Small MPU – Page 545

  • News

    Eugen wins Best Film at Swiss Film Awards

    2006-01-19T11:02:00Z

    Last year's local blockbuster, Michael Steiner's My Name Is Eugen(Mein Name IstEugen) was named Best Film at the 2006 Swiss FilmAwards ceremony in Solothurn on Wednesday evening.The jury headed by Oscar-winning film editor Pietro Scalia (JFK, Black Hawk Down) commented thatSteiner's family film had "brought a fresh breeze into the ...

  • News

    Korea's CJ Entertainment to be restructured

    2006-01-19T00:00:00Z

    Korea's major film industry power player, CJ Entertainment, is being delistedand split into two in a move by its parent company to increase investment inthree core growth businesses. Only film investment anddistribution functions will be left under the banner of CJ Entertainment whilethree lucrative subsidiaries - television arm CJ Media, ...

  • News

    AFI manager quits despite successful awards show

    2006-01-19T00:00:00Z

    The general manager of theAustralian Film Institute (AFI), Geoffrey Williams, has resigned two monthsafter successfully overseeing a revitalised awards ceremony compered by actorRussell Crowe.Williams has citeddifferences of opinion with a board that has three new members and a new chairbut the exact nature of the disagreement has not yet emerged. ...

  • News

    UK Production looks healthier for 2006

    2006-01-19T13:53:00Z

    With news earlier this weekthat UK production spending was down 31% in 2005, theindustry is on shaky ground going into 2006. The good news is that 2006 isexpected to be a stronger year in terms of both inward investment from Hollywood and wholly UK films, thanks in large part to ...

  • News

    Disney in 'serious' takeover talks with Pixar

    2006-01-19T15:05:00Z

    Walt Disneyis in serious discussions about a potential takeover of Pixar, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal. The deal is said by the reports to mean that Pixar - and Apple - CEO Steve Jobs would become Disney's largestindividual shareholder. The twocompanies have worked together for more ...

  • News

    Concorde acquires distribution rights for Candy

    2006-01-19T16:42:00Z

    Fortissimo Filmshas closed a distribution deal for Candy with German distributor Concorde Filmverleih. The deal was brokered by Fortissimoco-chairman Wouter Barendrecht andConcorde Filmverleih's managing director MarkusZimmer."This marks a first-time collaboration between Fortissimo and Concorde,a distributor with a universal reputation for high quality films, ranging from Girl With A Pearl Earring ...

  • News

    Hamburg fest launches debut feature competition

    2000-06-06T16:52:00Z

    The founder of Myriad Pictures tells Patrick Frater why bigger is better in the changing film sales sector.Your company prides itself on selling films from a myriad of genres. What are you looking for when you pick up a title'Although I hate to make comparisons with other companies, we are ...

  • News

    Bavaria Film International adds to sales slate

    2006-01-20T04:00:00Z

    Bavaria Film International has added five new Germanlanguage titles to its sales slate, all of which will be having their worldpremieres at the Berlin filmfestival next month.Three of the films TheFree Will, Requiem and Slummingwill be presented in Competition. Matthias Glasner's The Free Will (Der Freie Wille), starring Juergen Vogel ...

  • News

    Sony, Universal hatch co-financing pacts with Relativity

    2006-01-19T00:00:00Z

    Seeking new ways to offset their production risks while holding onto global distribution rights, Sony Pictures Entertainment and UniversalPictures have each signed separate co-financing deals with investors groupsconnected to Relativity Media.The Los Angeles-based Relativity, which structured a similar $528m dealwith Warner Bros last year, retained Deutsche Bank to raise in ...

  • News

    Picturehouse, New Line Int'l take Silk road together

    2006-01-20T00:00:00Z

    Picturehouse and New Line International have snapped up themajority of the world on Francois Girard's dark romantic adaptation Silk, which will stars Keira Knightley,Michael Pitt, Koji Yakusho and Alfred Molina.Filming is due to begin at the end of February in Matsumoto, Japan,and will end in late May in Italy, as ...

