All Middle East articles – Page 172

  • News

    Czech box office climbs but 2008 might not continue trend

    2007-12-18T11:42:00Z

    The Czech box office is trending toward another healthy year, but questions remain whether the upward trend will continue in 2008. Czech admissions passed the 11m mark in October, well ahead of last year's numbers, which were at 10.4m at the end of November. Box office sales were at $57.3m ...

  • Reviews

    Captain Abu Raed

    2007-12-17T16:57:00Z

    Dir/Scr: Amin Matalqa. Jordan/USA 2007. 109mins.Only a handful of full-length films have come out of Jordan in the fifty years since the country's first feature, Struggle in Jarash. This makes Captain Abu Raed's commercial poise and polish all the more remarkable: a moving dramatic fable about an elderly airport janitor's ...

  • Reviews

    Whatever Lola Wants

    2007-12-17T14:25:00Z

    Dir: Nabil Ayouch, France/Canada. 2007. 110 mins.French-produced, set between New York and Cairo, scored by an Indian-born French composer and directed by a Moroccan, Whatever Lola Wants practices the same enlightened multiculturalism that it so passionately preaches. But although Nabil Ayouch's mid-budget third feature has its heart in the right ...

  • News

    Berlin Reverse Angle to include films by Fassbinder, Herzog, Wenders

    2007-12-17T14:25:00Z

    Films by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Werner Herzog andWim Wenders are to be featured in a special Berlinale programmeentitled 'Rebellion of the Filmmakers', organised to accompany theworld premiere of the documentary Reverse Angle - Rebellion of theFilmmakers about the history of the legendary Germanproducer-distributor Filmverlag der Autoren. Founded in 1971 on ...

  • News

    Boll takes over world sales for 15+ titles from Allied Entertainment

    2007-12-17T13:29:00Z

    Boll AG has taken over he world sales for 15+ titles from the LA-based genre specialist Allied Entertainment.The lineup includes Rafael Zielinski's classic teen sex comedy Screwballs and brings the total number of films handled internationally by Boll AG to 60. Other films in the deal include Fallen Angels starring ...

  • News

    FremantleMedia and RTL launch German producer-distributor Ufa

    2007-12-17T10:45:00Z

    Together with the RTL Group, FremantleMedia has launched a new producer-distributor Ufa Cinema through its German subsidiary UFA to deliver feature films for the local market and possibly be the first step towards the creation of a European major studio. The new initiative already has 40 projects in the ...

  • News

    Autumn Ball takes top prize at 7th Marrakech festival

    2007-12-16T21:44:00Z

    In the presence of Morocco's crown prince, HRH Prince Moulay Rachid, and an international jury headed up by Milos Forman and including John Hurt, Shekar Kapur and Claude Miller, the seventh Marrakech International Film Festival signed off by giving its Golden Star for Best Film to Estonian director Veiko Ounpuu's ...

  • News

    Dubai's top Muhr award goes to Lebanese drama Under the Bombs

    2007-12-16T11:43:00Z

    Lebanese cine-verite drama Under the Bombs, and Soneaa Fi Masr (Made in Egypt), French director Karim Goury's first-person story of his search for his Egyptian biological father, picked up the Muhr Gold awards for best narrative feature and best documentary at this year's Dubai International Film Festival, which ran from ...

  • News

    MMG takes Flemish, French remake rights to Dutch hit Love Is All

    2007-12-14T11:34:00Z

    Dutch production company Motel Films has sold the remake rights to its hit romantic comedy Love Is All to Belgian film producer MMG.MMG, which previously worked on Ben X and Winky's Horse, plans two different remake versions, one each for the Flemish and French markets. COO Peter Bouckaert found the ...

  • News

    Nordisk launches new production arm Neo Film under Aaberge

    2007-12-14T11:26:00Z

    Danish major Nordisk Film's Norwegian subsidiary, which has become a market leader in local film and television production during Stein-Roger Bull's reign, will launch a new production outfit, Neo Film, to be headed by current head of production Aage Aaberge. At Nordisk he will be succeeded by producer Cornelia Boysen.Aaberge ...

