All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 187
-
News
Weiss responds to Germany Film Academy critics
Germany's State Minister for Culture Christina Weiss has responded to growing criticism of her support for the setting up of an AMPAS-style German Film Academy by stressing the independence of the annual German Film Awards.Earlier this year Weiss voiced her support for a German Academy after a group of key ...
-
News
GERMANY
The latest episode in the Werner comic book franchise, Werner - Gekotzt Wird Spaeter!, slipped out of the top ten this week after just barely making the 1m admissions mark while another Constantin Film release Wrong Turn bowed at No. 6 with almost Euros 500,000. Speaking at last week's annual ...
-
News
German exhibitors step up UIP boycott
A group of German exhibitors are continuing their boycott of UIP releases because of the introduction of a new rentals system by the distributor.Members of the interest group Interessengemeinschaft 47.7 (IG 47.7) - which represents medium sized German exhibitors - boycotted UIP's release of American Pie: The Wedding over the ...
-
News
Sales slide at Germany's Intertainment
Sales revenues at Germany's Intertainment slid by more than 80% in the first six months of 2003 compared to the same period last year, but were "in line with expectations", according to an adhoc statement.The Munich-based company reported sales of Euros 2m for the period to June 30, 2003, compared ...
-
News
Germany's Splendid posts improved figures
German licence trader Splendid Medien has posted sales revenues of Euros 20.5m for the first half of 2003, slightly up on 2002's Euros 19.8m.The provosional consolidated earnings for the first six months amounted to Euros -1.7m, an improvement on last year's result of Euros -9.6m.According to provisional figures, the most ...
-
News
Fuse ignites Sarajevo
Bosnian filmmaker Pjer Zalica's Fuse (Gori Vatra) has continued its winning streak after Locarno's Silver Leopard by picking up six awards at the Sarajevo Film Festival this weekend.The International Jury led by veteran director-screenwriter Dusan Makaveyev awarded the Euros 15,000 Agnes B. Award for the Best Feature Film in the ...
-
News
Diamant to launch sales company with Lamping
X-Men 2 screenwriter Dan Harris' directorial debut Imaginary Heroes will be the first film to be handled by new international sales outfit Signature Pictures International (SPI) - a subsidiary of Moshe Diamant's production outfit Signature Entertainment Inc. Diamant and Jan Fantl's Cologne-based Quality International are the investment partners in SPI, ...
-
News
German veterans launch Living Pictures fund
Veteran fund initiator Rudolf Wiesmeier and Gerhard Schmidt's Cologne-based production house Gemini Film have joined forces to launch a Euros 150m fund to back a portfolio of internationally marketable English-language feature films.According to Schmidt the fund, called Living Pictures, is in negotiations with Danny de Vito's Jersey Films and Jan ...
-
News
Telepool to conduct sales for musical pair
Telepool has picked up international sales on two theatrical music documentaries: Thomas Riedelsheimer's Heartbeat and Gandulf Hennig's Fallen Angel - Gram Parsons.Riedelsheimer, who received a Golden Lola at the German Film Awards this year for his internationally successful documentary Rivers And Tides, has been working since autumn 2002 on ...
-
News
Senator still in red despite Good Bye, Lenin!
German producer-distributor Senator Entertainment has posted an operating loss of Euros 6.9m for the first six months of 2003.Earlier this year, Senator posted a massive net loss of Euros 178.2m for the 2002 financial year Turnover in the first six months of 2003 stood at Euros 25.8m - down Euros ...
-
News
ProSiebenSat.1 strikes Paramount output deal
Germany's ProSiebenSat.1 Group has concluded an exclusive output deal with Paramount Pictures for the free TV rights to the US major's films from 2002-2005.The package includes such feature films as Mission: Impossible 3, How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days, Star Trek - Nemesis, The Core, and Changing Lanes ...
-
News
German cinema admissions plummet
Admissions and box-office takings in German cinemas fell year-on-year by 11.3% and 12.5% respectively in the first half of 2003, according to the latest figures from the country's Federal Film Board (FFA).However, German films recorded their highest market share -16.1% - for six years thanks to the huge success of ...
-
News
Locarno winning producers unveil Unlimited slate
Unlimited, the pan-European producers network behind Pakistani director Sabiha Sumar's Locarno winning film Silent Waters, has unveiled a new slate The slate includes new projects by Mikhail Kobakhidze (Georgia), Didi Danquart (Germany), Haile Gerima (Ethiopia), and Shaji N. Karun (India)."Silent Waters is a kind of pilot project for Unlimited and ...
-
News
Sea Of Silence, Dutch Light to open Benelux Screenings
World premieres of Stijn Coninx's Sea Of Silence and Pieter-Rim and Maarten de Kroon's documentary Dutch Light will open the newly established Benelux Screenings of the Holland Film Meeting at the Netherlands Film Festival on September 26.The Dutch-Belgian-German-Danish co-production Sea Of Silence was pitched at the Netherlands Production Platform of ...
-
News
Wind blows to UK and Switzerland
Tom Barman's Any Way The Wind Blows, which had its international premiere in Locarno's competition, has been picked up by Axiom Films for the UK and Agora Films for Switzerland. The film, which will be screening at the forthcoming Montreal World Film Festival, will be released in the Netherlands by ...
-
News
Silent Waters makes a splash at Locarno
For a second year running, the winner of Locarno's Golden Leopard took everyone by surprise: Pakistani filmmaker Sabiha Sumar's Silent Waters (Khamosh Pani) came away with the top honour after festival-goers had been putting their money on Korea's Kim Ki-Duk going for gold with his latest film Spring, Summer, Fall, ...
-
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
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
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 ...