Scholarships Available for CEE Professionals at European VoD Meetings - Venice Workshop
Region 26-07-2018VENICE: Professionals from EuroVoD Members and from European countries of low audiovisual production capacity will be given priority for the scholarships provided by the European VoD Meetings- Venice Workshop. The workshop will take place in Venice from 3 to 6 September 2018.
ZAGREB: A new feature film by Croatian director Danilo Šerbedžija, Teresa 33,wrapped shooting in Split on 22 July 2018.
ROME: The Serbian Documentary The Other Side of Everything by Mila Turajlić and feature films Styx by Wolfgang Fischer and Woman at War by Benedikt Erlingsson have been selected as the three finalists for the LUX Prize which will be awarded in Strasbourg on 14 November 2018.
The three finalists will travel the continent, before the award is given out at the European Parliament on 14 November
Today, at the Giornate degli Autori press conference, President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani, and Coordinator of the Committee on Culture and Education Silvia Costa, announced the three films in competition for the 2018 LUX Prize. Styx by Wolfgang Fischer (Germany/Austria), The Other Side of Everything by Mila Turajlić(Serbia/France/Qatar) and Woman at War by Benedikt Erlingsson (Iceland/France/Ukraine) have been chosen from the 10-title Official Selection (read the news here).
The three films – all of which coincidentally put female characters in the spotlight – and the topical themes that they address are a call to action in these difficult times. Styx is an odyssey of a solitary woman into the blue of the ocean, tackling the vital challenge of immigration and refugees. The Other Side of Everything marks the second time in LUX Prize history that a documentary features among the three finalists and is a tender portrayal of a woman, whose story tells the history of her country and Europe as a whole, from a tumultuous political past to the dangers of nationalism. While Woman at War is an energetic, environmental and feminist saga, a call for civil resistance to fight for and save nature from industrial greed and hegemony.
The announcement followed the screening at Casa del Cinema in Rome of last year’s LUX Prize winner, Sámi Bloodby Amanda Kernell. The film, which was also awarded the Audience Mention at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival recently (read the news here), was introduced to audiences by Silvia Costa.
The three films will become the core of the 2018 LUX Film Days in autumn and will be screened in more than 50 cities and festivals across 28 European countries. With each film subtitled in the 24 official languages of the European Union, every year an even wider audience will be able to discover these films and identify with the topics they address. This year’s LUX Film Days will again be organised by the European Parliament Liaison Offices, and thanks to the cooperation with Creative Europe, audiences throughout Europe can enjoy the unique cinematic events of simultaneous screenings: films will be screened in several theatres at the same time, connecting audiences via live interactive discussions with filmmakers.
The winning film, voted for by the Members of the European Parliament, will be further adapted for those with visual and hearing impairments. The winner – which will be voted for by members of the European Parliament and announced on 14 November in Strasbourg – will also receive promotional support during its international release.
Lastly, this year’s participants of the 28 Times Cinema initiative (read the news here) will be attending LUX Prize events during the Giornate degli Autori at Venice, taking part in workshops and debates, before becoming the LUX Ambassadors to present the 7th edition of the LUX Film Days in their respective countries.
WARSAW: FNE has teamed up with the Brussels based team of the International Union of Cinemas (UNIC) to bring you regular updates on EU cinema policies that impact all industry professionals across Europe. Click here for FNE UNIC EU Cinema Policy Update.
ŁODZ: The second edition of the ANIMARKT Stop Motion Forum is welcoming projects of animated short films and TV special episodes made with the use of puppet technique. The deadline for the applications is 31 July 2018.
2018 ODESA IFF SCRIPTEAST SERIES PITCHING AWARD GOES TO “FAMILY ARCHIVES” FROM CROATIA. SPECIAL AWARD FOR MAŁGORZATA PIŁACIŃSKA FROM POLAND
Press releases 23-07-2018The second edition of the Odesa IFF ScripTeast Series Pitching took place in Odesa on 17. - 20. July. It is a drama series competition organized by the Odesa International Film Festival Film Industry Office Team, powered by ScripTeast - a master training program for the best Eastern European scriptwriters, and supported by Star Media, the biggest international film company in Ukraine.
