Only two days are left until the start of the twenty-third documentary Ji.hlava. The festival will kick off with the world premiere of Jaroslav Kučera A Journalby Jakub Felcman.

The Opening Ceremony will feature the presentation of the award for best short documentary film; this year’s awards were designed by Chinese artist and activist, Ai Weiwei. The following festival days will offer virtual reality, discussions as part of the Inspiration Forum, or the possibility to join the planting of an orchard.

Felcman’s opening film is a tribute to Jaroslav Kučera, one of the most original cinematographers of the Czech New Wave, and his wife, director VěraChytilová. “They would have turned ninety this year. We are very happy that we can pay tribute to their anniversary with this personal and revelatory movie,” says Marek Hovorka, the Festival Director. The soundtrack was composed by Czech musician Aid Kid.

“It is a real film diary that comprises both scenes from a family life, both visual experiments and tests. It resembles a message inserted in a bottle for many years – until we discovered it. We tried to keep it intact, not deformed. We were listening to the material, and tried to keep Jaroslav Kučera’s world as it used to be”, says Jaroslav Felcman about his film.

The Ji.hlava festival awards will this year have a new design, made by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. “We approached him with the suggestion to design this year’s festival awards because Ai Weiwei is not only a distinctive figure of the artistic world, but also an activist and a filmmaker. His filmmaking work was introduced in 2012 when he was held under house arrest by the Chinese regime,” says Marek Hovorka. “In his films, Ai Weiwei connects ordinary people with art and art with politics, in which he stubbornly reintroduces social and human-rights themes. His work of art is also very diverse, excelling in sculptural or architectural realizations. The person behind all this is Ai Weiwei, a man with a digital hand-held camera which turned into one of the last available weapons of the unequal struggle with the Communist regime as we know it from his film Disturbing The Peace, shown at Ji.hlava seven years ago,” adds Marek Hovorka.  The award will be presented at the festival’s Opening Ceremony – the first category will be the Short Joy section. The winner will be selected based on viewers’ votes on the Dafilms.cz portal offering competition films in this section.

Virtual reality of modern slavery

This year’s Ji.hlava will also invite visitors to step into virtual reality. It will offer the largest showcase of VR works in the Czech Republic – both VR Cinema, and installations: presenting linear 360° films in four composed blocks, along with interactive experiences (their installations have six spaces reserved in DKO). “The VR-zone will feature works that build on the impression of realness and underscore the experience of testimony in a specific time and space,” says the programme composer, Andrea Slováková, about VR documentaries, such as the Nigeria-made Daughters of Chibokabout the kidnapping of almost three hundred young women by the terrorist group Boko Haram in 2014, or American film Ghost Fleet about the phenomenon of modern slavery on fishing ships in Indonesia. “We have also prepared installations that develop real stimuli through imaginary implications; they invite viewers to interpret visual art works, providing super-real experiences referencing philosophical or existential issues or creating unique worlds built from the elements of reality. For example, the installation Re-Animated conjures up an entire world of its own,” adds Andrea Slováková. Accreditation holders can purchase a day pass into the VR-zone for 80 CZK, those without the accreditation will pay twice as much.

Climageddon, Women in Change, Re:Democracy, God & Co., Made in China – and most of all: How Not to Be Afraid. These are the main topics of this year’s Inspiration Forum. In the course of six festival days, its ninth edition will open up six key topics and present over one hundred guests from all over the world, in more than thirty discussions.“Live discussions following the screenings are an integral part of the Ji.hlava IDFF and often the reason why many directors and visitors keep on coming back. However, the Inspiration Forum gave the festival a brand new dimension, interconnecting the educated and inquisitive festival audience with inspiring personalities in a focused discussion format,” says Marek Hovorka, the founder of the forum.

What will you find on this year’s programme? Bill McKibben, a notable American environmentalist, will talk about the climate crisis as a challenge. His book The End of Nature published in 1989 provided a visionary account of today’s climate situation. He will be followed by Isabella Salton, the head of Brazilian environmental organization Instituto Terra that is fighting to save the Brazilian forest and Jihlava’s native AlešPalán whose book of interviews with loners from the ŠumavaMountainsBetter to Go Crazy in the Wild has become a bestseller. 

One day will be dedicated to the position of women in society. The topic of Women in Transformation will be discussed by FawziaKoofi, an advocate for women rights and a candidate for the president of Afghanistan, Dagestani writer, Alisa Ganieva. Her debut, Salaam, Dalgat! had to be published under a male pseudonym to avoid the label “a story for women”.

