BERLIN: Three Bulgarian coproductions and two Polish films, along with one Romanian short film, are among the films nominated for the 2017 European Film Awards.
Today the script and project development program MIDPOINT Feature Launch 2017 concluded in Písek, Czech Republic, and the winners have been announced. The main development award of 8.000 EUR goes to ZANA by writer/director Antoneta Kastrati and producer Casey Johnson.
19 writers, directors and producers have participated in this year's MIDPOINT Feature Launch with their feature film projects. Since June's workshop in Macedonia, the teams have been improving their scripts and project development. Today it all concluded at the final workshop, when all 9 projects were pitched to an invited group of international experts.
MIDPOINT Development Award and a cash prize of 8.000 EUR was awarded to:
- Zana – writer/director Antoneta Kastrati, producer Casey Johnson (Kosovo)
The motivation of the selection committee:
"Exploring the personal impact of horrific loss, this project examines long-held cultural traditions and living scars of war that continue to torment people from a remote corner of Europe."
About the project: ZANA is a dark and haunting psychological drama about the collision of modern day faith healers and post-war trauma of survivors in Kosovo. Inspired by true events. Riddled by night terrors and repeated miscarriages, a Kosovar bride is sent to witch doctors who subject her to unusual rituals and confinement to cure her of suspected black magic, but when she again becomes pregnant, her dark wartime past comes back to haunt her and her unborn baby.
Connecting Cottbus Award – 4 projects have been selected to pitch at Connecting Cottbus East West Co-production Market in November under the banner MIDPOINT Selection 2017. They are:
- Inventory – writer/director Darko Sinko, producer Vlado Bulajic (Slovenia)
- Mnk Boy – writer Sibel Altinbas, director Mete Gümürhan, producer Bas Broertjes (Netherlands/Turkey)
- Waterwolf – writer/director Ann-Julie Vervaeke, producer Anastassia Oudovitchenko (Belgium)
- Zana – writer/director Antoneta Kastrati, producer Casey Johnson (Kosovo)
Read about all the projects here.
CineMart Award – 1 producer has been handpicked to participate in Rotterdam Lab including CineMart access during Intl. Film Festival Rotterdam in Jan. 2018. The winner is:
Eliza Jones who participated at MIDPOINT with the project 'Asunden'
"The team communicates a certain openness and ambition that confirms that Eliza Jones is at the right point of her career to expand her network and producing skills in the context of the international marketplace that Rotterdam Lab has to offer. I have no doubt that 'Asunden', a project strongly rooted in both Sweden and the USA, is in the right stage and hands to benefit from this award", says Inke van Loocke, Coordinator CineMart & Rotterdam Lab and Guest Tutor at Feature Launch.
Kristyna Plhonova, Program Coordinator of Feature Launch says about the program overall,
"Feature Launch 2017 has offered our participants script consulting and project development in equal parts, and it has proved to be the right path. We have been truly blessed with a wonderful selection of projects. – In addition we have expanded our industry partnerships, and I cannot wait for another edition, which starts already in January in collaboration with Trieste FF, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and When East Meets West."
MIDPOINT FEATURE LAUNCH 2017 – PROJECTS
/ 19 – writer/director Kosara Mitic, producer Kornelija Ristovska (Macedonia)
/ Alive in Moscow – writer/director Grigore Becket, producer Elie Aufseesser (Switzerland/Moldova)
/ Asunden – writer/director Petter Ringbom, producer Eliza Jones (Sweden)
/ Images of Love – writer Tomasz Winski, producer Radovan Sibrt (Czech Republic)
/ Inventory – writer/director Darko Sinko, producer Vlado Bulajic (Slovenia)
/ Mnk Boy – writer Sibel Altinbas, director Mete Gümürhan, producer Bas Broertjes (NL/Turkey)
/ Night of the Whale – writer/director Kaveh Daneshmand, producer Jordi Niubo (Czech Rep.)
/ Waterwolf – writer/director Ann-Julie Vervaeke, producer Anastassia Oudovitchenko (Belgium)
/ Zana – writer/director Antoneta Kastrati, producer Casey Johnson (Kosovo)
MIDPOINT FEATURE LAUNCH 2017 – TUTORS
/ Danijel Hocevar, Head of Studies of Feature Launch
/ Anne Gensior, Core Tutor
/ Pavel Jech, Core Tutor
/ Ivo Trajkov, Core Tutor
/ Gabriele Brunnenmeyer, Guest Tutor
/ Gyula Gazdag, Guest Tutor
/ Alessandro Gropplero, Guest Tutor
/ Martin Horyna, Guest Tutor
/ Jan Naszewski, Guest Tutor
/ Christina Pelekani, Guest Tutor
/ Katriel Schory, Guest Tutor
/ Pavel Strnad, Guest Tutor
/ Ognjen Svilicic, Guest Tutor
/ Elma Tataragic, Guest Tutor
/ Daniela V. Stanikova, Guest Tutor
/ Inke van Loocke, Guest Tutor
MIDPOINT Feature Launch 2017 is realized in collaboration with Ministry of Culture Czech Republic, Czech Film Fund, International Visegrad Fund, Macedonian Film Agency, Creative Europe MEDIA Desk CZ, APA – Audiovisual Producers' Association, COCO – Connecting Cottbus and CineMart.
