All articles by Francoise Meaux Saint Marc – Page 4
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Cannes competition jury line-up announced
A week ahead of the announcement of the Cannes film festival's official competition line-up, Gilles Jacob has announced the full jury, which this year is chaired by David Lynch. Actresses Sharon Stone, Michele Yeoh and Christine Hakim will be joined by no less than five film-makers, including three Cannes veterans ...
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Messier forces Lescure's resignation from Canal Plus
Amid French press reports that his own future is at risk, Vivendi Universal chairman Jean-Marie Messier has announced that Pierre Lescure, head of the company's pay-TV group Canal Plus, is stepping down from his post.Lescure is to be replaced by the fifty year-old Xavier Couture, who until now has been ...
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Xilam buys into French animated pic Kaena
French animation production house Xilam has acquired the rights to fully computer-animated feature film Kaena -- co-financed and handled worldwide by StudioCanal -- following the bankrupcy of the original producer, Chaman Production.StudioCanal has already widely sold the Euros12m title -- which is scheduled to be completed by year-end -- ...
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Labadie, Chiche establish Wild Side video label
French film group Bac Films has launched its first two home video titles - Scary Movie 2 and Spy Kids - on the rental market through its recently created home video company, Wild Side Video. Wild Side Video -- a 100% subsidiary of Jean Labadie's Bac Films launched in February ...
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France asks CNC's Kessler to define reality
French minister of culture Catherine Tasca has asked David Kessler, who heads TV and film support body CNC, to lead discussions aimed at determining what constitutes an "audiovisual work."The move follows a controversy sparked by a decision made by French broadcast watchdog Conseil Superieur de l'Audiovisuel (CSA), to grant the ...
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French film production volume jumps, so do budgets
A new record in French film production was set last year, with the total number of titles, including French co-productions. reaching 204. That is 33 higher than in 2000, says the French film body CNC, which does not count films in which it has not invested.A massive Euros 749m (up ...
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Vivendi Universal posts Euros 13.6bn net loss
Vivendi Universal posted a Euros 13.6bn net loss in 2001, due to a massive Euros 15.2bn goodwill write down, the result of a raft of expensive acquisitions. However, the group has met its operational targets for its media and communications division.Presenting VU's full-year report to the press March 4 in ...
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Beart, and Ardant to co-star in Nathalie Ribout
Emmanuelle Beart and Fanny Ardant, currently together on the French screens in Francois Ozon's musical whodunit 8 Femmes, are to co-star in Nathalie Ribout, the next film by Anne Fontaine.Currently at script stage, Nathalie Ribout will go before the cameras in 2003, produced by Les Films Alain Sarde, in which ...
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Adjani replaces Marceau for Bon Voyage
Isabelle Adjani is to replace a pregnant Sophie Marceau as the female lead in the much-awaited Bon Voyage, Jean-Paul Rappeneau's first film after the 1995 Horseman On The Roof.This is not the only change in the lengthy setting up of Bon Voyage, a WWII romantic drama set in Bordeaux in ...
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French industry unites over TV regulation concerns
French broadcasting group AB has denied accusations of intending to avoid the national content quota and other broadcasting regulations by transmitting its planned new movie channels from Luxembourg."We will broadcast from Luxembourg because we have a technical platform there", AB's chairman, Claude Berda told French publication Satellifax. However, various French ...
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Cannes to subsidise festival attendees
The Cannes film festival is to subsidise the attendance of more than fifty young French film-makers at this year's festival, with the initiative expanding to include European film-makers next year.With the support of the Cannes hotel and restaurant owners' unions, the film-makers only have to pay Euros 115 towards ...
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Ocean's Eleven tries to bag some French box office
Ocean's Eleven, released Feb 6 in France, did not manage to topple local blockbuster Asterix Et Obelix: Mission Cleopatre from the top of the charts, although it attracted a strong 1.5 million admissions in its first week.Asterix, which already claimed the all-time best opening week record in France (previously held ...
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Vivendi Universal reports 10% revenues rise
Vivendi Universal has announced a better-than-expected 10% rise in revenues for 2001, to Euros 57.4bn, and is expecting a further 10% increase in 2002.News of the results, some Euros 1bn better than expected, boosted the company's share price by 2.9% to Euros 48.2 on Feb 11.Revenues from film and broadcasting ...
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Bollore takes 7% stake in France's Gaumont
French investment group Bollore has acquired a 7% stake in French film group Gaumont, the value of which has not been disclosed.Gaumont - which saw a massive Euros 66.7m loss in 2000 and merged its exhibition operations with Pathe's in early 2001 to form EuroPalaces, (66% Pathe/ 34% Gaumont) - ...
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Asterix breaks French 5-day opening record
Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatre drew a phenomenal 2.96 million admissions during its first five days on release in France, breaking the all-time record previously held by another French film (and another sequel) Taxi 2, which saw 2.95 million tickets sold.Pathe Distribution released the Asterix & Obelix sequel on a ...
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French Cesar nominations hail Amelie
With 13 nominations, including best film, best director for Jean-Pierre Jeunet and best actress for Audrey Tautou, Amelie leads the race for the 27th Cesar Awards, the French equivalent of the Academy Awards, to be presented on March 2. Jean-Pierre Jeunet's chart-topping title (9 million-plus French admissions), which ...
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Canal Plus' film channel to get facelift
In an effort to boost lagging subscriptions, the Canal Plus group is to reshuffle the top management of its eponymous French movie channel.According to French daily Le Monde, comedian and film producer Dominique Farrugia, who founded and currently heads Pathe's cable and satellite channel Comedie, would be called in by ...
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Asterix 2 has near-record French opening
Asterix 2 : Mission Cleopatre drew a massive 629,000 admissions on its opening day in France on Wed Jan 30, making it the second best debut ever in the country.However, and even though distributor Pathe released it on a record 945 prints, Asterix 2, which is the most expensive ...
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101 Reykjavik director heads to Flach Pyramide
French foreign sales house Flach Pyramide International has acquired The Sea, by 101 Reykjavik director Baltasar Kormakur.The $2.4m comedic family drama tells the story of the owner of an Icelandic fishery who decides to step down. Produced by Jean-Francois Fonlupt's Emotion Pictures and co-produced by Kormakur's own Blue Eye Production, ...
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Gala takes UK rights to African L'Afrance
UK indie distributor Gala has acquired UK rights to Sundance title L'Afrance, an African film which will next be seen in Rotterdam and is handled worldwide by Mercure Distribution's Jacques Le Glou.L'Afrance, directed by Alain Gomis and previously selected for Locarno, is the coming-of-age tale of a young Senegalese student ...