Small MPU – Page 148
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News
Canadian cable operators get federal ruling boost
Canada's media sector is likely to see further consolidation following a federal regulatory decision to allow the nation's cable companies to control speciality television channels.Companies such as Alliance Atlantis, which controls several such channels and which will be launching the Independent Film Channel later this year, and Astral Media, which ...
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RKO plans to unfurl wings in China, Asia
RKO, the once glorious Hollywood studio, is planning to resurrect itself as a foreign-language producer with outposts in China and other parts of Asia.Speaking during the Shanghai International Film Festival, RKO president Ted Hartley said: "we aim to be involved with three or four pictures a year from China, the ...
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UK film school unveils China fund
The UK's National Film and Television School (NFTS) has set up a new scholarship programme for Chinese students to study in Britain.The award, which was unveiled in Shanghai by NFTS director Stephen Bayly, is worth $21,000 ($15,000) and will allow a film student from China to attend a one-year Advanced ...
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Local films take 50% share as French BO grows
Admissions in France grew 12% in the first five months of the year, hitting 86.5 million spectators.According to the new data from the Centre National de la Cinematographie (CNC) there were some 11 million tickets sold in May, an increase of 11%. Lifted by films such as Amelie From Montmartre ...
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French films smash records with 54% market share
French films have carved out a massive 54% local market share in the first five months of 2001, according to new data released by the Centre National de la Cinematographie (CNC).The tally roundly beats the 34% recorded during the same period last year, itself well above the annual average market ...
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INTERNATIONAL
Despite dipping 50% in its second week in the US, Pearl Harbor has remained rather more buoyant in the UK in its second week, dropping only 21% with a three-day weekend gross of $2,863,772 on 455 screens. So far, the critically-panned Bay-Bruckheimer epic has grossed £8,913,994 in the UK.The Mummy ...
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Reviews
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
Directed by Simon West. US 2001. 120 mins.Displaying boobs, brawn, and brain (in this order), Angelina Jolie renders such a splashy performance in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider that she not only elevates the video-game turned big-screen adventure a notch or two above its routine storyline, but also makes the entire ...
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Reviews
Lantana
Dir: Ray Lawrence. Australia. 2001. 120 mins.Opening the 48th Sydney Film Festival, the world premiere of Lantana was received by a packed and celebrity-strewn audience with pin-drop intensity and warm regard. Ray Lawrence is an outstanding commercials director but this is his first feature since the highly regarded Bliss, the ...
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News
China opens up local distribution to competition
China Film Group Corporation is to lose its dominant position in the handling of foreign-produced films in the People's Republic of China, opening up the local distribution system to internal competition.The move, announced by Yang Buting, chairman and chief executive of China Film, during the Shanghai International Film Festival, is ...
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News
Das Werk raises TV stakes with company acquisition
German post-production specialist Das Werk is expanding is raising its stake in TV production outfit FFP Media by 30% to 81%.FFP, which specialises in handling programme commissions from German broadcasters, is working on four TV movie adaptations of novels by Rosamunde Pilcher and a TV movie based on a Barbara ...
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Australia moves towards film-friendly tax rules
Taking a leaf out of film-friendly tax laws in countries such as Canada, Ireland and the UK, Australia has taken a first step towards film-specific legislation providing a clear-cut pathway for local taxpayers to invest in offshore films shooting in Australia. Australians, in theory at least, can invest in such ...
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News
Norwegian festival snubs its own Cannes entry
The Norwegian short film festival in Grimstad (June 14-19) is coming under fire locally for having snubbed Norway's only official Cannes competition entry this year, Jens Lien's one minute short Natural Glasses. Festival officials have answered the criticism by urging the directors of the films refused to still bring their ...
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Canal Plus confirms 200-plus jobs to go in France
Canal Plus has confirmed that it is to cut 217 jobs in France. The pay-TV operator, which is 49% owned by Vivendi Universal, said that it is restructuring its programming output in order to compensate for rising costs in its film and sports divisions.The French channel said yesterday that it ...
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Reviews
Hijack Stories
Dir: Oliver Schmitz. South Africa. 2001. 94 mins A compelling focus on black identity in the new South Africa, Hijack Stories marks a welcome return to feature films from director Oliver Schmitz 14 years after his award-winning debut Mapantsula. The generally polished handling of topical, thought-provoking material means that it ...
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Reviews
Pulse
Dir: Kiyoshi Kurosawa. Japan. 118 minsKiyoushi Kurosawa's follow up to films like Cure and Charisma is his most commercial film and one that makes the current spate of teen-targeted shockers from Japan seem about as scary as the latest urban legend told around the school-lunch table. Watching Pulse is like ...
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Reviews
Storytelling
Dir: Todd Solondz. US. 2001. 87 mins.The same darkly humorous sensibility that defined Todd Solondz's earlier pictures is at work in his new satire, Storytelling, except that the novelty has worn out and the notoriously acerbic vision is now contained in a deliberately fractured narrative that leaves a lot to ...
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News
UK's Ealing Studios set for $100m revamp
Historic UK film facility Ealing Studios is to get a $100m (£70m) overhaul after its new owners secured planning permission on Wednesday night to revamp the site.Ealing's owners aim to build production offices, refurbish the studios and the historic White House, and transform the site into a state-of-the art media ...
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Shanghai fest's AFMA pact boosts market plans
The Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) yesterday struck a pact with the American Film Marketing Association (AFMA).The deal is just one of several initiatives intended to boost Shanghai's weight as a market for films.The SIFF-AFMA memorandum of friendship sets out a five-point plan that starts with exchanges of information and ...
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Romance ruling hints at Cypriot censor relaxation
After a seven-month trial, Cypriot exhibitor Michael Papas has been cleared of charges of exhibiting a film banned by the Cyprus Censorship Committee, Catherine Breillat's controversial Romance. The court's decision has also opened up the possibility of a challenge to Cyprus's film censorship system, which is based on British Colonial ...