The Shape of Water

 

The Shape of Water is an other-worldly fairy tale, set against the backdrop of Cold War era America circa 1962. In the hidden high-security government laboratory where she works, lonely Elisa is trapped in a life of isolation. Elisa's life is changed forever when she and co-worker Zelda discover a secret classified experiment. The film stars Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer, Michael Shannon, Richard Jenkins, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Doug Jones. 

Still from "The Shape of Water,"
courtesy of Imperial - CinePix Sp. z o. o.

 

Apart from the cinematographer Dan Laustsen (Crimson Peak, John Wick: Chapter 2) the creative team behind Guillermo del Toro's The Shape of Water includes Academy Award® winning composer Alexandre Desplat (Argo, The Grand Budapest Hotel), Primetime Emmy winning editor Sidney Wolinsky (The Sopranos, Boardwalk Empire), production designer Paul D. Austerberry (30 Days of Night, Pompeii) and costume designer Luis Sequeira (Mama, The Strain).

 Battle of the Sexes 

Battle of the Sexes is based on the true story of the 1973 tennis match between World number one Billie Jean King and ex-champ and serial hustler Bobby Riggs. The films stars the phenomenal Emma Stone (Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), La La Land) and Steve Carell (Foxcatcher, The Big Short), as well as Andrea Riseborough, Sarah Silverman, Bill Pullman, Elisabeth Shue and Alan Cumming in supporting parts.

Still from "Battle of the Sexes,"
courtesy of Imperial - CinePix Sp. z o. o.

 

The creative team behind Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Feris's Battle of the Sexesincludes Academy Award® winning cinematographer Linus Sandgren (American Hustle, La La Land), two-time Academy Award® nominated costume designer Mary Zophres (True Grit, La La Land), Academy Award® nominated composer Nicholas Britell (The Big Short, Moonlight), Academy Award® nominated editor Pamela Martin (Little Miss Sunshine, The Fighter), and Academy Award® nominated production designer Judy Becker (Brokeback Mountain, Carol). 

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Both premiere Camerimage screenings will be held on 18th November in Opera Nova in Bydgoszcz, and will be a part of Camerimage 2017 Closing Gala, to which you need an invitation. However, subject to availability of free seats, we will admit holders of festival passes. The Shape of Water will have its Polish release on 19th January 2018, while Battle of the Sexes on 8th December 2017. Both films will be distributed by Imperial - CinePix Sp. z o. o.

 

20 projects have been selected for the Co-Production Market taking place on November 29-December 1, 2017, at Industry@Tallinn &; Baltic Event during Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. The 16 projects in the main selection are accompanied by two projects from Focus Region Flanders, Belgium, and two additional projects in the pilot First Stop Estonia section.
 
For its 16th edition, the Baltic Event rules and regulations were changed to welcome projects from outside our region of Eastern and Central Europe, Scandinavia, Georgia, Russia, and Ukraine, with projects from elsewhere welcome to apply if they had plans to co-produce with the afore-mentioned territories. The First Stop Estonia section was added to give a couple of Estonian projects visibility in the early stages of development. The Baltic Event team was thrilled at the record number of submissions.

Starting with the most prevalent topic, Lithuania’s Antigone follows a sister’s quest to find her brother, presumed dead, but actually running a “death ship” across the Mediterranean, Ukraine’s Homeward is a road trip taken by a son and father to bury the elder son’s body in home soil in Crimea, Slovak Krystof (Three Escapes), the only historical piece in the section, portrays the plight of a young postulant who has to cross the border to Bavaria after helping countless other people flee the country, and Sweden'sIbraham’s Journey is a kind of reverse refugee story following a man returning to his native Iraq, told through a series of flashbacks as he, shot for a thief by his own father, lays dying unrecognised by his family.
 
Russia’s Revnost, Denmark’s If the Light Takes Us, one of the projects selected from this year’s EAVE Producers’ Workshop, and Georgia's The Empty House all deal with manipulative, obsessive relationships, with the first seeing a couple’s marriage almost destroyed due to unfounded jealousy, the second following a woman’s journey of liberation from an incestuous relationship with her father, and the last showing the domestic violence through the eyes of a 10-year-old child. Finland’s The Great Bear, which was developed at B’EST EAVE Producers’ Workshop in 2015, is another woman’s liberation story with its heroine being seduced by and then becoming a shaman, and Apartment, Russia, is a chamber piece focusing on the relationship of a couple writing a screenplay about love.
 
Children are the main characters of Ukraine’s The Floor is Lava, the portrait of a teenager exploring her sexuality, Estonia’s The Sleeping Beast, a dark drama of a children’s game taking a dangerous turn,Hope Ever After, another EAVE project and the second from Finland, following the journey of a mother and daughter after the shock death of their husband and father, and one of the focus region projects, The Girl with the Blue Shadow, the coming-of-age story of a young Iranian refugee in Antwerp, told in the key of magic realism.
 
