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Documentary case study: Sicko
Michael Moore's Sicko may be drumming up hype because of its subject matter. But for The Weinstein Company, the director is the real story. Peter Bowen reports. After Fahrenheit 9/11 grossed more than $220m worldwide, it became clear that a Michael Moore film was not your everyday documentary. For his ...
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Documentary case study: Air Guitar Nation
Peter Bowen explains why a debut documentary with a jokey-sounding title was the right fit for a new distributor.The plot of Alex Lipsitz's first documentary feature Air Guitar Nation sounds like a joke. A smattering of hopeful US air guitarists, with names like Bjorn Turoque and C-Diddy, follow their dreams ...
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International box office: mixed signals in Argentina
Increased ticket prices have helped raise total box-office revenues in Argentina but admissions have been falling. Diego Batlle reports. Admissions figures in Argentina dropped by an estimated 7% for the first half of 2007. The period saw 18.2 million admissions as opposed to 19.5 million in 2006.However, total box office ...
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Transformers breaks US July 4 box-office record with $29m
Robots have taken over the domestic box office this Independence Day as DreamWorks and Paramount 's Transformers raked in $29.08m on the US national holiday, the biggest July 4 gross to date. The film's performance beats Spider-man 2 at $21.9m in 2004. Transformers - which has a 6.5 day opening ...
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Toronto adds debuts from David Auburn and Helen Hunt
Two high-profile directorial debuts are among five films added to the Toronto International Film Festival's September Special Presentations line-up. Pulitzer Prize winner David Auburn (Proof, The Lake House) has directed his own screenplay with The Girl In The Park. The film features Sigourney Weaver as long-suffering mother who encounters a ...
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Comweb becomes equity partner in Toronto's FILMPORT studio
Toronto-based Comweb Corporation has joined as an equity partner in a new company that will control Toronto's FILMPORT studio project. The new entity, Filmport Inc, will also own Toronto Film Studios (TFS) and other FILMPORT properties. Principal shareholders will be Comweb, merchant bank The Rose Corporation and a company owned ...
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Rio favelas to host new Cine Cufa festival in September
Organisers are planning a new festival in Rio, Cine Cufa, which will run September 4-16. Non-profit group Central Unica das Favelas is planning the festival, based in the City Of God favela where Fernando Meirelles film of the same name was set. The festival is set up 'with the purpose ...
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Spike Lee's Italian project St. Anna to boast $45m budget
Director Spike Lee and the Italian On My Own Production have announced new details on Lee's new Tuscany-set film project.The film will have a $45m budget, is to be produced 50% by On My Own - the new independent production company launched by ex-Mikado founders and owners Roberto Cicutto and ...
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Participant doc to capture Live Earth spirit
Participant Productions will present a feature documentary directed by Brian Hill to be inspired by the Live Earth concerts. The film will aim to capture the spirit of the concerts, a series of eight events set to take place around the world on July 8 put together by Live ...
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LAFF honours for Gauger and Whiteley
Stephane Gauger's Owl And The Sparrow won the Los Angeles Film Festival's Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature and Greg Whiteley's Resolved took corresponding documentary honours at the weekend. Stephen Walker's Young @ Heart won the Audience Award for Best International Feature, and The Audience Award for Best Short ...
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Arts Alliance signs content deal with HP's Video Merchant arm
Arts Alliance Media (AAM) has signed a deal to become the international content provider for HP's new Video Merchant Services business. HP will now offer AAM's film content to distribution partners around the world, including North America. HP Video Merchant Services powers online video web stores and provides content fulfilment ...
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Disney cooks up number one domestic opening for Ratatouille
Disney's Ratatouille bit a hefty chunk out of the domestic box office pie at the weekend and beat off the five-day debut of Live Free Or Die Hard thanks to a three-day $47.2m estimated launch.This was actually a subdued performance by Pixar's lofty standards that many attributed to the conceptually ...
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Shrek, Transformers, Die Hard deliver gigantic international numbers
Shrek The Third stayed atop the overseas charts following its biggest weekend so far and combined with the international launch of Transformers to generate a $100m-plus weekend for Paramount/PPI.The green ogre hoisted his international running total to $259m on the back of an estimated $69.6m haul from 6,489 sites in ...
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Sundance Directors Lab: a mountain of work
The Sundance Directors Lab, which took place this month at the Sundance resort in the Utah mountains, has opened its doors to a new wave of international film-makers. Mike Goodridge visited the lab and met some of the writer-directors being put through their paces. A fair amount of legend has ...
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Admissions down in Argentina by 7% in first half of 2007
Admissions figures in Argentina dropped by an estimated 7% for the first half of 2007. The period saw 18.2m admissions as opposed to 19.5m in 2006.However, total box office was up 15.5% from the same period last year because of the rise in the average ticket price from $2.65 to ...
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Katz named head of production at The Film Department
Robert Katz has joined Mark Gill and Neil Sacker in their new independent venture The Film Department as president of production.While executive vice president of production for The Yari Film Group, Katz was in charge of production on 18 films including Crash, The Illusionist, Prime, The Matador, Hostage and The ...
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August Evening, Billy The Kid win $50,000 prizes at LAFF
Chris Eska's August Evening won the Target Film-maker Award for best narrative feature at the 2007 Los Angeles Film Festival, while Jennifer Venditti's Billy The Kid won the Target Documentary Award for best documentary feature. Each film was awarded an unrestricted cash prize of $50,000 funded by Target.The awards, presented ...
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Paramount/Warner epic Beowulf to get IMAX treatment
Robert Zemeckis' animated epic Beowulf is set to get the IMAX treatment. Backed by Paramount, Warner Bros. and Shangri-La Entertainment, the film will be digitally converted to the giant-screen 3D format and distributed through IMAX cinemas internationally within three weeks of the November 16, 2007 conventional release. Paramount will distribute ...
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Ana Katz: the wandering star
The Argentinian winner of San Sebastian's Films in Progress proved a true labour of love. Diego Batlle talks to the film's director. At just 31, Argentinian film-maker Ana Katz is one of the most prolific and versatile artists of her generation. A renowned film, theatre and commercials actor-writer-producer-director, Katz's second ...
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Writers rights
Screenwriters are looking to change the way they are treated by the industry - and win more recognition. As the UK's International Screenwriters' Festival (July 3-6) opens, John Hazelton explores the writers' lot. It's in the zeitgeist that the writers' lot must be improved in order for movies to get ...