All Middle East articles – Page 164
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News
Studio Babelsberg announces intentions to back US studio slate
Studio Babelsberg has revealed plans to invest '$500m or more' in a slate of features by an as-yet-unnamed US major studio to secure more Hollywood productions coming to shoot at the studios.Last year the production centre had hosted such big budget productions as Speed Racer, Valkyrie and The International and ...
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Reviews
Quiet Chaos (Caos Calmo)
Dir: Antonello Grimaldi. Italy. 2008. 110 mins.'Write about what you know' goes the old dictum - so contemporary Italian scripters mostly write about city-dwelling, media-savvy middle-class people like themselves. But at least in Quiet Chaos our hero, TV executive Pietro Paladini, is doing something more original than having a mid-life ...
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News
European dreams: review of Rotterdam 2008
The International Film Festival Rotterdam ended last weekend on a more upbeat note than many would have predicted when the festival began a fortnight ago. There had been mutterings among staff about cutbacks to its budget. Some outsiders had questioned the coherence of the programming and what appeared to be ...
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News
Content closes Daisy Chain with sales to France, Greece and beyond
ContentFilm has announced a number of sales on supernatural thriller The Daisy Chain, which stars Samantha Morton and Steven Mackintosh.The Daisy Chain has gone to France (Wildside), Greece (Spentzos), Poland (Monolith), Portugal (Lusomundo), Brazil (Playarte), The West Indies (Caribbean Film Services), and Romania (Media Pro).Aisling Walsh directs, and the film ...
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Reviews
Downloading Nancy
Dir: Johan Renck. 2008. US. 96 mins.A woman’s journey of self-hatred, self-degradation, self-mutilation and ultimately self-destruction courtesy of a murderous kindred spirit makes for grim viewing in Downloading Nancy, the feature debut of Swedish commercials and music video director Johan Renck. Although acted with conviction and directed with not a ...
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News
Bier, Bonnaire drop out of Berlinale competition jury
As the Berlinale kicks off today, its competition jury has been cut from eight to six people as Susanne Bier and Sandrine Bonnaire have dropped out of jury duty.Danish director Bier has had to go to the US unexpectedly to work on her next film. 'The bags were already packed, ...
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News
David Mackenzie's Spread seduces Kutcher, Leigh
Ashton Kutcher will play a serial LA womanizer in Spread, the first US movie from Scottish auteur David Mackenzie who was in competition at Berlin last year with Hallam Foe. Jennifer Jason Leigh plays a lawyer who is ditched by Kutcher's character in the film which is set to start ...
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News
Celluloid Dreams takes on Sundance audience favourite The Wackness
As the Berlin EFM gets under way, Celluloid Dreams has announced it is to handle international sales of the Sundance Dramatic Audience Award Winner The Wackness. Click here to see review.Written and directed by Jonathan Levine, The Wackness stars Ben Kingsley,Josh Peck, Famke Janssen, Mary Kate Olsen, Olivia Thirlby and ...
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News
Gaumont scores key sales on Auteuil thriller MR73
As the EFM opens, Gaumont has confirmed a host of deals on Marseilles-setthriller MR73 directed by Olivier Marchal and starring Daniel Auteil.The film, being shown privately to buyers in Berlin, has gone to Italy (Medusa), Eastern Europe (Monolith/Best Hollywood), Central Partmnership (CIS), Brazil (California Filmes), South Korea (Sponge) Canada (Chrystal) ...
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News
K5 sells The Visitor to UK and Scandinavia
German and UK sales company K5 International has added more key sales on Tom McCarthy's The Visitor to the UK (Halcyon Pictures) and Scandinavia (CCV). The film, from Groundswell and Participant, is McCarthy's follow-up to The Station Agent. The film won raves after its premiere in Toronto and also recently ...
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News
Stassen, nWave launch sales of 3-D movie Fly Me To The Moon
Ben Stassen's Fly Me To The Moon will be making history as the first 3D Imax film to screen in EFM and is hoping to ride a wave with buyers after the sensational US opening of Disney's 3D concert film Hannah Montana.Fly Me To The Moon, which is being released ...
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News
Sundance hit The Escapist breaks out to Australia, Europe
Rupert Wyatt's Sundance selection The Escapist has been sold to several key territories.Deals have been done for Australia (Rialto), Scandinavia (Sandrew Metrodome) and Europe's IndieCircle (Lucky Red in Italy, Haut et Court in France, Cineart in Benelux, and Frenetic in Switzerland.)Mirjam Wertheim negotiated the deal for Orange Entertainment (on behalf ...
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Reviews
The Sun Street Boys
Dir: Gyorgy Szomjas. Hungary , 2008. 89minsFar superior to last year's Hungarian box-office champion Children of Glory, Gyorgy Szomjas' new film tells a very similar story, namely the 1956 uprising against the prevailing communist regime. But it has a different narrative accent and is less adroit at tugging the heartstrings ...
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News
Mundruczo's Delta takes Golden Reel at Hungarian Film Week
Kornel Mundruczo's highly anticipated new film, Delta, received top honours at the 39th Hungarian Film Week. The powerful story of a young man's fateful attempt to return to his home and family received the Golden Reel for best picture as well as the Gene Moskowitz prize, awarded by foreign film ...
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News
Alberto San Juan to star in David Planell's adoption drama La Verguenza
Spanish screenwriter David Planell, a nominee at last week's Goya Awards for Siete Mesas De Billar Frances, will start shooting his first feature as director, La Verguenza, from next week in Madrid.Spain's Avalon Productions is producing the drama. The cast features Alberto San Juan, fresh off the back of his ...
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News
Roissy takes on new films from Amos Gitai, Agnes Varda
On the eve of the European Film Market, Paris-based sales outfit Roissy Films has announced two new acquisitions, both of features from long-established auteurs.Roissy is to represent Amos Gitai's One Day You'll Understand (Plus tard tucomprendras), based on the book by Jerôme Clement. The film, starring French acting legend Jeanne ...
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News
Sarajevo festival to pay tribute to Todd Haynes
The 14th Sarajevo Film Festival will present its 2008 tribute to US film-maker Todd Haynes.Haynes will be in Sarajevo to present a selection of his films as well as to meet during regular post-film Q&A sessions and at a larger public interview session.Haynes is famed for his shorts including Superstar: ...
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News
Danish box office hits 3.2m admissions in 2007
Danish cinemagoers came out in support of local cinema in 2007, with the local market holding steady as it has roughly the past decade. About 3.2m tickets were bought for Danish films, representing 27% of the total admissions tally of 12.1m. For the year, overall ticket sales were down 3.5%, ...
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News
European Film Academy plans to promote new talents, develop audiences
After a board meeting at the Goteborg Film Festival, the European Film Academy has decided to 'focus on the promotion and training of young filmmakers and future audiences.'The board met to discuss the 21st edition of the European Film Awards (to be held in Copenhagen) and the challenges the Academy ...
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News
First Hand shakes on Corridor #8, Brides Of Allah
Zurich/Berlin-based sales agent First Hand Films has picked up international rights for two documentaries which will be having their world premieres in the International Forum of this year's Berlinale.Esther van Messel's company will be handling sales for Bulgarian filmmaker Boris Despodov's directorial debut Corridor #8 about the European Union-backed project ...