Small MPU – Page 3910
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News
AFM: Rubin launches US independent distribution outfit First Independent
Former Artisan Televisionexecutive vice president Gary Rubin has launched the domestic distributionoutfit First Independent Pictures and expects to announce an initial slateshortly.The Santa Monica-basedcompany is backed by private investors and Rubin is in discussions with DavidHutkin of The Lewis Horwitz Organization and Mercantile National Bank's ArtStribley for production financing and ...
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News
Parker steps down as UK Film Council chair
Alan Parker is leaving as chairman of the UK Film Council after five years, the film support body confirmed this week.Stewart Till, vice-chairman of the council and head of UIP, is seen as a potential replacement for the position, which is expected to be filled over the summer. Parker will ...
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Reviews
Pearls And Pigs (Helmia Ja Sikoja)
Dir: Perttu Leppa. Finland. 2003. 113 mins.Feelgood comedy Pearls And Pigs was seen by around 1 in 40 Finns in the weeks after its home release late last year, and while being big in Finland is no watertight guarantee of international success, this likeable teen comedy has some serious Hollywood ...
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News
AFM: Rohmer floats with Funny Balloons
New French sales outfit Funny Balloons has picked up Latin American rights to Berlin competition film Triple Agent by Eric Rohmer and sold a raft of territories from its Berlin-AFM slate.Triple Agent - a period thriller shot almost entirely in interiors - is brought to market in other territories by ...
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News
AFM: Lightning strikes twice
Los Angeles-based production and distribution outfit Lightning Entertainment has picked up international sales to the drama This Girl's Life starring James Woods and the romantic comedy Perfect Opposites with Piper Perabo and Martin Henderson.In This Girl's Life a porn star hides her profession from the man she loves and her ...
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News
AFM: Senator strikes pair of Harold And Kumar sales
Senator International has sold two additional territories for its comedy Harold And Kumar Go To White Castle, which has just completed principal photography and is due to be released in the US in July through New Line.Constantin has picked up German rights and Metropolitan Films has acquired for France.John Cho ...
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News
AFM: Amuse buys android fantasy
Korean thriller Natural City has finally been sold to Japan by its producer-sales agent Tube Entertainment.The big budget android fantasy was sold to Amuse Entertainment for a 'first rate price' after negotiations which began in Mifed and wrapped post-Berlin.Ina rare deal, Tube also pre-sold Fighter In The Wind, a fictionalised ...
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News
AFM: RS Entertainment takes US for Unspeakable
Pav Films has named Randy Slaughter's LA-based RS Entertainment as US theatrical distributor for its debut feature, the psycho-thriller Unspeakable starring Dennis Hopper as an unbalanced prison warden opposite Dina Meyer, Lance Henriksen, Jeff Fahey and newcomer Pavan Grover.MGM has domestic television and DVD/home video rights while 20th Century Fox ...
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News
Frankie's Comeback wins Pathe Production Prize
The first Pathe Production Prize has gone to Frankie's Comeback, a comedy that will now be produced through UK National Lottery franchise Pathe Pictures.The project, written by former theatre actor Bernard Wright, was selected from the three winners of the inaugural Orange Prize for Screenwriting. It follows a washed-up showman ...
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News
AFM: Strings ties up key pre-sales
Danish film Strings, which is already being tipped as a contender for Official Selection at Cannes, has tied together a number of key pre-sales.The film, a dark fantasy adventure told with string puppets, was sold by Trust Film Sales to Ascot Elite for Switzerland, Russian Report for Russia, Haut Et ...
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News
AFM: France's Gemini does due Process
France's Gemini Films has taken on international sales duties for Process, the experimental thriller by CS Leigh, which screened as a special event at this month's Berlin festival.Containing next to no dialogue, only 29 edits and the cinematography of Yorgos Arvanitis, the film is an unusual look at a woman's ...
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News
AFM: New Select prays on Belgian sex fantasy
Japan's New Select was an early buyer for Belgian sexual fantasy film Praying Mantis.Lou Broclain plays a woman involved in a love triangle, who despite her best intentions feels herself turning into a praying mantis, the female insect that kills its partners immediately after mating. Directed by veteran film-maker Marc ...
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News
AFM: Sunflower takes root for Zhang
Chinese director Zhang Yang starts production next week in Beijing on Sunflower, a family story set against the backdrop of China's 'Cultural Revolution' in the late 1970s. The film stars Joan Chen as a mother focusing on finding a larger apartment for her family.Fortissimo Film Sales is handling world sales ...
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News
Catholics called on to denounce Gibson's Passion
Following a viewing on Monday of Mel Gibson's The Passion Of The Christ, the Chief Rabbi of Ireland, Dr Yaakov Pearlman, has asked the majority Catholic Church to denounce the film as anti-Semitic.He is reported in the Irish press today as urging the Catholic Church to clarify its official position, ...
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News
Black Tiger wins First Light prize
UK Film Council chair Alan Parker and actors Dougray Scott and Olivia Williams were amongst the attendees at the First Light awards, the Film Council's National Lottery-funded programme for seven to 18 year olds.Jury members including Pierce Brosnan, Kenneth Branagh, Ray Winstone, Christopher Eccleston and Samantha Morton awarded the prize ...
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News
Heavens Above - It's Cash Wednesday!
Newmarket Films and Icon Entertainment announced their astonishingfinal numbers yesterday for the first day Wednesday gross of The Passion OfThe Christ - a divine$26,556,573.The figure, which is the third biggest Wednesday gross of all timeafter The Return Of The King ($34m) and Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace ...
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News
Bay's Platinum Dunes signs international agreement with Focus
Platinum Dunes, MichaelBay's production outfit designed to make modestly budgeted films fromfirst-time directors, has signed an exclusive sales arrangement with FocusFeatures. Focus had previously handled Platinum Dunes' debut project TheTexas Chainsaw Massacre, whichgrossed more than $100m worldwide.The new deal will encompassall upcoming Platinum Dunes projects for which Focus will sell ...
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News
New Line makes Mexican pact with brand new distributor
New Line International hasallied with Districine in Mexico for the distribution of all New Line's filmsin Mexico. New Line's films were previously handled by sister company WarnerBros Pictures International in all Latin America, but the studio is currentlyreassessing its distribution plans in the subcontinent.Districine is a newlyfounded company run by ...
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News
Showtime greenlights Catholic Church scandal drama Our Fathers
Showtime has greenlit the highly topical drama Our Fathers, based on Newsweek editor David France'sinvestigation into the paedophilia scandal that gripped the Roman Catholicchurch.Casting is underway on the project, which is due to begin shootingin April and will be directed by Dan Curtis (The Winds Of War) based on a ...
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News
Edinburgh festival to host Ophuels retrospective
Director Max Ophuels is the recipient of this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival retrospective, an extensive showcase of a film-maker's oeuvre that was dedicated to France's Robert Bresson last year.The German film-maker began his career as a stage actor and director in the roaring 20s before fleeing the country when ...