Small MPU – Page 419
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Reviews
The Human Stain
Dir: Robert Benton. US. 2003. 104 mins.Or The Human Blot, depending on your point of view. It's not that Miramax' early autumn Oscar rollout is a bad film: it's just that it doesn't quite work up the energy to be a good one. True, the pairing of Kidman and Hopkins ...
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News
UK production update - Sept 3
UK - September 3PRE-PRODUCTIONA WAY THROUGH THE WOODS(Celador Films) Backer: Complete Communications. Anne shares a seemingly perfect marriage to James, until the arrival of Bill, and a tragic accident in their idyllic country village looks set to unravel their lives forever. Exec prod: Paul Smith. Prod: Christian Colson, Steve Clark-Hall. ...
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News
HUNGARY
Following its success in its opening weekend with the year's third strongest opening performance, T3 is still holding strong across Hungary, in the capital as well as in all of the country's larger cities. In its shadow following the relative success of Monsoon Wedding, SPI International, the country's youngest distributor, ...
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Reviews
The Return (Vozvrashcheniye)
Dir. Andrei Zvygatinsev. Russia, 2003. 105 min.This intimate, almost metaphysical study of rebellion against parental authority does everything a Hollywood picture doesn't. Not only because it is refreshing to see, for a change, that adolescence does not relate only to sexual glands, but also because it takes a considerable risk ...
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News
NORTH AMERICA
The 2003 summer season ended in grand style over the long Labor Day weekend as Jeepers Creepers 2 set a record for the holiday weekend and four films passed $100m to raise to a record 14 the number of titles that have reached the milestone this season.The new arrivals at ...
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News
Italy's Lady Pictures picks up Matrubhoomi
Indian film Matrubhoomi - A Nation Without Women has been picked up for distribution in Italy by independent player Lady Films. In Scandinavia it has been acquired by local major Svensk Filmindustri. Sales are handled by France's Mercure International and Films Distribution, which reports discussions for other European territories and ...
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Reviews
Once Upon A Time In Mexico
Dir: Roberto Rodriguez. US 2003. 101 mins.You have to give Roberto Rodriguez his due: he's nothing if not ambitious. Take the title of his new film. With a dose of homage and a dose of parody and a slug of bare-faced presumption, Once Upon A Time In Mexico declares its ...
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News
Cecchi Gori faces up-Stream battle
Italian media mogul Vittorio Cecchi Gori is taking legal action against his partners in pay-TV platform Stream over a capital increase which he claims is designed to give Rupert Murdoch control of the company.According to Italian press reports, Cecchi Gori has filed an urgent suit with a Rome court to ...
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News
German DVD market booms
Germany's DVD boom continued unabated during the first six months of 2003, spurred on by the lure of new releases such as Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, James Bond;Die Another Day and The Matrix.According to statistics from the country's home entertainment industry body Bundesverband audiovisuelle Medien (BVV), the ...
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News
Italy's Istituto Luce takes Payami's Silence
Italy's state-owned ditribution outfit, Istituto Luce, has bought local distribution rights to Babak Payami's hard-laboured Upstream title, Silence Between Two Thoughts, which the director managed to smuggle out of Iran after local authorities had confiscated his 35mm film."My film's negative was confiscated by Iranian authorities, and it was a hard ...
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News
Last Life joins Oscar contenders
Thailand has selected Venice title Last Life In The Universe as its official foreign-language Oscar contender. The film, which is directed by Pen-Et Ratanaruang, is currently represented in the Controcorrente or Upsteam competition section of the Venice festival.It has drawn plaudits for its cool storytelling and visual intelligence and marked ...
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News
New York shoots up by a third
Despite the recent city blackout and the legacy on 9/11 the number of feature film shooting days has leapt by over a third since the start of the year, according to the Mayor's Office of Film Theatre and Broadcasting.Although the city has yet to compile its full shooting figues for ...
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News
Swimfan director's next gets Australian FCC approval
Film Finance Corporation Australia (FFC) has approved investment in four new features. They are Mozart Maulers, the third film by director John Polson (Swimfan), Three Dollars, Robert Connolly's second film as a director after The Bank, debut writer/director Anna Reeves' The Oyster Farmer, and You And Your Stupid Mate, which ...
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News
Hayek, Sundance among PGA diversity honorees
Salma Hayek, writer-director John Singleton, Hawaiian film-makerChristine Walker and the Sundance Institute's Native American InitiativesProgramme are to be honoured for their diverse producing work by the ProducersGuild of America (PGA).The 2nd Annual Celebration of Diversity is due to take place inLos Angeles on Oct 1 and recognises producers whose work, ...
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News
Alliance Atlantis takes on international rights to Moon
Alliance Atlantis hasacquired international rights to writer-director Robert Lepage's Far Side ofthe Moon. Adapted from Lepage'seponymous stage play, and starring Lepage in two roles, as competitive twinbrothers, the film explores the notion of duality against the backdrop of theUS-Soviet space race. The film makes its world premiere at the TorontoInternational ...
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News
Slamdance winner Living bought for US by Cowboy
New York-based distributor Cowboy Pictures has acquired ElliotGreenebaum's comedy Assisted Living, this year's grand jury prizewinner at the Slamdance FilmFestival that also won the jury prize and audience award for best film at the2003 GenArt Film Festival.Greenebaum's debut featuretells the story of stoner who strikes up an unlikely friendship with ...
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News
Block's Decibel takes a shine to Danish Midsummer
US remake rights to Danish newcomer Carsten Myllerup's thriller Midsummer have been picked by Bill Block's DecibelEntertainment, which plans to move its story from the Swedish woods to warmerclimates on Hawaii. "At this point we don't know who will star in or direct the film,"Danish producer Rasmus Thorsen of Cosmo ...
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News
Green light for Red Light Runners
Shooting has started in London on Red Light Runners, a heist film starring Michael Madsen, Harvey Keitel, Cillian Murphy, Crispin Glover, Rich Hall, Kate Ashfield, Peter O'Toole and Roy Scheider.Directed by Nick Egan, the film tells the story of a rogue CIA operative in London on a covert mission to ...
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News
Pirates aims to haul more international gold
Pirates Of The Caribbean looks set to continue its international dominance this upcoming weekend with releases in the key territories of Germany, Italy and Korea.Buena Vista International's family adventure has been a late summer arrival outside the US and has wasted little time in making waves.Pirates boosted its international running ...