Small MPU – Page 645
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Reviews
Herbie: Fully Loaded
Dir: Angela Robinson. US.2005. 95mins.The latest in a gradualrecycling programme of Disney's back catalogue (after Flubber, The ParentTrap, Freaky Friday), Herbie: Fully Loaded is an effective familypicture which will be a big hit for the studio in the US - where it opens onJune 22 - and one likely to ...
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News
Freud promises business as usual following takeover
UK PR business Freud Communication will retain itsrelationship with its string of film industry clients following the takeover bythe Publicis Groupe.But the acquisition by the French advertising and marketinggiant could allow the international expansion clients increasingly demand."To be able to preserve and develop our business and culturebut have the resources ...
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Reviews
Housewarming (Travaux, On Sait Quand Ca Commence')
Dir: BrigitteRouan. Fr-UK. 2005. 95mins.Actor turneddirector Brigitte Rouan turns in the French cinematic equivalent of the'chick-lit' novel in Housewarming, a breezily disposable comedy about anindependent professional woman whose life goes into a chaotic spin. Builtaround an elegant but rather stiff central performance by Carole Bouquet, thefilm is an unexpectedly fluffy ...
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News
Good Machine sells on Flora Plum
David Linde's Good Machine International has closed a slew of deals on Jodie Foster's next directorial picture Flora Plum starring Russell Crowe and Clare Danes. Entertainment Film Distributors will take the picture in the UK, Bac Films in France, LaurenFilm in Spain and Paradiso in Benelux. The film was set ...
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Reviews
The Buried Forest (Umorgei)
Dir: Kohei Oguri. Japan.2005. 94mins.Stuck seductively in itsown dreamtime, Japanese arthouse director Kohei Oguri's Directors Fortnightcontender The Buried Forest is a slow waltz of stories and images thatonly reluctantly offers itself up to rational analysis. Set in a rural Japanesevillage that has an a historical, magical realist feel, this demanding ...
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News
Pinewood Shepperton shares drop after profit warning
Shares in Pinewood Shepperton have dropped 20 per cent after the studio issued a profit warning.The UK institution has been expanding recently, acquiring TeddingtonStudios two months ago. But it has been struggling to tie down the bigblockbuster movies on which it has built its business and reputation.In April,the share price ...
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News
Working Title reshuffles its senior executive pack
Working Title has restructured its creative executive team. Natascha Wharton,head of low-budget arm WT2, will take over the development departments of bothWorking Title Films and WT2.Meanwhile, DebraHayward, head of film, is to leave her current post, but will continue to workwith Working Title as exec-producer on selected projects."Debra has a ...
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News
Distributors flock to German Films' previews
Morethan 40 international film distributors and TV film buyers will attend German Films' Munich Previews starting on Wednesday.NewLine Cinema, Focus Features, the UK's Soda Pictures, France's MK2, Hungary'sBudapest Film, and Russia's Most Media are among the visitors to the event atthe Munich Filmfest.Othercompanies confirmed include the UK's City Screen, Poland's ...
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News
Hong Kong clears way for rental licence fees
Video rental shops may be requiredto pay licence fees for the first time in Hong Kong under government plans to extend copyright laws.The Hong Kong government proposedthe reforms, after a public consultation last December. The introduction of rental rightswould be highly significant for the film industry, meaning copyrightowners could demand ...
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News
Mandate restructures, adds new staff after mbo
Joe Drake's Mandate Pictureshas restructured the company in the wake of the management buyout in Jan.Rob McEntegart (pictured) has beennamed executive vice president, business affairs, and will oversee rights andtalent deals for development and production, as well as select distributiondeals such as the company's multi-picture distribution deal with Sony.He joined ...
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News
Nouveau Montreal festival nabs four Cannes films
The Dardenne brothers' Palmed'Or winner L'Enfant, Lars vonTrier's Manderlay, AlainCavalier's Le Filmeur and UneNuit (Yek Shab), the directorial debut of Iranian actress NikiKarimi, have all been confirmed as official screenings at Montreal's Festivaldu Nouveau Cinema (FNC), Oct 13 to 23.The four Cannes titles theformer two in Official Competition, the ...
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News
Darwin's Nightmare wins Silverdocs
Silverdocs, AFI/DiscoveryChannel Documentary Festival, ended on Sunday night with its annual awardsceremony which gave Hubert Sauper's Darwin's Nightmare the top prize, the Sterling Award.The film shows the impact ofglobalization and the scourge of AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa through themicrocosm of life on the shore of Lake Victoria in Tanzania.The festival, ...
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News
Gellar to inhabit Alice for Universal
Sarah Michelle Gellar is attached tostar in Alice, a new film based on the video game AmericanMcGee's Alice, for Universal Pictures. Marcus Nispel is set todirect.AmericanMcGee's Alice is a popular Electronic Arts computer game createdby McGee, one of the lead designers on the Quake and Doom series. Usingcharacters and concepts ...
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News
Spyglass dunks bastketball doc on Canal
Spyglass Entertainment has sold rights in continental Europe to Leon Gast's untitled basketball documentary to StudioCanal, marking another deal in the ongoing relationship between Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum's Hollywood production and the French major.The film is a history of basketball and marks Gast's follow-up to Oscar-winning boxing documentary When ...
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News
Hastie advance at Magna Pacific
Lauren Hastie has beenpromoted to theatrical acquisitions and marketing manager at Magna Pacific, oneof the few independent Australian distributors interested in releasingpredominantly mainstream fare into cinemas.Hastie has been with the company fortwo years and was involved in such recent Australian rights deals as theUS/Canadian romantic comedy Just Friends and the ...
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News
HBO closes London sales arm in US relocation plan
HBO Films London is shutting down as part of a rationalizing move that will see overseas sales of HBO's films now handled out of the US.Theclosure follows the creation of Picturehouse, the New York-based joint venture US theatrical distribution company that unites HBO Films with New Line. That recent tie-up ...
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News
HBO Films London relocates to the US
HBO Films London is shutting up shop andrelocating to New York and Los Angeles.Themove follows the HBO Films partnership with New Line in the newly-formedindependent US theatrical distribution company, Picturehouse,"With greater focus from HBO Films onproducing theatrical films, we feel our new international theatricaldistribution activities will be most effectively handled ...
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News
Bafta to get its first woman chair
Joint director of Tightrope Pictures Hilary Bevan Jones isto become the first woman to chair the British Academy of Film and TelevisionArts (Bafta) in 60 years.She was named deputy chairman today, which means she willchair the organisation next year.Bevan Jones is a well-known name in UK television with ahistory of ...
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News
Dardenne brothers top Nouveau Montreal festival
Jean-Pierre et Luc Dardenne's Palme d'Or winning TheChild will be among the films screeningat the 34th Festival du Nouveau Cinema in Montreal from October 13to 23. Programming Director Claude Chamberlan has alsoannounced three more films for theprogramme: Lars von Trier's Manderlay, Alain Cavalier's Le Filmeur andthe directorial debut of Iranian ...
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News
Intermedia pushes into TV and lower-budget genre film
Terminator 3 and Alexander producer Intermedia Films hasconcluded three separate international production deals as part of the group's streamlining of itsdevelopment and production activities and its expansion into televisionproduction.Intermedia, IMInternationalmedia's Los Angeles-based subsidiary, has come to agreement "in principle" with the Cologne-basedproduction house Action Concept on a feature film co-production ...