All News articles – Page 4056
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IFC First Take to release Last Winter in North America
IFC Entertainment has acquired all North American rights to Larry Fessenden's supernatural thriller The Last Winter and will release through its multi-platform IFC First Take label.The film premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival and screens this week at the Los Angeles Film Festival.Larry Fessenden wrote and directed the ...
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Michael Kang and Teddy Zee: Wild West 32nd
Wendy Mitchell meets director Michael Kang and producer Teddy Zee, whose gangland drama West 32nd marks the first US production for Korean powerhouse CJ Entertainment.It was a memorable meeting of minds at Sundance 2005, where director Michael Kang was premiering his coming-of-age story The Motel, and producer Teddy Zee was ...
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Editorial opinion: international affairs
The international markets are beginning to exert pressure on how business is done in a way that was once the sole preserve of the US domestic market - but there's still room for growth, says Michael GubbinsThere's a bitter joke among the residents of Brittany in France about the oil ...
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Fatih Akin: stairway to heaven
Expectations were high for German director Fatih Akin's follow-up to arthouse hit Head-On. So were they met' Martin Blaney reports. Fatih Akin is a relieved man. He has got the difficult follow-up film out of the way. Head-On won the Golden Bear at Berlin in 2003 and was an arthouse ...
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Cine Expo talking point: alternative means
Exhibitors struggle to find alternative revenue streams, reports Richard Brass.For exhibitors it is the holy grail: how to maximise the use of all that expensive real estate by getting paying customers through the doors at off-peak times.However, despite regular announcements of its imminent expansion, using cinemas for anything other than ...
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Box office: the global perspective
With 2007 on course to break box-office records, Leonard Klady explores how developments in the international market hold the key to the future of the film industry. Widespread predictions that 2007 would break recent box-office records look to be well founded. The international box office generated $4.5bn in the first ...
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UK exhibition: rule Britannia
UK exhibitors anticipate a record-breaking performance this year, but still await digital rollout, writes Diana Lodderhose. The UK box office has seen a healthy start to the year, with takings up 7% in the first five months compared to the same period in 2006, generating $661.9m (£332.1m).February and March were ...
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Critical opinion: the people's choice
When critics bemoan the state of Hollywood movies, they are also implicitly - and unfairly - criticising the film-going public who flock to see them, says Lee MarshallThe back-to-back releases of Spider-Man 3, Shrek The Third and Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End have generated a spate of op-eds ...
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Exhibition: clean windows
Calm is restored after the furore over release windows, but the issue remains a live one. Richard Brass reports. Tensions have been running high between exhibitors and distributors over narrowing theatrical and DVD release windows, but for now the storm has abated.Earlier this year, Twentieth Century Fox attempted to release ...
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Strong Fox finds comfort in Grass
Fox's Christian Grass, distributor of the year at the upcoming Cinema Expo, says a solid partnership between distributors and exhibitors is essential for the future. Michael Gubbins reportsThere is a certain irony in this year's choice of distributor of the year at European exhibitor conference Cinema Expo. Christian Grass, executive ...
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Marjane Satrapi: drawing on the past
Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian-born film-maker of Persepolis, tells Antonia Carver why she hopes it will be seen as a film that just happens to be animated. Following the success of her graphic novels, Marjane Satrapi received enquiries from several US studios. 'One wanted to make a kind of Beverly Hills ...
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Etgar Keret and Shira Geffe: the nextbig sting
Husband-and-wife film-making team Etgar Keret and Shira Geffen won the Camera d'Or at Cannes last month for Jellyfish, a surreal drama inspired by US indie films. Edna Fainaru reports. Etgar Keret is a celebrity at home in Israel. A prolific writer of short stories and graphic novels that have been ...
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German exhibition: uneasy riders
Germany's rocky ride continues as the 2007 box office looks set to stall, writes Martin Blaney. Germany's cinema fortunes were revived in 2006 after a poor 2005, with a year-on-year increase in box-office takings of 9.6%, and admissions rising by 7.9%. But exhibitors have had little to cheer in the ...
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French exhibition: Hollywood makes a play
France's dominance of the local market looks set to be replaced by Hollywood this summer. Nancy Tartaglione-Vialatte reports. While the box office for the first five months of 2007 shows a 12.6% decrease compared to last year, exhibitors are nonetheless optimistic. Last year's early numbers were blurred by the mega-hit ...
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Spanish exhibition: negative impact
Claire Wallerstein reports on the country's drop in admissions and negative impact of the new film law. Spain has the most screens per capita worldwide outside the US, and yet admissions reached only 121 million for 2006 - the lowest since 1998.Revenue increased just 0.2% year on year, to $856.6m ...
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Italian exhibition: hot shots
With distributors now braving the Italian mid-summer, Italy's box-office prospects are heating up. Sheri Jennings reports. The Italian exhibition sector is looking strong, with a 23% year-on-year increase in box-office revenue for the first quarter, and an impressive slate of summer blockbusters still to come.May ushered in Spider-Man 3 and ...
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Parvez Sharma: love & faith
Parvez Sharma'sIslam, My Love could be the most controversial documentary of the year. Jeremy Kay finds out why.A film arrives this autumn with the potential to blow through institutionalised thinking in a manner that will make Michael Moore's polemics seem breezy by comparison.Responses will inevitably be polarised, but 33-year-old film-maker ...
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Hamed to direct Chicago from Yacoubian author Alaa-Al-Aswani
Egyptian director Marwan Hamed is in talks to direct a film based on Chicago, the follow up book by Yacoubian Building author Alaa-Al-Aswani with Dar El Shorouck, the book's Egyptian publisher as producing partner.The director made the announcement from the Taormina Film Festival where he is serving on the ...
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Byrne to head GE and NBC's $250m Peacock Equity Fund
GE Commercial Finance's Media, Communications & Entertainment business and NBC Universal have appointed Thomas M. Byrne, 40, as managing director of the $250m Peacock Equity Fund. Megumi Ikeda, 37, has been named as London-based executive director, reporting to Byrne. Peacock Equity, a joint venture between GE and NBC Universal, invests ...
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France's Rosem Films sets up Hong Kong beachhead
French producer Rosem Films has established a Hong Kong production office, which will produce the next projects from award-winning Chinese directors Wang Chao and Guo Xiaolu. Headed by Anais Martane, the Hong Kong entity will develop and co-produce projects with mainland China, beginning with Wang's upcoming drama Starting Over, a ...