All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 223
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Germany pioneers new director opportunities
Aspiring film-makers have it good in Germany. "No other country on earth enables so many film-makers to shoot their first film," says Gebhard Henke, head of the film department at the powerful Cologne-based public broadcaster WDR.Indeed, there are so many film prizes and stipends for young screenwriters, directors and producers ...
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Bosnian Cinema Co-Production Project launched
Bosnian regional and federal authorities have signalled they are to make concerted efforts to provide financial support for the development of the film industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina following the successful launch of the New Bosnian Cinema Co-Production Project (NBCCP) at this years Sarajevo Film Festival. Speaking at the presentation ...
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Sweden backs Gothenburg's CineBosnia fund
Short film production in Bosnia-Herzegovina has been given a welcome boost by the decision of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) on the eve of this years Sarajevo Film Festival (August 17-25) to guarantee $28,995 (SEK 300,000) backing for the Goteborg Film Festival's CineBosnia fund.Launched in 2000, the CineBosnia ...
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New German distributor teams with UIP
Christoph Ott's new German theatrical distribution company OTTFilm has signed a deal with UIP Germany for the joint distribution of new local and international titles, including Woody Allen's The Curse Of The Jade Scorpion and Robert Altman's Gosforth Park. As part of the agreement UIP will handle physical distribution of ...
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German audiences increase as cinemas decline
While German cinema admissions have climbed 8% to 80.3 million and box office takings increased 9.6% to $406.8m for the first half of 2001, there are deeply unsettling developments elsewhere in the market, according to the German Federal Film Board (FFA).Germany's bullish exhibition sector, once a model of robust optimism, ...
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Samaha takes advantage of Oz investor frustration
Elie Samaha's Franchise Pictures has secured a new source of film financing through the German Commerzbank-backed Academy Film Fund (AFF), which has tapped Australian entertainment financiers frustrated by the tax changes in their own market. The AFF aims to raise up to Euros 200m ($176m) from private German individuals by ...
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German talent lines up for $99 films
German actor Peter Lohmeyer (Playing Swede) is to make his directorial debut with one of the 12 shorts for the "99Euro Film" initiative which was launched by this year's Oldenburg Film Festival (September 5-9) along the lines of the Slamdance Film festival's $99 programme.Other participants who have agreed to the ...
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German audiences warm to crowd-pleasers
Despite having a key role in international film funding, Germany has long struggled to gain recognition for its locally produced films. Its film-makers were accused of "lacking an unmistakable style" by the Cannes artistic director this year when, for the eighth consecutive year, no German film was chosen for the ...
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Ad slump hits Germany's Das Werk
Leading German postproduction group Das Werk has been hit by the economic slowdown in the advertising industry, according to its results for the first half of 2001.While the group posted a 57% increase in revenues from Euro 32.9m in the first half of 2000 to Euro 51.5m this year, it ...
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Sarajevo festival boasts broad film selection
Films by Julian Schnabel (Before Night Falls), Joel Coen (The Man Who Wasn't There) and Jafar Panahi (The Circle) are among the films screening in the Panorama sidebar of this year's Sarajevo Film Festival which opens on August 17 with an open-air screening of Cannes prize-winner No Man's Land.Other Panorama ...
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Italian road movie wins Locarno's Golden Leopard
Italian director Maurizio Sciarra's Alla Rivoluzione Sulla Due Cavalli (pictured) - a road movie about three friends who travel to witness Portugal's 1970s revolution - won both the Golden Leopard and Best Actor Bronze Leopard at this year's Locarno International Film Festival.Headed by US writer and film critic Janet Maslin, ...
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Kinowelt's Arthaus could lose its boss Fabritus
The unravelling of German media group Kinowelt Medien has taken a further twist this week with reports spreading through the German distribution sector that Juergen Fabritius, managing director of Kinowelt's arthouse distribution arm, Arthaus Filmverleih, has left the company ahead of plans to fold Arthaus into the mainstream Kinowelt Filmverleih. ...
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Filmfest Hamburg reveals first programme titles
Fosco and Donatello Dubini's new feature Die Reise Nach Kafiristan, which will have its world premiere on Locarno's Piazza Grande open-air venue on August 9, is one of the titles confirmed so far for this year's Filmfest Hamburg (September 24-30).The Filmfest's 90-film programme will also include Japanese director Rintaro's animation ...
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Constantin rules German independent distribution
German independent distributor Constantin Film has re-asserted its status as the most successful distributor of German films this year, largely due to the phenomenal performance of local Western spoof, Der Schuh Des Manitu.After only 18 days on release, the film, which was co-produced by Constantin Film's in-house production arm, has ...
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Swiss distributors, Columbus and Vega, join forces
Swiss distributors Columbus Film and Vega Distribution are to co-operate for joint booking and billing of their releases. Columbus and Vega will retain their independence and continue to handle their own marketing and PR campaigns separately. Among the first releases are the Locarno competition film Happiness Is A Warm Gun ...
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Regent partners up for new German film fund
US producer Regent Entertainment (Gods And Monsters) and German production outfit A.C.H. GmbH Production have been lined up as two of the co-production partners for the new Munich-based "blind pool" film fund: Christopher Filmcapital. Structured as five separate tranches, raising up to Euros 30m each, Christopher Filmcapital has been launched ...
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German exhibition partners sever relationship
German exhibition companies Cinemaxx and Ufa are to sever their co-operative partnership after little more than a year. The break-up of what would have become Germany's largest cinema chain follows the posting of CinemaxX's 2001 half-year losses of $22.5m (DM52.3m).Last May CinemaxX founder Hans-Joachim Flebbe bought 10% of Ufa including ...
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Kinowelt parts company with CFO Unzeitig
Eduard Unzeitig, CFO of debt-ridden Kinowelt Medien Group, has left the company, following news that his contract has been terminated "jointly and with immediate effect".Only less than two weeks ago Alexander van Duelmen had quit his post as head of Kinowelt International "by mutual agreement and with immediate effect".In an ...
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EM.TV offloads holding in Crown Media
In yet another stage of its restructuring, beleagured German media concern EM.TV & Merchandising has offloaded its holding in Crown Media Holdings to Hallmark Entertainment for a total $ 103m. The 8.2% shares in Crown Media had been held by EM.TV via its 100% subsidiary The Jim Henson Company which ...
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Kinowelt looks for partners in bail-out bid
The RTL Group has been named by a German newspaper as a possible strategic partner to bail out debt-ridden Kinowelt Medien. In addition, Munich-based Sueddeutsche Zeitung quoted a Kinowelt spokesman as saying that the company was "currently in talks with various possible strategic partners" and "first results" of the negotiations ...