Small MPU – Page 3805

  • News

    Last Life wraps as Bohemian's first film

    2002-10-10T04:05:00Z

    Last Life In The Universe, the latest pan-Asian co-production and first feature from start-up production outfit Bohemian Films, is set to wrap this week following a six-week shoot in Bangkok.Directed by Thailand's Pen-ek Ratanaruang, the film is a dark comedy about a suicidal Japanese librarian, living in Bangkok, who is ...

  • News

    Scorsese, DiCaprio gang up for Japanese campaign

    2002-10-10T04:05:00Z

    Director Martin Scorsese and star Leonardo DiCaprio are preparing to launch a major push in Japan for the forthcoming release of Gangs Of New York.Both are scheduled to arrive in Japan on November 18, spending five days on a concerted PR tour - as part of a bid to boost ...

  • News

    Italy's RAI Trade readies major DVD push

    2002-10-10T04:05:00Z

    RAI Trade, the sales arm of Italian public broadcaster RAI is to release a string of opera and ballet titles - including Franco Zeffirelli's staging of La Traviata - on DVD from November, to be distributed worldwide by TDK.RAI has so far released six classical music titles through a distribution ...

  • News

    Artificial Eye takes Dolls, Springtime for UK

    2002-10-10T04:05:00Z

    Artificial Eye has picked UK rights to Takeshi Kitano's Dolls and Tian Zhuangzhuang's Springtime In A Small Town.The veteran UK independent distributor will open both titles in May next year. Dolls, which played at Venice and Toronto, will screen at November's London Film Festival.Artificial Eye's release schedule includes Bertrand Tavernier's ...

  • News

    MIPCOM buyers go in search of value for money deals

    2002-10-10T04:05:00Z

    MIPCOM, the television programmes market in Cannes, is turning out to be more memorable for its publicity stunts than its high-profile deals. But behind the hoopla is a new-found emphasis on getting value for money.The opening night party was topped by a performance by dance troupe La Cirque Du Soleil, ...

  • News

    Vivendi mulls Babelsberg sale

    2000-01-19T22:10:00Z

    French utilities and media giant Vivendi is considering a complete or partial withdrawal from running the Babelsberg Film Studios which it successfully bid for in 1992 under its previous name CGE. Studio spokesman Juergen Bergfried told local newspaper Berliner Morgenpost that the French owners are: "looking for new partners for ...

  • News

    3DD, Lorber Media to sell classic AFT films package

    2002-10-10T04:05:00Z

    British programmes sales company 3DD Entertainment has picked up a package of classic films that have been out of circulation for nearly a decade.The package consists of critically acclaimed films made under the American Film Theatre (AFT) banner between 1973-1976. Directed by cinema greats including Joseph Losey, Lindsay Anderson and ...

  • News

    Financial reprieve imminent for peppermint

    2002-10-10T04:05:00Z

    Peppermint, the Munich and Kuala Lumpur-based film and programme sales company, is set for an financial reprieve having been sideswiped by the collapse of rights trader and producer Helkon.Prior to last week's announcement that Helkon would not emerge from insolvency protection, peppermint boss Michael Knobloch bought back the 51% stake ...

  • News

    Almodovar tips 'anti-clerical' movie as his next

    2002-10-10T00:00:00Z

    Spanish auteur PedroAlmodovar hinted yesterday that his next film will likely be BadEducation (LaMala Educacion) a "profoundly anti-clerical movie" abouttwo boys in a Catholic school forced to contend with sexual abuse by thepriesthood.The highly chargedsubject-matter is liable to present yet another public relations headache forthe Catholic hierarchy which has spent ...

  • News

    Agnes Varda named as IDA Pioneer Award winner

    2002-10-10T00:00:00Z

    French directing legend Agnes Varda will receive the International Documentary Association (IDA) Pioneer Award for distinguished lifetime achievement at the annual IDA Awards gala benefit in Hollywood on Dec 13. 'The Pioneer Award is presented to individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to advancing the non-fiction form,' says IDA President ...

