JU-ON: THE GRUDGE 2 (Contender Entertainment Group). Opens at UK cinemas 7th July 2006

Writer-director Takashi Shimizu's "The Grudge" proved to be the horror sensation of 2004, subsequently spawning a box office-smashing US remake, again directed by Shimizu and produced by Sam Raimi. Now, Shimizu ramps up the fear factor even further in the long-awaited and highly anticipated sequel, JU-ON: THE GRUDGE 2.

Driving home one night, pregnant "scream queen" actress Kyoko Harase (Noriko Sakai) and her fiancé are involved in a terrifying encounter with the ghostly child, Toshio, causing their car to crash and leaving Kyoko's boyfriend in a coma. Returning to work, Kyoko is invited to be the celebrity guest on a horror-themed TV show, investigating the legends behind a supposedly haunted house. But on arrival at the location, members of the crew soon begin eto disappear under mysterious circumstancesŠ Is it possible that the legends are true and the infamous "curse" has been reawakened?

An intensely unsettling ghost story full of nail-biting suspense and terror, JU-ON: THE GRUDGE 2 is a worthy successor to Takashi Shimizu's original Japanese shocker.

http://www.the-associates.co.uk/directfilm.php?id=2031

Ju-On 2 Clip (trailer)

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INITIAL D: DRIFTRACER

THE LATEST BOX OFFICE SMASH FROM THE CREATIVE TEAM BEHIND THE "INFERNAL AFFAIRS" TRILOGY

with specially composed music by street bass and auto styling experts 'Fuel'.
Based on the hugely popular Manga comic by Shuichi Shigeno, adapted by Felix Chong and directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak - together the filmmaking trio responsible for the phenomenally successful Infernal Affairs trilogy - INITIAL D: DRIFTRACER finally hits UK cinemas on 12th May 2006. Already a massive box office success in Hong Kong, where it grossed more than War Of The Worlds and Batman Begins combined, INITIAL D: DRIFTRACER is one of the most highly anticipated Asian films to be released in recent years.

The "D" in the title stands for 'drifting', a motor racing technique of putting a car into a controlled slide around bends without losing any speed. It is a technique used to great effect by the Night Kids, an illegal street racing team who are keen to pit their skills against the mysterious "Akina Racing God", a driver who has unwittingly perfected the art of drifting around the notorious and deadly hairpin bends of Mount Akina.
Super-stylish, super-slick and packed with edge-of-the-seat racing sequences, where real drift racers were employed to make the stunts as realistic as possible INITIAL D: DRIFTRACER is a highly entertaining thrill-ride action movie guaranteed to enthrall car enthusiasts, petrolheads and Asian cinema aficionados alike with specially composed music by street bass and auto styling experts 'Fuel'.

INITIAL D: DRIFTRACER is released by Contender Entertainment Group and opens at UK cinemas on 12th May 2006.

http://www.the-associates.co.uk/directfilm.php?id=2029

Initial D Clip (trailer)

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AIRPORT – TERMINAL PACK

Get ready for takeoff!

Universal Pictures is delighted to announce the release of a special box set celebrating the timeless appeal of the hugely popular, thrillingly entertaining Airport film franchise.

Airport – Terminal Pack is available on DVD from 24 April 2006. The 4-disc box set includes the original Airport (1970) as well as the DVD premieres of its three sequels Airport ‘75, Airport ’77 and The Concorde - Airport ’79.

Based on Arthur Hailey’s bestselling novel, the Oscar®-winning first Airport movie was one of the most successful films of its time, grossing more than $100 million at the box office and spawning a whole new genre – the disaster movie.

With a truly stellar cast including Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Jacqueline Bisset and Jean Seberg, Airport provided Hollywood glamour and high-flying, masterful suspense in equal measure and was nominated for 10 Academy Awards®.

The original’s trailblazing success and winning formula was repeated in the other films in the series, with a roster of movie megastars including James Stewart, Jack Lemmon, Charlton Heston and Gloria Swanson all queuing up to take their seats on the flight of their lives.

Take your seats and buckle up for Airport – Terminal Pack; first class entertainment.
Title: Airport - Terminal Pack Release Date: 24 April 2006
RRP (recommended retail price): £19.99

JAPANESE HORROR IS BACK WITH A VENGEANCE!

From the people who brought you the original Ring trilogy, the Ju-On movies, Dark Water and the re-make of The Grudge, comes an exciting new wave of films that will once again re-invigorate the horror genre and prove that Japanese cinema has lost none of its ability to scare the living sushi out of audiences.

Takashige “Taka” Ichise, the producer of these hugely successful movies, all of which have spawned Hollywood remakes, is currently producing a new ongoing series of six horror films under the banner of J-Horror. Three films have already been completed.

“I found myself inundated with emails from distributors around the world asking, ‘What are you doing next and how can we get a piece of it? It was very tiring having to answer all of these, so I hit on the idea of J-Horror Theatre. I spread the word that I had six highly respected directors and would make one movie with each…fortunately they all said they’d be glad to take part.”

Tartan’s Asia Extreme label has introduced audiences to many of the cult favourites from Japan, including the Ring trilogy, Dark Water, and Audition. Taking the genre back to its roots these new Japanese chillers will shock to the core and remind us how great Japanese horror can be. Premonition is the first released in June, followed by Infection in July and Reincarnation in August.
PREMONITION - RELEASE DATE: 26 JUNE RRP: £19.99

Premonition sees director Norio Tsuruta (Ring 0) weave a chilling tale of a man who can foresee the future. When Hideki picks up a newspaper he knows what he will see...death. Foreseeing the fate of everything from slayings to train crashes, there is nothing Hideki can do to stop the event... or is there? When the paper predicts the demise of his daughter in a car crash, Hideki seeks out others like himself, searching for a way to change the future. Atmospheric suspense with shades of Don’t Look Now.

Special Features: Making of Documentary, Japanese Press Conference,

Visual FX Exposed

INFECTION - RELEASE DATE: 24 JULY RRP: £19.99

A patient in a hospital dies due to malpractice. In a panic, the doctors responsible stage a cover-up. Shortly thereafter, another patient is left at the hospital doors dying of bizarre symptoms. When the patient dies, the doctors involved in the cover-up begin acting strangely…then one by one develop the same mysterious and deadly symptoms.
Anamorphic presentation
DTS Digital Surround 5.1; Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround; Dolby 2.0 Digital Stereo

R.L Rasmus announces special PBS Network Equipment Auction (Internet Auction On Steroids)

PBS to use “Internet Auction On Steroids” to liquidate former technical operations center.

Alexandria, VA (PRWEB) April 16, 2006 -- PBS, amongst the first broadcasters to implement cutting edge digital technology has taken another cyber step in the liquidation process. The entire PBS operations recently relocated to new facilities. The remaining 2500 items of excess broadcast, video, audio and technology assets will be liquidated next week in an online only “super auction”.

john_glenda.jpgSimilar to an old fashion auction, flyers were sent out, and a catalog was prepared for the three day onsite inspection. But instead of a fast talking auctioneer, the bidding is online only.

The photo catalog is fully searchable and accepts multiple types of bids. Auctioneer Chris Rasmus explains “It’s like ebay on steroids; we have 1000’s of items selling in one special event.”

The auction begins closing online at 3 PM this Thursday April 20th, ten items close every minute.

“It’s way more exciting than a live auction. You are bidding on 10 items closing simultaneously. The smart buyers utilize our MAXbid feature and let the computer do all the work for them.”

Unlike ebay, Rasmus does not ship to buyers. Assets are available for a three day pickup and individual movers and shippers are available to deal directly with the buyer.

Rasmus says this method of sale is the logical next step for traditional auctioneers. “Buyers are too busy to attend live auctions. These sales allow bidders worldwide to participate from the comfort of their home or office.” The process has been good for business too. Last year Rasmus conducted 220 internet only auctions. Next year he is shooting for 400.

The online auction of tons of video gear can be viewed at:

http://www.maxanet.com/cgi-bin/mnlist.cgi?rasmus29/category/ALL

CHADHA CONFIRMED TO DIRECT DALLAS THE MOVIE


Gurinder Chadha has today confirmed that she will be taking up the role as director for the forthcoming film, Dallas, starring John Travolta as JR Ewing.

Rumours have been rife over the past two weeks, but Chadha today announced that the deal has finally been confirmed with 20th Century Fox.

Chadha says of her appointment: “I am obviously delighted that the deal has been confirmed after so much enthusiastic speculation. Directing a film with stars like John Travolta and J-Lo is fantastic, and shows that the market of Brit-Asian films that both Paul and I have become synonymous with, has huge credibility and respect in Hollywood.”

Gurinder Chadha first shot to fame over 10 years ago, with the release of what was seen as the first Brit-Asian movie, ‘Bhaji on the Beach’, which was followed by the massive box office smash ‘Bend It Like Beckham’. As well as achieving unprecedented commercial and critical success, ‘Bend It Like Beckham’ also launched the careers of stars Keira Knightley, Parminder Nagra and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

In 2005, Chadha’s love affair with Brit-Asian cinema continued, with the release of ‘Bride & Prejudice’, which again broke Box Office records, and saw the start of a superb working relationship with Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai.

Chadha, is currently promoting the film ‘Mistress of Spices’, which she has co-written and produced with her husband Paul Mayeda Berges. Berges’ directorial debut releases nationwide across the UK on Friday 21st April and again stars former Miss World Aishwarya Rai, in the lead role alongside Dylan McDermott.

Filming is scheduled to start on Dallas in October, with the remainder of the cast to be finalised in the coming weeks, and the film set for release in late 2007. Stars confirmed to date are John Travolta as the infamous JR and J-Lo as Sue Ellen, with final negotiations with Luke Wilson as Bobby and Shirley Maclaine as Miss Ellie.

