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All articles by Geoffrey Macnab – Page 156
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Features
Italy/United Kingdom - It takes three to fandango
New Italy-UK sales outfit Fandango Portobello Sales made a splash in Cannes this year with Matteo Garrone's Naples-set Mafia drama Gomorrah. The title won the Grand Prix, was one of the most coveted films in the Marche, and one of the few Italian films in recent years to sell worldwide.Overseeing ...
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News
Intramovies takes on Bondi's Locarno premiere Black Sea
A day after the official announcement of this year's Locarno Festival programme, Italian sales outfit Intramovies has swooped on competition title Black Sea (Mar Nero) from new director Federico Bondi.A world premiere in Locarno,Black Seawas produced by Film Kairos.'It's an arthouse film, a quality picture with a social theme,' Intramovies' ...
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News
In focus - No middle ground for UK indies'
When Tartan Films Distribution went into administration in late June, the rest of the UK independent distribution sector shuddered. International sales agents also winced, especially those handling Asian fare.Tartan's ground-breaking Asia Extreme label brought Japanese, South Korean and Hong Kong movies by directors such as Takashi Miike, Hideo Nakata and ...
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News
Profile: ambitious Eon look beyond Bond
British screenwriters need to become more ambitious. That is the message behind the Eon Screenwriters' Workshop (ESW), an initiative set up last year by the James Bond franchise's famed production company Eon Productions.'As a (film-making) culture in the UK, we are predominantly low-budget and we are very heavily television focused,' ...
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News
Halcyon takes on UK for Critics Week title Moscow, Belgium
As it ramps up its UK distribution activities, Chris Coen's Halcyon Pictures has added another title to its fast growing release slate. The new acquisition is Christophe Van Rompaey's Moscow, Belgium (sold by Bavaria Film International).The film premiered in the Critics' Week in Cannes.'I loved it. I thought it was ...
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News
Tilda Swinton launches unusual film festival in Scotland
Actress Tilda Swinton has unveiled plans for the newest, most unusual film festival in the UK. The Ballerina Ballroom Cinema Of Dreams, as the event is currently called, will take place over 8 1/2 days in a Ballroom in Nairn, in the north-east of Scotland, next month (Aug 15-23).The festival ...
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News
Alex Cox plans Repo Man sequel Repo Chick
Maverick British writer-director Alex Cox (Sid & Nancy, Walker) is plotting a follow-up to his 1984 cult hit, Repo Man.Cox has already completed the screenplay for the project, Repo Chick, and is looking for studio backing. The original Repo Man was distributed domestically by Universal.The new film comes billed as ...
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Buyers chasing Tartan Film' back catalogue
Buyers are clamouring to acquire the back catalogue of Tartan Films, theindependent UK distributor that went into administration last week.David Oprey, a partner in Chantrey Vellacott DFK (which is handling theadministration) confirmed to ScreenDaily, that a number of firm bidshave already been received for the entire catalogue and a deal ...
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Features
United Kingdom - if it ain't broke..
Nothing." That's what Film London's head of international Helena MacKenzie says has changed in plans for this year's London UK Film Focus (Luff). The sales event runs June 30-July 3.Some might see the decision to keep the event in the same form as last year as a sign of complacency. ...
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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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News
Edinburgh: This summer's new destination
At the grand old age of 62, the Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff), the world's longest continually running film festival, is having a makeover. Edinburgh has shifted its dates from its traditional August slot to June (18-29). The event has also received an injection of $3.7m (£1.88m) in public funding ...
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News
Mammoth challenge: Lars Jonsson on producing Lukas Moodysson
When 20 minutes or so of footage from Lukas Moodysson's English-language debut Mammoth was screened in Cannes recently, there was a mini stampede among buyers. Sales agent TrustNordisk reported huge interest in the project, which stars Gael Garcia Bernal and Michelle Williams.International distributors, it was clear, still have faith in ...
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News
EON Screenwriters Workshop signs up four new films
The EON Screenwriters' Workshop (ESW), the initiative set up last year by James Bond production company EON Productions, has announced details of four new projects with new feature film writers.Christopher Hill's teen comedy Rules of the Game is about three teenage videogame designers who get the chance to go to ...
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News
Sydney Pollack dies of cancer at age 73
Film-maker Sydney Pollack died of cancer in Los Angeles on Monday, aged 73.He had been diagnosed with cancer about 10 months ago.The Oscar winner was a director, producer and actor; his best-known films include Out Of Africa, The Way We Were, Three Days Of The Condor, Tootsie and They Shoot ...
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News
TrustNordisk racks up sales for projects including Mammoth, Dark Floors
At its first Cannes as a joint operation, TrustNordisk has reported multiple sales on its Cannes slate. Deals closed include Dark Floors to Japan (Presidio Corporation) and Germany (MIG), Go With Peace Jamil to Portugal (Pantheon), The Green Butchers to Hungary (Cirko), and Heaven's Heart and Just Another Love Story ...
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News
Zentropa plans new features with Per Fly
Zentropa producer Ib Tardini is plotting two new features with Per Fly (the director of The Inheritance and Manslaughter). First off is $4m drama The Woman That Dreamed About A Man (working title.)Reflecting Zentropa's new-found European focus, it will shoot in Berlin, Paris and Warsaw. It tells the story of ...
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News
Bavaria Film International sales blossom
Bavaria Film International made Cannes sales on Doris Dörrie's Berlinale competition entry, Cherry Blossoms - Hanami was sold to Canada (Mongrel Media), Brazil (Mostra International de Cinema), India (Allience Lumière) and Russia (Maywin Media). Maywin Media also picked up Bavaria's second Berlinale competition entry, Restless by Amos Kollek as ...
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Hubert Bals future remains uncertain
Long-term funding arrangements for International Film Festival Rotterdam's prestigious Hubert Bals Fund (HBF) remain shrouded in doubt. The Fund supports filmmakers from developing countries. It currently has close to $1.9m (Eu1.2m) a year at its disposal. It has backed several films in official selection in Cannes this year.In 2006, the ...
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News
Telepool picks up The Volcano
Munich-based Telepool has acquired international rights to The Volcano, a joint production from the producers of teamWorx (Nico Hofmann) and RTL. Budgeted at $14m (9m Euros), the two-parter is the second joint project from RTL and teamWorx after Storm Tide, which attracted 11 million TV viewers in early 2006. Uwe ...
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News
A-Film on Cannes buying spree
A-Film Distribution has been on a Cannes buying binge. The Benelux Distributor, which is in the market again acquiting aggressively, has picked up a host of Cannes titles, including Milk (Gus van Sant, starring Sean Penn), The Other Man (Richard Eyre, starring Liam Neeson and Laura Linney), Mammoth (Lukas Moodysson, ...