All Middle East articles – Page 134

  • News

    European Commission urges film preservation in digital age

    2008-07-17T15:41:00Z

    Most films will be distributed in digital format within the next five years, which might be good news for cinemas, but it also has serious implications for Europe's film heritage.That is one of the key conclusions of a new European Commission (EC) report measuring European Union (EU) progress in preserving ...

  • News

    Houellebecq to present premiere of feature debut in Locarno

    2008-07-16T16:22:00Z

    Bestselling French writer Michel Houellebecq's feature film directorial debut The Impossibility Of An Island, adapted from his 2005 novel of the same name, will have its world premiere in Locarno's Play Forward sidebar which is dedicated to all contemporary forms of audio-visual experimentation and creation.The $10.3m (Euros 6.5m) futuristic drama, ...

  • News

    Landis, Martel, To recruited for Venice jury duty

    2008-07-16T14:49:00Z

    The International Competition Jury for the 65th Venice Film Festival has recruited Russian screenwriter Juriy Arabov, Italian actress Valeria Golino, British visual artist Douglas Gordon, US film-maker John Landis; New Argentine Cinema pioneer Lucrecia Martel, and Hong Kong director Johnnie To.As previously reported, Wim Wenders is the International Jury president ...

  • News

    Europe, Latin America take centre stage in Locarno programme

    2008-07-16T12:00:00Z

    European and Latin America cinema will have a high profile at this year's Locarno Film Festival which will open on August 6 with the European premiere of UK director Julian Jarrold's Brideshead Revisited and close August 16 with the world premiere of Solveig Anspach's Icelandic-French co-production Back Soon on the ...

  • News

    Yoko Higuchi-Zitzmann to leave Constantin for Telepool

    2008-07-15T15:24:00Z

    Yoko Higuchi-Zitzmann will join Munich-based Telepool as head of acquisitions and sales for German-speaking territories. She takes the post as of January 2009, and will resign as head of licensing of Constantin Film, where she had been since 2005. She is also a veteran of Prokino Filmverleih.Higuchi-Zitzmann will report directly ...

  • News

    Jerry Cotton, Flucht Aus Tibet gets top funding from FFF Bayern

    2008-07-15T15:17:00Z

    New feature films by Joseph Vilsmaier, Margarethe von Trotta, Rainer Matsutani and Maria Blumencon are among the projects awarded a total $10m (Euros 6.26m) by the Bavarian regional fund FFF Bayern at its latest sitting.The largest amount - $ 1.1m (Eu 700,000) - went to Phillip Stennert and Cyrill Boss’ ...

  • News

    Netherlands festival to open with Westdijk's In Real Life

    2008-07-15T13:59:00Z

    Robert Jan Westdijk's In Real Life, a story of a film within a film, will open the 28th Netherlands Film Festival (Sept 24-Oct 3).Westdijk's Little Sister won the festival's best feature prize and City of Utrecht Prize in 1995. Also, his 2003 Phileine Says Sorry also opened the festival and ...

  • News

    Switzerland's Ascot Elite picks up 8 titles including Milk and Red Cliff

    2008-07-15T13:40:00Z

    Leading Swiss independent distributor Ascot Elite Entertainment has announced eight new acquisitions for its release lineup. As part of a strategy to consolidate its market position, theZurich-based company has secured all rights for Focus Features' HarveyMilk biopic Milk, directed by Gus van Sant and starring Sean Penn andJosh Brolin, the ...

  • News

    Yerevan plans second Regional Co-Production Forum

    2008-07-15T13:24:00Z

    Eight features and four documentary projects from Armenia, Georgia, Iran, Moldova, Turkey, Ukraine are being pitched to potential co-producers and financiers at the Directors Across Borders' (DAB) second Regional Co-Production Forum (July 15-17) during this week's Golden Apricot International Film Festival in Yerevan.The low-budget projects include the family drama Before ...

  • News

    Little Robbers start shooting in Riga with Karl Markovics

    2008-07-15T13:20:00Z

    Principal photography has begun in Riga on family adventure Little Robbers, featuring The Counterfeiters star Karl Markovics. Robis (5) and his sister Louisa (7) hatch a plan to rob the bank that has evicted their family after their father loses his job. Acme will release the Latvian-language version of the ...

