All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 233
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Switzerland's Fribourg fest unveils first titles
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 ...
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Berlin to feature sidebar of De Hadeln favourites
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 ...
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German film fund supports South Africa's AVEA
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 ...
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Kirch acquires TM3 and sells it to H.O.T.
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 ...
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Das Weisse Rauschen wins Max Ophuels Prize
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, ...
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Epsilon launches theatrical sales outfit
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 ...
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Berlin unveils further Panorama, Forum titles
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 ...
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America, Krokodile score at Bavarian Film Awards
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 ...
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Splendid forms joint venture with Warner Music
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 ...
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De Hadeln unveils Berlin competition line-up
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 ...
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Sony acquires chunk of expanding BKNI
Children's animation producer-distributor BKN International (BKNI) has sold in principle a 3.8% stake to Sony Pictures Family Entertainment as the German company gears up for expansion in the US and Asia.The sale follows BKNI's acquisition of a programme library and Los Angeles production studios for $28m from BKN, effectively marking ...
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Albis Leasing takes control of Apollo Media
Germany's largest independent leasing fund specialist, Albis Leasing, has taken majority stakes in two subsidiaries belonging to private media fund, ApolloMedia, which backed this year's Sundance Film Festival opener My First Mister. As part of the transaction, which must still pass its supervisory board, Albis has acquired a 70% stake ...
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EM.TV plays down KirchGroup impasse reports
Executives at Germany's beleaguered rights trader and merchandising concern EM.TV have played down wide-spread reports that talks with media concern the KirchGroup are on the rocks.EM.TV spokesman Michael Birnbaum was quoted by Financial Times Deutschland as saying that there were "no problems which do not overstep the normal level". He ...
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Germany's CineMediaFilm merges internet arm
CineMediaFilm, one of Germany's first integrated media corporations, is merging its internet subsidiary Film.de with Heidelberg-based internet marketing platform kinokasse.de.CineMedia will receive a 25.1% shareholding in the online marketing venture. Film.de already boasts two million page impressions a month, while, along with more traditional concepts such as online booking, kinokasse ...
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Endemol sells back stake in Germany's G.A.T.
Munich-based TV production house G.A.T. Film- und Fernsehproduktion has bought back the 49% stake Dutch entertainment concern Endemol Entertainment acquired in the company three years ago.According to the specialist media newsletter Der Kontakter, the move was prompted by Telefonica's take-over of Endemol last year. That move was also followed by ...
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German fund doubles for international drive
The regional German film fund of Baden-Wuerttemberg, currently supporting the FilmFour-majority financed Buffalo Soldiers, is to almost double its annual spend to $10m as it seeks to attract further international productions.Fund organiser Medien- und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Wuerttemberg (MFG) has also launched a scheme whereby young producers can access a $1m fund ...
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Tele-Muenchen chief readies pay-TV push
German media mogul Herbert Kloiber is reportedly readying a digital pay-TV channel to go on air this summer.Tentatively titled TM-TV, the service is expected to screen action, adventure and science fiction genres. According to German press reports, Kloiber is planning the service with ex-TM3 managing director Jochen Krohne. The operation ...
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TEAM raises $50m production fund for TV projects
US producer-distributor TEAM Communications Group is a launching a $50m TV production fund entitled TEAM TV Fund following a pact with the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC).TEAM, which is listed on Frankfurt's Neuer Markt and the US NASDAQ exchange, has put up $ 5m of its own capital for ...
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Tele-Muenchen, Concorde pact with Studio Hamburg
Studio Hamburg's feature production arm, Studio Hamburg Letterbox Filmproduktion, has signed a three-picture co-production and distribution deal with Tele-Muenchen Group and its distribution arm, Concorde Film.Heading the trio of titles is Widerstand Der Herzen, the next project from internationally-renowned German director Margarethe von Trotta, which marks her first feature since ...