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News stories from Jan 2006 to 2012..

  • 20 April 2006
    Festivals

Loach's Wind That Shakes the Barley Selected for Cannes

  Ken Loach's Irish Film Board-backed film, the Wind That Shakes the Barley, has been selected for International Competition at Cannes. Starring Cillian Murphy (Breakfast on Pluto) Liam Cunningham (A Love Divided), Orla Fitzgerald and newcomer Padraic Delaney in the leading roles it was produced by Rebecca O’Brien for Sixteen Films and executive produced by Andrew Lowe for Element Films.   Scripted by Paul Laverty, The Wind That Shakes the Ba…
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26 August 2009

Content Republic Sign Digital Distribution Deal With Arrow Films

From PR Sarah Cameron: Content Republic, one of Europe’s leading digital distribution companies, today announces it has signed a deal for exclusive digital rights to the Arrow Films catalogue of classics and foreign language films. The deal, negotiated by Teun Hilte on behalf of Content Republic…
15 October 2006

lookandlisten at Leeds with Jeff Mills, Buster Keaton and Sylvain Chomet

Legendary techno DJ Jeff Mills 2005 accompaniment of Buster Keaton's classic The Three Ages is one of the highlights offered by Leeds AV Group lookandlisten during the Leeds Film Festival. Other events include their residency at the Reform bar,  Sundaze Synerma's live remix of Sylv…
20 May 2006

Aardman Launches International TV Distribution Division

  Aardman Animations, the Academy Award-winning stop-motion animation studio, is moving into distribution, launching its own dedicated sales arm, Aardman International, to exploit its growing catalogue of properties.   Overseeing the new division is Miles Bullough, Aardman'…
  • 25 February 2007
    Photography

Ban on Street Photography Proposed by UK Government

 On-Line Direct-to-PM Petition Signing Against Permit System UK Citizens Only! The UK Government is about to propose restrictions on photography  in public places which could make street photography and documentary photography against the law. These proposed changes to the law could result in photographers having to apply for ID cards in order to take  pictures in public places. The consequences of these propose…
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29 March 2009

Become A Red Bull Reporter

From Red Bull's PR firm: Red Bull Reporter is a nationwide search to find the best young music & culture, and sports writers, filmmakers, photographers and presenters, giving them the chance of a lifetime: to use their skills and indulge their passions as a Red Bull Reporter. The most talented yo…
11 May 2006

Anglo-Czech Film Success For Suicide Comedy

Winning three awards at a French cinema festival with a debut feature has put a Manchester filmmaker well on the road to international success. The film premiered in Prague on 1st December 2005, and has received great reviews. It is now on release in Czech cinemas. Meanwhile, Steen Agro’s An…
04 May 2006

BBC Plans Uniform Freelance Pay Rates

  A leaked document shows the BBC is planning to introduce a system of uniform rates for freelancers right across the corporation, standardising rates of pay for craft freelancers across all departments. A new central purchasing unit will then supply these departments with freelance staff…
  • 04 July 2006
    Cross media

NBC and YouTube Announce Promotional Alliance

  NBC Universal has reached an uneasy alliance with YouTube that will see NBC television programming officially carried on the user contributed video web site with on-air promotion on NBC.   They describe the strategic partnership as a way to combine NBC's quality programming with YouTube's vast audience while engaging viewers in innovative new ways to promote NBC's programmes. Founded in early 2005, YouTube reportedly generates more th…
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01 February 2006

Creative Capital Launches Microwave Filmmaking

Film London, with backing from the BBC, has launched a project to develop ten micro-budget film projects in the capital. Microwave challenges film-makers to shoot a feature with budget of up to UKP75,000 with the option of raising additional "in-kind" support taking the budget to a maximu…
02 July 2006

Daggers Drawn as Hollywood Rivals Do Battle Over Macbeth

  DOUBLE, Double Toil and Trouble; Fire Burn, and Cauldron Bubble... Four centuries after Shakespeare wrote Macbeth, two rival sets of film-makers are battling to produce a Hollywood version of the "Scottish play". Both have major players in the film world behind them and b…
10 August 2006

UK Film Fans Get Ready For the D-Cinema Revolution

  200 UK Cinemas go Digital - One of the Biggest Film Advances in Cinematic History   UK film fans from St Ives to Inverness are about to experience unprecedented film choice at the cinema thanks to the roll-out of the world's most advanced Digital Screen Network, the…
  • 23 November 2006
    Finance

UK Producers Call for Tax Credit Revision

PACT wants credits to cover cost of shooting abroad British producers have called for the U.K. government to widen its definition of expenditure that qualifies for the new film tax credit, to include the cost of British films shooting abroad. As currently drafted, the tax relief, worth 20% for movies under $38 million and 16% for bigger films, is restricted to money spent within the U.K. That means that the salary of a Hollywood star shooting a big-budget st…
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20 October 2008

