All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 217

  • News

    Berlinale confirms status as new-talent event

    2002-02-11T19:18:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    New German production outfit seeks US product

    2002-02-11T19:10:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    Kinowelt's fate to be determined by March 2002

    2002-02-10T16:39:00Z

    A final decision on the fate of the debt-ridden Kinowelt Medien Group is likely to be made by the second half of March, according to the provisional insolvency administrator Dr. Wolfgang Ott.In a status report to the end of January on his efforts with Kinowelt's management and the creditor banks ...

  • News

    German exhibitors boycott All Industry Meeting

    2002-02-10T16:35:00Z

    German exhibitors' association Hauptverband Deutscher Filmtheater (HDF) last week boycotted an All Industry Meeting on joint marketing measures in response to critical comments made about it in an internal memo by the distributors' association Verband der Filmverleiher (VdF). HDF - which represents more than half of the German exhibition sector, ...

  • News

    Screenwriters to get equal billing at Berlinale

    2002-02-10T16:25:00Z

    Less than a year after the threat of a screenwriters' strike stuck fear into the heart of Hollywood, the Berlinale is to change its rules on recognition for scriptwriting.From next year the Berlinale will give writers equal credit with directors and lead actors in the listing of all festival films. ...

  • News

    Contact Berlin feature line-up confirmed

    2002-02-08T15:09:00Z

    New feature projects from the UK, Spain, Denmark and France are among 12 films being presented to key potential financiers at the "Contact Berlin" financing platform being held at this year's Berlinale from February 9-10.The line-up of projects include:The Body In The Yard (AGAT Films & Cie, France)The Bum's Rush ...

  • News

    Nazi image set to fire up Berlin film festival

    2002-02-07T20:28:00Z

    A crucifix parodied as a Nazi swastika, hung only a few hundred metres from Hitler's famous bunker in Berlin's Potsdamer Platz, is certain to spark controversy at the Berlin festival as well as among the city's populace.The gruesome image (pictured) is the poster for Costa-Gavras' Amen, which gets its ...

  • News

    Germany's VIP fund to back Richter's The I Inside

    2002-02-05T18:26:00Z

    Munich-based Film & Entertainment VIP Medienfonds (VIP) is to back the first English-language project by Der Tunnel director Roland Suso Richter.VIP is to supply just over half of the budget for The I Inside which will go into production in March by Rudy Cohen's RCD Productions with a cast understood ...

  • News

    Bavaria Film Int'l, X-Filme expand relationship

    2002-02-05T17:55:00Z

    German world sales company Bavaria Film International (BFI) and X-Filme Creative Pool, producer of the Berlinale's opening film Heaven, have agreed to expand their existing working relationship."Our goal is to intensify the co-operation with X Filme on an informal basis, which could go over and above the world sales business ...

  • News

    France, Spain and UK dominate Cartoon market

    2002-02-05T17:51:00Z

    More than half of the 42 feature projects selected for this year's Cartoon Movie market (March 14 - 16) to be presented to investors and distributors come from animation production companies from France, Spain and the UK.As the leading centre for animation in Europe, France leads the field with 10 ...

  • News

    Korean, Canadian shorts featured at Dresden fest

    2002-02-04T18:39:00Z

    Short films from South Korea and Canada will be specially featured in the sidebar section of this year's Filmfest Dresden (April 16-21).The Filmfest is working with the Korean producer-distributor Indiestory to compile an overview of the largely unknown Korean short film scene, while the sidebar entitled "A Decade of Canadian ...

  • News

    Blanchett among Golden Camera award winners

    2002-02-04T18:37:00Z

    Actresses Cate Blanchett and Heike Makatsch and actor Heino Ferch are among the prize-winners of the 37th Golden Camera Awards which will be presented by the German TV and radio listings magazine Hoer Zu in Berlin today, on the eve of this year's film festival.Blanchett, who stars opposite Giovanni Ribisi ...

  • News

    Germany's Splendid reports 150% sales growth

    2002-01-31T22:02:00Z

    Germany's Neuer Markt-listed Splendid Medien reported a 150% year-on-year growth in sales and positive earnings before tax, according to provisional figures for the 2001 financial year. The final financial report will not be presented until March 28.The Cologne-based company reported that the preliminary sales for 2001 are approximately Euros 68m ...

  • News

    German media companies reorganise funds

    2002-01-30T22:58:00Z

    EM.TV & Merchandising has parted with its shares in Hamburg-based TFC Holding, Israel's Talit.TV & Communications and Stockholm-based Plus Licens AB as part of its strategic reorientation.EM.TV had acquired the holdings during the Neuer Markt's boom phase between September 1999 and February 2000, but the decision to sell was taken ...

  • News

    Fiennes takes lead in $10m Luther biopic

    2002-01-30T22:41:00Z

    UK actor Joseph Fiennes has signed up to play religious reformer Martin Luther in a $10m feature film biopic to be directed by Eric Till.Luther, the story of a simple monk challenging the political and religious leadership of his time will also feature Peter Ustinov, Bruno Ganz, Mathieu Carriere, ...

  • News

    Roxie takes US rights to Richter's The Tunnel

    2002-01-30T22:35:00Z

    US distributor Roxie Releasing picked up US rights for Roland Suso Richter's The Tunnel from Beta Cinema at this week's Rotterdam Film Festival.Having monitored the film's success at festivals in Montreal (where it won the audience award), Vancouver (placed second in audience choice after Amelie) and the Toronto Film Festival's ...

  • News

    Berlin's new Perspective sidebar & Vision Day

    2002-01-30T02:48:00Z

    The 99 Euro-Films omnibus project will open the Berlinale's new sidebar "Perspective of German Cinema" which is described by the organisers as "a voyage of discovery and adventure through the entire spectrum of German cinema from fictional and experimental films to documentaries". 99 Euro-Films, which comprises 12 short ...

  • News

    Kinowelt to exit German Neue Markt

    2002-01-30T02:39:00Z

    Germany's Kinowelt Medien has withdrawn its listing on the Neuer Markt as of Feb 22 and will transfer its stock to the Regulated Market from Feb 25.Brothers Michael and Rainer Koelmel and the provisional insolvency administrator Dr. Wolfgang Ott decided on the change to the "more suitable segment" of the ...

  • News

    European Film Market on target for record year

    2002-01-30T02:22:00Z

    The Berlinale's European Film Market (EFM) is looking forward to a vintage year, with record-breaking levels of registrations, screenings and exhibitors. According to market director Beki Probst, over 120 companies from more than 30 countries were already booked by last November, with three new exhibitors attending the EFM for the ...

  • News

    Das Werk picks up $17m worth of work

    2002-01-28T19:05:00Z

    The international postproduction group Das Werk has won contracts worth $17.2m (Euros 20m) which will keep its feature film facilities working to capacity throughout 2002.LA-based subsidiary CFX has been awarded a $10m contract to handle the effects on an unnamed Warner Bros./Village Roadshow project as well as $3m worth of ...