Large MPU – Page 2129
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News
SF Bio to help promote short films in Sweden
Swedish major SF Bio will be giving new filmmaking talent a chance to have their short films screened in cinemas across the country from this autumn. "We want to point attention to these great films, which might not be seen otherwise," says Sture Johansson, SF-Bio. "The audience won't have ...
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Reviews
Spider
Dir. David Cronenberg, Can-UK. 2002. Screened in CompetitionDavid Cronenberg has described Spider as "pure". This is something of an understatement. An uncompromising portrait of mental disturbance, Spider makes Cronenberg's previous Competition entry Crash seem commercial; whereas the 1996 film promised attractions such as cars and sex, Spider has nothing to ...
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Reviews
Morvern Callar
Dir: Lynne Ramsay. UK. 2002. 97mins. Screened in Director's FortnightA mesmerising journey through the hidden depths of a woman's soul, Morvern Callar confirms writer-director Lynne Ramsay as one of the most audacious and uncompromising British filmmakers of her generation. Poetic, stunningly beautifully and untainted by crass commercial concerns, it is ...
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Reviews
Sweet Sixteen
Director: Ken Loach. UK. 2002. 106mins. Screened in Competition.Continuing the rich collaboration between director Ken Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty, Sweet Sixteen puts a very human face on the plight of the socially disadvantaged in modern Britain. The heartrending tragedy of a Scottish teenager struggling for his small share of ...
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News
Shaolin Soccer scores in South Korea
Hong Kong director Stephen Chow's Shaolin Soccer has scored big in South Korea, grossing $1.2m nationwide in its first three days to secure the number two spot at the box-office behind Spider-Man. Distributed jointly by Cinema Service and Film Bank, the film's release was timed to take advantage ...
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Wild Bunch set to cut loose
Wild Bunch, one of the leading sellers of festival films at Cannes this year, is expected to loosen its ties with parent company StudioCanal.StudioCanal insiders say that StudioCanal' s French head Brahim Chioua will step aside, taking Vincent Maraval, and Wild Bunch, with him. Financial details of the separation have ...
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Binet and Covo tipped for TF1/Miramax jobs
Patrick Binet, currently head of sales house UGC International, and France Jose Covo, former head of PolyGram, are expected to be appointed to senior positions within the unnamed new TF1-Miramax production and distribution venture.Binet is known to have been seeking an exit from the operation he helped create and in ...
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Fragile deal struck with Miramax
Miramax Films and the UK' s Fragile Films have struck a two-and-half year first look deal.Miramax will get first option on English-speaking markets for film and TV projects developed and produced by Barnaby Thompson and Uri Fruchtmann, heads of Fragile and co-owners of Ealing Studios. Fragile previously had a longterm ...
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News
FilmFour's Motorcycle travels far and wide
Testifying to the ability of stand-out market titles to find international pre-buys despite the financial woes of European buyers, FilmFour International has closed a raft of deals on its hot Che Guevara picture The Motorcycle Diaries.The story of the revolutionary's travels as a young man, for which Walter Salles is ...
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Golden Harvest reaps Cannes delicacies
Golden Harvest, the powerhouse Hong Kong-based distributor has picked up a collection of the most in-demand indie titles on the Croisette.Quentin Tarantino's martial arts action film Kill Bill has been picked up for Hong Kong and Malaysia from Miramax International. Uma Thurmann, Lucy Liu and Darryl, Hannah star in the ...
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Franchise, Comerica hit in Intertainment court battle
In the ongoing legal battles between Elie Samaha's Franchise Pictures and Germany's Intertainment AG, Intertainment has won its first court decision. A federal district court yesterday upheld two of the three racketeering and corruption (RICO) claims brought by Intertainment against Franchise and its two principals Samaha and Andrew Stevens.In ...
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News
Menemsha ties knot on Bride deals
Neil Friedman's LA-based sales agency Menemsha Entertainment has sold Argentinian Oscar nominee The Son Of The Bride to Movienet in Germany and Tandora in Singapore. The film, directed by Juan Jose Campanella, is a family drama with Ricardo Marin, Norma Aleandro and Natalia Verbeke.The film, which has been confirmed as ...
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Icon falls for Trust's Hearts and Wilbur
Icon has picked up UK and Australian rights to two of Trust Film Sales' hottest new Zentropa titles, Susanne Bier's Dogme-drama Open Hearts and Lone Scherfig's English-language romance Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself.Arsenal Filmverleigh and Shani Films have also taken German and Israeli rights to Open Hearts, which has already ...
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Helkon seduced by Bollywood Queen
Flush with the success of runaway UK hit Bend It Like Beckham, UK distributor Helkon SK has bought Bollywood Queen for the UK and France.Helkon, which bought the Bollywood-inspired romantic comedy from Gary Hamilton and Victor Syrmis' Arclight Films, is expected to eventually sell on French rights.The film, backed by ...
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MacCabe laments his old place
Among the more interesting films of the Cannes festival this year is a film essay by Anne-Marie Mieville and Jean Luc Godard called The Old Place. By all accounts it is a beautiful and intriguing meditation on the relations between painting and film. But for one of the executive producers, ...
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Palm takes Fulltime Killer to North America
Chris Blackwell's Palm Pictures has bought North American distribution rights to Hong Kong hit Fulltime Killer from TeamWork Motion Pictures. The action thriller was directed by Johnny To and collaborator Wai Ka Fai and stars Andy Lau as a master assassin pursued by two relentless predators. It was selected as ...
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Hopscotch jumps on Columbine
Hopscotch, the Australian distributor launched this month by ex-Dendy Films chief Troy Lum and releasing veteran Frank Cox, has made its first acquisition, picking up Bowling For Columbine.The company bought all rights for Australia and New Zealand to the Michael Moore Competition documentary from Alliance Atlantis. Lum, whose Dendy acquisitions ...
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DVD piracy panel calls for jail terms amongst penalties
"If DVD piracy is allowed to continue it means the long term death of culture," boomed David Kessler, head of France's national cinema body the CNC, speaking in Cannes yesterday at a seminar on DVD piracy.Also involved were Nicolas Seydoux, chairman of Gaumont and MPAA chief Jack Valenti.All three speakers ...
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Tonie Marshall revs up France Boutique
Pyramide Productions's Fabienne Vonnier is in Cannes wrapping up financing for Tonie Marshall's next title France Boutique, which is to star Karin Viard and Francois Cluzet as a couple specialising in the production of TV home-shopping shows.France Boutique sees Marshall going back to a comedy in the vein of Venus ...
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Pardue, Carlyle tempted by Pandora
Kip Pardue and Robert Carlyle are in negotiations to star and William Malone (House On Haunted Hill) to direct psychological thriller Tempting Pandora being sold - appropriately - by Pandora. Meanwhile Pandora's sales head Sebnem Askin has closed a range of deals for the film including to M6/SND in France, ...