All articles by Melanie Rodier – Page 41
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Slovenia becomes 26th country to join Eurimages
Eurimages, the Council of Europe-backed organisation which finances European co-productions, has accepted Slovenia as a member, effective January 1, 2001.Slovenia will become the 26th country to join Eurimages. The decision was taken by the Eurimages funding board at a meeting in Strasbourg, held November 27-29. As a result, all projects ...
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Dinosaur stirs up ratings row in Italy
Italian communications under-secretary Vincenzo Vita has called for a parental guidance classification to be added to Italy's ratings system, after a row erupted over the bloody scenes in Walt Disney's Dinosaur.The Italian Parliament and local parental associations have lashed out against the blockbuster's unrestricted release, which they claim doesn't give ...
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Cattleya in line for major cash boost
Italian production outfit Cattleya is set to receive two major tranches of investment from one of Italy's leading financial groups, San Paolo IMI Private Equity, and multimedia giant De Agostini.The company said it would use the cash injection to ramp up production to about eight or 10 features a year. ...
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Costanzo to head Fininvest's cross media unit
Mediatrade president Maurizio Costanzo has been appointed head of Veleno (Venom), the new company recently launched as Cross Media Factory by Italian media giant Fininvest, with the aim of seeking synergies between its publishing, internet, film and television arms.Veleno aims to be a "factory of ideas," that will draw on ...
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Istituto Luce, Medusa unveil 2001 line-up
Italian mini-majors Medusa and Istituto Luce have announced their distribution slates for the second half of 2001.Medusa, part of Silvio Berlusconi's media empire Fininvest, will be handling high-profile US titles such as Tony Scott's Spy Game, starring Brad Pitt and Robert Redford; Bounce, directed by Don Roos and starring Gwyneth ...
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Lucky Red takes Good Machine's Series 7
Italian distribution and production outfit Lucky Red has picked up Good Machine International's Big Brother meats the thriller genre film, Series 7: The Contenders.Written and directed by Daniel Minahan, Series 7 is about six people chosen in a lottery by a TV programme to kill each other for a cash ...
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George Washington takes top honours at Turin
David Gordon Green's George Washington scooped the top prize at this year's Turin Film Festival (November 17-25), marking the first time a US film has won the award since the festival was launched 18 years ago. The 25-year-old US director used non-professional actors for his debut feature, which revolves around ...
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Italy doubles co-production spend
Confirming the renewed vitality of the Italian film industry, national film body Anica has reported that Italy almost doubled its spend on international co-productions in 1999 to $31m (L71bn) compared to $15.9m (L36bn) the previous year.Total co-production costs, including foreign capital, rose to $96.9m (L219bn) from $41.7m (L94bn) in 1998. ...
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StudioCanal, Classic board Angelopoulos trilogy
France's StudioCanal and Italian production outfit Classic Films will co-produce Theo Angelopoulos' $20m epic trilogy about Greek exiles, the first of which, The Weeping Field, is set to star Harvey Keitel.The Weeping Field, which is based on a short story by Italian scriptwriter Tonino Guerra, is scheduled to shoot in ...
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Mediaset posts 26% jump in nine-month profits
Mediaset's gross profits increased by 25.9% to Euros481m in the first nine months of 2000, on net turnover up 16.4% to Euros1.68bn. Advertising revenue was up 14.1%.The Silvio Berlusconi-owned broadcaster also said its three broadcasting channels, Rete 4, Canale 5 and Italia 1, registered a 42.5% audience share for the ...
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Italian competition body to investigate Seat-TMC
Italy's Antitrust Authority has launched an official probe into publishing giant Seat Pagine Gialle's take-over of broadcaster Telemontecarlo.Seat, which is currently swallowing Telecom Italia's internet division Tin.it, agreed in August to purchase 75% of TMC from the Cecchi Gori Group, for L750bn ($335m), with an option to up its stake ...
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Fabrica to relaunch as commercial venture
Italian production outfit Fabrica Cinema, currently funded by clothing retailer Benetton, plans to relaunch next spring as a financially autonomous, market-oriented company under the banner Fabrica Cinema e Televisione.Fabrica head Marco Mueller said he is currently seeking investors that will include a banking partner, as well as Italian and European ...
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Italy's Lantia strikes alliance with Elle U
Rome-based producer-distributor Lantia has formed a financial and strategic alliance with Italian multimedia group Elle U Multimedia (EUM) that will enable it to beef up theatrical acquisitions and secure a domestic video outlet for its eclectic fare.The two companies will use their combined buying power to purchase films, which they ...
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Italy picks Hundred Steps as Oscar contender
Italy has chosen Marco Tullio Giordana's The Hundred Steps (I Cento Passi) as its official entry for the foreign-language Oscar, over both Silvio Soldini's Bread And Tulips and Giuseppe Tornatore's Malena, which had both been widely tipped.The Hundred Steps is based on the true story of Peppino Impastato, a student ...
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First-half losses almost double at Stream
Ailing Italian pay-TV operator Stream has reported that losses almost doubled in the first half of 2000 to $134.4m (L302bn) from $67.6m (L152bn) in the same period last year, despite an increase in both revenues and subscriber numbers.Revenue was up to $46m (L104bn) compared to $10m (L23bn) in the first ...
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Key, Mediatrade combine buying power
In the latest sign that Italian independent distributors are becoming a force to be reckoned with on the international buying scene, ambitious young Rome-based independent Key Films has partnered with the Berlusconi-owned Fininvest group to acquire films.The new deal with Mediatrade, Fininvest's television and film rights division, will allow the ...
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RAI Cinema says no deal yet with StudioCanal
RAI Cinema has firmly denied trade reports that it has closed a deal with StudioCanal to become its Italian distribution partner. President & CEO Giancarlo Leone said negotiations with the French company are continuing but insisted that he is also talking to other potential European supplier partners for its upcoming ...
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Zentropa adds Italians to financing web
Denmark's Zentropa has signed a deal with Italy's Istituto Luce and Rome-based producer Leo Pescarolo of Imago Film to co-develop, finance and distribute a package of five titles including Lars Von Trier's next two films and three English-language films by other Danish directors.Zentropa is also in talks with Fine Line ...
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Film Export to shoot Aranda historical comedy
Italy's Film Export Group has announced that it is about to start shooting a new Spanish co-production entitled Locura De Amor and directed by Vicente Aranda.Based on a true story, the $5m historical comedy recounts the trials and tribulations of a young Spanish royal couple in the 15th century. Maria ...
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Adriana Chiesa embarks on Indian Dream
Italy's Adriana Chiesa Enterprises has acquired worldwide sales rights to Francesco Ranieri Martinotti's Branchie - An Indian Dream, starring local rock idol Gianluca Grignani.Based on Niccolo Ammaniti's novel, Branchie is a surreal tale about a young man who escapes to Delhi to build the city's biggest aquarium and undergoes spiritual ...