BERLIN: The House directed by Slovak director Zuzana Liova which screens in the Forum is the first Slovak feature film to screen in one of the main programmes of the Berlinale for 20 years. It's all part of the renaissance Slovak film is enjoying at the moment which many attribute at least in part to the new Slovak Audiovisual Fund (www.avf.sk) which launched last year.
BERLIN: The 4th edition of Cinema Total running at the Berlinale promises to be a hot ticket for journalists and film industry professionals as the new team restructuring the Hungarian film industry will make their first appearance at Sunday's Political Round Table. Film funding chiefs from Hungary including Andy Vajna will be joined by colleagues from Austria, Croatia, Denmark and Ireland.
5th ScripTeast at Berlinale!
The second stationary session of the 5th ScripTeast edition will take place during this year Berlinale.
FINAL CALL FOR ENTRIES FOR
TRANSILVANIA IFF 2011!
The call for entry for first or second time directors' feature films, produced after January 1st, 2009 and eligible for the Transilvania IFF Official Competition and for horror and fantasy shorts no longer than 20 minutes and produced after January 1st, 2009, eligible for the Shadows Shorts competition, is open online until February 15th (mail date).
Awards are offered for Best Film (Transilvania Trophy), Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay, Best Actor. The Jury also hands out a Special Jury Award, and the most popular film in the comeptition gets the Audience Award. The best horror & fantasy short gets the Best Shadows Short Award.
Dear Filmmakers,
You can register online until 01 MAY 2011 to the 10th International Scientific Film Festival, which will be held in Szolnok from 21-25 September 2011. Unlike to the previous years you have to fill in an application form online, that you can find here http://festival.tiszamozi.hu. There is no entry fee; one filmmaker can enter two of his/her works.
We expect films to the festival in the following subjects: documentaries and portraits about science, short and long features, experimentals that has a scientific topic, documentaries dealing with protection of nature and environment, and films dealing with the relationship of science and fake science. You can read the related documents: the call for entries and the entry regulations here: http://festival.tiszamozi.hu/000_Fesztivalok/2011/Default.aspx.
Let’s meet in Szolnok, Hungary at the International Scientific Film Festival!
Éva Demeter
festival manager
Contact:
TISZA MOZI KFT.
5000, Szolnok, Templom út 4.
Hungary
Tel: +36 56 424 910
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Dear all,
Estonia is proud to announce a busy start of the year as we are presenting four full-length films with market premieres at EFM.
Enclosed you will find all the basic information about the films with the screening times.
Additional info can always be found from our stand G2 in Martin-Gropius-Bau.
Estonian Film Foundation will be represented by:
Tristan Priimägi / Head of International Relations / +372 53 402010 / This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Eda Koppel / Information Manager / +372 52 03306 / This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Marge Liiske / Managing Director / +372 51 48134 / This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Karlo Funk / Head of Production and Development / +372 56 485966 / This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Hope to see you in Berlin!
Estonian Film Foundation
LETTERS TO ANGEL
“Letters to Angel” is a film about Jeremia Juunas Kirotaja, a man who was sent to fight in Afghanistan years ago, where he converted to Islam. He now returns home only to find himself facing another kind of war.
The front line in the decrepit Estonian town runs between Eastern and Western culture, men and women, common sense and madness. Somewhere amidst these battles is his daughter, Angel, who Kirotaja has decided to find after all the years of absence. His only leads are the sound of his daughter crying, heard once on the telephone, and a dog-eared notebook full of letters addressed to her. But the town has other plans for him and the women running it seem to take him for their savior from the nagging feeling of emptiness that has enveloped them.
GRAVEYARD KEEPER'S DAUGHTER
Lucia is leading a jolly and naughty Pippi-Longstocking-style life in a small town in Estonia. Her father Kaido, a graveyard keeper, can hardly provide for the family, her mother Maria is a drunk.Then the family receives an unexpected invitation to spend a week in Finland, in the house of the female pastor Sirpa.
This week will change everybody’s life in unexpected ways…
THE MAN WHO LIVED IN 3-D TIME
This is the story of the president of Estonia. He was a writer, a filmmaker, a traveler and a diplomat, who took revenge for his father's lost generation.
RAT-TRAP
Rat-trap movie is society critical action drama, based on real life events, where seemingly successful and self-confident politician begins to execute his own blind justice. Lives of four modern people a cross and everybody will be chocked about the events following, the end is a new beginning for all of them. Rat-trap is a thrilling story about betrayal & retribution. Director Andres Puustusmaa describes it as follows: “The catharsis for the viewer is similar to the experience of a Native American Peyote ceremony – the inner disgust is only visible to one’s self.”
A FRIEND OF MINE
Mati is a passionate bibliophile who works for his hobby - he´s got a job at the library. The little rest of his time he shares with his sweet wife. Then one sudden day brings the death to his spouse. A whole life of stability crashes. Nor his adolescent daughter or dear books are of any help. Loneliness and indifference overrun his life and Mati plots a suicide.
A strange wayfarer Sass, who travels with a backpack of books and frequents public libraries to read the newspapers, brings forth a change. Bit by bit he starts to provide Mati with the interest for life again.