  • News

    Focus sells Moonlight Mile rights for Hyde Park

    2002-10-10T00:00:00Z

    Focus Features has confirmed that it will handle sales of continental European rights to Brad Silberling's Moonlight Mile starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon on behalf of Hyde Park Entertainment. Focus' international sales team under David Linde will screen the film at MIFED.Moonlight Mile is the first picture ...

  • News

    Manoel de Oliveira starts shoting A Spoken Film

    2002-10-10T00:00:00Z

    Veteran Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira began shooting Monday on his latest movie, A Spoken Film (Um Filme Falado), which will feature appearances by Catherine Deneuve, John Malkovich and Irene Papas.The film tells the story of a history professor (Leonor Silveira) and her daughter (Stefania Sandrelli) who embark on a ...

  • Reviews

    Bollywood / Hollywood

    2002-10-10T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Deepa Mehta. Canada. 2002. 103mins.Canada-based Indian emigre Deepa Mehta lets her exuberant affection for her home country's film conventions run wild in Bollywood/Hollywood. A bloated comedy which awkwardly attempts a blend of the two cultures against a dreary Toronto setting, the film suffers in comparison to Mira Nair's 2001 ...

  • Reviews

    My Kingdom

    2002-10-10T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Don Boyd. UK. 2001. 117mins.The British gangland genre gets a handsome if flawed addition with Don Boyd's freewheeling, ambitious spin on King Lear set among a corrupt modern dynasty in which Richard Harris's world-weary patriarch dominates - though is not allowed to overshadow - a fresco of elaborately drawn ...

  • News

    Anglo-French film investment alliance takes shape

    2002-10-11T04:05:00Z

    In a bid to stimulate co-production activity between the two countries, UK and French film support agencies The Film Council and the CNC are exploring ways of working together more closely.The two bodies have met several times this year to discuss increased co-operation. At the Dinard Festival of British film ...

  • News

    TFM launches Full Frontal into French market

    2002-10-11T04:05:00Z

    Launching into France's already crowded distribution market, the newly formed TFM - a joint venture between US mini-major Miramax and broadcaster TF1 - has cut its teeth with its first French release. Steven Soderbergh's Full Frontal was sent out on 24 screens in the capital on October 2 to lukewarm ...

  • News

    Hoyts has a go at Swimming Upstream

    2002-10-11T04:05:00Z

    Hoyts Distribution has acquired Australian rights to Swimming Upstream from Summit Entertainment. Although principally produced out of the US, the film was shot in Queensland last year and directed by expatriate Russell Mulcahy, and stars two of the country's most internationally acclaimed actors, Geoffrey Rush and Judy Davis. Hoyts acquisition ...

  • News

    Scotland loses a studio but gains a film fund

    2002-10-11T04:05:00Z

    After years of feasibility studies and grand designs, Scottish Enterprise has concluded that there is insufficient demand within the Scottish film industry to justify the construction of a large-scale film studio. Instead, the organisation intends to commit $1.6m (£1m) of public funding to a more modest $4.7m (£3m) studio ...

  • News

    MIPCOM TV market ends on a cautiously positive note

    2002-10-11T04:05:00Z

    Attendance was solid at this year's MIPCOM programmes market in Cannes, despite the current depression in the TV market which has put the squeeze on many players in the sector. Michael Weatherseed, director of the television division at MIPCOM and MIP-TV organiser Reed Midem, was upbeat at a market press ...

  • News

    Hungary's major international film festival kicks off

    2002-10-11T04:05:00Z

    Following the success of The International Film Festival of Fine Arts in Szolnok, Hungary saw another event kick off yesterday: the Titanic Film Festival in Budapest. The tenth edition of Hungary's biggest international film festival will screen over fifty productions from twenty countries. The festival opened with a ...