Chadha, who was also rumoured to be working on a remake of the classic 60’s show ‘I Dream of Jeannie’ says of her other projects: “Jeannie is still in the pipeline, but there is still some way to go on the script. Paul and I are also working on another film that maintains the path that we have set in terms of the ‘cross-cultural’ themes that we address in our films. We will certainly not stop creating more movies about cultural experiences and issues, and we are still determined to carry on working in the UK, making British movies for an international audience. This was my starting point and will always be a critical part of my career as I move forward.”
Chadha’s current production Mistress of Spices releases nationwide on Friday 21st April.

Rainforest Action Network heats up Hollywood this Thursday
Veteran activist Michael Brune invites A-list to take action

Los Angeles – Rainforest Action Network, the San Francisco-based group dubbed “some of the most savvy environmental agitators in the business” by The Wall Street Journal, will host a private reception at Ashes and Snow this Thursday to present a new way forward to break America’s oil addiction and save the last of Earth’s remaining old growth forests.

The invitation-only event is being co-hosted by actor and activist Ed Begley, Jr., Emmy-nominated actress Barbara Bosson, The Doors drummer John Densmore, musician Freebo, producer and political activist Robert Greenwald, actress and activist Daryl Hannah, former California State Senator and author Tom Hayden, Desperate Housewives actress Felicity Huffman, actress Q’Orianka Kilcher, actress Mia Kirshner, actress Sharon Lawrence, actor Esai Morales, actress and electric-vehicle advocate Alexandra Paul, Crash and Mission Impossible 3 star Bahar Soomekh, visionary musician and activist John Trudell, and actress and musician Barbara Williams.

Imperial War Museum London Film Events

SPECIAL PREVIEW SCREENING
Fateless

Tuesday 25 April, 7.00pm

A preview screening Fateless, a moving tale of a Hungarian Jewish boy and his quest for the meaning of his past.Based on the 2002 Nobel prize-winning novel by Imre Kertesz, Fateless chronicles the attempts of 14-year-old Gyuri Koves to reconcile the treatment he received in German concentration camps. The directorial debut of acclaimed cinematographer Koltai, this drama offers a new perspective on one of modern history's darkest junctures. Vast in scale, Fateless shows remarkable historical detail, this is a work of compassion, beauty and shattering power.

Adults £7.00 Concessions and FIWM £6

ANZAC Weekend at Imperial War Museum London: The Digger and the Larrikin Live On 22, 23 April, 10.00am-5.00pm

Films, talks and readings marking the involvement of Australians and New Zealanders in the two world wars, and examining the impact military conflict has had on political and cultural identity. Organised with the Menzies Centre for Australian Studies. www.kcl.ac.uk/menzies

Admission free, but pre-booking is advised. 020 7416 5439 or email boxoffice@iwm.org.uk

A Screen Between Two Islands: British and Irish Relations in Film and Video, 1916-2006

24 April-30 June

From the Easter uprising to the Good Friday Agreement and beyond, British and Irish relations as depicted in newsreels, animated films and features.

Please see www.iwm.org.uk for full details of film programmes.

Admission free.

Humphrey Jennings: Poet, Artist, Filmmaker (1907 – 1950)
8-28 May

To coincide with the unveiling of a blue Plaque to Jennings, by English Heritage, a short season of films made by this multi-talented figure from the worlds of surrealism and documentary.

Please see www.iwm.org.uk for full details of film programmes.

Admission free.

Boys: Triumph over Adversity

Tuesday 16 May, 4.00pm

The Imperial War Museum’s cinema will screen this documentary with an introduction from the film’s narrator Sir Martin Gilbert.

An RAF film crew documented ‘the boys’ departure from Prague on the 14 August 1945 to begin new lives in Carlisle, Britain. The young survivors from Prague were the first of a group of boys and girls – all of them, orphans from Nazi concentration camps – brought to Britain. The then Foreign Secretary, Ernest Bevin, was prepared to allow 1,000 young survivors of the Holocaust to come to Britain for rehabilitation but only 732 could be found. The film explores how ‘The Boys’, as the group came to be known, rebuilt their lives in this country.

Free entry, however pre-booking is required. To book call 020 7416 5439 or email boxoffice@iwm.org.uk.


Nuremberg Trials

June and July

To mark the sixtieth anniversary of the Trials, a season of films and newsreels recording the proceedings

Please see www.iwm.org.uk for full details of film programmes.

Admission free.


Imperial War Museum London, Lambeth Road, London, SE1 6HZ

General Enquiries 020 7416 5320 or visit www.iwm.org.uk

Open daily 10.00am - 6.00pm

EXILE ON MAIN STREET - FILM SEASON

1 July-19 August 2006

Exile on Main Street, a season of features and short films, accompanies the National Gallery (London, UK)exhibition Rebels and Martyrs: The Image of the Artist in the Nineteenth Century (26 June-3 September 2006). The films look at characters and directors who stood outside of the ‘system’ and have protagonists who feature as rebels or martyrs – from Bresson’s Mouchette (1967) to Eisenstein’s Alexander Nevsky (1938). The season brings together a wide variety of European directors, who, like the artists in Rebels and Martyrs, sought to express their personal vision without compromise. Through their work they pioneered technologies and artistic strategies that influenced mainstream fictional cinema.

The directors featured in Exile on Main Street. selfconsciously worked towards a new cinematic language which enabled them to deal poetically with pressing problems of their times. They created ‘new waves’ and ‘young cinemas’ that were formally experimental and thematically challenging. This was notably in conflict with a production system which did not want to relinquish control to the director.

Some of the directors made a move away from both traditional and dramatic cinematic conventions and used non-professional actors or documentary effects. They were committed to shaking up and invigorating film culture through realistic representations of the contemporary working classes. This can be seen in the work of Rossellini, Truffaut, Bresson and Richardson. These directors took to the streets to film, aided by the technical developments of lightweight cameras. The location filming in Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922) was rarely seen in German films at that time. Within this film Murnau created some of the most vivid images in German expressionist cinema.

The shorts programme explores a similar drive for creative freedom. Coal Face (1935) is representative of a unique decade of British film-making when social idealism led to documentarists making artistic strides to realise their vision. Here Alberto Cavalcanti collaborates with W. H. Auden and Benjamin Britten to bring a powerful portrait of the coal industry. Ridley Scott is known for striking visual imagery and this is evident from his very first steps in film-making. In Boy and Bicycle (1965) Scott captures that heady teenage mix of innocence, frustration and rebellion as we follow his younger brother Tony playing truant for the day.

Tim Burton’s early short Vincent (1982) about a young boy who fantasises that he is Vincent Price, is one of four animated films in the season. Each uses a very different style and technique: from Burton’s puppet-boy to Caroline Leaf’s elegant sand animation in The Metamorphosis of Mr Samsa (1977; and from Jonathan Hodgson’s mix of word and simply drawn image to interpret Charles Bukowski’s The Man with the Beautiful Eyes (1999) – a rebel poet’s homage to the outsider – to Andrei Khrjanovsky’s densely drawn animation Glass Harmonica (1968), in which the artist is pitched against an uncompromising, profit-fixated state – a film that was banned in Russia until after perestroika. To end the season, Peter Capaldi turns the myth of the artist as poor, suffering loner on its head in the light-hearted Franz Kafka’s It’s a Wonderful Life (1993).

PIXAR: 20 YEARS OF ANIMATION AT THE SCIENCE MUSEUM
PRESENTATIONS FROM FILM INDUSTRY ARTISTS

CHILDREN’S WORKSHOPS TRACING HISTORY OF ANIMATION

To accompany the major exhibition Pixar: 20 Years of Animation, the Science Museum will run a series of events for a range of audiences, from workshops for 7-14 year olds to talks with animators, directors, producers, Oscar winners and nominees, revealing the details and secrets of their work.

Pixar: 20 Years of Animation will show the art and technology behind the studio’s cutting edge animation films. Running from 1 April-10 June, the exhibition will provide artistic and technological insight into the studio’s hugely successful movies Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo and The Incredibles, each of which are revolutionary films in animation. The exhibition brings together 250 drawings and paintings, 50 sculptures plus computer generated multimedia artworks.
Talk Animation! Students and adults

To complement the exhibition, a series of evening presentations by film industry insiders, ranging from visual effects experts to animation character developers. These events will give visitors a deeper understanding of the creativity and technology involved in animation and film production and show the human artistry behind the most technically advanced films. The exhibition will stay open late (last admission 9pm) on each of these dates.

Dates:
1 April: Details to be confirmed

3 April

Loren Carpenter, Pixar Animation Studios. Loren began working with the founders of Pixar in 1981, while at Lucasfilm. Loren’s main role is to research image synthesis and provide solutions to scientific, technical and engineering challenges for the studio’s creative team. Loren served as Technical Lead on the zoetrope produced for the exhibition, a three-dimensional ‘spinning wheel of life’, which, when viewed via focused strobe light, creates the illusion of motion for nearly 180 3D characters attached to a circular disk spinning at 25 mph. Loren will invite visitors to explore how this zoetrope was created, with a look at the challenges and triumphs of her work at Pixar.

4 April

18:15 – Dan Mason. Dan joined Pixar in 1996 as an animator on the studio’s second feature film, A Bug’s Life. He continued as an animator on each of Pixar’s subsequent feature films including Toy Story 2, Monster’s Inc., Finding Nemo. Dan recently completed work on the studio’s upcoming film, Cars, a Walt Disney Pictures presentation of a Pixar Animation Studios film. Dan will give visitors an insight into the inner workings at Pixar, revealing the process of developing memorable characters and stories.

6 April

18:15 – Tia Kratter. Tia will talk about her varied career at Pixar, with special emphasis on her role as an Art Director on Monsters Inc, A Bug’s Life and lead CGI painter on Toy Story.
13 April

18:15 - Oscar winner Daniel Greaves talks about his work as director, animator and producer, showing how he turns award-winning ideas into reality

19:15 - Fresh from the Oscars, nominee Sharon Coleman reveals how she went from student to the red carpet with critically acclaimed short, 'Badgered'.
14 April: Details to be confirmed

5 May

18:15 - Professor Paul Wells, Director of Animation at Loughborough University, with an engaging retrospective of computer animation and an examination of how Pixar is continually shifting boundaries.

