Small MPU – Page 1620

  • News

    Smith rides Intandem with August

    2004-02-13T04:00:00Z

    Ex-Winchester boss Gary Smith yesterday announced that he was back in the film business with a new sales and production outfit, Intandem Films.The company is handling international rights on Bille August's thriller Return To Sender, the long-gestating project from writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade (The World Is Not Enough) ...

  • News

    Delpy lines up dark directorial debuts

    2004-02-13T04:00:00Z

    In Berlin with competition title Before Sunset, actress Julie Delpy has revealed further details of her two new directorial projects, both of which are slated to feature roles for her Before Sunset co-star, Ethan Hawke.The $4m Tell Me is a modern fairy tale about a woman trapped with a man ...

  • News

    Music rocks Berlin's festival and market

    2004-02-13T04:00:00Z

    From the famous to the exotic, this year's Berlinale has been flooded with features and documentaries centering on music."I'm never just looking for portraits, but films with an original approach and the music documentaries we're screening this year have those bridging qualities," says Wieland Speck, the director of the Berlinale ...

  • News

    F For Film goes South

    2004-02-13T04:00:00Z

    French sales agent F For Film has picked up international rights to The South (Het Zuiden), the film by Martin Koolhoven that featured in the main programme of the recent Rotterdam festival.The film is an intense character study about the owner of an industrial laundry and has been described as ...

  • News

    Intertainment and Kopelson go separate ways

    2004-02-13T04:00:00Z

    German rights trader Intertainment and US production company Kopelson Entertainment have mutually agreed to terminate their deal to finance a slate of big budget pictures.According to a statement, the step - effective from Feb 11 - was taken "because of Intertainment's cost-cutting requirements interfering with the production requirements of Kopelson ...

  • News

    Mar del Plata chief embarks on Village shoot

    2004-02-13T04:00:00Z

    Miguel Pereira, head of Latin America's leading film festival, Mar del Plata, is due to start principal photography on his latest feature film days after the festival closes.He is in Berlin this week helping artistic producer Mauro Andrizzi put the finishing touches to the festival line-up. Twelve films have been ...

  • News

    Festival kickstarts Timebandits journey

    2004-02-13T04:00:00Z

    The Berlinale has served as the ideal showcase for the new German distributor Timebandits films, which has four films showing in the festival's different sections.While Fatih Akin's new feature Head-On (Gegen Die Wand) premiered in the Official Competition section, Andres Veiel's documentary Die Spielwuetigen unspooled in the Panorama, Felix Randau's ...

  • News

    Buyers sing to Choristes tune

    2004-02-13T04:00:00Z

    A deal for North American rights to French film Les Choristes is imminent.Sales house Pathe International enjoyed high levels of interest in Berlin where the Market title was one of the few to unite buyers.Pathe is believed to have received a firm offer from Miramax. Executives were confident of a ...

  • News

    Spielberg to direct Kubrick's A.I. as next project

    2000-03-16T10:39:00Z

    Steven Spielberg has committed to directing two science fiction tales starting immediately with A.I. an epic about artificial intelligence that had been a long-gestating pet project of Stanley Kubrick''s before his death in 1999.A.I, which Kubrick had been actively developing before he suddenly shifted his attention to what would be ...

  • News

    DVD sell-through market surges in Germany and France

    2004-02-13T04:00:00Z

    Confirming the inexorable growth in the global DVD market, latest figures from Germany and France show DVD sell-through growth towering over both the rental and video sectors.The German home entertainment industry posted a year-on-year growth of 11% in revenues to Euros 1.555 bn in 2003, according to Bundesverband Audiovisuelle Medien ...

  • News

    Von Trier Peace speech censored

    2004-02-12T00:00:00Z

    Speaking to Screen, Danish director Lars Von Trier has expressed surprise that his video-taped acceptance speech at Monday's Diamond for Peace Award was censored by the organisers.Von Trier, who is famously averse to flying, sent in a video speech critical of the Cinema For Peace committee.However, the tape was cut ...

