All articles by Geoffrey Macnab – Page 193
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News
Tartan adds five films to release slate
Prolific UK distributorTartan Films has picked up a string of films in advance of the early autumnfestival season.Titles Claire Denis's newfilm The Intruder (due to screen in Venice); Three...Extremes,the portmanteau horror picture featuring segments by Miike Takashi, Fruit Chanand Park Chan-Wook; horror pictureThe Eye 2 - the sequel/prequel to thePang ...
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Blackwell's Palm funds epic music documentary
Ondi Timoner (pictured), director of Sundance Jury GrandPrix documentary winner Dig!, is todirect a "History Of Jamaican Music" for Chris Blackwell's Palm Pictures. Theepic documentary, which will encompass dub, ska and reggae, will be given atheatrical release.As the founder of Island Records, Jamaican-based Blackwellowns the rights to Bob Marley's music ...
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News
McDull embarks on martial arts extravaganza
McDull,the clumsy but lovable piglet first seen in hit Hong Kong animated feature, My Life As McDull, is to take up kungfu.Pre-productionhas already begun on martial arts extravaganza, McDull - Wudang, the third animated feature showcasing the pink-snoutedhero.Thenew project sees McDull travelling to China with his mother, Mrs McBing, awould-be ...
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Glenaan readies football project
Scottish director Kenny Glenaan (whose new feature Yasmin premieres in competition inLocarno today, prior to its screeningat the Edinburgh Film Festival) is shortly to go into pre-production on a filmabout the exploitative, cut-throat world of football agents.Ducain's Boys, asthe film is titled, will tell the story of agents who scour ...
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Chadha looks to cast $90m Jeannie
Anglo-Asian director Gurinder Chadha is shortly to start casting on Jeannie, her first big-budget studio film. An Arabian Nights-style fantasy adventure which is also a prequel to the long-running TV series, I Dream Of Jeannie, the film is set in Persia in 200 BC and in the contemporary US.The central ...
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Reviews
The Village
Dir/sc: M. NightShyamalan. US 2004. 107 minsOstensibly setin the late 19th Century (though the precise period is not specified until latein the final reel), The Village is anarch and eccentric affair. M. Night Shyamalan's craftsmanship and originalityare not in doubt, but his attempts to combine Blair Witch-like horror with ScarletLetter-style ...
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UK Film Council extends slate scheme deadline
The UK Film Council has extended its deadline forapplications for "super slate" development funding by three weeks,from September 10 to September 30 2004.This shift is seen by many asa direct response to the criticisms voiced by UK producers' organisationPACT about how the slate funding scheme was set up. Earlier this ...
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UK producers express Development concerns
The UK's production community has issued an urgentcall to public funding body the UK Film Council to revise its ambitious"Slate Development Scheme." A strongly worded statement circulated byproducers' trade body PACT has expressed fears that the Film Councilplans will "destabilise the market."PACT's release -issued after a special meeting of itsmembers ...
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Reviews
Stage Beauty
Dir:Richard Eyre. US-UK. 2004. 106minsLikeits cross-dressing hero Ned Kynaston (who makes his name playing female partson stage), Stage Beauty isn't entirely sure of its own identity. On theone hand, this is a bawdy and colourful Restoration-era romp, stuffed full ofpuns and sexual innuendo and propelled by some tremendous character turns. ...
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News
Thumbs up for inaugural UK Film Focus
Last week's inaugural UK London Film Focus (June 30-July 2)has received a qualified thumbs-up from the filmmakers, buyers and sales agentswho participated. Few deal memos were signed, some distributors questioned theoverall strength of the selection of British movies on display, but there hasbeen widespread praise of the way in which ...
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News
DVD specialist Anchor Bay goes theatrical
Anchor Bay UK is to take the plunge into British theatricaldistribution. The DVD company, which has built its reputation on the back ofits restorations of classic and cult pictures, has three titles already slatedfor release in British cinemas later this year.The Manson Family is out on July 23rd in London.Don ...
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Winslet drops out of Woody Allen project
Kate Winslet has dropped out of the new Woody Allen projectwhich is shooting in London, it was confirmed today (June 25).Winslet, who has had a busy schedule recently, reportedlywanted to spend more time with her family.A new female lead is expected to be announced on Monday.Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Emily ...
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Reviews
Ladies In Lavender
Dir/scr: Charles Dance.UK. 2004. 108minsCharles Dance's directorial debut is a stilted andold-fashioned romantic drama which would be heavy as suet were it not for thedeft and lively performances of its two Dames, Judi Dench and Maggie Smith. Inrecreating 1930s Cornwall, Dance throws in all the elements associated withBritish heritage cinema ...
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UK Film Focus unveils inaugural programme
180 international buyers from 30 countries are expected inLondon at the end of the month for the inaugural UK Film Focus.24 films will be screening at the event, held atLondon's National Film Theatre, it was confirmed late last week.There are eight world premieres, among them ShaneMeadows' Dead Man's Shoes(controversially overlooked ...
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New lobby group attacks UK film archive plans
A withering attack has been launched on UK Government-backedplans to restructure the National Film and Television Archive (NFTVA). In astrongly worded document entitled "An Impending National Catastrophe: TheFate Of Britain's Film Heritage," a new lobbying organisation, theCuratori Lucis Group, has accused the UK Film Council and the British FilmInstitute (the ...
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News
Chabrol's Flower to blossom with UK's CineFile
Edinburgh-based CineFile has picked up the UK rights to TheFlower Of Evil, venerable French auteurClaude Chabrol's 50th feature, and will be releasing the film next monththrough its subsidiary, CineFrance. This is the second Chabrol picture thecompany has acquired. (It also released The Colour Of Lies.)CineFileis one of an increasing number ...
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Reviews
Duck Season (Temporada De Patos)
Dir/scr:Fernando Eimbcke. Mexico. 2004. 90minsFouryears ago, Critics' Week unearthed Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's AmoresPerros. While Temporado De Patos has little chance of emulating theinternational success of Inarritu's film, which grossed over $5m in the US andsold worldwide, Fernando Eimbcke's likeable debut feature looks likely to enjoya long life on the festival ...
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Edinburgh sets a date for Motorcycle Diaries
The Motorcycle Diariesis to open this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival, it was announcedyesterday.Walter Salles's epic account of the 1952 motorbike journeyacross Latin-America undertaken by the then 23-year-old Ernesto 'Che' Guevaraand his 29-year-old friend Alberto Granado won the Ecumenical Prize at theCannes Festival earlier this month. Though controversially snubbed for ...
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News
ICA bags Cannes titles for UK
Afterone of the busiest Cannes markets in recent years for UK independentdistributors, the ICA (Institute Of Contemporary Arts) has arrived back inBritain with four festival titles in the bag.The ICA acquired:*Kore-Eda Hirokazu's main competition title Nobody Knows,which was the surprise winner in the Best Actor category for 12 year-old YagiraYuya.*Antal ...