19:15 - Directors Smith and Foulkes from Nexus Productions, fresh from winning a host of awards at the British Animation Awards, talk about their cutting edge work.

18 May: Details to be confirmed

25 May

18:15 - Martyn Pick from Bermuda Shorts reveals the creative process involved in his work, with an emphasis on his BBC World Cup 2004 adverts.

19:15 - BAFTA Award Winner Philip Hunt, Studio AKA's Creative Director, reveals the studio’s approach to character design in commercials. His directing work includes the multi-award winning short film Ah Pook is Here, and an eclectic range of commercials.

26 May

18:15 - Directors from Framestore CFC, the largest visual effects and computer animation studio in Europe, with over 20 years of experience in groundbreaking digital film and video technology, show how they create big and small screen magic.

2 June

18:15 - Jerry Hibbert, founder of multi award winning Ralph Hibbert Animation, talks about animation in advertising, with a special emphasis on the importance of creating memorable characters.

8 June: Details to be confirmed

9 June

18:15 – Animation director and producer, Tim Searle on how to survive in the animation industry. In 2001, Tim formed 2DTV to make the topical sketch show '2DTV' for ITV1, winning acclaim and numerous awards. 2DTV also made the controversial music promo for George Michael's 'Shoot the Dog'. Tim also formed Baby Cow Animation with Steve Coogan & Henry Normal, co-producing 'Brain Candy', 'Whine Gums' & 'From Bard to Verse' for BBC3.

19:15 - Oscar nominated animator Barry Purves with an insight into his work and career, from Wind In The Willows to Peter Jackson's King Kong. His name is synonymous with the pinnacle of the discipline of stop-frame puppet animation; his films are lauded for their meticulous attention to detail, faultless technique, sheer theatricality and sublime art direction.

For latest additions to the programme: www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/exhibitions/pixar.

Tickets: £4 if purchasing an exhibition ticket, £6 if not.

Tickets can be reserved in advance from www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/exhibitions/pixar or 0870 870 4868.

Spaces are strictly limited.

You're The Animator! Children's Workshop 7-14 year olds

A hands-on workshop for booked educational groups, this session explores the history and evolution of animation in addition to making zoetrope strips

that bring hand drawn creations to life. Supporting teachers' notes on how

to carry on this learning experience in the classroom are included.

Dates: Weekdays during school term throughout the run of the exhibition.

Price: £2 a pupil who is booked in to see the exhibition, teachers free

More details: www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/exhibitions/pixar.

Tickets: Visitors and school groups can reserve tickets in advance from

www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/exhibitions/pixar or on 0870 870 4868
EXHIBITION VISITOR INFORMATION

Pixar: 20 years of Animation runs at the Science Museum for 10 weeks only – 1 April – 10 June 2006

Admission prices:

Adult: £9; Child/ student: £7; Educational groups £4 per person

Family: 2 adults + 1 child £20; 2 adults + 2 children £27

Tickets can be pre-booked on 0870 870 4868 or www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/pixar

The Science Museum, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2DD

Open 10am – 6pm every day; Nearest Tube: South Kensington

SCI-FI-LONDON the UK’s only dedicated SF and Fantastic film festival, 26 – 30 April 2006

Over the last 4 years SCI-FI-LONDON has proved to be a hit with its audience bringing exciting, challenging and interesting premieres to the UK along with a programme of rarely screened classics. Our website now attracts over 60,000 unique visitors a month and festival attendance is set to top 10,000.

The festival takes place at the fantastic new APOLLO WEST END cinema in Lower Regent Street, central London. This five-screen state-of-the-art venue is fully licensed and the audience can take their drinks in with them, so expect some champagne screenings!

MOVIES ALREADY CONFIRMED INCLUDE:

FIRST ON THE MOON (Russia 2005, Dir: Aleksey Fedortschenko)

THE PLACE PROMISED IN OUR EARLY DAYS (Japan 2005, Dir: Makoto Shinkai)

SUBJECT TWO (USA 2005, Dir: Philip Chidel, 93mins, Colour)

SURVIVE STYLE 5 (Japan 2003, Dir: Gen Sekiguchi, 120mins, Colour)

CSA: THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA (USA 2005, Dir: Kevin Wilmott)

TETSUJIN 28 (Japan 2004, Dir: Shin Togashi, 105mins, Colour)

DIE YOU ZOMBIE BASTARDS (USA 2004, Dir: Caleb Emerson, 97mins, Colour)

LOGAN’S RUN (USA 1976, Dir: Michael Anderson, 120mins, Colour)

SEKSMISJA (Sex Mission) (Poland 1984, Dir: Juliusz Machulski, 117mins, Colour)

ALL NIGHT:

The first SCI-FI-LONDON saw us bring the all-nighter back to London screens, and they have proved popular at every festival. With 8 hours of movies, free Redbull, coffee, ice cream and breakfast, it challenges the mind, body and spirit. As part of our FIFTH BIRTHDAY celebration we will be holding the notorious ANIMÉ ALL-NIGHTER (Featuring the UK Premier of KARAS:THE PROPHECY) along with a night of MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 (featuring an exclusive “making of TIME CHASERS”) and our BLOODLUST ALL-NIGHTER, which features Guillermo Del Toro’s CRONOS and the amazing Russian epic NIGHT WATCH.

NOT JUST MOVIES:

First and foremost we are an international film festival but we also understand the value of a great atmosphere.

We are honoured to be the official home of the Douglas Adams Memorial Debate, which takes a serious yet wry look at a variety of topics. These have included SF film vs literature, predicting the future, and sex with robots! For 2006 the INSTITUTE OF IDEAS will curate this event, the topic; POSTHUMANISM

We are very proud to announce that ‘the Booker of the SF world’; the Arthur C Clarke Award for Literature comes to SCI-FI-LONDON. This award is one of the most prestigious book awards in the world and we are honoured to be asked to host the award ceremony. Shortlist available at www.sci-fi-london.com.

About the Awards:
The SCI-FI-LONDON Awards have been in place since the first festival back in 2002. Originally just awards for Best Feature and Best Short, they have grown to include over 20 awards and the coveted AUDIENCE AWARD. Previous movie winners have included: Mamoru Oshii’s AVALON and Shane Caruth’s PRIMER. Previous personalities include: VINNIE JONES for Best Newcomer to SF in the movie, SLIPSTREAM.

The SCI-FI-LONDON Audience Awards presented by Rogue TrooperTM will be announced after the festival. Full details of all the awards are available at www.sci-fi-london.com.

More information on the festival can be obtained from www.sci-fi-london.com

SCI-FI-LONDON movie list

UK PREMIERES:

SUBJECT TWO (USA 2005, Dir: Philip Chidel, 93mins, Colour)

High atop the world in his remote mountain cabin, Dr. Franklin Vick is engaged in highly unethical medical research. His field of expertise: resurrection. His test subject: Adam Schmidt - a troubled medical student who volunteers to be killed again and again in the name of science. Together, the doctor and his new assistant work in snowbound isolation, perfecting their death tactics before unleashing their discovery to the world. But there's a problem: Death has side effects...

Shot entirely on location in Aspen, Colorado, SUBJECT TWO is beautifully shot and looks fantastic. Something of a re-working of the classic Frankenstein tale, the movie has great tension and suspense – no excessive goryness or over the top effects, the movie is very claustrophobic and posses some big questions on what it means to be alive and should we use technology to tamper with nature. Reminiscent of FRANKENSTEIN: THE TRUE STORY, with Michael Sarrazan, SUBJECT TWO is a smart monster-movie – and long overdue.

PUZZLEHEAD (USA 2005, Dir: James Bai, 81mins, Colour)

Set sometime “after the decline”, in a dreary, depopulated world where technology has been outlawed, a reclusive scientist named Walter secretly creates a self-aware android in his own image, affectionately calling him Puzzlehead. Walter finds him useful - as a project, a companion, a housekeeper, and his connection to the outside world.

Like a child, Puzzlehead develops his own personality and self-awareness through his experiences, ultimately leading to a curious love triangle when Puzzlehead meets Julia, a woman whom Walter has yearned for but never dared to approach. When Walter impersonates Puzzlehead to pursue Julia himself, the android and his maker are drawn into a sinister spiral of passion and betrayal. Does creating something in our own image mean transmitting intrinsically violent and emotional human flaws?

PUZZLEHEAD is to robot movies what PRIMER is to time travel – a sci-fi movie for grown ups that explores the uneasy relations between man and machine.

SURVIVE STYLE 5 (Japan 2003, Dir: Gen Sekiguchi, 120mins, Colour)

Five fantastical tales of crime and mayhem intersect in this absurdist Japanese comedy that has more inventive storytelling and surreal imagery than a dozen Miike movies. From the lunatics who bought us ELECTRIC DRAGON 80,000v and ICHI THE KILLER comes a fabulously eccentric movie.

This is neo avant-garde cinema at its finest and nothing like you have ever seen before. Starring SONNY CHIBA and VINNIE JONES the movie twists, turns and leaps between five different stories; the businessman and his family, the stage hypnotist, the murderer, the burglars and the advertising executive – whose lives are all eventually touched by the assassins.

If you thought there were clever cuts in PULP FICTION and MEMENTO, forget it. SS5 offers something fresh, funny, ultra-violent, sexy and completely riveting This is what film was made for, cool, funny, meticulously designed and with an impeccable soundtrack.