The other project from Flanders, Belgium, is The Ginger Lake, an allegorical film depicting a world in which all red-haired people are considered evil. Baltic Event’s first ever project from Serbia, Trials of Chul, shows a young North Korean football player and his paranoid manager coping with life in the “corrupt” West, allowing the audience a glimpse into the mind-set of the world’s most isolated society. Romania’s The Windseeker is a different kind of a trip taken by a man expecting to die of a fatal illness and learning to live in the process. Czech Restore Point is a sci-fi crime thriller set in 2038, while Latvia’sThe Shift and Estonia’s The Iconpainter, one of the First Stop Estonia projects, are thrillers set in modern times, the first following a taxi driver attempting to make enough money on a New Year’s Eve to pay a long overdue debt, and the other an eccentric artist whose models appear to perish after being portrayed by him. The slate is rounded off by the second First Stop Estonia project, Beyond the Forest, a psychological drama about an Estonian freedom fighter standing on the ruins of his beloved homeland as well as his principles.
 
Striving to provide a springboard for up-and-coming talents alongside established, award-winning filmmakers, Baltic Event has included ten debuts and five second features in this year’s slate with many of the directors having one or more award-winning shorts under their belt – first features: Nariman Aliev and Kateryna Gornostai (Ukraine), Pieter Dirkx (Belgium), Anna Maria Helgadottir (Iceland, with a project presented by Denmark), Oskaras Koršunovas (Lithuania), Robert Hloz (Czech Republic), Reinis Kalvins (Latvia), Emilia Petterberg (Finland), Rati Tsiteladze (Georgia), and Mihai Sofronea (Romania); second features: Bart Van den Bempt (Belgium), Jan Forsström (Finland), Nigina Sayfullaeva (Russia, originally from Tajikistan), Shaker Tahrer (Sweden, originally from Iraq), and Andrus Tuisk (Estonia). The already renowned names on the slate are Bakur Bakuradze (Georgia), Danilo Bećković (Serbia), Zdenek Jirasky (Czech Republic, with a project presented by Slovakia), Jaak Kilmi and Andres Puustusmaa (Estonia).
 
A Eurimages Co-Production Development Award worth 20 000 Euro will be handed out by a jury consisting of Katriel Schory, Executive Director, Israel Film Fund, Israel; Kristina Trapp, Chief Executive, EAVE, Luxembourg; and Elena Kotova, National Representative, Eurimages, Czech Republic.
 
In addition, one project will receive the Screen International Best Pitch Award, offering coverage of the life-cycle of the winning film, and two producers will receive the Cannes Marché du Film Producers’ Network Award for Promising Young Producer with free accreditations to next year’s edition.

Baltic Event Co-Production Market selection 2017:

• Antigone, producer Stasys Baltakis, Film Jam, Lithuania, director Oskaras Koršunovas
• Apartment, producer Julia Mishkinene, Vita Aktiva Production, Russia, director Bakur Bakuradze
• The Empty House, producer Nino Varsimashvili, Artway Film, Georgia, director Rati Tsiteladze
• The Floor is Lava, producers Natalia Libet and Vitaliy Sheremetiev, Esse Production House, Ukraine, director Kateryna Gornostai
• The Great Bear, producers Kaarle Aho and Kai Nordberg, Making Movies Oy, Finland, director Jan Forsström
• Homeward, producers Vladimir Yatsenko and Aleksandra Kostina, Limelite, Ukraine, director Nariman Aliev
• Hope Ever After, producer Ari Matikainen, Kinocompany, Finland, director Emilia Petterberg
• Ibraham's Journey, producer Peter Krupenin, Hob AB, Sweden, director Shaker Tahrer
• If the Light Takes Us, producer Per Damgaard Hansen, Masterplan Pictures, Denmark, director Anna Maria Helgadottir
• Krystof (Three Escapes), producer Marian Urban, Alef Film & Media, Slovakia, co-producer Olga Raitoralova, Fulfilm, Czech Republic, director Zdenek Jirasky
• Restore Point, producer Jan Kallista, Film Kolektiv, Czech Republic, director Robert Hloz
• Revnost, producer Pavel Odynin, Droog Drooga, Russia, director Nigina Sayfullaeva
• The Shift, producer Gints Grube, Mistrus Media, Latvia, director Reinis Kalvins
• The Sleeping Beast, producer Evelin Penttilä, Stellar Film, Estonia, director Jaak Kilmi
• Trials of Chul, producer Marko Paljić, Mali Budo Ltd., Serbia, director Danilo Beckovic
• The Windseeker, producer Adina Dulcu, Libra Film Productions, Romania, director Mihai Sofronea

