Large MPU – Page 829
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News
Von Trier drops the dead donkey
Lars Von Trier has bowed to pressure from animal rightsorganisations and cut scenes of a butchered donkey from his forthcoming Manderlay.Previously, actor John C. Reilly quit the set of the film in outrage at the killing.In a letter to the protesting animal rights organisationsvon Trier stated: "To have the dead ...
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Loews Cineplex gets Village's Riches
A further management shake-up at Village Cinemas International (VCI) has taken place with the announcement that Loews Cineplex International (LCI) has appointed Ian Riches as senior vice president, commencing May 1. Riches, formerly regional director - Europe for VCI based in the London office, will initially be working in Rome, ...
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News
Kinowelt acquires KirchMedia's 5,500-title library
Germany's Kinowelt has become the operator of the one ofEurope's largest film libraries with its acquisition of all of the theatricaland DVD rights to KirchMedia's 5,500-title back catalogue for the period untiland including 2012. The deal for the KirchMedia library, which includes 150previously acquired Kirch titles, boosts Kinowelt's film holdings ...
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Italy joins the digital cinema revolution
Italy is finally getting on the digital bandwagon. Nationalexhibitors association ANEC has announced that 50 Italian cinemas will investin digital projectors by the beginning of 2006.There are currently 11 digital projectors in Italy.Digitally-equipped cinemas include the avant-garde Arcadia multiplex nearMilan, which has two digital projectors, and Rome's Casa del Cinema, ...
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Cesar-winning director attacks French cinema circuits
GillesPorte, Cesar winning director of Quand La Mer Monte, has spoken outagainst major cinema circuits which have declined to program his film even inlight of its recent national awards. OnSunday, Quand La Mer Monte received the Cesar for best first film andbest actress for Yolande Moreau who is also the ...
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Oscar titles do box-office battle in Taiwan
All five Academy Best Picture nominees went head-to-head atthe Taiwan box office in February to benefit from media buzz during the awardseason. Clint Eastwood may have taken the Oscar home, but Taiwanaudiences are only interested in Martin Scorsese's The Aviator. The Howard Hughes biopic is approaching $1min the capital after ...
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23 projects for Las Palmas co-prod market
Twenty-three feature film projects from across Europe havesigned up for the third annual EuroForum co-production market, held March 9-11during Spain's Las Palmas International Film Festival (March 4-12), which kicksoff tomorrow with Paul Weitz's inaugural film In Good Company.Fatih Akin's new comedy Soul Kitchen,bullfighters-in-training tale The Sweet Life from Spanishproducer-distributor Alta ...
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Hitch gets hooked up around Europe
Hitch gets a major push through Sony Pictures ReleasingInternational (SPRI) this weekend, with a raft of major debuts that includesAustralia, Germany and Russia on Mar 3, and the UK and Spain on Mar 4.The romantic comedy hasgrossed $6.1m and should receive a timely boost this weekend. Will Smith hasinternational appeal ...
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INTERNATIONAL 4 March
With a paltry 12% loss week-on-week Japanese animated smash Howl'sMoving Castle passed the $200m mark at the international box office overthe weekend. Over $170m of this has come from Japan with strong support fromSouth Korea and France.After seven weeks in France 1.2 million people have seen thefilm providing an $9m ...
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VIP media fund backs Kapur's Water
Shekhar Kapur has tied up with Europe's VIP Media Fund, toco-produce and distribute his films. The first two films announced as part of this collaborationare: Paani (Water) being produced and directed by Kapur and renownedauthor Deepak Chopra under the banner of their company INTENT, and Buddhabeing produced by Kapur and ...
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News
Ruby Dee takes lead in New Zealand's Number 2
Filming began yesterday (Thursday March 3) on New Zealandcomedy/drama Number 2 after last month's false start due to the death ofOssie Davis, husband of the film's lead Ruby Dee. The acting pair (pictured), have been passionate advocatesof social and racial justice. They were key players in the 1963 March onWashington ...
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Two-year film funding hiatus comes to an end in Italy
After a near two-year freeze on state funding, which threwthe local industry into turmoil, Silvio Berlusconi's government hasgreenlighted nine Italian films and co-productions, including John Boorman'sEuros 26m Memoirs Of Hadrian.The crisis which has crippled the Italian film sector forthe last two years is so bad that local film production is ...
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Applause enters distribution market with Baby
Hong Kong production outfit Applause Pictures has launched alocal distribution arm and set Clint Eastwood's multiple Oscar-winning MillionDollar Baby as its first release. Applause, which plans to release the film on 18 screens onMarch 10, quietly acquired Hong Kong rights last year when it became clear thefilm would be Oscar ...
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Eurimages injects Euros3.4m into Euro co-prods
New features by Portugal's Teresa Villaverde (Transe),Germany's Maria Speth (Madonnen) and Bulgaria's Georgi Stoev-Djaky (FlyBy Rossinant) are among ten projects which have been awarded a total ofEuros 3.4m by the Council of Europe's Eurimages co-production fund in itslatest funding session.The line-up of supported films also includes Dutch theatreand film actress ...
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Reviews
The Pacifier
Dir:Adam Shankman. US. 2005. 97mins.Itworked for Arnold Schwarzenegger, so it's not surprising that Vin Diesel tooshould now take a career diversion from action into family comedy. ThePacifier, from Spyglass, Disney and Bringing Down The House directorAdam Shankman, puts the XXX muscle man together with some unruly kidsand a supporting cast ...
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Tiger Beer launches Asian film award
A new award for Asian cinemain the UK has been launched.The contest, created byTiger Beer, is open to films produced with Asian funding, filmed in Asia orusing predominantly Asian talent. Winners will be announced in April and willinclude films released in the UK between February 2004 and February 2005 - ...
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Reviews
Man Of The House
Dir: Stephen Herek. US.2005. 100mins.A dispiriting tale abouta group of cheerleaders who observe a murder and then must be protected, ManOf The House is a colourless concept comedy without much else going for itoutside of concept; an artificial crowd-pleaser that throws a few feeblecharacter types at the screen and then ...
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Toronto's new headquarters gets $20m cash injection
The Toronto InternationalFilm Festival Group's proposed Festival Centre headquarters received a majorboost Friday when the Government of Ontario announced it would donate $20m(C$25m) to the cause. The plan for the newheadquarters, announced with much fanfare in 2003, has suffered from a lack ofinvestment momentum. TIFFG has set a target of ...
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Rea joins Portman, Purefoy on Berlin shoot of V For Vendetta
Stephen Rea has joinedNatalie Portman and James Purefoy in the cast of sci-fi epic V For Vendetta, which has started shooting in Berlin for WarnerBros Pictures.The film is produced byLarry and Andy Wachowski and Joel Silver, the team behind the Matrix trilogy, and is the directorial debut of JamesMcTeigue, assistant ...
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Universal launches family home entertainment label
Universal Pictures haslaunched a family home entertainment label, which will develop, produce andacquire live-action and animated family titles directly for the homeentertainment market worldwide.Universal Studios HomeEntertainment Family Productions (USHEFP) will be headed up by UniversalStudios Home Entertainment president Craig Kornblau, while day-to-daymanagement will be in the hands of family entertainment ...