ITV

Category: International

  • Highlights of the 3rd AACTA International Awards

    Highlights of the 3rd AACTA International Awards

    MUMBAI: The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) announced the winners of the 3rd AACTA International Awards on Friday 10 January 2014 at an intimate Awards Ceremony in Los Angeles hosted by multi-award winning actor and AACTA President Geoffrey Rush.

     

    The Awards recognise screen excellence regardless of geography across seven categories including Best Film, Best Direction, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress.

     

    Blue Jasmine’s Australian leading lady, Cate Blanchett was called to the stage by AACTA President Geoffrey Rush to accept the AACTA International Award for Best Actress.

     

    Blanchett’s acclaimed performance as Jasmine in the Woody Allen film has been tipped to win a raft of awards in the 2014 International Awards season including a possible second Oscar which, if occurs, would make her the first Australian actress in history to be awarded twice by AMPAS.

     

    Gravity, the visual masterpiece directed by BAFTA winner and Oscar nominee Alfonso Cuarón, received the AACTA International Award for Best Film and the AACTA International Award for Best Direction.

     

    The space odyssey, based on a story written by Alfonso Cuarón’s son Jonás, pushed the known boundaries of cinematography and technologies to illustrate a tense story of skill and survival set in zero gravity. A team of world renowned VFX artists worked with Cuarón to realise his extraordinary vision including visual effects supervisor Tim Webber and Australian VFX House Rising Sun Pictures.

     

    American Hustle, the most nominated film in this year’s AACTA International Awards also received two Awards. The AACTA International Award for Best Screenplay, (which went to Eric Warren Singer and the film’s Director David O. Russell) and to actress Jennifer Lawrence who received her second AACTA International Award in a David O. Russell film; this time for her portrayal of Rosalyn, the explosively alluring and manic housewife to Christian Bale’s Irving Rosenfeld.

     

    12 Years a slave saw wins in both actor categories with Chiwetel Ejiofor receiving the AACTA International Award for Best Actor and Michael Fassbender the AACTA International Award for Best Supporting Actor. Set in pre-Civil War America the film is based on the true story of Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York who was abducted and sold into slavery. 12 Years a slave is directed by UK director Steve McQueen.

     

    AACTA President, Geoffrey Rush, said: “The AACTA International Awards are Australia’s international stamp of screen success. They recognise our international counterparts, add an Australian voice to international Academy discussion, and celebrate our fellow Australians working internationally.

     

    “I congratulate all of this year’s AACTA International Award nominees and winners on their compelling and inspiring work and as always I look forward with anticipation to see if our international peers have concurred with the AACTA International Chapter in this year’s Awards season selection.’’ Rush said.

     

    The 3rd AACTA International Awards will be aired on Foxtel’s Arena in Australia on Sunday 12 January, 2014 at 7:30pm.

  • Sony Pictures Ent appoints Man Jit Singh president of Sony Pictures Home Ent

    Sony Pictures Ent appoints Man Jit Singh president of Sony Pictures Home Ent

    • CALIFORNIA: Sony Pictures Entertainment today announced that Man Jit Singh has been named President of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE), reporting to Michael Lynton, CEO, Sony Entertainment, Inc., and Amy Pascal, Co-Chairman, Sony Pictures Entertainment.

    •  

       

      Man Jit, who was previously Chief Executive Officer, Multi Screen Media Pvt. Ltd. (MSM), the operating company that manages Sony Pictures Television’s TV networks in India, will continue as Non-Executive Chairman at MSM while transitioning from his role in the Television division to his new role in Home Entertainment.

    •  

       

      N.P. Singh, formerly Chief Operating Officer at MSM, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer, managing Sony Pictures Television’s Indian TV networks. N.P. will report to Andy Kaplan, President, Worldwide Networks, Sony Pictures Television.

    •  

       

      “Man Jit is a savvy global executive with a long track record of success at Sony Pictures, having built our Indian TV channels into high-performance, high-margin businesses. I am confident in his vision for Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and his ability to provide strong leadership for the division as the marketplace continues to evolve,” said Lynton.

    •  

       

      Under Man Jit, Sony Pictures Television’s Indian TV networks leveraged changing technologies and consumer behaviors to grow into some of the most profitable and highest-rated channels in the market.

    •  

       

      At SPHE, Man Jit will continue the studio’s focus on reducing overhead costs, while growing high-margin businesses.

    •  

       

      “As the ways in which consumers experience our content continue to change and multiply, our organization and its strategy for delivering content must evolve to meet the demands of the market. I look forward to building on the foundation of innovation and operational discipline at SPHE to position this business for future growth,” said Man Jit.

