Small MPU – Page 652
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News
Working Title hops on board Australian thriller
Working Title is to come inon British commercials director Ringan Ledwidge's directorial debut, MiddleOf Nowhere. Co-produced by Sydney-based Deborah Balderstone WBP outfit and London-based Nira Park, it will start shooting in September in Australia.Middle of Nowhere is a psychological thriller about young Britishtravellers who encounter a charismatic American with ulterior ...
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News
European Film Promotion makes a date with New York
The pan-European promotionnetwork European Film Promotion (EFP) is to launch a new sales initiative"European Days" in New York commencing this November.
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Reviews
Sleeper (Schlafer)
Dir/scr: BenjaminHeisenberg. Austr-Ger. 2005.100mins.The latest co-productioninvolving dynamic Austrian/German directors' collective Coop99 (Darwin'sNightmare, The Edukators), Sleeper is an austere,thought-provoking post-9/11 drama about a German scientist who allows himselfto be talked into spying on a North African colleague.Perhaps a little too dourand drabbly-shot to reach much of an international audience outside offestivals, ...
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News
Kadokawa breaks sales records with Samurai Commando
Kadokawa Pictures has confirmed sales of SamuraiCommando Mission 1549 - a science fiction fantasy about aJapaneseSelf-Defence Forcesunit time-travelling back to the days ofthe samurai - to 31 international territories. This breaks a modern-day recordfor a domestic live-action film held by Hideo Nakata's Ringu, with 30.The film is scheduled for theatricalrelease ...
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London Film Focus closes on a high
The second London UK Film Focus (LUFF) has closed on a generally upbeat note.Screenings were well attended and buyers clearly supported the event, which nowlooks set to become an annual fixture in the calendar"I do think we've stepped up a rung this year. The quality of the filmswas better by ...
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News
A-Film plucks first Chicken
Dreamworks' Chicken Run is to be the first title handled by San Fu Maltha's new Dutch theatrical distribution outfit A-Film BV through an output deal which he has just signed with Pathe International.The $40m animated feature, produced by Aardman Animation studios and directed by Peter Lord and Nick Park, is ...
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Reviews
The King
Dir: James Marsh. US.2005. 105mins.Last year Gael GarciaBernal was the face of Cannes, with his contrasting performances in BadEducation and The Motorcycle Diaries. This year, he extends hisrange even further, smouldering with bad boy sex appeal as a prodigal son in TheKing, an English-language Gothic drama set in the American ...
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News
Surprise restructure for Irish Film Board
In a surprise move, theIrish Film Board has radically restructured, abolishing two senior positions inadvance of the appointment of a new CEO.It is believed that the Headof Production and Development, Brendan McCarthy, andHead of Marketing, Moira Horgan, have already been told that their contractswill not be renewed in September.Speaking to ...
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News
War of the Worlds makes $102.5m international debut
War of the Worlds blasted into the internationalmarketplace this weekend with an estimated five-day gross of $102.5m from 8,000prints running in 78 countries. It was by far the biggest international opening weekend everfor international rights owner Paramount Pictures and international distributorUIP. And in several major markets the film became the ...
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News
Karlovy Vary kicks off with Stone, Redford awards
The 40th KarlovyInternational Film Festival got underway over the weekend with a flurry ofawards going to veteran filmmakers. Saturday saw a Crystal Globego to Sharon Stone for outstanding contribution to world cinema. The actressalso presented a newly re-edited version of Jim Jarmusch's Broken Flowers. "Jim Jarmusch was notsatisfied after the ...
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News
Yellow Dog snaps up Munich audience prize
Afterbeing named Best Director at this year's German Film Promotion Awards (ScreenDaily, July 1 2005), Byambasuren Davaa has now seen her latest feature TheCave Of The Yellow Dog chosen by festival goers at the Munich Film Festivalfor the Bayern 3 Audience Award.AlthoughMunich is not a competitive festival, the nine-day event ...
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Regional film body must reject 'funding tourism.' says PM
Germany's media funds areback in business - at least, for the time being.The German government's proposed taxreforms, which would have seen the old-style media funds axed, have beenabandoned. But the reprieve could prove to be temporary for the funds,which, according to analysts, raised a staggering raised Euros $13 bn ...
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News
German fund told to boost local production
Leading German film fund Filmstiftung NRW in North Rhine-Westphalia must be used to bolster local productionrather than attract "funding tourism," according to the state's new primeminister Juergen Ruettgers.Speaking at the opening ofthis year's Medienforum NRW, Ruettgers praised the economic contribution ofFilmstiftung NRW."This work should becontinued," Ruettgers said, "But what is ...
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Reviews
Beauty Remains (Mei Ren Yi Jiu)
Dir: Ann Hu. China-US.2005. 89mins.Set against the backdropof the late 1940s Chinese Revolution, Beauty Remains is a grand,romantic saga where passion trumps politics and the lives of three littlepeople amount to more than a hill of beans. A handsomely mounted production, itelegantly balances the operatic and the cerebral in a ...
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Reviews
Avenge But One Of My Eyes (Nekam Achat Mishtey Eynay)
Dir/scr: AviMograbi. Is. 2005. 75mins.Avi Mograbi's well-deserved reputation for systematicallybaiting the official policies of the Israeli government will spread evenfurther with Avenge But One Of My Eyes, his explosively provocativedocumentary essay that played out of competition at Cannes.As usual, itwill be highly appreciated by all those who share Mograbi's radical ...
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Reviews
Zim And Co
Dir: Pierre Jolivet. Fr. 2005. 90mins.Played for- aughs like the flipside of Mathieu Kassovitz's gritty LaHaine, Zim And Co is a pleasant ultra benign diversion in itsportrayal of the trials and tribulations of a multi-cultural cast of characters- one Arab, one African and one white (who may be Jewish).Screened at ...
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News
Robbins, Luke to star in Noyce's Hot Stuff
Tim Robbins and Derek Lukewill head the cast in Working Title's production of Phillip Noyce's HotStuff, a political thriller set in South Africa.Based on the true story ofPatrick Chamusso, an ordinary man forced to resort to terror, the film is setin a turbulent and divided South Africa in the nineteen ...
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News
Media Luna picks up Brother To Brother, Dead Long Enough
Cologne-based internationalsales company Media Luna Entertainment has picked up Rodney Evans' BrotherTo Brother and Tom Collins' Dead Long Enough.Produced by Evans' owncompany Miasma Films with Intrinsic Value Films and C-Hundred Films, BrotherTo Brother is the story of gay African-American lives that won severalawards in 2004 including the Special Jury Prize ...
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News
UK film outfits launch Equalities Charter
20 of the UK's top film outfits including the UK FilmCouncil, Channel 4, BBC Films, BAFTA, and Vue Cinemas have joined forces tolaunch an Equalities Charter for Film.Billed as the first charter of its kind, it aims to promoteequal opportunities good practice and tackle issues of access, training andrepresentation, both ...
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News
War of the Worlds reaches $113.3m in US
War of the Worlds blasted into the internationalmarketplace this weekend with an estimated five-day gross of $102.5m from 8,000prints running in 78 countries. It was by far the biggest international opening weekend everfor international rights owner Paramount Pictures and international distributorUIP. And in several major markets the film became the ...