Latest – Page 497
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Features
New talent - The Film-makers part 2
VIRGINIA GILBERT - WRITER-DIRECTORA coolly directed short about a morally compromised man whose holiday is ruined by an unruly boy, Hesitation marks Virginia Gilbert's first foray into directing. That it was nominated for a Bafta this year (as well as winning awards at Galway and Chicago film festivals last year) ...
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New talent - Where are they now' - The Class of 2007
THE ACTORSArsher Ali spent most of the year at the Royal Shakespeare Company in The Merchant Of Venice, The Taming Of The Shrew and The Tragedy Of Thomas Hobbs.Following his starring role in The Kite Runner, Khalid Abdalla has just completed Paul Greengrass' Green Zone.Gemma Arterton won acclaim for her ...
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International - Drunk on success
Six new entries broke into the international box-office chart this week, with Sony Pictures' Hancock storming to the top of the table.Non-US new entries failed to break into the top 10, with India's Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na reaching number 12. Written and directed by Abbas Tyrewala and distributed by ...
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Features
Greece - In search of Eden
It was the subject matter of Eden Is West that lured Costa Gavras back to Greece. A drama about the impact of illegal immigration on Western Europe, the film is a road movie of sorts, starring Italian actor Riccardo Scamarcio."Shooting in Greece seemed appropriate," says Gavras from his set in ...
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Features
France - The film Fan-ancier
In April 2008, Yann Le Quellec was named managing director of Continental Entertainment Capital's (CEC) European operation based in Paris. A former banker with JP Morgan, Le Quellec is no stranger to the film industry, nor to CEC.As head of EWB Finance, an affiliate of Wild Bunch, Le Quellec was ...
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Features
Buzz Films - Sneak preview
Night Owls (Czech Rep)Dir: Michaela PavlatovaPavlatova is one of the Czech Republic's best-known animation directors, winning an Oscar nomination and prizes at Berlin, Cottbus and Montreal for her short films. Night Owls - her second live-action feature - is a drama about a young girl working in a 24-hour convenience ...
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Features
Production - Czech Republic - Prague gets a reality Czech
What Prague needs, as everyone knows, is a tax incentive," says Mark Johnson of Gran Via Productions, the US producer of the first two Chronicles Of Narnia films. "Outside of London, it's one of the only places in Europe that could handle a movie like Narnia. But now it is ...
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Features
International - Japanese romcom flies
Japanese romantic comedy Boys Over Flowers: Final was the highest non-US entry in this weekend's chart, generating $9.5m in its home territory.Toho released the film, based on characters from the original shojo manga (girl's comic), on 400 screens in Japan, and it earned a very strong $23,686 screen average - ...
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Features
Cinema Expo - 3D cinema in depth
The big topic at this year's Cinema Expo was 3D cinema. As studios have started to throw their weight behind three-dimensional films, European exhibitors were encouraged to pick up the pace of 3D installation in cinemas in order to "save" the cinematic world.Around a dozen 3D films are scheduled for ...
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Features
Green energy
As Terminator, Aliens and Armageddon showed, Gale Anne Hurd knows a thing or two about taking risks that pay off. She has enjoyed enough success to endure as one of Hollywood's few powerhouse female producers and has inevitably seen the odd gamble turn sour, too, which is what made The ...
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Features
United Kingdom - if it ain't broke..
Nothing." That's what Film London's head of international Helena MacKenzie says has changed in plans for this year's London UK Film Focus (Luff). The sales event runs June 30-July 3.Some might see the decision to keep the event in the same form as last year as a sign of complacency. ...
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Features
France - In a class of his own
When Laurent Cantet heard his name called during the awards ceremony at last month's Cannes film festival, he was not entirely surprised. The Class (Entre Les Murs), Cantet's Palme d'Or winning film, had been tipped to take a prize when the busload of schoolchildren who appear in the film was ...
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Features
Battle stations
There were odd scenes outside many arthouse cinemas in Japan in early May - protestors gathered, yelling into megaphones, urging people not to see a film, while cinema owners requested police protection for their audience.The cause of the controversy was Yasukuni a documentary by Tokyo-based Chinese film-maker Li Ying, about ...
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Features
Training - Debate - Talking writing
DEBRA HAYWARD - WORKING TITLE FILMSWhat is the level of creativity in the UK'People are really ambitious: the levels are high. But you can never have enough great ideas, great writers and great material.Are individual voices shining through'I think they are. And there's a great tradition of individual voices in ...
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Features
Production - Romania - From the mountain to the black sea
Romania is a territory on the rise. Adding to the buzz arising from local productions at Cannes in recent years, the territory is one of the new Eastern European sweet spots for international footloose productions.The problem is, demand is now outpacing supply. Earlier this year, French producer-writer-director Alexandre Aja planned ...
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Features
Production - Bulgaria - Footloose and fancy free
"There are more than a dozen films a year done here," says Les Weldon, a US producer who has shot 15 films over more than 10 years in Bulgaria, most of them with Nu Image-owned Nu Boyana Film Studios in Sofia. "We've had Morgan Freeman, Antonio Banderas, John Cusack, Ben ...
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Features
International - TV remake proves smart move for warner bros
Four new entries broke into the international chart this week with titles from the US, the UK and South Korea opening in the top 20, while Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, Sex And The City, Kung Fu Panda and The Incredible Hulk jostled for the top ...
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The Critical View - Finishing touch
I've been thinking about Che. Not the man, nor exactly Steven Soderbergh's film of the man's life, but the experience of watching a film that may or not be the finished product.All that was known about the status of Soderbergh's long-awaited film on the eve of its Cannes debut was ...
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Editorial - Industry' What industry'
The idea of a film 'industry' is a comforting thing. When Joe or Joanna pawn the car and sell the kids to the circus to produce an indie movie, they need to believe they have entered a recognisable business rather than slipped into mid-life madness. In reality, the ability to ...
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Features
In focus - Distribution - Start of a French affair
According to Unifrance, France's film export body, French films account for an estimated 3 million admissions in the UK, an impressive 2% of the market. This was led by 2007's Edith Piaf biopic La Vie En Rose, directed by Olivier Dahan, which took $3.3m in the territory, while Guillaume Canet's ...