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WARSAW: Womb, from Hungarian writer/director Benedek Fliegauf, has been picked up for distribution in North America by Olive Film. World sales agent Match Factory (www.the-match-factory.com) announced that the film will have its North American premiere on September 14 at the Toronto Film Festival. Fliegauf's script for the film was the winner of the 2nd Krzysztof Kieslowski ScripTeast Award (www.scripteast.eu) for the Best Eastern and Central European Script.

EDN - European Documentary Network is pleased to introduce EDN Online Pitching. This new thematic pitching format is based on an online video conference, where a selected number documentary projects are introduced. For the first session EDN is calling for documentary projects with a cross platform potential. Deadline is September 15, 2010.

Prague, September 2, 2010 - The 11th annual Off-Courts short film festival is set to take place from September 3 to 11, 2010 in the northern French city of Trouville. This year, 6 Czech shorts will also be screened in a block of films entitled Fenêtre sur le court tchèque. Additionally, Czech Film Center will be on hand at the concurrent film market, and two students from FAMU in Prague will participate in the accompanying creative workshop, KinoWorld.

How do co-productions between European and Canadian film companies actually work? Which obstacles have to be overcome, which cultural differences and financial parameters must be considered? These and other questions will be addressed by the 12 selected European film producers and their 12 Canadian counterparts at the PRODUCERS LAB TORONTO. Created by European Film Promotion (EFP) in collaboration with the Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC) and the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), the programme will be launched this year between September 10-12 during the Toronto International Film Festival. The MEDIA International programme of the European Union is supporting the initiative financially.

The new initiative aims to facilitate and increase international co-productions and to foster the circulation of European films in Canada as well as Canadian films in Europe. Besides various networking opportunities, the three-day-event will include pitching sessions, one-to-one-meetings, case studies, analyses and presentations of financing sources and co-production structures.

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EFP, OMDC and TIFF set up platform for co-productions between Europe and Canada
With the aim of exchanging creative energy, experience and talents and promoting the co-production of international film projects, 12 European and 12 Canadian producers will be meeting for the new initiative entitled PRODUCERS LAB TORONTO. Created by European Film Promotion (EFP) in collaboration with the Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC) and the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), the programme will be launched this year between September 10 -12, during the Toronto International Film Festival. Regarded as the key gateway to the North American market, TIFF has always been important for European films. The MEDIA International programme of the European Union is supporting the initiative financially.
The line-up of the participants can be found below.

The programme is designed for independent producers who must have a track record of successful project development and production. Besides demonstrating a strong motivation in co-producing with Canada or Europe, they all have to be experienced in international co-productions and should have one project ready to pitch. The EFP network has selected the European participants from the group of EFP's PRODUCERS ON THE MOVE between 2006 - 2009. The participants from Canada have been chosen by OMDC and TIFF.
"Following on from our established PRODUCERS ON THE MOVE programme in Cannes, this new initiative aims to facilitate and increase international co-productions not only between Europeans, but also between European and Canadian producers", says Renate Rose, EFP Managing Director. "We intend to foster the circulation of European films in Canada as well as Canadian films in Europe. Moreover, PRODUCERS LAB TORONTO will provide a first stage for preparing
co-productions from countries which have rarely co-produced with Canada to date."
"OMDC is committed to supporting our clients with new business opportunities on the international stage", states Karen Thorne-Stone, President and CEO of the OMDC. "PRODUCERS LAB TORONTO will build important relationships between Canadian and European producers, which we are confident will lead to creative co-productions and long-lasting partnerships. We are excited by the 24 delegates that have been selected and look forward to supporting their future collaborations."
Besides various networking opportunities, the three-day event will include pitching sessions, one-to-one-meetings and case studies of completed European / Canadian co-productions, analyses and presentations of financing sources and co-production structures.
"We are excited about this initiative. Every year TIFF strives to support the Canadian film industry with innovative career-development and networking programmes. PRODUCERS LAB TORONTO will provide an invaluable and exciting opportunity to open doors and facilitate collaboration for talented producers." Karen Bruce, Director, Canadian Initiatives, Toronto International Film Festival.
European Participants
Iván Angelusz, Katapult Film (Hungary) - associated with Magyar Filmunió
Silje Hopland Eik, Cinenord Spillefilm AS (Norway) - associated with Norwegian Film Institute
Matti Halonen, Fisher King Production Oy (Finland) - associated with Finnish Film Foundation
Janine Jackowski, Komplizen Film GmbH (Germany) - associated with German Films
Andrzej Jakimowski, Zjednoczenie Artystów i Rzemieślników (ZAiR) (Poland) - associated with Polish Film Institute
Ankica Jurić Tilić, Kinorama (Croatia) - associated with Croatian Audiovisual Centre
Monika Kristl, Dawson Production (Czech Republic) - associated with Czech Film Center
Bernard Michaux, lucil s.a r.l. (Luxembourg) - associated with Film Fund Luxembourg
Martina Niland, Samson Films Ltd. & Accomplice TV (Ireland) - associated with Irish Film Board
Luis Angel Ramírez, IMVAL Producciones (Spain) - associated with ICAA, Spain
Marc-Antoine Robert, 2.4.7. Films (France) - associated with Unifrance
Reinier Selen, Rinkel Film BV (The Netherlands) - associated with EYE Film Institute Netherlands
Canadian Participants
Paul Barkin, Alcina Pictures
Andrew Boutilier, Submission Films
Robert Budreau, Lumanity Productions
Damon D'Oliveira, Conquering Lion Pictures
Trish Dolman, Screen Siren Pictures
Liz Jarvis, Buffalo Gal Pictures
Jennifer Jonas, New Real Films
Jennifer Kawaja, Sienna Films
Corey Marr, Corey Marr Productions
Brandi-Ann Milbradt, Philms Pictures
Martin Paul-Hus, Amérique Film
Paul Scherzer, Six Island Productions

