All Middle East articles – Page 135

  • News

    Dardennes, Salles plan trips to November Thessaloniki festival

    2008-07-08T15:50:00Z

    Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, Terence Davies, Walter Salles, Gustavo Santaolalla, Lita Stantic are among the top names set to be present at the upcoming Thessaloniki International Film Festival (Nov 14-23).The principal tribute of the 49th edition of the Greekfestival, headed by Despina Mouzaki, will be dedicated to two-time Cannes Golden ...

  • News

    Abdellatif Kechiche to lead debut film jury in Venice

    2008-07-08T14:35:00Z

    Tunisian director Abdellatif Kechiche will preside over the International Jury for the Luigi De Laurentiis Prize for a debut film at the 65th edition of the Venice Film Festival, the Biennale said.Kechiche himself won the first feature prize at Venice in 2000 for his film Blame it on Voltaire. In ...

  • News

    Mikado puts increased attention on 'original' commerical films

    2008-07-08T12:56:00Z

    Italy's Mikado Film goes into the 2008 and early 2009 distribution season with a series of titles that reflect the company's auteur tradition - but which includes an increased investment in what CEO Alessandro Usai calls 'original' commercial films, as well as select Italian films aimed at un-tested markets here.Mikado's ...

  • News

    Ischia unveils heavy hitters for co-production roundtable

    2008-07-07T16:24:00Z

    Italy's Ischia Global Film and Music Festival will host a Global Production Summit in the sixth edition of the event, which runs July 13-20 on the island of Ischia near the Southern city of Naples.The summit will take place on July 18 with Producer Mark Canton (Spiderwick Chronicles, 300) to ...

  • News

    Sarajevo Panorama Documentaries include Waltz With Bashir

    2008-07-07T12:02:00Z

    The 14th Sarajevo Film Festival (Aug 15-23) has announced the documentary Panorama programme. 'Provocation, access, aesthetics, and the success of their synthesis are the chief selection criteria,' says programmer Howard Feinstein. The selection includes a double feature of 'Experimental American Leftie Films' and Cannes Palme D'Or nominee Waltz With Bashir.Panorama ...

  • News

    German box office slips 50% from first quarter to second quarter

    2008-07-07T10:52:00Z

    Admissions to German cinemas fell by 50% in the second quarter compared to the first three months of 2008, according to figures prepared by EDI Nielsen.Exhibitors posted $188.4m (Euros 119.3m) box-office revenues from 19m admissions between April and the end of June. The half-year total is $565.8m (Euros 358.1m) - ...

  • News

    Brizzi to shoot third feature Ex later this month

    2008-07-07T10:43:00Z

    Director Fausto Brizzi will begin shooting his third feature, Ex, on July 15, his producer Federica Lucisano of Italian International Film (IIF) confirmed.A successful screenwriter-turned director, Brizzi became a local phenomenon when his debut feature Night Before Finals (Notte prima degli esami) earned $16m and became the top-grossing Italian debut ...

  • News

    New US, Spanish buyers line up for Locarno

    2008-07-07T10:37:00Z

    Four weeks ahead of the opening of this year's Locarno filmfestival on August 6, its Industry Office has reported that buyers from the US, Spain and South Korea are among 10 companies coming to the Swiss festival for the first time this year.LA-based distributor-producer-sales outfit Eleven Arts will be represented ...

  • News

    Germany fails to keep up Q1 momentum

    2008-07-07T06:19:00Z

    Admissions to German cinemas fell by 50% in the second quarter compared to the first three months of 2008, according to figures prepared by EDI Nielsen.Exhibitors posted $ 188.4m (Euros 119.3m) box-office revenues from 19m admissions between April and the end of June.The half-year total is $ 565.8m (Euros 358.1m) ...

  • News

    Karlovy Vary and Locarno premieres unveiled at Previews in Cologne

    2008-07-04T16:02:00Z

    World premieres at this week's Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and Locarno's forthcoming Piazza Grande open-air programme are among 23 films being presented at the German Films Previews in Cologne from July 10-13.Tom Schreiber's Dr Aleman, which has been invited to Karlovy Vary's international competition, will have its market premiere ...

