All articles by Geoffrey Macnab – Page 168
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Big Sister dances with Johnny Clegg documentary
South African musician Johnny Clegg is the subject of a major new feature documentary, The Last Dance Of A White Zulu. The film, due for release, is a French-South African co-production. It is being put together by French outfit Big Sister and Big World Cinema.The film will tell the story ...
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Kensani starts first institutionally backed South African fund
Kensani Entertainment, a subsidiary of Kensani Capital has announced details of the first institutionally backed film fund in South Africa.The Kensani Film & Television Fund (KEF) will make available an initial sum of R200 million ($28.5m) for the production and acquisition of film and television projects to be made or ...
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New German $242m fund already backs 24 projects
The Germans were in bullish mood in Cannes yesterday, talking up their 'lean, straightforward' new Federal Film Fund to an audience of international producers. The Fund, worth $242m (180m) Euros from 2007 to 2009, is open to international co-productions. In the five months of its existence, it has already backed ...
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Spain's Gomez re-elected as FIAPF president
Oscar-winner Andres Vicente Gomez from Spain has been re-elected as FIAPF's General Assembly as FIAPF President. Argentinean producer Luis Alberto Scalella was newly-elected as 1st Vice-President, alongside representatives of Asia and Australasia, Europe, North and South America. The International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF), which gathers 26 producers' associations ...
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Irish Film Board backs new Glawogger film
The Irish Film Board has committed $404,785 (Euros 300,000) to Michael Glawogger's new feature, Das Vaterspiel, about a man developing a computer game in which players kill their fathers. The investment comes as the Irish Film Board (IFB) moves more aggressively into co-production. The idea is that the body will ...
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Bavaria slides onto Finland's Black Ice
Munich-based Bavaria Films International has picked up all rights outside of Finland and Norway to thriller Black Ice by Finnish director Petri Kotwica. Also in post-production on Bavaria's slate is Shadows (formerly titled Bones) by Macedonian auteur Milcho Manchevski (Before The Rain.)Bavaria is also taking the plunge into animation for ...
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Belgian tax shelter looks shaky
Is the Belgian tax shelter in danger' This week, the EU sent back proposals for the renewal of the shelter, the fiscal incentive that has provided a major boost to the local industry as well as supporting international production. It is understood that the EU had reservations about the lack ...
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F&ME strikes with White Lightnin'
Film and Music Entertainment (F&ME) the London-based production and distribution outfit run by Mike Downey and Sam Taylor, has begun production on three feature films all shooting in the US and with a fourth slated to start in October in Canada.Headlining the slate is the debut feature from Dominic Murphy, ...
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Cronenberg swarms to executive produce Woodley's Drone
David Cronenberg will executive-produce horror Drone, the next film by Aaron Woodley (being pre-sold in Cannes by Global Cinema Group.) The film is being produced by Joel B. Michaels and Garth H. Drabinsky.Drone, written by Jon Felson and Rusty Gorman, is based on a short story by TC Boyle. It ...
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Maths murders add up for Filmworks partners
Odeon and Sky have announced The Oxford Murders, from cult director Alex de la Iglesia and starring Elijah Wood and John Hurt, as the second release under their new joint venture Odeon Sky Filmworks.Based on Guillermo Martinez's award winning novel, Oxford Murders sees Hurt and Wood star alongside each other ...
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Cillian Murphy joins Bounty in hot 9 slate
Cillian Murphy is poised to star in $9.4m dark comedy Perrier's Bounty, scripted by Mark O'Rowe and directed by Ian Fitzgibbon. A co-production between Stephen Woolley and Elizabeth Karlsen's Number 9 Films and Alan Moloney's Parallel, the film will shoot in Spring 2008. Intandem is handling sales.Perrier's Bounty is one ...
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Sony picks up North America on Long Good Friday remake
Sony Pictures Entertainment has acquired rights to North America and several other significant territories to Handmade's US-based remake of British gangland classic The Long Good Friday.Screen International revealed last week that the Classic UK gangster film The Long Good Friday is to be re-made, it was confirmed in Cannes, with ...
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Niki Caro uncorks Vintner's Luck
Niki Caro (Whale Rider) will direct a screen adaptation of The Vintner's Luck. Caro scripted with Joan Scheckel from the New Zealand novel of the same name by Elizabeth Knox. The cast is led by Jeremie Renier (The Child), Gaspard Ulliel (Young Hannibal), Vera Farmiga (The Departed), Maria Ruiz (Summer ...
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Revolver takes rights to Luchetti's Brother
Voracious UK distributor Revolver has taken rights to That My Brother is An Only Child, the Un Certain Regard title directed by Daniele Luchetti.The film was acquired from Think Film.Revolver has also picked up documentary Chavez, by actor Diego Luna, about the illustrious career and turbulent life of Mexican boxing ...
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AV Pictures' crocodile thriller Black Water sells widely
Buyers are swarming round crocodile thriller Black Water, being sold by AV Pictures. Buyers snapping down on the film are The Works (UK), Brazil (PlayArte), Indonesia & Malaysia (Ram Indo), Middle East (Falcon Films), Philippines (Pioneer), Thailand (J-Bics) and Turkey (Horizon International) have also bitten on the film. Deals had ...
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UK's Jowell kicks off South African treaty with news of Skin production
UK Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Tessa Jowell was in Cannes to declare the new UK/South Africa film co-production treaty operational.The first film under the new treaty will Skin, produced by Anthony Fabian and Margaret Matheson, which will shortly go into production. Jowell also talked about plans ...
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Bleiberg closes key sales on Kollrin title
Bleiberg Entertainment has closed key sales here on Eran Kolirin's Un Certain Regard entry Band's Visit following a rapturous screening on Saturday night.The film's co-producer Sophie Dulac has taken French rights and plans to release on a minimum of 80 prints.Deals also closed in Italy (Mikado), Spain (Manga), Latin America ...
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Fernandes makes Anxious follow-up to Magnus
UK-based producer Donal Fernandes whose first production Magnus is playing in Un Certain Regard is currently in advanced stages of post-production on black comedy Anxious Dave.Fernandes who wrote and directed the $190,000 UK-production, describes Anxious Dave as 'a scary film about loneliness that evolves into a comedy'. The film, which ...
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Muhe and Tukur join cast of One Woman
Ulrich Muhe and Ulrich Tukur, two of the stars of Oscar-winner The Lives Of Others, are to appear alongside Marie Bonnevie (The Banishment) in One Woman. The $3.5m drama written and directed by Mauricio Mendiola, will offer a fictionalised history of Monika Ertl, a heroine of the Bolivian revolution.Monika is ...
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Menahem Golan brings Festival to Cannes
Cannes veteran Menahem Golan is to direct Holocaust comedy Le Grand Festival, starring Gerard Depardieu. The film, set up as an Austria/Italy/Hungary/Israel co-production begins shooting in Budapest in August. Producers are Norbert Blecha, Laura Susanne Ruedeberg, Jeno Hodi, and Doran Eran. The executive producer is Bernhard Wolschlager. In the ...