All articles by Nancy Tartaglione – Page 15
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Colonna leaves CNC post after nine months
After a nine month stint, CNCpresident Catherine Colonna has been named deputy minister of European Affairsby president Jacques Chirac's government.The news comes following France's "no" vote on the EuropeanConstitution and a flurry of musical chairs at the highest political levels. Colonna, formerly the spokesperson for the Elysee Palace -France's equivalent ...
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French court upholds Engagement ruling
The Paris court of appealshas upheld the decision to block Jean-Pierre Jeunet's A Very Long Engagementfrom benefiting from French subsidies.The film was stripped of its Frenchstatus in an original decision dating back to November last year. At issue is the financial structureof the production company for the film, 2003 Productions, ...
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French court upholds Engagement ruling
The Paris court of appeals Wednesday upheld its decision to blockJean-Pierre Jeunet's A Very Long Engagement from benefiting from French subsidies.The film was stripped of itsFrench status in an original decision dating back to November last year. Atissue is the financial structure of production company 2003 Productions, set upby Warner ...
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Sony Classics grabs Palme winner, targets Dylan biopic
Cannes Palme d'Or winner TheChild (L'Enfant) has been picked up by Sony Pictures Classics (SPC)for US distribution, French sales house Celluloid Dreams announced today.SPC was arguably the busiestUS buyer for French films in Cannes with Michael Haneke's Cache andChristian Carion's Merry Christmas both going to the label. SPC is also ...
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Cannes Market reports 2005 attendance rise
The 46th Cannes FilmMarket has announced an 8% increase in attendance for the 2005 edition. This year, 83 countries were representedby 9,476 professionals compared with 8,814 from 74 countries in 2004. The mostdramatic rises came from Africa with 34% more participation, Canada up 25% andthe Middle East up 14%Companies registeringshowed ...
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Un Certain Regard rewards Romanian Death
Un Certain RegardRomanian film The Death Of Mr. Lazarescu took top honours in the Un Certain Regard sidebar onFriday night in Cannes. The road movie set in an ambulance was directed byCristi Puiu whose short film Cigarettes And Coffee won a prize at Berlin in 2004.American director Alexander Payne oversaw ...
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Young film-makers win funding at Cannes project market
In its first outing, the Cannes Film Festival'sproject market for young film-makers - the Atelier - has had an impressive 50%success rate. Nine out of the 18 directors selected were able to completefunding for their projects which should begin shooting quickly.Budgeted between Euros 700,000 and Euros 1.73 million, thefast-tracked films ...
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Belgian Child snatches Palme d'Or
It was a mix of old and new at the awards ceremony for the58th Cannes Film Festival on Saturday night. Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and LucDardenne (pictured here) walked off with the Palme d'Or for their gritty, bleak film TheChild (L'Enfant). At presstime, their film had yet to secure a North ...
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Pretty Pictures falls for The Great Ecstasy
Paris-based distributor Pretty Pictures has taken Frenchrights on controversial Critics' Week title, The Great Ecstasy OfRobert Carmichael. The Thomas Clay directedfilm has shocked viewers thanks to a graphic gang rape scene, although reviewshave been generally positive. French sales and finance outfit Wild Bunch is representingthe film internationally.The UK film should ...
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Merry Christmas to Sony Pictures Classics
Sony Pictures Classics (SPC) won a bidding war to takemulti-territory rights for Joyeux Noel (Merry Christmas) yesterday,the first US deal for a film in official selection to be announced here inCannes,SPC took rights in the US, UK, Italy and Latin Americafrom Films Distribution in a multi-million dollar deal, beating out ...
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Pact, British Directors, Ille de France plan conference
In conjunction with UKproducers' agency Pact and the Directors' Guild of Great Britain, the Ile deFrance Film Commission has announced a conference series to be held on June 15in London.The Ile de France commission was created in 2004 toattract producers to the region in and around Paris as well as ...
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TFI takes world rights to Ong-Bak follow-up
French sales house TF1International has taken world rights to Tom-Yum-Goong starring Ong-BakphenomenonTony Jaa and directed by Ong-Bak's Prachya Pinkaew.Ong-Bak was a huge hit inits native Thailand and also performed well for EuropaCorp. who handled itsinternational sales. The film sold nearly 1 million tickets in France.Tom-Yum-Goong tells the tale ofa villager, ...
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Comstock shells out coin for Wild Bunch's Coin
Along with sales to The Weinstein Company on Nomad and Outlander,French sales and finance house Wild Bunch has secured a financial co-producerfor Michael Civetta's Coin Locker Babies in Japan'sComstock.Comstock has come on board the surreal coming-of-agetale which stars Liv Tyler and was adapted in part by Sean Lennon, son of ...
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Louis Malle collection sells for Pyramide
Pyramide International'scollection of newly-remastered Louis Malle films has sold strongly at Cannes.The UK's Optimum, Italy'sMikado, Lumiere in Benelux and Avalon Productions in Spain are among thebuyers.This follows on fromprevious sales to US distributor Criterion and Arte for France in dealsbrokered by Malle's son Manuel via his company NEF.Pyramide's Malle collectionis ...
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French culture minister addresses Engagement controversy
France's culture ministerRenaud Donnedieu de Vabres doesn't want his country "to cut itself off" byrefusing certain countries access to subsidies.He has recently commissionedIsabelle Lemesle, via CNC president Catherine Colonna, to come up with a plan foropening France's subsidy system to non-European companies.The issue arose following acourt decision that Jean-Pierre Jeunet's ...
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Cuaron, Del Toro enter Pan's Labyrinth
Mexican filmmakers Guillermodel Toro and Alfonso Cuaron will produce the Spanish-language Pan'sLabyrinth, to be directed by delToro. The two have set up a production shingle, OMM Films, with FridaTorresblanco to co-produce the film alongside Spain's Telecinco.Shooting will begin in Julyon the Euros 11.5m film which stars Sergi Lopez, Maribel Verdu, ...
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Gold Circle snaps up remake rights to Soundless
Gold Circle Films hasacquired remake rights to Mennan Yapo's Soundless which screened in the German Cinema section of theBerlin Film Festival in 2004.The film is a thriller/lovestory about a pensive hired gun trying to get out of the business. Soundless also won the Jury Prize at the recent CognacThriller Festival ...
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France's Pretty Pictures embarks on doc buying spree
Frenchdistributor Pretty Pictures is on a documentary buying spree with threebrand-new pick ups.Marc Levin's Protocols OfZion will have a big autumn releasesaid Pretty Pictures' James Velaise, who bought the film from THINKFilm. Zion is a look at anti-semitism which uses 9/11 as adeparture point and traces the roots of the ...
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Weinstein Company boards Bodrov's Nomad
The WeinsteinCompany has acquired a second film from French sales and finance outfit WildBunch this week. Bob and HarveyWeinstein have taken North American, UK, Australian/New Zealand and SouthAfrican rights to Nomad, starring Jason Scott Lee, Kuno Becker and Jay Hernandez. Directedby Sergei Bodrov and Talgat Temenov, it was written by ...
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Ben Ammar moves into Besson's Cinema City
Producer-businessman Tarak Ben Ammar hasannounced plans to move most of his post-production facilities into Frenchfilmmaker Luc Besson's Cinema City complex just outside Paris.In the past few years, Ben Ammar has beenon a buying spree of most of the post-production and sound facilities in Franceincluding LTC, Ex-Machina, Les Audis de Joinville ...