All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 133
-
News
The Match Factory picks up German tragicomedy
The Match Factory has picked up international distribution for Neele Leana Vollmar's second feature Friedliche Zeiten (literal translation: Peaceful Times) which has begun shooting in Munich and surroundings. The tragicomedy, based on Birgit Vanderbeke's 1996 novel of the same name, is being produced by Vollmar and Caroline Daube's joint production ...
-
News
German Minister calls for DFFF to be extended beyond 2009
German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck has called for the term of the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) to be extended beyond its initial three-year period of 2007-2009 after seeing its effectiveness in creating employment and income. The incentive scheme was launched on January 1 with an annual budget of $81.9m ...
-
News
Locarno's Maire sees attendance at main venue up 10%
Attendances at Locarno's main screening venue for the International Competition and Filmmakers of the Present Competition are up 9%-10% on last year, according to artistic director Frederic Maire in a review of his second edition heading up the festival.Speaking exclusively to ScreenDaily.com, Maire observed that the 2007 lineup for the ...
-
News
The Rebirth becomes Locarno's first Japanese winner since 1970
Masahiro Kobayashi's The Rebirth (Ai No Yokan) became the first Japanese film to receive the Golden Leopard since Akio Jissoji's The Transient Life (Mujo) was an ex aequo winner at the festival in 1970.Described by artistic director Frederic Maire as 'a very strong and edgy film', The Rebirth also received ...
-
News
Eichinger's Baader-Meinhof Komplex begins shooting in Berlin
Bernd Eichinger's ambitious production of Uli Edel's Der Baader Meinhof Komplex has begun principal photography in Berlin and will continue shooting later at locations in Munich and Morocco before wrapping at the end of November.This weekend, the adaptation of Stefan Aust's standard work on the Red Army Faction (RAF) terrorism ...
-
News
Open Doors awards go to projects from Syria, Israel and Egypt
Projects from Israel, Syria and Egypt received development and production awards today at the Locarno Film Festival's Open Doors co-production forum, which was dedicated to the Near and Middle Eastern cinema. The two grants of $41,890 (CHF 50,000) for development and production, provided by Switzerland's Agency for Development and Cooperation ...
-
News
Kinowelt International picks up Venice Days film Head Under Water
Kinowelt International has taken on international sales for Andreas Kleinert's thriller Head Under Water (Freischwimmer) which has been selected for its world premiere at this year's Venice Days sidebar at the end of the month. This is Kleinert's first feature film for almost ten years since his Paths In The ...
-
News
Waintrop named new head of Fribourg festival
Switzerland 's Fribourg International Film Festival (FIFF) has found a programmer for the 2008 edition, while Austria's Diagonale - Festival of Austrian Cinema will be looking for a new director from 2009. The appointment of French film critic Edouard Waintrop as programmer for the next edition of FIFF (March 1-8, ...
-
News
Ahead of Locarno premiere, Sejong takes on Nothing But Ghosts
South Korea's Sejong has picked up German director Martin Gypken's second feature Nothing But Ghosts (Nichts Als Gespenster) ahead of its world premiere screening on Locarno's Piazza Grande on Monday evening.Beta Cinema's head of sales Andreas Rothbauer confirmed to ScreenDaily.com in Locarno at the weekend that Sejong had acquired theatrical, ...
-
News
Locarno gets 10% funding increase from Swiss government
Switzerland's Federal Office of Culture (BAK) will increase its annual support for the Locarno Film Festival by more than 10% from the current $1m (CHF 1.2m) to $1.13m (CHF 1.35m) for the next three years (2008-2010). Speaking exclusively to ScreenDaily.com after the BAK announcement, Locarno's artistic director Frederic Maire commented ...
-
News
Financial challenges for future of Locarno festival
On the eve of the 60th edition of the Locarno International Film Festival, the future of the event's financial standing is in the headlines. Speaking to the Swiss daily newspaper Tagblatt, Locarno's artistic director Frederic Maire explained: 'We must increase the budget to around $9.1m (11m CHF). We hope that ...
-
News
Boll World Sales picks up English-language horror film Fear
Boll World Sales has picked up international distribution rights for Munich-based filmmaker Gerhard Hross' English-language horror film Fear which wraps principal photography in Berlin on July 30.Producer-director Uwe Boll is also serving as a co-financier for the low-budget production by Udo Bomnueter and Helmar Baum's Berlin-based Valerian Fear. Co-producers are ...
-
News
Stephen Daldry's The Reader gears up for Berlin shoot
Nicole Kidman is set to be the latest of the Hollywood A-listers coming to work in Berlin later this summer, following a long line of colleagues such as ex-husband Tom Cruise, Susan Sarandon, John Goodman, Richard Roundtree shooting in the German capital, according to German press reports.It has been revealed ...
-
News
Media Luna and Wide pick up Locarno competition films
Cologne-based sales company Media Luna Entertainment has picked up the world sales for Lugano-born Fulvio Bernasconi's feature debut Off The Ropes (Fuori Dalle Corde), which will have its world premiere in official competition at the Locarno International Film Festival next week.The story of a young Italian boxer from Trieste with ...
-
News
Bavaria takes on Free To Leave ahead of Locarno premiere
Bavaria Film International (BFI) has picked up Austrian director Peter Payer's fourth feature Free To Leave (Freigesprochen) ahead of its world premiere in official competition at next month's Locarno International Film Festival. A co-production between Austria's Lotus-Film and Luxembourg's Iris Productions, Payer's universal tale of guilt, lies and obsession ...
-
News
Martin Schuermann steps down as CEO of IM Internationalmedia
IM's CFO Sascha Konzack will now run the company on his own, Schuermann will continue as managing director of Intermedia Film Equities USA Martin Schuermann has stepped down from his post as CEO of IM Internationalmedia due to 'personal reasons' with immediate effect. He will continue to serve as the ...
-
News
Ulrich Muehe, star of Oscar-winning The Lives Of Others, dies aged 54
The German film industry is in mourning after the death at 54 of actor Ulrich Muehe, the star of Oscar-winning international success The Lives Of Others.Muehe, who played the secret police officer Gerd Wiesler in Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's feature about 1980s East Germany, had been diagnosed with cancer earlier ...
-
News
Constantin Film parts company with Schloendorff on Pope Joan
Leading German producer-distributor Constantin Film has fired the Oscar-winning director Volker Schloendorff from the adaptation of the Donna Cross bestseller Pope Joan.In a letter to Schloendorff, Martin Moszkowicz, member of the Constantin board, wrote that 'it is unfortunately no longer possible for us to make the film together. I have ...
-
News
Senator Film to release next Wenders' Palermo Shooting
Senator Film will release Wim Wenders' next feature film The Palermo Shooting, which begins shooting in Dusseldorf from September 17 before moving to Sicily.This is the second time Wenders and Senator have worked together after the director's internationally feted documentary Buena Vista Social Club took more than $7.5m (Euros 5.4m) ...
-
News
Tykwer eyes Babelsberg Studios for thriller The International
A day before shooting begins on the Tom Cruise World War II drama Valkyrie, local press reports have revealed that Babelsberg Studios is set to host its third Hollywood production this year with the shooting of Tom Tykwer's action thriller The International, starring Clive Owen and Naomi Watts, from September.According ...