All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 163
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News
Bavaria wraps Surprise sales
Bavaria Film International (BFI) has concluded a number ofsales for the German 2004 blockbuster Dreamship Surprise - Period 1 after its market premiere at MIFED.While Pony Canyon secured all rights for Japan, Believen picked up the sci-fi spoof forRussia, Intwest for Ukraine, Discovery for ex-Yugoslvaia and Best Hollywood forHungary, ...
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Hof Film Days unveils festival line-up
New features by Anno Saul (Kebab Connection),Cyril Tuschi (Sommer Hunde Soehne), Andrew Hood (Das Apfelbaumhaus)and Gil Mehmert (Aus der Tiefe Des Raumes) are among a raft of worldpremieres of German films at this year's Hof International Film Days (Oct27-31) which will be opening with Dennis Gansel's Karlovy Vary prize-winner Napola.Internationally ...
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Africa added to German coproduction market
Feature film projects from South Africa looking forfinancing will be presented for the first time at this year's MannheimCoproduction Meetings during the Mannheim-Heidelberg International FilmFestival (November 18-27).Among the African projects selected for pitching topotential co-producers are Robyn Aronstam's TheJoyous, which will be executive produced by John Boorman; Akin Omotoso's The ...
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Germany mulls sale and leaseback scheme
Germany's State Minister for Culture and MediaChristina Weiss has called for the introduction of a tax incentive system onthe lines of the British sale and leaseback model.Speaking to the German weekly magazine DerSpiegel, Weiss criticised the current situation where the US film industryhad been the prime beneficiary of the country's ...
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Fahrenheit to hit TV screens in Germany, Spain
Michael Moore's Fahrenheit9/11 is to play on television in Germany and Spain in the next ten days,just before the US presidential elections.The move comes asMoore struggles to find a US broadcaster to play his film ahead of theelection.Cable broadcaster In Demand had planned to carry TheMichael Moore Pre-Election Special on ...
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GERMANY 19 October
After four weeks at the top, The Downfall had to make way for the new Dreamworks animationfeature Shark Tale which dived in atNo. 1 with a $3.5m opening weekend and a $5,139 screen average from its 684prints.However, this was only the third best screen average for theweekend behind Oskar Roehler's ...
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Jaoui's Image to open Vienna festival
Agnes Jaoui's Comme Une Image will open this year'sVienna International Film Festival (Oct 15-27) which has programmed 298 filmsfrom 44 countries.The Viennale's extensive programme includes Olivier Assayas'Clean, Jonathan Demme's The Manchurian Candidate, Cedric Kahn's FeuxRouges and Mark Mildgard's debut Dandelion.There is also a tribute to Amos Vogel, the founder of ...
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New Line, Internationalmedia to tap new German equity
New productions by New Line and Internationalmedia are setto benefit from financing provided by two German private media funds.Having previously worked with Paramount Pictures on Mission: Impossible 2, Shaft and Rules Of Engagement, German fund specialist Alcas has launched theMACRON Filmproduktion GmbH & Co. Projekt 1 KG fund to raise ...
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Verhoeven, Tanovic win Eurimages funding
New feature projects by Danis Tanovic, Paul Verhoeven andPierre Paul Renders are among 13 European co-productions backed with over Euros4.4m by the Strasbourg-based co-production fund Eurimages in its latest roundof funding.The largest amounts went to Tanovic's Hell (Euros 600,000),which was written by Krzysztof Piesiewicz for the late Krzysztof Kieslowski aspart ...
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GERMANY 12 October
Takings may have slipped week-on-week by 20%, but OliverHirschbiegel's The Downfall stillreigns supreme at the German box office for the fourth week in a row - just.The World War II drama received serious competition from Steven Spielberg's The Terminal which grossed $3.3m from502 screens and had the weekend's best screen ...
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Euros 50m German fund lines up US indie projects
US independent producers Inferno Distribution, Bob YariProductions and Internationalmedia are being lined up as possible sources ofprojects for a new Academy Film Fund launched by ABN Amro's private bankDelbrueck Bethmann Maffei (DBM).The Academy Film Fund aims to have a volume of at leastEuros 50m and would finance the production of ...
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Berlinale launches World Cinema Fund
After three years ofpreparation, the Berlinale's World Cinema Fund (WCF) has been launched with anannual budget of Euros 500,000. The funds are to be provided over the nextthree years by the German Federal Cultural Foundation to support the productionand distribution of films from Latin America, Africa, and the MiddleEast/Central Asia.According ...
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GERMANY 5 October
Constantin's The Downfall - Germany's entry for theForeign Language Oscar - held on to the top spot for a third week in a row andpassed the 2m admissions barrier with a total gross of over $18.3m.With Les Choristes slipping out of the Top10, another Constantin release - Franziska Buch's family ...
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Molfenter named as Babelsberg managing director
Babelsberg's new owners have appointed Henning Molfenter asmanaging director of Studio Babelsberg Motion Pictures (SBMP).It is the first major personnel decision made by CarlWoebcken and Christoph Fisser since they officially took over the German studiosfrom Vivendi Universal on September 1.Molfenter replaces Thierry Potok, who attempted anunsuccessful management buyout of the ...
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Bier's Brothers wins again
Susanne Bier's Brothershas won the Hamburg Film Critics' Prize, which was awarded at theFilmfest Hamburg for the first time this year. The win comes just days after Brothers won two best acting Golden Shells at the SanSebastian film festival.The critics' jury - which included representatives ofthe Der Spiegel and Stern ...
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Bavaria takes on (T)Raumschiff Surprise sales
Bavaria Film International will handle theinternational sales for Michael "Bully" Herbig's local blockbuster (T)RaumschiffSurprise - Period 1 which has been seen by over nine million cinema-goersin Germany this year. It is currently the territory's most successful releasewith a box-office gross of over Euros 50m.The sci-fi spoof will have its market ...
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US studios return to tap German funds
20th Century Fox, New Line and Universal Studiosare looking to benefit once more from three new placements by German privatemedia funds this autumn.German fund specialist DCM Deutsche CapitalManagement (DCM) is launching a new fund to raise Euros 150m for projects to beproduced at 20th Century Fox.DCM has previously collaborated withInternationalmedia ...
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GERMANY 28 September
Oliver Hirschbiegel's TheDownfall easily defended the top spot from new releases in its second week,increasing its box-office takings by 18% and admissions by 20% with a screenaverage of $ 10,582 from 483 prints. After ten days in the cinemas, the WorldWar II drama has been seen by more than 1.36m ...
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Solo takes German rights to Bier's Brothers
Germany's Solo Film Verleih has picked up Susanne Bier'spowerful and moving drama Brothers (Brodere)which won two Silver Shells for lead actors Connie Nielsen and Ulrich Thomsenat the San Sebastian Film Festival at the weekend.Bier and the film's screenwriter Anders Thomas Jensen willbe coming to the Filmfest Hamburg for the German ...
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Germany names Downfall as Oscar contender
Oliver Hirschbiegel's World War II drama The Downfall(Der Untergang) has been selected as theGerman entry to compete in the Academy Awards' Best Foreign Language Filmcategory.The independent jury charged with selecting the film saidthat it succeeded in achieving a 'powerful and demystifying cinematicrealisation of the last days of Adolf Hitler and ...