  • News

    Mendes unveils debut Scamp slate

    2004-02-12T00:00:00Z

    Oscar winningdirector Sam Mendes has launched Scamp Film And Theatre, a new London basedfilm and theatre production company with co-directors Pippa Harris and CaroNewling.The company hasalso unveiled a high profile film development slate, which includes projectsfrom some of the UK's top TV dramatists such as Paul Abbott, David Yatesand Peter ...

  • News

    Mendes unveils Scamp debut slate

    2004-02-12T00:00:00Z

    Oscar winningdirector Sam Mendes has launched Scamp Film And Theatre, a new London basedfilm and theatre production company with co-directors Pippa Harris and CaroNewling.The company hasalso unveiled a high profile film development slate, which includes projectsfrom some of the UK's top TV dramatists such as Paul Abbott, David Yatesand Peter ...

  • News

    Fox plans movie based on BRATZ fashion dolls

    2004-02-13T00:00:00Z

    Twentieth Century Fox has optioned live-action/animation featurefilm rights for MGA Entertainment's best-selling BRATZ fashion dolls while 20thCentury Home Entertainment has already started production on a direct-to-videospin-off."The BRATZ dolls are a true phenomenon that has taken the toy dollindustry by storm," Fox Filmed Entertainment chairman Jim Gianopulos said in astatement.He added: ...

  • News

    Sundance programme alumnus Hartsfield wins Maryland Fellowship

    2004-02-13T00:00:00Z

    Caran Hartsfield's drama Bury Me Standing will receive the 2004 Producers Club ofMaryland Fellowship, set up to help a Sundance Institute Feature Film Programmealumnus with a feature project.The annual fellowship provides a $10,000 grant to help fund afilmmaker's post-Sundance Lab and pre-production expenses, which may includecasting, budgeting, and location scouting.Caran ...

  • News

    In America and Eternal Sunshine bookend Bermuda fest

    2004-02-13T00:00:00Z

    Jim Sheridan's award-winning drama In America will open the 2004 Bermuda InternationalFilm Festival (BIFF) on Mar 19 while Michael Gondry's romantic comedy EternalSunshine Of The Spotless Mind and David Mackenzie's Young Adam will close the event on Mar 25.Seventy-two pictures willscreen at the event, which includes competition feature and documentarycategories ...

  • News

    Senator takes on sales of Gold Circle comedy starring Chris Klein

    2004-02-13T00:00:00Z

    Senator International will handle international sales on GoldCircle's high concept comedy The Long Weekend, which stars Chris Klein (AmericanPie) and Brendan Fehr (BikerBoyz, Final Destination).Currently shooting in Vancouver, the film has already been pickedup by Entertainment Film Distributors for UK distribution and HoytsCinemas/Universal have jointly acquired distribution rights in Australia.Written ...

  • News

    Rings set for final theatrical outing in Japan

    2004-02-13T04:00:00Z

    The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King will notch up another milestone thisupcoming weekend when it passes $600m at the international box office.Spurred on by its final major market opening in Japan on Feb 14 on750 prints and what should be another batch of decent holdovers in ...

  • News

    UK producers seek alternative film investment schemes

    2004-02-13T00:00:00Z

    The UK Film Council, together with representatives from BSAC and PACT, met yesterday with Inland Revenue officials and made the case for transitional arrangements following the changes to the rules covering losses through partnerships announced on 10 February.The Council proposed to the Revenue that transitional relief should be available to ...

  • News

    SKYPerfecTV issues shares to DirecTV shareholders

    2000-03-16T03:27:00Z

    The merger of Japanese satellite platforms SKYPerfecTV and DirecTV is proceeding to plan as the directors of Japan Digital Broadcasting Services, which operates SKYPerfecTV, have agreed to issue Y12bn ($113.2m) in new shares to broadcast satellite station WOWOW and seven corporate shareholders of DirecTV Japan. With the exception of Matsushita ...