Small MPU – Page 597
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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News
Arclight picks up Brooks' Looking For Comedy
Arclight Films has acquiredinternational rights to Albert Brooks' comedy Looking For Comedy In The Muslim World and will commence sales atthe AFM next week.Brooks stars as a comedianworking for the US government who travels to India and Pakistan to discover what makes Muslims laugh.Brooks directed and wrotethe project, which is ...
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News
De Niro to star in Levinson's What Just Happened'
Robert De Niro will star inBarry Levinson's comedy What JustHappened' for 2929 Productions which is based on Art Linson's book andscreenplay about his experiences in Hollywood.2929 will fully finance theproject and the company's sales chief Shebnem Askin will commence internationalsales at the AFM next week. No domestic distributor is attached ...
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News
Lightning adds Junebug, Wal-Mart doc to AFM slate
Lightning Entertainment hasbulked up its AFM slate by taking international rights to Phil Morrison'sfamily drama Junebug and RobertGreenwald's documentary Wal-Mart: TheHigh Cost Of Low Price.The Los Angeles-based salesand distribution outfit swooped on Junebugfollowing the demise of UK-based sales house Renaissance Films. The picture,which earned a Special Jury Prize at Sundance ...
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News
Horizon lines up vintage Daiei slate for AFM
Rob Straight'sVancouver-based Horizon Entertainment is bringing a slate of vintage titlesfrom the Daiei library to the AFM through its partnership with Kadokawa HeraldPictures, including 1968 horror title YokaiDaisenso and its 1968 and 1969 sequels. In addition, Horizon willoffer Takashi Miike's $10m children's fantasy epic The Great Yokai War, a remake ...
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News
India's Mukta Arts unveils five-picture slate
Mukta Arts chairman andfilmmaker Subhash Ghai announced five new films during the company's 27thanniversary celebrations in Mumbai this week.Ashwini Chowdhary willdirect Good Boy Bad Boy, a collegecampus musical, with Emraan Hashmi, Tusshar Kapoor, Isha Sharvani and TanushreeDutta in the cast. Sangeeth Sivan will direct Money Money Money, set to star ...
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News
Australia's Kojo Group moves into film production
Leading Adelaide-basedpost-production and TV production company, Kojo Group, is moving into featurefilm production and has boarded writer/director Murali K. Thalluri's debutfeature 2:37."Our optimistic goal is tomake a couple of films per year," Kojo founding partner Kent Smith told Screendaily. "We have already had a bigrole on a number but not ...
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News
Australia gets serious about the truth
Australian documentarymakers who were encouraged to pitch full-length features are now seeing their projectsmove into pre-production or production.Films now underway thanks tothe initiative, introduced by the Film Finance Corporation Australia (FFC) lastyear, include Rampage, about a youngupcoming rap star, which is now being shot in Miami by director/writer/producerGeorge Gittoes. Moviehouseis ...
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News
India's Adlabs enters international distribution
Adlabs-Reliance, a jointventure between India's largest film company Adlabs and Reliance Infocomm, has startedacquiring Hindi films for overseas distribution. The company announcedthat it has acquired international rights to Rajesh Roshan's Krrish, starring Hritik Roshan, and RaviChopra's Babul, starring AmitabhBachchan. It is reported to have paid$2.2m for the overseas and Indian ...
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News
Bulgaria set to join EU's Media Programme
The European Commission today gave the green light for Bulgaria to become the first Eastern European country to join the European Union (EU)'s MEDIA Programme, which provides financial support for film distribution, development and training. Although Bulgaria is not a member of the 15-nation EU, participation in EU programmes is ...
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News
New bond company aims to shake up market
The emergence of Media RiskManagement (MRM) is significant news for independent filmmakers, given only ahandful of companies offer completion bonds and the difficulty of securingreinsurance usually prevents new players from appearing.Melbourne-based GeorgeAdams, who was one of the executive producers on Wolf Creek, and Roger Brewitt have set up in association ...
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News
Ex-Egoli Tossell exec Damian unveils 27 Films' debut slate
Former Egoli TossellFilm executive Oliver Damian has set up his own production outfit 27 FilmsProduction to develop and produce international co-productions, with aparticular focus on projects from Eastern Europe and Asia. Among 27 Films' first projects are Oscar-nominated Georgian directorNana Djordjadze's fantasy comedy The Rainbow Maker; Sidewayscinematographer Phedon Papamichael'sdirectorial debut ...
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News
UK's Trinity acquires Magician from Moviehouse
New UK distributor Trinity Filmed Entertainment has madeits first acquisition, for Scott Ryan's TheMagician, in a deal struck with sales company MoviehouseEntertainment.The film is a darkly comic mockumentary about a professional hitmanbeing documented by an amateur film-maker. Ryan wrote, directed, and plays thelead character. Michelle Bennett (Chopper) and Nash Edgerton ...
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News
Newcastle's Northern Lights fest plans industry summit
Newcastle Upon Tyne'sthird-annual Northern Lights Film Festival is planning a two-day industrysummit to be held November 18-19. This year's keynote will be presented by JimStark, the producer of Factotum, Coffeeand Cigarettes and Mystery Train.The summit will also includepitching sessions, case studies, panels, and speed meetings. The expectedattendees include Julia Short ...
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News
Malaga brings forward festival dates
The Spanish Film Festival of Malaga has moved its dates forward a monthto March and added several new awards for its 9th annual editionnext year.Organisers also announced that veteran Spanish scriptwriter Rafael Azcona, who has dozens of film credits to his nameincluding Oscar Award winner Belle Epoque, will receive this ...
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Reviews
Saw II
Dir: Darren Lynn Bousman. US. 2005. 97mins.A rushed-through-production sequel to the scream hitof last Halloween, Saw II has thejoint benefit and millstone of lowered expectation. It would be easy for thishorror sequel to be nothing more than a series of goosing, contrived deathsequences - which it is for the bulk ...
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News
Bavaria adds Heaven, Offside to AFM slate
Bavaria Film International has added two new titles - Ed Herzog's Almost Heaven and BuketAlakus' Offside(Eine Andere Liga) - to its market slate for the upcoming AFM nextmonth.Herzog's feelgood movie about a wannabee German country singer mistaking Jamaica forNashville stars Heike Makatsch, WotanWilke Moehring and Ivan Shvedoff, and was released ...
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News
Glawogger's Death takes London's Grierson prize
The Times bfi London Film Festival has givenits inaugural Grierson Award to Michael Glawogger for Workingman'sDeath. The award is presented to the director of the best feature-lengthdocumentary shown at the LFF. Austrian film-maker Glawoggerwill accept the award at a special screening of the film on November 1. The festival's artistic ...