We would like to invite all filmmakers and producers to submit their documentary projects in any stage of development to the EAST DOC PLATFORM, the largest meeting place for the international documentary industry in the Central and Eastern European region. For the first time, documentary shorts are welcome, too.

 

On Saturday, 16th of September, the winners of the Riga International Film Festival (RIGA IFF) were announced. The ceremony took place just outside the legendary cinema house Splendid Palace. The event was live-streamed on LSM.lv – the public broadcasting site of Latvia as well as for the first time in this country – a 360-degree live video was made possible.

The RIGA IFF FEATURE FILM COMPETITION comprises films from the Baltic Sea region. The award is an eight-part sculpture that the festival has developed in cooperation with artist Ervins Broks that interprets the festivals symbol and also that of Riga city – a rooster. The award along with a 2000€ reward made possible with the festivals partner in insurance – BALTA – went to the film “November” that is based on a novel by Andrus Kivirehk and directed by Rainer Sarnet, also – Estonia’s submission for the Best Foreign Language Film category at The Oscars 2017. According to the international jury the film is “a cinematic gem which creates a visually exceptional and mesmerizingly mysterious tragicomic black-and-white universe, washing away the borders between life and death, real and unreal in order to tell a story about pure love and inescapable sacrifice. Through humorous otherworldly approach to the past, film shapes an imaginary history, reminding audience – there is a transcendental side of everyday life”.

A video sent to the festival by the director on Saturday night: https://youtu.be/_4b0cGhB9jQ   

Ole Giaever’s “From the Balcony”, a Norwegian film, earned the jury’s Special Mention. This is the director’s second feature film competing at the festival – following “Out of Nature” in 2015. The international jury’s statement: “An intimate portrait of a family before the background of perishability; to a film that tells us about the magic of small moments, the importance of enjoying the presence and the universal scale of every person's life.”

Ole also sent a video when he got to know of his feat: https://youtu.be/DIi1yI4hbh8

This year, the RIGA IFF jury members were: Timo Malmi, the artistic director of Midnight Sun Film Festival in Finnish Lapland, Bernd Buder, programme director of the Film Festival Cottbus, Dovilė Butnoriūtė, head of the Department of Film Promotion, Information and Heritage at the Lithuanian Film Centre, Lenka Tyrpáková, representing the Programme Department of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, and Dāvis Sīmanis,Latvian filmmaker and associate professor at the Latvian Academy of Culture, whose “Exiled” earned him the main award of the RIGA IFF in 2016.

The members of the festival’s Youth Jury this year were: Linda Elīna Austruma, Roberts Pavlovskis, Ieva Augstkalna, Rita Buša, Kristiāna Tabiņa, Kristians Fukss, Elīza Elizabete Bicāne, and Petra Alma Peta.

The RIGA IFF Youth Jury also announced their picks on Saturday, granting another award –  #YOUTH_MATTERS! award to “November”. They stated that  it is “a film that is a blend between tradition and modernism with a distinct artistic expression.”

The Youth Jury also took the festival by surprise by adding a Special Mention which went to Krista Burāne’s documentary about the Latvian set designer Andris Freibergs – “The Fairytale of Empty Space”: “A film that opened our eyes and started a new page in Latvian cinema.”

On behalf of the cinema house, Vineta Verika, the Chairwoman of the Board of “Rīgas Nami”, took the stage to announce the Splendid Palace People's Choice Award. Once again, “November” took the crown with its third award of the festival.

The curator of the festival’s world documentary programme ARTDOCFEST/RIGA and the president of Artdocfest, Vitaly Mansky announced his programme’s Audience Award. This year’s winning documentary was Audrius Stonys’ “Woman and the Glacier”, and the honourable mention for the best producer’s work went to Stanislav Ershov, producer of “The Last Waltz”. 

The main award of the international competition within the framework of the festivals short film, experimental cinema and music video programme SHORT RIGA was presented to Itonje Søimer Guttormsen’s “Retreat”. The international jury stated that “as a sensitive and poetic portrait we experience the search of a young woman between her everyday life pursuing her artistic ideals, being not only a personal story of an artist but also an investigation into the appreciation and meaning of art in our contemporary society.”

