ITV

Category: Movies

  • Korean film fest in LA from 4 to 7 March

    MUMBAI: The Korean Film Festival will kick of in Los Angeles on 4 March with the screening of Le Grand Chef II that stars Kim Jung-Eun and Jin-Gu.


    Korean Film Festival in Los Angeles (KOFFLA) executive director Chang-Wha Chung and actor John Cho revealed details of the upcoming fest on Monday.


    The closing award ceremony that is set for 7 March will be followed by a presentation of Hur Jin Ho‘s A Good Rain Knows starring Jung Woo-Sung and Gao Yuan Yuan.


    The film festival that will feature more than 60 features and shorts will have a retrospective of films by action director Ryoo Seung-Wan.


    Among other events of importance slated in the festival are a master class with cinematographer Kim Hyung-ku, a surprise screening of an undisclosed Korean masterpiece and Actorfest KOFFLA, a one-day event for actors and aspiring actors to participate in panels, workshops and meetings.

  • UTV sells Polish rights of Peepli Live to Vivarto

    MUMBAI: UTV Motion Pictures has sold the Poland rights of Peepli Live to Polish distribution company Vivarto SP ZOO.


    The film has been co-produced by UTV Motion Pictures and Aamir Khan Productions.


    The film will be released in Poland with ten prints. Vivarto has also acquired the home video and television for the territory. The move follows the sale of the movie‘s German rights that were acquired earlier this week.


    Commented Vivarto acquisition manager Justyna Troszczynska, “Peepli Live is a truly emotional film and it starts our trip with Indian movies that will open new horizons and develop our company to proceed with many more.”


    Said UTV Motion Pictures VP – international distribution and syndication Amrita Pandey, “We are thrilled to announce the sale of Polish rights to Vivarto. Vivarto is an ideal distribution partner for a film like Peepli Live and we are looking forward to the theatrical release of the film in Poland.”


    Said UTV Motion Pictures VP, International Distribution and Syndication Amrita Pandey said, “We are thrilled to announce the sale of Polish rights to Vivarto. Vivarto is an ideal distribution partner for a film like Peepli Live and we are looking forward to the theatrical release of the film in Poland.”


    Peepli Live, is the first Indian film ever to be selected at the Sundance Film Festival and is also screening at the Berlin Film Festival.
     

  • Avatar garners $ 2.47 billion globally

    MUMBAI: With a haul of an estimated $ 51 million from 7,600 screens in 71 markets, Avatar‘s ten-week haul reached $1.78billion.


    The film became the biggest release in history in Mexico, where it garnered $ 608,049 from 380 screens that swelled its tally to $42.5 million.


    In France, Avatar garnered $ 165. 1 million after ten weekends while in China, the film added $ 3.6 million to its kitty from 792 and finally accounted for $ 164.4 million in seven weeks.


    In Germany Avatar added $ 5.7million from 544 screens to reach a tally of $ 134 million, it ramped in $4.6 million in the UK from 408 screens to collect $134.9 million , in Japan, the film amassed $131.9 million after nine weekends, while in Italy it collected $85.7 million after six weeks.


    Adding the North American tally of $687.8 million, the global cumulative total of Avatar currently rests at $ 2.47 billion.
     

  • Hurt Locker collects six BAFTA awards

    MUMBAI: Kathryn Bigelow‘s The Hurt Locker hauled six awards at the recently held BAFTA awards including best film, best director, best original screenplay, best cinematography, best sound and best editing.


    Avatar, nominated in eight categories, got two awards; one in the special visual effects category and second in the production design category.


    Colin Firth who starred in A Single Man was named best actor while British actress Carey Mulligan annexed the best actress award for her role in An Education.


    Christoph Waltz collected the best supporting actor award for his role in Inglourious Basterds while the best supporting actress award was collected by Lee Daniels.


    The award ceremony attracted stars including Dustin Hoffman, Kate Winslet and Robert Pattinson.


    Andrea Arnold won the outstanding British film award while Twilight star Kristen Stewart was named Orange Rising Star. Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner took the award for the best adapted screenplay for Up in the Air.
     

  • Academy honours DI pioneers

    MUMBAI: Post-production tools that helped launch the digital intermediate process figured prominently during the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences‘ annual Scientific and Technical Awards presentation.


    The Academy honoured a total of 10 technologies with scientific and engineering awards and five with technical achievement awards.


    The digital intermediate, or DI, process gives filmmakers extended creative flexibility by shifting color grading and other post-production tasks from a chemical process to one that is digital. 


    Said SciTech Awards committee chairman Richard Edlund, “The digital intermediate is taking over the post-production field the way Avid took over the editing field.”


    DI became the common term used to describe this process because at its launch approximately a decade ago, a film was initially shot on film and after post-production, it was recorded back to film for theatrical release.


    That is already changing. With the proliferation of digital cinematography cameras, movies increasingly begin in the digital realm — and with digital cinema projection, they often end as files rather than film. For that reason, many believe that the still-young term will need to be retired.


