Large MPU – Page 1514
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News
Italy's cinema department chief to be ousted
Rossana Rummo, the popular head of the Italian government's cinema department is to be replaced on October 1st by Gianni Profita, a political ally of Silvio Berlusconi.Profita is known to be close to Carmelo Rocca, currently the general secretary of the cultural ministry. He is a media professor at Rome's ...
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Sundance opens its doors to international docs
The SundanceFilm Festival is opening its doors to international documentaries, launching asection of approximately eight films from around the world beginning at nextyear's event which will take place Jan 16-26, 2003 in Park City, Utah.The international documentary section will co-exist with the World Cinemaprogramme which features some 32 international dramatic ...
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Sony rebrands its TV units, dropping Columbia TriStar
Sony Pictures Entertainment(SPE) has renamed its domestic and international television concerns, removingthe Columbia TriStar moniker and rebramding them with the Sony name. ColumbiaTriStar Domestic Television and Columbia TriStar International Television willnow operate as Sony Pictures Television (SPT) and Sony Pictures TelevisionInternational (SPTI).The move is calculated tocapitalise on the strength of ...
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Fradis & Cohen team for new film investment fund
Anatoly Fradis of Alfa FilmEnterprises Inc and Joseph N Cohen of American Entertainment Investors Inc haveformed a new film investment outfit called Marching Band Productions. Fradisand Cohen have already closed their first deal for the company - forthree pictures with Nigel Sinclair and Guy East of Spitfire Productions kickingoff with ...
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Ken Burns to receive IDA career achievement award
Ken Burns will receive theInternational Documentary Association (IDA) 2002 Career Achievement Award atthe 18th annual IDA awards gala benefit at the Directors Guild OfAmerica Theatre on Dec 13. Burns has produced 19 documentaries including theOscar nominated Brooklyn Bridgeand the epic miniseries Jazz and TheCivil War.'Ken Burns is in arelatively early ...
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Laura Ivey joins Infinty in legal & business affairs dept
Laura Ivey has beenappointed vice president of business and legal affairs at the LA-based filmproduction and financing company, Infinity International Entertainment. Iveywill be responsible for negotiating and structuring licensing and productionsdeals with domestic and international parties for all Infinity productions andall productions by Cinerenta, Germany's largest film fund, which are ...
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Jeff Wadlow wins the Chrysler Film Festival $1m prize
Emerging film-maker JeffWadlow has been awarded a $1m production deal with online independent Hypnoticand Universal Studios as winner of the 2002 Chrysler Million Dollar FilmFestival. The year-long festival produced five finalists and culminated in aceremony at the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday. Wadlow, agraduate of USC School of Cinema-Television, ...
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BVI's Signs flies high in UK, Germany, Mexico
BuenaVista International (BVI) scored its biggest ever live-action opening in the UKover the weekend as it continued the international roll-out of Signs, M Night Shyamalan's domestic sci-fi hit. Thepicture grossed $5.7m from 443 screens in the UK, including previews, which wasalso the biggest UK opening for star Mel Gibson. In ...
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Chen Kaige leads Chinese delegation to Denver
Together director Chen Kaige will be part of a Chinesedelegation attending next month's 25th Starz Denver International Film Festival(DIFF) as part of a tribute to Chinese cinema. The festival, which runs fromOctober 10-20, will present a 'Salute To Chinese Cinema' as part of its annualfocus on a country or region ...
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Antwone Fisher to open AFI FEST, Talk To Her to close
Thisyear's AFI FEST in Los Angeles will open on Nov 7 with the gala screeningof the psychological drama Antwone Fisher, the long awaited directorial debut of Denzel Washington, whichpremiered at the weekend in Toronto. The festival will also screen the USpremiere of Atom Egoyan's Araratas its Centerpiece Gala on Nov ...
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Reviews
Phone Booth
Director: Joel Schumacher. US. 2002. 80minsA slick, Twilight Zone-style premise is stretched to the limit of narrative credibility in Phone Booth, a trim, trashy little thriller that reunites the Tigerland team of director Joel Schumacher and star Colin Farrell. A compelling central performance and energetic direction serve to distract from ...
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Reviews
Antwone Fisher
Dir: Denzel Washington. US. 2002. 117minsAn assured directorial debut from double Oscar-winner Denzel Washington, Antwone Fisher is an inspirational true story of one man's struggle to overcome the legacy of an abused childhood. It may sound like the subject matter of countless TV-movies dramas but, handled with discretion and sensitivity, ...
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Signs points to strong UK gross for Gibson
Mel Gibson enjoyed his biggest opening to date in the UK at the weekend when M Night Shyamalan's Signs claimed a massive $5.9m (£3.8m) from 443 sites - including $481,566 of previews at 375 locations.Giving distributor Buena Vista International (BVI) its second biggest opening of the year, overtaking the $1.8m ...
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News
Struggling Vivendi Universal 'committed' to Babelsberg studios
Struggling media group Vivendi Universal remains committed to its ownership of Babelsberg Film Studios, according to Thierry Potok, chief executive of Vivendi Deutschland and caretaker manager of Studio Babelsberg Motion Pictures (SBMP).The sudden departure last week of SBMP CEO Gabriela Bacher, plus Vivendi Universal's ongoing attempts to raise cash by ...
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The Big Blue finally surfaces in Italy after fourteen years
Fourteen years after it became a cult movie across the world, Luc Besson's The Big Blue is at long last set to open in Italy following the resolution of a lengthy court battle. Italian audiences will be able to enjoy the diving movie's premiere at the close of the European ...
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Melbourne film studio gets government go-ahead
A major new film studio complex in the Australian state of Victoria got the greenlight this week, after the state's government agreed to commit US$22m (A$40m) of public funding to the US$60m ($A110m) project.To be built in the state capital of Melbourne, Central City Studios (CCS) will have five new ...
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Spanish pay-TV merger will get greenlight says media titan
Jesus de Polanco, president of Spanish media group Sogecable, said on Tuesday that he is "convinced" the digital merger between Sogecable's pay TV platform Canal Satelite Digital (CSD) and rival Via Digital will be approved.News reports on Monday suggested the government would give the merger the green light by year-end. ...
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Spanish, Italian publishing giants unveil production and distribution push
Spanish publishing giant Grupo Planeta and Italian partner De Agostini have finally unveiled full details of their joint multi-media venture, DeA Planeta, including the creation of a new production division to be headed by former Esicma chief Pau Calpe.Calpe will oversee the as yet unnamed production division, which plans to ...
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Spanish, Italian publishing giants unveil film production and distribution push
Spanish publishing giant Grupo Planeta and Italian partner De Agostini have finally unveiled full details of their joint multi-media venture, DeA Planeta, including the creation of a new production division to be headed by former Esicma chief Pau Calpe.Calpe will oversee the as yet unnamed production division, which plans to ...
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News
Winchester stock rises after Helkon buys into company
Winchester Entertainment's stock rose a hefty 44% yesterday after Simon Franks and Zygi Kamasa's UK distributor Helkon SK bought 3.67% of the media company.Winchester chief executive and founder Gary Smith played down speculation that Helkon might bid for the company, saying that the share purchase had acted as a catalyst ...