The jury’s Special Mention was granted to Maja Borg’s film “Man”: “Using the artist’s own pregnancy to subvert iconic imagery, this film shows how representations of gender can be liberated from their original meaning in order to be inhabited by personal identity. By adding and removing layers to these images and to her own body, an Otherness that looks back into the eye of the viewer is revealed, confronting the traditional male gaze without confining itself into a binary approach on gender.”

The members of the SHORT RIGA International Jury were: Antra Gaile, Latvian producer, Christian Stark, selection committee member ofthe Winterthur International Short Film Festival, Dan Angelescu, festival coordinator and associate curator of the Bucharest International Experimental Film Festival BIEFF, Reinhard W. Wolf, member of the Selection Committee at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen,alongside with Swedish artist Juanna Rytel and Latvian artist Maija Kurševa.

SHORT RIGA Baltic Music Video Competition or simply the #BMV was won by Maria Reinup who had made the music video for the song “Oh no” for the band Elephants from Neptune. The International Jury’s states that it is “a work of art which works on many levels. It is fun and entertaining. It bonds with the song very well and its creative team put a lot of work into it. It presents a new wave in Baltic music scene where guys can rock out wearing high heels.”

The Special Mention went to the festival’s perennial guest and last year’s judge Saulius Baradinskas for the music video to “No Regrets” by Deeper Upper: “A music video that effortlessly succeeded in presenting a world we didn’t know existed. A world of rebellion, destruction and the battle for love”.

The #BMV Jury members were Kamil Horodecki, head of Music Video at Camerimage, the IFF of the Art of Cinematography in Poland, Liisa Lahtmets, programme and marketing manager in Tallinn’s Kultuuriklubi Kelm, Karolis Vyšniauskas, co-founder of Lithuanian music video competition at Vilnius Film Festival Kino Pavasaris, Latvian director Uģis Olte, and Nadja Sayej,Berlin-based Canadian journalist covering art, culture, music and celebrities for The Guardian, VICE, Harper’s Bazaar and The New York Times.

The RIGA IFF Children's Jury gave the KIDS WEEKEND prize to the film “Room 213” – although director Emelie Lindblom was unable to arrive to the ceremony, Evija Goluba, the representative of the Swedish Embassy in Riga, promised to deliver the award to her. This year’s Children's Jury members were: Aleksis Avots, Alisone Mae Brīniņa, Sofija Derringa, Kristiāns Freibergs, Orests Knite, Iļja Potapovs, Marians and Tomass Zandersons.

RIGA IFF is supported by the EU programme “Creative Europe – MEDIA”, the National Film Centre of Latvia, the Riga City Council, and the State Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia.

The 360-degree footage from the award ceremony is available on the festival’s Facebook Page www.facebook.com/RigaIFF. For the LSM video recording, please visit the website www.lsm.lv  

Photos from RIGA IFF AWARDS 2017:

By Andrejs Strokins: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B-FdjFmI_jltaVdlR1AxMDhnRmc?usp=sharing

By Baiba Ralle: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-FdjFmI_jltS09hekFEY1BQRkk

Trailers:

"November": https://youtu.be/6vxDnRGN120

"From the balcony": https://youtu.be/43KiBrLSAnQ

"Woman and the glacier": https://youtu.be/frBw2MGAr8c

 

 

Filmmakers from around the world are invited to submit their documentary projects on every aspects of life above the Arctic Circle for the next edition of NORTH PITCH — Below Zero. Selected projects will be pitched to a panel of international decision makers and compete for The Arctic Documentary Award and The Below Zero Award. The deadline for submitting projects is 27 November 2017.

NORTH PITCH — Below Zero is an international pitching session for documentary projects focusing on life above the Arctic Circle.  It takes place on 17 - 20 January 2018 in Tromsø, Norway. At the session a wide range of documentary projects on all subjects related to this matter will be pitched. These can be projects focusing on culture, environment, resources, politics, climate changes and indigenous peoples as well as general human stories. 

