All articles by Melanie Rodier – Page 9
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Italian arthouse distributor Teodora picks up Contronatura
Rome-based arthouse distributor Teodora Film is to release itsfirst-ever local picture, a film entitled Contronatura starring MayaSansa.Produced by Tilde Corsi and writer-producer Gianni Romoli, the duobehind Ferzan Ozpetek's Facing Windows and Sacred Heart, Contronaturais a thriller set in Tuscany and directed by Alessandro Tofanelli.'It's a story of passion between a ...
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Heart, Amore share 12 Donatello nods
Ferzan Ozpetek'sdrama Sacred Heart and Giovanni Veronesi's romantic comedy Manualed'Amore have earned the lion's share of nominations for the Donatellos,Italy's top film awards.Sacred Heart, about a successful ruthlessbusinesswoman who comes face-to-face with poverty on the streets of Naples, andManuale d'Amore both scored 12 nominations. It is the secondyear running that ...
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Int'l buyers stock up on Pope documentaries
In the wake of Pope JohnPaul II's death, Rai Trade, the sales arm of Italianpublic broadcaster RAI, has witnessed a flurry of demand for its latestdocumentaries on the pontiff and extensive stock footage.Vatican expert FabioZavattaro's A Quarter of a Century With Pope John Paul II, which focuses on the Pope's ...
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Olmi cranks up One Hundred Nails
Italian writer-directorErmanno Olmi is currently lining up a new film, entitled Cento Chiodi(literally, One Hundred Nails).Rai Cinema is believed to bein advanced negotiations to co-produce the film, which is produced by Olmi'sMilan-based company, Cinemaundici.Olmi, one of Italy's mostacclaimed directors, is currently writing the film whose budget is said to beset ...
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Italy pledges to introduce film tax shelter
Italian culture minister Giuliano Urbani has announced thatSilvio Berlusconi's government will introduce a tax shelter to help fund theentertainment industry before the end of its term in 2006. While the local industryhas long supported a tax shelter, a succession of post-war governments havefailed to stand by their promises to see ...
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Italian box office slumps in wake of Pope's death
The Italian box officeslumped 37% over the weekend as Italians and the world mourned the passing ofPope John Paul II. The government has decreedthree days of national mourning starting from Monday April 4 and a day ofmourning on Friday April 8, when the Pope's funeral will be held in St. ...
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Official figures confirm Italian film investment slump
In a further sign of thecrisis that has gripped the Italian film industry, new figures released bynational film body Anica show that Italian investment in local productiondropped 5.7% in 2004 while average budgets slumped 17.7%. On the upside, the data alsoshowed that while battling an economic crisis at home, Italians ...
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ITALY 17 March
During another busy weekendat the Italian box office, Medusa had a hit on its hands with La Terza Stella,which opened at number five and earned $813,985 from 204 screens. The localcomedy, from popular TV comic duo Ale & Franz, registered a strong average of$3,990 per screen.However, the weekend's otherItalian new ...
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Kiarostami set to shoot next film in Italy this summer
Abbas Kiarostami has announced that he plans to shoot afilm in Italy this summer.'Iwill shoot one film in Iran and I will make one in Italy this summer,' theIranian director said at a conference in Rome, where he is promoting Tickets,the picture he co-directed with Ermanno Olmi and Ken Loach.Kiarostamisuggested ...
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ITALY 10 March
None of the six films which were released in Italylast weekend managed to dethrone the top three films at the local box office.UIP's animation feature Shark Tale held firmlyon to the top spot for the second week running, grossing $7,939,095 from 422screens for a strong average of $7,204.However,the weekend's sweetest ...
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Two-year film funding hiatus comes to an end in Italy
After a near two-year freeze on state funding, which threwthe local industry into turmoil, Silvio Berlusconi's government hasgreenlighted nine Italian films and co-productions, including John Boorman'sEuros 26m Memoirs Of Hadrian.The crisis which has crippled the Italian film sector forthe last two years is so bad that local film production is ...
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Italy joins the digital cinema revolution
Italy is finally getting on the digital bandwagon. Nationalexhibitors association ANEC has announced that 50 Italian cinemas will investin digital projectors by the beginning of 2006.There are currently 11 digital projectors in Italy.Digitally-equipped cinemas include the avant-garde Arcadia multiplex nearMilan, which has two digital projectors, and Rome's Casa del Cinema, ...
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ITALY 2 March
UIP's Shark Tale ripped into the box office at numberone in Italy, in one of its last international releases.The animation feature, whose Italian release comes fivemonths after its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, grossed $3,945,692from 401 screens for an excellent screen average of $9,840.Warner Bros's Constantine also performed ...
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Italy's Buskin opens co-production outfit in China
BuskinFilm, the Rome-based sales outfit, has opened an office in Beijing with the aimof co-producing projects and getting involved in product placement andservicing for international productions shooting in China. Buskinis already co-producing a project for China's CCTV with Beijing Xin Ying ShiCulture. The 20-part drama is the third instalment of ...
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Producer Salvi kick-starts new Italian buyer
Italian producerVeronica Salvi has launched a new film production and distribution company,named Dujass Film.Salvi and partnerMarco Ambrosini formed Dujass after acquiring Esse&Bi Cinematografica, thecompany formerly run by Salvi and Italian director Paolo Modugno.Dujass is alreadyactive on the acquisitions front. In Berlin, the outfit picked up OlivierDucastel and Jacques Martineau's title ...
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Rai Cinema, Ben Ammar to finance De Laurentiis's Decameron
Italy's Rai Cinema isteaming up with Tarak Ben Ammar to finance Dino De Laurentiis's upcoming $38mproduction, Decameron.Written and directed byDavid Leland, the English-language movie will start shooting in Italy inmid-July with Hayden Christensen and Mischa Barton (The O.C) in the leadroles."One year ago, I wokeup in the morning and thought ...
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ITALY 24 February
Meet The Fockers, FindingNeverland and The Merchant OfVenice held tightly on to the top three positions at the Italian box officefor the second week running, despite four new films opening nationwide.With a huge screen averageof $8,877 on its second week, Fockers shows no signs of running out ofsteam, and has ...
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Italian production start-up to shoot controversial erotic drama
Cameras will start rollingon March 7 on the controversial adaptation of an erotic diary written by a17-year-old Sicilian schoolgirl, which is being produced by Italian actressFrancesca Neri.The literary sensation,entitled Cento Colpi Di Spazzola Prima Di Andare A Dormire (literally,one hundred brushes before bed time), was written by a student known ...
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De Laurentiis re-affirms Alexander project with DiCaprio and Kidman, to be directed by Luhrmann.
Dino De Laurentiis has announced that he is pressing ahead with plans to shoot his Alexander the Great project, which is set to star Leonardo DiCaprio and Nicole Kidman and will be directed by Baz Luhrmann. "We will shoot the film in one year's time, and it will be the ...
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ITALY 16 February
UIP comedy Meet TheFockers stormed into the number one slot at the Italian box office with anastounding $5,724,641. While other releases, new and old, paled in comparison,the Dustin Hoffman-Robert De Niro sequel earned a massive average of $11,518from 497 screens.Meanwhile, Johnny Deppvehicle Finding Neverland dropped into second place with a ...