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OPEN CALL: MIDPOINT Feature Launch 2018
International feature filmmakers can apply for the 2018 workshop until October 26th. Read more about the expanded one-year program here.
http://www.midpoint-center.eu/programs/179-midpoint-feature-launch-2018-2018
ABOUT
MIDPOINT is an international script and project development program for emerging film professionals – aimed at creative teams of writers, directors and producers. MIDPOINT focuses on narrative film and TV projects and operates as a year-long center organizing a string of workshop programs.
The 2017 edition of connecting Cottbus will introduce coco Work in Progress (WiP) with the new €35,000 coco WiP Award, an in-‐kind prize sponsored by the German post-‐production company D-‐FACTO MOTION.
Competition for one of the coco Pitch or coco WiP slots was tough. coco WiP’s four projects were selected from 50 submissions from 25 countries. The coco Pitch selection of ten projects was made from over 125 submissions from 32 countries.
The ten coco Pitch projects will compete for another four coco awards: The €1,500 coco Best Pitch Award sponsored by Berliner Synchron and No Limits Media plus a Cannes Producers Network accreditation will go to the producer of the awarded best pitch. A jury of three industry representatives will award the €25,000 coco Post Pitch Award, an in-‐kind award donated by the German post-‐ production house The Post Republic. The Midpoint Scholarship Award will enable one cocoLab project to develop its script by participating in our sponsor's Midpoint Feature Launch.
The Polish German Co-‐Production Roundtable will be continuing this year. connecting cottbus is joining forces with Medienboard Berlin-‐Brandenburg, Mitteldeutsche Medienstiftung, the Polish Film Institute and the German Federal Film Board (Filmförderungsanstalt -‐ FFA) to invite producers from Poland and Germany to discuss the situation of co-‐production between the neighboring countries.
We are very happy to welcome Serbia as coco’s country focus this year. In cooperation with the Film Center Serbia Focus Serbia will present Serbian co-‐ production possibilities as well as projects and case studies.
This year will see connecting cottbus starting a network initiative focusing on gender equality. The coco Female Producers Roundtable will be inviting leading as well as upcoming female producers to a think tank to devise and develop new collaborative strategies that can benefit the industry in terms of gender diversity.
As a novelty this year, four projects have been selected at the Midpoint Feature Launch 2017 to pitch under the banner MIDPOINT SELECTION:
- INVENTORY / director Darko Sinko, producer Vlado Bulajic (Slovenia)
- MNK BOY / director Mete Gümürhan, producer Bas Broertjes (Netherlands/Turkey)
- WATERWOLF / director Ann-‐Julie Vervaeke, producer Anastassia Oudovitchenko (Belgium)
- ZANA / director Antoneta Kastrati, producer Casey Johnson (Kosovo)
connecting cottbus is supported by Medienboard Berlin-‐Brandenburg, Creative Europe/MEDIA and MDM Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung.
More information about connecting cottbus can be found online at www.connecting-‐ cottbus.de/ or on facebook www.facebook.com/connecting.cottbus.
Press contact:
info@connecting-‐cottbus.de
Three films received Silver Eye Awards at the Jihlava IDFF.
The 2017 edition of connecting cottbus will introduce coco Work in Progress (WiP) with the new €35,000 coco WiP Award, an in-kind prize sponsored by the German post-production company D-FACTO MOTION.
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The Baltic Cinema Review is slowly becoming one of Camerimage’s traditions – it will appear in the programme this year for the third time. In the last three years the festival has established a broad network of contacts through which it is able to reach the most visually beguiling film productions that have been created in the Baltic Sea region and in the cooperating countries. The Review is co-created by journalists, members of cinematography societies, film institutes, distributors, producers, and filmmakers working in the region.
Through the Baltic Cinema Review, Camerimage proves how many amazing films are shot in northeast Europe. Baltic cinema is a broad term, within which one can find a full range of genres and themes – which is clearly visible in the collection of titles chosen for this year’s edition. Countries and nations create films that show the problems they are currently facing or explain the geopolitical history of that corner of Europe, while multinational co-productions relate to the greatest global trends.
