All Middle East articles – Page 209
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Senator strikes deal with Dresen and Rommel
Germany's Senator Film has established a long-term deal with director Andreas Dresen and producer Peter Rommel, the team behind Summer In Berlin and Grill Point. The first project under the deal will be Wolke Neun, a Rommel production which Senator will distribute.The film is the story of a woman who ...
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Crook steals his way into Third World People
Paris-based Chic Films has added Mackenzie Crook to the cast of its Kristin Scott Thomas romantic comedy Third World People.Antoine Desrosieres will direct the English-language French, South African and German co-production, about Europeans' views on third-world people.Other projects on Chic's line -up include the currently-shooting Black starring French rap artist ...
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Lebanese films start to take the spotlight in Cannes
Lebanon, unlike most other Arab nations this year, is having a good Cannes. Besides Danielle Arbid's A Lost Man and Nadine Labaki's hot Caramel in Directors' Fortnight, and a showcase of recent productions as part of Tous les Cinemas du Monde, the state-funded Fondation Liban Cinema is promoting a raft ...
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First Star plans its Boer War Siege
New York-based First Star Pictures is in Cannes unveiling Siege Of O'Kiepe, a $37m epic set during the Boer War of 1901. The project will shoot in 2008 in Australia and South Africa with producers Olivier French and Bruce Bisbey. Bisbey also wrote the screenplay.The movie is set in the ...
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Spain's S2 sings for The Turtle Song
Stephane Sorlat's Madrid-based S2 International has rights in Spain and Portugal to Nick Stringer's documentary The Turtle Song from Sola Media.Produced by the UK's Film And Music Entertainment, the film tells the story of the little loggerhead turtle and her journey from a beach in Florida to the frozen north ...
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Nadine Labaki attracts buyer buzz with debut feature Caramel
Nadine Labaki shot Caramel - now attracting buyer buzz in Cannes after its Directors Fortnight debut -- in Beirut in late spring 2006, when the troubled city was in buoyant mood following the departure of the Syrian army. 'The timing was so fortuitous, something of a miracle,' says producer Anne-Dominique ...
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Samira Makhmalbaf to resume troubled Afghan film
Shooting on Two-Legged Horse, Samira Makhmalbaf's latest feature, will resume soon in an undisclosed location, she announced at Cannes. Her first feature in five years came to an abrupt end on March 28 when an extra threw a handheld bomb into the northern Afghanistan-based set.In Cannes with her father Mohsen, ...
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Not Quite Hollywood goes to Madman, Magnolia and Optimum
Several distributors have come on board early for the Australian project Not Quite Hollywood, about Australian genre cinema in the 1970s and 1980s. Deals have been struck for Australia and New Zealand (Madman Entertainment), North America (Magnolia Pictures), and the UK (Optimum Releasing).Director Mark Hartley is in production now on ...
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Pretty Pictures turns a page for North Korean Diary
North Korean film A Schoolgirl's Diary had its debut screening in Cannes Market yesterday. Paris-based Pretty Pictures is selling the film at Cannes after acquiring international rights earlier this year. CEO James Velaise originally picked up French rights last October after seeing the film at the Pyongyang International Film Festival.'This ...
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Davis and Keener travel to Winterbottom's Genova
Hope Davis and Catherine Keener have been confirmed to join Colin Firth in Michael Winterbottom's next effort, Genova.Shooting will begin at the end of June in Genoa, Italy and Boston. Post-production will be done in the UK.Dreamachine is handling international sales and distribution on the film, which also stars relative ...
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ContentFilm thunders on with sales for Elephants feature
ContentFilm International is working with new nature project Elephants Of The Okavango and has already closed deals with Germany (Falcom), France (Euro TV), CIS and Baltics (MGN), Hungary/Czech/Slovak Republics (Intersonic), Latin America (SWEN), the Middle East (Gulf) and The Netherlands/Belgium (A Film).The narrative-style documentary feature follows a family of African ...
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Notro lands more deals on Honor de Cavalleria
Notro Films has closed several new deals for Spanish director Albert Serra's Honor de Cavalleria with the UK (Soda Pictures), Argentina (791) and Benelux (Victory Production). The picture, which took the top prize at the last edition of the Turin Film Festival, is an ultra-minimalist take on Cervante's classic Don ...
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Good News builds hot slate including Bin Laden title
Yacoubian Building producers The Good News Group have announced a four-title multi genre film slate that shows the group intends to forge ahead with controversial and hot topics about the Arab world as shown from their own perspective.Al-Qaeda will be the title of an Osama Bin Laden, Aiman el-Zawhiri themed ...
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Funny Balloons bats for Blue Eyelids
Paris-based sales agent Funny Balloons has announced the acquisition of Critics' Week title Parpados Azules (Blue Eyelids).The film, by Mexico's Ernesto Contreras, will be handled by Funny Balloons in all territories excluding Mexico.Eyelids has secured French distribution with Colifilms Diffusion. It was a top winner at the Guadalajara festival.
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Telepool books deals on Way To The Stars and Arn
Germany's Telepool has announced sales on several titles including the 3D feature animation Way To The Stars.That film, directed by Michael Hegner and Kari Juusonen, went to Turkey (Tiglon), while epic adventure Arn The Knight Templar by Peter Flinth went to Russia (Barnhill). Finally, Telepool has also sold the comedy ...
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A-Film picks up Small Gods for Benelux
Following its acquisition of Koen Mortier's controversial Ex-Drummer (sold by Wide Management), Benelux distributor A-Film has picked up another equally offbeat film from the same stable.Small Gods, made by brothers Dimitri and Nicolas Karakatsanis, is described by A-Films' Erik Engelen as 'extremely well shot and it is definitely a movie ...
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DeAPlaneta takes on new thriller 25 Carats
DeAPlaneta has initiated pre-sales for Madrid-based Iconica and Barcelona-based In Vitro's new joint project with the working title 25 Kilates (25 Carats).Paxti Amezcua's thief thriller, budgeted at Euros 2.5m film, will start shooting in September with a cast including Carmelo Gomez and Veronica Echejui.
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Haneke's White Ribbon to tie up in February 2008
Further details are beginning to emerge of Michael Haneke's next project, The White Ribbon, being made through Les Films Du Losange, X-Filme and Vega.Legendary screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere has been working on the screenplay of the film, a period piece set during the last days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.A sales agent ...
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Germany's Splendid takes on Jaa's Ong Bak 2
Germany's Splendid has become the first distributor to pounce on Ong Bak 2, starring and directed by Tony Jaa, since The Weinstein Company surrendered international rights to the project. TWC acquired all rights excluding Asia and the UK to the film last year, from Thailand's Sahamongkolfilm International, but recently renegotiated ...
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New Line takes North America on Darclight's Sick House
New Line Cinema has acquired North American rights from Darclight Films to the British horror film The Sick House.Directed and co-written by Curtis Radclyffe, the film tells the story of an archaeologist, played by Gina Phillips (Jeepers Creepers), who becomes trapped in an abandoned hospital and is preyed upon by ...