Links:
Profiles of the 24 participants of Producers Lab Toronto 2010
Description of the project

www.omdc.on.ca
www.tiff.net
>> download press release

Contact EFP:
Jo Mühlberger
Project Director
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+49 40- 390 6252
Mareen Gerisch
Head of Press
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+49 40- 390 6252
Contact OMDC:
George McNeillie
Manager, Communications OMDC
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+1 416- 642 6619
Contact TIFF:
Karen Bruce
Director of Canadian Initiatives
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Communications Department
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European Film Promotion announces participants 2010

Vilmos ZSIGMOND, ASC

Finally, it is our exquisite pleasure to announce that our life-long wish is coming true! One of the masters of world film art - the Hungarian born naturalized American - cinematographer Vilmos ZSIGMOND, ASC who, according to the 2003 International Cinematographers' Guild, was named among the 11 most influential world cinematographers of all times, is coming to Bitola, to Macedonia. We are exceptionally grateful and privileged to present the "Lifetime Achievement Award Golden Camera 300" of our Manaki Brothers Film Festival to this cinematographic giant. Thus, Vilmos ZSIGMOND, ASC will enrich our laureate club of world masters, affirming the prestigious position of the first and the oldest world festival praising and celebrating art and the exceptional artists who transform the film works, from words on paper into moving pictures, as their cinematographic/photographic creation.

Vilmos ZSIGMOND, ASC, was born on 16 June 1930, in Szeged, Hungary, a small town whose main industry was a rope factory. He was barely in his teens when World War II ended, and when the marionette Hungarian government, under the dictatorship of the Soviet army and Moscow, established a communist regime which cut off all contact with the Western world. At that time, young Vilmos developed a keen interest in still photography while reading "The Art of Light," a book filled with photographs taken by Eugene Dulovits. Because of his parents' bourgeois background, the communist authorities initially denied him the privilege of continuing his education. Instead, Zsigmond was put to work in the rope factory. He saved money to purchase a camera and became a self-taught still photographer. Zsigmond organized a camera club at the factory where he taught his fellow workers how to take pictures. He was rewarded by being allowed to study cinematography at the Academy for Theater and Film Art in Budapest. The idea was that he would come back to the factory and teach his fellows how to make home movies. However, the turning point in his young life predestining his late career happened on 23 October, 1956, shortly after Zsigmond graduated from the Academy in 1955, while working in the national film studio, together with his best friend from the Academy, Laszlo Kovacs, ASC they borrowed an Arriflex motion picture camera, and recorded thousands of feet of 35mm black-and-white film documenting the slaughter of brave civilians fighting Russian tanks and soldiers on the streets of Budapest. After the rebellion was crushed, ZSIGMOND and KOVACS secretly carried the film out of the country during a perilous journey across the border into Austria. After developing the negative and selling the film to a producer they made it possible for the world to see what had happened in the rebellious and bloody 1956 invasion of Budapest, the two of them migrated to the United States as political refugees with a dream of becoming Hollywood cinematographers in February, 1957. They didn't speak a word of English, and had no connections in the American film industry. Zsigmond supported himself by working at odd jobs and spending weekends and evenings shooting 16 mm educational and student films. He found a niche in the TV commercial industry, and also began shooting low-budget features aimed at drive-in theaters during the mid-late 1960s.

