Meet our team at Berlinale: 

Tudor Giurgiu, Festival President
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Attending: February 21-27

Mihai Chirilov, Artistic Director  
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Attending: February 21-23

Oana Giurgiu, Executive Director
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Attending:  February 21-27

Cristian Hordilă, Festival Manager
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Attending: February 20-25

Claudia Droc, International Relations
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Attending: February 21-23

Alexandra Boghiu, Project Manager, Romanian Film Promotion
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Attending: February 21-23

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Our next edition will take place in Cluj, Romania, from
May 29 to June 7, 2020. Find out more: tiff.ro

The following feature film production grants were announced by the Czech Film Fund on 14 February 2020.

The second leg of the Emerging Producers 2020 workshop starts today in Berlin and will be topped off by our traditional social event in honour of the up-and-coming generation of European documentary film producers. The Emerging Producers cocktail in Berlin will take place this Friday, February 21 from 9.00 PM. See you there or at EFM’s DocSalon, where our director Marek Hovorka will be available at the Meet the Festivals on February 23 – 24.

New web portal connecting documentary film producers

After nine editions of the Emerging Producers programme, we have launched a new web portal, which will present to you personalized profiles of all the 146 alumni of the programme. Each of the talented producers shared information about his or her preferred book, artist and inspiring films. The portal brings news and information about current projects of the Emerging Producers and also serves as a great tool to search for co-productions in Europe and selected guest countries.  Submissions to the Emerging Producers 2021 are now open, the deadline is March 15.

Get support for your film from the Ji.hlava Film Fund!

The Ji.hlava Film Fund provides in-kind grants totaling 20,000 EUR for visual and sound post-production of documentaries originating in Central and Eastern Europe. We are primarily looking for projects with unique authorial style and focus on contemporary and thought-provoking themes. Ji.hlava Film Fund's partners are UPP, Soundsquare and the Center for Documentary Film, and the deadline for submissions is March 15.

Ji.hlava’s films on the festival circuit

The recent weeks brought some good news: Two documentaries from Ji.hlava 2019 were nominated for the Academy Awards – Honeyland by Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov and The Cave by Feras Fayyad. Ji.hlava’s best experimental documentary Action, Almost Unable to Think, was screened in Rotterdam, accompanied by Karel Vachek’s opus Communism and the Net or the End of Representative Democracy and The Vasulka Effect, which all premiered at Ji.hlava. Rotterdam also hosted the world premiere of Mladen Kovačević’s Merry Christmas, Yiwu, which we presented at Docu Talents from the East in 2017. Six films from Ji.hlava, including the award-winning Solo by Artemio Benki, were screened at FIPADOC in January.

Submit your documentary to Ji.hlava IDFF 

Film submissions to the 24th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival (October 27 – November 1) are now open. We accept feature-length and short films, animated and interactive documentaries. The films premiered in Jihlava have a chance to be nominated for the European Film Academy Awards and the winners at the Ji.hlava IDFF are also eligible also for Oscar® consideration in the Documentary Short Subject and Documentary Feature Subject categories. Check the deadlines now.

Echoes of Ji.hlava in New York, Belgium, Vienna and Bratislava

The Echoes of Ji.hlava IDFF will again introduce a selection of remarkable film titles from our 23rd festival edition. We will start in New York on February 20–27 with screenings of the awarded films Fonja, Teach and the audience's favorite Two Roads. The 8th Echoes of Ji.hlava IDFF in Belgium will be launched at the European Parliament on March 3 and continue by series of screenings in Brussels and Antwerp until March 9. Two masterclasses with progressive female directors will take place at De Cinema Antwerp and RITCS School of Arts. Vienna will host the Ji.hlava Echoes on March 9–10 and an intensive event for both general public and film professionals is planned to take place in Bratislava at the beginning of April. The Echoes of Ji.hlava are organized in collaboration with the Czech Centres network and our other great partners in the hosting cities!  

East Doc Platform with new docs on the horizon

East Doc Platform (March 7–13, Prague, within One World IHRDFF) brings together filmmakers from the whole world. The programme includes Czech Docs… Coming Soon presentation, revealing five upcoming films, while the East Doc Forum brings together the most promising projects from Central and Eastern Europe. One of the highlights will be the moderated panel discussion Filmmaking Against Dictatorships: How to Shoot and Keep Your Freedom, where invited guests will discuss the challenges critical filmmaking has been facing recently. To attend the programme, get the Industry Pass until February 21. The open programme is available for free, without accreditation.

