All articles by Patrick Frater – Page 46
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News
Annual amfAR AIDS research gala set for May 23 in Cannes
Cannes jury president David Lynch and jury member Sharon Stone will join other celebrities including Elizabeth Taylor, Elton John, Iman and Harvey Weinstein at the annual amfAR AIDS research gala. The event will take place on Thursday May 23 at the Moulin de Mougins restaurant and be sponsored by Motorola. ...
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News
Farrugia appointed chairman of Canal Plus SA
Dominique Farrugia (pictured) has been appointed chairman of Canal Plus SA, the principal French channel within the Canal Plus and Vivendi Universal empire. His appointment, which is subject to approval by Canal Plus shareholders at a meeting tomorrow (Friday, April 26), sees him replace Pierre Lescure at the channel. Lescure ...
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News
Cannes: A tale of two committees
Cannes' selectors this year have opted for absolute simplicity: main competition is the home of the established names of the art-house, while Un Certain Regard gives room for experimentation, new directors and little seen schools of film-making.Rather than follow the example of Venice last year and launch two largely indistinguishable ...
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News
Sweden's Strix unveils controversial Solidarity TV show
Formats, the formulae under which game, reality and quiz shows are sold for adaptation in different countries, have been big business for the last few years. But at concept stage it is sometimes difficult to tell one from another - hence a high degree of unlicensed copying. But there will ...
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News
MIP-TV receives general approval from mixed market
The MIP-TV market (Apr 14-18) drew to an effective close yesterday as buyers scurried out of town and deal announcements dwindled from a trickle to something closer to a drip feed. But most participants gave the impression of having had a more useful market than they had envisaged.Statistics from MIP-TV ...
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News
Vivendi and Kirch troubles impact int'l film sales business
Industry executives around the world were this week weighing up the impact of the unfolding crisis at Vivendi Universal. The ousting of Canal Plus boss Pierre Lescure and the management turmoil at parent company Vivendi Universal has thrown into doubt the ability of Europe's most diverse pay-TV group and the ...
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News
The Garden Of The Finzi Contini to be remade
A new version of Oscar-winning classic The Garden Of The Finzi Contini is to be produced by top Italian producer Carlo Degli Esposti under his Palomar label.The new film is not intended as a remake of Vittorio De Sica's 1970 masterpiece, but is rather a new adaptation of Giorgio Bassani's ...
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News
Universal strikes film supply deal with Greece's Star
Universal has struck a long-term film supply deal with Greek commercial broadcaster Star. The exclusive contract spans films and made for television programming.Among the films is a mixture of current films and library material. Titles include Gladiator, The Mummy, Bridget Jones's Diary, Hannibal, and The Fast And The Furious.TV content ...
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News
Grammer heads de Angelis big budget slate
Frazier star Kelsey Grammer and Aidan Quinn have signed to star in Benedict Arnold, which at $18m, is one of the most expensive TV movies of the year. It is produced by ambitious Italian venture DeAngelis Group in association with America's A&E Network. The picture, which is to be directed ...
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News
Regent prefers TV movies, exhibition to feature production
Regent Entertainment, best known for multi-award winner Gods & Monsters, is to shift the emphasis of its production division away from features in order to concentrate more on made-for-TV output. A sale to TF1 within an hour of the Cannes MIP-TV event opening yesterday morning (April 15) was justification enough ...
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News
Harmony Gold re-focuses on film sales
Harmony Gold, the US independent best known for its children's and animation properties, is stepping back into feature film sales and is in the market for pick-ups."We have lots of TV buyers looking for features right now," said Melissa Wohl, Harmony Gold vice president of sales and acquisitions. Speaking on ...
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News
Friends and foes fight for KirchPayTV
Whether and when KirchPayTV will announce its insolvency has been a source of intense debate all week, since sister company KirchMedia filed for protection from its creditors on Monday (April 8).The company, which is the parent of the sickly Premiere World pay-TV operation, is trying to come up with a ...
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News
Olivennes departure plunges Vivendi into crisis
Denis Olivennes, Canal Plus' director general and director of Vivendi Universal, resigned on Friday in protest at the financial pressures being put on the company by its chief executive Jean-Marie Messier.The shock resignation - delivered in a three line note - rounded off a desperate week for Vivendi Universal and ...
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News
Oscar-winner Noe Productions files for insolvency
Winning the Oscar for best foreign film came too late to bring much comfort to Noe Productions. The company, which was the French co-producer on Danis Tanovic's No Man's Land and has previously been behind pictures such as Train De Vie and Les Portes De La Gloire, was declared insolvent ...
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Reviews
Take Care Of My Cat
Dir: Jeong Jae-eun. Korea. 2001. 112 mins.Take Care Of My Cat is a sympathetic, modern coming-of-age movie. As such it is a Korean antidote to the make-believe and squeaky-clean Hollywood approach adopted by Britney Spears-vehicle Crossroads, which examines a similar demographic. Structured as a slightly unbalanced five-hander with a tone ...
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News
Barbet Schroeder becomes Critics Week godfather
Barbet Schroeder, the acclaimed international director responsible for Barfly Our Lady Of The Assassins and Reversal Of Fortune, is to be the godfather of the Critics' Week sidebar at Cannes.Schroeder, (pictured at left, on the set of his latest directorial effort, Murder By Numbers) will be honoured by a screening ...
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Sharp slide in VCL shares
Shares in VCL, the German video and production finance group, swung violently today. Having closed on Thursday (Apr 11) at Euros0.93, the shares dipped at one stage to Euros0.40. At 1300 GMT they had recovered to Euros0.73, a drop of 21% on the day.The company offered no explanation for the ...
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News
Fireworks strikes output deal with TeleMuenchen
Fireworks International, the London-based sales arm of Canadian film and TV group Fireworks Entertainment, has struck an exclusive output deal with Germany's TeleMuenchen (TMG) covering all its TV programming.In German-speaking Europe, TMG, which has production, broadcast and distribution interests will handle Fireworks' entire slate. It will also represent Fireworks on ...
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News
Ledoyen returns to host Cannes ceremonies
French actress Virginie Ledoyen was this week confirmed as hostess for the opening and closing ceremonies at Cannes, reprising her role from 2000.The local beauty who also represents perfume house L'Oreal, has starred in nearly 30 films and made her international break-through with James Ivory's A Soldier's Daughter Never Dies. ...
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Scorsese to head Cannes Short & Cinefondation jury
Martin Scorsese will preside over the Short Film and Cinefondation jury during the upcoming Festival de Cannes (15-26 May), the festival announced today (Apr 9).Scorsese, who has been honorary president of the Cinefondation since it was formed four years ago, has been a vigorous supporter of youth development programmes. Last ...