Small MPU – Page 780
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OpenPictures and Intertainment seal strategic partnership
Intertainment and Munich-based development, production and distribution company OpenPictures have concluded a strategic partnership which includes a co-operation on jointly financing and marketing international feature films with US major studios and legal financing against Franchise Pictures and other parties involved in a $100m litigation.In a statement, Intertainment said "OpenPictures concurs ...
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Czech producers plan private film commission
Czech film producers have started a working group to establish a Czech film commission and are prepared to move ahead with the project even without financial support from local and national governments. "The commission we are setting up at this stage is essentially a private one," said Matthew Stillman, head ...
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New UK distributor, Georgia Films, launched
UK-based tax financier Lucky UKFS, headed by Philippe Martinez of US production-sales outfit Bauer Martinez Studios and Alan Latham, has appointed distributor Martin Myers to launch a new UK distributor, Georgia Films.The venture is kicking off with a September release for Citizen Verdict, Bauer Martinez's thriller about a reality TV ...
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Field narrows in Vivendi Universal race
A trio of companies from the original six which expressed an interest may now head the race to buy Vivendi Universal's US entertainment assets which include Universal Pictures film studio.According to published reports, MGM, Liberty Media and Viacom are likely to make a shortlist that gives them access to a ...
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Bengal offers security to Mehta's troubled Water
The Indian state of Bengal has offered Deepa Mehta's troubled production, Water, safe passage if the film relocates to Calcutta or elsewhere in Bengal.Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu said: 'If anyone tries to be disruptive after we grant the film permission to shoot, my government will ensure that such disrupters ...
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Indian box office heats up for the summer
Seven local box-office hits released over the last few months have brought much-needed relief to the Hindi film industry of Mumbai. Raj Kanwar's Andaaz, Ken Ghosh's Ishq Vishk, Aziz Mirza's Chalte Chalte, Ram Gopal Varma's Bhoot, Tigmanshu Dhulia's Haasil, Sujoy Ghosh's Jhankaar Beats and Sooraj Barjatya's Main Prem Ki Diwani ...
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Australian strike action threatens film production
A breakdown in negotiations between Australian performers and producers over the new film and television agreements could lead to strike action - but only a long-running dispute is likely to affect Australian films because of how few are heading into production. Offshore films shooting in Australia are covered under a ...
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German distributors pay back subsidies
Thanks to the commercial success of such releases as the Oscar-winning Nowhere In Africa, scifi horror pic Resident Evil and 2002's top local film Bibi Blocksberg, producer-distributor Constantin Film has been able to pay back more than Euros 1.5m in production and distribution subsidies to the Bavarian public fund FFF ...
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Germany's Helkon Media sells remaining assets
German media group Helkon Media is now practically nothing more than a name after the insolvency administrator Axel W. Bierbach sold the bulk of the film library to the Hamburg-based investment company Aurum Beteiligungs- und Verwaltungs GmbH. The asset deal was greenlit by Helkon's creditor banks and the creditors ...
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French strike action results in temporary concession
In their fight to quash a change in unemployment benefits, France's "intermittents du spectacle" - or part-time showbiz workers - won a temporary reprieve when culture minister Jean-Jacques Aillagon agreed to maintain the current system until the end of 2003. The workers are rallying against an agreement signed by all ...
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Universal takes in another $16.4m from The Hulk
Universal's TheHulk took $16.4m from 3,316 printsin 21 territories over the weekend, bringing its total so far to $38.73m with27 countries to open. It opened number one in both France, Spain and Belgiumand is set to open in the UK on July 18, in Japan on Aug 2 and China ...
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Poland's Era New Horizons film festival returns for 3rd edition
The Era New Horizons Film Festival is back in Poland with its third edition to celebrate innovative arthouse films.The festival, which runs from July 17-27 in Cieszyn, southern Poland, sold almost 40,000 tickets last year. This year it is set to showcase over 100 screenings of the latest productions that ...
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Hong Kong/China trade agreement heralds production boom
The Hong Kong film industry is looking forward to a surge in production activity following the signing of a trade agreement that exempts Hong Kong movies from the mainland's import quota of 20 foreign films a year (Screen Daily, June 26). The Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), signed by the ...
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Eurimages backs 10 co-productions
New features by Thomas Vinterberg (Dear Wendy), Auli Mantila (Ystavani Henry) and Robinson Savary (Bye-Bye Blackbird) are among ten projects supported with a total of Euros 3.8m by the pan-European co-production fund Eurimages in its latest round of funding decided at a committee meeting in Riga.The complete list of projects ...
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New German production outfit targets Czech talent
Pandora Filmproduktion's Karl Baumgartner has launched a new production outpost, Pallas Film, in the east German town of Halle to focus on projects with filmmakers from Central and Eastern Europe.One of Pallas Film's first projects will be a feature film entitled Happiness by Czech director Bohdan Slama whose quirky Wild ...
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X-Filme launches German distribution label
X Filme Creative Pool, the production company behind German hit Run Lola Run, has launched a distribution label along with a new development slate that includes its first non-German production.The new label - X Verleih - plans to release 4-8 films a year. Its first release will be the next ...
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Norwegian Film Fund greenlights seven new features
Seven new local features have been greenlit with backing from the Norwegian Film Fund (NFF). The films come from all over the country and a number of them are feature debuts - aswith Tore Rygh's romantic musical melodrama Alt For Egil (Everything For Egil), which is set in and around ...
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Arndt to produce Roehler's Agnes
X-Filme creative pool's Stefan Arndt, named European Producer of the Year at last month's Cinema Expo in Amsterdam, wasn't planning to produce any features this year after the demanding production history of Wolfgang Becker's Good Bye, Lenin!But Arndt was tempted back into the producer's chair by Oskar Roehler's next feature ...
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UK's Metrodome reduces losses by 30%
UK media concern Metrodome Group slashed its losses over the last financial year, largely driven by its UK release of US indie film Donnie Darko.The company, which has been refocusing on distributing film and TV product, posted losses for the full year after taxation of $1.8m (£1.1m), almost a third ...
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Spurgeon named finance director at UK's South West Studios
Former FilmFour finance director Chris Spurgeon has taken up the post of finance director at start-up UK film and TV studio South West Film Studios.Joining Spurgeon at the $9.4m (£5.76m) Cornwall facility is Kate Hughes, former head of corporate marketing & publicity for FilmFour. Hughes becomes marketing director at the ...