All articles by Nancy Tartaglione-Vialatte – Page 26
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Wild Bunch: From Penguins To Polar Bears
Hot off announcing a $145mnjoint-venture devoted to co-producing and acquiring big budget films, France'sWild Bunch enters the AFM with a new $7m nature documentary that echoes its USmega-success The March Of The Penguins.The company has signed withNational Geographic Feature Films to handle Call Of The North, a five-year odyssey in ...
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Middle East companies unite to acquire, finance films
Anew strategic alliance has been created in the Middle East between Dubai'sFront Row Entertainment, Lebanon's Shooting Stars and the Kuwait NationalCinema Company (KNCC). Thethree outfits will partner to jointly finance and acquire independent film. Ina statement, the companies said they were "committed to working proactivelywith the ministry of information in ...
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Bac picks up French rights to Shortbus from Fortissimo
Bac Films has acquired JohnCameron Mitchell's Shortbus forFrench distribution. The deal was announced this week by Fortissimo Films. Shortbus is the long-awaited follow up to Mitchell'scritically acclaimed 2001 hit Hedwig And The Angry Inch. The film revolves around the lives of threesexually diverse characters, each facing different challenges, who meet ...
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Celluloid adds Burman, To films to AFM slate
Celluloid Dreams is preparing an impressive roster of films for theupcoming AFM and has released details of two additions to its burgeoning slate.Argentine director Daniel Burman's FamilyLaw will begin pre-sales at the AFM. The film is currently in post-production.Burman's 2004 film Lost Embrace was a double Silver Bear winner in ...
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Wild Bunch unveils $145m pan-Euro joint venture
French sales and financingoutfit Wild Bunch has unveiled a new $145m joint-venture dedicated to acquiringand co-producing feature films. The joint-venture will also release the films througha new pan-European distribution network that Wild Bunch is setting up. At the same time, Europeanmedia fund Iris Capital has increased its investment in Wild ...
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Durupty named as CNC deputy chief
Anne Durupty has been named to the post of deputygeneralmanager of France's film body the CNC.Recently tippedas head of the organisation, Durupty is a highlyeducated civil servant who has recently served as a communications director forthe Direction of Media Development. She waspreviously general manager of broadcast watchdog the CSA and ...
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France's TFI renews film deal with BVITV
Buena Vista International Television (BVITV) and France'sleading private terrestrial broadcaster TF1 renewed multi-year agreements forvarious genres at this week's international television market, Mipcom.The deals consist of drama series, first-run and library features andkids programming.Announced by BVITC's Philippe Maigret and TF1's Laurent Storch,the renewal will give TF1 access to such high-profile ...
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Pathe boards Coppola's Youth Without Youth
France's Pathe has boardedFrancis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth as French co-producer and international sales agent. Pathe PicturesInternational will start selling the American Zoetrope film to buyers at AFM.The movie, a low-budgetreturn to directing for the US master, is currently shooting in Bucharest,Romania, and will continue production on and off ...
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Cannes festival to overhaul final weekend schedule
The Cannes Film Festival (May 17-28) has said that its 2006 edition willsee a slight change in its second weekend programme. The festival's awards ceremony will now revert back to the last Sundaynight, having been held on the last Saturday for the past two years. TheSaturday night film will now ...
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Monte Carlo fest to launch Remake Film Market
TheInternational Cinema and Literature Forum of Monte Carlo will launch theworld's first and only Remake Film Market during its fifth annual run in April.FormerCannes Market US representative Edith Grant has been named to head up theconcurrent International Literary Adaptation Market and the Remake Film Marketwhich will take place this year ...
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France slows down runaway production trend
According to a new study by France's National Film Commission, runawayproduction has been largely stemmed in France thanks to new initiatives put inplace by public bodies.The study notes that from 1998 to 2003, the number of shooting weeksspent outside France had practically doubled from 220 to 424. In 2004, however,that ...
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France's Xilam brings Lucky Luke to big screen
LeadingFrench animation house Xilam has confirmed it will begin production on a Euros12m ($14.4m) big screen adaptation of hit TV cartoon series The New Adventures Of Lucky Luke.Thefilm will be titled Tous A L'Ouestand co-produced by Dargaud-Marina and Lucky Comics for a 2007 release.LuckyLuke has been a big critical andratings ...
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French Oscar choice sparks Gallic rumblings
The choice of Christian Carion's World War Idrama Merry Christmas as thecountry's submission to the foreign language category of the Oscars has sparkedintense debate in France. On September 19, support body the CNC announcedthat a seven member selection committee had chosen Merry Christmas. The film, however, had yet to sell ...
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Hot Venice doc Zapatero goes Wild
French sales and financingoutfit Wild Bunch has taken world rights to Viva Zapatero!Thedocumentary, which tackles Italian censorship in relation to prime minister andmedia magnate Silvio Berlusconi, generated serious buzz following its surpriseunveiling at Venice.Directed by Sabina Guzzanti,the film will be distributed by Lucky Red in Italy which negotiated the deal ...
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Penguins march into US record books
The MarchOf The Penguins has officially become the most successful Frenchfilm ever at the US box office with sales of $66.8m since its June release.Luc Jacquet's film has beat out Luc Besson's The FifthElement which took $66m in 1997 and previously outdistanced Jean-PierreJeunet's Amelie which now moves to third place ...
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Crash lands the top prize at Deauville
Paul Haggis took home thegrand prize Sunday night at the 31st Deauville Festival of American Film forhis directing debut, Crash.The ensemble look at racerelations in Los Angeles, is the first time behind the camera for the MillionDollar Baby screenwriter and will bereleased in France this week by Metropolitan.The jury prize ...
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Besson directed secret b/w feature over the summer
Although details aresketchy, it would appear that French filmmaker Luc Besson has directed a filmin total secrecy this summer in Paris. Citing the upcoming issue of France'sPremiere magazine, Agence France Presse reports that Besson shot Angel A for seven weeks over the summer and will release thefilm in December.Local star ...
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Penguins march ahead at US box office
Adding an extra $6.8 million thispast weekend, Luc Jacquet's documentary March Of The Penguins has becomethe second highest grossing French film in the history of the North Americanbox office. The film, whose run beganin June, has now taken in over $37m and is being handled in the US by boutiquedistributor ...
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Gaumont on the mend with healthy financial results
French majorGaumont has announced its first half figures for 2005 with a healthy 25%increase in revenues compared to the same period last year. The film companyposted revenues of Euros 46.2mn and a profit of Euros 5.3m in the first sixmonths of 2005.Gaumont, whichis coming back into its own following a ...
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Cannes festival names Residence directors
The Cannes Film Festival has announced the names of the sixdirectors who will take part in the next Residence film-making workshop. The 11thsession of the Residence, a four-and-a-half month workshop during whichfilmmakers are given room and board while fine-tuning their first or secondprojects and the chance to meet with industry ...