All articles by Melanie Rodier – Page 20
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Saban embarks on ProSiebenSat.1 reshuffle
Haim Saban has embarked on a management reshuffle at ProSiebenSat.1's, four months after taking over the German broadcasting group.SAT.1 managing director Martin Hoffmann, whose future had been subject of much speculation since the summer, has been replaced with immediate effect by Swiss media entrepreneur Roger Schawinski who founded the first ...
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Gibson's Passion finds a home in Catholic Italy
Mel Gibson's controversial new film, The Passion Of Christ, has found a distributor in Catholic Italy, with powerful Rome distributor Eagle Pictures acquiring all local rights to the picture.Eagle is believed to have seen The Passion on the eve of the Venice film festival at a private screening that was ...
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ITALY
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre opened at number one at the Italian box office, grossing a solid $1.4m for local powerhouse Eagle Pictures, scoring a strong screen average of $4,828.Another Hollywood movie, police action thriller S.W.A.T. also opened on a high, grossing $956,570 for Columbia Tristar from 245 screens. New opener ...
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Italian senate approves controversial TV reform bill
The Italian Senate has approved a controversial bill for the reform of Italy's TV system, which is set to consolidate Silvio Berlusconi's sprawling media empire.The Gasparri Law was approved in a 155-126 vote despite fierce opposition from the centre-left coalition and some opposition from within Berlusconi's own centre-right party.It must ...
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Rai Trade strikes Caterina sales
Rome-based sales agent Rai Trade has closed a host of sales on current Italian box office hit Caterina Goes To Town (Caterina Va in Citta).Sales chief Sesto Cifola has sold the comedy to France's Pretty Pictures and Cinemien who picked up the film for Benelux. Additional sales have been sealed ...
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Animal Kingdom dominant at Turin
French director Joel Brisse's film The End of The Animal Kingdom (La Fin du Regne Animal) has won the top prize at the Turin Film Festival (Nov 13-21), Italy's pre-eminent event dedicated to cutting-edge cinema from around the world.Brisse's debut feature, which won the festival's Euros 20,500 prize, tells the ...
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ITALY
Robert Rodriguez's gun-slinger Once Upon A Time In Mexico knocked Love Actually off the top spot at the Italian box office over the weekend, grossing a strong $1.8m from 283 screens for BVI.The Johnny Depp vehicle, which premiered to much publicity at the Venice Film Festival in September, scored an ...
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Italians protest against Rai 'censorship'
Italian composer Nicola Piovani and Nobel winning playwright Dario Fo were among more than 15,000 people who attended a live show at the weekend to protest against censorship at Italian state broadcaster RAI.The show was conducted by local comic Sabina Guzzanti, whose satirical TV programme was closed down by Italian ...
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Italian distributor swoops for Yeoh's Silver Hawk
Fulvio Lucisano's Italian International Film (IIF) has snapped up Italian distribution rights to Michelle Yeoh's upcoming martial arts vehicle, Silver Hawk.Sold by Hong Kong's Han Entertainment through Arclight Films, the $15m action movie tells the story of an elegant lady who becomes a skilful fighter when disguised as Silver Hawk. ...
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ITALY
UIP's Love Actually stormed to number one at the Italian box office, grossing $2,221,520 from 357 screens on its first international opening as it posted an impressive screen average of $6,223.The Hugh Grant vehicle took the crown from Warner Bros's The Matrix Revolutions, whose earnings tumbled a depressing 51% ...
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Venice Film Festival to be run by foundation
The Italian government is pressing ahead with plans to overhaulthe statute of the Venice Biennale, the state body that runs the Venice FilmFestival, and has now approved a draft law to turn it into a foundation thatwill be partly financed by private individuals.The government's greenlight comes on the shoulders of ...
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Movieweb casts Shadow with English-lang slate
Movieweb's Massimo Pacilio has teamed up with the UK's Studio Eight and Canada's GFT Entertainment to produce a line-up of big-budget English language pictures.Among the first projects to be made through the new partnership is Shadow Dancer, a $10m movie starring Harvey Keitel, Giancarlo Giannini and Gerard Depardieu. Produced by ...
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Movieweb casts Shadow with English-lang slate
Movieweb's Massimo Pacilio has teamed up with the UK's Studio Eight and Canada's GFT Entertainment to produce a line-up of big-budget English language pictures.Among the first projects to be made through the new partnership is Shadow Dancer, a $10m movie starring Harvey Keitel, Giancarlo Giannini and Gerard Depardieu. Produced by ...
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Italian government speaks up for MIFED
Italian cultural minister Giuliano Urbani has said that Italy is prepared to take action at government level to support Mifed against the onslaught of AFM."AFM has made an unfair attack on MIFED by blatantly moving its dates into MIFED's slot next year," Urbani said at a press conference at the ...
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Gaga picks up Spanish Whore
Gaga Communications has just snapped up all Japanese distribution rights to hot Spanish picture The Whore (Yo Puta).The Euros 5m English-language picture is the second film to be directed by Luna, and stars Darryl Hannah and Denise Richards as two working prostitutes.The movie is based on a best-selling book by ...
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KWA takes off with Astronautas, Bolchevique
Madrid-based sales agent Kevin Williams Associates (KWA) has just picked up world-wide distribution rights to two new Spanish pictures: Astronautas and La Flaqueza Del Bolchevique.Santi Amodeo's Astronautas is a bittersweet comedy about an alcoholic artist who gets back onto the straight and narrow with the help of a young girl. ...
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ET creator dials up Dark animation
Legendary ET creator Carlo Rambaldi is lining up an animation feature about a human being who ends up on another planet.The picture, entitled Jo Dark, will be directed by Rambaldi's son, Victor, whose credits as director include 1995's Decoy and 1988 movie Primal Rage.Jo Dark, which is planned as an ...
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Cattleya charges ahead with Winspeare drama
Italian director Edoardo Winspeare, whose last film The Miracle screened in competition at the Venice Film Festival, is now preparing to direct a WW2 picture about an Italian Lawrence of Arabia.Winspeare is currently writing the film, which will focus on the life of Amedeo Guillet, an Italian cavalry officer who ...
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Giffoni, AFMA Foundation give birth to Teen LA
One of Europe's leading youth-oriented events, Italy's Giffoni Film Festival, has sealed a landmark deal with the AFMA Foundation to establish a twin event in Los Angeles next summer, to be called Teen LA.'Giffoni isn't just a festival. It is a year-round operation dedicated to promoting cinema for young ...
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ACE deals Card Player to Japan, UK
Japan's Gaga Communications and the UK's Arrow Film Distributors have both acquired local distribution rights to The Card Player, the new film from cult Italian suspense master Dario Argento.Sold by Adriana Chiesa Enterprises (ACE), The Card Player is about an unstoppable serial killer who kidnaps young women, holds them hostage ...