  • News

    Sweden's Svensk buys Sonet Film from Modern Times Group

    2007-12-14T10:47:00Z

    Swedish major, Svensk Filmindustri (SF), has acquired local producer-distributor Sonet Film, including the brand name, from Sweden's Modern Times Group (MTG), it was announced today.Co-founder and ceo Peter Possne, who earlier this year (Aug 10) scheduled Jan 1, 2008, as the date of his resignation, will be head of the ...

  • News

    Israeli Producers Association to host international networking session

    2007-12-13T13:40:00Z

    Feeling they did not get the credit they deserve for the recent forward leap of the Israeli films and their resounding worldwide success, the Israeli Producers Association is organizing a networking session to be attended by international experts, including producer-director Claude Lelouch, producers Cedomir Kolar, Paul Trijbits, and the BBC's ...

  • News

    Rezo works on new Cebula and Laine projects

    2007-12-13T13:17:00Z

    At the upcoming Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris, Rezo Films will unveil two new films, one from director Idit Cebula and the other from Marion Laine. The former, Two Lives Plus One, is produced by Les Films du Kiosque and stars Emmanuelle Devos and Gerard Darmon in the story of ...

  • News

    European Commission approves UK Lottery funding

    2007-12-13T13:13:00Z

    The European Commission has given the greenlight to 12 Lottery funded film support schemes in the UK. This allays any concerns that the funding could fall foul of EU state aid rules and the schemes have now been approved until the end of 2012.The go-ahead covers more than $45m (£22m) ...

  • News

    New German funding model generates spend of almost $588m

    2007-12-13T12:53:00Z

    The German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) has generated a 'German spend' of almost $588m (Euros 400m) in its first year of operations after backing 99 feature film and documentary projects with over $87.3m (Euros 59.4m). Speaking exclusively to ScreenDaily.com, DFFF project manager Christine Berg explained that the 99 films with ...

  • News

    La Graine Et Le Mulet wins France's Louis Delluc prize

    2007-12-12T15:16:00Z

    The 2007 Louis Delluc prize has been given to Abdellatif Kechiche's La Graine Et Le Mulet. Cannes Festival president Gilles Jacob, who also heads the Louis Delluc jury, presented the award to Kechiche in a ceremony in Paris on Wednesday - the same day that the film opens in French ...

  • News

    France makes headway in international chart with L'Auberge, Luke

    2007-12-12T14:35:00Z

    While The Golden Compass was largely accountable for the 14.5% week-on-week increase in the international top 40, two new entries from France made their presence known taking a collective $4.3m.For the full international chart, compiled by Len Klady, click here.Roissy Films' comedy L'Auberge Rouge was the second highest new entry, ...

  • News

    Czech film-makers see boosts in government and private funding

    2007-12-12T11:25:00Z

    Three recent developments in the Czech Republic -- one private, two public -- will make an additional $12.8m available to Czech productions next year. The government decided in November to increase the budget of the Culture Ministry this year by $5.7m (CZK 100m) earmarked for Czech cinematography. The money would ...

  • News

    The Kite Runner to close Dubai festival on Dec 16

    2007-12-11T16:40:00Z

    Marc Forster's The Kite Runner is the surprise closing film for the Dubai International Film Festival.The Dec 16 closing night event will welcome the book's author Khaled Hosseini and the film's cast including Khalid Abdalla, Homayoun Ershadi, Zekiria Ebrahami, Ali Danesh Bakhtyari, Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada and Sayed Jafar Massihullah, along ...

  • News

    Thomas Peter Friedl to leave Constantin Film after January

    2007-12-11T16:06:00Z

    After over 18 years working in the field of distribution and for Constantin Film, Thomas Peter Friedl has announced that he will not be extending his contract as Distribution, Marketing & Central Services Director at Constantin Film after January 31, 2008.The management of the distribution arm Constantin Filmverleih will be ...