EFP showcases European films and talent at Busan International Film Festival 2017
EUROPE! Goes Busan will present 15 European filmmakers and actors who will meet with the industry and press and enjoy the very lively discussions with the Korean audience. The selection by the festival is strong on emerging directors: Belgium's Olivier Meys who will be joined by his producer Valérie Bournonville for the presentation of his feature film debut BITTER FLOWERS about an aspiring Chinese woman who is hoping for a better life in Paris, and Switzerland's promising new director Dominik Locher and his producers Rajko Jazbec and Dario Schoch who cast European Shooting Star Sven Schelker in GOLIATH. Both films will be presented in the Flash Forward Competition.
LITTLE CRUSADER, the second film by the Czech director Václav Kadrnka, who will be accompanied by the award-winning actor Karel Roden, tells the story of an aging crusader looking for his runaway son. Andreas Hartmann, who is also a well-known German DoP with a very distinctive style, was invited to the festival with his second documentary feature A FREE MAN.
The actor José Smith Vargas will be part of EFP's European delegation to represent the Portuguese feature debut THE NOTHING FACTORY which has received numerous awards, including the FIPRESCI Prize at the Directors' Fortnight in Cannes. Director Jens Assur's feature debut, the psychological drama RAVENS, comes fresh from its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, while the Spanish film SOMMER 1993 by Carla Simón was named Best First Feature at this year's Berlinale.
Rounding off the group are three experienced filmmakers. The multiple award-winning Austrian director Ruth Mader will travel to Busan for her futuristic thriller LIFE GUIDANCE which has just celebrated its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, while the much lauded drama GOD'S OWN COUNTRY by actor-turned-director Francis Lee will be represented by the UK producer Jack Tarling. And the acclaimed Finnish director Dome Karukoski cast Jessica Grabowsky - who will be attending the festival - in his award-winning portrait of the legendary gay artist TOM OF FINLAND.
The interest of European world sales companies in the Asian Film Market (October 14 - 17) is unbroken. 34 companies travelling to Busan will participate in the prominent EUROPEAN UMBRELLA at Busan's BEXCO organized by EFP in cooperation with UniFrance. All of the companies will also be able to benefit from EFP FILM SALES SUPPORT (FSS) for their marketing campaigns. Detailed information about the EUROPEAN UMBRELLA and FSS granted will follow on September 28.
The following EFP members support EUROPE! Goes Busan:
AFC - Austrian Films, British Council, Czech Film Center, Finnish Film Foundation, German Films, Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales / ICAA (Spain), Instituto do Cinema e do Audiovisual I.P. / ICA (Portugal), Swedish Film Institute, Swiss Films and Wallonie Bruxelles Images.
>>> visit our website www.efp-online.com
EFP (European Film Promotion) is a unique network of 38 European member organisations who represent films and talent from their respective territories. Under the EFP flag, the members team up on joint initiatives to promote the diversity and the spirit of European cinema and talent at key international film festivals and markets. EFP is financially supported by the Creative Europe - MEDIA Programme of the European Union and its member organisations.
The Hamburg-based office is backed by the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein and the Ministry of Culture of the City of Hamburg.
Leadership Change at goEast: Heleen Gerritsen to Succeed Gaby Babić as Festival Director
Press releases 20-09-2017
Gaby Babić, director of goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film since September 2010, will be stepping down from her position at Deutsches Filminstitut from October 2017. She will be succeeded as festival director by Dutch film producer and curator Heleen Gerritsen, who will take up her new appointment on October 1st.
“After seven years of leading goEast Film Festival, I am looking forward to a personal and professional change,” Babić stated. “As goEast is very firmly established at this point in its 17th year of existence, it is a good moment for a leadership transition. I would like to thank my team, with whom I had the pleasure of enthusiastically realising seven wonderful festival editions, and I look forward to experiencing goEast in the future as a guest under the direction of Heleen Gerritsen, who will bring new highlights to the festival with fresh ideas. I am already excited to see what she and her team will come up with.”
Gaby Babić played a substantial role in the evolution of the festival. In addition to the presentation of extraordinary auteur films, in particular she also placed socio-political issues and unusual retrospectives at the centre of her work as festival director. In the scope of goEast’s efforts to promote young filmmaking talent, she conceived the projects OPPOSE OTHERING!, Young Filmmakers for Peace and the East-West Talent Lab. Deutsches Filminstitut would like to thank Gaby Babić for her brilliant work and is very pleased that she will remain associated with the festival in the future as a freelance collaborator.
