Large MPU – Page 1811
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News
Japanese debut wins Paris festival's top prize
Shoujyo (An Adolescent) (below) the first film directed by Japanese actor Eiji Okuda, won the top prize at the 17th annual Paris Film Festival (April 1-9).Mayu Ozawa who debuted as an actress in the film, also received the best actress award at the event.The film, based on the novel by ...
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TVA saves distribution arm through Christal alliance
Montreal-based TVA Group will merge the administration of its distribution arm, TVA International, with that of fellow Montreal distributor, Christal Films, breathing new life into an organisation TVA Group had considered abandoning. Under the terms of the service agreement, the new entity will operate under the name Topaze Communications. Both ...
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News
Hollywood races to remake Korean comedies
Two Korean hit comedies from 2001, My Sassy Girl and Hi, Dharma!, have been sold to Hollywood studios for English-language remakes. Korean distributor IM Pictures revealed that DreamWorks SKG has bought remake rights to My Sassy Girl (pictured) for $750,000 plus 4% of worldwide revenues earned by the remake. ...
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Austin Powers allowed to display his Goldmember
Austin Powers will get his Goldmember-ship after allcourtesy of an agreement reached yesterday between New Line Cinema and James Bondstudio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) The film, AustinPowers In Goldmember,will be released as just that on July 26, but according to the agreement, all futuretitles will be subject to MGM's approval if they ...
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Former Canton executive joins Senator in LA
Former Canton Coexecutive Nathan Kahane has joined LA-based Senator International as executivevice president, motion pictures, following the conclusion this week of asyndicated loan of 230m euros ($202m) by parent company Senator Entertainment.Kahane will headthe development and acquisition of feature films for Senator Internationalreporting to president Joe Drake and Senator Entertainment ...
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News
Sharp slide in VCL shares
Shares in VCL, the German video and production finance group, swung violently today. Having closed on Thursday (Apr 11) at Euros0.93, the shares dipped at one stage to Euros0.40. At 1300 GMT they had recovered to Euros0.73, a drop of 21% on the day.The company offered no explanation for the ...
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News
Barbet Schroeder becomes Critics Week godfather
Barbet Schroeder, the acclaimed international director responsible for Barfly Our Lady Of The Assassins and Reversal Of Fortune, is to be the godfather of the Critics' Week sidebar at Cannes.Schroeder, (pictured at left, on the set of his latest directorial effort, Murder By Numbers) will be honoured by a screening ...
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Olivennes departure plunges Vivendi into crisis
Denis Olivennes, Canal Plus' director general and director of Vivendi Universal, resigned on Friday in protest at the financial pressures being put on the company by its chief executive Jean-Marie Messier.The shock resignation - delivered in a three line note - rounded off a desperate week for Vivendi Universal and ...
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Oscar-winner Noe Productions files for insolvency
Winning the Oscar for best foreign film came too late to bring much comfort to Noe Productions. The company, which was the French co-producer on Danis Tanovic's No Man's Land and has previously been behind pictures such as Train De Vie and Les Portes De La Gloire, was declared insolvent ...
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Reviews
Dandy (La Bande Du Drugstore)
Dir: Francois Armanet. France. 2001. 98 mins.Dandy suffers from some of the same superficiality as the posturing, blow-dried youths it portrays. It's difficult to see this film, about Parisian rich kids during the mid to late 1960s, appealing to their modern-day peers in the 16 to 20-year-old age group, who ...
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News
Murdoch seen moving in on KirchPayTV
The prospect of the KirchGroup's pay TV unit KirchPayTV filing for insolvency is now appearing 'extremely unlikely', according to a report in the German Sunday newspaper Welt am Sonntag (WamS).Sources close to talks told the newspaper that Rupert Murdoch is allegedly prepared to stump up Euros 600m to increase his ...
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News
Telefilm Canada backs four Quebecois films
Four Quebecois features have received the backing of Telefilm Canada, as the federal film and television support agency announced its first set of investment decisions through the Selective Component of the Canada Feature Film Fund (CFFF). 100% Bio. Directed by Claude Fortin and backed by Cinema Libre. A low-budget ...
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Parkhill has start date to dot the i for Summit
Summit Entertainment has scheduled April 21 to start production on dot the i, an urban love triangle story starring rising Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal, (Y Tu Mama Tambien, Amores Perros).Award-winning novelist and screenwriter Matthew Parkhill makes his writer-director debut on the project, from UK production company Arcane Pictures. The ...
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Germany's RTL denies plans to acquire Constantin stake
Private German broadcaster RTL has denied claims made by EM.TV Board Chairman Werner Klatten at a press conference last week that the RTL Group is interested in acquiring a stake in distributor-producer Constantin Film. The suggestion that RTL might be interested in taking an interest in Constantin is arguably not ...
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Verhoeven receives Lifetime Award, reveals new projects
Accepting his Lifetime Achievement Award during the 18th Festival of the Fantastic Film in Amsterdam, director Paul Verhoeven revealed his next planned project, having had his latest feature, Official Assassins, cancelled post-September 11.While he claims to have several projects up his sleeve, convincing Hollywood studios has become increasingly difficult "Since ...
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Korea's Cinema Service plans own studio and multiplex circuit
South Korean major Cinema Service has successfully carried out a merger with its parent company, Locus Holdings, at the same time completing a major internal restructure to facilitate the construction of its own studio and its entry into the exhibition sector.Construction of a new studio complex in Paju is expected ...
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Changing Lanes races to the top with $17.6m
Critically acclaimed drama ChangingLanes topped the domestic box officefor Paramount Pictures over the weekend with a powerful estimated gross of$17.6m. Directed by British film-maker Roger Michell, the film stars BenAffleck and Samuel L Jackson as two men who wage war on each other after aminor car accident.Changing Lanes, which Paramount/UIP ...
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Geisler/Roberdeau option McCain POW memoir
Bobby Geisler and JohnRoberdeau, the New York producing duo who were last involved in TerrenceMalick's The Thin Red Line, haveoptioned the movie rights to Faith Of My Fathers, the best-selling Vietnam prisoner of war memoirwritten by John McCain, the high-profile US Senator for Arizona.Written with Mark Salter,McCain's book is the ...
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Reviews
Changing Lanes
Dir: Roger Michell. US. 2002. 98 mins. Part psychological thriller, part urban morality play, Changing Lanes is that rare Hollywood offering that works both as genre entertainment and as something more complex and thought-provoking. Deftly directed - in a significant change of mood from his 1999 romantic-comedy Notting Hill - ...