Small MPU – Page 250

  • Reviews

    The Fast Runner

    2001-07-20T16:03:00Z

    Dir: Zacharias Kunuk. Canada. 2000. 167 mins. Of all the esoterica on show in Cannes this year, The Fast Runner, a nearly three-hour epic in Inuit (it claims to be the first feature ever written in this language) based on a 1000 year old Eskimo legend, must take ...

  • News

    Last Wedding to open Toronto festival

    2001-07-20T16:42:00Z

    Canadian filmmaker Bruce Sweeney's Last Wedding will open the 26th Toronto International Film Festival, making its world premiere on September 6. Described as a "human drama", it features Benjamin Ratner, Frida Betrani, Tom Scholte, Nancy Sivak, Vincent Gale and Molly Parker. Sweeney, whose feature Live Bait was voted best Canadian ...

  • News

    3i buys into Civilian Content

    2001-07-20T16:47:00Z

    3i, the British venture capitalist group which recently helped underwrite the merger of Pinewood and Shepperton Studios, has taken a 4.45% stake in Civilian Content, parent of National Lottery franchise the Film Consortium.The company bought 1.8 million shares from a private shareholder, meaning financial institutions hold more than 30% of ...

  • News

    German comedy smashes local box office record

    2001-07-20T17:07:00Z

    Just as Jurassic Park III was creating a stir with its opening day ticket sales in the US, a local German film has smashed box office records with its first day's admissions.Der Schuh Des Manitu, a western parody by alternative German comedian Michael "Bully" Herbig. attracted 203,000 admissions on Thursday ...

  • News

    Kinowelt Int'l chief quits as redundancies loom

    2001-07-20T17:30:00Z

    Alexander van Duelmen, managing director of Kinowelt International, a subsidiary of beleaguered German media concern, Kinowelt Medien, has quit his post suddenly, "by mutual agreement and with immediate effect". Further staff reorganisation is expected to follow shortly.Van Duelmen had been responsible for masterminding Kinowelt's overseas growth through international partnerships with ...

  • News

    The Price Of Milk scoops top Fantastic award

    2001-07-20T18:11:00Z

    Prizes were widely spread on the closing night of the Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival (PiFan). The big winner on the night was Harry Sinclair's New Zealand film The Price Of Milk which scooped the Best of Puchon award.The international jury gave a special prize to Wisit Sasanitieng's Thai film ...

  • News

    Charlotte Arnold leaves Intermedia for Summit

    2001-07-23T04:56:00Z

    Charlotte Arnold has left Intermedia to join Summit Entertainment as vice president of international sales. She will be based in Summit's London office and report to David Garrett, executive vice president and head of Summit London, and Patrick Wachsberger, LA-based president and CEO.While at Intermedia, Arnold oversaw the theatrical sales ...

  • Reviews

    Ghost World

    2001-07-23T05:10:00Z

    Dir: Terry Zwigoff. US.2001. 111 min.Documentarian Terry Zwigoff,who directed the superlative Crumb,a highlight of American documentary cinema of the past decade, makes a roughtransition into feature filmmaking with Ghost World, yet another tale of how the mediocrity of Americansuburbanism can almost suffocate the individuality of its few, truly creativedenizens. Based ...

  • News

    C4 chief Jackson joins Diller after long courtship

    2001-07-23T17:25:00Z

    Barry Diller spent a whole year trying to persuade Michael Jackson to quit Channel 4 before finally succeeding yesterday in luring the British TV boss across the Atlantic to run his cable channels, TV production arm and USA Films from both New York and Los Angeles. After entering serious talks ...

  • News

    Vivendi Universal reports robust first half

    2001-07-23T18:04:00Z

    Vivendi Universal differentiated itself from rival media conglomerate AOL Time Warner when it today announced first half results that were better than expectations.Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) were up 53% to $1.19bn (Euros1.37bn) on sales up 14% at of Euros6.59bn. Its shares bounced Euros2.5 to Euros66.15. Last ...

