All News articles – Page 4503
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Cannes drafts in Yang, Iosseliani for sidebar duty
The Cannes FilmFestival has made two announcements regarding sidebars at the upcoming eventwhich runs from May 11-22.Taiwanesedirector Edward Yang has been named to preside over the Cinefondation jury andthe short film jury while Georgian filmmaker Otar Iosseliani will act as patronof the 44th Critics' Week.Yang won the bestdirector prize at ...
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Icon drafts in Hamilton as UK president
Alex Hamilton has joined Icon Film Distribution in the UK as president,reporting to newly-appointed CEO Martin Bigham. Hamilton, who most recently served as director of sales and businessdevelopment at fellow UK distributor Momentum Pictures, will start with thecompany next week. "I'm delighted to be joining Icon and very much look ...
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Fox veteran Grace gets key publicity job at Sony's TriStar
Florence Grace, a ten yearveteran of 20th Century Fox, where she most recently served assenior vice president of corporate publicity, has been named senior vicepresident of publicity at TriStar Pictures, the recently revived label of SonyPictures.TriStar, which is headed byValerie Van Galder, is a marketing, production and acquisitions unit devoted ...
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Ring 2 leads international pack with $14.8m weekend
DreamWorks International'shorror sequel The Ring 2 added anestimated $14.8m through UIP in 4,245 sites in 46 territories at the weekend,raising the international running total to $55m.The picture opened top inItaly on $1.9m and approximately 30% market share, a remarkable result giventhat theatres were closed on Friday for the Pope's funeral. ...
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European box office on the slide in 2005
The UKmarket appears to be the only major European territory showing box office oradmissions growth this year, according to the latest first quarter figures.Frenchadmissions figures are down nearly 13%, German figures have slipped 11% whilethe Spanish box office has leveled off compared to the first three months of2004. Figures for ...
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Spain's Avalon partners with Fnac on DVD label
Spanishproducer-distributor Avalon Pictures has launched a new DVD sell-through labelin Spain with entertainment megastore Fnac handling classic internationalauteur titles.The label, Filmoteca Fnac, will handle an initial 20 to 25films per year from auteur directors like Fellini, Cassavetes, Jarmusch andKitano.Titles will be released on anywhere from 1500-4000 copies.Avalon founder Stefan Schmitz ...
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Int'l buyers stock up on Pope documentaries
In the wake of Pope JohnPaul II's death, Rai Trade, the sales arm of Italianpublic broadcaster RAI, has witnessed a flurry of demand for its latestdocumentaries on the pontiff and extensive stock footage.Vatican expert FabioZavattaro's A Quarter of a Century With Pope John Paul II, which focuses on the Pope's ...
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Malaga festival unveils Spanish competition line-up
The Spanish Film Festival of Malaga has finalised itsline-up for this year's eighth annual edition (April 22-30), unveilingthe final titles competing in its official selection.New films joining the six previously announced competitorsinclude: Ramon Salazar's transvestite musical 20 Centimetres (20Centimetros); Cuban comedian AlexisValdes' directorial debut A King In Havana (Un Rey ...
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Oscar winning short film director cranks up debut feature
Danishdirector Martin Strange-Hansen, who won the 2002 Oscar best short film award,has started shooting his feature debut, True Spirit.TrueSpirit isbilled as a comedy about a disaster prone magician (Ken Vedsegaard) who teamsup with an insurance agent Arne (Jesper Asholt) to become ghost busters. Accordingto producer Mie Andreasen, Strange-Hansen has a ...
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Frugone named as new Valladolid fest director
Spain's Valladolid International Film Festival hasnamed Juan Carlos Frugone as the new director of the event, which this yearcelebrates its 50th anniversary edition (Oct 21-29). A native of Argentina and an experienced film critic,Frugone was deputy director of Valladolid from 1984 to 1992. He has worked forother festivals including Mar ...
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Indian International awards set locale for 2006 event in Amsterdam
The sixth InternationalIndian Film Academy (IIFA) awards weekend will take place in Amsterdam,Holland, from Jun 9-11.Since the annual ceremonylaunched five years ago at the Millennium Dome in London, a number ofinternational locations including London, Malaysia and Singapore have hostedthe event.The IIFA will feature a newglobal business forum at Expo XXI, ...
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Sony-led acquisition of MGM closed on Friday
On the day MGM's acquisitionby the Sony and Comcast-led consortium officially closed and most of theexisting MGM staff prepared to be let go, the company announced severaloperating practices and a slew of new appointments.The company will releaseonly one more film - The Amityville Horror on Apr 15. Its remaining titles ...
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Paramount tops box office with action adventure Sahara
Paramount'saction-adventure Saharaopened top of the North American charts at the weekend, drawing mixed reviewsbut an estimated $18.5m in ticket sales.The picture,which stars Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz as environmental adventurers,averaged $5,865 on 3,154 screens. It was directed by Breck Eisner, the son ofdeparting Disney chief Michael Eisner, and financed by ...
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Arts Alliance names Kiedaisch as chief financial officer
Arts Alliance Media, which was recently appointed to runthe UK Film Council's digital cinema network, has appointed Howard Kiedaisch aschief financial officer. Kiedaisch joins Arts Alliance Media from UniversalPictures International (UPI) where he was senior vice president of businessoperations and chief financial officer.In addition to his six years at UPI, ...
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Sahara tops US box office for Anschutz, Paramount
Paramount'saction-adventure Saharaopened top of the North American charts at the weekend, drawing mixed reviewsbut an estimated $18.5m in ticket sales.The picture,which stars Matthew McConaughey and Penelope Cruz as environmental adventurers,averaged $5,865 on 3,154 screens. It was directed by Breck Eisner, the son ofdeparting Disney chief Michael Eisner, and financed by ...
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Cognac toasts Iglesia's El Crimen Ferpecto
Alex de la Iglesia's blackcomedy El Crimen Ferpecto was the big winner at the 23rdannual Cognac Thriller Festival which wrapped on Sunday night. The film was a crowd favoritetaking the Premiere magazine audience award as well as the Grand Prize from thejury headed up by American director Joel Schumacher.The Jury ...
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Ghobadi's Turtles flies off with NatFilm prize
Bahman Ghobadi's Turtles Can Fly won theaudience prize at the 16th NATfilm festival in Denmark.The film, which is set in an Iraqi refugee camp priorto the US led invasion, is a follow up to Ghobadi's arthouse hit A Time ForDrunken Horses.The Critics Award went to the only documentary runningin competition, ...
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Phantom scares up $100m international gross
The filmversion of Andrew Lloyd Webber's long-running musical hit The Phantom Of TheOpera has passed the $100m mark at the international box office.The success has been led by a triumphant turn in Japanwhere a collosal $36.5m has been taken to date, 35.6% of the internationaltotal and 23.8% of the worldwide ...
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French admissions fall back in first quarter of 2005
France'sNational Cinema Federation (FNCF) has announced a drop in first quarter figuresfor 2005 against last year. In thefirst three months of the year, the box-office racked up 44.6 millionadmissions versus 50.1 million over the same period in 2004.The FNCF put the drop down to a less "rich" selectionof films compared ...
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Nickelodeon launched as 24-hour service in Germany
MTV NetworksEurope (MTVNE) will launch Nickelodeon as a 24-hour children's channel and website in Germany on Sept 12.Viacom chiefsalso announced that they have set up Viacom Brand Solutions, a cross-brandingadvertising sales house to market the portfolio of channels.The locallymanaged and programmed channel and site will feature such properties as TheSpongeBob ...