All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 207
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Sun Gateway fund opens up for English-language productions
Features by Michael Radford, Sandy Johnson and Amy Lyndon have been lined up as possible projects for backing by the new Sun Gateway Entertainment (SGE) private media fund.The German fund, which aims to raise Euros 50m this year for up to seven English-language feature film and TV productions, is managed ...
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Germany's Splendid Film package sold for $17.4m
The romantic comedy Kate & Leopold and police thriller NARC are among a 16-title, Euros 17.3m package of films sold by Splendid Film to the German private broadcasting group ProSiebenSat1 Media.Among the other titles in the package, which will begin generating income for Splendid in the second half of 2002, ...
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Koelmels step down as MBO secures Kinowelt's future
Kinowelt co-founders brothers Rainer and Michael Koelmel have stepped down from the company as an investor group led by Kinowelt executives Marcus Schoefer and Jerry Payne moved to take over the company's core businesses of theatrical distribution, home entertainment and license dealing in a management buy out. Schoefer and Payne ...
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IM Internationalmedia releases second quarter results ahead of schedule
IM Internationalmedia generated Euros 75m - 85m in the first half of 2002 thanks to The Dangerous Lives Of Altar Boys and overages from such films as Traffic and The Wedding Planner, according to preliminary figures for the second quarter which will be officially released on August 29.IM reported that ...
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Latvia joins Poland in EU's MEDIA Plus programme
Following hot on the heels of Poland, Latvia is now the second of the East European countries to become a member of the European Union's (EU) MEDIA Plus Programme.Latvia's Ambassador to the EU signed a Memorandum of Understanding to enable Latvian professionals to participate in the audiovisual programme.Preparations had already ...
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German film funds face new threat
The future of Germany's film funds has come under further threat with news of proposed tighter regulations by the Federal Ministry of Finance German business daily the Handelsblatt reported that the Ministry of Finance (BMF) intends to consider investors in film funds merely as acquirers of film rights rather than ...
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Austrian Film Institute gets 30% budget boost
The Austrian Film Institute is to get a substantial increase in its 2002 budget from Euros 7.4m to Euros 9.8m, in order to give its national film industry a better profile in the European arena.Austria's Secretary of State for Arts Franz Morak, announced the increase at a parliamentary hearing on ...
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Good Machine wins High Hopes award at Munich film festival
US production house Good Machine has won German collection society GWFF's High Hopes Award for Michel Gondry's feature debut Human Nature (pictured) at this year's Munich Filmfest.The prize, worth Euros 25,000, was open to all directorial debuts in the Filmfest's international programme as well as from the American independents section.Meanwhile, ...
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Arsenal loads up with Only The Strong Survive, Fast Runner
Germany's Arsenal Film has picked up Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker's musical documentary Only The Strong Survive and Zacharias Kunuk's Inuit language action thriller Atanarjuat - The Fast Runner. Only The Strong Survive has been screening in an homage at this week's Filmfest Muenchen to Hegedus and Pennebaker, while The ...
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Germany's CinemaxX posts Euros 29.6m net loss
Germany's multiplex market leader CinemaxX posted a net loss of Euros 29.6m for the 2001 financial year, due to depreciation of Euros 17.6m and an adjustment for discounted loans to Ufa-Theater of Euros 3.5m.The company's financial report noted that this was despite the fact that the number of cinema-goers to ...
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F.A.M.E. and RTV apply to exit from Germany's Neuer Markt
F.A.M.E. Film & Music Entertainment and RTV Family Entertainment are the latest publicly listed German media companies to announce plans to exit the Neuer Markt and trade on the Geregelter Markt.F.A.M.E. stated that 'due to the high listing costs as well as the difficult market environment in the media and ...
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EM.TV boss doubts company's chances of survival
Werner E. Klatten, CEO of the beleaguered German media concern EM.TV & Merchandising, has expressed his doubts about the chances of his company emerging from restructuring after the bursting of the Neuer Markt bubble and the Kirch crisis.In an interview, he stated that the restructuring of EM.TV "has become enormously ...
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Helkon Media reports increased turnover, reduced earnings
While Helkon Media's turnover increased by 48% in the first nine months of its 2001/2002 financial year (August 1 2001 - 30 April 2002) from Euros 98m to Euros 145m, its earnings from usual business activities plummeted to Euros - 21.9m (2001: Euro 3.1m).In a statement Helkon explained that its ...
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Four German documentary prizes awarded
Four up-and-coming German documentary filmmakers were awarded this year's Bavarian Documentary Prize "The Young Lion" on the eve of the 20th Munich Filmfest this weekend.The three Young Lions- with a purse each of Euros 8,000 - went to producer-director-writer Caterina Klusemann for her film Ima; to the director-writer team of ...
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Casting awards go to German, UK agents
German casting agent Rita Serra-Roll (Manitu's Shoe) and UK casting agency Hubbard Casting (Chocolat, The Lord Of The Rings) are the winners of this year's National and International Casting Awards which have been sponsored by the private media fund Erste MedienDachFonds.The two casting awards will be presented at a gala ...
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Sales agents, distributors awarded MEDIA cash
The UK's FilmFour, Pathe International, Bavaria Media and Adriana Chiesa Enterprises are among 18 European sales agents granted over Euros 700,000 in financial support by the European Union's MEDIA Plus programme to promote the trans-national distribution of European films. MEDIA's sales agent support scheme works in two phases. Firstly, there ...
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German TV rights package boosts market optimism
RTL Television, Germany's leading private broadcaster, has acquired a package of films and TV series from Warner Bros. International Television (WBIT), including the free TV rights to Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, The Lord Of The Rings, Ocean's Eleven, The Matrix, and The Perfect Storm.RTL's CEO Gerhard Zeiler declared ...
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Poland joins EU's MEDIA Plus programme
In another step towards the European Union's (EU) enlargement, Poland has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the EU enabling it to participate in the MEDIA Plus programme.The agreement, which was backdated to January 1, 2002, foresees Poland contributing Euro 1.55m per year to the MEDIA budget until 2005, with ...
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PACT, CineMart partner for Immersion 2002: Europe
UK producers association PACT and the Rotterdam International Film Festival's CineMart have become partners in the 'Immersion 2002: Europe' co-production gathering for Canadian and European producers held in Paris from November 18-22, 2002.The event will gather a selected group of 30 Canadian producers with a selection of up to 70 ...
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Pandora returns to German distribution with Kaurismaki
Karl "Baumi" Baumgartner and Reinhard Brundig's distribution venture Pandora Filmverleih is staging a comeback on the German market nearly four years after being swallowed up by the Kinowelt empire in July 1998. Its first theatrical release - on 14 November - will be Aki Kaurismaki's Cannes prize-winner The Man ...