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Small MPU – Page 54
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Reviews
Opium War
Dir/scr Siddiq Barmak. Afghanistan-Japan-Korea-France. 2008. 92 mins.There could be a good film hiding somewhere behind Afghan director Siddiq Barmak's tragicomic parable about his country's two main industries - war and opium. But it's not up there on the screen. This Best Foreign Film Oscar candidate is a misguided, amateurish attempt ...
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Reviews
The Past Is A Foreign Land (Il passato è una terra straniera)
Dir: Daniele Vicari. Italy. 2008. 120 mins.Italian director Daniele Vicari's latest outing is uneven but compellingly-dark. Shot, scored and directed with terrific command of atmosphere, this study of the relationship between a conflicted law student from a good family and the dangerous but attractive working class card-sharp he takes up ...
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News
European Commission launches consultation on state aid for film
The European Commission has launched a public consultation to allow its plans to extend the state aid assessment criteria for cinema in Europe until 2012 to go ahead. The European Commission has launched a public consultation on its plans to extend the state aid assessment criteria for cinema in Europe.Earlier ...
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News
Aramid launches second entertainment fund, Aramid II
Following the success of its first entertainment fund (Aramid I), film financier Aramid Capital Partners has launched a second fund.The new fund was created to meet the growing demand for investment opportunities, following PricewaterhouseCooper's forecast of 7.3% growth in the global entertainment industry in 2009.Aramid I has raised $300m since ...
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News
ContentFilm takes international rights to The Winning Season
ContentFilm International has acquired international rights to the new comedy The Winning Season, directed by award-winning James C. Strouse.Strouse's previous films include Grace is Gone and Lonesome Jim. The film stars Sam Rockwell (Frost/Nixon, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind), rising star Emma Roberts (Lymelife, Blow)) and Rob Corddry (W, What ...
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News
IFC Films buys The King Is Alive for North America
IFC Films, the fast-growing theatrical distribution arm of US cable channel The Independent Film Channel (IFC), has acquired all North American rights to Kristian Levring's The King Is Alive from Newmarket Capital Group and Good Machine International.Premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes this year, the film is the fourth ...
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News
Erik Van Looy's Loft soars to top of Belgian box office
Erik Van Looy's new feature Loft, which was recently picked up for international sales by London-based The Works, is becoming a bona fide box office smash in its home territory of Belgium.Loft, which opened last week, has now posted 125,000 admissions, five times more than the number two film in ...
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News
Bela Tarr to start The Turin Horse next month with Werc Werk Works
Elizabeth Redleaf and Christine Kunewa Walker's fledgling US production and finance company Werc Werk Works is putting together the international drama The Turin Horse that Hungarian film-maker Bela Tarr will direct.Werc Werk Works is collaborating with Hungary's T T Filmmuhely, France's Movie Partners In Motion FILM, Swiss producer Vega Film ...
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News
Goldcrest Independent picks up international on Portugal's Amalia
Goldcrest Independent has acquired international rights to VC Filmes' Amalia, a biopic about the celebrated Fado singer Amalia Rodrigues that it claims is the largest Portuguese production to date.Senior vice president of sales Pierre Weisbein will introduce the film at AFM next week. Carlos Coelho Da Silva directed from a ...
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News
Aramid backs first German P&A fund for independents
Aramid Capital Partners (ACP) is behind the launch of PA CO, the first fund in Germany specialised in P&A financing for independent films.The Munich-based $ 12.5m (Euros 10m) fund will be headed by PA CO director and distribution veteran Manfred Wenzel who previously held senior positions at Kinowelt and VCL ...
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News
Kristin Scott Thomas to be feted at Santa Barbara festival
Kristin Scott Thomas will receive the 24th Santa Barbara International Film Festival's Cinema Vanguard Award on January 27, 2009.Scott-Thomas stars in Philippe Claudel's French drama I've Loved You So Long and currently appears on Broadway in Chekhov's The Seagull.'A masterful performance by a British actress in a French film and ...
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News
Passchendaele passes $1m mark in Canada after a week
TIFF 2008 opener Passchendaele has grossed $1m (C$1.38m) after its opening week in Canada on release through Alliance Films. Written and directed by and starring Paul Gross, the WWI-set epic opened on 202 screens across the country. The film was a distant second at the national box office behind 20th ...
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News
Universal teams with Top Up TV for UK VOD service TVBox
Universal Pictures and Top Up TV have launched the UK VOD service TVBox offering current and library TV shows from the NBC Universal stable.The service will run within Top Up TV's Anytime package of services and marks the first brand extension of NBC Universal's PictureBox VOD service for features.The TVBox ...
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News
Arcand, Leconte receive France-Canada cultural accolades
Canadian filmmaker Denys Arcand and French filmmaker Patrice Leconte have been awarded the Samuel de Champlain cultural prize, an annual accolade presented by the Paris-based France-Canada Institute. The prize acknowledges contributions to the understanding of the cultures of the two nations through letters, the moving image and theatre. The prizes ...
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News
Sola Media takes on international rights to Long Shadows
Stuttgart-based Sola Media has picked up international rights to terrorist drama Long Shadows which had its world premiere in competition in Rome this week.Directed by Connie Walther and starring Franziska Petri and Ulrich Noethen, the film follows a former German RAF terrorist released after two decades in prison who falls ...
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News
Arsenal takes German rights to Argentinian music doc El Ultimo Aplauso
Arsenal has bought German rights to German Kral's Argentinian music documentary El Ultimo Aplauso, following its world premiere at the Hof Film Festival. The deal was closed on Sunday night with Beatrix Wesle's Atrix Films.The company plans an early 2009 release.The film follows a group of forgotten Tango singers, who ...
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News
Winstar Cinema buys four French films for US
Independent US distributor Winstar Cinema has closed a raft of European film acquisitions since Toronto including a three picture deal with Paris-based Celluloid Dreams and Olivier Assayas' Cannes competition entry Les Destinees Sentimentales.From Celluloid Dreams, Winstar acquired Jafar Panahi's Venice Golden Lion award winner The Circle in addition to Francois ...
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News
Screen Australia issues its inaugural guidelines
The four-month-old government film agency Screen Australia today issued guidelines on how it is going to spend its $60.5m (A$100m) per year. As expected, very experienced producers will most benefit under the new regime and large amounts of money will be directed into a small number of projects and businesses, ...
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News
Tiger Gate gears up to launch two channels across Asia
Lionsgate's new Asian venture, Tiger Gate, is gearing up to launch two 24-hour genre channels across Asia - action channel KIX, and Thrill which is themed around suspense films and thrillers. The two channels were being promoted at the Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) conference which kicked ...
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News
Adrien Brody cast as The Courier for Arclight Films
Gary Hamilton's ambitious Arclight Films has announced Adrien Brody as the lead in thriller The Courier based on a script by red hot writers Michael Brandt and Derek Haas.Arclight sales chief Pascal Borno will commence worldwide sales at AFM next week on the story of a daredevil carrier who is ...