All News articles – Page 3919
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Digital distributor FilmCatcher.com launches with two deals
Digital distributor and online magazine FilmCatcher.com has launched at Sundance [Jan 20] with the aim of spotlighting quality films that slip through the traditional distribution net.The Filmcatcher.com website contains editorial and community oriented content and was co-founded by Trumbo producer Alan Klingenstein and Talking Pictures Company co-founders Alan Hruska and ...
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Robert Yu joins Porchlight as vice president of acquisitions
PorchLight Entertainment has named former Cinemavault Releasing International West Coast operations chief Robert Yu vice president of acquisitions.Yu is in Sundance to scout for rights for Porchlight and its non-family division Condor Releasing with president of worldwide distribution Ken DuBow.He will report to DuBow and senior vice president of home ...
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US Humane Society announces increase in annual doc grant
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) announced at Sundance [Jan 20] that it will increase its annual ACE/SilverDocs documentary grant to $25,000.The grant, which is part of The HSUS's Animal Content in Entertainment (ACE) programme, is designed to encourage the inclusion of animal issues in documentary film-making.The grant ...
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Mulroney, Davis to star in Driving Lessons
Dermot Mulroney and Hope Davis have signed on to star in the independent feature Driving Lessons that is scheduled to shoot in Los Angeles in March.Finland's Vivi Friedman will direct from a screenplay by Mark Lisson about an unhappy wife and mother who gets a second chance to save her ...
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Sundance: Documentaries overshadow dramatic entries
Documentaries continued to overshadow early Sundance business as HBO Documentary Films took all US rights to Marina Zenovich's Roman Polanski: Wanted And Desired. Click here to see review.The high six-figure deal closed on Sunday a little over a day after The Weinstein Company pounced on international rights to the film, ...
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Warner continues to lead international box office with Legend
I Am Legend stayed on top of the international rankings for the fourth consecutive weekend and the fifth overall in its six-week run as an estimated $28.7m from 6,200 prints in 54 territories propelled the running total to $262.4m.The highlight of the new launches was a $4.1m (Ps 44.2m) number ...
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Cloverfield tears into January box office for Paramount
Paramount's monster movie Cloverfield delivered the first domestic hit launch of 2008 as it smashed through the competition to open top on an estimated $41m.The film, a Blair Witch-style first-person POV account of a monster attack on New York that was produced by JJ Abrams and directed by Matt Reeves, ...
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Carl Clifton promoted to COO of HandMade Films International
HandMade Films International has promoted Carl Clifton to chief operating officer, in addition to his existing duties as head of international sales.Clifton joined the revived HandMade in November 2006 and has worked on a slate of films including animated title Planet 51, thriller 50 Dead Men Walking, Eloise In Paris ...
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Amid rising industry concern, British Council defends restructuring
Revelations that the British Council is reviewing its Arts Strategy and restructuring toward a 'multidisciplinary approach' in areas such as film, dance, and the visual arts, have caused uproar in the UK arts community.There is widespread concern that the Council will lose the sectoral expertise it has built up in ...
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Vertigo to produce Rupert Wyatt's Escapist follow-up The Trail
The UK's Vertigo Films has come on board for Rupert Wyatt's next feature The Trail, after already taking the rights to his debut feature The Escapist, which is world premiering in Sundance today.Vertigo will produce and take all UK rights to Wyatt's new project, and Vertigo's new partner sales company ...
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Phillip Noyce honoured as Australia charmsHollywood
Director Phillip Noyce was honoured on Saturday night in Hollywood for his significant contribution to the Australian film industry and for excellence in promoting Australia in the US.Noyce was presented with his award by Harrison Ford, the star of two of his US films, Patriot Games and Clear and Present ...
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Sundance Institute launches Creative Producing Initiative
Sundance Institute today [Jan 20] announced the Sundance Creative Producing Initiative fellowship programme to nurture the next generation of film-makers.The Initiative, unveiled during the Producers Lunch, will be a year-long fellowship that includes a five-day Creative Producing Lab, attendance and industry meetings at the festival and the Sundance Institute 's ...
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American Teen generates early sales buzz at Sundance
While Sundance buyers circled hyped early picks like Sunshine Cleaning and The Wackness, the Saturday nightfocus was on Nanette Burstein's high school documentary American Teen.Fox Searchlight were believed to be among interested parties following the world premiere earlier in the day.Carlos Moreno's Colombian crime saga Perro Como Perro was also ...
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Staying on the map: Screen previews Rotterdam
The International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) in the Netherlands has long held a reputation as a cinephile's delight.Still, on the eve of the 37th edition of the festival (January 23-February 3), questions are being asked about what Rotterdam can do to stay relevant to the international industry.Some say its status ...
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Rotterdam's Buzz films
FESTIVAL BUZZEat, For This Is My Body (Mange, Ceci Est Mon Corps) (Fr-Haiti)Dir: Michelange QuayWorking with Sylvie Testud and an amateur cast, Quay explores the dramatic colonial heritage of Haiti.Sales: Memento Films, sales@memento-films.comFlower In The Pocket (Mal)Dir: Liew Seng TatPraised by Rotterdam's programmers for its 'melancholy absurdism', Liew's idiosyncratic debut ...
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Roman Polanski doc gets international deal at Sundance with TWC
When Harvey Weinstein flies in to Sundance things usually happen and so it proved to be as The Weinstein Comapny (TWC) made the first play of the festival, paying low six figures for all international rights to Marina Zenovich's documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted And Desired.The deal excludes North American rights ...
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UK production spend drops 15% whileco-productions crash 43%
Feature film production spend dropped 15% in 2007, to $1.4bn (£723m) from 2006's $1.6bn (£855m), according to new research from the UK Film Council.The UKFC tracked 112 features, down from 135 in 2006 (the UKFC only tracks projects with budgets starting at $1m). The UKFC blamed the decline on the ...
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Hot Rendez-Vous projects include Female Agents, Fear(s)
The Unifrance Rendez-Vous with French Cinema, which wrapped in Paris earlier this week, was roundly lauded by participants for the opportunity it provides to sales companies and distributors to meet in a relaxed atmosphere.While there were some deals concluded, many sales companies were either as-yet-unable to announce details or waiting ...
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Berlinale Special adds films by Gitai, Staho and Grube
New films by Amos Gitai, Simon Staho and Thomas Grube are among the 12 projects seelcted for the Berlinale Special sidebar, which is part of the festival's official programme alongside the Competition.Staho's Heaven's Heart, starring Mikael Persbrandt, Lena Endre, Jakob Eklund and Maria Lundquist, is an intimate psychological drama between ...
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Berlinaleadds world premieres including The Other Boleyn Girl
World premieres of Justin Chadwick's The Other Boleyn Girl, starring Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Eric Bana, Dennis Lee's Fireflies In The Garden, with Julia Roberts and Willem Dafoe, and Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi's The Song Of Sparrows are among the last eight Competition titles to be confirmed.The latest additions also ...