  • News

    New Polish partners board Agnieszka Holland's 15.7m War My Love!

    2008-07-04T14:09:00Z

    Polish Television and Polish Telecommunications have boarded SPI Film Studio's upcoming production War My Love!, directed by Agnieszka Holland.The project was pitched at last year's Mannheim Meetings as Christine, a drama based on the life of Krystyna Skarbek, a woman Winston Churchill described as the most outstanding British spy of ...

  • News

    European Commission firms up plans for global film cooperation

    2008-07-04T12:01:00Z

    The details of how a global film cooperation programme might work have become clearer following a recent public hearing on the international film industry in Brussels.The hearing is the latest step in a series of public consultations and studies that will help define the new MEDIA MUNDUS programme and offered ...

  • News

    Karlovy Vary kicks off with De Niro lined up for Crystal Globe

    2008-07-04T08:55:00Z

    Robert De Niro will this evening receive a Crystal Globe forOutstanding Contribution to World Cinema at the 43rd Karlovy Vary InternationalFilm Festival, which opens today.The actor will be on hand for the opening screening of his latest film, What Just Happened'Before the festival, De Niro told the local daily Hospodarske ...

  • News

    Jan-Pelgrom de Haas takes CEO post at Kinowelt Group

    2008-07-03T16:06:00Z

    Jan-Pelgrom de Haas has been appointed as CEO of the Kinowelt Group with immediate effect as the successor to Bertil Le Claire who stepped down from this post at the end of May.Commenting on the choice of de Haas, Kinowelt's founders Michael and Rainer Koelmel said that the 45-year-old media ...

  • News

    Zbanic, Belvaux, Radford films backed by Eurimages

    2008-07-03T13:55:00Z

    At its 111th meeting (June 29-July 1), the Board of Management of the Council of Europe's Eurimages Fund has announced its latest funding round of $6.7m (Euros 4.275m) to 12 feature co-productions.The backed films are:The Flowers of Kirkuk - Fariborz Kamkari (Italy, France, Switzerland) Na Putu - Jasmila Zbanic (Bosnia ...

  • News

    Germany's DFFF extended from 2010 to 2012

    2008-07-03T13:45:00Z

    The German Government has agreed to extend the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) for another three years from 2010 to 2012 with an annual budget of $94.2m (Euros 60m).The DFFF's incentive scheme was launched at the beginning of last year with an annual budget of $ 94.2m (Euros 60m) for ...

  • News

    Sarajevo Panorama section to open Aug 15 with 24 City

    2008-07-03T13:34:00Z

    The Sarajevo Film Festival (Aug 15-23) has unveiled this year's Panorama section, which 'strives to bridge avant-garde and mainstream films with exceptional narrative films.'Panorama will open Aug 15 with Jia Zhang-ke's 24 City and will close with Arnaud Desplechin's A Christmas Tale. Both were well received in Cannes Competition.The other ...

  • News

    Karlovy Vary - Bohemian Rhapsodies

    2008-07-03T00:00:00Z

    This month's Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (July 4-12) in the Czech Republic boasts a diverse line-up of more than 200 local and international films.The diversity is most evident in the main competition where titles battling for the Crystal Globe include the world premieres of Michaela Pavlatova's Czech drama Night ...

  • News

    Toronto adds world premieres including Disgrace, Miracle Of St Anna

    2008-07-02T16:11:00Z

    The Toronto International Film Festival has added six films to its Special Presentations line-up for 2008.The films include four world premieres: Steve Jacobs' Disgrace, Vicente Amorim's Good, Spike Lee's Miracle At St Anna, and Peter Sollett's Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist.North American premieres are Paolo Sorrentino's Cannes jury prize-winner Il ...

  • News

    Japan's Boys Over Flowers is highest non-US opener

    2008-07-02T15:28:00Z

    Japanese romantic comedy Boys Over Flowers was the highest non-US entry in this weekend's international chart, generating $9.5m in its home territory. The top 40 international films generated $188.8m from 49,945 screens for the period of June 27-29.For the full chart, compiled by Len Klady, click here.The film, based on ...