Well, here's the 16th Monday morning Euro-AICN column. That's 4 full months that Father Geek has been getting these reports from our Paris offices to post up for you, if you missed any of their news stories you can find them by clicking on the "More AICN" box off to the left side of this page and then simply follow the links to the story you wish to view. We've got all the Euro office stories plus many other news items relating to Europe going back into 1997 over on that index page. Check it out...

Hello people... Edgar here with a new Euro AICN News... What do we have for you this week ? Well the usual full Euro package : Ozymandias, reviews, news, strange news,... hope you will all find something interesting in there. Promised : no more soccer speech this time; it's Summer time now there's more to do than watching sport on TV in your appartment (actually last week I watched a soccer game OUTSIDE a café, drinking beers with some pals, that was very cool...). My girlfriend is shouting at me because it seems Euro AICN takes too much of my time... so I better go... (see how pathetic I feel now)... Anyway, here's Euro AICN 16, enjoy !!

GERMANY

Simplicius Simplicissimus brings us this report : On Friday (16/06/2000) the 50th German Filmawards (Deutscher Filmpreis) were held in the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin. If you care, here are the prize winners:

Best Film: - "Die Unberührbare" (film strip in gold) - "Absolute Giganten" (film strip in silver) - "Sonnenallee" (film strip in silver)

Best Documentary: - "Buena Vista Social Club"

Best Children's Film: - "Käpt'n Blaubär"

Best Direction: - Pepe Danquart ("Heimspiel")

Best Actress: - Hannelore Elsner ("Die Unberührbare")

Best Supporting Actress: - Henriette Heinze ("Wege in die Nacht")

Best Actor: - Uwe Ochsenknecht ("Fussball ist unser Leben")

Best Supporting Actor: - Edgar Selge ("Drei Chinesen mit dem Kontrabaß")

Best Cinematography: - Jürgen Jürges ("Wege in die Nacht")

Audience Award For Best Film: - "Anatomie"

Audience Award For Best Actor/Actress: - Franka Potente ("Anatomie")

Favorite Teams in Euro2000: - France, Portugal and Yugoslavia (Congratulations to England for finally beating Germany!)

FRANCE

* The fourth Kieslowski price - a script contest open to young from 16 to 30 - will take place from October 2nd to November 15th. Between these dates you will have to write a 5 pages script on one of these 3 themes : man, woman & kid. The three winners will get the opportunity to direct the short film, wich will be shown in the MK2 movie theatres, on the channel 5 and in festivals. To know more, check : http://www.prix-kieslowski.com

* And as long as we're talking about script writing, here's the address of a free software to help you write for TV, cinema and theatre : http://www.scriptocinetv.com (WinWord2000 ©Microsoft is required).

* Bérénice Bejo, who can be seen now in Gerard Jugnot 's comedy MEILLEUR ESPOIR FEMININ, just started to shoot in Prague A KNIGHT'S TALE, directed by PAYBACK's director and L.A. CONFIDENTIAL scriptwriter Brian Helgeland. Other actors are : Heath Ledger (THE PATRIOT), Rufus Sewell (DARK CITY), Mark Addy (THE FULL MONTY) and Laura Fraser (VIRTUAL SEXUALITY).

SPAIN

* Mira Sorvino will star in SEMANA SANTA, a thriller to be shot in Sevilla next October. She will play an American cop investigating a double murder during "semana santa" ("holy week"). The director is German : Pepe Danquart.

DENMARK

* Here's a small info and message from Sona : I love your web-site, but I have found out that you do not know it all. As a Dane, I am proud of our small, but still good movie production. And to most Danes (as well as you guys!) it is still unknown that Rune Bendixen (unknown as a movie-director in Denmark!) has made a movie in Mexico called BULLFIGHTER with William Dafoe as lead. I am surprised that a hip site like yours, hadn't picked up on that one yet. It is project, that has been offored amongst others to Salma Hayek and Quentin Tarantino as actors/actress. But the director didn't take the offer, because he had no parts for them! As far as I am informed, the movie is about the re-birth of Christ (I even think that it is Dafoe playing the re-born Jesus). So please found more about this!?!

