‘Of Money and Blood’ Selected at Venice Film Festival
Canal+ and Studiocanal have announced the official selection of Of Money and Blood (12 x 52’) at the 80th Venice International Film Festival. A Canal+ Creation Originale, based on Fabrice Arfi’s book of the same name, the series will be broadcast exclusively on Canal+ in France this autumn.
Xavier Giannoli’s first series is inspired by the story of the carbon tax scam. Customs inspector Simon Weynachter (Vincent Lindon) sets out to track down Jérôme Attias (Niels Schneider) and Alain Fitoussi (Ramzy Bedia), who are at the head of one of the biggest financial swindles of all time.
Of Money and Blood is adapted and written by Xavier Giannoli, who also directed the series alongside Frédéric Planchon, and is produced by Olivier Delbosc for Curiosa Films. Screenplay by Xavier Giannoli and Jean Baptiste Delafon.
The series is distributed internationally by Studiocanal.
Canal+ and Studiocanal have announced the official selection of Of Money and Blood (12 x 52’) at the 80th Venice International Film Festival. A Canal+ Creation Originale, based on Fabrice Arfi’s book of the same name, the series will be broadcast exclusively on Canal+ in France this autumn.
Xavier Giannoli’s first series is inspired by the story of the carbon tax scam. Customs inspector Simon Weynachter (Vincent Lindon) sets out to track down Jérôme Attias (Niels Schneider) and Alain Fitoussi (Ramzy Bedia), who are at the head of one of the biggest financial swindles of all time.
Of Money and Blood is adapted and written by Xavier Giannoli, who also directed the series alongside Frédéric Planchon, and is produced by Olivier Delbosc for Curiosa Films. Screenplay by Xavier Giannoli and Jean Baptiste Delafon.
The series is distributed internationally by Studiocanal.
‘Tel Aviv Beirut’ 35th Tokyo International Film Festival
‘Tel Aviv Beirut’ Director Michale Boganim on Trying to Remain Neutral While in a War Zone
‘Tel Aviv Beirut’ Director Michale Boganim on Trying to Remain Neutral While in a War Zone
Luxbox boards Maha Haj’s Un Certain Regard title ‘Mediterranean Fever’
Luxbox boards Maha Haj’s Un Certain Regard title ‘Mediterranean Fever’
Paris-based sales company Luxbox has boarded sales on Palestinian director Maha Haj’s second film Mediterranean Fever, which was announced as a fresh addition to Cannes Un Certain Regard section on Thursday (April 21).
At the same time, Dulac Distribution has also announced its acquisition of French rights for the film.
Haj’s debut feature Personal Affairs also world premiered in Un Certain Regard in 2016.
The new drama revolves around an aspiring but depressed writer living in Haifa who befriends his small-time crook neighbour in the hope he will help him with a sinister scheme.
Celebrated Palestinian theatre actor Amer Hlehel, who has performed in productions with the UK’s Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal Court, stars in his first big-screen lead role after supporting parts in Personal Affairs, and more recently Tel Aviv On Fire and The Stranger.
Other cast members include Ashraf Farah, Anat Hadid, Samir Elias, Cynthia Saleem, Shaden Kanboura
The new film is produced by Palestinian producer Baher Agbariya of Haifa-basedMajdal Films; Juliette Lepoutre and Pierre Menahem at France’s Still Moving, Thanassis Karathanos and Martin Hampel at Germany’s Pallas Film; Marios Piperides and Janine Teerling at Cyprus’ AMP Filmworks, in association with Turkey’s Metafora Production.
“Mediterranean Fever is such a subtle piece of work that needs to be handled with special care,” Still Moving’s Juliette Lepoutre and Pierre Menahem said in a joint statement on the choice of Luxbox and Dulac Distribution as partners on the film.
Michel Zana, head of distribution of Dulac Distribution, said the company had been drawn to the film for the way it presents a previously unseen perspective of Palestinian society.
“Mediterranean Fever depicts, with a rejoicing dark humour the existential crisis of a middle-aged father, wannabe writer, and his unexpected friendship with his small-time crook neighbour,” said Zana.
Luxbox, which is co-headed by Fiorella Moretti Hédi Zardi, is gearing up for a busy Cannes with other titles on its slate including Directors’ Fortnight selections Under The Fig Trees and 1976.
”It’s very inspiring to work on a film with such freedom of tone and such personal humour. It’s important to share and spread the voice of this female director who traces a very personal cinematic path,” they said.
"Mediterranean Fever" in the Official Selection of 75th Cannes Film Festival!!!!!
"Mediterranean Fever" in the Official Competition of 75th Cannes Film Festival!!!!!