Democracy and drones in Africa

Another major topic of the ninth Inspiration Forum is the crisis of the democratic society. And who will be the debaters? For instance, Sophie Howe, who has for three years been in office as the ‘future generations commissioner’ in Wales. Another guest will be the political scientist and NATO’s strategic communication specialist, Jonathan Terra, who worked as a diplomat in Afghanistan. As a political analyst and commentator he writes about the state of democracy in the USA.

Environmental disasters, fake news, wars for water and resources, terrorism, end of the world. These catastrophic scenarios are slowly becoming an integral part of our everyday existence. This year, the Ji.hlava IDFF will also discuss “how not to be afraid” of these visions and not to be paralysed by fear. The guests will include British futurologist Jonathan Ledgard, author of the cargo drone and droneport concept for Africa, and an American of Mexican descent, writer and former border guard Francisco Cantú, or the director of Ji.hlava’sHorácké Theatre, OndrejRemiáš.

Another sphere of interest of this year’s Inspiration Forum is China. Norwegian political scientist Stein Ringen or Czech analyst TomášRezek who is engaged with cyber safety and criminality will be among those answering the questions. A day block called God & Co. will then focus on the topic of Catholic Church, its role in today’s world, and its further development. The guest will be the first Czech army chaplain, BishopTomáš Holub. He is one of the more progressive Catholic representatives: clearly denouncing nationalism just as the “building of ideological barricades against gender”.

And apples and pears!

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) adds ten films to the already announced eight that will be competing in the First Feature Competition programme of the festival. 

Adding one world, eight international and one European premiere to the films that were already announced on the 7th of October, PÖFF Concludes the selection of the First Feature Competition programme of the festival. The programme embodies the festival’s mission to discover emerging creative voices from all over the world, offering them a first launchpad and help to gain international recognition.

The competition will be overseen by an international jury of film industry professionals, that will be announced in the second half of October. They will hand out the following prizes: Best film and a 5000 euro grant shared by the director and producer of the film, along with two Special Prizes.

Festival director and head of programme Tiina Lokk commented: "It is a truly special and great feeling, yet an even greater responsibility for a festival to host a world or international premiere of an artist's debut, thus extra special consideration is always given by the team for these films. Is this the right film for us? But even more so, are we the right festival for this film? Having said that, we are extremely excited to share the 2019 First Feature selection which, for us, is an exciting combination of countries and topics, artistically rewarding and intellectually challenging in equal measure.” 

The press screenings and first public screenings of the films will run from the 21st until the 30th of November.

Isaac
Lithuanian director Jurgis Matulevičius goes artistically deep into the darkness of 20th-century history, offering a decades-spanning tale of a Lithuanian political activist Andrius Gluosnis who kills a Jew - Isaac - at the Lietukis garage massacre in 1941. Years later in Soviet Lithuania, his friend, a well-known film director returns from the USA with a screenplay of a film that depicts the massacre in detail and a situation where Isaac is being killed becoming the main suspect of a KGB investigation, opening the floodgates to repressed guilt for the protagonist. The film will have its world premiere at Black Nights.

Dance With Me
Director- co-scriptwriter Soroush Sehat’s drama-comedy stages a reunion of old friends for Jahangir’s birthday, when everyone is informed of his fatal illness. An inevitable confrontation with the current situation and the past leads to a series of tensions and reconciliations – it is a story about death, serving as a light-hearted ode to life. Soroush Sehat has been active as an actor and scriptwriter in several Iranian films and a director of Iranian TV series.

Darkness
Director and co-scriptwriter Emanuela Rossi offers a “fairy tale for grown-up children”, a fantasy tale about a seventeen-year-old girl living with her father and two younger sisters in an isolated house under a strict rule not to exit the building under any circumstances. Her father,  the only one able to go outside, claims the outside world is apocalyptical, but something about the story doesn’t quite add up for the protagonist. Using a fictional setting as a backdrop, Rossi is interested in the power play between parents and their children and the spatial and psychological repression a growing psyche can feel at home.

Finky
Irish Director Dathaí Keane presents a drama with mystical sub currents, subtly blending lines between fantasy and realism in the tale of Micí Finky, a musician with a tragic past, is crippled in an accident and given a chance at redemption when recruited by an avant-garde circus. Keane has directed two successful drama-documentary series The Irish Mob - that has been internationally sold to Netflix and Easter 1916 - that is available on Amazon Prime. Another Netflix title by him is the drama series Dominion Creek that also ran for two seasons on Irish national television under the name An Klondike. Finky won the award for Best Cinematography at Galway Film Fleadh.

