Small MPU – Page 299

  • News

    Moviehouse, Ipso Facto and Soda team for new UK micro-studio

    2007-11-02T05:00:00Z

    UK producer Christine Alderson (who co-produced Berlinale hit Irina Palm) has spearheaded the launch of a new UK micro-studio. Moxie Makers joins together Alderson's production company Ipso Facto Films with sales company Moviehouse Entertainment and UK distributor Soda Pictures to work on a slate of up to four low-budget features ...

  • News

    Duelling pre-strike Pablo Escobar projects race to production

    2007-11-02T05:00:00Z

    Bob Yari and Oliver Stone are locked in a race to bring their rival Pablo Escobar projects about the infamous Colombian drug lord to the screen.Both projects are being sold at AFM in Santa Monica and reportedly registering strong interest ahead of their potential pre-strike shoots in early 2008.In one ...

  • News

    UK short festival Encounters partners with Babelgum

    2007-11-02T01:04:00Z

    After striking partnerships with the Soho Shorts Film Festival and the Giffoni Film Festival, Internet TV platform Babelgum has now struck a deal with the Encounters Short Film Festival.Encounters, which will host its 13th edition this month in Bristol, UK, will now offer festival participants the chance to broadcast their ...

  • News

    Hispanic TV hots up as Mexico's Azteca enters US

    2000-09-11T12:02:00Z

    Mexican broadcasting giant TV Azteca has realized its long-standing ambition to enter the US by creating Azteca America, a third Hispanic network that is armed with investment commitments worth nearly $500m.Azteca, Mexico's second largest broadcaster, has joined forces with private station owner Pappas Telecasting to bankroll the venture, which is ...

  • News

    UPI's Kingdom, Golden Age challenge Ratatouille at the box office

    2007-11-02T01:26:00Z

    Several overseas releases are in the mix this weekend that could dethrone Ratatouille from the number one international film after four consecutive weekends.Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures International's (WDSMPI) animated hit crossed $350m on October 30 and currently stands at $353.2m.The animated hit currently ranks as the company's seventh biggest ...

  • News

    Michael Moore receives IDA tribute

    2007-11-02T06:09:00Z

    Michael Moore will receive the 2007 International Documentary Association's (IDA) Career Achievement Award in Los Angeles on Dec 7.'Michael Moore still has many more extraordinary films ahead of him,'IDA president Diane Estelle Vicari said.'Our members are thankful for his fearless commitment to tellcompelling stories. He is a role model for ...

  • News

    Kiarostami's first non-Iranian feature to be shot in French

    2007-11-02T07:22:00Z

    MK2 has announced a shift in its Abbas Kiarostami project which was initially announced in Cannes. The film, entitled Certified Copy, was originally scheduled to be shot in English but with the final casting has been switched into French. The film will star Sami Frey and Juliette Binoche in what ...

  • News

    Nordisk sells Bornedal's The Substitute to Grindstone in the US

    2007-11-03T05:00:00Z

    In its second US sale of AFM, Nordisk has sold Thura Films' thriller The Substitute to Grindstone Entertainment.The deal follows on from the announcement earlier this week that Grindstone had also bought ghostly thriller Room 205 from Nordisk.Grindstone will be working in partnership with producer Ghost House Pictures on the ...

  • News

    ACI picks up worldwide rights to Bill Duke's thriller Covered

    2007-11-03T05:00:00Z

    Los Angeles-based sales company American Cinema International (ACI) has picked up worldwide rights excluding North America to the thriller Covered starring Vivica A Fox and Louis Gossett Jr.Bill Duke directed the story of a woman who relies on her faith to hold her family together after she is accused of ...

  • News

    TLA takes US, UK rights for Filmax's comedy Boystown (Chuecatown)

    2007-11-03T06:00:00Z

    TLA Releasing has acquired all North American and UK rights from Filmax to Juan Flahn's Spanish comedy Boystown (Chuecatown) and plans a late 2008 release in North America.The madcap story centres on an estate agent who murders elderly women and offers their apartments to upwardly mobile gay couples in a ...

