Small MPU – Page 433
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News
Good Bye, Lenin! named as German Oscar contender
Wolfgang Becker's tragicomedy Good Bye, Lenin! has been selected by Germany's nine-person national jury as its candidate for the Foreign Language Oscar category.Since opening in German cinemas in February, the X-Filme creative pool production has attracted over 6.2m admissions, won 10 "Lolas" and prizes at festivals in Berlin, Budapest, and ...
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Gans readies big budget Silent Hill adaptation
Following a two-year hiatus since directing blockbuster Brotherhood Of The Wolf, Christophe Gans will step back behind the camera to direct an adaptation of Japanese video game series Silent Hill.The film will be produced by Samuel Hadida's Davis Films and continues a trend towards big screen video game adaptations for ...
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Lenin! eyes landmark box office haul
Wolfgang Becker's Good Bye, Lenin! - which was named as Germany's contender for the Oscar foreign language section this week - continues to prove an international box office sensation as it nears the $50m international cumulative mark.The X Filme Creative Pool production, for which Bavaria Film International handles worldwide sales, ...
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US exhibitor looks to cash in on Russian multiplex boom
Russia's largest multiplex opened this week (17 Sept) with a special gala screening of The Italian Job attended by its stars Mark Wahlberg and Charlize Theron as well as National Amusements top exec Shari Redstone. The new 11 screen, 7500 square metre KinoStar De Lux cinema seats 3100 people and ...
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Brazilian dramas win Miravista backing
Miravista, the pan Latino joint co production venture between The Walt Disney Company Latin America and Telefonica Spain's Admira, has boarded two new Brazilian projects, according to Miravista manager Fernando Lagier.Its first project, now shooting , is Underground Games (Jogo Subteraneo), based on the novel by Argentinian writer Julio Cortazar. ...
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Ben Ammar beefs up post-production business
Producer entrepreneur Tarak Ben Ammar has just upped the stakes for his Quinta Communications group by adding troubled French post-production house Duran-Duboi to his list of acquisitions. The Tunisian-born businessman last year purchased post labs LTC and Ex-Machina in order to create the leader in French sound facilities. The embattled ...
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Denis nears wrap on worldwide L'Intrus shoot
Director Claire Denis is close to wrapping a two month shoot on her next film, L'Intrus. The film is co-produced by Franco-German channel Arte, which will air the film on its network prior to a theatrical release - as happened with Patrice Chereau's Son Frere earlier this year.Ognon Picture is ...
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Dutch call for creation of National Film Institute
The establishment of a National Film Institute would go a long way to solving many of the problems of identity and organisation that currently bedevil the Dutch film industry. That at least is the conclusion of the Council For Culture, the Dutch government's highest ranking advisory committee on culture.The Council ...
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T3 prepares to go out with bang in Italy
Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines gets its final international release this upcoming weekend when it opens in Italy on Sept 19 on a massive 500 screens.A $6.7m opening gross from 723 prints for The Matrix Reloaded and $2.3m from 300 screens for X2 gives a flavour of the kind ...
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Spooked draws Murphy back to New Zealand
Geoff Murphy is back on home soil to direct the thriller Spooked, his first New Zealand film since leaving for LA 15 years ago. Don Reynolds and Merata Mita, both of whom he worked with on Kiwi films during the 1980s, are two of the film's producers. Spooked goes into ...
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AFM: Metrodome forms prod venture with Danish duo
Metrodome Distribution, the UK distributor of British hit Human Traffic, has formed a UK production company with Nicolas Winding Refn and Henrik Danstrup, the up-and-coming film-makers behind the two Danish films Pusher and Bleeder.Titled NWR UK, the company will produce English-language features from the Danish duo, with director Winding Refn's ...
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Mongoland director cranks up Norwegian surfer tale
Acclaimed Danish actors Kim Bodnia and Iben Hjejle will join the cast of the unusual Norwegian surfer love story Monsterthursday directed by Arild Ostin Ommundsen, who made his feature debut with the low-budget surprise hit Mongoland in 2001. Shooting from Oct 7 until Nov 21 in and around the coastal ...
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SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO
French blockbuster Taxi 3 parked in the number one spot in its second week, selling 7,503 admissions improving 35% on its launch for distributor Pro Vision.Tuck's A Man Apart sold 4,146 tickets in its prolonged opening weekend, garnering $11,018 and taking the third position, behind the former four-week champion, and ...
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FRANCE
German blockbuster Good Bye, Lenin! and local co-production Labyrinths (Dedales) scored strong openings this week in France.Good Bye, Lenin! sold 163,695 tickets from just 89 screens in its first week on release, netting $1.03m. This awarded the film third place in the French chart and saw it boast a screen ...
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Bell lands the lead role in Vinterberg's Wendy
17year-old British star Jamie Bell has landed the plum lead part in ThomasVinterberg's highly anticipated Dear Wendy which is based on a script by Lars Von Trier.JoiningBell in the cast of the thriller, which starts shooting on Sept 26 inCopenhagen, are US actors Chris Owen, Mark Webber and Michael Angarano ...
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AFI FEST unveils high profile world premieres
The North American premiere of Nigel Cole's UK hit CalendarGirls and world premiere of PattyJenkins' serial killer drama Monster bookend the upcoming 17th AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival,which runs from Nov 6-16.Two other worldpremieres take pride of place as centerpiece galas in the form of VadimPerelman's drama House Of ...
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Vatican cardinal backs Gibson's Passion
A top Vatican cardinal has praised Mel Gibson's controversial film The Passion as "a triumph of art" and has rejected fears it could spark a wave of anti-Semitism. Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, head of the Vatican department in charge of priests, who saw an unfinished version of the film, told ...
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Reviews
The Green Butchers
Dir. Anders Thomas Jensen. Denmark. 2002. 100mins.The Green Butchers could launch a new sub-genre of black comedy: the flesh-coloured comedy. A laugh-out-loud farce bristling with cruelty, the film invites viewers into the loathsome world of two memorable losers, a pair of newly-minted butchers who stumble upon success by selling human ...
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Reviews
Chill Out (Descongelate)
Dirs: Dunia Ayaso & Felix Sabroso. Spain. 2003.It is easy to see how writer-director team Ayaso and Sabroso's new film might attract the Almodovar brothers as co-producers through their El Deseo outfit. The black humour, camp and kitschy urban aesthetic hark back to early Almodovar gems like What Have I ...
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Reviews
The Fighting Temptations
Dir: Jonathan Lynn. US. 2003. 116 mins.Pop diva Beyonce Knowles and an all-star gospel/R&B soundtrack are the main attractions of The Fighting Temptations, a pleasant but formulaic ensemble comedy from MTV Films that teams the singer with Cuba Gooding Jr and British ex-pat director Jonathan Lynn. With Beyonce's recent solo ...