All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 158

  • News

    Tom Tykwer leads Eurimages Euros 3.9m grant share out

    2005-07-01T00:00:00Z

    New feature films by TomTykwer (Perfume), Roy Andersson (Du Levande) and Alain Berliner (GeneAstaire) are among 12 projects awarded a total of Euros 3.9m by the Councilof Europe's pan-European co-production fund Eurimages.The largest amount - Euros600,000 - went to Tykwer's adaptation of Patrick Sueskind's bestseller Perfume- The Story Of A ...

  • News

    Picturehouse boards Genghis Khan epic

    2005-06-30T00:00:00Z

    Munich-based sales agent Beta Cinema has announced that Picturehouse - HBO and New Line Cinema's newly-formeddistribution venture - has picked up the North American rights for Sergei Bodrov's forthcomingfeature film Mongol - TheEarly Years Of Genghis Khan. This follows sales to the Benelux, Brazil and Australia & New Zealand.The news ...

  • News

    Latin American productions boosted by Berlinale fund

    2005-06-29T00:00:00Z

    Planned productions fromLatin America have attracted most support at the latest funding session of theBerlinale's World Cinema Fund (WCF). Five features and one distributioncampaign will share Euros 195,000 ($235,445) from the body's latest round of awards.Fund manager Vincenzo Bugnostressed: 'The majority of the submissions came from Latin America for thefunding ...

  • News

    Lighthouse shines on Zwick, Joffe projects

    2005-06-28T04:00:00Z

    New feature projects by MyBig Fat Greek Wedding director Joel Zwick and veteran UK film-maker RolandJoffe are set to be backed by the new Lighthouse Films media fund, which hasbeen launched by the Munich-based Lighthouse Structured Finance GmbH.Three of the projects on theLighthouse slate - Zwick's romantic comedy Red Lips, ...

  • News

    Munich Previews notch sales to Spain, Australia

    2005-06-28T04:00:00Z

    The Munich Previews, amarket taster for the Munich Film Festival, have seen some early business, with Beta Cinema, and Kinowelt International allconcluding deals.Spain's Civite has picked upPeter Lichtefeld's Playa Del Futuro, which screened in competition atthe Shanghai International Film Festival this month, from Kinowelt, while BetaCinema confirmed that Sergei Bodrov's ...

  • News

    Bavaria takes aim with African football doc

    2005-06-28T00:00:00Z

    Bavaria Film Internationalhas taken international sales for Africa United, ahead of its worldpremiere in Karlovy Vary's Documentary Competition on July 6.Directed by Olaf Johannessonand shot on location in Iceland, Serbia, Morocco, England and Germany, itfollows a football-crazy coach and his team - immigrants from Morocco, Nigeria,Columbia, Serbia, Kosovo, Gambia and ...

  • News

    German box office takes another tumble

    2005-06-27T04:00:00Z

    The German cinema industry learned that box-office takings forthe second quarter of 2005 were even worse than in the first three months(Screen Daily, April 2005).The news came as this year's Munich Film Festival kicked off with Zola Maseko's Drumat the weekend.Accordingto figures compiled by Nielsen EDI, there was a year-on-year ...

  • News

    German media funds win reprieve

    2005-06-24T00:00:00Z

    Germany'smedia funds areback in business - at least, for the time being.The German government's proposed taxreforms, which would have seen the old-style media funds axed, have beenabandoned. But the reprieve could prove to be temporary for the funds,which, according to analysts, raised $16bn ($13bn Euros) between1997 and 2004, 80% of ...

  • News

    Kosslick extends Berlinale contract by another five years

    2005-06-24T00:00:00Z

    Dieter Kosslick willcontinue to serve as festival director at the Berlin International FilmFestival for at least another five years.A spokesman for Germany'sState Minister of Culture Christina Weiss confirmed to ScreenDaily.com that thedecision to extend 57-year-old Kosslick's contract had been made at a sittingof the supervisory board of the Kulturveranstaltungen des ...

  • News

    Wenders and Kiarostami to be honoured at Locarno

    2005-06-22T12:20:00Z

    Inan 'exceptional step' this year the Locarno Film Festival (August3-13) has decided to award two Leopards of Honour to filmmakers Wim Wenders andAbbas Kiarostami. Theyare hailed as 'illustrious representatives of diverse but nonethelesscomplementary ways of making films, both ambassadors of their cultures indifferent contexts around the globe.'WhileWenders - who ...

