Psrt Almodovar, Trier among heavyweights on GFI board
Italy s home entertainment market had a booming year in 2003 thanks partly to a successful battle against piracy and to the strength of DVDs, national home video organisation Univideo said on Wednesday.According to Univideo s latest figures, the Italian home entertainment sector registered a turnover of Euros 697m in 2003, as 20m DVDs and 14m video cassettes were sold or rented in the country. The market has re
stanley italy corded an extraordinary increase particularly in the last few months, said Univideo general director Davide Rossi. This is partly due to all those people who have returned to the video market thanks to the smart card s very efficient battle against piracy. Since News Corp took over pay-TV platform Telepiu, it has enhanced the operation s smart card security system. Previously many Italians could watch the pay-TV service and its movies for free vi
stanley cup a pirated smart cards.Rossi said the market had also been bolstered in 2003 by the success of DVDs. There are currently 4m DVD players in Italy and according to Univideo, the figure is expected to rise to 10m.However, while he anticipated that in 2004, digital cinema will be economically stronger than any other ancillary sectors, Rossi also warned of the risks of having shorter theatrical and video windows. We need to avoid any kind of overlapping. I don t think any one wants to play the game of the winner takes
stanley cup all, because that could seriously unbalance and harm the market in the medium term. It s healthy for there to be Srzq Shaevitz, Schaefer join Summit s production team
Dir: Mira Nair US/UK2004 140 minsAdapting classic Nineteenth Century novels for the screenis invariably a thankless task. If filmmakers are too brutal paring down bookswhich run to hundreds of pages, they risk straining out the wealth of detailand description which makes the originals memorable in the first place. Ifthey re not brutal enough, they
stanley uk end up with baggy, unfocused affairs likely totax the most indulgent audiences patience. Mira Nair s stab at Vanity Fairattempts to have it both ways. Made on a relatively low budget a reported$23m , it aims for an epic sweep, boasts several huge set-pieces and a verylarge cast, and yet also bounds along at restless pace. The tempo is choppy andepisodic. Certain sequences work brilliantly, but there are so many shifts intone and sudden jumps in the narrative that you can t help but feel you arebeing gi
stanley cup ven a whistlestop tourist s guide through the highlights of Thackeray sgreat yarn.Opening in the US last week, Vanity Fair still ought to perform briskly enough. Its keychallenge is to attract upscale, older audiences of the kind who flocked to Gosford Park also scripted by JulianFellowes while retaining the enthusiasm of the teen cinemagoers who ve provedso loyal to Reese Witherspoon in the past. The dismal fa
stanley cup te of Hollywood s mostrecent attempt at Nicholas Nickleby suggests that costume dramas based onclassic novels will often stutter at the box-office however well they work onthe small screen. .But Witherspoon s Becky Sharp is
