All articles by Melanie Rodier – Page 8
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Italian box office posts huge slump in May
Italy's box office has slumped a massive 35% in May, compared tothe same month last year.Thedrop comes as Kingdom of Heaven and Star WarsEpisode 3: Revengeof the Sith, which have respectively grossed $8,664,419 and $8,419,105 todate, failed to match the success of last year's Troy and The DayAfter Tomorrow, which ...
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Taormina festival to showcase Batman, Costa-Gavras
Batman Begins and Costa-Gavras' Le Couperet are amongthe titles that will receive their European premiere at the 51stTaormina Film Festival (11-18 June).Guests who will attend the festival and give a cinemalesson include director Bob Rafelson, Andie MacDowell, Italian actresses VirnaLisi and Laura Morante, Malcolm MacDowell and Hugh Hudson.Taormina, directed for ...
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World's Fastest Indian runs to Italy
Italian International Film (IIF) has acquired Italiandistribution rights to upcoming Anthony Hopkins vehicle The World's FastestIndian. The film, which is currently in post, tells thetrue story of New Zealander Burt Munro, who spent years building a 1920 Indianmotorcycle and then took it to Utah where he set the land-speed world ...
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New charter launched for downloading
Online film downloading is to get moreuser-friendly with the signing of a new charter.In Cannes, EU and US Internet service providers andtelecom operators endorsed a new online charter, which aims to ensurethat both service providers and film companies cooperate to fight piracyand provide an attractive supply of films which can ...
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Europe's MEDIA Programme gets $970m extension
The European Union's Media Programme has just secured over $970m (Euros 755m) to bankroll the European film industry.The Media 2007 fund will be used for training,development, distribution and promotion from 2007-2013, including atleast 20% going on development, 55% on distribution, 7% on training, 9%on promotion, 4% on pilot projects.The total ...
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Metacinema takes Italian rights to Gallenberger's Time
Metacinema has acquiredItalian distribution rights to Florian Gallenberger's Shadows of Time.Sold by BavariaInternational, the epic film is set in India before independence and traces thetragic love story of Ravi and Masha, a couple who were forced to work as childlabourers.The picture marks the featuredebut of writer-director Gallenberger, who won an ...
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Italy's DNC snaps up Un Certain Regard title The King
Italy's DNC Entertainment haspicked up Italian distribution rights to three titles, including Un CertainRegard title The King.Sold by ContentFilm, JamesMarsh's The King features Gael Garcia Bernal as a handsome young USmarine who returns to his preacher father's hometown with the hope ofreconciliation.The film was written by Marshand Milo Addica (Monster's ...
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Japan Wise to Argento's Hitchcock homage
Rai Trade has sold cult horrormeister Dario Argento's thriller, DoYou Like Hitchcock' to Japan's Wise Policy. Deals on the hot English-language picture have also been struck with USdistributor Marvista, Russia's Alpha Motion Company, Denmark's DR TV, Sweden'sSverige Television Sdt, Hungary's PCN Budapest, the Czech Republic's Euro Kimand ex-Yugoslavia's Centra Belgrado.The ...
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Filmexport touched by the hand of Maradona
RobertoDi Girolamo's Filmexport has taken worldwide rights to Marco Risi's upcoming$18m biopic, Maradona, which starts shooting next month.Thelong-gestating picture traces the life of the 44-year-old football icon, wholed Argentina's win in the 1986 World Cup but almost died of cocaine overdosesin 2000 and 2004. Rights to the script, including funds ...
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Filmauro shoots wide with US-set Morte
Aurelio De Laurentiis's Romeand LA-based production and distribution company Filmauro is lining up a slateof international and Italian titles, including films by hot Italian directorsDavide Ferrario and Carlo Verdone.De Laurentiis, who last yearproduced Sky Captain and The World of Tomorrow, has bought rights toMassimo Carlotto's novel, L'Oscura Immensita' della Morte. ...
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Chiesa sells Invisible Children to Japan, Germany
Rome-based sales agentAdriana Chiesa Enterprises (ACE) has sold rights for international project AllThe Invisible Children to Gaga forJapan, Telemunchen (Germany) and PCV (Greece).The seven-director projectfor UNICEF/World Food Programme boasts Jury president Emir Kusturica and memberJohn Woo among its contributors. Spike Lee became the lastdirector to join the project when he ...
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Olmi embarks on One Hundred Nails shoot
Israeli-bornactor Raz Degan (Alexander) is to head the cast of Ermanno Olmi's new drama, CentoChiodi(literally, One Hundred Nails) which has started shooting in Bologna.The film tells the contemporary story ofa young Bologna university professor who becomes the subject of a toughinvestigation. He decides to leave everything and everyone behind and ...
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Bim snaps up Cannes competitor for Italy
BimDistribuzione has acquired Italian distribution rights to Luc and Jean-PierreDardenne's Cannes competition film The Child (L'Enfant)Sold by Celluloid Dreams, The Child tells the story of 20-year-old Bruno and hispartner, 18-year-old Sonia, who are living off social security and thefts, whenSonia gives birth to their first child. The picture, produced by ...
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Moretti rounds out cast for Il Caimano
SilvioOrlando, Margherita Buy and Jasmine Trinca have joined the cast of NanniMoretti's new film, Il Caimano.It is the first film in five years for Italy's formerenfant terrible, who will start shooting the picture on May 23. The movie is inspired by Italian premier SilvioBerlusconi, and its title, Il Caimano (The ...
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Bassi steps down as Mifed, Filmitalia chief
Carlo Bassi has stepped downas CEO of AIP, the Italian film organisation which oversees promotional bodyFilmitalia as well as the MIFED film market. Industry veteran Adriana Chiesa will take over at Filmitalia. Ernesto Paolillo, an AIP board member will be in charge of"MIFED, due to his long experience in financialinstitutions."Chiesa ...
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Love rules at Italy's Donatellos
Second-time director PaoloSorrentino's mafia tale The Consequences of Love has won five David di Donatellos, Italy's Oscars,including best film, best director, best screenplay and best actor, beating outmulti-nominated contenders Sacred Heart and Manuale D'Amore.The Consequences of Love tells the story of a 50-year-old Italianbusiness man who lives on his own ...
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Berlusconi drafts in controversial culture minister
Italian culturalMinister Giuliani Urbani has been replaced by Rocco Buttiglione, theprospective EU commissioner who was rejected last year by MEPs because of hishomophobic remarks. Urbani was responsible for introducing the country's newfilm law, as well as for hand-picking the last two presidents of the VeniceBiennale, Franco Bernabe' and Davide Croff, ...
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Italy pins hopes on Festa for box office revival
Italy is to launch its firstever promotional Festa del Cinema today, in the hope of boosting admissionswhich have been sliding rapidly since January.The Festa del Cinema willenable spectators who buy one full-priced ticket between April 25, a national bankholiday, and April 28, to buy subsequent tickets for the price of ...
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Bim takes Italian rights to Cannes contenders
Italy's BimDistribuzione has acquired Italian distribution rights to Gus Van Sant's Last Days, which is tipped to play incompetition at next month's Cannes Film Festival.The picture, which is sold by HBO London, drawsinspiration from the last days in the life of Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain. Bim will releasethe film, ...
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De Laurentiis's Decameron begins Italian shoot
Shooting starts today (April 13) on the Dino De Laurentiisproduced $38m period comedy, Decameron.Writtenand directed by David Leland (Band of Brothers), theItalian-British-French movie stars Hayden Christensen, Mischa Barton (TheO.C) and Tim Roth. Decameron is inspired by Italian author Boccaccio's 14thcentury collection of stories about a group of unmarried nobles who ...