CSA: THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA (USA 2005, Dir: Kevin Wilmott, 89mins)

Sci-Fi isn’t just about space travel and aliens, it’s about ideas and hypothesising alternative realities or possibilities, and if it has a strong political, social, philosophical or religious message behind it, so much the better. Confederate States of America has no spaceships but the ‘reality’ it portrays seems quite alien. What the film does is to take the classic starting point of “what if” and present it as a documentary. While some may call it a mockumentary, it is a serious, and powerful, piece of satire that uses the documentary format to give it credence.

The conceit behind this film is that the Confederates won the American Civil War and that not only is slavery correct and proper but the Negroes are better off because of it. The film is presented as an entire television programme created by the British Broadcasting Service, complete with a warning to viewers of its controversial nature, and commercial breaks for products such as Darky toothpaste and slave insurance. Although the director makes a joke out of the broadcast being of a banned foreign film, “unsuitable for children or servants”, the BBC4 documentary series, “The Power of Nightmares” by Adam Curtis, which exposes the US government as the inventors of Al Quaeda, and of having a long history of creating a state of fear (or terror if you like) in the US, has been completely banned from broadcast there, and that is no joke.

Apart from the fact that the racist attitudes alluded to still prevail in many areas of the US, it is the cleverly scripted voiceover and believable authority of the talking heads, similar to those that appear in ‘real’ documentaries, which give it its power. Coupled with the use of actual historical footage, photographs and paintings, whose meaning are completely altered by the accompanying dialogue, you are left wondering what is real and what is invented. Even the ‘historical’ scenes and public information films that have been recreated are made to look as if they were contemporary with faded colours and film scratches, further adding to the illusion.

Like any good satire, it does make you laugh, cautiously, because it is outrageous in every sense of the word, but its impact comes from its message. And, given recent events in the US (i.e. New Orleans), this is a timely reminder of US human rights issues and the fact that they are not the great democracy they claim to be.

This is the stuff of the most thought-provoking Sci-Fi.

FIRST ON THE MOON (Perviyje na lune) (Russia 2005, Dir: Aleksey Fedorchenko, 75mins Colour & b/w)

A wonderful “alternative history” told with style, this "mockumentary" mixes facts and fantasy, vintage footage, and fake footage to show the successes and failures, the injustices and contradictions in Stalinist Russia, using the space program as the basis.

The film begins in the spring of 1938, in the mountains of northern Chile, where a flying object fell, in flames. Investigation by a film crew uncovers a secret space program developed in the Soviet Union before World War II. Scientists and military authorities, the film would have you believe, had developed a spaceship 23 years before Yuri Gagarin ever went to space.

The perfect timing of each scene, the meticulous attention to detail, the amazing amateur cast (none of the actors have appeared in a film before) the deadpan voice-over, the humour, and even the surprisingly moving tragic scenes - if you know anything at all about Russia, there's everything to guarantee that you'll love this film.


TETSUJIN 28 (Japan 2004, Dir: Shin Togashi, 105mins, Colour)

Just as Godzilla was the first of Japan's giant monsters, Tetsujin-28 was the first of Japan's giant robots – though he is better known in the west as GIGANTOR. Tetsujin-28 is a breath of fresh air: a movie with optimism and great scenes of giant robots slugging it out in the heart of downtown Tokyo. A throwback to a time when families stuck together, and giant robots just needed their fists and a 12 year-old kid is our only hope.

Invented during World War II to defeat the Allied forces, the mighty mechanical warrior, Tetsujin-28, was bombed into oblivion before he could be unleashed, but was found unharmed years later by the son of his inventor, Shotaro Kaneda (Shosuke Ikematsu).

The live-action movie version of Tetsujin-28 kicks off when the mysterious Black Ox, a giant robot with detachable limbs and a bad attitude, begins to terrorize Tokyo. No one can stop him...except maybe Tetsujin-28. But the poor robot has been trapped underground, rusting away into nothingness ever since his inventor, and Shotaro's father, disappeared.

Now, Shotaro's grandfather brings the kid to the underground lab and forces the remote control into his hand telling him he must pilot the robot. This might be the chance for Shotaro to get his on back on the school bullies as well as save Tokyo.

Unconventional and surprising, this brightly-coloured comic book of a movie reminds us of what it was like when we believed in the future. Intoxicating nostalgia, taken shaken not stirred.

AINOA (Austria 2005, Dir: Marco Kalantari, 95mins, Colour)

The year is 2078 and a female android, Ainoa, developed to maintain the balance actually starts ‘the great nuclear war’. The members of a resistance group believe in a prophecy that ‘one’ among them will find Ainoa and reprogramme her so she can send a message to her creator – telling of the global devastation the war brings. It is said she knows how to find the Oracle and send messages into the past. The resistance steal Ainoa and Yuri, their leader, takes her on a journey to find the Oracle – along the way the two are drawn to each other and Ainoa starts to develop human feelings. If they change events in the past will they still be together in the present?

Ainoa is an interesting and beautiful science fiction fairy tale and love story, which questions how we actually affect each other, in the past and in the future. Epic in its visual style, with just a few naff Star Wars rippoffs, it is a well delivered movie from a country little known for producing sci-fi.

PLACES PROMISED IN OUR EARLY YEARS (Japan 2005, Dir: Makoto Shinkai, 90mins)

In an alternative reality, the end of World War II sees Japan is split into separate states; the Union and the Alliance. Two science students, Takuya and Hiroki, spend their time building a jet that they will take them to a mysterious tower that appeared on an island on the Union side of the border.

One of the stars of PLACES is the backgrounds. An incredible amount of care and detail is in every location. From sweeping grassy plains with epic cloud formations to the light and shadow falling across the baggage rack in a train, Shinkai grounds you in his world where the everyday is simply beautiful. By lingering on these places, Shinkai seeks to draw an emotional response from the viewer.

PLACES is ultimately a tale of friendship and loyalty, with overtones which reassure that what is lost can be regained. Shinkai meshes landscapes, characters and emotions with such elegant craft that places his work as some of the finest coming out of Japan. This is proof that MIYAZAKI is not the only animé director capable of producing truly majestic visions.

INSECTICIDAL (Canada 2005, Dir: Jeffery Lando, 85mins, Colour)

Cami, an unpopular science student living in a sorority house, accidentally loses one of her genetically altered insects, her housemates spray them with bug-spray to kill them, only to find they grow to human size!

Insecticidal is cheesy and low-tech and it’s not afraid to admit it. It’s a hilarious film that doesn’t take itself seriously, and flaunts its exploitative low-grade science fiction your face almost non-stop at every possible occasion… not that we’re complaining, mind you.

This is a true schlock movie - boobs, bugs, blood, guts, knives, a Jacuzzi and pizza! The B-movie is back and as great as ever!

LONDON PREMIERES:

DIE YOU ZOMBIE BASTARDS (USA 2004, Dir: Caleb Emerson, 97mins, Colour)

Red Toole is a lovable serial killer whose wife is captured by evil Baron Nefarious, who is of course planning to take over the world. Our hero dons his cape of human-flesh (from his own victims) to rescue the love of his life… Awwww.

On his quest he encounters mad dog-men, giant mosquitoes from space, robots, ninjas, porn stars and rockabilly guitarist Hasil Adkins – did we leave anything out? Oh yeah, we forgot the white hot molten cheese and the half-naked zombiechicks.

Tagged as “The world's first serial killer superhero rock'n'roll zombie road movie romance!” DYZB is funny, gory, and outrageous. It also has a superb soundtrack featuring THE BUTTHOLE SURFERS, COUNT SMOKULA and THE PHOTON TORPEDOES.

FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions (Spain 2005, Dir: Carlos Atanes, 82mins, Colour)

In the future, Europe is ruled by an oppressive matriarchal society, The Sisterhood of Metacontrol, who forbid any kind of physical contact between the sexes on the grounds of hygiene. Angeline is inducted into the Sisterhood. Nono, her ‘houseboy’ and a servant to the Sisterhood spends much of his time in cyberspace viewing forbidden images of sensuality. The two of them travel together to one of the few remaining fertile areas in the North Pyrenees. But on the way back Nono stumbles into one of the illegal sexual broadcasts being taped by insurgents and they are arrested.

Atanes has an eye for unusual imagery - Anne-Céline Auché being inducted into the Sisterhood where the other women then put on rubber gloves and masking tape across their mouths before kissing her; the militant feminist sisterhood decide to blow up the Eiffel Tower because it is a phallic symbol; or where the hero comes across the revolutionaries making porn movies in the desert, with the lead actor (Antonio Vladimir) demanding motivation for his character.

Imagine Goddard’s ALPHAVILLE (1965) in high-colour or Lucas's THX 1138 (1971) conducted as a French art-house movie. FAQ is a cold dystopian film.

WHITE SKIN (Canada 2005, Dir: Daniel Roby, 92mins, Colour)

Thierry – a white, student from rural Quebec and Henri – a black, urban musician are roommates in Montreal. Out for a night on the town Henri purchases ‘intimate services’ for the pair of them.

Thierry hears screams of pain coming from Henri’s room down the hall and, kicking the door in, finds Henri fighting off his knife-wielding escort and bleeding profusely from a gash across his neck.

Soon after, Thierry meets Claire. He is fixated by the red headed musician and they begin an passionate relationship. Thierry is ecstatically happy until he meets Claire’s family and recognises her sister as Henri’s attacker. Thierry starts to understand how little he knows about Claire and her mysterious blood ties.

Beautifully shot and well performed this film is fresh and unique genre movie. Starting as a chilly meditation on race and skin colour, White Skin twists into something very unexpected.

CLASSICS:

LOGAN’S RUN (USA 1976, Dir: Michael Anderson, 120mins, Colour)

It is the 23rd Century. People live lives of languid pleasure in vast domed cities - the only catch no one is allowed to live beyond thirty. But there are those who refuse to accept death and become ‘Runners’, seeking the mythical place of asylum known as Sanctuary. An elite force, known as Sandmen, has been created to hunt the Runners. The city's controlling computer accelerates the lifeclock of 26 year old Sandman Logan and sends him to find Sanctuary. With the help of Jessica, he runs. While being pursued by his best friend and comrade Francis, Logan escapes outside the city, and soon they realise the true nature of their world.

