Small MPU – Page 1196
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Reviews
The Barbarian Invasions (Les Invasions Barbares)
Dir. Denys Arcand. Canada-France. 2003. 111mins.On paper, The Barbarian Invasions is a conventional drama about a dying man's reconciliation with his son and his acceptance of impending non-existence. In the hands of writer-director Denys Arcand, the result is an intensely personal exploration of life as a fifty-something Quebecois intellectual.. Ostensibly ...
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News
Muccino, Ozpetek lead Nastri D'Argento nominations
In what is shaping up to be a landmark year for Italian cinema, red hot local directors Gabriele Muccino and Ferzan Ozpetek have earned nine nominations each at the Nastri D'Argento, Italy's second highest film accolade. Hot on the heels of Muccino's ensemble bittersweet drama, Remember Me, and Ozpetek's Facing ...
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Reviews
Present Perfect (Passato Prossimo)
Dir: Maria Sole Tognazzi. Italy. 2003. 89minsFive friends meet up in a country house somewhere outside Rome over a long winter weekend. Each has unresolved relationship problems, some have problems with each other, and memories of other weekends in the same house hang in the air like distorting mirrors. More ...
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Reviews
Down With Love
Dir: Peyton Reed. US. 2003. 96minsDesigned as an affectionate send-up of the Doris Day-Rock Hudson romantic comedies of the early 1960s, the campy and colorful Down With Love a cinematic souffle that never fully rises. Fox is boldly opening the film in the US on May 16, as counter-programming to ...
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News
Back to school: new releases can't touch X2
Despite four new entries hitting the UK top ten this week none were able to come close to 20th Century Fox's X-Men sequel, X2. With a vast lead the comic-book title took $4.9m (£3.1m) in its second weekend, a 48% drop from its opening.X2 has already grossed $21.7m (£13.5m) in ...
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News
Young Hannibal Lecter joins Dino-sized slate
The grandfather of international sales Dino De Laurentiis arrives in Cannes next Tuesday (May 19) with seven major territories to sell on his $150m Alexander The Great epic as well as a brand new Hannibal Lecter project currently being plotted by Lecter's creator Thomas Harris.The Lecter Variation, which is being ...
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News
Relph takes BAFTA chair as membership surges
UK producer Simon Relph is replacing Tim Angel as chairman of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).Relph will take up the position on July 1. Angel has been chairman for three years after the traditional two-year post was renewed for an additional year.Relph assumes chairmanship as BAFTA ...
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News
Filmmakers unite to form sales agency
A band of festival-calibre filmmakers and producers are seeking a radical overhaul of the film sales business through a new agency that has secured financing for the initial year from the International Filmmakers Collective based in the UK and Monaco. Buena Onda Films was formally established last month as a ...
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News
Vapor rises with Bullock, Feinnes
Buyers are abuzz at the casting attachments of Sandra Bullock and Ralph Fiennes to Renaissance Films' romantic fable Vapor which has been written and will be directed by Neil LaBute. Set to start production in the second half of the year, the film is the story of a struggling actress ...
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News
HanWay adds Binoche, Fishburne thriller to Cannes slate
UK-based sales company HanWay has added thriller Scheherazade, starring Juliette Binoche and Laurence Fishburne, to its busy Cannes slate.Director Michael Apted, whose credits include Enigma and The World Is Not Enough, is to start shooting the thriller in the autumn, according to buyers. The film, named after the king's wife ...
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News
Senator closes Grudge sales
Senator International has closed a slew of deals leading into Cannes on The Grudge, the English-language remake of the hit Japanese film Ju-on. The film has been sold to Nippon Herald for Japan, Planeta for Spain, I Vision for South Korea and A Film for Benelux.Takashi Shimizu, who directed the ...
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News
Shochiku flies with Scorsese's Aviator
Japan's Shockiku has stepped in as the first distributor to buy Martin Scorsese's The Aviator from Graham King's Initial Entertainment Group (IEG). IEG is producing as well as handling international sales on the film which is set to star Leonardo DiCaprio and Barry Pepper. Nicole Kidman, who was attached to ...
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News
Shochiku flies with Scorsese's Aviator
Japan's Shochiku has stepped in as the first distributor to buy Martin Scorsese's The Aviator from Graham King's Initial Entertainment Group (IEG). IEG is producing as well as handling international sales on the film which is set to star Leonardo DiCaprio and Barry Pepper. Nicole Kidman, who was attached to ...
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Reviews
Fanfan La Tulipe
Dir. Gerard Krawczyk. France. 2003. 100mins.Supposedly a fluffy piece of entertainment to kick off Cannes' 56th festival in style, Gerard Krawczyk's remake of the swashbuckler classic - which won Christian-Jaque the best director award in 1952 - is a pretty plodding and charmless experience that works too hard but not ...
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News
Brideshead Revisited to be revisited
Warner Bros has finalised a deal to develop and produce Ecosse Films' feature adaptation of Brideshead Revisited, the celebrated Evelyn Waugh novel which the hit TV series turned into the quintessential British heritage production.Writer Andrew Davies said he has a "darker", "more heterosexual" take on Waugh's novel than Granada's series, ...
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News
Idle spoofs Merchant Ivory with Remains Of The Piano
The prolific Stratus Film Co is to fully finance Remains Of The Piano, a spoof of Merchant Ivory costume dramas which has been written and will be directed by Eric Idle, his first film as director since The Ruttles in 1978. Capitol Films is selling the film in Cannes, with ...
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News
Genies grant Sunshine box office boost
Genie awards publicity translated into a box office boom for Istvan Szabo's Sunshine last weekend, as the film notched up its strongest sales to date since its release in Canada on December 16.Earning an impressive C$85,000 ($59,000) on 42 screens across Canada for the weekend Feb 4-6, the film now ...
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News
Roeg, Shivas return to witchcraft
UK auteur Nicolas Roeg and producer Mark Shivas are to return to the sorcery and children brew of their 1990 Roald Dahl adaptation, The Witches.Shivas is in Cannes this week to meet with potential partners for Rock Concert, a tentatively titled contemporary take on the Orpheus and Eurydice myth in ...
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News
Distant Horizon buys remake rights to two Asian pictures
South African studio group Distant Horizon has picked up remake rights to two Asian pictures, adding to its stable of international properties in development.From Hong Kong's China Star Entertainment it has picked up rights to My Father Is A Hero, a political-action picture directed in 1995 by Corey Yuen and ...
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News
Buyers on the road to Von Trier's Manderlay
Israel's Shani Films, Switzerland's Monopole Pathe and Taiwan's Crown Films have been the first to sign on for Manderlay, Lars von Trier's next project as director after Cannes competition contender Dogville. It will most likely also star Nicole Kidman. Manderlay is the second instalment in the Danish maverick's new trilogy ...