All articles by Wendy Mitchell – Page 51
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News
Kormakur follows Jar City with Ivanov film and theatre project
Icelandic director Baltasar Kormakur plans to follow up his recent thriller Jar City, the country's Oscar submission and a local box-office hit, with an innovative cinema/theatre project based on Chekhov's classic Ivanov. Last summer, Kormakur shot a film based on the work (not a filmed play but a feature on ...
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News
Aardman plans Wallace and Gromit short for BBC TV
Aardman's famed Wallace and Gromit characters, last seen on the big screen in 2005 feature Curse Of The Were-Rabbit, are returning to a 30-minute format for TV. Trouble At' Mill will be shown on BBC 1. The short is in pre-production now and will start shooting in January 2008 to ...
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News
NonStop acquires It's A Free World and La Zona
Stockholm-based distributor NonStop Entertainment has acquired Scandinavia and Iceland rights for Ken Loach's It's A Free World and Scandinavia and Baltics rights for Rodrigo Pla's La Zona. Loach's It's A Free World, about a British woman who tries to make money from illegal immigrants working in the UK, won the ...
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News
Park Entertainment takes on sales for Cheung's Bodyguard
Park Entertainment is handling world sales for Bodyguard - A New Beginning. UK-based director Chee Keung Cheung has finished principal photography on the action movie, which shot in Hong Kong and northwest England. The cast features Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa, Richard Ng, Vincent Sze, Mark Strange and Nathan Lewis. Park Entertainment also ...
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News
Summer wraps UK shoot for The Works, Vertigo
Kenny Glenaan has wrapped principal photography on Summer for The Works International and Vertigo Films. Summer shot for five weeks in and around Bolsover, Derbyshire. Post-production will start in Glasgow next week. Robert Carlyle, Steve Evets and Rachael Blake star with newcomers Sean Kelly, Matthew Workman, Jo Doherty, Christopher Russell, ...
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News
ContentFilm takes on thriller Balibo with LaPaglia
ContentFilm International has taken on world rights (outside Australia and New Zealand) to Robert Connolly's thriller Balibo starring Anthony LaPaglia. The film is based on the true events of the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975. LaPaglia plays Australian TV journalist Roger East, who runs a local news agency ...
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News
BBC Films restructuring creates board including Langan and Wright
As expected, the BBC has announced a restructuring of BBC Films. Jane Tranter, Controller BBC Fiction, has said that the film arm's day-to-day management and decision-making will be the responsibility of a new board, comprised of Christine Langan (comissioning editor, BBC Films), Jamie Laurenson (executive producer, BBC Films), Joe Oppenheimer ...
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News
UKFC Development Fund restructures single-project funding
The UK Film Council's Development Fund, which will hand out an average of $8m (£4m) per year through 2011, has announced a number of changes to the way it funds single projects. Tanya Seghatchian, the Harry Potter and My Summer Of Love producer who took over as head of the ...
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News
Orange to sponsor BAFTAs for two more years in 2008-2009
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts says that phone company Orange has extended its sponsorship of the film awards for two more years in 2008 and 2009. Orange has already sponsored the BAFTAs for 10 years. Hattie Magee, head of partnerships for Orange UK, said: 'We are delighted ...
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News
Grumbar promoted to distribution president at Icon
Hugo Grumbar has been promoted to president of distribution for Icon Film Distribution. He had been head of group marketing. In the new position, he will oversee all marketing, publicity and distribution operations; he reports to chief executive Martin Bigham. Also at Icon, Mark Fisher has been named Group Financial ...
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News
Future Shorts relaunches UK festival in London tonight
After a summer break, the Future Shorts festival is relaunching tonight.The London festival kicks off tonight at the Greenwich Picturehouse, before screeing at other London locations through Oct 30. Regional screenings will be held in Glasgow, Bristol, Cardiff, Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Bournemouth, Manchester, Norwich and Exeter. The festival's selections ...
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News
Fry, Brand, Fisher and Lily Allen to star in Austen spoof
UK-based Sprout Productions is in pre-production on period comedy Jane Austen Handheld with director Tristram Shapeero, who makes his feature film debut after working on TV's Green Wing, Peep Show and Brass Eye. Carrie Fisher, Stephen Fry, Russell Brand and Lily Allen will star in the comedy spoof of Pride ...
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News
ContentFilm does a run with skiing documentary Steep
ContentFilm International has taken on international rights (excluding North America) for Steep. Mark Obenhaus directed the documentary about big mountain skiing, and it was filmed in locations including Alaska, Wyoming, Canada, France and Iceland.The featured skiiers include Ingrid Backstrom, Chris Davenport, Doug Coombs, Shane McConkey, Andrew McLean, Seth Morrison, Eric ...
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News
HBO expands international sales team and promotes Bowen
HBO has expanded its international sales team, appointing four new vice presidents of international distribution. They are Carol Eymery, Roes Marie Vega, Roberta Ibb-Hartog and Dan Selig. Also, Jennifer Bowen has been promoted to senior vice president of international distribution. She has been with HBO since 1995. Eymery, Vega, Ibba-Hartog ...
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News
Ian Foster takes MD job for Universal UK home entertainment
Ian Foster has been named managing director, Universal Pictures UK, a division of home entertainment company Universal Pictures International Entertainment. Foster had been commercial director at Entertainment UK Ltd and previously served as managing director of Demon Music Group. He is based in London and reports to UPIE president Eddie ...
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Iceland adds Jar City to foreign-language Oscar race
Baltasar Kormakur's Jar City will represent Iceland in the race for the foreign-language Oscar.The thriller won the Crystal Globe in Karlovy Vary and it is a nominee for the Nordic Film Prize. Jar City was well received in Telluride and Toronto; IFC Films has nabbed North American rights from Trust ...
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Features
United Kingdom - The ringleaders
Through his work in the Scottish exhibition sector, Nick Varley knew that putting classic films on screen had a number of obstacles. "If you want to do a good retrospective, you have to find a print that's worth screening. Programming was being compromised because of the state of prints and ...
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Universal Japan strikes DVD distribution deal with Geneon
Universal Pictures Japan and Geneon Entertainment have created a home entertainment distribution partnership. Geneon will distribute Universal's new release titles on DVD, with the first release being The Bourne Ultimatum in March 2008.However, Universal Pictures Japan, led by MD Ghen Akiyama, will continue to distribute all Universal catalogue and television ...
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LFF plans industry talks including one-day digital seminar
The London Film Festival is planning several special industry seminars for this year's festival. The Ateliers du Cinema Europeen (ACE) and the French Institute, with support from Skillset, the UK Film Council and the MEDIA Plus Programme will work with the LFF to host the seminar Creative Producer - A ...
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Reykjavik opens with world premiere of Sigur Ros - Heima
The fourth Reykjavik International Film Festival will open tonight with the world premiere of Denni Karlsson's Sigur Ros - Heima, a film about the internationally successful Icelandic music group Sigur Ros. Guests of the festival will include Peter Greenaway, who will receive the festival's honorary award for film directing; Finnish ...