On the Quiet
Set in the present-day Hungarian countryside, director Zoltán Nagy’s debut introduces 18-year-old Dávid, the lead violinist in his music conservatory’s orchestra. His mentor and the teacher, also somewhat a father figure for Dávid, is a veteran conductor. A freshman14-year-old student Nori joins the orchestra at the end of the school year and soon enjoys the attention of both men. At one point she confesses to Dávid that the 60-year-old man is making intimate approaches to her. Nagy plays skillfully with the ambiguities of truth, prejudices and miscommunication of the situation, as he keeps the audience in a similar position with the protagonist, who, while looking for the truth, starts to spiral out of control emotionally.

Obscure
Managing to combine sensibilities that usually tend to oppose each other - surreal and naturalistic - director and writer Kunlin Wang presents a coming-of-age journey of a teenage boy, who sexually awakens after discovering the sexual relationship between his father and sister figures. While trying to repeal the psychological repression of the father, he builds a yearning for his sister’s sexual attention. Having a background in Gender Studies, director Kunlin Wang has a passion for telling stories of subcultures and marginalised people. She has directed more than 10 short films that have won awards including the New York and Los Angeles Film Awards.

Stay Still
Julie is a rich and sarcastic patient in a mental clinic with a history of seducing men and setting things on fire. She meets Agnes, a nurse and young mother with little know-how or emotional capabilities of being either. The meeting of the two wild spirits sparks a rebellion or a spree of severe vandalism, depending on the perspective. Director-scriptwriter Elisa Mishto presents a stylised, poetic and witty portraiture of an ambivalent rebellion in the contemporary world. While destructively nihilistic on the surface, there is also a sense fighting back against the fetishisation of productivity in our world. Her previous film won the best short film award at the Max Ophüls festival and screened at Palm Springs. 

Supernova 
Showcasing remarkable skill at flowing smoothly between genres - drama, thriller and disaster cinema - Polish director Bartosz Kruhlik tells the story of a few hours in the life of a rural community affected by an accident that changes the life for several of the characters while raising questions about the essence of chance and destiny. Kruhlik’s short films have won over 150 awards and been included in The selections of San Sebastian IFF Karlovy Vary IFF, Montreal WFF, Sarajevo FF and IDFA.

Tomorrow We Are Free
Setting his powerful historical drama about the difficult choices average people have to make during history-shaping events, director-screenwriter Hossein Pourseifi presents a story from Iran in 1979. In the wake of the Islamic Revolution, a young woman from East Germany follows her Iranian-born husband to Tehran. Driven by the will to create a free and equal society they plan to start a new life with their little daughter. But eventually, the young family has to make the biggest sacrifice imaginable. Adding an autobiographical nuance to the selection of the topic, the film’s director was four years old when his family moved from Iran to Germany after the events depicted in the film.

Stories From the Chestnut Woods
In a decaying forest on the Yugoslav-Italian border in the years after World War II, a stingy, old carpenter and a lonely, young chestnut seller share imaginative memories of the past as they weigh fateful decisions for the future, in this touching homage to a lost way of life. Director and co-writer Gregor Božič shot the film in the rural area on the border of Italy and Slovenia where he grew up. The story is based on the stories he heard there while conducting research on pomology. The film had its world premiere in Toronto.

Dance With Me (Jahan, Ba Man Beraghs), 2019, Iran, director: Soroush Sehat | International premiere
Darkness (Buio), 2019, Italy, director: Emanuela Rossi | International premiere
Finky, 2019, Ireland, director: Dathai Keane | International premiere
On the Quiet (Szép csendben), 2019, Hungary, director: Zoltán Nagy | International premiere
Isaac, 2019, Lithuania / Poland, director: Jurgis Matulevičius | World premiere
Obscure, 2019, USA / China, director: Kunlin Wang | International premiere
Stay Still (Stillstehen), 2019, Germany, director: Elisa Mishto | International premiere
Stories From the Chestnut Woods (Zgodbe iz kostanjevih gozdov), 2019, Slovenia / Italy / Germany, director: Gregor Božič | European premiere
Supernova,  2019, Poland, director: Bartosz Kruhlik | International premiere
Tomorrow We Are Free (Morgen Sind Wir Frei), 2019, Germany, director: Hossein Pourseifi | International premiere

Films announced on the 7th of October

A Dog's Death (La muerte de un perro), 2019,  Uruguay / Argentine / France Director: Matías Ganz | World premiere
Dust and Ashes (축복의 집), 2019, South Korea, director: Park Hee-kwon | World premiere
Mother (Mater), 2019, Croatia / Serbia / France / Bosnia-Herzegovina, director: Jure Pavlović | World premiere
Looted, 2019, UK, Director: Rene Pannevis | World premiere
Lorni - The Flaneur, 2019, India, director: Wanphrang Diengdoh | World premiere
Saul at Night, 2019, USA, director: Cory Santilli | World premiere
The Names of the Flowers, 2019, Bolivia / USA / Canada / Iran, director: Bahman Tavoosi | World premiere
The Seeker (O Buscador), 2019, Brazil, Director: Bernardo Barreto | World premiere

MATERIALS

Film stills can be found here.
First Feature Competition programme laurel.

