All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 194
-
News
New kind of tax-based German production fund proposed
German feature film producers could receive an injection of Euros 70m-80m worth of fresh cash from an unexpected source - the pay-TV platform Premiere.The offer came after Premiere CEO Georg Kofler criticised the different VAT rates which apply in Germany for those subscribing to pay television (16%) and taking out ...
-
News
Cyprus becomes MEDIA Programme's 25th member
Cyprus has become the 25th member of the European Union's MEDIA Programme following the Slovak Republic which signed its association agreement on January 10. Both agreements have been back-dated to January 1, 2003.While the Slovak Republic has committed to pay Euross 160,000 annually as its financial contribution towards the MEDIA ...
-
News
European broadcasters called on to increase film funding
German broadcasters have been called on to double their financial contribution to the German Federal Film Board to bring them into line with the cinema owners' annual payments of Euros 21m.In a declaration on the revision to the German Film Funding Law (FFG), the four German exhibitor trade ...
-
News
Kosslick reflects on his second Berlinale
As the Berlinale drew to a close with the out of competition screening of Gangs Of New York, festival director Dieter Kosslick for one was happy.With the threat of war being declared on Iraq at the back of people's minds during the festival, Kosslick observed that the festival's motto ...
-
News
Winterbottom's World wins Berlinale
Michael Winterbottom's In This World was the surprise winner of the Berlinale Golden Bear, beating off competition from favourites The Hours and The 25th Hour.Winterbottom's digitally-shot semi-documentary tale of an asylum seeker's journey from Afghanisatan to London also received the Peace Film Prize and the Prize of the Churches of ...
-
News
German media fund takes 'hands on' approach
Private German media fund Cinerenta is to become more "hands on" in the development and production of the features it finances - moving away from the previous strategy of coming onboard projects developed by other producers."We are to become more involved in development and are expanding our production department in ...
-
News
Odeon closes animation production division
Odeon Film has closed its animation production arm in the wake of a decision to concentrate in future on live action production for film and television.In a statement, the Munich-based company stated that "animation rights already acquired are to be exploited by way of licensing or through the passive participation ...
-
News
Bankruptcy workshop draws Talent attention
One of the hotest draws at this week's Berlinale Talent Campus was the work shop on Bankruptcy and Resurrection, with an insiders view of the experience provided by Kinowelt's Rainer Koelmel and producers Cedomir Kolar (No Man's Land) and Nik Powell (The Crying Game).Bankruptcy is something that often hovers over ...
-
News
Splendid lines up 2003 production slate
Germany's Splendid Medien, which co-produced Martin Scorsese's Gangs Of New York through its then subsidiary IEG by stumping up $65m for the worldwide rights except for domestic, is lining up a number of new productions for shoot later this year.Splendid's CEO Andreas Klein told Screen International that the outfit's production ...
-
News
VIP aims to raise Euros 500m for 20 projects
German private media fund VIP is aiming to raise up to Euros 500m this year to fully finance or co-produce up to 20 features.Initially, the Munich-based outfit set a target volume of between Euros 105m-150m to finance or co-produce up to ten projects, but VIP managing director Andreas Schmid told ...
-
News
Producers launch European lobby group
120 producers from all over Europe have launched the European Motion Picture Producers Association (EMPPA) to act as a networking platform and a lobbying group to represent producer interests vis-a-vis Eurimages and MEDIA Plus as well as push for changes in Germany's Media Decree regulations on international ...
-
News
Neue Kinowelt strikes first deal
Neue Kinowelt's German language sales arm, Futura/Filmverlag der Autoren has made its first pickup - Christoph Schaub's melodrama Secret Love (Stille Liebe) - following the reorganisation of Kinowelt's acquisition and distribution division From now on, Futura will be in charge of the international sales for the Filmverlag der Autoren ...
-
News
Columbia TriStar mulls German distribution move
Columbia TriStar is considering distributing third-party German films, on top of in-house productions by Deutsche Columbia Pictures. If Columbia does take on German films, it will be welcomed by many in the local industry who have seen the number of heavy-weight distributors shrink over the last two years.Juergen Schau, ...
-
News
Bigelow set for VIP treatment
A new film by Berlinale competion jury member Kathryn Bigelow is one of ten features being produced by the second tranche of the private German media fund operator, Film & Entertainment VIP Medienfonds .Bigelow's 1930s-set drama Scottsboro Boys is being co-produced with Mark Damon's MDP Worldwide, as is the thriller ...
-
News
Yugoslavia, Slovenia co-produce Red Coloured Grey Truck
Hot Slovenian production house E-motion Films, producer of Damjan Kozole's Spare Parts which premieres in Official Competition in Berlin, is to co-produce feature debutant Srdan Koljevic's Red Coloured Grey Truck as the first collaboration between Yugoslavia and Slovenia since the Balkan War. Koljevic's Euros 1.2m roadmovie - "in the tradition ...
-
News
Tele-Muenchen ups German feature production
Herbert Kloiber's Tele-Muenchen will step up its German-language feature production as a way of filling the gap left by the bursting of the Neuer Markt bubble."We are currently speaking with all independent producers and talents we didn`t have a chance of working with in the past because they ...
-
News
Jack Valenti brings anti-piracy campaign to Berlin
MPAA president Jack Valenti reiterated his anti-piracy campaign in Berlin, when he addressed the opening of the European Film Finance Forum and also met German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to discuss the issue."There is a menace in this world that threatens not only the Americans but every creative community ...and that's ...
-
News
Berlinale promotes Freedom2Speak
Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick has given a group of young local filmmakers the greenlight to transform the festival into an ongoing discussion forum about the threat of war with Iraq.Under the banner 'Freedom2Speak', the filmmakers have already produced a 20-second spot which will be shown before each film at the ...
-
News
Koelmels spell out Neue Kinowelt ambitions
Rainer and Michael Koelmel have unveiled theplanned strategy of Neue Kinowelt,just ahead of their first market presence since regaining control oftheir insolvent Kinowelt empire.`We will no longer be in theleague of the majors as we were for a while in 1999`, explained Rainer Koelmel,`but we will certainly see ourselves in ...
-
News
Koelmels spell out Neue Kinowelt ambitions
Rainer and Michael Koelmel have unveiled theplanned strategy of Neue Kinowelt, just ahead of their first market presence since regaining control oftheir insolvent Kinowelt empire.`We will no longer be in theleague of the majors as we were for a while in 1999`, explained Rainer Koelmel,`but we will certainly see ...