Small MPU – Page 1004
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White Lightnin' earns Berlinale Panorama spot
Dominic Murphy's Sundance-bound directorial debut White Lightnin' is among the first titles to win a place in the 2009 Panorama section at Berlin.The story of Appalachian mountain dancer Jesco White, starring Carrie Fisher, newcomer Edward Hogg and Muse Watson earned its place following the Berlinale's December screenings.Mike Downey, who produced ...
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Fox rules planet with $39m launch for Day The Earth Stood Still
Keanu Reeves returned with his first number one hit in five years as Fox International's The Day The Earth Stood Still dominated the overseas box office with a $39m estimated haul.Playing in approximately 7,700 screens in 90 day-and-date date markets, the sci-fi remake opened top in 53 markets including the ...
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AFI's annual top ten includes Button, Dark Knight, Frost/Nixon
The American Film Institute (AFI) announced its top ten films of the year at the weekend, ahead of the awards ceremony in Los Angeles on January 9.The AFI movie of the year in alphabetical order are: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, The Dark Knight, Frost/Nixon, Frozen River, Gran Torino, ...
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Bob Yari's US distribution division files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Bob Yari has announced that Yari Film Group's releasing division has been compelled by court order to go into involuntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy, effective immediately.It is understood the move followed legal action by four creditors. Yari called the events a 'perfect storm' of tightening credit markets and the Axium bankruptcy, ...
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Smithies confirmed as Cinemedia CEO
Victoria's state government agency Cinemedia, based in Melbourne, has finally confirmed that John Smithies has signed a 12-month contract as CEO. The former deputy director had been acting in this crucial role since Jenifer Hooks left the post in February this year. Smithies has the twin challenges of responding to ...
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Chris Weitz takes on directing reins for Twilight sequel New Moon
Summit Entertainment has confirmed rumours that Chris Weitz will direct Twilight sequel New Moon after the smash vampire romance's original director Catherine Hardwicke pulled out.Weitz previously directed the drama About A Boy and the fantasy adventure The Golden Compass, a project he initially departed in 2005 because he felt the ...
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Graham King's GK Films acquires rights to life story of John Martorano
Graham King's GK Films has acquired feature rights to the true-life story of former mobster John Martorano, who was released from prison in 2007 after serving 14 years for murder.King, who recently completed shooting the thriller Edge Of Darkness starring Mel Gibson on location in Massachusetts, will produce the feature. ...
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Day The Earth Stood Still also reigns in North America with $31m
Twentieth Century Fox's sci-fi remake The Day The Earth Stood Still stormed to the top of the charts on an estimated $31m at the weekend to give Keanu Reeves his first number one launch since The Matrix Revolutions five years ago.Reeves stars as an alien who comes to Earth to ...
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Promotions at BBC Films for Jane Wright and Isabel Begg
Jane Wright, commercial affairs and general manager for BBC Films, is to take a fully editorial role and become general manager and executive producer of BBC Films with immediate effect. Wright, will continue to chair the BBC Films editorial board and oversee the marketing activity within BBC Films, but will ...
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Rotterdam festival announces jury and competition selections
The Rotterdam film festival has announced jury members jury and competition selections for the VPRO Tiger Awards. Three winners will be chosen from fifteen features by a jury that comprises: the artist Marlene Dumas; the Turkish film maker Yesim Ustaoglu; the Hungarian film maker Kornel Mundruczo; and Park Ki-Yong, filmmaker ...
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Paramount and Sony take film marketing to virtual communities to new level
Paramount Pictures International (PPI) and Sony Computing Entertainment Europe (SCEE) have teamed up to take film marketing within virtual communities to the next level on director Zack Snyder's forthcoming Watchmen.Watchmen, set for March 6 release in the UK next year, will be the first movie to be marketed within PlayStation ...
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Spain 's Iciar Bollain to shoot Agua in Bolivia
Multi award winning Spanish actress and director Iciar Bollain is in pre-production on a new drama Agua about theforced privatisation ofBolivia's leading public water companies in 2000.The $10mfilmis based on a script written by Paul Laverty (The Wind That Shakes The Barley) and is set to shoot in Mexico and ...
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Oliver Berben new managing director of Constantin Film Produktion
Oliver Berben has been appointed as the managing director of Constantin Film's production arm Constantin Film Produktion from January 1, 2009.Berben has been brought in to take over the management of the production arm under former managing director Martin Moszkowicz, who will now head up this division.Both moves are the ...
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Canadian producer Stephen J Roth dies at the age of 67
Stephen J. Roth, a Toronto-based film and television producer, died on Friday, December 12. He was 67.Roth, a lawyer by training, was a founder along with Robert Lantos and Victor Loewy of RSL Productions, the company that launched Lantos’ career in the Canadian film industry. Roth’s name was behind a ...
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ScreenCorp, Unity set sail with Batavia
Sydney-based Screen Corporation Ltd (ScreenCorp) is partnering with Michael Cerenzie's LA-based company Unity Productions for its first project, titled Batavia. The bloodthirsty epic adventure is based on the real events that occurred after the sinking of the Dutch United East India Company ship of the same name off the coast ...
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Tengri - Blue Heavens wins best film, director at The WIFTS
Marie-Jaoui de Poncheville's Kyrgyzstan-set drama Tengri - Blue Heavens was named best film and Poncheville was named best director at the inaugural Women's International Film & Television Showcase (The WIFTS) in Los Angeles.The event was created to bring together woman from all walks of life through the art of film. ...
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Gumpert promoted to president of department at Columbia Pictures
Andrew Gumpert has been promoted to president of business affairs and administration for Columbia Pictures.Gumpert will work closely with Columbia presidents Matt Tolmach and Doug Belgrad and will not only oversee deal negotiations and administration for the studio but will be integrally involved in the budgeting and financing aspects of ...
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Sundance Institute selects 12 projects for annual Screenwriters Lab
Sundance Institute has selected 12 projects for the annual January Screenwriters Lab to be held from January 9-14.The five-day writer's workshop is designed to give independent screenwriters the chance to work intensively on their feature scripts with the support of established writers.The projects selected for the 2009 January Screenwriters Lab ...
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DreamWorks' I Love You, Man to open SXSW on March 13
The world premiere of DreamWorks' comedy I Love You, Man starring Jason Segel and Paul Rudd will open the 2009 South By SouthWest Film Festival on March 13.Rudd plays a friendless real estate agent who embarks on a series of 'man dates' to find a best man for his upcoming ...