Regional TV giant, Central European Media Enterprises, reported a 37% year-on-year decrease in net revenues, at $141.2 million (€106 million) for the first quarter of 2009.
Wim Wenders and Mike Leigh will open and close this year's Febiofest, running March 26 - April 3 in Prague.
Central European Media Enterprises (CME) announced on March 23 that international media and entertainment giant Time Warner will acquire a 31% stake in CME.
CoCo, as it's fondly referred to, celebrates its 10th anniversary, with German heavyweight funding bodies waiting to hear pitches from ten lucky Central and East European producers.
EAST EUROPEAN FORUM 2008
www.DOCUinter.net
3rd Ex Oriente Film Workshop and East European Forum Pitching Workshop: October 22 - 24, 2008 , (Hotel Gustav Mahler, Křížová 4, Jihlava)
East European Forum Pitching Sessions: October 25 - 26, 2008
(Horácké divadlo Jihlava, Komenského 22, Jihlava)
East European Forum Follow-up Session: October 27, 2008
(Hotel Gustav Mahler, Křížová 4, Jihlava)
- creative documentary projects in their initial stage -
Celebrating its eighth edition, East European Forum and its preparatory workshop - will be launched October 22, 2008. Along with the East Silver market dedicated to East European documentary films, the East European Forum opens the industry section of the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival.
The 8th East European Forum is the largest meeting that brings together documentary filmmakers from Central and Eastern Europe and leading European commissioning editors, distributors, buyers and film funds. Directors and independent producers offer their projects for co-production, prebuy agreements or other forms of financial support. The foundation of the Forum created an alternative in Central Europe to the previous practice which relied on funding provided by the state or by local broadcasters.
Support for East European documentary films in the initial development stage, an overview of funding options for documentary projects, an outline of different paths available for films both prior and after completion. Creative workshops, meetings between 50 East European documentary filmmakers and representatives of European broadcasters, film funds, distributors and festival programmers, as well as some 45 documentary films made with the direct support of the Forum.
EAST EUROPEAN FORUM films awarded at INTERNATIONAL FESTIVALS
The current edition of the East European Forum and Ex Oriente Film brings so far the best results scored by films that received its support in the past. Since 2001, more than 45 films were made with the help of the Forum, with more films completed each year. In 2008, a number of these received top honours at major international festivals.
Kites, a Polish documentary film by Beata Dzianowicz, participant of the 2004 Ex Oriente Film that received the Critic's Week Award at the Locarno IFF, will compete in the Jihlava IDFF's section Between the Seas.
Blind Loves, a Slovak documentary film by Juraj Lehotský that participated in the 2005 Ex Oriente Film programme, received, among others, the Art Cinema Award at the Cannes IFF.
Following the project development within the 2005 Ex Oriente Film workshop, Pavel Abrahám's Czech RAPublic will also make its public debut at the Jihlava IDFF, in the section Czech Joy.
Kites, Blind Loves as well as Czech RAPublic were developed within Ex Oriente Film and then pitched at the East European Forum.
Other tangible results of IDF's numerous activities will be made available to audiences and journalists in theatres across Jihlava and Prague. 12 documentaries that were completed over the last year with the support of the East European Forum will be included in the festival programme or the East Silver market.
Filmmakers attending the 2008 EAST EUROPEAN FORUM
1) Ex Oriente Film Projects
TOMORROW YOU WILL LEAVE (Director: Martin Nguyen; Producer: Arash T. Riahi, Golden Girls Filmproduktion; Austria), TRAINS OF THOUGHTS (Director: Timo Novotny; Producer: Ulrich Gehmacher, ORBROCK; Austria), VILLAGE WITHOUT WOMEN (Director: Srdan Šarenac; Producer: Estelle Robin, Les films du balibari; Bosnia and Herzegovina/France), THE TOWN OF BADANTE WOMEN (Director: Stephan Komandarev; Producer: Stephan Komandarev; Bulgaria), BEYOND THE MOUNTAINS (Director: Natia Arabuli; Producer: Sinisha Juricic, Natia Arabuli, Nukleus, Hera u.; Croatia/Georgia), A FILMMAKER, A FAN, A FREAK (Direktor: Kateřina Mikulcová; Producer: Štefan Oršoš, FilmProduction; Czech Republic), NOAH'S RAINBOW (Director: Tereza Notová; Producer: Pepe Rafaj, Jacket Bros.; Czech Republic), CONCRETE STORIES (Director: Lorenz Findeisen; Producer: Veronika Janatková , Axman Production; Czech Republic/Germany), PALAVANI (Director: Temur Tsava; Producer: Aija Berzina, Vides Filmu Studija; Georgia/Latvia), FOUR FEET ON THE GROUND (Director: Nóra Ruszkai, István Nagy; Producer: Gyula Gulyás, Bodográf Ltd.; Hungary), 15 YOUNG BY YOUNG (Director: Boris Frumin; Producer: Ilona Bicevska, AVANTIS, Vides Filmu Studija; Latvia/Estonia), THE CITY OF WOMEN (Director: Radosława Franczak; Producer: Anna Wydra, Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing; Poland), THE LAST DAY OF SUMMER (Director: Piotr Stasik; Producer: Agnieszka Nowak, Centrala; Poland), PUPPETS (Director: Thierry Paladino; Producer: Jacek Nagłowski, Centrala; Poland). Photo:
2) East European Forum Projects
