Small MPU – Page 512

  • News

    Skoll hires former Hard Rock Cafe chief Berk as Participant CEO

    2006-09-07T00:00:00Z

    Former Hard Rock Cafe International president and chief executiveofficer James Berk has joined LA-based Participant Productions as chiefexecutive officer.The appointment ends a lengthy search by Participant chairman andfounder Jeff Skoll and president Ricky Strauss to find a suitable executive toreplace Skoll as chief executive officer.Berk will assume day-to-day executive leadership ...

  • News

    IFC takes North America on ...So Goes The Nation

    2006-09-07T00:00:00Z

    IFC Entertainment has picked up North American rights to thepolitical documentary ...So Goes The Nation, which receives its world premiere in Toronto. The film isdirected by Endgame Entertainment founder James Stern and Adam Del Deo....So Goes the Nation explores America's tumultuous electoral process and focuses onthe infamous Ohio vote count ...

  • News

    Quaid, Weisz, Haden Church star in Groundswell's People

    2006-09-07T00:00:00Z

    Filming is set to begin on Nov 6 in Pittsburgh on Groundswell Productions'comedy drama Smart People starring Dennis Quaid, Rachel Weisz and Thomas Haden Church.Michael London's Groundswell isproducing the project along with Bill Block's QED International and GrosvenorPark. QED's Kim Fox is handling international sales.Quaid stars as a curmudgeonly professor ...

  • News

    NGF comes aboard God Grew Tired Of Us

    2006-09-08T00:00:00Z

    National GeographicFilms (NGF) has taken a partnership stake in Christopher Quinn and Tommy Walker'sSundance Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award winner God Grew Tired Of Us.The company will provide finishing funds ahead of the North American releasethrough Newmarket Films and will integrate its programme resources, audienceoutreach and multiple media platforms ...

  • News

    Ang Lee's Lust, Caution starts shooting in Malaysia

    2006-09-08T00:00:00Z

    Ang Lee's wartime spythriller Lust, Caution started shooting this week in the Malaysian city of Ipoh, well-known for its pre-war architecture. Adapted from a novella bythe late Chinese author Eileen Chang, the Chinese-language picture is about agroup of patriotic students who plot to assassinate an intelligence chief,played by Tony Leung ...

  • News

    Dead Man's Chest ready to plunder $1bn

    2006-09-08T00:00:00Z

    Pirates Of The Caribbean:Dead Man's Chest will join an eliteclub when it crosses $1bn at the global box office this weekend and may evenreach the milestone today [8].Disney's blockbuster has amassed $998.5m worldwide and currently ranks as theseventh biggest international release of all time through Buena VistaInternational (BVI) on $584.1m.It ...

  • News

    Jaume Balaguero finds The Certain Lady with Filmax

    2006-09-08T10:50:00Z

    Spanish horror specialist Jaume Balaguero, fresh from the Venice screening of his newest film To Let, is preparing his next feature, The Certain Lady, for producer Filmax.The film is based on thenovel La Dama Numero Trece by Jose CarlosSomoza about a poetry lover haunted by a nightmare of a parallel ...

  • News

    Amazon offers movie download service in US

    2006-08-08T00:00:00Z

    Online retailer Amazon has launched a download-to-own service in the US. Amazon Unbox is to offer films, TV and other video entertainment from more than 30 studios and networks.Paramount, Fox, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros., Lionsgate and MGM have signed up.Disney, whose chief shareholder is Apple CEO Steve Jobs, is not ...

  • News

    Odeon and Sky pact for UK distribution joint venture

    2006-09-08T16:57:00Z

    Europe's leading exhibitor Odeon and pay TV company Sky have announced a new collaboration, Odeon andSky Filmworks, which will act as a UK distributor, signing titles directly from film-makers.The joint venture will offerfilms in cinemas, through VOD and DVD, and on television. Initially, Filmworksplans to release six films per year. ...

  • Reviews

    The Journals Of Knud Rasmussen

    2006-09-08T00:00:00Z

    Dirs/scr:Zacharis Kunuk, NormanCohn. Can-Den. 2006. 112mins.The combination of an opening night slotin Toronto and the pressure of following up on their justly heralded debut Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner - which won Cannes'Camera d'Or in 2001 - provide film-makers Zacharis Kunuk and Norman Cohenwith a searing spotlight for their new feature ...

