All articles by Melanie Rodier – Page 12
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Tanovic embarks on shoot of Hell
Oscarwinner Danis Tanovic will start shooting next week his latest film, Hell,which was written by Krzysztof Piesiewicz for the late Krzysztof Kieslowski aspart of his Heaven-Hell-Purgatory trilogy.The No Man's Land director begins the film'seight-week shoot in Paris on October 25. Hell focuses on three sisters whosechildhoods were marked by a ...
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Rai Trade racks up sales on Argento's Hitchcock
Rai Trade has made a raft of sales at MIFED on cult directorDario Argento's upcoming film, Do You Like Hitchcock'.Argento's thriller, which is currently in post-production,has been made specifically for the TV, DVD and video markets. Under a projectmasterminded by Argento himself, Do You Like Hitchcock will be part of ...
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Lucky Red makes first animation foray
Markingits first foray in animation production, Italian arthouse distributor Lucky Redhas boarded Azur Et Asmard, the next feature from Kirikou And TheSorceress director Michel Ocelot.Azur EtAsmard explores the theme of tolerance as seen through the eyes ofa Western boy who travels to the Middle East to find his old nanny. ...
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MIFED winds down midway through market
MIFED wound down to a virtual halt by midday on Thursday(Oct 15), one and a half days before its official end, leaving those remainingto reminisce about the market's good old days, and many more utterly confusedabout what will happen next year.Several sellersreported that sales have been good. Rai Trade sales ...
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Oscar-hopeful Burman prepares Family Rights comedy
Daniel Burman, whose film El Abrazo Partido (The Lost Embrace) is currently Argentina'scandidate for the foreign languageOscar, is now preparing a comedy entitled FamilyRights.Set in the world of lawyers, the Euros 3m comedy will focuson the relationship between a father and son. The film will once again teamtogether El Abrazo ...
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Spike Lee seeks Italian backing for WWII project
Spike Lee could soon join Abel Ferrara and John Boorman in a growing list of American and British directors who are currently turning to Italy to finance a film.Lee, who is in Italy to promote She Hate Me ahead of its October 22 release, says he plans to make a ...
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Sellers gear up for smaller scale MIFED
A significantly smaller scale MIFED kicks off on Tuesday(Oct 12), but sellers who are in Milan say they are determined to conduct goodbusiness at the Fiera.On Monday, a day before the market started, MIFED'sreduced size was plain for all to see. With the number of exhibitors down fromlast year's 223 ...
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MIFED exhibitor bookings fall as AFMA boycott hits hard
Exhibitor bookings for thisyear's MIFED are significantly down as a result of the AFM decision to launch aNovember market, according to new figures released by the Milan marketorganisers.Fiera di Milano generaldirector Carlo Bassi said that the majority of worldexhibitors who traditionally attend MIFED will be there again this year - ...
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Italy's first Tribeca fest to run during MIFED dates
Wong Kar-Wai will be inMilan next month for the first Italian edition of the Tribeca Film Festival(Oct 12-15), which will host the European premiere of his re-edited film, 2046, as well as a selection of titlesthat screened during this year's New York event.Robert De Niro willaccompany the festival he co-founded ...
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House Keys to represent Italy at the Oscars
Italy has selected Gianni Amelio's drama, The House Keys, as its candidate for theforeign-language category of the next Academy Awards.The film, which focuses on the relationship between a fatherand the disabled 15-year-old son he meets for the first time, premiered incompetition at this year's Venice Film Festival. Kim Rossi Stuart, ...
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ITALY 30 September
Spider-Man 2remained firmly at the top of the Italian box office in its second week,further distancing its nearest competitors even though its earnings were down44% on its staggering opening.Meanwhile, the weekend saw three new Italian films onrelease. Paolo Sorrentino's Cannes competition film The Consequences Of Love, opened on 75 screens, ...
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Cinecitta eyes expansion into Africa, Eastern Europe
Rome's Cinecitta Studios is aggressively pursuing itsplans for expansion and, after buying two Italian studios, is soon set to moveinto Eastern Europe and North Africa."We are nowlooking for a winter studio with mountains in Eastern Europe and a summerstudio with a desert in Morocco or Tunisia," Cinecitta Studios director ofmarketing ...
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Mueller re-confirmed as Venice artistic director
MarcoMueller has been re-confirmed as the artistic director of the Venice FilmFestival for a further three years.The Biennale appointed Mueller in March on a four-yearcontract, although it reserved itself the right to "carefully examine thefestival's results at the end of that year's edition."In spiteof the organisational chaos that marred the ...
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ITALY 23 September
Spider-Man2 leapt straight tothe top of the Italian box office, where it earned a massive $8,993,096 in fourdays. The web slinger opened on September 16 on a wide 631 screens, and scoreda huge $12,296 per screen average for Columbia Tristar Italia.Shedding37% of its earnings, UIP's The Terminal dropped to second ...
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Cecchi Gori cleared of money laundering
Vittorio Cecchi Gori, whoseproduction, distribution and exhibition empire crumbled four years ago amid awhirlwind of bad debt and corruption charges, has been cleared of launderingmoney.In 2001, the media baron wastemporarily placed under house arrest for alleged wrongdoings linked to thebankruptcy of his former football club, Fiorentina. He was alleged to ...
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ITALY 16 September
01 Distribution's TheHouse Keys (Le Chiavi di Casa) opened on a wide 239 screens in Italy andearned Euros 726,000 - an all-time record for an Italian film launched at theVenice Film Festival.Three other Venice titles also opened in Italy last weekend,albeit less impressively: 20th Century Fox's Man On Fire, which ...
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Italy's Moviemax looks to tap cult Asian, US films
One ofRome's newest distributors, one-year-old Moviemax, aims to tap into a lucrative nichereleasing American and Asian cult and genre films which usually have troublefinding distribution in Italy.Moviemaxhas picked up Italian rights to 2001 film Donnie Darko: The Director'sCut, which iscurrently screening at the Venice Film Festival, and has never been ...
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Leigh, Amenabar take top Venice honours
Mike Leigh walked away with the Golden Lion at the Venice FilmFestival last night for his latest drama Vera Drake and his leading ladyImelda Staunton won the Volpi Cup for best female performance, a sweetvictory for Vera which was a surprise omission from the competition lineup at this year's Cannes ...
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Venice filmmakers vent their political anguish
Wim Wenders became the latest director to join a chorus ofvoices at the Venice Film Festival condemning the Bush administration, during aweek which has twice seen the Biennale officially react to events developing onthe world stage."As a Christian, I am deeply troubled by the acts of theBush administration," said Wenders, ...
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Bim boards Bellucci vehicle Combien
Italy's Bim, which has three titles playing in competitionat the Venice Film Festival, will co-produce Bertrand Blier's next film, CombienTu Gagnes', with Italian diva Monica Bellucci.Bim president Valerio De Paolis has boarded the Euros 12mproject alongside France's Fidelite, which is Francois Ozon's long-termproduction partner. Bim also owns Italian distribution rights.The ...