|
Zenith Entertainment
Zenith Productions (later Zenith Entertainment) was a British independent film and television production company. Zenith created content for the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky and UKTV, including a number of series such as ''Inspector Morse'' for ITV and ''Byker Grove'' and ''Hamish Macbeth'' for the BBC. Through its subsidiary Blaze Television, Zenith produced the Saturday morning series ''SMTV Live'' and '' CD:UK'' for ITV featuring Ant & Dec. The company ceased trading in 2006. Jason DeansEnd of the line for Zenith? ''The Guardian'', 30 August 2006 Jason DeansZenith goes into administration ''The Guardian'', 30 August 2006 History Zenith was established in 1984 as a subsidiary of Central Television, the holder of the ITV Midlands broadcast franchise. The company was headed by Charles Denton, formerly the controller of programmes at Central's predecessor, ATV. The company was initially designed to target the American market, and the company initially ran in the similar fashion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Production Company
A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and video. These groups consist of technical staff to produce the media, and are often incorporated as a commercial publisher. Generally the term refers to all individuals responsible for the technical aspects of creating a particular product, regardless of where in the process their expertise is required, or how long they are involved in the project. For example, in a theatrical performance, the production team has not only the running crew, but also the theatrical producer, designers and theatrical direction. Tasks and functions The production company may be directly responsible for fundraising the production or may accomplish this through a parent company, partner, or private investor. It handles budgeting, scheduling, scripting, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Hit (1984 Film)
''The Hit'' is a 1984 British road crime film directed by Stephen Frears and starring John Hurt, Terence Stamp, Laura del Sol and Tim Roth. It was Stamp's first starring role in over a decade, and Roth won an Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Newcomer. The title music is provided by Eric Clapton and Roger Waters. Spanish flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia performed the soundtrack music. The film was released by The Criterion Collection on DVD in April 2009 and on Blu-ray in October 2020. Plot London gangster Willie Parker gives evidence against his criminal compatriots in return for a very generous offer from the police. Ten years later, Parker is living in comfortable retirement in Spain. Four Spanish youths kidnap him and deliver him to British hit man Braddock and his sidekick Myron, hired by the kingpin that Parker helped put away. In the course of the kidnapping the youths run down a Spanish policeman who has been assigned to guard Parker. Three of the youths are t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wayne Wang
Wayne Wang (; born January 12, 1949) is a Hong Kong Americans, Hong Kong–American Film director, director, Film producer, producer, and screenwriter. Considered a pioneer of Asian-American cinema, he was one of the first Chinese Americans, Chinese-American filmmakers to gain a major foothold in Hollywood. His films, often independent film, independently produced, deal with issues of contemporary Asian-American culture and domestic life. His best known works include ''Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart'' (1985), ''Eat a Bowl of Tea (film), Eat a Bowl of Tea'' (1989), the Amy Tan literary adaptation ''The Joy Luck Club (film), The Joy Luck Club'' (1993), ''Chinese Box'' (1997), and ''A Thousand Years of Good Prayers'' (2007). Other films include the Harvey Keitel and William Hurt–starring comedy ''Smoke (film), Smoke'' (1995), the family film ''Because of Winn-Dixie (film), Because of Winn-Dixie'' (2005), the romantic comedies ''Maid in Manhattan'' (2002) and ''Last Holiday ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slam Dance (film)
''Slam Dance'' is a 1987 neo-noir thriller directed by Wayne Wang and starring Tom Hulce, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Virginia Madsen and Harry Dean Stanton. It was screened out of competition at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival. Plot A married cartoonist named C. C. Drood becomes involved in the cover up of a political sex scandal after his lover, Yolanda Caldwell, a call girl, is found murdered. Drood has betrayed his wife Helen with the exotic Yolanda, whom he meets at a club where the patrons slam dance, violently crashing into one another on the dance floor. Bobby Nye, a former lesbian lover of Yolanda's, hires a hit man named Buddy to do away with Drood, who is also hotly pursued by the police. Drood ultimately comes to believe that Bobby and Buddy are the ones responsible for Yolanda's death. A corrupt cop, Gilbert, is doing everything in his power to pin the whole thing on Drood, but a police colleague, Smiley, intervenes on the wanted man's behalf. Buddy is eventuall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Dead (1987 Film)
''The Dead'' is a 1987 drama film directed by John Huston, written by his son Tony Huston, and starring his daughter Anjelica Huston. It is an adaptation of the short story of the same name by James Joyce, which was first published in 1914 as the last story in ''Dubliners''. An international co-production between the United Kingdom, the United States, and West Germany, the film was Huston's last as director, and it was released several months after his death. The film takes place in Dublin in 1904 at an Epiphany party hosted by two sisters and their niece. The story focuses on the academic Gabriel Conroy (Donal McCann) and his discovery of his wife Gretta's (Anjelica Huston) memories of a deceased lover. The ensemble cast also includes Helena Carroll, Cathleen Delany, Dan O'Herlihy, Marie Kean, Donal Donnelly, Seán McClory, Frank Patterson, and Colm Meaney. At the 60th Academy Awards, Tony Huston was nominated for the award for Best Adapted Screenplay and Dorothy Jeakins was n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Joyce
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of the 20th century. Joyce's novel ''Ulysses'' (1922) is a landmark in which the episodes of Homer's ''Odyssey'' are paralleled in a variety of literary styles, particularly stream of consciousness. Other well-known works are the short-story collection ''Dubliners'' (1914), and the novels ''A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'' (1916) and ''Finnegans Wake'' (1939). His other writings include three books of poetry, a play, letters, and occasional journalism. Joyce was born in Dublin into a middle-class family. He attended the Jesuit Clongowes Wood College in County Kildare, then, briefly, the Christian Brothers-run O'Connell School. Despite the chaotic family life imposed by his father's unpredictable finances, he excelled at the Jesuit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Gathering Of Old Men (film)
