Latest – Page 906
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Swedish Film Institute withdraws funding from major local production
The Swedish Film Institute (SFI) has taken the unprecedented step of withdrawing its financial support of $540 000 (SEK 5m) for the screen adaptation of 2001 local bestseller, Popular Music From Vittula (Popularmusik Fran Vittula). The funding would have made up a quarter of the film's budget.The dramatic move comes ...
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Hong Kong's Celestial Pictures pulls out of Naked Weapon
Hong Kong's Celestial Pictures has pulled out of co-producing action title Naked Weapon with East Asia Entertainment, a division of eSun Holdings which owns Media Asia Group.The English-language film, loosely based on producer Wong Jing's 1992 tongue-in-cheek action comedy Naked Killer, was initially developed by East Asia with Wong on ...
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The Next Big Thing to be April's first production
A production deal signed this week signals that The Next Big Thing, a feature written by and to star Magda Szubanski, is likely to be Australia's April Films' first production. The private owners of the Sydney-based company have put $1.7m (A$3m) of their own money into project development since establishing ...
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Japan's Toei launches Laterna animation affiliate
Toei Animation, Asia's largest animation house, has launched a wholly-owned subsidiary to produce animation for families and young adults, over a range of media platforms. Called Laterna, the new subsidiary is capitalised at $420,000 (Y50m) and is headed by Tsutomu Tomari, Toei Animation president. Instead of developing projects exclusively with ...
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Carlos Saura readies two new feature projects
Veteran Spanish director Carlos Saura is preparing two new projects to follow his forthcoming feature Salome, slated for a September release.The first is a story about Spain's 16th century King Felipe II, a project which Saura foresees as 'complicated and expensive' to pull together.The second, Amor De Dios (Love Of ...
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Australian film investment fund falls short of target
The ambitious joint bid by Australia's Macquarie Bank and the Nine Network to raise $35.1m (A$62.5m) from private investors has fallen considerably short of the target with the result that only two features will be produced rather than the hoped-for eight.But although only $13.3m (A$23.6m) was raised by the time ...
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UK's FilmFour boards Touching The Void
The UK's FilmFour and the Film Council's New Cinema Fund have boarded Touching The Void, a new feature documentary from Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald.The film, which starts production in Peru on July 22 and continues shooting in the Alps in September, tells the true survival story of two mountaineers - ...
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AMW announces Lord Of The Rainy Season as Franco-Thai co-production
AMW International, an independent Thai media group, used Hong Kong's FilMart to launch its new film Lord Of The Rainy Season. The project is based on Claire Keefe-Fox's historical novel of the same title Le Ministre Des Moussons documenting France's first official foray into Asia and the meeting between explorer ...
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Applause to give an encore to horror hit The Eye
Hong Kong production house Applause Pictures has added several new projects to its development slate including a sequel to its recent horror film The Eye which grossed a healthy $1.8m (HK$13.8m) at the local box office in May and June.Thailand's Pang Brothers will again direct and are currently scripting the ...
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Ketan Mehta to produce The Rising, raise $12m via IPO
Veteran Hindi film producer and director Ketan Mehta has announced plans to produce a three-part international English-language feature titled The Rising based on the 1857 revolt of the Indian forces against the British Raj. Mehta, chairman and managing director of Maya Entertainment Ltd (MEL), told Screendaily that the company is ...
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Jingle Ma to direct Jackie Chan in $40m Titanium Rain
Media Asia has lined up hot Hong Kong director Jingle Ma to direct its $40m Jackie Chan vehicle Titanium Rain.The futuristic action title is set in China, the US and Japan and is being scripted in both English and Mandarin. Production is scheduled to start next March for release during ...
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Singapore's Raintree strikes joint production deal with Media Asia
Singapore's Raintree Pictures is planning a substantial production expansion after signing a deal with Hong Kong major Media Asia.The deal sees the two companies agree to jointly produce between four and six films per year. Production costs will be equally shared. "It resembles a first look deal, but with a ...
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Swedish TV comedy outfit plans first feature film
Sweden's most popular TV comedy production outfit, Killingganget, will celebrate its ten-year anniversary by making its first feature film.In line with actor/writer group Killingganget's hugely successful TV formula the project will be a comedy consisting of several stories tied together the central characters.The Swedish-language film, which has three different working ...
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Mike Newell to pilot Deighton's Bomber
Mike Newell is to direct an adaptation of Len Deighton's World War II novel Bomber.Roger Randall-Cutler, whose credits include Dance With A Stranger and The Commitments, is producing Bomber with Robert Cheek at the First Film Company. Leigh Jackson is adapting the book, which follows 24 hours in an Allied ...
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Tough times see Spanish producers adopt novel approach
The tough climate for film financing in Spain is causing producers to turn to literary adaptations, especially works which have already proven popular with audiences and critics. Indeed, there are currently more than a dozen films based on novels in advanced stages of production in Spain.The current batch includes director ...
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UK's Film Consortium names Neil Peplow head of production
Neil Peplow is taking over as head of production at UK National Lottery franchise The Film Consortium, replacing Julie Baines with immediate effect.Peplow recently produced Mike Bassett: England Manager and The Abduction Club. He was co-producer on Waking Ned and Shooting Fish, working with Richard Holmes, the former managing director ...
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German production community faces 90% reduction
The German production community is facing a crisis which could see the numbers of film and TV producers decimated by the end of next year, according to Stefan Arndt of X-Filme Creative Pool.Speaking at a discussion during Cologne's Medienforum on the future structure of the new German Film Law (FFG), ...
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Anant Singh snaps up Deepak Chopra film rights
South African producer Anant Singh, head of Videovision and Distant Horizon, has snapped up the much sought-after film rights to 'mind-body-spirit' guru Deepak Chopra's fictional works The Return Of Merlin and Soulmate. The deal was negotiated and concluded during Chopra's visit to South Africa last week. The rights to The ...
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Scala boards dialogue-free debut feature
The UK's Scala Productions has boarded Wounded, a dialogue-free feature from new UK production outfit Kaos Films.A contemporary thriller set in the wilds of North America, the film is produced by Arif Hussein and Piers Jackson, who was previously head of development and production at Screen Production Associates. "Basically, two ...
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Jeremy Thomas reveals cast of Bertolucci's Dreamers
Michael Pitt, Eva Green and Louis Garrel will star in Bernardo Bertolucci's next film, The Dreamers, producer Jeremy Thomas announced on Wednesday.Newcomers Green and Garrel play a brother and sister in Paris in 1968 who invite a young American played by Pitt to stay. Set against the turbulent political backdrop ...