Small MPU – Page 521
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Reviews
Cashback
Dir/scr: Sean Ellis. UK. 2006.90mins.A wistful, endearing slip of a romantic comedy, Cashback marks anassured feature debut from writer/director Sean Ellis. An expansion of hisOscar-nominated short, it strains to fill the bigger canvas of a feature butany reservations are balanced by the unusual lyricism of Ellis's approach tothe genre, the ...
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Reviews
El Cantante
Dir: Leon Ichaso. US. 2006. 116mins.The last time JenniferLopez collaborated with the love of her life the result was the toe-curlingembarrassment of Gigli(2003). Now, she has dared to co-produce and co-star with husband Marc Anthonyin a drama inspired by the life of 1970s salsa superstar Hector Lavoe. El Cantante is ...
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News
Lives Of Others chosen as German Oscar entry
Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's Stasi thriller TheLives Of Others (Das Leben DerAnderen) has selected by Germany as itssubmission for the Foreign Language Film Oscar next year.Commenting on its decision, the independent expert jurywho made the selection said that von Donnersmarck's film "intenselydescribes not only a chapter of the history of ...
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News
Asia feasts on Feng Xiaogang's Banquet
Chinese director FengXiaogang's $20m The Banquet had astrong four-day opening weekend across Asia, grossing $8.5m from five territories.The lavish $20m costumedrama, loosely based on Hamlet and starring Zhang Ziyi and Daniel Wu, recentlypremiered out-of-competition at Venice and opened across Chinese-speaking territories on Sep 14. The film has already becomethe highest-grossing ...
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News
India set to privatise state film bodies
India's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is considering privatising state-backed film production company, the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC), the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) and the government-owned Indian Film and Television Institute. The country's current government believes that these organisations are no longer useful and their role has ...
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News
Blue Valentine wins $1m Chrysler Film Project contest
Derek Cianfrance has won the 2006 Chrysler Film Projectscreenplay competition for his project Blue Valentine.Cianfrance will receive $1m towards financing the story of acouple that breaks up and meets up ten years later only to fall in love again.Lynette Howell is producing along with Jamie Patricof and Alex Orlovskyof Hunting ...
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News
Bangkok's World Film Festival spreads Banquet
The 4th World Film Festivalof Bangkok will open on October 11 with a gala premiere of Feng Xiaogang's The Banquet. The 13-day festival, ashowcase of contemporary Asian and world cinema, will screen more than 70 filmsfrom 30 countries at three venues in Bangkok. Eight films have beenselected for competition, including ...
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News
Rio festival to host 300 films and new industry events
The Rio International FilmFestival, which kicks off Thursday (Sept 21) and runs until Oct 5, hasannounced a line-up of more than 300 films from 60 countries. The festival, sponsored bythe City of Rio, the Secretary of Culture, Riofilmeand Petrobras, aims to provide a world platform fornew Latin American cinema as ...
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News
Philippe Cardon promoted at Warner Home Video
Philippe Cardon, Warner Home Video executive vice president and general manager forEurope Middle East and Africa, has been promoted to Warner Home Video president, international.Cardon, in the newly created post, will have responsibilityfor all Warner Home Video titles outside the US, except Canada. The heads of the regional offices for ...
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News
Dinard competitors include London To Brighton
The Festival du Film Britannique de Dinard has announced the six competition titles for thisyear's 17th festival (Oct 5-8).The competitorsare Yousef Ali Khan's Almost Adult, Sean Ellis' Cashback, Menhaj Huda's Kidulthood, Paul Andrew Williams' London To Brighton, Adrian Shergold's Pierrepoint and Niall Heery's Small Engine Repair. Those titles willcompete for ...
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News
Strong Dutch opening for Verhoeven's Black Book
Paul Verhoeven's acclaimed Black Book (Zwartboek) has given localfilms a welcome boost in The Netherlands this week, scoring the best localopening of the year and the fifth best opening for any title. The World War II thriller,which is this year's Dutch Oscar entry for best foreign language film consideration,claimed $863,524 ...
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Reviews
Prague (Prag)
Dir: Ole Christian Madsen. Den.2006. 92mins.Danish film-maker Ole Christian Madsen plunges onceagain into the darker recesses of marital life for Prague, a powerful drama in which his strong direction and the overwhelmingperformances that he draws smooth over some of the script's inconsistencies.Madsen, whose earlier drama Kira's Reason (2001) dealt with ...
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News
Rome's Extra programme to include Cobain documentary
RomeFilmFest has announcedsome of the films selected for its Extra section, which presents innovativeworks across formats and genres. The Extra programme willinclude fictional features, animations, documentaries, filmed concerts,innovative TV works, a tribute to the Tribeca FilmFestival in New York, andspecial events and workshops. Films will include AJSchnack's Kurt Cobain ...
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Reviews
Death Of A President
Dir. Gabriel Range. UK. 2006. 93mins.The blurring of reality and fiction takes anintriguing step sideways in Death Of APresident, a mock documentary that posits the assassination of George WBush and the political shockwaves such an event would surely generate. Nosurprise, the film, which world premiered at Toronto and won the ...
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News
Peter Smith to head NBC Universal International
Peter Smith has been promoted to president of NBC UniversalInternational. He had been president of Universal Pictures International sinceits inception in 2000. His new appointment is effective immediately, although he will continueto look after Universal Pictures through the end of the year while areplacement is appointed. Smith will continue ...
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Reviews
The Widow Of Saint Pierre
Dir: Patrice Leconte. 2000. 112 mins.Prod cos: Ephithete Films, Cinemaginaire. Co-prods: Denise Robert, Daniel Louis. Domestic dist: Pathe. Int'l Sales: Flach Pyramide International. Exec prods: Gilles Legrand, Frederic Brillion. Scr: Claude Faraldo. DoP: Eduardo Serra. Prod des: Ivan Maussion. Ed: Joelle Hache. Music: Pascal Esteve. Main cast: Juliette Binoche, Daniel ...
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News
Athens festival opens tonight with Volver
The 12th AthensInternational Film Festival, otherwise known as Opening Nights Conn-X, kicksoff tonight with the gala presentation of Pedro Almodovar's Volver.Volverwill be joined in the Premieres section with Brian De Palma's The BlackDahlia, Michael Mann's Miami Vice,Jason Reitman's Thank You For Smoking,Aki Kaurismaki's Lights In The Dusk, GelaBabluani's 13 (Tzameti), ...
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News
Estevez's Bobby to open LA's AFI FEST
The US premiere of Emilio Estevez's ensemble drama Bobby will open AFI Fest 2006 on Nov 1.Festival organisers also unveiled 13 world premieres, among themChad Lowe's comedy Beautiful Ohio starring William Hurt, Rita Wilson and Julianna Margulies; DavidCunningham's thriller After; and David Stenn's documentary Girl 27, about a former dancer ...
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News
Smith, Ricupero promoted in production/acquisitions at Myriad
Myriad Pictures has boosted it production and acquisitions team,promoting Matthew Keene Smith to the role of director and naming Luiza Ricuperomanager.The LA-based company has got involved on several high profileprojects in the recent past, including Brad Silberling's comedy 10 Items OrLess, which stars MorganFreeman and Paz Vega and was bought ...
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News
Spurlock confirmed, panels lined up for SXSW 2007
Morgan Spurlock will discuss his career in one of several liveevents planned for the 2007 South by Southwest (SXSW) film conference andfestival.Panel highlights include an assessment of non-profit initiativesdesigned to help film-makers; the impact of emerging technologies on cinema;and depicting on-screen sex.Among the speakers lined up for the event are ...