All articles by Geoffrey Macnab – Page 164
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Features
Bandit country
The death in May of Paul Reyes, one of the leaders of the Colombian terrorist group, Farc (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), lends a timely appeal to Victor Gaviria's new project about the origins of the movement.The Colombian director, probably the best known film-maker to emerge from the territory, ...
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Mammoth challenge: Lars Jonsson on producing Lukas Moodysson
When 20 minutes or so of footage from Lukas Moodysson's English-language debut Mammoth was screened in Cannes recently, there was a mini stampede among buyers. Sales agent TrustNordisk reported huge interest in the project, which stars Gael Garcia Bernal and Michelle Williams.International distributors, it was clear, still have faith in ...
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Edinburgh: This summer's new destination
At the grand old age of 62, the Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff), the world's longest continually running film festival, is having a makeover. Edinburgh has shifted its dates from its traditional August slot to June (18-29). The event has also received an injection of $3.7m (£1.88m) in public funding ...
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EON Screenwriters Workshop signs up four new films
The EON Screenwriters' Workshop (ESW), the initiative set up last year by James Bond production company EON Productions, has announced details of four new projects with new feature film writers.Christopher Hill's teen comedy Rules of the Game is about three teenage videogame designers who get the chance to go to ...
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Sydney Pollack dies of cancer at age 73
Film-maker Sydney Pollack died of cancer in Los Angeles on Monday, aged 73.He had been diagnosed with cancer about 10 months ago.The Oscar winner was a director, producer and actor; his best-known films include Out Of Africa, The Way We Were, Three Days Of The Condor, Tootsie and They Shoot ...
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TrustNordisk racks up sales for projects including Mammoth, Dark Floors
At its first Cannes as a joint operation, TrustNordisk has reported multiple sales on its Cannes slate. Deals closed include Dark Floors to Japan (Presidio Corporation) and Germany (MIG), Go With Peace Jamil to Portugal (Pantheon), The Green Butchers to Hungary (Cirko), and Heaven's Heart and Just Another Love Story ...
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Zentropa plans new features with Per Fly
Zentropa producer Ib Tardini is plotting two new features with Per Fly (the director of The Inheritance and Manslaughter). First off is $4m drama The Woman That Dreamed About A Man (working title.)Reflecting Zentropa's new-found European focus, it will shoot in Berlin, Paris and Warsaw. It tells the story of ...
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Bavaria Film International sales blossom
Bavaria Film International made Cannes sales on Doris Dörrie's Berlinale competition entry, Cherry Blossoms - Hanami was sold to Canada (Mongrel Media), Brazil (Mostra International de Cinema), India (Allience Lumière) and Russia (Maywin Media). Maywin Media also picked up Bavaria's second Berlinale competition entry, Restless by Amos Kollek as ...
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Hubert Bals future remains uncertain
Long-term funding arrangements for International Film Festival Rotterdam's prestigious Hubert Bals Fund (HBF) remain shrouded in doubt. The Fund supports filmmakers from developing countries. It currently has close to $1.9m (Eu1.2m) a year at its disposal. It has backed several films in official selection in Cannes this year.In 2006, the ...
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Telepool picks up The Volcano
Munich-based Telepool has acquired international rights to The Volcano, a joint production from the producers of teamWorx (Nico Hofmann) and RTL. Budgeted at $14m (9m Euros), the two-parter is the second joint project from RTL and teamWorx after Storm Tide, which attracted 11 million TV viewers in early 2006. Uwe ...
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A-Film on Cannes buying spree
A-Film Distribution has been on a Cannes buying binge. The Benelux Distributor, which is in the market again acquiting aggressively, has picked up a host of Cannes titles, including Milk (Gus van Sant, starring Sean Penn), The Other Man (Richard Eyre, starring Liam Neeson and Laura Linney), Mammoth (Lukas Moodysson, ...
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Zentropa launches Young Europeans production scheme
Danish powerhouse Zentropa has launched a new pan-European production initiative.Zentropa's partners are Young Europeans - as the initiative is called - aims to make eight films over a two year period. Budgets of each film will be in the $2.5m (1.5m Euros) range. The partners include IDTV in Holland, Slot ...
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Spike Lee shoots for Michael Jordan documentary
Inveterate sports fan Spike Lee is hatching a new feature documentaryabout basketball legend Michael Jordan. The project should be ready intime for next year's Cannes Festival.Lee's Jordan project is the latest in a line of high-profile auteurdriven sports docs, following on from James Toback's Tyson, about boxerMike Tysson, and Hand ...
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Juppiter back in business at Cannes
Italian production outfit Juppiter is back in business. Here in Cannes, the production outfit behind several classic Italian movies including key works by Ettore Scola and Tornatore has relaunched with a three film slate.Roberto Bessi, CEO of Juppiter Generale Cinematografica, is aiming to take advantage of new fiscal incentives likely ...
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Rome will go ahead after film fest head and Mayor
Following a meeting between the President of the Rome Film Fest Goffredo Bettini and the new Mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, it has been confirmed that the third edition of the Rome Film Fest will go ahead as planned from October 22-31.This meeting follows the outspoken criticisms of the festival ...
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Cineart snaps up competition titles
Belgian arthouse distributor Cineart has been snapping up titles in Cannes official selection. New acquisitions include Waltz With Bashir (on The Match Factory's Cannes slate) and Korean title The Chaser (sold by Fine Cut.)Among the films it has already acquired are Brazilian competition title Linha De Passe from Walter Salles ...
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Entertainment One's RCV bags hot titles for Benelux
Entertainment One, the fast growing Canadian media group, has announced recently bought Benelux distributor RCV Entertainment has closed distribution deals on some of the most anticipated projects on this years market.RCV's managing directors Jan A. Kouwenhoven and Joke Wartenbergh confirmed a selection of the titles they have secured. Among them ...
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Hans Christian Schmid prepares $9m political drama
Hans Christian Schmid (the award-winning director of Requiem) is to start shooting a new, as-yet-untitled political drama in July. The $9m project starring Kerry Fox tells the story of Hannah Maynard, a prosecutor at The Tribunal in The Hague who manages to convince a young Bosnian woman to testify against ...
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A-Film still in the arthouse buying game
New A-Film boss Wilco Wolfers has arrived in Cannes in acquisitive mood and keen to dispel the idea that the Dutch distribution outfit is in a period of retrenchment and is moving away from releasing arthouse fare.New acquisitions include Pablo Trapero's competition title Lions Den (Leonera) and Gregor Jordan's thriller ...
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Troubled German VIP fund back in business
VIP Medienfonds, the financier of such hits as Monster, Black Book and Perfume, is back in the film production business, says Thierry Potok, who took over as CEO of the German private media fund at the beginning of this month.VIP has more than $31m (20m Euros) in funding from VIP ...