All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 213
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News
Kuhn fund to raise Euros 99m for 10-picture slate
With its first project Sin Eater, now in production (Screen Daily, March 1), Michael Kuhn's German-based media investment fund N1 European Film Produktions-GmbH & Co KG (N1 EFP) is planning to raise Euros 99 m by the end of 2002 to invest in the development and production of 10 English-language ...
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Millimages buys 51% of Toons 'N' Takes
Leading French animation house Millimages has acquired a 51% majority stake in Hamburg-based studio Toons 'N' Takes.The move is seen as part of an intensification of their existing working collaboration on animation series for television.Millimages, which has been listed on France's Nouveau Marche d'Euronext since June 2001, opened a US ...
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House Of The Dead to go live action in May
After Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, and most recently Tekken (Screen Daily Feb 21), attention has now turned to Sega's best-selling video game, House Of The Dead for a live-action feature production. The Euros 12m project is set to crank up in May in Vancouver under the direction of ...
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Endemol to buy German film production companies
Dutch media giant Endemol Entertainment plans to expand its role as a producer for cinema and television in Germany with the purchase of a number of film production companies. In an interview with the business daily Handelsblatt, Endemol Deutschland general manager Werner Schwaderlapp revealed that negotiations are already underway for ...
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MEDIA! AG anticipates declining fortunes
German production services provider MEDIA! AG anticipates a negative result in the 2001/2002 financial year and sales target of Euros 30m, although it could reach a positive annual result in the next financial year (2002/2003). Reporting on the first half of the current financial year to December 31, 2001, the ...
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European DVD market sets new sector records
The meteoric rise in the global popularity and profitability of the DVD format has seen Germany and the UK join the many markets experiencing record business in the sector.In Germany, the home video industry's turnover exceeded the Euros 1bn mark for the first time ever in 2001, according to ...
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Deutsche Telekom/Liberty deal is blocked
Germany's Federal Cartel Office has blocked Deutsche Telekom's planned sale of six regional cable TV companies to the US media concern Liberty Media throwing the German media landscape into disarray.In an official communique, Deutsche Telekom (DT), which had seen such a transaction as being "a clear stimulus to competition", regretted ...
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Germany's Helkon must release titles through BVI
The German office of Buena Vista International (BVI) has obtained a temporary injunction from a Munich regional court preventing Helkon Media from distributing The Musketeer or Rollerball either directly in-house or through third party distributors. In January, Helkon had announced that it was terminating its agreement with BVI for handling ...
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Grill Point's international sales heat up
Even before the audience's rapturous applause at the announcement of Grill Point (Halbe Treppe) being awarded the Jury Grand Prix, Silver Bear at the Berlinale on Sunday (Feb 17), Andreas Dresen's bittersweet comedy had already impressed a host of international film buyers.Bavaria Film International (BFI) closed a number of sales ...
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Germany's Helkon raises Euros 20m loan
Ahead of its AGM on Feb 19, German license trader-producer Helkon Media has announced that its credit lines with the Hamburg-based Vereins- und Westbank AG and Cologne's Stadtsparkasse Koeln has been transferred into a syndicated loan giving the company additional funds of Euros 20m.The new arrangement is part of ...
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Magicworx adds three English lang titles to slate
Munich-based production outfit Magicworx, a division of the international production and distribution 2K Group, is lining up three English-language projects to co-produce this year. Locations in Mexico or the South Pacific will serve as the setting for UK director Simon Hunter's thriller Savage Surf which will be produced by Magicworx ...
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Germany's Allmedia moves into feature production
Munich-based production outfit Allmedia is to expand into feature film production with the arrival of Uwe Schott as a joint managing director alongside Heike Richter-Karst."We have built up a reputation for quality TV productions and now the next step is to establish a feature film strand which can benefit from ...
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Degeto buys six-pack from Prokino
Jean-Pierre Jeunet's multi-Oscar nominee Amelie heads a six-title package acquired from theatrical distributor Prokino by the ARD's central purchasing agency DEGETO Film for screening on the public TV network.The package's other titles are Wong Kar-wai's In The Mood Of Love, Mira Nair's Monsoon Wedding, Matthias Lehmann's comedy DoppelPack, Philippa Cousins' ...
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Russian film industry comes in from the cold
The Russian film industry is gearing up to return to the international film-making community, but this time with government backing, as opposed to the fluctuating private investment that has market previous production activityThe days when Russian film producers were treated like Third World countries may now be over, attendees were ...
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Berlin to support foreign film production
The Berlinale is set to join other European film festivals in finding ways of supporting filmmakers from developing countries in the production of their films.Inspired by the examples of Rotterdam's Hubert Bals Fund, Locarno's Montecinemaverita, and Bruges' Cinemanovo Film Festival Fund, Berlinale chief Dieter Kosslick would like to see provision ...
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FIAPF re-categorises Locarno film festival
Previously specialised in young cinema, the Locarno festival is to become a generalist event from this year."FIAPF moved us to the general festival category which will give us freedom to choose what we want, although our focus will still be on new cinema", said artistic director Irene Bignardi during the ...
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Wild Bunch seals raft of deals at EFM
French sales agent Wild Bunch has completed a swathe of sales on its huge European Film Market slate. Competition film Spirited Away was confirmed as going to Pathe for UK and Switzerland, RAI Cinema for Italy and Central Partnership Russia. After buying City Of God at Sundance for the US ...
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Gilliam to exec produce Quay Bros' next feature
Two of the Berlinale's "Vision Day" panelists have revealed details of the new projects they are hatching.Terry Gilliam, in town for Lost In La Mancha, will serve as executive producer on the Quay Brothers' long-anticipated second feature The Piano Tuner Of Earthquakes. "Audiences are searching for a chance to journey ...
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Berlinale confirms status as new-talent event
Two of the Berlinale's "Vision Day" panelists have revealed details of the new projects they are hatching.Terry Gilliam, in town for Lost In La Mancha, will serve as executive producer on the Quay Brothers' long-anticipated second feature The Piano Tuner Of Earthquakes. "Audiences are searching for a chance to journey ...
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New German production outfit seeks US product
Framewerk's Stefan Jonas and three partners have launched the new Munich-based international production outfit SRO Entertainment AG.SRO - which stands for Standing Room Only - will be represented in Los Angeles by Michael Ovitz's AMG and top lawyer Larry Hirsch to access top quality projects from the US."Our plan is ...