All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 230

  • News

    Kirch, Cologne Gemini buy into Prima Idee

    2001-01-31T18:40:00Z

    One of Germany's leading independent producers, the Cologne Gemini Group, and Kirch Media's new subsidiary, Kirch Media Entertainment, have taken stakes in Berlin-based production outfit Prima Idee which specialises in TV entertainment format ideas and concepts. In addition to taking a 30% stake in Prima Idee, Kirch Media Entertainment, a ...

  • News

    KC Medien boards third Mandalay project

    2001-01-31T18:37:00Z

    German film investment fund KC Medien has confirmed Reginald Hudlin's latest feature Servicing Sara, starring Liz Hurley, Matthew Perry and Bruce Campbell, as the third Mandalay Pictures project that it will co-finance.In the last year, KC Medien has put up part of the financing for Mandalay's production of Jean-Jacques Annaud's ...

  • News

    Battle Royale, Jalla! stir up Rotterdam

    2001-01-31T17:22:00Z

    Japanese director Fukasaku Kinji's Battle Royale, Swedish debutant filmmaker Josef Fares' comedy Jalla! Jalla! and Juan Pablo Rebella's dry-humoured slacker drama 25 Watts from Uruguay are among the buzz films on festival guests' lips at the 30th Rotterdam International Film Festival this week."I received phone calls from Sundance from ...

  • News

    Berlin names competition jury

    2001-01-30T12:15:00Z

    Italian horror king Dario Argento, veteran Brazilian director Hector Babenco and UK actress Jacqueline Bisset will be amongst the international jury members for the 51st Berlin International Film Festival. Also on the panel are German film-maker Fatih Akin, French actress Dominique Blanc and former San Sebastian International Film Festival chief ...

  • News

    Twenty Twenty Vision sets sights on Bach project

    2001-01-29T19:26:00Z

    Young Berlin-based production outfit Twenty Twenty Vision Filmproduktion, which has its debut feature Filippos Tsitos' My Sweet Home in competition at Berlin next week, has lined up three further productions including a biopic of composer Johann Sebastian Bach set to star Vadim Glowna (No Place To Go).Dominique Rivaz will direct ...

  • News

    StudioCanal pays a visit to God's Town

    2001-01-29T18:03:00Z

    France's StudioCanal is to co-finance the next feature from Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles, God's Town (Cidade De Deus), which is scheduled to start shooting on location in Rio de Janeiro in June.The film will be produced by Sao Paulo-based O2 Filmes, which is co-owned by Meirelles and Andrea Barata Ribeiro, ...

  • News

    Azzurro takes top honours at Swiss Film Awards

    2001-01-28T22:17:00Z

    Denis Rabaglia's Azzurro was named Best Feature Film at this year's Swiss Film Awards, held during the Solothurn Film Days (Jan 23-28), against competition from Markus Imboden's Komiker - which left empty-handed despite being nominated in three categories - Silvio Soldini's Bread And Tulips, Xavier Koller's Gripsholm and Clemens Klopfenstein's ...

  • News

    Haneke's Code Unknown to open Diagonale fest

    2001-01-26T11:36:00Z

    Michael Haneke's Cannes competition title Code Unknown (Code Inconnu) will open this year's Diagonale festival of Austrian cinema, which will feature several sidebars to complement the central showcase of new Austrian film. Among the special programmes are a retrospective dedicated to German filmmaker Michael Klier; an animation focus presenting work ...

  • News

    Berlin's Kinderfilmfest unveils final line-up

    2001-01-26T11:32:00Z

    The world premiere of Andrea Katzenberger's Der Mistkerl, which is handled internationally by Studio Hamburg Produktion, will open this year's edition of Berlin's Kinderfilmfest.The line-up for the children's film festival has now been finalised by organisers Renate Zylla and Maryanne Redpath. Films confirmed to screen include:Jannik Hastrup's animation film Cirkeline ...

  • News

    EFP reveals fourth Shooting Stars line-up

    2001-01-24T15:16:00Z

    The UK's Kate Ashfield and Germany's Heike Makatsch, lead actresses from Panorama film Late Night Shopping, are among 18 young European actors and actresses selected by members of pan-European promotional organisation European Film Promotion (EFP) for the fourth "Shooting Stars" showcase at the Berlin Film Festival on February 10-11.Icelandic actor-director ...

