KARLOVY VARY: The Karlovy Vary IFF will have a new additional festival hub in 2024, and the Karlovy Vary region may see additional funding for film production. FNE spoke with Petr Kulhanek, Governor of the Karlovy Vary Region while he was attending the 57th edition of the festival which runs through 8 July 2023.
COTTUBS: Montenegrin producer Bojana Radulović presented the Montenegrin/Italian/Belgian/Croatian/Serbian coproduction Fires directed by Nikola Ljuca at the East-West pitching forum connecting cottbus, which was held 9 – 11 November 2022. The project is seeking further coproducers, especially from Slovenia and Albania.
COTTBUS: Serbian company BaBoon Production teams up with Montenegrin coproducer Open Box on Spite, a dramatic mystery written and directed by Andrijana Stojković. The project was presented at connecting cottbus, the East-West pitching forum held 9 – 11 November 2022.
COTTBUS: Sarajevo-based production company SCCA/pro.ba continues its ten-year collaboration with Bosnian director Nermin Hamzagić with the drama Supermarket. The project was showcased at the East-West pitching forum connecting cottbus, held 9 – 11 November 2022.
COTTBUS: Slovenia’s Studio Virc, best known for the entertaining 2016 docufiction mockumentary film Houston, We Have a Problem! by Žiga Virc, is coproducing the Greek/Slovenian comedy Asphalt. The project was presented at the East-West pitching forum connecting cottbus, held 9 - 11 November 2022.
COTTBUS: Bulgarian producer Veselka Kiryakova teams up with writer-director Pavel G. Vesnakov and co-writer Simeon Ventsistavov on Deconstruction, one of 13 projects presented at the connecting cottbus East-West pitching forum taking place 9 - 11 November 2022. The film is coproduced by Bulgaria’s Red Carpet and Italy’s dispàrte.
COTTBUS: Czech director Beata Parkanová returns to the East-West pitching forum connecting cottbus with Black Blood produced by Ondřej Zach for Ozet Film.
COTTBUS: Cypriot production company Filmblades presented the Cypriot/Greek coproduction Maricel at connecting cottbus, taking place 9 – 11 November 2022, where the producers were seeking a third coproducer to come on board the 110 minute drama written and directed by Elias Demetriou.
COTTBUS: Dolphin, the Polish film project which won the Midpoint Coco Award, was presented at the 2022 edition of connecting cottbus (9 – 11 November 2022). The film is produced by Magdalena Sztorc for Before My Eyes and it is written and directed by Sonja Orlewicz-Zakrzewska.
BERLIN: Bosnian film director Jasmila Žbanić scored the Best Director award for her harrowing and textured drama Quo Vadis, Aida? The film, a coproduction between Bosnia-Herzegovina, Austria, the Netherlands, France, Poland, Norway, Germany, Romania, and Turkey, was named Best European Film of 2021, and Jasna Đuričić won the European Actress award for her performance as a translator in war-torn Srebenica.
