All articles by Wendy Mitchell – Page 112
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Ireland leads Celtic fest nominations
The Celtic Film and Television Festival has announced the awards shortlist for its 27th annualfestival, which recognizes works from the Celtic countries and regions (Brittany, Cornwall, Ireland, Scotland and Wales). Ireland leads with 30 nominations, Scotland follows with 27, and Wales with 26. In the filmcategories, best feature film nominees ...
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UK production spending down 31% in 2005
As expected, 2005 wasn't abanner year for UK film production as film tax breaks uncertainty and a strong pound hurtthe industry. According to figures from the UK Film Council, film productionspending in the UK was £559m ($988m) in 2005, down 31% from 2004's £810.3m ($1432m). That'sfar below 2003's record year ...
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Moonstone names directors for filmmakers' lab
Moonstone International has announced the participants forits ninth Filmmakers' Lab, to be held in Wexford, Ireland, from January26-February 10. The participatingdirectors are selected from applicants across Europe who areworking on feature films for an international audience. This year's directorsand films are: Terry McMahon's DancehallBitch (Ireland), Ian Power's Who's Next (Ireland), ...
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UK Film Council offers P&A support to new releases
The UK Film Council has announced some ofthe latest recipients of funding from its Print and Advertising Fund. Among January's theatrical releases in theUK, the P&A fund is providing Redbus with $351,920(£200,000) for its release of Michael Winterbottom's A Cock and Bull Story, Icon $93,258 (£53,000)for Woody Allen's Match Point, ...
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Aardman names Stephen Moore COO and features head
Stephen Moore has joined UK-based animation company Aardmanas head of features and chief operating officer, starting immediately.Moore comes onboard the Aardman team after relocating back to the UKafter eight years in Los Angeles aspresident of international for Twentieth Century Fox. He oversaw both thetheatrical and home entertainment divisions at Fox."Icouldn't ...
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Beyond Films gets on board for Dragnet and Almost Adult
Sales company Beyond Filmshas acquired the rights to two films currently shooting, Steve Hudson's Dragnet and YousefAli Khan's Almost Adult.Dragnet stars Robert Carlyle, Gary Lewis, and Martin Compston in the story of a young fisherman who decides tosave the family business by trafficking in illegal immigrants. Dragnetstarted shooting Monday in ...
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Investment in UK films down a third in 2005
Investment in UK-linked filmswas $1.1 billion (£699.1 million) into 78 films in 2005, down 27% from 2004'sinvestment of $1.7 billion (£960 million) in 68 projects, according to figuresfrom ScreenFinance.ScreenFinance also noted that inward investment from Hollywood into the UK fell from $889.5 million (£503.4 million) with eightproductions in 2004 to ...
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EFP names 21 actors in Berlin's Shooting Stars
European Film Promotion hasannounced the actors for the 2006 Shooting Stars programme. The 21 Europeanactors will be part of a series of promotional events (February 11-13) at theBerlin International Film Festival and at later film festivals in Europe.Previous actors involved inthe programme include Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, andFranke Potente. ShootingStars ...
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Orange and BAFTA nominees for rising star acting award
Mobile communications company Orangehas announced the five nominees for its new Orange Rising Star Award, to bepresented at the 2006 BAFTAs. The five actorsnominated are Gael Garcia Bernal, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Rachel McAdams, James McAvoy,and Michelle Williams. BAFTA announced that the new award will be dedicated to thework of Mary Selway, ...
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Sky starts movie download service with 200 titles
On the heels of LoveFilm's launch of a 500-title library of film downloads in the UK, satellite TV company Sky is also offering digital downloads of films to customers' computers. The Sky by broadband service is now being offered to Sky's digital TV subscribers in the UK and Ireland. More ...
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BAFTA voters can't play Munich DVDs due to blunder
The saga of the Munich DVD screeners sentto BAFTA members continues. BAFTA voters finally received the DVDs on Saturday,but found that they were Region 1 DVDs encrypted in the Cineaanti-piracy format, so not able to play on any UK Cineaplayers. As ScreenDaily.com reported last week, screeners of Steven Spielberg'slatest were ...
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LoveFilm to offer VOD service to Intel Viiv platform
UK online DVD rental companyLoveFilm.com is building on its recently announced video on demand service bystriking a new deal with Intel.LoveFilm will offer moviesfor download through the new Intel Viiv platform,which is used for networking of digital entertainment."We are delighted to work with Intel to bringa selection of great movies ...
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BBC FOUR announces nominees for world cinema prize
BBC FOUR has announced the nominations for its third annual world cinemaaward. Thisyear's shortlist is: Wong Kar Wai's2046, Oliver Hirschbiegel's Downfall,Zhang Yimou's Houseof Flying Daggers, Agnes Jaoui's Look at Me, Alejandro Amenabar's The SeaInside, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul'sTropical Malady. Thenominees were selected by UK film critics, film festivaldirectors, and heads of ...
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Bafta's first round of voting shows early frontrunners
As of this morning, Baftamembers are starting their second round of voting for the British Academy's annual film awards,with The Constant Gardener leadingthe first-round shortlist in the major categories. The Bafta second-roundvoting shortlist for best film includes the following 15 titles: Brokeback Mountain, Capote, The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, ...
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Anchor Bay CEO dies of heart failure
Mo Claridge,CEO of UK home video company AnchorBay Entertainment, passed away on Christmas Day at age 54. The cause of deathwas heart failure.Claridge joined Anchor Bay four years ago when itacquired Digital Entertainment Ltd., thehome video company he founded. He led Anchor Bayinto theatrical distribution in the past two years. ...
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Baker Street launches Take 9 fund for UK films
London-basedfilm financing company Baker Street Media Management has launched its latestequity fund, Take 9, to invest in British film productions. Baker Street saidTake 9 would seek to raise up to $22m (£12.5m) in cash from private investors, tosupport films with combined budgets of up to $87.9m (£50m). Take 9 ...
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Soda picks up UK rights to Song of Songs
Soda Pictures has taken UK and Ireland rights to Josh Appignanesi'sdebut feature Song of Songs.Natalie Press, who previously starred in My Summer of Love, stars alongsidenewcomer Joel Chalfen in the story of a brother andsister in London's Orthodox Jewish community. Song of Songs premiered in August at the 2005Edinburgh International ...
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BAFTA Munich screeners hit delays
The first round of voting forthis year's BAFTAs closes on Wednesday, which will bebefore voters have a chance to watch screeners of one awardsfavourite, Steven Spielberg's Munich. The decision to send Munich screeners was made before Christmas, and the film's UK distributor, UIP, sent an email to BAFTA voters onDecember ...
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Sheffield Doc Fest To Launch UK Tour in February
The Sheffield InternationalDocumentary Festival will launch its UK tour at the National Film Theatrein London from February 2-5. The tour, in its seventh year,includes highlights from the Sheffield festival held in October. After a four-day run at the NFT,the three-month tour will continue in cities including Belfast, Bristol, Chichester,Edinburgh, Glasgow, ...
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Pride & Prejudice Leads London Critics nominations
The London Critics Circlehas announced nominees for its annual film awards, with Pride & Prejudice leading the way with eight nominations. The Constant Gardener was close behindwith seven nominations. UIP was the UK distributor with the most nominations at 20 ahead ofPathe's 14.The winners will beannounced on Feb 9 at ...