This year’s Review will present a diversity of genres, styles, and themes from 11 countries from around the Baltic Sea and collaborating countries: Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Germany, and Poland.
This is the complete line-up for the Review:
After You're Gone
Aleksey Temnikov was once a ballet dancer. And not just any dancer, but a real star. He performed on the world’s most famous stages and the media hailed him as the next Baryshnikov. But the curtain fell on Aleksey’s dazzling career when he suffered a severe spinal injury. He returned home to a provincial town of 70,000 people just outside of Moscow and opened a dance studio and school. Now, nearly 20 years since his traumatic exit from the stage, we witness a typical day in Aleksey’s life. He drives from home to the dance school, even though he could get there quicker on foot. The daily routine at work is endless.
Director: Anna Matison
Cinematographer: Serg Otrepiev
Produced by: Sergey Bezrukov Film Company, Production Value WorldWide
Russia, 2016
Chronicles of Melanie, The
14 June 1941. Under the Stalinist regime, ca. 40,000 Lithuanians, Latvians, and Estonians are deported to Siberia. Among them is Melānija Vanaga, an Latvian journalist and her eight-year-old son. The fate of her husband, whom she is separated from, remains unknown. Melānija has to find the strength to survive the physical and psychological tortures of captivity. A touching piece based on a true story that shows the power of human character, the steadfastness of the spirit, and the most painful experiences imaginable. Everything combines to make this story one of the greatest tragedies in Latvian history.
Original title: Melanijas hronika
Director: Viestur Kairish
Cinematographer: Gints Bērzins
Produced by: Mistrus Media
Latvia, Czech Republic, Finland 2016
Convoy
In one of the biggest detention centres in the country one of the inmates gets killed. He is shot by major NOWACKI, the director of the centre, who disappears right after the incident. An investigation starts. The prosecutor discovers that the reasons for this crime should be looked for in the convoy from two years ago. Sergeant BERG, one of the participants of the mysterious convoy, is summoned for the interrogation. Despite a conspiracy of silence the prosecutor slowly unveils the mystery. We move to the events from the past. The film touches on the subject of crime and punishment in the contemporary world as well as a moral dilemma concerning the question how to deal with a brutal killer whose actions are similar to those of Breivik’s. Where is the line between human evilness and crime one has to pay for?
Original title: Konwój
Director: Maciej Żak
Cinematographer: Michał Sobiciński
Produced by: Profil Film Jacek Rzehak
Polish distributor: KINO ŚWIAT Sp. z o. o.
Poland, 2017
Darkland
Zaid, a famous heart surgeon and immigrant from Iraq, lives in a luxurious apartment in the centre of Copenhagen. When his younger brother, Yasin, a small-time drug dealer, is killed in gang conflict, Zaid decides to abandon his settled life and avenge his brother. As a masked warrior, he fights to bring justice to the streets. A crime story with a psychological (revenge) and social (immigrant problems) background.
Original title: Underverden
Director: Fenar Ahmad
Cinematographer: Kasper Tuxen Andersen
Produced by: Profile Pictures ApS
Polish distributor: Mayfly Ltd
Denmark, 2017
Garage Helicopter, The
A huge dumpster suddenly plummets to earth after breaking loose from a helicopter. Meanwhile an elderly Romani woman wakes up with a pervasive longing for a wall clock from her past. Those two seemingly trivial events lead to the woman’s three grandchildren setting off on a long journey through the windy highways of Sweden, determined to find the clock and bring it back to their grandma. But many more unexpected discoveries await.
Original title: Sophelikoptern
Director: Jonas Selberg Augustsén
Cinematographer: Anders Bohman
Produced by: Bob Film Sweden AB
Sweden, Quatar, 2015
Heartstone
During an exciting and emotional summer, two teenage friends – Thór and Kristján – discover new feelings. While Thór tries to win the heart of his dream girl, Kristján begins to realise that he wishes for a more intimate relationship with his friend. Once the summer break is over, the astonishing but cruel nature of Iceland takes back its rights and the boys have to bid farewell to their childhood.
Original title: Hjartasteinn
Polish title: Serce z kamienia
Director: Guðmundur Arnar Guðmundsson
Cinematographer: Sturla Brandth Grøvlen
Produced by: SF Studios
Polish distributor: Bomba Film
Denmark, Iceland, 2016
In the Fade
Out of nowhere, Katja’s life falls apart when her husband Nuri and little son Rocco are killed in a bomb attack. Her friends and family try to give her the support she needs, and Katja somehow manages to make it through the funeral. But the mind-numbing search for the perpetrators and the reasons behind the senseless killing complicate Katja’s painful mourning, opening wounds and doubts. Danilo, a lawyer and Nuri’s best friend, represents Katja in the eventual trial against the two suspects: a young couple from the neo-Nazi scene. The trial pushes Katja to the edge, but there’s simply no alternative for her: she wants justice.
