All News articles – Page 5245
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Australia unveils $16m funding boost
Australian film-makers and Australia-based productions have secured a funding boost worth $16.6m (A$31.6m) for the next four years from the state government of Victoria.Film production secured an extra $8.2m over the period, bringing the toal available to about three times current levels. Local film administration and support agency Film Victoria, ...
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Fireworks buys North America on New Zealand's Rain
Fireworks Pictures has picked up North American rights on New Zealand Directors' Fortnight title Rain.The distributor, a subsidiary of CanWest Global Communications, picked up the film from the New Zealand Film Commission. Set over one summer, the coming-of-age story is viewed as an auspicious debut for writer-director Christine Jeffs. ...
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DVD growth explodes in Germany, turnover up 190%
Germany's DVD boom continued unabated during the first quarter this year, with turnover rocketing 190% to account for 45.8% of the overall turnover from the video sell-through sector.According to the latest figures from trade organisation Bundesverband Video, DVD turnover soared to claim $73.4m (DM162.9m) in a sector worth $160m as ...
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Moretti wins Palme d'Or, Haneke wins three prizes
For all that this year's Cannes festival had been billed as the year of Asian cinema, the winners turned out to be largely European.Italy's Nanni Moretti won the Palme d'Or for his heart rending tale of loss, The Son's Room (La Stanza Del Figlio). While the competition was wide-open - ...
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Miramax buys Korean martial arts film Bi Chun Moo
Miramax Films has acquired rights in North America, Mexico, Argentina and South Africa to Korean ancient martial arts movie Bi Chun Moo from Taewon Entertainment. The sixth highest grossing film ever in Korea, Bi Chun Moo was directed by Young Jun Kim, and as part of the deal, Miramax ...
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UA walks walks into The Sales Co's No Man's Land
Lightning struck the set of No Man's Land in late summer. It struck again in Cannes, where Danis Tanovic's $1m debut became the underdog hit of the competition and capped its standing ovation by securing North American distribution through UA after a fierce bidding war. The Sales Co also sold ...
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Wild Bunch unveils brand new slate for 2001-2002
Wild Bunch - which is handling a record ten titles in selection in Cannes this year - has boarded a raft of new French and foreign projects.The 2001-2002 slate of StudioCanal's speciality division includes US title Spun, a first feature by Jonas Ackerlund, Peter Mullan's Irish drama Magdalena, Cedric Klapisch's ...
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Cannes: Marche death reports greatly exaggerated
Predictions of a Cannes with no sales have not lived down to the pessimists' gloomiest predictions. But buyers and sellers alike describe a market that has been at best patchy.Despite Cannes Market's official figures claiming to demonstrate more screenings, more companies in attendance and more executives, there can scarcely be ...
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Iceland's Kormakur readies trio of new projects
Hot Icelandic actor-writer-director Baltasar Kormakur is going to follow his festival and crowd pleasing feature directing debut, 101 Reykjavik, with two new films from his own hand as well as one as producer. Kormakur, who is in Cannes acting in Hal Hartley's No Such Thing, has set up his own ...
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Iceland's Kormakur readies trio of new projects
Hot Icelandic actor-writer-director Baltasar Kormakur is going to follow his festival and crowd pleasing feature directing debut, 101 Reykjavik, with two new films from his own hand as well as one as producer. Kormakur, who is in Cannes acting in Hal Hartley's No Such Thing, has set up his own ...
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Concorde, StudioCanal, USA back Zentropa Zhillers
Germany's Concorde has joined Studiocanal and USA Films in backing the 3-6 picture Zentropa Zhillers slate from Denmark's Zentropa. Produced by the company's international arm, Zentropa Internationale, the films are budgeted around $5m. The first, Saying Goodbye To Mr Welcome, is set to shoot in Oct on location in Scotland ...
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Mifed pulls the plug on Milan Selected Screenings
Mifed has cancelled the Milan Selected Screenings in response to industry pressure."We took the decision following AFM, where buyers told us that this was not useful," said Giuseppe Zola, president of Mifed organiser, Rassegne. "Buyers want to minimise the time on the road and preferred to be in Mifed proper." ...
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Alta, Celluloid team for Noriega starrer Nova
Spain's Alta Films is prepping feature film Novo with France's Celluloid Dreams, set to star heartthrob Eduardo Noriega in his first non Spanish-language role.The $4-5m film, which will shoot in Paris beginning in August, is about a man whose memory problems get him in trouble with women. Jean-Pierre Limosin directs.The ...
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Latest Cannes Sales Deals
Mercure Distribution has sold Cedric Kahn's French competition title Roberto Succo to Japan's Long Ride, Spain's Vertigo, Italy's Fandango and Korea's Apex. FilmFour International has sold Crush to Scanbox for Scandinavia and Vision Africa for South Africa. FilmFour expects to close deals in the US, Australia and Korea by the ...
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Steve Golin files suit against Kinowelt
A war of words has erupted between US producer Steve Golin and German powerhouse Kinowelt USA and Kinowelt Productions.Chris Sievernich, head of Kinowelt USA, reacted with surprise yesterday after Golin and his production company Overt Productions Inc filed a breach of contract suit in Los Angeles Superior Court saying that ...
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Oscar nominee Bardem gets spot in the Sun
Fresh from an Academy Award nomination for his performance in Julian Schnabel's Before Night Falls, Spanish actor Javier Bardem has signed on to star in Fernando Leon's Mondays In The Sun (Los Lunes Al Sol) for producer Elias Querejeta.The film is Bardem's first new project announced since the role as ...
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Sony Classics, USA turn up Cannes buying heat
Asserting itself after what has been a largely quiet Cannes on the domestic buying front, Sony Pictures Classics (SPC) has closed deals on two international festival films - taking rights in North America, Australia and New Zealand to Zhang Yang's Quitting from Fortissimo Film Sales and North American rights to ...
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ICM UK partners with Catch 23
Catch 23 Entertainment, the LA production company funded by Denver-based financier Bob Sturm and run by president Jeremy Barber, is to launch a UK production arm with a £1.5m development fund and an advisory committee composed of ICM (UK) chairman Duncan Heath and European head of international operations Lyndsey Posner.Barber ...
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Cecchi Gori back in buying ring with Ali
Cecchi Gori film has acquired Italian rights to Michael Mann's Ali from Initial Entertainment Group (IEG), marking a return to major rights buying for the company after a couple of years of retrenchment.The deal was finalised here between Cecchi Gori USA president Gianni Nunnari and IEG CEO Graham King. Cecchi ...
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Cannes flooded by low-budget Brits
New UK features may be absent from the festival, but the Croisette is flooded with low-budget films financed by British tax incentives. While grateful for the influx of money, local industry figures are wondering whether such projects are coming together far too hastily - and sacrificing quality as a result.The ...