    •  

       

      On N.P. Singh’s appointment to CEO of MSM, Man Jit added, “NP and I have worked closely together as equal partners these last five years and the success of the company is largely due to his efforts. The time has come for him to lead the company to the next level and I fully expect the innovations he brings as CEO will ensure we have years of success ahead. As the Non-executive Chairman of MSM, I look forward to supporting NP and will continue to remain involved with the Indian television industry.”

    •  

       

      In his new role at MSM, N.P. will continue to focus on developing original, local-language programming and expanding the audience for MSM’s eight highly-profitable channels across India and the more than 70 countries around the world where they are viewed.

    •  

       

      Man Jit Singh has a strong background in technology, entertainment, and consumer products, with over 20 years of experience in global operations. He has worked in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Since 2009, he has overseen Sony Pictures Television’s Networks business in India, which includes SET, SAB, PIX, AXN, MIX, SIX, LIV and MAX. Man Jit was previously Chairman of the Board of Directors of MSM. He spent much of his early career in general management consulting, and he held senior positions at firms including Sibson & Co., LLP in Los Angeles, The Cast Group AG in Zurich, Switzerland and Los Angeles, and Cresap in Los Angeles. Man Jit began his career at Nestle India.

    •  

       

      N. P. Singh originally joined MSM in 1999 and has been Chief Operating Officer of MSM since December 2004, overseeing day-to-day operations at the company’s highly profitable TV channels and working closely with Man Jit on long-term strategies for continued growth. Previously, Singh served as Chief Financial Officer. Before joining MSM, N.P. held Chief Financial Officer roles at Spice Telecom and Modicorp, and was Controller at Modi Xerox Limited, in addition to other positions.

    •  

       

      Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is a subsidiary of Sony Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. SPE’s global operations encompass motion picture production, acquisition and distribution; television production, acquisition and distribution; television networks; digital content creation and distribution; operation of studio facilities; and development of new entertainment products, services and technologies. For additional information, go to http://www.sonypictures.com.

    •  

       

      Media Contact:
      Charles Sipkins
      310-244-5651
      Charles_Sipkins@spe.sony.com

  • Mauritius launches 30 per cent film rebate scheme to attract film industry

    Mauritius launches 30 per cent film rebate scheme to attract film industry

    NEW DELHI: Mauritius has launched a new Film Rebate Scheme allowing for a 30 per cent refund on all the Qualifying Production Expenditures (QPE) incurred by film producers in respect of their projects in Mauritius.

    The scheme was officially launched at a gala event by the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Finance & Economic Development Xavier-Luc Duval in the presence of Minister of Arts and Culture Mookhesswur Choonee and Bollywood actor Jackie Shroff.

    Some 250 professionals including directors, producers, filmmakers, artists and representatives of production houses, modelling agencies and training schools attended the launch.

    In his address, Duval, the architect of the Rebate Scheme, highlighted the size and importance of the film industry and its business potential for Mauritius. He said the industry is expected to generate some MUR 500 million in 2014 while it is estimated that it will bring about MUR 1 billion annually in foreign exchange.

    In its endeavour to develop new sectors of activity within the creative arts industry, the Mauritian Government through the Board of Investment elaborated a framework to attract film shooting and post-production activities in Mauritius. This was implemented in the wake of an announcement in the 2012 National Budget.

     

    The Industry is seen as a serious and viable addition to the economy. This scheme puts Mauritius at-par with other destinations like Malaysia and Abu-Dhabi which offer a 30 per cent rebate.

    Duval stated that the Government will intensify the marketing of the scheme through the Board of Investment. The industry is expected to generate employment for SMEs, designers, artists, hoteliers, with significant beneficial spillover effects on other sectors like tourism, trade, travel, transport and retail.

    Furthermore, the industry will provide great exposure and visibility to the Mauritian tourism industry in various source markets such as India, China and Europe. The Board of Investment has recorded an increasing number of potential interests from local producers as well as production houses from China, South Africa and India. So far, expressions of interest have been received mostly by Indian producers.

    Choonee emphasized the strong relationship and special sense of belonging and brotherhood between India and Mauritius. The country has nurtured this special bond over decades. Minister Choonee stressed the government’s vision to develop the film industry as another pillar of the economy.

    Special guest Jackie Shroff firmly believes that Mauritius should start producing movies. The actor underlined the importance of having a specialised school offering courses on script-writing and editing as well as crash courses on film-making.

    He praised Mauritius and said he was overwhelmed by the hospitality of Mauritians. He commended VPM Duval’s initiative for the development and promotion of the new film industry.

  • Films form important component of Festival of India in Peru

    Films form important component of Festival of India in Peru

    NEW DELHI: Indian films are making a global presence it seems. At the Festival of India in Peru that was recently inaugurated by vice president Hamid Ansari, few new Indian films and old classics including Raja Harishchandra (silent), Taare Zameen Par (Hindi), Ghare Bhaire (Bengali), Ardh Satya (Hindi), Bobby (Hindi), A Wednesday (Hindi) and Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa (Hindi) are being screened. The Indian Film Festival is being coordinated by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. 

