Small MPU – Page 3898

  • News

    Spain unveils Oscar contenders

    2004-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Alejandro Amenabar's TheSea Inside (Mar Adentro), Pedro Almodovar's Bad Education (La Mala Educacion) and multiple Oscar nominee JoseLuis Garci's Tiovivo De Madrid C. 1950have made Spain's short-list for the nomination to the foreign-language Oscar.The final nominee will be announced October 1.Almodovar scored his best ever opening in Spain with BadEducation ...

  • Reviews

    Melinda And Melinda

    2004-09-17T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Woody Allen, US2004. 99 mins After a run of lightweight comedies that caused evenhardcore supporters to lose patience, Woody Allen achieves a heartening returnto form with his most idiosyncratic and substantial film in some time. Agenuine tragi-comedy - in that it counterpoints two parallel stories, tragicand comic - Melinda ...

  • News

    Chomet readies Tati screenplay for Scottish shoot

    2004-09-20T04:00:00Z

    Oscar-nominated Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets OfBelleville) is to direct an animatedversion of a screenplay by legendary French comedian Jacques Tati.Called The Illusionist,it will be produced in Edinburgh - where Chomet recently set up shop -by Mark Cousinsof 4Ways Films. Sally Chomet will co-produce through Studio Django.Other partners include Les Films ...

  • News

    Cecchi Gori cleared of money laundering

    2004-09-20T04:00:00Z

    Vittorio Cecchi Gori, whoseproduction, distribution and exhibition empire crumbled four years ago amid awhirlwind of bad debt and corruption charges, has been cleared of launderingmoney.In 2001, the media baron wastemporarily placed under house arrest for alleged wrongdoings linked to thebankruptcy of his former football club, Fiorentina. He was alleged to ...

  • News

    Lelouch offers free showings of latest film

    2004-09-20T04:00:00Z

    French director Claude Lelouch showed his new film LesParisiens for free across France on Fridayto try to prove wrong the critics who have panned it.Lelouch said he would bear the costs of the showings atabout 400 cinemas across France, according to Reuters."I've taken this decision following an unprecedentedmedia lynching," he ...

  • News

    Toronto serves up succession of Oscar contenders

    2004-09-19T00:00:00Z

    So, it was sometimes difficult to get into screenings, itwas impossible to see everything you wanted and Vera Drake was nowhere to be seen. Journalists always like tohave some complaints but in truth the 2004 edition of the Toronto InternationalFilm Festival left little to grumble about.Quantity was matched by quality ...

  • News

    Allen's star shines at San Sebastian

    2004-09-19T00:00:00Z

    Woody Allen was the undeniable star of the opening weekendof the 52nd annual edition of Spain's San Sebastian International Film Festival(Sept 17-25).That is saying a lot, considering other visitors includedthe always-polemic Oliver Stone, M. Night Shyamalan presenting The Village, Michael Winterbottom accompanying his controversialNine Songs, and local hero PedroAlmodovar, in ...

  • News

    Sky is high but maybe not the limit with $16.2m opening

    2004-09-19T00:00:00Z

    Maybeit was the devastation of Hurricane Ivan in the southeastern US, maybe the lackof interest in the new product but box office was slow this weekend in NorthAmerica, down some 27% from the same period last year.Theindependently financed Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow debuted top of the charts ...

  • News

    Rwanda is Toronto audience favourite, Pete Tong Canadian winner

    2004-09-20T00:00:00Z

    Terry George's HotelRwanda won the AGF Peoples' ChoiceAward at the Toronto International Film Festival, as the 29thedition wrapped here on Sunday.Starring Don Cheadle, theUK-South Africa-Italy coproduction is based on the experience of PaulRusesabagina, an hotel manager who saved many lives during the Rwandan civilwar. The prize was one of many ...

  • News

    Lions Gate takes Canadian rights to Toronto hit Phil The Alien

    2004-09-20T04:00:00Z

    Lions Gate Entertainment hastake Canadian rights in all media to Phil The Alien, the debut of writer-director-actor Rob Stefaniuk.The story of an intergalactic nomad who falls to earth in Northern Ontario, thefilm screened in the Canada First! feature film competition at Toronto.Produced by Toronto-basedproduction company Black Walk, it features Stefaniuk ...

