked have a strong Spanish-language flavour, coming from Mexico, Colombia and Spain. ...

  • News

    Image amends merger agreement with Bergstein investor group

    2007-06-28T00:27:00Z

    North American video distributor Image Entertainment has amended its merger agreement with an investor group led by David Bergstein to give Image investors more cash per share and to allow them to retain a minority interest in the merged operation.BTP Acquisition Company, the group led by Capitol Films and THINKfilm ...

  • News

    Anderson's Darjeeling Ltd to open New York Film Festival

    2007-06-28T00:14:00Z

    Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited has been set to open the 45th New York Film Festival (NYFF), which runs from Sept 28 to Oct 14, and Joel and Ethan Coen's No Country For Old Men will fill the festival's Centerpiece slot. Also screening at the festival, hosted by the Film ...

  • News

    Ted Leonsis: the filmanthropist

    2007-06-28T00:00:00Z

    Ted Leonsis, producer of Nanking, is also the vice-chairman of AOL and a crusader for making a new type of film. Lily Oei reports. Film-makers have long depended on the generosity of outside investors. But by prioritising impact over profit, Ted Leonsis, producer of documentary Nanking, has added a twist ...

  • News

    Gill & Sackers's Film Department launches with $200m in financing

    2007-06-27T23:13:00Z

    The Film Department, the new independent finance, production and international sales company formed by Mark Gill and Neil Sacker, has raised $200m in financing and hopes to unveil its first projects within the next few weeks.Gill and Sacker said the financing should also allow them to conclude negotiations with an ...