Original title: Aus dem Nichts
Polish title: W ułamku sekundy
Director: Fatih Akin
Cinematographer: Rainer Klausmann
Produced by: bombero international GmbH & CO KG, Macassar Productions, The Match Factory
Polish distributor: GUTEK Film Sp. z o. o.
Germany, 2017
King's Choice, The
The King’s Choice is based on the true story of three dramatic days in April 1940 when the king of Norway is presented with an unimaginable ultimatum from the German armed forces: surrender or die. With the German air force and soldiers hunting them, the royal family is forced to flee from the capital. They decide to part ways without knowing if they’ll ever see each other again. Crown Princess Märtha leaves Norway with the children to seek refuge in Sweden, while King Haakon and Crown Prince Olav stay to fight the Germans. After three days of desperately trying to evade the Germans, King Haakon makes his final decision. He refuses to capitulate, even if it costs him, his family, and many Norwegians their lives.
Original title: Kongens Nei
Director: Erik Poppe
Cinematographer: John Christian Rosenlund
Produced by: Paradox Film 1 AS
Norway, 2016
Law of the Land
A remote Finnish village in Lapland next to the Swedish border. A retiring police officer learns that his illegitimate son has been released from prison and is terrorising the area. The young man has discovered the big family secret and is seeking revenge by assaulting people close to the police officer – including his other legitimate son. The hatred between the two brothers leaves the area in a state of vengeance and violence, forcing the villagers to take the law in their own hands. While trying to prevent the brothers from killing each other, the police officer is forced to face his past mistakes. The final showdown takes place in the Arctic desert of the North.
Original title: Armoton maa
Director: Jussi Hiltunen
Cinematography: Tuomo Hutri
Produced by: Making Movies Oy
Norway, Finland, 2017
November
An Estonian village is infested with werewolves, ghosts, and pestilence. The main concern of the inhabitants is to survive the long, dark winter. In order to do so, everyone steals from everyone: the neighbours, German employers, ghosts, even the devil and Christ. To save their souls, the locals hide them in “kratts” – puppets made of wood and metal that are supposed to help their owners to steal. People keep on stealing even though their pantries are bursting at the seams. But they will pay sooner than later.
Director: Rainer Sarnet
Cinematographer: Mart Taniel
Produced by: Homeless Bob Production
Estonia, 2017
Seneca's Day
It is 1988 – the final year of the Soviet era – in Vilnius, Lithuania. A group of 18-year-old friends establishes an informal group called Seneca’s Fellowship, disassociating themselves from the Soviet system. They vow to live each day as if it were their last. A love triangle breaks up the fellowship right at the moment the country is experiencing a rebirth during the Baltic Chain demonstration for independence. The main character, seen 25 years later, appears at first glance to be successful. However, he is disillusioned with himself. His habit of disassociating himself from life’s circumstances has made him a cold observer of life. A family crisis compels him to remember the oath he took in his youth.
Original title: Senekos diena
Director: Kristijonas Vildžiūnas
Cinematographer: Audrius Kemezys
Produced by: Studio Uljana Kim
Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, 2016
The 11th edition of Five Flavours Asian Film Festival will be held on November 15 – 22 in Warsaw, in Muranów and Kinoteka cinemas and in the Museum of Modern Art. The program includes over 40 feature films and nine short films. Eight selected pictures will also be screened in Wrocław, in New Horizons Cinema on November 17 – 23.
The majority of the films will be shown in Poland for the first time, and two pictures from Bhutan will have their international premieres at the Festival. We will also host a number of guests from Asia.
The 2017 edition continues the visual identification based on the Lunar Calendar and zodiac signs. Thus, 2017 is the year of the Fire Rooster.
The festival screens films from South East, East and South Asia and is the only film event in Poland focused primarily on Asian Cinema. For eleven consecutive years, Five Flavours has brought to Poland premiere screenings of the latest and most appealing productions, classics and retrospectives of renowned Asian filmmakers. Previous editions saw the pioneering programs of cinema from Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong.
The world of Asian cinema is growing and expanding rapidly – artists from the smallest regions of the continent are finding their way to international festival audiences, independent filmmakers unite across borders to speak out about the most difficult subjects, the producers of local blockbusters are more and more successful in competing with global giants. FiveFlavours Film Festival invites everyone to discover and experience this bustling universe. The viewers will have a chance to encounter the wildest productions of Asian pop culture, admire contemplative film poems and engage in discussions about art, politics and challenges of the modern world.
