All articles by Geoffrey Macnab – Page 181
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News
Storm brews over Venezualan Oscar choice
A storm is brewing overVenezuela's choice as Foreign Language Oscar candidate. The cause of therumbling is the decision by El Centro Nacional De Cinematografia (CENAC) tooverlook the claims of Secuestro Express, the country's biggest box-office hit in history. Some, notably thefilm's 27-year-old writer director Jonathan Jakubowicz, believe the decisionmay be ...
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Gromit success hit by Aardman warehouse blaze
A firehas broken out at the Bristolwarehouse of UKanimation maestros, Aardman Animations.Theblaze, which began early on Monday morning, has destroyed many irreplaceable Aardman sets, props, storyboards and models as well as somefestival awards (although not Aardman's haul ofOscars and BAFTAs, which are housed elsewhere.)An Aardman source said the company had ...
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Golconda Films completes Camille financing
London-based Golconda Films looks to have completed thefinancing on its twisted honeymoon adventure, Camille, to star SiennaMiller, Nick Stahl and Harvey Keitel.The $4.5m project is being co-financed by new sales outfitVoltage Pictures, headed by international sales veteran Nicolas Chartier, whichwill handle international sales. Odeon Films is set to release the ...
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Heroes And Villains cranks up in London
Shooting is underway in London on romantic comedy Heroesand Villains, the directorial debut of Selwyn Roberts, the producer ofBAFTA-winning TV drama Shackleton..Produced by Mark Pegg through One Vision Films, Heroesand Villains is the story of a group of young London lads who come up withthe idea of setting up a ...
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Reviews
The Wild Blue Yonder
Dir: Werner Herzog.Ger-Fr-UK. 81mins.At times in WernerHerzog's docu-drama The Wild Blue Yonder, as the glittering-eyed BradDourif rants at the camera, audiences could be forgiven for thinking that theyare being buttonholed by an extra-planetary version of Samuel TaylorColeridge's Ancient Mariner.Dourif plays an alien fromAndromeda who has been stranded on Earth for ...
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Jobson reteams with Tartan for New Town Killers
Writer-director Richard Jobson is re-teaming with HamishMcAlpine's Tartan Films on his next project, The New Town Killers, dueto shoot in Edinburgh early next year. This will be the third collaborationbetween Jobson and McAlpine following on from 16 Years Of Alcohol and A WomanIn Winter.The £1 million thriller is set against ...
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Laxton takes over as Life 'n' Lyrics director
Life 'n' Lyrics, the London-set rap drama from new British outfitFiesta Productions, has secured a new director. Richard Laxton, whose recentcredits include TV series Outlawsand Bodies, is to take over thereins following the departure of the original director, Lexi Alexander, daysbefore shooting was due to begin.Backed by the UK FilmCouncil, ...
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Barney's Restraint draws buyers for Celluloid
Paris-basedsales outfit Celluloid Dreams is stirring up buyers' interest in artist MatthewBarney's film Drawing Restraint 9, an experimental epic set aboard a Japanese whaling ship. Deals havealready been concluded with Spain (Bistel) and Australia (Accent), andCelluloid Dreams is in negotiations with France, Germany, Greece, Russia, Italyand Japan. Cinetic Media holds ...
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Reviews
Drawing Restraint 9
Dir/scr: Matthew Barney.US-Jap. 2005. 143mins.Matthew Barney is one ofthe superstars of the American art world. He has held exhibitions everywherefrom the Guggenheim to the Venice Biennale, and has won numerous prizes. His CremasterCycle, made between 1994 and 2002, was shown - and rhapsodised over - inboth cinemas and museums. Drawing ...
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Vinterberg to return Home to Dogme roots
Dear Wendy directorThomas Vinterberg is set to return to his Dogme roots with A Man Comes Home,a new project due to shoot in Denmark next spring.Vinterbergis billing the film, which will be made through production company Nimbus, as"a tragic love story but in an uplifting party surrounding...it will be inthe ...
