Small MPU – Page 1618

  • News

    Paramount Classics enters Mean Creek

    2004-02-11T00:00:00Z

    Paramount Classics has acquired North American, UK and Australianrights to Jacob Estes' directorial debut Mean Creek, which premiered in American Spectrum atthe Sundance Film Festival last month to strong reviews.Based on Estes' original screenplay, the story centres on agroup of friends who are forced to confront the notions of friendship ...

  • News

    UK, Canada companies team to make animated feature of Monster Club

    2004-02-11T00:00:00Z

    Montreal-based production and distribution house H2VEntertainment's Manga Latina Productions, along with UK-based UKFS as afinancing co-producer, have teamed up with the UK's Treehouse Productions toturn AP Comics' first full-colour comic book Monster Club into an animated feature film.Additionally, Manga Latina will team up with Treehouse Productionsto turn its property Alien ...

  • News

    ACI sells Locarno prize-winner Maria and actioner Der Clown at AFM

    2004-02-11T00:00:00Z

    Independent producer and distributor ACI has announced two titles itwill be selling at AFM, the action adventure Der Clown and the Romania-set drama Maria.ACI chief executive officer George Shamieh has partnered withHermann Joha's German production company Action Concept on Der Clown, a tale of vengeance featuring aprotagonist who pursues his ...

  • News

    Tonic buys short story collection by Wagner for possible horror franchise

    2004-02-11T00:00:00Z

    Producer Lauren Moews' Tonic Films has acquired Death Angel'sShadow, a collection ofthree short stories by fantasy author Karl Edward Wagner featuring the cultanti-hero character of Kane.The deal was brokered by Moews for Tonic Films and by theIntellectual Property Group on behalf of the Pimlico Agency of New York.Moews is planning ...

  • News

    Meistrich's Film Movement moves into Canada

    2004-02-11T00:00:00Z

    Larry Meistrich's first-runDVD distribution outfit Film Movement is expanding into the Canadian market,offering its monthly subscription-based service to film buffs north of theborder. Launched in May 2002 by the former Shooting Gallery executive, the NewYork-based company has created a niche for art house and specialty titles thatmight otherwise be passed ...

  • News

    Silver Screen launches in expanding Polish market

    2000-03-15T11:49:00Z

    US-backed exhibitor Silver Screen Cinemas has opened its first multiplex in Warsaw marking the first phase of its ambitious plans to build a string of theatres across Eastern Europe.Silver Screen has an exclusive agreement to operate cinemas built by US-backed property developer Portico Development, which has multiplex cinemas currently under ...

  • News

    European Film Market buyers afraid of the dark

    2004-02-11T00:00:00Z

    Talk to buyers at this year's market and you'll find that they like the films on offer - but find it difficult to rave about their commercial prospects.In fact, scarcely any film from either the Berlin festival or the European Film Market has been able to unite buyers in a ...

  • News

    SWEDEN

    2004-02-11T00:00:00Z

    BVI's Brother Bear beat the thrills of the prolific Kjell Sundvall's latest action film The Threat, partly because of its massive 149 prints, although its screen average was only slightly better than last week's new local release The Ketchup Effect (Hip Hip Hora!), the feature debut from newcomer Terese Fabik.However, ...

  • Reviews

    Red Lights (Feux Rouges)

    2004-02-11T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Cedric Kahn. France. 2003. 106 mins.Imagine a bleak and edgy feature-length episode of Mr Bean co-directed by Robert Bresson and Vincent Gallo. Then imagine that it's actually rather good. Dark and unconventional, this road thriller by Roberto Succo director Cedric Kahn gets under the skin in ways that it's ...

  • Reviews

    Saw

    2004-02-11T00:00:00Z

    Dir: James Wan. US. 2004. 100mins.Saw is a sub-Se7en B-movie serial killer chiller with more high concepts stuffed into its 100 minutes than it can handle. Riddled with plot holes and with a final twist which aficionados of the genre will spot a mile off, it nevertheless possesses a hankering ...

