Small MPU – Page 663
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News
UK film distributors boost media advertising spend
UK film distributors are investing more money intomedia advertising according to the Film Distributor's Association (FDA), thetrade body for UK theatrical film distributors. Inthe first six months of this year the territory's distributors spent $139m (£79.8m)on media advertising, a massive increase of 16% over the same period of 2004when $120m ...
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French DVD revenues plateau as prices plunge
French consumers spentEuros 770.3m on DVD and VHS purchases in the first half of 2005, a one percentfall on the same period last year. The total number of units sold was up, however,with a 22.6% increase. The discrepancy can be explained by a shift inpricing. During first half of 2005, ...
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Innocent Voices scoops top Giffoni prize
Mexican director LuisMandoki's Innocent Voices has scooped the top GoldenGryphon prize at the 35th Giffoni Film Festival, one of theworld's leading events dedicated to childrens' films. Innocent Voices, which is based on the true life story of co-screenwriterOscar Torres, is set in El Salvador in the 1980s against the back ...
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Media Luna takes on sales for Three Degrees
Media Luna Entertainment has picked up international distributionrights for Florian Hoffmeister's Three Degrees Colder (3° Kaelter) whichwill have its world premiere in the forthcoming International Competition atthe Locarno Film Festival.Starring Bibiana Beglau, Sebastian Blomberg, Meret Becker, Johannvon Bülow, Katharina Schüttler, and Alexander Beyer, the drama among a group offriends reacting ...
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Battsek finally confirmed as new Miramax president
Daniel Battsek was finallyconfirmed as the new president of Miramax Films today, ending speculation overone of the industry's most widely known open secrets of the year.Battsek, the highlyrespected executive vice president and managing director of distribution andproduction at BVI UK, will be based in New York and reports directly to ...
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Story of Canadian killers gets world premiere at Montreal
The world premiere of Karla, Joel Bender's true-life account of Canada's mostinfamous criminal couple, will take place at the Montreal World Film Festivalnext month.The story of Karla Homolkaand Paul Bernardo, who were arrested in 1993 following the kidnapping, rape andmurder of two young girls, will play in special screening on ...
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McInnis programmes Palm Springs short film festival
Kathleen McInnis has been named director of short film programmingat this year's 11th Annual Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films& Short Film Market.The festival and market screens approximately 350 films from more than40 countries each year, and this year organisers are reporting a record 2,400submissions to date, up 10% ...
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Six composers line up for Sundance Composers Lab this week
The Sundance Institute has announced the six musicians chosen forthe 8th Annual Sundance Institute Composers Lab, which runs from Jul 26-Aug 11.This year's Composers Lab Fellows are Don Byron, Barbara Cohen,Marco d'Ambrosio, Andrea Kapsalis, Ljova (Lev Zhurbin), and Gyan Riley.Over the course of the intensive two-week lab Fellows willparticipate in ...
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Madagascar wins international weekend with $24.6m take
At the final reckoning, DreamWorks' Madagascar did in fact rule the roost at the weekendinternational box office second consecutive weekend, as revised results fromUIP reveal it grossed an estimated $24.6m.The animated family title, which currently stands at more than$190m, was far ahead of Fox International's Fantastic Four which took $20.3m ...
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Foster to direct Sugar Kings for Universal, Tribeca
Jodie Foster will direct and may star in the class action drama SugarKings for UniversalPictures and Tribeca Films.Based on a screenplay by Ned Zeman and Daniel Barnz, SugarKings is based on MarieBrenner's Vanity Fair article "In The Kingdom Of Big Sugar", about a law schoolgraduate and veteran public interest attorney ...
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Reviews
Fast Food, Fast Women
Dir: Amos Kollek. US. 2000. 98 minsProd Co: Lumen Films. Int'l Sales: Celluloid Dreams. Prod: Hengameh Panahi. Co-prod: Avram Ludwig. Scr: Amos Kollek. DoP: Jean-Marc Fabre. Prod des: Stacey Tanner. Ed: Sheri Bylander. Mus: David Carbonara. Main cast: Anna Thomson, Jamie Harris, Louise Lasser, Robert Modica, Lonette McKee.As welcome ...