Polish Film Institute Sets Strong Berlinale Line-up
The Polish Film Institiute (www.pisf.pl) will see its largest presence at the Berlinale, with five films screening at the festival. The 2011 representation is a big improvement in comparison to the previous years, a result of PFI's determination to make Polish cinema visible and easily available abroad.
"This kind of presence in Berlin was long awaited. We have five films in the official selection, practically in every section. It is a sign that Polish cinema is important, that it counts on the international arena. It is important to note that all the movies presented in Berlin this year have been produced with the support of PFI. Their presence in the main selection is a result of the Institute's policy. There are more Polish films now then a couple of years ago and many more of them good and excellent," Izabela Kiszka, the Head of International Relations at PFI, told FNE.
Poland is represented in the main competition by The Prize (El Premio) directed by Paula Markovitch. The co-production between Mexico, France, Poland and Germany is a moving drama about the childhood of a young girl hiding with her mother in military Argentina in the 1970's. The companies involved in this project are Mexico's Kung Works, France's Mille et Une (www.1001productions.net) and Germany's Niko Film. The Polish co-producer is Małgorzata Staroń and her company Staron-Film, while her husband Wojciech Staroń was the cinematographer.
"We got involved in this project because of the powerful true story and personality of the director. From the very beginning we were convinced that this will be a great movie. I noticed that Wojtek and Paula use the same artistic language and thus understand each other very well," Małgorzata Staroń told FNE.
El Premio was produced with a budget of 3.5 million PLN (EUR 900,000), with 300,000 PLN from Staroń Film matched by PFI.
"The film has a universal theme of the relationship between the child and the parent and how this relationship can be altered by the historical and political circumstances. For us as Poles it is also interesting as it is a story of growing up in a military, oppressive state - an experience we can relate to due to our own history," explained the producer.
The international premiere of Suicide Room, a long awaited Polish drama directed by Jan Komasa, will be a part of the PANORAMA SPECIAL section, that includes films especially recommended by the festival's selectors as projects with big distribution potential.
"Berlin likes films with modern, current and engaged topics. The Suicide Room is such a film: a very mature debut and an important voice of a young filmmaker, produced on the highest international level," Kiszka told FNE. The film is a fusion of different feature film techniques and over 20 minutes of computer animation. The script evolves around a teenage boy who finds himself trapped in a dangerous relationship established trough an online game.
"I am always interesting in exploring new themes and techniques," Komasa told FNE. "Three years ago, when we started this project, themes of internet and virtual reality were closer to science-fiction. Now they are more real and we can observe a wave of movies focused on this subject, such as Avatar or The Social Network. For Poland it is a first project of that kind, both on the script and technology level," Komasa said.
Suicide Room was produced by Studio Filmowe KADR (www.sfkadr.com). The total budget of the film was over 5 million PLN with 2 million PLN of financing from the Polish Film Institute. The close co-operation between KADR and PFI resulted in finding an international sales agent, the Dutch company LevelK, during the production of the film.
"We were considering a premiere during other big international festivals but finally chose Berlin as it marks the begining of the distribution year. We plan to distribute this film internationally, and we are especially interested in meetings with American companies, as the subject of the picture might be especially appealing for the audience in USA," Komasa said. The Polish distributor of the picture is ITI Cinema (www.iticinema.com.pl) and the local premiere is planned for the 4 March 2011.
The Polish title in the FORUM section is Made In Poland directed by Przemysław Wojcieszek. The drama evolves around a 16-year old Boguś, an ex altar boy, who acts out on his disappointment with God. He tattoos "fuck off" on his forehead, arms himself with a metal rod and sets out to start a revolution on his block and look for new spiritual guidance. The movie was shot in July and October 2008 on location in Wrocław. The producer of Made In Poland is Gruppa Rafał Widajewicz (www.gruppa.pl) in co-production with Canal + (www.canalplus.pl). The budget of the picture was 1.5 million PLN (EUR 373.000) with 1 million PLN of financing from the Polish Film Institute (www.pisf.pl) and 200,000 PLN from Canal +. The film premiered in Poland on 26 May 2010 and was distributed by Kino Świat (www.kinoświat.pl).
Polish culture and typically Slav artistic qualities are present in The Lost Town Of Świteź, an animated Polish title competing in the Berlinale Shorts section. Directed by Kamil Polak, the film is based on a romantic ballad written by Adam Mickiewicz. The film combines elements of oil painting and tempera transformed into 3D and joins them with the classic animation technology,CG animation and visual effects. The Lost Town Of Świteź is considered to be one of the most elaborate and artistically excellent Polish animations ever done.
The production of the film took almost seven years and involved several Polish and foreign artists and companies, with Se-Ma-For (www.se-ma-for.com) initiating the project and the Warsaw-based CG studio Human Ark (www.human-ark.com) as the film's leading producer. The film received 925,000 PLN of financing from the Polish film Institute. "It is an exceptional short film, that will be entered as a Polish Oscar candidate for the Best Short Feature next year," Kiszka told FNE.