Six drama series projects from Eastern Europe with international potential were selected for participation:
FAMILY ARCHIVES by Marjan Alcevski, Andamion Murataj (Croatia)
HIDE AND SEEK by Oleksandr Protsiuk (Ukraine)
LOVE AND HATE by Ognen Georgievski (Macedonia)
PRISON HOSPITAL by Marcell Patkai (Hungary)
SMOKEY EYES by Małgorzata Piłacińska (Poland)
THE SQUARE by Volodymyr Tykhyy, Evgeniy Matvienko (Ukraine)
The selection of projects was in the hands of a committee headed by Lars Hermann, Executive Producer with Apple Tree Productions (Denmark), the OIFF, Star Media and ScripTeast teams.
Following pitching training by the renowned pitching tutor and producer Agathe Berman, the participating writers, directors and producers pitched their projects to a jury and public audience that included broadcasters, distributors and potential co-producers at the Odesa Film Studios.
The jury consisted of Laurence Herszberg, General Director of Series Mania (France), Vlad Ryashin, General Producer, Star Media (Ukraine), Meinolf Zurhorst, Head of Fiction, ZDF/ARTE (Germany), Klaus Zimmermann, Managing Partner, Dynamic Television (US/France/Germany), Brigitta Manthey, Advisor Film Funding, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg (Germany), and Dariusz Jablonski, President, ScripTeast/ Independent Film Foundation (Poland).
After due deliberation, the Jury awarded “Family Archives” from Croatia, written by Andamion Murataj (“The Forgiveness of Blood”, 2011 Silver Bear for Best Screenplay) and Marjan Alcevski (Danis Tanovic’s “Uspjeh”, in post-production) and produced by Zvonimir Munivrana of Zagreb’s Corvus Film. The award consists of a post-production service package in the amount of USD 20.000 provided by Star Media Company.
Laurence Herszberg – Forewoman of the jury says: “The jury was very impressed and pleased with the general quality of the projects and of the commitment to the continued increase in quality of original series developed in the region. The jury decided to give the award to “Family Archives” because it combines all the elements of a successful contemporary drama series: a very specific local story, a strong, modern female leading character and international potential.”
The jury further decided to give a Special Award funded by Series Mania - a personal invitation to participate in the 2019 Series Mania Writers‘ Campus. It went to Małgorzata Piłacińska, writer of the Polish project “Smoky Eyes”.
ScripTeast (www.scripteast.pl):
ScripTeast is a European master training program for the best Eastern European scriptwriters, organized by the Independent Film Foundation of Poland. Since 2006 altogether 137 scripts have been developed within the program and as of today 45 of them are in production or have already been produced and distributed, many to commercial and critical success.
Star Media (www.starmediafilm.com):
Star Media is an international company that specializes in the production and distribution of theatrical and television films, telenovelas and series, TV shows and docudramas, a leading provider of television programming in Ukraine and abroad.
Odesa International Film Festival (www.oiff.com.ua):
Support and development of Ukrainian cinematography inside the country and on the international stage, popularization of high-level intellectual films. Main professional platform that gather Ukrainian and foreign filmmakers. Exclusive film premieres, workshops of leading world filmmakers and unique festive atmosphere – all of this is brought together in the 9 days of the Odesa International Film Festival! The 9th Odesa International Film Festival is from 13 to 21 July 2018.
Series Mania Writers Campus (www.seriesmania.com/en/industry/series-mania-writers-campus)
Series Mania Writers Campus is a week-long writing workshop open to 20 European writers. It will take place in Lille in March 2019. The 20 selected writers will have the chance to be trained and mentored by experienced A-List writers (like Sarah Treem, Hagai Levi or Bryan Elsley) and to meet the key industry decision-makers during the Series Mania professional Forum. A unique opportunity to develop project and a network!
