Latest – Page 494
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Features
Special feature - Muhr winners
"For me, success in the Middle East is as important as success anywhere else," says Franco-Lebanese director Philippe Aractingi, whose second feature Under The Bombs - a heartfelt road movie featuring jarring images of Israel's recent war in Lebanon - won the Gold award in Diff 2007's Muhr Awards. "For ...
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Features
Special feature - Making the connection
In addition to the red-carpet appearances from George Clooney, Sharon Stone and co, one of the main attractions at last year's Diff was the establishment of the Dubai Film Connection (DFC), the first feature and documentary film co-production market in the UAE. It was the brainchild of Industry Office head ...
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Features
Special feature - Dubai Film Market - Bridging the sales gap
One of the most important additions to this year's Diff is the Dubai Film Market (DFM), an initiative set up to encourage regional and international film production and trade, as well as raising the profile of world cinema.Worthy aspirations, but does the world need another film market' Ziad Yaghi, director ...
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International - Music to industry ears
Mamma Mia! The Movie's phenomenal run has led to an Indian summer at the box office. Screen's international top 40 chart was up 12.1% year on year, with the Abba musical making another big contribution.Universal's hit musical notched up another milestone, passing $350m gross since its initial international release in ...
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Features
Flying the flag for 3D
Only one in 10 digital screens is adequate for 3D screenings, pioneering 3D film-maker Ben Stassen has claimed.Stassen is CEO of Brussels-based nWave, which is behind a series of successful Imax projects and this year released 3D animation Fly Me To The Moon. But although he claimed 3D is the ...
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Features
Belgium - Jungle fever
How do you shoot an epic Apocalypse Now-style drama in the Far East on a budget of $5.1m (EUR3.5m)' That was the challenge Belgian director Fabrice Du Welz set himself with Vinyan, the follow-up to his critical hit, Calvaire.The new film, shot in English and starring Emmanuelle Beart and Rufus ...
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Features
Australia - Blind Ambition
Matthew Newton has a passion for stories about male relationships. Three Blind Mice, which he wrote, directed and starred in, follows three young Australian navy officers who have one last night in Sydney before going to Iraq. It won a special commendation when it premiered at the Sydney Film Festival ...
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United Kingdom - Positive Signs
The world of visual effects has changed immeasurably since London's Double Negative set up shop 10 years ago.Co-founders Alex Hope, Peter Chiang and Matt Holben had all joined the industry when editing was done on videotape. "It was a world apart from the wonderful things we can do today," says ...
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Features
United Kingdom - Spirit of the ages
Jamie J Johnson, a former Screen International Star of Tomorrow, had an unusual tour of Europe making his debut feature documentary, Sounds Like Teen Spirit: A Popumentary, which had its world premiere in Toronto.The film, about several contestants in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, took Johnson to Romania, Belarus, Ukraine, ...
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Features
International - Springboard for Hitler
Russian comedy Hitler Kaput! enjoyed a $6m opening weekend in three territories, and was the highest new entry in this week's Screen International chart. Distributed by Central Partnership, it played across 773 screens in three territories.The film, directed by Marius Balchunas, stars Sam Arutunian and Andrei Baliakin. Despite a good ...
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Features
Boxing clever
UK distributor Revolver Entertainment is planning the territory's first all-platform day-and-date release.The Boxing Day release of Steven Sheil's low-budget horror film Mum & Dad will open simultaneously in theatres, video-on-demand, electronic sell-through and rental. A similar US release is planned for Mother's Day 2009.The move will reopen the often fractious ...
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Features
United States - The yes man
One of Ryan Harrington's first priorities as the head of the new IndiePix Studios is to make sure people understand exactly what he is doing there. Bob Alexander founded IndiePix as a film download and DVD distributor in 2004 (known especially for documentaries including Billy The Kid) but IndiePix Studios ...
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Features
United States - The Brothers Boom
Mark and Adam Kassen do things their own way. The gregarious New York writers and producers emerged from the theatre world to teach themselves about the film business without any formal film school education. As a result they have been prolific in the low-budget independent arena, culminating in 10 Emmy ...
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Features
United Kingdom - Enlightened approach
It could be said the output from London's Enlightenment Productions is like the old adage about buses: you wait a long time for one and all of a sudden, two show up.Writer-director Shamim Sarif and producer Hanan Kattan are in the unusual position of finishing two features within several months ...
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Features
Belgium - Saying it like she means it
Fien Troch's new feature Unspoken, starring French actors Emmanuelle Devos and Bruno Todeschini, screened at Toronto and is now heading to San Sebastian. This may provide a logistical challenge for the young Belgian writer-director who - like Lars von Trier - has a fear of flying.Unspoken, which is being sold ...
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Features
International - Money money money
Universal's Mamma Mia! The Movie has crossed $300m internationally, keeping its top spot in Screen's international chart.Still playing in 4,303 screens, the Abba-inspired musical took $20m after opening in six more territories, including France, Hong Kong, India and Belgium, where it topped the chart.Takings improved 24% week on week. ...
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VIP Suite - Who to know in Galicia - Perro Verde Films
Set up in 2006 by Manuel Cristobal who previously worked as an executive producer at Dygra Films, and is a partner in the Madrid-based agency 6 Sales. Cristobal recently bought the rights to Fernando Aramburu's novel The Fish Of Bitterness about terrorist group ETA and is looking for a director.Zombie ...
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International - Mamma topples knight
The total gross of Screen International's international chart was down 7.8% week on week for the first box-office weekend of September. Warner Bros' The Dark Knight was knocked from the top spot for the second time, ousted by Universal Pictures' Mamma Mia! The Movie which opened in a further six ...
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Editorial - D-day for d-cinemas
Digital cinema is inevitable but I no longer believe it is a good thing." That was the surprising conclusion of a senior European figure this week who had once been an advocate if not a downright enthusiast for the switch to D-cinema.His is not a lone voice. Those who once ...
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Australia - Logic's animal cracker
When director Zack Snyder's animated fantasy adventure Guardians Of Ga'hoole opens worldwide in 2010, it will be Zareh Nalbandian's first credit as a feature producer - and Australia's first 3D feature.Nalbandian is co-founder and major shareholder of the privately owned Animal Logic at Sydney's Fox Studios. The company measures up ...