Small MPU – Page 2130

  • News

    Myriad sources Jeepers Creepers 2 financing

    2002-05-23T04:05:00Z

    Myriad Pictures has closed a deal to source financing from Comerica Entertainment Group, the entertainment financing arm of Comerica Bank, for Jeepers Creepers 2: Like A Bat Out Of Hell which is being produced by American Zoetrope and distributed in North America by United Artists.

  • Reviews

    Spider

    2002-05-22T00:00:00Z

    Dir. David Cronenberg, Can-UK. 2002. Screened in CompetitionDavid Cronenberg has described Spider as "pure". This is something of an understatement. An uncompromising portrait of mental disturbance, Spider makes Cronenberg's previous Competition entry Crash seem commercial; whereas the 1996 film promised attractions such as cars and sex, Spider has nothing to ...

  • Reviews

    The Man Without A Past (Mies Vailla Menneisyytta)

    2002-05-23T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Aki Kaurismaki. Finland. 2002. 97mins. Screening in CompetitionA low-life comedy-drama guaranteed to leave the viewer feeling high, the latest from Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki has all of his distinctive features: poker-faced humour, stripped-down and highly composed visuals, and a humanist romantic sensibility. All combine to make The Man Without ...

  • Reviews

    About Schmidt

    2002-05-23T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Alexander Payne. US. 2002. 125 mins. Screened in CompetitionUnderplaying the overt social satire of Citizen Ruth and Election, Alexander Payne's remorselessly interior dramedy is centred squarely on a single character, and narrower in focus and more pessimistic in tone than either of its predecessors. About Schmidt also abandons the ...

  • Reviews

    REVIEW: About Schmidt

    2002-05-23T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Alexander Payne. US. 2002. 125 mins. Screened in CompetitionUnderplaying the overt social satire of Citizen Ruth and Election, Alexander Payne's remorselessly interior dramedy is centred squarely on a single character, and narrower in focus and more pessimistic in tone than either of its predecessors. About Schmidt also abandons the ...

  • Reviews

    The Man Without A Past (Mies Vailla Menneisyytta)

    2002-05-23T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Aki Kaurismaki. Finland. 2002. 97mins. Screening in CompetitionA low-life comedy-drama guaranteed to leave the viewer feeling high, the latest from Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki has all of his distinctive features: poker-faced humour, stripped-down and highly composed visuals, and a humanist romantic sensibility. All combine to make The Man Without ...

  • Reviews

    REVIEW: Ararat

    2002-05-23T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Atom Egoyan. Canada. 2002. 115mins. Screened in CompetitionArarat is the film Atom Egoyan has been waiting to make his entire career. All the familiar Egoyan tropes are present - the obsession with mediated images, the juxtaposition of 'truth' and 'fiction', of the 'normal' and the 'foreign', - but the ...

  • News

    Cannes 2002: tough choices for Palme readers

    2002-05-24T04:05:00Z

    Constantly improving after far from auspicious beginnings, Cannes 2002 should finally settle in the memory as a robust and rewarding vintage. Filled with uncompromising auteurist statements, exciting discoveries and tender explorations of the human condition, it was a Festival to restore anyone's faith in the health and vigour of world ...

  • News

    Borgia inches forward

    2002-05-24T04:05:00Z

    Regarded as a barometer of the health of large-scale film financing in a depressed European market, Neil Jordan's epic Borgia appears to be finally coming together as a mammoth co-production between the UK, Germany, Italy, Ireland and possibly France.Co-producers and partners deep into talks include BBC Films for the UK ...

  • News

    Germany remains weak as Miramax strikes multi-territory deals

    2002-05-24T04:05:00Z

    Miramax International may have completed a string of deals here but one territory it wasn't closing on was Germany. "We've seen everyone, but the offers are just too low," said worldwide distribution chief Rick Sands. "Their mission was to push down pricing, but we have to tough it out. Germany ...