The program of the Festival is comprised mostly of titles unknown in Poland, unavailable in regular distribution. The wide selection includes auteur cinema, as well as high-quality genre cinema; daring works of independent filmmakers and commercial blockbusters which hold a special place in the cinematic landscape of Asia. The previous editions of Five Flavoursincluded pioneering retrospectives of cinema from Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong.
The screenings are accompanied by a diverse program of additional events, including meetings with directors and other film guests, critics or experts, debates, workshops.
Like every year, the highlight of Five Flavours program is the New Asia Cinema competition section, presenting fresh voices and outstanding productions that address current issues and broaden the boundaries of film imagination. Films from Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Bangladesh or Japan will compete for the Grand Prix of the Festival.
The program includes a section devoted to the cinema of on of the most mysterious Asian countries, the Himalayan Bhutan, and the retrospective of a key new wave filmmaker, one of the most important people in the Hong Kong film industry, Ann Hui. The program includes also a fair share of genre cinema, featured in the section devoted to the avant-garde erotic productions from Japan, and in the Asian Cinerama section, a review of Asian Film Awards winners and nominees. Also devoted to the genre films is the Restored Classics section.
OPENING AND CLOSING FILMS
On November 15, the 11th edition of Five Flavour will begin with the screening of "Our Time Will Come," the new directed by Ann Hui, whose retrospective is a part of this year’s program. The film portrays the local resistance movement in the 1940s, and its relation to modern Hong Kong touches upon one of the most important themes in the director's works – the question of the identity of an individual in a wide, sociopolitical context.
The festival will close with a film directed by the most internationally renown Bhutanese filmmaker and a Buddhist monk, Khyentse Norbu. "Hema Hema: Sing Me a Song While I Wait" ("Hema Hema" means "a long time ago") is a visually stunning, avant-garde drama, combining the traditions of a Shakespearean tragedy with Buddhist tales of death and desire.
COMPETITION SECTION: NEW ASIAN CINEMA
Like every year, the highlight of Five Flavours program is the New Asia Cinema competition section, presenting fresh voices and outstanding productions that address current issues and broaden the boundaries of film imagination. Creative, widely discussed films from Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Bangladesh, Malaysia or Japan will compete for the Grand Prix of the Festival.
The winner of the main award (3500 EUR), founded by the director of Polish Film Institute, will be chosen by People's Jury – a group of cinema enthusiasts and Asian cultures fans. NETPAC, the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema will also award one of the competition films.
New Asian Cinema Award Nominees:
- Bankoku naitsu / Bangkok Nites, dir. Katsuya Tomita, Japan/Laos/Thailand/France 2016
- Madilim ang Gabi / Dark is the Night, dir. Adolfo Alix Jr, Philippines 2017
- Qing song jia yu kuai / Free and Easy, dir. Geng Jun, Hong Kong 2017
- Yi lu shun feng / Godspeed, dir. Chung Mong-hong, Taiwan 2016
- Munmo Tashi Khyidron / Honeygiver Among the Dogs, dir. Dechen Roder, Bhutan 2016
- KFC, dir. Le Binh Giang, Vietnam 2017
- Live From Dhaka, dir. Abdullah Mohammad Saad, Bangladesh 2016
- Yat nim mou ming / Mad World, dir. Wong Chun, Hong Kong 2016
- Marlina si Pembunuh dalam Empat Babak / Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts, dir. Mouly Surya, Indonesia/Malaysia/Thailand/France 2017
- Mrs K, dir. Ho Yuhang, Malaysia/Hong Kong/China 2016
- Yamato (California), dir. Daisuke Miyazaki, Japan 2016
Contemporary Bhutanese cinema invites the audiences to one of the most inaccessible parts of the world, combining unique local artistic traditions and Buddhist philosophy with an intriguing, ambitious form and interesting generic conventions. The retrospective at FiveFlavours is a rare opportunity to discover the culture of the Himalayan kingdom – both its traditional and modern side.
The Japanese erotic cinema, the so-called pinku eiga, was thriving at the turn of the 1970s and 1980s when major labels underwent a severe financial crisis. The niche, fast-produced flicks have become a shelter for the most avant-garde filmmakers, who have taken the opportunity to experiment and explore the boundaries of cinema, often smuggling political content in-between the sex scenes. The Nikkatsu studio played a special role in this field with its Roman Porno series, highlighting the artistic values of erotic genre and giving the directors unlimited freedom in choosing their topics. In 2016 Nikkatsu announced a reactivation of the cult production label, inviting the most extreme Japanese filmmakers and aiming at a new generation of audience with more and more female viewers enjoying the genre.
