Small MPU – Page 599

  • News

    Rubin's First Independent signs US DVD distribution deal with Visual

    2005-10-31T00:00:00Z

    Gary Rubin's FirstIndependent Pictures has signed a multi-year distribution agreement with VisualEntertainment, a Universal Music Group division set up to distributeindependent features on DVD and video in the US.The slate kicks off withHuck Botko and Andre Gurland's comedy Mail Order Wife, Gary Sinyor's comedy Bob The Butler starring Tom Green, ...

  • News

    Gold Circle, Vertigo to bring Angel back to the screen

    2005-10-31T00:00:00Z

    Gold Circle Films and Vertigo Entertainment are teaming up toadapt William Hjortsberg's 1978 novel Falling Angel, which Alan Parker famously turned intothe 1987 mystery Angel Heart.While that version madesignificant departures from the novel, Gold Circle and Vertigo plan a morefaithful adaptation, while setting it in the present day.The project marks ...

  • News

    Ford takes Ingenious finance role

    2005-10-31T00:00:00Z

    Media investment group Ingenioushas appointed Sue Ford as group finance director. Ford previously held thesame position at Channel 4 Television Corporation and 4 Ventures Ltd. Sue will be responsible forthe financial management and governance of the Ingenious Group.In the last year, thecompany has raised film finance for productions such as ...

  • Reviews

    Chicken Little

    2005-10-31T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Mark Dindal. US. 2005. 80mins.For its first fully computer-animated feature, WaltDisney has turned the fable of ChickenLittle into a warm and funny comedy-adventure with an appealing energy, atouching thread of family drama and a surprising dose of War Of The Worlds-style sci-fi. After thedisappointment of some of Disney's recent ...

  • News

    Prisa to go ahead with float in June

    2000-05-30T14:01:00Z

    Spanish media empire Grupo Prisa is pushing ahead with flotation plans and will offer up to 20% of its shares on June 12, according to reports in Prisa-owned financial newspaper Cinco Dias. Sources at the Group declined to comment while the operation awaits approval from the national market commission (CNMV). ...

  • News

    Three shortlisted for Sutherland Trophy

    2005-10-31T00:00:00Z

    Three films have been shortlisted for the British Film Institute's Sutherland Trophy, awarded to the director of the most original first feature film screened at The Times bfi London Film Festival.The three are Kari Paljakka's For The Living And The Dead, Giorgio Diritti's The Wind Blows Round, and Ali Mosaffa's ...

  • News

    Hof hits new heights

    2005-10-31T12:34:00Z

    This year's International Hof Film Days attracted a record 28,000 admissions in five days.Amongthe highlights at this year's annual gathering of the German film communitywere Andreas Dresen's Summer In Berlin (Sommer VormBalkon), EoinMoore's Im Schwitzkasten,Alain Gsponer's Roseand Veit Helmer'sdocumentary Behind The Couch - Casting InHollywood.Gsponer won the Eastman Support Prize ...

  • News

    Hof hits new heights

    2005-10-31T12:34:00Z

    TheInternational Hof Film Days posted record attendancewith 28,000 admissions in five days.Amongthe highlights at this year's annual gathering of the German film communitywere Andreas Dresen's Summer In Berlin (Sommer VormBalkon), EoinMoore's Im Schwitzkasten,Alain Gsponer's Roseand Veit Helmer'sdocumentary Behind The Couch - Casting InHollywood.Gsponer won the Eastman Support Prize for NewcomerTalents ...

  • News

    Negishi takes top honours at Tokyo festival

    2005-10-31T13:05:00Z

    Kichitaro Negishi's drama What the Snow Brings became the first Japanese film to win the Tokyo International Film Festival's top prize, the Tokyo Sakura Grand Prix, since the fest's first edition in 1985. Jury chairman Zhang Yimou said the judges had reached the decision quickly and unanimously - "a first ...

  • Reviews

    The Ice Harvest

    2005-10-31T00:00:00Z

    Dir. Harold Ramis. US. 2005. 88mins.After the fairly impersonal work he delivered on hisrecent studio assignments (Analyze That, the Bedazzledremake), Harold Ramis returns to the offbeat,anti-social observational humour his talent thrives on with The Ice Harvest.Told in a clipped, rakishstyle and suffused in a low-key sleaze, it makes for an ...

