Large MPU – Page 1418
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Reviews
REVIEW: Kedma
Dir: Amos Gitai. Israel/France/Italy 2002. 100 mins.Following films such as Kadosh and his last Cannes entry Kippur, Kedma is the latest of Amos Gitai's provocative inquiries into Israeli history and identity. Set in 1948, seven days before the creation of the state of Israel, Kedma proposes a return to historical ...
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Reviews
REVIEW: Sex Is Comedy
Dir: Catherine Breillat. France. 2002. 92 mins.Director's FortnightA welcome reprieve from the joyless intensity of such recent succes de scandale as Romance and A Ma Soeur, Sex Is Comedy allows Catherine Breillat to reveal the kind of light touch and easy humour that some critics may have thought was beyond ...
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Reviews
REVIEW: Marie-Jo And Her Two Lovers
Dir: Robert Guediguian. France. 2001. 124 mins.In CompetitionRobert Guediguian's recent work has fallen into two distinct categories: his tough social stories set in Marseilles (A La Place Du Coeur; La Ville Est Tranquille) and the lighter "contes", or fantasies (Marius Et Jeanette; A L'Attaque!) set in L'Estaque, the working-class port ...
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News
Star Wars: Episode II gets off to a flying start
The opening day (May 16) of George Lucas's Star Wars: Episode II - Attack Of The Clones has achieved predictably strong results in several major territories for 20th Century Fox.Unconfirmed figures from the US estimate the second instalment of the Star Wars saga taking well in excess of $25m from ...
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News
Focus picks up Devdas sales duties
Devdas, the first Bollywood picture to screen in Cannes' Official Selection, has been picked up by Focus International (formerly Good Machine International) for world sales.Focus has the film in all territories outside the US and India. Eros International, which produced the film, will jointly sell the film in the UK ...
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Heinzemann braves German market to launch new distributor
Peter Heinzemann, former managing director of Kinowelt Filmverleih, could be one of the most popular men on the Croisette. He has set up a new German distributor, Solo Film Verleih as a joint venture with Helkon Media partners Martin Heldmann and Christian Halsey Solomon.Solo will operate as a distributor with ...
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News
Hong Kong's Celestial lines up starry debut
Start-up Hong Kong studio Celestial Pictures has lined up some of the territory's hottest talent for its debut production slate including local box office sensations Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng and acclaimed director Stanley Kwan.The company has signed a co-production deal with Lau's Teamwork Motion Pictures, to kick off with ...
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News
Poire's Visual Factory readies $23m sci-fi comedy
Jean-Marie Poire, creator and director of hit French franchise The Visitors, has started pre-production on his next opus, the $23m sci-fi comedy Damian And The Invaders (Damien Et Les Envahisseurs) through his own outfit, London-based sales and post-production company Visual Factory.Poire is in Cannes to promote his latest film, My ...
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News
Miramax, TF1 play up European film push
"We're not coming here to make Spider-Man," said an ebullient Harvey Weinstein, as he unveiled a ground breaking alliance with France's TF1. "This is about fostering European film and European talent."Patrick Le Lay, TF1 chairman and chief executive, presented the partnership as a two step-deal involving the creation of a ...
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News
Mixed reactions greet Weinstein, Le Lay announcement
While rivals saluted TF1 yesterday for its grand ambitions with Miramax welcoming a new competitor on the local theatrical distribution scene, there was also unease at the prospect of ever more films cluttering up French cinemas because of television's encroaching influence over cinema. Some even suggested that French regulators should ...
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News
John Sayles aims high and low for next films
John Sayles has announced a full cast for his half-Spanish language Casa De Los Babys, which starts shooting this August at a knock-down budget of $1m - while aiming high for his next production, between $24 and $32m for the Robert Carlyle-starrer Jamie MacGillivray.The IFC-backed Casa De Los Babys, set ...
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News
UA bowled over by Bowling For Columbine
United Artists (UA) has acquired US rights to Michael Moore's gun control documentary Bowling For Columbine, marking the first domestic deal of this year's festival. The studio division of MGM beat out a clutch of distributors bidding for the film including Miramax and Fine Line, paying a reported $1.5m.The deal ...
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News
Paul Cox unveils The Human Touch
Cannes favourite Paul Cox, who challenged stereotypes with his story of an elderly couple's passionate affair in Innocence, has unveiled his next production, The Human Touch.The picture, scheduled to shoot in Australia and France in October, sees the Australian director exploring themes of sexual inhibition on a larger scale than ...
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News
Christopher Lee rides with The Last Unicorn
Continent Film's Michael Pakleppa is assembling a starry cast for The Last Unicorn, a fantasy film billing itself as Europe's answer to The Lord Of The Rings.Christopher Lee, Angela Lansbury and Rene Auberjonois have already committed to the picture. Producer and co-director Pakleppa is in advanced talks with Mia Farrow, ...
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News
Vivendi, News Corp Italian pay-TV row intensifies
A row between two of the world's biggest media players has intensified this week, with Rupert Murdoch's News Corp saying it will hold Jean-Marie Messier's Vivendi Universal to an agreement to merge their Italian pay-TV businesses.According to UK paper The Financial Times, News Corp is expected to go to court ...
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News
First Look takes Luther International
First Look Media has acquired international rights excluding Germany to Luther, a biopic of Martin Luther currently shooting in central Germany, Bavaria, Italy and the Czech Republic with Joseph Fiennes playing the title character.Alfred Molina, Peter Ustinov and Bruno Ganz co-star in the film which is directed by Eric Till ...
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News
Studio Canal unveils Italian film production unit
StudioCanal, the production and distribution subsidiary of Canal Plus and Vivendi Universal, has set up StudioCanal Urania, a new Rome based company that will produce up to three Italian films per year.The move comes despite rumours of Studiocanal shrinking its foreign operations. "This reflects the group's commitment to strengthening its ...
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News
Michael Jackson to produce and star in werewolf movie
In the first movie being made under his Neverland Pictures banner, Michael Jackson will play a werewolf in a project he will also produce called Wolfed. Rick Baker, Oscar-winning makeup expert who created the werewolf effects for An American Werewolf In London and Thriller, is already on boardNeverland's financing and ...
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News
Zentropa launches Industrial revolution
First there was Dogme. Now Danish maverick outfit Zentropa has a launched a new label - this time with even more confining rules. Industrial Films DK will champion ultra-low budget films from new directing talent. In a bid to keep cost right down, one of the requirements of the new ...
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Kilmer horror helps scare up Helkon slate
Helkon Media's sales, production and distribution arm Helkon International Pictures (HIP) has revealed the first fruits of its new LA operation under former Warner Bros executive Clifford Werber. The company has boarded Anthony Waller's long-gestating $22m horror movie Nine Miles Down with Val Kilmer now attached to star and has ...