All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 185

  • News

    Austrian Film Institute backs five co-productions

    2003-07-31T00:00:00Z

    Five international co-productions are among the projects awarded over Euros 2m in production support from the Austrian Film Institute (OFI) in its latest round of funding.Production backing was allocated to Jessica Hausner's thriller Hotel, to be co-produced by Coop99 Filmproduktion with Germany's Essential Filmproduktion; Wolfram Paulus's coming of age tale ...

  • News

    Suicide bombers and von Trier edge on to Razor slate

    2003-07-30T04:00:00Z

    Former Senator Film executives Gerhard Meixner and Roman Paul have unveiled the production slate of their Berlin-based production outfit Razor Film with a two-track strategy - serving as the German partner on international co-productions and producing features by up-and-coming local talent.Razor's first international co-production will be Palestinian-born Hany Abu-Assad's drama ...

  • News

    Good Bye, Lenin! star in demand

    2003-07-29T04:00:00Z

    Good Bye, Lenin! star Daniel Bruehl has been reunited with director Hans Weingartner on his new feature Jan Jule Peter and has joined the cast of actor Charles Dance's directorial debut Ladies In Lavender which is set to roll in September.Bruehl and Weingartner both came to prominence last year through ...

  • News

    Sarajevo fest lines up world premieres

    2003-07-28T00:00:00Z

    No Man's Land lead actor Branko Duric's directorial debut Sour Cream And Marmalade and Srdan Vuletic's Summer In The Golden Valley are among four world premieres confirmed for the Regional Programme of the forthcoming Sarajevo Film Festival (SFF) (August 15-23).Duric's film is described as being "about a couple from the ...

  • News

    HVE, Constantin ready German teen comedy zombie flic

    2003-07-25T00:00:00Z

    After scoring box office success with comedies aimed at the youth market such as the Erkan & Stefan franchise and Feuer, Eis Und Dosenbier, Munich production house Hofmann & Voges Entertainment (HVE) is now turning its attention to producing the first German teen zombie comedy Die Nacht Der Lebenden Loser ...

  • News

    Good Bye, Lenin! tops 6m German admissions

    2003-07-25T00:00:00Z

    After 23 weeks on release in Germany, Wolfgang Becker's tragicomedy Good Bye, Lenin! has now passed the 6m admissions mark and clocked up over Euros 36m in box office takings.The X Filme creative pool production now qualifies for a Golden Screen with star Award, sponsored by the German exhibitors association ...

  • News

    At least 12 international buyers target Locarno for the first time

    2003-07-24T04:05:00Z

    US distributors Zeitgeist and Kino International, Sweden's Nonstop Entertainment, Brazil's Imovision, Spain's Lolafilms and Poland's Best Film are among a raft of international buyers attending the Locarno International Film Festival for the first time this year.Nadia Dresti of the festival's Industry Office told Screen Daily that acquisition executives from Japan's ...

  • News

    Documentaries dominate Swiss showcase at Locarno

    2003-07-24T00:00:00Z

    Documentaries are particularly strong in this year's "Appellations Suisse" showcase of new Swiss cinema to be presented at the forthcoming Locarno International Film Festival (August 6-16).Of the ten films screening in the showcase which is primarily aimed at international buyers and festival programmers, seven are documentaries, including Stefan Haupt's local ...

  • News

    Locarno unveils full competition line-up

    2003-07-24T00:00:00Z

    The concept of "passage" - historical, geographical and personal - is the common theme running through the International Competition line-up for the Locarno International Film Festival (August 6-16), according to festival organisers.This year, 19 of the 20 competition films are world premieres - and come from 17 different countries. The ...

  • News

    Locarno prepares to showcase global talent

    2003-07-23T00:00:00Z

    Films by Korea's Kim Ki-Duk, Argentina's Martin Rejtman, Germany's Soenke Wortmann, Austria's Barbara Albert and Switzerland's Dominique de Rivaz Knecht will be unveiled on July 24 as world premieres at the forthcoming Locarno International Film Festival (August 6-16).The official Locarno competition line-up will be fully unveiled on July 24 at ...

