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All Features articles – Page 489
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Features
Editorial - Industry' What industry'
The idea of a film 'industry' is a comforting thing. When Joe or Joanna pawn the car and sell the kids to the circus to produce an indie movie, they need to believe they have entered a recognisable business rather than slipped into mid-life madness. In reality, the ability to ...
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Features
Production - Eastern Europe - Pole star
As a filming location, Poland is building a reputation as a healthy alternative to its bigger, more established neighbours. In recent years, major productions such as The Chronicles Of Narnia films and David Lynch's Inland Empire have been lured by Poland's cheap costs, contrasting scenery and established reputation as a ...
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Features
In Focus - UK Distribution - How to plan a Channel crossing
The worldwide success of films such as the critically acclaimed La Vie En Rose and the thriller Tell No One has whetted foreign appetite once again for French product - but not all of it fits the UK theatrical market.Vincent Maraval of Wild Bunch, whose The Fox And The Child ...
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Features
Bandit country
The death in May of Paul Reyes, one of the leaders of the Colombian terrorist group, Farc (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), lends a timely appeal to Victor Gaviria's new project about the origins of the movement.The Colombian director, probably the best known film-maker to emerge from the territory, ...
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Features
International - Indian Summer Arrives
Tamil film Dasavatharam was the highest non-US entry in the international chart, taking $4.6m from 11 territories in its opening weekend.The sci-fi drama played on 1,211 screens for a $3,825 screen average, putting it at number seven this weekend. It opened at number 11 in the UK with a $248,175 ...
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Features
In focus - Distribution - Start of a French affair
According to Unifrance, France's film export body, French films account for an estimated 3 million admissions in the UK, an impressive 2% of the market. This was led by 2007's Edith Piaf biopic La Vie En Rose, directed by Olivier Dahan, which took $3.3m in the territory, while Guillaume Canet's ...
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Features
United States - Maverick man
The word 'maverick' is bandied about a lot when Michael Cerenzie's name is mentioned, and it is not hard to see why. The heavily tattooed former New York stage actor and theatre impresario is determined to do things his way in the film industry.Cerenzie brought G-String Divas - regarded by ...
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Features
Production - Eastern Europe - Hungary shoots put to the test
The tap-tap of numbers being punched into calculators greeted the news that Hungary is expected to introduce a cultural test for productions hoping to access its 20% tax rebate: international film-makers are rapidly re-examining their production plans to see if Hungary will still work for them.Proposed changes to the Hungarian ...
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Features
Production - Shanghai International Film Festival - Gateway to the east
Shanghai-born Wong Kar Wai heads up the international competition jury of the 11th Shanghai International Film Festival (Siff), replacing the late Anthony Minghella. Sixteen films will compete for the festival's main Jin Jue Award, which is heavy on European entries. Local films are represented by Hasichaolu's Urtin Duu and Gao ...
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Features
The Critical View - True Class
Films can be innovative in different ways. Sometimes they invent a new way of staging and shooting traditional dramas (see Dogme), and sometimes it's the story that is original while the film's visual style remains relatively mainstream (see most films with which Charlie Kaufman has been involved).But occasionally a film ...
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Features
United Kingdom - C'est La Vie
It has been more than eight months since Hugo Grumbar was promoted to president of distribution for Icon Film Distribution (IFD), and it is no secret he is enjoying the ride. Previously head of group marketing at IFD in London and a veteran of Capitol Films and Intermedia, Grumbar - ...
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Features
International - Raj against the machine
Indian film Sarkar Raj was this weekend's highest non-US entry in the international arena, taking $5.4m from 1,433 screens in 17 territories.The film is one of 17 that crossed the $1m mark over the June 6-8 weekend, as the top four films - all Hollywood offerings - saturated the market.Sex ...
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Features
The Critical View - Power corrupts
Like many critics, I tend to mean something good when I describe a film as 'powerful'. But like many people, if you asked me if power was always a good thing, I'd answer that it all depends on how it's used.This semantic contradiction was brought home to me at the ...
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Features
International - Cannes hits home
While Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull clearly took the international crown this weekend, representing a whopping 65% of the top 40 revenue, a couple of Cannes competition films fared well in their home territories, each passing the $1m mark.Cannes Grand Jury Prize winner Gomorrah was the ...
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Features
International - Iron man still rules
Four new entries broke into the top 10 in this week's international chart with What Happens In Vegas and Speed Racer debuting in second and third position respectively.Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher star in the romantic comedy What Happens In Vegas as strangers who wake up after a night of ...
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Features
United States - High roller
Barry Mendel is speaking from the set of Peacock in Iowa, an intense drama featuring Cillian Murphy, Ellen Page, Susan Sarandon, Bill Pullman and Josh Lucas, which is financed by Mandate Pictures. But Mendel is not on the phone to talk about that intriguing project but another Ellen Page-starrer with ...
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Features
United Kingdom - Hard truths, soft money
Earlier this spring, when the UK government clamped down on "sole trader" schemes, it seemed like the last hurrah for a gold rush era in UK film financing. The old Section 48 and Section 42 tax reliefs were no longer in place. A period in which hundreds of millions of ...
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Features
Germany - Funding station
Look, it's not Speed Racer. It's not Iron Man. But this is a quality film, it's really fun and it's an amazing cast," says Jens Meurer of Egoli Tossell, the German producer of Michael Hoffman's English-language The Last Station, now shooting in Cologne.Set in 1910, the film tells the story ...
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United States - Market essentials
Jere Hausfater launched his Los Angeles-based development, production, worldwide sales and distribution company less than 18 months ago with the backing of chairman and sole investor Jim Kohlberg, the Palo Alto businessman, and the hiring of president John Fremes.Hausfater, a veteran if ever there was one, who was former executive ...
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Features
International - Building up sticks
The global summer season may have just kicked off with Iron Man, but one big film has been warming up the French box office since its release in February. Pathe's Welcome To The Sticks (Bienvenue Chez Les Ch'tis) took $40.2m on its first week on release on February 27, 465% ...