Festival teaser: Youtube link.

#blacknightsfilmfestival #PÖFF23

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The Main Competition with the Golden Frog Award has been the most important part of the EnergaCAMERIMAGE Festival from its beginning. The Competition exists since 1993 i.e. since the first edition of the Festival. From the very beginning the idea behind the competition is to present the feature films where the image significantly contributes to the way a story is told. The visual value of these films results from the cooperation between a director and a cinematographer and the unusual sensitivity of the author of a film image.The Main Competition emphasizes the enormous contribution of the cinematographer to the film work.

The aim of the Main Competition is to present films with unique visual appeal which will then be evaluated by International Jury who will choose and award the authors of the best cinematography.

Also this year we will present the most interesting phenomena of world's cinematography, distinctive in terms of creative use of the image in film narration.

AMUNDSEN

Nowadays, almost everyone has heard Roald Amundsen’s name at some point in their lives, even if many people would not be able to tell that he was the pioneering explorer who passed through the grizzly Northwest Passage and led the first expedition to the South Pole. The film does not focus on a precise recreation of the Norwegian’s famous journeys into the unknown, but instead tries to explore who Amundsen was before and after, and also what made him push the limits of what seemed possible at the turn of the 20th century. We observe many events from his life that shaped his character and physicality, but also broke him psychologically and made him a somewhat bitter man to the very end of his life. We get to know Amundsen both through his bitter-sweet relationship with his brother Leon, who financed his subsequent expeditions, as well as his romantic dealings with Canadian citizen Bess Magids. We see what kind of man he was in private, and how he changed and reacted to the dangers awaiting on the high seas when given the command of a ship.

Director: Espen Sandberg
Cinematographer: Pål Ulvik Rokseth
Produced by: Motion Blur Films
Country and year: Norway, 2019

BOLDEN

Charles “Buddy” Bolden was a talented musician and cornetist who gained fame in New Orleans at the turn of the 20th century with his band. He presumably did not need notes, as he played from memory and from the heart, while inspiring a number of musicians to experiment and improvise – which later gave birth to jazz as we know it today. Bolden is a character surrounded by myth and mystery, because although his existence and talent were confirmed by many sources, there are no recordings of him playing. This film, however, is not about the legend, but a fragile human being at its heart, a man in love with his life and the magic of sound, who was unstoppable when on stage. Unfortunately, he was also unstoppable when it came to alcohol, drugs, and sex, which ultimately ended his promising career prematurely, to the extent that we find him in a mental institution, listening to the development of the music he pioneered. Today, Bolden is a legend, but one cannot forget about the human being hidden beneath all of the myths.

Director: Dan Pritzker
Cinematographer: Neal Norton
Produced by: King Bolden LLC
Country and year: USA, 2018

FORD V FERRARI

In the world of 1960s international car racing, there was only one champion: Ferrari. It was obvious in many areas, but the most prestigious one was the legendary 24-hour-long Le Mans race. The film starts with the Italian company’s dominance being challenged by Henry Ford II, the owner of the behemoth of the automotive industry – Ford Motor Company. He hires for that purpose a visionary and ex-racing driver, Carroll Shelby, who won Le Mans in 1959, the last person to do so before Ferrari’s reign. Shelby, in turn, goes to spirited and unpredictable, though seriously talented driver, Ken Miles to form a team, to be the best of the best. While being constantly pressured by the company’s management that wants to see some results and does not accept even a hint of failure, Shelby and Miles have to make professional and personal compromises to go the distance, but they never depart from their ground-breaking vision. That is how the Ford GT40 came into existence. Its first real test: 1966 Le Mans.

