All articles by Geoffrey Macnab – Page 152
-
News
London Film Festival opens today with Frost/Nixon premiere.
The Times BFI London Film Festival (15-30 October) begins today with the world premiere of Ron Howard's Frost/Nixon. Click here for full previewHoward, cast-members Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Kevin Bacon, Oliver Platt, Toby Jones, Matthew Macfadyen and subject of the film Sir David Frost were all expected at the premiere.Other ...
-
News
UK producer Mark Shivas has died aged 70
Film-makers have paid tribute to British producer Mark Shivas, who has died of cancer aged 70.Shivas, who died peacefully amongst family on Saturday October 11, was one of the principals in production company Headline Pictures. An immensely popular producer and one time Head of Films at the BBC, he worked ...
-
News
UK producer Mark Shivas dies age 70
British producer Mark Shivas has died aged 70 from cancer, it was confirmed today.Shivas was an immensely popular producer who was Head of Drama and then Head of Films at the BBC. He worked with many of the best British directors of his era as well as with several international ...
-
News
MIPCOM focus: Is TV tuning back into film'
The relationship between Europe's film distributors and their local TV broadcasters is peculiarly vexed and complicated. It mingles dependency and resentment. Tensions were exacerbated around a decade ago, as the market for TV pre-sales for film contracted in an alarming fashion. The collapse of the Kirch media group in Germany, ...
-
Features
Festival talk: Sandra Hebron - 'As the name implies, a degree of festivity is important'
Which festivals do you rate and enjoy'I rate New York, Telluride and Vienna from a programming point of view. In terms of all-round usefulness, Cannes continues to reign supreme, for the sheer volume and range of what it is possible to see there, combined with the benefits of having so ...
-
News
In Focus: Lance Daly's Kisses
Lance Daly's crowdpleaser Kisses began its festival journey in Galway this summer, where it won the best Irish film award. Click here for review.Its international premiere followed in competition at Locarno, and by the time the film screened in Telluride and Toronto, Focus Features International had come on board to ...
-
News
Preview: The Times BFI London Film Festival
There is a fierce debate about the future and the identity of The Times BFI London Film Festival (LFF). Stewart Till, chairman of the UK Film Council (UKFC) has made no secret of his desire to see the LFF transformed into a 'bigger, louder festival' with 'more impact on the ...
-
News
Episode 3 by Renzo Martens opens 21st edition of IDFA in Amsterdam
The 21st International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) is to open next month with the world premiere of Episode 3 by Renzo Martens.IDFA runs from 20 to 30 Nov.The film is the third in a series of three films in which Martens questions the role of filmmakers and photographers in ...
-
News
BAFTA rejects new best feature doc category
BAFTA has ruled out a new Best Feature Documentary category at this year's Orange British Academy Film Awards.With the growth of interest in the theatrical documentary, some film-makers have been calling for their own award. That sense of missing out has been exacerbated by BAFTA's decision to introduce an 'animated ...
-
News
Rotterdam Festival undergoes revamp
Rotterdam is going in for a revamp. The 38th edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), running 21st Jan to 1st Feb 2009, is to get a new and simplified format with three main sections - Bright Futures, Spectrum and Signals.The overhaul comes amid criticisms in recent years that ...
-
Features
United Kingdom - Positive Signs
The world of visual effects has changed immeasurably since London's Double Negative set up shop 10 years ago.Co-founders Alex Hope, Peter Chiang and Matt Holben had all joined the industry when editing was done on videotape. "It was a world apart from the wonderful things we can do today," says ...
-
Features
Belgium - Jungle fever
How do you shoot an epic Apocalypse Now-style drama in the Far East on a budget of $5.1m (EUR3.5m)' That was the challenge Belgian director Fabrice Du Welz set himself with Vinyan, the follow-up to his critical hit, Calvaire.The new film, shot in English and starring Emmanuelle Beart and Rufus ...
-
News
BBC Films says it's 'business as usual' despite Tranter's move
BBC Films contends it will be 'business as usual' despite the news earlier this week that BBC Head of Fiction Jane Tranter will leave the UK to join BBC Worldwide in Los Angeles next January.Joe Oppenheimer, Executive Producer BBC Films, said day-to-day operations at BBC Films wouldn't be impacted by ...
-
News
Hammer resurrection as production of The Wake Wood begins
The long-awaited resurrection of British horror label Hammer Films has finally happened. Production has just begun on The Wake Wood. This is Hammer's first horror movie since To the Devil a Daughter starring Christopher Lee in 1976 and its first feature of any sort since The Lady Vanishes in 1979.The ...
-
News
Profile: Uberto Pasolini
Uberto Pasolini produced one of the biggest hits in recent UK history, 1997's The Full Monty, but he struggled to find UK finance for his feature directorial debut Machan, and took the project to Italy's Rai Cinema instead.'In Italy, I am known as the guy lucky enough to have made ...
-
Features
Belgium - Saying it like she means it
Fien Troch's new feature Unspoken, starring French actors Emmanuelle Devos and Bruno Todeschini, screened at Toronto and is now heading to San Sebastian. This may provide a logistical challenge for the young Belgian writer-director who - like Lars von Trier - has a fear of flying.Unspoken, which is being sold ...
-
News
Russia's Central Partnership partners with Paramount
In a groundbreaking deal that highlights the increasing lure of Russia for the US majors, Paramount Pictures International (PPI) is to partner with Russian major, Central Partnership.The exclusive agreement, which comes into force on January 1st 2009, will see Central Partnership releasing Paramount titles theatrically in the former USSR, excluding ...
-
News
Festival review: Venice leaves best to last
The best was saved for last at the 65th Venice film festival. Darren Aronofsky's Golden Lion-winner The Wrestler was the final film to screen while artistic director Marco Mueller snagged the headlines with the revelation he intends to push back the start of future Venices - to potentially overlap with ...
-
News
London boasts 14 world premieres, plus Bond, W and Frost/Nixon
With 14 world premieres and screenings for the new Bond, Oliver Stone's W and opening film Frost/Nixon, artistic director Sandra Hebron says The Times/BFI London Film Festival has become an international launch pad for major films.'Film-makers and film companies are starting to see that London as a festival offers a ...
-
News
Interview: British Film Institute chairman Greg Dyke
When Greg Dyke was appointed chairman of the British Film Institute (BFI) earlier this year, he was asked why he wanted the job. Why would the former director-general of the BBC and one of the most powerful figures of the UK media industry want to throw in his lot with ...