EU Budget 2021-2027

09/10: Communication: Time to decide on the Union’s financial framework for 2021-2027 – European Commission

The European Commission’s contribution to the European Council meeting on 17-18 October 2019

Finnish Presidency of the Council of the EU

18/10: Finland presented work on implementation of EU Strategic Agenda – eu2019.fi

The European Council discussed the follow-up to the Strategic Agenda for 2019–2024 in Brussels on 18 October 2019. Finland is now the first presidency to integrate the priorities of the Agenda, adopted in June, into the Council’s practical work. Finnish Prime Minister Antti Rinne informed the EU leaders of the progress made in the implementation.

European Audiovisual Observatory (EAO)

09/10: The independence of media regulatory authorities in Europe - EAO

Europe’s main piece of media legislation – the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) – was recently revised and a new version entered into force last autumn. This new AVMSD introduces an obligation for EU member states to designate one or more independent national regulatory authorities to oversee the broadcasting and audiovisual media sector in Europe.

10/10: Just ahead of BREXIT deadline, UK once again named the largest audiovisual market in greater Europe – EAO

European Audiovisual Observatory publishes 2018 Data on Audiovisual Media Services in Europe from the Mavise Database.

Events:

24 October: Second Shadow Rapporteurs’ meeting, Creative Europe Programme, Brussels (TBC) 

4 November: UNIC/Europa Distribution/FERA/FIAD Screening, Brussels

4-5 November: CULT Committee meeting, Brussels

5 November: Second Copyright Stakeholders’ Dialogue, Brussels 

5-6 November: Voices of Culture Structured Dialogue on Gender Balance in the Cultural & Creative Sectors Dialogue Meeting with the European Commission, Brussels

6 November: Optional fourth technical interinstitutional meeting, Creative Europe Programme, Brussels 

6-7 November: IMCO Committee meeting, Brussels

6-7 November: JURI Committee meeting, Brussels

11-12 November: ITRE Committee meeting, Brussels  

21-22 November: Education, Youth, Culture and Sports Council, Brussels  

1 December: European Commission comes into office (TBC)

Recent Studies:

EUIPO - IPR-intensive industries and economic performance in the European Union - September 2019

EAO - Amazon is the biggest buyer of EU films for SVOD release outside of Europe - September 2019

European Parliament - Research for CULT Committee - Culture and creative sectors in the
European Union – Key future developments, challenges and opportunities

Fourth edition of Czech Joy in the Spotlight is once again organized by Czech Film Fund / Czech Film Center and Ji.hlava International Documentarty Film Festival (24. - 29. 10. 2019). The presentation and short previews of 10 brand new Czech documentaries will be held for Industry pass holders on Saturday, October 26, 2019 from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM in the Industry Zone, Lighthouse, Masarykovo náměstí.

PROJECTS

FREM

directed by: Viera Čákanyová
produced by: Hypermarket Film
CZ, SK 2019 / 73 min

A documentary essay, a requiem for the vanishing species of Homo sapiens. Through the stories of three protagonists, the film maps the situation before the turning point, the last period when we are still human - in the old, nostalgic sense of the word. What are the attributes that characterize us and what are the motivations of people who want to change them and take them to the next level?

SCREENINGS & CONTACT

I WANT YOU IF YOU DARE

directed by: Dagmar Smržová
produced by: moloko film
CZ 2019 / 84 min

A film about disabled women and their desires. The story is spiced by the extrovert nature of the heroines and the controversial situations they are captured in. The main character,  Jana, 27, has DMO and can’t move. She’s been searching for intimate assistants on the Internet for a long time, wanting to experience love making and have at least a sense of normal life. Her mother, instead of stepping out of a vicious circle of unsuccessful relationships and addictions, seeks help for herself, Jane and her second daughter, blind Katherine, in dark powers and tarot cards.

SCREENINGS & CONTACT

KINGS OF SUMAVA

directed by: Kris Kelly
produced by: Bionaut
CZ, IR 2019 / 70 min

An animated documentary feature film tells the remarkable story of Josef Hasil, an ordinary man who became a legend. This is a never-before-told tale of adventure and espionage, of heroism and moral choices that explores the struggle of one man against an authoritarian regime and the sacrifices he had to make.

