All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 232
-
News
KC Medien boards StudioCanal's Ginostra
Germany's KC Medien will co-finance French director Manuel Pradal's Ginostra, currently shooting in Italy with Harvey Keitel and Andie McDowell in the leads, as part of its informal producing partnership with France's StudioCanal.The film, produced by Jean-Francois Fonlupt's Emotion Pictures and also backed by France 2 Cinema, is an English-language ...
-
News
Germany's Box! unwraps trio of deals
Berlin-based production outfit Box! Filmproduktion has struck output deals with theatrical distributor Tobis StudioCanal and Bavaria Media, and is to become a production partner of media venture capital company Producers' AG. The deal with Tobis StudioCanal(TSC), which co-produced and distributed Box!'s first feature Edward Berger's Female2 Seeks Happyend, initially ...
-
News
Senator, Odeon exit internet activities
Germany's Senator Entertainment and Odeon Film are planning to pull the plug on their respective internet businesses. In unrelated announcements, both blamed the difficult internet market.Last autumn, Odeon gathered its internet activities into Odeon New Vision, but plans to sell some activities and close down the division within two months. ...
-
News
Uruguay's 25 Watts lights up Rotterdam
Uruguayan directors Juan Pablo Rebella and Pablo Stoll's 25 Watts, about a group of bored teenagers in Montevideo, clinched one of the three VPRO Tiger Awards, along with the Movie Zone Award, at this year's Rotterdam International Film Festival.The other two Tiger Award winners, who each receive prizes worth Euro10,000, ...
-
News
Fake UK doc gets Colombian treatment
Colombian production outfit Tucan Productions is developing a feature inspired by the case of UK broadcaster Carlton Television's fake 1996 documentary The Connection, which claimed to have uncovered a new heroin route from Colombia to British school playgrounds.The Deal (El Trato) is to be directed by Colombian filmmaker Francisco Norden, ...
-
News
StudioCanal's German arm boards second project
The German production arm of France's StudioCanal, StudioCanal Produktion, is to co-produce Robert Schwentke's directorial debut Tattoo, it's second project following Edward Berger's love story Frau 2 Sucht Happy End.StudioCanal's German theatrical arm, Tobis StudioCanal (TSC), has set an autumn 2001 release for the thriller, which has been shooting ...
-
News
FFA supports Wortmann, Egger projects
New features by Soenke Wortmann, Urs Egger and Joseph Orr are among the projects awarded almost $2.4m (DM5m) production support by the Berlin-based German Federal Film Board (FFA) in its latest round of funding.Wortmann's Cologne-based production company Little Shark Entertainment received $481,000 (DM1m) for his football film about the German ...
-
News
CinemaxX embarks on $9m cost-cutting programme
The board of German exhibitor CinemaxX has agreed to a "massive programme of reducing costs" which should lead to a $9.6m (DM20m) improvement in its results. The company also said that it now plans to focus on the German market, and will only pursue expansion abroad "in co-operation with a ...
-
News
Svankmajer to be awarded Freedom Prize
Veteran Czech filmmaker-artist Jan Svankmajer is to be presented with the Andrzej Wajda/Philip Morris Freedom Prize by Polish director Wajda at a special ceremony in Berlin's Academy of Arts on February 11.The presentation will take place as part of the Freedom Film Showcase of films from Central and Eastern Europe ...
-
News
Cinema Novo launches production fund
Bruges' Cinema Novo Film Festival, which focuses on films from Africa, Asia and Latin America, has announced initial steps towards its long-awaited production fund for feature films from the southern hemisphere.On the occasion of Bruges being a "European Capital 2002", Cinema Novo will award two post-production grants - each worth ...
-
News
Kirch, Cologne Gemini buy into Prima Idee
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 ...