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News
Rittman promoted to vice president for Asia-Pacific at MPAA
Frank S Rittmanhas been named vice president, regional legal counsel, Asia-Pacific and deputyregional director, Asia-Pacific, at the Motion Picture Association of America(MPAA).Rittman will serve as the MPAA's regional spokesman on legalissues and will manage legal aspects of the organisation's regional operations,encompassing free trade agreements, "fair use" legislation, and anti-piracy andcommercial ...
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News
Mosawi forms new genre outfit The Mayhem Project
Former Mutual Film Co COOAnthony Mosawi has set up a new production and finance company called TheMayhem Project. Backed by European private equity source, the outfit plans todevelop, finance and produce genre films budgeted between $10m and $25m such asthe first property acquisition, videogame horror hit Clock Tower."We are looking ...
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Dutch court jails van Gogh killer for life
A Dutch court has sentencedthe self-confessed killer of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh to life in jail.Mohammed Bouyeri, anAmsterdam-born Muslim, was convicted of killing van Gogh as he cycled to workin Amsterdam on Nov. 2, 2004. He was found guilty of shooting and stabbing vanGogh, slashing his throat and pinning ...
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News
Aishwarya Rai enlists in De Laurentiis' Last Legion
Aishwarya Rai has joined thecast of Dino De Laurentiis' The Last Legion, which begins filming inTunisia on August 5. The Bollywood star joins previously confirmed leads ColinFirth and Sir Ben Kingsley. Directed by Doug Lefler, TheLast Legion is a Dino De Laurentiis presentation produced by Martha DeLaurentiis and Raffaella De ...
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Gilliam, Tanovic set for Toronto world premieres
World premieres from TerryGilliam and Danis Tanovic are among nine new titles unveiled for the 30th TorontoInternational Film Festival (Sept 8-17).Tideland (Can-UK), Terry Gilliam's second feature this yearafter Brothers Grimm, is scheduled to play in the Masters section.Janet McTeer, BrendanFletcher, Jeff Bridges, and Jennifer Tilly star in the tale of ...
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UK exhibitor launches online DVD rental service
UK exhibitor Vue Cinemas has partnered with online DVDrental outfit Screenselect.co.uk to launch 'Vue at Home'.The partnership will see Vue customers able to accessScreenSelect's library of over 34,000 titles through www.myvue.com. The summer launch will involve promotions across all Vue's52 cinemas nationwide. When buying cinema tickets, all Vue customers will ...
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Venice Directors' Fortnight unveils 12 strong line-up
Twelve films from around theworld will screen in the Directors' Fortnight sidebar of the Venice FilmFestival, including Christopher Boe's Allegro, Ticket to Jerusalemdirector Rashid Masharawi's Waiting (Attente), and Canadian director Jean-Marc Vallee's C.R.A.Z.Y.The secondedition of Venice Days, an independent sidebar run by Giorgio Gosetti, willfocus on "memory and cultural diversity." ...
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Venice unveils Secret History of Asian Cinema sidebar
The Biennale has unveiled the line-up of its SecretHistory of Asian Cinema sidebar, which was curated by Venice Film Festivaldirector Marco Mueller.The sidebar,which is dedicated to 'forgotten' restored classic Chinese films andJapanese genre pictures, includes ten restored Chinese films spanning from the1930s to the counter-revolution in 1949, as well as ...
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Misher signs first-look deal with Paramount
Paramount Pictures hasbrought Kevin Misher, the producer of The Interpreter and The Scorpion King, into the fold with a three-year first look deal. Misher Films executivesPatrick Baker and Andrew Berman will join Misher at Paramount; the termcommences once Misher's deal with Universal Pictures expires. Titles in developmentinclude an adaptation of ...