All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 146
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Filmstiftung NRW puts $3.64m into six new films
New projects by Rolf Schuebel, Fatih Akin, Ulla Wagner, and Tony Loeser are among six feature films awarded more than $3.64m (Euros 3m) by North Rhine-Westphalia's regional film fund Filmstiftung NRW at its latest funding session. The largest amount -- $969,719 (Euros 800,000) -- went to Rolf Schuebel's English-language drama ...
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Fewer sections and films planned for Locarno 2006
This year's edition of the Locarno International Film Festival (August 2-12, 2006) will jettison two sections and show fewer films, the festival's annual meeting was told in Locarno on Monday evening. The new artistic director Frederic Maire announced that the Video and Human Rights sidebars would not be continued in ...
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Theatrical drives big leap in Kinowelt profits
Theresurrected Kinowelt Group trebled its year-on-year annual profits to $4.3m (Euros3.6m) on revenues of $95.1m (Euros 78.5m), up 41%TheLeipzig-based group says the "extraordinarily high" growth in overallturnover was largely thanks to the success of the theatrical division with suchreleases as Mr & Mrs. Smith (3.5m admissions) and TheMarch Of The ...
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Senator upbeat after end of insolvency crisis
SenatorEntertainment's CEO Christopher Borgmann has struck an upbeat note on the Berlin-based producer-distributor's future afterthe company was officially withdrawn from insolvency proceedings.According to Borgmann, the slimmed-down company will now work "atfull stretch" to build its activities again with a concentration onthe (co)production and distribution of German feature films as well ...
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Constantin receives $4.2m from German Federal Film Board
Constantin Film has been named the most successful Germanproducer and distributor of 2005 after picking up a total of $4.2m (Euros 3.5m)retroactive "reference funding" from the German Federal Film Board (FFA) to invest in new filmprojects and distribution campaigns.Thiswas the second year running that Constantin hadreceived this double honour at ...
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Constantin Film sets itself a sales target of $302m for 2006
Germanproducer-distributor Constantin Film has set itself asales target of $302m (Euros 250m) for 2006, which would top the $298m (Euros 246.9m)posted in the record yearof 2004 when Constantin released Dreamship Surprise - Period 1 and Downfall.Thisforecast for 2006 is based on the anticipated theatrical performance of suchin-house and co-productions as ...
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VIP investors file for damages estimated at $30m
More than 200investors in the beleaguered VIP 3 and 4 private media funds have become the first to file fordamages.The claims against the German fund are estimated at around $30m (Euros 25m). The plaintiffs claim VIP Medienfondsprospectuses were misleading and that not all of the equity raisedwas actually channelled into ...
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Russian and Polish films are the focus of goEast festival
Filmmakingfrom Russia and Poland will be the focus of this year's goEast- Festival of Central and East European Cinema in Wiesbaden (April 5-11).Apart from athree-day symposium on mainstream Russian cinema and a roundtable on new trendsin the Russian film industry, the festival will include a homage to Polishactor-director Jerzy Stuhrand ...
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First Danish-Austrian co-productions unveiled
ZentropaEntertainments and DOR-Film are to be partners on the first ever Danish-Austrianco-production with Jacob Thuesen's Erik Nietzsche - The Early Years. Thisalso marks the first collaboration between national public funds the DanishFilm Institute (DFI) and the Austrian Film Institute who are backing theproject that previously had Lone Scherfig attached asdirector. ...
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German Federal Film Board backs 11 projects with over $5.7m
Newfeature films by Marco Kreuzpaintner, Fatih Akin, Peter Timm and Ben Verbong are among 11 projects backed with over $5.7m (Euros4.8m) by the German Federal Film Board in its latest funding session.Thelargest amount $961,399 (Euros 800,0000) went to Kreuzpaintner'sadaptation of the children's classic Krabat for Claussen + Woebke Filmproduktion, while$841,365 ...
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Haneke adds Austrian prize to list of honours
Michael Haneke's drama Hidden(Cache) took the Diagonale GrandPrix for best Austrian feature film 2005/2006at this year's annual celebration of Austrian cinema in Graz.The film has already won a longlist of awards including the best director and FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes and theEuropean Film Award for best European Film of 2005.In ...
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Crossing Europe Film Festival launches Austrian Screenings
This year's CrossingEurope Film Festival in Linz (April 25 - 30) is launching the AustrianScreenings to give international film festival programmers and buyers theopportunity to view new Austrian films.The Screenings programme,which has been compiled in collaboration with the Austrian Film Commission, Sixpack Film, the Diagonale, theAustrian Film Institute and the ...
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Nominations announced for German Film Awards
Florian Henckelvon Donnersmarck's feature debut Das Leben Der Anderenand Hans-Christian Schmid's Berlinalecompetition film Requiem dominatedthe nominations for this year's"Lola" German Film Awards which will be presented in Berlinon May 12.Von Donnersmarck's thriller, whichBuena Vista International opened in German cinemas March 23, picked up eleven nominationsincluding Best Film, Best Direction and ...
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Haneke slams Austrian producer's body funding plans
Austria's leadinginternational filmmaker Michael Haneke (Hidden)has spoken out against proposals by the Austrian Producers Association toconcentrate public film funding on the makers of commercially successful films.Speaking at the first offour roundtables on the state of Austrian film production at this week's Diagonale - Festival of Austrian Cinema, Haneke said: "If ...
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German producers look to the Balkans for success
Champagnecorks may have popped in Sarajevo after Jasmila Zbanic's debut feature Grbavicawon the Golden Bear at last month's Berlinale - but celebrationswere not confined to Bosnia and Herzegovina.Therewas also cause for jubilation in Germany: Didi Danquart's Karlsruhe-based noirfilm was one of the co-producers, along with Austria'scoop99, Zbanic's own company Deblokadaand ...
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Garpastum picks up best film at Sofia Film Festival
AlekseiGerman Jr.'s story of four friends on the eve of theFirst World War Garpastumwon the Stella Artois Grand Prix for Best Film at theSofia International Film Festival 10th anniversary edition which ended on March18.In itsmotivation, the International Jury headed by Russian critic Andrei Plakhov said that the film "deals in ...
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Strong documentary presence at Diagonale
The documentary genre willbe particularly strong at this year's Diagonale - Festival of Austrian Cinemawhich is being opened in Graz on March 21 with FlorianFlicker's No Name City about a WildWest town theme park south of Vienna.Among the 22 newdocumentaries selected to screen are Elisabeth Scharang'sTintenfischalarm (which had its world ...
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Sofia Meetings co-production forum unveils line-up
Tensecond feature film projects have been selected for this year's third editionof the Sofia Meetings co-production forum (March 17-18). During the two day event,filmmakers will have an opportunity to pitch to more than 50 internationalproducers and film funds.The line-upincludes three filmmakers who have films screening in Sofia International Filmfestival's International ...
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Aardman's double triumph at European animation awards
TheUK's Aardman Animations scored a double triumph by taking home two of theCartoon Movie Tributes voted on by representatives of the European animationindustry attending this year's co-production forum at the Babelsberg Studiosfrom March 9-11.Thefilmmaking duo Nick Park and Steve Box were named Best European Director of theYear for Wallace & ...
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Eurimages puts more than $4.2m into nine projects
Strasbourg-based pan-European co-production fund Eurimages has backed nineprojects with more than $4.2m (Euros 3.6m).The first funding selection of 2006 includes new features by the Taviani brothers, Carlos Saura, Nana Djordjadze, and Milcho Manchevski. The largest sum, $772,849 (Euros 650,000) was awarded tothe Tavianis' story of the massacre of the Armenianpeople ...