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Bauer Martinez to herd Lau's Flock into Louisiana
Andrew Lau's The Flock, which had been due to go intoproduction in New Orleans later this autumn, may still shoot in Louisiana inspite of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina. Philippe Martinez, CEOof Bauer Martinez Studios (BMS), told ScreenDaily.com that the plan nowis to see if it will be feasible ...
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News
Beauvois' Lieutenant wins Europa Cinemas Label prize
Cult Frenchdirector Xavier Beauvois has won the 'Europa Cinemas Label' for hiscop thriller, Le Petit Lieutenant which screened in the Venice Festival's 'Venice Days'sidebar last week.The award willgive Le Petit Lieutenant a healthy fillip as it hits the internationaldistribution trail. The film is now eligible for extended theatrical exposureand additional ...
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Park swaps Vengeance for Cyborg sci-fi
Cult Korean auteur ParkChan-wook is set to take the sci-fi route. The director (whoseSympathy For Lady Vengeance screened in Venice last week) is to make I Am A Cyborg for CJEntertainment. Casting details are yet tobe confirmed on the story of a young woman in a mental asylum who believes ...
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News
The Sun rises in Japan for The Works
On the eve of thisyear's Toronto Festival, UK sales agent The Works has closed a deal with Japanfor Alexander Sokurov's The Sun, his film about Emperor Hirohito's last days of power beforeJapan's surrender to the US in 1945. Kabocha hastaken Japanese rights to The Sun and will be giving it ...
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Reviews
Goal!
Dir: Danny Cannon. UK.2005 110minsGoal! is the first episode in a planned football trilogyabout a 19-year-old Latino Santiago plucked from LA to play in the EnglishPremiership. The second film - to be shot by House Of Wax director JaumeCollet Serra from next month - will see him play on a ...
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News
Sienna Miller signs for Golconda's Camille
Golconda Films, the London-based production and financing company headed by Gregory Mackenzie and Brett Walsh, has recruited rising British actress Sienna Miller to star in its forthcoming dark comedy, Camille. Harvey Keitel is also attached to the project, to be exec-produced by Charles Finch. The UK-Canadian co-production is in advanced ...
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Reviews
Citizen Dog (Ma Nakorn)
Dir/scr: WisitSarasatieng. Thai-Fr. 2004. 100mins.Co-produced by LucBesson's EuropaCorp, Wisit Sasanatieng's follow-up to Tears Of The BlackTiger is a film of undeniable charm: a romantic fantasy already touted bysome as a Thai equivalent to Amelie. Shot in the same iridescent coloursas Black Tiger, full of surrealistic humour and musical interludes, itis ...
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Reviews
The Piano Tuner Of Earthquakes
Dirs: The Brothers Quay.UK-Ger-Fr. 2005. 99mins.A decade after theirdebut feature Institute Benjamenta (1994), Stephen and Timothy Quay havemade their second full-length film. As one might expect from film-makers widelyacknowledged as masters of stop-motion and miniaturisation, this is a richlydetailed affair. It is crammed full of literary, cinematic and fine artreferences. ...
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Jeremy Thomas readies Royle's Director's Cut
Britishproducer Jeremy Thomas, who picks up the Locarno Film Festival's prestigiousRaimondo Rezzonico award today, has revealed further details of what looks setto be his second film as a director.The Director's Cut is an adaptation of NicholasRoyle's novel. Royle has already written a draft of the screenplay and Thomashopes to shoot ...
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Dellal readies On A Clear Day follow-ups
British filmmaker Gaby Dellal, whose film On A Clear Dayscreened to an enthusiastic response at the Locarno Film Festival at theweekend, is to team up with producers Dorothy Berwin and Sarah Curtis on asecond project. The new film, again to be scripted by Alex Rose, has theworking title Excess Baggage. ...