All articles by Geoffrey Macnab – Page 189
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High Point scores Vinci sales to Japan, US
UK outfit High Point Filmshas announced sales on Juliusz Machulski's Vinci, which screened at Cannes earlier in the week. The comedy crime caper hasbeen picked up by New Select Co in Japan, Bonton Film for the Czech Republicand Slovakia and Pegaz Art Production for North America.Vinci officially opens its festival ...
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Participant gobbles up Fast Food Nation
eBay mogul Jeff Skoll'sParticipant Productions has munched up North American rights as well a healthymouthful of equity in Fast Food Nation, it was announced in Cannes yesterday by Participant ProductionsPresident Ricky Strauss. The deal was done with London-based Hanway Films.Fast Food Nation is a Recorded Picture Company production. It isbeing ...
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Slimline Rotterdam festival to roll back the years
The Rotterdam Festival(IFFR) is to downsize, festival director Sandra den Hamer has confirmed inCannes. Aiming torecapture some of the intimacy which characterised the festival's early yearsunder founder Hubert Bals, Den Hamer says she is planning to cut the programmeby around 20%."One of the biggest challenges for me isto make it ...
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Storitel funding rouses horror Arising
Manchester-based producerPaul Sherwood's Storitel Films is to fully finance Arising, a new Britishhorror film marking the directorial debut of veteran TV director Bob Baldwin. Scripted by Dan Spencer,Nick Ryan and Mark Barron, the film moves into production next month. Also new on Storitel's slateis (Seymour's Adventures in) Bookworld, billed as ...
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Alzheimer Case wins China entry deal
The Alzheimer Case is China-bound. Erik Van Looy'spsychological thriller has been chosen as one of the quota of 20 westernfeatures that the Chinese Government has passed for release this year. The dealwas negotiated with Hong Kong distributor Domo Media and China Film by UK-basedsales agent, The Works. The Chinese Censorship ...
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Basic Instinct 2 star revs up Merseyside movie shoots
In a bid tokickstart movie production in the Merseyside region of England, BasicInstinct II starDavid Morrissey's Tubedale Films is to partner with England's North WestVision. North West will invest £145,000 over the next year on a slatepartnership with Tubedale.The deal,it is claimed, is the first of its kind from a ...
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Four Horsemen ride with lads mag icon Ellison
British lads' mags iconJennifer Ellison is to star in The Cottage, one of four new horror films being launched in Cannes by Four HorsemenFilms (the genre horror label of UK production company Random Harvest.)Ellison, aged 21, leaped tofame aged 14 when she joined the long-running UK soap opera Brookside. Ellison ...
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Fiennes uncovers Mata Hari
Martha Fiennes (whose newfilm Chromophobia closes theCannes Festival later in the week) is plotting a new film about MargarethaZella, also known as Mata Hari - the notorious exotic dancer who was shot bythe French in 1917 for allegedly spying for the Germans during the Second WorldWar.Fiennes is setting up theproject ...
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Stars gear up for Driving Lessons
Oscar nominees Julie Waltersand Laura Linney are to star alongside Harry Potter's Rupert Grint in Driving Lessons, writer Jeremy Brock's directorial debut.The story is about a shyvicar's son (Grint) with an overprotective mother whose world changes when hemeets a retired actress. Brock loosely based the comedy-drama on his own life.The ...
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Bristol Media handles Greek drama
MatthewModine, Richard Griffiths and Greek billionaire-turned-actor Alki David are toheadline new UK-Greek co-production OPA! Directed by Udayan Prasad (My SonThe Fanatic.)Sales for OPA!, which recently started shooting in Patmos,are being handled by Tony Manne's Bristol Media International.Modine plays anarchaeologist who comes to Greece and falls under the spell of a ...
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FilmFour fast-tracks Glazer's Under The Skin
In Cannes with three filmsin official selection, the UK's FilmFour has confirmed it is fast-tracking UnderThe Skin, the new project fromwriter Milo Addica (The King) anddirector Jonathan Glazer. Addica is UK-bound followingCannes to further develop the screenplay with Glazer. A visual effects team isalready at work on designs for the ...
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Major coo for British bird Valiant
A plucky Britishwartime carrier pigeon hopes to ruffle feathers in America.Disney isputting its full marketing might behind UK animated feature, Valiant, scheduling a 1,500-2,000-print releasethrough Buena Vista on August 19.The key datemeans the CGI film should reach the key Labor Day weekend crowds. No otherfamily-oriented films are being released in ...
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Ashley Walters to star in Fiesta's Life 'N' Lyrics
UK rap star Ashley Walters(So Solid Crew's Asher D) has signed to play the lead in Life 'N' Lyrics, the first feature from new British production outfitFiesta Productions, headed by producers Esther Douglas and Fiona Neilson. This will be Walters' secondmajor role following from Bullet Boy,which is on sales outfit ...
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UK Film Focus shapes up for London Screenings status
Neil Jordan's BreakfastOn Pluto, which is tipped forcompetition slots in Venice and Toronto, headlines a slate of over two dozenBritish films, many of them world premieres, at next month's second London UKFilm Focus (LUFF), running June 27-30. More than 140 internationalbuyers have been invited to the publicly-funded event and most ...
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Indie Circle snaps up Iron Island
Pan-Europeandistribution collective Indie Circle has snapped up multi-territory rights toMohammed Rasoulof's Iron Island, this year's closing film in the Quinzaine. Theacquisition was concluded with Teheran-based Sheherazad Media Internationalfollowing this month's Paris screenings of Quinzaine films.The Indie Circle deal guarantees the film a release inItaly via Lucky Red, Haut Et Court ...
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Caplan goes on spending spree for UK Film Council
Weeks after she was appointed as the head of the UK Film Council'sPremiere Fund, Sally Caplan has already made a handful of sizable investments. The Fund, itemerged in Cannes, is backing Severance, the latest horror picture from Chris Smith (Creep), backed by Qwerty Films and sold byHanway.Caplan is alsoinvesting in ...
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O'Toole, Morton run with Sturridge's Lassie
Peter O'Toole and SamanthaMorton have signed up to head the all-star cast for Charles Sturridge's new Lassie movie, due to shoot later this month in Ireland andthe Isle of Man.Also helping revive thelegendary franchise are Peter Dinklage (The Station Agent), John Lynch, Jemma Redgrave, Steve Pembridge andGregor Fisher.Entertainment FilmDistributors will ...
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Tax financier Scope widens Euro goals
Aggressive new Belgiantax-based financier Scope Invest has boarded a new slate of French-languageBelgian films led by Benoit Mariage's new untitled comedy starring BenoitPoolevoorde, set for an October shoot, and Philppe Le Guay's Du Jours AuLendemain, also featuringPoolevoorde.Meanwhile, Scope is readyto board Jan Verheyen's Gilles, a remake of Dutch family film ...
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...as Weinsteins ride with Capitol Films' Stormbreaker
Bob and Harvey Weinstein are back in the spy kids business, with TheWeinstein Company taking North American rights to Stormbreaker, based on Anthony Horowitz's popular novels about reluctant14-year-old superspy Alex Rider.Capitol Films is sellinginternational rights to the $40m film, which has received hefty (£2.3 million)backing from the UK Film Council's ...
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High Point Gay in Amsterdam with Van Gogh
UK sales agent High Pointhas taken over international sales duties on Tom Six's Gay In Amsterdam, billed as the first ever drama to investigate indepth the thriving gay scene in the Netherlands' most vibrant city. HighPoint has also taken rights to the last two films by controversial filmmakerTheo Van Gogh, ...