All News articles – Page 5044
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Northbeach launches into Australian distribution market
Yet another player has joined the growing band of small Australian distributors specialising in independent and foreign films. Northbeach Film Distributors, owned by journalist and publisher David Pearce, is planning a limited release of Spanish director Ventura Pons' first English language film Food Of Love, a comedy drama starring five ...
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Australia's Beyond blames losses on revaluation of film catalogue
Beyond International managing director Mikael Borglund has played down the company's US$12m (A$22m) loss for the year ending June 30, saying it was principally due to a $10.7m revaluation of non-performing films and television programs from the catalogue. Total writedowns were actually $12.6m with the addition of online investments and ...
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Morvern Callar leads British Independent Film Awards nominations
The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) announced the nominations for its fifth annual awards on Wednesday.Over 100 films were viewed by the pre-selection committee, with the front-runners emerging as Morvern Callar with seven nominations, Bloody Sunday (five nominations) and The Lawless Heart (five nominations). All three were nominated in the ...
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Vivendi Universal buys time with loan lifeline
Financial pressure on Vivendi Universal, the group that controls Universal Pictures, Canal Plus and StudioCanal, is set to ease following a new agreement with banks and progress on asset sales.The group has brokered a new Euros3bn medium term credit line from a consortium including ABN Amro, BNP Paribas, CDC Ixis, ...
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Palm scores new funding from Colombian media giant
Chris Blackwell's PalmPictures has secured a new round of funding anchored by a"significant" investment from Latin America's Grupo SantoDomingo and also including additional funding from long-time Palm Picturesinvestor Avalon Capital Group. Grupo Santo Domingo is adiversified Latin American company with assets in broadcast television, radioand print media; Avalon is the ...
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Valladolid festival unveils latest competition titles
Ken Loach's Sweet Sixteen, Walter Doehner's The Blue Room (La Habitacion Azul), Diego Arsuaga's The Last Train (El Ultimo Tren) and Eduard Cortes's Nobody's Life (La Vida De Nadie) are among the titles set to compete in Spain's forthcoming Valladolid International Film Week (Oct 25-Nov 2).The festival traditionally announces the ...
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Rudolph's Dentists go to Manhattan
Manhattan PicturesInternational, the New York-based US independent which bought domestic rightsto Michael Apted's Enigmaand Jean-Luc Godard's In Praise Of Love, has resurfaced, taking all North American rights toAlan Rudolph's Toronto festival hit The Secret Lives Of Dentists. The deal was closed by ShaunRedick of ICM and attorney Andrew P Hurwitz ...
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Sogepaq restructures distribution team
Spanish distribution house Sogepaq has restructured its executive staff following the July departure of former head of international sales Eva Diederix, now with UGC in France.Simon de Santiago has been appointed deputy director of distribution for Sogepaq and sister production company Sogecine. Previously head of Canal Plus Guiones, a script ...
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Hometown films fall under London festival spotlight
Two British films will book-end the forthcoming edition of the Regus London Film Festival (RLFF) (Nov 6-21). Stephen Frears' provocative Dirty Pretty Things, which appeared in competition at Venice, is set as the festival's opening night film, while Thaddeus O'Sullivan's Helena Bonham-Carter starring The Heart Of Me will get its ...
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Michael Thornhill wins Australia's Cecil Homes Award
Filmmaker Michael Thornhill has won this year's Cecil Homes Award in a unanimous vote by the board of the Australian Screen Directors Association.The award is for a filmmaker who has promoted the art of directing and advocated the role of the director and he has done that tirelessly -- often ...
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The Pornographer forced into double UK video release
The UK's Tartan Video is to release Bertrand Bonello's The Pornographer on video in two different versions due to the restrictions of the British Video Recordings Act 1984. One version with an 18 certificate will be available for 18 year olds to purchase in normal high-street retail outlets ...
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$20m Edgardo Mortara bites the dust
Edgardo Mortara, one of the most ambitious productions at the UK's FilmFour, has collapsed only weeks before it was due to start principal photography.The $20m period epic starring Anthony Hopkins and Javier Bardem appeared to have survived Channel 4's decision to close down FilmFour as a stand alone operation and ...
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Antwone Fisher to open AFI FEST, Talk To Her to close
Thisyear's AFI FEST in Los Angeles will open on Nov 7 with the gala screeningof the psychological drama Antwone Fisher, the long awaited directorial debut of Denzel Washington, whichpremiered at the weekend in Toronto. The festival will also screen the USpremiere of Atom Egoyan's Araratas its Centerpiece Gala on Nov ...
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Italy's cinema department chief to be ousted
Rossana Rummo, the popular head of the Italian government's cinema department is to be replaced on October 1st by Gianni Profita, a political ally of Silvio Berlusconi.Profita is known to be close to Carmelo Rocca, currently the general secretary of the cultural ministry. He is a media professor at Rome's ...
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German exhibitor launches theatrical distribution operation
German exhibitor Kinostar Theater GmbH has expanded its operations to embrace in-house theatrical distribution in the field of arthouse cinema in addition to its exhibition and production activities.The first release will Philip Groening's drama L'Amour, L'Argent, L'Amour (pictured) which won a Best Actress Silver Leopard at the 2000 Locarno ...
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Sundance opens its doors to international docs
The SundanceFilm Festival is opening its doors to international documentaries, launching asection of approximately eight films from around the world beginning at nextyear's event which will take place Jan 16-26, 2003 in Park City, Utah.The international documentary section will co-exist with the World Cinemaprogramme which features some 32 international dramatic ...
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UK takes the lead in European DVD penetration
The UK overtook France in 2001 to become the European country with the highest penetration of DVD players. This followed a generic campaign funded jointly by hardware and software companies to promote DVD over VHS.New figures from industry research company Screen Digest show that the overall European market for rental ...
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Jeff Wadlow wins the Chrysler Film Festival $1m prize
Emerging film-maker JeffWadlow has been awarded a $1m production deal with online independent Hypnoticand Universal Studios as winner of the 2002 Chrysler Million Dollar FilmFestival. The year-long festival produced five finalists and culminated in aceremony at the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday. Wadlow, agraduate of USC School of Cinema-Television, ...
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Cinesite (Europe) wins Tomb Raider 2 effects deal
London-based Cinesite(Europe) Ltd has won a contract for a portion of the visual effects for TombRaider 2 with Paramount Pictures.The company, which worked on Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, will produce some 3-D animation sequences whichconstitute a large portion of the total visual effects shots in the film whichwill again star ...