All Middle East articles – Page 163

  • News

    Shorts Golden Bear splashed out for A Good Day For a Swim

    14 February 2008

    The Berlinale's shorts jury has given its Golden Bear to A Good Day For a Swim (O zi buna de plaja) by Romania's Bogdan Mustata, about three juvenile delinquents who break out of prison and go to the beach.Of the winner, the jury said: 'The film raises questions about its ...

  • News

    Bavaria closes further deals on Cherry Blossoms and Black Ice

    14 February 2008

    BavariaFilm International (BFI) has reported a raft of sales on two of itstitles in Berlinale Competition. DorisDoerrie's Cherry Blossoms - Hanami has now been sold to South Korea(JinJin Pictures), Taiwan (Swallow Wings), Colombia (Cine Colombia),Mexico (Cine Video y TV) and Greece (PCV) in addition to the deal ...

  • News

    As Berlin winds down, attention turns to potential Cannes selections

    14 February 2008

    A clearer picture is emerging of what films will be ready for this year's Cannes Film Festival in May and the lineup looks like it will be filled with its usual blend of veteran auteur films, new discoveries and US studio fare.Official selection berths already seem set for Ari Folman's ...

  • News

    Niels Arden Oplev preps Scandinavian detective opus

    14 February 2008

    Danish director Niels Arden Oplev, whose Worlds Apart screened in official selection in Berlin, has revealed further details of his big budget new project Men Who Hate Women, an adaptation of the first part of Stieg Larsson's 'detective trilogy.' Oplev is directing the first part as both a feature film ...

  • News

    Andrzej Wajda lines up Tatarak with Krystyna Janda

    14 February 2008

    Further details have emerged this week about Tatarak, the next project from revered octogenarian Polish auteur Andrzej Wajda whose Oscar-nominated Katyn screens out of competition in Berlin on Friday.Production will begin later this year on the film which is an adaptation of the book by Polish novelist and poet Jaroslaw ...

  • News

    Middle East festival to add four more days to Abu Dhabi event

    14 February 2008

    The Middle East International Film Festival (MEIFF), now planning its second festival in Abu Dhabi. The festival, running October 10-19, has grown by four days to accommodate a larger programme of films.The inaugural run in 2007 screened more than 80 films, a number set to increase this year. Also new ...

  • Reviews

    What No One Knows (Det Som Ingen Wed)

    13 February 2008

    Dir. Soren Kragh-Jacobsen. Denmark/Sweden, 2008. 95minsNow 61, Danish director Soren Kragh-Jacobsen has only made a handful of films in the last thirty years, and while they have done well in Denmark , they haven't left much of a mark elsewhere. The well-known exception was Mifune (1999) which enjoyed the distinction ...

  • News

    In Berlin, Madonna says directorial debut was 'learning curve'

    13 February 2008

    Madonna, in Berlin with her directorial debut Filth And Wisdom, says the 81-minute feature was her version of 'film school.' 'I wanted to do it under the radar because I had to learn how to make a film,' the star told Screen International. 'I paid for it myself and begged, ...

  • Reviews

    War Child

    13 February 2008

    Dir: Christian Karim Chrobog. USA . 2007. 94 mins.Most hip-hop artists sell themselves on their school-of-hard-knocks credentials, but few rappers can have known the kind of hell that Sudanese artist Emmanuel Jal has endured - and lived to tell the tale. A universe apart from the ...

  • News

    Fandango Portobello heats up Gomorra sales

    13 February 2008

    Fandango Portobello has followed its successful sales of Competition title Quiet Chaos (Caos Calmo) with a round of deals on Matteo Garrone's Gomorra, which is now in post-production for Fandango and Rai Cinema (Fandango's Domenico Procacci is producing).Gomorra has gone to France (Le Pacte), Switzerland (Filmcoopi), Canada (Seville) and Benelux ...

