All Middle East articles – Page 231

  • News

    Nanni Moretti accepts Turin post for second time

    2007-01-25T16:42:00Z

    Palme d'Or winning Italian director Nanni Moretti is officially back on board as director of the Turin Film Festival, announcing his intention to maintain the festival's focus on new directors and experimental cinema for its 25th edition this year. Moretti's appointment, announced at a press conference Thursday in Turin, comes ...

  • News

    EFP plans new Picture Europe! programme to kick off in April

    2007-01-25T16:23:00Z

    European Film Promotion is introducing a new European film event in the capitals of Berlin, Madrid and London. Picture Europe! The Best of European Cinema will begin in April, coming to London at the Curzon Cinema in Soho from June 8-14. A premiere party will take place to launch the ...

  • News

    Bruce McDonald, Jiri Menzel, Paulo Caldas films picked up pre-Berlin

    2007-01-25T16:20:00Z

    International distribution rights to films by Bruce McDonald, Jiri Menzel and Paulo Caldas are among the latest titles picked up by German sales agents ahead of this year's Berlinale and European Film Market (EFM). Bavaria Film International will handle international sales for McDonald's The Tracey Fragments, which will be the ...

  • News

    Five world premieres confirmed forBerlinale Special section

    2007-01-25T14:53:00Z

    New films by the Taviani brothers, Doris Doerrie, Fernando Perez and Timur Bekmambetov are among nine titles now confirmed for the Berlinale Special section of the festival's official programme.This year, five world premieres have been selected for this section which presents recent works by contemporary filmmakers whose films the Berlinale ...

  • News

    Rotterdam director bemoans lack of local films in festival

    2007-01-25T14:34:00Z

    Where have the Dutch films gone' With 44 world premieres, the 36th International Film Festival Rotterdam is showcasing a wealth of new work, but the line-up is notably light on local movies. Speaking today to ScreenDaily.com, festival director Sandra Den Hamer has bemoaned the absence of strong Dutch features available ...

  • News

    The Lives Of Otherspicked for Berlinale's German Cinema showcase

    2007-01-25T13:02:00Z

    Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's Oscar-nominated Stasi drama The Lives Of Others is one of 17 titles selected by programmer Heinz Badewitz to screen in the European Film Market's German Cinema showcase.The 2007 line-up, which is targeted primarily at accredited distributors, buyers, journalists and programmers from festivals and cultural institutions, also ...

  • News

    Vitus takes Best Film at 10th Swiss Film Awards

    2007-01-25T12:51:00Z

    Vitus was named Best Film at this year's Swiss Film Awards which were presented for the tenth time on Wednesday evening in a gala ceremony at the Solothurn Film Days.The drama about a child piano prodigy and his grandfather was praised by the jury as 'a film full of tenderness ...

  • News

    Banderas to direct two new projects as Death's Other Kingdom stalls

    2007-01-25T12:32:00Z

    Antonio Banderas has two new projects in mind to direct in Spain following his Malaga-set drama Summer Rain, screening in both Sundance and Berlin. Banderas said he is moving forward on a long-gestating project about Boabdil, the last Caliph of the Kingdom of Granada, envisioned as a Spain-France-Morocco co-production through ...

  • News

    Rotterdam's Hubert Bals Fund refused funding

    2007-01-25T12:09:00Z

    'Stormy weather is expected,' Festival director Sandra Den Hamer warned yesterday at the opening of the International Film Festival of Rotterdam. The cause of the disquiet is the growing uncertainty that surrounds Rotterdam's Hubert Bals Fund, which supports filmmaking in developing countries. The Fund, named after festival founder Hubert Bals ...

  • News

    Laura Mana to direct La Roldana

    2007-01-25T07:25:00Z

    Laura Mana has signed on to direct ambitious 17th century biopic La Roldana for Spain's Maestranza Films.Seville native Paz Vega (Spanglish, 10 Items Or Less) has expressed interest in taking the lead role of the talented sculptress in the vibrant 17th century setting of Seville who defied her family's wishes ...

