All articles by Nancy Tartaglione-Vialatte – Page 20
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TPS and Canal Plus cleared for merger
France'sFinance ministry has authorized the merger of rival satellite platforms TPS andCanal Plus, Canal parent company Vivendi said in astatement Thursday morning.The merger between France'sbiggest pay-TV operators will create a new group in which Vivendiwill take an 85% share while TPS owners TF1 and M6 will each get 9.9% and ...
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Pan Europeenne Edition renamed Wild Bunch Distribution
The distribution arm of French sales and financing outfit Wild Bunch,Pan Europeenne Edition, has been re-baptized Wild BunchDistribution the company announced.Wild Bunch took an interest in Pan Europeenne, adistribution and production house run by Philippe Godeau, in 2004.Executives at the newly christened Wild Bunch Distribution remain inplace with the company ...
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Rush Hour 3 starts six week shoot in Paris
Brett Ratner'sRush Hour 3 has begun shooting in Paris, marking continued interest from American filmmakersin the capital city.The third installment of the action comedy stars Chris Tucker andJackie Chan along with French actor Yvan Attal, director Roman Polanski and a French actress ofrenown whose name has yet to be revealed.Rush ...
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Wide notches up sales on Locarno doc Carla's List
France's Wide Management has announced sales on its Locarno presentation Carla's List. The film, by Marcel Schuepbach, is the first documentary ever shot inside the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.Rights were sold in France's Pierre Grise Distribution, Italy's Ripley's Film and Croatia's HRT with discussions ongoing in Germany ...
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Gaumont to start Bensalah's Big City
French major Gaumont has announced the start of shooting on Djamel Bensalah's Big City,a western starring a cast of children ages 8 to 14.Principal photography willcommence on Aug 14 in Alberta, Canada before movingto Bulgaria. Adult co-stars in the film,which is set in the American west of the 1880s where ...
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Valentina Merli joins Pyramide International
French sales company Pyramide Internationalhas hired Valentina Merlito replace outgoing sales executive Pascale Josse.Josse left the company at the end of July and Merli joined this week as director of foreign sales. Shewill report to managing director Eric Lagesse. Merli has previously worked as head of foreign salesat Gemini Films ...
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Deauville to open with Burger's The Illusionist
Neil Burger's The Illusionist, starring EdwardNorton, will open the 32nd Deauville Festival ofAmerican Film, which is slated to run Sept 1-10 in the Normandytown. The official line-up was announced on July 31 andincludes Jason Reitman's Thank You For Smokingstarring Aaron Eckhart, David Slade's Hard Candywhich is set to be released ...
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French distributor Bac posts strong revenues
Bac Majestic has announced a marked increase in revenues for the first half of 2006. With $15.1m (Euros 12m) in income, the French distributor saw a 56.6% rise over the same period last year. Figures were especially notable in theatrical distribution with $7.8 (Euros 6.2m) in revenues for 12 films ...
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Cannes Residence names next six directors
Six directors have beenselected by the Cannes Film Festival Residence to participate in the 13thedition of the scheme from October 2006 through February 2007.A jury presided over bydirector Rithy Panh haschosen Natacha Feola fromthe US, Fien Troch fromBelgium, Antonio Campos of the US, Sebastian Campos of Chile, Alexis Dos Santosof ...
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Unifrance renews Menegoz as president
French film export body Unifrancehas renewed the mandate of its president Margaret Menegoz.Three new vice presidents have also been elected: Elzevir Films' producer Marie Masmonteil,director Tonie Marshall and Francois Yon, co-founder of sales outfit Films Distribution. The VPs will oversee three of the four maincommissions which fall under the Unifrance ...
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Telema has to pay damages over Tanguy
French production house Telema has been ordered to pay $63,657 (Euros 50,000) indamages to each of three screenwriters who claimed their script was highjacked in order to produce hit 2001 film Tanguy.Christophe Valee, Francois Villardand Philippe Barrassat contended they had shown ascript for Recherche Parents Desesperement to Telema,which then declined ...
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Veronique Tan gets on board with Wild Side
Wild Bunch label Wild Side Films has hired formerCelestial Pictures executive Veronique Tan to acquire Asian films for thecompany.Wild Side is active in theatrical and videodistribution and is looking to grow its Asian acquisitions. Tan will evaluateprojects from China, Hong Kong, Korea,Taiwan, Thailand, Japan and other Southeast Asiancountries.With a strong ...
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Gaumont to shoot thriller Avatar in September
Frenchstudio Gaumont has announced that it is inpreparation on Avatar, a first film by Julien Leclercq. The film is scheduled to begin shooting onSeptember 12 for ten weeks in Paris.Avataris a $10.9m (Euros 8.7m) production starring Albert Dupontel,Marie Guillard, Melanie Thierry, MartheKeller, Estelle Lefebure and Francis Renaud. Set in Parisin ...
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Deauville festival to welcome Lumet and Pollack
The 32nd annual Deauville Festival of American Film will run September 1 to 10 in the Normandy seaside town.Actress/director Nicole Garcia is set to head the jury with the rest of themembers to be announced in late July.The festival, which showcasesAmerican independent film and acts as an autumn European launch ...
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F For Film closes deals for Alicia Scherson's Play
French sales house F For Film has closedseveral deals on the award-winning Play by director Alicia Scherson.The film, 2006's official Oscar entry from Chile, has sold to the UK's Dogwoof Pictures, Germany's Kairos and Greece's Artplex. Deals with distributors in Japan and Spain are currently beingnegotiated.In 2005, Play won awards ...
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French court says no plagiarism in Syriana
Paris' high court has handed down a decision in favour ofWarner Bros. and George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh'sSection Eight, knocking down a French screenwriter's claims that theirOscar-winning production Syrianahad plagiarised her work.Stephanie Vergniault had brought the suit earlier this year claimingthat the script for Syrianawas based on her original screenplay ...
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EuropaCorp's Le Pogam adds post at FAEM
EuropaCorp. principal Pierre-Ange Le Pogam has been named to the post of president of theCommission of Funds in aid of Multimedia Publishing (FAEM). France'sNational Cinema Center (CNC) announced the news Thursday morning in Paris.The FAEM is run in support of the creationof innovative multimedia content in such areas as video-game ...
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French cinema admissions up 22% so far in 2006
French box office is up 22% for the first five months of 2006 ascompared to 2005. France's National CinemaCenter (CNC) released figures on Mondaywhich put total admissions for January-May 2006 at 91.12m tickets.The month of May alone saw an increase of 34% on the same month lastyear with 18.48m tickets ...
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Rampling takes charge of Paris festival
Actress Charlotte Rampling will take over fromdirector Costa-Gavras as president of the next Paris Cinema festival which runsfrom June 27 - July 11 in the capital city.Inaugurated four years ago, the event issponsored by the city and includes a feature competition, retrospectives,tributes and has added a new short film competition ...
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F For Film on board for Fresh Air
French sales company F For Film has acquired CannesCritics' Week title Fresh Air by Hungary's Agnes Kokcis.The film shows the difficult relationship between a mother and herteenage daughter and was well-received in the Cannes sidebar.Fresh Air is produced by KMH and won the best debut film awardearlier this year at ...