Focus Region – Flanders, Belgium

• Ginger Lake, producer Bram Sterckx, Caviar, Belgium, director Pieter Dirkx
• The Girl with the Blue Shadow, producer Ellen De Waele, Serendipity Films, Belgium, director Bart Van Den Bempt

First Stop Estonia

• Beyond the Forest, producer Marju Lepp, Filmivabrik, Estonia, director Andrus Tuisk
• The Iconpainter, producer Esko Rips, Nafta Films, Estonia, director Andres Puustusmaa

Supporters and partners of Baltic Event are Creative Europe MEDIA Programme, Eurimages, Cultural Endowment of Estonia, Estonian Film Institute, Lithuanian Film Center, National Film Centre of Latvia, Finnish Film Foundation, Flanders Image, Film Commission Poland, Mazovia Warsaw Film Commission, Tallink Hotels, Nordic Hotel Forum, Cannes Marche du Film’s Producers’ Network, Post Control, Baltic View, Apollo Music, Storytek Creative Hub, EAVE, Torino Film Lab, Screen International, Film New Europe, Festival Scope, Liviko, Creative Gate, European Regional Development Fund, and Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.

 

The Institute of Documentary Film co-organizes the industry section at the Ji.hlava IDFF. For the ninth time, the Silver Eye Awards were presented in three categories to the best documentary films in the East Silver Market. Film professionals attended the Ex Oriente Film workshop, while audiences enjoyed a unique screening and discussion in a Jihlava church as part of KineDok.

East Silver Market

The Institute of Documentary Film regularly hosts the East Silver Market at the Ji.hlava IDFF to present a selection of the latest documentaries from Central and Eastern Europe. A record number of 700 films were submitted to its 14th edition and festival industry guests, especially festival programmers, had the opportunity to visit its video library and stream a total of 317 films. Thanks to the support from MEDIA/Creative Europe, Silver Eye Awards were presented with the goal of helping films to improve promotion, secure a distributor or a screening at international festivals and in TV networks. The awards, along with EUR 1500 and year-long festival support in the East Silver Caravan, went to the best films in three categories – Best Short, Mid-length and Feature Documentary. In the short category, the award was presented to the Polish film Dust by Jakub Radej. The Russian filmmaker Inna Omelchenko received won in the mid-length category for her film Paper Stars and the Austrian documentary Sand and Blood by Matthias Krepp was announced the winner in the feature category. 

Best Short Documentary / In this category, the jury awarded the Polish film Dust by Jakub Radej that follows the path of a human body from death to burial. The jury commented on the film: “While there was a fine selection of films in the competition, Dust stood out as a careful and considered documentary. We admired Dust for its detachment of emotion, its conceptual approach to the subject of death, and for its beautiful cinematography and polished editing.“

Best Mid-length Documentary / The international jury decided to award Paper Stars by the Russian filmmaker Inna Omelchenko and explained its choice as follows: “The film deals with its subject in a focused yet poetical form and treats its protagonists gently and respectfully. The smooth camera immerses in the life of 13-year old girls and captures this beautiful, yet very fragile and vulnerable coming-of-age process. A reflection on the relation between the individual and the group, the film in the same time witnesses the political dimension of education and traditional summer camping of teenagers.“

Best Feature Documentary / Out of a slate of outstanding films from Central and Eastern Europe, the jury awarded the Silver Eye Award for Best Feature to the Austrian documentary Sand and Blood. During the festival closing ceremony, the award was presented to director Matthias Krepp and producer Leni Gruber. Members of this year’s jury made up of festival representatives commented on the winner: “The film presents a story about Iraqi and Syrian war conflicts and its refugees by using self-shot images and home videos, and it finds a brave conceptual solution to the necessary anonymity of the characters that holds the viewers’ attention from the beginning to the end. It is a heart-wrenching, raw and tough film, but highly necessary to understand the complexity of humankind when put under extreme conflict and confrontation.” Attesting to its quality, Sand and Blood is in this year’s line-up of the prestigious IDFA Competition for Student Documentary. 

Silver Eye nominees included Opera about Poland (dir. Piotr Stasik), this year’s winner of the “Between the Seas” festival competition. Along with two other documentaries – The Road Movie (dir. Dmitrii Kalashnikov) and The Wall (dir. Dmitry Bogolubov) – Stasik’s film was among the top most-viewed films in the East Silver Market. Figures show that East Silver is in high demand among festival guests. “This year we had 1450 views of the films in our selection. The visitors of the video library included mostly festival programmers, distributors, sales agents, TV representatives as well as producers and filmmakers,” adds Zdeněk Blaha, East Silver Market Manager. The selection also included more than 180 festival films. The most popular were Milda (dir. Pavel Křemen) and Skokan (dir. Petr Václav), both from the Czech Republic, and In Praise of Nothing (dir. Boris Mitić; Serbia, Croatia, France).

