All articles by Fionnuala Halligan – Page 45
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News
Kelly Reichardt, Manuel Nieto Zas and Han Jie win Tigers
Kelly Reichardt's Old Joy, Manuel Nieto Zas's The Dog Poundand Walking On The Wild Side, by Han Jie, have won the three VPRO Tiger Awards at this year'sRotterdam International Film Festival.A total of 14 films competed forthe awards, which are given annually to first or second-time film-makers. The 35th Rotterdam ...
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Rotterdam CineMart reports brisk business on 45 projects
Rotterdam's international co-productionmarket CineMart wrapped its 23rd edition on a high note last night,with general praise for the overall quality of the 45 productions being pitchedto 800 producers, financiers and sales agents at the Dutch city port. Prizes were awarded to three of the projects: Lasya, by Anup Singh took ...
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News
Celluloid Dreams starts sales for The Elementary Particles
French sales agent CelluloidDreams has kicked off sales on Berlin Competition entry The Elementary Particles, with Lucky Red picking up the Oskar Roehler-directed title forItaly, ABC/Cinemien taking Benelux, Ekaterinburg Art weighting in for Russia and HollywoodClassics coming on board for the Czech Republic and Slovakia.Based on Michael Houellebecq's worldwide bestseller ...
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New projects for NoDream Cinema and Mantarraya Producciones
NoDream Cinema, headed up byMexico's Carlos Reygadas, and Jaime Romandia's Mantarraya Producciones are upping their collaboration to back fourupcoming projects, all budgeted around the $500,000 mark.New projects by Reygadas and Amat Escalante (Los Bastardos) are joined by A Mexican Story, by Russia's Artur Aristakisian, and a directorial debut by Spain's ...
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Marilyn Manson to direct, star in Lewis Carroll feature
Rocker Marilyn Manson will attend Berlin'sEuropean Film Market to present his directorial debut to buyers - $4.2m ( 3.5m Euros) Phantasmagoria - The Visions Of Lewis Carroll,in which Manson will play the author of Alice In Wonderland.With French sales agent Wild Bunch on board - WB partnerAlain de la Mata ...
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Celluloid Dreams strengthens sales slate for Berlin
French sales agentCelluloid Dreams is flexing its muscles pre-Berlin, boarding yet moreEnglish-language productions in advance of the European Film Market.New toCelluloid's roster is Bille August's Goodbye Bafana, based on the diaries of Nelson Mandela's formerprison guard. Co-produced by Banana Films with France's ARSAM, Goodbye Bafana traces Mandela's prison guard, James ...
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News
Michael Auret CEO of Sithengi steps down
Michael Auret, headof the South Africa's SithengiFilm and TV Market and the Cape Town World Cinema Festival, has stepped downafter wrapping Sithengi's 10th anniversaryedition.Auret took over at Sithengi in 2001 and set up the concurrent film festival in2002; last year Sithengi logged 1700 delegates whilethe festival saw a 10 percent ...
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Marc Evans' Snow Cake to open Berlin Film Festival
MarcEvans' drama Snow Cake, starring AlanRickman and Sigourney Weaver, will open the Berlin Film Festival in Competitionon February 9.Thefull Competition line-up is now almost complete, with 23 out of 26 titlesannounced and a further three to be revealed at the end of the week.Worldpremieres from the UK's Michael Winterbottom (The ...
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News
US film-makers join race for Rotterdam's Tigers
Americanfilm-makers are making a return to Rotterdam (Jan 26-Feb 5), with two USfeatures in the running for the VPRO Tiger Awards, announced today.A total of14 films will compete to become one of the three equal Tiger Award winners,including nine world premieres and two international premieres. Four of the 14were supported ...
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News
Daniel Burman's Family Law to open Berlin's Panorama
TheBerlin Film Festival's Panorama section is set to open with the world premiereof Daniel Burman's Family Law (Derechode Familia), in an initial swathe of filmsannounced by the section yesterday.FamilyLaw, from Argentina, is Burman'slong-awaited follow-up to The TornEmbrace (El Abrazo Partido),which won two Silver Bears at Berlin in 2004.Panoramahas announced 21 ...
