Shirley MacLaine and Sam Neill to Appear at MIPTV

PARIS, April 1: Shirley
MacLaine and Sam Neill will attend this year’s MIPTV, expanding the
conference’s roster of international talent that also includes Miss World Zi
Lin Zhang, Tracy Ullman, Brian Conley and Uri Geller, among others.

MacLaine and Neill will appear
at an Alchemy Television media event on April 7 to help launch the company’s
slate of four mini-series to the international marketplace. MacLaine will
present the new mini-series Coco Chanel, in which she stars as the influential French designer. Neill will be
discussing his character in Iron Road. Also at the Alchemy event, Sir Derek Jacobi and Louise Rose will
present Diamonds and Bradley
Whitford will promote Burn Up.

Zhang, the new Miss World,
is representing the People's Republic of China and will be at MIPTV for Zeal
Entertainment, which distributes the Miss World Festival internationally.

Talent from several
U.K.-originated comedies will be on hand as well. Tracy Ullman is bringing her
new show State of the Union;
Sanjeev Bhaskar is showcasing the series Mumbai Calling; and comedian Brian Conley is hosting the
International Interactive Emmy Awards ceremony, which takes place on April 8.

On the Latin front, Carla
Peterson and Luciano Castro, the star couple from Dori Media Group’s Lalola, will be in Cannes to promote the Argentinean
telenovela. And from France, the artists of Sisterhood—
Théa Boswell, Charlotte Becquin,
Emmanuelle Boidron, Julia Cecilion and Pierre Deny—will be supporting the
sales efforts of their program.

Adding a metaphysical air
to the conference, mentalist Uri Geller is returning to promote his new show, Staya
Erusa: Find the Book of Knowledge,
as well as the Israeli production The Successor.

—By Ned Berke