    Among the technologies recognized for enabling the DI process were scanners, which convert film into files for the post process; look up tables and color management tools, which allow filmmakers to create and maintain a consistent look; color grading tools, offering creative flexibility in adjusting color; and display, enabling accurate monitoring of the images.


    While this year the SciTech Awards honoured various tools from the intermediate portion of the digital pipeline, no digital cinematography technology has been recognized to date.
     

  • Cruise to star in Mission: Impossible IV

    MUMBAI: Tom Cruise will star in a new Mission: Impossible that is to release in 2011. The film will incidentally be produced by the actor himself and J.J. Abrams.


    Incidentally both Cruise and Abrams had teamed for the earlier version of Mission: Impossible III.


    The first two ‘Mission: Impossible‘ films made $1 billion at global box-offices. The third film‘s U.S. box-office garnered $ 134 million but was considered a disappointment of sorts by box-office analysts.


    Following Mission: Impossible III, Paramount started its film production ties with Cruise but the making of a fourth film in the series has been a question ever since.


    “Tom and J.J. are great talents and we are excited to be working with them to re-launch this legendary franchise,” Paramount Pictures Chairman Brad Grey said in a statement.
     

  • Anil Ambani launches hostile bid for Fame

    MUMBAI: The war over ownership of multiplex chain Fame India is getting fiercer with Anil Ambani-led Reliance MediaWorks finally launching a hostile takeover bid.


    Reliance MediaWorks board, the cinema exhibition and production business of Reliance ADAG, has approved an open offer to Fame shareholders to acquire 21.6 million shares, or 62.08 per cent stake, at Rs 83.4 a share, much higher than what Inox Leisure is paying to take overwhelming control of the multiplex chain. 


    Reliance‘s counter offer is at a 63.5 per cent premium to Inox‘s open offer price of Rs 51 per share for an additional 20 per cent stake. Reliance‘s payout would be
    Rs 1.8 billion, approved by its board as it pitches for an aggressive buyout offer to scale up its multiplex business.


    Inox already holds 50.5 per cent in Fame, having bought out the promoters‘ holding and making additional purchases executed at the BSE.


    Reliance Capital has already acquired 12.14 per cent of Fame through a series of open market purchases. The company had started upping its holding in Fame after Inox bought a majority stake in the multiplex company.


    Reliance MediaWorks had earlier said that it would seek action against Fame for selling it to Inox at a cheaper price when it had made an offer to the promoters for Rs 80 a share.

  • Reliance ADAG increases stake in Fame to 11%

    MUMBAI: Reliance Capital Partners, part of the Reliance ADAG company, is continuing with its pursuit to increase its stake in Fame India through open market purchases. The company had started upping its holding in Fame after Inox Leisure bought a majority stake in the multiplex company.


    Reliance has taken its total holding in Fame to 11 per cent, even while it has complained to Sebi against the Inox-Fame deal as it had made a higher price buyout offer. On 9 February, Reliance had disclosed that its total holding in Fame was 8.13 per cent.


    Inox, which already holds 50.5 per cent of Fame, has announced the open offer for 20 per cent at Rs 51 per share.


    With both Inox and Reliance in tug-of-war to get more of Fame, the scrip is on the upward path.

  • Govt undecided on 1% waiver fee for screening documentaries: Soni

    MUMBAI: Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said no final decision had been taken yet on waiver of the one per cent net collection that is required to be paid by exhibitors to the Films Division under the Compulsory Exhibition Scheme.


    Soni made the remark when her attention was drawn to the fact that though the Government had won the case in the Supreme Court some years earlier, theatre owners were still reluctant about screening film magazines or documentaries by the Films Division.


    Under the scheme, a theatre owner has to screen at least 15 minutes of a social purpose film and pay one per cent of the net collection to the maker of the film.


    Meanwhile, filmmaker Devendra Khandelwal said in a letter to the Minister that her decision would prove detrimental for private documentary filmmakers who had pinned their hopes on being able to find exhibition outlets in theatres through revival of the Compulsory Exhibition Scheme.


    He said this will also force these filmmakers to approach the Films Division which existed on budgetary grants from the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, and so will not be able to make the kind of films they wanted.
     

  • IFC Films acquires Ghobadi’s Persian Cats for North America

    MUMBAI: IFC Films has acquired the US rights of Bahman Ghobadi‘s No One Knows About Persian Cats which it plans to release in April.


    The Iranian film had its North American premiere at the AFI Fest in Los Angeles last November. It will be screened in a special presentation at the upcoming SXSW Film Festival in March, and as part of a retrospective of Ghobadi‘s films at the Film Society of Lincoln Center in April.


    Persian Cats explores Tehran‘s youth and underground music scene and its unapologetic desire for creative expression in the face of an oppressive government.
    It had its world premiere in Un Certain Regard at last year‘s Cannes film festival, where it also won the special jury prize.