Small MPU – Page 767

  • News

    British Independent Film Awards unveil starry guest list

    2004-11-25T00:00:00Z

    Bob Hoskins, Mike Leigh, Matthew Vaughn, Shane Meadows,Christian Slater and Naomie Harris are among the guests confirmed to attend theBritish Independent Film Awards on Nov 30.Held at the Hammersmith Palais and hosted by RichardJobson, BIFA sponsors this year include Bloomberg, Nokia, Chiltern, and LauraMercier.Expected nominees and guests on Tuesday also ...

  • News

    Actors to talk shop at EFA conference

    2004-11-26T04:00:00Z

    TheEuropean Film Academy is to hold a conference to debate the working conditionsof actors in Europe.CalledShop Talk: Actors Talk AboutTheir Work, it will take place onDec 11 in Barcelona. The European FilmAwards will be held later in the evening.The conference will beopened by Wim Wenders,president of the European Film Academy, ...

  • News

    Tokyo Filmex programmes Italian B Movies

    2004-11-25T00:00:00Z

    The VeniceFilm Festival's recent Italian Kings of the B Movies retrospective willbe featured in the upcoming Tokyo Filmex Festival (Nov 26-30), which isorganised by Takeshi Kitano's production and distribution outfit, OfficeKitano.The Venicesidebar features 20-25 restored Italian genre movies, and is part of a wider4-year film restoration project which is being ...

  • News

    Cannes winning director celebrates End Of World

    2004-11-26T04:00:00Z

    Germany's Reverse Angle is to co-produce young Romanian filmmakerCatalin Mitulescu's The Way I Spent The End Of The World which waspitched at last year's Mannheim Meetings.Speaking to ScreenDaily.com after being awarded the title of'Master of Cinema' on Wednesday evening, Wim Wenders confirmed thathis company will be a partner with Bucharest-based ...

  • News

    Korean Brother raises $1.8m from online investors

    2004-11-26T04:00:00Z

    Within a space of 25 hours, South Korean production houseMKB has raised the entire budget of its upcoming $1.8m project Hello AndGoodbye, Little Brother from online investors.A total of 430 participants purchased one or more $910 (WON1m) shares in the film, which tells the story of a young boy whose ...

  • News

    UK Film Council launches sales support scheme

    2004-11-26T04:00:00Z

    The UK Film Council is launching a £70,000 InternationalFestival Sales Support (IFSS) scheme to help boost UK films invited to competeat next year's Sundance, Rotterdam and Berlin festivals.Open from now until 31 March 2005, the new funding isdesigned to raise the profile of UK talent, services and crews internationallyand to ...

  • News

    Guadalajara festival to focus on Latin cinema

    2004-11-26T04:00:00Z

    Mexico's Guadalajara FilmFestival is expanding its reach to all of Iberoamerican cinema, beyond itstraditional Mexican film focus, in time for next year's 20thanniversary edition (March 11-18, 2005).Under the new name theInternational Film Festival of Guadalajara, the event will add a competitivesection with a hefty US $50,000 award for best Iberoamerican ...

  • News

    Macbean to exit Itel for drama school

    2000-04-14T18:31:00Z

    Andrew Macbean, CEO of UK-based TV programming distributor Itel, is resigning from the company. It is understood that he plans to go to drama school. His exit appears to have been prompted by the proposed merger between Itel's parent company United News & Media and Carlton Communications, which has its ...

  • News

    French court breaks off Engagement

    2004-11-26T04:00:00Z

    A Paris court yesterdayruled that the company 2003 Productions falls outside regulations that wouldhave qualified it as French. The decision means that the Jean-PierreJeunet-directed film A Very LongEngagement(Un Long Dimanche De Fiancailles) no longer qualifies underFrench nationality rules.The ruling came after nearlya year of wrangling and a courtroom challenge by ...

  • News

    Wayne Clarkson gets top job at Telefilm Canada

    2004-11-26T00:00:00Z

    S Wayne Clarkson has beenappointed executive director of Telefilm Canada, the nation's leading source ofpublic subsidy for the film and television industry.The announcement, madeThursday by Heritage Minister Liza Frulla, is seen as good news for the beleagueredEnglish-language film production sector. Hotly tipped for the top post, hereplaces Richard Stursberg, who ...

