Rainbow buys Sundance Channel
Cablevision's Rainbow Media, which already owns AMC and IFC, has bolstered its film portfolio by ponying up $496 million for the Sundance Channel.
Locarno to honor Christine Vachon
Producer Christine Vachon will take home the Raimondo Rezzonico Prize for independent film producers at the 61st Locarno Film Festival.
APSA launches movie academy
The Asia Pacific Screen Awards is to launch a movie academy headed by Australian screen legend Jack Thompson as its patron.
Dubai Film Festival dates announced
Organizers at the Dubai Intl. Film Festival have announced the 5th edition of the fest will unspool from December 11-18 this year.
Polanski documentary coming to theaters in July
Indie studio ThinkFilm has picked up "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired," a documentary that generated early sales buzz at the Sundance Film Festival in January.
Tribeca festival announces winners
A Swedish coming-of-age horror film and a U.S. documentary about female peace activists in war-torn Liberia won the top awards at New York's Tribeca Film Festival.
Rossellini unsure if films can make money online
While Isabella Rossellini enjoyed her foray into new media with her short films, she is not sure they could turn a profit, given that so much content is available on the Internet for free.
HBO announces summer documentary slate
HBO is launching a documentary franchise on Monday nights this summer. Kicking off the showcase June 9 is "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired," about the legal case against the Oscar-winning director
Imax channels documentaries
Imax has sold the 21 documentary films it produced since 1985, including "Space Station," narrated by Tom Cruise, and "Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon," voiced over by Tom Hanks, to the Documentary Channel.
MTV Arabia launches short film competition
MTV Arabia on Tuesday launched MTV Breaks, a Middle East-wide competition for young talented directors, filmmakers, art students and video artists.
Sean Farnel: One of our goals is to present local stories by local filmmakers, and doing special programs is one way to do this. So, for instance, while we may have been able to show films about Iran, it's important to also have films that are made by filmmakers who live in Iran.