A retrospective of a prominent author of the Hong Kong New Wave and the most influential female director in modern Hong Kong cinema. Hui inspects the everyday life and ordinary heroes, using their perspective to show the complex history of Hong Kong, the crossroads between the traditional Chinese culture the reality of a British colony. Memories and flashbacks are used to speak about cultural identity, as well as history and politics shaping it in an individual and social dimension.
For the first time, Five Flavours features a special program curated in collaboration with Asian Film Awards Academy, an institution created by festivals in Busan, Hong Kong, and Tokyo to promote Asian cinema year round, and to support young filmmakers. Asian Cinerama section introduces six major films from the Asian Film Awards to the Polish audience.
Exploring the roots of modern aesthetics of Asian cinema, Five Flavours rediscovers the outstanding achievements of the past decades. It is a unique opportunity to dig into the lesser-known history of cinema and to see restored classics on a big screen. One of the focal points of the section is a screening of a restored masterpiece of the Japanese avant-garde, "Tokyo Drifter" (1966) directed by Seijun Suzuki who died on February 13 of this year.
Special Screenings section showcases the works of prominent filmmakers and the most talked-about premieres of the past year, including new films by directors well-known to the Festival’s audience – Naoko Ogigami and Sion Sono, and debutantes at the beginning of their film careers – participants of the Hong Kong Fresh Wave program, which supports young talents and the development of independent cinema.
During the Festival, we will hold two thematic film marathons. One of them, the Corponight, is dedicated to all-kinds-of-business people. The program includes three films – a crime story from Hong Kong, a melodrama from Japan, and a horror from Thailand – which employ a variety of genre conventions for a metaphorical analysis of the culture of advertising, marketing, and estate developers.
The second special evening s the night with Baahubali. The program includes two parts of the saga devoted to the hero – the biggest success in the history of Tollywood, the cinema of Southern India. The saga became a social phenomenon, gathering a cult following similar to the global "Star Wars" or "Lord of the Rings" craze. The stunning visual effects and the emotional plot amazed audiences all over the world, from China to the US.
The festival is traditionally preceded by Asian Horror Night held in Muranów cinema on October 28. The program includes three horror films: "Satan’s Slaves" from Indonesia, "The Promise" from Thailand, and "Kotoko" from Japan.
ASIAN ACADEMY AND FESTIVAL MEETINGS
A cycle of lectures deepening the understanding of festival films – an opportunity to discover the sociopolitical contexts, aesthetic traditions, the relationship between cinema, everyday life and the current events in Asia. This year, the festival meetings include lectures devoted to both political and aesthetic topics. The invited experts will talk about the culture of Bhutan and Indonesia, political and economic entanglements of modern Hong Kong, the influence of traditional Chinese aesthetics on the modern cinema, and the influence of the recently deceased Japanese master, Seijun Suzuki, on the gangster film genre.
The lectures will be held in the seminar room in the Museum of Modern Art at Pańska street.
Despite the Q&A sessions with festival guests, which take place after the screenings of their films, the program also includes special debates. During the meeting with director Dechen Roden, we will learn more about the film industry in Bhutan. Hong Kong producer Roger Lee will talk about his cooperation with Ann Hui, whose retrospective is a part of this year’s program. A young Polish director, Weronika Milczewska, will talk about making a documentary film in India. At the meeting with traveler Renata Koper, we will listen to Bhutanese tales and legends.
EXHIBITION – DANWEN XING. A PERSONAL DIARY: THE CHINESE AVANT-GARDE 1993–2003
Part of the Festival program is comprised of events connected with the Museum of Modern Art exhibition of the works of a Chinese photographer documenting the life of a Chinese Bohemia of the 1990s. Danwen Xing portraits the generation of artists born during the Cultural Revolution, interested in visual arts, experimental theater, new music scene, and film. One of those filmmakers was Yang Chao, the director of "Crosscurrent" shown at this year’s Five Flavours, and the guest of the Festival.
During the Festival, the audiences can participate in guided tours led by the curator, Magda Lipska, attend a lecture devoted to the Chinese avant-garde movement, and the screenings of two documentary films portraying the life of independent artists ("Diary: Snow, November 21, 1998", dir. Wu Wengwuang, China 1988, "Bumming in Beijing", dir. Wu Wengwuang, China 1990).
VOD
A virtual edition of Five Flavours Film Festival will be available online in at VoD.pl on November 10 – 30. The program includes films from New Asian Cinema competition, some of the hits from last year’s edition of the festival (including "Apocalypse Child" directed by Mario Cornejo, winner of the Grand Prix), short features from the Hong Kong Fresh Wave cycle and other selected festival titles.
