All articles by Jennifer Green – Page 44
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News
Ster Century opens cinemas while awaiting sale
Despite its stated intention of divesting itself of its exhibition interests, South African-owned multiplex operator Ster Century is forging ahead into the bustling Spanish cinema market with two new multiplexes planned for a spring opening.The company's new complexes in Madrid and Basque Country capital Vitoria will open in April and ...
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Spanish Las Palmas festival celebrates Europe
Spanish and European films will have a strong presence at this year's second edition of the International Film Festival of Las Palmas, Grand Canary Island (March 24-31).Among the 13 feature films competing in the official section are Michael Hanneke's Code Inconnu (Fr), Cecilia Barriga's Time's Up (Sp-US-Chile), Kieron Walsh's When ...
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News
New player enters Spain's frenetic cinema market
Amid talk of the Spanish exhibition industry growing too big for the market to sustain, a new, and unexpected, player has entered the highly competitive sector. Premiere Megaplex, a 50-50 joint venture between broadcaster Telecinco and distributor Tri Pictures, is set to unveil its first multiplex next week.An 8-screen complex ...
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News
Swedish company eyes Spanish digital pay TV
A Swedish company could become the majority owner of Spain's third digital pay TV platform, Quiero TV, if rumored negotiations end in a deal. Telecoms firm Auna (Retevision) is understood to be in talks to sell its 49% stake in Quiero, Europe's second-ever digital terrestrial TV platform, to Swedish global ...
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Spain's Grupo Correo posts best ever results
Confirming its place on the roster of profitable corporate backers pumping capital into Spain's media sector, conglom Grupo Correo reported net profits for last year of Euros 69m (pts11,542m), a.4% rise over 1999.Correo's best ever financial results place the group squarely in a competitive position amongst the likes of multimedia ...
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Reviews
The Big Martian
Dir: Antonio Hernandez. Spain. 2000. 90minsIt remains a mystery why this original, entertaining and technically astute film experiment has not resonated with Spanish audiences. Despite a wide release by UIP on 152 screens, ticket sales of just $310,000 in the first two weeks placed The Big Martian well outside the ...
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News
Filmax restructures Spanish animation division
Following the lead of its successful start-up genre division The Fantastic Factory, Spain's Filmax Group has initiated a restructuring of its animation division, newly dubbed Filmax Animacion.Under the direction of Paco Rodriguez, former head of Spanish rights and production house PPM Multimedia, Filmax's animation division will incorporate three main areas.The ...
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News
Ripoli prepares English Utopia for Alquimia
Director Maria Ripoll is preparing an English-language psychological thriller for new production company Alquimia Cinema.The film, Utopia, is being prepped for a summer shoot. The script was written by Curro Royo and Juan Vicente Pozuelo (The Art Of Dying). Madrid-based Mate Productions has already boarded the project, and Alquimia head ...
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News
Mate boards directorial debut: Private Lives
Spanish producer Mate Productions has boarded Argentinean film Private Lives (Vidas Privadas) from first-time director and popular musician Fito Paez.The film, a co-production with Paez's own Circo Beat, is set to star Cecilia Roth (All About My Mother), Gael Garcia Bernal (Amores Perros) and Hector Alterio (Plata Quemada).Roth plays a ...
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News
Portugal Telecom posts results
Telecoms and media giant Portugal Telecom (PT) released its year-end financial results, which were highlighted by a 32.1% rise in consolidated operating revenues to Euros 4.19bn.The company pointed to investments in mobile phones, data and internet services as new high growth business areas which now account for as much of ...
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News
Only Mine for Buena Vista Spain
Buena Vista International Spain (BVIS) has picked up Spanish theatrical rights on Sergi Lopez-starrer Only Mine (Solo Mia) from Madrid-based production house Star Line Productions.Digital satellite platform Via Digital has pay TV and Television Espanola free-to-air rights to the film, director Javier Balaguer's feature debut.Only Mine stars Lopez and up-and-coming ...
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News
Cartel to make biopic of Spaniard on death row
Spanish production outfit Cartel has announced plans to produce a film about Joaquin Jose Martinez, the Spaniard currently on death row in the United States accused of double murder.Writers Mercedes Segovia and Julia Montejo are now putting the final touches on the script. Cartel, headed by Eduardo Campoy, secured exclusive ...
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News
Paredes joins Savages
Spanish actress Marisa Paredes has joined the castof first-time writer-director Carlos Molinero's feature film, Savages(Salvajes).The film will reunite Paredes - who is currentlythe president of Spain's Cinema Academy - with Imanol Arias, her co-star inPedro Almodovar's 1995 hit The Flower Of My Secret (El Flor De Mi Secreto).Paredes also starred ...
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News
Planeta 2010 moves on education and Revelation
Heralding the frenzied competition for content to feed Spain's expanding TV market, publishing giant Grupo Planeta's media entity Planeta 2010 announced it would invest a whopping $33m (pts6,000m) over the next five years in the production of a single thematic channel: interactive educational channel Beca TV.Beca, which offers traditional cultural ...
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News
Spanish fest to host Sundance script lab
Spanish fest to host Sundance script labThe Spanish Film Festival of Malaga (June 1-9) will play host to the first Sundance Institute Scriptwriters' Lab to be held in Spain in conjunction with national authors and editors rights' organization SGAE.The lab will be held May 21-26, just prior to the fourth ...
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News
Fernan-Gomez awarded Gold Medal
Spanish film legend Fernando Fernan-Gomez will add another notch to his belt this year with the receipt of the Spanish Cinema Academy's prestigious Gold Medal lifetime achievement award.The Academy this week unveiled Fernan-Gomez as the newest recipient of an award whose previous honorees include a long list of revered local ...
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News
Plural signs with New York Times TV
New Spanish production outfit Plural Entertainment, a 100%-backed Grupo Prisa company with headquarters in Madrid and New York, has signed a landmark co-production agreement with the television filial of The New York Times.The accord, the first of its kind for The New York Times TV, will see the two firms ...
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News
Spain considers abolishing screen quotas
The general director of Spain's Cinema Institute (ICAA) and members of the Spanish film community are set to appear before a congressional committee this week to argue the finer points of proposed changes to the country's cinema law, including the controversial dissolution of screen quotas.The new law, submitted by the ...
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News
Quiero fulfils desire for Paramount Comedy
Spanish digital terrestrial pay television platform Quiero TV has extended its non-exclusive output agreement with Paramount Pictures to add the thematic channel Paramount Comedy into the platform's package offer. Paramount Comedy is the first new channel Quiero has incorporated since its launch last May. The channel can already be seen ...
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News
Amores Perros sweeps Fantasporto
Mexican sensation Love's A Bitch (Amores Perros) took home two top awards of the official fantasy film competition of this year's Oporto International Film Festival (popularly known as "Fantasporto").Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's local box office hit and critical darling took home best film, best director and best screenplay (Guillermo Arriaga) awards ...