All articles by Geoffrey Macnab – Page 168
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News
Rotterdam's Bals Fund invests $590,000 in 33 projects
The Hubert Bals Fund - the International Film Festival Rotterdam's fund for supporting filmmakers from developing countries - has announced details of its latest investments. The Fund will invest $589,369 (Euros 435,500) in 33 film projects and initiatives from 23 developing countries. The Spring 2007 selections of the fund includes ...
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News
Becker takes on sales for new Bobby Sands feature
Twenty-six years after he died on hunger strike, IRA martyr Bobby Sands is to be the subject of a new feature film, Hunger. Becker International has picked up worldwide rights to the project, which is being directed by Turner Prize-winning artist Steve McQueen.Backed by Film4, Hunger comes billed as 'a ...
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News
Seeing the light
The UK film finance sector gets a hopeful boost from a new $80m investment fund with producers David Parfitt and Christopher Figg on board. Geoffrey Macnab reports. The UK film finance sector has not been in the strongest health lately.With the closure of the Gaap schemes, the end of Section ...
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Reviews
28 Weeks Later
Dir: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo. UK-US-Sp. 2007. 100mins. 28 Weeks Later is superior genre fare, directed and performed with such gusto that you scarcely notice its creaks. Atmospheric and creepy production design, excellent use of London locations and a succession of bloodcurdling chase sequences keep the tempo high, even as the ...
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News
Intandem takes on sales to Julie Delpy's thriller The Countess
London-based Intandem Films has taken worldwide sales rights to Julie Delpy's Gothic thriller The Countess. The film is inspired by the life of the 17th-century Hungarian countess Elizabeth Bathory, whose reckless pursuit of eternal beauty transformed her into a murderous heretic. Delpy, Oscar-nominated for her screenplay for Before Sunset, not ...
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Features
Kosovo/Macedonia - Dogme learns new tricks
In late April, Aneta Lesnikovska screened her debut feature Does It Hurt' - The First Balkan Dogma in Skopje, Macedonia. The screening in her homeland followed various festival outings, starting with the world premiere in the Tiger Competition in Rotterdam and also including the Bermuda International Film Festival where the ...
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Features
Digital Rights - Territory report - The UK
The UK's film unions regard the digital revolution with a mix of excitement and trepidation. In the short term, there is the threat of job losses. Lab technicians and cinema projectionists are among those already affected by moves away from celluloid. Production crews are also experiencing change as new technology ...
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News
$80m investment fund to cashflow UK tax credit
An $80m (£40m) investment fund has been set up to cashflow the new UK tax credit.The Limelight Fund is offering producers who qualify for the incentive finance on what it says is a competitive terms.UK producers David Parfitt and Christopher Figg are amongst the scheme's designers and sit on Limelight's ...
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News
Cannes: the price of a weak dollar
In April, the UK pound moved through the $2 mark for the first time since 1992. The euro has also grown in strength against the US dollar. On one level, Cannes-bound US companies are bound to suffer. Bringing staff to the Riviera is not cheap, even when the dollar is ...
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News
Market forces and buzz titles
At first glance, this year's Cannes Competition has a lopsided look. It comprises a handful of US films from well-known film-makers (almost all of which are already pre-sold everywhere) and some vintage European arthouse fare, on most of which all territories are available.'The films that are interesting commercially are already ...
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News
'It would be good if there was a new leadership'
In a move which took even her staff by surprise, Sandra Den Hamer today confirmed that she will be leaving her position as director of the Rotterdam International Festival to take over as director of Amsterdam's Filmmuseum.'For me as well, it was quite sudden,' Den Hamer told ScreenDaily.com of her ...
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Features
United Kingdom - Warrior Spirit
At a recent ceremony at the Kenyan Embassy in London, producer Simon Channing Williams was awarded the Order of the Grand Warrior. The honour came his way primarily for his efforts in Kenya on behalf of The Constant Gardener Trust, the charity he helped set up after shooting that John ...
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Features
Distribution - TV and film sales - Two's company
Not so long ago, film and TV markets were different worlds. Independent film sales agents who attended the American Film Market (AFM) and Cannes might attend events such as Miptv and Mipcom to exploit their library, but theatrical buyers were rarely seen. That position is now changing as film-makers and ...
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Reviews
Provoked: A True Story
Dir: Jag Muhndra. India-UK. 112mins. Provoked is based on the true story of Kiranjit Ahluwalia, a Punjabi woman living in London who, in 1989, killed her abusive husband and was imprisoned for murder. Her battle for freedom eventually ended in the British legal definition of 'provocation' being re-defined in the ...
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News
Pinewood: studio tour
No-one knows what caused the fire that burned down the famous 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios in July 2006, but its rapid rebuilding symbolises the upturn in fortunes at Pinewood Shepperton.The $15.7m (£8m) new stage was finished in March. Now, even before an official launch, the 007 stage is back ...
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Features
United Kingdom - Studio Tour
No-one knows what caused the fire that burned down the famous 007 Stage at Pinewood Studios in July 2006, but its rapid rebuilding symbolises the upturn in fortunes at Pinewood Shepperton.The $15.7m (£8m) new stage was finished in March. Now, even before an official launch, the 007 stage is back ...
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Features
Germany - Enduring labour of love
Philippe Bober's sales, financing and production outfit The Coproduction Office is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. The company was set up in 1987 in Berlin with the aim of supporting maverick auteurs with strong personal visions. Over the last two decades, Bober has championed the work of (among others) ...
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Features
Germany - Enduring labour of love
Philippe Bober's sales, financing and production outfit The Coproduction Office is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. The company was set up in 1987 in Berlin with the aim of supporting maverick auteurs with strong personal visions. Over the last two decades, Bober has championed the work of (among others) ...
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News
UK tax breaks:a cultural revolution
As producers begin to grapple in earnest with the UK tax incentives, the local industry is eyeing the new system with a mix of anticipation and trepidation. Most acknowledge the credits will not compensate for the investment lost to the UK film industry following the scrapping of Section 48 and ...
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News
Industry has mixed reactions to HanWay-Celluloid merger
The announcement yesterday of the merger between HanWay Films and Celluloid Dreams to create a new combined company, dreamachine, has provoked a mixed response from the European film industry. Some have welcomed the consolidation of the two companies. For example, Tartan Films founder Hamish McAlpine applauded the move. 'Hanway and ...