dok.incubator has just announced the final selection of talented filmmakers whose projects will be supported in 2018. dok.incubator is a well-established rough-cut stage workshop that is unique in its format and impact on filmmakers. Its aim each year is to offer individual mentorship for eight documentary projects with a focus on dramaturgy, distribution and marketing strategy and audience building in order to premiere at prestigious festivals and reach a wide distribution.

The teams behind the projects come from the whole world and their projects cover a wide range of topics and genres.

A rather intimate portrait Story of B., the disappearance of my mother (IT) by Italian filmmaker Beniamino Berrese, depicts the director’s own. An iconic model from the 1960s, she now wishes to withdraw into solitude and literally “disappear” from public.

Mercurius of Molenbeek (FI, BE, DE), a Finnish documentary by Reetta Huhtanen, follows a six-year-old boy in the world he’s created for himself in the shaken Molenbeek Muslim neighbourhood as he seeks something bigger than everyday reality.

From the remote mountains of Albania in Avenge (SI, XK), Marija Zidar tells a story of family pride, and of deep-rooted principles of revenge and forgiveness while fighting the omnipresent corruption and prevailing communist residues.

Stella van Voorst van Beest’s I will never leave you (NL) brings the study of Rotterdam’s municipality social project involving dozens of volunteers visiting elderly citizens, each trying in their solitude to find a way to live together in the ever changing urban environment.

César Jaimes’ Lapü (CO) from Colombia is an artistic portrayal of rituals concerning life and death in the Wayuu tradition, where dreams and everyday reality are inseparable and represent both sides of the documentary protagonists lives.

A Latvian project People From Nowhere (LV, DE, CZ, EE) by Gints Grube uncovers family history in a picture of a father and daughter emigrating during the Cold War to New York. It is a search for the truth, a portrayal of family values, and a confrontation with choices that will change their lives.

Searching Eva (DE) by Pia Hellenthal is the tale of a modern icon, growing up in the age of the internet and turning the search for oneself into a public spectacle. It is a hybrid of fiction and documentary, of offline and online, about a German young woman searching for her place in a modern world.

Petter Sommer’s team from Norway presents a portrait of The Mens’s Choir (NO), whose hard-boiled, beer thirsty members are confronted by life’s reversed face – their beloved conductor is diagnosed with cancer. Can they make it to their last ever concert together?

These eight projects have been selected out of 101 applications and they now have the opportunity to join ranks of the other successful documentaries which were developed at the dok.incubator workshop. Over the six years of dok.incubator, over one third of the films have been screened at IDFA, six have competed at Sundance, and many more have been at Visions du Reel, CPH:DOX, Hots Docs, and other similar festivals.

Find more information about the projects here.

EU Copyright Directive

12/04: Call to the European Council: Secure the aims of the Proposed Copyright Directive in the DSM - IFPI Website

IFPI and wide range of European creators, producers and performers urge no fudging of EU Value Gap fix.

EU Cultural Budget

09/04: Boosting the EU culture budget – A call from Europe’s cultural and creative sectors – IMPALA Website

On the 9^th of April, 66 organisations from across Europe’s cultural and creative sectors sent an open letter to the EU institutions urging them to give a significant boost to the EU budget dedicated to culture.

Copyright enforcement

10/04: Speech by Vice-President Andrus Ansip on copyright – European Commission

“Our copyright reform gives publishers and authors the means to negotiate better with digital platforms. Rights holders will be in a stronger and fairer position to negotiate and be paid when a platform puts their work online. The legal bargaining position of press publishers needs similar improvement and clarity” stated Vice-President Ansip.

/04: Recommendation on measures to effectively tackle illegal content online – EAO Newsletter

The present Recommendation constitutes additional measures and builds further on various voluntary initiatives already undertaken by hosting service providers in their fight against illegal content online, such as the EU Code of Conduct on countering illegal hate speech online.

Data Protection

/04: Guidance on the direct application of the General Data Protection Regulation – EAO Newsletter

In the light of the General Data Protection Regulation, which will become directly applicable on 25 May 2018 and will replace the Data Protection Directive (95/46/EC) and the Police Directive (2016/680/EU), the EU Commission issued a Communication aimed at guiding all relevant actors in their preparations vis-à-vis this new legal instrument.

