PRAGUE: A total of 22 films and projects received support from the Czech Film Fund in the area of distribution in the June 2019 grants round.
PRAGUE: The Czech Republic, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Macedonia and Poland are among the 24 countries presenting TV series projects at the 30th edition of Cartoon Forum, which takes place 16 – 19 September in Toulouse, France. A total of 85 projects will participate in the event, which expects some 1,000 sector professionals in attendance.
KOSICE: Monos directed by Alejandro Landes won the Blue Angel for Best Film at the closing ceremony of Art Film Fest on 22 June 2019. The Slovak film Loli Paradicka directed by Richard Staviarsky won the Audience Award.
VALLETTA: Latvia’s Oleg by Juris Kursietis and Albania’s A Shelter Among the Clouds by Robert Budina were awarded the Best Fiction Feature Award ex-aequo at the first edition of the Cinema of Small Nations Competition held at the Valletta Film Festival (14-23 June 2019).
TALLINN: The Estonian government has approved a one-time rise in the amount of funding available through the country’s film incentives.
BARCELONA: The Balkan cinema chain Blitz-CineStar was awarded the International Exhibitor of the Year award by the Union of Cinemas (UNIC) at the CineEurope Convention in Barcelona. The award recognised Blitz-CineStar as a company which keeps raising the bar and creating continuous growth, with particular emphasis put on the quality of the cinema experience and paying special attention to innovation, which made Blitz-CineStar into one of the leading and fastest-growing exhibitors in the region as well as Europe.
The first workshop of 2019 Ex Oriente Film begins in Slovakia on 20 June.
NICOSIA: Nicolas Cage stars in Jiu Jitsu by Greek-American director and producer Dimitri Logothetis, the first international production to be shot entirely in Cyprus since the launch in 2018 of the cash rebates of up to 35 percent on qualifying expenditures.
New Europe Warsaw Sessions is an exclusive, closed workshop set in an original location outside Warsaw where six promising film talents, hand-picked by New Europe Film Sales’ team meet top decision makers from the international film industry.
The participants are chosen with a focus on both directors working in English and filmmakers with success in the foreign-language space, who wish to make the step up in their careers, who meet experts that could guide them through this process. The meeting is not focused on specific projects but rather gives a platform for creative exchange of experiences and allows the filmmakers to make key contacts for the future.
This year’s edition will take place on 23-27 June.
Attending talents include Isabella Eklöf (director of Holiday, co-writer of Border), Jan Komasa (Corpus Christi, Suicide Room), Michał Marczak (All These Sleepless Nights), Kirsten Tan (Pop Eye), Asaph Polonsky (One Week and a Day), Maria Sadowska (Netflix’s Art of Loving).
Confirmed experts include Mike Goodridge (UK, International Film Festival & Awards Macao), Julia Oh (UK, Film4), Peter Spencer (UK, Fox), Carole Scotta (France, Haut et Court), Ayo Maat (USA, NEON), Bobby Allen (UK, MUBI), Sam Intili (USA, Animal Kingdom), Conor Barry (Ireland, Savage Productions), Michael Arnon (Germany, WOLF PR) and Raymond Phathanavirangoon (Thailand, SEAFIC).
This year the exclusive event will also do an open day in Warsaw, which includes a panel discussion on How to promote European Cinema? (with special focus on the film Border by Ali Abbasi). The guest speakers will be international experts Ayo Kepher-Maat (US distributor of the film Border), Michael Arnon (international PR of the film). The panel will be moderated by Mike Goodridge.
New Europe Warsaw Sessions is organized by Warsaw-based New Europe Film Sales - the company behind the international success of such films as Grimur Hakonarsson’s Rams, Carla Simon’s Summer 1993, Hlynur Palmason’s Winter Brothers and A White White Day, Tomasz Wasilewski’s United States of Love and Jan P. Matuszyński’s The Last Family.
Institutions supporting the event as partners are: The Polish Film Institute, Mazovia/Warsaw Film Commission, The Adam Mickiewicz Institute, The Danish Film Institute, British Council and The French Institute of Poland. Private partners include Chimney Poland, Film Produkcja, Platige Image, Gigant Films, NEM Corp. and Dreamsound.
