Small MPU – Page 272
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News
Liberty Media buys European cable crown
Deutsche Telekom AG has signed a contract to sell its six remaining regional cable TV companies to U.S.-based cable group Liberty Media for Euros 5.5bn according to Reuters. The sale forms part of Deutsche Telekom's efforts to reduce its debt mountain of Euros 65.5bn and will make Liberty Europe's largest ...
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News
Venice plays host to the critics
After the recent public dissent by members of the jury at Locarno, first time director Irene Bignardi must have been feeling a little let down. But the feeling is well known even for more experienced selectors, such as Venice's Alberto Barbera.Even before the festival opened, Venice had got a mauling ...
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News
Rock Star
Dir Stephen Herek. US 2001. 107 minutes Fortunately for Mark Wahlberg, Rock Star is being released close enough to the ill-fated Planet Of The Apes to erase the memory of that disastrous film from viewers' minds. Shedding his bulky astronaut suit for form-fitting leather pants, he plays a wannabe rock ...
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News
Fox, Disney team for rival internet movie service
Just two weeks after five major Hollywood studios announced a joint venture on-demand movie service for internet users, the remaining two - Walt Disney Studios and 20th Century Fox have launched their own service. Entitled Movies.com, it will provide movies and other entertainment content on demand to consumers in the ...
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News
MDP reports 45% increase in net income
LA independent sales and financing outfit MDP Worldwide Entertainment has reported its financial results for the third quarter ended June 30, 2001, and the first three quarters of the fiscal year. The company trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange.Those results show a 45% increase in net income of C$837,000 ($553,000) ...
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News
Chicago has cream of world cinema at Oct fest
The Chicago International Film Festival has unveiled 18 films which will screen in its next event (Oct 4-18) including some of the most acclaimed international titles from this year's festival circuit.Already lined up for Chicago are Nanni Moretti's Cannes Palme d'Or winner The Son's Room, Danis Tanovic's award-winning Bosnian drama ...
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News
Erik Lomis named president of MGM Distribution Co
Erik Lomis has been named president of MGM Distribution Co, the distribution arm of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Studios. He will report to Bob Levin, president of worldwide theatrical marketing and distribution.Lomis, who was previously executive vice president, will continue to be responsible for the sales and distribution of the company's theatrical ...
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News
Karlin & Green buy, remold Bjorck consultancy
International sales veterans Penny Karlin and Kelly Green have acquired Bjorck Film Corporation, the distribution consultancy founded by Lennart Bjorck in 1977 and renamed it Karlin-Green Media. Bjorck will remain with the company as a consultant.Karlin, who joined Bjorck in 1996 as president, and Green, who has been with the ...
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News
Gitai's Kedma may receive first Israeli funding
Israeli film-maker Amos Gitai is turning to French and Italian finance once again for his next film, Kedma. But he also hopes that the new picture will become the first of his oeuvre to gain official funding from his native Israel.After TF1 and Les Films Balenciaga produced his Venice competition ...
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News
Chartier, Shapiro form sales & financing co
International sales executives Nicolas Chartier and Dean Shapiro have teamed up to found Vortex Pictures, a new financing and foreign sales outfit based in Santa Monica which already has three films on its books from Los Angeles production outfit Gold Circle Films.Chartier, who was formerly vice president of sales and ...
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News
Toronto delivers best of the fests
Last year's 25th anniversary smash was such a success, it is hard to imagine how Toronto would keep up the intensity for so under-whelming a figure as 26. And yet far from an anti-climax, Toronto 2001 already has a buzz about it; albeit not one that will necessarily ...
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News
Monte Carlo launches comedy film festival
Undaunted by the closure of its TV market, Monte Carlo is to launch its first ever film festival. The first edition, dedicated entirely to comedies, will run from November 19-24, 2001.The festival is the brainchild of Ezio Greggio, impressario and head of event organiser WTT Company. While it has yet ...
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News
Pearl Harbor takes international box office crown
Critically mauled World War II epic Pearl Harbor, the latest from producer Jerry Bruckheimer, had the last laugh when it crossed $430m in worldwide box office gross to win the summer blockbuster war and claim the title of most successful film worldwide for 2001 so far.As US Labor Day weekend, ...
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News
French TPS and CanalSatellite merger mooted
Following the resignation of TF1's chairman Patrick Le Lay from his position as chairman of French digital satellite service TPS, a potential merger or at least an alliance between TPS and Canal Plus-rival service CanalSatellite no longer seems so far-fetched.Most observers see Le Lay's departure from TPS - where he ...
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Reviews
L.I.E.
Dir Michael Cuesta. US2001. 97minutes One of the most powerful films to hit movie screens this year, L.I.E. (short for Long Island Expressway) is sure to generate controversy and spark heated debate wherever it plays. Slapped with an NC-17 rating, it is a coming-of-age drama about a troubled 15-year old ...
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News
Berlin Film Festival selects Screen International
Screen International is proud to announce that it has been selected to publish the exclusive festival dailies at the forthcoming Berlin film festival (Berlinale) in February 2002. Festival director Dieter Kosslick said: "For me it is the first time that I am organising the Berlinale and it is the first ...
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News
Miramax grabs Warrior, Paramount loves Triumph
Attesting to the slow pace of deal-making at the festival, Miramax made the highest profile acquisition during Venice, with a film that is not even screening at the event. And Paramount Classics grabbed competition film The Triumph Of Love.Miramax nabbed large chunks of international rights to Himalayan adventure picture, The ...
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News
Poland anticipates record year at the box office
The Polish cinema industry is staging a vigorous come-back after disastrous results in 2000, that saw admissions and box office plummet by 29.8%. Three Polish films have already topped the national box office chart this year, and three forthcoming local titles are expected to boost the territory's box office to ...
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News
Jeremy Thomas and Grosvenor Park go to court
A battle between veteran UK producer Jeremy Thomas and Grosvenor Park, one of the leading corporate players in the upstart UK tax-financing sector, is set to spill over into court.The dispute between Thomas and the UK tax-financing operation headed by Don Starr is to go to court in December, marking ...
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News
Bollywood hopeful to get unprecedented release
India may have delivered yet another in a growing trend of critical and commercial hits with Asoka, the latest Bollywood film to break onto the festival circuit. Even before the Santosh Sivan-directed epic had its world premiere in Venice, it was gaining commercial momentum in one of its key markets. ...