Artificial Eye

has acquired
·Safe Conduct (Laissez-Passer). Bertrand Tavernier
·Minor Mishaps, the Danish film directed by Annette K Olesen
·Monday Morning (Lundi Matin) by Otar Iosseliani.
·The Girl From Paris, a French-language title directed by Christian Carion.
Artificial Eye has tentatively scheduled Safe Conduct for release in October, while Minor Mishaps is to go in November. Monday Morning is penciled in for December.

Atmosphere Entertainment

Atmosphere Entertainment
1828 Broadway
Santa Monica , CA 90404 USA
Qiana Staral
Tel: 310-449-9220
Fax: 310-449-9240
qiana@atmosphereEnt.com  
Christopher J Fries reported that Terese Linden Kohn has joined the company as senior vice president of distribution. Market offerings are;
 Perseverance a family drama starring Peter Fonda and Kelly McGillis. Jimmy Kaufman is directing the film which will begin shooting in March in Nova Scotia. It tells the story of a New England fisherman who finds a rare moss that has the ability to heal any disease but only has enough for three miracles. He must decide how to use it. Atmosphere's Christopher J Fries is producing alongside Claudio Catravelli.
 This Space Between Us, a drama about a man struggling with the death of his wife. Jeremy Sisto, Poppy Montgomery, Erik Palladino and Vanessa Marcil star in the film which is directed by Peter Rudy.
 Judgement In Berlin which stars Martin Sheen and Sean Penn and revolves around the hijacking of an airliner in eastern Germany.

BV International Pictures (BVIP)

BV International Pictures
Kvalavagsveien 156
PO Box 17
Avaldsnes , N-4299, NORWAY
Bjorg Veland
Tel: 47-52-84-64-60
Fax: 47-52-84-64-61
bjorg@bvfilm.com  
Bjorg Veland and Heather Playford-Denman reporting
One Point 0 starring Udo Kier (Budget $2m) producer Thomas Mai's ZentAmerica Entertainment, The picture, has a futuristic grunge style and sees airborne computer viruses tested on a building full of eccentric characters, which is directed by feature film first timers Jeff Renfrowe and Marteinn Thorsson.
It is written and co-directed by Jeff Renfrowe and Marteinn Thorsson, a team who made a name for themselves in music videos and commercials. "Some people would be puzzled by a co-directing team, but in fact it is this film's greatest strength. We get two creative brains for the price of one." The film's production budget comes from Canadian private sources, the Icelandic Film Fund with BVIP putting up the rest in return for world sales rights. Cinematography is by Christopher Soos.
ZentAmerica was founded by Thomas Mai two years ago with RD Robb and Kyle Gates

China Star Entertainment

China Star Entertainment Group
Unit 503 C Miramar Tower
132 Nathan Road, T.S.T.
Kowloon , HONG KONG
Ann Hung
Tel: 852-2313-1888
Fax: 852-2191-9900
movie@chinastar.com.hk  
Sales chief Ann Hung reports projects in Development:
Kung Fu Cop Yuen Wo Ping, celebrated action choreographer to direct. The story sees a New York cop who has martial arts skills, sent on a mission to mainland China. The cast is headed by Andy On (Black Mask 2: City Of Masks), with the American lead yet to be confirmed. Below the line costs are set at $7m.
Hung is also reporting strong interest in Fat Choi Spirit, an Andy Lau and Cecilia Cheung-starring vehicle directed by Johnnie To, which made its market debut at AFM 2002.

Celluloid Dreams,

Celluloid Dreams
24, rue Turgot
Paris , 75009, FRANCE
Tel: 33-1-49-70-03-70
Fax: 33-1-49-70-03-71
Pierre Menahem
pierre@celluloid-dreams.com  
Pierre Menahem, reported the sales of
8 Women.  Francois Ozon
Korea (Keowon),
Poland (Gutek),
Columbia (Cineplex),
Venezuela (Cine Unidos),
Turkey (Chantier Films),
Central  America (Sat America)
Slovenia (Ljubljanski Kinematografi).
Celluloid Dreams has enjoyed a highly profitable run with 8 Women which USA  will release domestically in the fall.  Although Menahem wouldn’t give exact  figures, he does allow that 8 Women has been the biggest success the company  has had so far.

