All News articles – Page 4660
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Cinerenta boss quits to launch own production outfit
Marco Mehlitz is leaving his job as CEO andmanaging director of Munich-based production fund Cinerenta to set up his ownproduction outfit.Speaking exclusively to ScreenDaily.com,Mehlitz explained that his Berlin/Babelsberg-based company would focus on internationalEnglish-language feature films to be financed via private placements and funds.The as-yet-unnamed company will develop projects for production ...
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Sundance prize-winner Brother goes to Wolfe
Gay and lesbian USdistributor Wolfe has picked up North American theatrical and home video rightsto Rodney Evans' Sundance special jury prizewinner Brother To Brother.The story concerns a conflicted young black gay writer whoencounters a surviving poet from the Harlem Renaissance, and stars AnthonyMackie, Roger Robinson, Duane Boute, Larry Gilliard and ...
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Singapore, China players partner for Stupid sequel
Singapore's MediaCorp Raintree Picturesis tapping into the huge China market following an agreement with the ShanghaiFilm Group to make a sequel to its 2002 box office hit I Not Stupid.Like the first movie, I Not Stupid 2 is a satirical comedy tobe directed and written by Jack Neo. Raintree CEO ...
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Warner signs massive free-TV deal with DMI in Middle East
Warner BrosInternational Television Distribution (WBITD) has signed a multi-year,exclusive deal with Dubai Media Incorporated (DMI), marking the biggestdistribution deal the company has ever signed with a free-to-air MiddleEast-based broadcaster.The deal willbring Middle Eastern audiences of the newly launched Dubai TV around 90 ofWarner Bros' latest pictures, including the Matrix, Harry ...
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European exhibition growth slows down
Asexhibitors prepare for next week's Cinema Expo in Amsterdam, a new report fromleading UK-based researcher Dodona Research says that exhibition growth isslowing across Europe.Exhibitors in the seven Western European countries -including the five largest box office markets in continental Europe - profiledin the report have completed extensive multiplex building programmes ...
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Skoll launches Participant for socially relevant pictures
Philanthropistand former eBay president Jeff Skoll has launched Participant Productions, aLos Angeles-based company to focus on socially relevant features highlightingsocial injustice and related themes.Financing is inplace for the company to produce four to six pictures a year ranging from lessthan $5m to up to $40m. It marks SkollC;s second foray ...
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Moll plunges into Lemming shoot
In his first foray back behind the camera since 2000'scritical and box office success Harry He's Here To Help, Dominik Mollwill begin shooting Lemming this summer.Producer Diaphana Films confirmed that Moll will startprincipal photography in Paris and Toulouse on the Euros 5.3 millionpsychological thriller in early July.Lemming stars Harryveteran Laurent ...
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Sorkin to script real life Afghan tale for Playtone, Universal
The West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin is to adapt George Crile's real-lifeMujahideen tale Charlie Wilson's War for Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman's Playtone and UniversalPictures.Charlie Wilson's War recounts the eponymous Texas Congressman's covert mission tofunnel arms to the Afghan rebels and help them fight the Soviet army in the1980s, a ...
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More bad news for Samaha in Intertainment case
Today in the Santa Ana,Calfornia courtroom where Elie Samaha and his Franchise Pictures lost itsbattle with Intertainment AG earlier this week, the jury came back with thepunitive damages verdict, and it's more bad news for Samaha.The Jury awarded BarrieBaeres and Intertainment $29m in punitive damages in addition to the $77.1m ...
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Toronto Film Studios wins giant new Toronto studio bid
After years of fits andstarts, Toronto is finally going to get the giant production facility itsindustry has been calling for. The Toronto Economic Development Corporation hassaid the Toronto Film Studios (TFS) is the winning applicant to develop andbuild the facility.The $118m (C$150m) projectcalls for a complex of up to 385,000 ...
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Online activists organise for Fahrenheit 9/11
US onlineactivism group MoveOn.org has launched a campaign urging the public to see Fahrenheit9/11 on its Jun 25opening day.Failing that, the group wants audiences to pledge to turnout anytime that weekend."Given howdevastating the movie is to President Bush's carefully crafted facade, it'shardly surprising that right-wing groups who call Moore a ...
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Tales From The Orphanage gets theatrical with 15
LosAngeles-based Tales From The Orphanage is planning its first theatrical releasefollowing the acquisition of all North American rights to Royston Tan'sSingaporean debut 15.The story causeda stir on the festival circuit for its uncompromising portrayal of Singaporecounterculture and stars bona fide street children.Tales From TheOrphanage plans a January 2005 theatrical release ...
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Egoyan heads to 1970s Los Angeles in Somebody Loves You
Canadian auteur Atom Egoyanis preparing his tenth feature, entitled Somebody Loves You, with long-time collaborator Robert Lantos ofSerendipity Point Films producing.The Academy Award-nominated Egoyanwrote the screenplay based on the novel Where The Truth Lies by Broadwaywunderkind Rupert Holmes. Sandra Cunningham, a co-producer on Egoyan's Ararat, will perform a similar role. ...
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School killing halts Battle Royale 2 DVD release
Toei Video will delay the DVD and video release of BattleRoyale 2, which was scheduled for September, company officials haveannounced. The reason: a highly publicised recent incident in which an11-year-old girl stabbed and killed a friend and classmate, reportedly fortexting disparaging remarks about her.The suspect, who has not been named ...
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Civilian teams with SureFire for $46m tax fund
Civilian Content, thepublicly-listed UK media concern, has teamed with tax-based financier SureFireon a $46m (£25m) fund that could offer producers up to 50% of their budget.Civilian and SureFirestarted raising the cash last week for the fund, which will provide equity andsale and leaseback funding through UK tax mechanism Section 48. ...
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THINKFilm gets in on Virgo's sex act
THINKFilm has taken worldrights on Lie With Me, the thirdfeature from Toronto filmmaker Clement Virgo.The film, adapted for thescreen by Virgo and Tamara Faith Berger from her debut novel, began principalphotography yesterday in Toronto. Virgo and his Damon D'Oliveira are producing throughtheir Conquering Lions Pictures. THINKFilm will release the film ...
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Boe on fast track to shoot Allegro
Christoffer Boe, theacclaimed young Danish writer-director whose feature debut Reconstruction haswon a number of international awards, has been put on the fast track to shoothis new film Allegro this autumn with $1.2m (DKK7.3m) from the Danish Film Institute.It follows a world famouspianist who returns home for a concert in Copenhagen, ...
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Crudo focuses on digital issues in second year of ASC presidency
Richard P Crudohas pledged to make the standardisation of digital technology his priorityafter he was elected president of the American Society of Cinematographers(ASC) for the second consecutive year.The subject hasbeen the matter of intense speculation - but little else - in recent years asthe industry moves haltingly towards the implementation ...
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Berlin launches film fund for developing countries
The Berlinale has been awarded Euro 1.5m initially for the next three years to set up a World Cinema Fund for the support of filmmakers from developing countries and to increase the profile of their films in German cinemas.The funding from the Federal Cultural Foundation(Kulturstiftung des Bundes) is the result ...
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Hamburg film fund rocked by budget cut plans
Hamburg's film scene has been rocked by plans unveiled bynewly appointed Culture Senator Karin von Welck to slash the city's support ofFilmFoerderung Hamburg (FFH) from Euros 7m to Euros 3.5m for 2005/6.FFH currently has an annual budget of around Euros 9m madeup of contributions from Hamburg itself and public broadcasters ...