Latest – Page 503
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Features
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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Features
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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Features
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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Features
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 ...
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Features
Video-on-demand - Territory snapshot: Eastern Europe - Doc Air fest makes waves
The Czech Republic's Doc Air is the only online distributor in Central and Eastern Europe specialising in documentary features. Users can stream the video or download either DivX or DVD files to their computers. The service currently offers 150 titles and has 30-50 downloads a day at roughly $1.46 (EUR1) ...
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Features
Video-on-demand - Territory snapshot: Spain - Independent producers search for VoD play
With the leading VoD portals in Spain such as Imagenio and Orange TV striking deals with the US studios to show all their major projects, the smaller Spanish indie films are being squeezed out. But now local producers and distributors are fighting back with their own internet VoD portals.One of ...
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Features
Video-on-demand - Territory snapshot: The UK - Indies fight to be seen in a new light
UK film companies are waking up to the possibilities of releasing independent films through VoD services (both online and TV).Dogwoof Digital, a film distribution company dealing with independently produced feature films, has announced it will launch the UK's first digital platform from its own website, bypassing the service provider, in ...
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Features
International - Jumper hops to top
With Doug Liman's Jumper in at number one, India's Jodhaa Akbar was the highest non-US entry in this weekend's international top 40, generating $8.1m from 15 territories. The 16th-century love story, starring Aishwarya Rai, catapulted to number four in the chart and played on 1,105 screens for a $7,305 screen ...
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The International View - Summer's thirst for firsts
I don't think we're ever going to see a summer like last year that was so reliant on sequels and remakes," suggests Fox distribution executive Chris Aronson. "And that's a good thing."It's not that the US film industry or those of France, Japan or India have slammed the door on ...
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Features
Purple heart
Hadeel Reda got more publicity than she had bargained for during the making of The Hottie And The Nottie, the first project from her Los Angeles-based production company Purple Pictures.With Paris Hilton starring and executive producing, the project - also starring Joel David Moore and Christine Lakin, with Tom Putnam ...
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Features
United Kingdom - Aria on song
From the office of his Aria Films in London, the Italian-born producer Carlo Dusi is keen to expand his realm. "Historically, a lot of the films I have been involved in have been firmly in the arthouse sector," Dusi says. "That is a dirty word here, but not for me, ...
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Features
Awards Countdown - People - Awards People
UK director Paul Greengrass is renowned for his dynamic and visceral style that puts the audience in the centre of the action. Editor Christopher Rouse, who worked with Greengrass on United 93 and also cut The Bourne Supremacy, shares the director's aesthetic sensibilities."We are both relentless in exploring the potential ...
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Production - Jumping to the next level
The high-profile collapse in 2006 of Peter Jackson's Halo adaptation could well have dampened the ardour with which millions of dollars are spent transforming video games into blockbusters each year. Yet it seems Hollywood has not only returned to embracing video-game adaptations but is pitching them as upscale tentpoles on ...
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Features
International - The winning Gaul
Asterix At The Olympic Games won the gold medal again this weekend, generating $24.5m after expanding in six territories. Pathe's family film opened at number one in Spain, where it took $2.7m, beating rival openers No Country For Old Men (starring local favourite Javier Bardem) and 30 Days Of Night. ...
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Features
United States - Star man
For Rigel Entertainment, getting into the feature film business was a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" proposition, says founder, president and CEO John Laing.After 15 years as a backer, producer and worldwide distributor of TV programming, including the Robocop and Pacific Blue series, Laing felt Rigel could ...
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Features
Australia-UK - See-saw on the rise
When London-based acquisitions executive Iain Canning and Sydney producer Emile Sherman vie for the best projects under their new See-Saw production banner, the ace up their sleeve will be a first-look deal with Paramount Pictures International (PPI) to invest equity.They also hope their pooled skills and experience will be a ...
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Features
Argentina - Out of the past
"I am 100% French...and I am 100% Argentinian," says the Buenos Aires-born writer-director Lucia Cedron. Her family story played an important part in her debut feature Lamb Of God, the opening film at this year's Rotterdam International Film Festival. Cedron is the daughter of film-maker and political activist Jorge 'The ...
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FeaturesAwards Countdown - Johnny Depp
Nominated for his third best actor Oscar in five years, Johnny Depp tells Mike Goodridge why he worried he wouldn’t be up to playing Sweeney Todd
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New Talent - European Stars of Tomorrow
Ambra Angiolini, ItalyAngiolini had already made her name in the 1990s as a TV starlet and presenter before returning to performing in theatre some years later, reinventing herself as a serious actress. She made her film debut last year in Ferzan Ozpetek's Saturno Contro, gaining overnight credibility and winning a ...
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Features
Ireland - The Irish Revival
Irish producers have their work cut out right now. With an 18% budget increase to $34.3m (EUR23.2m) for the Irish Film Board (IFB) there is more money available for low-budget, locally developed projects than ever before. Yet there are also fewer international film projects shooting in Ireland. Previously, projects such ...