All articles by Martin Blaney – Page 237
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MTM to shoot biopic of student leader Dutschke
Munich-based production outfit MTM cineteve has successfully bid for the film rights to the biography of legendary student movement leader Rudi Dutschke.The biography - entitled Dutschke: We Had A Barbarically Lovely Life - was published by his widow Gretchen Dutschke in 1996. Urs Egger, whose credits include Opera Ball, will ...
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ProSieben, Sat1 mull collaboration options
German commercial broadcasters Sat1 and the ProSieben Media Group are considering forming a joint family of channels according to ProSieben's new chief Urs Rohner.The two groups are understood to be examining three scenarios. One involves Sat1 being brought into ProSieben with Sat1's shareholders becoming shareholders in ProSieben; while another sees ...
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Horror scores in German market
As Scream 3 breaks records in the US, the horror genre is making its mark in Germany - and this time for a locally produced film. Anatomie, written and directed by hot young Austrian Stefan Ruzowitzky, attracted 320,000 cinema-goers over its opening four-day weekend. Making almost $2m (DM4m) from 386 ...
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Fox to release Prokino slate in Germany
German independent distributor Prokino and 20th Century Fox have entered into an exclusive strategic cooperative alliance which will see all of Prokino's future releases being distributed by the US major, starting with Kenneth Branagh's Love's Labours Lost. Branagh's Shakespeare adaptation, which is showing at this year's Berlin Film Festival in ...
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Kinowelt picks up two from Checkpoint Berlin
Kinowelt International, the foreign sales arm of German media concern Kinowelt Medien, has acquired international rights to Hansjoerg Thurn's Love Never Fails (Marmor,) and Peter Keglevic's Falling Rocks (Stein Und Eisen).The films are the first two projects from young Berlin-based production outfit TTD Checkpoint Berlin. The company was founded a ...
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Muratova to receive Wajda Freedom Prize in Berlin
Russian director Kira Muratova, whose credits include the 1990 Berlin Special Jury prize winner The Asthenic Syndrome, will receive the first Andrzej Wajda/Philip Morris Freedom Prize at the Berlin Film Festival on February 13.Wajda, whose film Pan Tadeusz will receive a special screening at Berlin, will present the prize to ...
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Parallax, Road Movies' Princesa cranks up in Milan
Production has started in Milan on Henrique Goldman's Princesa, a three-way co-production between the UK's Parallax Pictures, Germany's Road Movies Filmproduktion and Italian distributor BIM.The film, which is Road Movies' fifth collaboration with London-based Parallax after films such as Ken Loach's Land And Freedom and Carla's Song, centres on the ...
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Apollo Media lines up Beresford, Cookson projects
German film fund Apollo Media, launched last November (Screen International, Nov 19, 1999), has unveiled its debut slate which includes new projects from Bruce Beresford, Stephen Cookson, Christine Lahti and Tomy Wigand. An April start is being slated for Bruce Beresford's long-gestating project, the $12m melodrama Alma - Bride Of ...
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Clooney, Wenders in frame for Golden Cameras
Actor George Clooney and German director Wim Wenders are among the names who will be honoured at the 25th Golden Camera Awards (Feb 8), on the eve of the Berlin Film Festival (Feb 9-20).Wenders' film The Million Dollar Hotel is opening the 50th Berlin Film Festival, and also featuring in ...
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Deutsche Telekom, Kirch plan Internet alliance
Deutsche Telekom and the KirchGroup are planning an alliance for cable television and the Internet, according to a report in Sueddeutsche Zeitung. The newspaper stated that Deutsche Telekom was considering an investment of more than DM500m ($253m) for a 51% majority stake in Kirch's research and software subsidiary Beta Research, ...
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Christmas Carol, High Times join MBP slate
Hot German finance house MBP has revealed further projects on its extensive development slate, being financed in a two-step process that involves an initial private placement followed by an IPO (Screendaily Feb 3).The aggressive financier is set to be German co-producer on Bruce Beresford's $7.6m (A$12m) Boswell, which has Richard ...
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Kinowelt, IAC join expanding Berlin Film Market
Several established sales agents have confirmed their participation in the European Film Market (EFM) - to take place during the Berlin Film Festival (Feb 9-20) - for the first time this year.Among companies setting out stalls for the first time at Berlin are the UK's IAC Films and Television, Iran's ...
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MBP to go public with top-flight slate
MBP, one of Germany's hottest film finance houses, is set to offer the public a slice of films by directors including Bruce Beresford, Iain Softley, Bob Rafelson and Andre Bonzel. The outfit, which controls a spread of tax efficient funds, plans a flotation within the next 18 months.In the initial ...
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Lehmann Brothers to acquire stake in Kirch PayTV
New York-based investment bank Lehman Brothers is planning to acquire a 3% stake in Leo Kirch's pay-TV holding Kirch PayTV. The holding controls the digital platform Premiere World and Swiss pay channel Teleclub, among others.According to a report in the German daily newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau, the investment would cost Lehman ...
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Highlight to fire with Newell's Fifty Cannon
Swiss distributor and rights trader Highlight Communications has boosted its international profile by signing a three-year output deal with UK director Mike Newell's start-up outfit Fifty Cannon Entertainment. Highlight will take all rights in German-speaking territories to Fifty Cannon's slate and also has the option to co-produce certain projects, acquiring ...
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France, Germany team up for promotional activity
French state film body CNC will support the activities of Hamburg-based pan-European promotion agency European Film Promotion (EFP) in the second half of 2000 when France has the presidency of the European Commission.CNC will support EFP's activities outside of Europe. The move was prompted by French culture minister Catherine Trautmann ...
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EFP unveils Shooting Stars line-up
Pan-European promotion agency, European Film Promotion (EFP), has revealed this year's line-up of 18 European "Shooting Stars" who will be introduced to the public and international film industry at the Berlin Film Festival on Feb 12/13. (see list below)French actress Jeanne Moreau, who is the subject of a tribute at ...
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American Beauty opens well in Germany
Even before it scooped three top prizes at the Golden Globe awards last Sunday, Sam Mendes' American Beauty benefited from favourable word-of-mouth in Germany to rack up an impressive screen average of $16,720 over the four-day weekend (January 20-23). The film, which distributor UIP is now sure to widen following ...
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CineMedia enters rights arena with Icon title
Germany witnessed the entrance of another aggressive rights buyer this week as leading post-production concern CineMedia unveiled a raft of acquisitions headed by Icon Entertainment International's What Women Want, starring Mel Gibson.CineMedia acquired rights to product with a total production budget of around $240m, taking all-media rights for German-speaking territories ...
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IBB pumps $15m into Berlin Animation Fund
Investitionsbank Berlin (IBB) has become the latest German bank to get involved in Germany's private media fund sector by investing DM30m ($15.4m) in the DM168m ($86m) Berlin Animation Film (BAF) fund, launched at the end of last year by London-based Kleinwort Benson.Kleinwort Benson, part of the Dresdner Bank Group, reports ...