All News articles – Page 4246

  • News

    Sunshine reigns over Deauville

    2006-09-10T00:00:00Z

    JonathanDayton and Valerie Faris' Little Miss Sunshine won the grand prize at the 32ndDeauville Festival of American Film last night in Deauville, France. The film,a huge box office success in North America, opened in France on Wednesdaythrough 20th Century Fox.Meanwhilethe jury prize went to Ryan Fleck's Half Nelson and the ...

  • News

    Weinsteins take Mandy, Vince in Toronto

    2006-09-10T00:00:00Z

    Harvey and Bob Weinstein stamped their mark on the festivaltoday as they swooped on Jonathan Levine's hip genre picture All TheBoys Love Mandy Lane forDimension and Ari Sandel's documentary Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show for The Weinstein Company (TWC).Dimension Films took worldwide rights to Mandy Lane in a deal ...

  • News

    William Hurt joins cast of $13m mystery Lighthouse

    2006-09-09T04:00:00Z

    William Hurt has signed onfor a lead role in Lighthouse for Vancouver-basedIrreverent Media.The $13m mystery, fullyfinanced through private investors, is the feature debut of writer-directorFrederick Thorsen. Irreverent CEO Tom O'Brien is leadproducer while Michael Grais of Poltergeist fame is executive producer. Stockholm-based NonStop is handling world sales. Described as a ...

  • News

    Bavaria on board for restoration of Berlin Alexanderplatz

    2006-09-09T04:00:00Z

    Bavaria Media has teamed upwith The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Foundation torestore Fassbinder's classic 14-part TV opus Berlin Alexanderplatz,which first aired on ARD in 1980.The project's originaldirector of photography Xaver Schwarzenbergerand the production manager of the series Dieter Minx are supervising therestoration with Juliane Lorenz, Fassbinder'seditor and the president of the ...

  • News

    Reflection strikes North American deal for The Yacoubian Building

    2006-09-09T04:00:00Z

    Bac Films has sold North American rights for The Yacoubian Building (Omaret Yakobean) to Reflection Distribution. MarwanHamed's sweeping Egyptian saga about modern-day lifein Cairo premiered at Berlin and has crossed $360,000 after two weeks on releasein France. Bac's head of salesSilvere Moreau negotiated the deal with Mohad Youssef at Reflection,which ...

  • News

    Feature planned based on life of rocker Carole Pope

    2006-09-09T04:00:00Z

    Jan Nathansonof straight edge films and Andrew Boutilier of SubmissionFilms have teamed to acquire the rights to produce a feature based on the lifeand times of Canadian rock icon Carole Pope. Based on Pope's 2001autobiography Anti-Diva, the filmexplores the outrageous life of the openly lesbian Canadian singer and hercareer in ...

  • News

    Sogepaq books multiple deals for DarkBlueAlmostBlack

    2006-09-09T04:00:00Z

    Spain's Sogepaq has closed a string of sales onwell-received Venice Days entry DarkBlueAlmostBlack (AzulOscuroCasiNegro) which screens in Toronto's Visions programme. The sales, closed in Venice, were to Arsenal for Germany and Austria, Frenetic Films for Switzerland, Cineart for Benelux, Budapest Film in Hungary, Strada in Greece and Arthouse Traffic in ...

  • News

    Bruce Weber to start Robert Mitchum documentary

    2006-09-09T04:00:00Z

    Bruce Weber, in Toronto tosupport a Dialogues screening of his 1988 documentary Let's Get Lost, has announced that his next project will definitelybe his long-cherished Nice Girls Don'tStay For Breakfast: A Portrait Of Robert Mitchum.Described by Weber as a"musical documentary," the project is a profile of Hollywood's original bad boy. ...

  • News

    Seville lands The Bubble in Canada

    2006-09-09T04:00:00Z

    Pierre Menahem's ScalpelFilms has sold Canadian rights to Eytan Fox's The Bubble to Seville Pictures.The Bubble, Fox's follow-upto Walk On Water, has itsinternational premiere in Toronto as a Special Presentation.The film first bowed athome in Israel, where it has notched almost 100,000 admissions in two months.Set in Tel Aviv's hippestneighbourhood, ...

