All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 197

  • News

    Kosslick gives Berlinale new tolerant motto

    2002-12-23T00:00:00Z

    "Towards Tolerance" will be the motto for the 2003 edition of the forthcoming Berlinale in February.In his first festival as director, Dieter Kosslick last year tagged this year's Berlinale with the phrase "Accept Diversity".According to Kosslick, the Berlinale will "have several films in the programme which deal with topical political ...

  • News

    Premiere secures new owner and Hollywood films

    2002-12-20T04:00:00Z

    German pay TV platform Premiere has signed film package deals with another two Hollywood studios - Paramount Pictures and Columbia - securing programming directly from seven of the eight majors from 2003. At the same time Premiere has become the first part of Leo Kirch's collapsed media empire to close ...

  • News

    Berlinale announces first Panorama titles

    2002-12-20T00:00:00Z

    The Panorama section at the forthcoming Berlinale will be welcoming back several filmmakers who have had films screened in past editions.Returning directors include: Israel's Eytan Fox, the UK's Richard Kwietniowski, Hong Kong's Peter Chan, Spain's Isabel Coixet and Japan's Hideo Nakata, whose chilling thriller Dark Water opened the 2002 Panorama.After ...

  • News

    Berlin Talent Campus attracts more than 2,000 applications

    2002-12-20T00:00:00Z

    Over 2,000 young filmmakers from 70 countries have applied to take part in the Berlin International Film Festival's first Berlinale Talent Campus which will be held from February 10-14.The Talent Campus, which is being organised by Master School Drehbuch Berlin in co-operation with Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the UK's Film Council and ...

  • News

    'Extraordinary' Kinderfilmfest expected

    2002-12-19T04:05:00Z

    Films from South Korea, Finland, Israel, Germany and Japan are among the first seven titles confirmed by the Berlinale Kinderfilmfest's new director Thomas Hailer for a programme which, in his words, "promises to be both diversified and extraordinary."Two films have been invited from Finland: Arto Koskinen's The Handcuff King (Kahlekuningas) ...

  • News

    Eichinger joins Constantin Film supervisory board

    2002-12-19T04:05:00Z

    Bernd Eichinger is being lined up to succeed Commerzbank's Franz Jung as a member of Constantin Film's supervisory board from January 1, 2003.Eichinger, who built Constantin Film up into Germany's most successful independent production and distribution house over the two decades since joining the company in 1979, had served ...

  • News

    German insolvency blow softened by Peppermint takeover

    2002-12-18T04:05:00Z

    Helkon Media's production subsidiary Kinofilm Muenchen Filmproduktion and the Vienna-based associated company Helkon Media GesmbH have become the latest divisions of the bankrupt German media group to file proceedings for insolvency. Kinofilm Muenchen Filmproduktion, which produced such films as Hans-Guenther Buecking's Die Haeupter Meiner Lieben and Peter Gersina's Vienna, submitted ...

  • News

    Anouk Aimee to get Berlinale lifetime achievement award

    2002-12-18T04:05:00Z

    French actress Anouk Aimee will be honoured with the Berlinale's Homage and receive a Lifetime Achievement Golden Bear at a screening of Lola on February 13.Announcing the tribute, festival director Dieter Kosslick stated that "Anouk Aimee is one of the great European stars to whom we owe so many ...

  • News

    Koelmels in the home straight

    2002-12-17T04:05:00Z

    The seemingly never-ending saga of the Koelmel brothers' bid to take over their insolvent Kinowelt empire looks like having been resolved.After a meeting on December 13 between the Koelmels' Neue Spielfilm Vertriebs- und Marketing GmbH, the insolvency administrator Wolfgang Ott, representatives of Sparkasse Leipzig and members of the creditors committee, ...

  • News

    KirchMedia strikes film deals with Paramount, German distributors

    2002-12-13T04:05:00Z

    Bankrupt KirchMedia has reinforced its future position in the German market by acquiring a $500m film package from Paramount Pictures, giving it the rights to around 100 feature films and series through to 2011. It has also unveiled a raft of long-term film deals with key German distributors.The Paramount deal ...

