All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 154
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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 ...
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Hof Film Days unveils festival programme
German documentariesare particularly strong at this year's International HofFilm Days (October 26-30) including world premieres of new films about musicianJohn Cale, a 'behind the scenes' look atthe casting couch in Hollywood, and thelegendary 1940s screenwriter 'Buzz' Bezzerides.Joerg Bundschuh's documentaryabout John Cale, ToTulsa And Back, is the first portrait ever made ...
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German box office woes continue in third quarter
Cinemaadmissions in Germany were down 27% and box office takings 25.5% less in thethird quarter between July and September compared to the same period last year,according to figures collated by Nielsen EDI.Thestatisticians noted that releases like Madagascar(Euros 34.6m), War Of The Worlds(Euros 16.5m) and the local film Die Weisse Masai ...
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Schloendorff, Kaurismaki projects win German funding
New films by Volker Schloendorff, Mika Kaurismaki,Angelina Maccarone, Ute Wieland and Djamshed Usmonov are among projectsreceiving production support from Filmstiftung NRW and MedienboardBerlin-Brandenburg (MBB) at their latest funding sessions.Veteran filmmaker Schloendorff received Euros 120,000from MBB for his historical drama Heldin Wider Willen about AnnaWalentynowicz, the initiator of the Solidarity movement ...
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Polish Film Centre chief named
Poland's Deputy Culture Minister AgnieszkaOdorowicz has been appointed by Culture Minister Waldemar Dabrowski as thedirector of the new Polish Film Centre (PISF).The new body, whichwill bring the activities of the Film Production Agency, Script Support Agencyand Polish Film Promotion together under one roof with an annual budget ofEuros 25m, is ...
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VIP Medienfonds chief arrested as part of tax probe
The troubles of the privateGerman media fund VIP Medienfonds took a dramatic turn on Wednesday (October 5)with news that its CEO Andreas Schmid has been arrested.Schmid was taken intocustody by the Munich's public prosecutor's office as it was feared he mightflee the country, leading German fund news service Fondstelegramm reportedtoday.Earlier ...
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Film, publishing industries to link up at Frankfurt Book Fair
Relationsbetween the publishing and film industries are to be intensified with a yetcloser collaboration between the Berlin International Film Festival and theFrankfurt Book Fair with the staging of joint industry events during thisyear's event between October 19-23.Thecollaboration was initially launched at the begining of this year with a seriesof professional ...
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Austria, Poland, Sweden, Norway name Oscar films
Austria, Poland and Swedenhave announced their contenders for the foreign language Oscar category.- Veteranfilmmaker Feliks Falk's The Collector (Komornik), which charts 48 hoursin the life of a ruthless debt collector, has been selected as the Polish entry.Falk's first film for ten years, The Collector was the bigwinner at the 30th ...
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Germany's TV-Loonland launches distribution arm
Family programmingspecialist TV-Loonland has launched its own theatrical and home entertainmentdistribution arm Loonland Pictures to market in-house and third partyproductions in Germany.The first title - Alan Simpson's animationfeature Heidi - will be released in collaboration with 20th Century Foxand NFP Marketing as distribution and marketing partners.The co-production between TV-Loonland, its ...
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Raneri takes over as interim head of Media Programme
Domenico Raneri, until now responsible foroverseeing the development action line of the European Union's MEDIA Programme,has taken over from Costas Daskalakis as the interim head of the MEDIA unit inBrussels.Although there hasn'tbeen an official unit head for MEDIA since Delmoly's exit last year, this postis now expected to be filled ...
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Top German fund VIP hit by tax evasion probe
BeleagueredGerman private film financier VIP Media Group has withdrawn its current fundsVIP 5 and 6 from the market after theoffice of Munich's public prosecutor began investigations this week intoalleged professional fraud and tax evasion.The authoritiesraided the Munich office and homesof VIP fund chief Andreas Schmid and other senior executives.The investigations ...