All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 216

  • News

    German cultural film funding gets boost

    21 November 2001

    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 ...

  • News

    Germany's Road Movies relocates to London

    21 November 2001

    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 ...

  • News

    Advanced revises 2001 sales forecast

    20 November 2001

    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 ...

  • News

    Swiss film award nominations announced

    19 November 2001

    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 ...

  • News

    Equity Pictures fund lines up new projects

    19 November 2001

    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 ...

  • News

    Scandi films triumph at Mannheim festival

    19 November 2001

    Scandinavian cinema dominated the awards at the 50th edition of the International Mannheim-Heidelberg Film Festival in Germany (November 8-17).The Art of Film Award for Best Fiction Feature Film went to Danish filmmaker Tomas Gislason's P.O.V. (Point of View), while Norwegian Erik Smith Meyer received the Award in the Best Short ...

  • News

    German cinema ticket tax proposal sparks outrage

    19 November 2001

    German Culture Minister Julian Nida-Ruemelin's plans to increase the national cinema ticket tax by "a few percent" has prompted the local exhibition sector to vow to fight any increase "on all political, legal and internal industry levels".While German exhibitors have been vocal in their appeals for greater diversification on the ...

  • News

    Liberty confirms German operational base

    18 November 2001

    US media group Liberty Media will base its German operations in Munich and create up to 10,000 new jobs throughout Germany. After meeting with Bavaria's prime-minister Edmund Stoiber in Berlin, Liberty's chairman John Malone declared that "the density of television stations and internet companies around Munich had been a deciding ...

  • News

    Germany's Senator postpones three releases

    16 November 2001

    German theatrical distributor Senator Film has announced that it will hold over three planned winter releases until early 2002. This follows a recent Constantin Film postponement of nine of its planned 25-film line-up for 2001 to next year (Screendaily, Oct 14 2001)The anticipated clogging up of screens with a handful ...

  • News

    Media Salles launches exhibition training scheme

    16 November 2001

    MEDIA Salles, the cinema exhibition initiative of the European Union's MEDIA Programme, has launched a training strand for exhibitors with particular attention to the main trends shaping today's cinema industry and to the demands of audiences of European films.The first of the courses in the series "European Cinema Exhibition - ...

  • News

    Germany delights to Scary Movie 2

    15 November 2001

    Scary Movie 2 took pole position at the German box office over the weekend with $4.4m and a site average of $6,584 from its 663 prints in the penultimate opening weekend before Harry Potter arrives in Germany on an anticipated 1,000-odd screens on November 22; In terms of admissions, the ...

  • News

    Eurocinema TV channel proposed by EC minister

    14 November 2001

    The President of the European Council of Audiovisual Ministers, Richard Miller, announced at the Strasbourg Forum of European Cinema in the European Parliament that he had personally earmarked funds for a feasibility study on the creation of a 'Eurocinema' television channel. The pan-European channel would feature European films, film education ...

  • News

    Eurocinema TV channel proposed by EC minister

    14 November 2001

    The President of the European Council of Audiovisual Ministers, Richard Miller, announced at the Strasbourg Forum of European Cinema in the European Parliament that he had personally earmarked funds for a feasibility study on the creation of a 'Eurocinema' television channel. The pan-European channel would feature European films, film education ...

  • News

    Kayser exits German Premiere World

    12 November 2001

    Less than two months after the rapid exit of Manfred Puffer from the management of the debt-ridden pay-TV service Premiere World and just a couple of weeks after Rupert Murdoch suggested that he might consider bailing out of the German platform (Screen Daily, Nov 2001), Ferdinand Kayser has announced that ...

  • News

    Black Box BRD wins Euro documentary award

    12 November 2001

    Andres Veiel's Black Box BRD has been named as the winner of this year's European Documentary Award - Prix Arte which will be presented at the forthcoming European Film Awards in Berlin on December 1. The decision by the Documentary Jury of producer-filmmaker Jens Meurer, director Cinzia Torrini and Warsaw ...

  • News

    Second Global Motion Pictures fund launched

    11 November 2001

    The Frankfurt-based IN-motion Group is behind the launching of a second private media fund to follow its Euros 15m first Global Motion Pictures Fonds (GMPF) which was brought on to the market in July. The Second Global Motion Pictures Fonds (GMPF 2) will be inviting private individuals to put ...

  • News

    German media sector sees further major changes

    11 November 2001

    Advanced Medien, VCL Film + Medien, and FAME are the latest publicly listed German media companies forced by the 'unfavourable market environment" in the German media sector to embark on a radical strategic reorientation of their operations. Beleaguered producer-distributor Advanced Medien, whose share price has hovered just above oblivion for ...

  • News

    Target launches Euros50m media fund

    8 November 2001

    Berlin-based Target Media Entertainment, who entered into a long-term, multi-picture deal with Warner Bros. Pictures Germany at the end of October (Screendaily, Oct 26 2001), has now launched a Euro 50m media fund to finance up to 15 live.action and animated German and English-language features.The production companies Comet Film (The ...

  • News

    Bertelsmann denies studio acquisition plans

    8 November 2001

    Speculations that German media concern Bertelsmann might be interested in acquiring a Hollywood studio have been dashed once more by CEO Thomas Middelhoff. Speaking in an interview with the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit about his company's plans for the proceeds from the sales of its shares in AOL and ...

  • News

    German cinema admissions reach 10-year high

    8 November 2001

    August's cinema admissions in Germany were the highest for 10 years, thanks to the combined success of Der Schuh Des Manitu Jurassic Park III and Bridget Jones, according to figures collated by the German Federal Film Board (FFA). August's tally of 17.6m admissions was 52% up on August 2000. Moreover, ...