All Finance articles – Page 224

  • News

    China launches fund for small to mid-budget films

    2007-01-19T11:12:00Z

    China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) is setting up a fund to support young Chinese directors in the making of small to mid-budget films. During the first year of the fund, 16 filmmakers will each receive $64,300 (RMB500,000) to help finance a low-budget project, in addition to ...

  • News

    Nair takes the reins of Depp-starrer Shantaram for Initial

    2007-01-19T08:00:00Z

    Initial Entertainment Group and Infinitum Nihil have signed Mira Nair to direct the upcoming India-set epic Shantaram.The announcement follows a prolonged period of negotiations to find a suitable film-maker that at one point included Peter Weir before the Australian director left the project.Johnny Depp will star in the adaptation of ...

  • News

    IndieVest launches production/distribution arm with Burton, Wall

    2007-01-19T06:45:00Z

    Wade H Bradley, the CEO and founder of film financing outfit IndieVest, has launched production and distribution house IndieVest Pictures and hired Mark Burton (pictured above) as head of production.Former Rogue Pictures co-founder Matt Wall has been appointed vice president of development and Bradley expects to announce his distribution chief ...

  • News

    Pacino to play Salvador Dali for Niccol, Room 9

    2007-01-19T06:36:00Z

    Al Pacino will play the legendary surrealist Spanish painter Salvador Dali in Room 9 Entertainment's Dali & I: The Surreal Story.Andrew Niccol will direct following his last outing on 2005's Lord Of War and shooting is set to begin in June.Room 9 partners David O Sacks, Daniel Brunt and Michael ...

  • News

    Hamori, Horowitz launch sales, co-production arm of H20

    2007-01-19T04:49:00Z

    H2O Motion Pictures principals Andras Hamori and Mark Horowitz are launching an international sales and co-production arm to handle sales, marketing and financing for eight to 12 English language films a year.Horowitz will oversee marketing and acquisition and the company, which has offices in London, Amsterdam and Los Angeles, will ...

  • News

    Profile: Endeavor's Independent

    2007-01-19T00:00:00Z

    The youngest of the big five Hollywood talent agencies, Endeavor is a relative newcomer to the independent finance field. Though agents have, over the last decade, come to play an important role in getting non-studio films packaged, funded and distributed, Endeavor has only been exploring the area for a couple ...

  • News

    Actors' strike: sign of the times

    2007-01-19T00:00:00Z

    When Canada's performers went on strike last week, the issues included the usual grievances of workers versus management: pay, benefits and working conditions. But the sticking point was a multi-billion dollar question that could haunt the global audiovisual industry for years to come: how to share the revenue from the ...

  • News

    Filmax starts development of Blind Man Of Seville

    2007-01-18T18:08:00Z

    Spain's Filmax is developing new feature The Blind Man Of Seville, a crime thriller based on the novel by award-winning UK writer Robert Wilson. A screenplay is currently being written by Will Conroy, co-writer on Brad Anderson's Transsiberian, a $15m train-set mystery now shooting for Filmax. A director will be ...

  • News

    French production falls in 2006 after 2005 boom

    2007-01-18T18:01:00Z

    France's CNC has released initial production figures for the year 2006. In total, 203 films received the stamp of approval from the CNC - which is equal to 2004, though down from last year's exceptional crop of 240 films. Production investment stood at $1.49bn (Euros 1.15bn) compared to $1.66bn (Euros ...

  • News

    Ascension's Anna & Anna rises in Shanghai

    2007-01-18T10:56:00Z

    Principal photography started today in Shanghai on Hong Kong writer-director Aubrey Lam's Anna & Anna, a $2.2m romantic thriller financed by US and Hong Kong-based Ascension Pictures. The cast is toplined by Hong Kong actress Karena Lam who plays two roles in the film: Anna, a career woman who has ...

  • News

    Southern Baptist Sissies heads to screen through Funny Boy

    2007-01-17T23:58:00Z

    Del Shores' Del Shores Productions has partnered with Funny Boy Films to transform his GLAAD Award-winning stage production of Southern Baptist Sissies to the big screen.Kirkland Tibbels of Funny Boy Films and Del Shores and Jason Dottley of Del Shores Productions will produce the feature. Pre-production is expected to begin ...

  • News

    Hong Kong 's Universe lines up Invisible Target at EFM

    2007-01-17T07:38:00Z

    Hong Kong 's Universe Films Distribution will be unveiling Benny Chan's latest action title at the upcoming European Film Market (EFM), an $8m cop drama starring Nicholas Tse, Shawn Yue and Jaycee Chan. The film, which has the working title Invisible Target, follows three police officers, driven by different motives, ...

  • News

    Yuya Yagira heads cast of Bandage Club adaptation

    2007-01-17T06:52:00Z

    Yuya Yagira, the winner of the best actor award at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival, has been cast in Toei's film adaptation of best-selling Japanese novel The Bandage Club. The film, which started shooting last week, is directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi, whose credits include Ken Watanabe-starrer Memories Of Tomorrow. Satomi ...

  • News

    Norwegian Film Fund injects millions into local productions

    2007-01-16T18:22:00Z

    Norwegian director Erik Poppe will take a break before concluding his Oslo trilogy - Schpaa; Hawaii , Oslo - to make The Invisible. The film is about 'the big questions', according to film consultant Nikolaj Frobenius from the Norwegian Film Fund, which has supported the $3.3m (Euros 2.6m) Paradox Film ...

  • News

    Shooting starts on Rise Of The Footsoldier

    2007-01-16T16:11:00Z

    Principal photography began December 10, 2006 on Rise Of The Footsoldier, a British crime epic about East London villain Carleton Leach. Written by Julian and William Gilbey, the film is scheduled for a six-week shoot on location at Three Mills Studios in East London and Essex. Its ensemble cast includes ...

  • News

    Ewan McGregor signs on to Jackboots On Whitehall

    2007-01-16T15:03:00Z

    London 's Swipe Films has announced that Ewan McGregor will play the lead in their new indie comedy feature.Jackboots On Whitehall is a WWII spoof that tells what could have happened had the Germans won the Battle of Britain but were ultimately defeated by the Scots. 'Ewan will play a ...

  • News

    Bali bombings project passes Indonesian censorship

    2007-01-15T01:54:00Z

    The first Indonesian film to tackle the 2002 Bali bomb blasts, Long Road To Heaven produced by Nia Dinata, has passed local censorship despite its controversial subject matter. Inspired by true events and characters, the picture is a docudrama of the terrorism act and its aftermath. In October 2002, a ...

  • News

    UK production spend up almost 50% for 2006

    2007-01-15T01:00:00Z

    Film production spending in the UK rose 48% in 2006 to $1.6bn (£840.1m), according to new figures from the UK Film Council. In 2005, $1.1bn (£568.5) was spent on UK production. That marks the second highest year on record, still far off 2003's $2.1bn (£1.1bn), when productions included Troy, Bridget ...

  • News

    French films take $390m at world's box offices in 2006

    2007-01-14T12:52:00Z

    French export body Unifrance announced its global figures Friday at the annual Rendez Vous event held in Paris. For 2006, French films sold 55.8 million tickets at the world box-office. Those sales brought in just over $390m (Euros 300m.)The score represents a drop of 23% off of 2005 which saw ...

  • News

    High Point's new Irish arm kicks off with Tom Collins feature

    2007-01-12T16:09:00Z

    Film and TV sales and production company High Point Films will expand with a new Irish division, High Point Ireland, and a new London headquarters. High Point Ireland will offer co-production services as well as consolidating existing trans-continental relationships. The recently formed production arm, High Point Productions, has brough Irish ...