All articles by Geoffrey Macnab – Page 162
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News
Wild Bunch takes on Tokyo! triptych, Ferrara doc
French powerhouse Wild Bunch is handling sales at AFM on Asian portmanteau picture Tokyo!, featuring three films set in the Japanese capital by auteurs Michel Gondry, Leos Carax and Bong Joon-Ho. The film, currently shooting, is available in all territories excluding France, Japan and South Korea.Wild Bunch is also resuming ...
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News
Lionsgate UK banks on British films from Donaldson, Ozon
Following the company's acquisition of John Maybury's The Edge of Love at Cannes this year,Lionsgate UKhas underlined its continuing commitment to British Film by snapping up two further Brit titles, Roger Donaldson's The Bank Job and Francois Ozon's Angel.The Bank Job was acquired from investment group Omnilab and Arclight Films ...
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News
Anja Uecker to join Telepool in January
German outfit Telepool has appointed a new coordinator, Anja Uecker. Uecker, who will start in January 2008, succeeds Justyna Musch.She has 10 years of experience ininternational licence trading.Uecker comes to Telepool after stints at EM.TV Merchandising AG and more recently at Kinowelt.
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News
Ghost House inks North American deal for The Tattooist
Ghost House Pictures has acquired North American rights to The Tattooist, the supernatural thriller starring Jason Behr and Mia Blake.Sony, who has a longstanding relationship with Ghost House, will handle the North American theatrical release. Ghost House Pictures is owned by Robert Tapert and Spiderman's Sam Raimi, who recently visited ...
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News
Grindstone checks into Nordisk's Room 205
Grindstone Entertainment Group has acquired all North American rights for Nordisk's ghostly thriller Room 205.Grindstone will be working in partnership with Ghost House Pictures on the release.Neel Ronholt and Mikkel Arndt star in Martin Barnewitz's chiller about a woman's frightening journey into the occult. The film will be dubbed into ...
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Reviews
In Prison My Whole Life
Dir: Marc Evans. UK-Italy. 2007. 91mins.On December 9 1981, Mumia Abu-Jamal was arrested for the murder of police officer Daniel Faulkner. He has been languishing on Death Row ever since. Mumia's story forms the focal point of Marc Evans' impassioned and engaging feature-doc. Using computer graphics, animation and music as ...
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Reviews
Unrelated
Dir: Joanna Hogg. UK, 2007, 100minsBritish film-makers have never been comfortable making thoughtful, provocative arthouse movies about the tribulations of bourgeois families. It is a style of film-making in which the French have long excelled but that UK directors generally steer clear of in case of being thought affected or ...
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News
Schamus calls Oscar snub of Lust, Caution 'unjust and capricious'
James Schamus, CEO of Focus Features, has expressed his dismay at the decision last week of the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS) in Los Angeles to reject Ang Lee's Lust, Caution as Taiwan's official submission for the Foreign Language Oscar.'I am sure there is some ancient and ...
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News
Tranter welcomes six-year stability of new BBC Films budget
'Discreetly celebratory' was how Jane Tranter, Controller BBC Fiction, described the state of mind at BBC Films, where a $4m (£2 m) increase in the current annual budget of $20m (£10m) was confirmed Thursday. There was also the added news that $2m (£1m) of the BBC's film acquisition budget would ...
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News
UK film minister upbeat on industry but co-productions drop
UK Minister of State for Culture, Creative Industries and Tourism Margaret Hodge defended the industry's position during her keynote speech atthe Screen International annual UK Film Finance Summit.But she has asked the UK Film Council to undertake an evaluation of the success of the UK tax credit as figures show ...
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News
Branco's new Portugal festival score two world premieres
The first European Film Festival in Estoril, Portugal (Nov 8-17) has attracted some high-profile names thanks to Portugal's best-known producer, Paulo Branco, serving as festival director. Pedro Almodovar (whose career is celebrated with a full retrospective) will be giving a masterclass as will fashion designer Emmanuel Ungaro, director Werner Schroeter ...
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News
Into the Arthouse: how artists like Sam Taylor-Wood move into film
There has always been an overlap between art and film. From surrealists such as Man Ray, Jean Cocteau and Salvador Dali to Cindy Sherman (Office Killer), Matthew Barney (Cremaster) and Julian Schnabel (The Diving Bell And The Butterfly), a steady stream of artists have crossed over into film-making.In the late ...
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News
The match-makers - new co-production markets
It is a truth acknowledged universally that an international producer in possession of a good project must be in want of a backer. But as the international market adjusts to a new business reality, producers, particularly those with mid-level budgets, are struggling to find suitors. Not only is Hollywood awash ...
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News
Films and slates worth $500m to be pitched at new London market
A formidable list of delegates and producers has been announced for the inaugural Production Finance Market (PFM) being held in London later this month (Oct 22-23). An estimated $500 million worth of projects are being presented, both individually and as part of slates. Confirmed attendees include many major distributors and ...
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News
Big squeeze on the small screen
Are the UK's leading broadcasters falling out of love with film' In the multichannel digital era, scheduling a popular movie in primetime can no longer guarantee a sizeable audience and there is an increasing sense that viewers do not want to consume movies on terrestrial TV.A case in point is ...
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News
BBC Films restructures with new board working under Jane Tranter
In London this morning, Jane Tranter, Controller BBC Fiction, spelled out her vision for a newly revamped BBC Films. 'The BBC's commitment to BBC Films is as absolute as it ever has been,' Tranter said.The major change is now that BBC Films will be managed by a new four-member BBC ...
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Reviews
Tovarisch, I Am Not Dead
Dir: Stuart Urban. UK 2007. 83 minsStuart Urban's documentary is the latest in an increasingly lengthy list of films made by children about their fathers (Mark Wexler's Tell Them Who You Are, Nathaniel Kahn's My Architect and Doug Block's 51 Birch Street are three other recent examples.) Tovarisch, however, is ...
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Features
United States - The Focus Puller
It is a matter of pride for James Schamus, CEO of Focus Features, the specialised division of Universal Pictures, that he never misses a class at Columbia University, where he teaches film courses full-time in the autumn.Schamus paints a comic picture of himself this month, rushing back and forth from ...
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News
In focus - 'What about the day job''
It feels like it has got a bit out of control. It feels like there are a lot of useless festivals,' lamented a US sales agent recently. It is hard not to sympathise. On the face of it, the festival calendar seems wildly overloaded. In early autumn, distributors, sales agents, ...
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News
Robert Beeson leaves managing director post at Artificial Eye
Ending a 30-year relationship, Robert Beeson has stepped down as Managing Director of UK distribution company, Artificial Eye.His decision to leave follows on from the acquisition of Artificial Eye in the summer of 2006 by Act Entertainment Group, owner of Curzon Cinemas, and Knatchbull Communications Group. 'With the changes in ...