THE NETHERLANDS

* Floris sent me this "coul be" interesting news on THE MATRIX sequels: This may not be much and old news, but I just thought I should report it. Yesterday (Friday) in the Dutch newspaper 'Het Parool' there was an article on the city of Rotterdam and how they want to make filming in the city more appealing. The article mostly deals with how much money is spent, and what facilities are being built for the movie industry, but it also mentioned the Jacky Chan movie 'Who am I?' wich was partly shot in Rotterdam. Then the film commissioner of Rotterdam says: 'A couple of months ago I was called by the producers of 'The Matrix'. They had seen 'Who am I?' and for the sequels of 'The Matrix' they were looking for a bridge and hundred meters highway they could use for six weeks. They asked if Rotterdam could give them that.' Now he didn't say they were going to film in Rotterdam, but it gives us an idea of the location of The Matrix 2&3.

UK

* From MiB : It seems that all the talk of who will be playing the new Doctor in a DOCTOR WHO movie is a bit premature, Mary Collins is to be believed. In fact, it seems far from near that stage. This is a copy of a letter published in The Daily Telegraph on Monday June 19 from Collins who is a representative of BBC Worldwide: "SIR - Richard Millett can come out from behind his sofa (letter, June 16). BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, is in talks with an American production house but it is in early days and no agreement has been reached. No budgets have been set and, because it is a BBC Worldwide project, no licence fee-payers' money would be involved in bringing back Doctor Who".

MUAD'DIB'S STRANGE (and sometimes sad) NEWS

* Don't know what to think of these three brought by Muad'Dib : The Farrelly Brothers, the duo responsible for such broad, comic hits as Dumb and Dumber, There's Something About Mary, and the soon-to-be-released Me, Myself and Irene have turned to the 1970s TV series THE BIONIC MAN for their next project. Chris Rock is in negotiations for the title role, guaranteeing that, this time around, the battles against crime will take on a comic spin. Peter Farrelly is reportedly considering Lee Majors, who created the role of cyborg Steve Austin, and Lindsay Wagner, who played the Bionic Woman in a spinoff of the original series, for cameo roles.

* Britney Spears is being lined up for her movie debut. The teen star, currently enjoying success with her second album Oops! I Did It Again, is rumoured to be linking up with boy band N Sync to star in the film. N Sync's Lance Bass tells New York magazine that Spears - who's dating the band's Justin Timberlake - has been in talks to star alongside the group, scotching rumours she was lining up the lead role in DIRTY DANCING 2. The boy band revealed plans to make a movie at this year's Cannes Festival. "He said it's going to be like The Bodyguard with Britney as Whitney Houston," said a source. A source close to Spears said the casting would make sense because the pop star wants to break into the movie business and is a childhood friend of the band's.

* Michael Jackson is preparing to star in a feature film about the eccentric 19th-century writer Edgar Allan Poe. According to the film's co-producer Gary Pudney, the cameras are set to roll for THE NIGHTMARES OF EDGAR ALLAN POE in the spring of 2001. He said: "He's awesome and he's very up for the project and totally committed to going into feature films. This is the first of several we're planning." The film's likely location is Montreal and it will focus on the last week in the life of the writer who died a violent death in 1849, aged 40. In the story, Poe is visited by several horrific characters he created. Jackson's big screen career peaked with his performance as a scarecrow in the 1978 film, The Wiz. In 1995, he took on five roles in the short film, Ghosts. Fox news reports that the film will be independently financed. The three stories are from my usual site for information Ananova.

* Still from Muad'Dib (and Empire on-line) : Angelina Jolie may be the star of the £50 million TOMB RAIDER movie currently being filmed at Pinewood - but she's been told that there are certain responsibilities to stardom. Studio bosses have taken Jolie's wild reputation to heart and informed the actress that she must be in bed by 11pm every night while the preparing for and filming Tomb Raider. UK Showbiz columnist Baz Bamigboye was told that 'if [Angelina] wants to become the kind of star who can open a movie on her own, then she has to be disciplined...It's probably in her contract, about taking care of herself.'

STAR WARS EPISODE 2 REQUESTS

Darth Catcher and Angel sent us these two requests about the shooting on the next indie production from a guy named Georges Lucas; so we count on Euro AICN readers to help if they can... and mainly if you're around the shooting this Summer, do not hesitate to send us your reports !!

