Small MPU – Page 144
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News
Ruzowitzky, Link and Gansel projects backed by FFA with $3.2m
New feature films by Stefan Ruzowitzky, Caroline Link and Dennis Gansel are among seven projects with a total of $3.2 million (Euros 2.4m) production support by the Berlin-based German Federal Film Board (FFA).Two family entertainment films directed by Austrian film-makers each received $867,000 (Euros 650,000): Stefan Ruzowitzky's Lilly The Witch ...
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Filmart wraps with 20% increase in overseas visitors
Hong Kong Filmart closed on Friday (March 23) with organisers reporting a 20% increase in overseas visitors to 1,900, while the number of exhibitors was up 11% to 453 from more than 30 territories. The number of overall visitors, including those from Hong Kong, had not been calculated by the ...
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French Film starts shooting in London
Digital studio Slingshot is set to start shooting romantic comedy French Film in locations around central London on March 26. The film is the directorial debut for award-winning commercials and short film-maker Jackie Oudney, with a cast including Hugh Bonneville (Tsunami: The Aftermath, Notting Hill); Anne-Marie Duff (The Virgin Queen, ...
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Industry restructure for Norwegian film
The Norwegian Film Institute, the Norwegian Film Fund and the Norwegian Film Development will next year be merged to become a new film institute, with 100 staff on an estimated $16.4 million (Euros 12.3m) operating costs, and with a $37 million budget to support Norwegian cinema. 'The new structure will ...
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Features
Editorial - Screen says - Open season
One of the more interesting means of assessing the health of an industry is to monitor the buzzwords. It is often far more informative than the tedious Powerpoint presentation in which such little gems are hidden. The right time to catch a piece of business terminology is when it retains ...
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Inward investment: coming to America
It does not take long for the film world to turn on its head. A couple of years ago, discussion of the US industry tended to be couched in terms of crisis: runaway production, job losses, an over-ripe domestic market falling into the shadow of international.But suddenly it seems the ...
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American Future - Simon Horsman sets up shop in LA
Qualified in the UK and California, British media lawyer Simon Horsman has practised his profession on both sides of the Atlantic. And right now, suggests the head of the new Los Angeles office of London-based production and financing company Future Films, the US is the place to be.Though Future will ...
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The Canton Chronicles - interview with 300 producer
'It's the anti-epic,' Atmosphere Entertainment founder Mark Canton says of 300, which opened on March 9 to an astonishing $70.9m three-day gross, setting a new record for a March release.'I call it the 'new-fashioned' way of making an epic movie because it combines the artistry and the emotion you get ...
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War Is Hell - interview with Mark Munden
When Channel 4 broadcasts Marc Munden's The Mark Of Cain, British audiences are likely to be startled by the film's frank depiction of UK soldiers humiliating and bullying Iraqi prisoners. Audiences may also be surprised by the way British senior officers are shown trying to avoid responsibility for events that ...
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Features
Industry moves
Koh sees the futureFuture Films USA has hired former Fox Searchlight executive Charlotte Koh as its business development executive. Koh will report to Future USA's CEO Simon Horsman.Feeney moves from Animal Logic to ImagiComputer graphics expert Brett Feeney has joined Imagi International Holdings as vice-president of production based in Hong ...
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News
Indian star Raj Kumar kidnapped by bandit king
In a series of events that might have been lifted straight out of an Indian movie, Indian actor Raj Kumar has been kidnapped by bandit king Veerappan. The actor, who stars in movies made in the Kannada language, was picked up at gun-point from his farm-house in the forests near ...
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Features
United Kingdom - Musical Journey
With the box-office success of films like Metallica: Some Kind Of Monster - which grossed $1.2m in the US in 2004 - rock documentaries are proving that they are not just the preserve of a niche market of nerdy music geeks. That, at least, was the thinking behind the recent ...
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News
Robot romance is a walk in the Park
From Park Chan-wook, the director of the brutal 'Vengeance' trilogy - Sympathy For Mr Vengeance, Old Boy and Sympathy For Lady Vengeance - comes a surprising twist: a light-hearted comedy romance.I'm A Cyborg But That's OK features up-and-coming starlet Im Soo-jung (Lump Sugar) as a girl who thinks she is ...
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Features
United Kingdom - Soho story
Sam Garbarski freely admits that his second feature, Irina Palm, is a cosmopolitan endeavour.He is a Pole, born in Germany and based in Brussels. His backers come from all over Europe. His initial plan was to shoot the film, which he describes as "a non-politically correct, romantic black comedy", in ...
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Set report: The City Of Your Final Destination
It is January in Argentina's isolated Pampas region but El Destino, an authentic hacienda from 1890, is a hive of activity. The principal shooting location of James Ivory's The City Of Your Final Destination is 100 miles outside Buenos Aires, and while the 120-strong crew consists of people from a ...
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The City Of Your Final Destination: James Ivory
How do you feel working without Ismail Merchant for the first time'We miss his energy. He was in all the details without ever losing his sense of humour. He was laughing all the time. There is a sense of sadness, loss and emptiness, but Paul (Bradley), Richard (Hawley) and all ...
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The City Of Your Final Destination: Anthony Hopkins
How was the experience of shooting in Argentina'Great. This place is like paradise with its beautiful old haciendas, amazing gardens and gaucho traditions. I've spent New Year's Eve and my birthday here.Did you find any significant differences from working in other countries'Not in technical skills. The crew was competent and ...
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Latin American locations: Argentina
Since the economic meltdown of 2002, Argentina has seen an upturn in foreign shoots as producers seek to take advantage of low costs while utilising the territory's stunning locations.Shooting in Buenos Aires can be 20% cheaper than Canada, South Africa or New Zealand, and 40% cheaper than Madrid, according to ...
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Argentinian location: San Luis
Six years ago the government of San Luis - population 370,000 - took the bold step of launching financial incentives to attract local and overseas productions to the province.Since greenlighting film investment regulations in 2001, San Luis Cine, the province's film council, has invested $20m into more than 30 local ...
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Latin American locations: Brazil
Despite its beautiful scenery and cheap costs, Brazil's violent image has hampered it in attracting international productions. This is something the newly created Brazilian Film Commissions Association (Abrafic) hopes to rectify.Set up last November and made up of 13 regional commissions, the organisation has been developing a strategic plan to ...