Small MPU – Page 2143
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News
Spider-Man swings past Episode II's international revenues
Despite performing below expectations, Spider-Man's UK opening gross helped the Columbia TriStar blockbuster swing past the $200m international box office mark at the weekend.Continuing success in territories where the film still leads the chart, such as Australia, Germany, Italy, Japan and Switzerland, combined with top spot grabbing debuts in the ...
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German broadcaster RTL joins film funding institution
German private broadcaster RTL is to become a shareholder in regional public fund Filmstiftung NRW on July 1, contributing some $2.9m to the overall $28.5m annual budget. On the eve of this year's Medienforum NRW, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia's prime-minister Wolfgang Clement, RTL's managing director Gerhard Zeiler and Filmstiftung ...
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Irish government's new film policy considered out of place
Ireland is struggling to retain its attraction as a location for film producers thanks to increasing labour and service costs, growing competition from cheaper foreign locations and now, a new government arts department that seems oddly unenthusiastic about film.Although the country's 2002 production tally looks healthy enough - seven feature ...
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Two Spanish digital TV channels launch, reluctantly
Frustrated subscribers of Spain's failed digital terrestrial TV (DTT) pay platform Quiero TV are enjoying an unintended consolation. They are currently among the only consumers with the technology to view Spain's two new free-to-air DTT platforms, Net TV and Veo Television, which launched on Tuesday. After months of complaining about ...
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News
Chapman honoured for contribution to OZ film
Australian producer Jan Chapman will be awarded this year's prestigious Chauvel Award for her outstanding contribution to local filmmaking. The award will be presented as part of the Brisbane International Film Festival, which begins on July 9. "Her commitment to producing exceptional Australian drama has long been acknowledged in the ...
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News
Alan Parker rallies industry to develop skills strategy
Alan Parker, chairman of UK support body, the Film Council, has called on the film industry to support a major research project that will inform a new and comprehensive skills strategy for the sector.Parker, whose role at the Film Council reflects his support for skills and training in the industry, ...
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Australia's Southern Star predicts debt eradication
Australia's Southern Star Group this week announced that it will be debt free with $12.5m (A$22m) in cash when net proceeds of $35.9m (A$63m) from last year's sale of duplication subsidiary Duplitek to Technicolor are received next month.The company also revealed that revenue for the 12 months to March was ...
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News
Three Oz talent management companies merge
Three of Australia's talent management companies: Morrissey Management, WildCat Personal Management and the Artist & Entertainment Group, have merged to create new entity, Encompass Management..Morrissey has many actors and a limited number of writers and directors on its books, Wildcat is best known for its representation of cinematographers and other ...
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News
Austin, Gladstone promoted in business & legal affairs at Artisan
Erin Austin has been promoted to executive vice president, business and legal affairs, and Jim Gladstone has been promoted to senior vice president, business and legal affairs, at Artisan Entertainment.Austin is charged with overseeing the company's business and legal affairs for acquisition and production of theatrical, home entertainment and TV ...
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Reviews
Paradox Lake
Dir: Przemyslaw 'Shemie' Reut. US. 2002. 85mins.Neither documentary nor fully fledged drama, Paradox Lake is cinema verite at its most infuriating. Shemie Reut's experimental feature is for the most part tedious and trying, yet its terrifically clever final act hints at what it might have been. It's one of those ...
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Reviews
One Night The Moon
Dir: Rachel Perkins. Australia. 2001. 54mins.A showing at the Berlinale continues the remarkable journey of this sub-one-hour, made-for-TV outback musical drama, a collaboration between the lively Sydney-based MusicArtsDance Films (which is now working on Paul Cox's drama-doc Nijinsky), ABCTV's Arts and Entertainment department and OzOpera (the experimental division of Opera ...
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Reviews
Monsieur Batignole
Dir: Gerard Jugnot. 2002. France. 100mins.Only months after the commercial failure of Laissez Passer, Bertrand Tavernier's ambitious saga about the French film industry under the German Occupation, comes this blandly conventional feelgood comedy-drama. Gerard Jugnot's tale about an ordinary Parisian's moral resistance to wartime anti-Semitism is currently doing brisk business ...
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News
Publishers Springer and Bauer join KirchMedia bidders
German publishing empires Axel Springer Verlag and Heinrich Bauer Verlag have set up a consortium to acquire at least 51% of insolvent KirchMedia when it emerges from restructuring.This latest development comes just two days after the WAZ publishing group withdrew from the consortium including the Commerzbank and Sony's Columbia ...
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Reviews
Japon
Dir: Carlos Reygadas. Mexico-Spain. 2002. 122 mins. Carlos Reygadas's visionary and impressive feature debut announces the director as an exciting new talent. It is also highly uncompromising: Reygadas states that he's interested in film as a way of creating sensations rather than of making a statement or telling a story, ...
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News
Lolafilms' refinancing deadline extended to mid-July
The deadline for shareholders to participate in the Euros 18m capital amplification of Spanish production powerhouse Lolafilms has been pushed back until mid-July. The amplification of capital was approved on March 22 by Lola shareholders, led by 70% backer Admira, the media unit of Telefonica, and Lola CEO Andres Vicente ...
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News
Anant Singh snaps up Deepak Chopra film rights
South African producer Anant Singh, head of Videovision and Distant Horizon, has snapped up the much sought-after film rights to 'mind-body-spirit' guru Deepak Chopra's fictional works The Return Of Merlin and Soulmate. The deal was negotiated and concluded during Chopra's visit to South Africa last week. The rights to The ...
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News
Polish media giant prepares major floatation
Polish media giant ITI Holdings S.A. is to launch an initial public offering of up to 48% of its shares, making it the biggest float on the Warsaw market for two years.The company revealed last month that it was planning to raise between $80m and $130m through the IPO to ...
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News
Italia Cinema appoints new president
Marina Cicogna has been appointed president of Italia Cinema, Italy's film promotional body. Cicogna is the granddaughter of Count Volpi, the founder of the Venice Film Festival in 1932. After studying film, theatre and literature in the US, she worked in film production and distribution in Italy, producing several films ...
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News
Another German media company files for insolvency
German production outfit H5B5 Media, which co-produced Cannes film Welcome To Collinwood, has become the latest in the growing list of German media companies filing for insolvency.In a statement, the company said that an ongoing production for children's animation specialist RTV had encountered cash flow problems. In addition, a Euros ...
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News
National general strike won't cripple Spain's film industry
Despite a call by the Spanish Actors' Guild to support a nationwide general workers' strike planned for Thursday, June 20, the film industry will not come to a full stop.Several film production companies contacted said they would not halt work on films currently shooting or rehearsing in Spain. A spokesperson ...