All UK/Ireland articles – Page 1104

  • News

    Optimum and Lionsgate get lifted with UK DVD company Elevation

    2007-05-19T04:00:00Z

    Optimum Releasing (and its parent company StudioCanal) has set up a joint venture with Lionsgate UK to jointly acquire home entertainment company Elevation Sales. Elevation will now handle the sales and distribution of all DVD product for both Optimum Home Entertainment and Lionsgate UK. The company will also carry third-party ...

  • News

    ContentFilm thunders on with sales for Elephants feature

    2007-05-19T04:00:00Z

    ContentFilm International is working with new nature project Elephants Of The Okavango and has already closed deals with Germany (Falcom), France (Euro TV), CIS and Baltics (MGN), Hungary/Czech/Slovak Republics (Intersonic), Latin America (SWEN), the Middle East (Gulf) and The Netherlands/Belgium (A Film).The narrative-style documentary feature follows a family of African ...

  • News

    Davis and Keener travel to Winterbottom's Genova

    2007-05-19T04:00:00Z

    Hope Davis and Catherine Keener have been confirmed to join Colin Firth in Michael Winterbottom's next effort, Genova.Shooting will begin at the end of June in Genoa, Italy and Boston. Post-production will be done in the UK.Dreamachine is handling international sales and distribution on the film, which also stars relative ...

  • News

    Not Quite Hollywood goes to Madman, Magnolia and Optimum

    2007-05-19T04:00:00Z

    Several distributors have come on board early for the Australian project Not Quite Hollywood, about Australian genre cinema in the 1970s and 1980s. Deals have been struck for Australia and New Zealand (Madman Entertainment), North America (Magnolia Pictures), and the UK (Optimum Releasing).Director Mark Hartley is in production now on ...

  • News

    High Point takes on hot politics of Rendition

    2007-05-19T04:00:00Z

    High Point Films has taken the world rights, outside the UK, to Jim Threapleton's debut feature Rendition, starring Andy Serkis and Omar Berdouni.Andy Noble produced for Ultra Film.The politically charged feature is about a British Muslim teacher who is suspected of terrorism and through the controversial practice of extraordinary rendition ...

  • News

    Opening weekend frenzy goes online with moviePol.com

    2007-05-18T16:31:00Z

    Here in Cannes, film-maker Mary McGuckian has launched a new online network, moviePol.com, for online film premieres. The secure site has been developed during the last year, designed by film-makers for film-makers. moviePol.com is now accepting online submissions from all industry sources, directly from film-makers, their representatives, sales agents or ...

  • News

    Northern Ireland gets $24m boost in new three-year plan

    2007-05-18T16:24:00Z

    The Northern Ireland Film and Television Commission has unveiled a new three-year strategy and restructured its funding programmes. In a nod to the digital era, the group has been renamed Northern Ireland Screen, and has gotten a new $24m package of support from Invest Northern Ireland.The new Northern Ireland Screen ...

  • News

    New Cinema Fund backs new Winterbottom and Warp X titles

    2007-05-18T15:15:00Z

    The UK Film Council's New Cinema Fund is backing several new projects including Michael Winterbottom's next film and thriller Donkey Punch, being sold in Cannes market by Lumina. The Film Council has awarded:$1.3m (£659,331) to Olly Blackburn's thriller Donkey Punch, in post-production for Warp X and being sold by Lumina ...

  • News

    Love Me Not gets Wasted

    2007-05-18T09:41:00Z

    New UK independent production company Loves Me Not Films has secured the option on its debut feature project Wasted.The British drama, written by Livy Austin, tells the story of the harsh reality behind the lives and loves of ordinary women living in the hard, professional city of London and explores ...

  • News

    Lionsgate bites Jinga's werewolf film Wild Country

    2007-05-18T04:00:00Z

    New UK sales company Jinga Films has closed a North American deal with Lionsgate for Craig Strachan's Scottish horror project Wild Country.Creative Axa has taken Japanese rights. Peter Capaldi and Martin Compston star in the film, which twists the werewolf genre with a teen pregnancy angle.Jinga's slate also includes thriller ...

