All News articles – Page 4999
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French investigators raid Vivendi offices
French legal investigators have raided Vivendi Universal's headquarters as part of a probe into records during the era of former chairman Jean-Marie Messier."We can confirm there is a search going on and the company is co-operating completely with the law," a Vivendi spokesperson told Reuters.Reuters also reported that police had ...
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Mondays In The Sun shines in Goya nominations
Fresh from his sweep of the European Film Awards last weekend, Pedro Almodovar now faces stiff competition at home for Spain's Oscar-equivalent Goya Awards, the nominations to which were revealed today in Madrid prior to their February 1 ceremony.Almodovar's internationally acclaimed Talk To Her (Hable Con Ella) earned seven nominations, ...
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Publisher Bauer close to signing ProSiebenSat.1 deal
The consortium of German publishing empire Heinrich Bauer and HypoVereinsbank is expected to sign a Euros 700m deal for a majority 52.5% stake in the ProSiebenSat.1 broadcasting family in the next two weeks.Speaking to the Reuters news agency after a meeting of the insolvent KirchMedia's creditor committee on Monday December ...
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Miguel Pereira begins selection for 2003 Mar del Plata film fest
The Mar del Plata International Film Festival - the oldest film festival in the Americas, will take place next year between March 6 and 15. Originally established in 1954, the 2003 edition will be the sixth since its re-launch.The Argentine INCAA (Instituto Nacional de Cine y Artes Audiovisuales) has appointed ...
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Italian film wins German distribution after audience vote
Ribelli Per Caso, a film from young Italian director Vincenzo Terracciano, has secured distribution in Germany after winning a ground-breaking arthouse competition Organised by Italian promotional association Made In Italy and German cinema owner network, AG Kino, the Cinema! Italia! tour took seven recent Italian pictures to 14 ...
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Arsenal takes Rabbit-Proof Fence for Germany
Germany's Arsenal Film will collaborate with Odeon Film on the local release of Philip Noyce's Rabbit-Proof Fence which was one of the big winners at the Australian Film Institute's Awards at the weekend and honoured by the US National Board of Review last week.The film's executive producer David Elfick told ...
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Fox takes Hero for a host of Asian territories
Zhang Yimou's $31m martial arts epic Hero is set for a wide release across Asia via Twentieth Century Fox which has acquired a slew of Asian rights to the film outside China and Hong Kong.Territories snapped up by Fox include India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan. The ...
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Australia set to attract more international productions
Sydney is set to get another major film and TV studio, including the country's biggest single soundstage.A development application has been lodged with the local Sutherland Council for the construction of four film and two television studios within an existing industrial estate in the southern Sydney suburb of Kurnell. "This ...
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Four new Nordic children's films head for Berlin
Scandinavian children's films have always been well represented at Berlin International Film Festival's Kinderfilmfest, and next year's first edition under it's new headmaster, Thomas Hailer, will be no exception The 2003 edition will see the international premieres of four new children's films -all of which are feature debuts. Henrik ...
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UK power-directors Daldry, Winterbottom team with Rudin
Top UK directors Stephen Daldry and Michael Winterbottom have boarded pictures for Scott Rudin, the New York-based producer who is one of Paramount Pictures' chief suppliers as well as a force in US theatre.Daldry, who directed this season's highly touted awards contender The Hours for Rudin, has taken over from ...
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Studio Hamburg World Wide Pictures lines up two new projects
The Studio Hamburg's WorldWide Pictures (WWP) fund has lined up another two potential projects - Colour Me Kubrick and Dudes - to back after its first production, John Irvin's The Great Ceili War, wrapped on the Isle of Man last week on December 4.WWP has optioned the $7m satirical comedy ...
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Miramax Italia increases its involvement in local production
American actor Breckin Meyer will be the voice of Pinocchio in the US version of Roberto Benigni's Italian blockbuster, to be released in North America on December 25th. Meyer - whose credits include Clueless, Rat Race and The Insider - joins Glenn Close, who will dub the Blue Fairy - ...
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Menemsha takes Marooned, Taraneh
Neil Friedman's LA-based sales and distribution outfit Menemsha Entertainment, which enjoyed success in 2000 with Majid Majidi's Iranian hit The Color Of Paradise, has acquired two new Iranian films for worldwide representation - Bahman Ghobadi's Marooned In Iraq and Rasoul Sadrameli's I'm Taraneh, 15 which is Iran's submission for this ...
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Slamdance unveils 16-feature lineup
Nine world premieres will be among 16 features competing for honours at the Slamdance 2003 Film Festival after organisers sifted through a record 2,800 submissions. Announcing the line-up last night (Dec 9), Slamdance director Gianna Chachere and president and co-founder Peter Baxter said the titles reflected 'youthful voices and the ...
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Genie nominations honour Ararat but not Egoyan
Atom Egoyan's epic-scale Ararat has garnered nine Canadian Genie Award nominations, including one for Best Motion Picture, but the man himself was bypassed for a Best Direction nomination as candidates for Canada's major film prize were announced. English-Canada's other prominent filmmaker, David Cronenberg, did however get nominated. His Cannes competitor ...
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DirecTV open to new bids
Satellite broadcaster EchoStar Communications yesterday formally gave up its $18bn attempt to buy Hughes Electronics from General Motors (GM), following regulatory objections. The collapse of the deal means that other media groups are free to re-enter the bidding for Hughes and its giant DirecTV broadcast subsidiary. The sale of the ...
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New chairman named for Roma Studios
Tarak Ben Ammar, head of the rights-trading venture Quinta Communications, has been named chairman of Roma Studios, the newly renovated and re-opened studios which were built by producer Dino De Laurentiis in 1964.The first international picture expected to roll at the studios is Brian De Palma's upcoming movie, The Toyer. ...
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Goteborg film festival unveils first glimpse of 2003 event
With less than two months to go to the 26th edition of the Goteborg Film Festival (Jan 24-Feb 3), new festival director Jannike Ahlund has revealed parts of the program at a press conference in Stockholm.The festival will open with the world premiere of Josef Fares's Kops, the much awaited ...
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Lescure's Canal Plus severance package could top Euros 3m
Former Vivendi Universal chairman Jean-Marie Messier fired Pierre Lescure from the helm of Canal Plus in April in what many consided an underhanded manner. Now, however, it seems that Lescure has come out ahead of the erstwhile mogul - at least in terms of his pay-offIn an interview with French ...
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USA Interactive accuses Vivendi Universal of tax avoidance
While Jean-Rene Fourtou and Barry Diller attempt to unravel some of the complexities in their relationship, Diller's USA Interactive has stepped into the melee accusing Vivendi Universal of trying to avoid tax payments of over $600m in conjunction with last December's sale of USA Networks to Vivendi Universal.In a filing ...