  • News

    Intercinema picks up two French titles from Films Distribution

    13 February 2008

    Russian sales agent and distributor Intercinema, which is screening a promo reel of Fedor Bondarchuk's two-feature $36.5 million sci-fi opus The Inhabited Island here at the EFM on Thursday, has picked up a package of two of films from French seller Films Distribution.Intercinema's Raisa Fomina confirmed that she has bought ...

  • News

    Key US sellers stir up debate over EFM

    13 February 2008

    The heads of two of the biggest US sales companies have challenged the business viability of EFM and called for a return to the two-market calendar.The fact that the Berlin market follows hot on the heels of Santa Monica's AFM in November, Thanksgiving, Christmas and the Sundance festival in the ...

  • News

    Pretty Pictures strikes German deal for Joy Division

    13 February 2008

    Pretty Pictures has added German rights on Grant Gee's Toronto hit documentary Joy Division. Pretty also holds the French and Benelux rights. 'We're considering our options,' said Paris-based Pretty Pictures head James Velaise. 'We think it makes sense with a documentary of this kind to acquire several territories. For example, ...

  • News

    Fortissimo seals raft of deals on Marley, CSNY docs

    13 February 2008

    Fortissimo Films has closed a raft of deals on its recently-announced Bob Marley documentary, which Martin Scorsese is directing for delivery in 2010. The as-yet-untitled film, produced by Shangri-La Entertainment and unveiled at the beginning of the EFM, has already been snapped up by the UK's Contender, South Africa's Nu ...

  • News

    Visual Factory eyes slew of deals for Hideout, Concrete Romance

    13 February 2008

    UK-based sales outfit Visual Factory has closed a number of deals here at the EFM. Marco Martani's gangster story Concrete Romance has gone to CanalPlus for France; Pupi Avati's The Hideout, a US-shot thriller starring Laura Morante, Burt Young and Treat Williams, has gone to Film Depot for Russia and ...

  • News

    Hungaricom has sales success with Egon & Donci, CATcher

    13 February 2008

    Ambitious Hungarian distribution and sales outfit HungariCom has announced a raft of deals on its EFM slate.Its cartoon features are selling especially briskly. Here in Berlin the companyhas closed deals on Egon & Dönci and CATcher - Cat City 2 to HGC Entertainment for China and Media International Pictures for ...

  • News

    Magnolia's world sales bloom for Timecrimes, Gonzo

    13 February 2008

    Magnolia Pictures' international sales department under Laird Adamson has had a successful EFM with its Spanish time travel thriller Timecrimes as well as the quirky romance Quid Pro Quo and Alex Gibney's documentary Gonzo: The Life And Work Of Dr Hunter S Thompson. All three films, which will be handled ...

  • News

    Yvonne Catterfeld named to play Romy Schneider in German biopic

    13 February 2008

    Yvonne Catterfeld is to play the legendary Austrian-born icon Romy Schneider in Josef Rusnak's biopic Eine Frau Wie Romy (literally A Woman Like Romy) which will begin shooting at locations in France and Germany from July 23.According to German press reports, actresses such as Jodie Foster and Eva Green had ...

  • News

    Cinemavault polishes thriller Artefacts

    13 February 2008

    Toronto-based Cinemavault Releasing International has picked up international rights excluding Benelux to English-language thriller Artefacts.Mary Stockley and Felix Scott star in the Title Films and Bad Fourteen Pictures production as former lovers who try to survive a wave of murders by doppelgangers.Brussels-based film-makers Giles Daoust and Emmanuel Jespers directed. Grindstone ...

  • News

    Mischa Barton thriller Homecoming sells to Russia, Latin America

    13 February 2008

    Principal photography has wrapped on the Mischa Barton thriller Homecoming, which Voltage Pictures is pre-selling here at EFM.Deals have closed in Russia and Eastern Europe (EEAP), Latin America (IDC), the Middle East (Gulf), Turkey (Grandview), Israel (Forum), Indonesia (Blitz) and the Philippines (Pioneer).Morgan J Freeman directed the tale of a ...