All Middle East articles – Page 184

  • News

    Czech Culture Ministry drops tax incentives from film law proposal

    2007-10-03T12:24:00Z

    Hopes for a comprehensive Czech film law which would benefit runaway productions as well as local films are fading, but there remains a chance that both foreign and local producers will see improved conditions in the middle distance. As Screendaily.com reported in July, Czech filmmakers and politicians have long been ...

  • News

    NonStop acquires It's A Free World and La Zona

    2007-10-02T16:26:00Z

    Stockholm-based distributor NonStop Entertainment has acquired Scandinavia and Iceland rights for Ken Loach's It's A Free World and Scandinavia and Baltics rights for Rodrigo Pla's La Zona. Loach's It's A Free World, about a British woman who tries to make money from illegal immigrants working in the UK, won the ...

  • News

    Bac founder Labadie plans to legally contest ousting from company

    2007-10-02T14:36:00Z

    Bac Films has announced the departure of its founder and managing director, Jean Labadie. The board of holding company Bac Majestic, of which Bac Films is a 100% subsidiary, revoked Labadie's mandate on September 12 and also put an end to his employee contract as of September 24. Labadie, who ...

  • News

    Athens gives Golden Athena for best film to Puenzo's XXY

    2007-10-02T11:56:00Z

    The Argentinian production XXY directed by Lucia Puenzo was named best film of the international competition at the 13th Athens International Film Festival (Opening Nights Conn-X) receiving the Golden Athena and a prize of $14,170(Euros 10,000) in cash handed out by the European Youth Jury formed by 11 young European ...

  • News

    The Last Station gets $1.9m boost from DFFF

    2007-10-02T10:08:00Z

    Michael Hoffman's Tolstoy drama The Last Station, starring Anthony Hopkins, Meryl Streep and Laura Linney, has received the fourth largest amount awarded by the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) to an international production this year. The allocation of $1.9m (Euros 1.34m) was only surpassed by Speed Racer (Euros 9m), The ...

  • News

    Czechs crown Menzel's King Of England for Oscar

    2007-10-02T09:56:00Z

    The Czech Film and Television Academy has selected Jiri Menzel's I Served The King Of England as the Czech submission for the foreign-language film category at the Academy Awards. The Czech academy also considered Jan Sverak's Empties and Alice Nellis' Little Girl Blue. Since its premiere, I Served The King ...

  • News

    Ben Ammar preparing bid for Italian distributor

    2007-10-02T06:28:00Z

    French-Tunisian financier Tarak Ben Ammar is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire a majority stake in Italian independent distributor Eagle Pictures.The Milan and Rome based company - operated by Ciro and Steffano Dammicco - is one of Italy's top five independent distributors and was responsible for the massive 2004 rollout ...

  • Reviews

    Shadows in the Palace (Goong Nyeo)

    2007-10-01T12:25:00Z

    Dir: Kim Mi-jung. South Korea 2007. 111 mins.To get a handle on Kim Mi-jung's impressive debut, imagine The Name of the Rose set it in a Korean royal court of the Joseon dynasty. The big difference, apart from the cultural transposition, is that this historical murder mystery takes place in ...

  • Reviews

    Flawless

    2007-10-01T11:11:00Z

    Dir: Michael Radford. UK/Luxembourg 2007. 105 mins.A diamond heist thriller set in pre-swinging London circa 1960, Flawless is polished but hollow. It's not just the setting that is retro: the story itself feels a little old-fashioned, like The Day they Robbed the Bank of England or Rififi with fewer accomplices ...

  • News

    Iceland adds Jar City to foreign-language Oscar race

    2007-10-01T06:15:00Z

    Baltasar Kormakur's Jar City will represent Iceland in the race for the foreign-language Oscar.The thriller won the Crystal Globe in Karlovy Vary and it is a nominee for the Nordic Film Prize. Jar City was well received in Telluride and Toronto; IFC Films has nabbed North American rights from Trust ...

