MUMBAI: Jennifer Aniston, Mickey Rourke and Julia Roberts will be presenting the 67th annual Golden Globe Awards that takes place on 17 January.
They join Robert De Niro and Leonardo DiCaprio, who will present the Cecil B. DeMille Award to Martin Scorsese.
Roberts is also a nominee in the category of best performance by an actress in a musical or comedy for her role in Duplicity.
The show, hosted by Ricky Gervais, will be broadcast live on NBC from the Beverly Hilton.
MUMBAI: Producer-director John Woo will be honoured by the Venice International Film Festival at its next year‘s edition when he will be awarded a Golden Lion for lifetime achievement.
The decision was taken by the Biennale di Venezia board chaired by Paolo Barattaa after Venice festival director Marco Mueller backed Woo for the honour.
Oganisers of the festival say that Woo was an “innovator of the contemporary language of cinema” and plan to give him the honour during the 67th edition of the film festivals that will be underway from 1 to 11 September next year.
Woo has made films like A Better Tomorrow, The Killer and Bullet in the Head in the Far East and Broken Arrow, Face/Off and Mission: Impossible 2, in the US.
He has also authored video games and graphic novels.
MUMBAI: Canal Plus has signed a new accord with the French film industry that will see the pay-TV giant invest more of its annual revenue in film production.
The deal sees Canal increase its investment from 12 to 12.5 per cent of its annual revenues into European film production. Of that amount, Canal will invest 10 per cent in French films for an increase of 1 per cent annually.
There will also be a bonus 0.5 per cent given to films that attract more than 500,000 ticket buyers during their theatrical run.
In a press release, Canal said it has signed the new deal with the BLOC, a group that represents a large part of the independent sector as well as the French producers union and the authors-directors-producers organisation, ARP.
Canal also announced that it would create new service that will be charged with bringing financial aid to independent film exhibition and distribution.
In doing so, the company said that it will contribute to the development, exhibition and showcasing of cultural works and those that spotlight French heritage.
MUMBAI: Lorber Films, the theatrical distribution arm of Kino Lorber has acquired the entire US rights of Erik Gandini‘s Videocracy.
The subject matter of the film is timely in the wake of the recent attack on Silvio Berlusconi as it explores the underbelly of Italy‘s media culture, a murky landscape in which the Italian prime minister is a major player.
Kino Lorber co-president Richard Lorber negotiated the Videocracy deal with TrustNordisk Films head of sales Susan Wendt.
The film will open at the IFC Center in New York on 12 February followed by a theatrical release across the US supported by High Five, the new funding programme of Nordisk Film & TV Fond.
MUMBAI: 79-year old Connie Hines, better known as Wilbur‘s wife of the popular 1960s television show Mister Ed is no more.
Alan Young who co-starred with her in Mister Ed revealed that Hines died from complications of heart problems.
Hines was best known for portraying Carol Post in the show that featured a talking horse. She wrote a book in 2007 entitled Mister Ed and Me and More.
Born in Massachusetts, Hines also appeared in the 1960 film Thunder in Carolina and TV shows including The Millionaire, Johnny Ringo and Riverboat.
MUMBAI: China‘s appeal against a ruling that it must stop forcing US content owners to use state-owned companies to distribute movies and books has been rejected by the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The ruling effectively breaks the monopoly that China Film Group Corporation and Huaxia Film Distribution currently have on the distribution of foreign films in China. Under the current rules, the US studios usually take around 17 per cent of the box-office of revenue-sharing films.
However the WTO ruling does not address China‘s import quota of 20 revenue-sharing foreign films a year.
“With the rejection of China‘s appeal, the WTO has taken a major step forward in leveling the playing field for America‘s creative industries seeking to do business in China,” said Motion Picture Association chairman Dan Glickman, in a statement.
“In spite of all the restrictions we face, there is no shortage of US filmed entertainment in China. Unfortunately, far too much of it is pirated,” Glickman added.
In its argument, China had argued that it needed to impose controls on the market that are in line with the country‘s stage of economic development and also to protect public morals.
The WTO judges agreed that China has the right to ban foreign films and books that government censors deem objectionable.
The ruling comes at a time when China‘s theatrical market is expanding rapidly – box office is expected to grow by 40 per cent to $882m this year. US movies such as Transformers 2 and 2012 have seen big numbers in China this year, grossing around $60 million apiece.
Meanwhile Avatar is due to open in China in the beginning of January – a time that is usually reserved for local productions.
MUMBAI: Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell will write a drama series on the life of director Ingmar Bergman. The series will be shown by national broadcaster Sveriges Television (STV) in 2012.
The crime writer, best known for the Inspector Kurt Wallander series, is to work on the screenplay next year and the series will be produced in four one-hour episodes.
Said Mankell, “What fascinates me is the price Bergman had to pay for his uncompromising creativity – it darkened many aspects of the rest of his life. What interests me is what one might call the ‘price of obsession‘ and I believe there is much that is generally applicable in his story.”
He added that he plans to cover Bergman‘s life from several angles and will cover both his lighter and darker periods. Mankell said that the screenplay would be a challenge but that he plans to cover a wide spectrum of his life – from his theatre experiences at a youth club in Stockholm to the life he led on the island of Faro.
Mankell has also written several plays and books for children and adolescent readers and in 2008 he was listed as the ninth best-selling author in the world.
MUMBAI: James Cameron‘s Avatar that is raking in accolades worldwide for its spectacular visual effects and the emotional connect has won four nominations at the Golden Globe awards, in the following 4 categories: best motion picture – Drama, best director, best original score and best original song.
Produced by 20th Century Fox, Avatar is an epic action adventure. The film was first conceived by Cameron 14 years ago, when the means to realize his vision did not yet exist.
Starring Sam Worthington, Siqourney Weaver and Zoe Saldana, Avatar is the story of a crippled ex-marine, thrust unwillingly into an effort to settle and exploit an exotic planet rich in bio-diversity, who eventually crosses over to lead the indigenous race in a battle for survival.
MUMBAI: A California appeals Court has rejected Roman Polanski‘s request to have his sex case dismissed. The California 2nd District Court of Appeal announced that it had denied the petition with justices saying that they are “deeply concerned” about the alleged misconduct.
“We encourage all participating parties to do their utmost to ensure that this matter now draws to a close in a manner that fully addresses the issues of due process and fundamental fairness raised by the events of long ago,” opined the court.
Attorneys for Polanski argued earlier this month that misconduct in the case was grounds for dismissal of a charge of having unlawful sex with a minor. They also contended Polanski didn‘t need to be present to argue for dismissal.
The Court disagreed on both issues. “The passage of more time before this case‘s final resolution will further hamper the search for truth and the delivery of any appropriate relief, and it will also prolong the agony that the lack of finality in this matter continues to cause Samantha Geimer,” the opinion reveals.
Polanski fled the US in 1978 on the eve of sentencing. He pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful sexual contact with a minor. He remains under house arrest in his Swiss house.
MUMBAI: Actress Sandra Bullock has been named as the ‘Entertainer of the Year‘ by Entertainment Weekly.
The 45-year-old actress nominated in both the Drama and Comedy or Musical fields for The Blind Side and The Proposal has beaten the star cast of vampire series True Blood to grab the top spot on Entertainment Weekly‘s ‘Entertainers of the Year‘ list.
Other Hollywood A-listers making it to the list included country singer Taylor Swift, actor Alec Baldwin, veteran actress Meryl Streep, Ryan Reynolds, ‘American Idol‘ star Adam Lambert and filmmaker James Cameron.