All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 236
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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. ...
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Wenders rockumentary to roll in March
A March 11 start has been scheduled for Wim Wenders' next film, Vill Passiert, a feature-length documentary about veteran German rockers BAP (Screendaily, Feb 11).Produced by Cologne-based production outfit Screen:Works and public broadcaster WDR with backing from Filmstiftung NRW, the film is described by Wenders as "a small road movie" ...
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X-Filme launches German distribution label
X Filme Creative Pool, the production company behind German hit Run Lola Run, has launched a distribution label along with a new development slate that includes its first non-German production.The new label - X Verleih - plans to release 4-8 films a year. Its first release will be the next ...
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CineMedia strikes co-prod deal with UK's Own2Feet
Following its entry into licence trading last month (Screendaily, Jan 26), expansionist German post-production entity CineMedia Film is becoming involved in international co-production through a strategic partnership with UK producer Own2Feet Productions.Under the terms of the deal, struck between Own2Feet and CineMedia production subsidiary TaunusFilm-Produktion, the two partners will each ...
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Wachs set to exit Babelsberg post
Studio Babelsberg chairman Friedrich-Carl Wachs has shocked the German film industry by announcing that he plans to quit his position at the end of the month.Speaking at a hastily-convened press conference at the Berlin Film Festival, Thierry Potok, managing director of Babelsberg owner Vivendi's German property and services division, said ...
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German admissions break records as revenues fall
Cinema admissions in Germany reached a new record last year, climbing from 148.9m to 149m, according to statistics from Berlin-based German Federal Film Board (FFA). However, at the same time, box office revenues fell by 1.2% from $807m (DM1.6bn) to $797m (DM1.58bn) because of a drop in the average ticket ...
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KCMedien, CineArtists board Stone's Beyond Borders
German film fund KC Medien and Munich-based film finance packager CineArtists are backing Oliver Stone's next feature Beyond Borders, which will be partly shot on location in Europe. The film, about medical organisation Medecins Sans Frontieres, is the third project to receive backing from KC Medien following its change of ...
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Le Studio to run with Tykwer's Princess
French production and distribution giant Le Studio Canal Plus has picked up international sales rights to The Princess And The Warrior (Der Krieger Und Die Kaiserin), the latest project from Run Lola Run director Tom Tykwer. Princess, produced by Stefan Arndt's X-Filme Creative Pool, is completed and due for ...
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Wenders changes tune with German rockumentary
Wim Wenders, whose latest film The Million Dollar Hotel opened this year's Berlin Film Festival on Wednesday night (Feb 9), has acquired a taste for music documentaries after his success with Buena Vista Social Club. Wenders has confirmed that his next project will be a feature-length documentary about German 'rock ...
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Naumann opens new bag of funding measures
German culture minister Michael Naumann has unveiled a package of measures to strengthen the federal government's culturally-oriented film funding programme.Naumann, whose film funding budget was raised this year from $7.75m (DM15.5m) to $9m (DM18m), is directing more money at script development with sums of up to $50,800 to be paid ...
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Lisowsky jumps from DreamWorks to Universal
Dirk Lisowsky has been appointed managing director of Universal Pictures Video Germany, replacing Haig Balian who headed up both theatrical and video operations for Universal in Germany before the decision to channel theatrical product through UIP.Lisowsky previously managed DreamWorks' operations in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Prior to that he held ...