TOP 100 MOVIE SITES
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| A ‘French Chef’ Whose Appeal Doesn’t Translate Julia Child may have been America’s best-known “French chef,” but in Paris few know her fabled cookbooks, let alone her name. feeds.nytimes.com |
Putting It Together, and Filming It An 18-hour look at the choreographic process, inception to performance. feeds.nytimes.com |
Essay: Is Doomsday Coming? Perhaps, but Not in 2012 Scientists give many reasons not to worry about predictions based on the Mayan calendar that the world will end in three years. feeds.nytimes.com |
Movie Review | 'Ricky': Imagine Childproofing for a Winged Baby As François Ozon’s “Ricky” rubs its genres together, it creates a sense of discomfort. feeds.nytimes.com |
HandMade Films replaces chairman Another shock for investors at firm founded by Beatle George HarrisonIn a twist straight out of one of its own theatrical releases, HandMade Films today replaced its chairman after a mere two months amid deepening confusion over the finances of the company, which counts the Duchess of York among its content partners.Last week the Alternative Investment Market-listed film group, originally founded in 1978 by former Beatle George Harrison, requested that trading in its shares be suspended because of uncertainty over its financial position. The company refused to give any further details, but the news was a big shock to investors, because in November HandMade had successfully raised £17m to finance a new children's division, signing a deal with the Duchess of York to turn her storybook characters into TV stars.Yesterday HandMade, whose credits include hits such as The Long Good Friday, , Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and the controversial Monty Python film Life of Brian, announced that its chairman, Richard Northcott, was stepping down with immediate effect. Northcott, former boss of celebrity jeweller Theo Fennell, was brought in at the time of the company's fundraising in November last year.HandMade refused to comment on Northcott's abrupt departure, but he is being replaced by Robert Benton, who has a wealth of finance experience. He currently runs a media consultancy and is a former managing director of City stockbrokers Canaccord Adams, which is HandMade's financial adviser.Benton has experience of the media industry through his previous post as executive chairman of independent TV company Talent Group and is former chief executive of Ingenious Securities, the research arm of Ingenious Media, the investment house founded by Andrew Lloyd Webber's former right-hand man, Patrick McKenna.The boardroom coup is the latest twist in HandMade's troubled history, which has seen its shares suspended three times in as many years. They were suspended in 2008 because of delays in publishing its results as it changed accounting standards, and from June to October last year pending the announcement of the children's venture, the fundraising and the next set of annual results. Those showed losses falling to £990,000 in 2008 from £2.95m in 2007.Originally founded by Harrison to finance Life of Brian, HandMade was snapped up by Canada's Paragon Entertainment in the 1990s and then sold to Patrick Meehan, the former manager of Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath whose family remains its largest shareholder.Film industryMusic industryHelen MirrenGeorge HarrisonRichard Wrayguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |