All articles by Jonathan Romney – Page 44
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Swiss culture ministry's film coffers run dry
Switzerland's production community has been hit by the news that the Swiss culture ministry (BAK) has already committed its entire $4.7m (SFr7.6m) annual budget for film production and development funding only halfway through the year.BAK director David Streiff explained at press conference in Berne that the overspend is due to ...
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Tykwer, Szabo secure German public funding
Tom Tykwer and Istvan Szabo are amongst the film-makers to secure cash in the latest round of funding awards from financing body the German Federal Film Board (FFA).Tykwer won funding worth $700,000 for his next feature, Heaven, from a script by the late Krzysztof Kieslowski and Krzysztof Pieseiewicz. The Berlin-based ...
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Die Unberuehrbare wins big at German Film Awards
Oskar Roehler's drama No Place To Go (Die Unberuehrbare), which had its premiere in Cannes last month as part of Directors Fortnight, was the evening's big winner at the 50th German Film Awards in Berlin on June 16, winning the Best Film award, the DM1m ($494,000) Film Strip in Gold, ...
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Germany's IN-motion plans IPO
Frankfurt-based music and film production company, IN-motion movie & TV productions, has become the latest German media company to seek a listing on the Neuer Markt stock exchange.IN-motion's founders Michael Muenzing and Luca Anzilotti have been key players in the international music scene for the last 15 years, masterminding the ...
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American Psycho to open Fantasy Filmfest
Mary Harron's American Psycho, starring Christian Bale, will be the opening film at this year's Fantasy Filmfest in Germany.The peripatetic festival for genre and thriller titles, held from July 26 to August 23, will tour through Munich, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Cologne, Hamburg and Berlin. James Wong's darkly comic Final Destination closes ...
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Babelsberg production chief slams German tax laws
Studio Babelsberg's managing director for production, Rainer Schaper, called for changes to German tax legislation during a speech at this week's Media Forum NRW in Cologne.Schaper criticised current laws under which non-German talent is taxed when shooting in the country. Earlier this year, Schaper successfully beat off rival bids to ...
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Arndt takes producer prize at Cologne
Stefan Arndt has been awarded the Producer Prize at this year's Cologne Conference. The Casting Award went to Anja Dihrberg.Arndt is one of four partners, along with Tom Tykwer, Wolfgang Becker and Dani Levy, in hot Berlin production outfit X-Filme creative pool which has credits including Run Lola Run, Life ...
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Media Luna launches joint venture sales company
Cologne-based sales agent Media Luna International Film Sales has joined forces with four German production houses to launch an expanded theatrical sales outfit Media Luna Entertainment (MLE).This week's Media Forum NRW in Cologne provided the backdrop for the launch of the new company which will be managed by Ida Martins, ...
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Atlas picks up Constantin's Harte Jungs
Germany's Atlas International has picked up worldwide sales rights to Constantin Film's latest German box office hit, Ants In The Pants (Harte Jungs), directed by Marc Rothemund.The comedy, about a teenage boy's sexual awakening, is being unveiled at the Cannes Film Festival where it will be screened with English subtitles. ...
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Murdoch buys 34% of Germany's TM3 channel
Media mogul Rupert Murdoch is buying a 34% stake in German TV-channel TM3 from Germany's Tele-Muenchen Group for $168m, taking over the operation 100%.Despite repeated denials that he was considering the move, Tele-Muenchen managing director Herbert Kloiber is reportedly selling his stake after repeated attempts to find an audience for ...
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Keil calls for revamp of German funding system
Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg chief Klaus Keil has called for a rethink of the German public film funding system in the light of German media companies' successful IPOs.Writing a guest column for the German daily newspaper Die Welt, Keil asked whether films that that can now be "freely financed at any time", ...
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Downtown picks up Belgium's Molokai
UK distributor Downtown Pictures has acquired UK rights to Molokai: The Story Of Father Damien, which screened last week in London at the "United Tastes of Belgium" showcase (March 31-April 5).Downtown is planning an autumn release for the film, about a Belgian priest on the Hawaiian island Molokai, which stars ...
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Hofer surfaces at BW Film Academy
Former Studio Babelsberg Independents (SBI) chief Arthur Hofer has been appointed artistic head at the Baden-Wuerrttemberg Film Academy in Ludwigsburg. He succeeds Albrecht Ade who founded the academy in 1991.Hofer resigned from his Babelsberg post last month citing the resignation of studio boss Friedrich-Carl Wachs as a reason for his ...
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Naumann cuts Export Union funding
The German Film Export Union's efforts to promote German cinema abroad have been dealt a blow by the decision of federal culture minister Michael Naumann to cut its financial support by $104,500 (DM215,000) this year.The Munich-based promotion agency said in press release that the reduction in the culture ministry's contribution ...
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Junkersdorf slams Germany's proposed media law
Producer Eberhard Junkersdorf, chairman of the German Federal Film Board (FFA)'s administrative council, has lashed out at German finance minister Hans Eichel for his planned revisions to legislation governing private media funds in Germany.Speaking in Berlin at an event where the FFA distributed almost $12.7m (DM25.4m) of retroactive support to ...
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Hofer set to quit Babelsberg
Germany's Studio Babelsberg has been rocked by the news that a second executive - Arthur Hofer - is to exit the production centre near Berlin, following the departure of studio boss Friedrich-Carl Wachs at the end of February (Screendaily February 14).Hofer, who moved Babelsberg from Munich's Bavaria Studios in 1997, ...
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EM.TV confirms Formula One deal
Aggressive German merchandising and production empire EM.TV & Merchandising has confirmed that it has agreed with Bernie Ecclestone to acquire 100% of Speed Investment. The deal gives EM.TV a 50% stake in SLEC, the holding company which owns all Formula One motor racing activities.EM.TV paid $712.5m in cash and a ...
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Germany's 4Kids jumps on flotation bandwagon
NASDAQ-listed US children's entertainment outfit 4Kids Entertainment is floating on the German stock exchange as part of a dual listing. The New York-based vertically-integrated concern was prompted to go public in Germany by the "extraordinary success" of its children's animation series Pokemon in the territory. The programme, which is aired ...
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Constantin enters international TV production
Bernd Eichinger's Constantin Film is expanding into production of international TV event programming with a $20m two-part adaptation of Marion Zimmer Bradley's international sword and sorcery bestseller The Mists Of Avalon.The two-parter is to begin shooting in the Czech Republic, Scotland and Hungary from next month under the direction of ...
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Kinowelt mulls investment in Kloiber's TM3
Aggressive German media group Kinowelt is considering taking over Rupert Murdoch's 66% stake in Munich-based channel TM3 as a means of gaining access to a broadcast outlet according to German press reports.Berlin daily newspaper Der Tagesspiegel quoted Kinowelt CFO Eduard Unzeitig as saying that "an entry in TM3 would be ...