All articles by Patrick Frater – Page 10
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Tony Kane joins Video Island as advisor
Online DVD rental service, Video Island, boosted itsmanagement team by appointing home entertainment veteran Tony Kane as advisor.Kane, previously managing director of Universal MusicGroup's, Britannia Music and a co-founder of Next Directory, will be consult oncompany strategy notably on how to leverage Video Island's existingpartnerships with key national brands such ...
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NonStop Entertainment stocks up at Cannes
Nordicdistributor NonStop Entertainment finished Cannes with a bagful of acquisitionsheaded by Agnes Jaoui's Comme Une Image, which scooped the Palme forbest script.NonStop will release the Paris-set drama, acquired from StudioCanal, inOctober this year.FromMedia Asia, it bought Breaking News, the Johnnie To action drama thatwas a late addition to official selection. ...
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BVITV strikes first ever Ukrainian deal
Buena Vista International TV struck its first ever filmlicence deal in the Ukraine this week at the Los Angeles Preview Screenings.It licensed a package of series and feature films tocommercial broadcaster Inter TV in a multi-year deal. Current films covered bythe agreement include Pearl Harbor, The Princess Diaries and Sweet ...
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European Film Awards launch composer category
The European Film Awards will this year carry a new prizecategory, for best European Composer.The award is presented jointly with the World SoundtrackAcademy (WSA) and EFA and the WSA will appoint a nominations committee. Votingfor the prize will be through the European Film Academy (EFA)'s 1,600 members.This year's EFA Awards ...
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Moonlight acquires Night Falls for Benelux
Dutch distributor MoonlightFilm has licensed Benelux rights to locally made When Night Falls.The psychological thrillerfollows a group of college students who launch their own investigation when thepolice fail to make progress in the hunt for a serial rapist.It is directed by InekeHoutman and adapted from a true story by Frank ...
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Politics sways Cannes as 9/11 takes Palme d'Or
Politics were in the air from the beginning of the Cannesfestival and it closed on a distinctly political note with the Palme d'Orawarded to Michael Moore's anti-George Bush documentary Fahrenheit 9/11.In bestowing their top honour on a clearly surprised Moore, Quentin Tarantino's jury overlooked the fact that his unfinished film ...
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South Korea's With Cinema takes two from Trust Film Sales.
South Korea's With Cinema has bought a pair of pictures fromDenmark's Trust Film Sales.After a fierce bidding contest it secured ThomasVinterberg's Dear Wendy, scripted byLars von Trier, and the animated puppet drama Strings. It also bought Kevin Spacey's $25m Bobby Darin biopic Beyond The Sea from Media 8 and Marriage ...
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Katapult signs Verhoeven's Blackbook
KatapultFilms, the Los Angeles-based sales agency headed by Thomas Mai and JoniSighvatsson, is to handle international duties on Blackbook, the newfilm by Dutch master Paul Verhoeven.The project has been a hot property forseveral months as rumours have swirled as to which of many possible projectsVerhoeven will shoot first. The action ...
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Venice gets its own Directors' Fortnight section
In another sign of change, the Venice festival will boastits own Directors' Fortnight section this year.The section is to be headed by journalist and Courmayeurprogrammer Giorgio Gosetti with the backing of the Italian DirectorsAssociation. Gosetti will resign from his post as head of promo agencyAudiovisual Industry Promotion from the end ...
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Mifed proposes compromise
With the tide of industryopinion possibly beginning to flow against it, Mifed's chief executive CarloBassi yesterday put forward a proposal for autumn markets to alternate betweenMilan and Los Angeles."It is impossible to go onwith this battle between us and the AFM," said Bassi. "Our proposal makeseconomic sense as it reduces ...
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Media Asia initials racing deal with Japan
Hong Kong producer and seller Media Asia has struck one ofthe largest ever intra-Asian deals for its forthcoming car-racing thriller Initial D.The film, which goes into production in Japan on June 2, hasbeen bought jointly by Gaga Communications and Avex Inc, the multimedia companywhich has previously handled the Japanese comics ...
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South Africa's Videovision stocks up
South Africa's Videovision has picked up a swathe of filmsappearing in Cannes this week.From Wild Bunch it has grabbed Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 and Asia Argento's The Heart Is deceitful Above All Things.It also bought a five picture package of forthcomingtitles from Summit Entertainment: Stripes,Sahara, Phantom Of The Opera and ...
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Golden Harvest takes Grudge to Taiwan
Taiwan is now on the acquisitions radar for Hong Kong majorGolden Harvest.It has picked up Taiwanese rights to The Grudge, the English-language remake of Japanese chiller Ju-On being sold by SenatorInternational.Golden Harvest has previously licensed rights to the picturefor Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. The move may pre-empt expansion of ...
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Super sales for Fortissimo
Fortissimo Film Sales is on course for its best ever market."If we close everything that we expect by the end of the month we will exceedlast year's annual turnover," said company co-chief Michael J Werner.Its controversial documentary Super Size Me is close to selling out. Completed deals on thepicture are ...
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Euro tax financiers spread their wings
Led by UK players, Europe’s tax fund managers are diversifying their operations into new territories and new spheres of activity.Future Film, which has risen over £1bn of tax-backed film finance, yesterday announced that it is launching a fully-fledged German tax fund. The move follows the UK government’s February 10 clampdown ...
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Laurel, Rosem, Onoma team for Chinese slate
Beijing-based productionoutfit Laurel Films, French producer Rosem and French sales house OnomaInternational have struck a three-way agreement to produce and sell a slate ofChinese pictures.The trio worked together on Day And Night (Ri-Ri Ye-Ye) a rags toriches tales set in a mining town byChinese auteur Wang Chao. The film was ...
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Lorber buys classic titles for UK, US labels
New UK home entertainment distributor inD has struckexclusive output deals with Hungarofilms and Hollywood Classics.Titles covered by the deal include Istvan Szabo's Oscarwinner Mephisto, Cannes Jury prize-winner Colonel Redl, and Hanussen,the third element in the trilogy.From Hollywood Classics, inD acquired Federico Fellini's Casanova,a pair of Elia Kazan titles A Tree ...
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Dubai plans festival splash with royal backing
Middle Eastern micro-state Dubai is planning a major splashin the film world with the launch of the Dubai International Film Festival inDecember (Dec 6-11).Highly developed and politically liberal, Dubai ispositioning the festival as a cultural bridge between the Middle East and theoutside world. It comes complete with the blessing of ...
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Locarno to focus on Mekong Delta
Film-makers from the Mekong Delta region will be at thecentre of this year's Locarno festival (4-14 Aug). The festival's Open Doorssection will host a delegation of directors from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia whowill present a selection of their previous films and attempt to match theircurrent projects with financiers and distributors ...
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Telepool snaps up Weeping Camel follow-up
Germany's Telepool has picked up international sales on The Mongolian Dog, the follow up film tobreak-out hit documentary The WeepingCamel. The film shoots from next month, but has already been pre-sold toFrance's ARP Selection and to Ascot Elite for Switzerland.The picture by Mongolian director Byambasuren Davaa, heads aTelepool sales slate ...