  • News

    Switzerland's Fribourg fest unveils first titles

    2001-01-24T15:07:00Z

    South Korean director Im Kwon-Taek's Chunhyang and Yi Yi directed by Taiwan's Edward Yang are among the first batch of films confirmed for the official competition at the 15th Fribourg International Film Festival in Switzerland (March 11-18).The competition line-up also includes Chang Wai-hung's Among The Stars (Hong Kong), Vivian Chang's ...

  • News

    Berlin to feature sidebar of De Hadeln favourites

    2001-01-24T12:28:00Z

    Outgoing Berlin Film Festival director Moritz de Hadeln has made a selection of personal cinematic memories from his 22-year tenure that will screen in a special sidebar at this year's event under the banner "Moritz' Favourites".De Hadeln said he didn't want to put his own personality into the spotlight, but ...

  • News

    German film fund supports South Africa's AVEA

    2001-01-23T17:02:00Z

    German film fund MFG Medien und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Wuerttemberg has joined the list of backers of the new South Africa-based producers' training initiative "AVEA - Audiovisual Entrepreneurs of Africa" which is modelled on the MEDIA programme's EAVE scheme.Financing for the initiative, which aims to prepare film and TV producers from the ...

  • News

    Kirch acquires TM3 and sells it to H.O.T.

    2001-01-23T16:49:00Z

    Germany's Kirch Media has acquired News Corp's shares in commercial free-TV channel TM3, and transferred them to EUVIA Media, a 100% subsidiary of the home shopping management and holding company H.O.T. Networks. News Corp has taken a 2.48% stake in Kirch Media as part of the deal.H.O.T. Networks' chairman Georg ...

  • News

    Das Weisse Rauschen wins Max Ophuels Prize

    2001-01-22T16:25:00Z

    Austrian-born director Hans Weingartner walked away with this year's $28,700 (DM60,000) Max Ophuels Prize for his psychological drama Das Weisse Rauschen while the Prize of the Saarland Prime Minister went to Austria's Florian Flicker for Der Ueberfall.The awards were handed out during the Max Ophuels Prize Film Festival in Saarbruecken, ...

  • News

    Epsilon launches theatrical sales outfit

    2001-01-22T14:04:00Z

    Epsilon, the programming and acquisition joint venture between European broadcasters Kirch and Mediaset, has launched an international sales company, Beta Cinema, to focus on distribution of theatrical features.The new operation is in addition to the group's Beta Film sales subsidiary which has traditionally concentrated on TV. It will be headed ...

  • News

    Berlin unveils further Panorama, Forum titles

    2001-01-22T13:22:00Z

    Bela Tarr's Werckmeister Harmoniak and Renny Bartlett's Eisenstein are among another batch of titles confirmed for the International Forum of Young Cinema sidebar at this year's Berlin Film Festival. Meanwhile titles from Jean-Jacques Beineix, Lea Pool and Gerardo Herrero have been added to the Panorama line-up.Hungarian feature Werckmeister Harmoniak has ...

  • News

    America, Krokodile score at Bavarian Film Awards

    2001-01-19T16:49:00Z

    Vanessa Jopp's Forget America, produced by Herbert Rimbach's Avista Film, and Jobst Oetzmann's Die Einsamkeit Der Krokodile, from Constantin subsidiary Olga Film, shared the top $242,000 (DM500,000) Producers Prize at this year's Bavarian Film Awards.However, Oliver Hirschbiegel's psychological thriller Das Experiment, which is being released by Senator Film on March ...

  • News

    Splendid forms joint venture with Warner Music

    2001-01-19T16:07:00Z

    Germany's Splendid Medien has extended its existing collaboration with Warner Music by launching a joint venture company, based in Hamburg, to sell and distribute DVDs and videos in the German-speaking region. Warner Music will hold 51% of the new company, Warner Vision Vertriebs, with Splendid holding the remaining 49%. Alexander ...

  • News

    De Hadeln unveils Berlin competition line-up

    2001-01-18T13:42:00Z

    The Berlin Film Festival's outgoing director Moritz de Hadeln has announced the competition line-up for the event's 51st edition, which as expected features a heavy European and Asian presence (ScreenDaily, Jan 15). Asia, which has always been well served by Berlin in the past, will be represented this year by ...