Small MPU – Page 632
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News
Alliance's Wrenn to fly to New Zealand
Miramax has acquired Lone Scherfig's dogme title Italian For Beginners, one of the hottest titles in the main competition at the Berlin Film Festival since its screening on Friday, for release in the US, Mexico and English-speaking Canada. Miramax is understood to have paid $600,000 for the romantic comedy, beating ...
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LAFF gets its Happy Endings
Rodrigo Garcia's all-star ensemble drama Nine Lives will be the Centerpiece Premiere and Don Roos' HappyEndings will close the 2005 Los AngelesFilm Festival, which runs from Jun 16-26.Festival organisers also announced that Don Cheadle, LisaKudrow, and Elijah Wood will serve as honorary festival chairs, with SydneyPollack named guest director and ...
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Executive director sought for San Francisco film festival
The San Francisco Film Society is searching for a newexecutive director in the run-up to next year's 50th anniversary of the SanFrancisco International Film Festival following the departure of RoxanneCaptor.Captor joined the organisation in 2001 and has left to concentrateon developing her own film projects.Melanie Blum, president of the Society's ...
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Arclight to handle $20m Snow Goose
Arclight Films has picked up international sales on The SnowGoose, a $20m WWII dramaset to begin production this autumn in Belgium, the UK and France.Gillies MacKinnon will direct Olivier Martinez, EmilyBlunt, Billy Connolly and Jenny Agutter in Paul Gallico's story of a growingfriendship between a social pariah and a young ...
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City Lights unveils $150m private equity fund
New York City-based full service entertainment entity CityLights Media Group has launched City Lights Pictures Film Fund, a privateequity fund that will acquire, develop and finance up to $150m in product overthe next three years.City Lights has set up three separate divisions specialising invarious project types, with City Lights chief ...
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Lerman is a Hoot for Walden/New Line family film
Logan Lerman has been cast in the lead role of Walden Media andNew Line Cinema's children's story Hoot, based on the novel by Carl Hiaasen.The story centres on a young Montana boy who moves toFlorida and uncovers a plot to destroy a local population of endangered owls.Wil Shriner is directing ...
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Shooting begins on heist thriller Wild Seven
Robert Forster and RobertLoggia have joined Richard Roundtree on the cast of Wild Seven, a heist thriller currently underway in Phoenix,Arizona.Writer-director James Hausler's story centres on an ex-con who plots revenge against the man who sent him to prison.The Beat Pirate Pictures production is being produced by Michelle J Vogler, ...
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Reviews
The Longest Yard
Dir: Peter Segal. USA.2005. 113mins.Underdog sports tales areoverly common, but Adam Sandler's new film The Longest Yard - asurprisingly faithful and raucous remake of Burt Reynolds beloved movie of thesame name - spikes that familiar punch with the motivation of revenge,resulting in an estimable and surprisingly entertaining kick-off to the ...
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Kino snaps up Cannes trio
US independent distributor Kino International hasacquired three titles at the recently-concluded Cannes Film Festival.The titlesare: Im Sang Soo's The President's Last Bang from South Korea andIranian director Mohammad Rasoulof's Iron Island - both of which playedin Directors' Fortnight - along with French director Karin Albou's La PetiteJerusalem which screened in ...
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Reviews
Tale Of Cinema (Keuk jang jeon)
Dir/scr: Hong Sangsoo. SKor-Fr. 2005. 90minsHong Sangsoo, Korea's master of elliptical urbannarrative, returns with a characteristically slippery slice of Seoul realism inTale Of Cinema, which morphs halfway through into a meditation oncinema, love and reality. The narrative spectacularly wrong-foots the viewerabout an hour in, but even given this perspectival twist, ...
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Reviews
The Great Ecstasy Of Robert Carmichael
Dir: Thomas Clay. UK.2005. 96minsThomas Clay announceshimself as a provocative new British talent with the disturbing state of thenation wake up call The Great Ecstasy Of Robert Carmichael. The 24year-old's ambitious debut feature carries echoes of such uncompromisingEuropean auteurs as Michael Haneke and Gaspar Noe before taking a turn intovideo ...
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Fusion, Hi-Def partner up for Machinist
John Fremes' Fusion International Sales has partnered with LA-based Hi-Def Alliance Studio Group to produce The Machinist shot entirely in high definition and then transferred to 35mm film for theatrical release. Written by Steven Bratter (Demolition Man) and Phil Perlson, the movie is an action/adventure directed and produced by Bratter ...
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News
Barrandov replaces chief on eve of Bond deal
Prague's Barrandov Studioshas replaced CEO Radomir Docekal with Veslava Piegzova, formerly head ofinternal audit at Barrandov majority owner Moravia Steel.Moravia Steel spokespersonDusana Chrenekova told local press that the change was made to make the studios'more effective'. Local insiders interpretthat to mean that Barrandov is seeking to compete with production serviceproviders, ...
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News
Hidden triumphs in Screen critics' poll
It may not have won the Palme d'Or, but Michael Haneke's Hiddenhas emerged as the most popular Cannes competition title according to Screen'sannual poll of international critics.The Screen Cannes jury was made up of 12 key criticsfrom around the world who voted on every film in competition, awarding fourpoints for ...
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Chinese films fail to make main Shanghai competition
Despite the centenary ofChinese cinema being the main theme of this year's 8th ShanghaiInternational Film Festival (SIFF) (June 11-19), no Chinese film has beenselected for its main competition.In each of the pasteditions, at least one Chinese film has been in the running for the Jin Jueprize, one of China's top ...
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Nair embarks on Namesake shoot
Filmmaker Mira Nair has begun a two week shoot in India of TheNamesake, an adaptation of Pulitzer-prize winning Jhumpa Lahiri's debutnovel of the same name. 'It's nice to be back in India and I am looking forwardto the shoot in Kolkata, a city that has mesmerised me since mychildhood,' Nair ...
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Minghella cranks up Breaking And Entering
Principal photography has begun in London on Breaking AndEntering, written and directed by Anthony Minghella.Previouslyannounced cast members Jude Law, Juliette Binoche, Robin Wright Penn and VeraFarmiga are joined by Martin Freeman, Ray Winstone and Mark Benton in thecontemporary drama.The film is a co-production between Miramax Films and TheWeinstein Company, the ...
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Beta Cinema unveils raft of Cannes deals
Beta Cinema has announced a raft of dealsconcluded at last week's market in Cannes and expects the first sale for SergeiBodrov's Mongol to be finalised this week.Mennan Yapo's thriller Soundless was soldto the US (Koch Lorber Media), France (97 Film Production & Distribution)and Brazil (Swen do Brazil).Hannes Stoehr's Berlinale 2005 ...
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The Works closes multiple deals on Cannes slate
As the dust settles onanother Cannes market, UK-based sales agents The Works announced yesterday thatit had closed multiple deals on its Cannes slate. "It was a busymarket and we were there then to the bitter end closing deals," said TheWorks' Joy Wong. Among The Works' titles to catch buyers' eyes ...
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Zelenka's Wrong Side Up wins Moscow slot
Wrong Side Up, the latest film from Czechdirector Petr Zelenka, has been chosen for competition at the 27th MoscowInternational Film Festival (June 17-26). The film, released in the Czech Republic in February 2005, has already rackedup more than 200.000 admissions in its domestic market. 'We're very happyto see Wrong ...