Small MPU – Page 837
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News
Summit tickled by Haxan's Heart Of Love comedy
Summit Entertainment has boarded Heart Of Love, a broad comedy from the film-making team behind The Blair Witch Project. Summit will act as international sales agent on the film and will introduce it to buyers this month at Cannes.Haxan Entertainment's Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick have written and will produce ...
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ThinkFilm snaps up Protocols Of Zion
ThinkFilm has picked up US rights to Marc Levin's stirringSundance documentary Protocols Of Zionand plans an autumn release.The picture premiered in the Special Screenings programme in Park City back inJanuary and screened in Berlin last month, and explores anti-semitic claimsthat the Jews were responsible for the 9/11 attacks.In particular Levin ...
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Hooligans dominates SXSW narrative prizes
Lexi Alexander'sadrenaline-charged drama Hooligans starringElijah Wood, Charlie Hunnam, Claire Forlani and Marc Warren won both thenarrative jury prize and narrative feature audience award at the 2005 SXSW FilmFestival at the weekend.US distributors are circling the picture, which stars Wood as a Harvarddrop-out who visits his sister in London and endears ...
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Robert Lazarus (1961-2005)
Robert Lazarus, a veteran ofthe film industry who worked at companies including Turner Pictures and MutualFilm Co, has died in Los Angeles at the age of 43 after a long pulmonaryillness.Lazarus, a popular figure inthe entertainment industry both in the US and in international markets, leavesbehind his life partner John ...
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Indian Festival of Los Angeles unveils galas
The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) (April20-24) has announced its line up of special gala presentations.The Festival will kick off with the Hollywood Premiere of SanjayLeela Bhansali's drama Black.The Centerpiece Gala is the Los Angeles Premiere of AnuragKashyap's thriller based on true events, Black Friday.The Closing Night Gala ...
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Reviews
Sepet
Dir/scr: Yasmin Ahmad.Malay. 2004.104minsWhile it may be foolhardyto doubt the power of love to sell cinema tickets around the world, it isunlikely that star-crossed Malaysian tearjerker Sepet will enjoy muchgood fortune beyond home.Yasmin Ahmad's saga, whichupdates Romeo & Juliet to a modern south-east Asian locale, hascarried some weight at the ...
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Reviews
Towards Mathilde (Vers Mathilde)
Dir: Claire Denis. Fr.2005. 86mins.Claire Denis' career asdirector has seen her bounce back and forth between challenging butwell-crafted feature films (Beau Travail, Vendredi Soir) andother, less accessible stories that seem wilfully abstruse (Trouble EveryDay, L'Intrus).Vers Mathilde suggests that the more experimental, conceptual sideof the director's character may eventually find its ...
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Reviews
Hating Alison Ashley
Dir: Geoff Bennett. Aus.2004. 102mins.Australiansinger, soap star and media darling Delta Goodrem makes her feature debut in HatingAlison Ashley, an uneven teens-at-school feature in which she looks like anundernourished member of staff rather than one of the gang.Thebuild-up buzz to the 250-screen Hoyts rollout in Australia on March 17 has ...
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Reviews
Turkish Gambit (Turetskii Gambit)
Dir: Dzhanik Faiziyev.Russ. 2005. 132mins.The new epic-scaleRussian detective yarn set during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878, TurkishGambit grossed $6.1m in its opening weekend, eclisping the success offantasy feature Night Watch. But despite such hallmarks of world-classshowmanship as Indiana Jones-style action, creative Amelie-like visualeffects and unique subject matter, Dzhanik Faiziyev's , ...
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Reviews
Lorelei: The Witch Of The Pacific Ocean (Rorerai)
Dir: Shinji Higuchi Jap.2004. 128minsLorelei may have the typical elements of a submarine movie(exploding depth charges, steely-jawed captain), but is nonetheless a genrestandout. Produced by Fuji TV's Chihiro Kameyama - the Japanese JerryBruckheimer, who was also responsible for the megahit Bayside Shakedownfilms - Lorelei is the first Japanese film of ...
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News
Nippon Herald woes lead to stock market delist
Leading Japanese distributor Nippon Herald is to be delistedfrom the Japanese stock-market after recently posting an annual loss of $43.4m.Kadokawa Holdings, the core company of the expandingKadokawa media group, is instead to make Nippon Herald a wholly ownedsubsidiary through a share swap. Kadokawa has purchased 43 percent of outstanding NipponHerald ...
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Tykwer to direct Kieslowski's Heaven for Miramax
White-hot German director Tom Tykwer will make his English-language debut directing Heaven, a Miramax co-production that will form the first in a planned trilogy of films based on screenplays by late great Polish film-maker Krzysztof Kieslowski and his writing partner Krzysztof Piesiewicz. Cate Blanchett is in talks to star in ...
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News
Venture capital group acquires Spain's Abaco
Venture capital groupMercapital has invested Euros 55m in Spanish exhibition company Grupo Abaco tobecome the majority shareholder.The operation leaves Abaco president Manuel Ramirez andgeneral manager Fernando Robredo with remaining shares and continued directionof the company. The Valencia-based firm owns 157 screens in 16 theatres acrossSpain.The investment will allow Abaco to ...
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Cannes names de France as mistress of ceremonies
Belgian actress Cecile deFrance has been named mistress of ceremonies for this year's Cannes FilmFestival (May 11-22), reports Agence France Presse. De France will oversee theopening and closing ceremonies.The actress, who is in her late twenties, has been very busyin the past few years notably making a splash in Cedric ...
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Schrader defiant as Exorcist prequel unveiled
Paul Schrader was indefiant mood as his Exorcist The Prequel was finally unveiled this weekend at the Brussels InternationalFestival of Fantastic Film. Flanked at Friday's pressconference by nine of his cast and crew, who had flown in to Belgium at theirown expense to support him, Schrader expressed his happiness that ...
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Hong Kong's inaugural Expo lures international players
HongKong's first ever Entertainment Expo (March 22 - April 6) gets underwaytonight with a splashy opening ceremony attended by local stars including HongKong's "Entertainment Ambassador" Tony Leung Chiu-wai andsinger Coco Lee. Starting from tomorrow, three of the film events within Expo- FilMart, the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) and ...
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...as Hong Kong producers focus on big budget films
While the inaugural Entertainment Expo looks set toreinforce the local film industry's international status, it takes placeduring a difficult chapter in the evolution of Hong Kong cinema. Production levels haverecently shrunk to record lows as producers opt for fewer but bigger-budgetproductions and the industry faces a fresh onslaught from new ...
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Magician conjures up top prize at Guadalajara
The 20th Guadalajara International Film Festival wrapped onFriday night (March 18) with The Magician( El Mago), by first time director Jaime Aparicio, named bestfilm in the Mexican competition section.The jury, which comprised Mexican screenwriter Paz AliciaGarciadiego and Spanish directors Gerardo Herrero and Fernando Trueba, handedthe best director prize to another ...
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Cinema ticket price war erupts in South Africa
A full blown cinema ticket price warhas broken out in South Africa.Nu Metro, one of the country'sleading exhibitors, has slashed its tickets to just $2 (R12) from $5.75 (R35).Themove follows last week's decision by South Africa's biggestexhibitor, Ster Kinekor, to cut its prices to $2.3(R14) at the majority of its ...
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The Ring Two scares off the competition
DreamWorks' horror sequel TheRing Two dominated the NorthAmerican box office over the weekend, opening top on an estimated $36m.Fox's animated champion of last weekend, Robots, fell to second place on $21.8m for a $66.9m runningtotal, while Buena Vista's family hit The Pacifier fell one to third on $12.5m and has ...