All articles by Jeremy Kay – Page 1319
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Brit pics Grace, Queen bookend Heartland Film Festival
The US premiere of MichaelApted's slavery abolition drama Amazing Grace starring Ioan Gruffudd, and Stephen Frears' TheQueen starring Helen Mirren bookendthe 2006 Heartland Film Festival.The festival, which is setto run from Oct 19-27 in Indianapolis, will also present the world premiere ofthe CGI animated children's feature Air Buddies.Festival organisers havedoubled ...
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Optimum buys UK rights to GreeneStreet's Tennis Coach
Optimum Releasing has picked up UK rights from GreeneStreet FilmsInternational (GSFI) to the upcoming comedy Gary The Tennis Coach.Seann William Scott stars as ahigh school janitor and former tennis pro who rediscovers his interest in thesport when he coaches a team of misfits to the Nebraska state championships.Danny Leiner will ...
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KOCH Lorber picks up domestic rights to Chabrol's Comedy Of Power
New York-based KOCH Lorber Films has picked up domestic rightsfrom Wild Bunch to Claude Chabrol's thriller A Comedy Of Power (L'Ivresse Du Pouvoir).The distributor plans an initial limited release in New York Cityin January 2007 followed by major market expansion and DVD release later in theyear.A Comedy Of Power stars ...
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CMG picks up international rights to Greenwald's Iraq For Sale
Edward Noeltner's CinemaManagement Group has picked up international rights to Robert Greenwald'sdocumentary Iraq For Sale: The War Profiteers.Greenwald's latest volleyexposes the culture of corporate greed that has permeated US reconstructionprogrammes in Iraq and looks at how political and economic forces have impactedthe lives of citizens in the country.Noeltner will commence ...
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Stranger Than Fiction to open 42nd Chicago festival
Marc Forster's StrangerThan Fiction will openthe 42nd Annual Chicago InternationalFilm Festival, which is running from Oct 5-19.Columbia Pictures and Mandate Pictures' comedy receivesits world premiere as a Special Presentation here tomorrow at Toronto and starsWill Ferrell as a man who hears the voice of an author inside his head anddoesn't ...
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IFC takes North America on ...So Goes The Nation
IFC Entertainment has picked up North American rights to thepolitical documentary ...So Goes The Nation, which receives its world premiere in Toronto. The film isdirected by Endgame Entertainment founder James Stern and Adam Del Deo....So Goes the Nation explores America's tumultuous electoral process and focuses onthe infamous Ohio vote count ...
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Skoll hires former Hard Rock Cafe chief Berk as Participant CEO
Former Hard Rock Cafe International president and chief executiveofficer James Berk has joined LA-based Participant Productions as chiefexecutive officer.The appointment ends a lengthy search by Participant chairman andfounder Jeff Skoll and president Ricky Strauss to find a suitable executive toreplace Skoll as chief executive officer.Berk will assume day-to-day executive leadership ...
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Quaid, Weisz, Haden Church star in Groundswell's People
Filming is set to begin on Nov 6 in Pittsburgh on Groundswell Productions'comedy drama Smart People starring Dennis Quaid, Rachel Weisz and Thomas Haden Church.Michael London's Groundswell isproducing the project along with Bill Block's QED International and GrosvenorPark. QED's Kim Fox is handling international sales.Quaid stars as a curmudgeonly professor ...
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Little Film Company picks up Toronto doc Blindsight
Robbie and Ellen Little's Little Film Company has picked upworldwide sales on the adventure documentary Blindsight, which will get its world premiere inthe Real To Reel section at Toronto.Lucy Walker directed the story of six blind Tibetan teenagers who attemptto climb Everest climbing expedition.Sybil Robson Orr of Robson Entertainment served ...
