All News articles – Page 4479
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Hopscotch jumps on Scott's Dancer
Australiandistributor Hopscotch has invested development money into the screen adaptationof author Li Cunxin's autobiographical book Mao's Last Dancer, and will be taking its first everexecutive producer credit on the film.Cunxin wasplucked from a peasant childhood for training at Madam Mao's Beijing DanceAcademy. He made a dramatic defection to the US, ...
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IFM World Releasing strikes Rapid Fear deals
Tony Ginnane's IFM WorldReleasing has struck a number of sales at the market, headed up by anall-rights deal on Geoff Cox's Australian action adventure Rapid Fear to RRS in Germany.RRS has sub-licensed videorights to Columbia TriStar Home Video and retains pay and free televisionrights.Meanwhilethe Los Angeles-based sales company has sold ...
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International directors plan Mozart film festival
An international array ofacclaimed directors including Bahman Ghobadi, Tsai Ming Liang and ApichatpongWeerasethakul will make films for an innovative festival celebrating Mozart's250th anniversary.Unveiling plans for thefilms in Cannes yesterday, festival organisers said they will be inspired bythemes from the composer's later works, including The Magic Flute and theRequiem. Named after ...
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Haneke's Hidden leads the race for Palme d'Or
Nobody has stumbled across a Brown Bunny. Nobody has discovered amasterpiece. That seemed to sum up the feeling about this year's competitionfilms as Cannes heads towards its last days. A sluggish edition thus far hasn't stirred the passions of some yearsand the decision to support veteran filmmakers has brought mixed ...
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Miller, Rodriguez set for second dose of Sin
FrankMiller has already begun scripting Sin City 2, which he will co-direct withRobert Rodriguez. The project will be jointly owned by Disney and The WeinsteinCompany.Speaking at the annual distributors lunch hosted by theWeinsteins, Miller said it was too early to announce casting.However he did confirm the project will be shot ...
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Eastern promise for Egyptian Top Gun
Independent producer YoussefEl-Deeb is on a mission to break Egyptian cinema out internationally.El-Deeb's Takhayalproduction company is here with an as-yet unnamed film based around Egypt's1967 disastrous war with Israel, a project he says will have "Top Gun" elements and is intended to appeal to the youngermarket.Anotheris a biopic of the ...
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Ellis to oversee Film London fund
FilmLondon, the regional film agency for London, has beefed up its productionfunding activities by appointing Maggie Ellis as its first head of production.Ellis,previously Film London's production executive, will run the body's micro-budgetdigital feature fund. She will also oversee the agency's digital shorts schemeand work with film funds run by local ...
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Petit embarks on Unrequited Love shoot
Shooting hasbegun on Unrequited Love, the latest feature from cult British filmmaker Chris Petit (LondonOrbital, Asylum). Adapted from abook by Greg Dart, the film is an essay-drama exploring the links betweenunrequited love and stalking.The film is aco-production set up by Illuminations with Mediopolis in Berlin, LondonFilm,.MDM, ZDF/ARTE, YLE and the ...
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Spice Factory plans US invasion
In what could become an international rush ofcompanies to exploit new US tax incentives and the cheap dollar, theever-opportunistic UK-based financing outfit Spice Factory has teamed up withLA-based Cameo FJ Entertainment to create the American Independent Film Fund(AIFF).The partners aim to exploit recent US tax incentivesand claim to have raised ...
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EU ministers call for action on legal download of films
Europeanministers this week called for more collaboration between the film business andinternet service providers to combat piracy and exploit the online market forcinema.Meetingat the Cannes Film Festival, the ministers from most of the EU member statesissued a statement saying that there is "an urgent need for a meaningfuldialogue" to ensure ...
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Slow Burn sells to North America, UK
GreeneStreetFilms and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment have sold North American and UK rights onWayne Beach's upcoming thriller Slow Burn to DEJ Productions.GreeneStreetInternational has sold Slow Burn, which stars Ray Liotta as a district attorneywho confronts a gang leader, to Eagle in Italy and is expecting to close Francetoday [18]. Deals for ...
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Arclight, Cineclick team for Uekrongtham's Coffin
Arclight Films is teaming up with Korea's Cineclick Asia to co-produceEkachai Uekrongtham's upcoming supernatural thriller The Coffin.Based onUekrongtham's personal experiences in Thailand, the story centres on a youngman who faces a series of terrifying incidents after lying in a coffin for onenight, an old Thai custom that is meant to ...
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Swipe swoops for Paper Clips international rights
Frank Mannion's Swipe Filmshas picked up international sales on Paper Clips, the acclaimedfeature documentary that passed the $1m mark at the US box office last weekend.Thefilm, directed by Elliot Berlin and Joe Fab follows the story of students in arural Tennessee school who collect one paper clip for each person ...
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French culture minister addresses Engagement controversy
France's culture ministerRenaud Donnedieu de Vabres doesn't want his country "to cut itself off" byrefusing certain countries access to subsidies.He has recently commissionedIsabelle Lemesle, via CNC president Catherine Colonna, to come up with a plan foropening France's subsidy system to non-European companies.The issue arose following acourt decision that Jean-Pierre Jeunet's ...
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Amelio's Star shines as Italian, Singapore co-production
Gianni Amelio's new film LaStella Che Non C'e' (The Missing Star)has been set up as a Singapore/Italian co-production, with Sergio Castellito inthe lead role of an Italian worker trying to prevent an industrial disaster ina Chinese steel mill.Shooting will start nextmonth in Shanghai on the film, which is to be ...
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America Theatrical gets Childstar
Fledgling theatrical salesventure America Theatrical is busily assembling its initial slate and haspicked up international rights to Don McKellar's Childstar.Launching here under theaegis of Argentina-based America Video Films, the company is targeting 12commercial titles for sale each year.Childstar earned Jennifer Jason Leigh a best supportingactress Genie in March for her ...
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LITE launches Latin American film fund
A newBrazil-based finance and development company has launched a $1m fund to supportLatin American projects with international potential.Life In TheTropics Entertainment (LITE) says the money will nurse 10 scripts and ideasthrough early stages of development.Fundfounders Roberto d'Avila and Richard Palmgren say film-makers from across theregion will benefit not just from ...
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Cannes briefs: latest deals, announcements
Cineclick racks up Bow dealsKorean sales agent CineclickAsia has concluded a raft of sales on Kim Ki-duk's The Bow, screening here in Un Certain Regard. Thecross-generational love story has gone to France's TF1, the UK's Tartan Films,Spain's Golem, Greece's Audiovisual, Mexico's Filmhouse, Singapore's CathayKeris and Bright Angel in Benelux. The ...
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Starfield's Rabbit sex comedy arouses interest
UK-basedStarfield Productions has been enjoying some enjoyable tremors with its raucousnew sex comedy about a vibrator, Rabbit Fever, directed by Ian Denya. An all-starcast has been assembled for the project, about the best-selling vibrator in theworld, known as The Rabbit. Sienna Guilroy, Tom Conti, Stephanie Powers, Tara Summers,Flora Montgomery, Sam ...
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Hayden strikes back with first-look Bauer Martinez deal
Philippe Martinez' BauerMartinez Studios has struck a first-look deal with Hayden Christensen's ForestPark Films.Hayden, in Cannes for StarWars, runs the production outfitwith his brother Tove.The 18-month deal will cover projects in the $10m-$40m range and bothparties are currently discussing which titles to take into development.All productions in the partnership will ...