Latest – Page 858

  • News

    French Top Gun takes off above Paris

    2004-07-19T04:00:00Z

    Billing itself asa "Top Gunà la Française," the movie Chevaliers du Ciel (Knightsof the Sky), beganfilming in Paris at the beginning of July, and shot its climax scene over theheads of thousands on Wednesday.Loosely based onthe French aviation comic book Tanguy & Laverdure, which was created 40 years ago, themovie ...

  • News

    Telefilm Canada to back ten low budget projects

    2004-07-19T04:00:00Z

    TelefilmCanada has announced it will back ten projects, six in English and four inFrench, as part of its $1.3m (C$1.7m) Low Budget Independent Feature FilmAssistance Program (LIFAP). All the films are budgeted under $570,000(C$750,000).Theprogramme, introduced in 2000, was given a boost last year when one of itsrecipient projects, Jacob Tierney's ...

  • News

    Oz funding body gets proactive about scripts

    2004-07-19T04:00:00Z

    In a challenge to Australia's filmmaker-is-kingculture, state agency the Pacific Film and Television Commission (PFTC) istesting a couple of US people for the job of in-house development executive.PFTC head of production Henry Tefay is looking for someonewho understands cinematic storytelling and reaching audiences, could well takeexecutive producer credits on projects ...

  • News

    EMI buys into Hong Kong's Golden Harvest

    2004-07-19T00:00:00Z

    EMI Group, the world'sthird-largest music company, plans to buy a stake in Hong Kong film maker anddistributor Golden Harvest Entertainment.Golden Harvest said in astatement on Monday it wants to raise US$4.9m (HK$38m) via the issue of 155million new shares to Typhoon Music (PRC) Ltd. which is jointly owned by EMIGroup ...

  • News

    Dungeons & Dragons II rolls into Lithuania

    2004-07-16T04:00:00Z

    Principal photography on thethird production from the Studio Hamburg WorldWide Pictures (WWP) fund, Dungeons& Dragons II: The Elemental Might, is scheduled to begin in Vilnius,Lithuania, on July 26.Zink Entertainment, adivision of Joel Silver's Silver Pictures, which produced the first film basedon the internationally popular role-playing game, is acting as the ...

  • News

    Bodrov readies Genghis Kahn epic

    2004-07-16T04:00:00Z

    Russian filmmaker Sergei Bodrov is set to begin shooting hisnew film Mongol (The Early Years of Genghis Khan) this autumn. Thedirector of the Oscar nominated Prisoner Of The Caucuses is also actingas co-producer alongside Sergei Selyanov, head of the St Petersburg based STVFilm.Bodrov has teamed up again with scriptwriter Arif ...

  • News

    Babelsberg workforce protest at takeover

    2004-07-16T04:00:00Z

    Studio Babelsberg's workforce has appealed toFederal Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to intervene following this week'sdecision by Vivendi Universal to sell the production centre to a German groupof investors.In an Open Letter delivered to Schroeder on Thursdayafternoon, works committee chairman Jans-Peter Schmarje described the choice ofthe group led by Carl Woebcken and ...

  • News

    Horror summer for Korean cinema

    2004-07-14T04:00:00Z

    South Korea'scinematic output over the next few months will be concentrated less on festivalofferings and more on potential box-office hits.With a string ofhorror titles and star vehicles lined up for mid to late summer, local cinemawill be looking for some commercial successes to tide it over until the autumn,which is ...

  • News

    Russia revs up race car drama

    2004-07-14T04:00:00Z

    Leading Russianproduction outfit Top Line Productions, headed by Sergei Gribkov, is set to begin shooting this week on a newproject, car racing drama Eau Rouge (Krasnaya Voda).The film will be directed byyoung Russian director Dmitry Cherkasov with a script by playwright OlegAntonov. Shooting, which will last throughout the summer, will ...

  • News

    Vivendi Universal sells Babelberg studios

    2004-07-14T00:00:00Z

    VivendiUniversal (VU) has sold the historic Babelsberg Studios to a group of Germaninvestors led by Carl Woebcken, managing director of Berlin Animation Film, andChristoph Fisser, managing director of the Munich studio facility StudioAtelierbetriebe Schwabing (SAS).VU sold the studios for the symbolic price of Euros 1. TheWoebcken-Fisser group will assume Euros ...

