Large MPU – Page 469
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News
Dutch Filmworks wins private equity backing
Private equity fundMain Capital has paid Euros 3.5m to acquire a substantial minority interest inNetherlands based distributor Dutch Filmworks (DFW). During the past seven years, the indie distributor hasbecome a leading distributor in the Benelux region. The company has built up astrong track record in DVD and is now increasingly ...
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News
StudioCanal acquires rights to Wong's Lady
France'sStudioCanal has acquired all rights outside the US and Asia on the next filmfrom director Wong Kar Wai, A Lady From Shanghai.StarringNicole Kidman, it is being produced by Birth and Ken Parkproducer Jean-Louis Piel. Althoughthe film will not be classified as a French co-production, StudioCanal willparticipate as a financial co-producer ...
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News
Five titles nominated for BBC Four's World Cinema Award
UK broadcaster BBC Four hasannounced the nominations for the BBC Four World Cinema Award 2005, as voted byUK film critics, film school heads and exhibitors. Two Asian martial arts films- Zhang Yimou's Hero and Takeshi Kitano's Zatoichi - make thefive strong shortlist. The other competitors are Pedro Almodovar's BadEducation, Walter ...
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News
Old guard meets new in DGA nominations
Clint Eastwood, MarcForster, Taylor Hackford, Alexander Payne and Martin Scorsese have beennominated for the Directors Guild of America's DGA Award for OutstandingDirectorial Achievement in Feature Film for 2004.Eastwood is nominated for MillionDollar Baby, Forster for FindingNeverland, Hackford for Ray, Payne for Sideways, and Scorsese for The Aviator.The winner will be ...
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News
Boll announces $107m production fund for new video game movies
Frankfurt-based BOLL KG hasraised $107m with its production investment fund to finance feature films basedon video games, according to CEO and director Uwe Boll. The new money will bedirected toward the coproduction partnership Boll established withVancouver-based service production specialist Brightlight Pictures. The partners are working ona slate of projects that ...
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News
Global film series including Fuse, Whisky starts US tour
The Global FilmInitiative's second annual Global Lens touring film series will kick off inSeattle today (Jan 7) and wind its way through 14 US cities during theremainder of the year.This year's series comprises 10 features and one shortfilm from developing countries and will play in cultural institutions rangingfrom the Museum ...
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News
Yes commits to stockmarket flotation by end of May
UK video-on-demand (VoD) concern Yes Television has committed to float by May 22, a spokesperson confirmed today (April 19).The move comes after Yes put plans to float on hold after New York's high-tech stock exchange, the NASDAQ, plunged 9.7% last Friday. The flotation puts a post-IPO value on the company ...
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News
Bangkok festival goes ahead with tsunami fundraising mandate
Organisers atthe Bangkok International Film Festival (BKKIFF) said yesterday (Jan 6) thatthe event will go ahead as planned next week, with a new focus on raising moneyfor victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami.In conjunction with the Tourism Authority of Thailand,organisers said they would siphon "significant" portions of festival revenuesto relief ...
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News
Morrissey takes the hot seat opposite Stone in Instinct 2
Rising Britishstar David Morrissey (pictured) has been cast opposite Sharon Stone in the upcoming BasicInstinct 2: Risk Addiction.Michael Caton-Jones will direct the film which is due to start shooting forMario Kassar and Andy Vajna's C2 Pictures in London in March.Stone reprises her famous role from the 1992 original asthe mysterious ...
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Grey officially named head of Paramount
After days of open speculation, Brad Grey has been confirmed asthe new chairman and chief executive officer of Paramount Motion Picture Groupand will start work in his new role on or before Mar 1.Grey's appointment follows an extensive job search put into placeafter the current incumbent Sherry Lansing announced last ...
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News
Ocean's Twelve eyes Korean haul
Barely one week after Ocean's Twelve smashed through the $100m barrier the Warner Brosrelease seeks an assured follow-up when it opens in South Korea today (7). The caper sequel has amassed $113.9m and goes out in theAsian territory through Warner Bros Pictures International on an unspecifiednumber of screens. The 2001 ...
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News
UK box office hits record high in 2004
The UK box office in 2004 was the highest on record,according to final figures compiled by Nielsen EDI.2004 finished 3.5% up with £838.7m compared to2003's £810.04m. This is ahead of 2002's previous recordgross of £812.2m Admissions totals for December have yet to be fullycalculated, though latest Carlton Screen Advertising (CSA) ...
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News
Valladolid fest chief named head of Spanish film institute
The director of the International Film Festival ofValladolid, Fernando Lara, has been confirmed to replace Manuel Perez Estremeraas head of Spain's national film institute ICAA. Lara is expected to step into his new post this week. He hasbeen in charge of the Valladolid festival for 21 editions, shaping it into ...
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Reviews
Deck Dogz
Dir/scr: Steve Pasvolsky.Aust. 2004. 88minsOscar-nominatedlive-action short director Steve Pasvolsky graduates to full-length featureswith Deck Dogz, a small-scale teen action drama that confidentlytranscends its narrow focus of three Australian adolescents on a skateboardingodyssey.Opening wide (150 screens)at home on Jan 6 during school holidays, it's unusual for an Australian movieto so aggressively ...
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ITALY Production Listings - January 9 2005
ITALIAN LISTINGS -January 9 2005 PRE-PRODUCTION ADIUS, LA FESTA E'FINITA(Verdecchi Film) Backer: Fondo di Garanzia. Word gets out in high-flying Romansociety that a well-known Italian singer-songwriter is to make his comeback -despite the fact that his death was officially announced in 1980. Prod:Alessandro Verdecchi. Dir: Ezio Alovisi. Scr: Ezio Alovisi.Contact: ...
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News
Italy pins hopes on local directors for 2005
While the run-up to Christmas has once again been boosted by the releaseof blockbuster Italian comedies, only a handful of homegrown films have managedto gross more than Euros 1m - which is considered the benchmark for a strongrun at the box office - since September. Nevertheless, the local industry isconfident ...
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Court documentary to open Rotterdam festival
The 34th International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) willopen on January 26 with French court documentary The 10th District Court,Moments Of Trials (10e Chambre, Instants D'audiences) by Raymond Depardon. Later that evening the IFFR will present Sideways by US director Alexander Payne as its first 2005public screening. The IFFR will close ...
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News
Pathe takes on sales for Swedish Heaven
Pathe Pictures International is to represent thisyear's Swedish Oscar entryAs It Is In Heaven forworld-wide sales. As It Is In Heaven iswritten and directed by Kay Pollak and is about an internationally acclaimedmusic conductor who retires to his childhood village in the North of Sweden- and rediscovers his long lost ...
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News
BAFTA puts cap on membership
BAFTA has decided to place a cap of 6500 on its worldwidevoting membership, effective immediately. The organisation said the decision followed many months ofdiscussion about how best to manage its membership base following an'enormous increase in membership applications over the past fouryears.'The American Academy has already capped its membership at6000. ...
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News
Singapore theatrical business soars in 2004
Singapore'stheatrical business saw a 9% year-on-year rise in box office revenues in 2004 to $73m(S$120m) thanks largely to the popularity of summer releases. Spider Man 2, which grossed $3.27m,finished on top to become not only Singapore's highest grossing film in 2004,but also the fourth biggest film of all time after ...