Small MPU – Page 229

  • Reviews

    The Black Dahlia

    2006-08-30T23:00:00Z

    Lee Marshall in VeniceDir: Brian De Palma. US.2006. 121mins.A stylish, steamy genre exercise with a solid castand a cluttered storyline, The BlackDahlia matches director Brian De Palma with hard-boiled LA crime writerJames Ellroy with entertaining, if not whollysatisfying, results.Working closely withcinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond,set designer Dante Ferretti and composer Mark Isham, ...

  • News

    Venice opens with more talk of Rome rivalry

    2006-08-31T02:00:00Z

    As the 63rd VeniceFilm Festival opened yesterday with the world premiere of Brian De Palma's TheBlack Dahlia, the rumbling row about what impact the upstart new Rome Festival(due to be held for the first time in October) will have on Venice's long-termfuture showed no sign of dissipating."We are in Venice.Let's ...

  • News

    Burstyn takes the lead in Skogland's Stone Angel

    2006-08-30T00:00:00Z

    Writer-director KariSkogland has begun principal photography on her feature The Stone Angel with Academy Award-winner Ellen Burstyn in the lead.Based on the novel by thelate Margaret Laurence -- a staple of modern Canadian literature - thefilm will be distributed in Canada by Odeon Films with world sales through IACFilm/Sequence Film. ...

  • News

    Welland tackles miners' struggle for Working Title

    2000-06-29T16:27:00Z

    Academy Award-winner Colin Welland has written Tower, a dramatisation of the true story of embattled South Wales miners, for the UK's Working Title Films, Ireland's David P Kelly Productions and director Marc Evans.The feature, budgeted at roughly $10m, follows the 1994 story of the last 239 miners at the last ...

  • News

    Goldwyn, Roadside to handle US on Amazing Grace

    2006-08-30T00:00:00Z

    Samuel Goldwyn Films and Roadside Attractions will jointlydistribute the Toronto International Film Festival's closing night film AmazingGrace in the US.The Bristol Bay Productions' feature is directed by Michael Aptedand stars Ioan Gruffudd as the anti-slavery champion William Wilberforce.The cast includes Romola Garai, Rufus Sewell, BenedictCumberbatch, Youssou N'Dour, Ciaran Hinds, Michael ...

  • News

    Montreal's FNC gets shot in the arm from Langlois

    2006-08-30T00:00:00Z

    Montreal's Festival duNouveau Cinema has signed a ten-year partnership with software magnate DanielLanglois that will cement the festival's place within Langlois' Ex-Centrismedia centre in the city's downtown. Langlois is also forgivingthe FNC's long-term debt and committing to provide a long-term venue forCanada's oldest film festival. The 35th edition of the ...

  • News

    Peter Jackson, Universal to remake Dambusters

    2006-08-31T08:00:00Z

    Peter Jackson and hisWingNut Films have revealed plans to make a new film based on the book TheDam Busters by Paul Brickhill andthe classic 1954 British war film of the same name.Jackson will produce andChristian Rivers, who has worked with Jackson for over 17 years most recentlyas animation director on ...

  • News

    THINKFilm takes on Kasdan's The TV Set

    2006-08-31T00:00:00Z

    THINKFilm has acquired all North American rights to Jake Kasdan'scomedy The TV Set andplans a spring 2007 release.The picture, which premiered at Tribeca this year, centres on thetrials and tribulations of the idealistic writer of a TV pilot. David Duchovny,Sigourney Weaver, Ioan Gruffudd, Justine Bateman and Judy Greer star.Kasdan produced ...

  • News

    Korean-US co-production Never Forever wraps in NYC

    2006-08-31T00:00:00Z

    New York-based Vox3 Films co-founder Andrew Fierberg and LeeJoon-Dong of Now Films have completed principal photography on Gina Kim'sromance Never Forever.Set in New York City, the US-Korean co-production follows theaffair between a Korean immigrant and a frustrated Caucasian housewife. Vera Farmiga, Korean star Ha Jung-Woo, and David McInnis head thecast ...

  • News

    Norway's Bawke wins top prize at Palm Springs ShortFest

    2006-08-31T00:00:00Z

    Hisham Zaman's Norwegian entry Bawke won the 2006 Palm Springs InternationalFestival of Short Films & Short Film Market (ShortFest)'s Best of FestivalAward on Aug 29. In other jury awards, The Best Live Action Under 15 Minutes prizewent to Sophie Barthes' US festival favourite Happiness, while Jens Assur's Swedish picture TheLast ...

