Small MPU – Page 405

  • News

    Hammer Film relaunched with European investors including Cyrte

    2007-05-10T11:10:00Z

    A consortium of European investors, led by Netherlands-based Cyrte Investments, has acquired the UK's Hammer Film Producttions including its 295-title library. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, although the new Hammer will have shareholders equity and facilities of about $50m. Simon Oakes and Marc Schipper, formerly of Liberty ...

  • Reviews

    Rise: Blood Hunter

    2007-05-10T12:28:00Z

    Dir: Sebastian Gutierrez. US. 2007. 94mins.A genre thriller without much of a bite, Rise: Blood Hunter is nevertheless a well-mounted affair with a sense of humour and a solid starring turn by Lucy Liu as a woman who finds herself among the living dead. Premiered at Tribeca recently and opening ...

  • News

    UKFC allocates $11m to new funds including film festival support

    2007-05-10T12:40:00Z

    The UK Film Council has allocated $11m (£5.5m) from its reserves and recoupments to go towards new funding policies through March 2010. The plans, published today in the Film in the Digital Age document, allocate the $11m of new funding to four new funds: UK Film Festivals Fund - $3m ...

  • Reviews

    West 32nd

    2007-05-10T12:33:00Z

    Dir: Michael Kang. US. 2007. 83mins. Michael Kang's second feature West 32nd is an ambitious thriller set in the Korean underworld of Manhattan. While rich in atmosphere and a set-up which promises to peel the layers off a sinister world of crime, it ultimately promises more intrigue and complexity than ...

  • News

    The Lives Of Others star Gedeck to play Clara Schumann

    2007-05-10T12:50:00Z

    Martina Gedeck, the female lead in the Oscar-winning German film The Lives Of Others, has been cast as the pianist and composer Clara Schumann in Helma Sanders-Brahms long-gestating biopic Clara which will commence principal photography in Hungary at the end of May. The $6.4m (Euros 4.7m) German-French-Hungarian co-production by Integral ...

  • News

    Memento to handle sales on Assayas' competitor Boarding Gate

    2007-05-11T04:00:00Z

    France 's Memento Films has acquired Olivier Assayas' Cannes competition entry Boarding Gate starring Asia Argento and Michael Madsen. The company will handle international sales on the thriller which is being released in France by ARP Selection on Aug 22. Memento is also handling world sales on Jia Zhang Ke's ...

  • News

    Toronto to open with premiere of Podeswa's Fugitive Pieces

    2007-05-10T14:14:00Z

    The 32nd Toronto International Film Festival will open Sept 6 with the world premiere gala presentation of Jeremy Podeswa's Fugitive Pieces, organisers have announced. Stephen Dillane stars as a man who was orphaned in the Second World War and saved by a Greek archaelogist. Years later, he discovers true love ...

  • News

    Ealing partners with Lionhead for Julian Fellowes' From Time To Time

    2007-05-10T14:33:00Z

    Ealing Studios has partnered with Lionhead productions for Julian Fellowes feature as a director, From Time To Time. Ealing's new sales arm, Ealing Studios International, will also take worldwide rights. The deal was negotiated between James Spring of Ealing Studios and Paul Kingsley of Lionhead Productions. The film will star ...

  • News

    Senator, Mark Canton seal five-year joint venture

    2000-08-07T21:03:00Z

    Yet another German company is putting its public money behind a Hollywood producer. Hanno Huth's Senator Entertainment has entered into a five-year joint venture agreement with Mark Canton's The Canton Company to develop and fully fund an average of four to six major movies a year.Canton will continue to be ...

  • News

    ContentFilm takes on sales for Toby Wilkins' horror-thriller Splinter

    2007-05-10T18:08:00Z

    ContentFilm International has taken on international rights to Splinter, which it will launch in Cannes. Toby Wilkins will make his feature debut with the horror-thriller screenplay written by Ian Shorr and Kai Barry. Ted Kroeber and Kai Barry will produce the project, which will shoot this summer. Casting will be ...

