Small MPU – Page 236
-
News
CMG goes wide with Treatment
EdwardNoeltner's Los Angeles-based Cinema Management Group has concludedmulti-territory sales on comedy The Treatment, starring Famke Janssen and IanHolm.Rightshave sold to Russia (JRC Group), Greece (Village Roadshow), Poland (MonolithFilms), the Czech and Slovak Republics (Bonton Films), the former Yugoslavia(Blitz Film), Hungary and Israel (Forum), Bulgaria (Alexandra Film), andRomania (Television Inc). AndreBoisser ...
-
News
Brand producers line up quartet
Seattle-basedThe Film Company (TFC), producers of Guy Maddin's Brand Upon The Brain!, has linedup four feature projects to further its artist-driven slate.Firstup is The Part I Love The Best from Seattle artist Megan Murphy, set to shootin October. Next, Bosnian filmmakerVesna Ljubic will head into productionon her first English-language project ...
-
News
CINE EXPO: Sands to keep focus on festival circuit
Rick Sands, Miramax's chairman of worldwide distribution, has reassured the company's international distributors that it will not forsake international film festivals to launch its films, despite the pressure to shorten global release windows."There is a growing trend to accelerate the international release but we must not forget the invaluable support ...
-
News
Skoll hires former Hard Rock Cafe chief Berk as Participant CEO
Former Hard Rock Cafe International president and chief executiveofficer James Berk has joined LA-based Participant Productions as chiefexecutive officer.The appointment ends a lengthy search by Participant chairman andfounder Jeff Skoll and president Ricky Strauss to find a suitable executive toreplace Skoll as chief executive officer.Berk will assume day-to-day executive leadership ...
-
News
IFC takes North America on ...So Goes The Nation
IFC Entertainment has picked up North American rights to thepolitical documentary ...So Goes The Nation, which receives its world premiere in Toronto. The film isdirected by Endgame Entertainment founder James Stern and Adam Del Deo....So Goes the Nation explores America's tumultuous electoral process and focuses onthe infamous Ohio vote count ...
-
News
Quaid, Weisz, Haden Church star in Groundswell's People
Filming is set to begin on Nov 6 in Pittsburgh on Groundswell Productions'comedy drama Smart People starring Dennis Quaid, Rachel Weisz and Thomas Haden Church.Michael London's Groundswell isproducing the project along with Bill Block's QED International and GrosvenorPark. QED's Kim Fox is handling international sales.Quaid stars as a curmudgeonly professor ...
-
News
NGF comes aboard God Grew Tired Of Us
National GeographicFilms (NGF) has taken a partnership stake in Christopher Quinn and Tommy Walker'sSundance Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award winner God Grew Tired Of Us.The company will provide finishing funds ahead of the North American releasethrough Newmarket Films and will integrate its programme resources, audienceoutreach and multiple media platforms ...
-
News
Ang Lee's Lust, Caution starts shooting in Malaysia
Ang Lee's wartime spythriller Lust, Caution started shooting this week in the Malaysian city of Ipoh, well-known for its pre-war architecture. Adapted from a novella bythe late Chinese author Eileen Chang, the Chinese-language picture is about agroup of patriotic students who plot to assassinate an intelligence chief,played by Tony Leung ...
-
News
Dead Man's Chest ready to plunder $1bn
Pirates Of The Caribbean:Dead Man's Chest will join an eliteclub when it crosses $1bn at the global box office this weekend and may evenreach the milestone today [8].Disney's blockbuster has amassed $998.5m worldwide and currently ranks as theseventh biggest international release of all time through Buena VistaInternational (BVI) on $584.1m.It ...
-
News
Jaume Balaguero finds The Certain Lady with Filmax
Spanish horror specialist Jaume Balaguero, fresh from the Venice screening of his newest film To Let, is preparing his next feature, The Certain Lady, for producer Filmax.The film is based on thenovel La Dama Numero Trece by Jose CarlosSomoza about a poetry lover haunted by a nightmare of a parallel ...
-
News
Amazon offers movie download service in US
Online retailer Amazon has launched a download-to-own service in the US. Amazon Unbox is to offer films, TV and other video entertainment from more than 30 studios and networks.Paramount, Fox, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros., Lionsgate and MGM have signed up.Disney, whose chief shareholder is Apple CEO Steve Jobs, is not ...
-
News
Odeon and Sky pact for UK distribution joint venture
Europe's leading exhibitor Odeon and pay TV company Sky have announced a new collaboration, Odeon andSky Filmworks, which will act as a UK distributor, signing titles directly from film-makers.The joint venture will offerfilms in cinemas, through VOD and DVD, and on television. Initially, Filmworksplans to release six films per year. ...
-
Reviews
The Journals Of Knud Rasmussen
Dirs/scr:Zacharis Kunuk, NormanCohn. Can-Den. 2006. 112mins.The combination of an opening night slotin Toronto and the pressure of following up on their justly heralded debut Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner - which won Cannes'Camera d'Or in 2001 - provide film-makers Zacharis Kunuk and Norman Cohenwith a searing spotlight for their new feature ...
-
News
CINE EXPO: Zoradi supports old-school marketing
Mark Zoradi, president of Buena Vista International, encouraged international exhibitors to focus on traditional marketing methods in order to improve profit margins, at Cinema Expo this week. Speaking prior to BVI's product showreel and digital screening of Dinosaur, his message to cinema operators was to revitalise their use of traditional ...
-
News
Japanese industrial giant buys into Comic Book Movies
Japanese conglomerate Itochu has bought a 10% stake in Hollywood-basedComic Book Movies (CBM).The investment, for an undisclosed sum, gives CBM access to theJapanese market through Itochu's licensing and distribution network, includingits Family Mart chain of convenience stores. Itochu will also promote CBM movies released in Japan and assist withglobal promotion.Itochu ...
-
News
Spanish film wins Europa Cinemas Label
Daniel Sánchez Arevalo's Dark Blue Almost Black (Azul Oscuro Casi Negro) has won the Europa Cinemas Label at Venice Film Festival.The award, judged by a jury of exhibitors, will be handed out at the closing ceremony tomorrow.The film is a Producciones Cinematográficas production, sold internationally by Sogepaq, which has already ...
-
News
NPA to add new training for directors and scriptwriters
The UK's NewProducers Alliance has launched new training schemes for directing and scriptdevelopment. The group already runs a similar "9 point" training programme for producers. Courses run from September to Juneeach monthly.The first panel for producers will be about"The Role of The Producer" with Gayle Griffiths, Phil Hunt and M. ...
-
News
Fido
Dir: Andrew Currie. Can. 2006. 91mins.A boy's best friend is his zombie in Fido, areasonably inventive comic film that plays out like a fusion of Shaun Of The Deadand Pleasantville. Andrew Currie'sfeature has enough charm and smart moves to sustain what is essentially aone-joke premise, but its hybrid nature could ...
-
News
Moreau to head San Sebastian jury
Jeanne Moreau will preside over a high-profile official jury at the Donostia-San Sebastian International Film Festival(Sept 21-30).She is joined by Bruno Barreto, Isabel Coixet, Sara Driver, Bruno Ganz, Manuel Gomez Pereira and Jose Saramago.Mexican actress Patricia Reyes Spindola will preside over the New Directors' jury. The festival has also made ...
-
Reviews
Fido
Dir: Andrew Currie. Can. 2006. 91mins.A boy's best friend is his zombie in Fido, areasonably inventive comic film that plays out like a fusion of Shaun Of The Deadand Pleasantville. Andrew Currie'sfeature has enough charm and smart moves to sustain what is essentially aone-joke premise, but its hybrid nature could ...