  • News

    Carnaby crawls into the Doghouse with Jake West

    2007-05-18T04:00:00Z

    London-based Carnaby International has picked up worldwide rights to Jake West's comedy horror picture Doghouse, it was announced in Cannes.The company will introduce the project, due to shoot in the autumn, to buyers during the Cannes market.Also making its market debut is Welsh comedy, Bridge Of Lies, from Bafta-winning director ...

  • News

    Soda strikes UK deal for Gaelic-language Seachd

    2007-05-18T04:00:00Z

    Seachd -The Inaccessible Pinnacle has become the first Gaelic-language Scottish feature to secure UK theatrical distribution. Produced by Christopher Young and directed by Simon Miller, it has been acquired by Soda Pictures for an autumn 2007 release in the UK.The film has its first Cannes market screening on Monday and ...

  • News

    Lumina strikes The Workshop deal with UK's Revolver

    2007-05-18T04:00:00Z

    In the run-up to Cannes, increasingly aggressive UK distributor Revolver has been on a buying spree.Among a handful of titles it has picked up in recent weeks is Jamie Morgan's provocative documentary The Workshop, one of the buzz titles at last month's Tribeca Festival. (Lumina is selling the film in ...

  • News

    Lionsgate UK gets Independent's In The Hands Of The Gods

    2007-05-18T04:00:00Z

    Lionsgate UK has taken the UK and Ireland rights to In The Hands Of The Gods, which had its world premiere in Cannes Market last night.Independent is handling sales on the feature, which is about five young British freestyle football fans who travel the world in hopes of meeting Diego ...

  • News

    Vinnie Jones brings weight to The Heavy

    2007-05-17T14:29:00Z

    Making his directorial debut, Marcus Warren will commence principal photography on UK thriller The Heavy from May 20. Shooting in and around London for six weeks, utilising many of the Capital's major landmarks, The Heavy stars former champion boxer Gary Stretch (Dead Man's Shoes, Alexander) as a down on his ...

  • News

    Mira Nair to executive produce Taraprevala's Little Zizou

    2007-05-17T10:22:00Z

    Sooni Taraprevala, the award-winning screenwriter of The Namesake, Salaam Bombay and Such A Long Journey, is at work in Mumbai on her directorial debut, Little Zizou.The film, which started shooting late last month, stars Boman Irani and Mahabanoo Kotwal. It is being executive produced by Taraprevala's long-term collaborator, Mira Nair.The ...

  • News

    Edinburgh starts rising talent and acting awards for 2007

    2007-05-17T10:10:00Z

    The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) has announced two new initiatives this year: a new UK Talent Showcase, entitled Trailblazers, in association with Skillset; and a new performance award, the PPG Award for Best Performance in a British Feature Film, which will be sponsored by The Premier Property Group.About 20 ...

  • News

    Derek Jacobi joins cast of Schrader's Adam Resurrected

    2007-05-17T04:00:00Z

    Derek Jacobi has joined Jeff Goldblum and Willem Dafoe on the cast of Paul Schrader's holocaust drama Adam Resurrected.Based on Israeli author Yoram Kaniuk's novel, the story follows a former circus entertainer who was spared the gas chamber to entertain Jews as they marched to their deaths.After the war he ...

  • News

    Goalpost Films adds Natalie Imbruglia project to slate

    2007-05-17T04:00:00Z

    New UK-based sales company Goalpost Films has its first full slate at Cannes. Tristan Whalley (Goalpost and Majestic veteran) and Nicki Parfitt (Portman, Lee & Thompson) started the company last year and are continuing sales on Sundance hit Clubland and Ruper Wyatt's thriller The Escapist (now in post), starring Brian ...

  • News

    Portobello moves into sales through Fandango alliance

    2007-05-17T04:00:00Z

    Eric Abraham's Portobello Pictures (the company behind Kolya and Dark Blue World) is taking the plunge into sales. Here on the Croisette, the British-based outfit has combined forces with Italian outfit Fandango to set up sales banner Portobello-Fandango. Each company has two films in the market. Portobello is introducing buyers ...