All Finance articles – Page 194
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On location: Good
Fluctuations in the exchange rate caused problems for a UK production looking for savings in Hungary. Louise Tutt reports. The $16m UK production of Good headed to Hungary in search of savings but almost lost out as a result of exchange rate fluctuations.Lured to Budapest by the 20% tax allowance ...
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Hounsou steps up to Summit's Get Some
Summit Entertainment has cast two-time Oscar nominee Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond) to star opposite Sean Faris and Amber Heard in its action/drama Get Some. Also cast in the story of a Florida fight club for teens is Cam Gigandet (The OC). A Mandalay Independent Pictures production, Get Some is to ...
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Romania: youth and experience
Romania's potential as a location gained momentum with the arrival of Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth last year, but can the territory keep pace with its neighbours' Theodore Schwinke reportsRomania is in a unique position in Eastern Europe in being better known for its homegrown cinema than as a ...
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The East European picture
Eastern Europe is well-established as a cheaper alternative to shooting in the US or the UK. But how do international producers choose between the packages on offer' Theodore Schwinke reportsBudapest airport on a Friday night is like the canteen at Pinewood,' says Chris Symes, executive producer of Universal's Hellboy 2: ...
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Czech Republic: 'More expensive than Budapest'
Can the Czech Republic retain its competitive edge when it comes to production' Theodore Schwinke reportsOn paper, the Czech Republic's production service sector is looking healthy. Andrew Adamson is shooting Walden Media's The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian at Barrandov's new 4,000 square metre stage, which also hosted Eli Roth's ...
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Bulgaria: Nu Boyana on the block
Nu Image's transformation of Boyana studios has placed Bulgaria on the film map. Now other producers want a piece of the action. Theodore Schwinke reportsBulgaria is a country showing significant promise. Since the transformation of Boyana studios by Nu Image last year there has been a steady stream of low-budget ...
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Hungary: on the ascendant
New studios and a significant tax rebate mean that Hungary is challenging the Czech Republic as the hottest production hub in the region. Theodore Schwinke reportsThe Hungarian capital of Budapest and its surroundings are packed with productions, despite a recent rise in the Hungarian forint against the dollar and euro. ...
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Effie Brown's Duly Noted lines up Mos Def for two films
Producer Effie Brown's Duly Noted Inc production company has signed actor and hip-hop artist Mos Def (The Italian Job) to star in and executive produce Bobby Zero, from writing-directing team Markus and Mason Canter, aka The Flying Canter Brothers (Chasing The Horizon). In his first romantic lead, Mos Def will ...
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Animation veteran Seibert launches feature outfit Frederator Films
Animation veteran Fred Seibert is launching Frederator Films, a new US company that plans to make 2D animated genre features with budgets below $20m. Among the company's first projects is a big screen version of Cartoon Network hit Samurai Jack. Seibert, a one-time president of Hanna-Barbera and creative director of ...
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Warner Bros Germany to distribute Breloer's Buddenbrooks
Warner Bros. Pictures Germany will distribute writer-director Heinrich Breloer's feature film debut Buddenbrooks - Ein Geschaeft Von Einiger Groesse which begins shooting from Aug 1. The adaptation of Thomas Mann's novel Buddenbrooks about the life and decline of a 19th-century mercantile family is being produced by Bavaria Film and Colonia ...
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Locarno picks 13 Middle Eastern projects for Open Doors lab
Locarno film festival organisers have selected 13 projects from 120 submission for this year's Open Doors co-production lab. The lab is focused on projects from the Near and Middle East. The selections include new films from directors Ra'anan Alexandrowicz (James' Journey to Jerusalem) and Tawfik Abu-Wael (Thirst).Open Doors runs Aug ...
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China Film boards Lu Chuan's Nanking! Nanking!
Chinese state-owned China Film Group Corporation (CFGC) announced five separate deals and joint ventures at the Shanghai International Film Festival on Saturday (June 23). CFGC and Jiangsu Broadcasting Corporation have officially boarded Chinese filmmaker Lu Chuan's historical drama Nanking ! Nanking ! as co-financiers alongside Beijing-based Stellar Megamedia. Hong Kong ...
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CFCC, UniJapan sign co-production agreement
China Film Co-production Corp (CFCC) and Japanese film promotion body UniJapan signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on film collaboration at the Shanghai International Film Festival on Friday (June 22) The two sides also announced the shooting of a Sino-Japanese period drama entitled Zen. The seven-point MoU is seen as ...
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Munich's Collina to make dramatic remake of The Champagne Spy
Munich-based Collina Films has hired Israeli writer-director Nadav Schirman to make an English-language adaptation of his documentary The Champagne Spy.The real-life story centres on Jewish Mossad agent Wolfgang Lotz who became addicted to his covert identity as an ex-Nazi playboy and millionaire horse breeder in Cairo in the 1960s.Collina's general ...
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Parvez Sharma: love & faith
Parvez Sharma'sIslam, My Love could be the most controversial documentary of the year. Jeremy Kay finds out why.A film arrives this autumn with the potential to blow through institutionalised thinking in a manner that will make Michael Moore's polemics seem breezy by comparison.Responses will inevitably be polarised, but 33-year-old film-maker ...
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Marjane Satrapi: drawing on the past
Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian-born film-maker of Persepolis, tells Antonia Carver why she hopes it will be seen as a film that just happens to be animated. Following the success of her graphic novels, Marjane Satrapi received enquiries from several US studios. 'One wanted to make a kind of Beverly Hills ...
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Critical opinion: the people's choice
When critics bemoan the state of Hollywood movies, they are also implicitly - and unfairly - criticising the film-going public who flock to see them, says Lee MarshallThe back-to-back releases of Spider-Man 3, Shrek The Third and Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End have generated a spate of op-eds ...
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Hamed to direct Chicago from Yacoubian author Alaa-Al-Aswani
Egyptian director Marwan Hamed is in talks to direct a film based on Chicago, the follow up book by Yacoubian Building author Alaa-Al-Aswani with Dar El Shorouck, the book's Egyptian publisher as producing partner.The director made the announcement from the Taormina Film Festival where he is serving on the ...
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Byrne to head GE and NBC's $250m Peacock Equity Fund
GE Commercial Finance's Media, Communications & Entertainment business and NBC Universal have appointed Thomas M. Byrne, 40, as managing director of the $250m Peacock Equity Fund. Megumi Ikeda, 37, has been named as London-based executive director, reporting to Byrne. Peacock Equity, a joint venture between GE and NBC Universal, invests ...
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Stockholm plans film centre to co-finance 10 features per year
Regional authorities in the Swedish Stockholm-Malardalen area will set up a new film centre, 'Stollywood', which - when in full operation - will co-finance up to 10 feature films annually. 'Today 90% of all Swedish actors and film companies are based in this region, yet only 10% of of domestic ...