Small MPU – Page 524

  • News

    Weinstein Co forms US DVD venture with Genius

    2005-12-06T00:00:00Z

    The Weinstein Company (TWC)has formed a new US DVD releasing venture with home entertainment productionand distribution outfit Genius Products.Under the terms of the dealGenius will raise $32m in equity funding to finance the new entity, which willrelease on DVD all feature and direct-to-video titles controlled by thebrothers, as well as ...

  • News

    Fonda, Shore get special honours from National Board Of Review

    2005-12-06T00:00:00Z

    Jane Fonda will receive theNational Board of Review (NBR) of Motion Pictures' 2005 Career AchievementAward and Howard Shore will collect the 2005 Career Achievement For Film MusicComposition.Both awards will bepresented at the annual awards gala in New York on Jan 10, 2006.Fonda won two best actressOscars for Klute in 1972 ...

  • News

    AFI FEST close to FIAPF accreditation

    2005-12-06T00:00:00Z

    LA's AFI FEST is bidding to join the world's elite festivals andbecome the first in the US to carry International Federation of Film ProducersAssociations (FIAPF) accreditation.AFI FEST has applied for accreditation and a ruling is expected toemerge before the end of the year. FIAPF's gold standard internationalfestivals include Cannes, Toronto, ...

  • News

    Sundance 2006 unveils 73-title shorts lineup

    2005-12-06T00:00:00Z

    Gwyneth Paltrow'sdirectorial debut and new shorts from Bob Odenkirk, Tamra Davis, Jennie Livingstonand Isaac Julien take their place among 73 short films set to screen at theSundance Film Festival in Utah next month.Organisers received 4,327submissions overall, and of the 73 selected, 42 are American and 31 titles hailfrom a further ...

  • News

    IDT closes $125m credit line for animated features

    2005-12-06T00:00:00Z

    IDT Entertainment has closeda credit agreement with a bank group led by JP Morgan Chase Bank for a $125mfive-and-a-half year secured revolving credit facility to partially fundproduction and marketing costs of its first six CG animated features.Proceeds from the facilitywill go towards financing projects already in feature production as well ...

  • News

    Saw producer Hoffman dies in LA aged 42

    2005-12-06T00:00:00Z

    Gregg Hoffman, the Twisted Pictures partner and producer and a keycreative force behind the Saw horror franchise, died from natural causes in Los Angeles onSunday. He was 42.Hoffman served as president of production at Twisted, where heproduced Saw, Saw 2, Catacombs and Silence. Most recently he was working on Crawlspace ...

  • Reviews

    Maybe Baby

    2000-06-02T11:22:00Z

    Dir: Ben Elton. UK. 2000. 102 mins.Prod Co: Pandora/BBC Films. Int'l sales: Pandora Cinema (+33 1 40 70 90 90). Prod: Phil McIntyre. Exec prods: Ernst Goldschmidt, David M Thompson. Assoc Prod: Lucy Ansbro. Scr: Ben Elton. DoP: Roger Lanser. Prod Des: Jim Clay. Ed: Peter Hollywood. Mus: Colin Towns. ...

  • News

    Global Film Initiative gives grants to films from Romania, Argentina, Chile

    2005-12-06T00:00:00Z

    The Global Film Initiativehas unveiled its autumn 2005 grant recipients, which include Tudor Giurgiu'sRomanian romance Love Sick, andYesim Ustaoglu's childhood drama Pandora's Box.Also on the list are PaulaHernandez' Argentinian project Rain,Daniel Benavides Pinto's Chilean picture The Murderer Among Us, and Iranian filmmaker Chapour Haghighat's project ThreeLittle Dreams.The Global Film Initiativeis ...

  • News

    CineMart decides on final selection for 2006 market

    2005-12-06T00:00:00Z

    The world's largest co-production market, Rotterdam'sCineMart, has announced 2006's final selection. Atotal of 45 projects in advanced stages of production, including new films fromAmat Escalante, Pablo Trapero,Guy Maddin, He Jianjun andJan Svankmajer are now eligible to present to anestimated 800 producers, TV buyers, sales agents,distributors and fund representatives at the ...

  • News

    UK industry greets tax news with relief

    2005-12-06T00:00:00Z

    The UK film industry is largely cheering yesterday's announcement about new film tax laws, but seeking further clarity about aspects of the plans such as co-production rules and the transition period to the new system.Experts say they are glad the percentage of benefit was higher than expected (net 20% for ...

