Small MPU – Page 515
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Reviews
Hostel
Dir: Eli Roth. US. 2005.95mins.A serpentine thriller likely to both repulse andexcite, Roth's second feature - and follow-up to Cabin Fever - plays like a shotgun marriage of Eurotripand Saw, starting out confidently as an European road sex adventure beforedevolving into a mutilation splatter flick.It is not always easy totake, ...
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News
Record numbers apply for Berlinale Talent Campus
The Berlinale Talent Campus (BTC) has received a record3,516 applications from 121 countries for its fourth edition to be held fromFebruary 11-16.The number of entries is up 1,105 on last year and includesfirst-time applications from countries as far flung as Benin,Madagascar, Tajikistan Gambia, Fiji and Nepal. In addition, the number ...
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News
Vandierendonck set to take leading role at Eurimages
Belgium'sJan Vandierendonck is set to take over from Renate Roginas as ExecutiveSecretary for the Council of Europe's pan-European co-production fund Eurimagesfrom the beginning of January.Vandierendonckis currently the Director of International Relations and European Affairs atthe Flemish Audiovisual Fund. Duringhis career in the film industry, which began in the mid-1980s, he ...
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News
South Australian government ups investment in film
South Australia's government has put aside an additional A$1m ($577,000) a year over three years to invest in Australian and international films that either shoot or undertake post-production in the state. The figure represents more than double the government's current commitment. Minister for Arts Diana Laidlaw announced the move as ...
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News
Constantin raises sales forecast but theatrical still down
German producer-distributor ConstantinFilm has raised its forecast for the current financial year to a sales targetof around $235m (Euros 200m) for 2005.But the good news was largely due to home entertainmentandTV service production operations rather than theatrical.In its third-quarter results,Constantin did report an improvement in the performance of its theatricaldivision ...
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News
Pool signs to direct Mort for Equinoxe
Montreal-based EquinoxeProductions has signed Lea Pool to direct and co-adapt a film of GilCourtemanche's second novel Une Belle Mort, published this autumn in Quebec. Author Courtemanche will co-write thescreenplay. Equinoxe recently completedpost-production on Un Dimanche A Kigali, the film based on Courtemanche's Rwandan genocide drama which shot inRwanda in earlier ...
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News
10 films make animated feature shortlist
Ten pictureshave made the Academy Awards' animated feature shortlist and will vie for thethree coveted nominee slots to be unveiled on Jan 31 2006.The pictures areChicken Little, Gulliver's Travel, Hoodwinked, Howl's Moving Castle,Madagascar, Robots, Steamboy, Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, Valiant and Wallace & Gromit: The CurseOf The Were-Rabbit.Of these, onlyGulliver's ...
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News
Goblet Of Fire prepares to light a fire under box office
Warner Bros Pictures International unleashes Harry Potter AndThe Goblet Of Fireday-and-date with North America in a number of key territories this weekend, 17months after launching the last instalment The Prisoner Of Azkaban.The fourth episode in J KRowling's fantasy saga is set to roll out in Germany on Nov 17, followed ...
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News
Passion and preparation keys to indie success, say experts
Professionalism, preparation and passion are the key toselling and marketing independentfilms, a Screen International conference was told yesterday.New technologies, new distribution methods and new financechannels all seem to offer new routes to success.But industry experts were united on the need to stayfocussed on the product and the customer at every ...
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News
Trio feted at NZ producers' conference
New filmmaker RoseanneLiang, independent producer Elizabeth Mitchell and industry champion DaveGibson were all honoured at New Zealand's annual producers' conference on Friday evening(Nov 18) in Wellington.Gibson produced thecommercially successful feature TheIrrefutable Truth About Demons but is better known for the hours of televisionof all genres created at production powerhouse The ...
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Reviews
Syriana
Dir/scr: Stephen Gaghan. US. 2005. 123mins.Writer-director Stephen Gaghan'sSyrianasets out to do for the global oil industry what Steven Soderbergh'sTraffic - which Gaghanscripted - did for the international drug trade. But while Traffic managed to mix affecting drama with its big picturegeopolitics, Gaghan's provocative new study worksbetter as a stimulant for ...
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News
Post-Soviet comedy takes Etoile D'Or at Marrakech
Aco-production from Kyrgyzstan and Germany has taken the top prize at the fifthannual Marrakech International Film Festival.ErnestAbdyshaparov's Saratan wasawarded the Etoile d'Or on Saturday night. The comedytakes place in post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan and was one of a field of 15 competingfilms during the week-long festival.The juryprize was a tie for festival ...
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News
Cvitkovic and Takushi share honours at Turin
Slovenian film Gravehopping shared top honoursat the 2005 Torino Film Festival with Clouds of Yesterday, anostalgia-soaked paean to the silent film era which represents the featuredirecting debut of Japanese actor and composer Tsubokawa Takushi.The Torino best feature awardfor Gravehopping continued the triumphal festival march of JanCvitkovic's choral black comedy, which ...
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Harry's Goblet runneth over in US on $101.4m...
As expected Harry PotterAnd The Goblet Of Fire paralysed thecompetition at the weekend with a staggering estimated $101.4m three-day haulthat swatted away concerns over the higher PG-13 rating and surely exceededeven the expectations of Warner Bros.The result is the biggestopening in the franchise to date and will remain so even ...
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News
Scott Thomas indulges in Original Bliss
UK actress Kristin Scott Thomas has optioned film rights to Original Bliss, A L Kennedy's acclaimed book about the complexities of sex or the lack of it.Eclipse Management, the production and management company recently launched by former William Morris Agency executives Charles Finch and Luc Roeg, confirmed the move, made ...
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...and brings in mighty $80m haul in 19 international territories
Just as it did in North America, Harry Potter And The Goblet OfFire re-wrote the recordbook with a superlative international launch that generated an estimated $80mfrom 5,300 prints in 19 countries.The fourth instalment in the children's franchise opened numberone in all its markets, led by an industry best UK debut ...
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Allegro joint slate with F&ME reaches Fever pitch
Austrian production outfitAllegro Films is joining with London's Film and Music Entertainment on a slateof three films including a new project, Fever,to be directed by Bruce Beresford (DrivingMiss Daisy). First up is the latestproject from Swiss-born director Simon Aeby,titled MulberryCrossing. This will shoot in English,with a British cast. Currently ...
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Verhoeven steers new course for shipwreck tale
Paul Verhoeven and his regularscriptwriter Gerard Soeteman are pushing ahead again with Batavia's Graveyard, their blood-curdlinghistorical epic about the shipwreck of the Bataviain 1629. The film was previously set up at FilmFour."It's a story in the directionof the Bounty but it's much more about the development of a fascist regime," ...
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News
Galway Film Fleadh names McDermott as programmer
The Galway Film Fleadh has announced that FelimMcDermott will be the new programmer for the July event which marks itseighteenth edition in 2006.Having studied filmproduction at Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design& Technology, McDermott has worked for 10 years in numerous capacities witha variety of film organisations.They include the Cork ...
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Reviews
Rent
Dir: Chris Columbus. US.2005. 130mins.The zeitgeist 1996 Broadway musical Rent gets a faithful and energetic filmadaptation from an unlikely film-maker in Chris Columbus, and an in-builtaudience of Rent-lovers won't bedisappointed. Columbus also has a fair shot at pulling in a new generation ofkids who don't know the show and who ...