Small MPU – Page 123
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News
Music Within, Away From Her bookend first AFI Dallas festival
Steven Sawalich's Vietnam veteran saga Music Within and Sarah Polley's Alzheimer's tale Away From Her bookend the inaugural AFI Dallas International Film Festival, scheduled to run from Mar 22-Apr 1.Overall 191 features and shorts will screen, with sponsor Target lining up two $25,000 prizes to the winners of the narrative ...
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Telefonica board installs Alierta as new chief
Juan Villalonga has officially resigned as chairman of Telefonica, ending a four-year run at the Spanish conglomerate he transformed into one of Europe's most dynamic players in the entertainment, communications and on-line realms."In the course of our conversations about the best way to create value for the entire company, we ...
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News
Toho-Towa to handle Universal films in Japan
Universal Pictures will dissolve its distribution venture UIP Japan and will launch a partnership with Toho-Towa this summer.The first films to open through the new partnership will bePaul Greengrass' The Bourne Ultimatum starring Matt Damon.'We are extremely pleased to be in business with Toho-Towa, who will be invested in the ...
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JJ Abrams Star Trek movie set for Dec 25 2008 release
Paramount Pictures has confirmed that JJ Abrams' upcoming 11th Star Trek instalment will begin shooting this autumn in time for a Dec 25 2008 release.Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, Abram's co-writers on Mission Impossible III, wrote the screenplay and will serve as executive producers alongside Bryan Burk. Abrams and his ...
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News
Sony, SND/M6, Tele Muenchen among buyers of Marvel films
Marvel Studios has announced a series of international deals on Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, the first two films which it is self-financing through its recent $525m credit facility from Merrill Lynch.Sony Pictures has acquired distribution rights to both films in Japan and Spain, SND/M6 has taken them for ...
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News
Departed players reteam for Confession remake
It looks like Warner Bros is keen to replicate the success of Martin Scorsese's Oscar-winning The Departed. The remake of Andrew Lau and Alan Mak's Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs picked up four Oscars, including best picture, director and adapted screenplay, on Sunday night and has grossed more than $250m. ...
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News
Dubai announces dates, beefed-up roles for Amralla and Field
The Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), which will run from Dec 9 to 16, 2007, has announced that CEO and festival director Neil Stephenson has stepped down. Co-artistic directors Simon Field and Masoud Amralla Al Ali have increased responsibility for the programme direction, according to a statement, and report directly ...
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News
Handmade pact with Ilion for $50m CGI film Planet One
The UK's revived Handmade Films is partnering on financing, production and sales with Spain's Ilion Animation Studios for the $50m CGI animated feature Planet One. Shrek and Shrek 2 writer Joe Stillman wrote the original screenplay for the project, which will be directed by Jorge Blanco, who created the game ...
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Dogwoof strikes UK deal for Dv8's Bunny Chow
UK distributor Dogwoof Pictures has taken UK rights to Dv8's South African comedy Bunny Chow. John Barker's comedy world premiered in Toronto and recently had its European premiere in Rotterdam 's Tiger Competition. The film is on release in South Africa from March 9, after already taking best actor and ...
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UK's Rainmaker to make Russian orphan documentary with Jon Blair
UK-based finanacing and production company Rainmaker Films is working with award-winning director Jon Blair (Anne Frank Remembered) for documentary Ochberg's Orphans. Tsotsi cinematographer Lance Gewer is on board, as is film archivist Adrian Wood. Rainmaker's Paul Goldin and Georgina Townsley are producing. The documentary is about a South African tycoon ...
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Reviews
Lady Chatterley
Dir: Pascale Ferran.Fr-Bel. 2006. 168mins. Lady Chatterley sees Pascale Ferran deliver a coolly elegant new screen take on DH Lawrence's once notorious novel about a high-born woman's adulterous affair with a commoner. It forgoes the book's obscene language and graphic sexual realism for a more contemplative drama of sex, love, ...
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Reviews
Spider Lilies (Ci-Qing)
Dir/scr: Zero Chou. Tai. 2007. 97mins. Tempering the transgressive spirit of Almodovar with the innocent fantasies of Taiwanese teen melodrama, the girl-on-girl romance Spider Lilies is a watchable but rather lightweight follow-up to Zero Chou's well-received 2004 debut Splendid Float.With its casting of Taiwanese pop icon and TV personality Rainie ...
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News
UK Film Council, Sledgeto launch Myfilms 'social networking' site
The UK Film Council is backing a new site that aims to boost cinema attendances of independent European films. Myfilms.co.uk will be launchedin mid Marchby marketing agency Sledge, under the watchful eye of the UK Film Council, as a forum for people to voice their opinions about a wide variety ...
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Reviews
Anna M
Dir/scr: Michel Spinosa. Fr. 2007. 106mins. Whether or not it's clinically accurate - and it certainly has a plausible ring - stalker study Anna M tightens the psychological screws to compelling effect. Michel Spinosa's drama about a young woman in the throes of a morbid passion may be a touch ...
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Reviews
Dark Matter
Dir. Chen Shi-Zheng. 2007. US. 88mins Dark Matter follows a promising Chinese science student as he falls short of his expectations while studying in the United States and spirals into depression as he fears disappointing the parents who sacrificed everything to send their son to an American university. The talented ...
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News
Eurimages gives $5.1m to 10 European co-productions
At its 104th meeting that ended Feb 27 in Strasbourg, the Council of Europe Eurimages Fund Board of Management has given support to 10 features in its latest funding round, for a total of $5.1m (Euros 3.86m). The backed features are: Clara by Helma Sanders-Brahms (Germany, France, Hungary)Dorothy Mills by ...
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News
Taormina plans Tornatore and Egyptian programmes
The 53rd edition of Sicily's Taormina Film Festival will host the first retrospective on Sicilian director Giuseppe Tornatore as well as a focus on Egyptian films in a newly formatted festival that focuses on Mediterranean films, new festival director Deborah Young announced Wednesday. Young told ScreenDaily.com the Tornatore retrospective includes ...
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News
Binder, Blunt spice up SXSW attractions
The 2007 South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference & Festival will host a special screening on March 14 ofMike Binder's Reign Over Me, starring Don Cheadle and Adam Sandler.Some cast and crew are expected to attend. In addition, British pop-star James Blunt is coming to the Austin festival to attend ...
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HK government earmarks $38m for local film industry
The Hong Kong government has earmarked $38.4m (HK$300m) for the creation of a fund to support local film production and foster new talent. The measures were announced on Wednesday (Feb 28) by Hong Kong financial secretary Henry Tang in his budget address to the Legislative Council. Tang said he was ...
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First Light hands out awards to UK's young film-makers
The UK's First Light scheme handed out this year's awards for young film-makers. The ceremony in Leicester Square, London yesterday awarded prizes in nine categories for short digital films made with National Lottery funding by young film-makers aged 5 to 18. Industry attendees at the awards included Imelda Staunton, Sean ...