Small MPU – Page 705
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News
Effie Brown's Duly Noted lines up Mos Def for two films
Producer Effie Brown's Duly Noted Inc production company has signed actor and hip-hop artist Mos Def (The Italian Job) to star in and executive produce Bobby Zero, from writing-directing team Markus and Mason Canter, aka The Flying Canter Brothers (Chasing The Horizon). In his first romantic lead, Mos Def will ...
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News
Hounsou steps up to Summit's Get Some
Summit Entertainment has cast two-time Oscar nominee Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond) to star opposite Sean Faris and Amber Heard in its action/drama Get Some. Also cast in the story of a Florida fight club for teens is Cam Gigandet (The OC). A Mandalay Independent Pictures production, Get Some is to ...
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News
Gazzale to succeed Picker Firstenberg at head of AFI
Film historian and Emmy-nominated television writer-producer Bob Gazzale has been appointed president and CEO of the American Film Institute (AFI).Gazzale has been a senior executive at AFI for 15 years, most recently serving as director of AFI Productions. He will succeed Jean Picker Firstenberg, who announced she would retire at ...
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News
Trade, El Cantante bookend New York Latino festival
The eighth annual New York International Latino Film Festival (NYILFF), taking place July 24-29, has set human trafficking drama Trade as its opening night film and salsa music epic El Cantante as its closing night attraction. The festival will feature 16 world premieres from Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, ...
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News
Other Israel Film Festival set for Nov dates in New York
The first Other Israel Film Festival, dedicated to showcasing the life, images, voices and stories of Arabs in Israeli society, has been set for Nov 8-15 in New York City. The Festival will screen 18-20 narrative features, documentaries and short films. In addition, there will be panel discussions, post-screening question-and-answer ...
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News
Bangkok opener Persepolis pulled from festival line-up
Persepolis has been withdrawn as the opening film of the Bangkok International Film Festival, which is scheduled to start on July 19, following a request from the Iranian Embassy in Bangkok. 'TAT has decided to comply because of the good diplomatic relationship between Thailand and Iran. It is a shame ...
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News
Fulwell 73 on board for Hawkes' Breathing and Drawing Dead
UK production company Fulwell 73, who are behind recent Cannes Market hit documentary In The Hands Of The Gods, have optioned two new projects from writer/director Kieron Hawkes. The new projects are Check If I'm Still Breathing, a love story following a couple through a turbulent 10-year period. Hawkes has ...
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Reviews
Kremen
Dir: Aleksei Mizgiryov. Russ. 2007. 83mins.Perhaps the Taormina festival catalogue errs a little on the side of enthusiasm in comparing Aleksei Mizgiryov's debut feature Kremen to Taxi Driver. But there is something in the claim: like Scorsese's classic, this is a tale of a disturbed, asocial innocent with a rigid ...
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Reviews
Kings
Dir: Tom Collins. Ire-UK. 91mins.A melancholy drama of Irish displacement, Kings has 'based on a stage play' written all over it. Not only in a negative sense: this study of the unfulfilled hopes, dreams and promises of five friends who moved to London from the west of Ireland years before ...
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News
Chapa to play Latin spy in thriller Fuego
Amadeus Pictures is set to start production this month in Europe on Fuego, an international spy thriller starring Amadeus founder/president Damian Chapa together with David Carradine (Kill Bill Vol 2) and Nickolai Stoilov (Lara's Rain).Chapa, who started his career as an actor in films including Blood In, Blood Out and ...
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News
Six new TV companies join IFTA
The Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA) has added six new members from the television arena, among them E! Entertainment Television and SND/M6 Droits Audiovisuels.E! is the 24-hour US network whose entertainment-related programming is seen in more than 120 countries worldwide. SND/M6 Droits Audiovisuels is the international distribution subsidiary of ...
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News
Montreal World Film Festival to honour Jon Voight
The Montreal World Film Festival will mount a tribute to veteran actor Jon Voight and present the world premiere of his latest film, Christopher Cain's September Dawn. The film, the story of a massacre in 19th century Utah, also features Tamara Hope, Trent Ford, Lolita Davidovitch and Terence Stamp. Director ...
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News
Gill & Sackers's Film Department launches with $200m in financing
The Film Department, the new independent finance, production and international sales company formed by Mark Gill and Neil Sacker, has raised $200m in financing and hopes to unveil its first projects within the next few weeks.Gill and Sacker said the financing should also allow them to conclude negotiations with an ...
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News
Anderson's Darjeeling Ltd to open New York Film Festival
Wes Anderson's The Darjeeling Limited has been set to open the 45th New York Film Festival (NYFF), which runs from Sept 28 to Oct 14, and Joel and Ethan Coen's No Country For Old Men will fill the festival's Centerpiece slot. Also screening at the festival, hosted by the Film ...
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News
Image amends merger agreement with Bergstein investor group
North American video distributor Image Entertainment has amended its merger agreement with an investor group led by David Bergstein to give Image investors more cash per share and to allow them to retain a minority interest in the merged operation.BTP Acquisition Company, the group led by Capitol Films and THINKfilm ...
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News
Celestial Pictures launches kung-fu mobile TV channel
Hong Kong-based Celestial Pictures has launched a mobile TV channel, Kung Fu TV, on leading Thai mobile network provider Advanced Info Service (AIS). The channel features original kung-fu content from Celestial's Shaw Brothers film library, ranging in length from 30 seconds to three minutes, including video clips of fight sequences, ...
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News
Kaneshiro to star in first Japanese film in six years
Actor Takeshi Kaneshiro is set to star in his first Japanese film in six years. Based on Kotaro Isaka's novel The Accuracy Of Death (Shinigami No Seido) the story follows an irreverent version of the Grim Reaper (Kaneshiro) who visits people with a week left to live and passes judgment ...
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News
Verve and Dogwoof join Film Distributors' Assocation
Verve Pictures and Dogwoof Pictures have joined the UK 's Film Distributors' Association (FDA). The FDA now has a membership of 20 companies, including 14 independent distributors. Verve's forthcoming releases include Charlie Bartlett, while Dogwoof's future releases include Ecoute Le Temps. Mark Batey, the FDA's chief executive, said: 'In recent ...
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News
Thessaloniki competitors to include Jonas Cuaron's Year Of The Nail
Thessaloniki Film Festival director Despina Mouzaki has announced the first films selected for the 14-film competition section of 46th edition of the event (Nov 16-25). The competition is reserved to first and second features and the films already earmarked have a strong Spanish-language flavour, coming from Mexico, Colombia and Spain. ...
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News
Jazztel founder launches rival cable operator
Jordi Compte Batista, co-founder of Spanish cable company Jazztel, has launched his own competing cable outfit dubbed Flash10.com, according to Spanish news reports. Flash10 plans to offer telephone, data, internet and multimedia services in 32 cities in the Catalan region of Spain. Compte is said to be seeking international backers ...