All Middle East articles – Page 236

  • News

    Production subsidies under scrutiny

    2007-01-06T15:22:00Z

    After a long delay, Europe finally approved the UK's tax system with considerable modifications. The UK should now join Germany with new tax offerings from January 1 but the process raises questions about subsidies.The system of tax subsidies for film has always had an identity crisis.It's been justified as supporting ...

  • News

    Cecchi Gori vows to carry on producing

    2007-01-06T13:01:00Z

    Sitting in his 16th century Borghese Palace residence in Rome, where statues line hallways leading to frescoed rooms, Italian film producer and former Senator Vittorio Cecchi Gori shows no sign that he is suffering from the latest and perhaps most severe setback in his attempts to revive his family’s film-making ...

  • News

    Finnish box-office admissions rise 12% in 2006

    2007-01-05T16:05:00Z

    Anunprecedented 69% increase of admissions for domestic fare in Finland boosted2006 cinema attendance to 6.8m, up 12% from 6.lm the year before, according topreliminary statistics from the Finnish Film Foundation.SixteenFinnish premieres sold 1.6m tickets (compared with 15 films selling 940,000 ticketsin 2005), controlling 23% of the market (up from 15%). ...

  • News

    Berlin competitors include Soderbergh and De Niro

    2007-01-05T15:19:00Z

    The 2007 Berlinale has announced the first six films selected for this year's competition. They include Christian Petzold's Yella from Germany, marking the director's return to Berlin competition after Ghosts (Gespenster) in 2005. The new film, a world premiere, follows a young woman who tries to escape a bad marriage ...

  • News

    Wild Bunch reveals French Film Rendez-Vous slate

    2007-01-05T11:00:00Z

    Wild Bunch is heading into the annual French Film Rendez-Vous with a host of new films as well as screeningfour premieres for international buyers. And, in a bid to energiseforeign distributors to open Luc Jacquet's The FoxAnd The Child as a day-and-date release nextDecember, Wild Bunch will show 45 minutes ...

  • News

    Museum, Eragon continue rich run for Fox

    2007-01-05T01:00:00Z

    After barely two weeks on release Fox International's Night AtThe Museum will belooking to cross $100m this weekend.The family film has amassed more than $75m so far and opens in anadditional 10, albeit minor, markets this weekend.Meanwhile the fantasy adventure Eragon, which opens in three Latin Americanmarkets including Argentina on ...

  • News

    Universal Pictures International appoints Irish team

    2007-01-04T11:00:00Z

    Universal Pictures International (UPI) UK & Eire has appointed an Irish team responsible for the sales, marketing and publicity of the company's products in Ireland.The move follows the ending of Universal and Paramount's joint distribution operation, UIP, in the territory.The Dublin UPI office, led by general manager David Burke, will ...

  • News

    Gruppo DeAgostini takes over Mikado

    2007-01-03T17:01:00Z

    Italian publishing giantGruppo DeAgostini has taken over local arthouse distributor Mikado from itsfounding partners Luigi Musini and Roberto Cicutto. The pair has operated thecompany for 25 years and will step aside as managers to handle the productionarm of the company.Mikado has distributedinternational films such as Zhang Yimou's Raise The Red ...

  • News

    Orange extends cinema ticket programme and strikes Disney content deal

    2007-01-03T16:18:00Z

    Mobile phone network Orange has announced plans to continue its cinema ticketpromotion Orange Wednesdays into 2008.The programme offers 2-for-1cinema tickets on Wednesdays across the UK to Orange customers. Now Orange's two million broadband and dial-up Internetcustomers will also be eligible for the deal, previously offered only to mobilecustomers. In ...

  • News

    Rotterdam to open with Sapir's La Antena

    2007-01-03T11:27:00Z

    The 36th International Film Festival Rotterdam opens on January 24th with the world premiere of Argentine feature The Aerial (La Antena) by director Esteban Sapir. Festival director Sandra den Hamer calls the black-and-white feature 'one of the most original productions of the year. It is a cinematic statement again the ...