The GENERATION section, focused for the film for the younger viewers, includes the critically praised Polish drama Tomorrow Will Be Better by Dorota Kędzierzawska. Three young boys who are living at a railway station in one of the Russian cities and decide to cross over to Poland in search of a better life. The drama explores the realities of human existence, so frequently determined by accident, and the universal hope that somewhere life is different and better. The producer is KID Film, a company founded by Kędzierzawska and Arthur Reinhart, in co-production with Pioniwa Film Inc (www.pioniwa.com), The Chimney Pot (www.chimney.pl), Non Stop Film Services (www.nsfs.pl) and Film Ilumination (www.filmilumination.pl).The budget of the film was 3 million PLN with 2 million PLN from the Polish Film Institute (www.pisf.pl).
For the first time there will be a separate Polish cinema stand in Berlin created by the Polish Film Institute in co-operation with the Polish Filmmakers Association (www.sfp.org.pl) and public broadcaster TVP SA (www.tvp.pl). The stand is located in the Martin Gropius Baus space, where European Film Market is held.
"This event has developed to be an important platform for marketing and sales. This year we are organizing industry screenings of Polish films but more significantly the PR management of all Polish productions is for the first time in the hands of a professional press agent. This is a practice which has been used for years all over the world and we hope that it will bring measurable results for the Polish cinema. If so, it will surely be continued," said Kiszka.
TVP Presents Three Films in Berlin
Polish public broadcaster Polish Television (TVP, www.tvp.pl) will presents three films at the European Film Market in Berlin. Venice screens 11.02 at 12:30 in Arsenal 2. Made in Poland screens 13.02 at 13:30 in CinemaxX 16. Blind Date screens 13.02 at 17:00 in CinemaxX 16.
Venice, directed by Jan Jakub Kolski, won the Best Artistic Contribution Prize at the Montreal World Film Festival in August 2010 and is one of TVP's most important productions of the past year.
The film is set during World War II. A cellar of one house becomes a place to hide and to cherish the deepest, most vital human dreams. At first these are the dreams of children, filled with an innocent belief in making all things possible by force of will and mind. Eventually, the other generations of large family joins them in a play that changes into a ritual of an attempt of overcoming the hostile world by the human spirit.
The special old family home seems to be a final asylum and brings a promise of safety. Thisfeeling gradually flows over to the family's outlying circles of friends, neighbors and - finally - total strangers who one day come inside. The film examines the question of how the dream will stand up to a confrontation with the cruelty of war.
Made in Poland, a 90 minute film, begins with a 17-year old alter boy, Bogus, who wakes up one morning and realizes the only message he want to convey to the world is embodied by the phrase "fuck off" which he then tattoos on his forehead.
When demolishing telephone boxes and cars parked near the crowded apartment blocks does not diminish his fury, he turns to authoritative role-models in hope of help. Unfortunately, the priest (Edmund) is unable to lessen Bogus' frustration, as the priest himself avoids facing the ordinary day by escaping in the realm of belief and revelations. Bogus' former teacher, a lonely alcoholic, (Wiktor) tries to convince the boy to cope with daily reality by quoting the masterpieces of literature, through which the teacher perceives his own defeat in a universal context, but he doesn't propose any concrete solution. Bogus' Mother, a big fan of Polish pop singer Krzysztof Krawczyk, disregards her son's distractions; she only worries he will have trouble finding a good job because of the tattoo. She hopes that through motherly love, she will make her son abandon his revolutionary thoughts.
Sister and brother Monika and Emil (who moves on an invalid cart) are fascinated with Bogus radicalism, his slogans and calls for rebellion. Emil, wishing to overcome his limitations, joins Bogus; and thanks to Monika, for the first time Bogus starts to feel something other than rage.
The dynamic plot is strengthened by a gangster motif. Bogus, in a revolutionary fury, destroys a car belonging to a local gang. The cruel bandits demand money, threatening the boy. With the help of the priest and the intervention of the outside power, the gangsters are convinced to forgive the debt. Monika and Bogus can marry, which makes all the members of the local community happy, and all of them enjoy the wedding which the divine Krzysztof Krawczyk gives splendor to.
Blind Date (95 minutes) is the name of a popular entertainmet show on TV which Karol (portrayed by leading young Polish actor Borys Szyc) attends as the result of his bet with couple of friends. He never imagines that it will put him on the front line of a male-female war that has no rules. Majka (Katarzyna Maciąg) has just broken up with her boyfriend Cezary (Bogusław Linda), who betrayed her with sexy Czech - Karolina (Petra Tumova). Majka's crazy girlfriends decided to help
her through a difficult period, and after their intrigue she ends up on "Blind date" as one of the candidates picked by Karol. Unexpectedly she wins exotic trip to be spent with self-righteous Karol. They are travel together with a cutthroat and highly attractive reporter Kinga (Anna Dereszowska) and a distance cameraman (Zbigniew Zamachowski).
World sales:
Telewizja Polska S.A.
17 Woronicza Str.
00-999 Warszawa
Tel +48 22 547 38 07
Fax +48 22 547 57 44
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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