Latest – Page 514

  • Features

    United States - The Film's The Thing

    2007-09-08T00:00:00Z

    I was at pains to try and make this not feel like a playwright's movie," says David Auburn, the award-winning playwright of Proof, whose directorial film debut The Girl In The Park has its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this week. "I wrote it for the screen. ...

  • Features

    United States - Writing Partners

    2007-09-08T00:00:00Z

    The 3:10 To Yuma writers Michael Brandt and Derek Haas say their working relationship is "like a marriage", but that doesn't mean they share an antique writers' desk a la George Clooney and Grant Heslov on Good Night, And Good Luck."We work separately," Brandt says. "One of us writes a ...

  • Features

    United Kingdom - Heart of darkness

    2007-09-08T00:00:00Z

    Neil Marshall indulges his influences in Doomsday, the $30m follow-up to his acclaimed 2005 low-budget horror hit The Descent. "Raiders Of The Lost Ark was the film that made me want to make movies," Marshall says during a recent promotional trip to Comic-Con in San Diego.From the sound of it, ...

  • Features

    United Kingdom - Laying down the law

    2007-09-08T00:00:00Z

    Had David Alexander lasted more than a day studying to be a lawyer, he might not have been responsible for the award-winning short, Growing, or be on his way to the Talent Lab at the Toronto International Film Festival, where he is one of the first three international participants in ...

  • Features

    Industry moves

    2007-09-08T00:00:00Z

    HIGGINSON ON THE RISE AT FOX INTERNATIONALPaul Higginson has been promoted to senior vice-president of Europe Theatrical at Fox International, filling the post that will be left by the Universal-bound Christian Grass. Todd Huntley has been promoted to vice-president of Europe Theatrical. Both promotions take effect immediately. Higginson will remain ...

  • Features

    Lebanon - Going for a song

    2007-09-08T00:00:00Z

    Hany Tamba's 2005 short After Shave (Beyrouth Apres-Rasage) marked the Lebanese director out as a major talent. Stunningly shot, witty and poignant, it won the French Cesar for best short film in 2006. Tamba is now editing his first feature, a comedy about a one-hit-wonder French singer (played by Patrick ...

  • Features

    Mexico - Duo draw on local inspiration

    2007-09-08T00:00:00Z

    Young film-making duo Israel Cardenas and Laura Guzman are typical of a new generation of Latin American film-makers in their desire to portray the continent without resorting to stereotypes. Their debut feature, Cochochi, explores the life and culture of an indigenous Mexican tribe, the Tarahumaras, through two young brothers' search ...

  • Features

    Production - How sequel rights work

    2007-09-08T00:00:00Z

    Sequel and other derivative rights to a film - such as prequel, remake and TV or stage-adaptation rights - generally belong to the studio or production company that makes the film for the entire term of the copyright. Exceptions might occur when a script is written on spec or when ...

  • Features

    Production - Upcoming sequels: old franchises with new homes

    2007-09-08T00:00:00Z

    HalloweenReleased on August 31 in North America, the new Halloween is the ninth film in the series overall and the fourth since the franchise was acquired by the Weinstein Company's Dimension Films. Writer-director Rob Zombie (The Devil's Rejects) has described the film as part prequel to and part remake of ...

  • Features

    Marketing - Brand marketing - learning the hard sell

    2007-09-08T00:00:00Z

    In India, the sight of Bollywood stars on posters or television promoting the biggest brands is an everyday occurrence. But despite their popularity now across the globe, it seems their brand appeal has yet to take off."We have a lot of brands tying up with the films and actors in ...

  • Features

    Argentina - Chasing foreign interest

    2007-09-08T00:00:00Z

    Directors Lucrecia Martel, Pablo Trapero and Daniel Burman were all key figures in the emergence of Argentinian cinema on the international scene a decade ago. All three are now in production on new projects, with an array of foreign partners."We have solid contacts with established companies in Europe," says rising ...

  • Features

    International - A bigger picture

    2007-09-08T00:00:00Z

    As far as the film industry is concerned, it's a long hot summer. It defies seasonal or calendar considerations, running 18 weeks from early May through to the first weekend in September.At the conclusion of summer 2007, about $4.2bn was spent in North American multiplexes and an additional $6.3bn worth ...

  • Features

    Analysis: International box-office - Weekend August 31-September 2 - Shrek The First

    2007-09-08T00:00:00Z

    Shrek The Third knocked Jason Bourne out of the top spot this weekend, taking $17.8m over the three-day period after expanding in Italy and Scandinavia. The green ogre shot up a whopping 2,086% after generating $8m in its opening weekend in Italy, the best opening for an animated film ever ...

  • Features

    United States - Collective thinking

    2007-08-31T00:00:00Z

    Life just wasn't the same for Michael Green after the co-founder of top management company The Firm sold his stake to partner Jeff Kwatinetz in 2001. "I got bored of sitting on the beach," Green says from the Beverly Hills offices of The Collective, the full service production and management ...

  • Features

    Master of Spices

    2007-08-31T00:00:00Z

    Indian director Santosh Sivan based his new film Before The Rains, which has its world premiere as a Special Presentation in Toronto next week, on the Israeli short film Red Roofs, one of Dan Verete's Desert Trilogy (2001). But, Sivan says, it really only served as a stepping off point ...

  • Features

    United Kingdom - Mountain High

    2007-08-31T00:00:00Z

    Eight months in as president of Paramount Pictures International (PPI), Andrew Cripps is enjoying the change of pace from his last job as president and COO of UIP."What I've really thrived on are two things," he says. "Working with all divisions at Paramount and being part of the overall decision-making ...

  • Features

    Belgium - Back in the habit

    2007-08-31T00:00:00Z

    It is 15 years since Belgian director Stijn Coninx was Oscar-nominated for his feature Daens in 1992. Now, he is preparing a new feature likely to pique the curiosity of European buyers. La Vie Extraordinaire De Soeur Sourire - to star Cecile De France - will tell the story of ...

  • Features

    Italy - The Dark master

    2007-08-31T00:00:00Z

    Thirty years in the making, the launch of Dario Argento's The Mother Of Tears finally closes the door on The Three Mothers trilogy of cult horror films that began with Argento's Suspiria in 1977 and Inferno in 1982."I feel relief but also sadness," Argento says of the film, which has ...

  • Features

    Festival buzz - Special Presentations

    2007-08-31T00:00:00Z

    Nothing Is Private (US)Dir: Alan BallEight years after American Beauty, writer Ball returns to features with his directorial debut. Aaron Eckhart and his Thank You For Smoking co-star Maria Bello headline alongside Toni Collette in a drama about a sexually obsessed Lebanese-American girl who moves next door to a bigoted ...

  • Features

    Festival Buzz - Other World Premieres

    2007-08-31T00:00:00Z

    SPECIAL PRESENTATIONSLove Comes Lately (Ger-Aus-US)Dir: Jan SchutteContact: Zero Fiction Film, (49) 30 390 663 0Shake Hands With The Devil (Can)Dir: Roger SpottiswoodeContact: White Pine Pictures, (226) 416 703 5580Real To ReelAlgerie, Unspoken Stories (Alg)Dir: Jean-Pierre LledoContact: Jean-Pierre Lledo, lledo.2007@yahoo.frAmazing Journey: The Story Of The Who (US)Dir: Paul Crowder, Murray LernerContact: ...