Creative Light Entertainment

Creative Light Worldwide
8383 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 212
Beverly Hills , CA 90211
USA
Jenn Thomas
Tel: 323-658-9166
Fax: 323-866-3417
jenn@crlight.com  
Ted Chalmers reported that it has acquired
All The Queen's Men (worldwide distribution rights) WWII action comedy starring Matt LeBlanc and Eddie Izzard and directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky., producer of the film Marco Weber who is also the CEO of Atlantic Streamline. Atlantic Streamline retains German distribution rights. The film revolves around a motley team of Special Forces agents who are sent to WWII Nazi Germany to infiltrate, in disguise, a female-run Enigma factory in Berlin and bring back the decoding device. Udo Kier and Edward Fox co-star

Creative Union Entertainment

15000 Ventura Blvd., 3rd Floor
Sherman Oaks , CA 91403 USA
Tel: 818-906-2095
Fax: 818-906-2096
Yarek Danielak
yarekdanielak@hotmail.com  
Neil Sacker and Julie Savay-Ross reporting acquisition of
Searching For Debra Winger, (international distribution rights) Rosanna Arquette's directorial debut, a feature-length documentary about the pressures faced by actresses in the entertainment industry. Arquette also produced the movie alongside Immortal Entertainment. The film looks at the commonalities between actresses who are interviewed for the film and how they support each other. On-screen subjects include Gwyneth Paltrow, Anjelica Huston, Jane Fonda, Sharon Stone, Whoopi Goldberg, Frances McDormand, Meg Ryan and Winger herself. Arquette, who became a major star in France after playing the lead in Luc Besson's The Big Blue, is a regular attendee at the Cannes Film Festival and the film is an obvious choice for selection there.

Fortissimo Film Sales

Fortissimo Film Sales
Cruquiusweg 40
Amsterdam , 1019, NETHERLANDS
Marnix van Wijk
Tel: 31-20-627-3215
Fax: 31-20-626-1155
info@fortissimo.nl
Wouter Barendrecht and Michael Werner reported the sales of
What Time Is It There? Tsai Ming-liang’s Cannes 2001 competition film
Pegasos for Germany.
All About Lily Chou Chou Iwai Shinji.
ICA for the UK
Hush! Japanese film
Crown Films for Taiwan
Pop Asia Entertainment for Korea.
Bangkok Dangerous The Pang brothers’
Mediaset for Italy,
Springtime In A Small Town
A-Film and Cineart/Cinelibre for Benelux.
Acquisition by Fortissimo the world rights on Monrak Transistor, a genre-defying odyssey of self-discovery, by hot Thai director Pen-ek Ratanaruang that looks destined for a Cannes Film Festival slot. Among the top auteurs of Thailand's new wave Ratanaruang, previously delivered two features: Fun Bar Karaoke and 6ixtynin9. Monrak Transistor stars Suppakorn Kiktsuwan, who headed the cast of a previous Fortissimo hit title The Tears Of The Black Tiger. Produced by Duangkamol Limcharoen at Cinemasia, the film has already been sold to Clockworkx for Japan.

Franchise Pictures

Franchise Pictures
8228 Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles , CA 90046, USA
Nolan Pielak
Tel: 323-822-0730
Fax: 323-822-2165
npielak@franchisepictures.com  

FeardotCom (domestic rights) action movie, starring Stephen Dorff, Natascha McElhone and Stephen Rea is produced by Moshe Diamant and Limor Dia. FeardotCom is directed by William Malone (House On Haunted Hill) and is a co-production between ApolloMedia and Carousel Pictures. Dorff stars as a brash young police detective who joins forces with an ambitious Department Of Health worker (McElhon) in an effort to find the answers to the mysterious deaths of four people who each died 48 hours after logging on to the internet site FeardotCom. The film will be released in North America through the company's distribution deal with Warner Bros later this year, marking the first time that Franchise has bought a film into Warner Bros from another source other than its own production pipeline
Femme Fatale by Brian DePalma will be released in North America through the company's distribution deal with Warner Bros. Femme Fatale, which is handled in international territories by Summit Entertainment, was financed by Tarak Ben Ammar's Quinta Entertainment which is the backer of Franchise sister company Dante Entertainment.

