RIGA: The Baltic Sea Forum for Documentaries (Baltic Sea Docs) has concluded the project selection for its 25th edition that will run 1 - 12 September. The most important documentary training and pitching event in the Baltic countries, Baltic Sea Docs is focused on projects from the wider Baltic Sea region, Eastern Europe and the Caucasus region. The 18 selected projects represent film studios in 17 countries including Poland, Armenia, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia, Russia, among others.
PRAGUE: Netflix’s The Gray Man starring Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans and Regé-Jean Page is currently filming in Prague through 19 July 2021. Residents of Central Prague could hear explosions and gunfire from the action packed production throughout the night.
JIHLAVA: The Ji.hlava IDFF’s East West Index 2021 reveals that documentary film festivals reduced the number of films selected for their programmes by a total of 22% during the pandemic. The East West Index, which analyses data from 14 documentary film festivals, showed that some festivals made even more dramatic cuts of up to one half of their 2019 numbers.
BUDAPEST: The romantic dramedy Perfect As You Are / Így vagy tökéletes by Péter Varsics opened the Hungarian Motion Picture Festival 2021. Varsics won the festival’s best first feature director award for the film.
JIHLAVA: The Ji.hlava IDFF has announced the names of the eighteen Emerging Producers who will take part in the 10th edition of the promotional, educational and networking programme organised by the festival. The programme includes two workshops: in October 2021 in Jihlava and in February 2022 in Berlin.
A united group of Baltic short film organizations - Lithuanian Shorts, 2ANNAS Riga International Short Film Festival, SHORT RIGA at Riga International Film Festival, PÖFF Shorts (Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival) and the Estonian Short Film Center - have banded together to showcase a number of new shorts and talk about the fact that – despite their relatively small sizes – the countries of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia are making their mark on the international scene.
Ponta Lopud: A new creative hub for young film professionals with Pawel Pawlikowski
Festivals 07-07-2021Ponta Lopud Event, launched as a new creative hub, in which 15 young but already experienced directors and actors from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, North Macedonia and Kosovo, had the opportunity to learn, work and gain new experiences within a masterclass led by Oscar winner Pawel Palikowski. Ponta Lopud Festival took place from 1 to 5 July on the island of Lopud in Croatia, organized by Riva film and Dubrovnik PartneR in cooperation with the Sarajevo Film Festival and its Industry Department CineLink.
Tallinn Black Nights, the European Film Academy & FIPRESCI to welcome European Discovery directors at new Discovery Campus
Press releases 07-07-2021Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF), the European Film Academy (EFA) and FIPRESCI will work together to promote European Discovery nominated directors as part of PÖFF’s new Discovery Campus, starting from November 2021. The EFA and FIPRESCI bestow the European Discovery Award – Prix FIPRESCI on the best Debut Film every year within the framework of the European Film Awards. This new collaboration will see the nominees join a dedicated sub-programme at PÖFF’s Discovery Campus, as well as allowing the directors to participate in existing talent strands. Matthijs Wouter Knol, CEO and Director of the European Film Academy, commented: “Putting an extra spotlight on debut films and the filmmakers behind them is the idea behind the European Discovery Award – Prix FIPRESCI. This wonderful initiative will help us to give these filmmakers more visibility in the weeks prior to the annual European Film Awards. We are looking forward to building this programme together with the colleagues in Tallinn and at FIPRESCI, the latter co-hosting an online talk with the European Film Academy next January, featuring the award winner of the European Discovery Award – Prix FIPRESCI 2021.”