Focus on Andres Veiel - London talks and screenings

Every year the Goethe-Insitut presents a special focus as part of the Festival of German Films. This year’s Goethe-Focus will be dedicated to the director Andres Veiel. From Maren Hobein: Best known in the UK for Black Box Germany, his film about a member of the Baader-Meinhof gang a…
02 March 2006

i-Tune an Oscar Short

US movie fans are being offered the chance to download Oscar-nominated short films from iTunes. Film buffs traditionally had little chance to view short films up for Hollywood's biggest awards, but all five nominees for the live-action short film award have been put on iTunes for $1.99 (£1.1…
28 August 2006

A Big Star May Not a Profitable Movie Make

  Is Sumner M. Redstone crazy like a fox? Movie industry executives may be forgiven for thinking that the Viacom chairman was mad to let Tom Cruise go after a 14-year relationship simply because Mr. Cruise seemed a little off balance. After all, the movies made by Viacom's Paramo…
  • 21 September 2010
    Contests

Sir Ridley Scott selects winner in Philips Cinema Parallel Lines contest

Today, Sir Ridley Scott announces Porcelain Unicorn from American director Keegan Wilcox as the winning short film in Philips’ Tell It Your Way film-making contest. The contest, which received over 600 entries from around the world, invited aspiring filmmakers to create an original short film using the same six-line dialogue as the Cannes Lions award-winning Parallel Lines short films directed by RSA talents Carl Erik Rinsch, Greg Fay, Johnny Hardstaff, Jake Scott and…
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19 March 2006

Ant & Dec Go Wide in Aliens Film

Cheeky Geordie chaps Ant'n'Dec, familiar to all UK residents for SMTV:Live!, Byker Grove, Pop Idol and I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! have now moved into film. Alien Autopsy tells the story of two men who discover the legendary tape showing the alien autopsy performed after the…
12 August 2006

Jerusalem Not Politically Correct

  Festivals Turning Down Israeli Films Israeli filmmakers receive letter from Documentary Film Festival in Lussas, France, notifying them that because of war in Lebanon festival had changed its plan to hold special program on Israeli documentary film, decided to screen Lebanese, Pales…
29 September 2008

A New Kind of Movie Viral That's ‘Daylight Robbery’

From Rachel Devenport: A new viral from the makers of British gangster film Daylight Robbery has been launched online  at www.70millionquid.co.uk The cast and crew of the film teamed up with creative digital agency Silence to produce a personalised short which asks for viewers to…
  • 08 May 2006
    Festivals

Aussies Cannes – Strongest in Decades

  Australia has one of its strongest representations in over two decades at this year's Cannes festival – showing five features and three short films.   After a hit with Lantana, director Ray Lawrence is returning to Cannes next week with the drama Jindabyne, which centres on a murder that has reverberations for a group of fishermen and their wives. The cast includes Gabriel Byrne, Laura Linney and Leah Purcell. Screening in various se…
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04 March 2006

High Def Leopard is Snow Reward

Four years in the making, Planet Earth is the first natural history series to be filmed completely in high definition.A group of experienced wildlife cameramen have spent the past fours years in a variety of remote locations capturing images never been seen before on camera. Experienced long-lense…
14 June 2006

Del Toro, Grisoni, Roeg & Fellowes in Cheltenham Screenwriting Festival

Masterclasses from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas adaptor Tony Grisoni, writer/director Guillermo del Toro, Don't Look Now's Nicholas Roeg, Gosford Park's Oscar winner Julian Fellowes and Hilsborough's Jimmy McGovern top a packed programme at the Screenwriter's Festival 2006…
18 April 2006

London Film Focus Calls For Breakthrough Features

  British film export event, the London UK Film Focus is looking for feature films to screen in its Breakthrough strand, supported by UK Trade & Investment.   Breakthrough aims to expose new talent to sales agents and international distributors, with a dedicated screen ho…
  • 30 May 2006
    Sales

Weinsteins Go Global

Producer brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein while they were in Cannes have been  negotiating a series of deals to make their new company a serious player in the international market.   When they were building Miramax, the Weinstein brothers earned a reputation as brash mavericks. After their split with Disney, they've positioned their new venture - the Weinstein Company - on several fronts. Together with Eduardo Costantini Jr., they announced the fo…
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22 February 2006

BBC Pledges £100m Film Investment

The BBC is to up its film budget from £10m to £15m a year and teaming up with the UK Film Council in an attempt to help make more British films. The BBC film budget will be boosted to £100m over the next 10 years, depending on the  forthcoming licence-fee settlement, allowing…
17 May 2006

Brits Fly the Flag In Cannes

  The British film industry flag is flying high at this year’s Cannes Film Festival with four films selected for official competition and another 98 films offered for sale in the market. Hopefully, the newly established tax regime for UK filmmakers may now be generating some internat…
03 January 2007

