24/12/2002

European cinema is doing some healthy business in the UK in one of the most important and cash-rich weeks of the annual film calendar. Stephen Frears’ Dirty pretty Things [+see also:
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film profile] entered its second week on general release in 7th position in the top ten. The drama about the unsavoury underbelly of immigrant life in London had a limited release onto 50 screens nationwide, 13 of which in the Capital.
Deathwatch, a horror film distributed by French group Pathe, co-produced by Germany and the UK, and starring Jamie Bell (Billy Elliott) was released early in December as was John Malkovich’s directorial debut, Dancer Upstairs , starring Italy’s Laura Morante and Javier Bardem.
27 December will see the UK release of 11’09’’01 [+see also:
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film profile] a poignant ensemble film by eleven directors, including Ken Loach, Claude Lelouch, Danis Tanovic and Alejandro Gonzàlez Inarritu, about the tragic events of 11 September.
On 3 January David Cronenberg’s Spider, coproduced by the UK, Canada and France and starring Ireland’s Gabriel Byrne and England’s Ralph Fiennes, Lynne Redgrave and Miranda Richardson will hit UK screens. It will be followed by Martin Scorsese’s 19th century epic, The Gangs of New York, a German-UK-Italian and US co-production that was made entirely on location in Italy’s Cinecittà studios.