SCREENINGS & CONTACT

KIRUNA - A BRAND NEW WORLD

directed by: Greta Stocklassa
produced by: Analog Vision
CZ 2019 / 87 min

Apocalyptic depiction of an area literally engulfed by the mining industry is presented in this documentary that observes the eponymous northern Swedish city, part of which was abandoned due to activities in the nearby iron mine. The mining company’s management decided not to halt profitable mining activities and instead made the decision to move the residents of the threatened district. Using footage shot in the city inside the Arctic Circle and directly in the mines, the director has uncovered subtle film imagery, and using the stories of three protagonists now living in a bizarre inter-time, imaginatively addresses the topics of resettlement, tradition, and respect for a particular location.

SCREENINGS & CONTACT

NEVER HAPPENED

directed by: Barbora Berezňáková
produced by: Leon Productions (SK), Frame Films (CZ)
SK, CZ 2019 / 82 min

After the Velvet Revolution in 1989, Slovakia was ruled by charismatic and autocratic Prime Minister Vladimír Mečiar. In 1995, the president’s son, Michal Kováč Junior, was abducted; it soon became clear that the abduction was probably ordered by the highest government circles. Oskar Fegyveres, who worked for the Slovak Information Service back then and who participated in the abduction by order of his superiors, testified to the police about the role of the secret service in the case. Since he did not feel safe, he fled abroad. He communicated with his family through his friend Robo Remiáš. Less than a year after the abduction, Robo died under unclear circumstances in a car explosion...

SCREENINGS & CONTACT

SOLO

directed by: Artemio Benki
produced by: Artcam Films
CZ, FR, AR, AT 2019 / 84 min

Martín P. is a young Argentinean piano virtuoso and composer, who has been since his breakdown four years ago a patient of El Borda, the largest and the most notable but also controversial psychiatric hospital in Latin America. The child prodigy and the most promising talent of his generation is now trying to find a way how to overcome his mental disease and come back to life outside the walls of the asylum and on the concert stages, while working on his new composition Enfermaria. Solo tells unique, yet universal story about the obsession with perfection and creation, narrating the evolution of a human being who draws his strength from his own fragility.

SCREENINGS & CONTACT

THE SOUND IS INNOCENT

directed by: Johana Ožvold
produced by: Cinémotif Films
CZ, FR, SK 2019 / 68

The Sound Is Innocent is a playful and poetic journey through the history of the electronic sound. The music is a game. And for creating the electronic music the main tool and toy is an instrument. Our guide in this musical playground is Johana, music composer and director of this film. For her, electronic music allows a wide range of free artistic expression. But how to find a direction in this seemingly endless space? She decides to set off on an odyssey to find out some advices. Johana escapes into the dreamlike space beyond time, the world of imagination. It is a recording studio; an almost mythical space where we visit contemporary representatives of different music movements and approaches towards a musical instrument.

SCREENINGS & CONTACT

COMMUNISM AND THE NET OR THE END OF REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY

directed by: Karel Vachek
produced by: Background Films
CZ 2019 / 335 min

A new film essay by Karel Vachek is a collage composed of staged passages of utopian and contemporary literature, his own memories as well as tableaux of world events. Apart from Vachek, actors also present texts and become opponents, partners, an ancient chorus and a modern voice band reciting amongst the hundreds of books in libraries. And to boot, music plays and jollity is the order of the day.
According to Vachek the next revolution will take place on the internet and bureaucrats will only carry out tasks which have been approved by citizens in referendums. And it will be no idyllic stroll. Even the French Revolution was horrific. But nonetheless - thanks to it we became citizens.

SCREENINGS & CONTACT

TWO ROADS

directed by: Radovan Síbrt
produced by: PINK
CZ 2019 / 80 min

What would you do with your life, if you knew that you have a limited time ahead of you? Much shorter than an average life? Members of The Tap Tap - a music band made up of physically disabled - or rather crippled as they would call themselves - students of Jedlička Institute in Prague have a pretty clear idea. They want to live and enjoy every single minute of it. The Tap Tap orchestra shows how to confront difficulties and obstacles. And above all, how to have fun in your life. The members of the band are strong personalities with a direct attitude to life. They drink, smoke, curse, love, as long as they enjoy it. The film explores the spirit of survival and the wild lust for life against all the odds.

