Small MPU – Page 517

  • News

    Fortissimo gets ready for Battle

    2005-11-22T00:00:00Z

    Dutch-HongKong-based sales agent Fortissimo Films is to plunge deeper into the territoryit carved out on Seven Swords by investing in the US$16m martial artsepic A Battle Of Wisdom, directed by Hong Kong's Jacob Cheung.Fortissimohas also acquired international sales rights to the title, which stars HongKong's Andy Lau (House of Flying ...

  • News

    Apted starts UK shoot for Walden's Amazing Grace

    2005-11-22T00:00:00Z

    Director Michael Apted has started principal photography on Amazing Grace, a feature film about antislavery pioneer William Wilberforce.The film is a Walden Media production. Terrence Malick and Ed Pressman are producing for Sunflower Productions with Patricia Heaton and David Hunt for FourBoys Films as well as Ken Wales, Mark Cooper ...

  • Reviews

    Melissa P

    2005-11-22T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Luca Guadagnino. It-Sp. 2005. 102mins. "Loosely based on" ascandalous bestselling book which purports to recount the true sexualexperiences of a 16-year-old Sicilian schoolgirl, Sony Pictures Entertainment'sfirst Italian production Melissa Pstruggles gamely to be less of an adolescent sexploitation flick and more of acoming-of-age study.True,there is some teen sex ...

  • Reviews

    Just Friends

    2005-11-22T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Roger Kumble. US. 2005. 94mins.Sporting a rich premise, Just Friends ultimately fails to live up to its early potential,instead settling into broad comedy that shortchanges the film's romanticpossibilities.Opening in the USon Nov 23 during the packed Thanksgiving weekend, the holiday-themed film(rated PG-13) stands out as the only date movie ...

  • News

    Darwin's Nightmare proves to be an Austrian dream

    2005-11-22T00:00:00Z

    When the InternationalDocumentary Film Festival Amsterdam opens in the Dutch capital on Thursday (Nov24) it will feature two documentaries from the same country on the same topic.The overlap is not due tosome error by the selection committee: the films in question - each Austrianand dealing with food politics - are ...

  • News

    Potter release breaks IMAX records

    2005-11-23T00:00:00Z

    The box office phenomenonthat is Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire has been felt within the giant-screen realm. The fourth Potter film has broken every record for an IMAX Hollywoodtitle on simultaneous release. Debuting at 66 IMAX venues in North America, thefilm scored a three-day opening of $2.93m for ...

  • News

    New German culture minister raises hopes for film finance

    2005-11-23T00:00:00Z

    Hopesfor a swift resolution of the German film funding crisis following thescrapping of media funds have been raised with the appointment of Germany's newState Minister For Culture, Bernd Neumann.The63-year-old has taken a strong interest in film finance issues. Earlier thisyear argued that support "doesn't have to be the funds in ...

  • News

    Parker renews first-look deal with Universal

    2000-06-01T11:00:00Z

    UK film-maker Alan Parker may not have as much time as he would like to make films since taking up the chairmanship of the government's film super body the Film Council - but at least he can take his time.The director of Angela's Ashes, Evita and The Commitments has renewed ...

  • News

    International support backs Latin American film-makers

    2005-11-23T00:00:00Z

    New Latin American film-makers are to enjoy the support of a seriesof ambitious new development programmes backed by Argentinian foundations, foreignembassies, international funds and festivals.Firstly,the Proaand TyPA foundations, in association with the Buenos Aires Film Festival, have announceda new edition of Buenos Aires Lab (BAL), which offers advice, education andideas ...

  • News

    Pathe signs nine new deals for Frears' The Queen

    2005-11-23T00:00:00Z

    Pathe Pictures International has announced a slew of deals closed at the recent American Film Market. Pathe screened footage from Stephen Frears' The Queen for buyers and sold rights to Avex Entertainment for Japan, Vertigo for Spain, Sandrew Metronome for Scandinavia, Prooptiki for Greece and the former Yugoslavia, LNK for ...

