Small MPU – Page 1589
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News
Warner Theatres plans Chinese expansion
Following its groundbreaking deal last July to build a circuit of up to 10 cinemas in China in a joint venture with Shanghai Film Group, Warner Bros. International Theatres (WBIT) has agreed a new deal 'in principle' with Guangzhou Performance Co to invest an estimated $30m to build 8 - ...
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Verhoeven links with Constantin for One Step Behind
Dutch director Paul Verhoeven is planning to make a film adaptation of Swedish thriller One Step Behind by author Henning Mankel - his first film since Hollow Man in 2000.German production house Constantin Film approached Verhoeven to direct the film which deals with the murder of three teenagers investigated by ...
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DVD helps UK video market power ahead in 2003
The UK video retail market grew by 29.7% during 2003, with high street sales up to 199 million units, according to new figures from the British Video Association.The market growth - which excludes mail order - was helped by blockbusters such as the best-selling title of the year, Lord Of ...
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News
Warner Bros strikes package deal with ProSiebenSat.1
The ProSiebenSat.1 Group has concluded its first direct programming deal with Warner Bros. International Television Distribution (WBITV) for a package of free-TV rights to over 30 theatrical films and six TV series.Film highlights in the package include Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions, the Jet Lee actioner Cradle 2 The Grave, ...
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News
Teichmann named Austrian Film Institute chief
Roland Teichmann, managing director of the Association of the Audiovisual and Film Industry, has been named the successor to Gerhard Schedl as the director of the Austrian Film Institute (OFI) from May 2004.Teichmann, who organised a two-part international conference with the German lobby group film20 on the challenges of the ...
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News
Terzian takes over as French Academy president
Producer Alain Terzian has been appointed president of France's Academie des Arts et Techniques du Cinema - the local equivalent of AMPAS.Terzian, also president of the Union of Film Producers, replaces the late Daniel Toscan du Plantier as head of the Academy.His producing credits include films by Pierre Granier-Deferre, Andre ...
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News
Smile takes The Return for Scandinavia
Copenhagen based Smile Entertainment has acquired the Scandinavian rights to Andrei Zvyagintsev's multiple-award winning debut feature, The Return.The film, which began its successful festival run in Venice by securing the Golden Lion, will screen at both Sweden's biggest festival in Gothenburg as well as at the Norwegian Tromsoe International Film ...
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Canary Islands offers tax incentives to lure media outfits
Beginning this month, Spain's Canary Islands will offer fiscal incentives for international media companies which set up headquarters or subsidiaries on the islands.Companies which register within the Canary Islands Special Zone (ZEC) will benefit from significant tax reductions, such as a 5% VAT versus 16% in the rest of Spain, ...
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News
Uncertainty prolonged over Venice directorship
It may be the start of 2004 but in aserious case of deja vu, a question mark is still hanging in the air over whowill direct the next Venice Film Festival in seven months' time.Yesterday (Jan 7), in what can only beinterpreted as a half-hearted compromise, the Venice Biennale's outgoing ...
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News
IFP/New York to administer, expand Radziwill documentary fund
For the first time in its25-year history, IFP/New York will begin funding documentaries through theAnthony Radziwill Documentary Fund.Beginning in June 2004, thefund will award six-to-10 development grants of $10,000 on an annual basis,splitting the allocation between two cycles in June and January.The new structure could wellserve as a timely leg-up ...
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US Women In Film launch completion fund
The US Women InFilm Foundation has launched a completion fund for documentary, dramatic,educational, animated and experimental works by film and video makers.The organisationis offering unrestricted grants of up to $5,000 for qualifying projects as wellas in-kind awards in the form of on-line editing, sound editing and otherpost-production services in select ...
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News
Boll fund raises $47m towards two films of video games
German producer-director UweBoll said his 2003 investment fund Boll KG4 raised $47m (Euros38m) last yeartowards financing a two-film deal centering on video game adaptations.Majesco's BloodRayne and Gas Powered Games' Dungeon Siege were both acquired last year and were previouslylisted as Boll fund acquisitions for production, however other projects arealso being ...
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In America gets 2004 Stanley Kramer Award from PGA
In America producers Jim Sheridan and Arthur Lappin willreceive the 2004 Stanley Kramer Award at the 15th Producers Guild Of America(PGA) Awards on Jan 17 in Los Angeles.The PGA established theaward in 2002 to honour any film, television programme, studio, network,producer, executive or other individual or entity whose achievement highlightsprovocative ...
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News
American Splendor voted best picture by LA critics
Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini's American Splendor has been voted best picture of the year by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA), with Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation named as the runner up.Peter Jackson was voted best director for The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the ...
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Reviews
The First Letter (Abjad)
Dir. Abolfazl Jalili. Iran-France-Italy, 2003. 110mins.Far too long, excessively self-indulgent and often repetitive, this autobiographical reconstruction of director Jalili's own adolescence in pre-revolutionary Iran should be a surefire hit on the festival circuit and in specialised arthouses, for its blunt, in-your-face indictment of Islamic fundamentalism, which ruled over his young ...
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News
Six US exhibitors team up in internet ticketing co
A start-up North Amercian internet ticketing company founded by six major exhibitors was unveiled at ShoWest yesterday. With an initial investment of $30m, the landmark venture is expected to be the leading internet portal for remote ticketing as well as providing comprehensive movie information, reviews and trailers.The alliance between Loews ...
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News
Depp set for Libertine UK shoot
The Johnny Depp starring The Libertine is to start shooting in the UK in late February.Co-starring John Malkovich and Samantha Morton, The Libertine is the real life story of the Earl of Rochester, the notoriously debauched 17th century poet who died at 33 a physical wreck.The $16m project was unveiled ...
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Reviews
The Corporation
Dirs: Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott. Canada. 2003. 145mins.This compelling, hugely ambitious documentary will be required viewing for every left-of-centre intellectual and a bore for the other 95% of the movie-going world. Although its marketing attempts to draw parallels with such populist fare as Michael Moore's Bowling For Columbine, this film ...
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French film production hits record high in 2003
Film production hit a record high in France in 2003, up by more than 5% compared to 2002.According to end of year figures confirmed by the National Cinema Centre (CNC) a record 212 features were given the green light with 183 of those majority French productions.The numbers surpass 2001's record ...
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News
Spanish exhibitor strikes Imax deal to convert screens
Spanish exhibitor Yelmo Cineplex is set to become the first commercial exhibitor in Spain to operate IMAX theatres out of its multiplexes, thanks to a new deal signed with the IMAX Corporation.The first two of three 35mm multiplex auditoriums to be retrofitted into IMAX theatres will be installed in 2004. ...