All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 151
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Gravehopping on top at record-breaking Cottbus
JanCvitkovic's Gravehopping was named best film at this year's Cottbus Festival of East European Cinema.TheSlovenian-Croatian co-production, which was also awarded the New DirectorsAward at this year's San Sebastian Film Festival and opened the LjubljanaInternational Film Festival last week, also received the Prize of theEcumenical Jury.Thisyear's International Jury Special Prize went ...
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Screen heroines focus for Berlinale anniversary
The30th anniversary edition of the Berlinale Retrospective next February will bededicated to the screen heroines of the 1950s.EntitledDream Girls. Film Stars of the Fifties, itthe will focus on the portrayal of femininity in international films of thepost-war period.Berlinalefestival director Dieter Kosslick said the imagery reflected the changes andcontradictions of the ...
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Media fund reprieve is just stay of execution
German media funds in their current form have little chance of survival, despite a change of government and yet another late reprieve.The funds have been a popular way of raising capital for film, allowing investors to offset losses against personal income tax.But it was clear that they were a lucrative ...
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Lucky thirteen pitch to producers at Cottbus
Thirteenprojects will be pitched to potential production partners during this year'stwo-day Connecting Cottbus co-development forum between November 10-11.Theyinclude new films from:Bulgaria's Art Fest, co-producer of the omnibus film Lost And Found; Germany's Noirfilm, producer of Didi Danquart's Offset; ...
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German Media Funds under imminent threat, say reports
German Federal Finance Minister Hans Eichel is reported to be submitting a motion forcabinet approval which would spell the end of the media funds by the end ofthis week.Accordingto German press reports, the Federal Cabinet will be asked to vote on changesto the Income Tax Code by Thursday (Nov 10). ...
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European quartet head for New York Industry Screenings
A re-edited version of Florian Hoffmeister's Silver Leopard winner Three Degrees Colder is one of four European films being presented at European Film Promotion's (EFP) first New York Industry Screenings programme at the Tribeca Cinemas from November 14 - 15.The other films selected for the private, invitation-only screenings are: Eleven ...
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Four films picked for WCF funding
Inits third round of funding, the Berlin-based World Cinema Fund (WCF) hasselected four projects for production support and one project to back forGerman theatrical distribution.Theproduction funding went to Faro, La Reine Des Eaux, dir: Salif Traore (Mali), German co-producer: Bärbel Mauch Film (funding: $72,400 ...
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Celluloid Dreams handles international sales on Atomised
CelluloidDreams is to handle international sales for Oskar Roehler's adaptation ofcontroversial French author Michel Houellebecq's best-selling novel Atomised(Elementarteilchen) which is currently in post-productionand may premiere at next year's Berlinale.Theco-production between Constantin Film and MOOVIE - the art of entertainment isthe first of Constantin's local in-house productions to be handled by ...
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Media Luna adds dance doc to AFM slate
Onthe eve of the AFM, Cologne-based sales company Media Luna has added ArneBirkenstock's documentary 12 Tangos -Adios Buenos Aires to its market line-up.Producedby Fruitmarket - Kultur undMedien and TradewindPictures, 12 Tangos follows the livesof several tango dancers in crisis-ridden Buenos Aires where the dance wasoriginally created by European immigrants.Theacquisition by ...
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Hof hits new heights
This year's International Hof Film Days attracted a record 28,000 admissions in five days.Amongthe highlights at this year's annual gathering of the German film communitywere Andreas Dresen's Summer In Berlin (Sommer VormBalkon), EoinMoore's Im Schwitzkasten,Alain Gsponer's Roseand Veit Helmer'sdocumentary Behind The Couch - Casting InHollywood.Gsponer won the Eastman Support Prize ...
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Hof hits new heights
TheInternational Hof Film Days posted record attendancewith 28,000 admissions in five days.Amongthe highlights at this year's annual gathering of the German film communitywere Andreas Dresen's Summer In Berlin (Sommer VormBalkon), EoinMoore's Im Schwitzkasten,Alain Gsponer's Roseand Veit Helmer'sdocumentary Behind The Couch - Casting InHollywood.Gsponer won the Eastman Support Prize for NewcomerTalents ...
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Bavaria adds Heaven, Offside to AFM slate
Bavaria Film International has added two new titles - Ed Herzog's Almost Heaven and BuketAlakus' Offside(Eine Andere Liga) - to its market slate for the upcoming AFM nextmonth.Herzog's feelgood movie about a wannabee German country singer mistaking Jamaica forNashville stars Heike Makatsch, WotanWilke Moehring and Ivan Shvedoff, and was released ...
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Ex-Egoli Tossell exec Damian unveils 27 Films' debut slate
Former Egoli TossellFilm executive Oliver Damian has set up his own production outfit 27 FilmsProduction to develop and produce international co-productions, with aparticular focus on projects from Eastern Europe and Asia. Among 27 Films' first projects are Oscar-nominated Georgian directorNana Djordjadze's fantasy comedy The Rainbow Maker; Sidewayscinematographer Phedon Papamichael'sdirectorial debut ...
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Austrian film-makers sign up for Mozart project
Ulrich Seidl, Jessica Hausner, Michael Glawogger, Goran Rebic and Bady Minck are among 28 Austrian-based filmmakers participatingin The Mozart Minute film project for the Wiener Mozartjahr2006 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Wolfgang AmadeusMozart.Speaking to ScreenDaily.com at the Viennale this week, project coordinator Christine Dollhofer explained that ...
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Question mark hangs over German media funds
Germany's mediafunds have been thrown into disarray by speculation that the new governmentunder Chancellor Angela Merkel is intending to revive the previousadministration's tax reform plans in mid-November to put an end to theold-style media funds.Until now, it had been assumed within the film industry and fund sectorthat the new German ...
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Haneke's Hidden rejected as Oscar entry
Austria has become thesecond country after Italy to have its candidate for the Foreign Language FilmOscar category rejected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences(AMPAS).The Academy said thatAustria's submission, Michael Haneke's Frenchlanguage Hidden (Cache), had not been predominantly shot in the officiallanguage of the submitting country.Austrian film industry's'umbrella' ...
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Kinowelt takes German rights to Hood's Tsotsi
Kinowelthas acquired all German rights for Gavin Hood's gangster drama Tsotsi which wonthe People's Choice Award at last month's Toronto International Film festivaland the Michael Powell Award and the Audience Award in Edinburgh in August.Kinoweltplans to release the film in German cinemas in early 2006, but will have itsGerman premiere ...
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Berlin boosts film funding coffers
The BerlinSenate has increased its backing for Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg (MBB) this year by Euros 1.5m to bringthe regional fund's overall budget for film funding and location marketing toEuros 17.9m."We canreally use these additional funds as the run of film producers onBerlin-Brandenburg continues undiminished," noted MBB managing directorKirsten Niehuus who pointed ...
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Balkan films emerge as big winners at Warsaw festival
Balkancinema was the big winner at this year's Warsaw International FilmFest (Oct7-16) taking home three of the top prizes. TheInternational Jury headed by Polish-born UK director Pawel Pawlikowski gave theNescafe Grand Prix for Best Film in the 'New Films, New Directors'international competition to Croatian filmmaker Ognjen Svilicic's comic drama SorryFor ...
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German-US investors take over Senator Entertainment
A German-US group of investors, headed byCologne-based media lawyer Helge Sasseand German-born, Los Angeles-based independent producer Marco Weber (Igby Goes Down, The 13th Floor), has acquired amajority 50.1% interest in insolvent distributor-producer Senator Entertainment.Sasse and Weber struck the deal with Deutsche Bank and a consortium offinancial investors, who are to ...