Small MPU – Page 271
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News
RAI accused of monopolising Italian distrib sector
On the weekend that it released its first ever title, RAI Cinema and StudioCanal's new theatrical offshoot 01 Distribuzione was accused of "unfairly monopolising" the [Italian] distribution sector.The charges, made by Giampaolo Sodano, president of the national distributors association, UNIDIM, and Aurelio De Laurentiis, president of indie distributor FilmAuro, have ...
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Reviews
Long Run
Dir: Jean Stewart. South Africa. 2001. 111mins.This attempt to create a simple triumph-against-adversity story, set against the world of long distance running in post-apartheid South Africa, has many good elements including a stand-out performance from Armin Mueller-Stahl and picaresque camerawork by British lenser Cinders Forshaw. However, the script fails to ...
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News
Kuhn and Parfitt team up for Sky Boys
Michael Kuhn has partnered with Academy Award-winning producer David Parfitt on Sky Boys, an action drama that marks the first project unveiled in the former PolyGram Filmed Entertainment chief's bid to make big-budget European films. The story of a heist on the Empire State building during its construction has been ...
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News
San Sebastian unveils new awards
Legendary British actress and singer Julie Andrews will be the recipient of San Sebastian's Donostia Award at this September's 49th edition, the festival announced Monday.In the final weeks running up to its September 20 start date, the festival also unveiled the line-up and a newly created award for best Latin ...
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News
Bittersweet success for The Greatest Thing
After years of commercial disappointment, which earlier this year saw the closure of the studio, Norwegian state-owned production company Norsk Film last week-end found the success it had long been denied with the release of its final film, The Greatest Thing (Den Storste I Verden). Ironically, the costume drama based ...
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News
Movieweb plans 12 Italian films per year
Movieweb, the Italian production company which has backed producer Rita Rusic's latest movies after her split from husband Vittorio Cecchi Gori, has revealed plans to become the country's leading production outfit with its bid to boost its production slate to 12 movies a year. Movieweb, which is managed and funded ...
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News
Rai cinema seeking European production partners
Confirming its intention to build up a solid international presence, Italy's Rai Cinema announced that it is actively seeking European co-production partners in Germany, Spain and France. Giuliano Montaldo, chairman of Rai Cinema, the Rome-based film arm of public broadcaster Rai Cinema, said the company plans to announce a European ...
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News
US studios protected from online competition
Hollywood studios planning to sell online movie downloads got good news last week in a report by the US Copyright Office on the 1998 Digital Millenium Copyright Act The report, requested by Congress to assess the effects of the Act, saw no need to extend the so-called 'first-sale doctrine' to ...
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Reviews
Jeepers Creepers
Dir: Victor Salva. US. 2001. 90 mins.There's a refreshing innocence to Jeepers Creepers, a stylish horror-thriller from Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope that indulges in the odd knowing genre joke but puts most of its energy into delivering good old-fashioned B-movie thrills. Teens raised on Scream and its imitators might ...
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Reviews
Monsoon Wedding
Dir: Mira Nair. India. 2001. 115mins.Since the late 1980s, Mira Nair has acted as the official face of Indian cinema in the West. Most high-frequency cinemagoers in Europe and the US will have seen at least one of Nair's trio of exportable Indian features: Salaam Bombay! (1988), Mississippi Masala (1991) ...
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News
A Knight's Tale gallops into UK Box Office
FilmFour's Lucky Break failed to come back from a disappointing start last weekend, falling 35% in its second weekend as Columbia TriStar's A Knight's Tale charged into the UK box-office.Knight's Tale, starring latest Aussie export Heath Ledger alongside local talent including Rufus Sewell, The Full Monty's Mark Addy and Gangster ...
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News
Majidi's Baran takes Montreal Grand Prix
Iranian filmmaker Majid Majidi's Baran shared the top prize at the 2001 Montreal World Film Festival, his third Grand Prix of the Americas in as many appearances in competition at Montreal. Majidi previously won in 1999 for The Colour Of Paradise and in 1997 for The Children Of Heaven. The ...
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News
New Oz tax rebates and local funding announced
The Australian government has revealed a new refundable tax incentive that gives certainty and flexibility to those wanting to shoot sizeable features, mini-series and tele-movies in the territory. It has also increased local funding to the tune of $48m for the next four years.For international productions, the government has announced ...
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News
South Korean distributor sparks censorship change
A court case brought by South Korean distributor Indiestory against the national Media Ratings Board, has resulted in a groundbreaking decision that is likely to curtail the board's power to censor films. The ruling, by the country's highest legal authority, the Constitutional Court, renders as unconstitutional the practice of denying ...
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News
Local films outclass US fare in Scandinavia
Local Scandinavian films are giving the US majors' summer releases a hard run for their money at the box office across a number of Nordic territories. Last week end, America's Sweethearts not only saw itself losing out to Norwegian opener The Greatest Thing, but also had to accept second place ...
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News
Eastern Europe embraces multiplex trend
With multi-screen cinema infrastructures already established in some Central and Eastern European territories such as Poland and the Czech Republic, the region's more underdeveloped territories are now seeing the initial signs of multiplex growth.Of the 12 multiplexes opened last year in the region, three were in the embryonic cinema markets ...
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News
Dutch Film By The Sea announces line-up
The Dutch film season kicks off next week (10-16 October) with the third edition of the Film By The Sea international film festival in Flushing, Holland. Announcing the literary-themed line-up which opens with Captain Correlli's Mandolin, festival director Leo Hannewijk, said "Adapting novels for the big screen is extremely tough, ...
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News
Venice to launch new TV festival in 2002
Venice, famous for its film festival is now set to become one of the highlights of the television calendar.Kicking off next March (March 21-26, 2002) Venice will be host to a new festival organised by the Associazone Prodottore Televisisi (Italy's association of independent television producers) and Venezia Fiere. The ...
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News
UK's DNA appoints Warlow
UK National Lottery franchise DNA Films has confirmed the appointment of Richard Warlow as head of development.Warlow joins from fellow lottery franchise Pathe Pictures, where he held the post of development executive, working on The Hole and the forthcoming releases Thunderpants and The Abduction Club. He previously worked at the ...
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News
UK Film Council members re-appointed
Tim Bevan, James Lee, Sarah Radclyffe, Iain Smith and John Hill have been re-appointed to the board of UK support body the Film Council, Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell announced on Tuesday September 4.The directors of the Board were appointed in September 1999, drawing lots to decide the length of their ...