Winners will enjoy a dream trip to the Berlinale film festival.

#europeanfilmchallenge is back – and it’s bigger than ever! The latest edition of the contest invites film fans from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Serbia to share their love of European cinema – with the prize of an all-expenses-paid trip to the Berlinale film festival!

To complete the Challenge, entrants must watch 10 European movies in cinemas, on TV or online before the contest closes on January 31, 2018.

Each time they watch a film, contestants log on to europeanfilmchallenge.eu to share a photo on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, showing how or where they watched it –and adding the hashtag #europeanfilmchallenge.

Extra points are on offer for the number of European films watched, different platforms used, plus bonuses for films from countries with lesser-known film industries.

The previous round of #europeanfilmchallenge saw 2,000 contestants across the Baltic states enjoying more than 800 different titles – and delivering a big boost for European film. Entrants discovered 39 different video-on-demand (VOD) services, including a big increase in European film discoveries on Netflix.

 “#europeanfilmchallenge gives people a fun way for people to discover, enjoy and talk about European cinema,” says organiser Greta Akcijonaite. “Particularly films from countries with an emerging cinema scene.”

“Everybody in the film industry can benefit,” adds Greta. “Producers, distributors, cinemas, online streaming platforms, TV channels… anyone can use it to promote their product. We’re encouraging them to use our logo and say ‘This film is eligible for #europeanfilmchallenge’ on their posters, social posts and press releases.”

#europeanfilmchallenge is coordinated by Kino Metropolis, Kino Bize, A-One Films, The Film Agency, Beldocs and Pari Pikule, with support from Creative Europe MEDIA.

For further information, logos and other resources, contact Vytaute Vailionyte on email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

 

Are you afraid of spiders? Meet the Websters and you´ll start loving them.
The authors of Mimi and Lisa, the book and animated series for children,  were coming with a new animated series during the Christmas holidays, the first one in Slovakia made with 3D technology, not only on the program of the Radio and Television of Slovakia (RTVS) but thanks to SLOVART Publishing Ltd. also as a book.

The author of the Websters´ story is producer and director, Katarína Kerekesová, who found her inspiration in her never-ending battle with house spiders. ‘They have always been so determined to fill every nook and corner of our house with their cobwebs that it made me think about their lives and possible parallels between their and our worlds. The cobweb is a wonderful metaphor for human relationships, not only within a family but also within the larger community we all are part of.’

The main character, six-year-old spider-girl Lisa, is the usual culprit behind the disasters in the Websters’ household. However, the other members of the family do not fall far behind at all - her teenage brother Hugo, sclerotic Grandma or inventive Grandpa, even the father of the family who works in a logistic center supplying the big food chains with tinned flies, and her mother who is ever so passionate about living a healthy lifestyle. The family lives in an elevator shaft that serves them very well as a highway to the greatest adventures.

This project is the outcome of an excellent team effort. The scripts were written by Zuzana Križková, Juraj Raýman, Zuzana Dzurindová, Peter Nagy and Katarína Kerekesová.  Anna Vášová, a well-known Czech playwright, has also made a highly appreciated contribution. The book versions of the stories were prepared by Vanda Rozenbergová who was also a finalist to Anasoft litera 2016, Slovakia’s prestigious Slovak literary prize, with her collection of stories Slobodu bažantom (Freedom to Pheasants). ‘This is actually my first book for children,’ says Rozenbergová. ‘I loved working on this project, reading the original scripts and having the opportunity to watch each one of the episodes,’ she adds. It is an incredible project that reveals the full potential of the very creative team around Katarína Kerekesová. I did my best to make the stories attractive to young readers, which is often much more demanding than a book intended for adults. You need to get the right balance conveying the main message without oversimplifying.’

The book has also been a great challenge to Boris Šima, its illustrator, who worked with the The Websters’ animation team as well. He cooperated with Katarína Kerekesová on the Mimi and Lisa project, too, and has created an animated short film called Chyťte ho! (Catch him!) in a classic grotesque style. ‘I have worked on many different visual aspects of The Websters together with the rest of the team. I tried to stick to the animators and 3D specialists’ comments and requirements as much as possible. Working on the book was way more relaxed. I was a lot more independent, too. Even though I had to respect the visual design of the series, I was free to play and adjust everything to my liking.’

The Websters is the first 3D animated series made in Slovakia. Up to now, 3D animation has been used only in some commercial projects at which Tomáš Mikuľak, the 3D supervisor, gained his experience. ‘It has been a completely new ball game for me, even though the technology is the same. The Websters challenged me to create new tools and procedures to make all 3D processes meaningful and effective. We learned every day, making many adjustments and elaborating on hundreds of details in order to find the most efficient and simplest possible way to make the project work.’ A slightly different experience was shared by Matej Hradský, another member of the 3D team, who has also worked for the Irish Brown Bag Films studio on projects such as Doc McStuffins or The Octonauts. ‘There are enormous teams behind such big projects and everyone is responsible for a very specific task. Working on The Websters, we all had to cover several aspects of the process. It was definitely more challenging but also more fulfilling. Everybody could contribute to the core of the creative process.’

The Websters book has been published by SLOVART Publishing Ltd. The Websters series has its premiere on the Radio and Television of Slovakia (RTVS) program on 24th December. The project was supported by the Slovak Audiovisual Fund and the Creative Europe – MEDIA TV Programming Fund.

 

Category:                                     animated sitcom for children

Animation Technique:                  3D animation

Number of Episodes:                    6

Length:                                         11 minutes / episode

Target group:                                5 – 8 years of age

Country of Origin:                        Slovak Republic

Story:                                           Katarína Kerekesová

Cast:                                            Zuzana Porubjaková, Kamil Kollárik, Henrieta Mičkovicová, Richard Stanke, Boris Farkaš, Oľga Belešová and others.