This was a major studio movie when it was released and anyone who loves classic 70’s sci-fi should see this movie on the big screen.

SEKSMISJA (Sex Mission) (Poland 1984, Dir: Juliusz Machulski, 117mins, Colour)

Two scientists are placed in cryogenic hibernation planned to last three years. However, whilst in suspension World War III breaks out and life have been wiped out of the surface of the Earth. They wake up 50 years later to find they are the only living males in a new, underground society run exclusively of women. Their fate is to be decided.

The leaders, thorough system of propaganda, human control and changed history, focus on how "males" were evil - at one point the two are told that "Einstein was a woman" and "one man named Cain invented murder and tested it on his sister Abel". However, they manage to instil doubt in one woman and with her help discover that not everything is as it seems.

One needs to get beyond the comedy and excessive nudity in this movie to see it is a perfect satire of all totalitarian regimes and blind fanaticism.

AMERICAN ASTRONAUT (USA 2001, Dir: Cory McAbee, 91mins, B/W)

Imagine Laurel and Hardy in a western directed by Jim Jarmusch and you will still not be able to fully describe this movie. A pure example of how great independent cinema can be, and one of the most cinematically luscious films shot in B&W and on 35mm.

Space is a lonely town. Samuel Curtis, an interplanetary trader, sets forth through a rustic and remote solar system, unaware that his old friend Professor Hess is trying to kill him.

An avant-rock musical staged on the set of a Poverty Row noir, Cory McAbee's debut film (with music by his band the Billy Nayer Show) is an utterly unique experience and possibly the most delightfully idiosyncratic science fiction movie since John Carpenter's Dark Star.

The was the first movie screened at the first SCI-FI-LONDON – “didn’t I tell you…it’s my birthday”

ALL-NIGHTERS

ANIMÉ-ALLNIGHT:

An infamous part of London’s nightlife, the annual animé all-nighter is again set to be a sell-out event. A feast for the eyes we bring some amazing movies. Come on the journey from midnight to morning, along the way we can travel underwater, into the future and to the farthest galaxies.

PLACES PROMISED IN OUR EARLY YEARS (as above)

GHOST IN THE SHELL 2: INNOCENCE
(Japan 2004, Dir: Mamoru Oshii, 100mins, Colour)
A classic sequel to a classic film. Innocence is a film of extraordinary beauty and hauntingly meditative reflection on the nature of humanity and the artificial. Sit back and let your eyes enjoy.

KARAS: THE PROPHECY
(Japan/USA 2006, Dir: ,80mins, Colour) – UK PREMIERE

Karas, (The Crow) is best described as Batman with a Samurai Sword or a Cyber-punk version of The Crow. Karas takes place in Tokyo, a city populated by both humans and ghostly beings. They exist in two dimensions; seen and unseen- spirits, apparitions and demons. Karas is the city’s guardian, and Tokyo is thrown into disarray as a former Karas named Eko attempts to seize power and bring order to the streets through force. An entity named Yurine, who represents the will of the people, stands in Eko’s way with her newly risen Karas. Now two Karas emerge to destroy either all of the demons or destroy all humanity. Which Karas will prevail?

This movie raises the bar even higher for Animé – a mix of 2D/3D styles this is amazing eye-candy. Remember how everyone bragged about seeing AKIRA at the cinema – Karas is surely the next “must-see”

This dubbed version is voiced by Jay Hernandez (Hostel, Crazy/Beautiful), Matthew Lillard (Scream, Scooby Doo 2) and Piper Perabo (Cheaper by the Dozen, Coyote Ugly)

FINAL FANTASY VII: ADVENT CHILDREN
(Japan 2005, Dir: TETSUYA NOMURA, 100mins, Colour) - UK PREMIERE
Based on the hugely popular gaming franchise, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children is an epic animated adventure set against the backdrop of a world dominated by the corrupt Shinra Inc.

Set two years after the events of the Final Fantasy VII computer game, Cloud Strife, a former soldier for Shinra, now leads a solitary life travelling the Planet as a transporter, still burdened with emotional scars from his last battle. Weighed down by memories of loved ones he has lost, he is devoid of hope as he ventures to save the children struck down with the deadly disease Geostigma. We follow Cloud on his journey to uncover the truth about the origins of this plague. As destruction reigns in the city and our heroes are locked in battle, a familiar face returns – Sephiroth.

This is truly breathtaking animation.

THE MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 – ALLNIGHTER

MST3K, ran from 1988 – 1999 in the USA and became a cult comedy classic. The format basically features a man and his robot sidekicks who are trapped on a satellite in space and forced to watch particularly bad movies. During its eleven years and 198 episodes (including one feature film), MST3K attained a fiercely loyal fan base, and much critical acclaim.

Try to explain what MST3K is and you either confuse them or start to sound like a weirdo. Truth is those that get it love it. This is the stuff of a perfect all-nighter! Join us for some classic movies and some brilliantly funny dialogue. The four movies we have selected are:

THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN’T DIE (USA 1962, Dir: Joseph Green, 82mins, B&W)
When a brilliant surgeon crashes his car and his fiancée is decapitated, his research with rejuvenation - far from complete - is put to the test. Managing to keep her head alive, his focus becomes finding an appropriate donor body to make his fiancée whole. His quest takes him deep into the world of seedy nightclubs and artists models.

SPACE MUTINY (USA 1988, Dir: David Winters, 93mins, Colour)
The starship "Southern Sun," is looking for a new planet to colonise, but the ship's security crew, lead by the evil Kalgan, are growing restless, not wanting to live out their lives in space. They plan a mutiny; it’s up to pilot Dave Ryder, Doctor Lea, and the rest of the crew to stop Kalgan. Plenty of railing deaths and the slowest vehicle chase on film!

PRINCE OF SPACE (Japan 1959, Dir: Eijiro Wakabayashi, 121mins, B&W)
Spacemen from the planet Krankor (who look chickens with antennas on their heads) are led by their leader, Phantom, to invade Earth. They kidnap the world’s best (but most boring) scientists and hold them hostage. Prince of Space arrives and with the help of three kids, who were formerly boot-blacks, tries to save the day. One of the worst Japanese movies ever it is completely endearing – a classic MST3K episode “We like it very much”

TIME CHASERS (Canada 1994, Dir: David Giancola, 89mins, Colour)

Plucky Nick Miller is a physics expert and invents a way to make his ultra-light plane travel through time – the future looks bright. He invites TransCorp to a demonstration of the device and signs over the plans. He gets romantically involved with Bonnie, a local journalist and takes her on a trip into the future only to find it has changed into something from Mad Max. Later he discovers that TransCorp’s CEO is using the machine for, you guessed it, evil.

This is a brilliant MST3K episode and we are delighted to be able to screen an exclusive “Making of TIME CHASERS” from the movie’s Director, David Giancola.


BLOODLUST ALLNIGHTER
what would an all-nighter line-up be without a little something to scare your rigid? Remember to bring silver bullets, garlic, crosses and holy water – you never know who will be sitting next to you?

INNOCENT BLOOD (USA 1992, Dir: John Landis, 112mins, Colour)

Marie (Anne Parillaud, LA FEMME NIKITA), a sexy vampire only kills the scum of the city and controls vampire overpopulation by blowing the heads off her victims with a shotgun after feeding!

One night she “fancies an Italian” and attacks a gang of mobsters accidentally turning mob moss Sal 'The Shark' (Robert Loggia, INDEPENDENCE DAY) into a vampire. Sal realises his new power and creates a gang of bloodsucking gangsters. It's up to Marie and cop Joe Gennaro (Anthony LaPaglia, WITHOUT A TRACE) to stop them.

Funny, scary, sexy and the best use of handcuffs in a movie – ever!

PRINCE OF DARKNESS (USA 1987, Dir: John Carpenter, 102mins, Colour)

A sinister secret has been kept in the basement of an abandoned Los Angeles church for many years. With the death of a priest belonging to a mysterious sect, another priest opens the door to the basement and discovers a vat of green liquid. The priest contacts a group of physics graduate students to investigate it. Unfortunately, they discover that the liquid contains the essence of Satan himself, intent of returning to Earth. Will they be able to stop him? One of Carpenter’s finest and a really scary movie to boot.

NIGHTWATCH (Nochnoi Dozor) (Russia 2004, Dir: Timur Bekmambetov, 114mins, Colour)

Among us live the "Others", beings with supernatural powers, some good and evil. Several centuries ago, after a devastating battle, a truce was called. With the ‘forces of light’ governing the day while the night belongs to their ‘dark’ opponents. In modern day Moscow the dark “Others” roam the night as vampires while a "Night Watch" makes sure they don’t get too out of hand. Anton is no-angel and a new recruit to the Night Watch, will his past be his undoing and will it upset the balance?

If you missed this on its limited theatrical run then here is your last chance for a while, and this movie HAS to be seen on the big screen. Stylish and visually stunning.

CRONOS (Mexico 1993, Dir: Guillermo del Toro, 94mins, Colour)

In 1535, an alchemist builds an extraordinary mechanism encapsulated into a small golden scarab. The device gives eternal life to its owner but the youthful vigour it brings is countered by a vampire's need for blood. However, the promise of eternal life has become an obsession to old and sick Mr. De la Guardia. He and his nephew (Perlman) will do anything to get the "Chronos Invention".

A winner of over 20 awards including a special award at Cannes in ’93 - Del Toro delivers a stylish and inventive reinvention of the vampire legend.

Telephonetics wins Cineworld contract

Contract increases market-share of major UK national cinema operators to 80%.

Telephonetics plc, a leading UK-based speech recognition and computer telephony group, has today won a major new contract with Cineworld Cinemas Ltd (‘Cineworld’), the UK’s fastest growing cinema chain, to supply automatic speech recognition (ASR) booking and information technology to all of their 78 UK and Irish sites. The deal is worth approximately £8.2 million over six years and follows a competitive pitch against the incumbent provider.

