Latest – Page 506
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Features
Distribution - The view from the cool kids - The new cinephiles
There are those who enjoy movies, can discuss directors at dinner parties and regularly read film reviews; and then there are the cinephiles. A breed apart from 'regular' movie fans, they are afflicted by a passionate, argumentative, all-consuming love of Film As Art, and have figured out ways to accrue ...
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Distribution - Market Snapshot - Diversity pays dividends
Plenty of enterprising young distribution companies, including Vertigo, Dogwoof, Soda, Swipe and Revolver, have sprung up in the UK, ready to give theatrical releases to the best 'auteur' films and the most challenging documentaries.Bigger companies such as Lionsgate UK (which enjoyed enormous success with The Lives Of Others and recently ...
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Distribution - New talent - Cutting edge Propositions
Back in 1962, the German directors who signed the Oberhausen Manifesto (the birth point for the 'New German Cinema') were among the first to recognise film festivals were becoming the main launch pad for directorial talents. The acclaim given to various short films at international festivals, said the Oberhausen collective, ...
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Production - The Baltic assault
The Baltic states, comprising Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, are emerging as Europe's newest low-cost production hub, says UK-born Gary Tuck, managing director of Lithuania-based Baltic Film Services, which entices and services international productions. These include Ed Zwick's Second World War drama Defiance, starring Daniel Craig, which is now shooting at ...
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European Film Awards - The Glories of Europe
Generalising about European cinema is a fool's errand. Countless films never cross national borders. Many films only have a theatrical life on the festival circuit. Some of the continent's biggest box-office hits (Les Bronzes 3, Natale A New York, and (T)Raumschiff Surprise - Periode 1 for example) barely register on ...
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European Film Awards - Michael Ballhaus - Recognition for a master
Michael Ballhaus has consistently proven himself as a DoP able to reconcile the demands of cinema to both art and commerce. His 40-year career is distinguished by lengthy collaborations with Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Martin Scorsese, while his body of work reveals a man as much at home with the ...
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International - India scores again
Indian distributor UTV Communications had an international hit this weekend with Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal, which enjoyed a $3.5m take and was the highest non-US entry in the top 40 chart.The second feature from director Vivek Agnihotri played across 583 screens in 16 territories for a $5,798 screen average. Set ...
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Features
The critical view - Same old story
Beowulf is an ideal subject for a Hollywood adaptation. The original poem, written in Old English some time before the year 1010, is heavily formulaic. It features a seemingly indestructible hero whose bodily strength is highly fetishised. There's plenty of violence - and we can generate a bit of sex ...
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United Kingdom - Free agents
Cuba Pictures, the film and TV arm of London-based talent agency Curtis Brown, almost epitomises synergy.In late 2004, Curtis Brown's Nick Marston and Tally Garner set up the division, and they are now launching their successful first feature, Boy A, with a November 26 airing on the UK's Channel 4. ...
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Features
Soundtracks - A one-stop shop for film scores
Becky Bentham and Karen Elliott of London-based Hot House Music like to think of themselves as a "one-stop shop" for film music.They are a boutique agency for composers, provide music supervision and score co-ordination, and can even create hypothetical budgets at the financing stage. They are presently working on How ...
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Soundtracks - Meet the music supervisors: Randall Poster - Poster soundtracks a life
"I have an abiding passion for music and movies," says Randall Poster, the renowned music supervisor of films ranging from Rushmore to The Aviator. His skill is evident in a diverse crop of projects including The Darjeeling Limited, The Nanny Diaries, The Savages and I'm Not There, and forthcoming films ...
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International - Medusa bares its fangs
Italian distributor Medusa Film made a solid imprint on the international top 40 this weekend with two films - Matrimonio Alle Bahamas and Come Tu Mi Vuoi - generating more than $7m and accounting for 5.2% of the chart's total revenue.New entry Matrimonio Alle Bahamas opened at number eight on ...
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Analysis: International box-office - Weekend November 15-17
ANALYSIS: INTERNATIONAL BOX-OFFICE WEEKEND NOVEMBER 15-17(Last3-dayweek)Film (origin)gross $ScrsCume $Terr1NewBeowulf (US)$17,408,8142,432$17,408,814132NewAmerican Gangster (US)$14,299,2301,477$14,708,907143(5)The Heartbreak Kid (US)$7,492,8411,883$52,014,350344(1)Om Shanti Om (Ind)$6,298,2971,244$25,646,119175(4)Ratatouille (US)$5,935,7112,936$396,702,258256(14)Elizabeth: The Golden Age (UK-US-Fr)$5,789,5351,579$21,797,130127(3)Lions For Lambs (US)$5,574,4172,706$19,489,782528NewMatrimonio Alle Bahamas (It)$4,409,009431$4,409,00919(7)Resident Evil: Extinction (Aus-Ger-UK-US)$3,811,1831,483$86,202,1353910(2)Saawariya (Ind)$3,716,524822$17,064,9251311(8)Lust, Caution (Chi-HK-Tai-US)$3,700,850710$34,034,1901512(6)Stardust (UK-US)$3,767,2092,008$89,054,9924713(10)The Bourne Ultimatum (US)$3,502,068994$202,385,7782214(11)Saw IV (US)$3,420,6211,548$37,726,6662715(12)Sky Of Love (Jap)$3,068,076289$17,835,267116(15)Le Grand Chef (S Kor)$2,862,456330$13,651,042117(9)30 Days Of ...
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Box office: data - Digital cinema - Continental d-drift'
The decision of French cinema chain Circuit George Raymond to sign a virtual print fee agreement for sharing the cost of digital cinema with Arts Alliance Media represents a significant step in the evolution of d-cinema in Europe.With its 400 screens, Circuit George Raymond (CGR) is the first significant exhibitor ...
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Features
Editorial - A European Union'
There are few places that seem quite as far removed from the realities of the film business as the European Parliament in Brussels. A conference last week, 'The way forward for the European film industry', had a pleasingly surreal edge after the down-and-dirty reality of a somewhat subdued AFM.Even the ...
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Features
United States - Machinima man
"Machinima is a real threat to CGI animation," says Paul Marino, co-founder of the Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences. "Within the next decade the majority of animation films produced will be machinima."It is a bold claim, considering that most people are still unfamiliar with the machinima concept. But it ...
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Greece - History in the making
Two unprecedented things recently took place at the ancient Acropolis of Athens. One was the transfer of the marble friezes of the Parthenon to the new museum at the foot of the Acropolis hill. The other was the shooting of the US production My Life In Ruins inside the historic ...
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Portugal - 'Thirty years of contacts'
When details were first announced of the inaugural European Film Festival Estoril (November 8-17) in Portugal, predictably some on the festival circuit were unenthusiastic about another autumn date. Nonetheless, under the direction of Portugal's best-known producer, Paulo Branco, the new event looks set to attract plenty of big-names.Branco was first ...
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United Kingdom - Flying Free
Jonathan Cavendish is in a position most independent producers would envy. In addition to running his own successful production company, Little Bird, with partner James Mitchell, he has served as producer-for-hire on some of Working Title's most illustrious projects.Aware of his track record for piloting the development process and for ...
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United kingdom - Going Ape
Ceri Levy was smart enough to recognise he was in the right place at the right time. He was a long-time friend of Damon Albarn of the band Blur (for which Levy produced the 1994 Starshaped documentary), and Levy was present at the kitchen table when Albarn and Jamie Hewlett ...