RADIO ASIA FESTIVAL
17-21 December 2017
Concerts, workshops, radio dramas and an Asian jam-session. This year marks the third season of Radio Asia – concerts devoted to niche Asian music. The event will take the form of a five-day festival held on December 17-21. Like every year, we present unique artists, who never cease to explore and experiment, merging the traditional and the local with their personal, modern music vision.
The Festival is comprised of five concerts by Asian artists, day-long music workshops, a radio drama devoted to the most interesting phenomena combining the traditional and contemporary scene of the Far East, and an Asian jam-session – an improvised concert, in which everyone can perform along the festival musicians.
Tickets for screenings at Muranów and Kinoteka cinemas (except special events and marathons): 20 PLN
Events in the Museum of Modern Art: free entrance
Tickets for screenings on Monday and every day before 5 PM: 15 PLN
Tickets for all the screenings are available online at piecsmakow.pl and at the Going website.
Tickets are also available in the ticket office of the cinema where the screening is held: Muranów cinema – 22 635 30 78, muranow.gutekfilm.pl, Kinoteka – 22 551 70 70, kinoteka.pl.
All films are screened in original language versions with English and Polish subtitles.
The replica of Five Flavours in Wrocław's New Horizons Cinema (November 17-23) is made up of 8 titles representing all festival sections. The full program is available at kinonh.pl.
> COMPLETE FIVE FLAVOURS PROGRAMME
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Organizer: Arteria Art Foundation
Contact:
Emilia Skiba
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
+48 606 557 279
The project is financially supported by Warsaw City Council, Polish Film Institute, Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland, Japan Foundation, Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, Central and Eastern Europe, Create HK and HK Film Development Fund. Mobility supported by the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF).
The guests of this year's festival include stars of independent cinema and artists awarded at the most important film events worldwide. Their voice is heard ever so loudly on the map of world cinema – they speak about reality using strong, memorable genre conventions, creating a swift narration of the contemporary experiences of their generation, use original, mesmerising metaphors, and create new cinematic canons.
Meetings with the festival guests accompany most of the screenings included in the New Asian Cinema section which is Five Flavours' competition. Mouly Surya and Dechen Roder, directors of "Marlina The Murderer in Four Acts" and "Honeygiver among the Dogs" respectively, will present their films to Polish audience. Both titles will be distributed in Poland under the Five Flavours Films label in 2018.
Other authors to present their films in the competition are directors Daisuke Miyazaki (Yamato (California)), Katsuya Tomita (Bangkok Nites), Ho Yuhang (Mrs K), Le Binh Giang (KFC) and producer Heiward Mak (Mad World).
Polish audience will have a unique chance to discuss Ann Hui's films and Hong Kong cinema with Roger Lee, producer of "Summer Snow", "A Simple Life" and "Our Time Will Come."
Moreover, guests include Naoko Ogigami, director of "Close-Knit" presented in the Special Screenings section, as well as intependent director Yang Chao (Crosscurrent) and screenwriter Lam Wing Sum (Soul Mate) who will present their films among the Asian Cinerama titles.
Discusssions will also accompany screenings of selected films from the Focus: Bhutan section. Besides Dechen Roder, visual artist and director Pema Tshering (In the Realm of Gods), actress Lhaki Dolma (In a Defiled World) as well as director and producer Pema Tshering (Golden Cousin and In a Defiled World) will answer questions about their works.
Five Flavours will also host young Hong Kong filmmakers from the Fresh Wave programme, directors Ashley Cheung and Michelle Hung and DoP Eric Tsang - who will discuss thier short films with the audience.
All films are screened in original language versions with English and Polish subtitles.
> TICKETS
11th Five Flavours Asian Film Festival - Warsaw, 15-22 November, 2017
Organised by: Arteria Art Foundation
Five Flavours is financially supported by Warsaw City Council, Polish Film Institute, Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland, Japan Foundation, Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, Central and Eastern Europe, Create HK and HK Film Development Fund. Mobility supported by the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF).