Telephonetics has worked with Cineworld since 1997, but the cinema chain’s former UGC sites, which were acquired in 2004, have until now continued to use the incumbent provider BT/ Eckoh.

As part of this deal, which is expected to double revenues from the previous contract, Cineworld has also become the first cinema chain to sign-up to the MovieLine® Agent Interface software, seamlessly linking MovieLine’s ASR booking service with the new call-centre operation being provided by Telephonetics.

This contract increases Telephonetics’ market-share of major UK national cinema operators from 63%1 to 80%.

Steve Wiener, Chief Executive Officer Cineworld, said:

"We have worked with Telephonetics for over 9 years and they have always provided us with excellent solutions and great service. Automated telephone booking is critical to our business and we are delighted that Telephonetics will now be fulfilling this vital function for the whole of our circuit.”

Anthony Mckay, Managing Director Telephonetics, commented:

“The award of the Cineworld contract is fantastic news and a great endorsement of both MovieLine and Telephonetics from such a prestigious customer.”



“By expanding our product portfolio to include MovieLine Agent Interface we can now provide cinemas with the complete telephone booking solution for their business. Telephonetics is extremely well placed and looking both to capitalise on its dominance in the UK cinema industry and to exploit the exciting opportunities further afield.”

FREAK OUT - Released 29th May priced £16.99
THE CULT INDIE HORROR-COMEDY NOW ON DVD FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER!
Set to do for serial killer genre what "Shaun Of The Dead" did for zombie flicks, the cult indie horror-comedy, FREAK OUT, comes to DVD in May as an extras-packed, two-disc edition courtesy of Anchor Bay UK. Already a massive hit on the independent film festival circuit and winner of both the Best Genre Cross Over Award at the Rhode Island International Film Festival and the Commendation Award at Manchester's International Festival of Fantastic Films, FREAK OUT has been hailed by acclaimed horror director Mick Garris (Masters Of Horror; The Shining) as "a wild, woolly sledgehammer to the face of Hollywood conformity."
Four years in the making, FREAK OUT is a hilarious and irreverent parody of the slasher genre, packed with juvenile double-entendres, witty pop-culture references and knowing nods to numerous horror classics. A treat for horror aficionados who don't take their terror too seriously, it is a must-see for splatter fans and comedy buffs alike.The two-disc edition of FREAK OUT (cert. 15) will be released on DVD (£16.99) by Anchor Bay UK on 29th May 2006.


THE ADVENTURES OF BLAKE AND MORTIMER - Released 15th May priced £24.99
FROM THE MAKERS OF TINTIN THE ANIMATED SERIES
Based on the popular comics and graphic novels by Edgar P. Jacobs, a close friend and collaborator of Tintin creator Hergé, the animated THE ADVENTURES OF BLAKE AND MORTIMER comes to DVD in May 2006 as a four-disc collection from Anchor Bay UK, featuring all 26 episodes of the celebrated series. Directed by Stephane Bernasconi (director of the 1990 animated Tintin series) and co-written by Eric Rondeaux (Excalibur; Tintin; Insektors), THE ADVENTURES OF BLAKE AND MORTIMER chronicles the mystery-solving exploits of the eponymous heroes, RAF officer and MI5 agent, Francis Percy Blake, and his gentleman scholar associate, Professor Philip Angus Mortimer.

From London to Paris, Cairo to Tokyo, Blake and Mortimer spend their days investigating the unknown and saving the world from evil dictators, crazed megalomaniacs and mad scientists, who more often than not have some nefarious connection to their notorious nemesis, the mercenary criminal adventurer Colonel Olrik. With plots involving space trips, time travel, vast journeys across land and sea and a strong undercurrent emphasising the importance of friendship and commitment to duty, THE ADVENTURES OF BLAKE AND MORTIMER has something to appeal to viewers of all ages, particularly fans of Tintin and Asterix. Having begun life in 1946 as a serialised comic strip in Tintin magazine, before being published as a series of graphic novels, THE ADVENTURES OF BLAKE AND MORTIMER has since become one of the most popular and successful series of comic books in Europe with sales in excess of 15 million copies to date.

Uncle Sam wants “My Cousin Wallace” for Tartan Week

Scottish enthusiasts living in New York City discovered the family history of Irish and Scottish American communities last week when movie My Cousin Wallace joined Tartan Week. The Sheffield produced, Liverpudlian directed documentary explores the early eighteenth Century white trans-Atlantic slave trade which may have started in Scotland.

Tartan Week, held in April, is a celebration of everything great about Scotland and the involvement of Scottish-Americans in US life. However this year’s Scottish adoration was gatecrashed by non Scottish documentary My Cousin Wallace, which was made at Sheffield Hallam University. Earning this unusual place in the festival is because the movie examines the complicated history of Clan names associated with Afro-Caribbean families, and further discovers that the trans-Atlantic slave labour system was originally set up for white Scottish and Irish slaves.

The director, researcher and creator of the 30 minute movie, Derek Murray, is originally from Liverpool and shot the film in 2003 at the Northern Media School during his MA Film and Media Production course at Sheffield Hallam University. My Cousin Wallace was selected to be shown at New York’s Scotland on Film 1942-2006 festival, which runs until 8 April, by Scottish Screen after it wooed viewers on its Scottish travels. Scottish Screen is responsible for developing film, television and new media in Scotland.

Derek, aged 51, said: “My Cousin Wallace happened over three years. This type of organic creative documentary could only have been made in the environment found at the Northern Media School. I was given the time and flexibility, combined with the expert knowledge and support, necessary to bring this movie to fruition. The movie and the school has provided me with a springboard to launch my career and give me the confidence and status I need to go out and contend in a highly competitive market. “

Since graduating in June 2004 with a MA distinction in Screen Arts, Derek is now due to open his own company, Inspiral Media in Liverpool.

The Northern Media School at Sheffield Hallam University is one of the leading centres of production based postgraduate media education in the UK. It runs alongside an extensive undergraduate programme in film and media studies and production.

Steve Sprung, a senior lecturer for the MA Film and Media Production said: “My Cousin Wallace is an example of the ambitious and important projects we have supported and allowed the time to come to fruition, giving the author a chance to find his voice as a filmmaker. This film stands as a testament to what can be achieved if we are prepared to put the time, resources and truly creative effort into learning and teaching. “

My Cousin Wallace is a motorbike road movie where director Derek and the chief executive of the Clan Wallace, travel though the Scottish Highlands in the middle of winter. They revisit the sites of key battles in Scottish history which relate to their clan names. The journey ends at Culloden, which is used as a jumping off point to demonstrate that many Scots were subject to slave conditions working alongside Africans.

THE TOP TEN MEMORABLE HOTEL MOVIES SCENES EVER

The steamy image of Julia Roberts and Richard Gere in a luxurious bubble bath has been named the best hotel scene in a movie ever, according to a new poll.

The romantic tale of the Hollywood hooker who lived it up in a penthouse suite and fell for the rich business man Edward Lewis has made Pretty Woman one of the greatest chick-flicks of all time.

The 1990 blockbuster was set in the grandeur of plush Los Angeles hotel the Regent Beverly Wilshire and saw Julia Robert’s character of Vivien go from a broke prostitute to ‘Pretty Woman’ in a matter of a week.

Roberts’ and Gere’s sizzling on-screen chemistry helped make Pretty Woman one of the most loved and successful romance movies in Hollywood history.

Runners up in the poll include:

1. Pretty Woman – Julia Roberts and Richard Gere in a bubble bath

2. Psycho – The Shower Scene

3. The Shining - Danny Torrance (Danny Lloyd) facing the image of dead twins

4. Beverly Hills Cop - Eddie Murphy’s reception desk rant

5. Indecent Proposal - Woody Harrelson and Demi Moore have sex on $1,000,000

6. Thelma and Louise – Brad Pitt and Gena Davis love scene before he steals her cash

7. Ghostbusters - the team trash a hotel dining room chasing ghost

8. Godfather – Al Pacino hears about father’s shooting while having dinner with Diane Keaton

9. Trainspotting – Ewan McGregor leaves hotel room with the drug money

10. Pulp Fiction – Maria de Medeiros tells Bruce Willis she wants a ‘pot belly’

In second place, Hitchcock’s classic thriller Psycho, containing the unforgettable shower scene, remains one of the most shocking scenes in cinematic history. Janet Leigh’s character Marion Crane was stabbed to death after checking in to the desolate Bates Motel. Despite the scene only lasting 45 seconds it took seven days to shoot and includes 70 different camera angles.

The third most memorable hotel movie scene, according to the study of 3,000 people for Travelodge, is from another chiller - Stanley Kubrick's The Shining.

It’s the moment when Danny Torrance comes face-to-face with the ghosts of twin girls murdered by their father.

Jack Nicholson plays the caretaker of the creepy Overlook Hotel in Colorado who slowly goes insane as the hotel and its ghosts take a hold of his mind.

Meanwhile his son Danny sees disturbing visions of the hotel's past using a telepathic gift known as The Shining.

Beverly Hills Cop star Eddie Murphy’s comic rant in the lobby of the Beverly Palm Hotel came fourth in the poll and helped make the 1984 movie a blockbuster.

Murphy, who played Detroit Cop Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop, created an embarrassing scene claiming he was working for Rolling Stone on a big Michael Jackson exclusive in order to secure a room in the luxury hotel.

This is followed by the scene from Indecent Proposal where Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson make love on the $1,000,000 Moore was paid for spending a night with Robert Redford.

Wayne Munnelly, Travelodge Sleep Director said: “Watching TV in bed, can aid a good night sleep, as it helps you to unwind and relax. There have been many great movie scenes in hotels throughout the years and we thought it would be interesting to ask the nation which they thought was the best.”

