All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 208
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News
Bank loan saves RTV Family Entertainment
Animation production house RTV Family Entertainment has moved out of temporary insolvency after receiving a bridging credit line from its bank syndicate backed by a letter of credit from majority shareholder Ravernsburger AG. This step restores RTV to full financial solvency, but additional cash funds of Euros 4m will be ...
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US producer Saban Entertainment joins KirchMedia bidders
US producer Haim Saban is set to join the growing list of bidders for the insolvent KirchMedia, albeit in collaboration with further strategic partners, according to the latest issue of the German news weekly Focus.The magazine reported that Saban Entertainment, a regular business partner of Kirch in the past, ...
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German Camera Awards announced
Directors of photography Peter Nix (Wie Feuer Und Flamme) and Hans-Guenther Buecking (Der Tanz Mit Dem Teufel) were among the prize-winners at this year's German Camera Awards in Cologne, which also included an Honorary Award for veteran cinematographer Juergen Juerges.Other Awards went to Matthias Fleischer for the short Der Kuscheldoktor, ...
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Credit line saves RTV Family Entertainment
Animation production house RTV Family Entertainment has moved out of temporary insolvency after receiving a bridging credit line from its bank syndicate backed by a letter of credit from majority shareholder Ravernsburger AG. This step restores RTV to full financial solvency, but additional cash funds of Euros 4m will be ...
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German production community faces 90% reduction
The German production community is facing a crisis which could see the numbers of film and TV producers decimated by the end of next year, according to Stefan Arndt of X-Filme Creative Pool.Speaking at a discussion during Cologne's Medienforum on the future structure of the new German Film Law (FFG), ...
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Blueprint for ottfilm/Telepool distribution deal
German theatrical distributor ottfilm and Munich-based Telepool have concluded a three-year first look deal for the international distribution of feature films.The first title under the arrangement will be Rolf Schuebel's Euros 4.5m Blueprint, starring Franka Potente (Run Lola Run), Sebastian Koch (Amen) and Hilmir Snaer Gudnason (101 Reykjavik), which begins ...
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The Tunnel's Teamworx team picks up producers' prize
German production company Teamworx's Nico Hofmann, Ariane Krampe, and Bettina Reitz, the team behind "event television" productions The Tunnel and Tanz Mit Dem Teufel - Die Entfuehrung Des Richard Oetker, have been awarded this year's Producers' Prize at the Cologne Conference. Picked up in January at the Rotterdam Film Festival ...
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Ufa Theater faces the final curtain
Production, distribution and now exhibition - German cinema chain Ufa-Theater looks like becoming the latest in a growing list of insolvent German media companies.According to business daily newspaper Handelsblatt, a shortfall of Euros 4m could bring down the once dominant German exhibitor. Company shareholders have already spent weeks considering various ...
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Another German media company files for insolvency
German production outfit H5B5 Media, which co-produced Cannes film Welcome To Collinwood, has become the latest in the growing list of German media companies filing for insolvency.In a statement, the company said that an ongoing production for children's animation specialist RTV had encountered cash flow problems. In addition, a Euros ...
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German broadcaster RTL joins film funding institution
German private broadcaster RTL is to become a shareholder in regional public fund Filmstiftung NRW on July 1, contributing some $2.9m to the overall $28.5m annual budget. On the eve of this year's Medienforum NRW, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia's prime-minister Wolfgang Clement, RTL's managing director Gerhard Zeiler and Filmstiftung ...
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Publishers Springer and Bauer join KirchMedia bidders
German publishing empires Axel Springer Verlag and Heinrich Bauer Verlag have set up a consortium to acquire at least 51% of insolvent KirchMedia when it emerges from restructuring.This latest development comes just two days after the WAZ publishing group withdrew from the consortium including the Commerzbank and Sony's Columbia ...
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Germany, Luxembourg sign co-production treaty
Co-productions between film producers in Germany and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg were given a boost this week after the signing of a formal co-production treaty between the two countries.Co-productions made under the auspices of the new treaty will be regarded as national films in both states and therefore enjoy ...
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Germany's TiME Group confronts insolvency
Germany's TiMe Group has filed for protection from creditors two months after it was forced to dramatically scale back distribution and licence trading arm TiMe Medienvertriebs. Although TiMe founder Wolfram Tichy described the filing as "a legally imperative precautionary measure," the likelihood of TiMe joining Germany's growing list of high-profile ...
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Heidi delayed by KirchGroup fallout
German media giant KirchGroup's bankruptcy has brought work on animated feature film Heidi to a standstill and may threaten the future of animation specialist TV Loonlands' Budapest facility after payments from group subsidiary TaurusProduktion, the film's co-producer failed to materialise.Animation specialist TV-Loonland, the film's other co-producer was forced to lay ...
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Film distribution arm launched by Germany's BMG/Universum
European broadcaster RTL Group's video subsidiary BMG Video/Universum Film has launched a theatrical arm Universum Film to act as a link in the distribution cooperation deal announced last year between RTL and Constantin Film (Screendaily, 10 September 2001).Universum Film, which will be headed by the video distribution company's chief executive ...
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German Film Awards go to Nowhere In Africa
Caroline Link's Nowhere In Africa (Nirgendwo In Afrika), swept the board at the German Film Awards this weekend, winning in all of its nominated categories, including Lolas for best film and director.Nowhere In Africa, the most successful German film so far this year with over 1.1m admissions, recently secured US ...
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MediaPro continues Spanish expansion activity
Recent Spanish entrant into feature film production, media conglomerate MediaPro looks set to continue its expansion with the $57m (Euros 60m) buy-out of rival Avanzit Media, the media subsidiary of Spanish technology giant Avanzit.MediaPro declined to comment on press reports that it is considering a $57m (Euros 60m) offer for ...
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TV audience determines German blockbuster director's next movie
Michael "Bully" Herbig, director-producer of German box-office phenomenon Manitou's Shoe, is planning a spoof of cult TV series Star Trek as his next film after asking viewers of his TV show Bullyparade to vote among four alternatives "Basically, the whole thing was an act of desperation", Herbig explained. "I asked ...
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Collapse of Germany's Kirch empire now complete
The collapse of German media mogul Leo Kirch's empire was sealed on Wednesday with the filing for insolvency of two more divisions of the KirchGroup Management holding TaurusHolding and the KirchBeteiligung unit which holds shareholdings in other companies such as Axel Springer Verlag and Formula 1, both sought protection from ...
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Nowhere goes somewhere with Zeitgeist
Following The Tunnel and Sun Alley (Screen Daily, May 29), Caroline Link's Nowhere In Africa (Nirgendwo In Afrika) has become the latest German film picked up for US theatrical distribution.Zeitgeist Films, who also handled Max Faerberboeck's Aimee & Jaguar starring Nowhere's lead actress Juliane Koehler, plans to release Link's adaptation ...