All articles by Patrick Frater – Page 17
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Indie Circle finds Paradise
Completed yesterday, one of the most interesting deals so far this European Film Market involved a film which may only be ready for Berlin 2005.Paradise Now, a personal journey by two people become suicide bombers is being directed by Dutch-Palestinian Hany Abou Assad, who previously made Rana's Wedding.Sold by Celluloid ...
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Jingzhe team stalks White Deer
Chinese film The Story Of Er Mei (Jingzhe) that features in Berlinale's Panorama Special, could be a dry run for a big-budget epic that has eluded a number of China's top-name directors.Jingzhe's director Wang Quanan, star Yu Nan and the powerful Xi'an Film Studio Corp plan to re-team to make ...
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Paramount closes in on worldwide DVD rights to Metallica
Paramount Home Entertainment (PHE) is understood to be closing inon worldwide DVD rights for the hotly contested Sundance documentary Metallica:Some Kind Of Monster,which has reportedly got international buyers in Berlin lining up fortheatrical rights. A domestic theatrical deal is also close, with IFC Filmsleading the pack.DVD rights would be a ...
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Golden Network sells Takien, unveils martial arts pic
Hong Kong's Golden Network has had a busy time fielding sales started at the recent Bangkok Film Market, launching new Thai martial arts pictures and presenting a new Chinese project in Berlin's Co-Production market.New Select has bought Japanese rights to Takien, a supernatural rural tale directed by Chalerm Wongpin, which ...
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Transit runs away with doc sales
End Of The Century: The Story Of The Ramones, the Berlin Panorama music documentary, has been bought for theatrical release by King Records of Japan and the UK's Tartan Films.Handled by documentary specialist Films Transit, the film had previously been pre-sold to US distributor magnolia.Film's Transit's Sundance award-winning documentary about ...
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Romania unveils film commission
One of the hottest destinations on the "soft money-low cost location" scene, Romania is to get its own form of film commission.The new body, Romanian Film Promotion, is a private sector initiative spearheaded by Tudor Giurgiu, an independent producer and chief selector of the Transylvania Film Festival."Ultimately, we want Romania ...
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Strand falls for Thai ladies
New York-based specialist releasing operation Strand releasing has picked up North American rights on Thai comedy Iron Ladies II.The gender-bending sequel directed by Yongyouth Thongkunthun was a huge box office hit in its native Thailand, where it grossed Baht 100m, and has been a top seller for sales agent, Fortissimo ...
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European Film Market buyers afraid of the dark
Talk to buyers at this year's market and you'll find that they like the films on offer - but find it difficult to rave about their commercial prospects.In fact, scarcely any film from either the Berlin festival or the European Film Market has been able to unite buyers in a ...
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Skull in 'brutal' financing struggle
Producer Robert Chartoff emerged more battered and bruised from Berlin competition film The Country Of My Skull than he did from his breakout boxing picture Rocky.At a seminar organised by the European Co-production Market yesterday, he described the financing of John Boorman's Skull as "absolutely brutal," and said that the ...
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Wild scores Bunch of sales
French seller Wild Bunch's increasingly multinational line-up has scored a number of sales to distributors around the world.Year-old Italian distributor and marketing combine Metacinema bought Finnish comedy Young Gods.Brazilian distributor S2A bought Pierre Salvadori comedy Apres Vous, documentary The Yes Men and Pascal Plisson's African adventure Masai. Apres Vous was ...
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British tax authority slams shut equity loophole
Operations ofthe UK tax finance industry today (Jan 10) suffered a major blow when theInland Revenue (the UK's tax authority) closed down the burgeoning equityfunds sub-sector.Some 17production partnerships managed by financiers such as Grosvenor Park andIngenious' Inside Track that use "Generally Agreed AccountingPrincipals" are understood to have been affected.The Revenueclosed ...
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Besson's EuropaCorp raises Euros 25m
EuropaCorp, the French studio created three years ago by Luc Besson and Pierre-Ange LePogam, raised Euros 25m on the Paris stock market, through the issue of a convertible corporate bond on Friday.The cash raised will be used to finance the development of the company and its slate of productions. ...
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Film Italia launches with Mifed price cut promise
Georgio Gosetti will today in Berlin (Monday) present Film Italia the new national promotional body that replaces Italia Cinema, and unveil the first concrete elements of Mifed's response to the challenge of an autumn AFM."In the past we have had too many announcements about Mifed which have not been followed ...
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Japanese fall for My Girl
Thai drama My Girl (Fan Chan), which screens in both Berlinale's Forum and the EFM, was scooped up by Japanese buyers Cinema Parisien and Artist Film.'We are thrilled to have sold it to these distributors which are also releasing Party Monster and have recognised the film's cross-over potential between youth ...
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Rezo says Yes to Men
French seller Wild Bunch claimed one of the first deals of the EFM with the sale on Friday afternoon of recently picked-up documentary The Yes Men to Rezo Films for France.The film by Chris Smith, Dan Oldman and Sarah Price was quickly snapped up by Rezo buyer Laurent Danielou. Yes ...
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South Africa set for Dreamworld studio
Anant Singh's Dreamworld Film City has confirmed plans to build a film production complex in Cape Town, having finally received development permission from the state and city authorities.In September Singh's consortium had appeared to have won the bidding process - it was named as the "preferred finalist" - but obtaining ...
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Film councils tell EC to leave subsidy rules alone
Europe's national film funding agencies - including the UK Film Council, France's CNC and Spain's ICAA - have told the European Commission to keep its hands off local funding regulations.The national film agencies of the 15 European Union (EU) member states this week issued a joint statement attacking new Commission ...
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European Film Market faces growing pains
This year's Berlinale European Film Market (EFM), which opens today, is going to be bigger than ever before - but its chief is playing down its growth prospects once the American Film Market loses its February slot from 2005."We don't know what is coming. We cannot just assume that the ...
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Deveau named MK2 acquisition chief
French mini-conglomerate MK2 comes to Berlin having recently appointed Jean-Francois Deveau as its new head of acquisitions.The move signals MK2's ambition to expand its theatrical releasing operations, which have taken a back-seat in the last couple of years as the group developed its exhibition portfolio and branched into DVDs.Deveau, who ...
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Hot docs swell Wild Bunch slate
French sales house Wild Bunch has added another controversy-stirring documentary to the huge line-up it will present at the Berlinale and the AFM later this month. It has also added two films that look made for high profile slots at Cannes.It has picked up world sales rights to The Yes ...