All articles by Geoffrey Macnab – Page 172
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Reviews
The Monastery: Mr Vig & The Nun
Dir Pernille Rose Gronkjaer. Den. 2006. 84mins A slow burning, lovingly crafted documentary with a melancholy undertow, The Monastery benefits from a wonderfully eccentric protagonist. JorgenLauersen Vig is an 82-year-old Dane whose last goal in life is to turnhis castle into a monastery. If Spike Milligan and Andrei ...
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News
BAFTA reaches for operatic heights
If you are looking for a Wagnerian spectacle, the next Orange British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs) may well provide it.
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International rescue: UIP's history and new reorganisation
'If there is any growth in this business globally it's in international,' says Tim Bevan of the UK's Working Title Films. One company that has consistently underlined the truth in Bevan's remark over the last 25 years is United International Pictures (UIP).In late 1981, when UIP was formed in London, ...
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Michael Apted: master of adaptability
Michael Apted is something of a chameleon of the film world: the 65-year-old director changes colours with remarkable facility. On the one hand, he is a member of the Hollywood establishment - a Brit who has blossomed in the studio system and currently serves as president of the Director's Guild. ...
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Reviews
4 Elements
Dir/scr: Jiska Rickels. Neth. 2006. 89mins.Jiska Rickels' makes an impressive debut with feature-documentary 4 Elements, a self-consciously poetic film essay that has limited narration and little in the way of dialogue. Consisting of four self-contained segments, each representing one of the four elements - fire, water, earth and air - ...
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Reviews
Miss Potter
Dir: Chris Noonan. UK-US. 2006. 93mins.A period feature about a popular children's writer enduring a traumatic life, Chris Noonan's Miss Potter may follow in the footsteps of Shadowlands (about CS Lewis) and Marc Forster's Finding Neverland (about JM Barrie), but it lacks the emotional depth of either. Very handsomely crafted, ...
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Reviews
Dragon Tiger Gate (Lung Fu Mun)
Dir: Wilson Yip. HK. 2006.94mins.Adapted from a popular comic book, Dragon Tiger Gate is a slick butsuperficial martial arts adventure that boasts tremendous fight sequences(choreographed by co-star and co-producer Donnie Yen), colourful productiondesign and appealing central performances that cannot mask the flimsy andderivative storytelling.The film has already openedrobustly in Asia ...
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Reviews
Notes On A Scandal
Dir: Richard Eyre. UK-US.2006. 91mins.Judi Dench's superbperformance galvanises Notes On A Scandal, Richard Eyre's impressive and acutelyobserved adaptation of the Booker-nominated novel. Probing away relentlessly atsuch uncomfortable issues as paedophilia, class envy, sexual jealousy andblackmail, it is a film that has the same queasy, claustrophobic feel as such 1960sBritish films ...
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News
Danes dominate IFDA doc prizes
The 19th International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), proveda triumph for Danish documentary makers.IDFA's most prestigious prize, The VPRO Joris Ivens Award, went to Danish feature doc The Monastery - Mr Vig And The Nun, directed byPernille Rose Gronkjaer. (The Monastery was also selected last weekfor The World Cinema Documentary Competition ...
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Greenaway plans doc and game after Nightwatching
Peter Greenaway is preparingJ'Accuse, an 80-minute featuredocumentary and a computer game to complement his new film Nightwatching, which recently finished shooting in Poland and Wales (and is being sold internationally by ContentFilm.)Both the doc and thecomputer game are being produced by Amsterdam-based Submarine, run by FemkeWolting and Bruno Felix. The ...
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IDFA launches with film by new talent Rickels
The 19th InternationalDocumentary Film Festival Amsterdam began last night (Thursday) with ascreening of Jiska Rickels' 4 Elements. The film, a debut feature, was producedand partly financed by Black Book producer San Fu Maltha through his company FuWorks. Along with 17 other feature documentaries, it is in contention forIDFA's most prestigious ...
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Almodovar and Loach head EFA nominations
Nominations for the European Film Awards were announced on November 4, with Pedro Almodovar's Volver leading the field, appearing in six of the seven major categories. The Wind That Shakes The Barley , which surprised many by taking beating the much-fancied Volver for the Palm d'Or, has five nominations, including ...
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Producers warn next Bond film may be shot outside UK
There is no guarantee that the next James Bond film will shoot in the UK. That was the message today from Casino Royale producers Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli."We're going to have to make that decision again," Wilson toldScreenDaily. "London is the most expensive city in the world ...
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NonStop sells Mikkelsen-starrer Exit to Germany
Underlining Danish actorMads Mikkelsen's increasing profile in the marketplace, NonStop Sales hasclosed a deal for all German-speaking territories on Mikkelsen's new thriller Exit with Galileo Medien AG. The film, screening onNonStop Sales' AFM slate. The deal was concluded by Michael C Werner forNonStop and Martin Irnich for Germany. Mikkelsen is ...
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News
Red Envelope gets US rights to to Strike from Telepool
Munich-based Telepool hasclosed a deal with Netflix-owned Red Envelope Entertainment for US rights toVolker Schloendorff's Strike, thestory of a female crane operator who co-founded the Solidarity movement inSoviet-era Poland in the 1980s.The film had its world premiere at the TorontoInternational Film Festival in September.Meanwhile, Telepool has soldits 3-D animated feature ...
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Donati, Infascelli team for Mikado's La Pistola
Legendary Italianscreenwriter Sergio Donati, whose credits include Sergio Leone's Once Upon ATime In The West, A Fistful Of Dynamite and For A Few Dollars More,is to partner with maverick director Alex Infascelli (Hate20) on a new $5 million genre project provisionallytitled La Pistola. Principal photography is setfor February 2007 with ...
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IFC Films buys Honore's In Paris from Gemini
Paris-based Gemini Films has closed a US deal on ChristopherHonore's In Pariswith IFC Films. The deal was negotiated by Elizabeth Perlie for Gemini andJonathan Sehring for IFC.In Parishad its world premiere in the Cannes Directors Fortnight this year. It starsRomain Duris and Louis Garrel as brothers. Other deals struck on ...
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San Fu Maltha buys slew of films at AFM for new Indonesian operation
San Fu Maltha, the Dutch producer of Holland's Oscar entry BlackBook, has a dualexistence as joint managing director of new Indonesian distributor andexhibitor, Blitz. Through Queen, the acquisition arm of Blitz, he has picked upa raft of titles in the market.Films that Blitz will be releasing in Indonesia include TheSpirit ...
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Rotterdam festival increases international industry reach
International Film FestivalRotterdam (IFFR) has launched a major initiative to raise its internationalindustry profile. At AFM this week, IFFR's new head of international PR Marnixvan Wijk has been assiduously courting sellers and buyers in a bid to lure themto the Netherlands for next year's event, which takes place Jan 24 ...
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Writer/director Leonard Schrader dies of heart failure
Oscar-nominated screenwriterand director Leonard Schrader died of heart failure in Los Angeles on Nov 2. In his work, Leonard shared hisyounger brother Paul Schrader's obsession with exploring death and violence.Some of his best-known filmsare those he wrote with his brother, among them The Yakuza and Blue Collar. He also ...