All articles by Patrick Frater – Page 44
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DVD piracy panel calls for jail terms amongst penalties
"If DVD piracy is allowed to continue it means the long term death of culture," boomed David Kessler, head of France's national cinema body the CNC, speaking in Cannes yesterday at a seminar on DVD piracy.Also involved were Nicolas Seydoux, chairman of Gaumont and MPAA chief Jack Valenti.All three speakers ...
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Golden Harvest reaps Cannes delicacies
Golden Harvest, the powerhouse Hong Kong-based distributor has picked up a collection of the most in-demand indie titles on the Croisette.Quentin Tarantino's martial arts action film Kill Bill has been picked up for Hong Kong and Malaysia from Miramax International. Uma Thurmann, Lucy Liu and Darryl, Hannah star in the ...
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Italy's Bim picks up nine Cannes titles - so far
Italian distributor Bim Distribuzione bought three more official selection films yesterday, bringing its total haul to nine so far this market.Bim picked up Aki Kaurismaki's competition title The Man Without A Past from Bavaria Film, Nicolas Philibert's Un Certain Regard title Etre Et Avoir from Mercure and Director's Fortnight title ...
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Swaraj: Bollywood ready to go global
"There is more to Indian creative talent than snake charmers and monkeys, "said Sushma Swaraj, India's minister of information and broadcasting.on the eve of the screening of Devdas, the first "Bollywood" film to obtain a slot in Cannes Official Selection.The minister heads a 100-strong delegation to Cannes, which she claims ...
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Bavaria takes over from Christa Saredi
Bavaria Film International has taken over sales duties from World Sales Christa Saredi on a trio of Michael Haneke films and a library that also includes pictures by Hal Hartley, Fridrik Thor Fridriksson, Assi Dayan and Bakhtiyar Khudojnazarov.The move sees Bavaria complete the take-over of the WSCS catalogue that was ...
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Donaldson Polakoff looks to capitalise on Shimkent Hotel
Paris-based producing duo Gil Donaldson and Carol Polakoff are moving quickly to capitalise on the anticipated success of their Directors' Fortnight film Shimkent Hotel.The film, which screens in the ACID section of the Fortnight, is the directorial debut of bad-boy artist and former jockey Charles de Meaux.Boasting a clutch of ...
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Spanish thriller Intacto connects with Cannes' buyers
Intacto, the Spanish thriller that opened Cannes' Critics' Week sidebar, has scored highly with international buyers.Handled by Lions Gate Films International, Intacto was bought by Nippon Herald for Japan, Momentum for the UK, Lady Films for Italy, Scanbox Entertainment for all of Scandinavia, Spentzos for Greece, Cosmopol for Russia and ...
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Korea's KM Culture launches first Cannes slate
Korean investment group KM Culture has launched a new sales operation, boasting a slate of big budget pictures. The new sales outfit is headed by Judy Ahn, former sales executive at Tube Entertainment, the investment and distribution combine that late last year was absorbed by the powerhouse CJ Entertainment. With ...
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Korea's KM Culture launches first Cannes slate
Korean investment group KM Culture has launched a new sales operation, boasting a slate of big budget pictures. The new sales outfit is headed by Judy Ahn, former sales executive at Tube Entertainment, the investment and distribution combine that late last year was absorbed by the powerhouse CJ Entertainment. With ...
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First Floor Feature merger leads to starry slate
First Floor Features, the Dutch production house responsible for 1998 Oscar-winner Character, has put together a star packed production slate following its merger with Guy Walks Into A Bar. Its partner is a Los Angeles-based production and management group headed by Todd Komarnicki. The merger is intended to allow the ...
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Heinzemann braves German market to launch new distributor
Peter Heinzemann, former managing director of Kinowelt Filmverleih, could be one of the most popular men on the Croisette. He has set up a new German distributor, Solo Film Verleih as a joint venture with Helkon Media partners Martin Heldmann and Christian Halsey Solomon.Solo will operate as a distributor with ...
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Studio Canal unveils Italian film production unit
StudioCanal, the production and distribution subsidiary of Canal Plus and Vivendi Universal, has set up StudioCanal Urania, a new Rome based company that will produce up to three Italian films per year.The move comes despite rumours of Studiocanal shrinking its foreign operations. "This reflects the group's commitment to strengthening its ...
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Christopher Lee rides with The Last Unicorn
Continent Film's Michael Pakleppa is assembling a starry cast for The Last Unicorn, a fantasy film billing itself as Europe's answer to The Lord Of The Rings.Christopher Lee, Angela Lansbury and Rene Auberjonois have already committed to the picture. Producer and co-director Pakleppa is in advanced talks with Mia Farrow, ...
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Christopher Lee rides with The Last Unicorn
Continent Film's Michael Pakleppa is assembling a starry cast for The Last Unicorn, a fantasy film billing itself as Europe's answer to The Lord Of The Rings.Christopher Lee, Angela Lansbury and Rene Auberjonois have already committed to the picture. Producer and co-director Pakleppa is in advanced talks with Mia Farrow, ...
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Focus picks up Devdas sales duties
Devdas, the first Bollywood picture to screen in Cannes' Official Selection, has been picked up by Focus International (formerly Good Machine International) for world sales.Focus has the film in all territories outside the US and India. Eros International, which produced the film, will jointly sell the film in the UK ...
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E Pictures launches Zenith's action thriller
E Pictures, the Korean sales house that was set up a year ago, is launching a new big-budget picture from Zenith Entertainment, the production outfit behind last year's $25m blockbuster My Boss, My Hero.The picture Four For The King: Code Paris is an Asian action suspense thriller with European elements. ...
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Cineclick strikes Asian sales deals
Korean seller Cineclick Asia has secured two large package deals in the first few days of the Cannes market.Two of Cineclick's newest slate additions comedies Iron Palm and Oh! LaLa Sisters were scooped up for Hong Kong by Mipic, a distributor which previously enjoyed success with Cineclick's Friend. Mipic is ...
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Fortissimo and Kuzui team up for Bohemian Films
Fortissimo and Kuzui Enterprises have joined forces to launch Bohemian Films, a fusion of Asian talent and European style financing and co-productions.Launching with a slate of six features boasting budgets in the $5m-$20m range, the new company has been formed by Fortissimo principals, Wouter Barendrecht and Michael Werner, and Kuzui ...
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Tartan Films, F&ME team on James Elroy project
Hamish McAlpine's expanding production outfit Tartan Films has teamed with Mike Downey and Sam Taylor's F&ME to board Killer On The Road.The project is an adaptation of legendary crime novelist James Elroy's classic serial killer novel about "sexecutioner" Martin Plunkett and a policeman who himself has a murderous past.The team ...
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Rasa pitches indie Indian films
Ashvin Kummar and Suran Goonatilake, founders of Rasa Pictures, are in Cannes drumming up interest in a slate of cross-over independent films with their roots in the Indian diaspora.Deepa Metha is to executive produce their first film, Samir The Terrorist a UK-set drama about a man wrongly suspected of terrorism ...