Small MPU – Page 1425
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News
sundance list
PREMIERESLEVITYDir: Ed SolomonAfter serving 19 years for killing a teenager in an attempted robbery, a man (Billy Bob Thornton) encounters a mysterious minister (Morgan Freeman) and two needy women (Dunst and Hunter) in his search for redemption. Sony Pictures Classics will release this Sundance Opening Night film stateside, with StudioCanal ...
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Co-production markets offer new hope for independent film finance
Market consolidation, the collapse of pay-TV prices and reductions in state subsidies are just three reasons why co-production markets are booming.They may have started as the poor man's film market - there being no movies to see - but the importance of co-production markets is growing as sources of production ...
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Film Council funds scheme to improve cinema access for sensory impaired
UK support body the Film Council has unveiled a£500,000 National Lottery package to boost the accessibility of films for people with sensory disabilities.A pilot project will install selected cinemas with captioning and audio description equipment. With matching funding from cinema owners, the cash is to allow up to 75 cinemas ...
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Italian producers seek their fortunes in the stars
If many upcoming Italian films share one thing in common, it's that a surprising number of them are fronted by international stars.Gianni Amelio's reputation as one of Italy's top directors - he was nominated for an Oscar for Open Doors - may have helped attract the attention of much sought-after ...
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Hong Kong approves local film guarantee fund
The Hong Kong government has approved a $6.4m (HK$50m) Film Guarantee Fund which is designed to help local companies obtain bank loans for film production. Only two changes have been made to initial proposals for the fund. The government issued a consultation paper in October recommending that the fund only ...
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Drubigny leaves UGC International
After a mere six months, UGC International director Alexandre Drubigny has left the company. Although sources at UGC confirm Drubigny's voluntary departure, no answers are being given as to what his future plans are.Drubigny, a former TF1 executive, was hired by Canal Plus in 2001 to head up programming during ...
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Talk To Her triumphs at European Film Awards
The 15th European Film Awards were a huge triumph for Spanish maestro Pedro Almodovar and something of a let down for Europe's cherished diversity in a year that saw a wide array of international films score with both critics and audiences. For his touching coma drama Talk To Her (Hable ...
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Bond returns to the top, Analyze That limps into second
Die Another Day continued its yo-yo cycle with a $13m haul in its third week that took it back to the top for MGM, according to studio estimates released yesterday (Dec 8). The 20th James Bond instalment has now amassed $120.4m and is expected to become the biggest grossing Bond ...
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Rabbit-Proof Fence triumphs at last Down Under
Rabbit-Proof Fence has at last been voted best film in its country of origin. The producers - expatriate director Phillip Noyce, writer Christine Olsen and John Winter - earned the top accolade on Saturday at the AFI (Australian Film Institute) Awards, the longest-running local awards event.Ivan Sen was voted best ...
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Reviews
The Housekeeper (Une Femme De Menage)
Dir: Claude Berri. France. 88 min.Wistful, wry and touching, The Housekeeper is a small but finely observed tale about a middle-aged man who takes on a young girl as a cleaning woman and gets more than he bargained for. Claude Berri closes out a fabulously successful year as France's leading ...
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Spanish producer duo prepare two new features
Pedro Costa and Enrique Cerezo, the co-producers behind Eduard Cortes' Nobody's Life (La Vida De Nadie) and last year's Spanish nomination to the foreign language Oscar, Mad Love (Juana La Loca), are prepping two new feature films, including Cortes' next project.Cortes and Nobody's Life co-scripter Piti Espanol are currently writing ...
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Blissfully Yours delights Tokyo FILMeX
Tokyo FILMeX awarded its top prize, the Kodak Vision Award, to Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Blissfully Yours at its competition awards ceremony on December 8. A drama about an unusual love triangle that develops between Myanmarese immigrants in Thailand, the film was also winner of the Un Certain Regard section at this ...
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Spice Factory buys into Arclight
Sydney-based sales agent Arclight Films has confirmed that the UK-based production company Spice Factory has taken an equity stake in the six-month-old company which, until now, has been owned by Gary Hamilton and Victor Syrmis. This expands on the first-look deal Arclight already had for all Spice Factory's output."I am ...
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Nine world premieres in Max Ophuels competition
Over half of the 17-film line-up at this year's Max Ophuels Prize Film Festival feature film competition will be world premieres. The complete line-up of 11 German, four Austrian and two Swiss newcomer features screening in Saarbruecken from January 13-19, 2003 includes:011 Beograd by Michael Pfeifenberger, Austria (World premiere)Baby by ...
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Goteborg film festival unveils first glimpse of 2003 event
With less than two months to go to the 26th edition of the Goteborg Film Festival (Jan 24-Feb 3), new festival director Jannike Ahlund has revealed parts of the program at a press conference in Stockholm.The festival will open with the world premiere of Josef Fares's Kops, the much awaited ...
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Whalley takes reins at Portman Film
Tristan Whalley has been appointed managing director of Portman Film, the film division of Portman Entertainment, which is basking in yesterday's Sundance sale of North American rights to its $6m comedy Saving Grace to Fine Line Features for $4m.Whalley, former marketing chief at Majestic Films And Television and subsequently CEO ...
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Tallinn Black Nights film fest attracts record admissions
The sixth annual edition (23 November to 8 December) of the Black Nights Tallinn Film Festival joined forces for the first time this year with the Estonian Film Foundation to present two days of new films from the Baltic states during the festival.The Baltic screenings presented the six feature films ...
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USA Interactive accuses Vivendi Universal of tax avoidance
While Jean-Rene Fourtou and Barry Diller attempt to unravel some of the complexities in their relationship, Diller's USA Interactive has stepped into the melee accusing Vivendi Universal of trying to avoid tax payments of over $600m in conjunction with last December's sale of USA Networks to Vivendi Universal.In a filing ...
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Lescure's Canal Plus severance package could top Euros 3m
Former Vivendi Universal chairman Jean-Marie Messier fired Pierre Lescure from the helm of Canal Plus in April in what many consided an underhanded manner. Now, however, it seems that Lescure has come out ahead of the erstwhile mogul - at least in terms of his pay-offIn an interview with French ...
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Ex-Admira president plans new Spanish media group
Juan Jose Nieto, former executive president of Admira (Telefonica Media), is understood to be in final negotiations to buy Das Werk's remaining interests in Barcelona-based En Efecto in a bid to create a new media group in Spain. Through his own start-up holding company Palmera Capital, Nieto is negotiating the ...