Small MPU – Page 1978
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News
Pippi Longstocking creator dies, aged 94
Astrid Lindgren the godmother of Swedish children's literature and creator of world-famous characters like Pippi Longstocking, Emil From Lonneberga, Ronja Robber's Daughter and The Brothers Lionhearth has died after suffering from a serious virus infection for a month. The beloved and respected author was born in 1907 in Vimmerby in ...
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Court supports Telenor in Canal Plus case
Norwegian legal authorities have ruled that telecommunications giant Telenor is not obliged to complete its takeover of Nordic pay-TV operator Canal Digital from Canal Plus before a distribution agreement is cleared by the EU Commission. However, Canal Plus has announced that will now take the dispute to arbitrators. Following ...
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Oslo Cinemas reverse film rental decision
Norway's largest cinema operator has been forced into a U-turn over its refusal to accept recently-implemented national film rental rates.In an unprecedented move, Oslo Cinemas opted out of a new film rental agreement (Screendaily Jan 9), choosing instead to negotiate terms on a film-by-film basis with each distributor. Norway's ...
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China's Yon Fan honoured at Mardi Gras fest
Chinese director Yon Fan will be the guest of the 2002 Australian Mardi Gras Film Festival, (Sydney, Feb 13-24) as part of a special focus on contemporary gay Asian cinema that will see the screening of features from South Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Hong Kong. Fan's trilogy Bugis Street (1994), ...
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Film Critics of Australia announce nominations
Lantana, Moulin Rouge, Mullet and The Bank have a chance of being crowned best film in the 2002 Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards with the trophy going to one of the producers, namely Jan Chapman, Baz Luhrmann (and others), Vincent Sheehan or John Maynard respectively.But the directors of each ...
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News
MDP Worldwide acquires Stephen Gaghan script Havoc
Mark Damon's MDPWorldwide has acquired the screenplay Havoc by Stephen Gaghan, theOscar-winning writer of Trafficand director of the forthcoming Abandon for Paramount Pictures and Spyglass Entertainment.Havoc is a multi-layered drama in the vein of Traffic about a gang of wealthy teens from the upscale LosAngeles neighbourhood of Pacific Palisades who ...
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News
Uncut Monster's Ball to screen at Berlin
The official unrateddirector's cut of Marc Forster's Monster's Ball will screen in competition at the Berlin FilmFestival on Feb 8, not the version which was passed by the MPAA for its USrelease. The version to be seen at the festival was rated NC-17 for itssexually explicit content and was subsequently ...
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News
Hoyts' Johnson named ShoWest int'l exhib of year
Paul Johnson, the CEO ofAustralia's Hoyts Cinemas Ltd, has been named international exhibitor ofthe year at worldwide exhibition convention ShoWest which is being held March4-7 in Las Vegas.Johnson, who will receivehis award at the international day luncheon on March 4, joined Hoyts in 1982 asa financial accountant and in 1984 ...
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Wild Bunch is crazy for Marceau's Love
In a crowd-pleasing move made on the eve of the Rotterdam and Berlin festivals, French sales agent Wild Bunch has picked up Sophie Marceau's directorial debut Parlez-Moi D'Amour. The film stars Judith Godreche (who starred in Marceau's 1995 short L'Aube A L'Envers), Niels Arestrup, Anne Le Ny, Laurence Fevrier, Jean-Marie ...
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Veland, Playford-Denman reunite to expand BV Int
In reunion worthy of the movies, sales agents Bjorg Veland and Heather Playford-Denman are to start working together again after a three year separation. The move appears to signal an expansion of the Oslo-based BV International sales and finance operation run by Veland."We are keen to develop a label and ...
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Reviews
The Count Of Monte Cristo
Dir: Kevin Reynolds. US. 2002. 131mins. Hollywood's latest take on the ever-popular yarns of Alexandre Dumas is a straightforward but handsomely staged and consistently entertaining version of the author's classic tale of betrayal and revenge in post-Napoleonic France. Rather than attempting to jazz up the material for younger moviegoers (as ...
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Reviews
The Mothman Prophesies
Dir: Mark Pellington. US 2001. 119mins.In promoting its cliche-ridden sci-fi-horror-supernatural The Mothman Prophecies, Sony is using the tag line "based on true events", as if the "factuality" of the source material was a badge of honour and necessary condition for taking more seriously a decidedly schlocky and dismissable feature. ...
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News
Vanilla Sky dethrones The Lord Of The Rings
Vanilla Sky, the first re-teaming of director Cameron Crowe and actor Tom Cruise since Jerry Maguire - which grossed $13.3m (£9.4m) at the UK box office in 1997, has stormed into the top chart position in the UK displacing The Lord Of The Rings in the process.The UIP-distributed thriller grossed ...
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News
Harmony Gold buys int'l rights on comedy Dirt
Harmony Gold has securedinternational rights to the action comedy Dirt, which world premiered last year at the Los AngelesFilm Festival in April.The film stars MichaelCovert and Trace Fraim as two brothers, who, search the West Texas desert dregsfor a replacement for their dead mother and kidnap a woman (Tara Chocol) ...
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News
Jim Ramo named CEO at studios' VOD co Movielink
Jim Ramo, an industryveteran with many years spent at DIRECTV and Hughes Communications amongothers, has won the CEO job at Movielink, the video-on-demand distributionservice which is a joint venture between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, ParamountPictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Studios and Warner Bros. Ramo reports to a boardcomprised of representatives from each ...
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Watts named female star of tomorrow by ShoWest
Naomi Watts, the star of MulhollandDrive and of the upcoming remake ofJapanese smash Ring, has beennamed female star of tomorrow at this year's exhibitor convention ShoWestbeing held in Las Vegas in March.The Australian Watts willaccept her award at the annual awards banquet on March 7.Watts, who is considered anOscar contender ...
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Disney snags remake rights to Spanish hit Intacto
Buena Vista Motion PicturesGroup (BVMPG) has bought the remake rights to Spanish thriller Intacto following its successful screening at the SundanceFilm Festival where Lions Gate Films bought worldwide distribution rights. The film, which marks thefeature directorial debut of Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, follows a series of characterswho test their luck in ...
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European Film Market on target for record year
The Berlinale's European Film Market (EFM) is looking forward to a vintage year, with record-breaking levels of registrations, screenings and exhibitors. According to market director Beki Probst, over 120 companies from more than 30 countries were already booked by last November, with three new exhibitors attending the EFM for the ...
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New entrant swells Korea's distribution sector
In what is rapidly becoming a crowded market, the South Korean distribution sector is to receive another player in Showbox, a subsidiary of local exhibition company Mediaplex.Showbox, still in initial stages of development, is reportedly in negotiation with investment company KM Culture in a deal that could push the number ...
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Spanish producers lobby for quota increase
The Spanish Producers' Federation FAPAE is lobbying for an increase in the country's controversial screen quota system, calling for one day of European cinema for every two of third-country films exhibited in Spain. Current law requires one for every three. The recently re-elected president of FAPAE Eduardo Campoy said the ...