All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 167
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German exhibitors angered by window wavering
The German exhibitors association HDF has calledon distributors to honour the six-month window for theatrical releases afterseveral cases of films appearing on DVD/video before six months had elapsed.HDF managing director Andreas Kramer said that'the six month exploitation window for feature films must remain a basicconstant factor. A general reduction will ...
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GERMANY 3 November
UIP's release of 7Dwarves (7 Zwerge - Maenner Allein Im Wald) blasted into the German Top 15at No. 1 taking over $ 11.7m with a tremendous $ 15,076 screen average from its777 screens.Starring the creme de la creme of German comic talent suchas Otto Waalkes, Atze Schroeder, Christian Tramitz and ...
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European regional funding network swells its ranks
The UK's Screen South, Sweden's Film I Vast and Spain's IVACLa Filmoteca are among eight regional film funders who have swelled the ranksof the Cine-Regio network of European funding agencies to bring the membershipup to 13.Part-financed by the European Union's Interreg IIICprogramme, the Cine-Regio network was launched at the beginning ...
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Bavaria closes further Bombon sales
Bavaria Film International (BFI) has closed further sales onArgentine director Carlos Sorin's Bombon - El Perro following its market screening at MIFED.Deals for all of the Germanspeaking territories were concluded with Alamode Film (Germany), Poly Film(Austria) and Trigon Film (Switzerland), while all rights were also sold toMikado Film (Italy), Arthaus ...
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Czech features dominate Cottbus market
New Czech feature projects dominate this year's ConnectingCottbus East-West co-development market which will be held during theFilmFestival Cottbus - Festival of East European Cinema (Nov 2-6) from November4-5.Five of the 13 projects selected from nine countries for themarket will be pitched by Czech production houses, including Bionaut Films (TheCarp), Endorfilm ...
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Emmerich strikes first look deal with German fund
Director Roland Emmerich (The Day After Tomorrow) has signed a "first look" agreement withthe German private media fund VIP for his own in-house developed film projectsas opposed to those offered to him by Hollywood studios.As part of the agreement, the German-born director and VIP'sAndreas Schmid are planning to set up ...
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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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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 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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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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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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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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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 ...