  • News

    Chuck And Larry make it to top of international box office

    2007-09-30T23:38:00Z

    Universal/UPI's comedy I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry ruled the roost overseas at the weekend courtesy of an estimated $9.3m haul from 2,512 venues in 38 territories. The comedy climbed to $38m following a weekend session that was punctuated by seven number one debuts in Germany, Mexico, Austria, ...

  • News

    Raeburn ready to shoot adaptation of Afrikaans bestseller

    2007-09-30T22:09:00Z

    Michael Raeburn is to direct an adaptation of Marlene van Niekerk's Afrikaans tragicomic novel Triomf.Raeburn and Malcolm Kohl have collaborated on the screenplay set during the 1994 first post-apartheid general election in South Africa and focusing on a family from the white underclass.The film stars Lionel Newton, Obed Baloyi, Vanessa ...

  • News

    Boorsma brothers' Milo wins Kodak NPP Development Prize in Utrecht

    2007-09-30T18:48:00Z

    The Kodak NPP Development Prize of 5,000 euros was presented on Saturday night to the project Milo written and to be directed by Berend and Roel Boorsma and produced by San Fu Maltha of Fu Works. The award was announced at a dinner to conclude the Netherlands Production Platform (NPP) ...

  • News

    Nordic films triumph at Copenhagen

    2007-09-30T11:46:00Z

    More than half of the 11 features in competition at this years Copenhagen International Film Festival went home with an award. The main winners were Nordic films. Ake Sandgrens To Love Someone was the only film to win two awards taking home the script prize to Kim Fupz Aakesson and ...

  • News

    The Reader denied permission to film atconcentration camp

    2007-09-28T17:15:00Z

    Stephen Daldry's The Reader has been denied permission to shoot a scene with lead actor David Kross at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp on the outskirts of Berlin.According to the Berliner Zeitung, Horst Seferens, the spokesperson for the memorial's foundation, explained that the museum has 'a fundamental approach: feature films should ...

  • News

    Abu Dhabi unveils competition line-up

    2007-09-28T16:04:00Z

    The inaugural Middle East International Film Festival (MEIFF) has unveiled the full line-up for its Competition programme. The festival takes place in Abu Dhabi between October 14 -19.Presented by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH), the Festival also hosts the inaugural Film Financing Circle (FFC), which will ...

  • News

    Screenwriters selected for second French Autumn Stories season

    2007-09-27T22:14:00Z

    The second edition of Autumn Stories is set to kick off October 1 at the Abbaye de Royaumont, north of Paris. The scheme, created by the Franco-American Cultural Funds and the Ile de France Film Commission, invites four American screenwriters to finalise their feature projects over a six-week period. ...

  • News

    Danish smash Olsen Gang to get CGI treatment in new feature

    2007-09-27T17:00:00Z

    Denmark's Olsen Gang (Olsenbanden) - the most successful franchise in the country's film history - will be resuscitated in a new CGI feature. Danish major Nordisk Film, which produced the 14 original Olsen Gang films between 1968-1981 and in 1998, has received development support from the Danish Film Institute for ...

  • News

    Rome's second run offers 19 world premieres and star power

    2007-09-27T15:54:00Z

    Rome Film Fest (Oct 18-27) has announced the line up for its second edition (full list here), reinforcing its mission to be a people's 'festa' (the Italian word for party) while showing increased capability to attract top talent in a line up that focuses on European premieres as it capitalises ...

  • News

    Reykjavik opens with world premiere of Sigur Ros - Heima

    2007-09-27T15:31:00Z

    The fourth Reykjavik International Film Festival will open tonight with the world premiere of Denni Karlsson's Sigur Ros - Heima, a film about the internationally successful Icelandic music group Sigur Ros. Guests of the festival will include Peter Greenaway, who will receive the festival's honorary award for film directing; Finnish ...