Online Cinema DAFilms Launches Asian Domain With Kazuhiro Soda Retrospective and Wang Bing’s Cannes-Selected Dead Souls
Press releases 12-02-2021Streaming service DAFilms, following the successful introduction of a new Americas domain early in 2020, is celebrating the Chinese New Year with the launch of a bespoke platform in Asia, giving documentary and festival enthusiasts on the continent a chance to explore diverse Asian cinema from across Asia all year around for only $6.99 for a monthly subscription or $4.99 for an annual one. Accompanying this release will be a major online retrospective of the works of Japanese independent filmmaker Kazuhiro Soda, whose works have regularly featured at film festivals around the world, most notably at the Berlin Film Festival, and whose “Ten Commandments” of filmmaking have become a manifesto for observational filmmakers the world over since he emerged on the scene.
The Asian domain will also play host to Wang Bing’s devastating 8-hour Dead Souls, a masterpiece of recent Chinese cinema that premiered to enormous acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival. Exploring the “anti-rightist” campaigns waged in Mao’s China - and the lingering scars left over from that brutality - Wang’s towering work has never been more relevant or carried quite the same impact for Asian audiences.
FNE spoke to Belgian producer Andre Logie about how the pandemic has impacted the financing of productions and how governments are giving additional pandemic support for production. He also talks about how public bodies organised the distribution of films on VOD that could not go to cinema distribution because of the pandemic.
LIMASSOL: The government of Cyprus announced that cinemas were allowed to re-open as of 8 February 2021. The country had imposed a lock-down on 10 January.
ZLIN: The 61st edition of the Zlin IFF for Children and Youth is accepting film submissions.
LOS ANGELES: Alexander Nanau's collective (Romania) has been shortlisted in the Documentary Feature and International Feature Film categories. Agnieszka Holland's Charlatan (Czech Republic, Slovakia) and Quo Vadis, Aida? (Bosnia and Herzegovina) by Jasmila Zbanic were also shortlisted in the International Feature Film category. Latvian Blizzard of Souls by Dzintars Dreibergs has been shortlisted in the Music (Original scores) category.
CLUJ-NAPOCA: The Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF) will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a new summer outdoor edition in Cluj-Napoca from 23 July to 1 August 2021, instead of its traditional May-June dates. TIFF was the only big European film festival held physically in August 2020.
PRAGUE: The CEE Animation Workshop has selected three feature-length animated films and six TV projects to participate in its 2021 edition, which begins on 22 February.
Transilvania IFF plans to celebrate its 20th anniversary with a new summer edition
Festivals 09-02-2021The Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF) plans to celebrate its 20th anniversary with a new summer outdoor edition in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, between July 23 and August 1, 2021.
FNE spoke to Iceland Flim Commissioner Einar Hansen Tomasson about the impact of the pandemic on filming in Iceland. With much of the world shut down for film production in 2020 international productions flocked to Iceland making 2020 a record year for this small island nation. He talks about how Iceland’s remote location allowed the country to put strict controls in place to make shooting in Iceland safe.
WIESBADEN: The 21st edition of the goEast Film Festival, running 20 – 26 April 2021, is accepting applications to its East-West Talent Lab through 1 March.