Dutch film producer and curator Heleen Gerritsen studied Slavistics, Eastern-European history and international economics in Amsterdam and St. Petersburg and previously served as director of the European documentary film festival dokumentART in Neubrandenburg. “For a film festival situated in Western Germany to place its focus on Central and Eastern Europe is as relevant and necessary as ever: in periods of upheaval, such as the one in which the European project has found itself for a number of years now, cinematic art, as an accessible medium, can play a significant role in breaking down prejudices and building bridges between cultures. goEast is a festival with a unique format that has been successfully showcasing the full range of Central and Eastern European filmmaking for many years. Films treating contemporary social issues find an audience in Wiesbaden right alongside film-historical retrospectives and special programs. With Deutsches Filminstitut, the festival also has a strong institutional partner behind it. In my view, this represents an optimal starting position for a further development of the festival focussed on the future.”
For more information, please contact:
Stefan Adrian
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+49 - 0611 - 23684312
The seventh edition of the US in Progress will be held from the 25th till 28th of October 2017, as a part of the 8th American Film Festival in Wroclaw (October 24-29th).
Thanks to support of the Polish Film Institute we are happy to initiate the first edition of Polish-American Co-production Meetings, a networking opportunity for Polish producers seeking partners from the US. Panels will consist of producers and publicists working in the US or with collaboration with US and aim to foster transatlantic projects. Guest speakers will include George Rush, Adam Kersh, Mike Ryan, and others.
US in Progress is held twice yearly (June edition takes place in Paris during Champs-Elysees Film Festival). In Wroclaw, invite-only screenings will feature four projects selected from numerous submissions of independent American feature-length films in the final editing stages.
Congratulations to the 2017 US in Progress Wroclaw participants:
● Ghost Box Cowboy by John Maringouin
● Honky Kong by Stephen Gurewitz
● Jules of Light and Dark by Daniel Laabs
● One Man Dies a Million Times by Jessica Oreck
The filmmakers and their producers will attend the presentations as well as one-on-one meetings with top European buyers and festival programmers and listen to presentations from Polish film organizations dealing with film production and promotion.
Selected four Polish producers and filmmakers attending will pitch their ideas to the US producers and investors. Other local professionals are invited to network and learn more about the differences in European and American film production system in a less formal setting.
The 2017 US in Progress Wrocław partners who provide in-kind awards of post-production service packages of combined value amounting to $50,000 are the following leading Polish sound and image studios:
● Orka
● Fixafilm
● Soundflower Studio (a score composed by Maciej Zielinski)
● Aeroplan
There is also an up to 35% equity investment offer to a selected project (subject to mutually agreed upon conditions) as a partnership with Salem Street Entertainment and UnLtd Productions. Other awards include an acquisition offer from Ale Kino+ tv channel and a free pass to Cannes Producers' Network next year.
To learn more or contact US in Progress please email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
FNE Oscar Watch 2018: Estonian Minority Coproduction Selected as First Laos' Oscar Bid
FNE Oscar Watch 2018 19-09-2017TALLINN: Mattie Do’s Dearest Sister, a coproduction between Laos, France and Estonia, has been selected as Laos’ first entry to the Academy Awards in the best foreign language film category.
GDYNIA: The Polish Film Institute (PISF) awarded the most accomplished members of the industry for the 10th time during the Gdynia Film Festival (18-23 September 2017).
LJUBLJANA: Hanna Slak’s third feature film The Miner / Rudar has been chosen as the official candidate from Slovenia for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences nomination in the Best Foreign Language Film category. The film is a Slovenian/Croatian/German coproduction.
LJUBLJANA: Hanna Slak’s third feature film The Miner / Rudar has been chosen as the official candidate from Slovenia for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences nomination in the Best Foreign Language Film category. The film is a Slovenian/Croatian/German coproduction.
TALLINN: Mattie Do’s Dearest Sister, a coproduction between Laos, France and Estonia, has been selected as Laos’ first entry to the Academy Awards in the best foreign language film category.
GDYNIA: The Polish/Bosnian/Croatian coproduction Catalina directed by Denijal Hasanović will compete in the main competition of the 42nd Gdynia Film Festival (18-23 September 2017). Catalina is the debut feature of renowned Bosnian screenwriter and director Denijal Hasanović, who has been an active filmmaker in Poland in the last decade.
GDYNIA: Robert Gliński’s new thriller Be Prepared, that plays out in the teenage world of the internet and social media, will premiere in the main competition of the 42nd Gdynia Film Festival (18-23 September 2017).
