All Middle East articles – Page 145

  • News

    Labadie's Le Pacte signs deal with UK's Corniche Pictures

    2008-05-15T06:27:00Z

    Jean Labadie's sales, distribution and production outfit Le Pacte has created a partnership with Hani Farsi's Corniche Pictures which will see the latter make an equity investment in the new French company. The London-based Corniche is a member of the Corniche Group and is currently co-producing the next film from ...

  • News

    New Stephane Brize film joins official selections on Rezo slate

    2008-05-15T06:03:03Z

    Rezo Films is handling international sales on three official selection titles at Cannes while also Stephane Brize's latest effort, among others. Rezo has acquired Acne by director Frederico Velroj which is running in Directors' Fortnight. The film is a Spanish drama about a young man in search ...

  • News

    TrustNordisk acquires $10m Norwegian war drama

    2008-05-14T23:06:00Z

    Scandinavian powerhouse TrustNordisk has picked up $10m Norwegian war drama Max Manus directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg.The duo was also behind Bandidas, starring Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek and produced by Luc Besson.National release is December 19th. Nordisk Film will handle distribution in the Nordic Countries.Max Manus was ...

  • News

    Arnaud Desplechin's A Christmas Tale is first competition sale to US

    2008-05-14T19:55:00Z

    In the first US sale of a Competition title at Cannes, Wild Bunch has sold Arnaud Desplechin's A Christmas Tale to IFC. The family drama, which screens here on Friday, stars an ensemble cast including Catherine Deneuve, Mathieu Amalric, Chiara Mastroianni, Emmanuelle Devos, Anne Consigny and Melvil Poupaud. Produced by ...

  • News

    H2O planning further international productions with Germany's MMC

    2008-05-14T07:44:00Z

    Andras Hamori's LA-based H2O Motion Pictures is planning two international productions with Germany's Magic Media Company (MMC).Principal photography on thriller Running Wild, with lead actor and co-producer Samuel L. Jackson, will shoot later this year in South Africa and at the MMC studios in Cologne. Kevin Kerslake will direct Running ...

  • News

    Wild Bunch slate includes new work from Loach, Noe, Lou Ye, Mihaileanu, Makhmalbaf, Allen and Miyazaki.

    2008-05-14T05:05:00Z

    Wild Bunch has unveiled a wide ranging slate which includes work from Ken Loach, Gaspar Noe, Lou Ye, Radu Mihaileanu, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Woody Allen and Hayao Miyazaki.The company has already announced that it is handling four competition titles, four out of competition and two in Un Certain Regard.New films on ...

  • News

    Pathe readies Chomet's $22m The Illusionist for 2009

    2008-05-13T22:53:00Z

    Pathe is now introducing buyers to The Illusionist, the new feature from The Triplets Of Belleville creator Sylvain Chomet. The company is showing first footage here of the $22m project, financed by Pathe and France 3 with Canal Plus.Django and CineB are co-producing; producers are Bob Last and Sally Chomet ...

  • News

    Marcus Vigneron Coudroy joins Shyer's Eloise in Paris

    2008-05-13T01:00:00Z

    Young 11-year-old French actor Marcus Vigneron Coudroy has joined the cast of Charles Shyer's new live-action feature Eloise In Paris, based on Kay Thompson's classic Eloise books.As previously reported, the cast also includes Uma Thurman and Australian newcomer Jordana Beatty.Vigneron Coudroy was selected from an extensive casting process in London ...

  • News

    Irusta takes senior VP role at NBC Universal Global Networks

    2008-05-12T18:35:00Z

    Martin Irusta has been appointed senior Vice President, Programming & Acquisitions, Global Networks, an international division of NBC Universal.Irusta will be based in London and takes the post immediately.The newly created role was announced by Roma Khanna, President, Global Networks & Digital Initiatives, to whom he will report. Irusta will ...

  • News

    Enid Blyton's schoolgirl heroines get big-screen treatment with UFA Cinema

    2008-05-12T17:41:00Z

    Enid Blyton is set to be given the big-screen treatment by Germany's new player UFA Cinema with a feature film based on the bestselling children's author's St Clare's books from the 1940s. Known in Germany as Hanni & Nanni, Blyton's original stories about the O'Sullivan twin sisters' adventures at their ...

