Small MPU – Page 1939
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News
EFA to host international film festival conference
The first ever conference of international film festival directors has been scheduled during the European Film Awards (EFA) weekend in Berlin from November 29 to December 2.The unprecedented event will see the Berlinale's Dieter Kosslick and UK film critic Derek Malcolm chair a conference entitled "Film Festivals In The Spotlight ...
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Renaissance finds domestic safety in double deal
The UK's Renaissance Films has seen two of its productions secure North American distribution homes, with Paramount Classics taking domestic and a slew of international rights to Paul McGuigan's The Reckoning and now also IFC Films grabbing domestic rights to Rose Troche's The Safety Of Objects. Both deals were confirmed ...
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News
Tokyo festival loses stars to travel fears
Cameron Diaz, Josh Hartnett and Julia Stiles of Save The Last Dance have cancelled their attendance at the 14th edition of the Tokyo International Film Festival, citing security concerns.The festival will present 140 films from 24 countries between October 27 and November 4 and is still hoping to welcome 51 ...
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Berlinale films may be influenced by Sept 11deaths
The film selection for next year's Berlin Film Festival will almost certainly be influenced by the terror attacks of September 11, according to festival chief Dieter Kosslick.In an interview with the German film magazine Film-Echo, Kosslick declared: "when I view films at the moment, I am particularly sensitised. My reception ...
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News
Svensk Filmindustrie appoints new acquisition head
Nordic major Svensk Filmindiustri's veteran head of acquisitions: Anders Bergholm is to hand over his duties to new head Robert Enmark, as of Nov 2. Bergholm spent more than 30 years within the parent company Bonnier Group and 20 years with Svensk Filmindiustri (SF). "Anders has been with us for ...
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News
Berlusconi finally acquitted of bribery
Ending a bitter legal battle that has lasted seven years, Italy's highest Appeals Court has acquitted premier Silvio Berlusconi of bribery charges relating to his media empire, Fininvest. However, the Court did confirm sentences for several of the multi-million dollar group's executives.Berlusconi and other Fininvest executives had been accused in ...
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UK govt seeks opinion on cross-media ownership
The UK government is to publish a consultation paper next month to canvass opinion on how best to regulate cross-media ownership, culture secretary Tessa Jowell has announced.The consultation paper will inform the government's forthcoming Communications Bill, due to be published next year.According to Jowell, who plans to be as "deregulatory ...
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News
IEG signs on to Douglas' Racing With Monsoons
Graham King's Initial Entertainment Group (IEG) is deepening its in-house production programme, striking a deal with Michael Douglas' Furthur Films to develop and finance Racing With Monsoons.The action-adventure is written by Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck, who co-wrote Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom and American Graffitti. Set in ...
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News
Intimate Scenes picked up by Flach Pyramide
Catherine Breillat, the director who became a cause celebre with her sexually explicit Romance, is three weeks from starting production on Scenes Intimes, a picture about making films and, in particular, shooting nude scenes.French sales house Flach Pyramide International has picked up international rights to the film, which re-teams Breillat ...
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News
Icon takes UK rights on Y Tu Mama Tambien
UK distributor Icon has picked up Good Machine International's Y Tu Mama Tambien (pictured), the erotic Mexican film by Alfonso Cuaron which recorded the biggest three day opening ever of a local film in its home market.The Spanish-language film, which won prizes for best screenplay and best newcomer at Venice, ...
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News
Canton/Senator pact reduced to 24 Hours
Luis Mandoki's $40m thriller 24 Hours is to be the only film produced under the high profile alliance between Germany's Senator Entertainment and Mark Canton's The Canton Co. The two companies this week dissolved their production and financing pact, which was signed only last August. The partners were to deliver ...
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News
US actors guild supports UK's Equity strike
The US' Screen Actors Guild has come out in support of the threatened actors' strike by UK performer's union Equity, instructing its members to seek SAG advice before accepting work on any UK production.The SAG support is a boost to Equity's ongoing dispute with UK producers, which centres around attempts ...
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News
Media Asia woos Cheung, Lau and Jackie Chan
Hong Kong superstar Jackie Chan, leading local actor Leslie Cheung and popstar-turned acting sensation Andy Lau have joined Media Asia's 2002 slate as the film concern launches a drive to raise its talent profile following a management shake-up earlier this year.The move is being driven by leisure magnate Peter Lam, ...
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News
Salma Hayek eyes The Ground Beneath Her Feet
Salma Hayek is in advanced talks to star in Raoul Ruiz's forthcoming adaptation of Salman Rushdie's novel, The Ground Beneath Her Feet. Production is through Paulo Branco's Gemini Films, with additional financing for the $18.5m film coming from StudioCanal and UK National Lottery franchise Pathe Pictures. Shooting is expected to ...
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Reviews
K-PAX
Dir Iain Softley. US 2001. 118minsLawrence Gordon, the producer of K-Pax, would like to believe that his new film is in the spiritual-magical vein of Field Of Dreams (1989), a far superior baseball story about faith and redemption, which he also produced. However, judging by the minor melodrama that unfolds ...
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Reviews
Bones
Dir: Ernest Dickerson. US. 2001. 90 mins. Its touches of social conscience aside, Bones is the sort of horror nonsense that only really thrill-starved pre-Halloween filmgoers can be expected to swallow. Featuring rapper Snoop Dogg in his first starring role and boosted by a soundtrack that has already entered the ...
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News
Sexy Beast scores at British indie film awards
Extolled by US critics, but cooly received in the UK, British gangster drama Sexy Beast was finally feted in its home market. It triumphed at last night's British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs), winning in all four categories in which it had been nominated.Sexy Beast was named Best British Independent ...
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Jamie Bell heads supernatural WWII action drama
Jamie Bell, the child star of international hit Billy Elliot, is to head the cast of The Great War Project (working title), a supernatural action drama which tops the slate of Film and Music Entertainment (F.&.M.E.).The picture is the story of eight young soldiers trapped in the WWI trenches who ...
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Amelie joins cast of foreign-language Oscar race
The foreign-language Oscar race hotted up yesterday as Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Le Fabuleux Destin D'Amelie Poulain aka Amelie was named the French submission for the Academy Award, ending speculation that other French films might deprive the phenomenal hit of its chance in the Hollywood spotlight.The submission now gives US distributor Miramax ...
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Trainspotting author joins Four Way Pictures
UK author Irvine Welsh, currently writing the follow-up book to his bestseller Trainspotting, has joined director Antonia Bird, actor Robert Carlyle and journalist Mark Cousins as a partner at talent-led production company Four Way Pictures.Welsh is writing a new screenplay, The Meat Trade, for the two-year old company, set up ...