Small MPU – Page 1520

  • News

    Beyond, MBP relationship sours

    2002-09-27T00:00:00Z

    The partnership between German investor MBP (Medienbeteiligungs-und-Produktions Gesellschaft MBH & Co KG of Munich) and Australia's Beyond International, parent company of sales agent Beyond Films, seems to have soured. Beyond has asked the Supreme Court of New South Wales to make a judgement on whether MBP Medien AG is obliged ...

  • News

    Britain delivers six of the best to Dinard festival

    2002-09-30T04:05:00Z

    Actresses Patsy Kensit and Emilia Fox and director Brian Gilbert will form the British contingent on the jury of this year's Festival du Film Britannique de Dinard (Oct 3-6).French actor Gerard Darmon will act as jury president, overseeing a total jury of thirteen. His fellow French jury also includes actresses ...

  • News

    Danish Film Institute greenlights first-time directors

    2002-09-30T04:05:00Z

    Four new Danish films have been green-lighted after receiving funding from the Danish Film Institute (DFI). Among them are the highly anticipated new film from Annette K. Olesen (Minor Mishaps) as well as new films from three feature debutantes Malene Vilstrup, Jannik Johansen and Christoffer Boe. Olesen (pictured), who received ...

  • News

    Miramax's Weinsteins to receive BFI fellowships

    2002-09-30T04:05:00Z

    Miramax Films co-chairmen Harvey and Bob Weinstein are to be awarded British Film Institute fellowships for outstanding contribution to cinema, the UK cultural institution's top honour.The body is also honouring cinematographer and director Jack Cardiff, whose work includes The African Queen, A Matter Of Life And Death, And Black Narcissus, ...

  • News

    Tokyo festival sails with Russian Ark

    2002-09-30T04:05:00Z

    Tokyo FILMeX (Dec 1-8), the three year old festival that is mounting a challenge to the longer established Tokyo International Film Festival, will open with a screening of Alexander Sokurov's experimental digital film The Russian Ark. Otar Iosseliani's Berlin prize winner Monday Morning will close the festival.The festival, which is ...

  • Reviews

    Minimal Stories (Historias Minimas)

    2002-09-27T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Carlos Sorin. Arg. 2002. 93 mins.The title says it all: set in the remote Patagonian steppes of Southern Argentina, Minimal Stories is a comedy of great warmth and sweetness whose charm lies above all in its unpretentious ambitions. Careful marketing and critical support will be essential to nurture this ...

  • News

    Japan's Toei to produce Battle Royale sequel

    2002-09-30T04:05:00Z

    Japan's leading distributor/exhibitor Toei, is to produce a sequel to the smash-hit feature Battle Royale. Directed by Kinji Fukasaku, Battle Royale earned $25.8m (Y3.1bn) in Japan from 2,150,000 admissions and went on to sell more than 29,000 video and DVD copies. The film's violence became an issue at the ...

  • News

    Bodrov Jr and film crew still missing after Russian avalanche

    2002-09-27T00:00:00Z

    Sergei Bodrov Junior (pictured) and 49 members of his film crew are still missing, one week after a major avalanche hit a valley in Southern Russia where he was directing his latest film.Rescue workers are continuing to search for survivors from the avalanche which may have claimed as many as ...

  • News

    Kormakur's The Sea lands at Palm for North America and UK

    2002-09-30T04:05:00Z

    ChrisBlackwell's Palm Pictures has closed its second film acquisition of theToronto Film Festival, acquiring North American and UK rights to BaltasarKormakur's The Sea (Hafid)which broke box office records in its home country of Iceland last month. Palmplans to release the film theatrically in the US followed by a DVD rollout ...

  • News

    Jo Hyland joins Denmead Marketing as account manager

    2002-09-30T04:00:00Z

    Jo Hyland has been appointed account manager at Los Angeles- andLondon-based publicity company Denmead Marketing. Reporting to Denmeadpresident Nikki Parker and senior vice president Maxine Leonard, Hyland willmanage worldwide client accounts for the film and television divisions whichservice both independent production and distribution companies and studios.Hyland will be responsible for ...

