All Africa articles – Page 85

  • News

    Delphis lands first big deal for Fighter, to R Films for Turkey

    2008-02-09T06:00:00Z

    Montreal-based Delphis Films has closed a deal with R Films for Turkish rights to Fighter (screening in Berlinale's Generation14Plus programme.)This is the first major international deal on Natasha Arthy's film, which was made through Danish production outfit Nimbus Films.'It is a film that Turkish audiences can relate to - it ...

  • News

    After Dark takes North America on horror film Frontier(s)

    2008-02-09T06:00:00Z

    After Dark Films has taken North American rights to Xavier Gens' horror film Frontier(s) starring Karina Testa and Samuel Le Bihan.The story follows four thieves who flee student riots in Paris and take refuge in a motel run by a family of Neo-Nazis. star. Gens directed from his own screenplay ...

  • News

    Adriana Chiesa adds three including Sorry If I Love You

    2008-02-09T06:00:00Z

    Rome-based sales outfit Adriana Chiesa has picked up three new titles. The films, all added to Chiesa's slate in the last week, include Italian box-office hit Sorry If I Love You (Scusa Me Ti Chiamo Amore), which racked up $15m within the first fortnight of its Italian release. A romantic ...

  • Reviews

    Lemon Tree

    2008-02-08T21:00:00Z

    Dir: Eran Riklis. Israel/Germany/France, 2008. 106 minsIn Lemon Tree, director Eran Riklis once again looks at the Arab-Israeli conflict from a human perspective, showing how, in a climate of suspicion and mistrust, politics can crush all who get in the way. Penned by his Syrian Bride collaborator Suha Arraf, this ...

  • News

    The Match Factory takes a spin with Waltz With Bashir

    2008-02-08T19:05:03Z

    The Match Factory (TMF) has taken on international sales for Israeli director Ari Folman's first-ever animated documentary feature Waltz With Bashir, which is currently in postproduction and hotly tipped to premiere at this year's Cannes Film Festival.The co-production between Israel's Bridgit Folman Films Gang Ltd., France's Les Films d'Ici and ...

  • Reviews

    CSNY: Deja Vu

    2008-02-08T15:10:00Z

    Dir: Bernard Shakey. US. 2008. 97 mins.'The huddled sixtysomethings look like they're comparing prescriptions on stage' wrote one uncharitable US music critic of Crosby , Stills, Nash and Young's 2006 'Freedom of Speech' tour, which stirred controversy with its outspoken anti-Iraq-war stance. Unless you're a diehard ...

  • Reviews

    Mermaid

    2008-02-08T14:41:00Z

    Dir: Anna Melikyan. Russia, 2007. 118 mins.Azerbaijani director Anna Melkian's second feature opens Berlin' Panorama section with a World Cinema Director's award from Sundance and solid box office at home in Russia under its belt (her first, Mars, was also shown in Panorama at Berlin).A coming-of-age fairytale with dark undertones, ...

  • News

    Jaime Rosales' Solitary Fragments to get Spanish re-release

    2008-02-08T11:53:00Z

    Spanish director Jaime Rosales' powerful family drama Solitary Fragments will be re-released in cinemas across Spain today following its best picture and best director awards at last week's Goyas. The film's first theatrical release was in June 2007 when it achieved only 41,000 admissions, but Wanda Films is confident the ...

  • News

    UGC International loads up with Lucky Luke, Schroeder

    2008-02-08T06:00:00Z

    Along with competition feature Il y a Longtemps Que Je T'Aime directed by Philippe Claudel, UGC International is hitting Berlin with a strong line up including the latest from Andre Techine, Barbet Schroeder and James Huth.Huth, whose recent hits include Hell Phone and Brice De Nice, will re-team with his ...

  • News

    Napola's Schilling plays young Hitler in Mein Kampf

    2008-02-08T06:00:00Z

    Young German actor Tom Schilling, who appeared opposite Max Riemelt in Dennis Gansel's Napola and turns 26 on Sunday (Feb 10), has been cast as the young Hitler in Urs Odermatt's Mein Kampf, based on the 1987 stage play farce of the same name by the late George Tabori.The story ...

