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  • News

    Om Puri appointed chairman of India's NFDC

    2008-04-25T15:07:00Z

    Veteran actor Om Puri has been appointed chairman of the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) by the Indian government. The term of the appointment is three years. In his new role Puri will look out for new talent in filmmaking, examine scripts and consider production and co-production opportunities for the ...

  • News

    Kadokawa acquires Chen Kaige's Mei Lanfang

    2008-04-25T09:18:00Z

    China Film Group Corporation has announced that it has sold all Japanese rights to Chen Kaige's biopic Mei Lanfang to Kadokawa Pictures. Although the amount of the deal was not disclosed, CFGC chairman Han Sanping said it is the highest price in recent years for a Chinese film sold to ...

  • News

    Del Toro to direct Hobbit double bill

    2008-04-25T05:49:00Z

    Guillermo Del Toro has landed his 'dream' job as the confirmed director of TheHobbit for New Line and MGM, the studios and executive producers Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh announced on Thursday.The move was widely expected after it emerged four months ago that Jackson would serve as executive producer on ...

  • News

    Sarah Marshall hopes 8 territories won't forget this weekend

    2008-04-25T05:36:00Z

    The start of the blockbuster season is almost upon us and with one week to go before Paramount Pictures International (PPI) unleashes Marvel's Iron Man around the globe, the release schedule is predictably subdued.Universal's comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall gets a push this weekend with eight launches through UPI including Russia ...

  • News

    Wild Bunch picks up world rights to Khoo's My Magic

    2008-04-25T04:49:00Z

    France's Wild Bunch has acquired worldwide sales rights, excluding France and Singapore, to Eric Khoo's Cannes competition-bound My Magic. Khoo's Singapore-based production outfit Zhao Wei Films has separately sold the film to ARP for France. The new picture represents the first from Singapore to play in competition at Cannes. Khoo's ...

  • News

    Australia - Hopscotch jumps to next level

    2008-04-25T00:00:00Z

    Independent Australian distributor Hopscotch is reinventing itself. The company's ambitious managing director Troy Lum wants to transform Hopscotch from a theatrically-focused distributor to a vertically integrated, content-driven entity.'When the digital era really hits, producers will reap the rewards,' says Lum. 'Distribution is changing because people consume content in different ways ...

  • News

    Queensland signs MoU with Korea's Gyeonggi province

    2008-04-24T03:34:00Z

    A 10-year-old sister state relationship between the Australian state of Queensland and the Gyeonggi Province of South Korea has been extended into the film arena with this week's signing of a memorandum of understanding. The agreement is between the Gyeonggi Film Commission, the Gyeonggi Digital Contents Agency, and the Pacific ...

  • News

    Mason, Collee partner with Hopscotch in production venture

    2008-04-24T03:20:00Z

    Australian distributor Hopscotch has enticed two of Sydney's most successful international filmmakers, producer Andrew Mason (the Matrix trilogy) and screenwriter John Collee (Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World) to help attract investment and talent to pump into its new production division. The pair will work closely with ...

  • News

    Chang, Yeoh to establish Asian talent management outfit

    2008-04-23T15:59:00Z

    Producer Terence Chang and actress Michelle Yeoh will jointly establish a talent agency based in Hong Kong and Taipei, which is scheduled to begin operation in June. The yet-to-be-named company has so far signed with three actors including Kelly Lin Xilei (After This Our Exile), Chang told Screendaily.Kelly Lin is ...

  • News

    Assembly takes top honours at Beijing Student Film Festival

    2008-04-23T15:42:00Z

    Feng Xiaogang's The Assembly was the biggest winner at the 15th Beijing Student Film Festival, which wrapped yesterday in Beijing. The film won best picture, best director, and best actor for Zhang Hanyu's performance. The best actress award went to Miao Pu for Sino-Japan co-production Crossing Over.The festival also gave ...

  • News

    Japan rides high at international box office, led by Detective Conan

    2008-04-23T15:33:00Z

    Japanese animated sequels came up trumps this weekend with two entries from Toho entering the top 15 and generating a combined $6.5m in their home territory. The top 40 international films generated $110.9m across 38,186 screens for the period of April 18-20.For the full international chart, compiled by Len Klady, ...

