Large MPU – Page 1713
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News
FilmFour to bankroll Pasolini's Emperor
The UK's FilmFour is fully-financing The Emperor's New Clothes, a historical fantasy being produced by The Full Monty's Uberto Pasolini and directed by Palookaville's Alan Taylor.Adapted by Kevin Molony from Simon Leys' novel The Death Of Napoleon, the script tells the story of how Napoleon did not die in exile ...
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Buddy chosen as closing local film at Haugesund
Buddy, the runaway hit of the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, has been selected as the closing local film of this year's Norwegian International Film Festival (Aug 17-24) in Haugesund It will screen on Aug 21 and will at the same time be the opening film of the New Nordic Films ...
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News
Competition watchdog to probe UK distribution
Competition watchdog the Office Of Fair Trading (OFT) is to investigate film distribution in the UK.The OFT will review its Film Orders, which regulate the distribution of films in the UK. The Orders were introduced in 1983 and 1994 after reports by the then Monopolies and Mergers Commission (now the ...
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Reviews
Coming And Going (Vai E Vem)
Dir: Joao Cesar Monteiro. Portugal. 2003. 179minsShown posthumously at Cannes out of competition following his death from cancer in February this year, Coming And Going is the epic final testament of Portuguese actor-director Joao Cesar Monteiro, who had some claim to being European cinema's single most eccentric talent. His films, ...
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News
Documentaries dominate Swiss showcase at Locarno
Documentaries are particularly strong in this year's "Appellations Suisse" showcase of new Swiss cinema to be presented at the forthcoming Locarno International Film Festival (August 6-16).Of the ten films screening in the showcase which is primarily aimed at international buyers and festival programmers, seven are documentaries, including Stefan Haupt's local ...
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News
Korean summer box office heats up
South Korea's mid-summer season is proving to be quite competitive at the box-office, with four local pictures and two Hollywood films waging an intense competition for screens and viewers.Korean feature Singles currently sits atop the Seoul charts in its second week, having drawn 95,000 admissions over the two-day weekend on ...
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News
Bayside Shakedown 2 smashes Japanese records
Bayside Shakedown 2, the sequel to a 1998 hit cop thriller, recorded the best-ever opening for a Japanese film, following its July 19 release on 400 screens. In its first three days the film grossed $15.7m(Y1.8bn) on 1,260,934 admissions. The previous record holder, Hayao Miyazaki's animated smash Spirited Away, earned ...
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News
Bayside Shakedown 2 smashes Japanese records
Bayside Shakedown 2, the sequel to a 1998 hit cop thriller, recorded the best-ever opening for a Japanese film, following its July 19 release on 400 screens. In its first three days the film grossed $15.7m(Y1.8bn) on 1,260,934 admissions. The previous record holder, Hayao Miyazaki's animated smash Spirited Away, earned ...
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News
Dumas-Zajdela appointed to CNC funding role
Frederique Dumas-Zajdela has been named president of the commission of France's CNC which deals with approving feature films for state funding. Dumas Zajdela manages local production house Noe Productions and will take over the CNC functions from Margaret Menegoz who was recently named president of French film export body Unifrance. ...
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Reviews
The Rage In Placid Lake
Dir: Tony McNamara. Australia. 2002. 90mins.Let's get some misassumptions about this comedy feature debut from writer/director McNamara and Australian rockstar/actor Ben Lee out of the way. Firstly, it is not related to Fox's 1999 crocodile feature Lake Placid. And secondly, lead character Placid Lake (played by Lee himself) displays none ...
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News
Studios look to consolidate summer box office takings
With upcoming international releases thin on the ground in the major territories this weekend, several films stand to consolidate their running totals.The French release of international hit Johnny English is cause for interest. The comedy, which has taken $117.3m to date internationally for UIP, was unable to repeat that success ...
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News
Notting Hill, East Is East win at Empire awards
Notting Hill was voted Best British film at the Empire Film Awards, which took place today in London, while East Is East deservedly scooped best debut for director Damien O'Donnell. The Best Film award went to US blockbuster The Matrix, and best actor to Irishman Pierce Brosnan.Stars including Oscar-nominee Michael ...
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News
InDigEnt taps Mark Christopher for film # 11
Mark Christopher whose lastfilm was the 1998 nightclub drama 54 is the latest director to sign on to make a low-budget film forInDigEnt, the digital video collective created by New York-based IFCProductions' Jonathan Sehring and Caroline Kaplan, producer-director GaryWinick and Cinetic Media's John Sloss.Christopher will make theoffbeat comedy Pizza, the ...
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News
Valenti hails US trade agreements with Chile, Singapore
Motion PictureAssociation of America (MPAA) president Jack Valenti hailed another blow toworldwide piracy yesterday (24) as Congress passed two trade agreements withChile and Singapore.The agreements,passed by members of the US House of Representatives, eliminate tariff andcustoms barriers to US entertainment products and pave the way for strictenforcement of copyright standards.'Today'saction ...
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News
O'Connor to head HBO US theatrical releasing arm
HBO Films hascemented its theatrical ambitions with the launch of a domestic releasing armsupported by a distribution partnership with Fine Line Features, the specialtydistribution division of HBO's AOL Time Warner sister company New LineCinema.United Artistsmarketing chief Dennis O'Connor has been brought in to head up the newunit - called HBO ...
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News
Woods tipped to take Irish Film Board post
Mark Woods, an expatriate Irishman based for many years in Australia is being strongly tipped as the new CEO of the Irish Film Board following Rod Stoneman's departure in September. However, a spokesperson for the Irish Film Board has refused to give air to the unofficial news, which has had ...
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News
Obituary: John Schlesinger
John Schlesinger, the Oscar-winning director of Midnight Cowboy, died on Friday, near his home in Palm Springs, California. The British-born, veteran film-maker, suffered a debilitating stroke in December 2000, from which he never fully recovered. Recent weeks had seen the 77 year old's health deteriorate significantly.Schlesinger, along with Tony Richardson, ...
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Comcast mulls Vivendi Universal bid
Comcast, the US cable giant, may be poised to join the race to buy the US entertainment assets being sold by Vivendi Universal. These include Universal studios, cable channels including Sci-Fi and theme parks.According to several US press sources, including the Wall Street Journal, Comcast has expressed to Vivendi a ...
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News
Ster Century sells off UK exhibition circuit
Ster Century, the South African-owned UK and Ireland cinema circuit, has been sold to Aurora Holdings, a UK-based outfit whose partners include ex-Ster Century Europe managing director Mike Ross.Ross, who will now become CEO of Ster Century, would not comment on the value of the deal, which was backed by ...
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News
Italian distributors contest 'inaccurate' admissions data
The Italian box office is growing at a healthy rate, says Richard Borg, the newly-appointed head of Italy's national distributors union, UNIDIM, describing as "inaccurate" previously released data showing that industry figures had dipped in the first semester of 2003.Earlier this week, Cinetel data showed that ticket sales had dipped ...