All articles by Anna Franklin
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Russia on target to produce more than 160 films in 2005
Russia is on target toproduce more than 160 feature films this year with an economic boom drivingproduction funding and an increase of 40% at the box office last year makingfilm production start to look attractive for local backers. It also has heated up thedebate over the long stalled privatisation of ...
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Submarine drama triumphs at Russian Oscars
VladimirKhotinenko's 72 Metres, about a Russian submarine crew strandedbelow sea, has won the best film prize at the Golden Eagles, Russia'sequivalent of the Oscars.Theannual awards ceremony was presided over by its founder and Russian Oscarwinner, Nikita Mikhalkov.Controversially,Russian blockbuster Nightwatch failed to score a nomination in the bestfilm category. Produced by ...
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Russian box office surges over 40% in 2004
The Russian box office grew by 41% to $268m lastyear, while admissions surged to 76.5m according to latest figures.The figures, relating to November 2003-November 2004, were announced by trade magazineKinobusiness. Topping the local box office was Russianproduced sci-fi hit Night Watch which broke all previous Russian boxoffice records with over ...
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2004: Russia comes in from the cold
This year was dominated by the boom in Russian film-making.Some 120 features have been shot in 2004 and every week Moscow sees thepremiere of at least one or two new local titles.The big winner on both the production and distributionfronts was Timur Bekmambetov's Night Watch, which broke all box-office records ...
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Eastern European film industry enjoying bumper year
With a production boom in progress in Russia, commitmentsfor increased government funding in Poland and a major new player in theBaltics entering the field the film industry in the east is seeing its bestyear in a decade.While Latvia produces only one or two feature films a yearproducer Andrejs Ekis who ...
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Russian distributor, exhibitor team to market talent abroad
Russiandistributor Michael Schlicht and Moscow based exhibitor Paul Heth have teamedup to market Russian film talent to Hollywood following their successfulbrokering of Russian blockbuster NightWatch to 20th Century Fox.The newcompany PGM (Patten Media Group) will market not only Russian productinternationally but also Russian scripts, re-make rights and talent."We thinkit's the ...
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Child abuse drama signals new direction for Polish film
Aftera spate of veteran directors and big budget historic epics dominating Polishfilm for the past few years, this year's annual roll-out of new Polish featurefilms at the Gdynia Film Festival proved that a fresh wind is blowing in theindustry.The festival in the Baltic seaside resort wrapped over theweekend. Young newcomer ...
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Russian fighter jet company backs $10m action film.
Russianmilitary aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi is backing a new $10m Russian actionmovie Mirror Wars starring MalcolmMcDowell and other Hollywood actors.Mirror Wars producer Oleg Kapanets declined to put afigure on Sukhoi's financial involvement, however, the company's investment issaid to be "substantial." TheEnglish-language film is produced by the LA and Moscow based Kremlin ...
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Private equity fund invests in Russian exhibition
Russian exhibitorand entertainment complex developer, Investkinoproyekt, has announced plans toexpand in the Russian regions after attracting the single largest equityinvestment in the Russian industry $40m from international private equity groupCube Private Equity Fund."Russia'sexhibition and entertainment industry is one of the few businesses where theopportunities to create nation-wide projects still abounds," ...
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Polish art house festival breaks attendance record
This year's fourth edition of Era New Horizons festival,eastern Europe's leading art house film festival, broke all previous recordsfor ticket sales with 93,602 tickets sold comparied to 56,179 last year.The festival held in Cieszyn, southern Poland, from 22 Julyto 1 August screened 166 features and 166 short films from 36 ...
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Russian horror breaks box office records
Russia's first realHollywood-style blockbuster NightWatch has broken the local recordfor the biggest grossingbox office hitof all time - taking justover $14.3m asof yesterday, accordingto the press service ofthe First Channelof Russian television.The previous recordwas held by LordOf The Rings 3 with$14.1m and 3.3madmissions. NightWatch beat Lord OfThe Rings on admissions ...
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Russian Watch clocks up record box office
Russian produced horror film Night Watch, directed byTimur Bekmambetov, is on its way to becoming one of the top grossing filmsin Russian box office history, challenging the $14m record set by Lord OfThe Rings: The Return Of The King. Local audiences are also eagerlyawaiting the sequel Night Watch II due ...
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Bodrov readies Genghis Kahn epic
Russian filmmaker Sergei Bodrov is set to begin shooting hisnew film Mongol (The Early Years of Genghis Khan) this autumn. Thedirector of the Oscar nominated Prisoner Of The Caucuses is also actingas co-producer alongside Sergei Selyanov, head of the St Petersburg based STVFilm.Bodrov has teamed up again with scriptwriter Arif ...
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Russia revs up race car drama
Leading Russianproduction outfit Top Line Productions, headed by Sergei Gribkov, is set to begin shooting this week on a newproject, car racing drama Eau Rouge (Krasnaya Voda).The film will be directed byyoung Russian director Dmitry Cherkasov with a script by playwright OlegAntonov. Shooting, which will last throughout the summer, will ...
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Moscow awards Us raft of prizes
If any more proofwas needed of the healthy state of Russian film, last night's awards ceremonyat the 26th Moscow International Film Festival should convince anysceptics.Dmitry Meskhiyevswept the festival's top prizes winning the Golden St George for best film aswell as best director for his WWII war drama Us (Svoi) which ...
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Moscow Festival gets off to roaring start
The Moscow International Film Festival got off to a roaringstart on Friday night (18 June) with guests Quentin Tarantino, David Carradine,Lawrence Bender and Harvey Weinstein taking to the stage at the Pushkin Theatreto rousing applause.Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol 2 was the opening film and Tarantino kidded the audience about Russianaudio ...
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Tarantino arrives for opening of Moscow festival
Director QuentinTarantino has arrived in Moscow for the Russian premiere of his Kill BillVol 2, which opens the Moscow International Film Festival (June 18-27) today.His arrivalyesterday put an end to speculation on whether or not Tarantino would show up.He has been expected at the event several times in previous years, ...
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East European production swings into high gear
Therecent economic boom in Russia has made it easier to finance films - bothprivately and from government funds. Dozens of young new directors are expectedto complete new films by the end of the year with the Russian Ministry ofCulture giving priority to funding debut projects.Butveteran directors in Russia and Poland ...
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Moscow film fest unveils programme line-up
The 26th annual Moscow International Film Festival (June 18-27) rolled out its official programme yesterday at a press conference in central Moscow.One of the the major issues of the day was where the event would be held after its traditional headquarters in the historic Manage hall next to the ...
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POLAND
Mel Gibson's The Passion Of The Christ racked up a running total box office gross of $3,822,060 in its second week at number at the Polish box office.An earlier announcement that the Pope had seen the film undoubtedly boosted box office in the highly Catholic country.But Polish contemporary romance Nigdy ...