All News articles – Page 3808
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Shanghai fest has muted opening in wake of earthquake
The 11th Shanghai International Film Festival (June 14-22) held its opening ceremony at the Shanghai Grand Theatre on Saturday night, with a much quieter tone than at previous editions. As China is still engaged in relief and reconstruction work following the Sichuan earthquake, the atmosphere of the opening day was ...
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Sony's German arm lines up local comedy
Deutsche Columbia Pictures Film Produktion, Sony Pictures Entertainment's (SPE) local German production arm, has begun pre-production on the comedy Friendship (Freundschaft) with the Oscar-winning Munich-based production company Wiedemann & Berg Filmproduktion and actor Til Schweiger and Tom Zickler's Barefoot Films. Written by Oliver Ziegenbalg and to be directed by commercials ...
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Festival report: Shanghai International Film Festival
Shanghai-born Wong Kar-wai heads up the international competition jury for this year's Shanghai International Film Festival(SIFF), replacing the late Anthony Minghella.Sixteen films compete for the festival's main Jin Jue Award, which is heavy on European entries. Local films are represented by Hasichaolu's Urtin Duu and Gao Qunshu's Old Fish (a.k.a. ...
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Shane Meadows among experts for Skillset's EIFF talks
Training body Skillset will be hosting a series of Masterclasses as part of its Trailblazers initiative at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.Trailblazers, now in its second year, will host classes, breakfast sessions and panels with the likes of directors Shane Meadows, Paul Andrew Williams and Don Boyd andcinematographer Brian Tufano. ...
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Fortissimo picks up Baksy; Rezo sells Everybody to France
Fortissimo Films will handle international distribution on Guka Omarova's second feature Baksy (Native Dancer) which had its world premiere in competition at the Kinotavr Open Russian Film Festival in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Thursday night.The Russian-Kazakh-French-German co-production between the CTB Film Company, Kazakhfilm, Les Petites Lumieres, Kinofabrika, ...
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Nordisk plans two features based on Welfare State
Scandinavian major, Nordisk Film, has acquired Swedish writer Leif GW Persson's The Fall of the Welfare State (Välfärdsstatens fall) - a trilogy he wrote between 2002-2003) - which it will develop, finance and produce as one or two features for theatrical and a six-part television series.Swedish veteran producer Hans Lönnerheden, ...
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Swedish government pumps $16.5m into commercial films
From an initiative by the Swedish Film Institute and the Swedish Association of Film Producers, the Swedish government decided yesterday to allocate $16.5m (Euros 10.7m) for a new one-time subsidy scheme, to benefit features with a strong commercial potential.The money comes from the budget for audience-related support, which has since ...
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Serbia gets two competitive festivals in Novi Sad and Sopot
After last year's first National Film Festival of Serbia which was held in Novi Sad, organized by Film Center Serbia under the concept of Cinema City, in co-operation with lauded music festival Exit, a complete confusion started when Film Center Serbia left the concept of Cinema City to Exit and ...
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Icewhole adds to industry panel judging online shorts
Icewhole.com, the new social networking site for aspiring film-makers and actors, have added new experts to its Independent Panel of Judges.The panel includes more than 170 producers, directors, writers, casting directors, talent agents, and actors including Morgan Freeman, Richard Attenborough, Derek Jacobi, Marjane Satrapi and David Yates.Each month, Icewhole.com gives ...
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Screen Australia appoints Fitchett, Brady to interim roles
Chris Fitchett has been put in charge of production support and investment on an interim basis at the new super agency Screen Australia, while Tait Brady is temporarily in charge of marketing. Fitchett, whose responsibilities also include development, is the existing chief executive of the Australian Film Commission (AFC). This ...
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Malaysia's KRU Studio backs US thriller Deadline
Malaysia's KRU Studio is co-producing US psychological thriller Deadline, starring Brittany Murphy, marking its first foray into financing Hollywood films. Directed by newcomer Sean McConville, the film is currently shooting in Louisiana and also stars Thora Birch, Tammy Blanchard and Marc Blucas.KRU, which is co-producing with US indie outfit Enso ...
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Emily Weiss named marketing chief at Autonomous/After Dark
Emily Weiss has joined Autonomous Films/After Dark Films as executive vice president of marketing, media and promotions.Weiss will take the lead on the studio's marketing efforts with executive vice president of creative affairs and acquisitions Stephanie Caleb.She started her career at Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising and became corporate media director ...
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Marvel's Hulk goes out in 38 territories, Fox's Happening in 61
Click on film title to see reviewAn intriguing battle is shaping up ahead of this weekend's wide launchess of Marvel's The Incredible Hulk - mostly through Universal/UPI - and M Night Shyamalan's paranoia thriller The Happening through Fox International.While both films boast recognisable talent - Ed Norton and Liv Tyler ...
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A Good Old Fashioned Orgy starts shooting for Endgame
Principal photography has begun in North Carolina on Endgame Entertainment's comedy A Good Old Fashioned Orgy.Pete Huyck and Alex Gregory make their directorial debuts and co-wrote the screenplay about a rich kid who plans one final party in his parents' home in the Hamptons before they sell the place.Things begin ...
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Magnolia buys US rights to SXSW hit Humboldt County
Magnolia Pictures has acquired US rights to Darren Grodsky and Danny Jacobs's SXSW favourite Humboldt County.The story centres on a man whose one-night stand with a free spirit leaves him stranded in a community of marijuana farmers in Northern California.Jeremy Strong and Fairuza Balk star alongside Peter Bogdanovich, Frances Conroy, ...
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China Film Pitch and Catch: The second edition of Shanghai's annual projects market
Running alongside Shanghai's regular market, called SIFF Mart, the second edition of the Shanghai International Film Festival's (SIFF) China Film Catch and Pitch (CFPC) hopes to marry talent and funds between China and international territories.Organisers say the CFPC skews firmly towards China, differing from other Asian co-production markets such as ...
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Screen opinion: Fairy-tale boom ending
Disney's Bob Iger wins this week's Emperor's New Clothes award for pointing out there are too many films out there competing for too little space. The flip side of the institutional investment boom was that the amount spent exceeded reasonable investments. What Iger alludes to is a simple fact: that ...
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Mammoth challenge: Lars Jonsson on producing Lukas Moodysson
When 20 minutes or so of footage from Lukas Moodysson's English-language debut Mammoth was screened in Cannes recently, there was a mini stampede among buyers. Sales agent TrustNordisk reported huge interest in the project, which stars Gael Garcia Bernal and Michelle Williams.International distributors, it was clear, still have faith in ...
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Co-production:How to solve a Chinese puzzle
In the 1970s there was 'ping-pong diplomacy', but these days Sino-US relations are more likely to be developed over a movie project than a table-tennis match. And with each new project, US producers are learning more - sometimes the hard way - about how to play ball with Chinese film ...