All articles by Melanie Rodier – Page 38
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Venice 2001: Film Festival Line-up
Following this year's radical restructure of one of the world's oldest international film events, Venice film festival chief Alberto Barbera has unveiled the line-up of the two official competition sections for the event's 58th edition. Now including the Cinema Of The Present competition - which showcases some 30 contemporary, debut ...
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Giffoni fetes Jimmy Grimble
A jury of international school children presided by Billy Elliott star Jamie Bell has awarded the Giffoni Film Festival's top prize to UK director John Hay's football hopeful movie, There's Only One Jimmy Grimble.The youth-oriented festival, which ran July 14th to July 21st in the small southern town of Giffoni ...
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New Anica president appointed
Gianni Massaro, the Italian entertainment lawyer who heads the European production fund Eurimages, has been appointed president of Anica, Italy's national film body, replacing film producer Fulvio Lucisano."My top priority will be to bring into Anica the other associations of the audiovisual sector, who, while they operate within a friendly ...
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De Laurentiis hopes Scott will direct Alexander
Contrary to earlier reports, producer Dino De Laurentiis has yet to secure the services of director Ridley Scott for the film he is lining up about Alexander The Great. De Laurentiis said that he hoped the film would be directed by Gladiator's Scott, but as yet no deal has been ...
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De Laurentiis says Scott to direct Alexander epic
Confirming Italy's current enthusiasm for multi-million dollar sword-and-sandal epics, legendary producer Dino De Laurentiis has announced that he is lining up a picture about Alexander The Great that will be directed by Gladiator director Ridley Scott and is expected to feature UK actor Anthony Hopkins in a key role. De ...
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The Last Days Of Pompeii - for the ninth time
More than forty years after it was last seen on the big screen, Italian producer Leo Pescarolo is developing a big-budget English-language remake of the legendary movie The Last Days of Pompei, making it the ninth time the sword-and-sandal spectacular returns to the silver screen."The model for this kind of ...
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Giffoni festival reveals impressive line-up
Italy's Giffoni Film Festival, one of the premier festivals dedicated to youth-oriented cinema and the only one whose jury is composed of international school children, has unveiled its full line-up which includes Nick Castle's Delivering Milo, John Hay's There's Only One Jimmy Grimble and Iranian filmmaker Ali Shah-Hatami's Shrapnels In ...
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Galfin joins Alquimia on Callas Forever
Olivier Granier from France's Galfin has joined Spain's Alquimia as a co-producer of Franco Zeffirelli's upcoming drama Callas Forever. Fanny Ardant stars in the film which focuses on the last few months of the opera diva's life. Other cast members include Spanish actors Angela Molina, Manuel de Blas and the ...
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Venice dedicates tributes to Munk and Debord
The Venice International Film Festival (August 29th - September 8th) has announced that it will dedicate a retrospective to the late Polish film director Andrzej Munk and to the little known cinema oeuvre of French critic Guy Debord.The festival's tribute to Andrzej Munk, who first gained international recognition at Venice ...
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Cecchi Gori president steps down amid allegations
Italy's fallenmedia mogul Vittorio Cecchi Gori (pictured left) announced on Monday night that he is temporarily "abstaining" himself from all his duties as president of the Cecchi Gori Group.Cecchi Gori's self-suspension announcement comes only days after police said they found nine grams of cocaine during an early morning search at ...
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Medusa's Bernasconi dies suddenly
Carlo Bernasconi, president of Rome-based mini major Medusa Film, died suddenly Thursday night in Milan. Aged 57, he was known to have been suffering from heart problems for some time.Bernasconi was one of Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi's closest collaborators, first working with him in the construction industry in the 1970s, ...
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Italy's distributors elect president
Italy's national distributors union, UNIDIM, has appointed Eagle Pictures' Giampaolo Sodano as its new president, replacing Andrea Occhipinti.In the same vein as last year's appointments, the position of vice president of the union has been split between an independent and a studio executive, with CDE's Jacopo Capanna and Richard Borg, ...
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Taormina Festival plans Italian distribution boost
In a determined bid to aggressively encourage broader summer programming in Italy and boost the Taormina Film Festival's position as a European launchpad for US blockbusters, festival director Felice Laudadio has announced that he will yet again move the dates of the festival forward. This year's event runs June 29th ...
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Locarno shines spotlight on Asians in US cinema
The 54th editionof the Locarno International Film Festival (Aug 2-12) has unveiled a richsidebar on Asians in American Cinema, including films such as Emiko Omori's RabbitIn The Moon, StevenOkazaki's Days Of Waiting, Wayne Wang's Life Is Cheap But Toilet Paper Is Expensive and Frank Sinatra's soledirectorial effort, None But The ...
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Italian financial regulators to search Mediaset HQ
Italy's Financial Guard has been issued a warrant to search the Milan headquarters of Mediaset, Italy's largest private broadcaster, as part of an investigation into possible wrong-doing during Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi's first stint as prime minister in 1994.The investigation, which the European Union Commission is also conducting, is focusing ...
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Apocalypse Now takes centre stage at Taormina
Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now Redux will screen at the Taormina Film Festival on July 4 in the Sicilian town's spectacular 7,000 seater Greek amphitheatre. Other high-profile titles at the non-competitive festival, which runs June 29-July 7, include Ivan Reitman's Evolution and Michael Apted's Enigma. On July 4, the ...
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Italian arthouse buyer emerges from The Swamp
Confirming its position as one of the more adventurous Italian distributors of arthouse fare, Rome-based outfit Teodora Film has picked up Italian rights to controversial Berlinale prizewinner The Swamp (La Cienaga).Argentinian newcomer Lucrecia Martel's drama about two large families trying to cope with each other during a long hot summer ...
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Taormina promo launches Italy's summer renaissance
Continuing the drive to promote the Taormina Film Festival as a major summer launchpad for international blockbusters, Italy's multiplex association is screening a film depicting the history of the 47-year-old festival before the main feature on 200 multiplex screens across the country.In addition to this initiative, which will last throughout ...
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Italian court greenlights Telemontecarlo take-over
Paving the way for a third broadcasting force in Italy, the country's highest appeal's court has cleared Telecom Italia and multimedia group Seat Pagine Gialle to take over debt-ridden television station Telemontecarlo (TMC) from the troubled Cecchi Gori Group.The Council of State decided to reject a telecom watchdog's appeal against ...
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Lecce Euro festival unveils line-up
Joaquin Cortes vehicle Gitano and Envy Of Gods by Russian director Vladimir Menshov are among the eight films in competition at the second edition of the European Cinema festival, which will be held in the southern Italian town of Lecce (June 2-9).Films to be viewed by Polish director ...