Script:                                          Zuzana Križková, Zuzana Dzurindová, Juraj Raýman, Peter Nagy, Katarína Kerekesová 

Script Liaison:                             Anna Vášová

Director:                                      Katarína Kerekesová

Animation Director:                     Andrej Gregorčok

3D Animators:                             Ivana Tirpáková, Filip Kasanický, Jozef Elšík,
Andrea Jacevičová

Art Director:                                Boris Šíma

3D Production Supervision:        Tomáš Mikuľak

3D visuals:                                  Matej Hradský, Jaromír Salaj

3D models:                                 Dominik Tarageľ

Image Post-Production:             Juraj Kráľ

Sound Post-Production:             Martin Merc

Music:                                         Lucia Chuťková, Marek Piaček

Introsong:                                          Maťo Šrámek, Andrej Hruška
(singing – Erika Reindlová, lyrics – Branči Kováč)

Producer:                                           Fool Moon, s.r.o., RTVS,
Studio Miniatur Filmowych

 http://webstersfamily.tv/               http://www.foolmoonfilm.com/

 

Click HERE to open the letter. 

 

Council of the European Union

15/12: Online cross-border TV and radio broadcasts: Council agrees negotiating stance - Council

The Permanent Representatives Committee (Coreper) agreed on the Council's position on a proposal to facilitate digital transmissions and retransmissions of TV and radio programmes in the internal market.

Digital Single Market

12/12: EP ready to start talks with EU governments on new rules for online TV and radio - European Parliament

MEPs endorsed last Tuesday the mandate for negotiations drawn up by the Legal Affairs Committee in November with 344 votes in favour, 265 against, and 36 abstentions. 

European Parliament

07/12: Silvia Costa: New beginnings for EU cultural policy - The Parliament Magazine

The European Year of Cultural Heritage marks a new era in EU politics, with better understanding of the importance of culture, says Silvia Costa.

Taxation

05/12: Questions and Answers on the EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions - European Commission 

Recent Studies

Creative Content Australia - Project Harrison: Australian Piracy Behaviours and Attitudes - November 2017
IHS Vienna - Study on the Economic Value of Cinemas in Austria - September 2017 

Events

20/12: COREPER meeting

19/02: EFF Berlin

21/02: UNIC European Parliament Confer

 

We are very pleased to announce the 4 short film projects that have been selected for MIDPOINT Shorts 2018.

 

The 21st edition of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (aka PÖFF) saw the festival’s global online media reach cross the one billion mark, more than doubling last year’s result. The festival had media coverage in 70 different countries.

Black Nights also set a new attendance record of 80 289 which is a slight rise from the previous two editions. The festival and its industry event Industry@Tallinn, co-organised with the Baltic Event co-production market, hosted 1291 guests, which is a 24% rise on last year.

The festival held 909 screenings, with the main programme including 233 feature films from 70 different countries.  There were 20 world, 26 international and 10 European premieres.

In addition, 50 features were screened at the Children’s and Youth Film Festival, Just Film, which also set a new attendance record of 17 000 and hosted its biggest number of guests to date - 28 people.

The new sub-festival PÖFF Shorts that combines two formerly separate sub-festivals – animation festival Animated Dreams and short film festival Sleepwalkers – hosted 130 people and screened 257 shorts, with eight films having their world premieres.

The festival saw it’s biggest number of volunteers to date, with more than 400, from 10 different countries, doing over 15 000 work hours.

This rise in interest comes as a positive surprise to festival director Tiina Lokk: „We are extremely grateful to the journalists and filmmakers who have trusted us and attended the festival during the busy pre-holiday period of the year! It is truly astonishing to see both, the number of accredited guests and journalists rise by a quarter with one edition!“

She went on to add: 'Although I consider the festival, in many senses, to still be in the early development phases. Having gained A-category festival accreditation, we can now say that a considerable part of the world is showing interest in what we do and that is extremely inspiring for the whole team."

Programme entries make first deals

As reported by Screen International, some of the titles in the two international competition programmes of the festival have already confirmed their first deals. The Official Selection title The Ball (dir Pasquale Scimeca) that had its world premiere at Black Nights has sold world rights to Italy‘s Coccinelle Film.

Also world-premiering in the Official Selection, the German-US co-production A Thought of Ecstasy (dir RP Kahl) has sold international rights to Luxembourg-based Paul Thiltges Distributions.

Having its international premiere in the Official Selection, Little Tito and the Aliens, (dir Paola Randi), distributed by True Colours has sold to Turkey (buyer Medyavizyon), Poland (Kino Swiat) and China (Times Vision).

The Belgian drama Resurrection that had its international premiere in the First Feature Competition of the festival was acquired by the Italian sales company TVCO.

 

 

The EU film and directors community welcomes the result of the plenary vote on the Broadcasting "SatCab" Regulation today which confirmed the mandate for negotiations drawn up by the Legal Affairs Committee in November.

In its mission as co-legislator, the European Parliament reflects the diversity of European citizens themselves : today, it has ensured the sustainability of the European audiovisual sector’s cultural and linguistic diversity in the digital era by supporting an approach which preserves territorial exclusivity, cornerstone for financing and distribution of European audiovisual works.

We call on the Member States to follow in the EP footsteps in that regard, but also to provide European authors with a sustainable legal framework ensuring their fair remuneration for the retransmission of their works.

Contact : Pauline Durand-Vialle – This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. – +32 25 44 03 33