Large MPU – Page 1477

  • News

    Best Of Youth dominates David Di Donatellos

    2004-04-15T00:00:00Z

    Marco Tullio Giordana'ssix-hour epic The Best of Youthwon the lion's share of David di Donatello awards, Italy's most prestigiousfilm accolade, during a ceremony whose live broadcast on Rai-uno wasdramatically cut short by reports that one of four Italians currently heldhostage in Iraq has been killed.Giordana's drama, whichchronicles the lives of ...

  • News

    Millennium extends deal with Emmett/Furla for ten new films

    2004-04-15T00:00:00Z

    Avi Lerner's MillenniumFilms has extended its non-exclusive international distribution deal to handlea further ten pictures for Emmett/Furla Films.The partners' most recentundertaking is David Burke's $25m journalism thriller Edison starring Justin Timberlake, Morgan Freeman, KevinSpacey and L L Cool J that began shooting in Vancouver last month.Emmett/Furla is in postproduction with ...

  • News

    Korea launches real time box office tracking service

    2004-04-16T04:00:00Z

    South Korea is to launch a new web-based box office tracking system, similar to recently developed industry tools: Nielsen EDI's FLASH and Rentrack's Box Office Essentials data collecting services.The system, due to be launched in May, is being orchestrated by the newly-renamed Korean Film Council (KOFIC), which took over the ...

  • News

    Cannes faces up to showbiz strike threat

    2004-04-16T04:00:00Z

    France's striking showbiz workers have threatened to disrupt next month's Cannes Film Festival to draw attention to their cause.A group representing the workers, the 'intermittants du spectacle', released a statement on Thursday saying they intended to create an occupation committee for the Cannes Film Festival. They are protesting against government ...

  • News

    Zhu's Clouds scoops Hong Kong festival prizes

    2004-04-15T21:55:00Z

    Chinese director Zhu Wen's South Of The Clouds scooped two prizes at the awards gala of the Hong Kong International Film Festival (April 6-21) on Thursday night - the Golden Firebird Award and the award of the FIPRESCI jury.The film, about a retired factory worker who takes off for one ...

  • News

    Munich festival to honour Kaurismaki brothers

    2004-04-15T00:00:00Z

    Filmmaker brothers Aki and Mika Kaurismäki are to be the subjects of this year's Retrospective at the Munich Film Festival (June 26 - July 3).Both directors are expected to accompany the retrospective in person.This year's festival, which is the first under the new management of director Andreas Stroehl, will see ...

  • News

    North by Northwest script scheme unveils international line-up

    2004-04-16T04:00:00Z

    In its eighth year of business, the international scriptdevelopment programme, North by Northwest, has announced it most extensiveline-up yet.Participants come from all over Europe from the UK,Scandinavia and Germany to Spain and France for their three training courses,Classics, Kids Stories and Seven Samurai.Thanks to strong word-of-mouth from the more than ...

  • News

    Thai boxing drama takes French box office by storm

    2004-04-16T04:00:00Z

    Luc Besson's Europa Corp scored a notable box office coup this week when its Thai action film Ong Bak opened in the fifth spot in the French charts.The foreign language feature sold 440,495 tickets on just 281 screens for a powerful $10,000 screen average.In terms of new releases it was ...

  • News

    Metallica doc scoops top Danish festival prize

    2004-04-15T00:00:00Z

    Copenhagen's NatFilm Festival wrapped in the Danish capital over the weekend, and awarded its audience prize to Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky's Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster.Tomas Alfredsson's Swedish drama Four Shades Of Brown was singled out by the critics jury.The NatFilm Festival remains the biggest film event in Denmark ...

  • News

    River King feels heat as UK gets tough on co-productions

    2004-04-16T04:00:00Z

    Myriad Pictures' The River King has been thrown into uncertainty mid-shoot after the UK government challenged its application for British status.Set up as a UK-Canadian co-production, the supernatural murder mystery needs to qualify as British in order to access tax relief under Section 48. Movision, the tax-based fund co-financing the ...