  • News

    Treasury accuses UK film-makers of abusing aid

    2004-11-26T00:00:00Z

    The Inland Revenue has accused the British film industry ofabusing government aid, with every production of recent years deliberatelyover-claiming tax relief - according to a report in today's FinancialTimes.Revenue officials called in about 20 members of the filmindustry and warned them of severe consequences if the'exploitation' of tax-relief schemes did ...

  • News

    Top Korean director in talks to sign with CAA

    2004-11-29T04:00:00Z

    South Korean director Kang Je-gyu is inthe final stage of negotiations to sign on with Creative Artists Agency (CAA),which would make him the first Korean filmmaker to work through one of themajor Hollywood talent agencies.According to production/sales company MKB, Kang isalso fielding multiple offers from major Hollywood studios regarding his ...

  • News

    Beautiful Boxer director readies martial arts epic

    2004-11-29T04:00:00Z

    Thai director Ekachai Uekrongtham, whose debut Beautiful Boxer won the Grand Prix 2004Award at the Brussels International Film Festival, is readying two new projects for Thai studio GMM Grammy.First up is Swords andSpirits, a martial arts adventure set in both Thailand and Japan in thelate 16th century as well as ...

  • News

    HONG KONG 26 November

    2004-11-26T00:00:00Z

    Director Danny Pangtook over from his twin brother Oxide at the top of the Hong Kong chart thisweek with action drama Leave Me Alone.The UniverseEntertainment release, in which Ekin Cheng plays twins who exchange identities,grossed US$461,541 from 39 screens. Meanwhile Oxide Pang's Abnormal Beauty, which held the top spot for ...

  • Reviews

    Silver City

    2004-11-26T00:00:00Z

    Dir/scr/ed: John Sayles.US. 2004. 128minsWith his political satireslash noir murder mystery Silver City, American maverick John Saylesmight just have made his most commercial movie to date. While much of the film'stopicality, especially in the US, might have rested on last month's USelection, the return of George W Bush to power ...

  • News

    Norwegian-Pakistani Goodfellas gets greenlight

    2004-11-29T04:00:00Z

    With a substantial $1.2m (NOK 7.5m) backing, the NorwegianFilm Fund has put the first Norwegian-Pakistani action movie on the fast trackfor veteran producer John M. Jacobsen's Filmkameratene.Izzat is the featuredebut of Ulrik Imtiaz Rolfsen, who wrote the script with Leon Bashir. The Goodfellas-like story follows Wasim and his youth gang ...

  • News

    The Moon shines at IDFA

    2004-11-29T04:00:00Z

    Despite the cloud cast over proceedings by the murder offilmmaker Theo Van Gogh earlier this month, the mood as the 17th InternationalAmsterdam Documentary Festival (IDFA) drew to an end at the weekend was upbeat.Audience figures were up to 120,000 (from 116,000 last year) and moreinternational visitors (2300) were in town ...

  • News

    Filmax wraps up Shroud rights

    2004-11-29T04:00:00Z

    Spanish mini-studio Filmax has acquired the rights toSpanish novel The Brotherhood Of The Holy Shroud as part of a new push to adapt local best-sellers as English-languagefeature films for the international market.According to Filmax chief Julio Fernandez, the project willbe developed next year to follow in the vein of its ...

  • News

    UPC joins Disney, Sony in Benelux movie channel

    2000-04-14T18:36:00Z

    Netherlands-based cable operator UPC has confirmed that it has boarded a joint venture between Disney and Sony to launch a 24-hour premium movie channel for Belgium and the Netherlands (Screendaily, February 4).Dubbed CineNova, the channel is scheduled to launch May 18 in the Netherlands and in Belgium in September. It ...

  • News

    Bridget adds $14.6m in international weekend, passes $50m in UK

    2004-11-29T04:00:00Z

    Universal/Working Title's BridgetJones: The Edge Of Reason passed$50m in the UK at the weekend, grossing an estimated $14.6m overall on 1,887screens in 24 territories through UIP to raise its international cumulativetotal to $84m.The romantic comedy sequeladded $5.6m (£3m) on 484 in its third weekend in the UK to raise its ...