PRAGUE: Hungarian-Romanian director Cristina Grosan is currently shooting her sophomore feature Ordinary Failures / Běžná selhání. Shooting started on 28 June 2021 and will wrap 18 August 2021. The film is a coproduction between Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy and Slovakia.
Hypewriter, the international pitch forum for original tv series ideas has extended its submission deadline until August 31. Organizers Paprika Studios and RTL Hungary have received almost 200 ideas from 20 countries until the original July 15 deadline but have decided to give the chance to those late to the party and will hold the pitch forum in Budapest during the Fall.
Murina cast and crew in Cannes
At this year’s Cannes Film Festival gala closing ceremony, held on Saturday, 17th July, Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović’s Murina wins the prestigious Camera d’Or, one of the biggest international achievements of Croatian film to date.
Camera d’Or is the annual Cannes Film Festival award bestowed on the best first feature film from all festival programmes (Official Selection, International Critics’ Week and Directors’ Fortnight), with 31 titles vying for the award this year.
The Czech Film Fund announced support for ten minority co-productions using the full amount of CZK 20 000 000 (aprox EUR 770 000) allocated in this call. Czech co-producers of five fiction features, three documentary features, one animated film and one short film succeeded in this call and will be capable to build strong ties with partners from Slovak Republic, Germany, Hong Kong, Slovenia, Latvia or North Macedonia.
At the 78th Venice International Film Festival, Czech cinema will be represented by 3 films, which have been selected for this year’s official selection. Polish-French-Czech political thriller Leave No Traces will celebrate its world premiere in the Venezia 78 Competition. Slovak-Czech-Ukrainian 107 Mothers and Romanian-Czech-Latvian Miracle will both world-premiere in the Orizzonti Competition. Read more HERE.
In its 7th year, after an online edition, Pustnik Screenwriters Residency is returning to the banks of the Danube for its 2021 programme at Port Cultural Cetate, September 13–20. 123 applications were received from 49 countries, out of which eight were selected:
”Unrooted” by Geo Doba, Romania
“Levirat” by Mikaël Gaudin, France
“Soft Power” by Adina Istrate, Romania/UK
“The Ceremony” by Jack King, UK
“Explorer” by Hilke Rönnfeldt, Germany/Denmark
“Change of Heart” by Apoorva Satish & Pedro Carneiro, India/Czech Republic/Portugal
“Other People” by Meedo Taha, Lebanon/USA
“Eastshore Wildwest” by Joana Vogdt, Germany
“Our goal is to give residents a focused and encouraging environment where they can work in the calm company of other writers. After a year of isolation – for many of us spent indoors – Pustnik is a chance to reconnect with nature, our peers, and the thrill of storytelling.” (Bryn Chainey, co-founder)
Programme finalized: WOMEN DO CRY completes the Competition Programme – Feature Film selection of the 27th Sarajevo Film Festival
Festivals 26-07-2021
Bulgarian film Women Do Cry by Vesela Kazakova and Mina Mileva was added to the Competition Programme – Feature Film of the 27th Sarajevo Film Festival, completing the selection that now includes 10 feature films.
Women Do Cry had its world premiere at the recently-held Cannes Film Festival. Its exceptional quality qualified it for the Competition Programme – Feature Film section of the 27th Sarajevo Film Festival.
PRAGUE: More than 200 documentary films have been submitted to the 47 edition of the International Film Festival about the Environment EKOFILM, which will take place 20-23 October 2021.
CLUJ-NAPOCA: Police thriller Unidentified, the sophomore feature by the Romanian-born New York-based writer/director Bogdan George Apetri will screen in the Romanian Days programme at the 20th edition of the Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF), which takes place in Cluj-Napoca from 23 July to 1 August 2021. Unidentified is part of a trilogy set in the director’s hometown of Piatra Neamț. The second part of the trilogy, Miracle, was shot at the same time with Unidentified.
The revival of an emblematic international film festival for young filmmakers in Eastern Europe
The Festival
Rhodope International Documentary Film Festival (RIFE) is a new take on one of the most emblematic film events in Bulgaria for young filmmakers, held from 1973 to 1991 in the beautiful mountain town of Smolyan.
The revival of the festival is a daring idea in a challenging time from a group of local film professionals, who want to respond to the needs of today’s young filmmakers to exhibit their work. They want to re-imagine an eastern festival known from the past as a safe harbour for creativity and freedom of expression into a new space for building an international community, where young artists can meet, learn more in their areas of interest, and hear from high-profile international film professionals in their line of work.