* Hi...first of all, I want to congratulate you for your work, AICN wouldnt be what it is with its european division!! Well, I have something to ask you: As you surely know, this summer the filming of SWII starts, and some of it will take part in Italy...I know some will be in Caserta, but there are rumours that there will be an Italian cathedral used as a Sith Temple..well, the question/plead is: Could you please tell me/ find out when and where is this italian filming going to take place? Darth Catcher

* Is Spain an Episode II filming location or not???? I send you 2 texts from various times yesterday (as they appeared on the official Star Wars site): Version 1 (Wednesday morning) - According to Producer Rick McCallum, shooting at Fox Studios Australia should wrap around the end of August followed by a month of location shooting in Italy, Tunisia and Spain. Version 2 (Wednesday afternoon) - According to Producer Rick McCallum, shooting at Fox Studios Australia should wrap around the end of August followed by a month of location shooting in Italy and Tunisia. Do you know anything? Please let us know!

Greetings from Spain, Ángel

THE OZYMANDIAS CORNER

And who else than Ozymandias himself could conclude our 16th Euro AICN News ??

* Ireland Monday launched a ``film trail'' in a bid to capitalize on a movie boom in a country whose unspoiled countryside has long attracted film-makers and stars from all over the world. The trail, through scenic County Wicklow south of Dublin, takes walkers through locations featured in movies such as ''Michael Collins,'' ``Braveheart,'' ``Angela's Ashes,'' and ''Dancing at Lughnasa,'' Ireland's Millennium Committee said. County Wicklow, with its picturesque villages and dramatic mountains and moors, has long been a favorite with filmmakers. The village of Avoca is the home of the hit BBC drama series ''Ballykissangel'' and is now a tourist mecca. The first movie shot in the county was the 1916 black and white film ``Food for Love,'' the committee, which is sponsoring the trail project, said. British actress Jane Seymour took time out Monday from filming her latest movie ``Yesterday's Children'' to launch the trail. Seymour, best known in recent times for her portrayal of the lead character in the movie and television series ``Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman,'' is filming ``Yesterday's Children'' at Ardmore Studios at the coastal town of Bray, just south of Dublin. Seymour plays an American woman who discovers through hallucinations and flashbacks that she was Irish in a past life and sets out to trace her former existence. Ireland has seen a resurgence in film making, helped by favorable tax breaks and a government keen to accommodate moviemakers and stars.The trail will not include arguably the most famous film shot in Ireland -- Steven Spielberg's ``Saving Private Ryan,'' which was filmed chiefly on the coast of County Wexford, masquerading as the Normandy coast.

* This is the coolest site I've come across in ages (particularly if you are, like me, waiting with baited breath for Hannibal). The guy has put together a whole site devoted to Hannibal in Florence - pictures of locations the film was shot in, gossip about the shoot, maps of the city, screensavers and an entire "In the footsteps of Hannibal" virtual tour for the real freak!! Check it out at http://www.terraditoscana.com/hannibal/ukmain.htm

* Empire Online has a few shots from some of the early shooting on BRIDGET JONES DIARY (Renee Zellwegger, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth - based on the bestselling novel) at http://www.empireonline.co.uk/news/news.asp?2320. It has also been confirmed that Salman Rushdie will be in the movie playing himself (!)

* GANGSTER N°1 review by Ozy himself (note from Edgard : sorry for the delay of this review, some emailing problems forbid us to give you this last week).

I should first off point out that Gangster No. 1 is that most extraordinary of films - one that starts off shakily and gets better and better right to the last shot. I should also point out that my caveat for American Psycho applies here even more than it did there. Christian Bale's Patrick Bateman is not only not in the same league as this British Psycho - he's not even playing the same sport… The plot (told in flashback from Malcolm McDowell's modern day point of view) is relatively simple - boy meets gangster, boy joins gangster, boy blows all and sundry away for gangster, gangster meets moll, everything goes pear shaped. But plot surprises are not what Gangster No 1 is all about. It's weird but at the end it almost felt to me like the plot had been written in reverse. The last scene in McDowell's apartment plays almost like a short story or one act play and it's almost as if the rest of the story were written backwards to give it some substance. It's an unusual effect but one that proves to be interestingly effective. As for those on the screen, McDowell's 60's alter ego Paul Bettany is the most inspired piece of "younger version of an older character" casting I've ever seen. At one point there's a slow zoom in on him sitting on a couch in David Thewlis apartment and to all intents and purposes he IS Alex the droog from A Clockwork Orange. Some of the murder sequences later on only serve to hammer the resemblance home. Freaky, freaky, freaky… The rest of the cast perform with varying degrees of success: Saffron Burrows is stereotypical in a slightly written part, Malcolm McDowell is only really allowed to stretch his muscles late on but does it to menacing effect while David Thewlis is versatile and fascinating, but then there's nothing new in that. The real thing for me that set the movie above the norm was Paul McGuigan's direction, or at least parts of it. His handling of some of the more extreme sequences (particularly the one where Bettany dispatches Jamie Foreman's rival gang boss) is startling, almost poetic, yet shattering at the same time. I really do think he is one to watch for the future. I know, I know, the big question is "should I bother going to see it?" I think that overall the movie is well worth your while if gangster flicks light your fire (think one part Get Carter, one part The Krays and one part Goodfellas and you get the idea), and if you can stomach the (sometimes incredibly brutal) violence. And let's face it - at least it didn't have any members of All Saints in it.