Events

17, 18 & 19 April: EUIPO Working Group Meetings 17 April: SatCab Trilogue 26 April: AVMS Trilogue 3 May: AAPA/EUIPO - Enforcement Database and Online Digital Infringements 12 May: European Audiovisual Observatory Conference - Cannes 12 May: UNIC Cocktail - Cannes 13 May: Europa Cinemas Conference - Cannes 14 May: European Film Forum - Cannes 15 May: Creative Europe MEDIA Stakeholders' Meeting - Cannes 20-21 June: European Parliament Vote - Copyright Directive 

This year’s edition of goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film features a total of 102 productions from 35 countries. Festival director Heleen Gerritsen presented the full program on Thursday morning in the scope of a press conference at Wiesbaden’s Caligari Filmbühne, where she expressed her excitement regarding among other things the eight world premieres, one international premiere, one European premiere and 20 German premieres slated to take place at goEast. In addition, the festival will once again offer the rich accompanying program goEast attendees have come to cherish, featuring exhibitions, workshops, lectures, Q&As and of course the legendary goEast parties. “goEast is a project of the Deutsches Filminstitut, and it speaks to the heart of the organization. Our mission is to share important and challenging work, to foster the development of new voices in filmmaking, and honor those from the past”, stated Ellen Harrington, director of Deutsches Filminstitut.

This year’s competition once again consists of sixteen films which are all vying for the festival’s three main awards. “The selection committee received a lot of strong submissions from women,” commented Gerritsen. goEast was thus able to reach a 50 percent participation rate for female filmmakers with ease, according to the festival director. The large number of submissions treating the respective political situations in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe was also of particular note. “This often happens indirectly, in that subject matter from the past is taken up in order to mirror contemporary developments,” according to Gerritsen. “We simply can’t escape our past, even though some countries might attempt to alter their official national narratives.” Numerous filmmakers are confronting the uncomfortable chapters of their histories directly and searching for identity, though their films make use of a wide range of differing formal approaches in the pursuit of these aims: “Everything is represented here, from classic arthouse all the way to animated documentary cinema. Many of the filmmakers have also chosen to employ hybrid forms combining documentary, fiction and animated film”, explained Gerritsen.

All in all, around 200 filmmakers from Central and Eastern Europe will be in attendance at goEast. The Portrait section is devoting a retrospective to the work of Russian master director Boris Khlebnikov, while former Berlinale Shooting Star Mateusz Kościukiewicz, who is also a member of this year’s Competition jury, will be presenting the opening film, MUG, in which he plays the lead. In the scope of the special program Prague 1968, the five directors, main producer and four actors from the anthology film OCCUPATION 1968 will be on hand for a Q&A. The audience has the opportunity to enter into direct dialogue with the filmmakers of the Competition in a relaxed atmosphere in the scope of the “goEast Salon”, which convenes every evening at the Festival Centre.

State Secretary at the Hessen State Ministry of Higher Education, Research and the Arts Patrick Burghardt is looking forward in particular to the more political productions: “With its consistently high attendance figures and many international guests, the festival is a wonderful example of how cultural exchange between East and West can function in a modern fashion. The Hessen state government is delighted to be able to contribute to the success of the festival and thus simultaneously to promoting intercultural understanding among the countries of Europe with its annual funding in the amount of 115,000 euros.”

For Axel Imholz, Head of the Department of Cultural Affairs of the State Capital Wiesbaden, it is above all Wiesbaden’s history that connects many of its citizens to Eastern Europe. “goEast gives us deeper insight into developments in their societies”, as Imholz explained, noting that Wiesbaden can consider itself fortunate to host this festival treasure in the state capital. “This cinematic program is a testament to the organisers’ excellent knowledge of film history and development and is surely unique within the festival landscape”, added the Head of the Department of Cultural Affairs.

goEast also provides a platform for up-and-coming talents from the film industry. New here this year is the focus of the Open Frame Award, made possible with the support of BHF-BANK Foundation, which will feature virtual reality works for the first time in 2018 in the scope of the East-West Talent Lab. Eight 360° and VR works from Serbia, Poland, Belarus, Lithuania, Romania, Germany, Russia and Ukraine will be on display at Deutsches Filmmuseum from 10 to 16 April and at Museum Wiesbaden from 19 to 25 April. The exhibition opening will take place on Thursday, 19 April, with all artists in attendance. “Kulturfonds supports the idea behind the festival. On one hand, the festival offers an innovative program featuring both well-known and unknown filmmakers. And on the other hand there is the East-West Talent Lab, a comprehensive talent development program that connects 30 young artists from Central and Eastern Europe and Germany with one another and offers them the opportunity to present their project ideas to a renowned expert jury publically”, observed Dr. Helmut Müller, Managing Director of Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain, which supports the talent development program. The East-West Talent Lab fosters its participants’ professional and creative abilities. “As such, it serves to build bridges between different countries and diverse cultures”, according to Müller.

The 18th edition of goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film kicks off on 18 April. The festival will open with the Polish production MUG by director Małgorzata Szumowska.

Starting on Tuesday, April 17th at the Film and TV Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava is this intense event, which can pique the interest of viewers by offering not only big names of worldwide cinematography, classics and specialties of film but also an unmatched film festival atmosphere which is hard to replicate.

The 7th annual of Visegrad Film Forum for young filmmakers, students and film enthusiasts worldwide will offer an unusual audio-visual programme over the course of five days. This programme will be composed of lectures, film screenings and discussions with six renowned guests. It will set up a platform for collaborations of young filmmakers and it will support a mutual dialogue. This event also takes care of an informal evening programme composed of parties that can attract by offering a large scale of musical genres and performers.

