Large MPU – Page 648
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Europe pays steep price for bargain DVDs - summit claim
The plummeting cost of DVD threatens to cost distributorsand retailers billions in lost revenue over the next five years, delegates toScreen International's 2005 Home Cinema Summit were told yesterday.And independent distributors blamed the studios for backinga price-cut policy that was damaging to everyone in the business, including theHollywood majors themselves.If ...
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Kosslick extends Berlinale contract by another five years
Dieter Kosslick willcontinue to serve as festival director at the Berlin International FilmFestival for at least another five years.A spokesman for Germany'sState Minister of Culture Christina Weiss confirmed to ScreenDaily.com that thedecision to extend 57-year-old Kosslick's contract had been made at a sittingof the supervisory board of the Kulturveranstaltungen des ...
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Kadokawa ready for Hong Kong HQ launch
Japan's leading media group, Kadokawa Holdings, is to open its newheadquarters in China in August.Hong Kong-based Kadokawa Holdings China will sell the group's mediacontents and handle rights deals across the whole of China. The operation is backed by a $1.29m (Y140m) capital investment fromKadokawa Holdings.The group owns Japanese original Ring ...
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Heroes wanted for Braveheart Challenge
The UK Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund (CTBF) isinviting the film industry to join its charity fundraising BraveheartChallenge.The three-day event of 19 gruelling physical challengestakes place in Scotland from September 30 to October 2.Those heroic enough to take on tasks including speedboating,abseiling and JCB driving will compete for the Braveheart ...
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UIP reorganises Indian distribution
ParamountFilms of India Ltd (PFI), distributor of UIP product on the sub-continent, hasoverhauled its set-up across Indiaand entered into agreements with four local distributors to release Paramount,Universal and DreamWorks films.PFI,which is one of the oldest motion picture distributors of American films inIndia, will now work with Shringar Films in Maharashtra, ...
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AOL launches virtual film festival online
AOL Moviefone will launch its first "virtual short filmfestival" next week.It is the kind of deal that some in the film industrybelieve points to potentially lucrative future partnerships with new-media businesses. AOL's moviefone.com will ask readers to rate competitionfilms from new and up-and-coming directors as well as films that have ...
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Byrne premiere brings Fleadh to orderly close
The 17th Galway Film Fleadh hasannounced its full programme, with the premiere of Anthony Byrne's debutfeature, Short Order, to close theJuly 15-11 event. An Ireland/UK/Germany co-production, Short Order joinsother previously-announced features including On A Clear Day, with Peter Mullan, Billy Boyd and Brenda Blethyn,which opens the event.Matt Dillon, screening his ...
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Amiel signed to give wings to Angels
Jon Amiel has signed up to direct a new film forLondon-based production company, The Producers.Angel Makers tells the story of a Yorkshire farming communityafter the First World War where returning soldiers discover that German POWshave taken their jobs and wives.Amiel, whose previous work includes Entrapmentand Sommersby, has talked to Helen ...
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German media funds win reprieve
Germany'smedia funds areback in business - at least, for the time being.The German government's proposed taxreforms, which would have seen the old-style media funds axed, have beenabandoned. But the reprieve could prove to be temporary for the funds,which, according to analysts, raised $16bn ($13bn Euros) between1997 and 2004, 80% of ...
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Casanova to woo the crowds at Venice
The Venice Film Festival (Aug 31-Sept 10) will host the worldpremiere of Lasse Hallstrom's Casanova, which stars Heath Ledger andSienna Miller."After at least a 30-year interval, Casanovaa is thefirst film made by a US studio to have been entirely shot in Italy, and for themost part in Venice," said festival ...
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Heavenly intervention boosts market share for Spanish film
New government figures on the performance of Spanish cinema have set tongueswagging thanks to the inclusion of two high-profile minority co-productionsincluding Ridley Scott's Kingdom Of Heaven.Theofficial figures published by the Ministry of Culture's Film Institute ICAAshow Spanish films' market share rose slightly in the first five months of 2005to 14%. ...
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German box office takes another tumble
The German cinema industry learned that box-office takings forthe second quarter of 2005 were even worse than in the first three months(Screen Daily, April 2005).The news came as this year's Munich Film Festival kicked off with Zola Maseko's Drumat the weekend.Accordingto figures compiled by Nielsen EDI, there was a year-on-year ...
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Piracy strategy switches direction to win over public
The fight against film piracy is turning away from"finger-wagging" towards more credible personalised appeals.Disney vice president of anti-piracy Richard Atkinson said achange of approach had proved necessary as the sophistication of the criminals increased and public cynicism grew."The pirates have become extremely efficient in managingtheir own ecosystem," he told Screen ...
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MGM buys Nine Yards for Japan
MGM has acquired Japanese rights to Franchise Pictures' hit comedy The Whole Nine Yards in an unusual single territory acquisition for the studio which from November will distribute all its pictures internationally through 20th Century Fox.The Japanese deal, which was the last unclosed territory on the film,was signed on the ...
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Batman beats Bewitched, stays top in US...
Warner Bros' Batman Begins held off Columbia's Bewitchedand two other new competitors over the weekend to retain the top spot on theNorth American box office chart.Overall box office for the weekend, however, was down onthe previous year for the eighteenth consecutive weekend, a new record. After its strong five-day opening, ...
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Batman beats Bewitched, stays top in US
Warner Bros' Batman Begins held off Columbia's Bewitchedand two other new competitors over the weekend to retain the top spot on theNorth American box office chart.Overall box office for the weekend, however, was down onthe previous year for the eighteenth consecutive weekend, a new record. After its strong five-day opening, ...
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Cheung to receive award, restrospective at Asian American film festival
The 28th annualAsian American International Film Festival will kick off on July 15 in New YorkCity with a screening of Olivier Assayas' Clean starring Maggie Cheung, who will attend thescreening. Cheung is also the recipientof this year's CineVisionary award, honouring her contributions tointernational cinema. A mini-retrospective of her career will ...
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Screen signs up new international editor
Screen International has appointed one of the mostexperienced and respected film business journalists Fionnuala Halligan asassistant editor (international).Her duties will include overseeing the worldwide network ofcorrespondents working for the magazine, festival dailies and Screendaily.com.Editor Michael Gubbins said he was delighted to be workingwith such an accomplished journalist in the exciting ...
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McInnis takes film festival specialist role at Loyola Marymount in LA
Kathleen McInnis, the formerdirector of the Slamdance Film Festival and a veteran of the SeattleInternational Film Festival, has taken up the inaugural role of film festivalspecialist at the Loyola Marymount University School Of Film And Televsion(SFTV) in Los Angeles.The role is part of theSFTV's new office of external affairs which ...
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Sundance Documentary Film Editing and Story Lab underway in Utah
The Sundance Institute hasnamed the seven fellows and four projects which are participating in its annualDocumentary Film Editing and Story Laboratory which started on June 24 and runsto July 1 at Sundance Village in Utah.Seven fellows (projectdirectors and editors) are working with six creative advisors (four editors andtwo directors) to ...