All articles by Patrick Frater – Page 42
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News Corp's Fortune Star unveils first projects
Fortune Star, the new production company housed at News Corp's Star TV group, has unveiled its first projects made for the ancillary markets."I don't expect to unveil our theatrical slate until much nearer Mifed," said Fortune Star general manager Peter Poon. "We refuse to produce the kind of low budget ...
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Svensk Filmindustri boards Bergman's Saraband
Svensk Filmindustri (SF) has boarded legendary Swedish director Ingmar Bergman's new picture Saraband. The film, previously titled Anna, is a long-delayed sequel to Bergman's classic 1973 drama Scenes From A Marriage. Marainne decides to contact her ex-husband Johan after many years of estrangement, they rekindle an autumnal romance, but both ...
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Ruiz, Clark to get first Backup assistance
A project by Raoul Ruiz and another executive produced by Larry Clark are the first pictures to be assisted by one of Europe's newest producer's representatives Backup Films.The company, founded earlier this year, sees itself as a financial specialist that can put together packages of funding solutions on behalf of ...
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Locarno announces two new prizes for expanded festival
Sydney Pollack will be awarded a Leopard Of Honour at this year's expanded Locarno festival, while Portuguese-French-based producer Paulo Branco will be given the inaugural Raimondo Rezzonico prize for best independent producer.The new awards were announced by festival director Irene Bignardi, who detailed the practical impact of Locarno's changed status ...
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Italy's Adriana Chiesa seals Cannes deals
Italian seller Adriana Chiesa Enterprises (ACE) had a busy Cannes.On its Directors' Fortnight film Angela it sold a package of Japanese and European rights to France's MK2. The film is the story of a Mafiosa woman who is emotionally torn between her husband and a man she takes to ...
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Filmalbatros spreads its wings
Filmalbatros, the outfit set up for Italian director Marco Bellocchio's competition film The Hour Of Religion (L'Ora Di Religione), is branching out for a wider production slate.The company was established a year ago as a joint venture between Bellocchio and Sergio Pelone's company Bottom Line and is now extending into ...
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Karanovic shoots Loving Glances at F.A.M.E.
Belgrade-based director Srdjan Karanovic's new picture Loving Glances, which gets underway next month, is the latest addition to the burgeoning slate of Film & Media Entertainment (F&ME).The romantic comedy, set among the former Yugoslavia's displaced communities, is Karanovic's first since Virdjina - A Kind Of Woman ten years ago. ...
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Fortissimo strikes slew of sales on Cannes market slate
Fortissimo Film sales has completed a clutch of sales on its Cannes market slate. Thai director Danny Pang's The Eye was sold to Europa Corp for France, Deaplaneta for Spain, Fu Works for Benelux and AudioVisual for Greece.Peter Pau's The Touch, starring and produced by Cannes jury member Michelle ...
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Man Without A Past sells internationally for Bavaria
In what was described as a "substantial deal" on the eve of its main competition screening Aki Kaurismaki's The Man Without A Past was sold to BIM Distribuzione for Italy. The film is now handled by Bavaria Film International, having previously been sold by Orfeo/Christa Saredi.Previous sales include Filmcoopi for ...
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South Africa's Mbalo happy with NFVF progress
'Big strides have been made over the three years of the NFVF's existence,' said an upbeat Eddie Mbalo, chief executive of South Africa's National Film & Video Foundation for the last year.'We were originally conceived as a funding body, but now see ourselves in a much wider role, responsible ...
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E Pictures adds Euro-Asian thriller One For The King
E Pictures, the Korean sales house that was set up a year ago, is launching a new big-budget picture from Zenith Entertainment, the production outfit behind last year's $25m blockbuster My Boss, My Hero. The picture Four For The King: Code Paris is an Asian action suspense thriller with European ...
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Yeoh to get tough with French distributor M6
Wearing her producer hat - rather than that of actress or Cannes juror - Michelle Yeoh is to start legal proceedings against French distributor M6/SND.Yeoh and Thomas Chung, managing director of Hong Kong-based Han Entertainment, through which the Yeoh-produced film The Touch is financed, say they will be seeking damages ...
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Polanski's Pianist tops list of Cannes winners
A roar of approval, but applause that fell a long way short of a prolonged standing ovation, greeted Roman Polanski's Palme d'Or win at Cannes 2002 with The Pianist.Jury president David Lynch opened the evening's ceremonies by saying that there were not enough prizes to go round, but that the ...
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Irreversible wins shock value but no awards
Anger and outrage followed the bombshell detonated by Gaspar Noe's Irreversible, a tale of rape and revenge that is depicted more brutally than any film that has been shown at the Cannes festival. That it did not win a single prize probably reflected its jury-dividing content, outweighing Noe's awesome technical ...
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Belgium unveils film tax plan
Belgium is to become the latest European country attempting to use tax as a way of boosting film production.Didier Reynders, the Belgian finance minister is expected today (Friday May 24) to announce the launch of a new tax shelter.The new measures are expected to allow film investors to set off ...
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Dreamworks falls for Millennium Actress
Millennium Actress, an animated drama handled by distributor Klockworx, has become the first foreign-language animation to be acquired by Dreamworks SKG.Dreamworks has picked up all rights outside Asia to the film, which won the best animation prize when it premiered at Fant-Asia last July and took the animation award at ...
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Golden Harvest reaps Cannes delicacies
Golden Harvest, the powerhouse Hong Kong-based distributor has picked up a collection of the most in-demand indie titles on the Croisette.Quentin Tarantino's martial arts action film Kill Bill has been picked up for Hong Kong and Malaysia from Miramax International. Uma Thurmann, Lucy Liu and Darryl, Hannah star in the ...
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DVD piracy panel calls for jail terms amongst penalties
"If DVD piracy is allowed to continue it means the long term death of culture," boomed David Kessler, head of France's national cinema body the CNC, speaking in Cannes yesterday at a seminar on DVD piracy.Also involved were Nicolas Seydoux, chairman of Gaumont and MPAA chief Jack Valenti.All three speakers ...
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Swaraj: Bollywood ready to go global
"There is more to Indian creative talent than snake charmers and monkeys, "said Sushma Swaraj, India's minister of information and broadcasting.on the eve of the screening of Devdas, the first "Bollywood" film to obtain a slot in Cannes Official Selection.The minister heads a 100-strong delegation to Cannes, which she claims ...
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Italy's Bim picks up nine Cannes titles - so far
Italian distributor Bim Distribuzione bought three more official selection films yesterday, bringing its total haul to nine so far this market.Bim picked up Aki Kaurismaki's competition title The Man Without A Past from Bavaria Film, Nicolas Philibert's Un Certain Regard title Etre Et Avoir from Mercure and Director's Fortnight title ...