Small MPU – Page 567
-
News
Brokeback Mountain, Capote head up Gotham nominees
Ang Lee'sVenice Golden Lion winner Brokeback Mountain will contest IFP's best featureGotham Awards in New York on Nov 30 with Bennett Miller's Capote, David Cronenberg's A History OfViolence, LodgeKerrigan's Keane,and Miranda July's Me And You And Everyone We Know.Miller and July are is two of five nominees in the breakthrough ...
-
News
Skouras picks up US rights to Swimmers
Skouras Films has picked upUS rights to Doug Sadler's award winning drama Swimmers and plans an early 2006 release in the majormarkets.Since it launched at Sundance Swimmers has played at numerous festivals, winning the Seattle InternationalFilm Festival's grand jury prize award for best new American film.Cherry Jones, Shawn Hatosy, Robert ...
-
News
Drum is audience favourite at Mill Valley
The Mill Valley FilmFestival's inaugural audience award for dramatic feature went to Zola Maseko'sApartheid drama Drum.The strong audience response to the picture has prompted producer ChrisSievernich to begin discussions with North American distributors for a platformrelease.Sievernich's Armada Pictures International holds worldwide rights to theproject starring Taye Diggs and Jason Flemyng.Lisa ...
-
News
Mayhem Project signs first two screenwriter deals
The Mayhem Project, the independent production and financecompany launched in June 2005 by executive Anthony Mosawi, has signed its firsttwo screenwriter deals.Todd Farmer will write the screenplay to the feature version of the survivalhorror video game franchise Clock Tower, while Ronnie Christensen will the supernatural story Sanctuary.Both projects will be ...
-
News
Hong Kong court convicts BitTorrent user
A Hong Kong court has convicted a 38-year-old man for uploading films to theinternet using BitTorrent (BT) technology, in a case that is regarded locallyas the world's first criminal conviction of a BT user.Chan Nai-ming, who used thealias "Big Crook", was convicted by a Hong Kong magistrateof three charges of ...
-
News
Warner Bros restructures home entertainment divisions
Adopting a streamlinedapproach to the global multi-media delivery of its properties, Warner Bros hasconsolidated its home video, online, wireless, games, anti-piracy and emergingtechnologies divisions under Warner Bros Home Entertainment Group (WBHEG).Kevin Tsujihara, a highlyregarded new media strategist at Warner Bros, will head up the division aspresident, reporting directly to studio ...
-
News
Loews gets rolling with Technicolor
Exhibition giant Loews Cineplex has agreed to carry some $60m of rolling stock advertisements supplied by Technicolor in its 1,800 US screens starting from July. Loews president and CEO Lawrence Ruisi said: "This agreement represents the next step in our strategy to generate ancillary revenues in our business. On-screen advertising ...
-
News
Summit, Mandalay enter the Twilight Zone
Summit Entertainment andMandalay Pictures have jointly acquired feature rights to Richard Matheson'sshort story and classic 1963 TwilightZone extended episode Deathship.Michael Brandt and Derek Haasare co-writing the project - renamed Countdown- based an original draft by Scott Burn and Stephen Gregg.The story centres on a groupof astronauts on a mysterious planet ...
-
News
Lions Gate checks into Hostel with Screen Gems
Lions Gate has come on boardas domestic distributor on Screen Gems' upcoming horror picture Hostel from Eli Roth and will launch itwide on Dec 21.Quentin Tarantino served as executive producer on the picture, which stars JayHernandez as an American tourist who becomes ensnared in an underground torturering.Lions Gate, which distributed ...
-
News
Lions Gate lines up stellar voice cast for Foodfight!
Charlie Sheen, Eva Longoria,Wayne Brady, Chris Kattan and Christopher Lloyd have joined the voice cast ofThreshold Animation Studios and Lions Gate Family Entertainment's upcominganimated comedy Foodfight!As previously announced,Hillary and Haylie Duff have committed to the project set after hours in asupermarket populated by talking products.Lions Gate FamilyEntertainment has scheduled an ...
