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UK announces new tax proposals: Section 42 to go
The UK Government has signaled its intent to do awaywith Section 42 as well as Section 48 in a set of long-awaited proposals fornew tax incentives for the British film industry. In future, low- andhigh-budget films would be be dealt with under a "single coherent regime".At the same time, the ...
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Da Vinci Code set to join Maltese influx
The Malta FilmCommission Act, which came into force on July 15, has already attracted a raftof high-profile international films to the island, led by Steven Spielberg's Munichand now a confirmed one-week shoot for The Da Vinci Code thisNovember.Under the terms of theAct, the Malta Film Commission is empowered to grant ...
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F For Film takes Friday
French seller F For Film has acquired world rightsto the French/Belgian co-production Friday Or Another Day (Venredi Ou UnAutre Jour), a last-minute entry to Locarno's International Competitionline-up.Directed by Yvan le Moine (The Red Dwarf),Friday stars Philippe Nahon, Hanna Schygulla and Ornella Muti and is a freeadaption of the Michel Tournier ...
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Thailand's SF Cinema City gears up for IPO
Thailand's second-largestcinema chain SF Cinema City is gearing up for a public listing on the country'sstock exchange in the first quarter of 2006.The money raised through theIPO will be used for expansion. SF is set to invest $53m (baht 2.2 bn) in fivenew cinema complexes in 2006.More than half of ...
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Green light for Germany's $110m venture capital fund
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has greenlit a $110m(Euros 90m) venture capital fund for the German film industry and will reservethe necessary financing in his planned national budget for 2006. According to guidelines which have just been made public,the fund would be able to grant conditionally-repayable loans of up to 20% ...
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Lady Vengeance smashes Korean box office records
Park Chan-wook'sVenice-bound Sympathy For Lady Vengeance has notched the highestgrossing opening weekend in South Korean history, narrowly beating out lastyear's record-breaking Tae Guk Gi.The film, the finalinstalment of Park's so-called "revenge trilogy," which also includesOldboy (2003) and Sympathy For Mr Vengeance (2002), sold 1.46mtickets between July 28 and 31, amounting ...
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Mueller says he'll resign if no market at Venice
Venice festival chief MarcoMueller has said that he will not carry on unless there is a firm plan toestablish a film market on the Lido.Mueller, who will see arecord nine US premieres at Venice this year, told Screendaily:"I have no hesitation in saying I can't continue in Venice unless we ...
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RAI set to confirm new president today
Italian public broadcasterRAI is set to confirm the appointment of Claudio Petruccioli as its newpresident today. The appointment will end a 15-month management crisis at theheavily politicised broadcaster.Petruccioli, 64, a memberof Italy's Democratic Party of the Left, is a former head of the parliamentarywatchdog that oversees RAI.RAI's last president,left-wing journalist ...
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Alison Thompson takes up top job at Focus International
Moving to boost its Europeanpresence and ramp up worldwide sales, acquisitions and overseas production,Focus Features has hired former Pathe Pictures International sales chief AlisonThompson as president of its international division.Thompson will remain inLondon and oversee all international sales, distribution, and publicityactivities, reporting to Focus co-presidents David Linde and James Schamus ...
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Sarajevo hosts four world premieres in competition
The Sarajevo Film Festival,widely recognized as the biggest film festival in South East Europe, hasannounced the competition lineup for its 12th edition which runs Aug19 to 27.Over 70 films were submitted to be selected for the 11-film competitionsection, an increase from previous years since Hungary has now been added asone ...
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Mitchell steps into Battsek's shoes at BVI (UK)
Robert Mitchell (pictured)has been promoted to senior vice president and managing director of Buena VistaInternational (UK) in the wake of Daniel Battsek's departure to head up thenew-look Miramax.Mitchell will be responsiblefor BVI UK's marketing, publicity and distribution operations and reports toBVI president Mark Zoradi and BVI Europe executive vice president ...
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Neame to receive BAFTA/LA Britannia Award
Ronald Neame, the English director who earned three Oscarnominations for his work as a writer and producer with David Lean, is toreceive BAFTA/LA's Britannia Award for Lifetime Contributions to InternationalFilm.The son ofsilent film star Ivy Close, Neame got his break as a teenage cameraman onAlfred Hitchcock's Blackmail and trained under ...
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Canada's Brault to receive Iris award at New Montreal FilmFest
Michel Brault will receivethe New Montreal FilmFest's Iris Achievement Award at the end of aretrospective of his work set to take place during the festival's inauguraledition running from Sept 18-25.Brault earned more than 200credits as director, producer, cinematography and cameraman on such titles as PourLa Suite Du Monde, Les Noces ...
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M6 arm snags Nurse, Gangs
M6 Interactions, the trading offshoot of the French broadcaster, has been discreetly building a major theatrical and home video distribution operation that will market such high profile recent acquisitions as Neil LaBute's Nurse Betty and Martin Scorsese's Gangs Of New York in France.The outfit, under Thierry Desmichelle, M6 Interactions' deputy ...
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Kennedy moves from politics to head corporate comms at SPE
Capitol Hill heavyweight JimKennedy is replacing Susan Tick as senior vice president of corporatecommunications at Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE).Beginning in September,Kennedy will oversee communications strategy, media relations and issuesmanagement and will also serve as communications counselor to the executiveteam.He will partner with SPE'sgovernment and community relations, internal communications and otherdepartments ...
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Mr And Mrs Smith obliterates the competition in France
Mr And Mrs Smith opened number one in France through SND over theweekend on $6.1m following a storming opening day.The picture launched on$1.8m on Jul 27 in the third biggest French opening day of the year behind StarWars: Episode III and War Of TheWorlds, producing 895,806 nationwideadmissions.Overall Mr And Mrs ...
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Star Group renews China Star output deal
Pan-Asian broadcaster Star Group has announced the renewalof the output deal between its Star Chinese Movies channel and Hong Kongproduction and distribution company China Star.Under the new multi-million US dollar agreement, StarChinese Movies has exclusive pay-TV broadcast, video-on-demand and pay-per-viewrights to the Chinese films produced by China Star in the ...
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Intramovies takes on Locarno competitor Keller
Intramovies has taken on internationaldistribution for Austrian filmmaker Eva Urthaler's feature debut Kellerwhich will have its world premiere in Locarno's International Competition onAugust 4.Described byLocarno's artistic director Irene Bignardi as 'an anguished portrait oftwo adolescents violently and despairingly seeking for their moral and sexualidentity', the Austrian-German-Italian co-production between Novotny &Novotny ...
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Locarno hit by hotel room shortage
As the Locarno Film Festival begins its 58thedition this week, the event's organisers are having to address the deepeningcrisis in the Swiss lakeside town's hotels. This year, the festival has 153 fewer hotelrooms to draw on in Locarno for guests after the closure of Hotel Zurigo andBeau Rivage and the ...
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Death wins again at Motovun Film Festival
The 7th edition ofMotovun Film Festival in Istria, Croatia (Jul 25-29) ended with a doublevictory for Romanian Cristi Pulu's Deathof Mr. Lazarescu. After winning the main prizeat the 12th Palic Festival of European Film in Serbia and Montenegro(Jul 17-23), the drama took the main award 'Propeller of Motovun' andAmnesty International ...