All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 186
-
News
Kinowelt and Ottfilm mull collaboration plans
A closer working collaboration between German distributors Kinowelt and Ottfilm looks to be on the cards.The two are planning to jointly release Lone Scherfig's Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself on September 18, with Filmwelt acting as an agency to handle the film's physical distribution. Kinowelt's Georg Miros told ScreenDaily.com that ...
-
News
Bignardi counters 'lack of glamour' criticism
"We are not here for promoting films, but to make a festival", festival director Irene Bignardi declared in response to BVI Switzerland Roger Crotti's criticisms early this week of the Piazza Grande open-air programme and of the absence of glamour at the festival.In an exclusive interview with ScreenDaily.com, Bignardi observed ...
-
News
Locarno Piazza programme comes in for criticism
Locarno's Piazza Grande open-air programme has come under harsh criticism from Roger Crotti, general manager and vice president of Buena Vista International (Switzerland) - whose world premiere screening of Nigel Cole's Calendar Girls was seen by an audience of 9,500 on Saturday (Aug 9).In an interview with the Swiss daily ...
-
News
Swiss producers set for broadcaster boost
Swiss public broadcaster SRG SSR plans to inject an additional US$11m (CHF15m) into the local film industry between 2004-2007.SRG SSR director-general Armin Walpen revealed at the Locarno Film Festival this week that the TV station proposes to provide an additional US$2.7m per year on top of the current annual budget ...
-
News
Kim's Spring, Summer gathers Locarno heat
Prolific Korean film-maker Kim Ki-duk's Locarno competition film Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...And Spring has been picked up by Israel's United King Films. "Strong interest" has also been reported from Brazil by sales agent Bavaria Film International after Wednesday's press show and ahead of today's public world premiere screening.The tale about ...
-
News
Currency crunch hits Internationalmedia
Internationalmedia(IM) - parent company of Intermedia - has blamed currency imbalances between the Euro and the Dollar for a 5.7% year on year revenue fall in the first half of 2003.IM's CEO Moritz Borman said that "had the Euro and the Dollar maintained their comparative values from a year ago, ...
-
News
Swiss producers set for government funding boost
Swiss Federal President and Minister of Culture Pascal Couchepin has proposed that the national cinema funding budget should be increased by up to 15%. At the same time, however, he called on Swiss producers to be more commercially minded in the future.Speaking during the weekend at the Locarno International Film ...
-
News
Constantin figures show sales plunge
Germany's Constantin Film has cut its sales forecast for 2003, blaming factors such as the hot summer weather and the 'shakeout of the German media market' for the revision.Releasing its half-yearly and second quarter figures today (Aug 13), the Munich-based producer-distributor announced sales of Euros 36m, compared to Euros 63.4m ...
-
News
VIP Group fund backs first German film
Munich-based media fund VIP Group boarded its first local German-language project, co-producing the latest feature film with German comic Otto Waalkes, Sieben Zwerge - Maenner Allein Im Wald (Seven Dwarves - Men Along In The Forest), directed by Sven Unterwaldt.The comedy, which is currently being shot in the Cologne MMC ...
-
News
Universal looks to tap new German fund
Universal Studios is set to benefit from a private media fund being prepared by Munich-based Hannover Leasing with a fund volume of up to Euros 250m.If all goes according to schedule, the fund will be brought onto the market at the end of August, inviting private individuals to invest a ...
-
News
Flach Pyramide takes on Bosnian Fuse sales
Bosnian director Pjer Zalica's feature debut Fuse (Gori Vatra) which had its world premiere in the Official Competition at the Locarno International Film Festival on August 11, has been picked up for international distribution by Flach Pyramide International.The tragicomedy about a small-town in Bosnia embarking on a race against the ...
-
News
Cuban film-makers pitch projects to Euro financiers
Cuban film-makers pitched a string of projects to potential European co-production partners and buyers at the Locarno International Film Festival over the weekend.Daniel Diaz Torres, Humberto Solas and Humberto Padron were among ten Cuban filmmakers invited to launch the three-year project "Open Doors - World Producers Meet The World Cinema" ...
-
News
Premiere boss ups stake in German pay-TV platform
Georg Kofler, managing director of German pay-TV platform Premiere has more than doubled his shareholding in the subscription service.Kofler's stake has risen from 10.19% to 20.46%, meaning he is now the second largest shareholder after the investment group Permira which will now hold a 54.76% interest.The interests of the other ...
-
News
Calendar Girls packs in Locarno crowd
Boosted by its prime Saturday evening night slot, the world premiere of Nigel Cole's Calendar Girls has proven to be the biggest draw so far at the Locarno International Film Festival. A staggering 9,500 festival-goers packed into Locarno's Piazza Grande town square to watch the film, where seating is officially ...
-
News
Calendar Girls packs in Locarno crowd
Boosted by its prime Saturday evening night slot, the world premiere of Nigel Cole's Calendar Girls has proven to be the biggest draw so far at the Locarno International Film Festival. A staggering 9,500 festival-goers packed into Locarno's Piazza Grande town square to watch the film, where seating is officially ...
-
News
Germany secures future of film funds
Germany's Federal Finance Ministry has amended the way German media funds operate, bringing both an end to months of uncertainty about their future and giving investors more control over films in their portfolio.Last year, the future of German funds came under threat after the Finance Ministry proposed tighter regulations governing ...
-
News
Argentinian films hunt for funding at Locarno
The Locarno International Film festival (August 6-16), which kicked off last night, is to hold a co-production workshop focusing entirely on projects from Argentina.New projects by Diego Lerman, director of the Silver Leopard-winning Tan De Repente in Locarno last year, Pablo Trapero (El Bonaerense), Santiago Loza (Extrano) and Juan Manuel ...
-
News
Premiere posts healthier than expected figures
Thanks to substantial growth in revenues and further cost-cutting measures, German pay-TV platform Premiere has revised its predicted operating loss downwards a second time - to less than Euros 40m for 2003.In February, the Premiere had originally forecast a loss of Euros 80m. This was then revised downwards to a ...
-
News
Media Luna picks up Locarno competitor Maria
Media Luna Entertainment has picked up world sales rights for Romanian first time director Calin Netzer's Maria which will receive its world premiere in Locarno Film Festival's Official Competition next Wednesday (August 13).Maria is a co-production by Artis Film Romania with France's Cine-Manufacture and Germany's Pandora Filmproduktion, which will be ...
-
News
Germany's ProSiebenSat.1 returns to profit
Germany's ProSiebenSat.1 Group has posted strong financial results, just days before U.S. investor Haim Saban is likely to sign off on his deal to buy the broadcaster. The ProSiebenSat.1 Group reported a sharp earnings increase in the second quarter of 2003 and posted group pre-tax income for the first six ...