    An India-Peru Literature Festival and an Indian Classical Dance Festival is also being held as part of the fest. 

    Ansari’s visit is the highest ranking bilateral visit since year 1998 from India to Peru. The Festival would manifest many elements of long, rich and diverse Indian cultural heritage and would be the largest Indian cultural festival ever held in Latin America and the Caribbean. This reflects the special place that Peru enjoys among Indians. 

    The inaugural function was attended by the Peruvian First Vice President Marisol Espinoza and a number of senior dignitaries from the Indian and Peruvian side. 

    Indian Culture Secretary Ravindra Singh who is in Peru to mark the occasion said the Festival is expected to bring the Indian and Peruvian people closer to each other and will enhance people to people contact. 

    Highly reputed Indian writers like Arun Kamal, H S Shivaprakash, K Satchidanandan, Purshottam Agarwal, Shyama Prasad Ganguly, and Ms Karabi Deka Hazarika participated in the symposium on India-Latin America: Literary Exchanges and Influences and Contemporary Literary Trends and their Challenges in a Multilingual Society in addition to a session on poetry reading. 

    Several noted Peruvian Writers including Jose Leon Herrera, Pablo Carreno Cabrejos, Jose Ignacio Lopez Gaston, Marcel Velaquez Castro, and leading poets Carlos German Belli, Mario Montalbetti, and Marcos Martos would be participating in the Literature Festival. The Literature Festival is being coordinated by the Sahitya Academy. 

     

    The Indian Dance Festival in Peru is titled ‘Nrityarupa’, the mosaic of Indian dance which encapsulates the experience of Indian dance as it has evolved in various parts of the India. It offers a glimpse of the great mosaic of cultures that constitutes the Indian Nation, and demonstrates in a creative, kinetic form their dynamics in relation to each other. Six dance forms representing the diversity of India’s culture have been chosen for this presentation to audiences in Latin America: Bharatanatyam of Tamil Nadu, Kathank which is pre-eminently the dance of northern India; Odissi from Odisha in eastern India; Manipuri from north-eastern State of India; Kathakali of Kerala at Southern tip of the Indian peninsula; and Chhau which covers a wide swathe of territory in eastern States of the Union. 

    One seamless presentation of these dances has been visualized by leading to a jubiliant finish. The Indian Dance Festival is being coordinated by the Sangeet Natak Academy. 

    The Festival of India in Peru is being coordinated by the Culture Ministry in association with the Sahitya Academy, the Sangeet Natak Academy and the I&B Ministry. 

     

  • Korean filmmaker Im Kwon-taek announces his 102nd film

    Korean filmmaker Im Kwon-taek announces his 102nd film

    NEW DELHI: Veteran South Korean director Im Kwon-taek whose films have featured in retrospectives in India, has announced his 102nd film: Hwajang — which in Korean means both “make-up” and “cremation”.

    Im was recently featured in a retrospective at this month’s Busan International Film Festival. He said the film is based on Kim Hun’s 2004 short story, From Powder to Powder. A well-regarded English translation was published in 2007 in the expanded edition of the anthology Land of Exile: Contemporary Korean Fiction.

    The blackly comic short story is about a middle-aged advertising executive’s infatuation with a healthy young woman in his company while his wife is dying from cancer. The story draws a contrast between the beauty products his company markets to hold back ageing and the inevitability of death and decay.

    The role of the advertising executive will be played by An Seong-gi, a regular collaborator of Im. The actresses who will play his wife, daughter and mistress have yet to be announced. The film, which is produced by Myung Films, is expected to start shooting in December.

  • Chinese domestic movie market sees 35 per cent growth

    Chinese domestic movie market sees 35 per cent growth

    NEW DELHI: Even as India continues to produce the largest number of films, China has shown a major growth with total box office revenue for the first nine months of the year at RMB16.4 billion (US$2.7 billion), a year-on-year growth of 34.9 per cent.

    With a market share of approximately 58 per cent, domestic films continue to rule the market with RMB9.56 billion (US$1.57 billion) in total revenue, a year-on-year growth of 93.8 per cent, according to China’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT) in the third quarter box office statistics.

    Five of the top ten grossing films of the first nine months of the year are domestic films that include Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons (RMB1.24 billion), So Young (RMB 715 million), American Dreams in China (RMB 538 million), Finding Mr. Right (RMB 518 million) and Tiny Times 1 (RMB 488 million).

    Opening at the end of September, Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon has already surpassed American Dreams as the third top grossing domestic film of the year. By last week, it had taken RMB 583 million.

