Small MPU – Page 1876
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News
Italian authority clears TMC deal with conditions
Italy's Antitrust Authority has said that it will wave through Telecom Italia and publishing giant Seat Pagine Gialle's proposed takeover of Cecchi Gori-owned broadcaster Telemontecarlo (TMC), if a law court greenlights the deal, and providing both companies comply with four regulatory conditions.Last week, Italy's communications watchdog vetoed the takeover because ...
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Spain's ICEX taps Campoy as advisor
Eduardo Campoy, president of the Spanish Producers' Federation (FAPAE), has been named advisor to Spain's Foreign Commerce Institute (ICEX).This marks the first time that the ICEX has appointed an advisor from the media sector. Campoy will advise on how Spanish audiovisual product can better sell abroad.Campoy - a film director ...
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News
Media Park cancels IPO; unveils studio plans
Barcelona-based content producer and packager, Media Park, has postponed its proposed stock flotation, but at the same time has revealed that it will open a 6,500 square metre production facility in Madrid next month.Commenting on the cancelled IPO, company sources said: "Financially, we don't need to do it," and pointed ...
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Berlin's Kinderfilmfest unveils final line-up
The world premiere of Andrea Katzenberger's Der Mistkerl, which is handled internationally by Studio Hamburg Produktion, will open this year's edition of Berlin's Kinderfilmfest.The line-up for the children's film festival has now been finalised by organisers Renate Zylla and Maryanne Redpath. Films confirmed to screen include:Jannik Hastrup's animation film Cirkeline ...
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Haneke's Code Unknown to open Diagonale fest
Michael Haneke's Cannes competition title Code Unknown (Code Inconnu) will open this year's Diagonale festival of Austrian cinema, which will feature several sidebars to complement the central showcase of new Austrian film. Among the special programmes are a retrospective dedicated to German filmmaker Michael Klier; an animation focus presenting work ...
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Reviews
The Caveman's Valentine
BEST PICTURE:Chocolat (Prods: David Brown, Kit Golden, Leslie Holleran)Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Prods: Bill Kong, Hsu Li Kong, Ang Lee)Erin Brockovich (Prods: Danny DeVito, Michael Shamberg, Stacey Sher)Gladiator (Prods: Douglas Wick, David Franzoni, Branko Lustig)Traffic (Prods: Edward Zwick, Marshall Herskovitz, Laura Bickford)DIRECTING:Stephen Daldry - Billy ElliotAng Lee - Crouching Tiger, ...
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News
Japan's box office slumps despite 'plex growth
Japan had more films to watch and more screens to watch them on in 2000, but the country that pays the world's highest ticket prices for the privilege declined. According to the Motion Picture Association of Japan (Eiren), box office fell by 6.5% last year to $1.47bn (Y171bn).Despite this, the ...
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News
TF1 racks up sales on Ruiz, Chatilliez titles
French sales outfit TF1 International has sold Raoul Ruiz's Venice title La Comedie De L'Innocence, starring Isabelle Huppert and Charles Berling, to the UK's Artificial Eye, and pre-sold Etienne Chatilliez's latest comedy Tanguy to Germany's Prokino.The Ruiz title has already been sold to some 20 territories, most recently Spain which ...
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News
Azzurro takes top honours at Swiss Film Awards
Denis Rabaglia's Azzurro was named Best Feature Film at this year's Swiss Film Awards, held during the Solothurn Film Days (Jan 23-28), against competition from Markus Imboden's Komiker - which left empty-handed despite being nominated in three categories - Silvio Soldini's Bread And Tulips, Xavier Koller's Gripsholm and Clemens Klopfenstein's ...
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News
Sweden set to revise ratings system
Sweden's culture minister Marita Ulvskog has announced that a new film ratings system could be introduced in Sweden, based on a report which she recently commissioned from the Swedish Council on Media Violence.Sweden's current censorship debate started at the end of last year with the release of teen horror spoof ...
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News
Wedding Planner tops Superbowl Weekend
The North American box office continued to look healthy, improving some 55% on the same weekend last year this Superbowl weekend, when the competition from sports on television is traditionally intense.Heading the pack was Columbia Pictures' romantic comedy The Wedding Planner - a co-production with IMF and Intermedia (which has ...
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News
Sundance: Artisan buys US on Sundance rape docu
Artisan Entertainment, which has picked up a film every year at Sundance for the last three years, made it four on Friday, closing a deal to acquire North American rights to the documentary Raw Deal: A Question Of Consent, which is playing in the festival's American Spectrum section.The film examines ...
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News
Showcase buys Dumped and Code Conspiracy
LA-based independent producer/distributor Showcase Entertainment has picked up international sales rights to two new pictures - romantic comedy Dumped and high-tech thriller The Code Conspiracy.Dumped, which is written and directed by former child actor Oliver Robbins (one of the children in Poltergeist), stars Dana Barron as a young woman who ...
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News
Sundance: ARP gets European rights to Haiku Tunnel
French independent ARP concluded its buying streak at the Sundance Film Festival, taking continental European rights to American Spectrum entry Haiku Tunnel. ARP had already bought French-speaking rights to David Siegel and Scott McGehee's The Deep End and Joel Hopkins' Jump Tomorrow, in both instances before the US domestic buyers ...
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News
Bean's The Believer takes top prize at Sundance
Signalling a return to its roots as a committed showcase for edgy, provocative filmmaking, the Sundance Film Festival awarded its top dramatic prize to Henry Bean's incendiary directorial debut The Believer.Starring Ryan Gosling in a career-making role as a tormented Jewish religious student who joins a militant neo-Nazi clan, The ...
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Fox Searchlight, Key Films dive into Deep End
Fox Seachlight has splashed out $4m for the distributionrights to The Deep End in all available worldwideterritories except Italy, where Key Films looks set to release the film aftertabling a pre-emptive bid during this year's Sundance Film Festival. Cited by this jury for its cinematography, The Deep End stirred up ...
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Sky Global float dependent on merger talks
News Corp boss Rupert Murdoch said that he may not press ahead with the proposed flotation of his satellite operations under the Sky Global Networks banner.Murdoch said the need for a flotation would be determined by News Corp's ongoing talks to acquire DirecTV from Hughes Electronics and separate talks to ...
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News
Vivendi Universal to withdraw from BSkyB board
Vivendi Universal is reportedly planning to pull its board director from UK satellite broadcaster BSkyB next month, as the first move in a strategic exit from the company.The European Commission is forcing Vivendi to dispose of its 22.7% stake in BSkyB as one of the conditions of its recent three-way ...
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News
Harry, Le Gout Des Autres lead race for Cesars
Two sleeper hits - Harry, He's Here To Help (Harry, Un Ami Qui Vous Veux Du Bien) and Le Gout Des Autres - dominated the nominations for this year's Cesar awards, with nine nods apiece.Departing from its taste for high-profile and classic dramas by established auteurs, the French film industry ...
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News
Gazprom claims victory in battle for NTV
Representatives of Vladimir Gusinsky's embattled Media Most group have been barred from exercising voting rights attached to a disputed 19% stake in the group's flagship station NTV, leading gas giant Gazprom to claim victory in its long-running battle to take control of the broadcaster.Gazprom, which already owns 46% of NTV, ...