The projects selected for NORTH PITCH — Below Zero will be competing for 2 awards. The Arctic Documentary Award, NOK 40.000, is granted to the project which has the best political, environmental or cultural relevance to the Arctic and has an international potential for financing and distribution. The Below Zero Award, NOK 10.000, is given for the most innovative project. Kulturnæringsstiftelsen SNN is funding both awards. 

Filmmakers from all over the world are welcome to submit projects for Below ZERO. Stories with a broad international market appeal are preferred. From the submitted project proposals a maximum of 12 projects will be selected for participation. The working language will be English.

NORTH PITCH - Below Zero consists of a producers-meet-producers set up, a 2-day workshop and will conclude with a pitching session, where the selected projects are pitched to a panel of international financiers and experts. An essential part of NORTH PITCH — Below Zero is the pre-pitch workshop, where the selected projects will be developed under guidance from experienced international experts from the documentary business.

For more details and the submission guidelines, please visit:
http://edn.network/activities/edn-activities-2018/below-zero-2018/

 Background on NORTH PITCH - Below ZERO

The NORTH PITCH - Below Zero event was initiated in 2009 in order to bring together filmmakers, producers, financiers and organizations whose common interest is documentaries thematically rooted in the Northern Polar region. Building on the success of the first eight editions of NORTH PITCH - Below Zero, this ninth edition will further strengthen and develop the international network for documentaries made around or focusing on the Arctic region. NORTH PITCH - Below Zero is set in Tromsø, Northern Norway, during the last days of the polar night.

About EDN

European Documentary Network is a global network for professionals working with documentary film and TV. Around 1000 members from more than 60 countries have joined EDN. The organisation is open for both newcomers and established filmmakers from around the world. EDN provides documentary consulting and informs about possibilities for funding, financing, development, co-production, distribution and collaboration across borders. This is done via individual consultancy to members on documentary projects, activities like workshops, seminars and conferences as well as through the EDN Financing Guide and the EDN Co-production Guide, two indispensable resource publications provided by EDN. More info: http://edn.network.

 

 

Astra Film Festival, taking place between the 16th and 22nd of October 2017, is the main screening platform and a catalyst for the latest documentary film productions in Romania. The selection of Romanian documentaries within the 2017 AFF programme is divided into 3 competitive sections: Romania, Student, Shorts. 

The fellowship of filmmakers, or the Romanian documentary filmmakers invite you in Sibiu to a broad professional programme: DocumentaryTank@AFF (19th -21st of October), a platform dedicated to the film industry that will bring local and European filmmakers to Sibiu for 3 days of networking, masterclass sessions and presentations about the new trends in the documentary film production and distribution. Romanian Docs in Progress (21st of October) is also part of this programme, where the authors of 16 ongoing documentary film projects will be there to meet the representatives of the European industry. 6 Romanian directors will present their ongoing documentary film projects before a jury, the local audience and international professionals. The winning teams will receive post-production awards and other forms of support in order to complete their documentaries.

“The fact that a Romanian documentary film project which developed last year within the “Romanian Docs in Progress” programme is selected in the competition proves that this programme has a favorable effect on the expansion of a documentary film industry in Romania. Furthermore, the film will have the world premiere at Astra Film Festival, marking a turning point in the festival phenomenon in Romania” - stated Dumitru Budrala, the director of AFF.

The camera of documentary filmmakers analyzes Romania, questions its past and reveals unexplored issues. In 2017, Romania is a world leader in the video chat and cybersex market, making a profit of over 100 million euros. Numbers speak of the scale of this type of job: the business thrives in 3,000 studios, where 100,000 young women attracted by a big income offer their services. In its first run, Phoenixxx (Mihai Gavril Dragolea), a poignant and open documentary, introduces us to the world of two young women and their lives outside video chat, with their daily routines, family environment and the prospects for the future.