    Several major releases set for December are expected to further lift domestic films: 
    Benny Chan’s The White Storm, Feng Xiaogang’s Personal Tailor, Alan Yuen’s Firestorm, and Ding Sheng’s Police Story 2013.

    Foreign films made RMB 6.87 billion (US$1.13 billion) in total revenue, a year-on-year decline of 5.2 per cent. This represents somewhat of a recovery over the summer. In the first half of the year, foreign films were recorded as experiencing a year-on-year decline in box office revenue of 21.3 per cent.

    The top five grossing foreign films of the first nine months of the years — three of which were in cinemas during the third quarter are: Iron Man 3 (RMB 751 million), Pacific Rim (RMB 694 million), Furious 6 (RMB 412 million), The Croods (RMB 394.8 million) and Man of Steel (RMB 394.6 million).

  • Four Hollywood stalwarts take over Sin City in the comedy ‘Last Vegas’

    Four Hollywood stalwarts take over Sin City in the comedy ‘Last Vegas’

    MUMBAI: Multivision Multimedia, one of the biggest independent film distribution houses in the Indian subcontinent, is gearing up to release the new comic caper Last Vegas in Indian theatres on 22 November, 2013. The upcoming comedy will see Hollywood legends Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline share screen space for the very first time. 

    Directed by Jon Turteltaub, Last Vegas follows the lives of Billy (Michael Douglas), Paddy (Robert De Niro), Archie (Morgan Freeman) and Sam (Kevin Kline), who have been best friends since childhood. So when Billy, the group’s sworn bachelor, finally proposes to his thirty-something girlfriend, the four head to Las Vegas with a plan to stop acting their age and relive their glory days. However, upon arriving, the four quickly realise that the decades have transformed Sin City and tested their friendship in ways they never imagined. Sin City has had its own coming-of-age but it’s these guys who are taking over Vegas, and how! What follows is a comedy packed with laughs, wit and a heart-rending perspective on friendship.

    Speaking on releasing Last Vegas in India, Multivision Multimedia distribution head Sunil Udhani said, “Last Vegas brings together Hollywood royalty in form of Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Kline for this sure-shot entertainer. With talent that has a combined six Oscar win and films that have grossed nearly $16 billion at the box office, we are confident that this movie will take Indian fans on a laughter-inducing joy ride.”

  • E-voting for Oscars simplified

    E-voting for Oscars simplified

    MUMBAI: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is making significant changes to simplify its electronic voting system, which got almost as much flack last awards season as the Obamacare website is currently receiving. The changes involve reducing the number of passwords required, making the VIN number assigned to each member invisible to users and making it easier to change passwords.

    The changes, developed over the past eight months since e-voting was used by the Academy for the first time to determine winners of the 85th Oscars, come in response to gripes from members who found the online voting website, offered as an alternative to a traditional paper ballot, difficult to navigate.

    The Academy also is encouraging its members to log on to their member accounts on Monday to pay their annual dues and to register how they wish to vote this year, either electronically or by paper ballot. The email outlined the improvements that have been made to the online voting process.

    The biggest change to e-voting this year is that members will now be able to use a single user name and password for both sites. Also, the Academy is making it easier to change passwords.

    In spite of last year’s e-voting challenges, the Academy eventually reported, at an unprecedented all-members meeting on 4 May that there had been record voting-participation of 90 per cent in large part because of e-voting.

  • Writer Michael Arndt exits ‘Star Wars: Episode VII’

    Writer Michael Arndt exits ‘Star Wars: Episode VII’

    MUMBAI: Michael Arndt is no longer a part of Star Wars: Episode VII. Lawrence Kasdan and JJ Abrams have taken over the scriptwriting duties. Abrams is also directing the movie.

    Arndt had been writing Star Wars since more than a year, the Episode VII. In October 2012, Disney announced it was buying Lucasfilm as well as it was planning a new movie in the series. A release date of 2015 was planned.  Arndt was officially hired to write in late 2012.

    The latest movie also has many newcomers in the films filling the post of DOP, production designer, costume designer, sound designer etc.

    Arndt won an Oscar for his script for Little Miss Sunshine and he also wrote The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Toy Story 3.

  • Elton John’s biopic Rocketman to go on floor next year

    Elton John’s biopic Rocketman to go on floor next year

    MUMBAI: The new CEO of Focus Features, Peter Schlessel, he has decided to make it a priority to speed up Elton John’s biopic Rocketman. Tom Hardy stars as the legendary singer in the movie. Schlessel has also co-founded FilmDistrict, a distribution entity that has bagged the rights to Rocketman which Elton John is executive producing.

    Michael Gracey will be shooting the movie in fall 2014 with an original screenplay by Lee Hall. John will be re-recording many of his iconic hit songs to match the movie’s pace. Hamilton Shaw and David Furnish are producing the movie from Rocket Pictures while Lawrence Bender on behalf of financier at AI Film.