Large MPU – Page 1648
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Reviews
Final Destination 2
Dir: David R Ellis. US. 2003. 97mins. Teen horror franchises usually take a while to get around to jokey self-parody. New Line's sequel to its mid-level 2000 hit Final Destination speeds up the process by adding a string of comically over-the-top death scenes to a plot shamelessly recycled from the ...
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Reviews
What Alice Found
Dir: A. Dean Bell. US. 2003. 96mins.A well-matched combination of intelligent drama and understated performances, What Alice Found is a gem. Much more than the sum of its parts, it explores the emotional dynamics of a young woman who thinks she's found the ideal mother and then discovers she's not ...
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Reviews
Camp
Dir: Todd Graff. US. 2002. 115mins.Of all the films in dramatic competition at this year's Sundance Film Festival, none was as full of undiluted pleasures as Todd Graff's directorial debut Camp. A deliriously good-natured romp through the lives of a bunch of precocious kids attending a summer camp for actors, ...
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News
Vivendi assures Canal Plus of support
In a move to quell rumours, the heads of Vivendi Universal and Canal Plus have sent letters of support and explanation to Canal staff.Following a week of speculation and rumour, Vivendi Universal chairman Jean-Rene Fourtou has assured employees that the channel is "not for sale." He also confirmed the appointment ...
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News
Oz bank Content Capital boards Monkey's Mask
Content Capital has announced it is to become a financial partner in the Australian and New Zealand release of Samantha Lang's A$4.5m lesbian detective thriller The Monkey's Mask. The move fits the company's strategy of establishing itself as a bank for the use of film-makers. The Monkey's Mask, which stars ...
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News
Hungarian film industry gets major cash boost
The chronically under-funded Hungarian film industry has received a major boost with Cultural minister Gabor Gorgey (pictured) approving funding of $20m for local filmmakers in 2003.Previously, a mere $1.5m state fund was available to the industry as seed finance - usually for non-commercial projects.Yesterday, Gorgey signed a declaration confirming the ...
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News
Altman gets lifetime achievement award in San Francisco
Robert Altman will receivethe Film Society Award for Lifetime Achievement in Directing at the 46thSan Francisco International Film Festival this year (April 17-May 1). The awardwill be presented to Altman in person on April 23 at Film Society Awards night.Altman will be interviewedon stage and three of his films - ...
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News
Verhoeven, Mamet enter Franchise fold for AFM
ElieSamaha's Franchise Pictures may be busying itself for its Aug 5 trialdate in its ongoing legal battle with Germany's Intertainment AG, but itcontinues to board new projects and has three new ones available for pre-saleat AFM -Paul Verhoeven's next picture Void Moon, the next from David Mamet entitled Spartan with ...
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News
Gold Circle to establish UK presence, pre-buy US rights
Gold CircleFilms - the LA-based production/financing outfit run by Paul Brooks whichscored the runaway hit My Big Fat Greek Wedding last year, is to establish a presence inthe UK with the imminent hiring of an acquisitions executive. The new executivewill likely be joined by one or two further Gold Circle ...
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News
Wild Bunch enjoys early Berlin sales
French sales agent Wild Bunch has kicked off the Berlin market in lively fashion with an early sale of Andre Techine's Strayed to Gaga Communications for Japan. The film, a WWII story of impossible love, is one of many on Wild Bunch's slate that the firm strongly fancies for a ...
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News
Sony Classics flies with Israel's Broken Wings
In a deal signed yesterday, Sony Pictures Classics grabbed North American rights to Israeli first film Broken Wings, which plays in Berlin's Panorama section.The film, directed by Nir Bergman, is darkly comic but uplifting story of a family coping with the turmoil that follows the accidental death of their patriarch.Since ...
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News
Daldry throws weight behind FAME UK slate
Stephen Daldry, in town to present today's competition screening of The Hours, is to executive produce two forthcoming films produced by the UK's Film & Music Entertainment (F&ME). The company, which recently bought itself out from the now depleted German company F.A.M.E., is putting together an impressive slate of pictures, ...
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News
Koelmels spell out Neue Kinowelt ambitions
Rainer and Michael Koelmel have unveiled theplanned strategy of Neue Kinowelt,just ahead of their first market presence since regaining control oftheir insolvent Kinowelt empire.`We will no longer be in theleague of the majors as we were for a while in 1999`, explained Rainer Koelmel,`but we will certainly see ourselves in ...
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News
Copenhagen to host Nordic film financing forum
London-based media consultancy MediaXchange is organising a forum, dedicated to Nordic entertainment law and finance, in Copenhagen on February 7-9.The Nordic Entertainment Law & Finance forum is aimed at entertainment lawyers, business affairs executives and producers working in film and television. Among the issues that will be covered are packaging, ...
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News
SPC, Tobis focus on Life
Focus International has closed two key distribution deals on My Life Without Me, the Berlin Competition entry produced by the Almodovar brothers' El Deseo outfit and premiering here today. Sony Pictures Classics has just acquired the film for release in the US and Tobis will distribute in Germany.The English-language drama ...
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News
Valenti's Mexican stand-off
MPAA president Jack Valenti has addressed a letter to the president of Mexico Vicente Fox, warning that the US may take retaliatory measures against the Mexican film industry for applying a one peso levy to all cinema admissions. The levy is part of an initiative from the Mexican Parliament ...
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News
Wong Kar-Wai set for 2046 wrap
WongKar-Wai's long-gestating 2046 is finally back in production in China and Hong Kong andis set to wrap at the end of March for delivery in time for this year's Cannes.The $15m film has been in and out of production since Wong shot In The MoodFor Love three yearsago, although the ...
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News
Gold Circle to establish UK presence, pre-buy US rights to UK films
Gold CircleFilms - the LA-based production/financing outfit run by Paul Brooks whichscored the runaway hit My Big Fat Greek Wedding last year, is to establish a presence inthe UK with the imminent hiring of an acquisitions executive. The new executivewill likely be joined by one or two further Gold Circle ...