Documentary filmmakers have taught us how to see and re-discover a different facet of what we thought we knew, by changing our point of view and selection. Filmmaker Radu Jude in The Dead Nation, a stinging film through its minimalistic depth, made of purposely tame archive images, illustrates fragments of a Jewish doctor’s journal, describing the Romanians’ anti-Semitic actions between 1930 and 1940, and strikes a deep chord by reviewing the national myth of Romanians not being anti-Semitic. Guided by the prospects of self-taught massage therapists of the resort, we discover the micro-universe of Baile Herculane falling into a perpetual post-communist decline (I am Hercules, Marius Iacob), or the coal-mining town of Petrila, seen through the eyes of remarkable locals and illustrating the success of miner Catalin Cenusa and artist Ion Barbu (Planet Petrila, Andrei Dăscălescu). Or the micro-universe of a family of Kalderash Roma people from the village of Corcova, Mehedinti County in The last Kalderash (Cosmin Bumbuț, Elena  Stancu) caught between the traditional work on the brink of disappearance and the migration to the West as a survival alternative. The portrait of a woodworker from Maramures, A film less happy, more sad, poetical and wise (Cornel Mihalache) is a collage of the life and thoughts of a native storyteller. The side street of Europe (Emese Ambrus) is a road-movie around Transylvania, a glimpse into the Hungarian diaspora, offering a double perspective on these villages and a woman’s struggle to make it as an actress. In The trial (Claudiu Mitcu), Mihai Moldoveanu, a former army officer sentenced to 25 years in prison for a crime he claims he didn’t commit, presents his case and offers the viewer the position of a juryman in a complex and controversial case. Romania, the great spring clean (Ruxandra Annonier) presents characters involved in the fight against corruption in Romania, both at institutional level and within NGOs.

You can find the full list of Romanian documentaries selected in the 2017 AFF programme at www.astrafilm.ro.

 

Astra Film Festival 2017 is organized by Astra Film, CNM Astra and the Astra Film Foundation 
With the support of Sibiu County Council, the Ministry of Culture and National Identity, the European Union – through the Creative Europe-Media programme and the National Centre for Cinematography 
Co-financed by Sibiu Local Council through Sibiu City Hall
In collaboration with Lucian Blaga University
Partners: Romanian Cultural Institute, UCIN – Romanian Filmmakers Union, Consulate of the Federal Republic of Germany in Sibiu, Cinetic, Refresh
Digital partner: Urby
Title sponsor: Construcții SA
Sponsors: Romgaz, Electrica, Banca Transilvania, Takata, Aqua Carpatica, Happy City, HBO, Cinelab
Car of the festival: Toyota
Media partners: TVR, Europa FM, HotNews, Revista 22, VICE, Revista Timpul, Transilvania Reporter, Cineuropa, Film New Europe, Radio România Cultural, Radio România Actualități, Radio Cluj, Radio Antena Sibiului, Radio Târgu Mureș, RFI România, Cinemagia, LiterNet, CineFan, Sub25, All About Romanian Cinema, Cooperativa Urbană, ÎnFestival, Recorder, Iqads, Filmtett, Zile și Nopți, Tribuna, Turnul Sfatului, Sibiu 100%, Eveniment TV, Ora de Sibiu

GDYNIA: Jagoda Szelc’s debut feature Tower. A Bright Day will vie in the main competition of the 42nd Gdynia Film Festival (18-23 September 2017). The film is a psychological thriller produced Indeks Film Studio, a production company working in the framework of the Lodz Film School.

The Border Gate Award is a distinction bestowed by the organizers of Regiofund Forum upon distinguished film producers. The Award is presented to producers who think and act outside of the box, whose experiments and searches result in novel approaches and surprising discoveries. Border Gate’s previous recipients include Peter Aalbæk Jensen, Piotr Dzięcioł, and Simon Chinn. This October it will be presented to Michał Kwieciński. The Award always takes shape of a personalized statuette, made distinctly for the laureate.