Polish title: Le Mans ’66 
Director: James Mangold
Cinematographer: Phedon Papamichael
Produced by: Chernin Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox
Polish distributor: Imperial CinePix Sp. z o.o.
Country and year: USA, 2019

IRISHMAN, THE

If you need to kill someone – either quietly, without all the fuss and additional red tape, or making a statement out of it – there is no better man to do the job than Frank “The Irishman” Sheeran. An old-school hitman, Frank was trained in taking lives during the murderous Italian campaign of World War II, and after returning to the United States, he quickly rose in prominence in the eyes of some of organised crime’s most notorious families. Especially the Bufalino family, for which he killed a number of undesirable people, including his long-time friend Jimmy Hoffa, the legendary labour union leader whose disappearance had been, for decades, considered one of the greatest American mysteries. When Frank reaches old age and sits silently in a wheelchair, the only thing he can do is reflect on his colourful life as a criminal. The man wonders if he had really helped to shape the way the second half of the 20th century turned out, or if he was just another small cog in the machine that devoured his soul.

Polish title: Irlandczyk
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cinematographer: Rodrigo Prieto
Produced by: Fábrica de Cine, Sikelia Productions, STX Entertainment, Tribeca Productions
Country and year: USA, 2019

JOKER

Arthur Fleck’s life resembles an evolving nightmare. The man tries to earn money while dressed as a clown, but time and time again he comes up against society’s ostracism, including cases of physical violence. While he tries to laugh his misery out on stage, as he would like to become a successful stand-up comedian, the audience, for some reason, does not like his jokes. It sometimes happens that when Arthur takes the bus home, he loses control of his laughter, while people sitting next to him cannot comprehend that this is a medical condition that he has to battle every single day. His refuge is his apartment, where he lives with his dear mother, who strongly believes that her former employer, Thomas Wayne, will someday give them a helping hand. Arthur’s favourite part of the day is watching TV shows onto which he can project his hopes and dreams of becoming a funny guy, appreciated for what he really is. Cruel fate will give the poor man an opportunity to perform his wildest fantasies in real life, but then, laughing will be the last thing to do.

Director: Todd Phillips
Cinematographer: Lawrence Sher
Produced by: Creative Wealth Media Finance, DC Comics, DC Entertainment, Joint Effort, Warner Bros.
Polish distributor: Warner Bros. Entertainment Polska Sp. z o.o.
Country and year: USA, Canada, 2019

LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO, THE

Huge cities never go to sleep but, what is more, they are in a constant flux, undergoing numerous social and political changes that make them sometimes unrecognisable, even to the very people who grew up and spent their dreams in them, and went on from idealistic teenagers to be cynical adults. The film tells the story of two Afro-American friends, Jimmie and Montgomery, who love San Francisco and know the city like the back of their hand, but they are not able to stop its changing into an irritating tourist attraction, nor the gentrification of the areas they once called home. When an unexpected incident makes Jimmie’s family home, owned for some time by white inhabitants, available on the market again, the boys build a charming utopia in there, just to preserve the memories of the city they knew and the world they were a part of. It is a utopia that cannot last long in the desensitised modern reality, but one that makes room for personal satisfaction, stemming from the beautiful and universal act of remembering.

Director: Joe Talbot
Cinematographer: Adam Newport-Berra
Produced by: A24 Films, Plan B Entertainment
Country and year: USA, 2019

MOTHERLESS BROOKLYN

Still from "Motherless Brooklyn,"
courtesy of Warner Bros.

Lionel Essrog is one of New York’s private eyes, on the one hand blessed with a brilliant memory, but on the other, cursed with Tourette syndrome which makes him a social recluse. His only real friend, as well as mentor, is one Frank Minna, for whom Lionel works. When Frank gets involved in some shady business deal with the sort of people whose faces always stay in the shadows, he quickly ends up six feet under. Lionel, distraught with grief, swears to find the killers, regardless of the price he will have to pay to do so. The man does not suspect that a clue he accidently discovers one day will lead him to uncover a shocking affair involving New York’s finest officials and the city’s éminence grise. The stakes are so high that, in the beginning, he does not even comprehend what they might be, but Lionel will have to stand up to the people who are capable of destroying the dreams and prospects of thousands of citizens just to satisfy their ambitions. The battle between the eccentric David and the ever-powerful Goliath begins.

Polish title: Osierocony Brooklyn
Director: Edward Norton
Cinematographer: Dick Pope
Produced by: Class 5 Films, Warner Bros. Pictures
Polish distributor: Warner Bros. Entertainment Polska Sp. z o.o.