  • News

    K5 takes on world sales for Yu's Ping Pong Playa

    2008-05-12T06:00:00Z

    UK- and Germany-based sales company K5 International has taken on world sales rights to Jessica Yu's Ping Pong Playa.The film premiered at Toronto.Oscar winner Yu wrote and directed the comedy, about an Asian-American suburbanite who unexpectedly has to take over his family's ping-pong dynasty. Jimmy Tsai, Elizabeth Sung and Rodger ...

  • News

    THINKFILM Intl takes on sales for Down And Dirty Pictures, Radford's Mula

    2008-05-12T05:00:00Z

    UK-based sales company THINKFilm International, the sister company to Capitol Films, has taken on two new projects for its Cannes sales slate. The company has taken on international rights to Michael Radford's La Mula and Ken Bowser's Down and Dirty Pictures. La Mula stars Spanish rising talents Oscar Jaenada and ...

  • News

    Herbig, Wortmann and Davaa receive support from Bavarian fund

    2008-05-11T19:20:00Z

    New films by leading German comedian Michael Bully Herbig, Soenke Wortmann, and Oscar-nominated documentary film-maker Byambasuren Davaa (The Story Of The Weeping Camel and The Cave of The Yellow Dog) are among 25 film and TV projects supported with $9.4m (Euros 6.1m) by Bavaria's FFF Bayern regional fund at its ...

  • News

    Theatre networkclaims 2007 record for non-national European film

    2008-05-11T08:03:00Z

    Europa Cinemas' figures reveal that 2007 was a record year for European films screened by its members beyond their national borders.They accounted for 39% of the films shown at the network's cinemas, up 3% on 2006.European film as a whole took 63% of admissions.Florian Henckel Von Donnsersmarck's phenomenal The Lives ...

  • News

    Venice to honour Italian master Ermanno Olmi

    2008-05-10T12:20:00Z

    Venice is to honour one of Italy's most adventurous auteurs with a Golden Lion for his lifetime's work.Olmi has had a long and successful relationship with Venice dating back to the 1950s. Hewon the Golden Lion in 1988 for The Legend Of The Holy Drinker.His best-known film probably remains The ...

  • News

    European Commission starts consultation on film policy

    2008-05-10T12:15:00Z

    The European Commission has launched a public consultation on a possible future global programme for the audiovisual industries, including film.The aim is to develop a new programme, 'MEDIA MUNDIS', that will represent a commitment to effective multilateralism and engage with global partnersThe aim of the consultation is to gather information ...

  • News

    MMC joins H20 as co-producer of Stephen Frears' feature

    2008-05-10T12:08:00Z

    Cologne-based MMC Independent has become a co-producer with Andras Hamori's H20 Motion Pictures on Stephen Frears' latest feature project Cheri which is currently shooting in France and will be moving to Germany at the end of May.A co-production contract will be officially signed by Hamori and Magic Media Company's (MMC) ...

  • News

    Bulgarian studio expands facilities

    2008-05-10T11:44:00Z

    UFO International Productions has announced the opening of a new stage facility in Sofia, Bulgaria.The Bulgarian Film and Television Centre (BFTC) claims to be the largest studio in the Balkans, with nearly double the stage capacity of any other studio in Bulgaria.Sofia is already home to Nu Boyana Studios. Nu ...

  • News

    Giuseppe Tornatore back to Sicilian roots for Baaria

    2008-05-10T11:24:00Z

    Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore and Medusa Film CEOGiampaolo Letta unveiled the first details of Tornatore's $30.7m (Euro 20m) film Baaria that has been tightly under wraps since the project's inceptiona year ago.Producing partners for Baaria are Italy's Medusa Film and Franco-Tunisian entrepreneur Tarak Ben Ammar's French based Quinta Communications and ...

  • News

    Kinowelt CEO Bertil le Claire to leave at end of month

    2008-05-09T14:07:00Z

    The Kinowelt Group's CEO Bertil le Claire has announced his plans to leave the company at the end of May. His duties will be overseen by Romain Bessi, Directeur General of the group's new owner StudioCanal, until a successor has been appointed.Le Claire joined Kinowelt in 1998 as the managing ...