Every year, the EFA People’s Choice Award allows film fans across Europe to elect their favourite film. When the European Film Academy invites its members, Europe’s greatest film stars, directors, actors and actresses, to attend the European Film Awards, the People’s Choice Award sheds a spotlight on the people films are made for: the audience. This year’s vote has started – vote now and win the chance to join winners and nominees for the awards ceremony in Seville!

RIGA: Veteran filmmaker Ivars Seleckis’s documentary To Be Continued has been selected as Latvia’s official entry for the US Academy Awards in the Foreign Language Film category.

Latvia has submitted a film by the classic documentary director Ivars Seleckis, To Be Continued, produced by Mistrus Media to compete for the US Academy Awards nomination in the category Best Foreign Language Film. This is Latvia's 11th foreign-language Oscar submission.

The selection for the upcoming Astra Film International Festival, which takes places for the 25th time in Sibiu from 15 to 21 October, is now online. The program includes 101 titles, of which 56 films will participate in 5 competition sections. A total of 11 documentaries will have their world premieres and 40 their national premieres during the Festival. The winners of the competition sections will be announced on Saturday, October 20th.

In 2018 Astra Film Festival Sibiu is celebrating 25 years of exploring and experiencing the human condition through the cinema of reality. Current complex themes and detailed portraits of culturally diverse contemporary societies will be brought to Sibiu audience’s attention through 101 selected films, all of such cinematic quality that transcend the attributes of the documentary film per se.

For 7 days, in 9 specially arranged venues in the city’s historic center, the public will have a wide choice of 101 best non-fiction films recently produced in Romania and around the world. The 2018 selection was made from a record number of over 3,000 submissions and includes 10 Romanian productions.

The non-fiction film competition will be held in 5 sections, as follows: International (with 9 selected films); Central and Eastern Europe (10 films); Romania (10 films); Short film (12 films); and Student (15 films). To these productions are added the 45 films presented outside the competition - within the thematic programs of the Festival, in the experiential setup (virtual reality and 360 degrees projections), as well as in Astra Film Junior, a festival-in-festival dedicated on training the next generation of moviegoers and documentary filmmakers, currently being at its 10th edition.

The 2018 Edition Program also includes conferences, panel discussions, master classes, networking with industry professionals, concerts, and Q&As with some of the filmmakers present in Sibiu.

"The 2018 film selection is relevant to the world we live in, where more and more daily events in the political and social sphere affect the very essence of our human condition and fewer manage to restore our faith in humanity. At a time when life really beats film, the selected productions bring novelty to the genre through both the variety and complexity of the subjects, and the stylistic approach’s creativity. Astra Film Festival celebrates 25 years of cinematic experiencing and exploring reality, in a space created for knowing and understanding the micro and macro human universe" said Dumitru Budrala, Founding Director of Astra Film Festival Sibiu.

Astra Film Festival Sibiu came into being in 1993 as a groundbreaking project in the Central and Eastern Europe. Its contribution to establishing a framework for the development of documentary cinema in the whole region, and in Romania in particular, has been consequential. It has constantly attracted industry’s attention to the art of non-fiction film by supporting the development of the genre and opening new horizons for the documentarists. Astra Film Festival 2018 is organized by Astra Film, CNM Astra and Astra Film Foundation, with the support of the County Council of Sibiu, the Ministry of Culture and National Identity, and the Romanian Film Center. The event is cofinanced by Sibiu City Council through the Sibiu City Hall.

Astra Film Festival Sibiu is held under the High Patronage of the President of Romania.

DEADLINE EXTENDED - CALL FOR PROJECTS!

The submission deadline for Baltic Event Co-Production Market, POWR Baltic Stories Exchange, and Script Pool Tallinn has been extended until September 10, 2018!

Baltic Event Co-Production Market (November 27-30), presenting the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award in the amount of 20 000 Euros, provides a perfect opportunity to find financiers, co-producers and sales agents for your project during an intensive two days of pre-arranged one-on-one meetings. Projects from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Russia, Georgia and Ukraine, plus projects from Italy, our 2018 Focus Country, are eligible for submission. Projects from other countries looking for co-production partners or service providers in these countries are also accepted. 

Proceed to online submission.

POWR Baltic Stories Exchange (November 26-30) trains writers to deliver a good pitch and find a producer at the public project presentation as well as get industry feedback through pre-arranged POWR Meetings with carefully selected Baltic Event participants. Six screenplays in the early stages of development from the Nordic and Baltic countries as well as Italy, BE Focus Country, will be selected. The workshop is organised by Baltic Event in collaboration with the region’s Creative Europe MEDIA Desks and TorinoFilmLab.