In 2018 A Sunday in the Country in Wrocław will take place during the 18th New Horizons IFF from July 29 till August 1st.
A collaboration of Wrocław's New Horizons IFF and the European Film Academy (EFA), the 7th edition of 'A Sunday in the Country' gathers ten young film critics from Europe for a retreat/workshop in the first weekend of the festival. The participants meet for 3 days in a remote country house near Wrocław (Zagórze Śląskie on Bystrzyckie Lake) where they get to know each other, watch films and discuss them, meet special guests (filmmakers brought by the New Horizons) and talk about issues such as: What's the responsibility, if there is one, of a critic towards (national) film productions? And towards the reader? What is the reality for film critics in different countries? They exchange their professional experiences and build international relations.
For the 7th edition of the exceptional retreat-get-together 10 participants have been selected from 9 different countries:
Austria (Britta Rotsch), Denmark (Maria Bjerregaard), France (Yael Hirsch), Germany (Stefanie Borowsky), Hungary (Andras Huszar), the Netherlands (Alexander Zwart), Romania (Irina Trocan) and Italy (Matteo Berardini) and including 2 Poles, winners of the Krzysztof Mętrak Contest for young film critics: Kornelia Sobczak i Diana Dąbrowska.
They participants will work and network under the guidance of the established critic from Sweden, Hynek Pallas, as well as co-ordinators of the New Horizons Association and EFA. They will meet established filmmakers-guests of the New Horizons FF, directors of the competition movies: Isabella Eklöf (Holiday), Valérie Massadian (Milla), Ewa Banaszkiewicz and Mateusz Dymek (My Friend the Polish Girl), and Damian Nenow, co-creator of animated movie Another Day of Life.
The event is supported by the Polish Film Institute, Austrian Cultural Forum, Danish Cultural Center, the Embassy of the Netherlands, Italian Cultural Institute, Hungarian Cultural Center, Institut Francais, Romanian Institute of Culture, Polish Cultural Institute in Berlin, Kulturbrauerei e.V. and organized in collaboration with Krzysztof Mętrak Award for young critics.
EU Copyright Directive
19/07: Authors urge MEPs to find a common line and adopt the Copyright Directive without further delay - FERA
The Authors’ Group mentions that ‘throwing the Directive away by postponing its adoption would be a failure to deliver any concrete improvement to the situation of European authors and be an appalling missed opportunity to strengthen the creative community and Europe’s cultural wealth in the digital era.’
Cult Committee
17/07: Draft CULT Report on the New European Agenda for Culture - European Parliament website
The rapporteur stresses, among other things, the need to protect creators in the digital landscape and to this end welcomes the proposal for the Copyright Directive. He calls on the European Commission and Member States to ensure that digital platforms that play an active role in distributing, promoting and monetising copyright protected content have a clear obligation to obtain licenses from right holders and to fairly remunerate artists, authors, news publishers, producers, journalists and creators for the digital use of their work.
Video Sharing Platforms
12/07: Video Sharing Platforms – who’s making the rules and how do they apply? – European Audiovisual Observatory
How does European legislation sheriff the wild wild west of content sharing platforms such as YouTube? And what of Facebook? How does European law define their role and responsibilities? High time for the European Audiovisual Observatory’s new report: The legal framework for video-sharing platforms.
Event:
12 September: European Parliament Plenary Vote - EU Copyright Directive
24-27 September: FNCF Congress 2018 - Deauville
26 & 27 September: EUIPO Plenary Meeting 2018 - Alicante
15 & 16 October: UNIC Cinema Days - Brussels
PULA: Mali, directed by Antonio Nuić, was awarded Grand Golden Arena for best festival film at the 65th Pula Film Festival, which wrapped on 22 July 2018.
