Small MPU – Page 449

  • News

    Vampire hunter trio joins BloodRayne

    2004-08-17T00:00:00Z

    Michelle Rodriguez, Matt Davis and Michael Madsen have joined thecast of BloodRayne, Uwe Boll's video game adaptation set to begin principalphotography in Romania later this month.All three willplay vampire hunters alongside T3 star Kristanna Loken, who plays the titlerole of a half-human, half-vampire who roams the world eliminating evilsupernatural forces.Ben ...

  • News

    Five filmmakers to benefit from IFP/New York doc grant

    2004-08-17T00:00:00Z

    IFP/New York isto allocate seed funding worth a total of $50,000 to five documentary projectsthrough the relaunched Anthony Radziwill Documentary Fund.Oriana Zill & Marco Williams' Banished: How Whites DroveBlacks Out of Town in America, Marlo Poras' Gambian Marriage, Judith Helfand'sHeat Wave: An Unnatural Disaster, Diane Bernard's The Lord Of Light, ...

  • News

    I, Robot crosses $100m for Fox International

    2004-08-17T00:00:00Z

    Fired up by a raft of strong holds, Fox International's I, Robotwas once again the biggest international picture around as it crossed $100m atthe weekend.The sci-fithriller grossed an estimated $18.8m from 5,350 international screens toelevate its international running total to $108m.Key markets were the UK, where I, Robot fell 39% ...

  • News

    Azkaban conjures up $500m at international box office

    2004-08-17T00:00:00Z

    Harry Potter AndThe Prisoner Of Azkaban crossed $500m at the international box office at theweekend, becoming the 10th picture to reach the milestone and Warner Bros'third biggest picture of all time behind the two previous Potter instalments.Azkaban grossedan estimated $5.6m with 602,000 admissions on more than 2,000 screens in 47territories ...

  • Reviews

    Forgiveness

    2004-08-17T00:00:00Z

    Dir. Ian Gabriel. SouthAfrica, 2004. 112mins.There are two thingsgoing for Ian Gabriel's feature film debut Forgiveness. The first isthat it comes from South Africa, which promises to be the film festival flavourof the year (after a competition premiere at Locarno it plays in Toronto's South Africa: Ten YearsLater sidebar next ...

  • News

    DENMARK 17 August

    2004-08-17T00:00:00Z

    Though admissions again were up (45,8%) from last year, itstill wasn't evident on the chart as no films did better than fair. The Chronicles Of Riddick only made itinto third with its 30 prints. Adding one more print, Fahrenheit 9/11 easily took the highest screen average again withDKK42,071. However, Nordisk ...

  • News

    SWEDEN 17 August

    2004-08-17T00:00:00Z

    Nothing changed at the top of the Swedish chart, where I, Robot and King Arthur's high number of prints kept them in front of DaneSimon Staho's Swedish-language drama DayAnd Night, but the latter increased its screen average to $3,991 - the bestthis weekend. Best newcomer was teenage comedy Mean Girls ...

  • News

    Switzerland's national film fund to be reviewed

    2004-08-18T04:00:00Z

    Pascal Couchepin, head of Switzerland's Federal Departmentof Home Affairs (EDI) has commissioned an independent report on the running ofSwitzerland's national film funding programme at the Federal Office for Culture(BAK).The report, to evaluate BAK's criteria for grantingsubsidies, comes after previous criticisms by Couchepin of "lack oftransparency" and "too large a bureaucracy" ...

  • News

    Malaysian films aspire to international market

    2004-08-18T04:00:00Z

    Following the local commercial success of Pontianak HarumSundal Malam, Malaysian writer/director Shuhaimi Babas is preparing a($526,000) RM2m sequel with her own company Pesona Pictures producing.Pontianak, which tells the story of a female banshee fromlocal folklore, was the first local film to break the taboo of the horror genrewhich was banned ...

  • News

    McKellen joins Magic Roundabout cast

    2004-08-17T00:00:00Z

    Ian McKellen has joinedKylie Minogue and Robbie Williams in voicing Pathe's $20m CGI animated feature The Magic Roundabout.Having played the wizardGandalf in The Lord Of The Rings, theOscar-nominated actor will be playing a less stereotypical wizard in thefeature version of the kids' TV show.His character is Zebedee, a moustachioed jack-in-a-box ...

