Although not many people actually noticed it, a film was being shot at last year’s Cannes festival: “Mr Bean’s Holiday”, the second feature from Rowan Atkinson’s comic character. In the film, Mr Bean buys a raffle ticket and through a series of tricks and mishaps finds himself on a train to Cannes with a video camera. He meets a range [...]
Over the past few years, the Russians have become a very notable presence along the Riviera and inevitably have started investing there. So the news that the Grand-Hôtel du Cap-Ferrat between Nice and Monaco has been sold to Russian “oligarch” Leonard Balavatnik is not entirely surprising. Roman Abramovich had already bought Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc near Cannes last year. These magnificent [...]
MIPTV featuring MILIA, Cannes’ audiovisual and digital content market, has just announced the 25 finalists for the second edition of “Content 360,” the international competition to commission innovative, interactive content and applications for mobile and broadband. “Content 360” is organised in partnership with the BBC, the Korean Broadcasting Commission (KBC), the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and for the [...]
The prestigious MIPIM Awards honour the most outstanding real estate projects of the previous year. On Thursday 15 March 2007, the international jury revealed this year’s winners. The jury also gave out a Special Jury Award and, for the first time ever, a Special Tribute to a project in line with sustainable and environmental features. The winners in the five [...]
It has been relatively quiet on the Cannes front – if you choose to overlook the 25,000 people attending Mipim (see other report). But the deadline for the Cannes festival is moving ahead at a steady pace. This year’s mainstream star looks for the moment like being “Ocean’s 13″ by Steven Soderbergh. Personally, I’m looking forward to Marco Risi’s “Maradona, [...]
Now referred to as “the other” festival in Cannes, the Festival of Pan-African Film will kick off in Cannes on April 11-15 at the Espace Miramar. As the name implies, all 50 films reflect African and African-related themes, with films coming from Africa itself, of course, Europe and the US. 15 films are in competition for Dikalo awards. Notable films [...]
In terms of the art of cinema, it’s not the biggest news. But you can safely expect plenty of headlines on this one. Anna Nicole Smith, the society girl that married an aging billionaire and inherited his fortune, starred in a comedy called “Illegal Aliens” before herself recently dying under mysterious circumstances. The fortune now falls to her infant daughter, [...]
Two heavyweights are coming together to enable UK filmmakers to prepare for Cannes. Chris Jones, himself a filmmaker and author of the highly recommended “Guerrilla Film Makers Handbook”, and Ben Craig, who runs CannesGuide.com and writes the equally-recommended “Virgin’s Guide to Cannes” (right), will host an event at the Ealing Studios on March 20. I quote: “Ben’s seminar will offer [...]
It must be flattering for the town. Korean electronics maestros Samsung recently launched a new high-definition PDP TV they are calling “Cannes”. It uses their “Ultra DayLight” and “Natural True Colour” technologies to reportedly provide better colours and clearer images. Prices in Korea range from €1700 to over €7200 ($9500). But don’t go running to Dixon’s or MediaMarket. It’s not [...]
Reed MIDEM, organisers of most of the trade fairs in Cannes, announced today that they will launch MIPIM HORIZONS, a new international property tradeshow in Cannes, in September 2008. This latest addition to the Reed MIDEM portfolio will be based on the successful MIPIM property market which takes place annually in Cannes, in March. So why a second MIPIM? The [...]