All articles by Geoffrey Macnab – Page 173
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Features
Digital Rights - Territory report - The UK
The UK's film unions regard the digital revolution with a mix of excitement and trepidation. In the short term, there is the threat of job losses. Lab technicians and cinema projectionists are among those already affected by moves away from celluloid. Production crews are also experiencing change as new technology ...
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News
$80m investment fund to cashflow UK tax credit
An $80m (£40m) investment fund has been set up to cashflow the new UK tax credit.The Limelight Fund is offering producers who qualify for the incentive finance on what it says is a competitive terms.UK producers David Parfitt and Christopher Figg are amongst the scheme's designers and sit on Limelight's ...
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News
Cannes: the price of a weak dollar
In April, the UK pound moved through the $2 mark for the first time since 1992. The euro has also grown in strength against the US dollar. On one level, Cannes-bound US companies are bound to suffer. Bringing staff to the Riviera is not cheap, even when the dollar is ...
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News
Market forces and buzz titles
At first glance, this year's Cannes Competition has a lopsided look. It comprises a handful of US films from well-known film-makers (almost all of which are already pre-sold everywhere) and some vintage European arthouse fare, on most of which all territories are available.'The films that are interesting commercially are already ...
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News
'It would be good if there was a new leadership'
In a move which took even her staff by surprise, Sandra Den Hamer today confirmed that she will be leaving her position as director of the Rotterdam International Festival to take over as director of Amsterdam's Filmmuseum.'For me as well, it was quite sudden,' Den Hamer told ScreenDaily.com of her ...
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Features
United Kingdom - Warrior Spirit
At a recent ceremony at the Kenyan Embassy in London, producer Simon Channing Williams was awarded the Order of the Grand Warrior. The honour came his way primarily for his efforts in Kenya on behalf of The Constant Gardener Trust, the charity he helped set up after shooting that John ...
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Features
Distribution - TV and film sales - Two's company
Not so long ago, film and TV markets were different worlds. Independent film sales agents who attended the American Film Market (AFM) and Cannes might attend events such as Miptv and Mipcom to exploit their library, but theatrical buyers were rarely seen. That position is now changing as film-makers and ...
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Reviews
Provoked: A True Story
Dir: Jag Muhndra. India-UK. 112mins. Provoked is based on the true story of Kiranjit Ahluwalia, a Punjabi woman living in London who, in 1989, killed her abusive husband and was imprisoned for murder. Her battle for freedom eventually ended in the British legal definition of 'provocation' being re-defined in the ...
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News
Pinewood: studio tour
No-one knows what caused the fire that burned down the famous 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios in July 2006, but its rapid rebuilding symbolises the upturn in fortunes at Pinewood Shepperton.The $15.7m (£8m) new stage was finished in March. Now, even before an official launch, the 007 stage is back ...
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Features
United Kingdom - Studio Tour
No-one knows what caused the fire that burned down the famous 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios in July 2006, but its rapid rebuilding symbolises the upturn in fortunes at Pinewood Shepperton.The $15.7m (£8m) new stage was finished in March. Now, even before an official launch, the 007 stage is back ...
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Features
Germany - Enduring labour of love
Philippe Bober's sales, financing and production outfit The Coproduction Office is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. The company was set up in 1987 in Berlin with the aim of supporting maverick auteurs with strong personal visions. Over the last two decades, Bober has championed the work of (among others) ...
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Features
Germany - Enduring labour of love
Philippe Bober's sales, financing and production outfit The Coproduction Office is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. The company was set up in 1987 in Berlin with the aim of supporting maverick auteurs with strong personal visions. Over the last two decades, Bober has championed the work of (among others) ...
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News
UK tax breaks:a cultural revolution
As producers begin to grapple in earnest with the UK tax incentives, the local industry is eyeing the new system with a mix of anticipation and trepidation. Most acknowledge the credits will not compensate for the investment lost to the UK film industry following the scrapping of Section 48 and ...
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News
Industry has mixed reactions to HanWay-Celluloid merger
The announcement yesterday of the merger between HanWay Films and Celluloid Dreams to create a new combined company, dreamachine, has provoked a mixed response from the European film industry. Some have welcomed the consolidation of the two companies. For example, Tartan Films founder Hamish McAlpine applauded the move. 'Hanway and ...
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Reviews
Sunshine
Dir: Danny Boyle. UK-US. 2007. 107mins. The sun is dying. Eight astronauts, 55 millions miles from Earth, are on a mission to re-ignite it and thereby save humanity. Thus begins Danny Boyle's highly impressive sci-fi thriller Sunshine, a work that combines eye-popping visuals with an eco-conscious screenplay and several striking ...
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News
Malta: inward production
In recent years, Malta has successfully attracted some ambitious projects, such as Troy and Munich. The Mediterranean island may offer tax credits, ocean-side water tanks, sunshine and plenty of spectacular locations but the challenge now is to lure big US projects in the face of heavy competition from Eastern European ...
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News
Film commissions: friends in hired places
What is a film commissioner' 'On one end of the spectrum, they can be basically not much more than civil servants allocated film as part of their portfolio but they can also be people who have worked in the industry and know how we think and what we need. The ...
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News
Potboiler to follow Gardener with Le Carre's Mission Song
Following its successful adaptation of John Le Carre's The Constant Gardener, Simon Channing Williams and Gail Egan's London-based Potboiler Productions is preparing a new film based on Le Carre's latest book, The Mission Song. Joe Fisher, writer of acclaimed TV drama Soundproof and of 1998's The Tichborne Claimant, is scripting ...
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Reviews
As You Like It
Dir: Kenneth Branagh UK-US. 2006. 127mins. Kenneth Branagh's fifth Shakespeare adaptation (after Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet and Love's Labour's Lost), As You Like It is a curiously undercharged affair. Handsomely and fluidly shot and intelligently performed, it nonetheless lacks spark. What should be a playful and magical ...
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News
Pinewood Shepperton sees turnover up 22% in 2006
Pinewood Shepperton today released its preliminary results for the year ended Dec 31 2006. It was a robust year for the company, with turnover up 22% at $80m (£40.7m) and operating profit 'before exceptional items' up 70% at $17.9m (£9.1m).The company's increasing diversification into television also seems to be bearing ...