The festival's Best Film Award was presented to Agnieszka Holland's gripping crime thriller Spoor / Pokot. The subversive Polish masterpiece was previously selected to compete for the Golden Bear at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival and won that festival's Alfred Bauer Prize.
WARSAW: Acclaimed Polish film director Krzysztof Zanussi is preparing a new feature film Ether, which will follow a military doctor at the beginning of the 20th century as he is experimenting with science in order to get power over people.
Jury of the Competition Programme – Feature Film
President of the Jury
MICHEL FRANCO
Director, Writer, Producer, Mexico
MARK ADAMS
Artistic Director of the Edinburgh International Film Festival, UK
GORAN BOGDAN
Actor, B&H, Croatia
FATMA AL REMAIHI
Chief Executive Officer of Doha Film Institute, Qatar
MELISA SÖZEN
Actress, Turkey
Jury of the Competition Programme – Documentary Film
CLAAS DANIELSEN
CEO Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung gmbh (MDM), Germany
GITTE HANSEN
Deputy Director for First Hand Films, Switzerland
ŽELIMIR ŽILNIK
Director, Serbia
Jury of the Competition Programme – Student Film
BOAZ FRANKEL
Director, Editor, Israel
GUILLAUME DE SEILLE
Producer, France
TEONA STRUGAR MITEVSKA
Director, Macedonia
TBILISI: Rezo Gigineishvili’s Hostages has been sold so far to France, Scandinavia, Italy, Spain, Eastern Europe Pay TV and China.
WestEnd releases first international trailer of acclaimed Berlin Panorama title HOSTAGES
Press releases 04-08-2017WestEnd Films has just released the international trailer of Rezo Gigineishvili’s Hostages, which received rave reviews at this year’s Berlinale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apVZcaujlGs
WestEnd has sold the rights of HOSTAGES to France (Kinovista - who has released the film yesterday), Scandinavia (Lucky Dogs), Italy (Merlino), Spain (Karma - who will be releasing the film on Sept 1st), Eastern Europe Pay TV (HBO) and China (Jushi).
A moving story of youth, freedom and rebellion, Hostages is based on the true story of a dangerous plot to escape the Soviet Union, as a young couple and their friends seek a life away from their parents and beyond the realms of Soviet control.
The film is produced by Rezo Gigineishvili through NEBO Film Company, Mikhail Fenogenov from Russia, independent Georgian producer Tamara Tatishvili, Vladimer Katcharava through Georgia’s 20 Steps Productions, in association with Ewa Puszczynska (Academy Award Winner Ida) through Poland’s Extreme Emotions and Boris Frumin. Among the film’s crew figures editor Jaroslaw Kaminski (Ida).
The film will soon be screening at the Sarejevo Film Festival, and is also part of the line-ups of the Melbourne Film Festival and New Zealand Film Festival.
WestEnd is handling world sales of the film.
Find out more about the film: http://www.westendfilms.com/screeners/hostages.html
Synopsis
Soviet Georgia, 1983. Preparations for Nika and Ana's wedding are in full swing and it's a big day for both of their elite families. For the newlyweds and their friends, however, the celebrations are in fact part of a cover-up, as they plot an audacious escape from the Soviet Union. They plan to flee their claustrophobic daily lives, discover the free world and break out from their parents' stifling worldview.
The day after the wedding, Nika and Ana decide to move forward with their riskiest plan yet: hijacking a local flight from Tbilisi to Batumi and forcing it to land in Turkey, the closest country to Georgia that isn't part of the Eastern Block. But as the plane leaves the ground and the pressure quickly rises, nothing goes as planned for these amateur would-be hijackers.
WestEnd Films is a dynamic London-based international sales and feature film financing company. It offers filmmakers finance, production and sales expertise as well as an extensive network of contacts across all sectors of the industry.
In addition to HOSTAGES, WestEnd’s current line-up includes THE BREADWINNER (world premiere at TIFF) by Nora Twomey (co-director of Academy Award nominee THE SECRET OF KELLS) produced by Cartoon Saloon and executive produced by Angelina Jolie, GRACE JONES : BLOODLIGHT AND BAMI by Sophie Fiennes (world premiere at TIFF), FLAMMABLE CHILDREN, a comedy by Stephan Elliott, starring Kylie Minogue and Guy Pearce, CLOSE an action-thriller starring Noomi Rapace directed Vicky Jewson, by SERGIO & SERGEI, a comedy by Ernesto Daranas, from the producers of MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, DENMARK a comedy/drama starring Rafe Spall, directed by Adrian Shergold, SERIAL DATER a comedy starring Imogen Poots directed by Jena Friedman, MULES an Icelandic thriller directed by Börkur Sigthorsson and produced by Baltasar Kormákur, SHOPLIFTERS OF THE WORLD, a witty and spirited comedy starring Joe Manganiello, Sasha Lane and Ellar Coltrane, written and directed by critically acclaimed director Stephen Kijak, SAVING MUM a French comedy by Eloise Lang starring Camille Cottin and Miou-Miou, SATURDAY CHURCH a musical by Damon Cardasis, and OLD BOYS a comedy by Toby MacDonald, starring Alex Lawther and Pauline Etienne.
For further information please contact:
WestEnd Films - +44 (0) 207 494 8300
Or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
BRĂILA: Cinema City, the largest cinema operator in Romania, has opened its fourth 4DX cinema in Romania in Brăila Mall. The 144-seat cinema is one of the 400 cinemas of this kind opened worldwide.
Border Cut, a documentary about the colourful inhabitants of a small Polish border village with the greatest number of hairdressers in the world as they struggle to survive since the number of their elderly German customers is decreasing, is currently in production. This Polish / German coproduction is directed by Igor Chojna.
Baltic View, an established Baltic online cinema space dedicated to promoting Baltic films, will introduce its own award in the framework of First Look in Locarno.
On August 4-6, Locarno Film Festival will host the 7th edition of First Look, aiming to showcase new films in post-production from a specific territory. This year’s region of focus are the Baltic countries - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
In the framework of the First Look and in partnership with Noir Lumiere service company, Baltic View will present in Locarno an in-kind award valued 3000 € consisting of DCP production and international promotion, to be presented to 1-3 Baltic films out of the chosen six titles, with most festival and distribution potential.
The promotion is offered in a form of an international cinema event - exclusive one-off promotional cinema events for Baltic films in prime cinemas in the world that are aimed to direct attention to extraordinary audiovisual works from the Baltic states. The award consists of three screenings in European capitals, the production of a DCP for the purpose, and its delivery to those three locations. Additionally, Noir Lumiere, the producer of the DCP, is offering the winners a unique opportunity to store their film in online DCP server for one year for free, ready for festival use.
Baltic View will also take care of the promotion and organisation of the cinema events, to be taking place in assigned locations all over Europe.
Due to Baltic View’s network of existing and ever expanding partnerships, the events have proven popular and successful, and are a convenient way for strong Baltic titles to get some additional international exposure outside the festival circle.
Baltic View award will be presented in Locarno on the 6th of August.
TBILISI: A new Indian production and the seventh project implemented within the state programme Film in Georgia is currently shooting in Georgia. The Georgian Sarke Studio is servicing.
TARTU: The 12th Tartu Love Film Festival (TARTUFF), the biggest open air film festival in the Baltics, has announced its lineup. A total of 13 feature films and five documentaries will be screened from 7 to 12 August 2017.
