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All articles by Geoffrey Macnab – Page 188
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Sokurov plans 'free fantasy' version of Faust
Having tackled Hitler, Leninand Hirohito, Russian director Alexander Sokurov is to round off his four filmproject on "Men Of Power" with his own version of Faust. The new film, loosely basedon works by Goethe and Thomas Mann, promises to be in a very different registerto its dark and brooding predecessors, ...
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Loach sounds off over Iraq, Tsunami relief
Speakingin Berlin last week, Ken Loach (one of the three co-directors of portmanteaupicture Tickets) berated the double standards in western responses todeath and disaster. "Your country and mine have killed over 100,000 peoplein Iraq," Loach told a US journalist. "And we are encouraged to showno sympathy, to collect no money, ...
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Market gets animated about Euro-toons
European-madeanimated feature films are at last beginning to crawl out from underHollywood's shadow and establish a foothold in the international market. Thatwas the message in Berlin earlier this week as details of Cartoon Movie 2005,the three-day co-production forum and market, were announced.Theevent will take place in the middle of next ...
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Exorcist exhumed: Schrader's prequel gets world premiere
Provingthat in this era of DVDs, re-issues and special festival screenings, no footageis ever safely in the grave, Paul Schrader will bring his version of TheExorcist: The Beginning to the Brussels International Festival of FantasticFilm on March 18 in a precursor to what looks like a limited theatricalrollout.Thiswill be a ...
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US pack circles Dog Day doc
Based On A True Story, Walter Stokman's documentary about thereal events and characters behind Sidney Lumet's classic film, Dog DayAfternoon, is being circled by a small pack of US buyers currently inBerlin. Amsterdam-basedsales agent SND Films is weighing up offers from, among others, theatricaldistributors here!, Cinema Guild and Avatarand TV ...
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Fox sinks its teeth into Night Watch vampire franchise
20th Century Fox has unveiled its plans to build a global blockbusterfranchise out of Timur Bekmambetov's Night Watch (Nochnoj dozor), theRussian-language smash hit vampire thriller, playing at the Berlinale tomorrownight as a special screening.Last summer the studio bought worldwide rights (excluding Russia and theBaltic States) to the movie, which took ...
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Menzel serves up King Of England
Oscar-winning Czech directorJiri Menzel is finally set to direct his long-gestating adaptation of IServed The King Of England, one of the greatest novels by Czech writerBohumil Hrabal. The new project is beingpresented to potential production partners at the EFM by Czech sales anddistribution outfit AQS in advance of its official ...
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Trust clinches int'l on Vinterberg's Wendy
ThomasVinterberg's controversial drama, Dear Wendy has been hitting the targetat the European Film Market. Followingpacked screenings in Berlin earlier this week, the film, scripted by Lars VonTrier, has been sold to Germany (Legend), the UK (Metrodome) Canada (TVA)films, Argentina (Distribution Company) and Peru (Gateno Films) Peru.USbuyers are also circling Dear ...
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Football fever spreads across int'l film industry
Withthe "Kaiser" Franz Beckenbauer in town yesterday and the World Cup tobe held in Germany next year, football fever is breaking out in the filmindustry. From Europe to South America, new football-themed films are beingplanned.InBrazil, Walter Salles (in Germany this week for the Berlinale Talent Campus) isbusy polishing the script ...
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Classic film out-takes lost in studio clear-out
Though a restored version ofMichael Cimino's epic Heaven's Gate has been screening in Berlin thisweek, it is now looks as if its out-takes will never be found - thanks to aclear-out at UA which saw discarded footage from this, and several other filmclassics, destroyed.It isn't just Heaven'sGate - out-takes from ...
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Massway leads the way for Chinese sales companies
In a move bound to boost the profile of Chinese filmabroad, independent companies from mainland China are now being allowed totravel abroad to represent films at international markets. Beijing-based Massway, one of the new wave ofprivately-financed sales agents, is at this year's European Film Market inBerlin for the very first ...
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Missing Tati title makes world bow
Exactly 47 years after itwas made, the English-language version of Jacques Tati's 1958 film, MonOncle, is receiving its world premiere in the Berlinale's retrospectivetoday.This is not a dubbed versionof the French original, but a film that was shot separately in English, withthe same actors. It contains sequences which are not ...
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Malta unveils new financial incentives to woo film-makers
The Maltese filmindustry suffered a body blow last year when, three months into pre-production,Steven Spielberg decided to postpone his highly contentious new film about theaftermath of the 1972 Munich Olympics and concentrate on The War Of TheWorlds instead.Nonetheless,Malta (where films from Troy to Gladiator have shot in recentyears) is regrouping: ...
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Funds dry up at Euro Media Programme
The Media Programme'sdistribution support system appears to be in a state of disarray. Speaking inBerlin on Sunday, Raymond A. J. Goverde confirmed that the budget for 2004 ranout in mid-November and that no distributors have received the money they werepromised since then.Goverde (Head of MonitoringTeam at Media) said that the ...
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Gavin Films strikes US deal for Mothers And Daughters
Bill Gavin's Gavin Films hassold North American rights to Mothers And Daughters to SalonEntertainment.The US distributor isplanning a theatrical release for the low-budget British comedy, written,directed and produced by actors Hannah Davis and David Conolly exploring thetangled love lives and family relationships of middle class Londoners."Salon is making a verysignificant ...
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European Shooting Stars hit Berlin
"Listen to directors anddon't dream of being a star'do your job, be yourself, and it will work out inthe end." That was Man To Man directorRegis Wargnier's advice to the 21 fresh-faced actors and actresses from aroundEurope chosen for the 8th Shooting Stars initiative last week.Around 40 European castingagents are ...
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Obituary: Humbert Balsan
TheBerlinale began under a cloud with the news of the sudden death yesterday ofFrench producer and European Film Academy chairman Humbert Balsan. "We have lost one of our dearest friends and we willl miss him terribly," said festival director Dieter Kosslick.In a long producing career, Balsan worked with directorsof the ...
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Mackenzie readies post-Asylum projects
Rising young Scottish director David Mackenzie,whose latest film Asylum screens in Berlin's main competition, ishatching two new Scottish-based projects. Through Glasgow-based Sigma Productions,Mackenzie is set to direct an adaptation of Peter Jinks' novel Hallam Foe.A dark tale of an adolescent whose pet hobby is voyeurism, the film promises tobe in ...
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Michell set to embark on London Marathon
In Rotterdam last week for the festival screening of EnduringLove, British director Roger Michellrevealed further details of two future projects he is working on with WorkingTitle.Michell is about to take the leap into producing with theWorking Title backed Marathon, aportmanteau picture about six people competing in the London Marathon, one ...
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Reviews
06/05
Dir: Theo van Gogh. The Netherlands, 2004. 120 mins06/05 has considerable, albeit morbid, fascination as thelast feature of the Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, who was killed by an Islamicextremist in November 2004. There are uncanny parallels between Van Gogh's owndismal fate and the events he depicts in the film. ...