  • News

    Eli Roth joins cast of Tarantino's Death Proof

    2006-09-09T04:00:00Z

    Quentin Tarantino has cast Hostel director Eli Roth, Michael Bacall and newcomer Omar Doom in Death Proof, his half of the Grindhouse horrordouble-bill he is preparing with Robert Rodriguez.Death Proofstars Kurt Russell, Rosario Dawson and Zoe Bell and is currently shooting in Austin, Texas.Rodriguez' contribution Planet Terror recently completed filmingin ...

  • News

    Newton & Leo comes Perfect Circle

    2006-09-09T04:00:00Z

    Vancouver-based Perfect Circle Productions has completedfinancing on Jesse Rosensweet's $5m stop-action animated feature Newton AndLeo. Rosensweet's The Stone Follywon the Jury Prize for best animated shortat Cannes in 2002. Described as a 'fairytale-gone-wrong', the story follows Thomas Galileo Newton, an inventor struggling to invent a cure for his son, Leo, ...

  • News

    George Romero starts pre-production on Diary Of The Dead

    2006-09-09T04:00:00Z

    George A Romero and producing partner Peter Grunwald have begun pre-production on the iconic filmmaker's latest zombie tale, Diary Of The Dead. Romero/Grunwald Productions is producing and financing the under-$10m project with Los Angeles-based Artfire Films and will commence production in Toronto on Oct 11.The story centres on a group ...

  • News

    Jim Harvey joins Element Films as VP of sales

    2006-09-09T04:00:00Z

    Element Films International,the sales arm of Sam Nazarian's Los Angeles-basedElement Films, has hired Jim Harvey as vice president of sales. Harvey arrives from Myriad Pictures and will reportdirectly to Element Films International chief John Fremes.Since 2002 he has served as executive director of sales and distribution atMyriad Pictures, where he ...

  • News

    Hammer & Tongs wraps Son of Rambow

    2006-09-09T04:00:00Z

    Shooting has wrapped on Son Of Rambow, the latest film from the UK film-making team of Garth Jennings and Nick Goldsmith, better known as Hammer & Tongs (The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy).The film is being sold in Toronto by Celluloid Dreams and was executive produced by Hengameh Panahi and ...

  • News

    Amazon kicks off US download service with every studio but Disney

    2006-09-09T00:00:00Z

    Amazon has launched its US download service Amazon Unbox, whichwill offer features, television and video games from more than 30 studios.The service is supported by all the US majors with the notableexception of Disney, whose major shareholder Steve Jobs is expected to launch asimilar service through Apple on Sept 12.Most ...

  • News

    MGM swoops on Rescue Dawn

    2006-09-09T00:00:00Z

    MGM has bought North American rights on Werner Herzog's VietnamPOW drama Rescue Dawn,in advance of its world premiere in the Masters section here in Toronto today.It's an unusual move for MGM to acquire a picture since itre-emerged under the guidance of chief operating officer Rick Sands primarilyas a distributor for ...

  • News

    Jia's Still Life is surprise winner of Venice's Golden Lion

    2006-09-09T00:00:00Z

    Still Life (Sanxia Haoren) byChinese film-maker Jia Zhangkewon the Golden Lion for best film at the 63rd Venice Film Festival.The film had been thesurprise inclusion in Venice'scompetition, only announced earlier this week. Still Life is about how ordinary villagers' lives will be impactedby the Three Gorges Dam project. The festival's ...

  • News

    Encounters to host Ken Russell and Frank Cottrell Boyce

    2006-09-08T17:35:00Z

    The UK short film festival Encounters (now incorporatingprevious events Brief Encounters and Animated Encounters) will run as anexpanded six-day festival from Nov 21-26 in Bristol.More than 300 new shortfilms will screen from 30 countries. High-profile guests to the 12th festival atBristol's Watershed will include director Ken Russell,screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce, ...

  • News

    Odeon and Sky pact for UK distribution joint venture

    2006-09-08T16:57:00Z

    Europe's leading exhibitor Odeon and pay TV company Sky have announced a new collaboration, Odeon andSky Filmworks, which will act as a UK distributor, signing titles directly from film-makers.The joint venture will offerfilms in cinemas, through VOD and DVD, and on television. Initially, Filmworksplans to release six films per year. ...

  • News

    Jaume Balaguero finds The Certain Lady with Filmax

    2006-09-08T10:50:00Z

    Spanish horror specialist Jaume Balaguero, fresh from the Venice screening of his newest film To Let, is preparing his next feature, The Certain Lady, for producer Filmax.The film is based on thenovel La Dama Numero Trece by Jose CarlosSomoza about a poetry lover haunted by a nightmare of a parallel ...