All articles by Liz Shackleton – Page 152
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News
Kurosawa's Tokyo Sonata sold to Japan, France
Japan's Entertainment Farm - Fortissimo Films' producing partner on Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Tokyo Sonata - has secured Japanese distribution for the film via PiX Inc, a subsidiary of Avex Entertainment founded in December last year. In addition, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners has come on board as a Japanese partner and Fortissimo ...
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News
Soros acquires 3% stake in India's Reliance Entertainment
Billionaire venture capitalist George Soros has bought a 3% stake in India's Reliance Entertainment for $100m. The move values the company, owned by the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, at $3bn and highlights increasing investor interest in Indian entertainment firms. In 2006, Walt Disney took a minority stake in Mumbai-based UTV ...
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News
Fortissimo makes donation to Scorsese's WCF
Fortissimo Films will be presenting Martin Scorsese's World Cinema Foundation (WCF) with a $50,000 cheque at a special reception at the Berlin International Film Festival tonight (Feb 8). Both Scorsese and executive director of the WCF, Alberto Luna, will be in attendance, along with other distinguished guests.Scorsese's WCF is a ...
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News
KOFIC launches fund to support Korean films overseas
The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) is launching a $420,000 fund to support the overseas theatrical release of Korean films. Distributors in select foreign countries who have acquired the theatrical rights to a Korean film can apply to the fund to cover up to 50% of release expenses, in accordance with ...
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News
Japan's Toei lands in Berlin with Orochi: Blood
Japanese studio Toei has made a last-minute decision to attend the European Film Market, and will be selling the new horror title from Norio Tsuruta, who previously directed the J-Horror Theatre title Premonition. Tsuruta's new film, Orochi: Blood, stars Yoshino Kimura (Sukiyaki Western Django) in a story about two sisters, ...
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News
Scorsese, Shangri-La to shine a light on Bob Marley
Following his Bob Dylan and Berlin-opening Rolling Stones documentaries, Martin Scorsese is planning to make a film on the life of Reggae star Bob Marley. Shangri-La Entertainment and Tuff Gong Pictures are producing the as-yet-untitled film which will be released globally on Feb 6, 2010, the 65th anniversary of Marley's ...
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News
Fortissimo picks up Sundance winner Sleep Dealer
Fortissimo Films has acquired worldwide rights, excluding North America, to Alex Rivera's Sleep Dealer, which recently scooped several awards at the Sundance Film Festival where it played in competition. The sci-fi drama won both the Alfred P. Sloan and Waldo Salt Screenwriting Awards at Sundance and will also screen here ...
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News
Suh slices through international market with Fine Cut
Cineclick Asia founder Youngjoo Suh is leaving the company to establish a new international sales outfit, Fine Cut, to handle a more diverse slate of international projects. Suh explained that the move would give her the freedom to invest in and co-produce projects from overseas filmmakers. Cineclick merged last year ...
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News
Cinema Libre welcomes Zombie to the US
Grace Lee's American Zombie, the first English-language film from Korean producer-distributor iHQ, has been acquired for US distribution by Cinema Libre Studio. The horror comedy will be released theatrically in select US cities starting with a platform release in Los Angeles on March 28.Shot entirely in the US, American Zombie ...
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News
Protege, Warlords lead race for Hong Kong Film Awards
Derek Yee's Protege, produced by Peter Ho-sun Chan, and The Warlords, directed and produced by Chan, dominated the nominations for this year's Hong Kong Film Awards. Drug-trafficking thriller Protege picked up 15 nods, including best film and director, while The Warlords scored 13, including best film, director and two nods ...
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News
India's UTV changes name to avoid AIM listing confusion
India's UTV Motion Pictures, which floated on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) last year, has changed its name to UMP Plc to avoid confusion with another AIM-listed company, UTV Media Plc (formerly Ulster Television Plc). The company will be trading under the new name from Feb 4. Its wholly-owned subsidiary ...
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News
Strand Releasing takes US rights to Lee's Help Me Eros
Fortissimo Films has announced a slew of sales coming out of the Rotterdam Film Festival and in the run up to next week's European Film Market (EFM) in Berlin. The company has sold all US rights to Lee Kang-sheng's Venice competition entry, Help Me Eros, to Strand Releasing. The Culver ...
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News
Fortissimo adds Son Of ALion, Hold Me Tight to EFM slate
Fortissimo Films has bolstered its slate for the upcoming European Film Market (EFM) in Berlin with two acquisitions. The Amsterdam and Hong Kong-based sales agent has picked up Australian production Son Of A Lion, which was shot in Pakistan by first-time director Benjamin Gilmour. The deal, which includes worldwide rights ...
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News
SPTI seals mobile VoD deal with Korea's SK Telecom
Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) has sealed a video-on-demand (VoD) licensing deal with South Korean mobile operator, SK Telecom. Under the terms of the agreement, a selection of SPTI's films and TV series will be offered on-demand and in full-length to SK Telecom mobile customers via its mobile platforms NATE ...
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News
Mei Ah Entertainment sells BIG stake to mainland investor
Hong Kong producer-distributor Mei Ah Entertainment has sold a 21% stake in local production outfit BIG Media Group to Chinese investor Brandon Wen Rui Feng for $10.3m (HK$80m). Mei Ah bought a 44% share in BIG last year which was diluted to 23% following the placement of new shares. The ...
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News
Star launches second Chinese Movies channel
Regional broadcaster Star has launched Star Chinese Movies 2, a new channel that will screen Chinese-language films produced from the 1970s to the 1990s. The channel will draw on Star's library of more than 600 Chinese-language movies produced by Golden Harvest and D&B, among other legendary production houses, and starring ...
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Features
Production - Mumbai Calling
One of the world's most crowded and at times dysfunctional cities, shooting in Mumbai is not for the faint-hearted. But it is also the centre of one of the world's largest film industries, with production costs around one-fifth of those in the West. For projects with a story set in ...
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News
Fortissimo picks up Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young documentary
Fortissimo Films has acquired worldwide rights outside North America to documentary feature CSNY: Dejà Vu on the eve of its debut at the Sundance Film Festival in the closing night slot. Directed by Bernard Shakey, aka Neil Young, one quarter of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the film documents the ...
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News
Osian's Cinefan to award $250,000 in prize money
Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab cinema has announced that it will offer prize money of around $250,000 (approx Rs10m) for the competition sections and lifetime achievement awards at its upcoming edition (July 10-20). The festival, held annually in New Delhi with a preview in Mumbai, celebrates its tenth ...
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News
China Broadband takes 23% stake in Asian Union
Private equity fund China Broadband Capital Partners has taken a 23% stake in Beijing-based film and TV producer Asian Union New Media. Asian Union founder Dong Ping has stepped down from the company, while former China Netcom CEO Tian Suning has taken up the role of chairman. Wang Hong, president ...