All articles by Fionnuala Halligan – Page 46
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News
Hidden soars at EFA awards
Michael Haneke'sHidden (Cache) was the big winner atSaturday night's European Film Awards in Berlin,making off with five awards, including best film. TheFrench-Austrian-German-Italian co-production also won best director for Haneke, best actor for Daniel Auteil,best editing for Michael Hudecek and Nadine Muse, andthe FIPRESCI critics' prize.It was a vindicationfor Haneke, as ...
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Dubai announces line-up; Paradise Now to open festival
Headinginto its second year, the Dubai International Film Festival (December 11-17)has announced an expanded line-up of 98 Middle East and international films,kicking off with Hany Abu-Assad'ssuicide bomber drama Paradise Now,and culminating with the closing night gala of Christian Carrion's Merry Christmas. Along theway, Dubai will host six world premieres,including Albert ...
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Fortissimo gets ready for Battle
Dutch-HongKong-based sales agent Fortissimo Films is to plunge deeper into the territoryit carved out on Seven Swords by investing in the US$16m martial artsepic A Battle Of Wisdom, directed by Hong Kong's Jacob Cheung.Fortissimohas also acquired international sales rights to the title, which stars HongKong's Andy Lau (House of Flying ...
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Brooks' Muslim comedy to world premiere in Dubai
In an unusual move, AlbertBrooks' new film Looking For ComedyIn The Muslim World will have its world premiere at the Dubai InternationalFilm festival ahead of an early-2006 US release through Warner IndependentPictures.The film, which sees Brooksbeing sent to India and Pakistan by the US Government to find out what makesMuslims ...
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Bridge opens for Fortissimo
Dutch-HK-based sales agent FortissimoFilms has reported a string of sales on documentary The Bridge, which itpicked up at AFM. Directed by Eric Steel and following the stories of peoplewho decided to commit suicide by jumping off the Golden Gate bridge in 2004,the film has already sold to Japan (Tornado), Village ...
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EFM announces record sign-up levels
Asthe AFM draws to a close, Berlin's European Film Market (EFM) has announced arecord 240 companies signed up to take part in the event (Feb 9-19).Coincidingwith the 56th Berlin International Film Festival, the EFM hasalready attracted delegates from 45 countries in the year it moves to its newlocation in the ...
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Rotterdam to host a record 30 Bals-supported titles
The upcoming Rotterdam Film Festival has selected 36 filmprojects to receive funding from the Hubert Bals Fund - as a record thirtycompleted fund-supported titles are set to screen at the festival itself (January25-Feb 5).The 36 projects, which include new works from Babak Payami,Josue Mendez, He Jianjun and Lisandro Alonso, will ...
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Reviews
3 Needles
Dir/scr: Thom Fitzgerald.Can. 2005. 123mins.A film with sweeping emotional heft and extensive geographical remit - fromSouth Africa to China and Montreal via three separate AIDS-themed stories -Thom Fitzgerald's 3 Needles ultimately falls victim to its own ambition.While it conveys enormoussympathy to both subject and locations shoots it is likely to ...
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Reviews
Twelve And Holding
Dir: Michael Cuesta. US.2005. 90mins.A deft, nuanced drama which, while conventionally framed, still feels freshand new, Twelve And Holding is a delight. Its three child stars are allstrong, but this film will be remembered for young actress Zoe Weizenbaum'sperformance as a young girl caught between precocious childhood and the fullonslaught ...
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Reviews
Something Like Happiness (Stetsi)
Dir/scr: Bodhan Slama.2005. Cz Rep. 100mins.A surprise winner of the top prize at San Sebastian, butno less deserving for that, Bodhan Slama's small-scale Czech drama surged aheadof more heavyweight rivals to take the Golden Shell for best film and bestactress (Ana Geislerova) - and that in a competition which allows ...