The Malice Box Quest

Michael Joseph have unveiled a bold and highly creative marketing strategy to support The Malice Box  - their lead adventure thriller for 2007.  The Malice Box Quest, a five-week interactive scavenger hunt drawing on themes from the book will launch two weeks prior to publication o…
  • 09 October 2008
    Festivals

London Film Festival: Benicio Del Toro to give Screen Talk

From the LFF press release: BENICIO DEL TORO SCREEN TALK IS ANNOUNCED   AND MORE TICKETS GO ON SALE FOR THE LONDON FILM FESTIVAL     The Times BFI 52nd London Film Festival is delighted to announce an addition to the 2008 programme, as a new wave of tickets go on sale. Benicio Del Toro will participate in a Tiscali Screen Talk on Friday 24 October. Multi award-winning actor Benicio Del Toro discusses his fil…
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15 April 2007

Telegraph's Top Ten Brit Directors of All Time

 The film critics over at The Daily Telegraph have gotten together and selected who they feel are the 21 best British directors of all-time. How they settled on the 21 is a big mystery, although they say "whittling the list down to just 21 was as enjoyable as it was difficult. We…
08 June 2006

UK Indies Make Strong Joint Showing For Mipcom

UK independent producers will for the first time have a major presence at this year's Mipcom in Cannes - one of the world's largest TV and audiovisual markets, with a UK pavilion housing up to 35 companies under one banner. The UK pavilion has been organised by Pact, the trade…
19 June 2006

HDV5000 HD DVD Disc Player Introduced by RCA in US

  Designed to complement the surging popularity of high-definition TV displays and concurrent with the release of new HD DVD movie titles, Thomson today unveiled its first HD DVD player, the RCA HDV5000 (US suggested retail price $499), which combines the superior image and sound qualit…
  • 07 June 2006
    Environment & sustainability

Hundreds View India Dam Row Film

  Movie-goers have been packing a theatre in western India to see a film kept off screens amid protests over criticism of a dam project by its star, Aamir Khan. The cinema, in Jamnagar, Gujarat, is guarded by armed police for screenings of Fanaa. Other cinema owners have refused to show the film, fearing protests. About 50 activists staged a protest at the time of the first showing and political parties opposed Fanaa's release in Gujarat over Aamir K…
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26 July 2010

UK Film Council to be scrapped as part of quango mass cull

Details of the surprise announcement about the axing of the UK Film Council amidst dozens of other arts quangos. 23.58 With the Facebook group inching towards 5,000 members, and the petition well over half that, the web is awash with comment and analysis. Andrew Pulver, Ronan Bennet and John Woo…
19 February 2010

Top animators around globe collaborate on Coalition of the Willing

Coalition of the Willing is a collaborative animated film and web-based event set in our 'post-Copenhagen' world exploring the role of the Internet. Directed and produced by Knife Party, it brings together a network of 24 artists using a range of different filmmaking styles and techniques including…
01 February 2006

Creative Capital Launches Microwave Filmmaking

Film London, with backing from the BBC, has launched a project to develop ten micro-budget film projects in the capital. Microwave challenges film-makers to shoot a feature with budget of up to UKP75,000 with the option of raising additional "in-kind" support taking the budget to a maximu…
  • 22 July 2008
    Young people

Young Writers and Filmmakers Given the Chance to Showcase Talent to Key Players in Film Industry

Get Connected, the charity that provides a helpline for young people, are launching Nobody's Perfect, a new website for young writers, actors and directors to showcase their talents to professional writers, producers and directors. Young people between 16 and 25 can submit film, scripts and music to win the chance to produce six short films that address issues like self-harm, sexuality and bullying.  Top British movie producer Nick O'Hagan (Fever P…
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08 June 2009

Young Film Academy, Bringing the UK Film Industry to Britain’s schools.

From Michael Gandy @ Young Film Academy Young Film Academy (YFA) is not your usual filmmaking teaching provider. YFA founders James Walker and Ed Boase are teaching young filmmakers and making waves in the professional film world too, with their award-winning film production company, Magma Picture…
22 May 2009

US campaigning journalist 'instrumental' in exposing UK expenses scandal

"We must not make a scarecrow of the law, Setting it up to fear the birds of prey, And let it keep one shape, till custom make it Their perch and not their terror." Angelo, Measure for Measure Because I don't read the papers everyday any more, I missed this story of the wonderwoman researcher/wr…
09 October 2006

Disney Co-Chair recognises 'piracy is a business model'

"Pirates compete the same way we do - through quality, price and availability." Giving the Keynote address at Mipcom, Disney co-chair Anne Sweeney has broken with studio convention and recognised piracy as a business model to compete with, as opposed to simply an illegal threat to be battled. Swee…