Large MPU – Page 3500
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Features
Battle stations
There were odd scenes outside many arthouse cinemas in Japan in early May - protestors gathered, yelling into megaphones, urging people not to see a film, while cinema owners requested police protection for their audience.The cause of the controversy was Yasukuni a documentary by Tokyo-based Chinese film-maker Li Ying, about ...
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News
Screenwriting: How to teach a word's worth
Training provision for screenwriters has been undergoing a sea change in the UK in recent years, with providers aiming to connect training with the industry and help create writers who can function both creatively and commercially.The UK film business has not always taken the most positive view of screenwriter training. ...
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Features
Training - Debate - Talking writing
DEBRA HAYWARD - WORKING TITLE FILMSWhat is the level of creativity in the UK'People are really ambitious: the levels are high. But you can never have enough great ideas, great writers and great material.Are individual voices shining through'I think they are. And there's a great tradition of individual voices in ...
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Profile: International Screenwriters' Festival
Launched three years ago, the International Screenwriters' Festival (July 1-3) has established itself as a key event on the festival calendar.Taking place in Cheltenham, south-west England, the event attracts a wide range of industry delegates. 'It's about 50% writers and 50% everybody else: producers, directors, agents, script editors, financiers, and ...
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Features
Production - Romania - From the mountain to the black sea
Romania is a territory on the rise. Adding to the buzz arising from local productions at Cannes in recent years, the territory is one of the new Eastern European sweet spots for international footloose productions.The problem is, demand is now outpacing supply. Earlier this year, French producer-writer-director Alexandre Aja planned ...
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Features
Production - Bulgaria - Footloose and fancy free
"There are more than a dozen films a year done here," says Les Weldon, a US producer who has shot 15 films over more than 10 years in Bulgaria, most of them with Nu Image-owned Nu Boyana Film Studios in Sofia. "We've had Morgan Freeman, Antonio Banderas, John Cusack, Ben ...
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Features
International - TV remake proves smart move for warner bros
Four new entries broke into the international chart this week with titles from the US, the UK and South Korea opening in the top 20, while Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, Sex And The City, Kung Fu Panda and The Incredible Hulk jostled for the top ...
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Features
The Critical View - Finishing touch
I've been thinking about Che. Not the man, nor exactly Steven Soderbergh's film of the man's life, but the experience of watching a film that may or not be the finished product.All that was known about the status of Soderbergh's long-awaited film on the eve of its Cannes debut was ...
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News
Rennen Schorr to head new $2m Jerusalem Film Fund
The State Treasury and the Jerusalem Foundation are backing a $2m fund to promote film-making in Jerusalem, as part of the general effort the refresh the image of Israel's capital city.Rennen Schorr, the head of the Sam Spiegel School for Cinema and Television in Jerusalem, one of the more active ...
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Reviews
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
Dir: Guillermo Del Toro. US. 2008. 115 mins. Trust Guillermo Del Toro to deliver a summer action adventure which is gleefully unpretentious in its desire to entertain while filled with some of the season's most inventive visual effects and creature designs. This bigger-and-better sequel should be a solid hit for ...
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News
Winding Refn starts Scottish shoot for Valhalla Rising
Nicolas Winding Refn has started the Scotland-based shoot for his next film, Valhalla Rising.Alongside Mads Mikkelsen, the film will star Jamie Sives and Gary Lewis from Billy Elliot fame. The budget is about $7m.The famed Danish director is taking with him the organic working method from his Pusher films shooting ...
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News
BIFAs to move to Old Billingsgate Market for Nov 30 awards
The British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) have set their next awards for Nov 30, 2008.James Nesbitt will again host the awards, to be held at Old Billingsgate Market in London in its 11th year, moving from last year's venue of The Roundhouse.BIFA directors Johanna von Fischer and Tessa Collinson said: ...
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Japan's Boys Over Flowers knocks Indy from top spot
Tokyo Broadcast System's Boys Over Flowers earned a huge $9.55m (Y1bn) on 805,000 admissions over the weekend, knocking Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull out of the top spot after only one week. Released on 400 screens by distributor Toho, per screen averages topped $23,880, the highest ...
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News
Merged Copenhagen festival to launch in April 2009
CPH:PIX, the new festival combining the NatFilm Festival and the Copenhagen International Film Festival, will run for the first time in Copenhagen from April 16-26, 2009.The new festival will also have a competition.Screen International veteran Jacob Neiiendam, who had been head of programming at the Copenhagen International Film Festival since ...
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News
Works closes more Somers Town, Man On Wire sales post-Cannes
As its filmsswept the prizes at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, London-based sales company The Works International has announced a number of new deals closed since Cannes.Shane Meadows' Somers Town sold to Taiwan (Filmware International).James Marsh's documentary Man On Wire sold to Taiwan (Filmware International), Japan (Shin Nippon), and Hungary ...
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News
Delanic takes UK rights to Spread starring Ashton Kutcher
UK distributor Delanic Films continues to build its release slate by adding Spread starring Ashton Kutcher.David McKenzie's erotic comedy has been acquired for the UK and Ireland from Voltage Pictures. The story is about a womanising conman in LA who meets a female hustler.Spread is still in post and is ...
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News
High Point flies with Larkin's Satellites & Meteorites
London-based High Point Films has picked up worldwide sales rights to Rick Larkin's debut feature Satellites & Meteorites.Larkin's company i-Wire Films executive produced the project and it was produced by Eimear O'Kane for Emu Productions and Dave Leahy for Warrior Films.The romantic fantasy is a love story between two people ...
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News
Scoggins promoted in digital asset management at Universal
Stan Scoggins has been promoted to senior vice president of worldwide digital asset management at Universal, continuing a run that has seen him oversee the group since 1998.During his tenure Scoggins developed and implemented a comprehensive online repository of all Universal publicity and advertising materials. He continues to report to ...
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News
Alston issues warning to Oz post sector
Australian communications, IT and arts minister, Richard Alston, has warned the local post sector that it has only about 18 months left to exploit its current competitive advantages, because bandwidth, which connects it to the rest of the world, is "virtually unaffordable".Australian post-production companies enjoy the dual advantages of being ...