All articles by Agnes Poirier – Page 7
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MTV, Nelvana to co-produce two TV series
Viacom's MTV Networks and Toronto-based Nelvana Ltd. have signed an agreement to co-produce two new television series targeted to young adults. The first, the animated comedy Clone High, imagines a universe where young clones of historical figures and dead celebrities are in attendance at the same high school. The second ...
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Australians rule Golden Globes
Australia came up trumps at the 59th GoldenGlobes on Sunday night. Baz Lurhmann was one of five antipodeans to win awardsfor work in motion pictures and television. Lurhmann's Moulin Rouge wonBest Picture - Musical or Comedy, while Nicole Kidman won Actress - Musical or Comedyfor the same film. Russell Crowe ...
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MGM plays down rumours of $7bn sale
MGM has distanced itself from rumours that it is up for sale following a report yesterday (Jan 15) in the Los Angeles Times saying the company had hired investment bank Goldman Sachs to solicit bids that are due this week. In a statement, MGM said, "As we have stated ...
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California proposes production tax incentives
An apparently escalating decline in local production has prompted the state of California to propose a tax incentive to encourage film and TV producers to shoot in the state. California governor Gray Davis has announced that, if instituted, the labour-based tax credit would return $230m to the production community over ...
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IMAX and IT Int'l add two more Euro complexes
A cinema construction contract between giant-screen entertainment company Imax Corp. and Israel-based exhibitor IT International (I.T.) has been expanded from seven cinemas to nine. The additional theatres, scheduled to open in 2003, will be located in Athens, Greece and an undisclosed European location. I.T.'s first Eastern European location opened in ...
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Alliance Atlantis cuts 80 jobs, merges TV, film
Alliance Atlantis will cut 80 staff positions ' approximately 9% of its work force -- as the Toronto-based entertainment company consolidates its television and motion picture production operations along with their attendant distribution and promotion departments. Among the high-profile employees affected are Mark Horowitz, Los Angeles-based president of Alliance Atlantis ...
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Toronto fest mourns programmer Ramiro Puerta
Ramiro Puerta, a long-time programmer and staff member of the Toronto International Film Festival died on Friday, Jan. 4. A filmmaker, musician, actor and impresario, he was 48.A native of Colombia, Puerta studied acting at the Mountview Theatre School in London and then moved to Toronto in 1980 where he ...
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Imax shares soar after $42m debt repurchase
Giant screen purveyor Imax Corp. has repurchased $42m of its own debt for one-quarter the issue price, alleviating refinancing concerns and placing the big-screen movie maker and large-format exhibitor on firmer financial footing.By noon on Tuesday (Jan 8), Imax's share price had risen nearly 50% on the day - from ...
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Toronto fest selects Canada's top 10 films
The Toronto International Film Festival Group has inaugurated a list of the 10 Best Canadian films of 2001. And, in inimitable Canadian style, the list is not ranked but alphabetical. The Group is the umbrella organisation for the annual film festival as well as the Spockets Childrens' Film Festival and ...
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Canada's Martinelli unveils Capri prod company
Canadian producer Gabriella Martinelli has launched a new Toronto-based production outfit, Capri Films, in partnership with Polish recording impresario Wladislow Bartoszewicz. The first project under the Capri banner will be Between Strangers, starring Sophia Loren and Gerard Depardieu, directed by Loren's son Eduardo Ponti and now in post production. Martinelli ...
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Natali's Headspace to develop digital features
Canadian filmmaker Vincenzo Natali is launching a feature film and multi-media production company, Headspace, which will develop cutting-edge digital production techniques such as the Cinema HD processBest know for his debut cult hit Cube, Natali recently signed to direct the movie Nothing for newly launched Vancouver production house 49th Parallel ...
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Alliance given OK for Canadian indie film channel
Alliance Atlantis Communications (AAC) has received approval from theCanadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) for its acquisition of the Independent Film Channel Canada (IFCC). The IFCC was acquired through AAC's purchase of Halifax-based Salter Street Films earlier this year. The IFFC was launched in September 2001, one of an array ...
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Atanarjuat and War Bride lead Genie race
Zacharias Kunuk's Camera d'or winner Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner) and Lyndon Chubbuck's The War Bride both received seven nominations for Canada's Genie Awards, announced Dec. 12 in Toronto. Bruce Sweeney's Last Wedding had six nominations while five were awarded to Renny Bartlett's Eisenstein, Bernard Emond's La Femme Qui Boit and ...
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Telefilm Canada appoints new chairman, CEO
Telefilm Canada has appointed Charles Belanger as chairman and RichardStursberg executive director.Belanger was president and CEO of the Broadcasting Group at CFCF,vice-president of CANCOM and vice-chairman responsible for broadcasting atthe CRTC, the federal broadcasting regulator. He served with the BCE groupas vice-president responsible for conventional and multimedia programmingservices, and for ...
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Canada sees launch of two new distributors
Two new Canadian distribution outfits - one based in Montreal, one in Toronto - are emerging from the executive suites, libraries and deals of two old companies: an ailing TVA International and the defunct Blackwatch Releasing.Launched this week, Montreal-based Incendo Media begins life with several significant TV distribution deals, including ...
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AMC buys insolvent General
Consolidation in the North American exhibition sector continues apace as AMC Entertainment acquired ailing General Cinemas out of bankruptcy court. Under the agreement, AMC, the second-largest exhibitor by screens, will pay the creditors of General's parent GC Companies valued at more than $175m in cash and AMC stock . ...
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Les Boys III unseats Potter in Quebec
Having been swiftly de-throned in South Africa, Harry Potter's reign at the box office has been truncated in another territory. Quebecois hockey comedy Les Boys III scored a gross of over C$1m ($635,000), the highest-ever opening for a local French-language film at the province's box office. Harry Potter A L'ecole ...
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Fat Girl distributors lose Ontario appeal
The North American distributors of Catherine Breillat's controversial film Fat Girl (A Ma Souer!) have lost an appeal to the Ontario Film Review Board (OFRB). Given that joint distributors Cowboy Pictures and Lions Gate Films have chosen not to make the cuts requested, the decision effectively bans the film from ...
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Ontario bans Breillat's controversial Fat Girl
Catherine Breillat's Fat Girl (A Ma Soeur!) has been banned by Ontario Film Review Board (OFRB). According to Noah Cowan, co-president of Cowboy Booking which is co-releasing the film with Lions Gate in North America, the OFRB requested cuts that would have reduced the movie to a mere 40 minutes ...
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Toronto's Fireworks hires Pasternak
Toronto-based Fireworks Entertainment has hired local attorney Steven Pasternak into the newly created position of general counsel. Previously a founding partner of the legal firm that advises Fireworks, Pasternak will be involved in furthering the business interests of Fireworks as well as special projects. His old firm, formerly Hall Pasternak ...