SCREENINGS & CONTACT

VIDEO VIVA, VIVA VIDEO

directed by: Adéla Komrzý
produced by: UPP
CZ 2019 / 85 min

The film happens to be directed by the granddaughter of Radek Pilař, well known creator of beloved Czech children animated series such as Rumcajs and somewhat less known as a pioneer of video art in Czechoslovakia. The documentary brushes the dust off of those old VHS tapes to get a glimpse of early electronic images in our country and uncover the yet unmapped history of pre-revolution Czech video art. Decades later they all “videists” still share their enthusiasm, obsessive curiosity, and futuristic visions about the use of new technologies for artistic expression.

SCREENINGS & CONTACT

The media accreditation to the 23rd Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival akaPÖFF and the audiovisual industry platform Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event is ongoing. The festival takes place from the 15th of November until the 1st of December in Tallinn and Tartu, Estonia. 

All active journalists, film critics, bloggers, photographers, influencers and other social media content producers are welcome to apply.

This year the media representatives have two options to choose from:

1) the regular PRESS badge is free of charge gives you access to all press screenings, press events and all of the open industry events.

2) The PRESS+ accreditation will give you access to the festival's press and regular screenings, press events and all of the open industry events. The early bird price for the accreditation fee is 35 EUR, valid till the 31st of October. Starting from the 1st of November the accreditation is at the regular price - 50 EUR.

Watch the festival TEASER!

APPLY FOR THE ACCREDITATION

PRESS RELEASES

Please click on the button below to see all the 2019 press releases of Black Nights and Industry@Tallinn &; Baltic Event.

SEE THE PRESS RELEASES

PRESS OFFICE CONTACTS

The festival's press office gladly helps with any question regarding the accreditation, press screenings and conferences and helps to organise interviews with the festival's guests. 

Press accreditations and events: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Press hospitality matters: Anna-Liiza Izbaš - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
International communication: Hannes Aava - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. / +372 555 29 211.
Russian communication: Jaana Kalinistova - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Estonian communication: Tiit Tuumalu - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Dear friends of the Slovak Film Institute,

we are thrilled to present the Slovak line-up at the 76th Venice International Film Festival (August 28 – September 7, 2019)!

Long-awaited The Painted Bird by Václav Marhoul was selected for the Main Competition and short animated SH_T HAPPENS by directing duo David ŠtumpfandMichaela Mihályi will world premiere within Orizzonti Short Film Competition. Furthermore, representatives of two upcoming co-productions will take part in theVenice Gap-Financing Market.

The Painted Bird

fiction | CZ-SK-UA | 2019 | 169 min.

Based on the acclaimed Jerzy Kosiński novel, The Painted Bird is a meticulous 35mm black and white evocation of wild, primitive Eastern Europe at the bloody close of World War II.

The film follows the journey of The Boy, entrusted by his persecuted parents to an elderly foster mother. The old woman soon dies and The Boy is on his own, wandering through the countryside, from village to village, farmhouse to farmhouse. As he struggles for survival, The Boy suffers through extraordinary brutality meted out by the ignorant, superstitious peasants and he witnesses the terrifying violence of the efficient, ruthless soldiers, both Russian and German.

SCREENINGS:
September 2 | 20:00 | Sala Darsena *press & industry
September 2 | 21:00 | Sala Perla *press & industry
September 3 | 16:45 | Sala Grande *world premiere
September 4 | 16:45 | PalaBiennale

SH_T HAPPENS

animation | CZ-SK-FR | 2019 | 13 min.

The caretaker exhausted by everything, his frustrated wife and one totally depressed deer. Their despair leads them to absurd events, because... shit happens all the time.

SCREENINGS:
August 29 | 16:30 | PalaBiennale
September 6 | 11:15 | Sala Giardino *press & industry
September 6 | 17:15 | Sala Giardino *world premiere
September 7 | 16:30 | Sala Giardino

CONTACT:
BFILM, Alexandra Gabrižová (festivals), This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
NEXT FILM DISTRIBUTION, Anthony Trihan (sales), This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Venice Gap-Financing Market

My Sunny Maad
CZ-FR-SK

by Michaela Pavlátová

When Herra, a Czech woman, falls in love with Nazir, an Afghan, she has no idea about the life that awaits her in the post-Taliban Afghanistan, nor about the family she is about to join. A grandfather who is a feminist, an adopted young boy who astounds with his intellect, and Freshta who will do anything to run away from her abusive husband. Like the other women in the family, Herra wears a burka and hides in a closet when guests arrive. She soon starts a new job with an American woman, Heidi, who has little understanding of the way women live in Afghanistan, and even less that not everybody wants to be saved by the Westerners. 