MR. JONES

It is 1933, and traumatised Europe is still unable to return to its former, pre-World War I glory. Everyone looks in horror at Germany’s social and political upheavals, while the old monarchies see hope in the unprecedented economic expansion of the Soviet Union. However, Welsh journalist Gareth Jones predicts that both countries will be dangerous in years to come. Firstly, he uses deceit to interview the new German chancellor, Adolf Hitler, and then he sets his sight to Moscow, to question Stalin about his plans and promises. When he realises the interview will be impossible to organise, he begins to search for the truth on his own, peeling back the subsequent layers of the intricate Soviet illusion, designed to promote communism throughout the West. One day, he goes on a journey to Ukraine to observe the economic marvel with his own eyes, but what he experiences there is death, suffering, and hunger turning human beings into the literal living dead. When he tries to report all of this to the rest of the world, he is silenced by influential people, for whom the truth is only a matter of perspective.

Polish title: Obywatel Jones
Director: Agnieszka Holland
Cinematographer: Tomasz Naumiuk
Produced by: Film Produkcja Sp. z o.o.
Polish distributor: Kino Świat Sp. z o. o.
Country and year: Poland, UK, Ukraine, 2019

NEVER LOOK AWAY

Young Kurt’s education begins just before the hell of World War II breaks loose, when he goes to see an exhibition of art pieces considered dangerous and degenerate by the new rulers of the German world. Several months later, the boy witnesses the arrest of his older cousin Elizabeth, not being aware of the fact that thousands of others will join her in years to come. After the war, Kurt begins his formal education as a painter in Dresden, although he is soon forced to comply with the ideas of socialist realism in his work, promoted by the new rulers of his and others’ worlds. While struggling with outside pressure, he tries his best not to be yet another skilled craftsman with no voice of his own. He starts losing hope that it will ever change. The story of a young man’s troubled growing up to fulfil his creative potential, to be an artist who conveys ideas through his art, intertwined with a tale of social, political and humanist perturbations Germany endured first during the days of the Third Reich, and then after the division into East and West Germany.

Original title: Werk Ohne Autor
Polish title: Obrazy bez autora
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Cinematographer: Caleb Deschanel
Produced by: Pergamon Film, Wiedemann & Berg Film GmbH & Co. KG
Polish distributor: Aurora Films
Country and year: Germany, Italy, 2018

OFFICER AND A SPY, AN

Still from "An Officer and a Spy,"
courtesy of Gutek Film

An Officer and a Spy tells a story based on the life of Alfred Dreyfus, a French officer sentenced to life imprisonment for treason, and sent into exile. Soon after Dreyfus' imprisonment, Georges Picquart, the new head of intelligence, discovers that the evidence against the convict has been fabricated. Opposing his superiors, Picquart decides to reveal the truth at all costs. What is at stake is not only Picquart's brilliantly-started career, but also a great international scandal that would change the course of history. Roman Polański tells the story of one of the biggest scandals in history. The perfectly narrated intrigue shows a system in which the self-winding hate spiral begins to resemble current times. An Officer and a Spy is a film about how history repeats itself, and how one man fighting for justice against everyone else can change the course of history.

Original title: J'accuse
Polish title: Oficer i szpieg
Director: Roman Polański
Cinematographer: Paweł Edelman
Produced by: Canal +, Eliseo Cinema, France 2, France 3, Gaumont, Legende Films, Rai Cinema
Polish distributor: Gutek Film
Country and year: France, Italy, 2019

PAINTED BIRD, THE

A nameless boy without an identity (although some think he must be a Jew) wanders around unnamed villages of Eastern Europe, seeing with his own eyes the cruelty and horrors than no human being should ever be forced to see. The dehumanisation is so complete that it may seem that the film takes place sometime during the dark Middle Ages. What other way is there to explain ripping out people’s eyeballs, hideous psychosexual perversions, or setting live animals on fire? Nevertheless, the film is set in the 20th century, during World War II, and the boy experiences first-hand human beings’ capability to unleash sheer terror on each other, to the extent that it is difficult to decide what is more petrifying: watching silently through torture, paedophilia and killing for pleasure, or the attitude of brainless ignorance that most characters the boy meets on his way represent, along with the susceptibility to superstition and thinking that if someone believes in something different, he or she has to be some kind of hellish creature ready for annihilation.

Polish title: Malowany ptak
Director: Václav Marhoul
Cinematographer: Vladimír Smutný
Produced by: Silver Screen
Country and year: Czech Republic, 2019

SHADOW

Two feuding kingdoms on the verge of yet another war. The only thing which is stopping their rulers from ordering bloodshed is the fear that this may finally be the last straw for their subjects. Two brave commanders fight until their last breath for the glory of their land, though their duel is unresolved. A warrior princess who can stand up to any man, Shakespearean intrigues, alliances and romances threatening to crumble the current status quo. And in the middle of all this, a proud and courageous warrior who was trained from his childhood as a protégé for his kingdom’s beloved commander. Now, after the dramatic events of the last few weeks, he has to fight for his master’s honour and the future of all of his land. However, when the bloodshed begins and everything that was said and done behind the scenes loses importance, there is no time to think and plan. There is only one’s instinct and the ability to survive. One thing is for certain: no one will live through the massacre to come out the other side without a scratch.