  • News

    Warner expands European production push

    2002-05-24T04:05:00Z

    Warner Bros Pictures has hired Crisilde Dominici as director, local production, Italy as part of its expansion drive into European production and acquisitions, and has declared its intentions to embark on a Spanish local production plan later this year.Dominici, who has worked with directors such as Nanni Moretti, joined the ...

  • News

    France's TF1 to increase film production, financing activity

    2002-05-24T04:05:00Z

    Just as StudioCanal is scaling back its European film production and distribution operations, TF1 seems to be intent on increasing its activity and filling the void.After boldly branching out into distribution through its as yet unamed joint venture with Miramax - which is expected to be headed by Jose Covo ...

  • News

    Dreamworks falls for Millennium Actress

    2002-05-24T04:05:00Z

    Millennium Actress, an animated drama handled by distributor Klockworx, has become the first foreign-language animation to be acquired by Dreamworks SKG.Dreamworks has picked up all rights outside Asia to the film, which won the best animation prize when it premiered at Fant-Asia last July and took the animation award at ...

  • News

    Columbia launches German arthouse distribution division

    2002-05-24T04:05:00Z

    The German office of Columbia TriStar Film has launched Columbia Pictures Art Selection - a classics-style division for the theatrical release of arthouse titles.The first releases will be Ed Harris's biopic Pollock on June 6, Marleen Gorris' Nabokov adaptation The Luzhin Defence (Sept 5) and Fred Schepsi's Last Orders (Oct ...

  • News

    Wild Bunch flies with Purple Butterfly

    2002-05-24T04:05:00Z

    StudioCanal division Wild Bunch is boarding Purple Butterfly, the next film by Suzhou River director Lou Ye, which will topline Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon's star Zhang Ziyi.Produced by Shanghai Film Studios, Purple Butterfly is an Hitchcokian adventure/romance set in Shanghai at the time of the Japanese invasion of China. ...

  • News

    Wildside takes Tongan Ninja

    2002-05-24T04:05:00Z

    France's Wildside Films, the distributor headed by Manuel Chiche, has picked up Tongan Ninja from the New Zealand Film Commission. The off-beat martial arts comedy previously went to Vision Africa for South Africa and to Pacific Entertainment for Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore and to Sar-an for Turkey.

  • News

    Sweden's Film I Vast lines up another busy slate

    2002-05-24T04:05:00Z

    Swedish regional film fund Film I Vast has lined up another busy schedule, including the eagerly awaited new film from Jalla! Jalla! director Josef Fares.The as yet untitled action comedy shoots for Lars Jonsson's Memfis Film in June, where production also starts on Kristian Petri's Details from Gotafilm based on ...

  • News

    Gala brings Trespasser to the UK

    2002-05-24T04:05:00Z

    Gala Films has nabbed all UK rights to Beto Brant's The Trespasser (O Invasor), winner of the Sundance Best Latin American feature this year. Brazilian international sales agent Grupo Novo closed the deal with the arthouse distributor today in Cannes. According to Grupo Novo sales chief Alfredo Calvino, Gala Films ...

  • News

    Sogepaq wraps Asian deals

    2002-05-24T04:05:00Z

    Spain's Sogepaq has closed a range of sales to Asia on four recent pictures from sister company Sogecine.Daniel Calparsoro's Kosovo-set action drama Guerreros has sold to Japan (Gaga), Korea (Cinestar), Hong Kong (Winson), Taiwan (Spring Cinema) and Thailand (MJC Entertainment). Japan's Gaga also picked up English-language sci-fi pic Stranded from ...

  • News

    Kapadia boards St Agnes' Stand

    2002-05-24T04:05:00Z

    The Warrior director Asif Kapadia has boarded Miramax Films' western St Agnes' Stand.Kapadia, who transplanted the spaghetti Western to India for The Warrior, is expected to bring an epic Sergio Leone feel to Agnes, a western story about an injured gunslinger on the run in New Mexico. Reminiscent of Kapadia's ...