Small MPU – Page 505
-
Reviews
Night Watch (Nochnoy Dozor)
Dir: Timur Bekmambetov.Russia. 2004. 114mins.One of the mostimpressive things about Night Watch is the fact that such a stylish andtechnically polished fantasy movie - which can teach Hollywood a trick or twoabout squeezing a great look out of a tight budget - is it is 100% made inRussia. But, as ...
-
Reviews
Mad Hot Ballroom
Dir: Marilyn Agrelo. US.2005. 114mins.An upbeat, feelgooddocumentary about kids from three New York public elementary schools whocompete in a citywide ballroom dancing competition, Mad Hot Ballroom isthis year's Spellbound, if with a less an ironic take on its subjectsthan the spelling-bee documentary and gutsier motivational verve.One of the hot tickets ...
-
News
UK Production Listings - January 24
UK - February 22 PRE-PRODUCTION ANASTEZSI(Sintra S.R.L. [It], Film & Music Entertainment, Mate Productions [Sp])Supernatural drama. Young violin prodigy Valerio is summoned to study at anexclusive musical academy. During his stay he learns that the academy'sworld-famous virtuoso, Baltzer, has sinister plans for him. Prods: Mike Downey,Sam Taylor, Rosanna Seregni, Mate ...
-
Reviews
Stranger (Ono)
Dir:Malgosia Szumowska. Ger-Pol. 2005. 98mins.Thesecond full-length feature by Polish film-maker Malgosia Szumowska, Strangeris infused with the spirit of Kieslowski. But this slow, measured film about anunmarried girl who decides to go ahead with an unplanned pregnancy does notfeel derivative.Unsentimental,emotionally intelligent, it gets under the skin, adding up to more than ...
-
Reviews
Kekexili: Mountain Patrol (Kekexili)
Dir: LuChuan. Chi-HK. 2004. 90mins.Chinesefilm-maker Lu Chuan, who made a lively debut with The Missing Gun in2001, confirms his promise and extends his range with Kekexili: MountainPatrol, which screened in Forum at Berlin after successful outings at Tokyoand Sundance (it also beat Wong Kar-wai's's 2046 to the best film prizeat ...
-
News
Focus takes international rights on Benigni's latest.
Focus Features has acquiredinternational sales rights excluding Italy on Roberto Benigni's The TigerAnd The Snow.The film, written anddirected by and starring two-time Academy Award-winner Benigni, is inpost-production and will be released first in Italy on Oct 14. Benigni plays a poet desperately wooing thewoman of his dreams until they suddenly ...
-
News
Fullenbach returns to Canal Plus
Former head of acquisitionsat the Canal Plus premium channel, Evi Fullenbach, will return to the foldafter a little over a year away. Fullenbach, who wasresponsible for many of the output deals signed by Canal with Hollywoodheavyweights over the years resurfaces as director of cinema for the Canal PlusGroup, a new ...
-
News
Optimum to give Best theatrical outing
Production company Best Films and Sky Pictures, the feature arm of UK satellite broadcaster BSkyB, have settled a legal dispute over the release of soccer picture Best.Sky and the film's producer-director Mary McGuckian and producer-star John Lynch have agreed to a simultaneous outing for the picture in cinemas through distributor ...
-
News
ITALY 24 February
Meet The Fockers, FindingNeverland and The Merchant OfVenice held tightly on to the top three positions at the Italian box officefor the second week running, despite four new films opening nationwide.With a huge screen averageof $8,877 on its second week, Fockers shows no signs of running out ofsteam, and has ...
-
News
Universal Japan leads buyer rush for April Snow
Koreanproduction house Show East has licensed its now-in-production melodrama AprilSnow acrossAsia, including a key sale to Universal Pictures Japan. Theraft of deals should ensure that the Hur-Jin-ho-directed picture gets aday-and-date release across the Asian region.Inaddition to the sale to Universal, the film was licensed to Golden Scene for Hong Kong, ...
