Small MPU – Page 1132

  • News

    Fox uncorks Japanese remake of Sideways

    2008-05-19T06:09:00Z

    20th Century Fox is moving fast to bulk up local productions for its new Fox International Productions (FIP) unit, signing a production deal with Fuji TV in Japan to remake Alexander Payne's Oscar-winning Sideways.'There is a growing affection for wine and the art of savouring wine in Japan and they ...

  • News

    Clint Eastwood's Changeling changes name

    2008-05-19T06:14:00Z

    Clint Eastwood's Changeling has undergone a transformation of its own, with the director changing the film's title on the eve of its competition screening in Cannes.It will now be called The Exchange. The film, about a woman in 1920s Los Angeles whose son is kidnapped, has always been dubbed L'Echange ...

  • News

    EU greenlights Vivendi Universal with conditions

    2000-10-13T19:13:00Z

    The European Commission (EC) has waved through the three-way merger between Vivendi, Canal Plus and Seagram, after Vivendi agreed to sell its 20% stake in BSkyB and guaranteed that Canal Plus' pay-TV competitors will have access to Universal's film product.The concessions save the merger, first unveiled in June, from a ...

  • News

    Entertainment One's RCV bags hot titles for Benelux

    2008-05-19T06:42:00Z

    Entertainment One, the fast growing Canadian media group, has announced recently bought Benelux distributor RCV Entertainment has closed distribution deals on some of the most anticipated projects on this years market.RCV's managing directors Jan A. Kouwenhoven and Joke Wartenbergh confirmed a selection of the titles they have secured. Among them ...

  • News

    Cineart snaps up competition titles

    2008-05-19T06:53:00Z

    Belgian arthouse distributor Cineart has been snapping up titles in Cannes official selection. New acquisitions include Waltz With Bashir (on The Match Factory's Cannes slate) and Korean title The Chaser (sold by Fine Cut.)Among the films it has already acquired are Brazilian competition title Linha De Passe from Walter Salles ...

  • News

    TrustNordisk elects for The Candidate

    2008-05-19T06:58:00Z

    Bolstering its Cannes slate, Scandinavian sales outfit TrustNordisk has picked up The Candidate. The film is produced by Miso Film. Kasper Barfoed (The Lost Treasure of the Knights Templar) directs. The cast is led by Scandinavian star Nicolai Lee Kaas (Open Hearts), Lee Kaas, Kim Bodnia, David Dencik and Swedish ...

  • News

    Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival launches market

    2008-05-19T07:02:00Z

    Korea's Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan) is launching a projects market specifically for genre films during its upcoming 12th edition (July 18 - 27).Dubbed the Network of Asian Fantastic Films (NAFF), Pifan's market is modeled on Rotterdam's Cinemart and Pusan's PPP and will run July 19 - 23.NAFF will ...

  • News

    Focus picks up Amenabar's Agora

    2008-05-19T07:12:00Z

    Focus Features International (FFI) has picked up international rightsexcluding Spain to Alejandro Amenabar's English-language historicalsaga Agora starring Rachel Weisz.Agora takes place in fourth century Egypt as the legendary femaleastronomer and philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria fights to preserve theLibrary of Alexandria's collection from civil unrest caused by the riseof Christianity.Shooting is ...

  • News

    Citigroup merchant banking affiliate to offer film advisory services

    2008-05-19T07:18:00Z

    New York, Los Angeles and Paris-based Citigroup merchant banking affiliate Continental Entertainment Capital (CEC) will begin offering financial advisory services to North American and European clients.CEC CEO Benjamin Waisbren will personally advise clients and lead a team of experienced investment banking professionals located in North America and Europe. CEC already ...

  • News

    Tic Tac productions to tackle first Franco graves feature

    2008-05-19T07:21:00Z

    Galicia-based Tic Tac productions will be the first company to make a feature-length film about the mass graves of those killed by General Franco's rebel forces in Spain.Flores Tristes will be directed by respected local film-maker Teo Manuel Abad who has gained exclusive access to the graves and spoken to ...