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Czech Happiness rules over San Sebastian
Something Like Happiness (Stesti) has won top honoursat the San Sebastian International Film Festival, taking the Golden Shell forBest Picture and the Best Actress award for Ana Geislerova.The Czech Republic-German co-production was directed byBodhan Slama and is centred around a young girl in a working class Czech townwhose boyfriend has ...
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Reviews
Hard Times (Malas Temporadas)
Dir. Manuel MartinCuenca. Sp. 2005. 115mins.Three sets of outsidersin Madrid, characters on the fringe of the accepted norm whether by choice orcircumstance, approach a crisis in the nicely-modulated and finely-acted HardTimes, Manuel Martin Cuenca's follow-up to The Weakness Of The Bolshevik.Despite its defiantly sombretone, it should find a solid audience ...
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News
Twelve and selling: Cuesta drama logs first deals
Hot Toronto title Twelve And Holding, directed byMichael Cuesta, has sold to several major territories, including the UK, Franceand Australia.Handled internationally by Fortissimo Films, the drama is aboutthree 12-year-olds on the cusp of becoming teenagers who cope in different wayswith the death of a companion.With a notable performance by young ...
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News
Germany, Japan tap heels to Saura's Iberia
Carlos Saura's latest dance extravaganza, Iberia, hassold to 14 territories following its world premiere in Toronto, led by deals inGermany, France and Japan.The film, being sold internationally by Wild Bunch, isinspired by Spanish composer Isaac Albeniz and is about the top stars offlamenco music and dance, much like Saura's 1995 ...
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CrossDay strikes raft of sales on Shooting Dogs
Demonstrating that anappetite still exists for cinematic insight into the 1994 Rwandan genocide,producer CrossDay Productions has sold Michael Caton-Jones's drama ShootingDogs to a raft of international territories, including Japan and the UK.Starring John Hurt and HughDancy, the film tells the harrowing tale of 2,500 Tutsis who took refuge in atechnical ...
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Mayhem lands at Fortissimo
Fortissimo Films has pickedup worldwide rights outside Australia/NZ to black comedy Suburban Mayhem,directed by Australia's Paul Goldman (Australian Rules), andproduced by Lea Churchill Brown with The Piano's Jan Chapman executiveproducing. Icon will distribute in Australia/NZ.The film, about a murderousteenager, starts shooting in Sydney and Newcastle on August 26, starring NZ ...
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Reviews
Pride & Prejudice
Dir Joe Wright. 2005UK-US-Fr. 127mins.There'sno question that 19th-century English novelist Jane Austen still has shapelylegs. Ang Lee's Sense & Sensibility (1995) enjoyed seven Oscarnominations (including best picture) and $134m box-office worldwide, $43m fromthe US alone, while Colin Firth owes his career to a 1995 BBC version of Pride & Prejudice ...
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Warner Bros Japan swoops on Seven Swords
In a coup for sales agentFortissimo Films, Warner Bros Pictures Japan has boarded Tsui Hark'sVenice-opener Seven Swords, which screens in Toronto on Sunday.The deal, which wasconcluded in Venice, is the largest-ever for Fortissimo in Japan, where the $18m Seven Swords will now open onOctober 1 on 200 screens.Warner Bros has ...
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The Maid screams up Singapore record
Fortissimo pick-up The Maid hasbecome the top-grossing horror title in its native Singapore, passing $1.1m (Sing $2m)at the weekend.Directed by Kelvin Tong, the $900,000The Maid, which is screening privately at Toronto, is about a Filipina domestichelper who unknowingly sets free Chinese ghosts. Produced by MediaCorp Raintree Pictures, it has already ...
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News
McGregor, Okonedo, examine their Sexual Nature
Scenes Of A Sexual Nature, made for less than £500,000 andstarring 17 of Britain's top actors including Ewan McGregor, Sophie Okonedo,Gina McKee, Eileen Atkins and Hugh Bonneville, is set to wrap next week onLondon's Hampstead Heath.Director Edward Blum's feature debut, Scenes Of A Sexual Naturelinks seven stories and 14 principal ...