Fusion International

Fusion International Sales Corp.
4370 Tujunga Avenue, Suite #140
Studio City , CA 91604, USA
John Fremes
Tel: 818-761-9834
Fax: 818-761-9835
jfremes@fusionsales.com
John Fremes reported that his company is distributing
Harvard Man by James Toback starring Sarah Michelle Gellar
Wolf Girl by Thom Fitzgerald with Tim Curry and Lesley Ann Warren.
Rent Control, a comedy starring Melissa Joan Hart (TV's Sabrina, The Teenage Witch) and Carmen Electra. Hart plays a young woman desperate to keep a rent-controlled apartment in New York City who pretends her dead aunt is still alive. It was written and directed by David Eric Brenner.
Hollywood International Finance (HIF), general partner of World Wide Multimedia LP, was one of the producing partners on the three films and has now struck a strategic alliance with Fremes to partner on future projects. HIF is a general partner of an offshore debt and equity fund located in the Grand Caymans.

Harmony Gold

Harmony Gold
7655 Sunset Boulevard
Los Angeles , CA 90046
USA
Alan Letz
Tel: 323-851-4900
Fax: 323-851-5599
aletz@harmonygold.com  
reported that it has acquired
Lana's Rain (international rights) suspense thriller starring Julia Orlenko, Luoyong Wang, Stephanie Childers, David Darlow, Stacey Slowik and Ron Dean. Written, directed and edited by Michael S Ojeda, the film is the story of a 19 year-old Bosnian woman who flees to Chicago with her gangster brother only to find that America is not the land of her dreams. Harmony Gold acquired the film from Oleda's company Reigning Pictures.

Knightscove

is currently in production on
Blizzard starring Brenda Blethyn, Kevin Pollak, Christopher Plummer and Whoopi Goldberg. Executive produced by Frank Hubner of ApolloMedia Productions, Knightscove's Leif Bristow and Heuser

Lions Gate Films International

Lions Gate Films
4553 Glencoe Avenue, Suite 200
Marina del Rey , CA 90292, USATel: 310-314-2000
Fax: 310-452-2670
ekim@lgecorp.com  
Monster's Ball for which Oscar contender Halle Berry won the Silver Bear for best actress at the recent Berlin Film Festival.
Entertainment Film Distributors for the UK,
Hoyts for Australia,
Metropolitan Filmexport for France,
Vertigo Films for Spain
Gaga Communications in Japan.
Scandinavia with Scanbox
Switzerland with Ascot Elite
Benelux with Les Films L'Elysee.

Menemsha Entertainment

Neil Friedman reports that it has acquired
Last Wedding (international sales) by Bruce Sweeney a Canadian romantic comedy, which was the opening night film at last year's Toronto Film Festival. The story of a couple (Benjamin Ratner & Frida Betrani) who announce that they are to marry only to discover that none of their friends or family want them to, Last Wedding also stars Molly Parker, Tom Scholte and Nancy Sivak and marks Sweeney's first picture since Dirty in 1988.

LIE by Michael Cuesta The award-winning film starring Brian Cox.

• Metro Tartan in the UK,
• Gemini in France,
• Xenix in Switzerland,
• Scandinavian Entertainment Group in Norway and
• Cine Video Y TV in Mexico.