  • News

    Kadokawa to make One Missed Call 3

    2005-12-06T00:00:00Z

    Kadokawa HeraldPictures will make a third instalment in its hit One Missed Call horror series, company sources have revealed.Called Chakushin Ari Final (One MissedCall Final), the new film will be directed by Manabu Aso and will starMeisa Kuroki and Maki Horikita, two seventeen-year-old ingenues whohaveenjoyed a meteoric rise to the ...

  • News

    Italian industry looks overseas for production

    2005-12-06T00:00:00Z

    While Italianfilm-makers continue to struggle with trickling government funds for homegrownprojects, Italians producers and financiers are becoming more and more involvedin international productions.Foremost among themis Massimo Pacilio's Rome-based Movieweb, a co-producer on Oliver Parker's Fade To Black, an atmospheric thrillerthat follows Orson Welles' exploits in seedy post-World War Two Italy.The ...

  • Reviews

    Keeping Mum

    2005-12-06T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Niall Johnson. UK. 2005. 103mins.Keeping Mum is acurious mish-mash: part morbid comedy in the vein ofold Ealing classic Kind Hearts And Coronets, part family drama, part Rowan Atkinsonvehicle, part murder mystery, part Mary Poppins, its disparate elements are thrown together withlittle craft or subtlety.Director and co-writer NiallJohnson never seems ...

  • Reviews

    King Kong

    2005-12-07T06:00:00Z

    Dir: Peter Jackson. US.2005. 189mins.Peter Jackson's KingKong is Jurassic Park, War Of The Worlds, Jaws, ET and Raiders Of The Lost Ark allrolled into one mammoth, three-hour rollercoaster ride. As if saying to StevenSpielberg "Anything you can do, I can do better", Jackson delivers a resoundingaudience-pleaser which pushes the boundaries ...

  • Reviews

    The King Is Alive

    2000-06-02T11:24:00Z

    Dir: Kristian Levring. Denmark. 2000. 109 minsProd Co: Zentropa Entertainments 5. Int'l Sales: Good Machine. Prods: Patricia Kruijer, Vibeke Windelov. Exec prods: William A Tyrer, Chris J Ball, David Linde, Peter Aalbaek Jensen. Scr: Kristian Levring, Anders Thomas Jensen. DoP: Jens Schlosser. Ed: Nicholas Wayman Harris. Main cast: Miles Anderson, ...

  • News

    Echo Bridge picks up domestic rights to Beer League

    2005-12-06T00:00:00Z

    Echo Bridge Entertainment has acquired all North American rightsfrom Ckrush Entertainment to Frank Sebastiano's comedy Beer League.The company plans a spring 2006 release for the story of adown-and-out softball team that rallies to avoid permanent expulsion from thelocal league.Artie Lange stars in the Identity Films project, which he co-wrotewith Sebastiano. ...

  • News

    International revenues to overtake domestic this year, says report

    2005-12-07T04:00:00Z

    Combined international motion picture revenue streams will overtake their domestic equivalent this year and are forecast to boom over the next eight years with a notable surge in the home entertainment sector, a new report is predicting.The report by California-based Kagan Research predictsinternational motion picture sales through all media will ...

  • News

    Warner Bros taps Virtual Studios to co-finance six titles

    2005-12-07T04:00:00Z

    Warner Bros Pictures willco-finance six upcoming projects with Los Angeles-based Virtual Studiosincluding Steven Soderbergh's The Good German, Wolfgang Petersen's Poseidon and Ed Zwick's Blood Diamond.The deal was originally announced back in October. Relativity Media's chief executive officer Ryan Kavanaugh and his partner Lynwood Spinks were instrumental in facilitating the unique ...

  • News

    National Board Of Review delays naming winners

    2005-12-07T00:00:00Z

    The National Board of Review (NBR) has postponed announcing itswinners until next Monday [Dec 12] after it emerged last night [Dec 6] thatincomplete reminder lists had been mailed out to voters.The group was due to name its winners today [Dec 7] but moved todelay the announcement after a number of ...

  • News

    Von Trier's producer call it quits

    2005-12-07T00:00:00Z

    Vibeke Windeløv, Lars von Trier's producer for manyyears, has decided to bow out of producing his upcoming feature My Man the President. After working on severalof Von Trier's international film projects Windeløvat the age of 54 wants new challenges. She will remain a co-owner of Zentropa and may return to ...