Embryo Larva Butterfly - Les Arcs Work in Progress
We are very happy to announce that our film "Embryo Larva Butterfly" written and directed by Kyros Papavassiliou has been selected for this year's Les Arcs Film Festival Work in Progress! See you in The Alps!
"Patchwork" - Greek Premiere at the 62nd Thessaloniki International Film Festival
"Patchwork" - Greek Premiere at the 62nd Thessaloniki International Film Festival
Patchwork - German Premiere
We are very happy that Patchwork will have its German premiere at the 35th Braunschweig International Film Festival!
UK Premiere of Patchwork in Raindance Film Festival, London 2021.
UK Premiere of Patchwork in Raindance Film Festival, London 2021.
UK Premiere of Patchwork in Raindance Film Festival, London 2021.
Janine Teerling - Ace Producers Network
Big Congratulations to Janine Teerling for being selected to be a member of ACE, one of the most prestigious international producers networks.
Good luck with all the new projects!!!
Patchwork- Cineuropa Interview
Janine Teerling and Petros Charalambous, discuss the several provocative questions it raises.
"Petros wanted to make a film about intergenerational friendship and me, about taboos around motherhood - so we put it together"
Janine Teerling and Petros Charalambous, discuss the several provocative questions it raises.
"Petros wanted to make a film about intergenerational friendship and me, about taboos around motherhood - so we put it together"
"Patchwork" Karlovy Vary International Film Festival World Premiere
"Patchwork" Karlovy Vary International Film Festival World Premiere
Cyprus looks for a piece of the action with ‘Olivewood’ movie industry
The island nation is wooing international film makers as a sunny and cheaper alternative to Los Angeles
The Telegraph Online © 2021. Telegraph Media Group Ltd. The island is actively wooing international film makers as a sunny and low-cost alternative to LA
The Mediterranean island of Cyprus is shooting for the stars in its latest bid to attract investment, offering “aggressive” incentives to promote a fledgling film industry the locals dub 'Olivewood'. In an effort to woo international movie makers, the government is offering cash rebates of up to 35pc to production companies, with further tax discounts on the table for infrastructure and equipment investment.
And while some European countries offer even greater savings, the Cypriots have another not-so-secret weapon in their arsenal: sunshine.
Lefteris Eleftheriou, chairman of the Cyprus Film Commission, says: “In effect, Cyprus is one big studio with 320 days of sunshine and vastly different natural backdrops to choose from, all within a one or two hours’ drive.
“Also, because our island is on the same latitude as LA, the angle and the quality of light is the same, so you can shoot something in Cyprus at 10am and then shoot another scene at 10am in LA and the shadows cast on the windows and the streets will be the same. Not many countries have this.”
Cyprus’s film ambitions were first revealed in 2018 when invitations were delivered to more than 40 directors across the globe, one of whom was Dimitri Logothetis, the man behind Kickboxer: Vengeance, a remake of the martial arts classic that saw the return of Jean-Claude Van Damme.
“I didn’t want to go to Cyprus,” he admits. “I had just returned to LA from a three-week vacation in Greece, but my friend and fellow producer kept bugging me about it so we went to hear about this cash rebate programme. While the minister of finance was taking questions, I looked at him and said, ‘Well, I have this film and it’s ready to go. Who do I need to talk to?’ Everyone fell quiet. They weren’t expecting any of the producers they’d brought in to be ready to produce.”
The film Logothetis had ready to go was Jiu Jitsu, a $25m action movie starring Nicolas Cage as a martial arts expert battling an alien. It is now the first Hollywood film to be shot entirely in Cyprus for more than four decades and it was released by Paramount Home Entertainment in the US and Canada last month.
“I couldn’t have filmed Jiu Jitsu in America,” Logothetis says. “Everything is a lot more expensive and to film in Cyprus was at least 50pc or 60pc less than it would cost to shoot in the States.” For Logothetis the biggest draw was the cash rebate offered by the Republic of Cyprus.
“As cash rebates go, 35pc across the board, including ‘above the line’ costs, is a very aggressive rebate. Cyprus needs to keep that edge, and it makes economic sense to do so because for every dollar or euro a country spends on a film, they get seven in return. That’s why Ireland is doing so tremendously well. Films boost the economy and production teams inject a lot of cash into economies because we have to pay for hotels, food, car, fuel, buildings and construction amongst a host of other things.”
Although filmed in Cyprus, Jiu Jitsu is set in Myanmar, and with Cage involved in the project, the film garnered much local media interest during the six weeks of filming in summer 2019. However, Cage is not the first A-lister to film on the island.