Metro-Tartan,

Tartan Films head Hamish McAlpine reported,
It has picked up Hideo Nakata's horror picture Dark Water from Japanese publishing and films group Kadakowa Shoten and L.I.E., the acclaimed US indie drama about pedophilia represented by Menemsha Entertainment and starring Brian Cox.
Bundy, Metro Tartan itself will release in the UK and sold to
E-M-S for Germany,
Planeta for Spain.
Ster-Kinekor for South Africa
Scanbox for Scandinavia
Metropolitan Filmexport for France (final negotiations)
Snuff produced by Carole Stiller and Cat completed pre-sales contracts with UK and French distributors. Shooting begins in April with Bernard Rose in the director's chair and Danny Huston in the starring role. The picture sees a group of horror film directors systematically murdered, but it is not clear whether this is for real or whether they are merely participating in the ultimate horror movie experience.

Mirovision,

Mirovision Inc.
7/F 45-18 Youido-dong, Yongdenpo-gu
Seoul , 150-010
KOREA
Mina Suh
Tel: 822-3775-2567
Fax: 822-3775-4151
samyoung@mirovision.com
The Korean seller and distribution newcomer, has picked up international rights on Deserted Valley, a Vietnamese film which attended the Berlin festival's Forum section and a daring new picture about ageing.
·Deserted Valley, which charts a multi-layered love story involving two teachers, a school manager and one of their students, is set in rural Vietnam. By woman director, Pham Nhue Giang , Valley is the first from that country to show on-screen sex and nudity. It is also one of the first from Vietnam to be sent abroad for sound mixing and developing.
Mirovision has also laid claim to Too Young To Die, a mockumentary about a newly-married couple who are in there seventies. In graphic detail - including penetrative sex and genital close-ups - it charts all the usual ups and downs of young love. Documentarian turned first-time feature director, Park Jin-pyo uses a real-life couple throughout. A slot in a Cannes sidebar is seen as a possibility.

Momentum Pictures

acquisitions chief Sally Caplan reports
United States Of Leland (UK rights from MDP)which is being produced by Kevin Spacey and Bernie Morris's production banner Trigger Street Productions. The film, which is currently in production, stars Ryan Gosling (The Believer) as a 15 year-old who murders an autistic child and is sent to a juvenile facility. Don Cheadle plays the teacher who tries to unravel the mystery. Jena Malone, Chris Klein, Michelle Williams and Spacey co-star in the film which was written and is being directed by Matthew Ryan Hoge. The film is co-produced with Palmer West and Jonah Smith's Thousand Worlds production company. Mark Damon is executive producer.

Myriad Pictures

Myriad Pictures
421 S. Beverly Drive, 5th Floor
Beverly Hills , CA 90212 USA
Shelley Crockett
Tel: 310-789-4500
Fax: 310-789-4545
info@myriadpictures.com  

co-presidents Kirk D'Amico and Philip Von Alvensleben are reporting
Benji Returns: The Promise Of Christmas.. Myriad closed the deal with Lou Pitt, Joe Camp and Mulberry Square Productions to finance and produce the next theatrical installment Camp, who created and directed the original Benji, has written and directed the film. Myriad's co-presidents Kirk D'Amico and Philip Von Alvensleben will executive produce alongside the company's president of production Lucas Foster. In the new film, Benji challenges a misguided dog catcher while struggling to provide Christmas to a pair of poverty stricken children. A new dog was found to play Benji on the back streets of Pass Christian in Mississippi and is in training with Anne Gordon with consultation from Benji's original trainer Frank Inn. The film should shoot in April 2002.
National Lampoon's Van Wilder, which will be released by Artisan Pictures on March 29 in North America. Starring Ryan Reynolds and Tara Reid, the teen comedy sold to;

• Telepool in Germany with a theatrical release planned through Constantin Film,
  
• Metropolitan in France,
  
• Filmax in Spain
  
• Filmauro in Italy
  
• Belga in Benelux
  
• Hoyts Distribution in Australia and will be released through the exhibition chain's new distribution arm.
  
• LNK in Portugal
  
• Poltikki in Greece
  
• Egmont in Scandinavia
  
• Momentum Pictures in the UK.