A list of all nominees and details on the jury here.

A full list of films in this year’s East Silver Market is available in the online database, here.

Ex Oriente Film

Over the course of 6 days, 15 renowned tutors helped filmmakers and producers to develop and secure funding for their projects. The Ex Oriente Film was attended by leading film professionals who offered festival visitors an array of talks and debates. In two of the most captivating masterclasses, the Austrian filmmaker Andreas Horvath presented his latest controversial documentary Helmut Berger, Actor and the young Russian filmmaker Dmitrii Kalashnikov with his feature documentary The Road Movie, compiled of found dashcam footage shot by Russians. More details on other filmmakers at this year’s workshop here.

One of the workshop´s participant Hana Šilarová (Frame Films) sums up the potential of the event: “The Ex Oriente Film workshop has been beneficial for our project – Never Happened (Skutok sa nestal) directed by Barbora Bereznaková – on multiple levels. It gives us the opportunity to fully focus on our film for 3 weeks and get valuable feedback and advice from experienced film professionals. Moreover, sharing our ideas with other filmmakers at such an early, fragile stage, has been even more meaningful.”

The pinnacle will be a central pitch featuring all 12 participating projects and an additional 9 projects, that takes place at the international event East Doc Forum (March 3 - 9, 2018). “The East Doc Forum raises the visibility of these projects and allows the filmmakers and producers to establish important contacts with other professionals. One-on-one meetings are an important part of the event and these can be requested by guests interested in a specific project. Filmmakers also participate in round-table sessions and get feedback from guests they might not otherwise meet. The Forum provides a unique platform to test out the international response and potential of the attending projects,” says Tereza Šimíková, East Doc Platform Manager. 

KineDok

KineDok is a unique project focused on the alternative distribution of creative documentaries and screenings at unconventional venues. In Jihlava, KineDok visited the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross to screen the Croatian film Tourism! followed by the discussion with the director Tonći Gaćina about the relationship of Croats to tourists. Throughout the year, KineDok is active in eight European countries (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Croatia, Poland, Norway and Bulgaria). Representatives from each country met at Ji.hlava IDFF and after the evaluation of this year´s collaboration, they discussed a strategy for 2018. “One of the main items on our agenda was the selection of documentary films for the upcoming year. Each affiliate presented the best 6 new films from his region and then, we will carefully choose the catalogue for 2018. This year's preselection consists of exceptionally high-quality documentaries. I can´t wait to offer our audience the final selection that will be ready for the year-round launch at the beginning of next year,” says Kristýna Genttnerová, KineDok Coordinator.

For details on IDF’s activities and more, please visit dokweb.net.

 

Documentary development and production grants and minority coproduction grants announced by the Estonian Film Institute on 27 October 2017.

 

The festival of American cinema in Wroclaw is coming to an end. Winners of the 8th American Film Festival were announced at today's closing gala.

Traditionally, the audience was the jury of the AFF, by voting for their favorite films. Of the 13 films in the Spectrum section, the vote winner was John Carroll Lynch's Lucky, with the final role of Harry Dean Stanton, who previously starred in Twin Peaks and Paris, Texas. He plays a loner seeking answers to the meaning of the passage of time and gets help from a gaggle of stars, including David Lynch.

Of the 10 documentaries in the American Docs section, audience members chose The Work by Jairus McLeary and Gethin Aldous. The film is a visit to one of the worst places in the world, but, at the same time, it works as a kind of unusual therapy. We watch a group of people who let themselves get locked up twice a year in the notorious Folsom prison.

The winning films received prizes of $10,000 (feature) and $5,000 (documentary), funded byBNY Mellon.

This year, for the first time in AFF history, there was a new section called the Ale Kino+ Competition. A jury selected from the AFF’s most loyal viewers chose 3 out of 10 films, which will be shown on the Ale Kino+ cable channel in the coming months.

Ale Kino+ Competition Winners:

Alex Ross Perry's  Golden Exit - "For showing the ordinary lives of ordinary people in an extremely melancholic, nostalgic and emotional way."

Eliza Hittman’s  Beach Rats - "For subtle and empathic themes of adolescence and the discovery of one's sexuality."

Onur Tukel’s  The Misogynists - "For a bold, ironic and disturbingly current socio-political diagnosis that evokes laughter, trepidation and sorrow all at the same time."