ZAGREB: Mali by Antonio Nuić has been selected as Croatia’s candidate for the 92nd Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences award in the best international feature film category.
We are happy that two of our works will be shown at Ars Electronica Linz:
Lithuanian Film Centre Announced Production and Development Grants for 2019 2nd Session
Lithuania 03-09-2019The Lithuanian Film Centre has distributed € 1 271 245 at its second session of financing for 2019. In all, 36 film projects received funding for production and development.
RIGA: A total of 25 projects take part in the new edition of Baltic Sea Docs, the co-financing forum of international documentary projects held in Riga from 3 to 7 September 2019.
NEW DEADLINES for co-production projects and film and series scripts submission!
Festivals 03-09-2019MISSED THE DEADLINES? HERE IS ONE MORE CHANCE...
Deadlines for co-production projects and scripts for films, TV and drama series have been extended
The submissions are pouring in, but luckily we still have room for more! Appreciating the strong interest, we decided to prolong the deadlines for submitting projects for Co-Production Market and Script Pool Tallinn until the 10th of September.
Baltic Event Co-Production Market is a perfect opportunity to find financiers, co-producers and sales agents for a project during an intensive two days of pre-arranged one-on-one meetings. The event also presents the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award of 20 000 Euros.
An international script competition Script Pool Tallinn invites talented scriptwriters (with producers attached) to submit scripts for film, TV or drama series. In addition, the competition aims to support the writers and the producers enhancing the script and maximizing its production and distribution potential. The main award of 5000 Euros, provided by our partner, one of the leading international sales & distribution companies Global Screen GmbH, is given to one of the five writer-producer teams invited to Tallinn.
This week, from Sept. 3 – 8, the 23rd Baltic Sea Documentary Film Forum (Baltic Sea Docs), organized by the National Film Centre is taking place in Latvia. The Forum will give audiences on the ground in Riga, Cēsis, Valmiera, Rēzekne, Jēkabpils and Liepāja, as well as through the Straume LMT app, a chance to view an internationally-renowned film programme. At the same time, some 100 documentary film professionals from more than 20 countries will meet in Riga to work on developing film projects and to create new opportunities for collaboration.
The Forum Film Programme in Riga, Latvia’s Regions and on the Straume LMT App
The Forum will offer a high-quality documentary film programme in Riga film theatre K.Suns and in five regional cities in Latvia. A selection of three films will be screened in Cēsis (Vidzeme concert hall Cēsis), Jēkabpils (Jēkabpils hall Kino mītne), Liepāja (film theatre Balle), Rēzekne (Latgale embassy Gors) and Valmiera (film theatre Gaisma).
Film descriptions: http://nkc.gov.lv/bsd/baltijas-juras-dokumentalo-filmu-foruma-filmu-programma/
The films will be screened in their original language with translation in Latvian and English. Admission will be free for school children, students, pensioners and film professionals upon showing documentation and picking up free film passes in theatre box offices ahead of time. Ticket sales for screenings in Riga at: www.bezrindas.lv
BSD Riga screenings: http://nkc.gov.lv/bsd/baltijas-juras-dokumentalo-filmu-foruma-seansu-plans-riga/
BSD regional screenings: http://nkc.gov.lv/bsd/baltijas-juras-dokumentalo-filmu-foruma-seansu-plans-regionos/
In co-operation with the Straume LMT app, Baltic Sea Documentary Film Forum viewers throughout Latvia will be able to watch two of the most popular films from previous years.
Baltic Sea Docs films on the Straume LMT app: http://straume.lmt.lv/lv/video-saraksts/dok-forums
Special Forum Events
Tuesday, September 3, 18:30 – Forum opening at film theatre K. Suns. Prior to the film The Greenaway Alphabet (2017, Netherlands, dir. Saskia Boddeke) film theoretician Dita Rietuma together with film theoretician Viktors Freibergs will help familiarize viewers with the world of legendary film director Peter Greenaway.
Wednesday, September 4, 18:00 – film theatre K. Suns. Screening of Finnish director Reetta Huhtanen’s film Gods Of Molenbeek (2019, Finland, Belgium, Germany) – a touching portrait of two boys growing up in a multi-cultural environment in Brussels that challenges the biases of adults on limits imposed by political and religious systems. After the screening, Riga International Film Festival programme curator, film critic Kristīne Simsone will hold a talk with director R. Huhtanen.
Thursday, September 5, 18:00 – film theatre K.Suns. Screening of North Macedonian film Honeyland (2019, dir. Ljubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska). The pictorially-opulent story of a virgin mountain landscape and ascetic beekeeper Hatidze has gained international audience and film professional recognition, receiving a string of awards in prestigious festivals. After the screening, viewers will have the chance to delve into the film’s valuable message – journalist Elīna Kolāte will talk to outstanding Latvian cinematographer Gints Bērziņs, well-known organic beekeeping specialist Andrejs Briedis, and biology professor, insect scientist Voldemārs Spuņģis.
Thursday, September 5, 21:00 – film theatre K.Suns. Hungarian director Bernadeta Tuza-Ritter’s virtuoso documentary exploration of modern-day slavery in Europe – A Woman Captured (89 min, 2017, Hungary, Germany). After the screening – meet in person with the film’s director.
Forum Industry Events
Within the framework of the 23rd Baltic Sea Documentary Film Forum, 25 developing film project participants (producers and directors) from more than 20 countries – some 100 documentary film professionals in all – will meet in Riga this year. Joining them will be 19 international TV programme creators and film distributors, among whom will be experts from well-known organizations such as Al Jazeera, BBC, Current Time TV, IDFA Bertha Fund, MDR, CAT&Docs and others, representing not only a wide spectrum of European countries, but also the USA, Canada, Japan and Qatar. Also, for the first time in Forum history, in cooperation with the Danish Cultural Institute in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, BB Post House and film editing expert Phil Jandaly (Sweden), three awards will be presented.