This year, POWR is partnering up with IN FOCUS, a Finnish initiative aimed at female filmmakers that provides an incubator to support four film- or TV projects to cross the bridge from script to production stage. The initiative is funded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation. IN FOCUS will pitch their projects in collaboration with POWR.

For submission, please find detailed information at the Project Entry section of our website.

Script Pool Tallinn (November 26-30) is a script development competition for feature films and TV series launched at Industry@Tallinn &; Baltic Event 2017, awarding a 5000 Euro prize by our partner Global Screen GmbH to one of the five writer-producer teams invited to Tallinn. 

Global Screen GmbH is a leading international sales & distribution company for theatrical films, TV programs and formats based in Munich, Germany. It is owned by Telepool, a vertically integrated media and licensing company with more than 50 years of experience in film distribution. Telepool has been acquired on June 26, 2018 by actor and producer Will Smith and director Marc Forster and is now owned by their respective companies The Smith Family Circle, Will and Jada Smith’s Family Office and Elysian Fields.

Proceed to online submission.

The call for Works in Progress is open until September 15.

Submit your feature length, short and interactive projects to the East Doc Platform 2019!

The East Doc Platform is the largest co-production, funding and distribution platform tailor-made for Central and East European documentaries. Every year, we connect 120 East European filmmakers to more than 100 key decision makers - producers, broadcasters, distributors and festival programmers from around the world.

Dates: March 9 – 15, 2019
Where: Prague, Czech Republic
Deadline for application: November 12, 2018

>>APPLICATION FORM

FEATURE-LENGTH PROJECTS are invited to the 18th edition of the East Doc Forum – the oldest and largest central pitch in the region will take place March 14 – 15, 2019. Transmedia and VR projects are presented at East Doc Interactive pitching, an integral part of the Forum.

Since 2001, more than 170 documentary films have been completed with the direct support of the East Doc Forum, including award-winning Over the Limit, When the War Comes, Sofia’s Last Ambulance, Ukrainian Sheriffs, The Russian Job, Domino Effect or Rabbit à la Berlin.

The East Doc Market offers the opportunity to meet with over 100 international funders, broadcasters, distributors, sales agents and festival representatives in the frame of pre-scheduled one-on-one meetings. Over the course of two days, more than 400 meetings take place.

SHORTS are invited to apply for the East Doc Shorts, which is a new short-form documentary pitching taking place at the East Doc Platform, focusing on providing networking opportunities for the creators of short docs.

The East Doc Platform is organized by the Institute of Documentary Film in association with One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival.

Find more information including the application form HERE.

We are looking forward to receiving your projects!

Contacts:
Zdeněk Blaha / East Doc Platform Manager: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Veronika Zýková / Public Relations: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

XIII Batumi International Art-house Film Festival will be held in Batumi during September 16-23 September, 2018, closed film submission on 5 August.  Festival organizer is “Batumi Art-house ARGANI”, official partner – Batumi City Hall.

BIAFF festival announces complete list of all competitions section films – Feature, Doc, shorts and its international Jury.

BIAFF 2018 Jury of Feature Films Competition Section will have five members:

• Sergei Rakhlin (USA) -  Head of Jury,  Chairman (Golden Globe)
• Bence Fliegauf (Hungary ) – filmmaker
• Oleg Negin (Russia )- scriptwriter
• Alin Tasciyan (Turkey) – Film critic
• Levan Tutberidze (Georgia) – Filmmaker

Additionally BIAFF will have Georgian Film Critics Jury for Feature Film Competition section

• Gogi Gvakharia (Georgia)
• Teo Khatiashvili (Georgia)
• Lela Ochiauri (Georgia)

BIAFF 2018 line-up of feature films competition section 

1. Dead Horse Nebula, Tarık Aktaş, Turkey, 2018; 73 min.
2. Donbas, Sergei Loznitsa, Germany/Ukraine/France/ Netherlands/Romania, 2018; 110 min.
3. Grain, Semih Kaplanoglu, Turkey/Germany/France/Sweden/ Qatar, 2017; 123 min.
4. Happy as lazzaro, Alice Rohrwacher, Italy/Switzerland/ France/| Germany, 2018; 122 min.
5. Horizon, Tinatin Kajrishvili, Georgia/Sweden, 2018; 105 min.
6. Jumpman, Ivan I. Tverdovskiy, Russia/Lithuania/Ireland/ France, 2018, 90 min.
7. Panic Attack, Paweł Maslona, Poland, 2018, 100min.
8. Ray and Liz, Richard Billingham, UK, 2018; 107 min.
9. Styx, Wolfgang Fischer, Germany / Austria, 2018; 90 min.
10. The Interpreter, Martin Sulik, Slovak Republic / Czech Republic / Austria 2018; 113 min

BIAFF 2018 Jury of Doc Films Competition Section have following members:

• Vitaly Mansky, (Latvia) – Head of Jury; filmmaker
• Ina Rossowa (Germany ) – Film Distribution
• Zaven Sargysian (Armenia) - Director of Farajanov Museum in Yerevan
• Sergei Lavrentiev (Russia) - Filmcritic
• Mariam Chachia (Georgia) – Filmmaker

BIAFF 2018 line-up of Doc films competition section:

1. Another Day in Life, Damian Nenow, Raúl de la Fuente, Poland/Spain/Germany/Belgium/ Hungary, 2018; 84 min.
2. Bridges of Time, Audrius Stonys, Latvia , 2018. 80 min.
3. Distant Constellation, Shevaun Mizrahi, USA/Turkey/Netherlands, 2017; 82 min.
4. Island of the Hungry Ghosts, Gabrielle Brady, Germany/UK/ Australia, 2018; 94 min.
5. Of Fathers and Sons, Talal Derki, Germany/Syria/Lebanon/Qatar, 2017; 99 min.
6. Over the Limit, Marta Prus, Poland/Germany/Finland, 2017; 54 min.
7. Shamanic Lessons for Beginners, Svetlana Statsenko, Russia, 2017; 81 min.
8. The Eyes of Orson Welles, Mark Cousins, UK, 2018, 115 min.

BIAFF 2018 Jury - Short Films Competition Section

• Nikoloz Khomeriki (Russia) – Head of Jury; Filmmaker
• Jale Arikan (Germany) – Actress
• Ketevan Devdariani (Georgia) – Scriptwriter

BIAFF 2018 - Short Film Competition Section Line-up

1. Eraser, David Pirtskhalava, Georgia, 2018; 18 min.
2. Night Duty Doctor, Grigol Janashia, Georgia, 2018; 22 min.
3. Paganos, Nikoloz Kobulava, Georgia, 2017; 10 min.
4. The Beginning of the End, Giorgi Kasrashvili, Georgia, 2018; 10 min.
5. 1943, Buba Gogiberidze, Germany, 2018; 20 min.
6. All that Creatures, Charles Williams, Australia, 2018; 13 min.
7. Are you volleyball, Mohammad Bakhshi, Iran, 2017; 15 min.
8. Backpack, Michalis Mathioudakis, Greece, 2018; 14 min.
9. Bagatelle, Denis Levin, USA, 2018; 30 min.
10. Bloeistraat11, Nienke Deutz, Belgium/Netherlands 2018; 9 min.
11. Bon Voyage, Sinisa Galic, Serbia, 2017; 16 min.
12. Cold Summer Night, Yash Sawant, India, 2018, 21 min.
13. Delivery, Yazan Al Ghazzawi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), 2018; 22 min.
14. Deportation, Arjun Talwar, Poland, 2018; 21 min.
15. Dia, Hamza Bangash, Pakistan/UK, 2018; 24 min
16. Footmark, Haydar Demirtas, Turkey, 2018; 20 min.
17. Mountain, Grégoire Verbeke, Albania, 2018; 15 min.
18. Must Love Kubrick, Alma Andreescu, Romania, 2018; 24 min.
19. My Silences, Benjamin Eyaga, Cameron, 2018; 24 min.
20. Quiet Street, Aleksandra Markova, Belarus, 2018, 28 min.
21. Superprize, Konstantin Chelidze, Russia, 2017, 15 min.
22. The Forest full of Rabbits, Nikolai Knackmuss, Germany, 2017; 20 min.
23. Tombe by Diana Kardumyan, Armenia, 2018; 19 min.
24. Umbra, Saaed Jafarian, Iran, 2018; 15 min.
25. Word, Igor Vysnevskyi, Ukraine, 2018; 30 min.

Festival Supporters– Ministry of Culture of Georgia,  Georgian National Film Center, Ministry of Culture of Ajara AR,   Tourism Department of Ajara AR, National Tourism Agency of Georgia,  British Council, Goethe Institute Georgia, Embassy of Italy, A.Mickiewicz Institute

Festival Sponsors – Hotel Wyndham Batumi, Cinema APOLLO, Hotel “Holland Hoek”, Hotel “Rcheuli”, Hotel “Mardi Plaza”, HQ propaganda,  Tour Company “Wonderland”, Batumi Auto transport, Café “Gardens”