Large MPU – Page 549

  • News

    WBITD signs output deal with Orbit for Middle East, North Africa

    2006-01-26T00:00:00Z

    Warner Bros International Television Distribution (WBITD) andOrbit Communications have signed a multi-year output deal giving Orbit the exclusivepay television rights for Warner product in the Middle East and North Africa.The deal includes such titles as Batman Begins, Harry PotterAnd The Goblet Of Fireand Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, as well ...

  • News

    Korea set to cut screen quota in half

    2006-01-26T00:00:00Z

    South Korea's government is to cut its 146-day screen quota forlocal productions in half starting July 1. Deputy Prime Minister andFinance Minister Han Duck-soo announced in a weekly briefing today (Jan 26)that the government is planning to legislate the enforcement ordinance on Jan27. As Korea's second-largest trade partner, the US ...

  • News

    Roth lines up $3bn for Revolution Studios launch

    2000-06-07T02:47:00Z

    Joe Roth's eagerly-awaited film and internet production outfit, to be henceforth known as Revolution Studios, has finally hit the ground with an initial $3bn in financing and distribution commitments from three key investment partners who will collectively control own around a quarter of the company.Roth's Revolution - not to be ...

  • News

    Shelton, Clarke join London's Capital FX

    2006-01-26T00:00:00Z

    London post-production company Capital FX has expanded its team, with Rod Shelton joining as head of digital intermediate and Liz Clarke joining as head of sales and marketing. Both formerly worked at the VTR Group. Shelton leads Capital's new digital intermediate division, which was created due to an increase in ...

  • News

    Deal finalised for Usen-Daiwa content fund

    2006-01-26T00:00:00Z

    Gaga Communicationsannounced at its first board meeting of the year (Jan 25) that the $259m (Y30bn)content fund partnership between its parent company Usen Corp and DaiwaSecurities SMBC, tabled last December, is now a done deal. The two partners and their respectivegroup companies will each contribute 50% of the 10-year fund, ...

  • News

    Lumet and Panahi complete Berlin Competition line-up

    2006-01-26T00:00:00Z

    World premieres from Sidney Lumet and Iranian director Jafar Panahi are the final Competition selections for this year's Berlinale.Lumet's Find Me Guilty, starring Vin Diesel, is based on the true story of the 1980s trial of Mafia boss Jack DiNorscio. The veteran director won the Golden Bear back in 1957 ...

  • News

    MPA settles Singapore piracy case

    2006-01-26T00:00:00Z

    The Motion PictureAssociation (MPA) and Singapore home video licensee Alliance Entertainment havereached an out-of-court settlement with the TS Group which was sued forcopyright infringement. As part of the settlementterms, TS, a group of home video companies with over 20 retail outlets in Singapore, has admitted illegally infringing four copyrightedtitles (Die ...

  • News

    China's Huayi Brothers brings Banquet to Berlin

    2006-01-26T00:00:00Z

    Beijing-based productioncompany Huayi Brothers Film Investment will be making its debut as a seller atthe upcoming European Film Market (EFM) in Berlin.The company will be offeringits two latest productions - The Banquetand One Foot Off The Ground - whichrecently wrapped and are both in post-production. Period drama The Banquet, which ...

  • Reviews

    The Hawk Is Dying

    2006-01-26T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Julian Goldberger. US. 2006. 112mins.The second featurefrom Julian Goldberger after his 1999 work Trans,The Hawk Is Dying is an admirable thoughfailed effort to graft the film-maker's poetic aesthetic to the demands of narrativefilm-making.A meditation on the thin veneer between obsession and madness, it has somesharp visual interludes and neat ...

  • Reviews

    A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints

    2006-01-26T00:00:00Z

    Dir/scr: Dito Montiel. US.2006.103mins.Adapting his 2003 memoir of the same title, debut writer-directorDito Montiel reveals himselfas a promising new voice in American cinema with A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints, a featurethat summons the sting of memory, evoked in moments simultaneously fond, joyous,bitter, sad and tragic.Despite a problematic start -a ...

