Small MPU – Page 1422

  • News

    Vortex re-teams with Cage's Saturn on Chain

    2002-05-22T04:05:00Z

    Vortex Pictures is to re-team with Nicolas Cage's Saturn Films on Cage's next production Chain which is written and to be directed by John Rice. Chain is a gritty revenge tale about a modern day cowboy who rides a Harley Davidson and Rice and Cage are looking to have it ...

  • News

    Icelandic Film Corporation heats up buying activity

    2002-05-22T04:05:00Z

    Fridrik Thor Fridriksson's Icelandic Film Corporation (IFC) has stepped up its buying/distribution ambitions, picking titles like 24 Hour Party People and Once Upon A Time In The Midlands even before their screening in Cannes.Distribution now accounts for 30% of IFC's activities, and the company has hired Isleifur Thorhallsson as new ...

  • News

    France's CineTem busy acquiring for new film channels

    2002-05-22T04:05:00Z

    CineTem, the six film channels being launched by French group AB, will be up and running on Canal Plus' digital platform CanalSatellite and some cable networks from September 7.Laurent Zameczkowski, who heads the group of channels, has been busy buying library titles for over a year, signing up package deals ...

  • News

    Cinemavault closes Fast Runner deals

    2002-05-22T04:05:00Z

    Cinemavault Releasing has closed 14 territorial deals in Cannes on the award-winning Inuit film The Fast Runner (Atanarjuat) including with Alcine Terran in Japan, Mediafilm in Italy and SF Norge in Norway.Other buyers snapping up the epic film directed by Zacharias Kunuk were Ost For Paridis in Denmark, Bergvik in ...

  • News

    Gaga takes Haynes' Far From Heaven

    2002-05-22T04:05:00Z

    Japan's Gaga has bagged Todd Haynes' forthcoming Far From Heaven, which stars Julianne Moore and Dennis Quaid.The title, which had been strongly tipped as a potential Cannes main competition title, is still in post-production but will be ready for Venice and Toronto .TF1 International, which is handling the USA Films ...

  • News

    First Look gets No News for North America

    2002-05-22T04:05:00Z

    First Look Pictures has acquired North American rights to Agustin Diaz Yunes' No News From God, the Spanish comedy starring Penelope Cruz, Victoria Abril, Gael Garcia Bernal and Fanny Ardant. It will open theatrically in autumn, and on video and DVD in the winter.In the film, Abril plays an angel ...

  • News

    AFI Fest to showcase German cinema

    2002-05-22T04:05:00Z

    AFI Fest, the 11-day Los Angeles international film festival which takes place in November, has teamed with Export-Union of German Cinema to present a section of contemporary German cinema within the 2002 festival (Nov 7-17).The Made In Germany section will be a combined marketing and programming effort between AFI and ...

  • News

    Schloendorff commits to Ten Minutes Older - The Cello

    2002-05-22T04:05:00Z

    Oscar and Palme d'Or winner Volker Schloendorff has joined the band of top name directors now committed to making Ten Minutes Older - The Cello. The film is an ensemble piece that follows Un Certain Regard portmanteau Ten Minutes Older - The Trumpet. The Cello has now been sold to ...

  • News

    Thura Film has Itch and Blues

    2002-05-22T04:05:00Z

    Copenhagen-based Thura Film, which has offices in London and LA, is lining up a slate of new projects following their action-comedy Old Men In New Cars, which is getting good feedback in the market.Thura's London-based Ornette Spenceley has picked up Cecilia McAllister's 20 Year Itch, a comedy drama about a ...

  • News

    SF Bio to help promote short films in Sweden

    2002-05-22T04:05:00Z

    Swedish major SF Bio will be giving new filmmaking talent a chance to have their short films screened in cinemas across the country from this autumn. "We want to point attention to these great films, which might not be seen otherwise," says Sture Johansson, SF-Bio. "The audience won't have ...

  • Reviews

    Spider

    2002-05-22T00:00:00Z

    Dir. David Cronenberg, Can-UK. 2002. Screened in CompetitionDavid Cronenberg has described Spider as "pure". This is something of an understatement. An uncompromising portrait of mental disturbance, Spider makes Cronenberg's previous Competition entry Crash seem commercial; whereas the 1996 film promised attractions such as cars and sex, Spider has nothing to ...

  • Reviews

    Morvern Callar

    2002-05-22T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Lynne Ramsay. UK. 2002. 97mins. Screened in Director's FortnightA mesmerising journey through the hidden depths of a woman's soul, Morvern Callar confirms writer-director Lynne Ramsay as one of the most audacious and uncompromising British filmmakers of her generation. Poetic, stunningly beautifully and untainted by crass commercial concerns, it is ...

  • Reviews

    Sweet Sixteen

    2002-05-22T00:00:00Z

    Director: Ken Loach. UK. 2002. 106mins. Screened in Competition.Continuing the rich collaboration between director Ken Loach and screenwriter Paul Laverty, Sweet Sixteen puts a very human face on the plight of the socially disadvantaged in modern Britain. The heartrending tragedy of a Scottish teenager struggling for his small share of ...

  • News

    Shaolin Soccer scores in South Korea

    2002-05-22T00:00:00Z

    Hong Kong director Stephen Chow's Shaolin Soccer has scored big in South Korea, grossing $1.2m nationwide in its first three days to secure the number two spot at the box-office behind Spider-Man. Distributed jointly by Cinema Service and Film Bank, the film's release was timed to take advantage ...

  • News

    Wild Bunch set to cut loose

    2002-05-23T04:05:00Z

    Wild Bunch, one of the leading sellers of festival films at Cannes this year, is expected to loosen its ties with parent company StudioCanal.StudioCanal insiders say that StudioCanal' s French head Brahim Chioua will step aside, taking Vincent Maraval, and Wild Bunch, with him. Financial details of the separation have ...

  • News

    Binet and Covo tipped for TF1/Miramax jobs

    2002-05-23T04:05:00Z

    Patrick Binet, currently head of sales house UGC International, and France Jose Covo, former head of PolyGram, are expected to be appointed to senior positions within the unnamed new TF1-Miramax production and distribution venture.Binet is known to have been seeking an exit from the operation he helped create and in ...

  • News

    Fragile deal struck with Miramax

    2002-05-23T04:05:00Z

    Miramax Films and the UK' s Fragile Films have struck a two-and-half year first look deal.Miramax will get first option on English-speaking markets for film and TV projects developed and produced by Barnaby Thompson and Uri Fruchtmann, heads of Fragile and co-owners of Ealing Studios. Fragile previously had a longterm ...

  • News

    FilmFour's Motorcycle travels far and wide

    2002-05-23T04:05:00Z

    Testifying to the ability of stand-out market titles to find international pre-buys despite the financial woes of European buyers, FilmFour International has closed a raft of deals on its hot Che Guevara picture The Motorcycle Diaries.The story of the revolutionary's travels as a young man, for which Walter Salles is ...

  • News

    Golden Harvest reaps Cannes delicacies

    2002-05-23T04:05:00Z

    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 ...

  • News

    Franchise, Comerica hit in Intertainment court battle

    2002-05-23T04:05:00Z

    In the ongoing legal battles between Elie Samaha's Franchise Pictures and Germany's Intertainment AG, Intertainment has won its first court decision. A federal district court yesterday upheld two of the three racketeering and corruption (RICO) claims brought by Intertainment against Franchise and its two principals Samaha and Andrew Stevens.In ...