  • News

    Czechs producers place hopes in German production-rebate model

    2008-07-11T16:11:00Z

    With runaway productions finding better conditions further east, Czech producers are switching their hopes from tax rebates to German-style production rebates. Representatives of the Czech Audiovisual Producers Association (APA) revealed 2007 numbers to reporters at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Foreign producers spent $142.4m (CZK 2.1bn) in the Czech ...

  • News

    Sasha Buehler moves from SquareOne to Constantin

    2008-07-11T14:41:00Z

    Film and TV veteran Sasha Buehler is to join Constantin Film's acquisitions and licensing team from Oct 1 after spending the past three years as head of acquisitions for Munich's SquareOne Entertainment.American-born Buehler started her career in the industry in 1990 with news production at broadcaster ProSieben, later working for ...

  • News

    Locarno Swiss Cinema Day to include Luftbusiness

    2008-07-11T14:38:00Z

    Three new Swiss films will have their world premieres during the Swiss Cinema Day at this year's Locarno Film Festival, while Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov's Yuri's Day (Yuriev Den) will screen in the International Competitiion.The Swiss Cinema Day, which will be held by the festival in cooperation with the Federal ...

  • News

    Rome changes include new name: International Film Festival of Rome

    2008-07-11T14:09:00Z

    The Rome Film Fest's recently appointed president Gian Luigi Rondi has announcedsome significant changes to the event as it heads into its third year.The changes include sweeping away elements that differentiated the young city-oriented 'festa' from the Venice Film Festival and other major international film festivals. For example, Rome's populist ...

  • News

    Charlotte Rampling to star in Majewski's The Hill And The Cross

    2008-07-11T11:04:00Z

    Polish director Lech Majewski (Glass Lips, Wojaczek) is in pre-production on The Hill And The Cross, an English-language drama to feature Charlotte Rampling.Majewski is himself producing the film, along with Swedish producer Freddy Olsson of Bokomotiv Filmproduktion. Principal photography will take place in southern Poland this autumn. The film would ...

  • News

    Pretty Pictures buys French rights to Clubbed from AV

    2008-07-11T06:00:00Z

    Pretty Pictures has acquired all French-speaking rights to Neil Thompson's Clubbed from AV Pictures.AV has also sold the film for include Australasia (21st Century Pictures), Benelux (European Film Partners), Middle East (Falcon Films), Poland (Vision) and Turkey (Horizon International).The story, set in 1980s clubland, stars Colin Salmon, Mel Raido an ...

  • News

    Jean Charles de Menezes drama gearing up for August shoot

    2008-07-10T06:00:00Z

    Jean Charles, the drama about Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian electrician killed by British police three years ago, will be filmed in London and Paulinia, a city of Sao Paulo State.With Stephen Frears as executive producer, the co-production between Luke Schiller's UK-based Mango Films and Brazil's TV Zero is ...

  • News

    BAFTA to host four-day Arab cinema event

    2008-07-10T06:00:00Z

    BAFTA is holding a four day event this weekend at its Piccadilly headquarters in recognition of Arab cinema's contribution to the film industry.Bafta Goes to the Arab World (July 11-14) combines screenings, talks and networking events, which aim to highlight emerging talent from the region and foster links between the ...

  • News

    Film Center Serbia shares $2.7m between nine projects

    2008-07-09T16:10:00Z

    The Film Center Serbia, whose board is now headed by Emir Kusturica, has chosen nine projects to co-finance. Seven projects selected for financing of production are feature films and one feature documentary, while one is a feature in post-production.FEATURE FILMSWhite, White World (Beli, Beli Svet), written by Milena Markovic and ...

  • News

    Match Factory to sell Somali supermodel film Desert Flower

    2008-07-09T10:31:00Z

    The Match Factory will be handling international sales on Sherry Hormann's adaptation of Waris Dirie's bestselling autobiography Desert Flower.The film is currently shooting in Berlin before being due to wrap in New York next week.Structured as a $17.4m (Euros 11m) European co-production by the 'single purpose' company Desert Flower Filmproductions ...