All articles by Tim Dams – Page 54
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Matheson re-elected to key Pact film post
Bard Entertainment managing director Margaret Matheson is to serve athird year on the governing council of producers' alliance Pact as vice chair,film. Matheson stood unopposed for the top film industry role at Pact.Andrew Zein, managing director, Tiger Aspect Productions, will continuefor a second year as chair of Pact, while David ...
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ROK Player launches to bring film to mobile phones
A new system that allowsmobile phone users to watch films on their phone, even without networkcoverage, launches this week.ROK Player, which launchedin the UK on Monday, is predicting a mobile content platform market worth £100min three years for film distributors, TV companies and record labels.ROK Player is a specialdigital video ...
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UK piracy market worth £1bn within three years
The value of the blackmarket in pirate DVDs in the UK is expected to be worth more than £1 billionwithin three years, according to a new report on film piracy launched today.
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Revolver runs with Saint Ralph in UK
Revolver Entertainment has picked up the UK and Eire rightsto Toronto festival hit Saint Ralph.Directed by Michael McGowan, the film is abittersweet comedy about a Catholic schoolboy who attempts to save his mother'slife with a miracle by winning the Boston marathon. It was billed as 'theCanadian Billy Elliot' by Screen ...
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Amazon piles into UK online DVD rental market
Internet retailer Amazon has launched into the hugely competitive online DVD rentalmarket in the UK.The service was launched today (Dec 10), and is integrated into Amazon's UK site, which is already a popular DVD retail store.Unlike most other services,Amazon imposes a limit on the number of DVDs customers can ...
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Empire magazine unveils dates, venue for 2005 awards
Empire Magazine's annualawards ceremony, the Sony Ericsson Empire Film Awards, will take place onSunday March 13, 2005, two weeks after the Oscars.The Awards will also becelebrating their tenth anniversary at a new venue, London's Guildhall.Empire Editor Colin Kennedycommented: "It is fitting that in our tenth year the Awards have moved ...
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Cinemart shines spotlight on arthouse veterans
A raft of projects fromacclaimed UK directors including Nicolas Roeg, David MacKenzie and PeterGreenaway have been selected for this year's Cinemart co-production market,which takes place during the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Jan 26 -Feb 6).In all, 47 projects havemade the line-up out of 539 entries for next year's event, the ...
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Downfall for Momentum in UK
Momentum Pictures has acquired UK rights to German boxoffice hit The Downfall (Der Untergang) - which grossed $40m in its home territory.Lara Thompson, head of acquisitions at Momentum Pictures,and Eos Distribution's managing director, Dirk Schuerhoff, negotiated the deal.The war drama depicts the final days of Adolf Hitler andis directed by ...
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'Make or break' period for European animation
European animation is entering into a 'make or breakperiod' over the next few years as a string of high budget films produced inEurope hit the market.That's the conclusion of a new report from Screen Digest,called Animated Movies - US and European Market Assessment.US animations captured the lion's share of admissions ...
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Ruiz cranks up Klimt in Vienna
Raoul Ruiz's homage to the artist Gustav Klimt willbegin shooting on January 4 in Vienna.Klimt stars JohnMalkovich, Veronica Ferres, Stephen Dillane and Nikolai Kinski. The leadproducer of the co-production involving four different countries is Dieter Pochlatkoof EPO-FILM.Ruiz, who wrote the script and will direct, commented:"I see this film as a ...
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Eurimages celebrates Nocturna support
Nocturna, byVictor Maldonado and Adrian Garcia, has become the thousandth co-production towin support from Eurimages, the Council of Europe fund for the co-production,distribution and exhibition of European films.Ananimated film for children, Nocturna is co-produced by Spain, France andGreat Britain."I am particularly pleased that, the coincidence ofbeing the 1,000th co-production to ...
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UK Treasury tightens tax rules, unveils Section 42 review
The UK Treasury has said it is closing 'avoidanceschemes' that exploit tax relief for British film production.Chancellor Gordon Brown's pre-budget report todayannounced an end to the practice of 'double dipping' on both Section 42 andSection 48 in which tax relief is claimed twice on the production andacquisition costs of a ...
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Warner, Telecom Italia sign broadband film deal
Warner Bros. InternationalTelevision Distribution (WBITD) and Telecom Italia have signed a two-year dealfor the distribution of more than 100 movies each year via the Rosso Alicebroadband portal.Starting from December 1, allADSL users will be able to purchase both new movies along with library titles.The movies will be availablein streaming mode ...
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Dubai festival unveils programme line-up
Festival director NeilStephenson has unveiled the programme for this year's Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF) (Dec 6-11).A total of 76 films, whichinclude 52 main features, will play at the festival, including current works byDanny Boyle, Walter Salles, Michael Winterbottom, Zhang Yimou and RobertZemeckis, hits from the international circuit including Les ...
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UK Film Council launches sales support scheme
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 ...
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Actors to talk shop at EFA conference
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, ...
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British Independent Film Awards unveil starry guest list
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 ...
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Dog Years wins two short film prizes at Brief Encounters
Short film Dog Years directed by Sam Hearn andRichard Penfold, picked up two of the top prizes at this year's BriefEncounters, the UK's leading short film festival.The short, made for just £50, won the ITV West Award aswell as the prestigious UK Film Council Audience Award.Meanwhile, the International Jury Award ...
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Stelios' easyGroup ploughs into UK DVD rental market
Stelios Haji-Ioannou's easyGroup is entering the onlineDVD rental market with an easyCinema DVD service powered by rental platformVideo Island.Due to be launched in January, the service will operate apay-as-you-go model, charging easyCinema customers £1.99 per DVD rental andoffering a 21-day return policy.easyGroup joins existing Video Island partners, such asnational brands ...
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Osama triumphs at Cape Town
Afghan feature Osama, by director Siddiq Barmakhas won the best feature film award and the best director prize at theCape Town World Cinema Festival.The film beat off 19 features in competition, includingan impressive showing of eleven South African features, most by first-timedirectors.The story of a girl who has to dress ...