  • News

    Paramount backs Carrera's Mexican drama Backyard

    2008-05-19T07:25:00Z

    Paramount has bought the rights to Carlos Carrera's Mexican drama Backyard from the film's co-producers Indigo Films.'The studio will help finance the project and then distribute it in the US and Mexico and other territories,' a Mexican Film Institute (IMCINE) spokesman told Screen. IMCINE is promoting the film at Cannes.A ...

  • News

    Holland ready to finish historic outlaw story after five-year delay

    2008-05-19T07:30:00Z

    Agniezska Holland is set to resume filming on The True Story Of Janosik in July. The project is billed as an epic story of Juraj Janosik, a historical Slovak figure whose legend is often compared to that of Robin Hood. Production was halted in 2003 when financing ran into ...

  • News

    London's Production Finance Market sets up ties with Rome Film Fest

    2008-05-19T07:56:00Z

    The second Film London Production Finance Market (PFM) will be held Oct 20-21 as part of the Times BFI London Film Festival. This year's second-annual event is hoping to increase its European presence. UK and international producers and financiers can apply until July 25. More than 60 financiers will attend, ...

  • News

    Wild Bunch picks up R-Xmas, Mischka

    2000-10-15T20:34:00Z

    Wild Bunch, the increasingly independent auteur label within France's StudioCanal, has picked up sales duties on Abel Ferrara's newest picture R-Xmas and grabbed the directorial return of Jean-Francois Stevenin. R-Xmas had previously been represented by StudioCanal's main sales outfit Le Studio Canal Plus. But Wild Bunch chief Vincent Maraval had ...

  • News

    Opix plans Toy Soldiers with Kit Ryan

    2008-05-19T07:58:00Z

    Shepperton Studios-based Opix Films Ltd is again working with Irish director Kit Ryan on Toy Soldiers. The project, about child soldiers in Africa, will shoot in Cape Town starting October 2008.Ryan's last comedy thriller with Opix and Silver Pictures, Botched starring Stephen Dorff, went to Warner Bros in the US ...

  • News

    Anna J Foerster to direct Secret Hunter

    2008-05-19T08:01:00Z

    Crevasse Films has attached Los Angeles-based German director Anna J Foerster to its new action thriller Secret Hunter.Screenwriter Adam Preston is adapting the script based on British explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes' novel. The story is about an American ice climber and games designer who witnesses the murder of his father ...

  • News

    Shoreline sells The Adventures Of Power to Transformer in Japan

    2008-05-19T07:56:00Z

    Morris Ruskin's Shoreline Entertainment has sold Sundance title The Adventures Of Power to Transformer in Japan.Ari Gold directs and stars as a small town dreamer who aspires to become the world's greatest air drummer. Entourage's Adrian Grenier also stars alongside Michael McKean and Jane Lynch.Shoreline's Brian Sweet brokered the deal ...

  • News

    RISE, Casarotto launch new talent initiative in UK

    2008-05-19T08:17:00Z

    UK production company RISE Films and agency Casarotto Ramsay & Associates are launching a new initiative for emerging screenwriters, also with support from Sight & Sound.The initiative will kick off with a competition starting early in June. Unrepresented writers will submit first drafts of feature film scripts and one will ...

  • News

    Valencia increases financial incentive

    2008-05-19T21:05:10Z

    Valencia has announced a new incentive for producers. The incentive is open to European and Spanish producers and offers between 16% and 20% of spend in Valencia. To get the full 20%, producers' local spend must be at least $12.5m or they can form a multi picture deal to shoot ...

  • News

    Ken Loach's son to take on UK/Australian co-production

    2008-05-19T21:04:36Z

    Camilla Bray, who works with Rebecca O'Brien and Ken Loach at Sixteen FIlms, has plans for her second film as a lead producer to be directed by Jim Loach, Ken's son who is a British TV veteran. The UK/Australia co-production is written by Rona Munro, who also wrote Ken Loach's ...