“Pretty Woman is a great choice; it is a feel good factor movie that appeals to all ages. The whole film is set in a hotel and we would all love to indulge in the hotel highlife like Julia Roberts’ character does”.

IF SOMEONE WERE TO MAKE YOUR WISHES COME TRUE, WHAT WOULD YOU ASK?

Winner of a host of international film awards including a Goya Award for Best Lead Actor
(Eduard Fernández), and Best Film at the 2002 Fantasporto Festival, FAUSTO 5.0 is a
contemporary reworking of the Faust myth as a psychosexual surrealist horror film.

Directed by Álex Ollé, Isidro Ortiz and Carlos Padrisa (better known as members of La Fura Dels Baus,
the controversial experiemental theatre group responsible for the notorious sexually explicit
stage play XXX), the film stars Miguel Ángel Solá (Tango), Eduard Fernández (The Goalkeeper) and
Najwa Nimri (Sex And Lucia). Dr. Fausto (Miguel Ángel Solá), a specialist in terminal medicine, spends most of his waking
hours treating patients on the brink of death. So wrapped up in the routine of his soulless work he
has become a man without dreams - a man closer to death than to life. On his way to attend a
medical conference in Barcelona, Dr. Fausto meets the mysterious Santos Vella (Eduard Fernández), a
man who claims to have once been a patient who Fausto had given up for dead eight years ago
following an operation to remove his stomach. Shocked by the man's story of survival, Fausto
has no memory ever having known him. As exasperating as he is charismatic, and despite
the doctor's protestations, Santos soon becomes Fausto's guide during his stay in the city,
introducing the jaded doctor to the unbridled pleasures and experiences of life, at the same
time promising to grant him anything he desires. Unable to resist the offer, Fausto embarks on a
fantastic and terrible journey into the long-forgotten depths of his own soul.

Visually stunning and superbly performed, FAUSTO 5.0 is an imaginative thriller that hypnotises
the viewer with its disconcerting mix of the erotic and the horrific, each laced with a light
touch of mordant humour.

FAUSTO 5.0 (cert. 18) will be released on DVD
(?14.99) by Nucleus Films on 22nd May 2006.
Special Features include widescreen presentation
(1.85:1) enhanced for widescreen TVs, the making
of Fausto 5.0, theatrical trailer, gallery,
Spanish 5.1 and DTS, Catalan 5.1, English 2.0,
optional English subtitles.

TITLE: FAUSTO 5.0
LABEL/CREDIT: NUCLEUS FILMS
RELEASE DATE: 22ND MAY 2006
FORMAT: DVD (RENTAL)
PRICE: ?14.99
CERT: 18
WEB-SITE: www.the-associates.co.uk - FEATURE FILM/HORROR

SEATTLE, April 6th. WizKids Inc., creator of the HeroClix® collectable miniatures game and Pirates of the Spanish Main(TM) constructible strategy game(TM), announced today a partnership with Flashman Studios to bring the award-winning Pirates, Rocketmen(TM), HeroClix and Zypods(TM) game lines, as well as the as-yet-unreleased HorrorClix(TM) game, to video game systems near you!

"Expanding the tabletop experience of WizKids® games into the video game market is a great way to get even more players involved," said Jordan Weisman, WizKids CEO. "We're proud to announce that, in the near future, mobile phones, PC's, hand-held and console gaming systems will all be able to share in the fun of WizKids' games."

Flashman Studios will be representing WizKids and presenting the licenses to leading game publishers. This will result in bringing current fans exactly what they're looking for with expanded ways to play their WizKids favorites, as well as introduce a whole new audience to the rich worlds and exciting game play these properties offer. WizKids licenses have been successfully applied to the video game format, with such well known brands as, MechWarrior®, Crimson Skies®, Shadowrun® and MageKnight®. Interested publishers should contact Brad Young either through email: Brad@flashmanstudios.com or by calling 415-826-7654.

Founded by 25-year game-industry veteran Jordan Weisman, WizKids is a Seattle-based game developer and publisher dedicated to creating tabletop games driven by imagination. It's MechWarrior® and HeroClix CMGs and Pirates CSG are among the most successful games on the market today, and the company has sold hundreds of millions of game pieces worldwide. For additional information, visit www.wizkidsgames.com.

Flashman Studios is a full-service agency representing intellectual property, game developers and game-services companies to the interactive entertainment industry, with a primary focus on video games. The company works with clients on corporate strategy, marketing, branding, business development, negotiation, investment and mergers and acquisitions. With offices in San Francisco and Vancouver, Canada Flashman Studios works with a number of the interactive industry's most innovative and exciting companies to create value in their business. For additional information, visit www.flashmanstudios.com.

NOTE: MechWarrior, HeroClix, Pirates of the Spanish Main, HorrorClix, Rocketmen, Zypods, Shadowrun, Crimson Skies and WizKids are trademarks of WizKids Inc.

All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

TCM ASKS ITS VIEWERS TO VOTE FOR FILMS THEY WOULD LIKE TO WATCH

Film channel TCM (Turner Classic Movies) will launch a brand new proposition for viewers: YOUR CHOICE, giving its viewers more choice in the movies they watch. From 1st May viewers can choose between two classic films at 3pm and at 9pm by voting through TCM’s website or text message. The May voting closes at midnight on Tuesday 23rd May and the winning films will air on Thursday 25th May at 3pm and 9pm. TCM plans to continue this stunt on the last Thursday of every month.

In May viewer’s will be offered the choice of watching Woman in the Window (1945) or Singin’ in the Rain (1952) at 3pm on Thursday 25th May as well as being asked to choose between Deliverance (1972) or Bonnie & Clyde (1967) at 9pm. The films will be shown uncut, without any commercial breaks. In order to vote viewers can either go to TCM’s website (www.tcmonline.co.uk/yourchoice) to place their vote or vote via text message 60030*. The stunt will be supported by an on-air call to action. From June, the YOUR CHOICE voting time frame will be extended so that votes will close just 5 minutes before going to air.

YOUR CHOICE comes as a response to TCM’s loyal and passionate viewers’ feedback and it’s the first time TCM is asking its viewers to vote for the films they would like to watch on the channel. TCM hopes the vote will provide greater interactivity between the channel and its audience and will strengthen the viewers’ awareness to the new strand of programming developed by TCM at 3pm as well as the established prime time strand at 9pm. From May onwards viewers can rely on TCM to air a must-see movie at both 3pm and 9pm, giving viewer’s a designated appointment to view everyday.

Alan Musa, VP and Channel Manager of TCM comments: “We are delighted to create this opportunity to give our viewer’s more choice in the films offered on TCM. We have consciously made a commitment to listen to our audience and respond to the feedback we get from them. In an ever crowded market place TCM intends to create a point of difference as a film channel. This chance to vote helps us to communicate with our audience.”

Sue Parker, Executive Director, mkodo comments: “We are delighted to extend use of the Mkodo IMP (Intelligent Mobile Platform) within Turner to the TCM channel. The mkodo IMP provides a proven robust and flexible platform for successful ‘to air’ activities. Its significant CRM and data capture capabilities mean important marketing intelligence is gathered during the interactivity which TCM can use to enhance future activities.”

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION FOR THE WORLD’S FIRST MOVING FILM FESTIVAL

Central Trains and Channel 4’s IDEASFACTORY, in conjunction with Screen FX, will make movie history on Monday, April 3rd when the world’s first film festival on board a train launches on the company’s services across the West Midlands.

With an audience of well over 1 million passengers, The Rolling Stock Short Film Festival will see the entire fleet of 323 electric trains across the region being transformed into moving cinemas throughout April.

Around 70 shorts, produced by both first time and professional film makers from as far a field as Australia and Hong Kong to Wolverhampton, will be
screened during the four week event. The films will be shown through the network of on-board televisions introduced by Screen FX in December 2005.

Passengers will be able to text-vote for their favourite film throughout the festival, with the most popular shorts taking home a cash prize and
filmmaking equipment courtesy of Casio. Voters also have the chance to win a one month rail pass each week during the festival.

Dan Jones, Editor of IDEASFACTORY West Midlands said:
“The Rolling Stock Short Film Festival is a unique opportunity to showcase new and established talent to a huge travelling audience. We hope that the inspirational schedule will provide some welcome entertainment for our travelling audience on their daily commute.”

Stephen Ollier, Chief Executive of Train FX (the train operating division of Screen FX) said: “We are delighted to be working with Channel 4 IDEAS
FACTORY on this interesting initiative. I’m sure this film festival will reach more viewers than most.”

Steve Banaghan, Managing Director for Central Trains, said: “The TVs on trains have proved very popular with our passengers and we had already
received positive feedback on the films we screened at our premiere. We are pleased to support the world’s first film festival on a train.”

For more information, visit www.channel4.com/rollingstock
=======================================

Charlie Chaplin’s work celebrated with special St George’s Day screenings in Leicester Square

CHAPLIN AT LEICESTER SQUARE
Leicester Square, London WC2
Sunday 23 April 2006, 12pm – 6.00pm

FREE

The contribution of Charlie Chaplin to cinema and filmmaking will be celebrated, as a part of a special series of events backed by the Mayor of London to mark St George's Day.

Some of Chaplin’s best-known feature length films - The Kid, The Gold Rush and Modern Times - will be screened in Leicester Square, the home of British cinema and where a statue of Chapin now stands, alongside a selection of shorts that have been newly restored by the British Film Institute.

Organised by the Mayor of London with assistance from Association Chaplin, MK2 and the British Film Institute, this free event also includes children's activities and workshops, plus street entertainment, Chaplin style.

Born in 1889 in Walworth, South London, Charlie Chaplin left England to tour the US as a clown with Fred Karno's slapstick company in 1912. He made his first films in 1914 and in the years that followed went on to achieve enormous acclaim and popularity as an actor, director, composer, writer and producer, but most notably with his portrayal of 'the Tramp' in films that continue to have universal appeal to this day.


