All articles by Patrick Frater – Page 47
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Fortissimo celebrates strong AFM deals
Fortissimo Film Sales celebrated a successful AFM with sales of Tsai Ming-liang's Cannes 2001 competition film What Time Is It There' to the ICA for the UK and Pegasos for Germany. The ICA also bought Iwai Shinji's All About Lily Chou Chou. Japanese film Hush! Went to Crown Films for ...
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Hong Kong's Emperor reveals five-picture slate
Hong Kong's Emperor Multimedia Group (EMG), which is on its way towards becoming one of the territory's major studios has unveiled a new five picture development slate.The company, which is now wrapping Jackie Chan comedy-action vehicle The Highbinders, has set Swordbearer, a $20m martial arts drama as the next project ...
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Korea's Nabi Pictures launches with epic roster
Jo Min-whan, the producer behind Korea's epic, Musa The Warrior, has launched a new production company and a slate that includes the most expensive Korean film of all time.The production roster of Jo's new outfit, Nabi Pictures, is headed by Musa director Kim Sung-soo's new project 625, an epic war ...
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Shochiku fights back with Samurai epics
After a production slowdown lasting 18 months, Japanese publicly-quoted movie powerhouse Shochiku is back in business, bringing to the AFM a new slate that includes a brace of high-profile Samurai epics.The Japanese company is making a teaser available on Tasogare Seibei (working title), which is set to be the first ...
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Murdoch's Star goes theatrical across Asia
Star TV, Rupert Murdoch's pan-Asian satellite broadcast group, is making a major play to become a theatrical film distribution and production player across Asia.Under the management of the former Media Asia deputy general manager Peter Poon and production head group Michael Mak, the outfit has launched Fortune Star Pictures Limited.Stressing ...
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MGM joins Korean remake rush
Korean seller Cineclick Asia has sold Hollywood remake rights on its hit martial arts comedy Hi Dharma to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).The film, about conflict and compromise between gangsters and some ass-kicking monks, was one of the top five in Korea last year, scoring a gross of $20.4m from its 207-print Nov ...
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Klockworx girds for Iron Ladies' return
Japan's Klockworx has become the first buyer to commit to Iron Ladies: The Early Years, the new picture to be handled by Fortissimo Film Sales.The film, to be directed by Yongyooth Thongkonthun, is both a sequel and a prequel to his smash Thai comedy The Iron Ladies. The original film ...
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Female Gangster flick clicks with Japan's KNACK
Sales house Cineclick Asia has secured a major Japanese deal on one of its bigger titles and is now shooting to become a heavyweight player outside its native Korea.It sold Japanese rights on female gangster tale My Wife Is A Gangster to KNACK, a company more usually associated with animation ...
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Jackie Chan sci-fi actioner tops Media Asia slate
Media Asia, under the new management of hotels andentertainment investor Peter Lam, has unveiled a far-reaching development slatefor 2002-3, headed by $40m Jackie Chan picture, Titanium Rain, a sci-fi action title. The futuristic picture has atimeframe of over 400 years and is set in China and outer space. Production isdue ...
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UK's Medusa gets Ichi fingers for Miike
HongKong's Emperor Multimedia Group (EMG) has struck a pan-European deal withthe UK's Medusa to handle Miike Takashi's ultra-violent Ichi TheKiller.The deal seesMedusa take all rights in East and West Europe. While the film may have itsgreatest potential in the home entertainment sector, Ichi has played numerous European festivalsand Medusa is ...
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Till's Signpost points towards Larry Gordon pact
StewartTill's fledgling Signpost Films, which kicked off its slate with the $55m Bulletproof Monk starring Chow Yun-fat, is now set to addto its pipeline through a pact with heavyweight producer Larry Gordon, theformer 20th Century Fox production chief.It is anticipatedthat Gordon will produce at least one film a year, which ...
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UK sales upstart Moviehouse comes out smokin'
New UK sales company, Moviehouse Entertainment has unveiled a $10m supernatural thriller, The Smoking Man, and satirical comedy The Rage In Placid Lake as the first pictures of its 2002 slate.The company is run by former J&M Entertainment head of sales Gary Phillips and Mark Vennis, formerly a director of ...
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Berlinale's diversity favours documentaries
The theme of diversity has been one of the most defining elements of this year's Berlinale, but it is the documentaries, rather than feature films, that seem to have made the biggest impression. Apart from Monster's Ball and 8 Femmes, the busiest sales agents are likely to be those handling ...
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Korea's Volcano High to Amuse for $1.5m
In a deal started at the Rotterdam film festival and completed in Berlin, Korea's Cinema Service has sold its futuristic Volcano High (pictured)to Japan's Amuse Pictures for whopping $1.5m (Y200m). In Thailand, the film was bought by Nontanund, which also grabbed Cinema Service's My Sassy Girl. For Jeong Jae-Eun's Take ...
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Wild Bunch adds Spirited Away, amongst others
French sales agent Wild Bunch is poised to pick up world sales rights to animated feature Spirited Away during the Berlin Film Festival. The picture, which was a late addition to the Berlinale competition, is the highest-grossing Japanese film of all time.The fantasy, directed by Hayao Miyazaki of the ...
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Paris prefers Eight Women to Amelie
French sales agency Celluloid Dreams has received a double confidence boost ahead of tonight's (Feb 8) competition film Eight Women (Huit Femmes).In its first day on commercial release Eight Women, a female ensemble piece by controversial director Francois Ozon, secured 43,000 spectators from a 24-print release in Paris handled by ...
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Main Tiger for Sleeping Rough in Rotterdam
Local Dutch favourite Sleeping Rough (Tussenland) has won the top prize, the VPRO Tiger award, at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR). The Eugenie Jansen-directed film came in ahead of Wild Bees (Divoke Vcely) by Bohdan Slama from the Czech Republic and Sinisa Dragin's Every Day God Kisses Us On ...
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NTL appoints advisers on $17bn debt burden
UK cable network operator, NTL today (Jan 31) ended weeks of speculation by formally appointing financial advisers to help it renegotiate the debt burden that had become a concern within the investment community.The company, which is currently valued at $120m, has debts of about $17bn. The majority of this is ...
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Argentina's filmmakers condemn govt inaction
Argentinian film-makers have condemned the confusion that has reigned since their country's economic collapse and which has brought the local film industry to a standstill.At a meeting held yesterday (Jan 30) during the Rotterdam Film Festival, directors including Lucretia Martel, Ulises Rosell, Hernan Musaluppi and Alvaro Urtizberea protested against the ...
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IFC takes US rights on Lost In La Mancha
IFC Entertainment has bought North and South American rights to Berlin Panorama film Lost In La Mancha: The Un-Making of Don Quixote.Lost In La Mancha is a feature length documentary about the preparations for and dramatic halting of Terry Gilliam film Don Quixote. It is made by Keith Fulton ...