For the fans of European classics 

Three Colors: Blue (1993) starring French actress Juliette Binoche will be the opening movie for this year´s Visegrad Film Forum. The first part of the trilogy inspired by the Great French Revolution, directed by a true legend of Polish cinematography Krzystof Kieślovski will be personally introduced by its DOP Slawomir Idziak. The renowned cinematographer will let the visitors in on the art of transforming a literary script into film form. He will comment on his experience with Hollywood production after the screening of the futuristic film Gattaca (1997), starring the young Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman and Jude Law. This artist Oscar-nominated for the movie Black Hawk Down (2001) has made several movies with the director Ridley Scott – for example Proof Of Life (2000) a King Arthur (2004) and even one movie of the popular wizard series Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix (2007).

For the sci-fi fans 

British editor Mick Audsley, known for his cooperation with the director of fantasy movies Terry Gilliam, will hold a lecture about how a movie is made in the editing room and about the hidden power of movie material. Characters of Brad Pitt and Bruce Willis will come alive in the apocalyptic world of Twelve Monkeys (1995) and there will be a following discussion about the movie. Audsley worked on movies such as Interview with the Vampire (1994), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) and Murder on the Orient Express (2017). He was also nominated for a BAFTA for the movie Dangerous Liaisons (1988) and won BAFTA for The Snapper (1993) directed by Stephen Frears.

For the blockbusters fans 

Icelandic art director and architect Eggert Ketilsson will talk about his work with Christopher Nolan and the meaning of production design and elements of mise en scene. This filmmaker’s portfolio is made out of blockbusters like Dunkirk (2017) with mupltiple nominations for Academy Awards, Batman Begins (2005) and Interstellar (2014). The list continues with Lara Croft Tomb Raider (2001), Thor: Dark World (2012) a Transformers: Last Knight, but also new Star Wars: The force awakens (2015) and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016).

For the fans of local cinematography 

Cinematography of Central Europe will be represented by well-known documentary director and music composer from Poland. Workshop about discovering the magic of reality and screening of short film section among which is one that was nominated for an Academy Award, will be held by one of the most admired filmmakers of Polish production Marcel Lozinski. Composer Antoni Komasa-Łazarkiewicz will host a workshop about shaping mood of the film scene. Young music composer can pride himself in working with an important contemporary director Agniezska Holland, with whom he collaborated on the Academy Award nominated film In darkness  (2011), co-produced Pokot (2017), or adaptation of Janosik – A True Story (2009) known especially among Slovak audience. During our event, he will introduce cinema version of the popular miniseries from HBO production Burning Bush (2013) and explain the creation of its soundtrack.

For the film noir fans and the ones which are looking for inspiration

Young French director Joan Chemla will talk about her journey from journalism to shooting her debut film If you saw his heart starring Mexican film star Gael García Bernal. Not only she fulfilled her dreams but she premiered her debut on prestige Toronto film festival. She will describe the production of her dark film noir melodrama and the follow-up presentations at the world known film festivals.

For the student talents fans

Visegrad Film Forum 2018 is renewing the concept of European film schools’ students meeting each other. Refreshing student films will be screened in unexpected pairings, which connect V4 countries with the rest of Europe.  Students will communicate the circumstances and terms in which the films were born during the discussion led by film theorists of Polish University in Lodz. Friendly encounters of future filmmakers can be seen in following blocks: Czech FAMU Prague a Slovenian UL AGRFT Ljubljana, Hungarian SZFE Budapest a Finnish OAMK Oulu, Polish WRiTv Katowice a Latvian  LMTA Vilnius and students from local FTF VŠMU Bratislava and film school from Bosnia and Herzegovina ASU Sarajevo.

For the night life fans 

Get to know genius loci of Bratislava’s night clubs and bars which will host five juicy music events throughout the five days. Tuesday will be haunted by retro rock’n’roll spirit in Kafé Scherz, Wednesday offers pop guilty pleasures and eclectic electronica in Bukowski Bar, and on Thursday in collaboration with Fjúžn festival we will introduce Argentinian band Colectivo Panamera along with Slovak Bad Karma Boy. On Friday we will continue with exploring New Cvernovka venue again with festival Fjúžn and DJs who mash up different tracks and various cultural influences. After the string of concerts and parties we will finish on Saturday at Subclub with mad techno beats from resident DJs of Berlin, Milan  and Serbian clubs. 

Visegrad Film Forum 2018

Date: April 17-21, 2018
Place: Bratislava, Slovak Republic
Venue: Film and TV Faculty VŠMU

web: http://www.visegradfilmforum.com

facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VisegradFilmForum

instagram: @vffbratislava #vff2018 #morethanyouexpect

Spot 2018 youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aszBejEzPH0