-
News
Shochiku to finance Kore-eda period drama
Japanese director HirokazuKore-eda (After Life, Nobody Knows) is set to make his firstperiod drama, Hana Yori Mo Naho, withShochiku providing financing and distribution.Based on an original storyby Kore-eda, the film is scheduled for a spring 2006 release. Shochiku willalso be handling worldwide sales. The film will featureJunichi Okada (Tokyo Tower) ...
-
News
Austrian film-makers sign up for Mozart project
Ulrich Seidl, Jessica Hausner, Michael Glawogger, Goran Rebic and Bady Minck are among 28 Austrian-based filmmakers participatingin The Mozart Minute film project for the Wiener Mozartjahr2006 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Wolfgang AmadeusMozart.Speaking to ScreenDaily.com at the Viennale this week, project coordinator Christine Dollhofer explained that ...
-
News
Frozen Days named as surprise Haifa winner
FrozenDays, the story of a young woman roaming the streets of Tel Aviv and breakinginto empty flats to sleep at night took the 21st Haifa InternationalFilm Festival by surprise and won the competition for the Best Israeli Film. FrozenDays is the debut feature of Danny Lerner, a graduate of Tel ...
-
News
Sex, Order, Lackeen head Irish award hopefuls
With theannouncement of a host, new venue and, for the first time, a live broadcast byRTE, the final elements of the programme for the Irish Film & TelevisionAwards have been put in place for November 5. Leadingthe pack with seven nominations is local low budget feature Trouble With Sexfollowed closely ...
-
News
Mrs Henderson to kick off Marrakech festival
The 5th annual Marrakech International Film Festival willkick off on November 11 with Stephen Frears MrsHenderson Presents opening the festivities.Organised by Le Public Systeme who also handlethe Deauville Festival of American film, the CognacThriller Festival and the Gerardmer Horror Festivalamong others, the Marrakech event has gained in notoriety in the ...
-
News
Virgins run wild at Spanish box office
Seville-set teendrama 7 Virgins ousted runaway localhit Torrente 3: The Protectorin a surprise upset at the Spanish box office over the weekend.7 Virgins (7 Virgenes) earned Euros 746,039 from just under148,000 admissions on its second weekend, beating Torrente 3's Euros 727,070 from nearly 143,000admissions.It is highly unusualfor atitle to rocket ...
-
News
Cock And Bull to open European Union Film Showcase
The American FilmInstitute, working with the Cultural Counselors of the European Union Member States, will present the 18th editionof the European Union Film Showcase at the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland, from November 8-22.UK films will open and close the festival:Michael Winterbottom's Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull ...
-
News
Miller signs up for Dimension's Dracula
Jonny Lee Miller has signed to star in Dimension Films' Wes Craven Presents: Dracula 2000, joining Christopher Plummer, Jennifer Esposito and singer Vitamin C in the latest re-telling of the Bram Stoker classic.Miller, who previously starred in Miramax Films' Mansfield Park and Trainspotting, plays Simon Shephard, a London antiques dealer ...
-
News
Foreign producers take issue with UK tax proposals
The UK is in danger of losing its status as a topco-production partner for international film-makers if the government pressesahead with its new tax proposals, foreign producers argued at a heated filmseminar this week.The Co-production Express,presented by the UK MEDIA Desk, the UK Film Council (UKFC), and the Times bfi ...
-
News
Film Sales Company heads for Middletown
Andrew Herwitz' The FilmSales Company has bulked up its AFM slate after picking up worldwide rightsexcluding the UK to the sibling drama Middletown starring Matthew Macfayden.Macfayden, currently starring as Charles Darcy opposite Keira Knightley in PrideAnd Prejudice, will star in theIreland-set tale about the torrid relationship between two brothers.Brian Kirk ...