All News articles – Page 5084
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Moscow Festival welcomes back Russian films
Three Russian titles feature in this year's Moscow International Film Festival competition line-up, after last year's total lack of any local films in competition at all. The Festival, which runs June 21-30, this week unveiled its competition programme of sixteen feature films including, Alexander Rogozhkin's Cuckoo, Roman Pregunov's Solitude Of ...
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France's TF1 considers KirchMedia buy
French broadcasting group TF1 is currently 'taking a look at' KirchMedia, the rights trading division of the collapsing Kirch empire, a TF1 representative told the French news service AFP.KirchMedia filed for insolvency in April (TaurusHolding, which holds a 73% stake in KirchMedia also recently sought protection from creditors in a ...
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UK's Civilian Content posts $7.6m pre-tax loss
Civilian Content, the UK media concern which owns National Lottery franchise The Film Consortium, on Thursday posted a group loss before tax of $7.6m (£5.2m) for last year.The AIM-listed company, which has $20m (£13.6m) left of the Consortium's original lottery grant of some $44.1m (£30m), recorded a total operating loss ...
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South African broadcaster makes first film investment
For years, the major South African broadcasters, like M-Net, the SABC and free to air Channel e-TV have resolutely avoided investing in feature films - a move many local producers claim has prevented the rise of a viable local film industry.In an unprecedented move, however, South African cable station M-Net ...
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Gilles Jacob decides against Canal Plus appointment
Cannes Festival head, Gilles Jacob has decided not to join Canal Plus' supervisory board as had been announced earlier this week (Screendaily, June 10). The decision was taken by Jacob after a specially-called meeting of the Cannes Festival's administrative board. The board did not rule out his joining Canal ...
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Phoenix TV boss buys major stake in Hong Kong's ATV
Mainland China-based entrepreneur and Phoenix Satellite TV chairman, Liu Changle, has grabbed a controlling stake in Hong Kong free-to-air broadcaster Asia Television (ATV).A company controlled by Liu, Vital Media Holdings (VMH), has acquired a 46% stake in ATV from Dragon Viceroy Ltd - a joint venture between Liu and ATV ...
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Norwegian Film Fund banks on The Beautiful Country
The Norwegian Film Fund, which is shortly to celebrate its first birthday, is spreading its money widely in its latest funding round, backing two international projects as well as four local productions.The $6.3m English language drama The Beautiful Country, starring Nick Nolte and Harvey Keitel and directed by Hans Petter ...
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Canada's Remstar signs output deal with Transfilm
Canada's Remstar Distribution has signed a four-year output deal with Quebec producer Claude Leger's Transfilm that will see the Montreal company distribute all Transfilm's film and television productions in Canada. Included in the deal are the Canada-France mini-series Napoleon, starring Isabella Rossellini, Gerard Depardieu, John Malkovich, Anouk Aimee and Christian ...
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Dibildos mourned by Spain's film industry
Spain Thursday mourned the sudden death of veteran scriptwriter and producer Jose Luis Dibildos, a key figure in Spanish cinema of the last half century.Last year Dibildos (pictured) was the recipient of an Honorary Goya Award from the Spanish Cinema Academy for his illustrious career, which spanned more than 40 ...
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PiFan festival unveils fantastic line-up
Gurinder Chadha's hit movie Bend It Like Beckham has been chosen as the opening film of the 6th Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan), which runs from July 11-20 in South Korea. One Korea's top film events, PiFan will feature 170 films from 38 countries under the theme "Romance, ...
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FilmFour, Pathe alliance bags Jeepers Creepers 2 for UK
UK distributors FilmFour and Pathe Distribution have snapped up Like Hell: Jeepers Creepers 2 from US sales agent Myriad Pictures through their busy buying alliance.The original Jeepers Creepers took almost $50m in the US and $10m in the UK, where it was released by Helkon SK. United Artists and Zoetrope ...
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Artisan buys South African music doc Amandla!
Artisan Pictures has acquired North American distribution rights to the award-winning documentary Amandla! A Revolution In Four Part Harmony which was produced in association with HBO/Cinemax Documentary Films. The theatrical sale marks a departure for HBO which traditionally premieres its documentaries on its own channel."We're excited about the opportunity to ...
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Polish composer scores English-language Danish tale
Multiple award-winning Polish composer Zbigniew Preisner is to compose the score for Thomas Vinterberg's highly anticipated science-fiction fable It's All About Love, which is in the final stages of post-production in Copenhagen. The composer won international acclaim for his work on countryman Krzysztof Kieslowski's Dekalog and Trois Couleurs trilogy, which ...
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India scraps $2m limit on bank financing for films
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has withdrawn the $2m ceiling on banks for film financing, opening the way for much-needed boost to industry investment.The RBI stated that banks should fix an overall exposure limit to the film industry and ensure that advances are distributed over a number of films ...
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Metro Tartan adds to Cannes acquisitions
Independent UK distributor Metro Tartan Distribution has acquired Un Certain Regard title Angel On The Right and Respiro, which won the Grand Prize at the Cannes Critics Week.Other recent additions to Metro Tartan's line-up include Full Time-Killer, a Hong Kong film directed by Johnny To and starring Andy Lau, and ...
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Celador Films appoints head of production and development
Leading UK independent TV producer Celador Films, best known for hit quiz show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire', is stepping up its film activities.The company has appointed Christian Colson, head of development at Miramax Films' UK arm, to oversee production and development. Colson and Celador have just collaborated on ...
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TV audience determines German blockbuster director's next movie
Michael "Bully" Herbig, director-producer of German box-office phenomenon Manitou's Shoe, is planning a spoof of cult TV series Star Trek as his next film after asking viewers of his TV show Bullyparade to vote among four alternatives "Basically, the whole thing was an act of desperation", Herbig explained. "I asked ...
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New manager to oversee BAC Majestic restructure
Alain Mamou-Mani has been named general manager of BAC Majestic and will oversee the financial restructuring of the beleaguered French distribution outfit. Bac Majestic, which issued a profit warning for 2002, lost Euros 13m in 2001 and is seeking an equivalent cash injection, announced on June 7 a draft agreement ...
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Cannes prizes boost international box office performance
Several of last month's Cannes Film Festival prize-winners are reaping the box-office benefits of the prestige and, more importantly, the free publicity generated by the high-profile event.In 2000 Palme d'Or winner Dancer In The Dark gained massive pre-release publicity that saw it take $14m from international markets and another $4m ...