All Middle East articles – Page 221
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Ascot Elite picks up four horror titles for Germany
The Ascot Elite Entertainment Group has announced the acquisition of all rights to four horror titles for German speaking territories. The four titles acquired are: the horror comedy Black Sheep written and directed by Jonathan King which was bought from New Zealand Film. Paddy Breathnach's gory horror film Shrooms, starring ...
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SPRI's Ghost Rider blazes into UK, Japan, Brazil
Ghost Rider is expected to dominate the international arena for a third consecutive weekend as it prepares to launch in three major markets.Sony Pictures Releasing International's (SPRI) comic book adaptation has amassed $41.3m so far and this weekend rides into the UK and Brazil on Mar 2 on 350 and ...
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Italy's box-office renaissance
Italy's reputation as a box-office problem territory has been firmly cemented over the last couple of years - but a stellar start to 2007 suggests it is time for reassessment. It has blasted into the first two months of the year with a record eight consecutive weekends topping the $13m ...
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Ascot Elite takes Swiss rights to Doerrie's How To Cook
Zurich-based Ascot Elite has bought Swiss rights to Doris Doerrie's documentary How To Cook Your Life from Atrix Films.The film, which had its world premiere in the Berlinale Special section at the Berlin Film Festival last month, follows Doerrie as she engages Zen Master Edward Espe Brown to explain the ...
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Oscar winner Caroline Link to shoot new feature in Munich
Germany Oscar-winning director Caroline Link, who received the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2003 for Nowhere In Africa (Nirgendwo In Afrika), is to begin shooting her next feature Im Winter Ein Jahr (working title) this summer at locations in Munich and surroundings.The co-production between Bavaria Filmverleih- und Produktions ...
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EFP supports eight European features at Mar Del Plata
European Film Promotion's Film Sales Support progamme is supporting eight European films at the Mar Del Plata Film Festival. The festival, which runs March 8-18, is one of seven festivals supported by FSS. Sales agents are given grants for promotional costs of up to $6,609 (Euros 5,000) per film. As ...
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Spanish exhibitors argue new law caters to producers
Controversy surrounding the Spanish government's draft for a new film law heated up Wednesday following strong criticism by the the local exhibitors' federation FECE. FECE accused the current bill of catering to the interests of producers 'who live off public subsidies and indirect subidies (at exhibitors' expense) destined for a ...
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Danny Boyle plans thriller set at South Africa's Ponte City
UK director Danny Boyle's next project will be thriller Ponte Tower, a co-production between the UK and South Africa. Ponte Tower is loosely based on the book by German novelist Norman Ohler, which Michael Thomas is adpating. The film-makers plan to shoot the film entirely within the South Africa 's ...
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Beta Cinema handling world sales for Ironman
Beta Cinema is to handle world sales for Adnan G. Koese's feature debut Ironman, which is currently shooting in the North Rhine-Westphalian town of Dinslaken.Based on the true story of the world-class triathlete Andreas Niedrig, which appeared in book form in 2000 as Vom Junkie zum Ironman, Ironman is being ...
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Taormina plans Tornatore and Egyptian programmes
The 53rd edition of Sicily's Taormina Film Festival will host the first retrospective on Sicilian director Giuseppe Tornatore as well as a focus on Egyptian films in a newly formatted festival that focuses on Mediterranean films, new festival director Deborah Young announced Wednesday. Young told ScreenDaily.com the Tornatore retrospective includes ...
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Eurimages gives $5.1m to 10 European co-productions
At its 104th meeting that ended Feb 27 in Strasbourg, the Council of Europe Eurimages Fund Board of Management has given support to 10 features in its latest funding round, for a total of $5.1m (Euros 3.86m). The backed features are: Clara by Helma Sanders-Brahms (Germany, France, Hungary)Dorothy Mills by ...
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UK's Rainmaker to make Russian orphan documentary with Jon Blair
UK-based finanacing and production company Rainmaker Films is working with award-winning director Jon Blair (Anne Frank Remembered) for documentary Ochberg's Orphans. Tsotsi cinematographer Lance Gewer is on board, as is film archivist Adrian Wood. Rainmaker's Paul Goldin and Georgina Townsley are producing. The documentary is about a South African tycoon ...
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Dogwoof strikes UK deal for Dv8's Bunny Chow
UK distributor Dogwoof Pictures has taken UK rights to Dv8's South African comedy Bunny Chow. John Barker's comedy world premiered in Toronto and recently had its European premiere in Rotterdam 's Tiger Competition. The film is on release in South Africa from March 9, after already taking best actor and ...
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Handmade pact with Ilion for $50m CGI film Planet One
The UK's revived Handmade Films is partnering on financing, production and sales with Spain's Ilion Animation Studios for the $50m CGI animated feature Planet One. Shrek and Shrek 2 writer Joe Stillman wrote the original screenplay for the project, which will be directed by Jorge Blanco, who created the game ...
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Dubai announces dates, beefed-up roles for Amralla and Field
The Dubai International Film Festival (DIFF), which will run from Dec 9 to 16, 2007, has announced that CEO and festival director Neil Stephenson has stepped down. Co-artistic directors Simon Field and Masoud Amralla Al Ali have increased responsibility for the programme direction, according to a statement, and report directly ...
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Martin Koechendoerfer to succeed Anatol Nitschke at X Verleih
Concorde Filmverleih's Martin Kochendoerfer is to succeed Anatol Nitschke as board member of the Berlin-based distributor X Verleih from April 1.Kochendoerfer has worked in various functions at Concorde in Munich since the end of 1989, including sales manager since 1995. He will be responsible for sales, PR and marketing and ...
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Video-on-demand prompts Swedish major to merge
To prepare for the breakthrough of video-on-demand in the Scandinavian market, Swedish media giant Bonnier Entertainment - the owner of Swedish major Svensk Filmindustri - has merged its VOD service, SF Anytime, with sister company SF Bio, Scandinavia's largest exhibitor. 'It is a crucial time for video-on-demand, and SF Anytime ...
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Germany breaks 100m barrier for DVD sales
Annual DVD unit sales in Germanypassed the 100 million mark for the first time last year, according to statistics prepared by the GfK market research institute for the home entertainment industry body BVV.A total of 100.7m units were sold in 2006, up from 98.7m in 2005, with record sales in ...
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Zodiak swoops on Yellow Bird
Sweden's Zodiak Television, which already controls such outfits as Jarowskij, MTV Mastiff, Mastiff, Social Club and Diverse Production, has purchased film and television production outfit Yellow Bird. During the last two years Yellow Bird has produced 13 films totalling $28.4 million based on Swedish author Henning Mankell's books about Ystad ...
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Ane Dahl Torp receives inaugural Liv Ullmann prize
Norwegian actress Ane Dahl Torp received the first $16,300 (Euros 12,400) Liv Ullmann Honorary Prize at the Norwegian Film Ball, the gala event organised by the Norwegian Film Institute with the industry at the Oslo Plaza. Ullmann had cancelled her participation due to sickness.Educated at the Norwegian National Drama School ...