  • News

    Legal download sites launched in Hong Kong

    2005-11-23T00:00:00Z

    Two legal movie downloadsites are being launched in Hong Kong - by government-ownedIT flagship Cyberport and private film company Mei Ah Entertainment - amidindustry discussion about their feasibility and audience demand.Mei Ah's service, M@TV, has accessto a library of more than 1,000 movies including acquisitions and a few hundredtitles produced ...

  • Reviews

    The White Countess

    2005-11-23T00:00:00Z

    Dir: James Ivory. US. 2005.135mins.The finale to director James Ivory's longcollaboration with producer Ismail Merchant (who diedlast May, just as the film was being completed), The White Countess is an intimate period romance given historicalsweep by a script from The Remains Of TheDay novelist Kazuo Ishiguro.The tentative love affair atthe ...

  • News

    The Proposition scoops best film at IF Awards

    2005-11-23T00:00:00Z

    Australian/UK co-production The Proposition, an often brutal 1880stale of conflict between brothers, was awarded best feature film at the IF(Inside Film) Awards in Sydneytonight (Nov 23). Look Both Ways won the best director and best writer categories for Sarah Watt. Theintimate drama picked up three awards in all while The ...

  • News

    Four films pick up cash prize from Balkan Fund

    2005-11-23T00:00:00Z

    The four projects receiving awards from this year's Balkan Fund, have been announced at the ThessalonikiInternational Film Festival.The $12,000 (10,000 Euros) prizes go to:Conversation with SerafimScreenwriter and director Silviu Purcarete, producer Ozana Oancea (Libra Films, Romania)Asphyxiation Screenwriter and director Asli Ozge, producer Deniz Kunkut>(DKFY, Turkey) Cum ...

  • News

    France increases threshold on Soficas finance schemes

    2005-11-23T00:00:00Z

    France's Soficasinvestment schemes will see their limit increase by $11.7m (Euros 10m) to $66m(Euros 56m) next year.Prime ministerDominique de Villepin approved the measure at therequest of culture minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres.The Sofica system was created in 1985 to encourage individualinvestment in film. Essentially film-financing companies, the Soficas raise money ...

  • News

    Hong Kong lines up Chinese New Year blockbusters

    2005-11-23T00:00:00Z

    A live-actiontake on popular animated character McDull, martial arts legend Huo Yuanjia and a comedy about shopping are set to battle itout in Hong Kong and other Chinese-speaking territories next Chinese New Year.Peter Ho-sun Chanand McDull creator Brian Tseare producing McDull, The Alumni,which combines live-action and animated sequences to recount ...

  • News

    Potter sets 20-year UK admissions record

    2005-11-23T00:00:00Z

    The UK took yet another positive turn in its road to box-officerecovery with a record breaking weekend for admissions.The 3.8 million cinemavisits narrowly took the record for highest admissions in a three-day weekendperiod since modern records started in the mid-1980s. "It was a phenomenalweekend," Mark Batey, FDA'schief executive told Screen ...

  • News

    Danes fall for their own Bridget Jones

    2005-11-24T04:00:00Z

    Denmark has fallen for its very own Bridget Jones - ahit film based on a newspaper column about a frustrated single girl eating toomuch ice cream and having too few boyfriendsNynne's Diary is ruling the Danish box-office charts selling 277,000 tickets in fourweeks and the film is still shown in ...

  • Reviews

    Songs From The Second Floor

    2000-06-01T12:09:00Z

    Dir: Roy Andersson. Sweden-Denmark-Norway-Germany-France. 2000. 100 mins.Prod cos: Roy Andersson Filmproduktion AB in co-production with Sveriges Television AB, SVT Drama, Danmarks Radio, Norsk Rikskringkasting, Arte France Cinema, Societe Parisienne de Production, Essential Filmproduktion GmbH, Easy Film A/S, ZDF in collaboration with ARTE, in association with Canal Plus. Int'l Sales: The ...

  • News

    Danes fall for their own Bridget Jones

    2005-11-24T04:00:00Z

    Denmark has fallen for its very own Bridget Jones - ahit film based on a newspaper column about a frustrated single girl eating toomuch ice cream and having too few boyfriendsNynne's Diary is ruling the Danish box-office charts selling 277,000 tickets in fourweeks and the film is still shown in ...