  • News

    Danielle Arbid starts shoot for A Lost Man

    2007-01-02T14:48:00Z

    France's MK2 has announced the start of production on Danielle Arbid's second feature A Lost Man. The UK's Alexander Siddig and France's Melvil Poupaud star in the road movie set in the Middle East.Filming will start early this year in Beirut, Amman and Paris. MK2 is producing and will handle ...

  • News

    Moretti steps down as Turin artistic director after two days

    2007-01-01T20:00:00Z

    Italian film-maker Nanni Moretti has renounced his appointment asartistic director of the Turin Film Festival just two days after hisnomination was made public.Moretti's nomination to top the Turin fest - which is dedicated tocutting edge fare and young directors - was hailed as a positivereaction to pressures created by the ...

  • News

    Moretti steps down as Turin artistic director after two days

    2007-01-01T20:00:00Z

    Italian film-maker Nanni Moretti has renounced his appointment asartistic director of the Turin Film Festival just two days after hisnomination was made public.Moretti's nomination to top the Turin event- which is dedicated tocutting-edge fare and young directors - was hailed as a positivereaction to pressures created by the splash of ...

  • News

    Artificial Eye founder Andi Engel dies

    2007-01-01T00:00:00Z

    Andi Engel, founder of UK distribution company Artificial Eye, died in Lubeck, Germany on Dec 26.Engel was born in Berlin in 1942. He and wife Pam Engel set up Artificial Eye in London in the mid-1970s and the company became the UK's leading distributor of arthouse and foreign-language films. Act ...

  • News

    German tax credit approved by Europe

    2006-12-28T18:00:00Z

    Germany'sState Minister for Culture Bernd Neumann has received the green light from theEuropean Commission in Brussels for the new film production incentive scheme tocome into effect as planned on January 1, 2007.Commentingon the Commission's swift processing of the German proposal, Neumann said:'This is a great negotiated success. The path is ...

  • News

    Nanni Moretti appointed Turin artistic director

    2006-12-28T04:00:00Z

    Italian director Nanni Moretti has been named artistic director of the Turin Film Festival, the Italian festival dedicated to cutting edge film. The announcement confirms 2007 will be an interesting year for Italian festivals after the appearance of the Rome Film Festival altered the established balance between the Turin and ...

  • News

    Night At The Museum and Eragon face off

    2006-12-28T00:00:00Z

    Night At The Museum will push Fox International stablemate Eragon all the way for the overseas crown this weekend whenit launches in a raft of major territories.The comedy is set to open in the UK on Dec 29 on 745 screens, Australia on Dec26 on 365, Germany on Dec 28 ...

  • News

    Leading Finnish and Baltics exhibitor enters digital age

    2006-12-26T04:00:00Z

    Finland's and the Baltics' leading exhibitor Finnkino has entered the digital era with Finnish director Raimo O Niemi's family feature Mystery Of The Wolf.The film was shown on a Barco 2K projector at Helsinki's Tennispalatsi, the company's 14-screener in the capital centre. The theatre's second-largest auditorium, with 360 seats, has ...

  • News

    Czechs approve new money for filmmakers

    2006-12-21T20:00:00Z

    Czech President Vaclav Klaus has signed into law a 2007 budget amendment which adds $4.8m (CZK 100m) to state aid for Czech filmmakers, raising the total value of the State Fund for the Support and Development of Czech Cinematography to $7.6m for next year.The state fund provides money for the ...

  • News

    Rise in Competition entries gives Berlinale welcome problem

    2006-12-21T04:00:00Z

    The Berlinale's selectors are spoilt for choice for the line-up of the 2007 Competition thanks to the festival's increasing popularity with film-makers from around the globe.Speaking to ScreenDaily, festival director Dieter Kosslick said: 'There are many more films which are wanting to come to Berlin this year. There is a ...