All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 142
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Germany's FFA backs next Glawogger film
New feature films fromAustria's Michael Glawogger, theatre/film director Leander Hausmann and the directorialduo Marcus Mittermeier and Jan Henrik Stahlberg are among seven projectsawarded a total of $2.8m (Euros 2.25m) production support by the German FederalFilm Board (FFA).Glawogger received $313,937(Euros 250,000) for Contact High, thesequel to his comedy Nacktschnecken, which will ...
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Berlinale gets cooking with new culinary cinema sidebar
Berlinale festivaldirector Dieter Kosslick is introducing a new film programme of features,documentaries and shorts entitled Look & Cook - Culinary Cinema at the 2007festival. Held at the Wintergartenvariete theatre ten minutes away from Potsdamer Platz, the programme will includescreenings complemented by discussions and tastings as top German chefs will beinvited ...
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New fees and passes planned for Berlin market
The organisers of nextyear's European Film Market (EFM) in Berlin (Feb 8-18, 2007) will now be offering film professionals three waysof attending the market.As EFM deputy director KarenArikian told ScreenDaily.com, the EFMwill have "alternatives which were not in place before. For example, forthe first time, we are offering EFM attendees ...
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Novkovic wins hat-trick of awards at Cottbus festival
Serbiandirector Oleg Novkovic scored a hat-trick at this year's FilmFestival Cottbus(Nov 14-18) when his latest feature Tomorrow Morning (Sutra Ujutru) won the Main Prize for Best Film, the FIPRESCI Prize and thenewly-created From Cottbus to Cinema Distribution Support Prize.This Novkovicthird film to show at the festival of East European Cinema, ...
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Polish Insitute backs new films from Loach and Zelenka
Newfeature projects by Ken Loach, Petr Zelenka and Oliver Parker are among sixinternational co-productions supported with a total of $4.1m (Zlotys 12.8m) bythe Polish Film Institute in its latest round of funding. Loach's These Times, which hasproducer-distributor SPIInternational as its Polish co-producer, received $176,376 (ZL 546,508)production support. The Polish elements ...
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Warsaw jury goes euphoric for Vyrypaev's debut
Russian dramatist Ivan Vyrypaev's feature film debut Euphoria was the winner of the Grand Prix inthe New Films, New Directors competition at this year's Warsaw InternationalFilmFest. Announcing the winner at the awards ceremony on Saturdayevening, jury president Petr Zelenka said that the choice of the drama about alove triangle on ...
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Wortmann's football doc sets new record in Germany
SoenkeWortmann's "fly on the wall" football documentary Deutschland. Ein Sommermaerchen hasbroken Germany's record for the most successful documentary release, which hadbeen held previously by another Kinowelt title, The March Of The Penguins, which hadposted 1.45m admissions. Accordingto Kinowelt's head of press Martin Wieandt, the Little SharkEntertainment/WDR-WDR mediagroup production was expected ...
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Wajda starts shoot for Katyn massacre film
Veteran Polish director Andrzej Wajda has begunshooting of his long-cherished project PostMortem about the Katyn massacre of 1940 at locations near Krakow.The $5.2m (Zloty 16m) Polish-French co-production byAkson Studio with Margaret Menegoz's Les Films du Losange as minority partnerhas received $1.9m (Zloty 6m) backing from the Polish Film Institute, $564,884(Euros ...
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Margaret von Schiller departs Berlinale Panorama
TheBerlinale's Panorama section has announced personnel changes as part of the restructuringof the past few months that has seen the Panorama Short Film programme mergedwith that of the Official Competition.In apersonal communique, Panorama's director Wieland Speck revealed that Margaretvon Schiller, who had become his successor as Panorama shorts programmer in1992, ...
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Yacoubian Building wins best debut in Zurich
Egyptian filmmaker MarwanHamed's The Yacoubian Building (OmaretYacoubian) won the Golden Eye Awardin the Best Debut category at this year's Zurich Film Festival, which ended onSunday.The International Jury,headed by veteran US producer EdwardR. Pressman, noted its appreciation of the film's approach of'using classic melodrama to discuss issues and conflicts in Egyptiansociety ...