Main Competition
Michael Apted – Jury President (director, screenwriter; Coal Miner's Daughter, Gorillas in the Mist: The Story of Dian Fossey, The World Is Not Enough)
Christian Berger, AAC (cinematographer; The White Ribbon, By the Sea, Happy End)
Stuart Dryburgh, ASC/NZCS (cinematographer; The Piano, We Were Soldiers, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty)
Stephen Goldblatt, ASC/BSC (cinematographer; Lethal Weapon, Closer, Our Souls at Night)
Karl Walter Lindenlaub, ASC (cinematographer; Rob Roy, Independence Day, Black Book)
Anastas N. Michos, ASC (cinematographer; Man on the Moon, Mona Lisa Smile, The Keeping Hours)
Heather Stewart (Creative director at the British Film Institute)
Polish Films Competition
Brad Silberling – Jury President (director, producer, writer; Casper, City of Angels, A Series of Unfortunate Events)
Andrew Dunn, BSC (cinematographer; The Bodyguard, The Madness of King George, The Butler)
Denis Lenoir, AFC/ASC (cinematographer; Demonlover, Angel, Eden)
Claudio Miranda, ASC (cinematographer; The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Life of Pi, Only the Brave)
Mark H. Weingartner, ASC (visual effects supervisor; Inception, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Interstellar)
Student Etudes Competition
Phillip Noyce – Jury President (director, screenwriter; Newsfront, Patriot Games, Rabbit-Proof Fence)
Markus Förderer, BVK (cinematographer; Hell, I Origins, Independence Day: Resurgence)
Magdalena Górka, PSC (cinematographer; Paranormal Activity 3, Jack Strong, An Ordinary Man)
Steven Poster, ASC/CSC (cinematographer; Rocky V, Donnie Darko, Amityville: The Awakening)
Michelle Schumacher (director, actress; The Floor, The Boy, I'm Not Here)
Documentary Features Competition
Jay Rosenblatt - Jury President (director, producer, editor; Human Remains, Phantom Limb, The Darkness of Day)
Sheila Curran Bernard (writer, producer, director; Slavery by Another Name, Jerusalem, Inside Story)
John Davey (cinematographer; La danse, Boxing Gym, In Jackson Heights)
Karen Konicek (Executive producer and director of distribution for Zipporah Films)
Kristine Samuelson (director, producer; Arthur and Lillie, Underground Zero, Tokyo Waka)
Documentary Shorts Competition
Steven Okazaki - Jury President (director, screenwriter, producer; Days of Waiting, White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Black Tar Heroin: The Dark End of the Street)
Larry Blake (Supervising sound editor, re-recording mixer, post-production supervisor; Out of Sight, Traffic, Magic Mike)
Louis-Philippe Capelle, IMAGO (cinematographer; Black Island, Pardon Cupidon,Innocents Abroad)
Rainer Klausmann, BVK/SCS (cinematographer; The Experiment, The Baader Meinhof Complex, In the Fade)
Lisa Wiegand, ASC (cinematographer; Dollhouse, American Crime, Chicago Justice)
Music Videos Competition
Wayne Isham – Jury President (director, cinematographer; Metallica's Enter Sandman, Bon Jovi's You Give Love a Bad Name, Britney Spears's Piece of Me)
Lois Burwell (make-up artist; Braveheart, Saving Private Ryan, The Last Samurai)
Martin Coppen (cinematographer; Marilyn Manson's The Dope Show, Sarah McLachlan's Fallen, Lenny Kravitz's Fly Away)
Richard N. Gladstein (producer; Reservoir Dogs, The Bourne Identity, Finding Neverland)
Ed Lachman, ASC (cinematographer; Far from Heaven, Carol, Wonderstruck)
Directors' Debuts Competition
Jim Stark – Jury President (producer; Mystery Train, The Living End, Factotum)
Richard Andry, AFC (cinematographer: La Java des ombres, Saigon Eclipse, Marie Antoinette)
Andrzej Krakowski (director, screenwriter, producer; The California Reich, Looking for Palladin, Campfire Stories)
Márta Mészáros (director, screenwriter; Adoption, Diary for My Children, The Seventh Room)
Charles Minsky, ASC (cinematographer; Pretty Woman, The Producers, Mother's Day)
Cinematographers' Debuts Competition
Roberto Schaefer, ASC/AIC – Jury President (cinematographer; Finding Neverland, The Paperboy, Geostorm)
Jim Plannette (gaffer; E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Syriana, The Artist)
Janusz Gauer, PSC (cinematographer; Deja vu, Call Me Rockefeller, V.I.P)
Franziska Stöhr (curator, lecturer)
Stephen Lighthill, ASC (cinematographer; Gimme Shelter, Berkeley in the Sixties, Nash Bridges)
First Look - TV Pilots Competition
Jan Roelfs – Jury President (production designer; Gattaca, Alexander, Ghost in the Shell)
Anna Katharina Brehm (producer, organizer of Seriencamp Conference)
Len Collin (writer, director; Holby City, Eastenders, Sanctuary)
Eric Kress, DFF (cinematographer; The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Borgen, Colossal)
Crescenzo Notarile, ASC (cinematographer; Ghost Whisperer, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Gothami)
Advertising Spots Competition
Bartek Cierlica (cinematographer, director; Grobari)
Artur Jabłoński (E-marketing consultant, trainer)
Jan Majle (copywriter, creative director)