  • News

    Dench, Sutherland round out Pride cast

    2004-07-14T00:00:00Z

    Judi Dench, DonaldSutherland, Brenda Blethyn, Tom Hollander and Penelope Wilton have joined thecast of Working Title Films' Pride And PrejudicePrincipal photography startson July 19 on the adaptation of Jane Austen's novel. The film, which starsKeira Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen, Rosamund Pike and Jena Malone, will shootentirely on location around England until ...

  • News

    Radclyffe options best-selling Edge Chronicles

    2004-07-13T04:00:00Z

    UK producer Sarah Radclyffehas optioned 10-book children's fantasy series The Edge Chronicles.Jigsaw Films, the productionlabel for family films that Radclyffe runs with Courtney Pledger and BillGodfrey, aims to turn the series into a studio-level family action-adventurefranchise.The story of a younglibrarian knight, which Jigsaw optioned with support body the UK Film ...

  • News

    Gilliam, Winterbottom get benefit of Foresight

    2004-07-09T04:00:00Z

    Terry Gilliam and MichaelWinterbottom's next productions are amongst the debut slate of titles to securea quarter of their budgets from start-up UK tax-based fund Foresight.Foresight has now raised£5m, meaning it is past its minimum subscription and halfway to its overalltarget. The fund has earmarked Gilliam's previously announced Tideland, which is ...

  • News

    Japanese filmmakers turn to the past

    2004-07-07T04:00:00Z

    It's not surprising that Japanese producers are making morefilms with the aid of digital technology, from DG cameras to animation paintprograms. Much of it is developed in Japan, even if its products are no longermade there. (The Japanese are almost as eager to outsource manufacturing andtech jobs as the Americans ...

  • News

    Five new Swedish features get state funding

    2004-07-07T04:00:00Z

    Five newSwedish feature films have been greenlit after securing support from theSwedish Film Institute.HenryMeyer's drama Four Weeks In June (Fyra Veckor I Juni), about a girl whois fed up with men and love, will be produced by Peter Kropenin of OmegaFilm. The film received $653,000 (SEK5m) in state funding and ...

  • News

    Korea unveils international co-production fund

    2004-07-07T04:00:00Z

    The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) has unveiled its firstsupport fund targeted at international co-productions.For 2004, one co-produced film will be selected by aspecially-appointed jury of film industry representatives, and granted amaximum of $250,000 (WON 300m).The fund applies to feature films (of at least 70 minutes)in the development, pre-production or production ...

  • News

    Filmstiftung NRW bankrolls Euro co-productions

    2004-07-07T00:00:00Z

    New feature projects byRaoul Ruiz, Michael Caton-Jones and Cedric Kahn are among several Europeanco-productions receiving production support from Filmstiftung NRW in its latestround of funding.A total of Euros 7.1m wasallocated to 36 projects. The largest amount - Euro 1m - was given to CedricKahn's Franco-German co-production L'Avion about a magical ...

  • News

    Eurimages bankrolls Kahn, Chereau features

    2004-07-06T04:00:00Z

    New feature projects by Cedric Kahn, Jan Svankmajer andPatrice Chereau are among 12 European co-productions which have been awarded atotal Euros 4.64m by the pan-European co-production fund Eurimages.The largest single amount - Euro 600,000 - was given to byCedric Kahn's L'Avion, which explores a child's universe and starsIsabelle Carre, Vincent ...

  • News

    JAPAN Production Listings - July 6 2004

    2004-07-06T00:00:00Z

    JAPAN - July 7PRE-PRODUCTIONGODZILLA FINAL WARS(Toho Studio) Backers: Toho. Dist (Jap): Toho. The final installment of thefamous Japanese monster Godzilla series. Set in the near future, this time themutant monsters simultaneously attack New York, Paris, Tokyo and Shanghai.Prod: Shogo Tomiyama. Dir: Ryuhei Kitamura. DoP: Takumi Furuya. Main cast:Masahiro Matsuoka, Rei ...

  • News

    Till named as UK Film Council chairman

    2004-07-05T00:00:00Z

    Stewart Till will be thenew chairman of the UK Film Council, Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell announcedtoday.Till, currently deputychair of the council and chief executive of UIP, takes up the post for fouryears and starts on July 30. He will take over from outgoing chairman AlanParker."Stewart is taking onthis key role ...