Polish documentary films represented by KFF Sales & Promotion will be shown in January at five international film festivals in Europe and America, including Sundance Film Festival.

The audience of one of the most important international film events - Sundance Film Festival - on January 19th will have a chance to see a short documentary made by Monika Kotecka and Karolina Poryzała. "Volte" is a short story about irreversible changes that growing up brings.

Only two days later the Slamdance Festival, which was founded over 20 years ago by the filmmakers themselves as an alternative for Sundance, will present "Icon" by Wojciech Kasperski. A moving film about a psychiatric hospital in Siberian countryside, which won the Golden Hobby-Horse at the Krakow Film Festival, was invited to the Documentary Features competition. 15 films will compete for a title of the best Slamdance documentary, only 4 of them from Europe.

In the last week of January Marcin Borchardt's film about the uncanny family of Beksińskis will be shown for the first time in Italy and Scandinavia. " THE BEKSIŃSKIS. A Sound and Picture Album" is in the programme of the Trieste Film Festival, which this year will present a few more Polish productions: "Over the Limit" by Marta Prus, "Runners" by Łukasz Borowski and "The Prince and the Dybbuk" by Piotr Rosołowski and Elwira Niewiera. Swedish audience will have a chance to see Borchardt's documentary even three times during the Göteborg Film Festival.

On January 26th the MiradasDoc Festival will begin in Tenerife. The festival will present five Polish short documentaries: "One Two Zero" by Anna Pawluczuk, "Collection" by Marcin Polar, "Volte" by Monika Kotecka and Karolina Poryzała, "Dust" by Jakub Radej and "Between Us" by Maciej Miller.

 

 

Krakow, 31st January 2018 - This year, the Krakow Film Foundation Programme Council decided to honour the eminent director of documentary films, Sergei Loznitsa, with the Dragon of Dragon award in recognition of his exceptional contribution to the development of the international cinema. The 21st laureate of this prestigious award is at the same time the youngest winner of the award in history.

"Winning the Dragon of Dragons award at Krakow Film Festival is a great honour for me. My first documentary film, "Today We Are Going to Build a House," was awarded the Bronze Dragon here in 1996. Since that time, all my films have been very well received in Krakow, and I always visit this beautiful city with great pleasure, in order to present new films to the audience. The festival and the city have a special place in my heart. I cannot wait to come to Krakow in May!" Sergei Loznitsa did not hide his emotion.

The President of the Programme Council, the film critic and film theorist, Prof. Tadeusz Lubelski, gave three main reasons for the nomination: "First, the consistent, extremely original and fruitful explorations of the form. Loznitsa created his own style of documentary film, resulting from patience and distance to the world, based on long shots and brilliant soundtrack. Kracauer would have had an insoluble problem with his works, because this is the cinema of pure recording, at the same time completely created. And the end result tends to be worthy of the dramas by Beckett.

Secondly, Loznitsa as a film-maker is an inquisitive and unyielding explorer of Russia. He discovers the weight of its past (often bringing archival tapes to life), but also its unique, sometimes shocking present. To this aim serve him the explorations of the documentary film's form, though he often uses them also in feature films, such as the recent brilliant film "A Gentle Creature." Thirdly, this is a film-maker who is connected with our festival since the very beginnings of his artistic work, that is, for over twenty years. So we can almost view this director - born in Baranavichy, educated in Kiev, residing in Germany for many years – as a film-maker from Krakow."

The official award ceremony of the Dragon of Dragons will be held on May 29, 2018  at the 58th Krakow Film Festival in Krakow. In addition, in the programme of the Festival, within the frames of the retrospective, there will be many eminent works of the director, among others, his film "Victory Day" (“Den’ Pobedy”), finished just a couple of weeks before, which will have its Polish premiere in Krakow, there will also be held the traditional master class of the laureate.

 

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.

PRAGUE: The International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival One World is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a new Updating the system logo, a new visual identity and new sections. The festival will take place in Prague from 5 to 14 March 2018, subsequently moving on to 36 other towns throughout the Czech Republic.

 

European Film Forum

19/01: European Film Forum goes to Berlinale 2018 - European Commission

The first European Film Forum of this year will take place alongside Berlinale on 19 February 2018 and will focus on: The future of MEDIA: connecting Europeans through films.