  • News

    FINLAND

    2004-02-11T00:00:00Z

    Scary Movie 3 literally terrified the Finnish box-office this weekend as it moved from seventh to first spot besting The Last Samurai and The Return Of The King with its strong 498 admissions screen average.The previews of Disney's Brother Bear easily put it into fifth from just 17 prints, while ...

  • News

    UK's Soda scores with German Miracle

    2004-02-11T00:00:00Z

    Effervescent new UK outfit Soda Pictures, set up in 2002 by Eve Gabereau and Edward Fletcher, confirmed yesterday that it has taken UK rights to The Miracle Of Berne from Bavaria Film.Soda plans to release the football-themed drama, set at the time of West Germany's 1954 World Cup win, in ...

  • News

    Hanway tipped to handle Foresight slate

    2004-02-12T04:00:00Z

    HanWay (owned by Jeremy Thomas) is emerging as the prime candidate to handle international sales on many of the films made through Foresight Film, the new Section 48 production fund launched by Prescience Film Finance that aims to raise £10m for a £40m film slate in the 2004/2005 tax ...

  • News

    Germany's Ottfilm goes under

    2004-02-12T04:00:00Z

    After months of speculation about its future, German independent distributor Ottfilm has filed for insolvency, with the German press quoting managing director Christoph Ott as saying that the insolvency had been triggered by a "breach of contract on the part of investors". Business at the Berlin-based outfit will nevertheless continue ...

  • News

    Arclight strikes Beautiful deal with GMM

    2004-02-12T04:00:00Z

    Australo-British sales company Arclight Films has picked up world sales rights to Beautiful Boxer, the Thai drama about a kickboxer who fought to earn money for a sex change that appears in Berlin's Panorama section. The deal is expected to be the beginning of a long-term relationship between Arclight and ...

  • News

    Dogme retains its bite

    2004-02-12T04:00:00Z

    Often thought to be on the verge of extinction, the Danish Dogme-movement fathered by Lars Von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg back in 1995, is as alive and kicking as ever.The success of Annette K. Olesen's Berlin competition entry In Your Hands, which despite its dark themes won acclaim after screening ...

  • News

    BBC signs deal with India's Broadcast Worldwide

    2000-03-15T17:31:00Z

    BBC Worldwide has licensed the BBC branded block BBC Exclusive to India''s Broadcast Worldwide, the proposed network founded by former Star India CEO Rathikant Basu. Rupert Murdoch''s News Corp has a 5% stake in Broadcast Worldwide.The BBC Exclusive brand will be broadcast on the Broadcast Worldwide network in Gujarati, Marathi, ...

  • News

    Wim Wenders moves into theatrical distribution

    2004-02-12T04:00:00Z

    Peter Schwartzkopff and Wim Wenders' new company Reverse Angle Production is to enter the German theatrical distribution arena later this year.The first release by Berlin-based Reverse Angle Mediasales will be Wenders' contribution to The Blues series, Soul Of A Man, on May 6, followed by Richard Pearce's The Road To ...

  • News

    Indie Circle finds Paradise

    2004-02-12T04:00:00Z

    Completed yesterday, one of the most interesting deals so far this European Film Market involved a film which may only be ready for Berlin 2005.Paradise Now, a personal journey by two people become suicide bombers is being directed by Dutch-Palestinian Hany Abou Assad, who previously made Rana's Wedding.Sold by Celluloid ...

  • News

    Jingzhe team stalks White Deer

    2004-02-12T04:00:00Z

    Chinese film The Story Of Er Mei (Jingzhe) that features in Berlinale's Panorama Special, could be a dry run for a big-budget epic that has eluded a number of China's top-name directors.Jingzhe's director Wang Quanan, star Yu Nan and the powerful Xi'an Film Studio Corp plan to re-team to make ...