  • News

    Wenders and Kiarostami to be honoured at Locarno

    2005-06-22T12:20:00Z

    Inan "exceptional step" this year the Locarno Film Festival (August3-13) has decided to award two Leopards of Honour to filmmakers Wim Wenders andAbbas Kiarostami.Theyare hailed as "illustrious representatives of diverse but nonethelesscomplementary ways of making films, both ambassadors of their cultures indifferent contexts around the globe."WhileWenders - who will turn ...

  • News

    Intermedia pushes into TV and lower-budget genre film

    2005-06-21T00:00:00Z

    Terminator 3 and Alexander producer Intermedia Films hasconcluded three separate international production deals as part of the group's streamlining of itsdevelopment and production activities and its expansion into televisionproduction.Intermedia, IMInternationalmedia's Los Angeles-based subsidiary, has come to agreement "in principle" with the Cologne-basedproduction house Action Concept on a feature film co-production ...

  • News

    Distributors flock to German Films' previews

    2005-06-20T17:30:00Z

    Morethan 40 international film distributors and TV film buyers will attend German Films' Munich Previews starting on Wednesday.NewLine Cinema, Focus Features, the UK's Soda Pictures, France's MK2, Hungary'sBudapest Film, and Russia's Most Media are among the visitors to the event atthe Munich Filmfest.Othercompanies confirmed include the UK's City Screen, Poland's ...

  • News

    Distributors flock to German Films' preview event

    2005-06-20T09:00:00Z

    Morethan 40 international film distributors and TV film buyers will attend the German Films' Munich Previews starting on Wednesday.NewLine Cinema, Focus Features, the UK's Soda Pictures, France's MK2, Hungary'sBudapest Film, and Russia's Most Media are among the visitors to the event atthe Munich Filmfest.Othercompanies confirmed include the UK's City Screen, ...

  • News

    Kinowelt snares Drum, Prokino gets Hidden

    2005-06-17T00:00:00Z

    Kinowelt has acquired all rights for German speakingterritories (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) to Zola Maseko's SouthAfrica-set drama Drum which will be theopening film at this year's Munich Film Festival on June 24.The co-production between VIP 2 Medienfonds, ArmadaPictures, Nova Films, and Black Roots Productions is set to open in Germancinemas ...

  • News

    Bignardi to step down as Locarno artistic director

    2005-06-17T00:00:00Z

    This year's edition of the Locarno International FilmFestival (August 3-13) will be the last one under the mantle of artisticdirector Irene Bignardi.Bignardi, 62, said that she had made it clear from thebeginning that she hadn't wanted to head the festival for any longer than fiveyears. She described her time at ...

  • News

    Eichinger extends contract at Constantin

    2005-06-15T00:00:00Z

    Bernd Eichinger has extended his existingproducer contract with leading independent German production house ConstantinFilm until March 31, 2009.The agreement ensures that Eichinger will continue to produceexclusively for Constantin and also make him available to the company as aconsultant for productions which he is not responsible for as producer.Since taking over ...

  • News

    Top Russian festival digs Lungin's Roots

    2005-06-13T00:00:00Z

    PavelLungin's latest feature film Roots swept the board at the"Kinotavr" Open Russian Film Festival in the Black Sea resort ofSochi, winning four awards and one special mention.Thetragicomedy, which was produced as a Russian-French co-production, received theKrasnodar Territory Government's Prize, the Jury's Grand Prix and the BestScreenplay Award for Gennady Ostrovsky. ...

  • News

    Hoffman confirmed to star in Tykwer's Perfume

    2005-06-01T04:00:00Z

    Ending weeks of speculation, Germany'sConstantin Film Produktion has now officially confirmed that US star DustinHoffman will play one of the leads in Tom Tykwer's forthcoming adaptation ofPatrick Sueskind's international bestseller Perfume.Hoffman has been cast as the perfumer GiuseppeBaldini, with the young UK actor Ben Whishaw (Enduring Love) taking onthe part ...

  • News

    German DVD market soars to new record

    2005-05-30T04:00:00Z

    Turnover from sell-through and rental videos and DVDsreached a new record high in the first three months of this year, according tofigures compiled by GfK Panel Services Consumer Research for the video tradeassociation BVV.GfK's statistics showed revenues in the German homeentertainment market increasing by 12.8% from the previous record result ...