Small MPU – Page 465
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News
Aussie distribution vet Geoff Jackson retires
Australian film industry veteran Geoff Jackson, whose career has spanned 52 years, will retire on July 1, 2000.The announcement came from 20th Century Fox International yesterday that Jackson, who is currently regional print manager at Fox Asia/Pacific, would call it a day.He started his career in 1948 as an office ...
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BBC viewers vote for best films of 2004
Viewers of the BBC's leading film review programme, Film 2004 with Jonathan Ross, have voted The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King astheir Film of the Year.Massappeal blockbusters such as Spider-Man 2 and The Incredibles lineup in the top 10 alongside the subtitled martial arts epic Hero ...
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Bangkok festival unveils animation sidebar
The forthcoming Bangkokfestival (Jan 13-24) will dedicate a new sidebar to animated film. It willinclude a special tribute to animator, producer, director, Gabor Csupo.The Csupo retrospective will becomplemented by a series of animation seminars conducted by Csupo andexecutives from his Los Angeles-based firm Klasky-Csupo - Hal Waite, seniorvice president of ...
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Reviews
Meet The Fockers
Dir: Jay Roach. US. 2004.114mins.Despite the welcomeaddition of Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand for this sequel to surpriseworldwide hit Meet The Parents, getting to know the Fockers turns out tobe less fun than meeting the original folks was four years ago.The sequel - which alsoreunites Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller ...
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Focus Partnership exits Warner Village Cinemas in Italy
Warner Bros International Cinemas (WBIC) and VillageCinemas, who jointly owned 90% of Warner Village Cinemas in Italy, have boughtthe remaining 10% of the venture currently held by Focus Partnership.As of yesterday (22) WBIC and Village Cinemas each own 50% of the business."With Focus, we were able to build a thriving ...
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Reviews
The Ritchie Boys
Dir/scr. Christian Bauer.Ger-Can. 2004. 90mins.The Ritchie Boys is the documentary ideal: at once a broad canvas andan intense personal journey, as rich in historical detail as it is in humanistresonance. The film profiles the experiences of several emigre German Jews whofled their nation during Hitler's 1930s rise to power and ...
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Reviews
Saraband
Dir/scr: Ingmar Bergman.Swe. 2003. 107mins.The valedictory work of one of the titans of the 20th century art is aminor, unsteady film that will disappoint those who expect a blazing testamentto an awe-inspiring career. But when your name is Ingmar Bergman, no matter. Saraband,upon which the Swedish filmmaker says he's bowing ...
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News
2004: A taxing year in the UK
It has been a taxing year. The Treasury's February'bombshell' outlawing tax partnerships such as Ingenious'Inside Track and Grosvenor Park's First Choice knocked a hole through thefinancing of many productions.In the wake of that decision, the emphasis was on damagelimitation. Though few could work out how the government's much-vaunted20% tax credits ...
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News
2004: Almodovar, Vega lead Spanish crusade
In March, the Socialist party ousted the ruling PopularParty in a surprise upset in Spain's national elections. Thepredominantly left-leaning film industry was jubilant with the win, temperedonly by the fact that it was preceded three days earlier by a series of deadlyterrorist bombs set off on commuter trains in Madrid.The ...
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2004: Japan toasts samurai, love and Miyazaki
The three main themes of the Japanese box office in 2004were samurai, love and Miyazaki. Unlike most Hollywood films set in Japan, TheLast Samurai was embraced by localaudiences as one of their own. The film outpaced Harry Potter And ThePrisoner Of Azkaban, Finding Nemo and TheReturn Of The King at ...
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News
2004: Farce and Passion in France
The year started brightly with the implementation of atax-credit scheme meant to bolster production at home - and ended bleaklywith the ruling that a film French to its Tricolore core, Jean-PierreJeunet's A Very Long Engagement,did not qualify for state subsidies.The pedigree of its production company, 2003 Productions,was considered American given ...
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News
Jon Anderson to leave Col TriStar after 20 years
Although Spain has long considered Latin America a key secondary market, Latin American films do not generally do major business in Spain. Two recent Argentine films, both handled locally by Alta Films, have changed that: The Son Of The Bride (El Hijo De La Novia) and Nine Queens (Nueve Reinas), ...
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News
2004: New Zealand on a roll
The country is on a roll. Producers are financing localfilms at unprecedented budget levels, footloose productions are arriving fromHollywood with great frequency and audiences are swarming into cinemas to watchthe pick of the local crop.Moreover, film-maker Peter Jackson is pumping money intoinfrastructure and skills development that can be accessed by ...
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News
2004: Russia comes in from the cold
This year was dominated by the boom in Russian film-making.Some 120 features have been shot in 2004 and every week Moscow sees thepremiere of at least one or two new local titles.The big winner on both the production and distributionfronts was Timur Bekmambetov's Night Watch, which broke all box-office records ...
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2004: All eyes on South Korean cinema
In 2004, Korean cinema saw two films, Silmido and Taegukgi, pass the hitherounscaled 10 million admissions mark.The industry also made key strides in its most importantoverseas market - Japan. However, moves by Korea's major studiosled to fears of a 'monopolistic' accumulation of power.CJ Entertainment won a bitter struggle for exhibition ...
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2004: Clouds on horizon for Swedish film
Two major wrangles defined the year for the Swedish filmindustry: the renewal of the Swedish film agreement, and the proposed sale ofSandrew Metronome's exhibition business to rival chain SF Bio.The renewal of the Swedish film agreement, which is designedto generate money for local production, has been delayed until 2005. The ...
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News
2004: Italy racked by Venice, Mifed and funding troubles
2004 began with a serious case of deja vu, as a questionmark once again hung in the air over who would head up the Venice filmfestival.In April, the Italian government ousted Venice artisticdirector Moritz de Hadeln, and picked the popular Marco Mueller. But despite arich selection and a glitzier line-up ...
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Berlinale unveils first competition films
The Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 10-20) has namedthe first films that will play in its Competition section as well as unveilingGerman director Roland Emmerich (The Day AfterTomorrow) as president of the International Jury.Including Régis Wargnier's opening film Man to Man, eleven films have been selected for the Competitionsection - ...
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2004: Oz despairs as production levels plummet
Despair and hope characterised 2004. Local production levelsfell, only a few films found audiences, and everyone had a moan about the rest.But hopes are high that the relatively new and still freshFilm Finance Corporation Australia chief executive Brian Rosen - helpedby his new sidekicks - really will prove to be ...
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2004: German film blasts off in Dreamship year
Local comedies Dreamship Surprise - Period 1, DerWixxer and 7 Dwarfs drove soaring admissions in 2004. German audiencesalso responded well to the more idiosyncratic titles including OliverHirschbiegel's The Downfall,Fatih Akin's Golden Bear winner Head-On, and the family film Lauras Stern.In the first nine months of the year, German films'market share ...