All articles by Tim Dams – Page 55
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British films win extra airtime on UK television
Thenumber of recent British films shown on UK television in the first six monthsof the year increased by 51%, according to new figures released by the UK FilmCouncil.However, the total number of UK films shown was stilllow. Just 52 films made within thelast eight years were aired on the UK's ...
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Content, Room 9 ready Smoking and Queen Lara
ContentFilm has joined forces with Room 9 Entertainment, theNorth American production company launched by former PayPal chief operatingofficer David Sacks, to co-finance and co-produce two feature films that willbegin shooting in the coming months.The films are the first announced productions withContentFilm's financing partner, Entertainment Investor, LLP.The first film to go ...
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Biggest UK electrical retailer Dixons dumps VCRs
The UK'slargest electrical chain, Dixons, has said it is to stop selling video cassetterecorders, leading to predictions of the imminent demise of the VCR market inthe country.Dixonsis phasing out VCRs due to the boom in DVD players, which can now be bought foras little as £25.Theretailer expects to sell its ...
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Buyers snap up Element X's Moguls
UK sales companyElement X has unveiled a string of sales concluded at this month's AFM.Michael Traeger'sThe Moguls sold to Universal for the UK and Australia, Nordisk forScandinavia, Lumiere/EBA Films for Brazil, New Films for Eastern Europe andCathay for Singapore.The film starsJeff Bridges and is about the citizens of a small ...
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The Works unveils Proposition, Tara Road deals
UK based sales oufit TheWorks has unveiled a string of deals completed at this month's AFM.- John Hillcoat's TheProposition, which is currently shooting in Australia, closed a pre-sale at the AFM with Triangelfilm forScandinavia. The film has also beensold to Columbia TriStar for Australia and New Zealand, A Film for ...
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BVITV strikes Russian pay-TV package deal
Buena Vista International Television (BVITV) has struck itsfirst pay TV agreement in Russia, with the DTH broadcaster NTV Plus for thelicensing of first-run, re-run, and library features.First-run features will include Pirates Of The Caribbean:The Curse Of The Black Pearl, Freaky Friday, The Village, Calendar Girls, SweetHome Alabama and The Ladykillers.Re-run ...
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Kinky Boot Factory kicks off in Northampton
Harbour Pictures/BVIproduction The Kinky Boot Factory is to start shooting at the end ofNovember with Joel Edgerton and Chiwetel Ejiofor to star as the two male leads,Charlie Price and Lola.Julian Jarrold (Cracker;Crime & Punishment; White Teeth) is directing, with producers NickBarton and Suzanne Mackie working again with the production arm ...
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Newmarket, The Works take Tristram Shandy rights
London based sales outfit The Works has taken internationalrights to Michael Winterbottom's Tristram Shandy, while Newmarket Films has picked up distributionrights for North America.Based loosely around Laurence Sterne's Englishliterature masterpiece, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, the project is a comic, post modern take onthe construction of a ...
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McGuckian lines up eclectic cast for Rag Tale
Five weeks of principal photography begins today (Nov 16) inLuxembourg and London on writer/director Mary McGuckian's (The Bridge of San Luis Rey, Best) contemporary urban satire Rag Tale.Set in the ruthless world of British tabloid newspapers,McGuckian will produce and direct from her own original story.Heading the international cast are Simon ...
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Marrakech festival unveils 14 title competition line-up
The 4th MarrakechInternational Film Festival (Dec 6-12)has selected 14 films to play in its maincompetition.The films range from highprofile US fare such as Alexander Payne's Sideways to Spanish director Alex de la Iglesia's PerfectCrime and Sengalese director OusmaneSembène's Moolaade.A high proportion of thecompetition films are also by first time directors, ...
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ITV links with Video Island for online DVD service
ITV, the UK's largest commercial broadcaster, haslinked up with online DVD rental service Video Island to launch ITV MovieClub.The move sees ITV launch its own online rental service whichwill be powered by Video Island and integrated directly onto www.itv.com.The service will be launched later this year and will offerviewers across ...
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Italy's Sky Cine Classics acquires Granada package
Granada International hassold a package of classic movies to newly launched Italian channel Sky CineClassics.Thirty films from GranadaInternational's British movie portfolio will be airing shortly on the newchannel, which is part of the Sky Italia platform. Classic movies, from the Korda, Rank and ITC film collections arepart of the deal ...
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Metrodome acquires UK rights to pair of films
UK distributor Metrodome has acquired UK rights to TheAssassination of Richard Nixon and Private for its 2005 slate.The Assassination of Richard Nixon played in UnCertain Regard at Cannes this year. It was directed by Niels Mueller andwritten by Mueller together with Kevin Kennedy, and stars Sean Penn, NaomiWatts and Don ...
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Oscar Moore winner teams with Secretary director
Oscar Moore prize winnerLindsay Shapero is adapting Tibor Fischer's award-winning novel Under TheFrog for American director/producer Steve Shainberg (Secretary).The film, which is currentlyin development, will be produced by Shainberg and directed by US-basedHungarian director Dezso Magyar.Under the Frog is a black comedy set against the backdrop of theHungarian uprising of ...
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Hoy joins Columbia Tristar UK as distribution chief
Columbia Tristar UK has appointed Paul Hoy as director ofsales and distribution for the UK. He joins from UIP where he served assales manager.Hoy will take up his post at Columbia Tristar UK in the NewYear and replaces Peter Taylor who earlier this month was named as the newmanaging director ...
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Vivendi, Viacom complete UCI Cinemas sale
Vivendi Universal and Viacom have completed the sale of UCICinemas' European operations to UK private equity group Terra Firma for Euros270m ($343.5m).The deal is part of Vivendi Universal's efforts to narrowits focus on media and telecoms and sell non-core assets to reduce its debt.Viacom and Vivendi each owned 50 percent ...
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Minghella, Chadha sign for Script Factory's SCENE
Directors Anthony Minghella and Gurinder Chadha have bothsigned up for Script Factory's SCENE Festival.SCENE (November 27-30) is The Script Factory's annualmini-festival within TheTimes bfi London Film Festival and puts some of theworld's leading filmmakers on stage to talk about their work and theprocess of filmmaking.The Script Factory recently announced Gwyneth ...
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UK tax credit scheme is 'moveable feast'
The amount of moneyavailable to producers from the new tax credit scheme announced by the UKgovernment is a 'moveable feast', delegates heard at Screen International's UKFilm Finance Summit.Panellists sitting on adebate about the 'Son of Section 48' said that the benefits could be anythingfrom 10% to 20% of a film's ...
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Leigh launches London Film Festival with Vera Drake
TheTimes BFI London Film Festival kickedoff on Wednesday night (Oct 20) with the UK premiere of Mike Leigh'saward winning Vera Drake at agala screening at the Odeon Leicester Square.Leightook to the stage before the film along with producer Simon Channing-Williamsand 30 of its cast and crew - including lead actress ...
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Netflix postpones foreign expansion plans
Online DVD rental pioneerNetflix has postponed plans to launch in the UK and Canada to concentrateinstead on its US business.The move comes as Netflixfaces increasing competition on its home turf from Blockbuster's new onlinerental service and from the expected entry of Amazon.com into renting DVDs bymail.It is understood thatNetflix had ...