All News articles – Page 4480
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Bond plots shooting defection from UK to Prague
Having boosted the Britishproduction sector for decades, James Bond is in advanced negotiations to headto Eastern Europe for his next outing, Casino Royale.A spokesperson for Prague'sBarrandov Studios confirmed that the studio is well along in talks with EonProductions, the production outfit behind the James Bond franchise, to come to the ...
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Lucky Red embarks on Cannes buying spree
Upscale Italian arthousedistributor Lucky Red has been on a buying spree in Cannes, snapping up rightsto three new titles. It has picked up Korean gangster drama A BittersweetLife from CJ Entertainment, Thaihorror hit Shutter from GMM ThaiHub and Carlos Reygadas' competition entry, Battle In Heaven from The Co-Production Office.Just prior ...
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Cash versus culture clash for European film finance
Tension between cultural andeconomic aims have become a serious complicating factor in film financepolicies in Europe, according to the European Audiovisual Observatory.At a conference oninternational partnerships at Cannes on Sunday, experts said transnationalco-production was a clearly growing trend. Accordingto its 2005 Focus report, US-launched films benefiting from European funding -like ...
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Finns fly to China for kung fu co-production Jade Warrior
Beijing-based MingProductions has boarded AJ Annila's Jade Warrior, billed as Finland's "first ever martial arts movie",which is set to shoot in China, Finland and Estonia starting in August. Also the first-everChinese-Scandinavian co-production, the $3m film was previously set to shootonly in Finland with an all-Finnish cast. It will now shoot ...
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Louis Malle collection sells for Pyramide
Pyramide International'scollection of newly-remastered Louis Malle films has sold strongly at Cannes.The UK's Optimum, Italy'sMikado, Lumiere in Benelux and Avalon Productions in Spain are among thebuyers.This follows on fromprevious sales to US distributor Criterion and Arte for France in dealsbrokered by Malle's son Manuel via his company NEF.Pyramide's Malle collectionis ...
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Fortissimo, Notro in TV deal
FortissimoFilms' recently-established TV sales division has closed its first majormulti-rights deal by selling a package of nearly 50 film titles to Spain'sNotro Films.Included inthe package is the Jim Jarmusch library of films, including Down By Law, the Killer Films Collection,including Todd Haynes' Poison, and Gregg Araki's most recent film Mysterious ...
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Greeks set sail with financing deals
The sword and sandal epic isset to get its biggest gift since the wooden horse. Greece is launching a filmfinancing incentive worth up to 30% of a budget to boost its local industry andattract overseas productions.Speaking in Cannes, deputyminister of culture Petros Tatoulis said the financial incentive, part of thecountry's ...
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DeAPlaneta signs on for Summit duo
Spanish-Italian media groupDeAPlaneta is flexing its buying muscle with new acquisitions for Spainincluding Summit Entertainment's Michael Clayton and Harsh Times.Michael Clayton, which marks Tony Gilroy's directorial debut, willstar George Clooney as a fixer in a law company. Harsh Times stars Christian Bale and Eva Longoria in a SouthCentral Los Angeles-set ...
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New York Doll ready to rock festivals
Gary Rubin's First LookIndependent is planning a high-profile festival berth for Greg Whiteley'sdocumentary New York Doll aheadits October US release.Rubin has been fieldingstrong interest from festival organisers on the picture, which charts the upliftingstory of former New York Dolls bass player Arthur 'Killer' Kane, a reformedalcoholic and Mormon church librarian ...
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Oliver Stone drops out of Night Watchman
Uncertainty surrounded thefuture of James Ellroy adaptation The Night Watchman last night after it emerged that Oliver Stone hasdropped out of the Keanu Reeves-starrer due to problems with the screenplay.Stone came on board todirect the story of a disgraced policeman who launches a crusade againstcorrupt officers after Spike Lee dropped ...
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World's Fastest Indian heads East
TheWorld's Fastest Indian, starring Anthony Hopkins, has sold to Alexander van Duelman's EEAP forEastern Europe, including Russia, and German-speaking markets.The distributor picked upthe film, directed by Roger Donaldson, from Tanlay AG and NZ Film. "I was impressed with Anthony Hopkins' performance," said vanDuelman. "However, seeing the 16 minutes of cut ...
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Lou Ye wraps Summer Palace
Productionwrapped last week (May 13) on Chinese director Lou Ye's Summer Palace, following a three-month shoot inChina and two weeks in Berlin.Co-producedby China's Laurel Films and France's Rosem Films, the $3m drama follows thelives and love affairs of four ordinary people from 1988, when China had juststarted to open up, ...
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Venice shapes up as star magnet
With journalists dailybemoaning the dearth of major American stars in Cannes, The Venice FilmFestival is once again shaping up as a showcase of star-studded prospects fromthe US and Europe. John Madden's Proof, Terry Gilliam's The Brothers Grimm, James Ivory's The White Countess and Fernando Mereilles' The Constant Gardener are just ...
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Cannes briefs: latest deals, announcements
Shoreline Green with Coupland screenplayMorris Ruskin's ShorelineEntertainment has picked up worldwide rights excluding Canada to the DouglasCoupland original screenplay Everything's Gone Green. The deal was concluded with Radke Films and TrueWest Films. The upcoming project centres on a good-natured slacker whofalls into a money-laundering scheme and ends up having ...
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Summit climbs the heights with Cannes slate
Summit Entertainment has reported brisk business on its Cannes slate,virtually selling out on Atom Egoyan's competition entry Where The TruthLies,Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's ensemble piece Babel, Tony Gilroy's dramaticthriller Michael Clayton, Nick Goossen's comedy Nana's Boy, and David Ayer's SouthCentral set drama Harsh Times.Where TheTruth Lies has sold toMomentum in the ...
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Alzheimer Case wins China entry deal
The Alzheimer Case is China-bound. Erik Van Looy'spsychological thriller has been chosen as one of the quota of 20 westernfeatures that the Chinese Government has passed for release this year. The dealwas negotiated with Hong Kong distributor Domo Media and China Film by UK-basedsales agent, The Works. The Chinese Censorship ...
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Storitel funding rouses horror Arising
Manchester-based producerPaul Sherwood's Storitel Films is to fully finance Arising, a new Britishhorror film marking the directorial debut of veteran TV director Bob Baldwin. Scripted by Dan Spencer,Nick Ryan and Mark Barron, the film moves into production next month. Also new on Storitel's slateis (Seymour's Adventures in) Bookworld, billed as ...
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Taiwan launches first Asian tax finance incentives
Taiwan has become the firstdestination in Asia for producers looking for tax-based financing. LA and Taipei-based fund,Double Edge Entertainment, is working with the Taiwanese government to provideprivate equity and tax credits that can cover up to 50% of mid-budgetproductions that partially shoot in Taiwan. Following a change inTaiwanese law, the ...
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Slimline Rotterdam festival to roll back the years
The Rotterdam Festival(IFFR) is to downsize, festival director Sandra den Hamer has confirmed inCannes. Aiming torecapture some of the intimacy which characterised the festival's early yearsunder founder Hubert Bals, Den Hamer says she is planning to cut the programmeby around 20%."One of the biggest challenges for me isto make it ...
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Huayi Brothers takes Battle to Cannes
China's leading privateproduction company Huayi Brothers has unveiled a high-profile slate ofproductions headed by $20m period epic Battle Of Wisdom. Hong Kong star Andy Lau isheading the cast of the film which is scheduled to start shooting this Octoberwith Hong Kong's Jacob Cheung directing. According to Huayi president JamesWang, Battle ...