  • News

    Cannes line-up includes last-minute surprises including Che and Eastwood's Changeling

    2008-04-23T13:14:00Z

    Cannes Film Festival president Gilles Jacob and general manager Thierry Fremaux announced the official line up for the 61st edition this morning in Paris.Among the surprises were the last minute additions of Clint Eastwood's Changeling and Steven Soderbergh's two Che Guevara films The Argentine and Guerilla, although in press documents ...

  • News

    Cannes unveils competition line-up of 19 titles

    2008-04-23T10:32:00Z

    CompetitionLaurent Cantet - Entre Les Murs (France)Nuri Bilge Ceylan - Three Monkeys (Turkey-France-Italy)Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne - Le Silence De Lorna (Belgium-France-Italy-Germany)Arnaud Desplechin - A Christmas Story (France)Clint Eastwood - Changeling (US)Atom Egoyan - Adoration (Canada)Ari Folman - Waltz With Bashir ( Israel-France-Germany )Philippe Garrel - La Frontiere De L'Aube ...

  • News

    Darjeeling Limited gets greenlight for India release

    2008-04-23T02:44:00Z

    Wes Anderson's India-set Darjeeling Limited, initially scheduled to be released in India in January, is finally being released on April 25. The film hit a road-block when the Indian Censor Board denied a certification of the film citing inadequate permissions to shoot animal life. While the shots of animals in ...

  • News

    Warner Bros signs multi-picture deal with India's Ocher Studios

    2008-04-23T02:26:00Z

    Warner Bros Pictures India is following its foray into the production of Hindi-language films with an exclusive multi-picture deal with South Indian-language film company Ocher Studios. Chennai-based Ocher Studios is headed by superstar actor Rajnikanth's daughter Soundarya. Warner Bros Pictures India and Ocher will produce and distribute live-action South Indian-language ...

  • News

    UK's Warp, Australia's Madman pact for at least two low-budget films

    2008-04-22T20:37:00Z

    Mark Herbert, managing director of Warp Films in the UK, said he wanted to get involved with Australian filmmakers when he visited in October last year; he has turned out to be a man of his word. Warp, which is based in Sheffield in Yorkshire, plans to work with ...

  • News

    Momentum signs first-look deal with producers See-Saw

    2008-04-21T17:32:00Z

    UK distributor Momentum Pictures has signed a first-look deal with the new London- and Sydney-based production company See-Saw Films.Momentum previously worked with one of See-Saw's founders, Iain Canning, with Anton Corbijn's hit Control.See-Saw, formed by Canning and producer Emile Sherman, is concentrating on producing and executive producing UK and Australian ...

  • News

    Momentum signs first-look deal with producers See-Saw

    2008-04-21T17:32:00Z

    UK distributor Momentum Pictures has signed a first-look deal with the new London- and Sydney-based production company See-Saw Films.Momentum previously worked with one of See-Saw's founders, Iain Canning, with Anton Corbijn's hit Control.See-Saw, formed by Canning and producer Emile Sherman, is concentrating on producing and executive producing UK and Australian ...

  • News

    Korean admissions drop by 10% in first quarter

    2008-04-21T11:35:00Z

    The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) has announced first quarter figures that show an estimated 10% drop in admissions year-on-year. South Korea saw 35.58 million admissions to the tune of $233.13m (KW231.2bn) from Jan 1- March 31, 2008. KOFIC's report notes that, considering the fact that the number of releases for ...

  • News

    Thailand's GTH has phobia for Cannes market

    2008-04-21T04:59:00Z

    Leading Thai producer-distributor GMM Tai Hub (GTH) will debut a new portmanteau film 4bia (pronounced as 'phobia') at the Cannes Film Market. The new picture is directed by four horror gurus: Parkpoom Wongpoom and Banjong Pisanthanakun (the duo directors behind Shutter and Alone), Paween Purijitpanya (Body) and veteran filmmaker Yongyoot ...