In 1971, the great director Robert ALTMAN asked ZSIGMOND to shoot his film "McCABE & MRS. MILLER" (BAFTA Award for Zsigmond). This was Zsigmond's entry into mainstream Hollywood, and four decades later Zsigmond has built his career which compiles over 80 narrative film credits, that mark the 54 years from his arrival in the United States, and he has become a legend in his own time.

Zsigmond demonstrated his vitality in his 80s by his proliferate creative energy, signing several new films, among which is his latest collaboration with Woody ALLEN (after the previous two films "MELINDA, MELINDA" in 2004 and "CASSANDRA'S DREAM" in 2007) in the comedy-drama "YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER" (screened in the competition lineup at this year's 63rd Cannes Film Festival). Vilmos had his career triumph in his late forties, i.e. at 47, when in 1977, after his successful collaboration with Steven SPIELBERG in 1974 on "THE SUGARLAND EXPRESS", he shot the Spielberg's sci-fi film "CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND" for which he won his first and only Academy Award for Best Cinematography. This si-fi paradigm film will always be remembered by the magical sequences shot by cinematographer ZSIGMOND visually transforming the ideas of the author, screenwriter and director Spielberg to the negative. When he earned the Oscar he dedicated the award to his mentors at the film school in Hungary during a memorable acceptance speech that was seen on television by millions of people around the world. This was followed by three other Academy Award nominations. One year after winning the Oscar, in 1978 he made his second master piece "THE DEER HUNTER" and was nominated again for the Academy Award (the film won five Academy Awards that year; Best Picture, Best Director for Michael CIMINO, Best Sound, Best Film Editing, Best Actor in a Supporting Role for the excellent Christopher WALKEN) for which Zsigmond won the BAFTA Award. The great film director, Milos FORMAN said that he considered "this film to be one of the ten greatest films of all time." Zsigmond in collaboration with Cimino and the actors created dozens of anthological sequences among which is the unforgettable orthodox wedding in the Russian/American working class suburbs of Pennsylvania, De Niro's deer hunting, followed by dramatic sequences of the madness of the Vietnamese battlefield, and further the horror when as captives soldiers were forced to play the deadly game of Russian roulette, De Niro and Walken in their roles as the two character friends portrayed this scene marvelously .

Vilmos ZSIGMOND received his other Academy Award Nominations for his two other anthological films: THE RIVER (1984) directed by Mark RYDELL and THE BLACK DAHLIA (2006) directed by Brian De Palma. Zsigmond started his collaboration with these two directors working on their previous films, with RYDELL on "CINDERELLA LIBERTY" (1973) and "THE ROSE" (1979); with De Palma on "OBSESSION" (1976) and the cult suspense-thriller genre film "BLOW OUT" (1981). The initial collaboration with Altman, which paved the way for his climb to the top of the film world elite continued with the films: "IMAGES" (1972) (BAFTA for Zsigmond) and "THE LONG GOODBYE" (1973). In the fruitful 1972 period, in addition to Altman, Zsigmond gained prominence with John BOORMAN's suspense filled "DELIVERANCE" (winning another BAFTA Award), and repeating his effective collaboration with Cimino in the film "HEAVEN'S GATE" (1980).

For his rich creative artistic opus Vilmos ZSIGMOND has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Polish Film Festival CAMERIMAGE in 1997 and the American Society of Cinematographers in 1990.

In 2005, Zsigmond and Kovacs were among the first laureates of The Legends Award from the Hungarian Society of Cinematographers. The award is a tribute to cinematographers whose lives and film are an inspiration to other filmmakers around the world. Zsigmond just recently returned from his alma mater in Budapest where he mentored film students in a master class. He and Kovacs helped to create the concept for the semi-annual summer master class in 1994.

