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All articles by Geoffrey Macnab – Page 166
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News
Wolfson named as part-time director of Rotterdam
In a surprise move, the Board of the International Film Festival Rotterdam has appointed Rutger Wolfson as director of the forthcoming January 2008 edition.However, the 37-year-old Wolfson will be doing the job on a part-time basis and his appointment is for one year only. While overseeing IFFR, Wolfson will also ...
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News
Jia Zhangke on track with Chinese doc 24 Cities
Golden Lion winning director Jia Zhangke, whose new documentary Useless about clothing designer Ma Ke screened in Venice's Orizzonti, has revealed further details of his next dramatic feature, which he is planning to have ready in time for the Olympic Games.The project (provisionally titled 24 Cities) follows four women working ...
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News
Venice exodus begins as international players head to Toronto
As Venice's first weekend wraps and Toronto's opening looms on Thursday, the traditional mid-Venice festival migration has already begun. Industry delegates are leaving the Lido en masse, despite Venice - one of the world's most prestigious (and oldest) film festivals - continuing through Saturday. 'That's a big problem. Venice or ...
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News
Ridley Scott to tackle religion and politics with Body Of Lies
Ridley Scott, in Venice at the weekend for the special screening of Blade Runner: The Final Cut, has revealed further details of his new Warner Bros film, Body Of Lies, which starts shooting on Wednesday. 'We are working fast. We are working to get ahead of the strike,' Scott said ...
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News
Italian distributor cancels Woody Allen screenings in Venice
There were angry scenes in Venice over the weekend when it emerged that Italian distributor Filmauro had cancelled three of the five screenings planned for Woody Allen's new feature, Cassandra's Dream, starring Colin Farrell and Ewan McGregor. The reasons for the last-minute cancellations were shrouded in mystery. Some well-placed sources ...
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News
Ang Lee plans safer edit of Lust, Caution for Chinese audiences
Since its Venice world premiere, Ang Lee's Lust, Caution has created whatFocus boss James Schamus is calling 'a tidal wave of interest' across Asia.The Asian response has been largely positive. Lee's steamy espionagethriller will be given a major Asian release later in the autumn. However,controversy is already dogging the film ...
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News
De Palma's Redacted won't get Bubble-style release
HDNet Films, which pioneered day and date multi-platform releasing with Steven Soderbergh's Bubble, has decided to give Brian De Palma's controversial new digital feature Redacted a more traditional release.The film, produced for HDNet Films, received its world premiere in Venice this week. It tells of the rape and murder of ...
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Features
Belgium - Back in the habit
It is 15 years since Belgian director Stijn Coninx was Oscar-nominated for his feature Daens in 1992. Now, he is preparing a new feature likely to pique the curiosity of European buyers. La Vie Extraordinaire De Soeur Sourire - to star Cecile De France - will tell the story of ...
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Reviews
Sugarhouse
Dir: Gary Love, UK 2007, 92mins A claustrophobic psychodrama that never quite shakes off its stage origins, Sugarhouse is performed with ferocious intensity by its three leads. First-time director Love creates a genuine sense of menace. He also effectively cranks up the tension even if the plotting ultimately seems contrived ...
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Features
Belgium - Sacrifices made for the gods
The news their debut feature Small Gods has been selected for Venice's Critics' Week will have come as a huge boost to the Karakatsanis brothers. Dimitri and Nicolas, who come from a Greek-Belgian background, have not had an easy ride with their movie, which took three years to complete. Like ...
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News
Brett Morgen works with Courtney Love for new Cobain documentary
US director Brett Morgen, whose new feature Chicago 10 screens on Locarno 's Piazza Grande on Friday, has revealed further details of his new 'official' feature documentary about Kurt Cobain, the lead singer of rock band Nirvana who died in 1994. The film, made with Courtney Love's backing, will take ...
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Reviews
Extraordinary Rendition
Dir: Jim Threapleton. UK . 2007. 77mins. Extraordinary Rendition is a direct and powerful treatment of a subject that has caused huge indignation in the west - namely the kidnapping of a suspected terrorist and his transfer to a country that allows torture. Clearly made quickly and shot on a ...
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News
Josh Hartnett to star in George Ratliff's End Zone
George Ratliff, writer-director of psychological thriller Joshua (which debuted at Sundance and is in Locarno's competition this week) has recruited Josh Hartnett to appear in his next feature, End Zone. Hartnett will play a star player at a West Texas College who becomes increasingly obsessed with the threat of nuclear ...
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News
Anthony Hopkins says bigger festivals are like 'circuses'
Speaking at the Locarno Film Festival this weekend, Anthony Hopkins revealed that he bypassed several other European festivals, including Rome and Venice, to bring his directorial debut Slipstream to Locarno.'We lost the Rome Festival but we thought it would be better to come here,' Hopkins said. 'It is much more ...
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Reviews
Rise Of The Footsoldier
Dir: Julian Gilbey. UK. 2007. 120mins tbc Goodfellas comes to Essex in Julian Gilbey's gangster thriller Rise Of The Footsoldier. Luridly violent, full of macho posturing and often mired in cliche, the film nonetheless has an epic sweep and relentless narrative drive that show Gilbey is more than just another ...
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Reviews
Gandhi My Father
Dir: Feroze Abbas Khan. Ind. 2007. 128mins. 'To his nation, he was a father. To his son, he was a father...he never had.' Thus reads the tag line for Feroze Abbas Khan's Gandhi My Father, a film which never seems entirely sure whether it wants to be a sweeping historical ...
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News
Locarno: nurturing the new
For its 60th anniversary edition, the Locarno International Film Festival (August 1-11) is underlining its strengths as an event of discovery. Geoffrey Macnab reports. Now in its 60th year, the Locarno international film festival is one of the oldest and grandest festivals in the world.Its open-air Piazza Grande screenings are ...
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News
Locarno International Film Festival 2007: line-up
COMPETITIONTHE REBIRTH (Jap)Dir: Masahiro Kobayashi. World premiere.A gripping account of unspoken pain and survival.Int'l sales: TBCBOYS OF TOMORROW (S Kor)Dir: Noh Dong-seok. International premiere.Two boys on the outskirts of town believe their future lies elsewhere but they have no means to pursue their dreams. Can a gun be the answerInt'l ...
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News
Ingmar Bergman dies at 89
Influential director Ingmar Bergman has died.The film-maker behind such works as The Seventh Seal, Cries & Whispers and Wild Strawberries passed away at his home on the island of Faro, Sweden, aged 89, his daughter Eve said.One of the most revered of film-makers, Bergman enjoyed a 60-year career, which ...
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News
FX and tax credit
How does the UK's new tax credit affect the post sector' Geoffrey Macnab reports.It is understandable the Hollywood studios looked askance at the UK last year, as rules governing Gaap funds were changed and those governing the new UK tax credit were altered to conform with European Union (EU) criteria.'From ...