TRIESTE: The Kazakh project A Winner Is Seen at the Start by Zhannat Alshanova won the 5,000 EUR Film Center Serbia Award at the 11th edition of When East Meets West, which concluded on 27 January 2021. The film also received the Pop Up Film Residency Award, and Alshanova was also crowned with the European Women’s Audiovisual Network Award for the Best Woman Director, which was given out for the fifth year at WEMW.
ZAGREB: The regional co-development fund RE-ACT selected eight projects for funding in 2020. The eight projects were chosen out of 55 applications in total and awarded with 10,000 EUR each in the six rounds of funding in 2020.
TV Launch / Series Development
TV Launch is residential “idea-to-market” training program for drama series developed by emerging professionals coming from the Central and Eastern European region.
The program accepts both limited or ongoing long form series.
The 9 selected projects go through an intensive 3-module program and are built from the “bottom-up”: the training focuses on defining the series concept and theme, completing the pilot, creating season arc, season outlines, pitching documents and a financing strategy.
The projects will be showcased and pitched within the Season Finale platform in Tallinn, Estonia, within Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event.
The best series project receives the HBO Europe Award of 5.000 USD.
The training also includes online consultations with tutors in between the workshops.
The program schedule and the form of the organization inevitably depend on the development of the coronavirus pandemic situation.
PROGRAM ACCEPTS
PROJECTS – teams of writers and producers
The call for Development Executive participants will not be opened this year, since we will continue with the participants selected for 2020 edition, who could not participate in the training due to program changes imposed by the coronavirus pandemic and restrictions.
Fee
1800 EUR per participant for the whole training.
The tuition, board and accommodation is offered within the participation fee. Travel costs should be covered by the participants themselves.
The deadline is end of January, so don't hesitate and become a part of the MIDPOINT family!
For more information about the program and access to the application, click here.
Please note that many questions can be answered within our FAQ section.
MIDPOINT TV Launch is realized with the support of the Creative Europe – MEDIA Programme of the European Union, the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and the Czech Film Fund. It is presented in cooperation with HBO Europe, Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event, Series Mania, Czech Audiovisual Producers' Association, Meeting Point Vilnius, New Europe Market, C21 Media, Serial Eyes, MediaXchange and Seriencamp. MIDPOINT Institute operates under the auspices of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.
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On Tuesday, 26 January 2021, the shooting of the new Slovenian live-action feature Wake Me by the director Marko Šantić began in Jesenice.
Wake Me / Zbudi me
Because of temporary amnesia, the film’s protagonist Rok returns from an idyllic tourist town to the city where he grew up. He does not remember his girlfriend Rina or his problematic past. While striving to protect his younger brother Jure from bad company, he is forced to face his former life yet again.
The director had the following to say about his third live-action feature: “The central topic of the film is memory loss, which serves as a metaphor for the universal repression of a traumatic experience of the broader community. Through the film’s story, the protagonist Rok, portrayed by Jure Henigman, assembles the mosaic of his forgotten past and starts feeling responsible for his past actions. I am happy that we will be able to start shooting despite the pandemic and all of the unfortunate complications in the past year."
Central European Cinema Stand / January 26, 2021
Dear colleagues & friends!
We are pleased to share with you What's Slovak in Clermont-Ferrand? this year.
Animated short film project Tourists by Mária Kralovič will be presented at the co-production Forum Euro Connection. Moreover, an online discussion with the Czech, Slovak, and Slovenian directors, MEET THE CEC TALENTS will take place on February 1, 2021 at 3:00 pm (CET) in virtual room AGORA.
Thanks to co-operation with Czech Film Center and Slovenian Film Centre, Slovak Film Institute will attend the Short Film Market (Feb 1 – 5, 2021) under the umbrella of Central European Cinema.
Meet Slovak representatives:
Lea Pagáčová (Slovak Film Institute): This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Alexandra Gabrižová (Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava): This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
BUCHAREST: Romania has been seriously affected by the Coronavirus pandemic, which shut down film production and cinemas for several months. The closing of cinemas and the decrease of TV advertisement resulted in a significant decrease of the amount of money for the national Film Fund and, as a consequence, no production grants were allotted for 2020 and most likely won't be allotted for 2021 as well.
At the 43rd Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, the Czech Republic will be represented by three films in the official selection. Washing Machine by Alexandra Májová was selected for the International Competition, Leaf by Aliona Baranova is a part of the Young Audience section, and Plus One by Myroslava Klochko will be screened in the European Short Film Audience Award section. In addition, two Czech projects take part in the Euro Connection programme: About a Cow by Pavla Baštanová and Slovenian-Czech The Tourist by Lun Sevnik.
Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival appoints a new Head of Press and Communication
Festivals 25-01-20212021 has brought a major change to the communication and press team of Tallinn Black Nights as Epp Kõuhkna has become the new Head of Press and Communication. The former head, Hannes Aava will continue in a reduced role as a communication consultant.
Epp Kõuhkna is no stranger to the festival, having been responsible for the marketing activities of the Black Nights’ sub-festival Just Film for the past 4 years. She will be taking over the international communication and press organisation, seeking to expand the festival’s international reach and upgrade the press services. Kõuhkna states: ‘I couldn’t be more excited and honored stepping into this new chapter with Black Nights - there is definitely a great amount of work ahead of us and I feel very fortunate to have Hannes’ support along the way.’
Malta experienced a busy year in 2019, with several international shoots on the island and benefiting from its generous 40 per cent cash rebate in expenses. Moreover, strides were made in the production of indigenous film, with several local companies creating original work for the Maltese and foreign markets. Moreover, the Maltese film sector also saw work being distributed abroad, while educational initiatives sought to develop the next generation of local filmmakers. Finally, cinemas and broadcasting channels also experienced buoyancy in terms of audience numbers.