  • News

    Korean Screen Quota Action Alliance to hold Venice campaign

    2006-08-31T00:00:00Z

    The Korean Screen QuotaAction Alliance has announced it is holding a campaign at the 63rd Venice FilmFestival, which started yesterday, to protest against the screen quotareduction.Director Ryoo Seung-wan,whose The City Of Violence isscreening out-of-competition at the festival, will spearhead the campaign witha solo protest on Sep 1, with other protests ...

  • News

    TPS and Canal Plus cleared for merger

    2006-08-31T09:45:00Z

    France'sFinance ministry has authorized the merger of rival satellite platforms TPS andCanal Plus, Canal parent company Vivendi said in astatement Thursday morning.The merger between France'sbiggest pay-TV operators will create a new group in which Vivendiwill take an 85% share while TPS owners TF1 and M6 will each get 9.9% and ...

  • News

    Black Dahlia gets enthusiastic response in Venice

    2006-08-31T13:05:00Z

    Brian De Palma's James Ellroy adaptation TheBlack Dahlia yesterday received a mixed but largely enthusiastic receptionas it opened the 63rd Venice Festival yesterday. Maverick crime novelist Ellroy himself - who attended the opening press conferencealongside stars Scarlett Johansson, Josh Hartnett,Aaron Eckhart, Mia Kirchner and director De Palma -was clearly delighted ...

  • News

    Berlin to launch $3.8m fund for regional films

    2006-08-31T13:15:00Z

    The city ofBerlin is to launch a $3.8m (Euros 3m)Bank Fund to support the production and distribution of film productions fromthe region from 2007.Berlin's Governing Mayor Klaus Wowereit announced the new initiative at the beginning ofthis week's Medienforum Berlin-Brandenburg,explaining that the fund would be financed by the city of Berlin ...

  • News

    Oz investors won't let filmmakers wiggle out of it

    2000-06-29T17:31:00Z

    Investors in Australian title The Wiggles Movie are considering taking legal action against production company Gladusaurus Productions, manager Movieco Australia, the promoter, and perhaps the distributor 20th Century Fox, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.The article reports that only about 13% of $964,000 (A$1.6m) in production funding has been returned ...

  • News

    Berlin to launch $3.8m fund for regional films

    2006-08-31T13:15:00Z

    The city ofBerlin is to launch a $3.8m (Euros 3m)Bank Fund to support the production and distribution of film productions fromthe region from 2007.Berlin's Governing Mayor Klaus Wowereit announced the new initiative at the beginning ofthis week's Medienforum Berlin-Brandenburg,explaining that the fund would be financed by the city of Berlin ...

  • News

    Arts Alliance strikes VOD deal with Icon

    2006-08-31T15:39:00Z

    Arts Alliance Media hassigned a three-year deal with Icon Film Distribution for UK downloads-to-rent.The video-on-demand dealwill make the Icon films available through LoveFilmand AOL UK, which is powered by LoveFilm.AAM will have rights to select new and catalogue titles fromIcon, including Match Point, Rock School, Dogville, The Notorious BettiePage and ...

  • News

    Oliver Stone heads to San Sebastian with World Trade Center

    2006-08-31T16:51:00Z

    Oliver Stone, Adam Sandler, Kate Beckinsale andDavid Hasselhoff will be on hand to present theirlatest films in special screenings at the Donostia-SanSebastian International Film Festival (Sept 21-30).The screenings take place inSan Sebastian's impressive 3,000-seat AnoetaVelodrome theatre, celebrating its 20thanniversary this year.Stone, who inaugurated thevenue in 1986 with his film Salvador ...

  • News

    Seung-wan Ryoo stages Korean protest in Venice

    2006-09-01T04:00:00Z

    Another festival, another Korean protest. Following in thefootsteps of Park Chan-Wook, who mounted a one-mandemonstration against the new screen quota laws in Korea during the BerlinFestival, fellow director Seung-wan Ryoo is taking to the streets in Venice.Today(Friday) at 4pm Ryoo will holdplacards denouncing the quota plans and mount a silent ...

  • Reviews

    The US Vs John Lennon

    2006-08-31T00:00:00Z

    MIME-Version: 1.0Content-Location: file:///C:/1E88C64E/johnlennon.htmContent-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printableContent-Type: text/html; charset="us-ascii"Dirs: David Leaf/John Scheinfeld.US. 2006. 99mins.Despite its provocative title, David Leaf and John Sch=einfeld'sdocumentary The US Vs John Lennon isas much a friendly portrait of the late Beatle as political activist as anexpose of early 1970s White House efforts to deport him for that activism. ...