In 2008, inspired by the great friendship/brotherhood among these two famous Hungarian born naturalized Americans, the master cinematographers Vilmos ZSIGMOND and Laszlo KOVASC, screenwriter and director James CHRESSANTHIS made the now famous documentary feature "NO SUBTITLES NECESSARY: LASZLO&VILMOS", where numerous American film makers such as directors: Peter BOGDANOVICH, Richard DONNER, Dennis HOPPER, Mark RYDELL, Bob RAFELSON and many leading American actors, such as: Karen BLACK, Sandra BULLOCK, Barbra STREISAND, and their fellow cinematographers: Vittorio STORARO, Haskell WEXLER, composer John WILLIAMS, producer and director Irwin WINKLER - all participate in the documentary and talk about Laszlo and Vilmos as artists and about their collaborations with them as film makers.

This step-by-step portrait is only the introduction of what we are anxiously awaiting in Bitola, where we will have the opportunity of learning more from him in person, at the traditional meeting with the Laureate Vilmos ZSIGMOND, during his Master Class and through Q&A helping us to enrich the image we have of this master of the world of film art.

Blagoja KUNOVSKI-DORE

Art Director

(Reference: Bob Fisher and The Mack Agency; IMDB;

Wikipedia; www.cinematographers.nl)

For the 31^st edition of the IFFC "Manaki Brothers"

31^st August 2010, Bitola - ICFF Manaki Brothers and Vip operator are pleased to announce the winner of the lifetime achievement award for 2010.

Mister Vilmos Zsigmond, American Society of Cinematographers is this year's winner of the Golden Camera 300 of the oldest festival in the world dedicated to Directors of Photography (Cinematographers).

Zigmond is an exceptional person and a living legend who has signed over eighty films with the most eminent American and world directors.

He was born in 1930 in Hungary, as the son of a famous football player. He studied film in Budapest, where he completed a master's degree in cinematography. In 1962 he becomes an American citizen. He worked on the filming of many low-budget independent and educational films prior to his active engagement in the film industry.

Besides working with R. Altman (McCABE & MRS. MILLER), W. Allen (Melinda and Melinda), Brian De Palma (The Black Dahlia), M. Chimino (The Dear Hunter), S. Spielberg (The Sugarland Express), he has worked on films directed by actors S. Penn and J. Nicholson.

He has been nominated four times for the Academy Award, winning the golden statuette in 1977 for S. Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

The eighty-year-old Director of Photography will be our guest at the 31^st edition of the ICFF Manaki Brothers in Bitola.

More information for IFFC "Manaki Brothers" can be found on http://www.manaki.com.mk/ and all information for Vip operator can be found on Vip's web page http://www.vip.mk/

Contact "Brothers Manaki"

Žarko Kujundžiski

Festival "Brothers Manaki" Bitola

e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

This year's face of the Golden Orange: Ebru Akel

Ebru Akel has become the face of the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, of which the 47th will be staged this year, between 9 - 14 October. Ebru Akel has posed in the posters which have been visualised by the world famous graphic designer Emrah Yücel.

THE SPIRIT OF THE MEDITERRENEAN IS REFLECTED WITH EBRU AKEL

Ebru Akel has become the face of this year's International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, which is to be staged for the 47th time, with the support of the Antalya Metropolitan Council, and is being organised by the Antalya Kültür Sanat Vakfı (AKSAV). The meeting held at the Antalya Kültür Merkezi was attended by Prof. Dr. Mustafa Akaydın, Mayor of Antalya and also the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Antalya Kültür Sanat Vakfı, Göksel Kumsal, the General Coordinator of the Golden Orange Festival, and by members of the Board of Directors of AKSAV. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Akaydın explained the reason for choosing Ebru Akel as follows: "Ebru Akel has a very Mediterrenean face. As her career is on the up, and she has experience presenting awards ceremonies, she is a star we have wanted to work with for a long time. Emrah Yücel also chose to work with her in respect of the design of the poster. Ebru Akel also has a face which is well suited to the concept of the poster."

THE BLUENESS OF THE MEDITERRENEAN, THE BEAUTY OF VENUS

Akaydın also explained the concept of this year's poster as follows: "We see Akel as a mermaid in this year's poster. She is presenting the magical orange which she has in her hand, to us, with a smiling face. It is a fantastic, magical and almost extraordinary world, with the identity of a figure which is rising up out of the Antalya sea. Yücel has also proposed that the concept of the stage setting for the awards ceremony be the same."