Original title: Ying
Director: Yimou Zhang
Cinematographer: Xiaoding Zhao
Produced by: LeVision Pictures, Shanghai Tencent Pictures Culture Media, Perfect Village Entertainment HK Limited
Country and year: Hong Kong, China, 2018

20 projects will be presented at the Co-Production Market 2019 taking place between November 26-29 during the Industry@Tallinn &; Baltic Event. The market’s 18th edition welcomes both promising debutants as well as industry heavyweights, with stories ranging from raw personal traumas to mind-bending thrillers.

“After opening our market to filmmakers from across the globe looking for a window to our region a few years ago, we are excited to admit that filmmakers from outside our traditional scope have finally found us,” Leana Jalukse, Co-Production Market Manager comments. “Our Focus Countries Ireland and Argentina are also bringing some winds of change, but, first and foremost, we’re proud to be showcasing some of the greatest talent from right next door – Central and Eastern Europe, and Scandinavia,” she adds.

Baltic Event title countries, the Baltics, bring three debuts to the slate, each of which is following an award-winning short film of the director and is backed by an established production company – children’s film A Butterfly's Heart by Inesa Kurklietyte, produced by Zivile Gallego of Fralita Films from Lithuania; Reconstruction by Evar Anvelt, with Laura Raud’s screenplay based on the novel by her father Rein Raud produced by Andreas Kask of Nafta Films, Estonia; and loosely autobiographical The Golden Spot by Liene Linde, produced by Guntis Trekteris of Ego Media, Latvia.

Continuing on an autobiographical note, Polish coming-of-age story The Great Matchby Filip Syczynski, backed by renowned producer Anna Rozalska of Match & Spark. Poland is also represented by a tough journey towards motherhood, The Seal Mother, the second feature by Agnieszka Trzos, produced by award-winning Roman Jarosz of Holly Pictures.

Moving on to Finland, Kaarle Aho (Black Ice, The Fencer) of Making Movies, whose numerous successful films have started out at Baltic Event over the years, brings to usThe Good Driver, the feature debut by award-winning documentary filmmaker Tonislav Hristov – the film will be a co-production with Bulgaria. Another co-production including Finland is Aria, an intense love story by award-winning director Noud Heerkens, produced by Joram Willink of Bind, the Netherlands – with the third co-production party Belgium represented by the project’s screenwriter and DOP. Finland is also represented by the second feature by Miika Soini (Thomas), Never Enough White Roses, a lyrical story dealing with the past, produced by Tiina Butter of Butterworks.

Two projects have been selected from Russia. Babydoll is the feature debut by award-winning short film director and actor Elena Lanskih, backed by the experienced Natalia Drozd of CTB Film Company. The second Russian entry, The Conference, by award-winning director Ivan I. Tverdovskiy (Zoology, Corrections Class), is based on a tragic true story, the terrorist attack in Moscow 17 years ago; Katerina Mikhaylova of Vega Film produces.

True events have also inspired the political thriller The File, the second feature by Jonas Karasek, brought to us by prominent producer Wanda Adamik Hrycova (The Line) of Wandal Production, Slovakia.

Also represented by two debuts is Romania with Clara, a portrait of the country’s recent exodus, by Sabin Dorohoi, produced by Daniel Burlac (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) of Western Transylvania Studios; and Horia, a coming-of-age story by Ana Maria Comanescu, backed by Ada Solomon (Scrarred Hearts, Aferim!), microFILM, who has won over 200 awards in her 20-something-year career.

Our main slate is rounded up by two films treating the most complex of subjects – The Exchange by debut director Sergo Ustyan tells the story of a prisoner exchange on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, Tigran Hambardzumyan of Persona Grata Group co-producing with Denmark, the UK, and Norway; and Sola, following a man on a humanitarian mission, by award-winning Chadian film director Issa Serge Coelo (Tartina City) with the production helmed by Wilf Varvill, Fire Engine, UK, looking for co-producers from the Nordics.

On to the Irish focus, which features the black comedy Cutters, set in a hair salon, which inspired writer-director Rachel Carey, with a team of established producers from World 2000 Entertainment; July Fly, a story about redemption by debutant Stevie Russell, a successful commercial and music video director, brought to us by producer Samantha Corr of Venom Films; and The Sparrow by Michael Kinirons, whose features as a writer have boasted A-list casts and his shorts have won numerous awards, presented by Alicia Ní Ghráinne of Tiger Darling Productions.

