Small MPU – Page 789
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News
Georgia Lee's Red Doors sold to Imagine in Australia
Imagine Entertainment has picked up Australian and New Zealandrights to Georgia Lee’s RedDoors from ForwardEntertainment.As previously announced, Polychrome will release the picture inMay in the US. The story follows a dysfunctional Chinese-American family withthree overachieving daughters. Tzi Ma, Jacqueline Kim, Elaine Kao, KathyShao-Lin Lee, Freda Foh Shen, and Rossif Sutherland ...
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News
Wellspring closed as TWC, Genius announce restructure
US independent distributor Wellspring appears to have been shutdown this week as parent company Genius Products announced a strategiccorporate shift.Genius, which acquired Wellspring last year and later in the yearcompleted a deal with The Weinstein Co (TWC) whereby TWC gained a controllinginterest in Genius, said TWC would handle Wellspring's theatrical ...
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News
Paramount specialty arm buys thriller script from Pastor brothers
Paramount's evolving specialty division has bought the speculativescript to Alex and David Pastor's post-apocalyptic thriller currently known asThe Untitled Pastor Project.Alex Pastor will direct thestory of four friends trying to escape a viral pandemic in the American Westwho discover they pose a greater danger to each other than the virus. ...
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Audiard's film wins top prize at Lumiere Awards
Jacques Audiard's The Beat That My HeartSkipped took home the Best Picture prize at France's Lumiere Awards Tuesday. The awards are the local equivalentof the Golden Globes, voted on by members of the foreign press working in France.With ten nominations, Beat is a favorite for top prizes at theupcoming Cesar ...
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News
IIF lines up production and distribution slate
Rome'sItalian International Film (IIF) is lining up an ambitious new production anddistribution slate, which includes historical epic The Inquiry starring Dolph Lundgren andMax Von Sydow.Italiandirector Giulio Base recently wrapped production onthe $10m (Euros 8.5m) action-thriller, which is set three years after thecrucifixion of Jesus Christ and sees Roman Emperor Tiberius ...
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Reviews
It's Winter (Zemestan)
Dir: Rafi Pitts. Iran 2005.86mins.Rafi Pitts' remarkable It's Winter is one of those films that forces you to rethink your preconceptions about Iraniancinema. Although recognisably in a taut, austereIranian mould, the film feels new in several ways. Its central figure is notjust an anti-hero but is abrasively unsympathetic; its narrative ...
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News
Gil to sing with Hamilton in Lolafilms' Off Key
Spanish actress Ariadna Gil and Italy's Anna Galiena and Claudia Gerini have joined the cast of English-language comedy Off Key from Spanish production house Lolafilms.The film stars Joe Mantegna, George Hamilton and Danny Aiello as three opera stars whose love-hate relationship comes to a head during an explosive weekend together ...
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Reviews
Isabella
Dir: Pang Ho-cheung. HK-Chi. 2006. 109mins.Although it deals with corruption and features asuspended cop as its hero, Pang Ho-cheung's Isabella is no gritty action drama. Noris it a political piece, despite being set on the eve of Macau's return toChinese hands after 400 years of Portuguese rule. And while it ...
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News
Thailand's M Pictures takes trio from Nu Image
Thailand's M Pictures has acquired three titles from Nu Imageat the Bangkok Film Market, including DayOf The Dead, the remake of George A Romero's classic horror.The company has also snappedup action titles End Game, directedby Andy Cheng, and Isaac Florentine's Undisputed2, which are both set to open in Thailand later ...
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Reviews
Son Of Man
Dir: Mark Dornford-May. S Afr. 2006. 86minsThe second collaboration between Mark Dornford-May and Cape Town theatre collective Dimpho Di Kopane- their first was Berlinale Golden Bear winner U-Carmen eKhayelitsha- Son Of Man is a stirring fusion ofthe New Testament with African folklore, dance and choral numbers that resultsin a politically ...
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News
BBC earmarks more than $500m for UK cinema
The BBC has announced a substantial increase inits intended film production and acquisition budget. All of the proposed investments are subject tothe favourable settlement of the current licence fee negotiations but the broadcaster says its new plans could mean an investment of $522m (£300m) to British film over its ...
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Reviews
Vitus
Dir: Fredi M Murer. Switz. 2006. 120mins.From an opening that suggests a feelgoodchildren's fantasy, Vitusturns into a much odder confection - an intelligent, spiky, sometimes movingcomedy-drama with a satirical eye turned on the Swiss bourgeoisie.Directed by Helvetic veteran Fredi M. Murer, best known for his 1985 Alpine Fire, Vitusis an ...
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Reviews
Puccini For Beginners
Dir/scr: Maria Maggenti. US. 2006. 82mins.Woody Allen famously observed that the greatadvantage of being bisexual was that it doubled your chance of a date on aSaturday night. Maria Maggenti's second feature, thesexual screwball farce Puccini For Beginners, appends the template of Allen's romanticcomedy landmark, Annie Hall, to thefluid, destabilising sexual ...
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News
Michael Winterbottom options controversial memoirs
Fresh from the controversy ofhis Berlinale Silver Bear winner The Road To Guantanamo,prolific British director Michael Winterbottom is setto tackle an equally contentious project. Winterbottomrevealed this week that his company Revolution has optioned Murder In Samarkand, the memoirs of Craig Murray, the former UK Ambassador to Uzbekistan. Comedian Steve Coogan ...
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News
Rat Pack plans English-language family film based on bestseller
ConstantinFilm subsidiary Rat Pack Filmproduktion has secured the film rights to thefamily bestseller Jim Button And Luke TheEngine Driver for an English language adaptation aimed at the internationalmarket.ProducerChristian Becker has "regular" collaborator Sebastian Niemann(Hui Buh Das Schlossgespenst, Das Jesus Video) attached as director for thelive-action feature film version of TheNeverending ...
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News
Metropolitan Police starts new film piracy unit with FACT
The Metropolitan Police's Economic and Specialist Crime Command in London isworking in partnership with the Federation AgainstCopyright Theft (FACT) tolaunch a new police unit to combat film piracy.The unit will investigate individuals and organised crime networks thatprofit from film piracy. The unit will initially operate for 12 months and willcomprise ...
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News
UK film industry welcomes BBC investment
The UK film industry has given a largely enthusiastic welcome to the BBC's announcement that it is increasing its investment in film.Thenews, following a couple of months after the announcement of a new tax credit, has certainly changed the mood of film-makers."Ithink it's really good news," says producer Andrew Eaton, ...
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News
Davenport joins Wiest in cast of Not Afraid
Jack Davenport, Elsa Zylberstein, Miriam Margolyes and Michael Weir have joined double Academy Award winner Dianne Wiest in the cast of Not Afraid, Not Afraid.The story of the burgeoning relationship between a handicapped boy and his hostile grandmother has just started shooting in Dublin. Annette Carducci is directing from a ...
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News
Osorio joins Focus/Rogue as vice president, publicity
Paulette Osorio has joined Focus Features as vicepresident of publicity and will be based in the company's West Coast offices.Osorio will oversee corporate publicity and publicity campaignsfor genre banner Rogue Pictures, and reports directly to Focus executive vicepresident of publicity and marketing Adriene Bowles.She will also contribute to Focus' release ...
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Miami Film Festival names nine new projects for Encuentros sidebar
The Miami International Film Festival's Miami Encuentros sidebarwill run from Mar 9-11 within the timespan of the festival.The nine-strong programme takes place over three days and offersproducers from Spain and Latin America the chance to present new projects to USindustry professionals.The festival proper kicks off with Eliseo Subiela's Heartlift, a ...