President Films

President Films
Immevble 'Le Barjac' 1 Boulevard Victor
Paris , 75015 FRANCE
Hugo Bergson-Vuillaume
Tel: 33-1-44-25-0114
Fax: 33-1-44-25-0195
presidentfilms@francetv.com

Hugo Bergson-Vuillaume, the company's president reported sales on its Jacques Perrin documentary Travelling Birds. The film, which has been lauded in France for its lyrical lensing - the director used specially constructed planes to fly alongside the winged creatures - has sold to

• Taiwan's Cineplex,
  
• Russia's Central Partnership
  
• Australia's New Vision
  

Other features with possible high sales potential are:
Boulet (Dead Weight), a chase comedy set in Morocco
Body Snatch (Corps A Corps), which is shooting now, is a dark love story directed by video and ad helmer Francois Hanss and stars Emmanuelle Seigner and Philippe Torreton.
Red Dragon (Dragon Rouge; working title), from director Helene Angel is in pre-production with Daniel Auteil, Sergi Lopez and Emmanuelle Devos in the principal roles. The film is produced by Michel St. Jean
Gangsters featuring La Femme Nikita star Anne Parillaud and Richard Anconina.

Regent Entertainment

Regent Entertainment
1401 Ocean Avenue, Suite 300
Santa Monica , CA 90401 USA
Gene George
Tel: 1-310-260-3333
Fax: 310-260-3343
ggeorge@regententertainment.com

Company's new gay-themed imprint HERE! Films has acquired international rights to three films.
Urbania, which played in competition at the Sundance Film Festival 2001 and was distributed domestically by Lions Gate, was written and directed by Jon Shear and stars Dan Futterman as a man getting over his lover's murder. Alan Cumming, Lothaire Bluteau, Matt Keeslar and Barbara Sukowa star.
·Big Eden, which was the closing night film of the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival in 2000, was released in the US by Jour de Fete. A romantic comedy about a man who returns to a small town and falls for a native American man, the film stars Arye Gross and Louise Fletcher. It was written and directed by Thomas Bezucha.
Hard, a thriller about a gay serial killer on the loose in Los Angeles, stars Noel Palomaria and was also released through Jour de Fete in the US.
Set to go into production this year for Regent are
Wolves stars Eric Roberts as the leader of the pack at a hungry young investment firm on Wall Street. Barry Levy has written the film that will be directed by David DeCoteau.
Mad Crush, which starts in May, is the story of a group of rich kids who take perverse pleasures in destroying other people's lives. Written by Matthew Jason Walsh, it will also be directed by DeCoteau.

Storm Entertainment,

Michael Heuser reported that it has acquired
Kart Racer, (worldwide sales rights) the kart racing actioner starring Randy Quaid and Will Rothhaar, from Knightscove Entertainment Corp, Kart Racer was produced by Robert Schwartz of Wardenclyffe Entertainment and Irene Litinsky of Muse Entertainment Enterprises. The film is directed by Stuart Gillard (Rocket Man, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III) and written by Nicholas DiBella. It was shot in Montreal.

TF1 International.

TF1 International
1 Quai du Point du Jour
Boulogne , 92100 FRANCE
Teze Perrine
Tel: 33-1-41-41-5272
Fax: 33-1-41-41-3144
pteze@tf1.fr

Reported the sales of;
He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not (A La Folie…Pas Du Tout!).with Audrey Tautou The film is a first-time effort from Laetitia Colombani whose script so impressed producer Charles Gassot that he greenlit the project after reading it on a short plane ride. Gassot's Telema is 49% owned by TF1 International who are handling global sales on the $5m picture. Tautou stars alongside Brotherhood Of The Wolf star Samuel Le Bihan in what's being called a suspense/love story, which marks a departure for the impish actress.

• Germany (Prokino),
  
• Canada (Films de Seville),
  
• Italy (Bim),
  
• Switzerland (Film Coopy),
  
• Greece (Odeon),
  
• Czech Republic (Paradise Films),
  
• Poland (Best Films),
  
• Israel (Shapira) and
  
• Belgium (Les Films de l'Elysees). is looking to complete English language territories on Etienne

Chatillez's Tanguy. The comedy about a 28-year-old who still lives with his parents has been a smash in France

• No sales reported yet
  
  

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