Off to the other side of the world, for our Spotlight on Argentina, which has only just joined Eurimages. The Thaw, a detective story in a hostile environment, is the debut for director Facundo Escudero Salinas, who already boasts an impressive resume, produced by Nicolás Münzel Camaño of Pensilvania Films. The film is intended as a co-production with Bolivia and Uruguay, but is also looking for European co-producers.

A Eurimages Co-Production Development Award worth 20 000 Euro will be handed out by a jury consisting of Uljana Kim, producer, Studio Uljana Kim, Lithuania, Simon Ofenloch, commissioning editor, ZDF ARTE, Germany, and Alex Traila, consultant, national representative of Eurimages, Romania.

In addition, one project will receive the Screen International Best Pitch Award, offering coverage of the lifecycle of the winning film, and two producers will receive theCannes Marché du Film Producers’ Network Award for Promising Young Producer with free accreditations to next year’s edition.

Baltic Event Co-Production Market Official Selection 2019:
1. Aria, directed by Noud Heerkens, produced by Joram Willink, Bind, The Netherlands, Fralita Films, Lithuania
2. Babydoll, directed by Elena Lanskih, produced by Natalia Drozd, CTB Film Company, Russia
3. A Butterfly's Heart, directed by Inesa Kurklietyte, produced by Zivile Gallego, Fralita Films, Lithuania
4. Clara, directed by Sabin Dorohoi, produced by Daniel Burlac, Western Transylvania Studios, Romania
5. The Conference, directed by Ivan I. Tverdovskiy, produced by Katerina Mikhaylova, Vega Film, Russia
6. The Exchange, directed by Sergo Ustyan, produced by Tigran Hambardzumyan, Persona Grata Group, Armenia
7. The File, directed by Jonas Karasek, produced by Wanda Adamik Hrycova, Wandal Production, Slovakia
8. The Golden Spot, directed by Liene Linde, produced by Guntis Trekteris, Ego Media, Latvia
9. The Good Driver, directed by Tonislav Hristov, produced by Kaarle Aho, Making Movies, Finland
10. The Great Match, directed by Filip Syczynski, produced by Anna Rozalska, Match & Spark, Poland
11. Horia, directed by Ana Maria Comanescu, produced by Ada Solomon, microFILM, Romania
12. Never Enough White Roses, directed by Miika Soini, produced by Tiina Butter, Butterworks, Finland
13. Reconstruction, directed by Evar Anvelt, produced by Andreas Kask, Nafta Films, Estonia
14. The Seal Mother, directed by Agnieszka Trzos, produced by Roman Jarosz, Holly Pictures, Poland
15. Sola, directed by Issa Serge Coelo, produced by Wilf Varvill, Fire Engine, Great Britain

Focus on Ireland:
16. Cutters, directed by Rachel Carey, produced by Auveen Lush, World 2000 Entertainment, Ireland
17. July Fly, directed by Stevie Russell, produced by Samantha Corr, Venom Films, Ireland
18. The Sparrow, directed by Michael Kinirons, produced by Alicia Ní Ghráinne, Tiger Darling Productions, Ireland

Spotlight on Argentina:
19. The Thaw, directed by Facundo Escudero Salinas, produced by Nicolás Münzel Camaño, Pensilvania Films, Argentina

The supporters and partners of Industry@Tallinn &; Baltic Event are the European Regional Development Fund, Creative Europe MEDIA Programme, European Commission, Eurimages, Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian Film Institute, Ministry of Culture of Estonia, Lithuanian Film Centre, Screen Ireland, Finnish Film Foundation, National Film Centre of Latvia, INCAA, Estonian Academy of Arts, Elisa, Premier Studios, Global Screen, Post Control, West One Music, ARRI Media, Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, Storytek, Creative Gate, Tallink Hotels, Nordic Hotel Forum, Film New Europe, Screen International, European Film Academy, FOX Networks Group, MIDPOINT, Festival Scope, EAVE Producers Workshop, Cannes Marche du Film’s Producers’ Network, Proto Invention Factory, Fotografiska Tallinn, Hypewriter, NEM Zagreb.

PHOTO:
The winner of Eurimages Co-Production Development Award in 2018:
A Girl’s Room by Aino Suni, France/Finland

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Read more about Industry@Tallinn &; Baltic Event 
Read more about Baltic Event Co-Production Market

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Chinese Artist Ai Weiwei designed this year’s Ji.hlava awards

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Studio 89 marking the 30th anniversary of the revolution

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