All articles by Adam Minns
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Edinburgh festival plans gathering of European distributors
Distributors from across Europe are to meet at August's EdinburghInternational Film Festival in an event held by the Scottish festival anddistributors federation FIAD. The gathering is billed as an opportunity to network in a less pressuredenvironment, rather than a formal conference. "We hope many distributorswill seize this opportunity to come ...
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Wales opens up£7m film and TV fund
Wales hascalled for applications for its £7m intellectual property fund.The fund, overseen by theWelsh Assembly, will act as a gap financier for film and TV production, plusnew media and music projects. Open to international projects, the initiative aimsto attract production to Wales.Producer Linda James hasbeen appointed to the board and ...
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Ellis to oversee Film London fund
FilmLondon, the regional film agency for London, has beefed up its productionfunding activities by appointing Maggie Ellis as its first head of production.Ellis,previously Film London's production executive, will run the body's micro-budgetdigital feature fund. She will also oversee the agency's digital shorts schemeand work with film funds run by local ...
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International directors plan Mozart film festival
An international array ofacclaimed directors including Bahman Ghobadi, Tsai Ming Liang and ApichatpongWeerasethakul will make films for an innovative festival celebrating Mozart's250th anniversary.Unveiling plans for thefilms in Cannes yesterday, festival organisers said they will be inspired bythemes from the composer's later works, including The Magic Flute and theRequiem. Named after ...
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Kuhn to chair Independent Cinema Office
Qwerty Filmsboss Michael Kuhn has become Chair of the Board of Trustees of the IndependentCinema Office (ICO), it was announced in Cannes yesterday. The ICO's othertrustees are Julia Short, M-D of Verve Pictures, and Ben Cook, Director of Lux.Set up in July2003, the ICO is funded by the UK Film ...
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Tartan sails off with French hit 36 Quai
The UK'sTartan Films has acquired Gaumont's French hit 36 Quai Des Orfevres, starring Daniel Auteuil and GerardDepardieu.The deal was brokered byJane Giles of Tartan Films and Philippe de Chaisemartin of Gaumont. The policethriller, which amassed more than 2.1 million admissions in France, has sold toan array of markets, including Japan ...
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EU ministers call for action on legal download of films
Europeanministers this week called for more collaboration between the film business andinternet service providers to combat piracy and exploit the online market forcinema.Meetingat the Cannes Film Festival, the ministers from most of the EU member statesissued a statement saying that there is "an urgent need for a meaningfuldialogue" to ensure ...
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World's Fastest Indian heads East
TheWorld's Fastest Indian, starring Anthony Hopkins, has sold to Alexander van Duelman's EEAP forEastern Europe, including Russia, and German-speaking markets.The distributor picked upthe film, directed by Roger Donaldson, from Tanlay AG and NZ Film. "I was impressed with Anthony Hopkins' performance," said vanDuelman. "However, seeing the 16 minutes of cut ...
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Greeks set sail with financing deals
The sword and sandal epic isset to get its biggest gift since the wooden horse. Greece is launching a filmfinancing incentive worth up to 30% of a budget to boost its local industry andattract overseas productions.Speaking in Cannes, deputyminister of culture Petros Tatoulis said the financial incentive, part of thecountry's ...
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Momentum signs up for football comedy The Other Half
Momentum Pictures has pickedup all UK rights to football romantic comedy The Other Half from UK-based seller AV Pictures.The film, which stars DannyDyer and footballer-turned-actor Vinnie Jones, is Momentum's second deal withAV this market after the UK distributor picked up horror thriller Wilderness.The Other Half joins WW2-set drama The Aryan ...
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Rainmaker unveils fresh slate following Bomb success
With its debut film Diameter Of TheBomb picked up by THINKFilm for North America andRedbus for the UK, fledgling UK financing and production outfit Rainmaker Filmshas unveiled a fresh slate of projects.The London-based company, which funds development and,increasingly, production, is backing Chinese Wall, asuspense thriller by US writer Mark Wheaton ...
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Icon Falls for Gere, Neeson action film
Icon EntertainmentInternational has taken on worldwide rights to Seraphim Falls, a psychological action film set during CivilWar-era America starring Richard Gere and Liam Neeson.First-time director DavidVon Ancken, whose TV credits include The Shield and CSI NY, is in pre-production, with David Flynn and Bruce Davey producing.Icon's distribution offshoot Icon Film ...
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Moviehouse to sell Fiennes starring tale of sexual obsession
Moviehouse Entertainment has been appointed to handle overseas sales on WhoKilled Norma Barnes', a contemporary tale of sexual obsession starringRalph Fiennes, Emily Mortimer, Emily Blunt and Ciaran Hinds.Director Malcolm McKay, best known for big-budget BBC dramas such as Gormenghast, is to startshooting the $6m production in the autumn. An adaptation ...
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The Works signs up Italian pair
UK-based sales company The Works hasboarded two films world premiering at Cannes: Critics' Week entry TheHorizon Of Events (L'Orizzonte Degli Eventi) and Come Into The Light (Alla Luce DelSole).Horizon Of Events is directed byDaniele Vicari, whose Velocita Massima played at the Venice International FilmFestival. The story focuses on a nuclear ...
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Carlyle, Firth to learn Meat Trade with The Works
Robert Carlyle and ColinFirth are to star in Meat Trade, a darkly comic, bodysnatching horror writtenby Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh.UK-based sales company TheWorks has taken on international sales to the film, which is pre-productionunder director Antonia Bird.Set in the historic streetsof Edinburgh, the script is a contemporary re-working of one ...
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Hanway takes on sales for Forman's Goya biopic
London's Hanway Films hasboarded Milos Forman's Goya biopic Goya's Ghosts as international sales agent. The film marks areunion between Zaentz and Forman who previously teamed on AcademyAward-festooned One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest and Amadeus.The film is scheduled tostart in Spain in September. Cannes Jury member Javier Bardem and NathaliePortman ...
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Momentum ventures into Bassett's Wilderness
UKdistributor Momentum Pictures has acquired gritty British horror Wilderness, managing director Xavier Marchandhas announced.The company picked up all UKand Spanish rights to the film, which is director Michael J Bassett's follow-upto Deathwatch.Lara Thompson, head ofacquisitions at Momentum, and Robert Bernstein, of UK production company EcosseFilms, negotiated the deal. AV Pictures ...
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Warner Bros to take North America on August Rush
Warner Bros is set to take NorthAmerican distribution rights on August Rush and come on board as a producingpartner.The move was announced inCannes yesterday by production company Southpaw Entertainment, Warner Bros andsales outfit Odyssey Entertainment.Freddie Highmore (FindingNeverland, Charlie AndThe Chocolate Factory) is to star asthe eponymous August Rush, an orphan ...
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Roeg's sales arm kicks off with Klimt
Independent Film Sales, thesales arm of Luc Roeg's UK production operation Artists Independent Films,arrives at its first Cannes with a trio of films including Klimt, a biopic of the artist starring John Malkovich anddirected by Raoul Ruiz.A European co-productioncurrently in post, Klimt marksthe sales division's first third-party film.Also on the ...
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Pent up demand set to drive Cannes market
Buyers and sellers are looking forward to thisyear's Cannes market with cautious optimism. With LosAngeles' AFM trade fair moving from February to the autumn, the lastsignificant global market was the European Film Market at Berlin. That has lefta long stretch through the spring without an A-list industry gathering, andindependent sellers ...