  • Reviews

    A Paradise Under The Stars

    2000-04-04T12:41:00Z

    Dir: Gerardo Chijona. Cuba/Spain. 1999. 90 mins.Prod cos: Wanda Film, Institute Of Art And Film Cuba. Int'l sales: Wanda Film. Exec prods: Evelio Delgado, Puy Oria. Prods: Camilo Vives, Jose Maria Morales. Scr: Gerardo Chijona, Luis Aguero, Senel Paz. DoP: Raul Perez Ureta. Art dir: Erick Grass. Ed: Rori Saenz ...

  • News

    Toronto unveils Visions, Discovery, Wavelengths titles

    2004-08-18T04:00:00Z

    New films from DavidGordon Green and Michael Winterbottom are among the latest wave of worldpremieres announced by the Toronto International Film Festival as it unveiledthe complete line-ups in the Visions, Discovery and Wavelengths programmes.Visions, which wasintroduced in 2002 with a mandate to focus on "innovation" but is actually away of ...

  • News

    Irish production sector returns to form

    2004-08-18T04:00:00Z

    After a year in which production in Ireland had stalled to avirtual standstill the last days of August and early September will see adramatic return to form.First off the mark will be David T Friendly's Deep RiverProductions' The Honeymooners whichwill start shooting on August 27. The production for Paramount, co-producedwith ...

  • News

    Cassel to head Oldenburg jury

    2004-08-18T04:00:00Z

    Veteran American indie actor Seymour Cassel will serve asthe president of the International Jury for the German Independence Award -Best German Film to be presented for the first time at the forthcoming FilmfestOldenburg (Sept 8-12).Cassel and the other jury members - German PR and marketingexpert Heike Melba-Fendel, Spanish author and ...

  • News

    Edinburgh Fringe to be subject of new UK feature

    2004-08-18T04:00:00Z

    The UK Film Council'sPremiere Fund and FilmFour have teamed on Festival,an ensemble comedy set during the Edinburgh Fringe which will shoot on locationat the famed theatre and comedy festival this month.The production marks thefeature debut of writer-director Annie Griffin, who won a BAFTA for Book Group, the Friday night comedy ...

  • News

    German cinema admissions leap in 2004

    2004-08-18T04:00:00Z

    Germany's distributors and exhibitors have cause forcelebration as 1 million more cinema tickets were sold in the first half of2004 compared to the same period last year, according to official figuresunveiled by the Berlin-based German Federal Film Board (FFA).The FFA reported that 72.3m tickets were sold in the periodto June ...

  • News

    Koenekamp to receive ASC lifetime achievement award

    2004-08-18T00:00:00Z

    Fred Koenekampwill receive the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) LifetimeAchievement Award at the annual Outstanding Achievement Awards on Feb 20 2005 in LosAngeles.Koenekamp began his career in 1964 with television's The Man FromU.N.C.L.E., and seven years later earned his first of three Academy Awardnominations for Patton.He shared the Oscar with ...

  • News

    Vulcan wraps principal photography on Hard Candy

    2004-08-18T00:00:00Z

    Seattle-based Vulcan Productions has completed principalphotography on video director David Slade's psychological thriller HardCandy, starring Patrick Wilson and newcomer Ellen Page.Based on a screenplay by Brian Nelson, Hard Candy centreson a calamitous date between a 32-year-old man and a 14-year-old girl who meetover the internet.David W Higgins and Jody Patton ...

  • News

    Toronto rounds off programme line-ups

    2004-08-18T00:00:00Z

    World premieresfeature heavily in the latest programming volley from the Toronto InternationalFilm Festival, which includes 11 additions to the Visions programme, a28-strong Discovery section and 23 pictures in the Wavelengths strand.David Gordon Green's thriller Undertow starring Jamie Bell,Dermot Mulroney and Josh Lucas, and Michael Winterbottom's sexually explicitLondon-based love story Nine ...

  • News

    IFP/Los Angeles bid to kick-start awards season

    2004-08-18T00:00:00Z

    Seeking to steal a march on its awards season rivals,IFP/Los Angeles said this week it will announce nominations for the 20thIndependent Spirit Awards on Nov 30.Theorganisation wants to manoeuvre itself into a more influential slot beforeother awards bodies unveil their contenders.The National Board of Review traditionally kicks off theseason and ...