All articles by Jennifer Green – Page 36
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News
Spain's Via Digital re-asserts commitment to (fewer) Spanish films
Telefonica-backed digital satellite platform Via Digital publicly responded Thursday to growing concern in the Spanish film industry about the pay-TV sector's steep reduction in financing for both local productions and foreign acquisitions.At a press conference given at the Spanish Film Festival of Malaga to announce Via's and sister broadcaster Antena ...
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Sogecine's South Of Granada signals greater co-production push
British actors Matthew Goode, James Fleet and Laurence Fox have signed on to star alongside Spaniards Veronica Sanchez and Guillermo Toledo in director Fernando Colomo's forthcoming Gerald Brenan biopic, South Of Granada (Al Sur De Granada).The story of writer Brenan's first encounter with Spain and his love affair with a ...
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Digital pay-TV platforms fold in Spain and the UK
Two European pay-TV platforms, Spain's Quiero TV and the UK's ITV Digital have simultaneously reached the end of their struggles to survive.Spanish pay television platform Quiero TV, Europe's second digital terrestrial television platform behind the UK's ITV Digital (formerly Ondigital), is pending formal closure following a decision by shareholders to ...
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Spain's MediaPro launches in to feature film production
Spanish producer and rights broker MediaPro has announced its fully-fledged entry into feature film production, with plans to produce and back between five and seven films per year.Newly appointed film chief Juan Ruiz de Gauna, former CEO of Via Digital, said MediaPro won't "just play a financing role, we will ...
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Spanish film industry holds breath as pay-TV sector wavers
The Spanish film industry is up in arms over what is seen as a halt in acquisitions at pay TV platforms Via Digital and Canal Plus/Canal Satelite Digital, two of the most important financing sources for Spanish producers and distributors.While the rumours about a stall have been circulating since early ...
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Jordi Molla's directorial debut to open Malaga fest
We're Nobody (No Somos Nadie), the directorial debut of actor Jordi Molla (Blow, Second Skin), will open the fifth annual Film Festival of Malaga (April 26-May 4), Spain's leading competitive event dedicated to national productions and co-productions.Other titles competing in the official section alongside Molla's Lolafilms production, (pictured) include: Julio ...
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Reviews
The Shanghai Spell (El Embrujo De Shanghai)
Dir: Fernando Trueba. Spain. 2002. 122mins.Lush, even exotic, set designs and costumes are the biggest draws for The Shanghai Spell (El Embrujo De Shanghai), Oscar-award winning director Fernando Trueba's (Belle Epoque) 1940s drama. Trueba's reputation, and strong international interest in his recent hits such as jazz documentary 54th Street (Calle ...
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Spain's producers' federation appoints three VPs
The Spanish Producers' Federation (FAPAE) has named three vice presidents as a part of an ongoing restructuring of its leadership.Filmax president Julio Fernandez, current president of the Catalan producers' association Barcelona Audiovisual; Pancho Casal, spokesperson for the Independent Producers' Association of Galicia (AGAPI); and Enrique Uviedo, president of the Spanish ...
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Cash or closure imminent for Spain's Quiero TV
Spanish DTT platform Quiero TV could be forced to close down as soon as next week if a buyer doesn't emerge in time.Backers of Quiero, led by telecoms operator Auna (Retevision), set April 15 as a deadline to sell off the pay outlet or else shut it down. While sources ...
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News
Telefonica names Faura head of contents
Telefonica has appointed Kim Faura as the first corporate general manager of the newly organised contents division, Contenidos de Telefonica.Faura will take charge of co-ordinating contents and seeking synergies across the Telefonica group's multiple platforms and international holdings which include television, film, mobile phones and the internet.Faura ...
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News
Abril appointed new Via Digital head
Luis Abril was named president of Spanish digital satellite TV operation Via Digital, by parent company Admira.Abril is also president of Admira, the multimedia arm of telecoms giant Telefonica, which he took over from Juan Jose Nieto in January.The appointment is the latest in a series of top level executive ...
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Reviews
Food Of Love
Dir: Ventura Pons. Sp-Ger. 2002. 112mins.An absorbing tale of obsessive love, featuring nice visual exploitation by Catalan director Ventura Pons of his native Barcelona, make Food Of Love enjoyable to watch. Some audiences may be put off by Pons' theatrical style, and occasionally find some of the dialogue and ...
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News
Telecinco profits hit by competition, ad recession
Calling itself the "most profitable broadcaster in Europe" for a third consecutive year, Spain's free-to-air private network Telecinco posted net profits for 2001 of Euros112m. But the total was a 28% decline compared with the previous year's Euros155m.The company attributed the slide to the advertising recession. But Spain's commercial channels ...
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News
Lolafilms gets Euros18m lifeline from shareholders
The once mighty Spanish production and distribution concern Lolafilms is to get a Euros18m cash injection. The lifeline was approved on Friday (Mar 22) by shareholders, which include 70% owner Admira, part of the giant Telefonica group.The amount is slightly lower than the Euros21.6m anticipated, but will give Spain's second ...
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Reviews
Talk To Her (Hable Con Ella)
Dir: Pedro Almodovar. Spain. 2002. 116mins.Hable Con Ella (Talk To Her) shows director Pedro Almodovar getting back to his roots after the heady international success of his last, Oscar-winning effort All About My Mother (Todo Sobre Mi Madre). In the wake of Mother, Almodovar could probably have made any film ...
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News
Malaga film festival to honour Angela Molina
Actress Angela Molina will be the recipient of a tribute at next month's fifth annual Spanish Film Festival of Malaga (April 26-May 4).Molina will be given the first-ever Malaga Award (Premio Malaga) in recognition of an "outstanding career in Spanish cinema." Molina, 56, is one of the best known Spanish ...
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News
PT Multimedia posts impressive results
PT Multimedia (PTM), the media subsidiary of Portuguese telecommunications giant Portugal Telecom (PT), posted operating revenues of Euros 625.8m last year, a 152.5% rise over the previous year.The company credits the phenomenal rise to the full consolidation of leading local film distributor-exhibitor Lusomundo after January 1, 2001. PTM bought out ...
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Spain's Telecino appoints Alberto Carullo
Private Spanish broadcaster Telecinco has named Italian-born Alberto Carullo its new head of production, marketing and programming.Carullo moves to Telecinco from Madrid-based film and TV producer BocaBoca, where he has managed contents and marketing since 1999.Prior to that he was head of marketing and promotion for the Italian TV interests ...
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News
Sogecable to get five more years of Columbia pics
Spanish media group Sogecable has renewed its output TV deal with Columbia Tristar International Television for another five years beginning in January 2003. The original deal, signed in 1997, gave Sogecable exclusive rights to Columbia films for its pay-TV and pay-per-view (PPV) services on platforms Canal Plus and Canal Satelite ...
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News
Spain's Admira plans cash boost for Lolafilms
Spanish production house Lolafilms looks set to receive a much needed capital injection of Euros 21.6m by the end of March. Telefonica media subsidiary Admira, 70% majority owner of Lola, has proposed a refinancing scheme to balance Lola's estimated losses of Euros 11m and carry out a capital amplification with ...