All Middle East articles – Page 138

  • News

    Jersey to host new film festival in September

    2008-06-17T15:28:00Z

    The island of Jersey, a British Crown dependency between England and France, will host the first Branchage Jersey International Film Festival from Sept 25-28.The festival describes itself as 'boutique,' to show the 'best new independent British and international films.' Branchage plans to reflect the local communities by showing Eastern European ...

  • News

    Danish Film Institute offers production funding for mobile films

    2008-06-17T14:52:00Z

    In a new industry innovation, the Danish Film Institute has allocated about $125,000 (600,000 Danish Kroner) for production of mini features for mobile phones. This marks the first large scale public funding for the mobile format, with these shorts earmarked to run 90 seconds to three minutes. Oscar winner Martin ...

  • News

    Bize, Gomes projects selected for Locarno's Open Doors

    2008-06-16T15:58:00Z

    New feature films by Chilean director Matias Bize and Brazilian filmmaker Marcelo Gomes are among 12 projects from 10 Latin American countries selected out of a total of 332 submissions to participate in the Open Doors Factory co-production meeting from August 10-12 during this year's Locarno Film Festival.Bize's low-budget HD ...

  • News

    Shultes takes top prize atSochi

    2008-06-16T12:29:00Z

    Georgian-born Bakur Bakuradze's Shultes won the Grand Prix for Best Film at this year's Kinotavr Open Russian Film Festival in Sochi.Bakuradze's feature debut about an ordinary man living with his old mother in a big city had its world premiere in Cannes ' Directors Fortnight last month and is distributed ...

  • News

    Sony's German arm lines up local comedy

    2008-06-15T07:02:00Z

    Deutsche Columbia Pictures Film Produktion, Sony Pictures Entertainment's (SPE) local German production arm, has begun pre-production on the comedy Friendship (Freundschaft) with the Oscar-winning Munich-based production company Wiedemann & Berg Filmproduktion and actor Til Schweiger and Tom Zickler's Barefoot Films. Written by Oliver Ziegenbalg and to be directed by commercials ...

  • News

    Fortissimo picks up Baksy; Rezo sells Everybody to France

    2008-06-13T16:31:00Z

    Fortissimo Films will handle international distribution on Guka Omarova's second feature Baksy (Native Dancer) which had its world premiere in competition at the Kinotavr Open Russian Film Festival in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Thursday night.The Russian-Kazakh-French-German co-production between the CTB Film Company, Kazakhfilm, Les Petites Lumieres, Kinofabrika, ...

  • News

    Nordisk plans two features based on Welfare State

    2008-06-13T11:45:00Z

    Scandinavian major, Nordisk Film, has acquired Swedish writer Leif GW Persson's The Fall of the Welfare State (Välfärdsstatens fall) - a trilogy he wrote between 2002-2003) - which it will develop, finance and produce as one or two features for theatrical and a six-part television series.Swedish veteran producer Hans Lönnerheden, ...

  • News

    Swedish government pumps $16.5m into commercial films

    2008-06-13T11:43:00Z

    From an initiative by the Swedish Film Institute and the Swedish Association of Film Producers, the Swedish government decided yesterday to allocate $16.5m (Euros 10.7m) for a new one-time subsidy scheme, to benefit features with a strong commercial potential.The money comes from the budget for audience-related support, which has since ...

  • News

    Serbia gets two competitive festivals in Novi Sad and Sopot

    2008-06-13T11:37:00Z

    After last year's first National Film Festival of Serbia which was held in Novi Sad, organized by Film Center Serbia under the concept of Cinema City, in co-operation with lauded music festival Exit, a complete confusion started when Film Center Serbia left the concept of Cinema City to Exit and ...

  • News

    Mammoth challenge: Lars Jonsson on producing Lukas Moodysson

    2008-06-13T00:00:00Z

    When 20 minutes or so of footage from Lukas Moodysson's English-language debut Mammoth was screened in Cannes recently, there was a mini stampede among buyers. Sales agent TrustNordisk reported huge interest in the project, which stars Gael Garcia Bernal and Michelle Williams.International distributors, it was clear, still have faith in ...

  • News

    German fund backs new Wayne Wang feature

    2008-06-12T17:45:00Z

    Germany's regional fund Filmstiftung NRW is backing Wayne Wang's next feature project 920 Sacramento with $1.86m (Euros 1.2m).Based on a true story from the 19th century about a woman who finds her calling in the brutal reality of San Francisco's Chinatown, the production by Cologne-based Pandora Film is set to ...

  • News

    A Company buys out Prorom and Cinemania in EEAP

    2008-06-12T17:25:00Z

    A Company Consulting & Licensing AG has acquired all of the shares in EEAP Eastern European Acquisition Pool which were held until now by Munich-based Prorom Media-Trade und the Ljubljana-based Cinemania Group. With this step, A Company now owns 100% of EEAP.In order to streamline the corporate structure, the license ...

  • News

    Rondi becomes president of Rome Film Fest

    2008-06-12T17:19:00Z

    Gian Luigi Rondi has become the new President of the Rome Film Fest after his candidature was voted unanimously by the fest's board of directors yesterday.Rondi is stepping in to lead the Fest after Goffredo Bettini, the Rome Fest's former president opted to cede the role as a means to ...

  • News

    What Just Happened' to open Karlovy Vary

    2008-06-12T14:30:00Z

    Barry Levinson's What Just Happened' will open the 43rd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on July 4.The film's producer and star Robert De Niro will introduce the film and receive a Crystal Globe in recognition of his Outstanding Artistic Contribution to World Cinema at the opening-night gala.Nick Nolte will also ...

  • News

    Sarkar Raj, Magic Hour start strong at international box-office

    2008-06-11T14:40:00Z

    Indian film Sarkar Raj was this weekend's highest non-US entry in the international arena, taking $5.4m from 1,433 screens in 17 territories.The top 40 international films generated $171.2m from 42,947 screens for the period of June 6-8. For the full chart, compiled by Len Klady, click here.The Indian thriller is ...

  • News

    Akin, Tykwer and Weingartner backed by Hamburg fund

    2008-06-11T11:25:00Z

    The Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein Film Fund has allocated over$4.8m (Euros 3.15m) to new feature projects by Fatih Akin, Tom Tykwer and Hans Weingartner as well as international co-productions by such filmmakers as Les Brodeuses directorEleonore Faucher, Norway's Sara Johnsen and Poland's Radek Wegrzyn.The largest sum - $1.24m (Euros 800,000) - went ...

  • News

    Paulo Coelho recruits MySpace users for feature compilation

    2008-06-10T16:47:00Z

    Author Paulo Coelho is working with MySpace on the creation of his first feature film, The Experimental Witch.The project is inspired by Coelho's most recent book The Witch Of Portobello, and will use the concept of 'mash up' videos. MySpace users will submit original videos and music and then Coelho ...

  • News

    Agreement signed to support German and Irish collaboration

    2008-06-10T06:28:00Z

    North Rhine-Westphalia's regional film fund Filmstiftung NRW and the Irish Film Board have signed a cooperation agreement to support producers working together on feature films and documentaries.An agreement based on reciprocity was signed in Cologne on Monday afternoon during this year's Medienforum NRW conference by the Irish Film Board's CEO ...