Large MPU – Page 458
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News
Afrika to produce Diamonds with De Angelis, Global
Cape Town-based production outfit, Film Afrika Worldwide, is co-producing two feature-length TV movies, Diamond Hunters, with Italy's De Angelis and German investment fund Global Entertainment.Roy Scheider is set to star in the films, which are based on Wilbur Smith's best-selling novel of the same name. Denis Berry, whose credits include ...
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FINLAND 1 September
VeikkoAaltonen's first fiction film since 1999's KissMe In The Rain, Trench Road (Juoksuhaudantie), opened in fourth with asolid Euros 3,955 screen average on its 35 prints. The film is based on anaward-winning book by local author Kari Hotakainen, and follows an obsessedman, who goes to extremes in order to get ...
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Austria, Germany, Switzerland - 1 Sept 2004
AUSTRIA September 1PRE-PRODUCTIONKELLER(Novotny& Novotny Filmproduktion) Backer: Filmfonds Wien. Coming of age drama.Prod: Franz Novotny. Dir/scr: Eva Urtaler.Contact Novotny & Novotny Filmproduktion, (43) 1 478 71 70KOTSCH(LotusFilm) Backers: Filmfonds Wien, OFI. Comedy about four slackers in Styria. Prod:Erich Lackner. Dir: Helmut Koepping. Contact: Erich Lackner, Lotus Film, (43) 1786 33 87LAPISLAZULI(DorFilm) ...
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Kessler quits as president of France's CNC
David Kessler, president ofthe French film support body, the CNC, will leave his current post for FranceTelevisions within the next few weeks, it was announced today (Sept 1).As previously reported (ScreenDaily.com,July 27), Kessler is tipped to be replaced by Catherine Colonna who is thespokesperson for the Elysee Palace - France's ...
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Revamp for Export-Union of German Cinema
The international representation of German filmsreceived a boost this week with the Export-Union of German Cinema opening itsdoors to six new shareholders in a revamped agency called German Films Service+ Marketing.The existing shareholders of the Association ofGerman Feature Film Producers, the Association of New German Feature FilmProducers, the Association of ...
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Tartan adds five films to release slate
Prolific UK distributorTartan Films has picked up a string of films in advance of the early autumnfestival season.Titles Claire Denis's newfilm The Intruder (due to screen in Venice); Three...Extremes,the portmanteau horror picture featuring segments by Miike Takashi, Fruit Chanand Park Chan-Wook; horror pictureThe Eye 2 - the sequel/prequel to thePang ...
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Jayanti to direct Ellroy's Killer On The Road
Award-winning filmmaker Vikram Jayanti (Deep Blue, WhenWe Were Kings) is to direct a movie version of one of James Ellroy's mostgruesome novels, the gay serial killer/buddy novel, Killer On The Road.The film, scripted by former critic Chris Peachment, is dueto shoot next spring. It is being co-produced by Tartan Films ...
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Cruise stirs up French industry with finance minister talks
Tom Cruise was the talk of Paris on Monday. Not just becausehe was in town for the gala premiere of Michael Mann's Collateral, butbecause of a meeting he took earlier in the day.To the slight bemusement of many in the industry, Cruisedrew up on a riverboat and spent an hour ...
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Swiss films target international audiences
At the beginning of thisyear, Andrea Willson, the head of former Deutsche Columbia PicturesFilmproduktion, was recruited by the Swiss rights trader/distributor FalcomMedia Group to manage the company's expansion into German language production.The plan was for Willson toconcentrate on the development and production of feature films for the Germanspeaking area and ...
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Village cheer for Buena Vista
Over a weekend whenonly one film, The Village, couldmanage to gross over $10m at the international box office, it was still alandmark period for Buena Vista International.BVI achieved $1bnin international ticket sales for the 10th year in a row. It also saw King Arthur cross the $100m mark, while The ...
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Reviews
Throw Down
Dir:Johnnie To. Hong Kong. 2004. 94mins.After25 years as a director of solid Hong Kong crime and action features, Johnnie Tois finally beginning to be taken seriously on the international festivalcircuit. PTU, the story of a city cop's search for his missing gun, waswell received in 2003, and Breaking News was ...
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News
Portugal's SIC Filmes unveils debut slate
Leading Portuguese private broadcaster SIC (Sociedad Independente de Comunicao) has unveiled the remaining seven projects on its debut film production slate of 10 made-for-TV movies. The slate, which nearly doubles Portugal's annual feature film output, was launched in 1999 under the banner SIC Filmes, in association with the national cinema ...
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News
The Village opens its doors in Australia, Brazil
Buena VistaInternational's (BVI) The Village has been quietly gathering momentum in recent weeks and shouldboost its $30.8m running total with launches this weekend in Australia on Sept2 and Brazil on Sept 3.Strong debutsare expected bearing in mind that M Night Shyamalan's previous mystery Signs opened top in both markets, grossing$2.7m ...
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MGM hits back at imminent takeover talk
MGM hit backover press reports concerning a possible take-over deal yesterday (sept 1),issuing a statement saying it was continuing to consider strategicalternatives.The statement,which also dismissed as inaccurate speculation that the studio was worth $5bn,follows a Reuters report last week that implied an announcement was about tobreak after employees were temporarily ...
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Passion DVD breaks records on first day of US release
The DVD and VHSversions of The Passion Of The Christ sold 4.1million units on first day of release (Aug 31) inthe US, setting a string of records for Fox Home Entertainment.The distributorclaimed first-day sales have made Passion the number one selling independent release of all time, thenumber one selling drama, ...
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McInnis named festival director at Slamdance
Kathleen McInnishas been named as the new festival director at Slamdance and will also overseeand initiate new year-round programmes.The appointmentends a four-month global trawl by the festival's co-founders."Kathleen'sreputation in general and her filmmaking experience specifically makes her anatural choice for Slamdance," Peter Baxter, president and one of the fouroriginal co-founders ...
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Hall named programming head at Sarasota Film Fest
Tom Hall has been nameddirector of programming for the 7th Annual Sarasota Film Festival (SFF), whichruns from Jan 28-Feb 6 2005.Hall, who remains programmedirector at the Nantucket Film Festival held annually in June, will travel toToronto to scout for material for the SFF."We were determined to bringin a new programmer ...
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Toronto programmer gets death threat for Casuistry doc
A programmer for the Toronto International Film Festival was therecipient of a death threat on Tuesday. The anonymous caller was protesting thefestival's inclusion of a feature documentary, Casuistry:The Art Of KillingA Cat, a film aboutthree Toronto visual art students who in 2001 killed a cat as part of ananti-meat art ...
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Venice kicks off with star-studded opening night
The 61st Venice Film Festival kicked off on Wednesday night with ablack tie opening ceremony attended by a host of stars, followed by theout-of-competition screening of Steven Spielberg's The Terminal.Stars who walked up the red carpet included Spike Lee andScarlett Johansson, who are bothserving on the competition jury, as well ...
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NORWAY 2 September
Therelease of three big American films was more than the Norwegian musical This Is The Song You Need (Alt For Egil)could withstand, dropping 44% to fourth behind The Village, Garfield and Fahrenheit9/11.The newlocal release of Torun Lian's The Color OfMilk, based on her own book about a 12 year-old girl ...