Large MPU – Page 3331

  • News

    AWP picks up The Lena Baker Story for Cannes

    2008-04-17T23:11:00Z

    LA-based American World Pictures (AWP) has acquired worldwide rights to The Lena Baker Story, about the first woman in the state of Georgia to die in the electric chair.AWP will screen the film to buyers in Cannes. Tichina Arnold stars as the victim of racial injustice who was executed in ...

  • News

    Miramax ends Alliance alliance in Canada

    2008-04-17T23:18:00Z

    Miramax Films has ended its 14-year Canadian distribution relationship with Toronto-based Alliance Films. On April 11, the US distributor released Smart People in Canada through its status as a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios. It marks the end of a second long-term relationship for Alliance, following the February decision by ...

  • News

    Bortone's Rosso Come Il Cielo wins top prizes at Palm Beach

    2008-04-17T23:28:00Z

    Cristiano Bortone won best director and best feature for Rosso Come Il Cielo (Red Like The Sky) at the 13th Palm Beach International Film Festival.Lauzanne Xavier's D'Une Seule Voix (With One Voice) took the documentary prize while the panel awarded a special jury prize to dancer-choreographer Lachen Zinoun for his ...

  • News

    Bernards, Robbins among senior promotions at MPAA

    2008-04-17T23:35:00Z

    Kori Bernards has been promoted to senior vice president of communications at the Motion Picture Association Of America (MPAA).Dan Robbins has been named senior vice president and associate general counsel, Mike Robinson becomes senior vice president and director of North American anti-piracy operations.Ted Shapiro has become senior vice president, general ...

  • News

    IM Global takes on Bunraku with Josh Hartnett, Demi Moore

    2008-04-18T00:34:00Z

    IM Global will commence worldwide pre-sales in Cannes on the martial arts action film Bunraku starring Josh Hartnett and Demi Moore.Production got underway on April 17 in Bucharest, Romania, on the Snoot Entertainment feature. The cast includes Japanese stars Gackt Camui and Shun Sugata as well as Woody Harrelson, Kevin ...

  • News

    Street Kings hope to rule with 27 openings for Fox

    2008-04-18T00:39:00Z

    Fox International gives the police thriller Street Kings a big push this weekend with 27 scheduled releases.The film launched in second place in North America last weekend and lands in Australia, Germany, Russia and South Korea on April 17 followed by the UK, Brail and Mexico on April 18.Meanwhile Horton ...

  • News

    Odd Lot signs two-film deal with Freestyle led by Bottle Shock

    2008-04-18T07:22:00Z

    Odd Lot International has signed a two-picture deal with US distributor Freestyle Releasing after the parties acquired the California wine industry drama Bottle Shock.Freestyle will release in North America and Odd Lot International will commence foreign sales at Cannes next month. The parties will collaborate on another, yet to be ...

  • News

    UK's FDA launches one-minute summer cinema trailer

    2008-04-18T12:26:00Z

    Summer admissions in the UK have increased steadily in the past five years, with 2007 up 27% from 2003, and are expected to continue to increase according to the Film Distributors Association (FDA). According to a survey from the trade body, more than two-thirds of UK adults citied summer movie ...

  • News

    TF1's Patrick Binet in police custody, French press reports

    2008-04-18T15:58:00Z

    According to press reports, TF1 International chief Patrick Binet has been taken into custody by police following the discovery of a dead body in Binet's Parisian residence.For the moment, details are sketchy but some French media report that the victim was a man in his 40s and may have succumbed ...

  • News

    Twelve titles to compete for Plzen's Golden Kingfisher

    2008-04-21T06:00:00Z

    The 21st Finale festival of Czech films begins April 21 in Plzen, Czech Republic. The annual event is a competitive and comprehensive overview of Czech feature-length films released in the past year.Twelve titles will compete for the Golden Kingfisher for Best Feature Film, including the French-UK-Czech co-production La Vie En ...