* WHEN THE SKY FALLS review (still by Ozyman)

According to nationalgeographic.com there are no less than 22 Dublins around the world - 19 of which are in the United States alone. Hold on to that thought as I tell you all about When The Sky Falls… My major problem with the movie is a simple one - the story of Veronica Guerin's life, almost one woman journalistic crusade against organised crime and violent and brutal death is powerful and tragic enough by itself, so why not tell it straight up? In WTSF The General becomes The Commandant, The Sunday Indo the Sunday Globe and Guerin herself is portrayed as Sinead Hamilton - mild mannered reporter for a major metropolitan newspaper. It's the equivalent of a biopic of Chuck Hockey - the all powerful onetime leader of Finnia Fale and his passionate love affair with society columnist Jerry Keen set against the backdrop of his Machiavellian rule as Tea-shucks of Oireland! The problem with the fictionalisation of events, people and things we know so well from very recent history is that it only serves to constantly remind us that we're watching a movie - and a dumbed down one at that… All of the injured characters in the film are brought to "Dublin City Hospital", the lead cop is a grizzled looses cannon who lets fly insubordination at his superiors (Wow - I didn't see that one coming!) and lifelong hardened criminals, when questioned by Hamilton, spill their innermost thoughts like Bond villains under truth serum. Worse than that her sole motivation for her life threatening crusade against Ireland's Most Wanted is seen to stem from her seeing kids cooking up on a busy Dublin street corner (as you do most days when you're in town (!)) She proclaims that she wants to protect her young son from going the same way (despite the obviously posh neighborhood she lives in), then does a complete U-turn on the whole maternal instinct thing by bringing the tyke face to face with psychopathic IRA anti-drug vigilantes late at night in a darkened flat complex stairwell. Real logical. Not wanting to seem like too much of a moany chops When The Sky Falls does have its bright points - a likeable, convincing appearance (almost flawless accent and all!) from the always excellent Joan Allen and strong performances from the likes of Liam Cunningham, a criminally (if you'll pardon the pun) underused Pete Postlethwaite and Titanic's Jason Barry, making the most of the thin material dished out to them. I really do wish I could say the same about Patrick Bergin but he's dreadful here. His performance is as hammy as a leftover Xmas sandwich and twice as unpalletable. Sorry. I also am starting to get a pain in the backside with the way Dublin is portrayed in the movies these days. Much more of this and the rest of the world will think that we all live a life reminiscent of a scene in I Went Down, The General or Ordinary Decent Criminal. Where are the romantic comedies set in Dublin? The non-political thrillers? Kids flicks? Horror movies? Documentaries????? Anything!!!! Filmmakers are so often these days taking the lazy way out and taking one small aspect of Dublin, holding it up to us like a funhouse mirror and then claiming we look great in it! It's the equivalent of every movie set in Australia being about koala bears and in my humble opinion it's wearing a bit thin… Which brings me back to where I started - When The Sky Falls may be a perfectly acceptable fictional confection for the moviegoing public of Dublin - Byelarus, Dublin - North Carolina, or Dublin - Sierra Leone but for those of us in Dublin - Ireland who have been there, bought the flowers and signed the condolence book it serves only to give a "movie of the week" quality to one of the darkest moments and greatest shames in the history of our beloved home town.

Mail me at My Dublin Penthouse

Well that's it for this week folks ! Enjoy the last week of June... good luck for all the ones who are still studying (and probably taking exams); good luck for all the ones (like Darth Bond & I) who are stuck at work while it's sunny outside; and for the rest (not working, not studying)... well... damned I envy you ! Make sure and post your Euro-scoops to Our Paris Offices and we'll see to it right away.