Latest – Page 500
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Features
United Kingdom - Flying the flag for education
The marriage of education and industry is often a forced one, but not at the UK's Met Film. The group, based at the legendary Ealing Studios, combines a film school with an ambitious production company and high-quality digital production and studio facilities. And it has been quietly putting together a ...
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France - Critical faculties
"He would never talk about his problems but it was impossible not to feel his anxiety," says young French director Mia Hansen-Love of producer Humbert Balsan, who she worked with on her debut feature, Tout Est Pardonne, winner of the prestigious Prix Louis Delluc in France last year.Later this year, ...
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Hong Kong Overview - Financing - A lifeline for independent producers
Launched last April, the Film Development Council (FDC) advises the Hong Kong government on policy for the promotion and development of the local film industry. It also oversees the $38m (hk$300m) Film Development Fund and related areas, such as training and promotion of film literacy.Designed to support small to medium-sized ...
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International - France plays joker
French films accounted for nearly a quarter of the international top 40 revenue this weekend, spearheaded by a whopping $32.5m opening from top film Bienvenue Chez Les Ch'tis.The comedy, released through Pathe, played on 838 screens and boasted the highest screen average of the year so far with a mammoth ...
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Editorial - Screen says - Rising from the ashes
It's the small ironies that often give away the big picture. And this week we have the perfect example in the northern English town of Huddersfield.The ban on smoking in public spaces, which has been spreading across much of the world, has forced local players of the game of bingo ...
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United states - Taste of Freestyle
With deep roots in the not-so-glamorous world of independent theatrical distribution - and headquarters in laid-back Malibu rather than swanky Beverly Hills - Freestyle Releasing has always had a relatively low profile.But over time, says president and co-founder Mark Borde, "we've put together a studio-style distribution company," whose team of ...
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United states - Financial Fusion
The name Cold Fusion Media Group suggests that in the tricky business of film finance the seemingly impossible may sometimes be possible. The company's business plan, meanwhile, focuses on the practicalities of financing and facilitating lower-budget independent production.Launched last autumn by CEO Michael Roban, the two-man Los Angeles-based operation reflects ...
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Features
Feeling Bullish
Nigel Thomas has a disarmingly straightforward explanation of Matador Pictures' guiding philosophy. "The core of the business is making quality feature films that we want to see ourselves," he claims. "If we wouldn't go see that film, we won't make it."It is a philosophy that has proved highly effective so ...
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Features
United Kingdom - Shot In The Dark
Mark Tonderai says the biggest thing he learned when shooting his directorial feature debut Hush was to "never, ever shoot at night unless you absolutely have to".The psychological thriller, written and directed by the former BBC Radio 1 DJ, was shot entirely at night along the M1 motorway in northern ...
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Distribution - Mobile distribution - Opening the cell door
While ringtones, text, picture messages and music are the most widely used entertainment services among China's 500 million mobile-telephone users, visual and filmed content is catching up fast. By the end of 2007, 50.4 million mobile-phone owners had access to the internet via their mobile phones.China's two telecoms carriers, China ...
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Features
Distribution - Japan - Content on the move
In Japan, cable TV and satellite are still small markets. Japanese audiences watch the big five networks en masse, rented more than 25 million DVDs last year (the preferred way to watch US TV shows such as 24) and go to the cinema - in that order. The VoD market, ...
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Features
Exhibition - Putting the multi into multiplex
Last month, in the Welsh town of Holyhead, the only cinema closed its doors after 80 years. People were still going to the movies but - thanks to the recent introduction of a UK smoking ban - not enough people were going to the cinema's bingo nights to keep the ...
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Exhibition - Cinema advertising in the digital age - Point of sale
The cinema advertising business is getting ready for prime time. A television term in reference to cinema' It may not seem apt but the market is heading in that direction. The roll-out of digital projection worldwide could create a single global living room, and with it opportunities for brands to ...
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International - Turkey struts in
Turkish film Recep Ivedik was the surprise big hitter in the international arena this weekend, generating $5.1m from just 230 screens in its home territory and catapulting it into the top 10.It boasted easily the highest screen average, at $23,170 per screen, and marks the biggest opening for a Turkish ...
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In Focus - Market beats festival to number one spot
The Berlinale kicked off in fine style with Martin Scorsese's Rolling Stones documentary Shine A Light, but the general consensus - at least for buyers - was that this year the festival line-up was upstaged by the market.The focus turned to the European Film Market (EFM) following a perceived lack ...
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In Focus - Cannes film festival - Palme Reading
Official selection berths seem set for Ari Folman's animated documentary Waltz With Bashir from Israel; Wong Kar Wai's revision of his 1994 martial arts classic Ashes Of Time - Redux; and Courtney Hunt's Sundance prizewinner Frozen River.Also tipped from Sundance are Barry Levinson's What Just Happened' featuring Robert De Niro, ...
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In Focus - Postcard from Berlin
Breakout filmsHappy-Go-LuckyAudiences were enchanted by Mike Leigh's story of a young schoolteacher navigating modern life (with memorable flamenco classes and driving instruction). Sally Hawkins was the source of the buzz, stepping up from minor roles in previous Leigh films to win the Silver Bear for best actress (review, p21).Hey Hey ...
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United Kingdom - Love is all around
Mike Leigh has not named his new film Happy-Go-Lucky ironically. He readily says the Berlinale Competition title is "lighter" than 2004's devastating 1950s abortionist drama Vera Drake. "It's upbeat and funny and life affirming," the director says. Still, he says the project "does have some weight to it".Actress Sally Hawkins, ...
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Sweden - Taking the crown
Jens Jonsson was on the other side of the world for his breakthrough moment. As his film The King Of Ping Pong was winning the Sundance 2008 World Cinema Jury Prize (as well as the World Cinema cinematography prize), he had already left Park City to show the film closer ...
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Video-on-demand - Europe - Patchwork picture is a brake on growth
Europe's position in the VoD market is characterised by a distinctive set of issues that differentiate it from much of the rest of the world.One is the role of the telecoms companies, such as British Telecom, France Telecom, Telefonica and Deutsche Telekom. These were often the state monopolies that once ...