  • News

    Pictorion Das Werk unveils new management structure

    2003-07-23T00:00:00Z

    Pictorion Das Werk - formerly Das Werk - has unveiled its new management structure and the opening of an additional post house in Cologne.The move comes three months after Helmut Breuer's Media Select took over the insolvent Das Werk postproduction group' facilities in Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Munich and Frankfurt-based ...

  • News

    Filmstiftung NRW backs four international co-productions

    2003-07-23T00:00:00Z

    Four international co-productions - by the UK's Christopher Smith, Argentinian Pablo Trapero, Palestinian Hany Abu-Assad and German newcomer Till Franzen - are among seven feature projects receiving a total of Euros 2.5m production support from Filmstiftung NRW in its latest round of funding. Euros 500,000 was allocated to Smith's fantastic ...

  • News

    Chabrol thriller backed by Bavarian fund

    2003-07-22T04:05:00Z

    Feature projects by veteran French director Claude Chabrol, newcomer director Marco Kreuzpaintner and Mostly Martha's Sandra Nettelbeck are among those receiving a total Euros 1.35m backing from Bavaria's regional public fund FFF Bayern.Over Euros 600,000 were awarded to Kreuzpaintner's coming of age tale Sommersturm, which will be produced by the ...

  • News

    Germany's Splendid to divest its 80% holding in US subsidiary

    2003-07-22T04:05:00Z

    Germany's Splendid Medien plans to divest itself of its 80% interest in the US subsidiary Splendid Pictures Holdings, Inc. (SPH), subject to approval at the annual general meeting.In statement, the group explained that the step was being taken "due to the currently difficult market environment surrounding the financing of US-American ...

  • News

    VCL Film + Medien reduces 2003 forecast

    2003-07-22T04:05:00Z

    German home entertainment specialist/license trader VCL Film + Medien has reduced its sales forecast for the present fiscal year from the previously announced Euros 25m-30m to Euros 18m.In a statement, the company explained that this has been "due to the stagnating market development within the German home entertainment segment since ...

  • News

    Saban resurfaces in KirchMedia bidding

    2003-07-21T04:05:00Z

    It could be the comeback of the year. Six weeks after making an eleventh hour exit from the bidding for the insolvent KirchMedia, US media tycoon Haim Saban could be back in the picture.According to German press reports this weekend, Saban has rallied the support of a group of financial ...

  • News

    Little Polar Bear sequel among films to get German funding

    2003-07-21T04:05:00Z

    The sequel to the 2001 hit animation feature Der Kleine Eisbaer (The Little Polar Bear) and new films by Grill Point's Andreas Dresen, Mostly Martha's Sandra Nettelbeck and Sonnenallee's Leander Hausmann are among the projects receiving a total of Euros 3.2m from the German Federal Film Board (FFA) in its ...

  • News

    Maurice Jarre to receive award at Flanders film festival

    2003-07-21T00:00:00Z

    Veteran French composer Maurice Jarre will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at this year's World Soundtrack Awards during the Flanders International Film Festival (FIFF) in Ghent (October 7-18 2003).The composer of scores for such films as Doctor Zhivago, Dead Poets Society and Ghost will be presented the award "for his ...

  • News

    German indies win distribution funding

    2003-07-18T04:00:00Z

    Theatrical distributors X Verleih, Salzgeber & Co Medien and Alamode Film have been awarded prizes worth Euros 100,000 each to invest in distribution campaigns for German and other European films.Each of the companies was awarded the special distributor prize by German culture minister Christina Weiss in recognition of "their special ...

  • News

    Franchise vs Intertainment court battle delayed

    2003-07-16T04:05:00Z

    The lawsuit between German license trader Intertainment and US producer Franchise Pictures may be delayed for another year, after the planned August 5 court case between the two companies was unexpectedly postponed by a Los Angeles judge.Federal District Court judge Alicemarie H. Stotler did not give any reasons for the ...