Save your seat now for the Leipzig Networking Days 2013!

When: 26 & 27 October 2013
Where: MDR Headquarter, Kantstr. 71-73, Leipzig, Germany

At the Leipzig Networking Days content creators meet decision makers and international renowned professionals meet young talents. This weekend is packed with pitching, industry talks, networking and inspiration. We invite you to be part of this unique and exclusive industry gathering that will certainly help boost your career!

Highlights of the weekend include:

- Access to more than 30 international renowned decision makers
- Meet with over 170 professionals from the international documentary industry
- Get inspired by international top keynotes and panels
- Find out about commissioners slots and profiles by attending the pitching of more than 20
well-developed new documentaries of various genres
- Fantastic networking opportunities throughout the weekend with colleagues from all over Europe
- This all is to set place in the very familiar atmosphere of the MDR.

Besides member companies and alumni attending, certain partner organisations come to Leipzig with a delegation. Have a look on our website for a list of delegations. If you would like to join one of those organisations, please get in touch with them, as they hold a limited number of seats for a special rate of € 130.00 (incl. coffee breaks).
We also offer a number of places for a regular price of € 160.00 (incl. coffee breaks).

To attend the Leipzig Networking Days register here before 30 September.

Have a look at the list of Decision-Makers attending the event.
Check out the programme overview.
The Leipzig Networking Days take place in partnership with the 56th DOK Leipzig festival (29 October – 29 November). More info on the festival activities can be found on www.dok-leipzig.de.
We’re looking forward to welcoming you to Leipzig.

Your Documentary Campus Team
Documentary Campus e.V.
Schliemannstraße 5, 2. QGB
10437 Berlin, Germany
T: +49-30-47377-406
www.documentary-campus.com

September 5 marks the launch of the 38th Toronto International Film Festivals. The festival's lineup of films from around the world features two films co-financed by the Polish Film Institute: Wałęsa. Człowiek z nadziei (Wałęsa. Man of Hope) by Andrzej Wajda and Ida by Paweł Pawlikowski. The festival will also screen Burning Bush, a mini-series directed by Agnieszka Holland, produced in the Czech Republic. Toronto audiences will also have an opportunity to see Suchy pion (Dry Standpipe), a short film directed by Wojciech Bąkowski.

Polish Films in Toronto

The 38th edition of the Toronto IFF runs from September 5 through September 15, 2013. The festival's Special Presentations include Ida (formerly known as Sister of Mercy), a film by Paweł Pawlikowski, as well as the North American premiere ofWałęsa. Człowiek z nadziei (Wałęsa. Man of Hope) by Andrzej Wajda. Alongside these two Polish productions, the Special Presentations section of the Toronto IFF will feature the latest projects by such directors as Steve McQueen, Atom Egoyan, Jasmila Žbanić, Alfonso Cuarón, and Jim Jarmusch.

Ida

The latest feature by Paweł Pawlikowski (winner of multiple awards, including the European Film Award and BAFTA), co-financed by the Polish Film Institute, is the first film by this director to be produced entirely in Poland. The screenplay has been awarded the MEDIA European Talent Prize. Ida is set in early 1960s Poland, and tells the story of an encounter between two women: a young novitiate nun who learns of her Jewish heritage, and a communist activist who is the sole survivor in her family. The film stars Agata Kulesza and first-time actress Agata Trzebuchowska, and features supporting roles by Joanna Kulig and Dawid Ogrodnik. Ida was lensed by Łukasz Żal. The film was made in co-production between Poland and Denmark, with Opus Film acting as producer on the Polish side.

Screening Dates:

• September 7, 7:30 p.m.; TIFF Bell Lightbox 2
• September 8, 12:00 p.m.; Scotiabank 14
• September 15, 9:00 p.m.; The Bloor Hot Docs Cinema

Wałęsa. Czlowiek z nadziei (Wałęsa. Man of Hope)

Also co-produced by the Polish Film Institute, the latest film from director Andrzej Wajda is the story of Lech Wałęsa, legendary leader of the Solidarity movement. Following Wałęsa's biography from the early 1970s until his inauguration as president of Poland, the film portrays the transformation of a simple everyday man into a charismatic national leader. It is the story of a husband, father, and simple worker; a man who brought to light the dreams of freedom that had been dormant in the hearts of millions. The film was lensed by Paweł Edelman. The title role was played by Robert Więckiewicz, with Agnieszka Grochowska playing the part of Wałęsa's wife Danuta. Wałęsa. Człowiek z nadziei (Wałęsa. Man of Hope) was produced by Akson Studio sp. z o.o., co-produced by Telewizja Polska, Telekomunikacja Polska, Canal +, and the National Centre for Culture (NCK), as well as sponsored by Energa Group and SNG.

WORLD SALES: FILMS BOUTIQUE

Screening Dates:

• September 11, 6:00 p.m.; Ryerson Theatre
• September 12, 1:45 p.m.; Scotiabank 1
• September 15, 9:30 a.m.; Scotiabank 1

The Special Presentations section of the Toronto IFF will also feature Burning Bush, an HBO mini-series directed by Agnieszka Holland and produced in the Czech Republic. Burning Bush is focused on the events surrounding the death of Jan Palach in Czechoslovakia in 1969.Wavelengths, a festival section showcasing daring, visionary and autonomous voices, features Suchy pion (Dry Standpipe), a short film by Wojciech Bąkowski. The film has previously received recognition at the 13th T-Mobile New Horizons IFF, winning the award for Best Experimental Film.

TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival)

In 2010, Indiewire named the Toronto International Film Festival the third best film festival in the world(after Cannes and Sundance). Organized annually since 1976, TIFF is an event that showcases the latest trends in world cinema; the only awards at this festival are those awarded by the audience. Recent editions of the festival have featured a number of Polish films, including Galerianki (Mall Girls) and Bejbi Blues (Baby Blues) by Katarzyna Rosłaniec, Sponsoring (Elles) by Małgorzata Szumowska, W ciemności (In Darkness) by Agnieszka Holland, Róża (Rosa) by Wojciech Smarzowski, Imagine by Andrzej Jakimowski, Essential Killing by Jerzy Skolimowski, and Chrzest (The Christening) by Marcin Wrona.Further details are available at: www.tiff.net.

“From June 2011 up to today the Polish Film Institute hasallocated 3.5 milion euros to co-financing the digitalization of a hundred or soscreens belonging to art-house circuits, with the aim of ensuring that even inthe country’s small and medium-sized towns there is a varied offer ofquality cinema,” stated Renata Pawlowska-Pyra, responsible for the project,whilst presenting the main features of cinema-going in Poland.

To date, the initiative has thus made it possible forthe new technology to be adopted even in theatres not belonging to the bigcircuits - Multikino, Helios and Cinema City – who hadalready completed their transition to digital by mid-2012. Using fundscollected by the PISF from the box-offices of all cinemas, up to now theinitiative has achieved its prime objective of preventing theatres with amainly social and cultural vocation from being relegated to the far edges ofthe market.

This approach aroused particular interest amongst thecourse participants and in particular those coming from countries where theexhibitors feel a need for similar measures to be adopted, such as Greeceor Bosnia Herzegovina.

The impending disappearance of 35mm is of particularconcern on this type of market, where the rate of digitalization is below theEuropean average.

In Bosnia Herzegovina, for example, the rate ofdigitalization has only recently reached 50% of screens: here – accordingto professional players – the radical modernization hoped for in thesector should make it possible to increase pro-capita cinema-going, which todaydoes not even amount to half a ticket per inhabitant.

The day continued with a session devoted to technologyand with a significant title: “Everything that an exhibitor should knowbefore buying a digital projector,” held by Emidio Frattaroli, Directorof the trade journal AV Magazine.

The talk encouraged a critical look at some topics ofcrucial interest for the quality of digital projection and met with a lot ofinterest amongst the participants.

“The projector’s resolution,”concluded Frattaroli, “is not everything and there is no equipment thatis suitable for every case. Screen width, the material the latter is made ofand the performance required of the light used (3D or not) are only some of thefactors to take into consideration. Even the information given in the technicalspecifications for the various materials may prove not to work out in practice.This does not mean it is false but that it is not always valid over time or thespecifications are not obtainable under all conditions, for example.”

The need to acquire a business culture and learn fromexperience and from the exchange of experiences is a message that also emergedfrom the case histories presented at the end of the morning sessions by MarcoFraschini, technical director of the Multiplex Le Giraffe (13 screens in theMilan suburban area) and Michael Tilios, head of market analysis for Odeon,which, with 58 screens, is one of Greece’s leading exhibition chains,also operating in the field of distribution.

The visit to the Cinema City Bonarka – 20screens in the shopping mall of the same name just outside Cracow – shiftedthe focus to content and in particular the innovative uses of digitalprojection, presented by Krzysztof Indyk,Manager of the Cinema City Poland forsouthern regions.

This complex, addressing mainly families and youngaudiences, proposes its own exclusive content, under the name Cinema Park,which aims to transform and give an active role to spectators, in particular“budding audiences”. Based on the concept of teaching byentertaining, Cinema Park offers learning paths on topics such as Nature or theenvironment, involving the children in quizzes and interactive games or inscreenings including sensorial experiences, for example in the music theatre orthe one devoted to movement.

In the evening the course moved on to Cracow inanticipation of an intense program of visits to cinemas with very variedphysiognomies and vocations, all having in common the adoption of digitaltechnology.

The “Young Producer” workshops are changing their formula. Apart from the meetings with the producers and the trainings on preparing the applications, we would like to offer our students practical help in realizing their first independent movies. During the closed part of the workshops, young producers will have an opportunity to meet the experts who will advise them on the ways of developing their projects, the kinds of financing sources that should be searched for, the places where one should head to at the beginning, in order to receive financial support for the realization of a scenario. In small groups we will analyse the chances of particular projects, the co-production possibilities and the development potential on the international market. We will discuss the strategies of sales and promotion, but we will also take a look at how similar projects are developed abroad. The students will have an opportunity to talk about the problems connected with financing their projects, and they will also be able to build a realistic structure of their financing. The program will end with a pitching, together with the representatives of the film funds from the whole Europe, producers and guests of the festival.

To take part in the workshops we would like to invite the students of production, and the graduates of film schools with small experience, who are thinking about developing their own projects, and have an already prepared, or an almost prepared, scenario. We would like to encourage you to download the entry form from our website, fill it, and send it back to the address This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. together with adequate appendixes. We do not specify the length of the films, yet we assume that they will be mostly one-reelers. The workshops will be conducted in English, and the costs of participation is 140 PLN. The deadline for application is 4th October.