Small MPU – Page 707

  • Features

    Eastern Europe - Festival watch - Karlovy vary

    2007-06-29T00:00:00Z

    This year's Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (June 29-July 7) in the Czech Republic boasts a diverse range of more than 200 films, including nine world premieres.Competition titles from the region include Zoltan Kamondi's Dolina, a tale of an isolated town in the Eastern Carpathians, that picked up an award ...

  • News

    My Mother Frank wins Melbourne vote

    2000-08-18T16:09:00Z

    Audiences favoured home-grown films at this year's Melbourne Film Festival (July 19-August 6). My Mother Frank, directed by Sydney-based Mark Lamprell, scooped the Stella Artois Award for most popular film, while Melbourne director Paul Cox scored second and third spot with Innocence and Molokai: The Story Of Father Damien. A ...

  • News

    Hungary: on the ascendant

    2007-06-27T00:00:00Z

    New studios and a significant tax rebate mean that Hungary is challenging the Czech Republic as the hottest production hub in the region. Theodore Schwinke reportsThe Hungarian capital of Budapest and its surroundings are packed with productions, despite a recent rise in the Hungarian forint against the dollar and euro. ...

  • News

    On location: Good

    2007-06-27T00:00:00Z

    Fluctuations in the exchange rate caused problems for a UK production looking for savings in Hungary. Louise Tutt reports. The $16m UK production of Good headed to Hungary in search of savings but almost lost out as a result of exchange rate fluctuations.Lured to Budapest by the 20% tax allowance ...

  • News

    Romania: youth and experience

    2007-06-27T00:00:00Z

    Romania's potential as a location gained momentum with the arrival of Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth last year, but can the territory keep pace with its neighbours' Theodore Schwinke reportsRomania is in a unique position in Eastern Europe in being better known for its homegrown cinema than as a ...

  • News

    Local production: riding Romania's wave

    2007-06-27T00:00:00Z

    Following the Cannes triumph of Cristian Mungiu's 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days, Romanian film-making is on a high. Theodore Schwinke reportsDespite the international festival success of such films as The Death Of Mr Lazarescu, 12:08 East Of Bucharest, California Dreamin' and 4 Months, 3 Weeks & 2 Days, ...

  • News

    Bulgaria: Nu Boyana on the block

    2007-06-27T00:00:00Z

    Nu Image's transformation of Boyana studios has placed Bulgaria on the film map. Now other producers want a piece of the action. Theodore Schwinke reportsBulgaria is a country showing significant promise. Since the transformation of Boyana studios by Nu Image last year there has been a steady stream of low-budget ...

  • News

    On location: Hero Wanted

    2007-06-27T00:00:00Z

    Small-town America has been recreated in detail on a Bulgarian backlot. Theodore Schwinke visits the set of Hero Wanted. The traffic lights are always green and the theatre posters promote only Nu Image pictures. Otherwise Nu Boyana's Ilientzi set, on the ourtskirts of Bulgaria's capital Sofia, is a convincing replica ...

  • News

    Writers rights

    2007-06-29T00:00:00Z

    Screenwriters are looking to change the way they are treated by the industry - and win more recognition. As the UK's International Screenwriters' Festival (July 3-6) opens, John Hazelton explores the writers' lot. It's in the zeitgeist that the writers' lot must be improved in order for movies to get ...

  • News

    Screenwriting: odds even.

    2007-06-29T00:00:00Z

    Initiated at Sundance, screenwriters' group 1.3.9 hopes to work directly with actors and directors on film projects. So how will the arrangement work' John Hazelton reportsChristopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) and Erik Jendresen (TV series Band Of Brothers) hatched the idea for 1.3.9, their recently launched writers' co-operative, after stints ...

  • News

    Writers' co-op: singular vision

    2007-06-29T00:00:00Z

    John Wells' Writers' Co-Op draws together a stable of veteran writers to generate scripts and share in a project's upside. Unveiled three months ago, John Wells' Writers' Co-Op has been in the works for several years.For Wells (writer of ER and producer of movies including White Oleander and Doom) and ...

  • News

    European screenwriters' manifesto: world in motion

    2007-06-29T00:00:00Z

    Signatories from the US and Europe have backed a manifesto to give more rights to writers. John Hazelton reportsLaunched at this year's Berlin International Film Festival, the European Screenwriters' Manifesto had around 2,000 signatories as of late May.Most of them were writers, but the document has also been endorsed by ...

  • Reviews

    A Brief History Of Errol Morris

    2000-08-18T16:29:00Z

    Dir: Kevin McDonald. 1999. UK-US. 48 mins.Prod Co: Minerva Pictures. Int'l sales: Film Transit International (+1 514 844 3358). Prods: Paula Jalfon, Colin MacCabe. DoP: Neve Cunningham. Ed: Stephen Devlin. Mus: Alex Heffes. Main cast: Errol Morris, Werner Herzog, Tom Luddy, Philip Glass.An Oscar-winner earlier this year for the controversial ...

  • News

    Box office opinion: is word of mouth mere lip service'

    2007-06-29T00:00:00Z

    No-one really knows what word-of-mouth is, whether it works or how to measure it. So what use is it, asks Leonard Klady. There can be few businesses where the received industry wisdom is so often wrong. Or to be more diplomatic, by the time anything looks set as a rule, ...

  • News

    Fantastic rise of the green ogre

    2007-06-29T00:00:00Z

    Shrek The Third kept the number one slot as it continued its fairytale stomp around the world's box offices, adding more than $58m during the weekend with strong openings in Germany, Spain and half-a-dozen smaller countries.Among possible heirs to the throne, Fantastic Four: Rise Of The Silver Surfer debuted at ...

  • News

    A Beijing spring

    2007-06-29T00:00:00Z

    New cinemas and foreign films are the driving force behind recent Chinese growth, says Sen-Lun Yu. March and April are usually slow months at the Chinese box office, when small to mid-sized films are released in batches before the blockbusters are rolled out during the May national holidays.But this year, ...

  • News

    Tele Muenchen signs longterm free TV deal with MGM

    2007-06-28T17:34:00Z

    Tele Muenchen has signed a long term licensing deal covering free TV German-language rights to recent, forthcoming and future MGM and United Artists films and TV movies. Included in the deal between the Munich-based German media group and MGM International TV Distribution are the upcoming 22nd James Bond film; a ...

  • News

    Networkmoves into theatrical withFlight Of The Red Balloon

    2007-06-28T17:49:00Z

    UK-based Network has taken TV, theatrical and DVD rights three Cannes 2007 titles: Hou Hsiao Hsien's The Flight Of The Red Balloon, and Albert Lamorisse's 1956 short The Red Balloon and 1953's precursor White Mane. The Flight Of The Red Balloon stars Juliette Binoche as a single mother who hires ...

  • News

    Abu Dhabi to establish branch of New York Film Academy

    2007-06-28T17:57:00Z

    The Abu Dhabi government has signed a deal to establish a branch of the New York Film Academy (NYFA), the first film and acting school in the Gulf. Mohamed Khalaf Al Mazrouei, the director-general of the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH), Jerry Sherlock, Director, President and Founder ...

  • News

    Rothblum promoted at Warner Bros International TV Distribution

    2007-06-28T19:54:00Z

    Warner Bros International Television Distribution (WBITD) has promoted Sylvia Rothblum to senior vice president and managing director, German-speaking territories.Based in Munich, Rothblum will supervise WBITD's operations in German-speaking Europe, overseeing the licensing of content including series, theatrical and TV movies and animation to free and pay TV operators over terrestrial, ...