All Middle East articles – Page 218

  • News

    Foreign distributors receive $80,000 for releasing Swiss films

    2007-03-23T11:38:00Z

    Distributors from Germany, Brazil and ex-Yugoslavia are the first beneficiaries of Switzerland's new promotional fund to support the distribution of Swiss films abroad with $80,000 (Euros 60,000) towards the release of four feature films and one documentary. The maximum funding possible - $33,300 (Euros 25,000) - was given to Germany's ...

  • News

    300 continues to carve up the international box office

    2007-03-22T14:06:00Z

    Collective takings of nine major territories saw a 10.8% increase year-on-year and generated $209m at the box office last weekend, according to Screen International's Screen Index. Japanese box office revenue saw the biggest increase - the territory was up a whopping 50.4% compared to the same weekend of 2006, after ...

  • News

    Deauville Asian film fest line-up announced

    2007-03-22T12:23:00Z

    The Deauville Asian Film Festival has unveiled its line-up for the ninth edition, to be held March 2-April 1. Benoit Jacquot will head up the jury with Bruno Coulais, Marina De Van, Mylene Jampanoi, Laure Marsac, Dominique Pinon, Gilles Taurand and Gaspard Ulliel. The opening night film will be Tuya's ...

  • News

    Scandinavia invests in Spain 's Palma Pictures

    2007-03-22T11:52:00Z

    Mallorca-based production company Palma Pictures has recently been acquired by Scandinavian investors Joachim Odqvist and Ture Stendahl. Odqvist and Stendahl are entrepreneurs who have interests in many businesses, including the hotel sector. They recently sold Scandinavia's largest amusement park group, Parks and Resorts. A management team of Palma CEO Mike ...

  • News

    Bruno Ganz cast in adaptation of Swiss bestseller

    2007-03-22T10:46:00Z

    Veteran Swiss actor Bruno Ganz, who delighted international audiences with his performance as the grandfather in Fredi M Murer's Vitus, has been cast for the lead role in an adaptation of Thomas Huerlimann's 1998 bestselling novel Der Grosse Kater.The co-production between Benito Mueller's Barry Films and Claudia Wick's Abrakadabra Films ...

  • News

    Cannes' Asian selections set to be strongest in years

    2007-03-21T22:00:00Z

    With the Cannes Film Festival pulling out all the stops for a glittering 60th edition, the Asian selection promises to be the strongest in years.New titles from Jiang Wen, Lee Chang-dong, Kim Ki-duk, Im Kwon-taek, Takeshi Kitano and Wang Xiaoshuai could line up next to Hou Hsiao-Hsien's first French-language film ...

  • News

    Spanish government promises 18% film tax write off

    2007-03-21T16:15:00Z

    Spain's vice president Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega announced on Monday that an 18% tax write off will be included in a new film law for producers, broadcasters and investors. Butthe industry remains cautiously optimistic awaiting clarification on how it will work.De la Vega told industry figures and the ...

  • News

    Talent Campus Abroad could be extended to Sarajevo and Marrakech

    2007-03-21T15:22:00Z

    The Berlinale Talent Campus's Talent Campus Abroad initiative could possibly be extended to film festivals in Sarajevo and Marrakech.Speaking to representatives of the Berlin-Brandenburg media scene at the monthly Medien-Dialog this week, Berlinale Talent Campus (BTC) director Dorothee Wenner revealed that talks were currently being held with the festival organisers ...

  • News

    EFP unveils Picture Europe! Programme

    2007-03-21T14:23:00Z

    London's Curzon Cinemas has been selected as one of the venues along with Berlin's CineStar Original complex and Madrid's Princesa Cinemas for European Film Promotion's new promotional venture Picture Europe!, which will present national box-office hits from all over Europe in three week-long film programmes. The initiative will kick off ...

  • News

    Nordisk buys stake in Solar Films, first up Lordi horror

    2007-03-21T14:14:00Z

    Danish major Nordisk Film has purchased 'a significant stake' of leading Finnish production company Solar Films in a deal that Solar CoB and CEO Markus Selin described as 'an important step for Finnish film and television into the international market.' For the last four years, Selin has delivered the number-one ...

