![The Brightest SunScreen[Courtesy HKIFF]](https://d1nslcd7m2225b.cloudfront.net/Pictures/274x183/3/5/0/1448350_thebrightestsunscreencourtesyhkiff_312678.jpg)
Small MPU – Page 1515
-
News
Alcon buys Pemberton script
Alcon Entertainment, theWarner-based production outfit behind Insomnia and The Affair Of The Necklace, has purchased the comedy spec script The WholePemberton Thing written byfirst-time screenwriter Mike Samonek. The story deals with the volatile relationshipbetween a young executive and his Machiavellian, oddball office mate.Samonek has simultaneouslysigned a first-look deal with Alcon ...
-
News
Cinesite (Europe) wins Tomb Raider 2 effects deal
London-based Cinesite(Europe) Ltd has won a contract for a portion of the visual effects for TombRaider 2 with Paramount Pictures.The company, which worked on Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, will produce some 3-D animation sequences whichconstitute a large portion of the total visual effects shots in the film whichwill again star ...
-
News
Rudolph's Dentists go to Manhattan
Manhattan PicturesInternational, the New York-based US independent which bought domestic rightsto Michael Apted's Enigmaand Jean-Luc Godard's In Praise Of Love, has resurfaced, taking all North American rights toAlan Rudolph's Toronto festival hit The Secret Lives Of Dentists. The deal was closed by ShaunRedick of ICM and attorney Andrew P Hurwitz ...
-
News
Palm scores new funding from Colombian media giant
Chris Blackwell's PalmPictures has secured a new round of funding anchored by a"significant" investment from Latin America's Grupo SantoDomingo and also including additional funding from long-time Palm Picturesinvestor Avalon Capital Group. Grupo Santo Domingo is adiversified Latin American company with assets in broadcast television, radioand print media; Avalon is the ...
-
News
Hometown films fall under London festival spotlight
Two British films will book-end the forthcoming edition of the Regus London Film Festival (RLFF) (Nov 6-21). Stephen Frears' provocative Dirty Pretty Things, which appeared in competition at Venice, is set as the festival's opening night film, while Thaddeus O'Sullivan's Helena Bonham-Carter starring The Heart Of Me will get its ...
-
News
Vivendi Universal buys time with loan lifeline
Financial pressure on Vivendi Universal, the group that controls Universal Pictures, Canal Plus and StudioCanal, is set to ease following a new agreement with banks and progress on asset sales.The group has brokered a new Euros3bn medium term credit line from a consortium including ABN Amro, BNP Paribas, CDC Ixis, ...
-
News
Australia's Beyond blames losses on revaluation of film catalogue
Beyond International managing director Mikael Borglund has played down the company's US$12m (A$22m) loss for the year ending June 30, saying it was principally due to a $10.7m revaluation of non-performing films and television programs from the catalogue. Total writedowns were actually $12.6m with the addition of online investments and ...
-
News
Endemol acquires hit-making Spanish TV production outfit
Endemol Entertainment has bought out 100% of Barcelona TV production outfit Gestmusic Endemol.Endemol, itself 100% owned by Spanish telecoms company Telefonica, originally bought into the producer in 1994 and owned 60% prior to the latest move. Gestmusic founders Tony Cruz and Jose Maria Mainat will stay on as co-executive directors ...
-
News
Northbeach launches into Australian distribution market
Yet another player has joined the growing band of small Australian distributors specialising in independent and foreign films. Northbeach Film Distributors, owned by journalist and publisher David Pearce, is planning a limited release of Spanish director Ventura Pons' first English language film Food Of Love, a comedy drama starring five ...
-
News
Brazil's Rio festival to showcase 400 films
Brazil's most prominent film event, the Festival do Rio BR, will showcase up to 400 films in more than seventeen sidebars. Running from September 26 to October 10, the festival will include the latest works by internationally renowned directors led by Woody Allen, Pedro Almodovar, Arturo Ripstein, Atom Egoyan and ...
-
News
Oscar hopefuls hit language barrier
Qualifying for the foreign language Oscars has long been the source of some confusion, but this year the imbroglio of the world's most important film trophy is boiling over into resentment. The Oscar for most angry country goes to Sweden, which argues that the criterion of language ghettoises national cinemas. ...
-
News
London Screenings 'confident' buyers will come
Far from being dead, London's pre-Mifed film market is attracting increased interest from buyers. That is the verdict of londonscreenings.com, a buyers' rep acting for the London Screenings (the market organised by Fusion Events), the Raindance independent film festival and the Kodak Vision Screenings. "We remain convinced the market will ...
-
News
Morvern Callar leads British Independent Film Awards nominations
The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) announced the nominations for its fifth annual awards on Wednesday.Over 100 films were viewed by the pre-selection committee, with the front-runners emerging as Morvern Callar with seven nominations, Bloody Sunday (five nominations) and The Lawless Heart (five nominations). All three were nominated in the ...
-
News
Valladolid festival unveils latest competition titles
Ken Loach's Sweet Sixteen, Walter Doehner's The Blue Room (La Habitacion Azul), Diego Arsuaga's The Last Train (El Ultimo Tren) and Eduard Cortes's Nobody's Life (La Vida De Nadie) are among the titles set to compete in Spain's forthcoming Valladolid International Film Week (Oct 25-Nov 2).The festival traditionally announces the ...
-
News
San Sebastian festival kicks off with The Good Thief
Spain's San Sebastian International Film Festival (Sept 19-28) kicks off what promises to be a star-studded 50th anniversary edition today with screenings of Official Section inaugural film The Good Thief and sidebar Zabaltegi opening title The Dancer Upstairs.Good Thief director Neil Jordan and co-star Tcheki Karyo will offer a press ...
-
Reviews
Callas Forever
Dir: Franco Zeffirelli. It-UK-Fr-Sp-Rom. 2002. 103 mins.Whether Franco Zeffirelli's biopic of opera star Maria Callas satisfies its audience will largely depend on demographics. Like its director, this is a film of the old school that will appeal to an older generation of music lovers and occasional cinemagoers, who do not ...
-
News
Sogepaq restructures distribution team
Spanish distribution house Sogepaq has restructured its executive staff following the July departure of former head of international sales Eva Diederix, now with UGC in France.Simon de Santiago has been appointed deputy director of distribution for Sogepaq and sister production company Sogecine. Previously head of Canal Plus Guiones, a script ...
-
News
Wellspring acquires two for US from Celluloid Dreams
Wellspring Media has picked up US rights to two European films - Alexander Sokurov's acclaimed Cannes title Russian Ark and Bille Eltringham's UK DV thriller This Is Not A Love Song. Both films were sold by Paris-based sales outfit Celluloid Dreams. Russian Ark is slated for a release before the ...
-
News
Moonstone sells Chen Kaige's Together to five territories
Etchie Stroh's Moonstone Entertainment has closed a slew of deals on Chen Kaige's latest film Together which world premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last week and was swiftly sold to United Artists for North America.Momentum Pictures bought the film for the UK, A-Film for Benelux, Vertigo for Spain, ...