All articles by Nancy Tartaglione – Page 19
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Gaumont profits jump three-fold
Aftera few lackluster years, fortunes at French major Gaumont are on the rise.Announcing2004 figures on Monday, the company reported revenues of Euros 88.6m ($115m), a26% increase over 2003, and profits of Euros 9.7m up from Euros 2.8m theprevious year.Ina press release, the world's oldest film studio noted that the jump ...
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France's 30th Cesar awards provide an evening of surprises
The 30th anniversary of France's Cesar awards proved to be an evening full of surprises with Abdellatif Kechiche's L'Esquive taking four prizes, including best picture and best director. The awards were an upset for favoured films: The Chorus and A Very Long Engagement which were both up for two Oscars ...
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Payne presides over Un Certain Regard jury
Oscarcontender Alexander Payne will preside over the jury for the Un Certain Regardsection of the 58th Cannes Film Festival (May 11-22), organizers said Thursday.TheUS filmmaker, whose Sideways, isup for five Academy Awards this weekend including picture, director and adaptedscreenplay, has traveled to Cannes in an official capacity once before: In2002, ...
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Gitai's Free Zone proves hot seller for Bac
Coming out of theEuropean Film Market, Bac International has announced fresh territorial saleson Amos Gitai's Free Zone, starring Oscar-nominee Natalie Portman.Free Zone was sold to Australia's Palace Films,Canada's Les Films Seville, Switzerland's Filmcoopi, Italy's Istituto Luce,Brazil's Imovision and Belgium's Cineart. The film,currently shooting in Israel and Jordan, caused an outcry ...
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CNC creates public film archive at National Library
France's NationalLibrary and the French Film Commission (CNC) have signed an agreement to createa film archive at the library.The archives, anoffshoot of the CNC's own French film archives, will be open to the public,providing access to "one of the largest collections of cinema in the world."Among the filmswill be catalogue ...
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FRANCE 25 February
French comedy Iznogoud is pretty good after all. Staying in the topspot in its second week, the film beat Meet The Fockers which debuted atnumber two with 751,304 admissions. Iznogoud has now taken a cumulative$13,649,422. Keanu Reeves supernatural thriller Constantine opened in third placewith just over half a million tickets ...
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Nine titles to compete at Deauville Festival of Asian Film
The jury for the DeauvilleFestival of Asian Film will be presided over by French director Regis Wargnier,organisers announced Wednesday. The seventh edition of theevent will run from March 9-13 in the seaside Normandy town where nine filmswill screen in the major competition and tributes will be paid to Indonesianactress-producer Christine ...
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Fullenbach returns to Canal Plus
Former head of acquisitionsat the Canal Plus premium channel, Evi Fullenbach, will return to the foldafter a little over a year away. Fullenbach, who wasresponsible for many of the output deals signed by Canal with Hollywoodheavyweights over the years resurfaces as director of cinema for the Canal PlusGroup, a new ...
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France's foreign press sings Chorus's praises
Christophe Barratier's The Chorushas been voted Best Picture by France's foreign press. Organisers of theLumiere awards, the local equivalent to the Golden Globes, announced today.Jean-Pierre Jeunet took thedirecting prize for his epic A Very Long Engagement. Continuing their reign as awardsroyalty this year, Emmanuelle Devos and Mathieu Almaric won the ...
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FRANCE 17 February
An overwhelmingly strongopening for comedy Iznogoud from TFM distribution with nearly 1.117million tickets sold in its first week out. The film stars local comicMichael Youn who had a big hit last year with Les 11 Commandements andstruck at the right time just as kids are off on school break. The ...
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The freeze is on at Cannes
Abreeze of good news from the Croisette should warm Berlinale hearts: Cannes'four-star hoteliers have come together to freeze hotel rates this year to 2004levels. Billed as a defence against the fluctuating dollar - atyesterday's exchange rates anyway - the declaration effectively means that people staying at theCarlton, the Majestic, the ...
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Rois Et Reine named French film of the year
The French critics union hasnamed Arnaud Desplechin's Rois Et Reine best French film of the year. The film, which starsEmmanuelle Devos, Mathieu Almaric and Catherine Deneuve, recently took the PrixLouis Delluc and is up for seven Cesar awards including best picture, director,actor and actress.Best foreign film went toSofia Coppola's Lost ...
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FRANCE 14 February
French comedy EspaceDetente took in a whopping 701,031 admissions in its first week. The filmis adapted from a 15-minute TV series called Camera Cafe whose formathas been sold the world over. The film pushed The Aviator down to thesecond spot in its second week for a cumulative total of $7,463,417 ...
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Wild Bunch enjoys Dirty Love with McCarthy
French sales and distribution outfit Wild Bunch has picked up Dirty Love,the screenwriting debut from model Jenny McCarthy. Wild Bunch has taken world rights outside the US and will distribute thefilm in France via its nascent distribution company Pan Europeenne.Wild Bunch chief Vincent Maraval bills the film as a 'sort ...
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French DVD market surges
The French Film Commission (CNC) has released video and DVDfigures for 2004 in conjunction with market research group GfK. The numberspoint to the continuing development of the DVD market while video salesdecline. Overall, the DVD/Video market saw a 32.1% rise in sales toEuros 1.96bn. Sales of DVDs rose 30.4% on ...
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Canal Plus extends DreamWorks deal
The Canal Plus Group hasextended its exclusive agreement with DreamWorks to cover the next forty titlesfrom the Hollywood studio.The agreement gives Canal Plusexclusive first window pay-per-view and Pay TV rights as well as exclusivesecond window airings on Canal Plus' thematic channels.Films included in the dealinclude upcoming releases such as animated ...
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Roissy Films to broker L'Entente Cordiale
Paris based sales outfitRoissy Films has acquired rights to comedy L'Entente Cordiale as itheads into the European Film Market.The film is a $20m productionfrom Les Films Christian Fechner with a heavyweight cast that includes DanielAuteuil, Christian Clavier, Jennifer Sanders, Francois Morel and FrancoisLevanthal.Vincent De Brus will direct L'EntenteCordiale for a ...
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Bac takes on sales for Gitai's Free Zone
Frenchdistributor Bac Films has acquired the latest work from Israeli director AmosGitai, Free Zone, which stars Oscar nominee Natalie Portman.BacInternational, the company's newly-launched sales arm will handle world saleson the film.Currentlyshooting in Israel and Jordan, Free Zone also stars Hanna Lazlo, HiamAbbas and Carmen Maura. Aco-production from France, Israel, Spain ...
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Palm acquires US rights to du Welz's Ordeal
Palm Pictures has acquired North American rights to FabriceDu Welz's The Ordeal (Calvaire). The film recently took three prizes at the GerardmerFantastic Film Festival including the jury and critics' prizes. Sales have alsobeen concluded in the UK with Tartan Films, Germany's I-On New Media andBenelux's Lumiere. Laurent Lucas stars in ...
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Binoche, Whitaker line-up for Ferrara's Mary
Juliette Binoche, ForrestWhitaker, Heather Graham and Matthew Modine are to star in Abel Ferrara's nextfeature, Mary. French sales and distributioncompany Wild Bunch has taken rights to the film - outside North America andItaly - ahead of Berlin's European Film Maket.Mary is a Bible-themed drama about a contemporary trio -an actor, ...