  • News

    Venice reverts to single Golden Lion competition

    2004-04-16T04:00:00Z

    Venice is reverting back to its single Golden Lioncompetition, cutting back by half the number of films that have screened on theLido in the past three years, newly appointed festival chief Marco Muellerannounced on Thursday.Mueller said the newly streamlined festival will enableindustry professionals and critics to fully focus their attention ...

  • News

    Massis picks up Spook for The Film Source

    2004-04-16T04:00:00Z

    Alex Massis' NewYork-based marketing and licensing company The Film Source has picked up rightsfor worldwide representation in all media to Barry Levy's supernatural thiller Spook.Based on the memoirs of an unidentified former CIAoperative, the film follows a Vietnam veteran's bid to expose Canada's covertrole in the South-East Asian war.Levy, who ...

  • News

    MK2 snares rights to restore, release Keaton collection

    2004-04-16T04:00:00Z

    Sherlock Jr,The Navigator and GoWest are among a rosterof Buster Keaton pictures to be restored for digital theatrical releasefollowing an agreement between The Douris Corporation and MK2.Under the terms of the deal Douris, whose 700+ Rohauerlibrary includes rights to the silent star's films, has agreed that Paris-basedMK2, the worldwide distributor ...

  • News

    Secret Window looks to prise open Euro markets

    2004-04-16T00:00:00Z

    The thriller Secret Window goes on its first international rampage this weekend with openings inFrance on 400 (Apr 14) and Spain, Italy and Brazil two days later on 254, 250and 61 prints respectively.Executives at Columbia TriStar Film Distributors International(CTFDI) will be hoping for some strong bows to propel the picture ...

  • News

    Lions Gate launches expansion drive under new CEO

    2000-03-22T17:45:00Z

    Frank Giustra has stepped aside as chief executive officer of Lions Gate Entertainment, the Canadian mini-studio he founded nearly three years ago, and passed on the managerial reins to former Sony Pictures TV chief Jon Feltheimer.The power transfer, which took affect Tuesday night, is intended to kick Lions Gate's already ...

  • News

    Warner Bros Japan receives distributor award

    2004-04-16T00:00:00Z

    Warner Bros Japan is to receive the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Award for best foreign film distributor of the year for its box office achievements in 2003.William Ireton, managing director for Warner Bros Japan, will accept the award at a ceremony today (Apr 16) at the Tokyo Chamber ...

  • News

    Warner Bros Japan wins distribution prize

    2004-04-16T00:00:00Z

    Warner Bros Japan is to receive the Minister of Economy,Trade and Industry Award for best foreign film distributor of the year for itsbox office achievements in 2003.William Ireton, managing director for Warner Bros Japan,will accept the award at a ceremony on Apr 16 at the Tokyo Chamber of Commerceand Industry.The ...

  • Reviews

    The Punisher

    2004-04-16T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Jonathan Hensleigh. US. 2004. 124mins.Hard on the heels of the first movie about Dark Horse Comics' Hellboy comes a new film of Marvel Comics' The Punisher, a startlingly brutal actioner in which the comic book anti-hero is almost as sadistic as the inhuman killers he seeks to punish.Slickly produced, ...

  • Reviews

    Connie And Carla

    2004-04-16T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Michael Lembeck. US. 2004. 98minsWith My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Nia Vardalos, both as scriptwriter and star, demonstrated that she knew exactly how to turn run-of-the-mill TV fodder into theatrical box-office gold. Her second outing in the genre, the funny and often touching Connie And Carla, preserves and perfects ...

  • Reviews

    Goddess Of Mercy

    2004-04-16T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Ann Hui. China. 2004. 109mins.A word of warning for viewers of a nervous disposition: there is precious little mercy in this lifetime for anyone, especially the men, connected with the heroine An Xin. But Goddess Of Mercy is not a man-hating diatribe. Experienced director Ann Hui delivers an understated ...