  • News

    German production outfit SKF lays out English-language slate

    2008-02-08T06:00:00Z

    German production outfit Schmidtz Katze Filmkollektiv (SKF), which co-produced Berlin competition title Black Ice, has unveiled a new slate of English language projects budgeted between Euros 5m-10m, including a historical drama based on the life of Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of printing.'We are wanting to have more in-house development of ...

  • News

    UK, Turkey rock to Lumina's Heavy Metal In Baghdad

    2008-02-08T06:00:00Z

    London-based sales company Lumina Films has sold feature documentary Heavy Metal in Baghdad to the UK (Slingshot Studios) and Turkey (Medyavizion). The Vice Films and VBS.TV project has its European premiere in Berlin's Panorama on Sunday. Eddy Moretti and Suroosh Alvi directed the film, with Monica Hampton producing and Shane ...

  • News

    Artificial Eye kicks off Berlin with buys of Let It Rain, Julia

    2008-02-08T06:00:00Z

    UK distributor Artificial Eye has struck a two-film deal with Studio Canal for all UK rights to Let It Rain and Julia.Agnes Jaoui's Let It Rain (Parlez - Moi De La Pluie) stars Jaoui, Jamel Debbouze and Jean-Pierre Bacri. The story follows a rising politician who visits the countryside with ...

  • News

    Primer Piano buys Wood's La Buena Vida for Argentina

    2008-02-08T06:00:00Z

    Madrid-based sales outfit Latido has confirmed a number of new pre-sales on La Buena Vida, the new film from fast-rising Latin-American auteur AndresWood (Machuca.) Just prior to Berlin, deals were concluded for the film with Argentina (Primer Piano), ex-Yugoslavia (MCF) and Greece (AMA). A number of other territories are pending ...

  • News

    Studio Babelsberg announces intentions to back US studio slate

    2008-02-08T06:00:00Z

    Studio Babelsberg has revealed plans to invest '$500m or more' in a slate of features by an as-yet-unnamed US major studio to secure more Hollywood productions coming to shoot at the studios.Last year the production centre had hosted such big budget productions as Speed Racer, Valkyrie and The International and ...

  • Reviews

    Quiet Chaos (Caos Calmo)

    2008-02-08T00:30:00Z

    Dir: Antonello Grimaldi. Italy. 2008. 110 mins.'Write about what you know' goes the old dictum - so contemporary Italian scripters mostly write about city-dwelling, media-savvy middle-class people like themselves. But at least in Quiet Chaos our hero, TV executive Pietro Paladini, is doing something more original than having a mid-life ...

  • News

    European dreams: review of Rotterdam 2008

    2008-02-08T00:00:00Z

    The International Film Festival Rotterdam ended last weekend on a more upbeat note than many would have predicted when the festival began a fortnight ago. There had been mutterings among staff about cutbacks to its budget. Some outsiders had questioned the coherence of the programming and what appeared to be ...

  • News

    Content closes Daisy Chain with sales to France, Greece and beyond

    2008-02-07T17:21:00Z

    ContentFilm has announced a number of sales on supernatural thriller The Daisy Chain, which stars Samantha Morton and Steven Mackintosh.The Daisy Chain has gone to France (Wildside), Greece (Spentzos), Poland (Monolith), Portugal (Lusomundo), Brazil (Playarte), The West Indies (Caribbean Film Services), and Romania (Media Pro).Aisling Walsh directs, and the film ...

  • Reviews

    Downloading Nancy

    2008-02-07T17:19:00Z

    Dir: Johan Renck. 2008. US. 96 mins.A woman’s journey of self-hatred, self-degradation, self-mutilation and ultimately self-destruction courtesy of a murderous kindred spirit makes for grim viewing in Downloading Nancy, the feature debut of Swedish commercials and music video director Johan Renck. Although acted with conviction and directed with not a ...

  • News

    Bier, Bonnaire drop out of Berlinale competition jury

    2008-02-07T10:20:00Z

    As the Berlinale kicks off today, its competition jury has been cut from eight to six people as Susanne Bier and Sandrine Bonnaire have dropped out of jury duty.Danish director Bier has had to go to the US unexpectedly to work on her next film. 'The bags were already packed, ...