Small MPU – Page 359
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Polanski to preside over competition jury at Marrakech
The sixthMarrakech International Film Festival, which will take place from Dec 1 to 9, hasannounced that Roman Polanski will be the president of this year's competition jury. Thefestival which takes place under the patronage of Morocco's King Mohammed VIwill also feature a retrospective focus on Italian cinema.Polanski will presumably come ...
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Hong Kong's Innotion to launch CG feature at AFM
Start-up Hong Kong animationstudio Innotion is launching what it describes as the world's first CG bearmovie, Tonki Bear, at upcomingmarkets including MIPCOM and the AFM. The English-language film,which is scheduled for release in spring 2007, is aimed squarely atinternational markets and has no recognisable Asian elements. With a budget of ...
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Celestial signs deals with Australian duo
Hong Kong-based CelestialPictures has sealed separate deals with Australian broadcasters SBS and Pan TVfor distribution of its Shaw Brothers library. Public broadcaster SBS haslicensed free TV rights to a package of Shaw Brothers films, including The 36th Chamber Of Shaolin, Come Drink With Me and The Magic Blade. The deal ...
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Australia's award season kicks off
Australia's award season kicked off this week withnominations announced for both the Inside Film Awards and the Film CriticsCircle of Australia Awards. The people's choice IF Awards revealedtheir nominations on Oct 4. The three films up for best film are: Kenny, a low-budget, privately financeddocumentary-style drama made by debut director ...
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US to remake Brazil hit If I Were You
USA'sClifford Werber Productions and Brazil'sTotal Entertainment will produce the English language remake of the romanticcomedy If I Were You (Se Eu FosseVocê), the most successful Brazilian film of the year. Produced by Total, inassociation with Lereby, Fox Film do Brasil and Globo Filmes (the film arm ofleading Brazilian broadcaster Globo ...
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Sitges line-up announced
Terry Gilliam, Joe Dante,Paul Verhoeven, Darren Aronofsy and Brad Anderson are a few of the directorsexpected this year at the upcoming 39th edition of the InternationalFilm Festival of Catalunya (Oct 6-15), better known as Sitges.The popular genre event willopen with Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth then give way to a ...
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Pathe holds worldwide rights to The Diving Bell And The Butterfly
Pathe Pictures International has announced that itwill be selling the worldwide rights to French-language feature film TheDiving Bell and the Butterfly, whichis based on the best-selling memoir by Jean-Dominique Bauby. Principal photography began on the film on Sept 4 in France under thedirection of Julian Schnabel, director of Basquiat and ...
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Nonstop Sales secure Exit
International sales agent NonStop Sales has secured both salesand distribution rights for the Peter Lindmark-directed Swedish thriller Exit.Exit stars MadsMikkelsen, who previously appeared in KingArthur and is set to appear in the Bond film Casino Royale (released Nov 17), and Alexander Skarsgard, who wasin Kill Your Darlings. Lindmark's previous films ...
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Canadian start-up has TiMe on its side
Wolfram Tichy's TiMe Film & Television Produktion is backing start-up Canadian production company Savi Media in a long-term development and production deal. Essentially a first-look deal in exchange for start-up capital, the arrangement will see Savi, headed by veteran producer Alexandra Raffe, scout for and screen projects for co-development and ...
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Franka Potente to play Pope Joan
Germany's FrankaPotente is to play the lead in Volker Schloendorff's long-gestating adaptationof Donna Cross' novel Pope Joan.Cross'bestseller tells the story of Johanna von Ingelheim, who succeeded in enteringthe highest ranks of the Roman clergy disguised as a man and was elected Popein 853 - a story the Vatican claims is ...
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First sales for Golden Shell winner Half Moon
The Match Factory hasconcluded its first deals for Bahman Ghobadi's Golden Shell winner Half Moon, with sales to GolemDistribution (Spain), Providence Filmes (Brazil) and Cinemien (Netherlands,Belgium), while negotiations are underway for the UK, Scandinavian and LatinAmerican territories.In addition to winning theGolden Shell ex aequo, Half Moon hadreceived the San Sebastian ...
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FACT welcomes new Director General Kieron Sharp
The Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) has announced the appointment of Kieron Sharp as its new DirectorGeneral. Sharp has a 30-year law-enforcementbackground, most recently as Head of Specialist Crime Operations at the City ofLondon Police Service where he headed major crime investigations andsurveillance operations, among other duties. He is a ...
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Sweden's Astoria cinema chain goes into receivership
Sweden's second-largest cinema chain, Astoria Cinemas, has gone intoreceivership. The chain has applied for anadministration order, but CEO Mattias Nohrborg is said to be attempting a reconstructionof the company.Nohrborg went to court afterthe Swedish Film Institute had earlier this week asked the bailiff to cash in a$9.8 million debt from ...
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Five new features for Brazil's Conspiracao Filmes
Conspiracao Filmes, theBrazilian production outfit behind Andrucha Waddington's House Of Sand and local hit Two Sons Of Francisco, has announced aslate of five features for 2007/08.The first project, Right On! (PodeCrer!),is currently in post production for release early next year. Directed by ArthurFontes, the film is a coming-of-age story about ...
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Beach gets Rising Star award at 18th Palm Springs festival
The 18th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF)will honour Adam Beach with the Rising Star Award at its annual awards gala onJan 6, 2007.Beach will next be seen alongside Ryan Phillippe, Jesse Bradford,Barry Pepper and Paul Walker in Clint Eastwood's Iwo Jima epic Flags Of OurFathers. Paramount willrelease the ...
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Babel to open, Host to close Hawaii festival
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's ensemble drama Babel and the US premiere of Lee Sang-il'sfeel-good Japanese picture Hula Girls booked the 26th Hawaii International Film Festival (LVHIFF),which straddles several Hawaiian islands from Oct 19-Nov 5.Bong Joon-ho's South Korean horror blockbuster The Host is named the centerpiece gala, while KenWatanabe will collect the ...
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Outfest to honour Regent Media, 25 years of films about AIDS
Outfest's annual Honours gala in Los Angeles on Oct 13 willbenefit the Outfest Legacy Project for LGBT Film Preservation.The event will pay tribute to Regent Media and 25 years ofcreative films about AIDS, specifically the landmark television drama AnEarly Frost (1985) alongwith creators Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman.Outfest and the ...
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WTC, Prada, Vice, Click all hit major territories
Paramount's World Trade Center took the international arena by stormlast weekend and executives will be looking for more of the same when overseasdistributor UIP launches the picture in 16 further territories.Oliver Stone's 9/11 drama opens in Australia on Oct 5 and Japan onOct 7. It has grossed $22.5m from the ...
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Film Independent announces participants in 2006 Producers Lab
Film Independent has announced the participants in its annual ProducersLab, which runs in Los Angeles for seven consecutive weeks starting on Oct 16.The participants are: Greg Corbin (Senor Vasquez And The HolyDonut); Sarah DiLeo (BlessMe, Ultima); ScottFoster (Crystal Messiah);Jasmine Jaisinghani (SuperMacho); Charlotte Pai and Ben Wagner (Baja); Sean Shodahl and ...
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Jacob's successor to be chosen after summer
As was planned, Gilles Jacob officially took over from Pierre Viot as president of the Cannes film festival on Monday (July 3), but the decision as to who will step into his shoes in the crucial role of director general will only be announced after the summer holidays.Writer and journalist ...