Small MPU – Page 80
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Features
Production - International Film Festival of India - India's window on the international scene
The 39th edition of the International Film Festival of India (Iffi) runs November 22 -December 2 in the seaside town of Goa. Around 5,000 delegates from India and abroad are expected to attend. Some 15 films will compete for the Golden Peacock in the World Cinema section. All are titles ...
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News
Production - Attracting a partner
Back in 2002 when Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas screened at Cannes, the Indian film industry was still regarded as an exotic item - fun to have at the party but the international industry did not really know how to talk to her. Fast forward through six years of a booming ...
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Features
Production - Australia-India collaborations - The empire strikes back
Producers Jim McElroy (Picnic At Hanging Rock) and John Winter (Rabbit-Proof Fence) are among the Australians heading to Film Bazaar in Goa as part of a delegation organised by the Screen Producers Association of Australia (Spaa). Both have well-developed projects suited to joint venturing with India."There has always been a ...
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Features
Production - Box office - The India-pudding
With Bollywood keen to expand internationally beyond the Indian diaspora, and global interest in India at an all-time high, there have been many attempts to make films that combine elements of Indian and Western culture. Not all have been successful.India-themed films directed by film-makers of Indian origin based overseas, such ...
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Awards Countdown focus: Contenders yet to show hand
By mid-November last year, the majority of awards contenders were already in the public domain. Only a handful of stragglers - There Will Be Blood, Sweeney Todd, The Great Debaters, Charlie Wilson's War, The Bucket List - remained to be seen by press and Oscar commentators. As it turned out, ...
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Awards Countdown - BAFTA preview
The British Academy Of Film And Television Arts (BAFTA) could be forgiven for resting on its laurels. Its 2008film awards were largely judged to be a hit; a mixture of international celebrity and home-grown heroes ensured anight to remember, not least in the sight of Sylvester Stallone presenting the Alexander ...
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Awards Countdown: Animation Oscar preview
Fourteen feature films were announced for the shortlist for this year's animated feature Oscar in early November. The range was wide. Of course there was the latest Pixar extravaganza, Wall-E, and the two annual DreamWorks Animation films Kung Fu Panda and Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa. Blue Sky Studios' early-year hit ...
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Features
International - A view to a killing
Sony Pictures Releasing International's Quantum Of Solace continued its reign at the top of the international chart, in the same week the 22nd Bond film broke records with its North American debut (see news story, page 4).The November 14-16 weekend also saw an influx of new entries, with 11 films ...
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Features
China - Boom times ahead
With more than 16 heavyweight releases jamming the three-month period from November 20, Chinese exhibitors are estimating that box office during the year-end season will reach $146m (rmb1bn), up 10% on the same period last year.China's year-end season, which traditionally takes place from late November to late February, combines the ...
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News
The Cesars best film category to increase to seven nominations
France 's Academie des Arts et Techniques du Cinema has announced modifications to this year's voting rules. In the category of best film, 7 films will vie for contention as opposed to the traditional five.In addition, in the best foreign film category, the total nominated films also moves up to ...
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Danish dark comedy Terribly Happy to get English-language remake
Stillking Films and Fine & Mellow are planning an English-language remake of the Danish film Terribly Happy, with Henrik Ruben Genz remaining in the director's chair.Speaking to ScreenDaily.com from his Prague office, Stillking managing director Matthew Stillman said the film would be a scene-by-scene remake of the original, which won ...
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UK short film-makers given boost with $1.1m from the UKFC
The UKFC has awarded $59,600 each to three short film programmes.These are The Magic Hour, a new shorts scheme for disabled film-makers; The Digital Shorts scheme, a digital shorts programme in Scotland; and a scheme focusing on film-makers from a range of disciplines, including those from non-traditional routes into film, ...
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LA-based Producer's Utopia launched as new production tool
Los Angeles-based producer Andria Litto is one of the partnerslaunching Producer's Utopia, a new technology platform for the filmindustry.The secure Web-based programme (www.producersutopia.com) is used for storing and sharing documents related to film development and production, including scripts, contracts, budgets, call sheets, correspondence, deal memos, budgets, schedules and distribution agreements. ...
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Italian competition body to investigate Seat-TMC
Italy's Antitrust Authority has launched an official probe into publishing giant Seat Pagine Gialle's take-over of broadcaster Telemontecarlo.Seat, which is currently swallowing Telecom Italia's internet division Tin.it, agreed in August to purchase 75% of TMC from the Cecchi Gori Group, for L750bn ($335m), with an option to up its stake ...
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News
Germany and France plan $376,000 co-development fund
Germany and France are planning to launch a $376,000 (Euros 300,000) co-development fund from next year as part of their existing bilateral mini co-production agreement.The news was announced at this year's Franco-German Film Rendez-Vous in Hamburg. 300 German and French producers, distributors and film funders attended the three-day annual event ...
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News
Pippa Cross joins the UK Film Council's Board of Directors
Pippa Cross, the producer of Shooting Dogs and forthcoming Heartless, has joined the UK Film Council's Board of Directors.Her appointment will run for four years from today.Pippa Cross has been active in the UK film industry as a financier, executive producer and producer for nearly 20 years. Since 2002 she ...
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Latido Films sells Sex Party & The Night to Sony
Latido Films has sold Alfonso Albacete and David Menkes' new film Sex Party & The Night (Mentiras Y Gordas) to Sony for distribution in Spain. The film takes a no-holds-barred look at the exploits of a group of young boys and girls experimenting with drugs, clubs and sex, starring Alejo ...
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Summit greenlights New Moon after spectacular Twilight opening
Buoyed by spectacular opening day results for Twilight, Summit Entertainment has taken the widely anticipated step of greenlighting the sequel New Moon. The vampire romance is estimated to have grossed $35.7m on Friday, an astonishing amount driven by record pre-sales. Approximately $7m of that amount comes from Thursday midnight screenings. ...
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Weinstein Company lays off 24 employees, 11% of workforce
The Weinstein Company has become the latest prominent Hollywood business to cut staff in the economic crisis, laying off 24 employees or approximately 11% of the workforce.Sources did not name individuals or specify which departments have been hit, although it is understood the redundancies affect all departments and go across ...
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Summit exceeds expectations with $70.6m opening for Twilight
Summit Entertainment's Twilight exceeded grand expectations to deliver the biggest pound-for-pound launch of the year with an estimated $70.6m three-day debut that will instill confidence in an independent sector rattled by the financial crisis and the renewed prospect of an actors strike.Tween power turned out en masse for Catherine Hardwicke's ...