  • News

    Telefilm Canada backs new features from August, Kunuk

    2004-09-20T04:00:00Z

    Telefilm Canada has announcedit will back two features, Bille August's Explosion, a Canada-Denmark-UK coproduction, and TheJournals of Knud Rasmussen, aCanada-Denmark coproduction co-directed by Zacharias Kunuk,director of 2002 Camera d'Or winner Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner.Explosion, based on Canadian journalist Robert MacNeil's novel"Burden of Desire", is a historical drama of a love ...

  • News

    THINKFilm woos Three Of Hearts at Toronto

    2004-09-20T04:00:00Z

    Another domestic deal wasclinched in the closing days of the Toronto International Film Festival, withTHINKFilm taking domestic theatrical and DVD rights to Susan Kaplan's documentary ThreeOf Hearts: A Postmodern Family.US cable network Bravo camein on the project at an early stage and holds TV rights with the intention oflaunching it ...

  • News

    Film Movement buys North American rights to Antares

    2004-09-20T04:00:00Z

    Larry Meistrich's theatricaldistribution and subscription DVD service Film Movement has acquired NorthAmerican rights to Austrian drama Antares at the Toronto International Film Festival.The controversial film directedby Gotz Spielman tells three stories of passion, jealousy and violence on thesame impersonal housing estate."Antaresis the type of work Film Movement was created to ...

  • News

    Vitagraph acquires US theatrical to Los Angeles doc

    2004-09-20T04:00:00Z

    Vitagraph Films has acquiredUS theatrical rights to Thom Anderson's documentary Los Angeles Plays Itself at the Toronto International Film Festival.The film had alreadypremiered in the US for a two-week engagement in New York on July 28 and hasnow qualified for consideration for a 2004 documentary feature Academy Award.The deal was ...

  • Reviews

    Eros

    2004-09-20T00:00:00Z

    Dir/scr: Wong Kar Wai,Steven Soderbergh Michelangelo Antonioni (screenplay with Tonino Guerra).Fr-It-Lux. 2004. 108 mins."I wanted my name on aposter with Michelangelo Antonioni," is Steven Soderbergh's stated reason forcoming on board the three-part portmanteau film Eros. Having seen thefilm, one wonders if Soderbergh will now be asking distributors to take hisname ...

  • News

    UK government to unveil new tax support system

    2004-09-20T00:00:00Z

    The UK government has movedto clamp down on excessive producer fees on British films.Under revamped co-productionguidelines published this month, the Department for Culture, Media & Sporthas targeted producer fees over 10% of production expenditure.Although producer fees over10% are not necessarily barred, the DCMS will automatically ask for additionalproof that they ...

  • Reviews

    Undertow

    2004-09-20T00:00:00Z

    Dir. David Gordon Green. US. 2004. 107mins.An intoxicating auteur spin on Southern Gothic, Undertow is a conventional adventurestory - good boys, bad uncle, hidden gold - that is told in a mostunconventional way. To say its his most commercial film yet isn't saying much,as the qualities that make it a ...

  • News

    Jolie to play cyberbabe Lara Croft in Tomb Raider

    2000-04-06T23:56:00Z

    Oscar winner Angelina Jolie will play cyber action-babe Lara Croft in Paramount Pictures' live action version of the blockbuster video game Tomb Raider that will start shooting this summer at the UK's Pinewood Studios.Jolie, who recently won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in Girl, Interrupted, beat out ...

  • Reviews

    Hotel Rwanda

    2004-09-20T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Terry George. 2004.S Afr-UK-It. 122mins.Terry George's gripping,fact-based Hotel Rwanda brings to mind both The Killing Fieldsand Schindler's List, but its low-key approach means it is unlikely tobecome as commercially successful as those two titles. That said, it did winthe Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival at the ...

  • News

    UK set to unveil new tax support system

    2004-09-20T00:00:00Z

    The UK is set to unveil anew tax support system,according to reports over the weekend.The replacement to existingsupport under Section 48 is expected to be unveiled today (Tuesday, Sept 21). It is anticipated that it will be a basic 20% tax credit for production costs on films budgeted under£20m.The credit ...