Bulgarian Presidency

16/01: Prime Minister Boyko Borisov presented the priorities of the Bulgarian Presidency before the European Parliament - Bulgarian Presidency

“There are four priorities of our Presidency – the future of Europe and young people as our main priority, the European perspective and connectivity of the Western Balkans, a secure and stable Europe and digital economy and skills for the future, which has a direct and significant importance for the entire internal market” stated Mr. Borisov.

23/01: Three Bulgarian ministers present the Presidency priorities before the Culture and Education Committee of the European Parliament - Bulgarian Presidency

Young people in the focus of the Bulgarian Presidency – three Bulgarian ministers present the Presidency priorities before the Culture and Education Committee of the European Parliament.

Online Platforms

19/01: Fact Sheet: Countering illegal hate speech online - European Commission

The third evaluation of the Code of Conduct on countering illegal online hate speech carried out by NGOs and public bodies released last week shows that IT companies removed on average 70% of illegal hate speech notified to them.

DSM

18/01: Citizens' Dialogue in Ljubljana with Commissioner Mariya Gabriel - European Commission 

On 18 January 2018, Commissioner Mariya Gabriel participated in her very first Citizens' Dialogue at the Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Ljubljana. 

Infringement

22/01: Commission launches consultation on future "Counterfeit and Piracy watch-list" - European Commission

The aim is to identify the marketplaces outside the EU where counterfeiting, piracy or other forms of intellectual property abuse are common practice.

Creative Europe Media

23/01: New edition of the EU Film Contest - European Commission 

The Commission has launched the second edition of the EU Film Contest today. Participants can test how much they know about European films for a chance to experience the Cannes Film Festival and discover the European audiovisual industry at work.

Copyright

22/01: Copyright is the fuel that allows creators to keep working - The Parliament Magazine

Content creators face a grim reality within the digital single market, and it’s up to politicians to rectify the situation with fair copyright rules for all, says MEP Marc Joulaud.

22/01: EU copyright reform: Parliament must stand up on behalf of consumers - The Parliament Magazine 

Fixing the value gap without jeopardising citizens’ fundamental rights is the red line in the copyright debate, says MEP Lidia Geringer de Oedenberg.

25/01: Collective Rights Management: Commission refers Poland to the Court of Justice and closes eight cases - European Commission

The European Commission decided today to refer Poland to the Court of Justice of the EU for failure to notify complete transposition (partial non-transposition) of EU rules on collective management of copyright and related rights, and multi-territorial licensing of rights in musical works for online use into national law.

 European Parliament

 25/01: MEPs propose reducing number of seats in EU Parliament - The Parliament Magazine 

Parliament should shrink from 751 to 705 MEPs when the UK leaves the EU, to make room for EU-wide electoral lists, according to members of the constitutional affairs committee.

Data protection

24/01: Commission publishes guidance on upcoming new data protection rules - European Commission 

The Commission has published guidance to facilitate a direct and smooth application of the new data protection rules across the EU as of 25 May. The Commission also launched a new online tool dedicated to SMEs.

Events

19/02: EFF Berlin21/02: UNIC Conference at the European Parliament27-28/03: Digitising European Industry Stakeholder Forum 2018

11 – 14/06: CineEurope. Register here.

 

The Macedonian Film Agency announced the following production grants for feature, short, animation films and documentaries on 26 January 2018.  

 

BUCHAREST: Actor and theatre director George Ivașcu has been named the new Minister of Culture in Romania, as the Social Democratic Party (PSD) changed its third Prime-Minister since it won the parliamentary elections in November 2016.

TRIESTE: Arrhythmia by Boris Khlebnikov won the Trieste Award for Best Feature Film at the 29th Trieste Film Festival (19-28 January 2018).

 

Send your short to NexT International Film Festival. 
We are getting ready for our 12th edition and we're looking out for creative and innovative short films.

Our call is open for narrative films (animations included) not longer than 60 minutes, completed after January 2017. 

The submitted films will be taken in consideration for both the competition and off-competition programs. 

DEADLINE: February 15, 2018

NexT International Film Festival celebrates innovative and creative filmmaking from all around the world. The biggest short film festival in Romania, NexT aims to discover and support emerging international film talents by promoting their works locally, nationally and internationally.

The 12th edition of NexT IFF will take place in Bucharest from
June 20 to June 25, 2018.

For complete description and eligibility criteria, please see the rules and regulations.