  • News

    CINE EXPO: Zoradi supports old-school marketing

    2000-06-30T16:16:00Z

    Mark Zoradi, president of Buena Vista International, encouraged international exhibitors to focus on traditional marketing methods in order to improve profit margins, at Cinema Expo this week. Speaking prior to BVI's product showreel and digital screening of Dinosaur, his message to cinema operators was to revitalise their use of traditional ...

  • News

    Japanese industrial giant buys into Comic Book Movies

    2006-09-08T00:00:00Z

    Japanese conglomerate Itochu has bought a 10% stake in Hollywood-basedComic Book Movies (CBM).The investment, for an undisclosed sum, gives CBM access to theJapanese market through Itochu's licensing and distribution network, includingits Family Mart chain of convenience stores. Itochu will also promote CBM movies released in Japan and assist withglobal promotion.Itochu ...

  • News

    Spanish film wins Europa Cinemas Label

    2006-08-08T00:00:00Z

    Daniel Sánchez Arevalo's Dark Blue Almost Black (Azul Oscuro Casi Negro) has won the Europa Cinemas Label at Venice Film Festival.The award, judged by a jury of exhibitors, will be handed out at the closing ceremony tomorrow.The film is a Producciones Cinematográficas production, sold internationally by Sogepaq, which has already ...

  • News

    NPA to add new training for directors and scriptwriters

    2006-09-08T00:00:00Z

    The UK's NewProducers Alliance has launched new training schemes for directing and scriptdevelopment. The group already runs a similar "9 point" training programme for producers. Courses run from September to Juneeach monthly.The first panel for producers will be about"The Role of The Producer" with Gayle Griffiths, Phil Hunt and M. ...

  • News

    Fido

    2006-09-08T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Andrew Currie. Can. 2006. 91mins.A boy's best friend is his zombie in Fido, areasonably inventive comic film that plays out like a fusion of Shaun Of The Deadand Pleasantville. Andrew Currie'sfeature has enough charm and smart moves to sustain what is essentially aone-joke premise, but its hybrid nature could ...

  • News

    Moreau to head San Sebastian jury

    2005-08-08T00:00:00Z

    Jeanne Moreau will preside over a high-profile official jury at the Donostia-San Sebastian International Film Festival(Sept 21-30).She is joined by Bruno Barreto, Isabel Coixet, Sara Driver, Bruno Ganz, Manuel Gomez Pereira and Jose Saramago.Mexican actress Patricia Reyes Spindola will preside over the New Directors' jury. The festival has also made ...

  • Reviews

    Fido

    2006-09-08T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Andrew Currie. Can. 2006. 91mins.A boy's best friend is his zombie in Fido, areasonably inventive comic film that plays out like a fusion of Shaun Of The Deadand Pleasantville. Andrew Currie'sfeature has enough charm and smart moves to sustain what is essentially aone-joke premise, but its hybrid nature could ...

  • News

    Encounters to host Ken Russell and Frank Cottrell Boyce

    2006-09-08T17:35:00Z

    The UK short film festival Encounters (now incorporatingprevious events Brief Encounters and Animated Encounters) will run as anexpanded six-day festival from Nov 21-26 in Bristol.More than 300 new shortfilms will screen from 30 countries. High-profile guests to the 12th festival atBristol's Watershed will include director Ken Russell,screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce, ...

  • News

    MTV Films Europe on board for Bunny Chow

    2006-09-08T00:00:00Z

    MTVFilms Europe (MTVFE) has boarded John Barker's South African comedy Bunny Chow as a co-producer, will assistsales outfit Deviant Selling in world sales and will provide a global marketingplatform for the film in the territories it is released in.Thefilm has its world premiere here on Monday in Vanguard and its ...

  • News

    Bruce Weber to start Robert Mitchum documentary

    2006-09-09T04:00:00Z

    Bruce Weber, in Toronto tosupport a Dialogues screening of his 1988 documentary Let's Get Lost, has announced that his next project will definitelybe his long-cherished Nice Girls Don'tStay For Breakfast: A Portrait Of Robert Mitchum.Described by Weber as a"musical documentary," the project is a profile of Hollywood's original bad boy. ...