A Selection of Iranian Films Online at DAFilms.com

Online platform for documentary films DAFilms.com brings a special program focused on Iranian documentary filmmakers. Discover this country full of a rich history and distinctive culture in selected Iranian films. You can watch Born in Evin, a personal story of filmmaker and actress Maryam Zaree or the latest film by Farahnaz Sharifi entitled Missing. Online Cinema DAFilms successfully expanded their streamable festival and documentary films to Poland and Slovakia under the domains dafilms.pl and dafilms.sk. Local viewers can browse an extended film catalogue which now includes national films as well as strong international titles. 

Czech Film Fund and its divisions Czech Film Center and Czech Film Commission will once again represent Czech Cinema at Berlin International Film Festival. Come and visit us at the European Film Market (or book a meeting with us - contacts below) and learn more about the current state of Czech cinema, new and upcoming films, or about co-production and shooting possibilities in the Czech Republic. We will be ready to answer your questions at the CENTRAL EUROPEAN CINEMA stand No. 111 at Gropius Bau!

Every year, within the frames of the Krakow Film Festival, the latest documentary, short and animated films from a selected country are presented. This time, the special section of the Festival is dedicated to Denmark. Fascinating film screenings and numerous accompanying and industry events wait for the audience in Krakow.

Denmark is another country of the Baltic Sea region which we will take a closer look at, says Barbara Orlicz-Szczypuła, the director of the Programme Office of the Festival. This year’s selection proves, however, that the Danish filmmakers, just like the Polish ones, are more eager to go abroad with their cameras. The variety of topics they deal with is surprising and engaging. In the programme, we will watch both several psychological portraits of the contemporary human, as well as fascinating stories about distant cultures.

Q’s Barbershop, dir. Emil Langballe

Film Festival Spring: One Journey to 3 Festivals

Between May 28th and June 7th, professionals from the short film industry will have the opportunity to combine the pleasant with the useful and to enjoy three spring events in one festival trip. Vienna Shorts (AT), Krakow Film Festival (PL) and the Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg (DE) have coordinated their industry activities so that a visit to all three festivals is not only easily feasible but will also be more than worthwhile:

Industry Days:
Vienna Shorts (May 29–31), Krakow FF (June 1–3 ), Hamburg (June 4–6 )
Food for thoughts & drinks for fun – with filmmakers, programmers & industry experts.

The three festivals can be combined by train for a total of around 70 euros (Vienna–Krakow–Hamburg route, if booked in advance). The first 10 professionals who wish to take advantage of the triple package will receive free accreditation, a surprise special from each festival & the Industry Gold Card Treat at the festival bar in Hamburg.

Accreditations for the three festivals are available from mid/end of March. If you are interested in the package, please contact the guest department of one of the three festivals under: guest@ … viennashorts.com, kff.com.pl or shortfilm.com

Vienna Shorts, May 28 – June 2, www.viennashorts.com
Krakow Film Festival, May 31 – June 7, www.krakowfilmfestival.en
Kurzfilm Festival Hamburg, June 2 – 8, www.shortfilm.com

Details

The 60th Krakow Film Festival will take place on May 31 – June 7, 2020

Follow our news on the website and in the social media: Facebook, Twitter i Instagram.

Meeting Point – Vilnius is welcoming emerging talents for its 11th edition as it extends the deadline for Coming Soon session and Talents Nest initiative. Directors, screenwriters, producers and film critics can apply for industry events until the 20th of February. MPV will take place March 30 – April 1, 2020, as part of the 25th Vilnius International Film Festival “Kino Pavasaris”.

Coming Soon session, the Work in Progress section is dedicated to debut filmmakers (1st or 2nd film) from all over Europe. Feature film, documentary or animated feature film directors can submit the projects, which must be in pre-production, production or post-production and scheduled to be completed and premiered April through December 2020. 20 selected projects will participate in pitching session and filmmakers will have a dedicated schedule of individual meetings with Decision Makers. The previous MPV edition’s main prize winner “My Thoughts Are Silent” by Ukrainian director Antonio Lukich successfully premiered in Karlovy Vary IFF and won Special Mention in East of West programme as well as was awarded as Best Ukrainian film in Odessa IFF.

MPV is excited to welcome back its new initiative Talents Nest for the 2nd edition, which aims to explore and nurture emerging professionals from Baltic, ex-Soviet and Caucasian countries by offering them industry and networking opportunities. Screenwriters, directors, producers or film critics at the very initial stage of your career are welcomed to apply for the programme, which is a great opportunity to become more familiar with different professionals involved in the field and start building your own international network. The emerging talents will be introduced to the international audiovisual industry, have access to MPV’s panels, pitching session and have individual meetings with industry professionals. 

The applications both for Coming Soon session and Talents Nest initiative have to be finalized and submitted by FEBRUARY 20, 2020. For more information and criteria click here.