  • News

    Nayar, Grushow team up for digital studio Filmaka

    2008-04-21T05:00:00Z

    LA-based producer Deepak Nayar and former Fox TV chief Sandy Grushow have officially launched Filmaka, an ambitious 'digital studio' and online creative community which plans to create a new model for identifying talent and developing entertainment properties.Nayar founded the company, which is based at www.Filmaka.com, in late 2006 as a ...

  • News

    Universal and BT launch Picturebox service on BT Vision

    2008-04-19T01:11:00Z

    Universal Pictures and British Telecommunications will launch the PictureBox subscription-on-demand service on BT Vision in the UK.The PictureBox service will launch on May 5 and provide a broad selection of current and library features from NBC Universal and other suppliers such as The Bourne Ultimatum, Knocked Up and Atonement.The agreement ...

  • News

    Lifesize picks up LARPing documentary Monster Camp

    2008-04-19T01:13:00Z

    New Jersey-based distributor and worldwide sales agent Lifesize Entertainment has picked up Cullen Hoback's documentary Monster Camp.The film offers a glimpse into the world of live-action role playing - known as LARPing - in which players immerse themselves in the video game phenomenon World Of Warcraft. Aaron Kirk Douglas produced.'Monster ...

  • News

    The Girl By The Lake dominates Donatellos

    2008-04-19T12:40:00Z

    First-time director Andrea Molaioli's The Girl By The Lake was the surprise winner of Italy's David of Donatello awards taking home 10 statuettes in principal categories including best film, director, first film and screenplay.The thriller - adapted by screenwriter Sandro Petraglia (Best Of Youth)and backed by local film giant ...

  • News

    Mexico's Olaizola wins best film at BAFICI for Intimacies

    2008-04-20T02:41:00Z

    Mexican Yulene Olaizola's first feature Intimacies of Shakespeare And Victor Hugo won the prize for best film in the international competition at the tenth Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (BAFICI).China's Night Train, directed by Diao Yinan, took the Special Jury Prize and the one for Best Actress (Liu ...

  • News

    Helkon adds UK plank to European platform plans

    2000-10-06T12:02:00Z

    German production and distribution group Helkon Media has bought a 51% stake in UK distributor Redbus Films Distribution (RFD) as part of its plan to build a pan-European studio akin to PolyGram Filmed Entertainment.The RFD acquisition is immediately expected to help Helkon cement its growing alliance of European distributors, which ...

  • News

    Swiss Film Prize to move in 2009

    2008-04-20T14:51:00Z

    Nextyear'sSwiss Film Prize is to move from January's Solothurn Film Days to a new venue at Lucerne's Culture and Conference Centre (KKL) on March 7 in a gala ceremony.The eventwill beorganised by national broadcaster SRG SSR with the partners Swiss Films, the Federal Office of Culture (BAK) and the Swiss ...

  • News

    MPA signs agreement with seven Chinese web-sites

    2008-04-20T15:13:00Z

    The Motion Picture Association (MPA) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with seven Chinese web-sites to establish a co-ordination mechanism for online copyright protection. The seven websites are popular video-sharing web-sites, or user-generated content sites, including 56.com, 6.cn, tudou.com, youku.com, pomoho.com, ku6.com and ouou.com.The MoU was signed Friday (April 18) ...

  • News

    Ufa Cinema debuts with Mein Kampf

    2008-04-20T17:59:00Z

    New producer-distributor Ufa Cinema, launched at the end of last year by the RTL Group and Freemantle Media through its German subsidiary UFA, has boarded its first project: Urs Odermatt's Mein Kampf.The film begins shooting in Vienna next Tuesday (April 22).Ufa Cinema will co-produce the film - based on the ...

  • News

    Egg wins international competition at Istanbul festival

    2008-04-20T18:06:00Z

    The top honors in the international competition of this year's Istanbul Film Festival have gone to Egg (Yumurta) by local film-maker Semih Kaplanoglu, the story of a poet returning to his mother's home in the country after her death.Kaplanoglu's picture, which opened last year in Cannes' DirectorsFortnight, is the third ...