  • News

    European films grew EU market share by 27.6% in 2006

    2007-05-11T04:00:00Z

    Market share for European films in the European Union was up to 27.6% in 2006 compared to 24.9% in 2005, according to the European Audiovisual Observatory. Analysis based on the results of films released in the 25 countries of the EU found that the increase was largely led by French ...

  • News

    European film production up 5.8% in 2006 to 862 features

    2007-05-11T04:00:00Z

    European film production was up 5.8% in 2006, according to new research from The European Audiovisual Observatory. The body estimated that around 862 feature films were produced in 25 member states of the European Union, up by 47 from 2005. Germany was the main gainer - it recorded its highest ...

  • News

    H20 Motion Pictures to make film on Politkovskaya

    2007-05-11T04:00:00Z

    Andras Hamori and Mark Horowitz's recently launched H20 Motion Pictures has acquired the rights to three books by Anna Politkovskaya, the Russian journalist who was shot to death in a suspected contract killing in Moscow in Oct 2006.H20 will develop a film about the woman, who was a bold and ...

  • News

    Danielak's Arsenal loads up with Rifkin-Eberts titles

    2007-05-10T22:22:00Z

    Yarek Danielak's Los Angeles-based distributor Arsenal Pictures has struck a deal to handle four features from Bruce Willis' regular producer Arnold Rifkin and Lord Of War executive producer Christopher Eberts.The deal with Rifkin-Eberts and A-Mark Entertainment kicks off with the recently wrapped horror title Timber Falls and Night Train, which ...

  • News

    Sutherland joins MGM in senior international role

    2000-08-08T08:01:00Z

    Ian Sutherland, who was previously senior vice president, international marketing, at United International Pictures (UIP) in London, has joined MGM Distribution Co as senior vice president - international theatrical distribution and marketing to be based in Los Angeles.Sutherland, who worked with MGM when it was a partner in ...

  • News

    The Violin strikes chord with San Francisco jury

    2007-05-10T22:34:00Z

    Francisco Vargas Quemada's The Violin won the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival's SKYY Prize at the closing night awards ceremony on May 10.The FIPRESCI Prize went to Jeanne Waltz' Parting Shot/Pas Douce, while the Chris Holter Humour in Film Award was presented to Pavel Giroud for The Silly Age.In ...

  • News

    Mexico's The Violin continues awards roll at San Francisco

    2007-05-10T22:39:00Z

    Francisco Vargas Quemada's The Violin won the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival's SKYY Prize at the closing night awards ceremony on May 10.The FIPRESCI Prize went to Jeanne Waltz's Parting Shot/Pas Douce, while the Chris Holter Humour in Film Award was presented to Pavel Giroud for The Silly Age.In ...

  • News

    Geike promoted to president for Warner Bros Germany & Austria

    2007-05-10T22:46:00Z

    Willi Geike has been promoted to president and managing director of Warner Bros Entertainment Germany and Austria.In his expanded role the 24-year company veteran will assume general oversight of all the studio's businesses in the two German-speaking territories.The remit covers theatrical and home video production, marketing and distribution, television distribution, ...

  • News

    Pilger's Bush-probing documentary rides with Coach 14

    2007-05-11T04:00:00Z

    Nascent sales outfit Coach 14 has taken on international sales on a new hot button documentary from John Pilger entitled The War On Democracy. The film,which is sure to spark controversy, examines the 'brutal reality of theBush notion of 'spreading democracy'' and the idea that the USpresident is actually conducting ...

  • News

    Canadian legal expert disputes Warner piracy claims

    2007-05-10T23:00:00Z

    A Canadian legal expert disputes recent claims by Warner Bros. that singles out Canada as the primary source of camcorder piracy. On Monday in Los Angeles, the studio issued a press release alleging that 70 per cent of its films distributed in Canada had been pirated through in-cinema camcording. Referring ...