  • News

    Wolfe takes rights to Spider Lilies, Surveillance 24/7

    2007-11-03T05:59:00Z

    Wolfe Video has acquired North American rights to a slew of titles here headed by Zero Chou's Taiwanese drama Spider Lilies.The film stars Rainie Yang and Isabella Leong in the story of a webcam exhibitionist who falls for a tattoo parlour employee when she requests a special tattoo.Conspiracy thriller Surveillance ...

  • News

    EFP to present foreign Oscar submissions in New York

    2007-11-03T05:00:00Z

    In a new departure for the organisation, European Film Promotion is to present five foreign language film Oscar submissions to buyers as part of its sixth New York 'Industry Screenings,' which take place in New York on November 12th and 13th.The Oscar candidates from Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway and ...

  • News

    Little Film books sales for Stone's War and Satanas

    2007-11-03T06:01:00Z

    The Little Film Company has closed key territories on Lithuania Film Studios' supernatural action thriller Stone's War and Dynamo & Rionegro Producciones' Colombia's foreign language Oscar submission Satanas. Deals on Stone's War closed in Italy (Media One), Mexico (Quality Films), Scandinavia (Scanbox), Canada (Equinoxe), and Greece (Spentzos). Marko Makilaakso's film ...

  • News

    Image strikes US home video deal for Lumet's Devil

    2007-11-03T06:02:00Z

    Image Entertainment has taken US home video, broadcast and digital rights to Sidney Lumet's Before The Devil Knows You're Dead.Philip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei, Ethan Hawke and Albert Finney star in the story of two brothers who hatch an ill-fated plan to rob their own parents.The deal was struck with ...

  • News

    Barbados to host film finance conference

    2007-11-03T05:58:00Z

    The inaugural Barbados Film Market and Finance Conference is scheduled for December 6-7 at the Barbados International Film Festival. Confirmed panelists already lined up include Mark Damon of Foresight Unlimited, Adrian Ward of IDB, Warren Fergus of Magnolia Lane, investment banker Peter Dale, Stephen Roberts of Film Production Capital, Warren ...

  • News

    FilmExport launches co-production initiative with Dudu

    2007-11-03T05:00:00Z

    Rome-based sales and production group FilmExport recently embarked on its first co-production The Thirteen Roses, with Spanish companies Enrique Cerezo PC and Pedro Costa PC, and is now planning further co-productions. Upcoming titles include Dudu - A Friend To Save, a $10 million English-language family drama about a panda ...

  • News

    Lumina swims with Maringouin's Big River Man

    2007-11-03T06:03:00Z

    Lumina Films has taken on worldwide rights (excluding the UK) for John Maringouin's documentary Big River Man.The film is now in post-production, and Lumina is helping with finishing funds. A Sundance launch is possible.Big River Man follows eccentric Slovenian endurance swimmer Martin Strel as he attempts to swim the Amazon.'It's ...

  • News

    Brittany Murphy Wakes Up For 3:30am with Future

    2007-11-04T06:03:00Z

    Brittany Murphy has come on board to play the lead in psychological horror film 3:30am, which will be written and directed by Mick Davis (Modigliani). Future Films is backing the project. Ellen Wander at Film Bridge International is handling world sales. Costa Theo and Joy Mellins at Milcoz Films are ...

  • News

    Coach 14 strikes deals for Proyecto Dos and Lazo Rotos

    2007-11-03T05:50:00Z

    At the AFM, Paris-based sales company Coach 14 has sold new titles Proyecto Dos by Guillermo Groizard and Lazo Rotos from Miguel Garcia-Borda to Germany's Telepool. Dos and another new title, Galantuomini from director Edoardo Winspeare, have stirred interest from the US and the UK while the former is also ...

  • News

    Ealing takes on sales for The Damned United, now with Hooper

    2007-11-03T06:04:00Z

    Ealing Studios International is handling international sales on The Damned United, which will now be directed by TV veteran Tom Hooper after Stephen Frears has left the project.The $10m film reunites The Queen's screenwriter Peter Morgan, actor Michael Sheen and producers Andy Harries and Christine Langan. Harries and Langan, who ...