All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 193
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Bertelsmann raises $500m from US private placement
German media concern Bertelsmann has raised $500m from US investors in a private placement to offset existing bank loans.The issue, which was more than three times oversubscribed and represents the biggest US private placement to date by a German group, is divided into three tranches: one of $100m with a ...
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EM.TV sells stake in Constantin Film to Highlight Communications
Germany's EM.TV has sold its stake in production company Constantin Film to Highlight Communications for Euros 7.5m.Swiss media concern Highlight Communications will increase its stake in Constantin Film's ordinary capital from 25% to 41.4% after signing a purchase agreement with EM.TV & Merchandising for 2,083,333 Constantin shares at a price ...
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Freedom To Speak project extends to Tribeca and Cannes
The Freedom To Speak (f2s) forum, which gave filmmakers an opportunity to express their views during February's Berlinale, is also to be created at the forthcoming Tribeca (May 3-11) and Cannes (May 14-25) film festivals. "Our goal is to bridge the gap of communication between France, Germany and the US ...
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Bruno Ganz cast as Hitler in Eichinger drama
Swiss actor Bruno Ganz, known internationally for his roles in such films as Wim Wenders' Wings Of Desire and The American Friend, will play the part of Hitler in Oliver Hirschbiegel's Euros 13.5m feature Der Untergang - Hitler Und Das Ende Des Dritten Reiches which will begin shooting in St ...
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Media funds pledge to invest in German industry
German media funds have said they are willing to spend a set amount of the money they raise each year on films shooting in Germany.The move, announced by Verband Deutscher Medienfonds (VDM), the interest group founded last year by 18 of Germany's private media funds, is expected to bolster Germany's ...
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MEDIA programme to be extended to 2006
The European Commission is to propose to the Council of Ministers and European Parliament that the existing MEDIA Plus and MEDIA Training programmes be extended for another year until the end of 2006. According to a statement, the aim of this extension would be "to ensure continuity of Community action ...
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German producer readies Alone In The Dark adaptation
Infogrames Entertainment's video arcade game Alone In The Dark is to be given the silver screen treatment by German director-producer Uwe Boll after his film version of Sega's cult game The House Of The Dead.Boll told Screendaily.com that this new feature, which will be financed by the private film fund ...
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Proposed new German film law comes under increasing fire
The draft German Film Law has drawn further criticism from four film industry trade associations and a group of independent producers. The home entertainment trade body, the exhibitors association, the multiplexes' association and the arthouse cinemas' guild described the bill as "inconsistent, half-baked and not acting in solidarity".And while they ...
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Good Bye, Lenin! - Hello Lolas!
Wolfgang Becker's box-office triumph Good Bye, Lenin!, which is now approaching 5 million admissions (Euros 28.4m), received six nominations for Germany's Oscars, the Lolas - for Best Film, Best Direction and in four acting categories.Meanwhile, Zueli Aladag's Elefantenherz and Eoin Moore's Pigs Will Fly both received nominations in three categories ...
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Constantin prepares big-budget Hitler feature
Constantin Film's Bernd Eichinger (pictured) is producing a film on the last days of Adolf Hitler with director Oliver Hirschbiegl in his first feature outing since the award-winning Das Experiment.The screenplay for Der Untergang - Hitler Und Das Ende Des 3. Reichs (The Downfall - Hitler And The End Of ...
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Austria mulls Luxembourg-style tax scheme
Austria's federal government has been urged to adopt Luxembourg's Audiovisual Investment Certificate Programme in a reform of national film policy to introduce tax incentives for private investment in film production.Luxembourg's tax scheme has been held up as an example to emulate by Andreas Mailath-Pokorny, Vienna's city councillor for arts, as ...
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21 young European producers selected for Cannes showcase
Germany's Jakob Claussen (Distant Lights, Anatomie), the Czech Republic's Pavel Strnad (Year Of The Devil) and Antonio Saura (Semana Santa) are among 21 young European producers selected by the member organisations of the pan-European promotion body European Film Promotion (EFP) to take part in the "Producers On The Move" showcase ...
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International festival selectors could undermine new German Film Law
Festival selectors for Cannes, Venice and Berlin could exert an unacceptable influence on future German film funding decisions under the proposed new German Film Law (FFG), according to Klaus Schaefer, managing director of the Bavarian Film & Television Fund FFF Bayern.The new Film Law proposes that producers could gather "reference ...
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Britspotting festival to honour Winterbottom
Golden Bear-winning UK director Michael Winterbottom will be the subject of this year's retrospective at the British independent film festival "britspotting" in Berlin from April 24-30.The six-title homage will include Butterfly Kiss, Jude, Welcome To Sarajevo and Wonderland, while his 24 Hour Party People will be shown in the festival's ...
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Hope & Glory Pictures opens UK base
Berlin production house Hope & Glory Pictures International (HGPI) has opened a London-based outpost."We have set up the office in London since 95% of our projects are in the English language. The move is also a reflection of the company's development over the last three years through our work with ...
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The Son wins three Belgian Oscars
Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardenne's The Son (Le Fils) was the big winner at this year's Belgian Oscars, the Joseph Plateau Awards, taking the honours in three categories - Best Belgian Film, Best Belgian Director and Best Belgian Actor - after being nominated for five.The awards, which are organised by Ghent's ...
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Haffa brothers fined for misrepresenting EM.TV finances
Former German stockmarket high flyers, brothers Thomas and Florian Haffa were found guilty yesterday (Tuesday) of misrepresenting their previous company, EM.TV's financial figures in 2000 in order to influence the share price.The Munich division for criminal matters imposed a fine of Euros 1.2m on Thomas Haffa and one of Euros ...
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German arthouse sector outperforms multiplexes
Germany's arthouse sector reported a slight increase in admissions for 2002, according to an internal survey conducted by AG Kino, the trade association for specialist cinemas.The survey reported that admissions grew between 5%-8% in the cities, while admissions in smaller towns either remained stable or fell slightly. In comparison, German ...
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Baltic Films becomes member of European Film Promotion
Baltic Films, the joint organisation of the Estonian Film Foundation, the Latvian National Film Center and the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture, has become the 22nd organisation to become a member of the pan-European promotional body European Film Promotion (EFP).Commenting on joining EFP's network, Karlo Funk, a board member of Baltic ...
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Constantin Film confirmed as Germany's top producer, distributor
Constantin Film confirmed its leading position as Germany's top production house and distributor by walking away with almost a third of the Euros 22.6m retroactive "reference" funding handed out by the German Federal Film Board (FFA).The box-office success last year of such (co) productions as the Oscar-winning Nowhere In Africa, ...