  • News

    Media Luna adds dance doc to AFM slate

    2005-11-01T04:00:00Z

    Onthe eve of the AFM, Cologne-based sales company Media Luna has added ArneBirkenstock's documentary 12 Tangos -Adios Buenos Aires to its market line-up.Producedby Fruitmarket - Kultur undMedien and TradewindPictures, 12 Tangos follows the livesof several tango dancers in crisis-ridden Buenos Aires where the dance wasoriginally created by European immigrants.Theacquisition by ...

  • Reviews

    The War Within

    2005-10-31T00:00:00Z

    Dir. Joseph Castelo. US.2005. 100mins.The War Within is amilestone in many ways. It's the first dramatic film production from a businessmodel hatched by 2929 Entertainment that may shape the way movies are exploitedin the future. Shot entirely in high-definition, it was released in the USsimultaneously in theatres and on high-definition ...

  • Reviews

    Winter Passing

    2005-10-31T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Adam Rapp. US. 2005. 98mins.A well-written and literate, if not very original,drama, Winter Passing would have themakings of an auspicious debut feature from director-writer Adam Rapp, were itnot for the over-conventional cinema language that it employs.Rapp shows himself to be astrong writer with his piece about a young New ...

  • News

    Bedside manner earns Bize the Golden Spike

    2005-11-01T04:00:00Z

    Chilean-Germanco-production In Bed scooped the Golden Spikeaward at the 50thanniversary edition of Spain's Valladolid International Film Festival.DirectorMatias Bize's film (En La Cama) turns on two strangerswho meet, decide to rent a hotel room for a tryst, then unexpectedly spend therest of the night talking. Thefilm picked up the top prize ...

  • News

    Bac picks up French rights to Shortbus from Fortissimo

    2005-11-01T00:00:00Z

    Bac Films has acquired JohnCameron Mitchell's Shortbus forFrench distribution. The deal was announced this week by Fortissimo Films. Shortbus is the long-awaited follow up to Mitchell'scritically acclaimed 2001 hit Hedwig And The Angry Inch. The film revolves around the lives of threesexually diverse characters, each facing different challenges, who meet ...

  • News

    Leys to spearhead Gillon Aitken push into film

    2000-05-30T14:03:00Z

    Kate Leys, formerly head of development at the UK's FilmFour, has joined Gillon Aitken Associates to head a drive into exploiting film and TV rights at the London literary agency.Leys, who left FilmFour last year to go freelance, takes up the newly-created post of film and TV executive. She is ...

  • News

    THINKFilm plans Easter release for Passion Of The Christ doc

    2005-11-01T00:00:00Z

    THINKFilm has picked upNorth American rights from The Film Sales Company to Francesco Cabras andAlberto Molinari's documentary The Big Question and plans an Easter 2006 release. Shot in English and Italianduring the filming of Mel Gibson's The Passion Of The Christ, the picture explores beliefs about the nature ofdivinity through ...

  • News

    Newman named executive director of National Board Of Review

    2005-11-01T00:00:00Z

    Eileen Newman has been namedexecutive director of the National Board of Review, which traditionally kicksoff the awards season and will announce its winners on Dec 6. Newman most recently servedas senior director of programming at IFP/New York and will work closely withthe board of directors in all matter, specifically in ...

  • News

    Seidelman to embark on black comedy That Loving Feeling

    2005-11-01T00:00:00Z

    Susan Seidelman, whose latestdrama Boynton Beach Bereavement Club recently had its world premiere at the Hamptons International FilmFestival, is to direct the black comedy That Loving Feeling. Seidelman with reunite withher Boynton Beach Bereavement Club screenwriterJonathan Brett on the story of a mild-mannered Manhattan dentist whose plan tokill his wife ...

  • News

    Dimension picks up 2929 remake Black Christmas

    2005-11-01T00:00:00Z

    Dimension Films has swoopedon US rights to 2929 Productions' remake of the 1974 horror thriller BlackChristmas, which will be made byJames Wong and Glen Morgan, the filmmaking team behind Final Destination and The One. 2929 International will becommence pre-sales at AFM on the project, which is scheduled to beginproduction in ...