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.

23d International Short Film Festival in Drama

Three promising central and eastern European films will spread their wings at the dok.incubator preview 2017, hosted at Nordisk Panorama in Malmö, Sweden.

Mari Gulbiani’s Before Father Gets Back (GE, FR, DE), which has been presented at East Doc Platform in Prague, depicts a quiet Georgian village, infested by radicalism, where two teenage girls are united in their longing for their fathers who have left for Syria. Through the magic of cinema, they can escape their desperation and the light from the projector inspires them to seize a camera themselves, and begin to document their own harsh reality.

Worked to exhaustion. No bed to sleep in. Fed only leftovers. Bernadett Tuza-Ritta’s harrowing documentary A Woman Captured (HU, DE) uncovers the horrifying reality of Marish: one of the 45 million victims of modern day slavery. However, despite the brutal treatment she faces at the hands of her oppressors, her spirit refuses to be crushed and her determination to reclaim her life, and her freedom, is unwavering.

The elusive Olympic gold is all Margarita Mamun has ever dreamed of, but what sacrifices must she make to achieve her dream? Marta Prus’ intimate drama Over the Limit (PL, DE, FI) follows the elite Russian rhythmic gymnast as she struggles to balance her own personal life with the rigid expectations of her trainers. The documentary paints a mesmerising portrait of a young athlete, precariously poised on the narrow bar between success and failure.

Before Father Gets Back, A Woman Captured and Over the Limit will debut at the dok.incubator preview 2017, a prestigious showcase of eight documentaries  hosted at Nordisk Panorama in Malmö, Sweden. Throughout the last five months, the teams have been developing their projects at dok.incubator, a well-established, international rough-cut documentary workshop based in Prague. In addition to the dramaturgy, the producers have devised personalised distribution and marketing strategies for the films’ upcoming releases.

The domino effect from these successes opens the door for other central and eastern European filmmakers to step into the spotlight. Three films from the previous dok.incubator preview premiered at IDFA, two at Sundance, and two have been selected for nomination for the European Film Academy Award. The preview on 24th September in Malmö will be one of the final opportunities to meet the filmmakers and examine the projects before the fledgling films fly the nest and head to prestigious international festivals.

For more information and the profiles of the presented films, follow this link to: http://dokincubator.net/selected-projects-2017/

Follow the preview event on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1879474675651111/

 

 

Now is the time to submit your TV series project for MIDPOINT TV Launch 2018. The deadline is tomorrow Friday September 15th at midnight.  MIDPOINT TV Launch is an "idea-to-market" project development program, focused on scripted formats of miniseries or ongoing, episodic TV series that can sustain multiple seasons. Both half-hour and one-hour series proposals are accepted, and emphasis is on content-rich, compelling stories and innovative series concepts – both high-end and low budget. Who can apply Teams of writers/producers and secondarily directors primarily from Central-Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the Baltic countries and the wider Mediterranean area. Participants can have a background in filmmaking or in TV writing, with the wish to shift to quality television production. Dates and venues Workshop 1: November 2017 / TBA, Slovak Republic Workshop 2: April 2018 / Pilsen, Czech Republic (within Finale Plzen FF) Workshop 3: August 2018 / Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina (within Sarajevo FF) Awards MIDPOINT's partner HBO Europe will grant a financial annual award to honor the best project. C21 Media will grant a one-year subscription to their content to one participating producer, and all participants will receive a 3 month subscription. Apply now! For further questions, please get in touch with Program Coordinator, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. MIDPOINT TV Launch is supported by Creative Europe – MEDIA Programme of the European Union, Ministry of Culture Czech Republic, Czech Film Fund, Slovak Audiovisual Fund, International Visegrad Fund, and presented in collaboration with HBO Europe, Finale Plzen, Sarajevo Film Festival – CineLink Industry Days, CHARACTER – Film Development Association, Serial Eyes, C21 Media, Barrandov Studio & AMU.

MIDPOINT Intensive SK – open call MIDPOINT's intensive workshop for Slovak and Czech speaking emerging film professionals. It takes place in Slovakia in November 2017 and is realised in collaboration with Character – Film Development Association and Slovak Audiovisual Fund. Deadline September 30, 2017 – apply now!

MIDPOINT Feature Launch 2018 – open call The call for MIDPOINT's platform for teams of feature filmmakers is now open. It is a unique training platform for emerging feature film professionals from the region, which runs from January 2018 and for a whole year.  Deadline October 16, 2017 – apply now!

MIDPOINT Shorts 2018 – open call MIDPOINT's special workshop program dedicated to short fiction films in development. Within two residential workshops, teams of writers, directors and producers get to develop their script plus prepare the production and promotional aspects of their projects.  Deadline October 16, 2017 – apply now!