Please note that starting this year submissions are subject to a 5.00 euro fee. Romanian films are exempt from the submission fee.

AWARDS

NexT Trophy - 2000 Euro

"Cristian Nemescu" Best Directing Award - 1000 Euro

"Andrei Toncu" Best Sound Design Award - 1000 Euro

Best Romanian Film - 1000 Euro

Foreign Film Audience Award

Romanian Film Audience Award

 

 

Portrait of Boris Khlebnikov // Symposium: Hybrid Identities – Baltic Cinema // Prague 1968 // Virtual Reality

goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film (taking place from 18 to 24 April 2018 in Wiesbaden, Germany) will set out in its 18th edition on a search for cinematic identity – in the past, present and future. While the goEast Symposium is poised to celebrate 100 years of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the special program Prague 1968 will look back 50 years to the events of the Prague Spring. This year’s goEast Portrait is devoted to Russian filmmaker Boris Khlebnikov, whose work has captured the feel of Putin-era Russia perhaps better than any other contemporary director. goEast will also once again offer young filmmakers numerous opportunities to present their work and develop new projects.
Hosted by Deutsches Filminstitut, goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film boasts a multifaceted program featuring film screenings, workshops, exhibitions and panel discussions. The festival is a favourite among local and trade audiences alike and is attended by guests from around the world. The following are some of this year’s most anticipated highlights:

Portrait: Boris Khlebnikov
goEast and Boris Khlebnikov go back a long way together. In 2004, Khlebnikov won the Golden Lilly for Best Film together with Alexey Popogrebsky for his feature film debut KOKTEBEL. Khlebnikov has long since established himself as a giant of contemporary Russian cinema, not only at goEast – he regularly appears as a guest at other international film festivals around the world as well. Full of quiet humour, Boris Khlebnikov’s films depict life in the backcountry, far removed from the decadence of the capital city. His characters are united by the constant struggle to overcome everyday life, which is often characterised by unemployment, alcoholism and trouble with the law. His protagonists’ humanity remains nonetheless clearly recognizable throughout. While the transitional chaos of the 1990s in Russia is still very palpable in his early works, in his more recent films bureaucracy reveals itself to be a growing obstacle. goEast screens SUMASSHEDSHAYA POMOSHCH (HELP GONE MAD, 2009) and ARITMIYA (ARRHYTHMIA, 2017) among others. Boris Khlebnikov has expressed his intention to attend the festival, accompanied by one of his long-time creative partners, actor Aleksander Yatsenko.

Symposium: Hybrid Identities – Baltic Cinema
goEast takes a look at 100 years of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The mile markers of this year’s goEast Symposium are represented by the declarations of independence of the years 1918 and 1990 – in between lie first German and then Soviet foreign occupation, authoritarian state regimes and struggles for freedom. Under the title “Hybrid Identities: Baltic Cinema” the Symposium invites attendees to take part in numerous lectures and discussions, for instance on the criticism of poetic realism and questions concerning power relationships and the search for national and cultural identity. A carefully curated film program accompanies the Symposium: among other things goEast will screen a unique restored 35mm copy of Uldis Brauns’ 235,000,000 (1967) as well as an exquisite selection of Estonian animated films from the world’s oldest animated film factory, Nukufilm Studios. Guests include Latvian filmmaker Laila Pakalniņa, Lithuania’s Audrius Stonys and Mait Laas from Estonia.
The Symposium is organised in collaboration with the national film institutes of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

Prague 1968 
50 years of the Prague Spring – high time for a cinematic reappraisal. For this year’s special program, a shift in perspective occupies the foreground: goEast will show works from the Czech New Wave, documentary films and even bring Soviet propaganda material to the big screen. The highlight is sure to be the world premiere of the extraordinary film project OCCUPATION 1968 (2017), realised by five directors from five different former Warsaw Pact nations, which shows occupied Prague from the viewpoint of the occupiers.
goEast is organising Prague 1968 in co-operation with Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung.

A Look to the Future 
As every year, in the scope of several festival sections goEast offers talented young filmmakers the opportunity to advance the cinema of tomorrow, make connections among themselves and within the industry and take part in numerous workshops. Just a little preview of things to come this year: for the first time goEast will be featuring works making use of virtual reality technology.

Please find more fotos in our download section: http://www.filmfestival-goeast.de/en/press/downloads.php

The full program for the 18th edition of goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film will be announced in early April.