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Yacoubian Building takes Golden Eye at Zurich
Egyptian filmmaker Marwan Hamed's The Yacoubian Building (Omaret Yacoubian) won the Golden Eye Award in the best debut category at this year's Zurich Film Festival.The International Jury, headed by veteran US producer Edward R. Pressman, praised the film's approach of "using classic melodrama to discuss issues and conflicts in ...
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Pecs unveils Central European Pitch Forum
Screenwriters from Centraland Eastern Europe could have betterchances of finding a producer to come onboard their projectthanks to theCentralEuropean Pitch Forum (CEPF) initiative which was unveiled at the Pecs InternationalFilm Festival in Hungary this week.The event, which is to beheld for the first time in Pecs ina year's time, has ...
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Franka Potente to play Pope Joan
Germany's FrankaPotente is to play the lead in Volker Schloendorff's long-gestating adaptationof Donna Cross' novel Pope Joan.Cross'bestseller tells the story of Johanna von Ingelheim, who succeeded in enteringthe highest ranks of the Roman clergy disguised as a man and was elected Popein 853 - a story the Vatican claims is ...
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First sales for Golden Shell winner Half Moon
The Match Factory hasconcluded its first deals for Bahman Ghobadi's Golden Shell winner Half Moon, with sales to GolemDistribution (Spain), Providence Filmes (Brazil) and Cinemien (Netherlands,Belgium), while negotiations are underway for the UK, Scandinavian and LatinAmerican territories.In addition to winning theGolden Shell ex aequo, Half Moon hadreceived the San Sebastian ...
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Macedonia set to become Film City
Macedonia is to be established as a"one-stop shop" for the digital entertainment industry, according toplans by Collaborative Media Group (CMG) to create the Film City Macedonia with support from theMayor of Skopje, the Government of the Republic of Macedonia, and the United StatesAgency for International Development (USAID).CMGwas founded as an ...
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Bavaria takes on rights to Miguel & William
BavariaFilm International has picked up world sales rights outside ofSpain for Spanish director Ines Paris' Miguel & William, about a fictitiousencounter between Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare and their rivalryin love of a beautiful woman.Featuring Spain's European Shooting Star 2004 ElenaAnaya, the UK's Will Kemp, double Goya-winner JuanLuis Galiardo ...
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Macedonia submits Kontakt for Oscar race
Sergei Stanojkovksi'sfeature debut Kontakt has beensubmitted by Macedonia as its national entry for the Academy Awards' Best ForeignLanguage Film category.Starring Labina Mitevska and Nikola Kojo, the Macedonian-German co-productionbetween Skopje Film Studio and Busse & Halberschmidt Filmproduktion had itsworld premiere at last year's Manaki Brothers International CinematographersFilm Festival in Macedonia's Bitola ...
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Switzerland selects Murer's Vitus as Oscar pick
Switzerland has chosen its foreign-language Oscar candidate,Fredi M. Murer's Vitus. The veteran film-maker'sdrama is about a wunderkind dreaming of flying and having a normal childhood. The seven-person nationaljury said it made its decision based on "the film's quality, itscommercial success in Switzerland (so far 200,000 admissions), itsparticipation in more than ...
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Filmstiftung NRW backs Loach and Spottiswoode
International co-productionslead the line-up of new feature film projects backed in the latest $3.8m (Euros3m) funding round from Duesseldorf-based Filmstiftung NRW International.The regional public fund hasawarded backing to Ken Loach's next project TheseTimes, which is being written by his regular collaborator Paul Laverty andwill be co-produced by The Wind ThatShakes ...
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Austria submits You Bet Your Life for Oscar consideration
Antonin Svoboda'sdirectorial debut You Bet Your Life(Spiele Leben) has been submittedas Austria's submission for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 2007Oscars.Starring Georg Friedrichand Brigitte Minichmayr, You Bet Your Life is the story of a gambler who quite literally begins to gamble his lifeaway and was shown at last ...