  • News

    Icon enjoys brisk sales on Winona Ryder comedy

    2006-01-20T00:00:00Z

    Icon Entertainment International has closed a raft of sales onFinn Taylor's dark comedy The Darwin Awards, which premieres next week at the SundanceFilm Festival.Rights have gone to Concorde/Tele-Muenchen in Germany, PresidioCorp in Japan, Dea Planeta in Spain, Nordisk in Scandinavia, LumiereDistribution in the Benelux, and EEAP in Eastern Europe.Additionally, Odeon ...

  • News

    Malaysian box office reaches record high

    2006-01-20T00:00:00Z

    Malaysia's box office revenues grew by 21.5% to hit $64.87m(RM243.63m) in 2005, making it the biggest year ever in the territory's boxoffice history. Last year was also thefourth year in a row that Malaysia enjoyed double-digit growth. An average of 20.5% perannum growth was recorded over the three years from ...

  • News

    Berlinale Forum list is finalised

    2006-01-20T13:45:00Z

    Originalityand innovative strength are the keywords at this year's edition of the Berlinale's Forum programme which will focus on directorialdebuts by young filmmakers.Amongthe strikingly original debuts are Fujiwara Toshi'snarrative experiment We Can't Go HomeAgain, Khalo Matabane'sgenre-bending documentary Conversationson a Sunday Afternoon and Laura Poitras' on-the spot political film My Country, ...

  • News

    Berlinale Forum list is finalised

    2006-01-20T13:45:00Z

    Originalityand innovative strength are the keywords at this year's edition of the Berlinale's Forum programme which will focus on directorialdebuts by young filmmakers.Amongthe strikingly original debuts are Fujiwara Toshi'snarrative experiment We Can't Go HomeAgain, Khalo Matabane'sgenre-bending documentary Conversationson a Sunday Afternoon and Ben Hopkins ethnographic documentary with ...

  • News

    Britdoc provides support for Sundance doc Black Gold

    2006-01-20T15:24:00Z

    Britdoc, the Channel 4Documentary Film Foundation, is providing completion and marketing funding forthe documentary Black Gold, directedby Nick and Marc Francis.Black Gold looks at the global economy through the story of hugely profitablemultinational coffee companies and the coffee farmers in some of the world'spoorest countries such as Ethiopia. The marketing ...

  • News

    Potente debut among dozen surprises in German sidebar

    2006-01-20T17:51:00Z

    Billed as "a surprise package of recent German cinema", the first films in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino programme include the directorial debut of Franka Potente, the German actress who became an international star on the back of Run Lola Run and The Bourne Identity and its sequel. Celebrating its fifth ...

  • News

    Korean conglomerate acquires LJ Film

    2006-01-22T20:30:00Z

    Korean conglomerate Prime Industrialhas acquired Seoul-based production company LJ Film in a move to expand intothe entertainment sector. LJ Film is reportedlyexchanging $18.1m in stocks with Innotz, a subsidiary of major Korean softwarefirm Haansoft, which in turn belongs to the Prime corporation. Prime - which has corebusinesses in development and ...

  • News

    EC extends deadline on AOL/Time Warner probe

    2000-06-06T16:57:00Z

    The European Commission (EC) has ruled that it needs more time to adjudicate on the competition issues raised by America On-Line (AOL)'s proposed takeover of Time Warner (TW). But it kept quiet on whether it would link its investigations into Time Warner's takeover of music group EMI.The EC, which has ...

  • News

    Warner Bros goes west with Sichuan partnership

    2006-01-22T20:30:00Z

    Warner Bros InternationalCinemas (WBIC) is expanding into the mid-south and southwest corners of China through a strategic partnership with Sichuan PacificCinema Circuit, one of the leading circuits under China Film Group. The two partners will makejoint efforts to explore this region of China which is relatively undeveloped compared to thewealthier ...

  • News

    Sundance deals heat up with a ray of Sunshine

    2006-01-22T00:00:00Z

    In the first big play ofSundance 2006 Fox Searchlight has taken worldwide rights to Little MissSunshine in a deal believed to be inthe region of $10.5m.The deal is also reported, by the New York Times, to have given the participants 10% of all gross revenues on the film, a total ...