Small MPU – Page 245
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News
Russia blocks foreign ownership of state TV
The lower house of the Russian Parliament has passed a bill preventing foreigners from owning a controlling interest in its national television service.The State Duma approved the bill by a 343-37 vote. To become law it requires further approval by the upper house, the Federation Council as well as President ...
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News
Toho announces production of Seoul
Toho has announced the production of Seoul, a Japan-Korea co-production with all-Korean locations and a budget of one billion yen ($8.1 million) -- nearly double the budgets of the Korean mega-hits Shiri and JSA. The film, which starts production on July 20, stars Japanese TV heartthrob Tomoya Nagase and Korean ...
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News
Seven Network partners with magazine group
Australia's Seven Network has announced it is to spend $33m (A$65m) to take a 50% interest in PMP Limited's many magazine businesses, which include the titles New Idea, TV Week, That's Life and Home Beautiful. The deal also includes the magazine distribution company Gordon and Gotch and an option for ...
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News
Shooting Gallery parent under siege
Following the closure of it New York production and distribution house The Shooting Gallery, parent company itemus is now facing several law suitsOn July 2, several former Shooting Gallery executives filed suit in New York against both parent and subsidiary alleging a string of financial irregularities including fraud and misuse ...
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News
Eurimages supports 14 European co-productions
At its 73rd meeting, the Council of Europe Eurimages Fund Board of Management agreed to support 14 feature films for a total amount of Euros 4,665,000.The feature films are :Scheme 1 - Assistance awarded mainly on the basis of the project'scirculation potentialAfrodita, el sabor del amor - Fernando Pino ...
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Reviews
Final Fantasy
Dir: Hironobu Sakaguchi. US. 2001. 105 mins.If Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within were a live action film, it would probably suffer the same box office fate as Soldier, Event Horizon, Supernova, Alien: Resurrection, Escape From LA and other gloomy futuristic sci-fi epics of late. It even bears striking tonal similarities ...
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News
Edinburgh announces 2001 festival line-up
The 55thEdinburgh International Film Festival, the last under the tenure of departingfestival director Lizzie Francke, will once again have a strong British showingwith world premieres for Udayan Prasad's Gabriel And Me written by Billy Elliot's Lee Hall, as well as for Film Four's TheWarrior and twodigitally-shot BBC features directed by ...
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News
Telenor buys Canal Plus nordic pay-TV interests
Norwegian telecommunications giant Telenor has taken outright control of loss-making Nordic pay-TV operator Canal Digital.It did so by buying out the 50 % stake in the joint venture held by Vivendi Universal's TV and film division Canal Plus. It is paying Euros 300m, of which Euros63m is deferred.The two companies, ...
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News
Christoph Ott to release VCL's Scorpion in Germany
Ahead of VCL Film + Medien's shareholders meeting on July 11 in Munich, Screendaily has learnt that the German media concern will have the local theatrical release of its films handled by the new distribution company being launched by former Senator Entertainment executive Christoph Ott.VCL's Manfred Wenzel confirmed to Screendaily ...
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News
Highlight Communications seeks Neuer Markt exit
Swiss media concern Highlight Communications is considering withdrawing from the Neuer Markt following measures by the German Stock Exchange (Deutsche Boerse) to tighten up procedures and flush out so-called "pennystocks", i.e. shares trading under Euro 1.According to a survey by Financial Times Deutschland (FTD), seven companies, including Highlight - whose ...
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News
For Sale: Balkan Hollywood
The Bulgarian government has approved a privatisation strategy for local production outfit, Boyana Film. The film-maker, as one of the country's top six companies, is being used to spearhead moves by the Centre for Mass Privatisation (CMP), to float businesses on the Bulgarian Stock Exchange (BBE).According to the strategy, the ...
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News
Korean films leap 14% at local box office
During the first six months of 2001, Korean films have carved out a 39% share of their domestic market a spectacular leap of 14% compared with the same period last year.According to figures published by the Korean Film Commission (KOFIC) and film data company IPictures, a total of 13.6 million ...
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News
Galfin joins Alquimia on Callas Forever
Olivier Granier from France's Galfin has joined Spain's Alquimia as a co-producer of Franco Zeffirelli's upcoming drama Callas Forever. Fanny Ardant stars in the film which focuses on the last few months of the opera diva's life. Other cast members include Spanish actors Angela Molina, Manuel de Blas and the ...
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News
Ghent festival new dates don't reach summit
The Flanders International Film Festival - Ghent has been re-scheduled to run from 8-18 October, owing to fears that a clash of dates with an EU summit in the city may cause access problems. An informal EU summit of government leaders is to be held on 19 October in the ...
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News
SightSound cuts staff by two-thirds
US internet movie distributor SightSound has laid off 18 of its 30 employees - the victim, it claims, of the go-slow attitude toward web-based commerce amongst its prospective content suppliers in the film and music business. SightSound offers downloads of film, television and music content via the web and has ...
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News
Chen Kaige to direct big-budget Korean epic
Chinese director Chen Kaige has signed on to direct a $6.2m Korean film as his next project.The film, a period piece set on the Korean Peninsula during the era of the three kingdoms (200-660 AD), was reportedly conceived by Chen together with Lee Joo-ik, president of Korean production company Big ...
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News
Amelie resists the US blockbuster onslaught
It comes as no surprise that it's the studio blockbusters that are dominating the international box office during the summer season with Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Shrek and Pearl Harbor fairly evenly carving up the international territories. All three claimed number one spots in new countries at the weekend, looking ...
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News
European sales outfits protest MIFED price hikes
A number of European sales companies have protested to the organisers of the MIFED film market about price hikes being forced on exhibitors for this year's Milan event (Oct 28-Nov 1).Outfits known to have written letters of complaint include France's Wild Bunch, Germany's Atlas International and ADEF, the French association ...
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News
Germany's oldest distributor folds into Kinowelt
Kinowelt's process of restructuring continues apace with news that Germany's oldest film distributor Jugendfilm will be finally wound up and its new releases and 200-plus title library administered centrally by Kinowelt's theatrical arm Kinowelt Filmverleih.Founded in 1934 by Willy Wohlrabe, the family concern of Jugendfilm had been a key player ...
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News
TEAM teams with France's TII and GTV
TEAM Entertainment, the US-German production and sales group, is to partner with France's Tele Images International and GTV to produce English-language TV movies and mini-series.The deal sees TEAM share development and co-production costs with its French partners. Sales will then be shared out by the three companies according to territory. ...