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Thema plans to build new studio in St Petersburg
Thema, the Luxembourg-based productioncompany, is rapidly ramping up its activities - opening a new,5,000-square-metre state-of-the-art studio in St Petersburg, Russia bySeptember and starting a UK operation headed up by formerentertainment lawyer Kami Nagdhi.Thema, an offshoot of Russian financial servicesgiant AFK Sistema, has also expanded its investmentactivities in the last month, ...
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Reviews
A New Day In Old Sana'a
A classic star-crossed-romance-cum-travelogue set in thealluring capital of Yemen, Bader Ben Hirsi's A New Day In OldSana'a skims over the lives of a doomed couple in a restrictive society.Fascinating forits glimpses into the lives of women in one of the Arab world's poorestcountries, it may prove too light for pure ...
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Wong Kar-wai to head Competition jury for Cannes
HongKong auteur Wong Kar-wai will head up the Competitionjury for the Cannes Film Festival this year (May 17-28), it was announced today(Jan 4).Thedirector, whose earlyfilm As TearsGo By was screened at Un Certain Regard in 1989 (and marked the first HongKong film ever at the festival), has been a Cannes ...
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News
ID Distribution and Scalpel Films form alliance
France's IDDistribution and Scalpel Films have announced a strategic alliance for 2006, movingtowards co-production alongside French distribution activities andinternational sales.Led by Isabelle Dubar and former Celluloid head of sales Pierre Menahem respectively, ID and Scalpel have picked up Israelidirector Eytan Fox's upcoming The Bubble as their first joint title. ID ...
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Sighvatsson swoops on Scanbox
LosAngeles-based film producer Sigurjon "Joni"Sighvatsson has taken over Scandinavian filmdistribution company Scanbox Entertainment A/S,acquiring 75 percent of its shares.Theremaining 25 percent of the company will be held by Scanbox'scurrent management team, with former majority owner VernerBack Pedersen retaining an undisclosed equity position and continuing to serveon the company's board of ...
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Reviews
Looking For Comedy In The Muslim World
Dir/scr: Albert Brooks.2005. US. 98mins.The title LookingFor Comedy In The Muslim World is perhaps the bravest part of AlbertBrooks' new film, in which he plays himself, travelling to India and Pakistanon behalf of the US government to research what makes Hindus and Muslims laugh.Also brave was Brooks'decision for his feature ...
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Dubai festival ends with buzz about international shoots
Thesecond Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) wrapped on an optimistic notein the Gulf state on Saturday, with a palpable buzz surrounding the DubaiStudio City project and several high-profile expressions of interest in filmingthere following on from Warner Bros' recent shoot for Syriana.Apartfrom producer Barrie Osborne (The Lord of The Rings) ...
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World premiere for Albert Brooks at the Dubai Film Festival
AlbertBrooks became the first US film-maker to world premiere his film at the DubaiInternational Film Festival yesterday - with the potentially controversialtitle Looking For Comedy In The MuslimWorld, a sub-$25m cross-cultural comedy bankrolled by Steve Bing's Shangri-La Entertainment.Brooks, whotravelled to the Gulf state with Bing to show his film to ...
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The Dubai International Film Festival opens with controversial drama
The second Dubai InternationalFilm Festival has stepped up its bid to become a centre of cultural debate inthe Middle East with the gala opening of its second edition and theGulf premiere of a decidedly controversial film - Hany Abu Assad's suicidebomber drama, Paradise Now. Unspooling in front of anaudience of ...
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Reviews
The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe
Dir: Andrew Adamson. US.2005. 140mins.Hopes are riding high on the back of Aslan, the talking lion, for The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, the first of Disney andWalden Media's mooted adaptation of CS Lewis' seven-book series.Coming after Peter Jackson'sstorming, imaginative rendition of TheLord Of The Rings trilogy - and ...