Small MPU – Page 283
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News
Eurimages funds new features from Haneke, Noe, Ceylan
Eurimages, the Council of Europe's film fund, has come on board to support 11 feature films for a total of $6.2m (Euros 4.38m) at its last meeting which ended Oct 16. The co-productions supported are: Aeblet & Ormen by Josef Fares & Anders Morgenthaler (Denmark, Sweden) Appelsinpiken by Eva Dahr ...
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Features
Editorial - Peer pressure
There's an interesting survey out this week that demonstrates how gossip influences human behaviour. Boffins (or possibly eggheads) at the German Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology have spent large amounts of time and public money showing that humans give an extraordinary amount of credence to word-of-mouth references.The methodology involved ...
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News
Pusan cements regional role
As it turned 12 this year, the Pusan International Film Festival (Piff) started to exhibit growing pains. But the burgeoning South Korean festival, with its mandate to discover and support Asian cinema, is still widely recognised as the premiere event in Asia - putting it in the rankings that follow ...
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News
Gems from the festival season: our picks for hot films and talent from the summer and autumn
LOCARNO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVALAudience award winner: Death At A Funeral, Frank Oz's low-budget (for him) farce about dirty doings at an English funeral, had Swiss audiences falling off their seats. International distribution is assured - the film has MGM behind it. Verve will be releasing it on behalf of MGM ...
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News
US icon Phil Donahue moves into film with Body Of War
Phil Donahue is a household name in the US, famous for his eponymous talk show and a TV career that spanned three decades. But that does not mean making his first feature documentary was a piece of cake.'I feel like I'm in a dark hallway, feeling my way around. This ...
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News
Tony Kaye returns with Lake Of Fire and Black Water Transit
Tony Kaye is back. Though he has stayed busy shooting the kind of innovative commercials and music videos that first made his name, the maverick conceptual artist and director has not had a feature in cinemas since his 1998 debut American History X, the edgy drama about neo-Nazi skinheads that ...
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Features
United Kingdom - Life After Death
Death At A Funeral was written as a spec script by London-based writer Dean Craig to direct himself for around $200,000 (£100,000). But a friend, US writer-director-producer Laurence Malkin had bigger ambitions."He said, 'No, we'll do it for $20m,'" Craig remembers. "I said, 'Are you nuts' It's a little film ...
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Features
A good news day
The Egyptian film industry is ruled by a clutch of players that typically act as producers, distributors and exhibitors, churning out comedies that dominate the local box office. Adel Adeeb, managing director of indie Good News Group, can add a fourth arm - directing - to the list. He is ...
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News
BSkyB, NTL sign programming agreement
UK satellite broadcaster BSkyB has signed a five-year programming supply deal with cable operator NTL which irons out several sticking points between the two companies. Under the deal - which is subject to the approval of telecom watchdog OFTEL - BSkyB will be paid according to NTL's growth projections, rather ...
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Features
Festival - Asian talent - The stars come out at Pusan
Korean actor Yang Jin-woo was the proud winner of the first ever Screen International/Star Summit Asia best new actor award, which was presented during the Asian Film Market in Pusan last week.Screen presents the award to a participant in the Casting Board section of the Asian Film Market's Star Summit ...
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News
Hollywood World Award - Meet the world leaders
The fourth annual Hollywood World Award, a collaboration between Screen International and the Hollywood Film Festival, will be presented in Los Angeles on October 22 this year and the line-up of 10 finalists is an impressive one. All of this year's shortlisted titles had their world premieres at Cannes in ...
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News
Japan International Contents Festival - Tokyo events gather momentum
The Japan International Contents Festival (CoFesta) debuts this year (September 20-October 28) as a sprawling amalgamation of 18 events running alongside the Tokyo International Film Festival (see sidebar, below). Key international events include the Tiffcom market and its attendant Tokyo Project Gathering (TPG).Tiffcom (October 22-24) is entering its fourth year, ...
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Features
International - Land of opportunity'
The following glass half full/half empty debate has been going on for as long as I can remember. On the one hand is the argument that there's never been a worse time for independent and alternative film to get access to the North American marketplace. On the other hand, the ...
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Features
Ratatouille still cooking
Disney/Pixar animation Ratatouille held the top international slot this weekend, with more than $21m from 39 territories. The family film was up 9% at the weekend, thanks to a $9m opening in the UK, and now boasts a $271.8m international tally. Resident Evil: Extinction was up by 18%, holding on ...
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News
Critical Mass with Lee Marshall -Past perfect
There's a film that's been building in my mind ever since I saw it, to the point where I've started to think it might just be the future of cinema. It's En La Ciudad De Sylvia by Jose Luis Guerin, a Spanish director who every five years or so makes ...
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Reviews
Youth Without Youth
Dir: Francis Ford Coppola. Rom/Fr/It. 2007. 124minsTen years after the polished, anonymous professionalism of The Rainmaker, Francis Ford Coppola returns with an epic, magic realist tale of miraculous rejuvenation. Anyone who hoped that life might imitate art will be sorely disappointed by Youth Without Youth. This is an amateur production ...
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Reviews
August Rush
Dir: Kirsten Sheridan. US/Korea 2007. 111mins. August Rush opens as it means to continue - with a young boy up to his eyes in corn. But you have to hand it to director Kirsten Sheridan: the sheer dewy-eyed belief in miracles of this music-based fairy tale is persuasive, and those ...
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News
Williams steps down as PACT chief executive
Shaun Williams, the chief executive of UK producer's alliance PACT, is to stand down from the post in January.A successor has yet to be appointed. PACT said it would shortly set up an appointments committee to seek a successor to take over in the New Year.Williams commented: "After three years ...
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News
Turkey's Antalya fest has double-header opening
An official two-day double opening kicked off the 44th Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival and its accompanying 3rd International Eurasia Film Festival last Friday. As the biggest film event in the Turkish calendar, the first opening night was a glamorous affair for local cinema. Following a lavish opening cocktail reception ...
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News
Band's Visit takes top prize at Montreal's Festival du Nouveau Cinema
Eran Kolirin's popular Israel-France co-production The Band's Visit won the Louve d'Or at 36th Montreal Festival du Nouveau Cinema.The jury, composed of Paul Ahmarani, Celine Bonnier et Jean-Francois Lamarche, presented a special mention to Australian title Boxing Day by Kriv Stenders. That film's lead, Richard Green, took the Acting Award. ...