Small MPU – Page 669
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News
Swiss film chief calls for end to 'watering can' funding
Nicolas Bideau,the incoming head of the film section at Switzerland's Federal Office ofCulture (BAK) from October 1, has called for concentration of funds into fewerprojects and an improvement of Swiss cinema's image at home and abroad.Speaking at the weekendat the Locarno Film Festival, Bideau said that he was looking to ...
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Warner's Dukes lord it over US theatres with $30.6m weekend
Warner Bros' The Dukes Of Hazzard kicked the hides of the competition overthe weekend as the TV adaptation opened on an estimated $30.6m.Overall the top 12 titles grossed $102.5m, up 5% against the sameweekend last year.Starring Seann William Scott, Johnny Knoxville and JessicaSimpson, The Dukes Of Hazzard follows two brothers ...
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Dukes Of Hazzard reign at the box office with $30.6m weekend
Warner Bros' The Dukes Of Hazzard kicked the hides of the competition overthe weekend as the TV adaptation opened on an estimated $30.6m.Overall the top 12 titles grossed $102.5m, up 5% against the sameweekend last year.Starring Seann William Scott, Johnny Knoxville and JessicaSimpson, The Dukes Of Hazzard follows two brothers ...
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Charlie wins international weekend with $14.4m in 23 markets
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory drew the winning ticket for the secondconsecutive weekend as the family remake grossed an estimated $14.4m on 2,500screens in 23 markets through Warner Bros Pictures International for a $67.2mrunning total.The picture vanquished Typhoon Masa in Taiwan to open top on $720,200including previews on 63 prints, ...
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Gordon joins Langley as president of production at Universal
Jon Gordon (pictured) will join Donna Langley as president ofproduction at Universal Pictures.The two executives will work side-by-side overseeing developmentand production of the slate, and both will report to studio chairman StaceySnider.Gordon will assume his new post in October once he completesduties as Miramax co-president of production."By maintaining our production ...
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UK's Tucker to direct New Line's Golden Compass
Anand Tucker is in talks with New Line to direct The GoldenCompass, the firstinstalment of Philip Pullman's children's fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials.According to sources a formal offer has been sent out to Tucker,however his participation had not been confirmed at time of writing.If the deal goes ahead this will ...
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Oldman, Ledoyen headline Filmax horror Backwoods
Gary Oldman and Virginie Ledoyen are headlining a new Englishlanguage horror title from Spain's Filmax, The Backwoods.To be sold internationally by Filmax, the film is aco-production with Spanish start-ups Monfort Producciones and Videntia FramesProducciones together with the UK's Holy Cow and France's Divine Productions.It began shooting under award-winning short film ...
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Watt's Ways takes Fipresci prize at Brisbane
Australian film Look BothWays, US coming-of-age tale Mysterious Skin, and South Koreanpicture Spying Cam (Frakchi) have each won major awards at the BrisbaneInternational Film Festival.Writer/director Sarah Watt'sdebut Look Both Ways won the FIPRESCI (Federation Internationale de laPresse Cinematographique) award for best Asia Pacific film. Watt was previouslybest known for her ...
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Angel swoops on Peter Bech
Danish mini-major Angel Films, which covers production, distribution, international sales and a facility house, has sealed an output deal with local production outfit Peter Bech Film.Angel will handle Nordic distribution on Peter Bech's slate but has not decided whether it will also handle international sales. The two companies previously worked ...
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Reviews
20 Centimetres (20 Centimentros)
Dir/scr: Ramon Salazar.Sp-Fr. 2005. 113mins.A bawdy, picaresque Spanish yarn about a transvestite whoyearns for a sex change operation (she has 20cm she wishes to dispense with -hence the title), Ramon Salazar's second feature carries obvious echoes of theearly work of Pedro Almodovar. There is the same irreverent humour, a sharedfascination ...
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Reviews
What A Wonderful Place (Eize Makom Nifla)
Dir/scr: EyalHalfon. Is-Ger. 2005. 104mins.Eyal Halfon's WhatA Wonderful Place, about the plight of foreign workers in Israel is a grim,angry and uncompromising drama. Three inter-related plots leading to violentfinal clash offer the bitterly ironic conclusion that Israel - or any othersupposedly liberal western country that treats its economic migrants in ...
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Higuchi named head of licensing at Constantin
Yoko Higuchi has been promoted to the post ofhead of licensing at Munich-based Constantin Film.She will work closely with Constantin's CEO Fred Kogel onall licensing and sales activities and also oversee international acquisitionsin tandem with Kogel and Herman Weigel.Over the past two years, Higuchi played a key role in theacquisition ...
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Kerrigan's Keane pulls out of Edinburgh line-up
Lodge Kerrigan's Keane will no longer bescreening at this year's Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) Aug17-28).The festival cited a conflicting commitment -understood to be a screening at this year's Deauville Festival of British film- as the reason for the move.Replacing it, Edinburgh is to screen the WorldPremiere of Lasse Hallstrom's ...
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Shortlist narrows in search for new Locarno director
With less than a week to go beforeLocarno's board makes a decision on the successor to Irene Bignardi as thefestival's artistic director, the news on the festival grapevine is that thechoice will be between two names: Jean Perret, director of the Nyon DocumentaryFilm Festival "Visions du Reel", and Frederic Maire, ...
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Oz producers navigate funding Puzzle
Writer/director Mark Forstmann and producers MiriamStein and Tamara Popper go into production on October 31 on Monkey Puzzleafter extensive workshops with a cast of young emerging actors.The coming of age, character-driven drama centres onfive friends who go looking for world's rarest tree. As they descend into theravines and canyons of ...
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Dellal readies On A Clear Day follow-ups
British filmmaker Gaby Dellal, whose film On A Clear Dayscreened to an enthusiastic response at the Locarno Film Festival at theweekend, is to team up with producers Dorothy Berwin and Sarah Curtis on asecond project. The new film, again to be scripted by Alex Rose, has theworking title Excess Baggage. ...
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London hosts shoot of Pfeiffer/Heckerling project
Principal photography isunderway in London on Amy Heckerling's $27m romantic comedy I Could Never BeYour Woman starring MichellePfeiffer.Paul Rudd and Tracey Ullmanalso star in the story of a successful businesswoman who encounters nothing butstress in her love life.Fred Willard and Mel Smithalso feature in the cast and there are cameos ...
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Universal lures Scott for Book Of Leo
Seann William Scott, currently riding high following lastweekend's number one launch of The Dukes Of Hazzard, is being lined up to star in the comedy BookOf Leo for Universal Pictures.The project is being put together by Marc PlattProductions and Scott and Graham Larson's Identity Films, which both have termdeals with ...
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Music producer Nicolo launches distribution venture
Grammy Award-winningmusic producer Joe Nicolo has teamed up with a group of entrepreneurs to launch Kindred Media Group.Backed by private equity, the new distribution venturewill handle domestic and international rights on projects and will be headed upby new media entrepreneur Jeffrey D Erb, who founded the business-to-businesstechnology company precision Media, ...
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Filmax thrills with Factory
Barcelona-based mini-studio The Filmax Group has closed a string of sales on four English-language titles from its Fantasic Factory sci-fi and terror genre division - Brian Yuzna's Faust, Jack Sholder's Arachnid, Stuart Gordon's Dagon and Yuzna's Beyond Reanimator.StudioCanal has taken French-speaking European rights on the four titles while Helkon has ...