All articles by Geoffrey Macnab – Page 167
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News
Curzon Artificial Eye expands product scope with Hunt buy
Signaling its increasing appetite for mainstream fare, UK distributorCurzon Artificial Eye has taken UK rights to Helen Hunt's Then She Found Me, starring Hunt, Colin Firth, Bette Midler and Matthew Broderick.Then She Found Me is one of five new titles that Curzon Artificial Eye has picked up on the autumn ...
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Lars von Trier's Antichrist pre-sells widely for Trust
Lars Von Trier, the ageing enfant terrible of European cinema, clearly hasn't lost his allure for the international buyers. His new project Antichrist isn't cast yet.It hasn't been decided where the horror picture will shoot and the financing has still to be put together but that hasn't stopped distributors from ...
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Celluloid sells North America, Germany on Miike's Django
Celluloid Dreams has announced the sale of Takashi Miike's western Sukiyaki Western Django in North American and German speaking territories. The North American deal was signed with Gary Hirsch of First Look Studios and brokered by Celluloid president Hengameh Panahi. Walter Rehm's Universum picked up the German speaking territory rights. ...
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Trust dances for Fischer Christensen's A Soap follow-up
Trust Film Sales has taken on Pernille Fischer Christensen's Everybody's Dancing, now in post and being readied for in time for potential premiere in Berlin (Christensen won the 2006 Berlinale's Silver Bear and best debut prizes with her debut A Soap.)Here at the AFM, Trust Film Sales will be screening ...
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Wild Bunch takes on Tokyo! triptych, Ferrara doc
French powerhouse Wild Bunch is handling sales at AFM on Asian portmanteau picture Tokyo!, featuring three films set in the Japanese capital by auteurs Michel Gondry, Leos Carax and Bong Joon-Ho. The film, currently shooting, is available in all territories excluding France, Japan and South Korea.Wild Bunch is also resuming ...
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Lionsgate UK banks on British films from Donaldson, Ozon
Following the company's acquisition of John Maybury's The Edge of Love at Cannes this year,Lionsgate UKhas underlined its continuing commitment to British Film by snapping up two further Brit titles, Roger Donaldson's The Bank Job and Francois Ozon's Angel.The Bank Job was acquired from investment group Omnilab and Arclight Films ...
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Anja Uecker to join Telepool in January
German outfit Telepool has appointed a new coordinator, Anja Uecker. Uecker, who will start in January 2008, succeeds Justyna Musch.She has 10 years of experience ininternational licence trading.Uecker comes to Telepool after stints at EM.TV Merchandising AG and more recently at Kinowelt.
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Ghost House inks North American deal for The Tattooist
Ghost House Pictures has acquired North American rights to The Tattooist, the supernatural thriller starring Jason Behr and Mia Blake.Sony, who has a longstanding relationship with Ghost House, will handle the North American theatrical release. Ghost House Pictures is owned by Robert Tapert and Spiderman's Sam Raimi, who recently visited ...
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Grindstone checks into Nordisk's Room 205
Grindstone Entertainment Group has acquired all North American rights for Nordisk's ghostly thriller Room 205.Grindstone will be working in partnership with Ghost House Pictures on the release.Neel Ronholt and Mikkel Arndt star in Martin Barnewitz's chiller about a woman's frightening journey into the occult. The film will be dubbed into ...
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Reviews
In Prison My Whole Life
Dir: Marc Evans. UK-Italy. 2007. 91mins.On December 9 1981, Mumia Abu-Jamal was arrested for the murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner. He has been languishing on Death Row ever since. Mumia's story forms the focal point of Marc Evans' impassioned and engaging feature-doc. Using computer graphics, animation and music as ...
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Reviews
Unrelated
Dir: Joanna Hogg. UK, 2007, 100minsBritish film-makers have never been comfortable making thoughtful, provocative arthouse movies about the tribulations of bourgeois families. It is a style of film-making in which the French have long excelled but that UK directors generally steer clear of in case of being thought affected or ...
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News
Schamus calls Oscar snub of Lust, Caution 'unjust and capricious'
James Schamus, CEO of Focus Features, has expressed his dismay at the decision last week of the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS) in Los Angeles to reject Ang Lee's Lust, Caution as Taiwan's official submission for the Foreign Language Oscar.'I am sure there is some ancient and ...
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Tranter welcomes six-year stability of new BBC Films budget
'Discreetly celebratory' was how Jane Tranter, Controller BBC Fiction, described the state of mind at BBC Films, where a $4m (£2 m) increase in the current annual budget of $20m (£10m) was confirmed Thursday. There was also the added news that $2m (£1m) of the BBC's film acquisition budget would ...
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UK film minister upbeat on industry but co-productions drop
UK Minister of State for Culture, Creative Industries and Tourism Margaret Hodge defended the industry's position during her keynote speech atthe Screen International annual UK Film Finance Summit.But she has asked the UK Film Council to undertake an evaluation of the success of the UK tax credit as figures show ...
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Branco's new Portugal festival score two world premieres
The first European Film Festival in Estoril, Portugal (Nov 8-17) has attracted some high-profile names thanks to Portugal's best-known producer, Paulo Branco, serving as festival director. Pedro Almodovar (whose career is celebrated with a full retrospective) will be giving a masterclass as will fashion designer Emmanuel Ungaro, director Werner Schroeter ...
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Into the Arthouse: how artists like Sam Taylor-Wood move into film
There has always been an overlap between art and film. From surrealists such as Man Ray, Jean Cocteau and Salvador Dali to Cindy Sherman (Office Killer), Matthew Barney (Cremaster) and Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell And The Butterfly), a steady stream of artists have crossed over into film-making.In the late ...
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The match-makers - new co-production markets
It is a truth acknowledged universally that an international producer in possession of a good project must be in want of a backer. But as the international market adjusts to a new business reality, producers, particularly those with mid-level budgets, are struggling to find suitors. Not only is Hollywood awash ...
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Films and slates worth $500m to be pitched at new London market
A formidable list of delegates and producers has been announced for the inaugural Production Finance Market (PFM) being held in London later this month (Oct 22-23). An estimated $500 million worth of projects are being presented, both individually and as part of slates. Confirmed attendees include many major distributors and ...
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Big squeeze on the small screen
Are the UK's leading broadcasters falling out of love with film' In the multichannel digital era, scheduling a popular movie in primetime can no longer guarantee a sizeable audience and there is an increasing sense that viewers do not want to consume movies on terrestrial TV.A case in point is ...
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BBC Films restructures with new board working under Jane Tranter
In London this morning, Jane Tranter, Controller BBC Fiction, spelled out her vision for a newly revamped BBC Films. 'The BBC's commitment to BBC Films is as absolute as it ever has been,' Tranter said.The major change is now that BBC Films will be managed by a new four-member BBC ...