CZECH PEACE (Director: Vít Klusák, Filip Remunda; Producer: Vít Klusák, Filip Remunda, Hypermarket Film s.r.o.; Czech Republic), JOURNEY INTO THE UNKNOWN OR HOLIDAY IN THE DPRK (Director: Linda Jablonská; Producer: Milan Kuchyňka, Negativ s.r.o., Czech Republic), 68 (Director: Michael Wong; Producer: Petra Ondřejková, L´automat; Czech Republic), THE PIT (Director: Marianna Kaat; Producer: Marianna Kaat, Baltic Film Production; Estonia), RESTAURANT BAKHMARO AND THOSE WHO WORK THERE (Director: Salome Jashi; Producer: Anna Dziapshipa, Sakdoc Film; Georgia), LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT (Director: Erzsébet Rácz; Producer: Kristina Konrad, weltfilm gmbh; Germany/Hungary), DYBBUK (Director: Krzysztof Kopczyński; Producer: Krzysztof Kopczyński, Eureka Media; Poland), METROBRANDING (Director: Ana Vlad, Adrian Vlivu; Producer: Anca Puiu, Mandragora; Romania), YUGOSLAVIA ON THE COUCH (Director: David Salomon; Producer: Marija Asanovic, On the Couch Films; Serbia), THE CANS OF THE TIME (Director: Marek Šulík; Producer: Michal Hlavačka, Protos Productions; Slovakia)
COMMISSIONING EDITORS, BUYERS, SALES AGEN DISTRIBUTORS
The current East European Forum will host the largest number of commissioning editors, buyers, sales agents, distributors and film fund representatives in its history; invited professionals will be selecting projects for their slots or portfolios: LEJLA BABOVIC - BHRT (Bosnia and Herzegovina), CLAUDIA BUCHER - ARTE (France), RUDY BUTTIGNOL - Knowledge Network (Canada), VICTORIA DUNAEVA - Belsat TV (Belarus), FRANZ GRABNER - ORF (Austria), FLORA GREGORY - Al Jazeera English (UK), JANE JANKOVIC - TVO (Canada), CYNTHIA KANE - ITVS International (USA), WILBUR LEGUEBE - RTBF (Belgium), CYNTHIA LÓPEZ - PBS (USA), CHARLOTTE GRY MADSEN - DR TV (Denmark), KATARZYNA MALINOWSKA - TVP (Poland), MILKA PAVLIĆEVIĆ - ZDF/ARTE (Germany), JESSICA RASPE - AVRO (Netherlands), ALEX SZALAT - ARTE France (France), RAHDI TAYLOR - Sundance Documentary Fund / Sundance Documentary Film Program (USA), WIM VAN ROMPAEY - LICHTPUNT (Belgium), SARI VOLANEN - YLE (Finland), LOIS VOSSEN - ITVS (USA), SANDRA WHIPHAM - producer/consultant (UK), KATJA WILDERMUTH - MDR (Germany).
TUTORS AND GUESTS OF THE FORUM WORKSHOP
The following European and international documentary experts will supervise the East European Forum pitching workshop and the 3rd session of the Ex Oriente Film training programme: TUE STEEN MÜLLER - Ex Oriente Film Head of Studies (Denmark), DON EDKINS (South Africa), IIKKA VEHKALAHTI (Finland), MARIE-CLÉMENCE PAES (France), MARIJKE RAWIE - Head of Forum Workshop (Netherlands), MIKAEL OPSTRUP (Denmark), KRISTIINA PERVILÄ-ANDERSSON (Finland), EMMA DAVIE (UK).
EAST EUROPEAN FORUM SIDEBAR PROGRAMME
In addition to a number of lectures and workshops that are open for the East European Forum participants, the programme also includes events for other professionals attending the Jihlava IDFF.
Saturday, October 25, 2008 - Czech Producers' dinner - Czech filmmakers meet sales agents, festival programmers and commissioning editors
Monday, October 27, 2008 - Sales and Distribution Session - Key sales agents and distributors present their strategy, taste, plans, positions and visions
SUNNY SIDE OF THE DOC AWARD
This year, the Institute of Documentary Film will once again prepare a tailor-made support strategy for one of the Forum projects. A jury consisting of all workshop tutors will select a director/producer team who made the most persuasive project pitch within the workshop. The winners will be announced at the Jihlava IDFF Opening Ceremony, Friday October 24, 2008. Representing Europe's largest documentary market Sunny Side of the Doc, Jean-Jacques Peretti and Josée Brossard will give the winners free accreditation and a pass for one-on-one consultation at Sunny Side of the Doc in La Rochelle, France.
IDFA FORUM AWARD
Just like in previous editions, a representative of Europe's largest co-production forum in Amsterdam will select a winning project at the East European Forum; the winners will receive a free participation at IDFA Forum and will be able to pitch their project before Europe's largest panel of commissioning editors, buyers, sales agents and distributors, hence increasing their chance to find sufficient funding. Joan Morselt, IDFA Industry Office Coordinator, will handpick the winner; the award will be announced and presented at the Jihlava IDFF Opening Ceremony, Friday October 24, 2008.
RECYCLE LIFE - MAKE DOCUMENTARIES!
After the personality cult of 2004, the polished style of border crossings of 2005, science fiction of 2006 and last year's mire of East European kitsch, artist Tereza Durdilová is getting ready to recycle what was into what will be.
Recycling... For some, it implies sustainable development, for others the crisis of representation, for IDF it's the visual concept of the East European Forum. The films developed within Ex Oriente Film or presented at the East European Forum return to Jihlava loaded with international awards as the cycle comes to a close. Bottle - matter - bottle - matter. Documentary - life - documentary - life.
Contact:
Hana Rezková
Institute of Documentary Film
email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.,
cell: +420 777 240 005,
More information available at www.DOCUinter.net
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