''A Gathering of Old Men'' is a 1987 American-German television drama film directed by Volker Schlöndorff and based on the novel of the same name. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival. The film was released as television film in the US. For his performance actor Louis Gossett Jr. was nominated at the Emmy Awards for "Outstanding lead actor in a miniseries or a special". Plot A bigoted white farmer is shot in self-defense on a Louisiana sugarcane plantation. A group of old black men come forward en masse to take responsibility for the killing. As the sheriff confronts the suspects, the young plantation owner stands firm in her defense of the old men. Cast * Louis Gossett Jr. as Mathu * Richard Widmark as Sheriff Mapes * Holly Hunter as Candy Marshall * Joe Seneca as Clatoo * Will Patton as Lou Dimes * Woody Strode as Yank * Tiger Haynes as Booker * Papa John Creach as Jacob * Julius Harris as Coot * Rosanna Carter as Beulah * Walte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Escape From Sobibor
''Escape from Sobibor'' is a 1987 British television film which aired on ITV and CBS. It is the story of the mass escape from the Nazi extermination camp at Sobibor, the most successful uprising by Jewish prisoners of German extermination camps (uprisings also took place at Auschwitz-Birkenau and Treblinka). The film was directed by Jack Gold and shot in Avala, Yugoslavia (now Serbia). The full 176-minute version shown in the UKRunning to 169 minutes with PAL speed-up. on 10 May 1987 was pre-empted by a 143-minute version shown in the United States on 12 April 1987. The script, by Reginald Rose, was based on Richard Rashke's 1983 book of the same name, along with a manuscript by Thomas Blatt, "From the Ashes of Sobibor", and a book by Stanisław Szmajzner, ''Inferno in Sobibor''. Alan Arkin, Joanna Pacuła, and Rutger Hauer were the primary stars of the film. The film received a Golden Globe Award for Best Miniseries or Television Film and Hauer received a Golden Globe Awar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wish You Were Here (1987 Film)
''Wish You Were Here'' is a 1987 British comedy-drama film written and directed by David Leland and starring Emily Lloyd, Tom Bell, Geoffrey Hutchings, and Jesse Birdsall. The film follows a girl's coming-of-age in a small coastal town in postwar England. It is loosely based on the formative years of British madam Cynthia Payne. The original music score was composed by Stanley Myers. The film received acclaim from critics, winning the International Federation of Film Critics prize at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival, a BAFTA award for Best Screenplay for director Leland, and the Best Actress Award for Lloyd from the National Society of Film Critics. Plot In the early 1950s, sixteen-year-old Lynda Mansell lives in a small English seaside town with her widowed father Hubert and younger sister, Margaret. Feisty, outspoken, and precocious, Lynda likes to shock other people with her histrionic behavior (such as bicycling at the boardwalk with her skirt hiked up, inviting young men to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prick Up Your Ears
''Prick Up Your Ears'' is a 1987 British film, directed by Stephen Frears, about the playwright Joe Orton and his lover Kenneth Halliwell. The screenplay was written by Alan Bennett, based on the 1978 biography by John Lahr. The film stars Gary Oldman as Orton, Alfred Molina as Halliwell, Wallace Shawn as Lahr, and Vanessa Redgrave as Peggy Ramsay. Plot Islington, 9 August 1967. Literary agent Peggy Ramsay knocks on the door of playwright Joe Orton and his lover Kenneth Halliwell, but nobody opens. She calls the police. They find the corpses of the two men. A decade later theatre critic John Lahr visits Peggy Ramsey because he wants to write Orton's biography. They find Orton's diaries, and Peggy tells Lahr about Orton's life. Orton and Halliwell's relationship began at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. Orton started out as the uneducated youth to Halliwell's older faux-sophisticate. As the relationship progressed, however, Orton grew increasingly confident in his talent whil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy The Kid And The Green Baize Vampire
''Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire'' is a 1985 British independent musical fantasy horror comedy-drama sports film starring Phil Daniels and Alun Armstrong. The film was directed by Alan Clarke and written by Trevor Preston. The BFI has described it as "undoubtedly the only vampire snooker musical in cinema history". The film is loosely based on the rivalry between the snooker players Ray Reardon and Jimmy White Plot Billy the Kid is a young, up-and-coming snooker player. His manager, T.O. (The One), a compulsive gambler, falls into debt with psychopathic loanshark the Wednesday Man, who offers to cancel T.O's debt if he can arrange a 17-frame grudge snooker match between Billy and the reigning world champion Maxwell Randall (popularly known as the Green Baize Vampire). To ensure that both players will agree to the match, T.O hires a journalist, Miss Sullivan, to stir up trouble between them. She interviews Billy and the Vampire separately, asks them leading questions ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Personal Services
''Personal Services'' is a 1987 British comedy film directed by Terry Jones and written by David Leland, about the rise of a madam of a suburban brothel which caters to older men. The story is inspired by the real experiences of Cynthia Payne, the "House of Cyn" madam. Plot Christine Painter is a sexually naive waitress and single mother who pays for her teenage son David's tuition by renting London flats to call girls. When a landlord confronts her for illegally subletting the flats and falling behind on the rent, Christine gives him a handjob in lieu of rent. After one of her "tenants", Rose, refuses to pay rent, Christine realizes she can do sex work herself in the flat Rose abandons. Christine is charged with soliciting and pleads guilty in court. Soon she hatches a scheme with fellow sex worker Shirley to provide strictly kinky services such as bondage and fetish roleplay to an upscale clientele. They rent a suburban house where they are joined by their "maid" Dolly. Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