  • Reviews

    Unfolding Florence

    2006-01-26T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Gillian Armstrong. 82mins.Aus. 2006.Feature director Gillian Armstrong (Charlotte Grey, Oscar And Lucinda) makes a successfulswitch to factual film-making with Unfolding Florence, her packed and perceptivedocumentary about the "many lives" of feisty high society proto-feminist,opportunist and self-reinventor Florence Broadhust.The project - originallyplanned as a one-hour TV documentary until Armstrong signed ...

  • News

    Film and TV shooting up 18% in London

    2006-01-26T00:00:00Z

    UK film production may have had a down year in 2005 - with overall film production spending down 31% -- but filming in London was up 18%, according to agency Film London. That figure, however, is not just based on film shoots but also includes TV and commercial shoots as ...

  • News

    Spain claims 20-year production record

    2006-01-27T04:00:00Z

    Spainproduced more feature films in 2005 than in any year in the past two decades,according to new figures released by the Ministry of Culture.Some142 features were made in Spain last year, nine more than the previous year,with another 30 currently in post-production.Ofthose 142, 53 were international co-productions. The mostfrequent co-producing ...

  • News

    Ex-Searchlight publicist Robertson opens PR shop

    2000-06-07T05:41:00Z

    Michele Robertson, former executive director of national publicity at Fox Searchlight Pictures, has launched her own boutique PR agency in Los Angeles called MRC. Kicking off with two film accounts - Fine Line Features' Saving Grace and Trimark Pictures' Skipped Parts - Robertson plans to work with both studios and ...

  • News

    Rome festival promises to serve both industry and public

    2006-01-27T04:00:00Z

    The new Rome Film Festival (13-21 Oct, 2006) is planning to become a major event for both the public and international industryprofessionals.At a packed press conference in Rome's town hall, city mayorWalter Veltroni said buyers, producers and executives will be able to meet fromOct 13-16 in a business area along ...

  • News

    Nagasaki Shunichi opens Rotterdam festival

    2006-01-27T04:00:00Z

    TheRotterdam International Film Festival (IFFR) opened last night with NagasakiShunichi's Heart, Beating in the Dark."TheNagasaki Shunichi's movie looks back, redefines, and finds new directions, just like the festival," said festival director Sandra den Hamer."The IFFRstays loyal to independent film, auteur film."Some 14 films will compete for this year's three Tiger ...

  • News

    Spanish government launches action plan for film

    2006-01-27T04:00:00Z

    Spain'sMinistry of Culture has unveiled an "action plan" for Spanish film, including increased subsidies and the creation of a new mutual guarantee fund.Presentedin Madrid by Minister of Culture Carmen Calvo, the initiative targets production, distribution and exhibition.The most significant measure is an increase to the 2006 budget of the Spanish ...

  • News

    Korean government unveils $400m film support fund

    2006-01-27T00:00:00Z

    Korea's Ministry of Culture and Tourism is establishing a $400m Korean FilmDevelopment Fund to run over five years.The plan was announced by Minister of Cultureand Tourism Jeong Dong-chae this morning (Jan 27) as a counter-measureto the halving of Korea's Screen Quota and strong industry protests.The support plan will createa $400m ...

  • News

    Rialto picks up Science Of Sleep

    2006-01-27T00:00:00Z

    Rialto Distribution hasacquired writer/director Michel Gondry's TheScience Of Sleep for Australia and New Zealand, hot on the heels of its sale to Warner IndependentPictures for North America and the UK at Sundance. The inventive film starsGael Garcia Bernal (The MotorcycleDiaries) and Charlotte Gainsbourg as young neighbours in a playful andtouching ...

  • News

    Downfall wins BBC international cinema award

    2006-01-27T00:00:00Z

    Oliver Hirschbiegel's Downfall won the BBC Four World Cinema Award last night.The ceremony was hosted by Jonathan Ross at London's National Film Theatre.