  • News

    Germany maintains investment in exhibition sector

    2001-07-23T19:13:00Z

    The German exhibition sector has been maintaining a high level of investment in the national cinema infrastructure, despite widespread caution that cinema construction is outstripping the growth in admissions across many European territories.During last year, Germany's exhibitors invested more than $355m (DM 800m) in building 448 new cinema screens. (compared ...

  • News

    Local comedy is Korea's biggest summer hit

    2001-07-23T19:19:00Z

    Local Korean comedy Kick The Moon has passed Pearl Harbor's $12.1m and The Mummy Returns' $11.5m to become this summer's biggest box-office hit, and the second-highest grossing film of the year after the smash hit Friend. As of July 22 the film had attracted over 3.1 million admissions nationwide ...

  • News

    South India's 'Marlon Brando' dies

    2001-07-23T19:22:00Z

    Legendary Tamil film star Villupuram Chinnaiah Pillai "Sivaji" Ganesan, dubbed the Marlon Brando of south Indian cinema, died on 21 July aged 74, after a brief illness.Winner of many awards, including National honors: the Padma Shri, the Dadha Saheb Phalke award (the country's highest honour in the entertainment industry) and ...

  • News

    Alliance Atlantis to raise $106m

    2001-07-23T19:26:00Z

    Alliance Atlantis Communications (AAC) is raising money to forward its TV ambitions, announcing plans for a public offering of 8million Class B non-voting shares. Based on the July 19 closing price of $13.30 on the US NASDAQ exchange, a fully-subscribed offering would realise $106m. In a statement AAC said the ...

  • News

    Brazilero to open Athens film festival

    2001-07-23T19:29:00Z

    One of the most eagerly awaited Greek films of the year, Brazilero will open Athens' 7th edition as a world premiere. The quirky comedy with socio-political undertones is directed by Sotiris Goritsas, whose most recent film Balkanizateur was a critical and a box office success for local distributor Rosebud. Patrice ...

  • News

    UK's Pathe goes for Dinner Rush

    2001-07-23T19:31:00Z

    The UK's Pathe Distribution has acquired Dinner Rush from Entertainment Capital Group (ECG).The story about the dramas of New York's hippest Italian eatery has a cast including Danny Aiello, Vivian Wu, Sandra Bernhard and Summer Phoenix. Access Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of ECG, will release the film in the ...

  • News

    Giffoni fetes Jimmy Grimble

    2001-07-23T19:33:00Z

    A jury of international school children presided by Billy Elliott star Jamie Bell has awarded the Giffoni Film Festival's top prize to UK director John Hay's football hopeful movie, There's Only One Jimmy Grimble.The youth-oriented festival, which ran July 14th to July 21st in the small southern town of Giffoni ...

  • News

    Jerusalem votes for Late Marriage

    2001-07-23T19:35:00Z

    Seriously concerned that political tensions might hurt this year's event, Jerusalem festival chief Lia van Leer was relieved to some 7,000 people roar with delight at the opening night, open-air screening of Shrek. Dover Kosashvili's Late Marriage was the main prize winner, taking prizes for Best Israeli Feature Film and ...

  • Reviews

    Dark Blue World

    2001-07-23T23:21:00Z

    Dir: Jan Sverak Czech Republic-UK 115mins.With the WWII aerial drama Dark Blue World, Czech director Jan Sverak has proven his ability to manage both comedy and tragedy on a much larger scale, without losing any of the warmth and emotional depth of his Oscar-winning Kolya. Much of the credit ...

  • News

    Kidman puts pen to paper on Dogville contract

    2001-07-24T04:02:00Z

    Zentropa now claims Nicole Kidman has signed on the dotted line to star in Lars von Trier's Dogville after all - an agreement clearly hastened by noises from the film's producers earlier this week that a new lead was being sought because of the Australian actress' apparent hesitancy to commit.Zentropa ...