All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 215
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News
F.A.M.E. shuts Soundhouse post subsidiary
German media concern F.A.M.E. Film & Music Entertainment has closed its postproduction subsidiary F.A.M.E. Soundhouse, which has filed for insolvency. The parent company will also now cut back on its operations as a rights trader and expand activities in international co-production.In its report for the first nine months of 2001, ...
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Germany's VIP launches second media fund
Munich-based private media fund Film & Entertainment VIP Medienfonds is preparing to place its second fund with a volume of between Euros 10m and a maximum Euros 100m.Private individuals will be invited between December 15, 2001 and October 31, 2002 to invest a minimum of Euros 25,000 each into the ...
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Germany's Senator issues surprise profit warning
German market analysts have been caught unawares by Senator Entertainment's profit warning for the financial year 2001 - reducing its targetted revenues from Euros 197.1m to Euros 125m-130m and its EBIT from Euros 40m to Euros 2m-5m.As Markus Wallner and Marc Roehder of HSBC Trinkaus & Burkhardt observed, "the profit ...
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Bank files insolvency suit against Kinowelt
The embattled German media group Kinowelt Medien reported that the restructuring measures aimed at streamlining operations had an "adverse effect" on its results for the first nine months of 2001.In an official communique, the company reported that the termination of the Warner Bros film package deal this week had ...
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EM.TV re-enters programme production
Following its radical programme of restructuring under the new CEO Werner Klatten, EM.TV & Merchandising is now planning to re-enter the arena of production in the field children's and family programming.In future, the Munich-based company intends to be involved annually in up to six animated or live-action series geared to ...
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Amelie walks off with European film academy crown
As widely anticipated, Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amelie was the big winner at the 14th European Film Awards in Berlin's new Tempodrom venue on Dec 1, taking home four separate prizes, comprising: best European film, best director, cinematographer as well as the people's choice award for best director.Indeed, it was very much ...
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Loss of Warner films final straw for Kinowelt'
Less than 24 hours before Kinowelt's deadline (on November 28) to persuade ABN Amro Bank to retract its plan to call in loans totalling around $63.2m (DM 140m), what may be the final nail has been hammered into the beleaguered German company's coffin with the news that the 1999 ...
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EM.TV CFO exits after only three months
After just three months in the job as EM.TV & Merchandising's CFO Marius Schwarz (pictured) is exiting the company at the behest of CEO Werner Klatten and with the consent of the supervisory board.As of November 27, the executive board will consist of only two members - Klatten, who will ...
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Paramount taps latest German fund
Having already accessed German private film funds initiated this year by Alcas and Bayerische Immobilien-Leasing (BIL)/Deutsche Bank, Paramount Pictures is set to benefit from a new German private equity fund launched by SachsenFonds and EastMerchant.The Euros 52.7m MMP Investitions GmbH & Co. 2001 KG will be inviting private individuals to ...
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Mediability is first German film fund to collapse
Launched just five months ago, Mediability has become the first casualty among the recent wave of German private media funds; unable to raise sufficient cash from investors for its three proposed animation series: Frog, Thorgal,and Baron Muenchhausen, the Munich-based equity fund has now filed for insolvency.Ellipse Deutschland, the German arm ...
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Kinowelt may be forced into insolvency
Just four days ahead of the presentation of its nine-month figures on November 30, embattled German media concern Kinowelt Medien may now have to file for insolvency after ABN Amro Bank announced its intention to call in loans of more than $45.1m (DM 100m) to Kinowelt as from November 28.In ...
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European Investment Bank starts loan facility
The Luxembourg-based European Investment Bank (EIB) has made its first investment into European audiovisual production as part of the "Audiovisual i2i" initiative by signing two agreements for Euros 20m each with the French credit institutions Cofiloisirs and Coficine.The agreements, which were signed on November 23 by the EIB's Vice-President Francis ...
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Intertainment ends Filmgroup deal as sales fall
Following the insolvency of the UK media company Filmgroup PLC, Germany's Intertainment has taken back from the company more than 75 titles including The Whole Nine Yards, 3000 Miles To Graceland and Battlefield Earth. News of the termination of the contract came as Intertainment reported a reduced surplus of Euros ...
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German scopas fund adds to family entertainment
Frankfurt-based animation studio scopas medien has joined a recent wave of funds concentrating on family entertainment, including Victory, Mediability, Equity Pictures, and Festival Film by launching a Euros 30m private media fund to invest in internationally marketable family entertainment for cinema and television.The fund is inviting private individuals to each ...
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Berlinale lines up 13-strong selection committee
The UK's Simon Perry, Holland Film's Claudia Landsberger and Pandora Film's Christoph Friedel are among the members of the revamped selection committee for the Berlinale's official competition section at the forthcoming festival (February 6-17, 2002).The 13-person line-up comprises: Dieter Kosslick (festival executive director), Wieland Speck (Panorama), Christoph Terhechte (International Forum), ...
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German cultural film funding gets boost
German Minister for Culture Julian Nida-Ruemelin will have Euros 1.5m more to spend on film funding measures in 2002 as part of a global 3% increase in Gerhard Schroeder administration's arts budget.The budget for culturally-oriented film funding will increase from Euro 9.7m to Euros 10.7m while German contribution to EURIMAGES ...
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Germany's Road Movies relocates to London
German production outfit Road Movies is to relocate from Berlin to London from 2002 as part of a restructure by the Das Werk Group in order to generate savings of around Euros 5m next year.Das Werk spokesman Wolfgang Borgfeld stressed that the move did not mean the closure of the ...
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Advanced revises 2001 sales forecast
Less than two weeks after Germany's Advanced Medien announced the closure of its theatrical operations at the end of the year, the rights trader has now reforecast its consolidated sales for 2001 from Euros 23m to between Euros 18m-Euros 20m.Although sales in the third quarter, at Euros 4.2m were up ...
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Swiss film award nominations announced
Thomas Imbach's Happiness Is A Warm Gun, Stefan Haupt's Utopia Blues and Lutz Konermann's Lieber Brad have each received two nominations for the 2002 Swiss Film Awards which will be presented during the Solothurn Film Days on January 16, 2002.Imbach and Haupt's films have been nominated in the Best Feature ...
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Equity Pictures fund lines up new projects
A second season of Tales From The Neverending Story TV series is among three projects being lined up for backing by the new Munich-based private media fund Equity Pictures.Launched by producer Andreas Thiesmeyer and financial expert Josef Lautenschlaeger, Equity Pictures is inviting private individuals to each put up a minimum ...