All articles by Geoffrey Macnab – Page 168
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Reviews
Cargo 200 (Gruz 200)
Dir: Alexey Balabanov, Russia 2007, 86minsAlexey Balabanov's eleventh feature is one of his bleakest. Set in provincial Russia in 1984 as the USSR enters its death throes, it portrays a society that is sickly, violent and cynical. The title refers to the name given to corpses of Russian soldiers being ...
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News
Soderbergh plans Girlfriend Experience with HDNet
Steven Soderbergh, who directed Bubble for HDNet, has committed to making another digital film for the company. He will start shooting The Girlfriend Experience, set in the world of high-class escorts, in February 2008.Details remain skimpy on the new project. Soderbergh is currently in Latin-America filming his two Che Guevara ...
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News
Jia Zhangke plans factory worker film before 2008
Golden Lion winning director Jia Zhangke, whose new documentary Useless about the fashion industry screened in Venice's Horizons last week and in Toronto this week, has revealed further details of his next dramatic feature, which he is planning to have ready in time for the Olympic Games in Beijing in ...
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News
Loach's Free World lands more buyers in Venice
In advance of its Toronto screening, Ken Loach's It's A Free World has closed several more deals for Pathe Pictures International in Venice.The immigration-themed film has gone to Japan (Cinequanon), Portugal (Lusomundo), and Greece (Audiovisuel).Pathe's Mike Runagall is also reporting strong US interest in the film. 'Venice was very positive ...
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News
Gurinder Chadha ready to start Snogging
Production will begin on Sept 17 on Gurinder Chadha's latest feature, Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging, based on UK author Louise Rennison's best-selling Confessions Of Georgia Nicolson series. Georgia Groome (star of London To Brighton) is to play the lead. Also appearing are Eleanor Tomlinson and Aaron Johnson (who both ...
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News
Swedish tribute plans to screen Bergman rarities
Within a month of the director's death, a Bergman tribute plans to gather many of the auteur's key collaborators and screen rare and unseen Bergman works.The one-off Bergman tribute was announced this week in Venice by Jannike Ahlund, the organizer of the annual Bergman Week on Bergman's home island, Faro.Long ...
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News
Wolfson named as part-time director of Rotterdam
In a surprise move, the Board of the International Film Festival Rotterdam has appointed Rutger Wolfson as director of the forthcoming January 2008 edition.However, the 37-year-old Wolfson will be doing the job on a part-time basis and his appointment is for one year only. While overseeing IFFR, Wolfson will also ...
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News
Jia Zhangke on track with Chinese doc 24 Cities
Golden Lion winning director Jia Zhangke, whose new documentary Useless about clothing designer Ma Ke screened in Venice's Orizzonti, has revealed further details of his next dramatic feature, which he is planning to have ready in time for the Olympic Games.The project (provisionally titled 24 Cities) follows four women working ...
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News
Venice exodus begins as international players head to Toronto
As Venice's first weekend wraps and Toronto's opening looms on Thursday, the traditional mid-Venice festival migration has already begun. Industry delegates are leaving the Lido en masse, despite Venice - one of the world's most prestigious (and oldest) film festivals - continuing through Saturday. 'That's a big problem. Venice or ...
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News
Ridley Scott to tackle religion and politics with Body Of Lies
Ridley Scott, in Venice at the weekend for the special screening of Blade Runner: The Final Cut, has revealed further details of his new Warner Bros film, Body Of Lies, which starts shooting on Wednesday. 'We are working fast. We are working to get ahead of the strike,' Scott said ...
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News
Italian distributor cancels Woody Allen screenings in Venice
There were angry scenes in Venice over the weekend when it emerged that Italian distributor Filmauro had cancelled three of the five screenings planned for Woody Allen's new feature, Cassandra's Dream, starring Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor. The reasons for the last-minute cancellations were shrouded in mystery. Some well-placed sources ...
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News
Ang Lee plans safer edit of Lust, Caution for Chinese audiences
Since its Venice world premiere, Ang Lee's Lust, Caution has created whatFocus boss James Schamus is calling 'a tidal wave of interest' across Asia.The Asian response has been largely positive. Lee's steamy espionagethriller will be given a major Asian release later in the autumn. However,controversy is already dogging the film ...
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News
De Palma's Redacted won't get Bubble-style release
HDNet Films, which pioneered day and date multi-platform releasing with Steven Soderbergh's Bubble, has decided to give Brian De Palma's controversial new digital feature Redacted a more traditional release.The film, produced for HDNet Films, received its world premiere in Venice this week. It tells of the rape and murder of ...
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Features
Belgium - Back in the habit
It is 15 years since Belgian director Stijn Coninx was Oscar-nominated for his feature Daens in 1992. Now, he is preparing a new feature likely to pique the curiosity of European buyers. La Vie Extraordinaire De Soeur Sourire - to star Cecile De France - will tell the story of ...
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Reviews
Sugarhouse
Dir: Gary Love, UK 2007, 92mins A claustrophobic psychodrama that never quite shakes off its stage origins, Sugarhouse is performed with ferocious intensity by its three leads. First-time director Love creates a genuine sense of menace. He also effectively cranks up the tension even if the plotting ultimately seems contrived ...
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Features
Belgium - Sacrifices made for the gods
The news their debut feature Small Gods has been selected for Venice's Critics' Week will have come as a huge boost to the Karakatsanis brothers. Dimitri and Nicolas, who come from a Greek-Belgian background, have not had an easy ride with their movie, which took three years to complete. Like ...
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News
Brett Morgen works with Courtney Love for new Cobain documentary
US director Brett Morgen, whose new feature Chicago 10 screens on Locarno 's Piazza Grande on Friday, has revealed further details of his new 'official' feature documentary about Kurt Cobain, the lead singer of rock band Nirvana who died in 1994. The film, made with Courtney Love's backing, will take ...
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Reviews
Extraordinary Rendition
Dir: Jim Threapleton. UK . 2007. 77mins. Extraordinary Rendition is a direct and powerful treatment of a subject that has caused huge indignation in the west - namely the kidnapping of a suspected terrorist and his transfer to a country that allows torture. Clearly made quickly and shot on a ...
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News
Josh Hartnett to star in George Ratliff's End Zone
George Ratliff, writer-director of psychological thriller Joshua (which debuted at Sundance and is in Locarno's competition this week) has recruited Josh Hartnett to appear in his next feature, End Zone. Hartnett will play a star player at a West Texas College who becomes increasingly obsessed with the threat of nuclear ...
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News
Anthony Hopkins says bigger festivals are like 'circuses'
Speaking at the Locarno Film Festival this weekend, Anthony Hopkins revealed that he bypassed several other European festivals, including Rome and Venice, to bring his directorial debut Slipstream to Locarno.'We lost the Rome Festival but we thought it would be better to come here,' Hopkins said. 'It is much more ...