  • News

    Tim Burton to receive Golden Lion at Venice

    2007-03-21T11:53:00Z

    US director Tim Burton will receive the Golden Lion for Career Achievement at the 64th edition of the Venice Film Festival, the Biennale announced Wednesday. Burton will receive the award on September 5 during a special 'Tim Burton Day' in the Lido's Palazzo del Cinema. Burton - who has presented ...

  • News

    Barrandov in talks about Bond 22

    2007-03-21T11:00:00Z

    Barrandov Studios says it has met with representatives of MGM, Columbia Pictures and Eon Productions to discuss hosting the 22nd James Bond film in Prague.Barrandov Studio Tomas Zelazko told the Czech daily Hospodarske noviny that no decision on the shooting location had been made yet, but that the producers had ...

  • News

    ARP takes all French rights to Eye In The Sky

    2007-03-20T22:00:00Z

    French distributor ARP Selection has acquired all rights to Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) opener Eye In The Sky from Fortissimo Films.Produced by Hong Kong's Milkyway Image for Sundream Motion Pictures, the film is the directorial debut of award-winning scriptwriter Yau Nai Hoi whose credits include Johnnie To's Election.The ...

  • News

    Local film Saturn Opposite to open Istanbul Film Festival

    2007-03-20T14:57:00Z

    The 26th Istanbul Film Festival opens on March 30 with the regional premiere of Ferzan Ozpetek's Turkish-Italian-French co-production Saturn Opposite, the first time a Turkish director has been honoured at the first-night ceremony. Something of a director's festival, international guests scheduled to attend include Gus van Sant, Paul Schrader, Park ...

  • News

    Swiss Television launches Audience Award for national films

    2007-03-20T14:44:00Z

    Swiss box-office hits Grounding - The Last Days Of Swissair, Mein Name Ist Eugen and Vitus are among 14 films nominated for a new Audience Award launched by Swiss Television SF and the internet portal Bluewin to coincide with their free-TV premieres during 2007.After each airing in Sunday evening prime-time ...

  • News

    Zachrison, Lundberg bag new roles at Swedish Film Institute

    2007-03-20T13:57:00Z

    As part of a top management reshuffle, the Swedish Film Institute has today (March 20) appointed Linda Zachrison - advisor of former culture minister Leif Pagrotsky - head of the Audience department, a new division comprising information, international, the Cinemathèque, Children, Youth & Film, and Domestic Cinema. Zachrison, a former ...

  • News

    Degeto gets TV rights to Getting Home from Fortissimo

    2007-03-19T22:00:00Z

    German broadcaster Degeto Film, making its first trip to Filmart, has closed its first deal with Fortissimo Films for the TV rights to Getting Home.Zhang Yang's Hong Kong/China co-production was selected for the 2006 Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum and recently won the ecumenical jury prize after its screening in ...

  • News

    Cannes reveals Atelier programme

    2007-03-19T20:07:00Z

    The Cannes Film Festival has announced its selection for this year's Atelier de la Cinefondation. The programme, created in 2005, aims to help young film-makers bring their projects to fruition.This third edition of the Atelier has chosen 15 directorial projects from 15 different countries. During this year's Cannes Festival, the ...

  • News

    Bianca Taal takes over Rotterdam's Hubert Bals Fund

    2007-03-19T20:05:00Z

    The International Film Festival Rotterdam has appointed Bianca Taal to lead the festival's Hubert Bals Fund, as current fund head Marianne Bhalotra steps down. Taal joined Rotterdam in 2000 working on both CineMart and the Hubert Bals Fund. She became a co-head of CineMart with Marit van den Elshout in ...

  • News

    Norwegian Film Fund champions female film-makers

    2007-03-19T17:07:00Z

    The Norwegian Film Fund has granted $1.6 million (Euros 1.2 m) production support for Norwegian director Eva Isaksen's House Of The Mad, partly from Signature W, a new subsidising scheme aimed at improving the working situation of women film-makers. 'We share the concern expressed in a recent report that the ...