  • News

    Transit Film picks up Fassbinder In Hollywood

    2002-12-12T04:05:00Z

    Transit Film has picked up international sales on Robert Fischer's documentary Fassbinder In Hollywood which was produced to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the legendary German director's untimely death in June 1982.The production by Fischer's Fiction FACTory and Ulli Lommel's Los Angeles-based company Lavida looks at Fassbinder's relationship to ...

  • News

    Yasujiro Ozu to be honoured with Berlinale retrospective

    2002-12-12T04:05:00Z

    The forthcoming Berlinale (February 6-16) will devote a retrospective to the Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birth on December 12, 2003.His most famous work Tokyo Monogatari (Tokyo Story) will be screened at the Berlinale Palast, while other works by and about Ozu will be ...

  • News

    European Film Promotion 2003 gets full MEDIA Plus support

    2002-12-12T04:05:00Z

    For the first time, the pan-European marketing initiative European Film Promotion (EFP) has received confirmation of support in advance for a whole year from the European Commission's MEDIA Plus Programme rather than on a project-by-project basis. "This year-long contract will allow us the necessary lead time to develop our projects ...

  • News

    Studio Hamburg World Wide Pictures lines up two new projects

    2002-12-11T04:05:00Z

    The Studio Hamburg's WorldWide Pictures (WWP) fund has lined up another two potential projects - Colour Me Kubrick and Dudes - to back after its first production, John Irvin's The Great Ceili War, wrapped on the Isle of Man last week on December 4.WWP has optioned the $7m satirical comedy ...

  • News

    Arsenal takes Rabbit-Proof Fence for Germany

    2002-12-11T04:05:00Z

    Germany's Arsenal Film will collaborate with Odeon Film on the local release of Philip Noyce's Rabbit-Proof Fence which was one of the big winners at the Australian Film Institute's Awards at the weekend and honoured by the US National Board of Review last week.The film's executive producer David Elfick told ...

  • News

    Publisher Bauer close to signing ProSiebenSat.1 deal

    2002-12-11T04:05:00Z

    The consortium of German publishing empire Heinrich Bauer and HypoVereinsbank is expected to sign a Euros 700m deal for a majority 52.5% stake in the ProSiebenSat.1 broadcasting family in the next two weeks.Speaking to the Reuters news agency after a meeting of the insolvent KirchMedia's creditor committee on Monday December ...

  • News

    Nine world premieres in Max Ophuels competition

    2002-12-10T04:05:00Z

    Over half of the 17-film line-up at this year's Max Ophuels Prize Film Festival feature film competition will be world premieres. The complete line-up of 11 German, four Austrian and two Swiss newcomer features screening in Saarbruecken from January 13-19, 2003 includes:011 Beograd by Michael Pfeifenberger, Austria (World premiere)Baby by ...

  • News

    European Film Academy lambasts French, German broadcasters

    2002-12-06T04:05:00Z

    German and French broadcasters have come under fire from the European Film Academy (EFA) for not airing this year's European Film Awards, which takes place in Rome this Saturday (Dec 7)."It is a political and cultural scandal that the television broadcasters in France and Germany are unwilling to partner with ...

  • News

    New chief appointed at Hamburg Film Festival

    2002-12-05T04:05:00Z

    Albert Wiederspiel has been appointed successor to Josef Wutz as head of Filmfest Hamburg and will take up his new post from January 1, 2003.With over 17 years experience in the international film industry for such companies as 20th Century Fox, PolyGram/Universal Pictures and most recently as head of distribution ...

  • News

    VIF Distribution launched as successor to German film fund

    2002-12-05T04:00:00Z

    The Babelsberg-based management company VIF Distribution has been created as a successor to VIF International Films to handle the administration of three German media funds VIF 1, VIF 2 and VIP which co-produced 12 international productions including Michael Moore's box-office success Bowling For Columbine, Renny Bartlett's Eisenstein and Peter Sehr's ...