Large MPU – Page 673
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News
New Locarno chief outlines festival strategy
Locarno Film Festival's incoming artisticdirector Frederic Maire has set himself of the goal of making the event"the festival of the future."Speaking to ScreenDaily.com a day afterthe unanimous decision by the festival's board to appoint him as successor toIrene Bignardi, Maire said that "the spirit of Locarno must be preserved:Locarno is ...
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McGregor, Okonedo, examine their Sexual Nature
Scenes Of A Sexual Nature, made for less than £500,000 andstarring 17 of Britain's top actors including Ewan McGregor, Sophie Okonedo,Gina McKee, Eileen Atkins and Hugh Bonneville, is set to wrap next week onLondon's Hampstead Heath.Director Edward Blum's feature debut, Scenes Of A Sexual Naturelinks seven stories and 14 principal ...
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Butler spearheads sword-and-sandal war epic for Warner
Gerard Butler (pictured) will star in Warner Bros'adaptation of 300, a graphic novel by Frank Miller (Sin City) that recounts one ofancient Greece's best-known military battles. Warner, returning to the sword-and-sandal action-adventure genre thatyielded blockbuster results at the global box office with Troy but more mixed fortunes with Alexander, plans ...
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Cannes-archy on the Croisette
Cannes regulars are calling on festival organisers and city administrators to enforce far tighter security measures along the Croisette after an unprecendented wave of violence and gang-related petty crime have left many here injured, mugged or fearful of their own safety."I swear it has got out of hand this year," ...
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Roadshow takes on Oz distribution for Wolf Creek
Roadshow has acquireddirector Greg McLean's horror film Wolf Creek for an October 27 localrelease. Australia's biggestindependent distributor acquired the film from Miramax sister companyDimension, which bought a raft of territories from Arclight early this year. Producer David Lightfoot said the UKrelease through Optimum on September 16 will be the biggest ...
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Reviews
The Constant Gardener
Dir: Fernando Meirelles.2005. UK-Ger. 125mins.Proving that City OfGod was no one-hit-wonder, Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles delivers avivid tapestry of international intrigue set against the backdrop of Africa anda pharmaceutical industry in The Constant Gardener, based on spyspecialist John le Carre's novel of the same name.Part retrospective lovestory, part political mystery, ...
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Penguins march ahead at US box office
Adding an extra $6.8 million thispast weekend, Luc Jacquet's documentary March Of The Penguins has becomethe second highest grossing French film in the history of the North Americanbox office. The film, whose run beganin June, has now taken in over $37m and is being handled in the US by boutiquedistributor ...
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Reviews
Red Eye (S Korea)
Dir: Wes Craven. US.2005. 81mins.Screen elitists arealways decrying the feckless over-complications of modern action movies, butWes Craven's air-bound Red Eye strikes a blow for old-fashionedentertainment, even as it unfolds against a decidedly contemporary setting. Athriller cast as a breathless nouveau labyrinth dash, the movie delivers solidgenre jolts in a tight, ...
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Sizer joins Icon as head of development
Chloe Sizer has joined Icon Entertainment Internationalas head of development, reporting to CEO Martin Bigham. Sizer, who most recently served as Magic Light Pictures'head of development, will start with the company at the beginning of September2005. Bighamcommented: "Icon's London based operations have gone through many key changesthis past year. Chloe's ...
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Japanese film takeover deal collapses
Cable and broadband broadcaster Usen Corp. has revealed itwill not acquire film producer and distributor Nikkatsu from its parentcompany, game maker Namco.The deciding factor was reportedly strong opposition fromthe Nikkatsu labor union. In an interview with the Nihon Keizai Shimbun, a Usenofficial said that the company no longer "expects to ...
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Pair of film channels to launch in Germany
Germany's free-TV channels Tele 5 and NBC Giga are beingrelaunched as film channels from this autumn.Tele 5, which is a 100% subsidiary of Herbert Kloiber's TeleMuenchen Group (TMG), will be relaunched on September 22 and has acquired a70-title package from license trader Intertainment including Grey Owl, TheBig Kahuna and The ...
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Reviews
A Perfect Couple (Un Couple Parfait)
Dir/scr. SobuhiroSuwa. Fr-Jap. 2005. 104mins.Tailor-made for film festivals and those with apenchant for obscure material, Sobuhiro Suwa's A Perfect Couple is the sort offeature that will deter audiences whose patience is tried by films that delaydelivering their message.Shot in Paris with aFrench cast, this chiaroscuro (more scuro than chiaro) portrait ...
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Weber quits Bavaria to launch own sales outfit
Michael Weber, managingdirector of Bavaria Media and Bavaria Film International (BFI), is leaving thecompany to set up his own as-yet-unnamed world sales outfit. Munich based sales companyBFI will now be run by two of its experienced executives: head of salesThorsten Schaumann and head of marketing Thorsten Ritter who have been ...
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Meadows get mobile with 15 second short
Award-winning Britishdirector Shane Meadows has made a short film shot entirely on a mobilephone. The Stairwell, a 15-second short film, premiered on www.nokiashorts.co.uk on August 15 aspart if this year's Nokia Shorts competition. Meadows, who has directedsuch films as Dead Man's Shoesand TwentyFourSeven, shot thefilm in a few hours on ...
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New Line closes Rings distribution circle
New Line International has slotted the final key pieces into the worldwide distribution structure on its ambitious $300m Lord Of the Rings trilogy currently shooting in New Zealand. The Time Warner-owned studio is now rallying its partners for a massive coordinated promotional and merchandising blitz for the worldwide simultaneous release ...
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Turtles takes Melbourne audience prize
Iranian drama Turtles CanFly was the most popular featurefilm at the 54th Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), organisersannounced today. Its director Bahman Ghobadiwas a guest at Australia's most prestigious film festival, which wrapped lastweek.The homegrown drama LookBoth Ways, which was directed bySarah Watts and opens theatrically on Thursday, was voted ...
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Toronto set for Rossellini celebration, Aardman's Were-Rabbit
Guy Maddin and Isabella Rossellini willpresent the world premiere of the short film My Dad Is 100 Years Old, a celebration of the centenary of Italian filmmaker RobertRossellini, at the Toronto International Film Festival (Sept 8-17). It was oneof a number of personal appearances announced for this year's event including ...
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Reviews
Familia
Dir. LouiseArchambault. Can. 2005. 102mins.Louise Archambault's cheerful debut may bebookended by some ambitious statements about the inevitability of geneticinheritance, but by the end has proved to be a light romp that is more than happyto settle for crowd-pleasing solutions.If audience responseat Locarno, where Familia played last week, is any indication, ...
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Reviews
Wah-Wah
Dir/scr: Richard E Grant.UK-Fr-S Afr. 2005. 97minsAdd the name of Richard EGrant to the roster of actors who have made a successful transition to thedirector's chair. His feature debut Wah-Wah is an affectionate, keenly-observedportrait of a family's life set against the dying days of the British Empire.Working from autobiographical material, ...
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Former Screen colleague Krueger dies, aged 75
Ronald L Krueger, a former Screen International contributor and member of the HollywoodForeign Press Association (HFPA), has died of a heart attack in Los Angeles. Hewas 75.Born in Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania, Krueger worked in television production and sales, and served asa programming consultant for the television sales company Harrington Righter& Parsons in ...