-
News
Payne presides over Un Certain Regard jury
Oscarcontender Alexander Payne will preside over the jury for the Un Certain Regardsection of the 58th Cannes Film Festival (May 11-22), organizers said Thursday.TheUS filmmaker, whose Sideways, isup for five Academy Awards this weekend including picture, director and adaptedscreenplay, has traveled to Cannes in an official capacity once before: In2002, ...
-
News
Gitai's Free Zone proves hot seller for Bac
Coming out of theEuropean Film Market, Bac International has announced fresh territorial saleson Amos Gitai's Free Zone, starring Oscar-nominee Natalie Portman.Free Zone was sold to Australia's Palace Films,Canada's Les Films Seville, Switzerland's Filmcoopi, Italy's Istituto Luce,Brazil's Imovision and Belgium's Cineart. The film,currently shooting in Israel and Jordan, caused an outcry ...
-
News
Techine, Angelopulous book-end Belgrade festival
The 33rd BelgradeInternational Film Festival kicks off on Jan 25 with Andre Techine's LesTemps Qui Changent and will beopened by the film's star Catherine Deneuve. Running until Feb 6, thefestival in the Serbian capital will feature some 80 films across seven sections, in a programmemostly comprising fare from the biggest ...
-
News
Techine, Angelopulous book-end Belgrade festival
The 33rd BelgradeInternational Film Festival kicks off on Jan 25 with Andre Techine's LesTemps Qui Changent and will beopened by the film's star Catherine Deneuve. Running until Feb 6, thefestival will feature some 80 films across seven sections, in a programmemostly comprising fare from the biggest world festivals of ...
-
News
CNC creates public film archive at National Library
France's NationalLibrary and the French Film Commission (CNC) have signed an agreement to createa film archive at the library.The archives, anoffshoot of the CNC's own French film archives, will be open to the public,providing access to "one of the largest collections of cinema in the world."Among the filmswill be catalogue ...
-
News
Berlinale trio seal German distribution deals
HerbertKloiber's theatrical arm Concorde Filmverleih has acquired the French film TheBeat That My Heart Skipped, which screened in Official Competition at last week's Berlinale.JacquesAudiard's film, an homage to James Toback's 1970s' classic Fingers, went on to win the SilverBear for Best Film Music (by Alexandre Desplat).Inaddition, Concorde picked up directorial ...
-
News
Warner ventures into Chinese DVD distribution
Warner Bros has becomethe first US studio to establish an in-country DVD/VCD distribution andmarketing operation in China.Warner Home Videoannounced yesterday the formation of CAV Warner Home Entertainment Co., a jointventure with China Audio Video that is based in Shanghai and is nowoperational.The announcement followsextensive analysis by Warner Home Video of ...
-
News
3Geez acquires film rights to Cheese Monkeys
Los Angeles andToronto-based 3Geez Productions has acquired the rights to veteran book-coverdesigner Chip Kidd's debut novel The Cheese Monkeys.Partcoming-of-age novel, part introduction to graphic design, The Cheese Monkeys follows a group of students throughtheir first two terms majoring in art in university.The project will be producedby Amy Green and Sarah ...
-
News
Duguay revs up Villeneuve racing biopic
Gabriella Martinelli'sToronto-based Capri Films will produce a bio-pic of legendary Formula 1 racerGilles Villeneuve. Christian Duguay (The Art Of War) has signed to direct from a screenplay to bewritten by documentary filmmaker Malcolm Clarke (Prisoner Of Paradise). The announcement was made in Montreal Thursday atthe nightclub owned by Villeneuve's son ...
-
News
Spanish box office hit gets sales lift at EFM
Spanish salesconsortium Grupo Pi has announced a handful of deals concluded at the recentEuropean Film Market in Berlin.The outfit soldlocal box office hit 4th Floor (Planta 4a) to Movie Max in Italy, where the film is expectedto be released on around 50 prints, and to Jekino Films for Benelux.The BocaBocaproduction, ...