All articles by Geoffrey Macnab – Page 157
-
News
Helen Loveridge returns with sales company Meridiana
The Meridiana is the hotel in Venice in which sales agent Helen Loveridge stayed when she was working on Hou Hsiao-hsien’s 1989 Golden Lion winner, City Of Sadness. In recognition of that triumph, it is the name she has given to her new, London-based sales outfit Meridiana Films, which aims ...
-
News
Dutch government reveals future funding plans for Hubert Bals Fund
Details have finally emerged of how the Dutch government will continue to support the Hubert Bals Fund, with private investment playing a more key role than previously. As previously reported in ScreenDaily, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs had agreed to continue its backing of HBF after fierce debate as ...
-
News
Berlin's raw deals for bear traders
In the wake of a slow Sundance and a very difficult American Film Market (AFM), distributors turned up in Berlin in expectation.
-
News
Sweden - The big time
Has the Swedish wunderkind rediscovered his box-office lustre' In advance of its gala screening in competition at the Berlinale, Lukas Moodysson's Mammoth, his first English-language film, was already on top of the Swedish box-office charts. The film was outperforming The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button. This was the first time ...
-
News
Waisbren: Don't hesitate - consolidate!
In times of trouble, the big beasts always herd together. 'Consolidate or die' has been the frequent mantra when the independent film business is under threat. It was very much the message given by Ben Waisbren, president and chief executive of Continental Entertainment Capital, during his keynote speech at the ...
-
News
Wild Bunch swims in Oceans of Berlin deals
Wild Bunch was striking an upbeat note as the company announced its EFMdeals yesterday. Despite the credit crunch, it emerged that the French powerhouses has closed multiple territories on its packed Berlin slate. 'I think the worst is still to come. We were all afraid that Berlin would be a ...
-
News
Era New Horizons to offer cash prizes
Polish film festival Era New Horizons 2009 is to introduce financial rewards for its winners with four of the five competitive sections of the ENH 2009 to offer $90,300 (Eu70,000) in cash prizes and distribution guarantees. New Horizons International Competition, the competitive section of the festival screening 14 features that ...
-
News
Eurimages plans contribution systemrestructure
A clearer picture is beginning to appear of how Eurimages (the Council of Europe fund for the co-production, distribution and exhibition of European cinematographic works) might change its contribution system. Last month, it emerged that Holland and Italy were considering withdrawal from Eurimages on the grounds that they put more ...
-
News
Doc Alliance launches online distribution portal
Doc Alliance, the partnership between five leading documentary festivals (CPH: Dox Copenhagen, DOK Leipzig, IDFF Jihlava, Planete Doc Review and Visions Du Reel) has launched its own online portal. The new website, which goes live on March 1, will make available 250 films to stream or download. This will include ...
-
News
Intra's Tobruk lands in UK with Hi-Fliers
Italian sales outfit Intra Movies has closed a UK deal in Berlin with Hi-Fliers on Czech World War Two film, Tobruk. Directed by Vaclav Marhoul, thestoryis about a20-year-old volunteer in the Czech army in North Africa in the autumn of 1941. Showing its increasing appetite for eastern European fare, Intra ...
-
News
Independents must consolidate, says Ben Waisbren
In a hard-hitting keynote speech at yesterday's Screen International European Film Summit, film financier Ben Waisbren, who is president and CEO of Continental Entertainment Capital, predicted that the independent film business will go through a prolonged period of contraction and restructuring. 'Don't hesitate - consolidate,' he urged.Fewer films will be ...
-
News
Paolo Branco plots Cosmopolis
In his most ambitious project to date, international producer Paolo Branco is plotting a $10m-12m film based on the novel Cosmopolis by legendary US writer Don DeLillo. Branco's Alfama Films is producing the film about a day in the life of a young billionaire financier who, over the course of ...
-
News
Gosetti returns to Venice
Giorgio Gosetti is on the way back to Venice. The much-travelled festival programmer and curator is to return to the Lido as Delegate General of Venice Days, the event he founded in 2004 as the Venice Festival's answer to the Cannes Director's Fortnight. The appointment comes as Fabio Ferzetti steps ...
-
News
Wellcam welcomes Taras Bulba to Korea
Early in the EFM, Russian outfit Central Partnership has closed a Korean deal for its historical epic Taras Bulba with Wellcam. The deal was closed on Friday in Berlin. The historical drama, directed by Vladimir Bortko, is currently in post-production and will be unveiled to buyers in the Cannes market. ...
-
News
Noble picks up two from Vantage
Scandinavian buyer Noble Entertainment has picked up Scandinavian rights to Gela Babluani's 13 and Joel Hopkins' Last Chance Harvey from Paramount Vantage International. Noble founder and CEO Per Samuelsson confirmed the deals yesterday. 13, Babluani's English language remake of his own 13 Tzameti stars Sam Riley, Mickey Rourke and Jason ...
-
News
Centurion strides out for Pathe
Pathe International has pre-sold Neil Marshall's Romans in Britain yarn Centurion to Constantin in Germany, Aurum in Spain, Hopscotch in Australia, Scanbox in Scandinavia and Odeon in Greece. The film will start principal photography on 22nd February in Scotland. LOL (Laughing Out Loud), directed by Liza Azuelos, has sold to ...
-
News
3D fails to fly, says Stassen
nWave Pictures' Ben Stassen, who produced 3D feature Fly Me To The Moon, is warning that the 3D revolution has failed to materialize. While 3D films are being made and released in abundance, Stassen argues that the industry is now in 'a much longer transition phase than anybody had hoped ...
-
News
Negativ gets animated with Alois Nebel
Czech production outfit Negativ is venturing into feature length animation with a film version of cult graphic novel Alois Nebel, by Jaroslaw Rudis and Jaromir 99. Tomas Lunak has signed on to direct. The project, which was presented at last month's Rotterdam CineMart, has now been picked up by The ...
-
News
Other Angle collars Bambou
New Paris-based sales outfit Other Angles Pictures has added a new title to its inaugural EFM slate, the company is to handle world rights on Didier Bourdon's new feature Bambou.Bambou stars Didier Bourdon, Anne Consigny, Pierre Arditi and Eddy Mitchell. The film is about a bank worker and his piano ...
-
News
Festival titles find sales berths midway through Berlinale
French outfit Les Films Du Losange has closed a deal to take worldwide sales on Sweet Rush (Tatarak), the latest feature from venerable Polish auteur Andrzej Wajda which screens in competition on Friday. Les Films Du Losange will also be releasing the film in France through its distribution arm. Meanwhile, ...