  • News

    New Yorker gets US rights to Unknown Pleasures

    2002-09-30T04:00:00Z

    New York-basedspecialized distributor New Yorker Films has acquired US distribution rights toJia Zhang-Ke's Chinese teen drama Unknown Pleasures which world premiered in competition atthis year's Cannes Film Festival. It also screened in Toronto and playedat the New York Film Festival last night.The story ofjobless teenagers in rural China cost $0.5m ...

  • News

    San Sebastian celebrates Mondays In The Sun

    2002-09-30T04:05:00Z

    Spanish film Mondays In The Sun took the top prize at the 50th anniversary of the San Sebastian International Film Festival (Sept 19-28), which ended Saturday night with a series of applauded, if not anticipated, prizes. Mondays In The Sun (Los Lunes Al Sol)was a favourite even before the ...

  • News

    Reese Is The Word: Sweet Home Alabama at the top

    2002-09-30T00:00:00Z

    Reese Witherspoon proved that she was one of the brightest stars in the movie world, scoring the biggest September opening in US box office history this weekend with an estimated $37.5m bow for her romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama. Playing at 3,293 sites, the Buena Vista film scored a powerful ...

  • News

    Vivendi sale of Italian pay-TV network in jeopardy

    2002-09-30T00:00:00Z

    The shares of Vivendi Universal dipped 10% today after new bumps emerged in the road towards sale of its troubled Italian pay-TV operation Telepiu. At 1230GMT the shares traded at Euros11.64 compared with Friday's Euros12.20 close.Over the weekend, the EU's competition commissioner Mario Monti said that he would expect ...

  • News

    Korean box office hit may be the last of the blockbusters

    2002-10-01T04:05:00Z

    New Korean gangster comedy, For The Glory Of Our Family (pictured) looks like it could be a contender for the new local all-time box-office crown. But the relative success of its performance pales in comparison with the recent disastrous failure of local mega-budget title: Resurrection Of The Little Match Girl.One ...

  • News

    Japan's film industry to get boost from cultural affairs agency

    2002-10-01T04:05:00Z

    Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs is to raise $20m (Y2.5bn) for a range of activities to support the local film industry and promote Japanese films abroad.In its proposal for the fiscal 2003 budget, the agency detailed a number of new schemes with which to boost national film production and export ...

  • News

    China becomes new base for runaway productions

    2002-10-01T04:05:00Z

    As Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill wraps the Chinese portion of its shoot at Beijing Film Studio, another Chinese production powerhouse, Shanghai Film Studio, is gearing up to house another Miramax movie - John Dahl's The Great Raid, starring Benjamin Bratt and Joseph Fiennes.Set builders at the studios are constructing Manila ...

  • News

    Oldest living Japanese director shoots The Owl

    2002-10-01T04:05:00Z

    Veteran Japanese director Shindo Kaneto is currently producing his latest feature, The Owl (Fukuro). The 90 year-old Shindo (pictured) is best known in the west for his The Island / Naked Island (1960) which was awarded to the Grand Prix at Moscow international film festival in 1961. Written and directed ...

  • News

    Wayne Borg promoted at Universal Pictures

    2002-09-30T00:00:00Z

    Wayne Borg has been appointed vice president, Universal Pictures, Latin America & Asia Pacific, effective 7th January 2003. Borg is currently serving as managing director of Universal Pictures Australia/New Zealand. Previously a member of the senior management team of Warner Bros in the UK and Australia, Borg was appointed ...

  • News

    Rotterdam film fund's first development prize awarded

    2002-09-30T00:00:00Z

    The Rotterdam Film Fund's first development prize has been awarded to Eugenie Jansen (director of last year's Tussenland) and producer Stienette Bosklopper for their feature film project Calimucho which was presented at this year's Netherlands Production Platform in Utrecht at the weekend.Calimucho, which is a Romeo and Juliet-type story set ...