All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 233
-
News
Epsilon acquires European rights to Franchise trio
Kirch and Mediaset's joint venture for big-budget productions, Epsilon Motion Pictures (Emotion), has selected the first three projects to kick off its distribution pact with Franchise Pictures: Michael Caton-Jones' City By The Sea, Antonio Banderas-starrer Ecks vs. Sever and David Goyer's directorial debut Zigzag.Emotion signed a deal in October to ...
-
News
Kirk Douglas to be honoured at Berlin
Veteran Hollywood actor Kirk Douglas will be honoured with a Golden Bear for Lifetime Achievement at next year's Berlin International Film Festival (February 7-18). Douglas will receive the award on February 16 before a special festival screening of his 1957 film Paths Of Glory in the Berlinale Palast Theatre at ...
-
News
Germany's F.A.M.E. in talks to tap film funds
Munich-based film and music production house F.A.M.E. Film & Music Entertainment, which floated on Frankfurt's Neuer Markt at the end of August, is in talks with two German media funds to support its push into international co-productions.As F.A.M.E. board member Michael Bischoff explained, changes in German tax legislation have meant ...
-
News
Kirch acquires blocking stake in EM.TV
Germany's Kirch Group has taken a minority blocking stake in beleaguered family entertainment rights trader EM.TV & Merchandising, which has seen its share price plummet in the last week, in reaction to a profit warning and disappointing third quarter figures.Although Kirch was expected to acquire a majority stake, EM.TV announced ...
-
News
Von Trier, Wong score at European Film Awards
Lars von Trier's Dancer In The Dark was the clear winner at this year's European Film Awards in Paris, taking away the top honour of Best European Film 2000, as well as the European Actress award for Bjork. The film, which has polarised critics ever since it was first seen ...
-
News
MTV Germany chief in talks to take helm of TM3
Following weeks of speculation about her departure, MTV Germany chief Christiane zu Salm has confirmed that she is to leave her post, and is in "advanced negotiations" to head News Corp-owned channel TM3.News Corp took control of TM3, by buying out Herbert Kloiber's TeleMuenchen, earlier this year, but the former ...
-
News
Sony Europe, Canal Plus pact for interactive TV
Sony Europe expects to play a central role in the European market for interactive digital television after signing a strategic alliance with the Canal Plus subsidiary Canal Plus Technologies (CPT).The agreement will allow Sony to use the interactive digital TV platform developed by CPT, Mediahighway Consumer Electronics, which corresponds to ...
-
News
Kinowelt, Der Spiegel mull joint TV venture
German mini-major Kinowelt is considering joining forces with the on-line arm of weekly magazine Der Spiegel and Alexander Kluge's Development Company for TV Programmes (DCTP) to set up an ad-financed TV channel, tentatively named IDE, in Berlin from next spring.According to the marketing weekly magazine w&v, the station, which intends ...
-
News
Dragotto re-teams with Hausfater at Intermedia
Former Buena Vista Film Sales (BVFS) vice president Michael Dragotto is re-uniting with his erstwhile boss Jere Hausfater at sales, financing and production entity Intermedia.Dragotto takes up the newly-created position of executive vice-president, motion picture group, worldwide distribution. He will report to Jere Hausfater, who previously headed BVFS.The appointment comes ...
-
News
E-M-S taps Jovy to advise on expansion
German video and DVD distributor E-M-S New Media, which emerged as a major all-rights buyer at this year's autumn markets, has appointed former Advanced Medien board member Hanns-Arndt Jovy as a consultant to advise on its expansion into licence trading and production.E-M-S, founded in 1997 by Werner Wirsing, chief of ...
-
News
KC Medien unwraps alliances with Pathe, Lions Gate
Film seasons from The Netherlands and Croatia have been scheduled in the US next month. Dutch Treats 2000: New Films From Holland presents ten recent films at the Quad Cinema in New York (Dec 1-7), while Wednesdays In Croatia (Nov 29-Dec 20) screens classic and new Croatian films kicking off ...
-
News
Germany's Loonland on the prowl for UK sales agent
The acquisition of a UK-based sales agent is on the 'to do' list of German animation powerhouse TV-Loonland when it joins the ranks of media companies listed on Frankfurt's Neuer Markt exchange on March 22.The Munich-based enterprise, which produced internationally successful series such as Ned's Newt and The Fantastic Flying ...
-
News
Rudolph investigates sex for Germany's Gemini
Cologne-based production outfit Gemini Film is lining up three international features for production this year including Investigating Sex, written and to be directed by Alan Rudolph, which has Bruce Willis, Nick Nolte and Neve Campbell attached to star.The $8.5m project is set to start shooting in North Rhine-Westphalia and Berlin ...
-
News
RTL buys stake in sister channel Vox
Germany's leading commercial broadcaster RTL is making its biggest ever investment by acquiring a 49.9% stake in sister channel Vox, according to RTL chief executive Gerhard Zieler in an interview with German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung. The stake is currently owned by RTL parent company, Luxembourg-based CLT-UFA, which bought News Corp's ...
-
News
Callahan set to acquire Deutsche cable assets
Deutsche Telekom is expected to confirm today the sale of a 55% stake in its cable television network in North Rhine-Westphalia, for about $3bn to Denver investment company Callahan Associates International (CAI).In addition, DB Investor, an investment unit of Deutsche Bank, is expected to take a minority stake in the ...
-
News
Suzhou racks up sales at quiet Berlin market
Philippe Bober's Berlin-based The Coproduction Office could claim the accolade of "buzz title" at last week's European Film Market (EFM) for Chinese director Lou Ye's Suzhou (pictured) which has sold to 12 territories and is expected to clean up the rest of the key territories at this week's AFM.With 14 ...
-
News
US, German titles take top honours at Berlin
Magnolia, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, was awarded the Golden Bear at the 50th Berlin International Film Festival on Sunday night (Feb 20), a choice that proved popular among critics and audiences alike. US films also picked up Silver Bears for best actor and director, but for the second year ...
-
News
Moreau to be patron for Berlin's Shooting Stars
Dir: Carlos Diegues. Brazil. 1999. 110 mins.Prod co: Rio Vermelho. Co-prod: Globo. Int'l Sales: TFI International (33) 1 41 41 35 32. Prods: Renata de Almeida Magalhaes, Paula Lavigne. Scr: Diegues, with the collaboration of Hermano Vianna, Hamilton Vaz Pereira, Paulo Lins and Joao Emanuel Carneiro, based on the play ...
-
News
Splendid/IEG direct Searchlight's Traffic overseas
Aggressive German player Splendid Medien and its subsidiary Initial Entertainment Group (IEG) are putting up between $35m-$45m of the $60m-$65m budget for Fox Searchlight's Traffic, set to star Harrison Ford and Catherine Zeta-Jones.IEG will take international rights to the film, while 20th Century Fox will handle domestic distribution. The project ...
-
News
Becker lines up comedy for Miramax
X-Filme Creative Pool's Wolfgang Becker is developing comedy Hamstrung (Schinken), which could be the first project to go through the company's first-look deal with Miramax.The film, which Becker will direct, is about a butcher from Aberystwyth, Wales who travels to Phoenix, Arizona, to take part in a world ham championship. ...