This year’s Forum will also feature four emerging films from Latvia: director Kaspars Goba’s Price of Meat (Ruska Art Foundation), Ivars Zviedris’ Prison Unlocked (Ego Media), Riga Palace from director Armands Začs (SKUBA Films), as well as Italy-Argentina co-production Tango of Life from directors Erika Lifredo and Krista Burāne (VFS Films, B&B Film, Nativa Conenidos).
See here for a full list of participating projects: http://balticseadocs.lv/industry/selected-projects-2019/
Wednesday, September 4 – a seminar on film distribution at Monika Centrum Hotel (Elizabetes ielā 21) – all those interested are welcome, free admission (in English). Danish producer Ove Rishøj Jensen will discuss strategies for reaching new viewers, film marketing campaign tendencies and defining target audiences. Aleksandar Govedarica, head of well-known Canadian distribution company Syndicado, in a discussion with producer/director Gints Grūbe, will reveal the most topical distribution challenges and possible solutions.
The Forum is organized by the National Film Centre. Financial support for events by EU audio-visual sector programme Creative Europe/MEDIA, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia and the Riga City Council.
More information:
http://balticseadocs.lv/ www.nkc.gov.lv/bsd
MIDPOINT graduates selected to Toronto International Film Festival / ZANA / ENTWINED
Press releases 03-09-2019Antoneta Kastrati´s feature film debut ZANA has been selected for this year's Discovery section at Toronto International Film Festival.
It was developed at MIDPOINT Feature Launch in 2017.
Writer and director Antoneta Kastrati and producer Casey Cooper Johnson(Crossing Bridges Films), who attended our Feature Launch program, recount their experience:
„With our first feature, there’s such a big learning curve to overcome and the stakes feel so high. Feature Launch was essential in helping us get our script ready to shoot. The guidance we got on our script was geared toward helping us figure out what story we wanted to tell and then helping us find our way through to that goal. In addition, it was a great place to network and meet not only talented fellow filmmakers and expert advisers but also potential collaborators and partners for our movie."
In 2017, the project was awarded the MIDPOINT Development Award (8. 000 EUR) for the best project and also won the opportunity to be presented at connecting cottbus co-production market.
Moreover, Antoneta attended our special MIDPOINT Editing Room program for projects in rough-cut stage designed to continuously help MIDPOINT graduates.
Read more about ZANA´s journey at MIDPOINT here.
ZANA
“Haunted by her long-suppressed past and pressured by family to seek treatment from mystical healers for her infertility, a Kosovar woman struggles to reconcile the expectations of motherhood with a legacy of wartime brutality, in documentarian Antoneta Kastrati’s deeply personal feature debut.”
Toronto International Film Festival / Discovery
Kosovo, Albania, 2019, 97 minutes
Screenings:
September 7 / TIFF Bell Lightbox / 21.30
September 9 / TIFF Bell Lightbox / 22:00
September 11 / TIFF Bell Lightbox / 21.30
MIDPOINT Feature Launch 2020 is open for applications till September 13, 2019!
Check the program here and start your own journey with us!
Minos Nikolakakis´ feature debut ENTWINED will also premiere in Toronto International Film Festival´s Discovery section.
The project was developed within MIDPOINT program in 2013.
Writer and director Minos Nikolakakis says about the MIDPOINT experience:
“The MIDPOINT sessions helped me considerably to craft the screenplay in a more audience oriented direction, and reshuffle the structure in order for the pace of the film and the story to be one step ahead of the audience, hence maintaining the mystery and tension. It also helped me to balance the supernatural and realistic element in order to have the perfect blend of a 'grounded' mythical story, something that feels like it could happen to you or me in the real world.”
ENTWINED
“City doctor Panos relocates to a remote village in order to offer his services to the community. It’s love at first sight when he sets eyes on Danae, who lives in isolation, with a rare condition that causes her skin to resemble tree bark. Determined to cure her, Panos will soon discover Danae is not the helpless princess he thought she was and time is of the essence for both of them.”
Toronto International Film Festival / Discovery
Greece 2019, 89 minutes
Screenings:
September 8 / Scotiabank Theatre / 18:15
September 10 / Scotiabank Theatre / 17:15
September 14 / Scotiabank Theatre / 17:45
MIDPOINT Feature Launch 2017 was realized with the support of Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, Czech Film Fund, International Visegrad Fund, and Macedonian Film Agency. It was presented in cooperation with Audiovisual Producers' Association (APA), Creative Europe Desk CZ/MEDIA, connecting cottbus and CineMart.
MIDPOINT 2013 was realized with the support of MEDIA Programme, Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, Slovak Audiovisual Fund and International Visegrad Fund.
MIDPOINT operates under the auspices of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.
CONSTANȚA: Back 2 Back directed by Kader Ayd is currently shooting in Constanța, on the Black Sea coast. According to Romanian media, this action film is an original Netflix production. This the first film produced by founder of the Superkombat Fight Championship Eduard Irimia through Superfilm, a company he established together with Moshe Diamant and Christopher Milburn in 2018.
TIMIȘOARA: Romanian minority coproduction Donbass directed by Sergei Loznitsa was awarded the Grand Prix of the 9th edition of the Timișoara Central European Film Festival, running from 28 August to 1 September 2019.
TBILISI: Georgian director Nika Tsiklauri is in postproduction with The Other Neighbors, an observational documentary filmed in the capital of Georgia and commissioned by The German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) for non-commercial use.
