Small MPU – Page 594
-
News
Reding spells out Media Programme future
"Filmeducation and training are to be put at the heart of the next version of theEuropean Union's Media Programme," said EU culture and education commissionerViviane Reding yesterday."Wewill not harmonise training. We will maintain national specificity. But we willput all the training programmes together in a new network with a new ...
-
News
Godard provokes at Cannes
In Cannes yesterday, Jean-Luc Godard (unveiling hisnew film Notre Musique out ofcompetition) was in typically provocative and gnomic form. Asked to comment onMichael Moore's work, he compared it unfavourably to the "great movies" 25 years ago of Frederick Wiseman. "Ofcourse he (Moore) says he is attacking Bush but my feeling ...
-
News
Focus Features enjoys sales bonanza
Focus Features has completed over 200 territorial deals at Canneson its current slate of pictures led by Directors Fortnight title Mean Creek as well as The Constant Gardener, Brokeback Mountain,Prime, Assault On Precinct 13 and TheIce Harvest.On Jacob Aaron Estes'' acclaimed teen odyssey Mean Creek, Focus has clinched deals with ...
-
News
Calvaire producer lines up Coffin Island adaptation
Michael Gentile, producer ofCritics' Week title Calvaire, hasannounced new projects from his companyThe Film. In Cannes, Gentile signed a deal for the rights to Maurice Leblanc's book L'Ile Aux 30 Cerceuils, or Coffin Island. The film based on thebook will be made for about Euros 8m-10m according to Gentile who ...
-
News
Kormakur embarks on A Little Trip To Heaven
Forest Whitakerand Norway's Maria Bonnevie are heading the cast of Baltasar Kormakur's hotEnglish-language debut A Little Trip ToHeaven, which has become the biggest Icelandic film ever with its $8.5mbudget.New sales outfitKatapult Film Sales has already pre-sold the project to A-Film (Benelux) andArtfree (Greece), and LA-based Icelandic producer Joni Sighvatsson is ...
-
News
Hart Sharp gets Super Size
Hart Sharp Video hasacquired domestic home video rights to hit documentary Super Size Me from Roadside Attractions and Samuel Goldwyn Films.The film, in which film-maker Morgan Spurlock puts himself on a strict diet ofMcDonald's food for 30 days, will be released in the autumn on DVD and VHS.The deal was ...
-
News
South Africa's Videovision stocks up
South Africa's Videovision has picked up a swathe of filmsappearing in Cannes this week.From Wild Bunch it has grabbed Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 and Asia Argento's The Heart Is deceitful Above All Things.It also bought a five picture package of forthcomingtitles from Summit Entertainment: Stripes,Sahara, Phantom Of The Opera and ...
-
News
Splendid profits surge on back of library titles
German rights trader Splendid Medien improved its profits last year thanks to the performance of its library and video titles.Gross earnings (EBITDA) rose 43% from $9.9m (DM19.8m) to $14.1m (DM28.3m) in 1999, while operating profits soared from $1.8m (DM3.6m) to $5.1m (DM10.3m). Net profits after tax and the $4.6m (DM9.3m) ...
-
News
Nexo takes on The Woodsman for Italy
Nexo has taken Italian rights to The Woodsman, Nicole Kassell's directorial debut which is inDirectors Fortnight, from Lee Daniels Entertainment.The acquisition comes hard on the heels of Nexo's successwith Monster which has grossed over$2m after three weeks on release in Italy. Like Monster, The Woodsmanwill be distributed domestically in the ...
-
News
Hong Kong tycoon acquire a 17% stake in movie powerhouse Golden Harvest
Hong Kong property andtelecoms tycoon Li Ka Shing looks set to acquire a 17% stake in moviepowerhouse Golden Harvest Entertainment from Taiwan's computer giant Acer,which was brought in as a shareholder in 2000.The transaction between Liand Acer is understood to be a done deal. An official announcement - nowpending approval ...
-
News
Actor Tony Randall dies aged 84
Tony Randall, the Emmyaward winning comedian and star of stage, cinema and television who won acclaimfor roles in Pillow Talk and No Down Payment, has died aged 84.Randall, who will perhapsbe best remembered for such television hits as One Man's Family, MrPeepers and The Tony Randall Show, passed away in ...
-
News
New Line signs pact with UK publisher Chicken House
New Line Cinema has struck a first-look deal with ChickenHouse, the English children's book company whose publisher was creditedwith the discovery of Harry Potterauthor J K Rowling.The publishing deal creates a new channel of story ideasfor the studio and will allow Chicken House to co-produce and develop its ownwriters' ideas ...
-
Reviews
The Edukators
Dir:Hans Weingartner. Ger-Aust. 2004. 126minsThefirst German film to screen in competition in Cannes in a decade, HansWeingartner's second feature The Edukators is a fresh and likable taleof youthful idealism. Boosted by a standout performance by Daniel Bruehl (oneof Europe's fastest-rising stars), vigorously shot in a hand-held style - whichmight best ...
-
Reviews
The Assassination Of Richard Nixon
Dir:Niels Mueller. US. 2004. 103minsLastyear at Cannes, Mystic River marked out Sean Penn as an early best actorOscar contender. This year, The Assassination Of Richard Nixon doesexactly the same. Currently in the prime of his career, Penn adds to his recentrun of outstanding work with a performance that captures every ...
-
Reviews
9 Songs
Dir: MichaelWinterbottom. UK. 2004. 65minsAlthough scarcely inmid-career, Michael Winterbottom has attempted almost every available filmgenre in which to test his considerable talents. 9 Songs, filmeddigitally, like his 2003 Berlin Golden Bear winner In This World, is hisbest shot at a film about sex.You could almost call it aporn movie - ...
-
News
Motorcycle revs up embattled Cannes
Last month, festival programmer Thierry Fremaux promised thatCannes 2004 would be a festival of Confirmations and Discoveries. TheFestival's reputation depended on it after widespread criticisms of the eventin 2003. It has been touch and go at times but the competition titles have justabout delivered on his promise.Walter Salles' stirringly compassionate ...
-
News
New film festival set for Amazon
In conjunction with thegovernment of Amazonas, Le Public Systeme has announced the creation of a newfilm festival in Amazonas, Brazil.Le Public Systeme is thegroup behind the Deauville Festival of American Film, the Cognac ThrillerFestival and the Gerardmer Fantastic Film Festival. Amazonas will be an adventure-themed event but will includeaspects of ...
-
News
Lagardere profits down but media boosts sales
French media and aerospace group Lagardere has reported a 13.9% decrease in profits during the 1999 financial year to $235m (FFr1.58bn), compared to $268m (FFr1.8bn) in 1998. However revenue was up 14.9% over the same period to $12bn (FFr80.5bn), from $11.8bn (FFr79.1bn) in 1998, with the growth mostly attributed to ...
-
News
NORTH AMERICA 19 May
Like the Trojan Horse that plays a pivotal, albeit utterlywooden, role in Warner Bros' Troy,everybody thought they knew what they were getting as the picture's releasedate approached. And sure enough Wolfgang Petersen's abridged adaptation ofHomer's Iliad generated plenty of publicity and opened number one. The onlypart that didn't go to ...
-
News
Dagur Kari directs Grown Up People
Icelandic filmmakerDagur Kari, who charmed audiences and critics alike with his unusualmultiple-award winning debut Noi Albinoi,started shooting his new film Grown UpPeople (Voksne Mennesker) this week in Copenhagen.Kari graduated fromthe National Film School of Denmark, but this will be his first Danish film -and it will be in black and ...