All articles by Liz Shackleton – Page 143
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iDream sells three to Turkey
London and Mumbai-based sales company iDream Independent Pictures has sold a package of three films, including Santosh Sivan's Tahaan, to Turkey's Horizon International here at the EFM. The package also includes Shivajee Chandrabhushan's Frozen and Irfan Kamal's Thanks Maa. Produced by India's Quantum Films, Thanks Maa is a story about ...
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Mirovision boards The Boat
South Korea 's Mirovision has picked up international rights to Kim Young-nam's drama The Boat, starring Korean actor Ha Jung-woo and Japan's Tsumabuki Satoshi. Scripted by Aya Watanabe (Josee, The Tiger And The Fish), the film follows a Korean smuggler and his counterpart in Japan whose lives are entwined when ...
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Reliance seals deals with Julia Roberts and Brett Ratner
Reliance Big Entertainment has signed a further two development deals in Hollywood - with Julia Roberts' Red Om Films and Brett Ratner's Rat Entertainment - to add to the seven similar deals announced last year at Cannes. As with the other deals, RBE will create a development silo for each ...
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Korea's Fine Cut wraps up pre-EFM sales
Seoul-based sales agent Fine Cut has wrapped up a slew of sales on the eve of the EFM, including the sale of Antique, which screens here in the Culinary Cinema section, to Thailand's Rose Media. Directed by Min Kyu-dong (Memento Mori) and starring French actor Andy Gillet, the film was ...
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Distribution Workshop picks up Snowfall, Overheard
Distribution Workshop, the new Hong Kong-based sales outfit founded by Nansun Shi and Jeffrey Chan, has picked up two new titles - Alan Mak and Felix Chong's Overheard and Snowfall In Taipei from Chinese director Huo Jianqi. Produced by Derek Yee, whose credits as director include Protege and One Nite ...
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Kites flies on Reliance Big Pictures' debut slate
India's Reliance Big Pictures is launching its international sales division here at the European Film Market, with a busy slate of product headed by $30m English-language romantic drama Kites. Starring Hrithik Roshan, Kites follows a young man in Las Vegas who becomes involved with a salsa dancer but falls in ...
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Fortissimo rounds out Berlin slate with Asian auteurs
Fortissimo Films has arrived in Berlin with several additions to its slate including new titles from threefilmmakers that the company regularly works with - Taiwan’s Tsai Ming-liang, Thailand’s Pen-ekRatanaruang and Dutch director Alex van Warmerdam.
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Cheung, Tang Wei set to star in Crossing Hennessy
Hong Kong singer Jacky Cheung and Chinese actress Tang Wei have been lined up to star in Crossing Hennessy, the second film from Ivy Ho, which she is directing for Hong Kong-based Irresistible Films. Ho, formerly a scriptwriter with credits including Ann Hui's July Rhapsody, made her directing debut last ...
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TheIndian film industry and the global economic crisis
How well is the Indian film industry positioned to ride out the global economic crisis' Screen takes a look at the impact of the crunch on production and multiplex expansion as well as the country's high-profile international financing deals. The Indian film industry may have made headlines last year with ...
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Profile: David U Lee's The Beijing connection
China-US co-productions have become popular over recent years - a trend that is likely to continue given the success of action adventure The Forbidden Kingdom. But, as many producers have discovered, navigating China's political landscape and vastly different production culture can be as daunting as one-on-one armed combat with the ...
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Hong Kong's Celestial strikes pay-TV deal with Viasat
Hong Kong-based Celestial Pictures has sealed an exclusive pay-TV deal with Viasat to broadcast Shaw Brothers movies in 15 territories across Russia, the CIS and the Baltic states. Classic titles such as Come Drink With Me, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin and Blood Brothers will be available on Viasat's TV1000 ...
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Kawase, Taiwan's Wei among HAF line-up of 27 projects
Japanese filmmaker Naomi Kawase and Wei Te-sheng, director of Taiwanese blockbuster Cape No. 7, are among the filmmakers who have had projects selected for the seventh edition of the Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF). Kawase, who was awarded the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2007 for Mourning Forest, ...
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Run Run Shaw offers to take Shaw Brothers private
Sir Run Run Shaw has offered to buy the 25.08% stake in Hong Kong's legendary Shaw Brothers that he does not already own for $171.6m (HK$1.33bn). The centenarian mogul, who owns a 74.92% stake in the legendary studios that he founded, has offered to buy the remaining shares at HK$13.35 ...
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Firaaq scoops top honours at Singapore's AFFF
Firaaq, directed by award-winning Indian actress Nandita Das, scooped best film and best screenplay at the Asian Festival of 1stFilms (AFFF) in Singapore on Wednesday night (Dec 10).The film, which looks at the impact of the 2002 riots in Gujarat on ordinary people, also took the Foreign Correspondents Association Purple ...
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GDC signs VPF deals for Asia with three US studios
GDC Technology has signed separate virtual print fee (VPF) financing deals with three US studios - Twentieth Century Fox, Paramount Pictures International and Universal Pictures International - for the deployment of digital cinema across Asia. Under the terms of the non-exclusive agreements, the three studios will supply Asian exhibitors with ...
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CineAsia kicks off with focus on India's growing exhibition sector
The CineAsia exhibition conference in Macau (Dec 9-11)got off to a surprisingly robust start, given the current global financial crisis, with a focus on India's growing exhibition market and the announcement of a funding deal for a new Chinese cinema chain. Speakers including Tushar Dhingra, COO of Reliance-owned Big Cinemas,outlinedprospects ...
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APEX secures funding for Chinese cinema chain
New York-listed Entertainment Properties Trust (EPR) has established a strategic alliance with start-up multiplex operator, APEX International Cinemas Investment (HK) Ltd, and its Chinese joint venture partner to open a chain of cinemas in mainland China. EPRisproviding capital of $25m to APEX to build an initial ten multiplex cinemas. APEX ...
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Ong Bak 2 opens at top of Thai box office
Tony Jaa's Ong Bak 2 topped the box office in Thailand over its opening three-day weekend (Dec 5-7), grossing an impressive $2m (70m baht) despite the political unrest that has rocked the country in the past few weeks. According to local distributor Sahamongkolfilm International, the opening is the biggest in ...
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Disney takes majority stake in India's UTV
Walt Disney Co and the founders of UTV Software Communications have jointly acquired an additional 23% stake in the Indian company. The move gives Disney a majority stake of 59.94% in UTV and haslifted the partners' combined holdings to 83%. However, Disney is not taking management control of the company ...
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Syria: Postcard from Damascus
With the recent emergence of film festivals in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the Middle East's festival calendar is getting busy. But one of the oldest in the region - the Damascus International Film Festival - is determined to raise its international profile, despite operating on budgets that are a fraction ...