Small MPU – Page 775

  • News

    Berlin film festival to launch co-production market

    2003-06-30T04:05:00Z

    Next year's Berlinale (February 5-15 2004) is to launch a co-production market associated with its second Berlinale Talent Campus.Speaking exclusively to Screendaily, Berlinale chief Dieter Kosslick explained that "we won't attach any conditions to the projects pitched by the young talents whereas certain criteria will have to be fulfilled for ...

  • News

    Angels sequel disappoints, Hulk plummets

    2003-06-29T00:00:00Z

    After six weekends of movies opening on grosses of over $50m,Columbia's Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle proved somewhat of a disappointment at this weekend's boxoffice in North America with just $38m in three days. A marketing blitzfeaturing the three lead actresses in the film Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymoreand Lucy Liu ...

  • News

    Little steps back from First Look, Lischak is new president

    2003-06-30T04:05:00Z

    Robbie Little, who foundedOverseas Filmgroup 23 years ago, is stepping back from day-to-day operations ofthe company now known as First Look Media to focus on production through hisown outfit The Little Film Company.Bill Lischak, who has beenat First Look since 1988, first as CFO and later COO as well, has ...

  • Reviews

    This Girl's Life

    2003-06-30T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Ash. US. 2003. 101 mins. A star is born in This Girl's Life, the fourth independent feature from maverick Brit director Ash (Bang, Pups). Her name is Juliette Marquis, a stunningly beautiful newcomer whose magnetism and self-assuredness shine off the screen and indeed outshine the movie itself. Looking like ...

  • Reviews

    Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines

    2003-06-30T00:00:00Z

    Dir: Jonathan Mostow. US. 2003. 109 mins. He's back alright, but how big an audience will come back to see Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator 12 years after the franchise's previous instalment, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, became a $500m global smash' The good news for distributors Warner and Sony is ...

  • News

    Three films nominated for Berlin Today award

    2003-07-01T04:05:00Z

    2002 Student Academy Award winner Grace Lee (Barrier Device) is among four filmmakers - and three films, nominated from over 110 entries from all over the world to have the chance to make a short film about the German capital for the Berlin Today Award.While Korean-American Lee's project will ...

  • News

    Almodovar adds Oscar nomination to glory list

    2000-02-15T16:00:00Z

    Pedro Almodovar's route to the Oscar podium came one step closer this morning as his All About My Mother ended a year of awards glory and won an Academy Award nomination for foreign language film of the year.The film marks Spain's 18th foreign language film Oscar nomination and could be ...

  • News

    Rogard appointed to head French writers' union

    2003-06-30T00:00:00Z

    Independant French film veteran Pascal Rogard has been named managing director of France's writers' union, the Societe des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques (SACD). Rogard will take up the post on January 1, 2004 after the departure of current chief Olivier Carmet.Rogard is currently head of the union of French film ...

  • News

    Messier awarded Euros 20m in VU severance pay

    2003-07-01T04:05:00Z

    Just as Vivendi Universal chairman Jean-Rene Fourtou finds himself sitting pretty atop several substantial offers for the company's entertainment assets, he's also got an old familiar thorn poking him in the side.Former Vivendi chief Jean-Marie Messier has been awarded upwards of Euros 20m in severance pay by a New York ...

  • News

    German producers form Heimatfilm production company

    2003-07-01T04:05:00Z

    Stefan Telegty and Helmut Hartl of Munich-based commercials production house Embassy of Dreams have joined forces with Cologne producer Bettina Brokemper to establish the film and TV production outfit Heimatfilm to develop and produce features by new German directors and European co-productions as well as act a service producer in ...

  • News

    Spanish Mystery tops Moscow film festival

    2003-06-30T00:00:00Z

    The 25th Moscow International Film Festival closed on Sunday night with the grand prix going to Spanish director Miguel Hermoza for La Luz Prodigiosa (The End Of A Mystery) a drama set at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. Koktebel a Russian road movie about a young boy ...

  • News

    Loach's Fond Kiss secures tax funding

    2003-07-01T04:05:00Z

    Ken Loach's current production, Ae Fond Kiss, has secured just over 40% of its $5m (£3m)budget through UK tax fund Azure.The funding comes in Azure's traditional form of equity and a traditional sale and leaseback under the UK's Section 48 tax deferral mechanism. The production, the third in Loach's Glasgow ...

  • News

    New Zealand introduces incentive for big budget films

    2003-06-30T00:00:00Z

    The New Zealand Government has announced that producers who choose New Zealand as a location for their big budget projects will be handed back 12.5% of their production expenditure. Those spending $30m (NZ$50m) locally will automatically qualify for the grant, but if the local expenditure is $9m-$30m (NZ$15m-NZ$50m) it must ...

  • News

    Haut Et Court adds Cantet-connected pair

    2003-05-22T00:00:00Z

    Haut Et Court, the French production company behind competition film Tiresia and anticipated Un Certain Regard picture Who Killed Bambi, has cast Swimming Pool-star Charlotte Rampling in the new psychological drama by hot shot Laurent Cantet. The film, Heading South (Vers Le Sud) is an adaptation of the novel of ...

  • News

    German exhibitors threaten UIP boycott

    2003-06-30T00:00:00Z

    A group of German exhibitors is threatening to boycott UIP's forthcoming releases of The Hulk (3 July ) and Sinbad (24 July) because of the introduction of a new rental system which sees the percentage cut taken by the US major rising to 55% for the release of Van Helsing ...

  • News

    French broadcaster commits to increased film investment

    2003-07-01T04:05:00Z

    Public broadcaster France Televisions has signed an agreement with representatives of the independent film sector guaranteeing increased investment in future production.According to ARP- the association of writers, directors and producers, and BLOC, the Bureau de Liaison des Organisations Cinematographiques, which represents independent distributors, both signed an accord with France ...

  • News

    Sheridan sounds warning to Irish government

    2003-06-30T00:00:00Z

    Jim Sheridan today gave the Irish government a bleak warning - retain the Section 481 tax incentive or 80% of Irish film industry activity will disappear and with it 80% of the direct employment it currently provides.He was launching a report commissioned by Screen Producers Ireland (formerly Film Makers Ireland) ...

  • News

    EU challenges assumptions behind box office growth

    2000-02-15T16:05:00Z

    Media Salles, the European Union-financed exhibition research and support operation, has called into question the widespread assumption that multiplex growth in Europe is responsible for the growth in admissions seen over the last ten years.'There appears to be a rather weak relationship between the two,' said Joachim Wolff, president of ...

  • News

    Japan's Groove files for bankruptcy

    2003-07-01T04:05:00Z

    Groove Corporation, co-producer of Shohei Imamura's 1997 Cannes Grand Prize winner The Eel (Unagi), as well as other critically acclaimed indie titles, has filed for bankruptcy protection at Nagoya District Court. Its total debt was reported as $42m (Y5bn). Founded in 1976,. Groove began life as a video sales and ...

  • News

    Yes Nurse, No Nurse is San Fran Lesbian & Gay fest audience favourite

    2003-07-01T04:00:00Z

    Pieter Kramer's Dutchmusical Yes Nurse! No Nurse! wasthe clear audience favourite at the 18-day San Francisco International Lesbian& Gay Film Festival which finished on Sunday.It won the audience awardfor best feature at the festival which scored over 82,000 admissions to its 121film screenings. Nancy Kates and Bennett Singer's Brother Outsider:The ...