All News articles – Page 5370
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Russian media baron Gusinsky arrested
Russian tycoon Vladimir Gusinsky, head of the country's largest independent media conglomerate Media Most, has been arrested and is being held in a Moscow prison pending charges of defrauding the government of more than $10m. Media Most-owned television channel NTV and daily newspaper Segodnya have been sharply critical of the ...
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Shower takes top honours at Seattle
Continuing its award-nabbing festival tour, Chinese director Zhang Yang's Shower walked away with audience awards for Best Film and Best Director at the 26th Seattle International Film Festival, which wrapped on Sunday. The film has also yielded prizes at Toronto, San Sebastian, Thessaloniki and Rotterdam. Dan Futterman, star of Urbania, ...
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Ramsay project secures Scottish lottery funding
Company Pictures' Morvern Callar, the latest project from writer-director Lynne Ramsay, was the main beneficiary in the latest round of Scottish Lottery Panel awards. The first awards under the administration of Scottish Screen rather than the Scottish Arts Council, announced a £500,000 production grant to the film which already has ...
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Norway gains Vitofilm production, consultancy shop
Former Danish Film Institute director Mona Jensen and Gunnar Svensrud, a former consultant for the Norwegian Film Institute, have launched an Oslo-based production and consultancy outfit Vitofilm."After spending many years in the industry we both have networks that we believe can be useful," Svensrud told Screendaily. "Many Norwegian directors don't ...
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Fine Line gets domestic rights to Human Nature
Fine Line Features has acquired North American rights to Human Nature, the much anticipated movie scripted by Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich) and directed by Michel Gandry.The film, a Good Machine production which is being sold internationally by StudioCanal, is produced by Good Machine's Ted Hope, Anthony Bregman, Kaufman and ...
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Vivendi, Canal Plus confirm Seagram talks
Universal Studios is set to change hands once again, passing from Canadian to French ownership within the next few weeks, now that Seagram is back at the negotiating table jointly with utilities and media combine Vivendi and its pay-TV subsidiary Canal Plus.Despite all previous denials, Seagram's boss Edgar Bronfman Jr ...
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Star pledges $64m for Chinese-language production
News Corp-owned broadcaster Star TV is setting up a Chinese Programming Department through which $64m (HK$500m) will be invested in Chinese-language film and television productions, some of which will be aimed at the international market.Veteran Hong Kong TV producer Michael Mak will head the department which represents a significant expansion ...
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Moscow fest launches market; becomes annual event
For the first time in its 43-year history, the Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF) is set to become an annual event from this year. The festival, which will run July 19-29, is also launching a market focusing on European and Russian product.The MIFF has previously been held every two years, ...
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CineMedia grabs stake in Watch! Entertainment
German film services group CineMedia has given itself a further leg-up into production and new media through the acquisition of a stake in Watch! Entertainment.CineMedia is buying 26% of Watch!, a television producer established by a group of senior managers from Grundy Ufa TV Productions. Terms of the purchase were ...
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Telepiu expands into cable broadcasting
Italian digital satellite platform Telepiu has reached an agreement with Telecom Italia to begin cable broadcasting in 500,000 homes in seven key cities beginning this September. Telecom Italia is understood to have been forced into the agreement by European Union anti-trust requirements.Measures have been underway for several years to break ...
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Ullmann receives Norwegian Aamot Award
Norwegian actress and director Liv Ullmann has received the coveted Norwegian Aamot Award in Bergen, Norway. The Award, given by Norway's theatre managers and distribution professionals, was bestowed on Ullmann for her "many sided artistic contribution to Norwegian, Nordic and international film over the past 40 years." Ullmann has been ...
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Edinburgh Festival to expose Cineworks shorts
Cineworks, the short film scheme funded by support agency Scottish Screen, is showcasing its inaugural year's work at August's Edinburgh International Film Festival.Films screening include: Exidore, by Richard Weeks, whose credits include the shorts Running Man and The Arrangement; experimental documentary I Am Boy; Cat McKiernan's Sex And Death; The ...
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CASE STUDY - Bread And Roses
A European co-production about struggling migrant workers sounds just like Ken Loach's cup of tea. The difference is this story is set in LA. Natacha Clarke reports.The Pitch:Ken Loach takes on America in this story of immigrant workers fighting for their rights.1994-1996Former human rights lawyer Paul Laverty goes to LA ...
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Kinowelt acquires stake in media[netCom]
Kinowelt Medien has bought a 10% stake in emerging German video-on-demand (VoD) player media[netCom].The move comes after several months of co-operation between the two companies, which saw Kinowelt become a supplier of content during media[netCom]'s experimental phase."The present state of development of media[netCom]'s cinema-on-demand technology shows very clearly how quickly ...
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StudioCanal to fully finance Polanski's Pianist
France's StudioCanal is close to finalising a deal to fully finance and handle worldwide sales on Roman Polanski's next project, The Pianist, a $35m adaptation of the novel by Polish writer Wladyslaw Szpilman.Polanski's own outfit, RP Productions, is producing the project which is scheduled start shooting either at the end ...
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Crawford to quit Village Roadshow
The future of Village Roadshow's international exhibition arm looks uncertain following the surprise decision of chairman and co-chief executive officer John Crawford to leave the company. Crawford is quitting Village's UK-based international arm in December after deciding not to renew his contract. The UK headquarters will relocate to Melbourne, despite ...
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Japan's ASMSE enters film finance arena
Japan's Association of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (ASMSE) is planning to back further feature projects following completion of its debut film Home Sweet Home which is set for domestic release this August.ASMSE, a Tokyo-based business organisation with fifty member companies, has developed a financing scheme that bypasses banks and ...
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ZDF boards Barreda's Peruvian debut
German broadcaster ZDF is backing Peruvian road movie Y Si Te Vi, No Me Acuerdo, the directorial debut of Miguel Barreda Delgado which started production June 5 in Lima. The film, about an ex-pat Peruvian who returns home after many years, is being shot in the digital format but there ...
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Australia's Niche Pictures picks up Mr Death
Australian distributor Niche Pictures, which was recently acquired by Lyn McCarthy, has acquired local rights to Errol Morris's Mr Death: The Rise And Fall Of Fred A. Leuchter Jr. The 90-minute documentary was well received when it screened this week on the third day of the Sydney Film Festival. McCarthy ...
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Mondo inks co-production deal with Hahn Shin
Mondo TV, Italy's number two animation company after Mediaset, has signed a co-production agreement with Korean animator Hahn Shin Corporation under which the partners will produce 200 half hours over the next three years.The deal takes in several series including adventure series Genghis Khan and Gladiators and religious series In ...