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Film Movement buys three from Match Factory including Madeinusa
Film Movement has picked up Claudia Llosa's Spain-Peru drama Madeinusa, Mani Haghighi's Iranian comedy MenAt Work, and Geraldo Olivares'Spain-Germany drama The Great Match.Madeinusa centreson a stranger's encounter with an innocent girl in a remote Peruvian villageand stars Magaly Solier, Carlos de la Torre, Yiliana Chong, and Ubaldo Huaman.The deal was ...
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Gruberg joins MGM as senior vp, media operations, from DreamWorks
Amy Gruberg has joined MGM as senior vice president of media operationsfollowing a ten-year stint overseeing media operations at DreamWorks.Gruberg will be responsible for shaping MGM's media vision, which involvesoverseeing media strategy and placement on all theatrical and homeentertainment releases and network and cable broadcasts of titles, as well asmanaging ...
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Gordon Green, Dunaway among No Borders projects at IFP Market
New work from David Gordon Green and Faye Dunaway's featuredirectorial debut are among the highlights of the No Borders International Co-production market at the upcoming 28th Annual IFPMarket in New York.Hot on the heels of the Toronto International FilmFestival, the yearly event presents a forum for filmmakers to discuss projectsin ...
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Freston ousted as Viacom CEO after 26 years at the company
Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone made his second decisive move intwo weeks as chief executive officer Tom Freston was ousted from the company yesterdayafter more than 25 years of service.Philippe P Dauman, the 52-year-old former deputy chairman,replaces Freston as the new president and chief executive officer, and Thomas EDooley has been ...
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Invincible remains North American box office champ
BuenaVista's American football drama Invincible held on to the number one spot with a $15.2m four-day haul over theLabor Day holiday weekend and stayed ahead of new releases Crank in second place and The Wicker Man in third.FoxSearchlight's comedy Little Miss Sunshinefell one place to fourth on an excellent $9.7m ...
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BVI's Pirates holds international crown for ninth weekend
Pirates of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest closed its ninth consecutive weekend asthe number one international picture as it took another significant stridetowards the $1bn global mark.Adding an estimated $11m through Buena Vista International (BVI),the smash adventure sequel reached $579.1m in overseas revenues and $991.9mworldwide and is expected to cross ...
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Truly Indie to handle US release of 51 Birch Street
MarkCuban and Todd Wagner's independent label Truly Indie will handle the UStheatrical release of Doug Block's autobiographical documentary 51 BirchStreet.Thefocus of the story centres on the truth behind the seemingly idyllic 54-yearmarriage of Block's parents. When his mother dies and his father announcesseveral months later that he is leaving town ...
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Chartier steers Voltage through changing international landscape
Headof fast-growing 18 month-oldfinancing & sales company Voltage Pictures Nicolas Chartier talks to Jeremy Kay about the newgeneration of film financiers and international distributors.Aveteran of such companies as Arclight Films and Myriad Pictures, VoltagePictures co-head Nicolas Chartier (pictured) is the kind of go-to guy in theinternational sales business ...
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Pirates shoots for ninth week at top and $1bn
Buena Vista International(BVI)'s Pirates of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest will still be the one to beat as it bears down on$1bn in global ticket sales and attempts a ninth consecutive weekend as theinternational box office champion.The adventure sequel thusfar stands at $976m of which $566.8m was taken at the ...
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Fur hits Telluride six weeks before 'world premiere' in Rome
Steven Shainberg's Fur starring Nicole Kidman as the celebratedphotographer Diane Arbus has been lined up as a world premiere at thisweekend's Telluride Film Festival in Colorado, some six weeks ahead of its officialworld premiere as the opening night the inaugural Rome Film Festival.The screening of Fur once again raises the ...
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Strand takes US rights to Bourdieu's Poison Friends
Strand Releasing hasacquired all US rights to Emmanuel Bourdieu's Poison Friends from Les Films du Losange.The picture, which will playin official selection at the 44th New York Film Festival, follows a group ofcollege intellectuals who fall prey to a charming pathological liar. It starsDominique Blanc and Natacha Regnier among others.Strand ...