The first Hollywood film shot in Cyprus, The Beloved starring Raquel Welch, was filmed in the village of Karmi in 1970. It was not a great critical success, though one reviewer did praise the film for the “splendid quality of light for which the island is noted”. Three years later, Peter Sellers filmed the pirate comedy Ghost in the Noonday Sun.
For Logothetis, the experience has been positive enough for him to return to the island, scouting locations for his next project. Though he readily admits to liking Cyprus, he is also a realist; like many independent movie makers before him, shooting outside the US is often a financial necessity. The same model was adopted by the 'spaghetti' western directors of the 1960s, who chiefly filmed in Spain.
In its heyday, Spain became the backdrop of a huge number of classics such as Sergio Leone’s Dollars trilogy and Sergio Corbucci’s Django. Today many of those iconic sets have been abandoned or turned into western-style theme parks, but Spain remains in the game and is a strong competitor in the European hustle for movie dollars. For Greg Johnson, a producer and lecturer in film studies at Yale University, this is one of the biggest challenges facing Cyprus in getting Olivewood off the ground.
“The Cyprus programme is in some ways competitive with other tax regimes. Spain's advantage is a highly developed film infrastructure and crews. There are also other tried and true competitors for big budget films such as Romania and Ireland, both of which have considerable EU and Hollywood track records as well as state-of-the-art facilities.”
The lack of facilities is an acknowledged weakness in the island’s grand plan, but Logothetis says the landscape will look very different in a few years.
“I needed to bring the team over from Thailand that I used in Kickboxer 1 and 2 to build a number of sets,” says Logothetis. “While we employed 200-plus Cypriots, we still had to bring in 50 or 60 other crew members from other countries, and the fact is, you need a crew. Spain has a crew and an infrastructure and stages, and they had it way back in the 60s. So did Italy. They don’t have that in Cyprus, but what does exist here is an extreme will to make it happen.” Local producer Marios Piperides agrees: “We are missing the infrastructure of places like Malta, but they have been doing this since the 60s. It is going to take some time, but there is progress, year on year, and the more films happening here, the more we can start to support.”
Piperides, who is currently filming a €2.5m French, German and Cypriot co-production on the island called Tel Aviv/Beirut, describes the government’s raft of incentives as “an open door for bigger films to come”. Another production, SOS: Survive or Sacrifice, fronted by William Baldwin, also shot on the island last year.
“Previously you could not survive working as a freelancer or crew member here with only one or two films per year, it was impossible," says Piperides. "But now, if there is steady work with five, six or seven films a year being made, local and international productions, then you can put more people into the system that can support the industry."
Ministers are actively pursuing private investment to hurry the industry’s evolution.
George Campanellas of Invest Cyprus, the national investment promotion agency, says talks are ongoing with a number of film studios, despite the difficulties of the coronavirus pandemic. "They are a clear sign of international interest in Cyprus," he says. "This is a great time for film investors to get on board." While a lack of studio infrastructure might strike most people in the movie business as a handicap, Logothetis remains unfazed. “For independent film makers it’s getting tougher and tougher to make the movies they want to make. I don’t want to make a movie for two or three million dollars; I did that 25 years ago. I’m just not interested in that. I’m at the top of the threshold and my movies deliver.
“Now I’ve made a great action film and built the infrastructure needed for that film within budget, and I’ve already had conversations with Paramount to make Jiu Jitsu 2. “If Olivewood wasn’t a viable alternative to Hollywood, I’d have gone home.”
Telegraph Media Group Ltd.
Tel Aviv - Beirut
We are very pleased that the shooting of the film Tel Aviv Beirut is completed!
Smuggling Hendrix in Austria!!
After a small break, Smuggling Hendrix journey continues with another theatrical release! In cinemas across Austria from July 10th!
Thank you FILMLADEN!
After a small break, Smuggling Hendrix journey continues with another theatrical release! In cinemas across Austria from July 10th! Thank you FILMLADEN!
Sous le ciel d'Alice (Skies of Lebanon) in Semaine de la Critique Cannes 2020
Chloé Mazlo's debut feature film "Sous le ciel d'Alice" (Skies of Lebanon) has been selected for Semaine de la Critique Cannes 2020. The film was partly shot on location in Cyprus in collaboration with AMP Filmworks.
In the fifties, young Alice leaves her natal Swiss mountains for the sunny and vibrant shores of Beirut. She falls madly in love with Joseph, a quirky astrophysicist intent on sending the first Lebanese national into space. Alice quickly fits in among his relatives, but after years of bliss, the civil war threatens their Garden of Eden.
Chloé Mazlo's debut feature film "Sous le ciel d'Alice" (Skies of Lebanon) has been selected for Semaine de la Critique Cannes 2020. The film was partly shot on location in Cyprus in collaboration with AMP Filmworks.