The screening times are as follows:

12.30pm
The Kid (1921)
*Charlie Chaplin’s first full-length film. Co-starring five-year-old Jackie Coogan, The Kid is the story of a child abandoned in a limousine by his unwed mother. When the Little Tramp finds him, he tries unsuccessfully to find a home for the boy. Obliged to keep him, the Little Tramp teaches the youngster about life on the streets.

2pm
THREE SHORTS: Kid Auto Races, A Film Johnnie and Mabel at the Wheel (1914)
BFI restored Keystone Film Company shorts with live piano accompaniment

3pm
The Gold Rush (1925, 1942)
*Chaplin's irrepressible Little Tramp seeks riches in the Yukon in this all time classic. Leave it to the Tramp as he turns hard times into hilarity as he savours a Thanksgiving feast of boiled shoe, slips outside a house teetering on a cliff and faces all manner of perils with pluck and fortitude. The 1942 re-release of the 1925 original with sound track and narration by Chaplin will be screened.

4.30pm
Modern Times (1936)
*One of the happiest and most light hearted of the Chaplin pictures. Man v Machine! Chaplin’s Little Tramp plays an assembly line worker fighting back against the mind numbing monotony and time clock rigidity of industrialism.

*Film notes from 'The Chaplin Collection' --------------------------------

Yorkshire Bids For Bollywood Oscars

The Indian city of Mumbai, the heart and soul of Bollywood, and home to the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) is the final destination for the Yorkshire Tourist Board's (YTB) official bid for Yorkshire to host the 'Bollywood Oscars' 2007. The bid to bring the multi million pound four day celebration of Indian cinema to Yorkshire is spearheaded by David Andrews, chief executive of YTB and fellow board member and bid director Zulfi Karim (picture attahced) and if successful will generate and estimated £10million.

Bid director Zulfi Karim, who first conceived the idea that Yorkshire should host the event said: "This is a huge opportunity for Yorkshire. The IIFA Weekend attracts between 15,000 and 20,000 thousand visitors. Typically a minimum 8,000 of them stay over an average three night period and thousands more come for the individual events or to simply be a part of IIFA Weekend. Media coverage will be extensive and global, it's exactly the kind of event we need to be grabbing for Yorkshire."

The four day long celebration traditionally takes place in June and kicks off with a star studded red carpet event where the biggest names in Indian cinema turn out for the world's media and the world premiere of the year's biggest Bollywood epic. Day two takes the form of a charity cricket match, stars versus professional sportsmen. Day three sees the tops stars, guests and VIPs gathering for the IIFA Awards (the 'Bollywod Oscars'), a day long ceremony with an audience of over 12,000 fans.

TV and film tourism has long benefited Yorkshire. With an audience of over 1 billion within India and over 20 million across 58 other countries worldwide, Indian cinema can open up a whole new market among committed fans ready to visit locations where their favourite films were shot. So the final day is devoted to location visits throughout the region for those involved in film production, a showcase for what Yorkshire can offer film crews.

IIFA's choice of location for the IIFA Weekend 2007 will be announced at a media conference to be held in June at the 2006 event. Yorkshire Tourist Board, key partners and the business communities of the five cities central to the bid (Bradford, Leeds, Sheffield, York and Hull) will await the announcement with baited breath.
-------------------------------

Reef Entertainment is releasing three excellent PC games in Late April and May this year.

The first of these --SHADOWGROUNDS is due out on April 28th and
offers a great sense of atmosphere and mystery in a thoroughly enjoyable shooter package.

The game has already received review scores in excess of 80% in its native Finland and we anticipate similar scores in the UK and other territories as the release rolls out

LIQUIDATOR which is due for release on May 5th is a strong action packed FPS set in large cinematic adventure landscapes while

UTOPIA CITY which encompasses great game play in a nightmare scenario of dream world compliance or freedom becoming everything! completes our trilogy of releases and is out on May 26th.

Attached are visuals of each game plus age rating and minimum game spec information for each game

Further information is available on our website
www.reef-entertainment.com
---------------------

UK Company Provides Soundtrack For New EyeToy Music Game
Dundee, Scotland, March 28th. Interactive music specialist Jack's Hoose Music today announced it has completed work on the soundtrack for Rhythmic Star, the soon to be released videogame for the Sony PlayStation 2.


The soundtrack features 25 specially re-recorded hit tracks and includes many well known songs from some of the world's biggest artists. Jack’s Hoose Music produced authentic, interactive versions of the songs allowing players to trigger music and rhythmic elements within the tracks in time to the beat.


Rhythmic Star is a brand new and unique music action game, which uses the PlayStation 2's Eye Toy camera peripheral. The game challenges up to four players to 'touch' falling stars on screen in time with the music.


Rhythmic Star combines 'live action' using the Eye Toy camera to put the player on TV, blended with bright, colourful Japanese styled cartoon action. This creates a whole new form of gaming, which is part music, part rhythm, part dance and all round fun.


The game was created and developed in Japan by Namco. It will be published in Europe by Ignition Entertainment.


Ged Grimes, the founder and Managing Director of Jack's Hoose Music, says, “The role of music in videogames is changing. Instead of being just background to the action, an increasing number of games are making music the whole focus. You can now play games where singing, dancing, interacting with or creating music is how you actually score points. These types of games are really pulling in a lot of new players who are not traditionally considered 'gamers'.”


“It was a great pleasure to work with the team at Namco Japan on this innovative game," says Ged. "It's unusual for Japanese developers and publishers to outsource audio production to Europe. Our experience working with other interactive music titles such as "Amplitude" and "Pop Idol" gave us the edge that Namco Japan were looking for. Working on such a wide range of styles and genres always presents a unique challenge but we are delighted with the end result. Rhythmic Star is a huge amount of fun to play and should appeal to everyone who loves music and gaming"

----------------------

SILVERSCREEN LTD IN ADMINISTRATION

Andrew Pepper and Peter Saville, Partners in Kroll’s Corporate Advisory & Restructuring Group, were appointed as Joint Administrators to Silverscreen Ltd, the UK’s only specialist DVD retailer, on 29 March 2006.

The company will continue to trade as normal and all stores will remain open, while the Joint Administrators review all of the options for the business.

The UK-based company has 65 stores and employs approximately 550 staff (both full and part time). Its headquarters are based in West London. Last available figures show a turnover of approximately £64m. There are no planned redundancies at this stage. All employees have been paid for the period to 31 March 2006 and wages going forward will be paid as an expense of the Administration.

The company has entered into Administration due to cash flow difficulties that have been experienced due to competitive trading conditions on the high street, as well as the increasing dominance of the internet and supermarket sales.

Andrew Pepper, commenting on the appointment said:

“Silverscreen is a unique business as the UK’s only DVD specialist retailer, which has unfortunately suffered due to the rapidly evolving market place, which is seeing technology offering alternative and cheaper options to the traditional DVD.

“We have already commenced negotiations with a number of interested parties and are confident that we will find a buyer for the business. The Company’s suppliers have expressed their support and the stores remain well-stocked and open for business.

“We appreciate these are worrying times for employees and customers and we will endeavour to keep them informed of any notable developments.”

CROSSOVER PRODUCTIONS AND MEDIA ONE GLOBAL LIMITED PRESENT PROVOKED
A UK/ Bollywood co-production funded by UK tax incentives

CrossOver Productions in conjunction with Media One Global Limited is proud to announce its forthcoming release of the eagerly anticipated movie, Provoked.

This UK/ Bollywood co-production is a product of a UK scheme that has received support from UK government ministers. The original scheme was launched on 9th February 2004 in the presence of The Rt. Hon. Patricia Hewitt MP. It has been developed to open the gateway for British investment into Bollywood cinema and to change the perception of Bollywood in the UK.

Investors associated with CrossOver Productions comprise the largest foreign investor group in Bollywood cinema. These investors have successfully brought Bollywood to Britain by applying over £50 million, which has been invested in 19 UK/ Bollywood co-productions.

The preliminary success of the film’s fundraising programme underlies that the British Bollywood film sector is growing from strength to strength, carving a place for itself at the forefront of the UK’s movie industry.

Provoked trails the true life of Kiranjit Ahluwalia, the story of the Asian woman who shook up the British judicial system winning justice for women subjected to domestic violence, rape and sexual abuse. The cast includes Aishwarya Rai, Miranda Richardson, Naveen Andrews, Rebecca Pidgeon, Nandita Das, Deborah Moore and Robbie Coltrane.

One of the other films being produced, as part of the collaboration between Media One Global Limited and Cross Over Productions is Sonia, a life story ofSonia Gandhi who came to India as a young Italian for the love of her life, but stayed on for the love of the land.

Commenting at the initial launch, The Rt. Hon. Patricia Hewitt said:

"This scheme is good news……for the British film industry. The facilities and infrastructure, which the UK offers filmmakers, are second to none. This is reflected in the figures - last year our film industry attracted over £700 million in inward investment and created over 6,000 additional jobs, taking the total employed in the sector to more than 57,000.

“This scheme will build on this progress, by helping to consolidate links between two of the world's most vibrant film markets. In attracting investors, I hope the scheme will help to boost jobs and productivity."

Raj Saxena of CrossOver Productions comments:

“Bollywood like all things Indian is experiencing huge growth on both a national and international platform. It is great that the UK tax incentives are allowing British investors to participate in the Bollywood boom. I am very grateful for The Rt. Hon. Patricia Hewitt’s continual support.”

Dr. J. Murali Manohar, a director of Media One Global Limited comments:

“Provoked and Sonia have initiated the trend of producing quality, mainstream films with an Indian subject matter, that can be presented and appreciated by a worldwide audience. Provoked is a story about fate and destiny and an individual’s futile struggle. One in four women will be a victim of domestic violence in their lifetime and through this film we hope to create more awareness among women on the support available to them to get out and help themselves before its too late.”