  • News

    Canet awarded prize for best French thriller

    2007-01-24T20:19:00Z

    The 2007 Jacques-Deray Prize for the best French thriller has beenawarded to Guillaume Canet's Ne Le Dis A Personne. The award is givenby the Lumiere Institute and was created in 2005 in memory of Deray whowas vice-president of the Lumiere Institute.Canet's second feature was adapted from the book by HarlanCoben ...

  • News

    Jeanada to star in Michael Radford's La Mula

    2007-01-24T20:16:00Z

    Up-and-coming Spanish actor Oscar Jaenada has been tapped for the lead in Michael Radford's new Spanish-language feature La Mula.Jaenada will star alongside Maria Valverde (Melissa P) in the Spanish Civil War-set bittersweet comedy about a soldier who discovers a mule in the middle of a battlefield and decides to keep ...

  • News

    Berlinale's new short film programme names 16 competitors

    2007-01-24T13:57:00Z

    The Berlinale's new Short Film Competition has selected 16 films from 12 countries for this year's line-up. The new shorts programme intends to focus more attention on the short format following the merging of the Competition and Panorama short film programmes. A three-woman international jury of the producers Peace Anyiam-Fiberesima ...

  • News

    Ex Drummer stirs controversy among Belgian exhibitors

    2007-01-24T13:47:00Z

    In advance of its world premiere in the Tiger Competition in Rotterdam this weekend, Koen Mortier's Ex Drummer is provoking controversy in Belgium. One leading arthouse exhibitor, Studio Skoop in Ghent, has refused to show the film, which features scenes of graphic violence, rape and self mutilation. Industry sources have ...

  • News

    Bruce McDonald's new film opens Berlinale's Panorama main programme

    2007-01-23T15:29:00Z

    Bruce McDonald's The Tracey Fragments, which explores a 15-year-old girl's fragmented emotional world, will be the opening film of the Berlinale Panorama's main programme, while the Panorama Special sub-section will open with Japanese master director Yoji Yamada's Love And Honor, the third and final instalment of his samurai trilogy.In addition, ...

  • News

    Potsdam animation festival to present 41 films

    2007-01-23T15:14:00Z

    The Cartoon Movie 2007 business forum will present 500 participants with a selection of 41 features with an overall budget of almost $391m (Euros300m) in an attempt to boost finance and distribution for European animated films.In its ninth year, the festival convenes at Germany's Babelsberg Studio from March 7-9 and ...

  • News

    Dreamgirls leads Oscar nominees but shut out of Best Picture race

    2007-01-23T13:28:00Z

    Dreamgirls led the Oscar race with eight nominations this morning but the hit musical was shut out of the best picture and director categories. It also took three nominations in the best song category, meaning that it could only win five Oscars at most. Best picture nominees were Alejandro Gonzalez ...

  • News

    Paramount signs first-look deal with MTV Films Europe

    2007-01-23T12:59:00Z

    Paramount Pictures International has signed a three-year first-look deal with London and Los Angeles-based Zilli Films, which operates MTV Films Europe. CEO and founder Jonathan Zilli and head of development and production Bobby Allen run Zilli Films, which has the license to develop MTV branded feature films in Europe. MTV ...

  • News

    Grbavica tops Bosnia and Herzegovina's 2006 box office

    2007-01-23T12:32:00Z

    Bosnia and Herzegovina is a particularly difficult market for analysis because until recently there have been no BO reports compiled exclusively for the region. Instead, the box office results were split between Serbia and Croatia.Since the end of the war in 1996, Serbian and Croatian distributors contracted to Hollywood majors ...

  • News

    Pirates tops 2006 Slovenian box office

    2007-01-23T11:53:00Z

    Healthy box office figures reveal 10 percent growth in Slovenia Box office figures for 2006 show Slovenia is the most gratifying territory in the region in terms of revenues. With a population of two million, 96 active screens, low piracy levels and the fact that it is the only country ...