CONTACT:
Negativ, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.,www.negativ.cz

Charlatan
CZ-IE-PL-SK
by Agnieszka Holland

Drama of an extraordinary man, reflecting the age-old struggle of two principles that control humanity from the very beginning. Good and evil. Love and hate, cruelty and mercy, faith and betrayal. In one person on the background of historical twists. Mikolášek's extraordinary abilities are redeemed in battle with his own demons who force him into cynical violence.

CONTACT:
Marlene Film Production, 
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
www.marlenefilmproduction.com

For more information on Slovak Films, please visit our website

Only two days are left until the start of the twenty-third documentary Ji.hlava. The festival will kick off with the world premiere of Jaroslav Kučera A Journalby Jakub Felcman.

The Opening Ceremony will feature the presentation of the award for best short documentary film; this year’s awards were designed by Chinese artist and activist, Ai Weiwei. The following festival days will offer virtual reality, discussions as part of the Inspiration Forum, or the possibility to join the planting of an orchard.

Felcman’s opening film is a tribute to Jaroslav Kučera, one of the most original cinematographers of the Czech New Wave, and his wife, director VěraChytilová. “They would have turned ninety this year. We are very happy that we can pay tribute to their anniversary with this personal and revelatory movie,” says Marek Hovorka, the Festival Director. The soundtrack was composed by Czech musician Aid Kid.

“It is a real film diary that comprises both scenes from a family life, both visual experiments and tests. It resembles a message inserted in a bottle for many years – until we discovered it. We tried to keep it intact, not deformed. We were listening to the material, and tried to keep Jaroslav Kučera’s world as it used to be”, says Jaroslav Felcman about his film.

The Ji.hlava festival awards will this year have a new design, made by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. “We approached him with the suggestion to design this year’s festival awards because Ai Weiwei is not only a distinctive figure of the artistic world, but also an activist and a filmmaker. His filmmaking work was introduced in 2012 when he was held under house arrest by the Chinese regime,” says Marek Hovorka. “In his films, Ai Weiwei connects ordinary people with art and art with politics, in which he stubbornly reintroduces social and human-rights themes. His work of art is also very diverse, excelling in sculptural or architectural realizations. The person behind all this is Ai Weiwei, a man with a digital hand-held camera which turned into one of the last available weapons of the unequal struggle with the Communist regime as we know it from his film Disturbing The Peace, shown at Ji.hlava seven years ago,” adds Marek Hovorka.  The award will be presented at the festival’s Opening Ceremony – the first category will be the Short Joy section. The winner will be selected based on viewers’ votes on the Dafilms.cz portal offering competition films in this section.

Virtual reality of modern slavery

This year’s Ji.hlava will also invite visitors to step into virtual reality. It will offer the largest showcase of VR works in the Czech Republic – both VR Cinema, and installations: presenting linear 360° films in four composed blocks, along with interactive experiences (their installations have six spaces reserved in DKO). “The VR-zone will feature works that build on the impression of realness and underscore the experience of testimony in a specific time and space,” says the programme composer, Andrea Slováková, about VR documentaries, such as the Nigeria-made Daughters of Chibokabout the kidnapping of almost three hundred young women by the terrorist group Boko Haram in 2014, or American film Ghost Fleet about the phenomenon of modern slavery on fishing ships in Indonesia. “We have also prepared installations that develop real stimuli through imaginary implications; they invite viewers to interpret visual art works, providing super-real experiences referencing philosophical or existential issues or creating unique worlds built from the elements of reality. For example, the installation Re-Animated conjures up an entire world of its own,” adds Andrea Slováková. Accreditation holders can purchase a day pass into the VR-zone for 80 CZK, those without the accreditation will pay twice as much.

Climageddon, Women in Change, Re:Democracy, God & Co., Made in China – and most of all: How Not to Be Afraid. These are the main topics of this year’s Inspiration Forum. In the course of six festival days, its ninth edition will open up six key topics and present over one hundred guests from all over the world, in more than thirty discussions.“Live discussions following the screenings are an integral part of the Ji.hlava IDFF and often the reason why many directors and visitors keep on coming back. However, the Inspiration Forum gave the festival a brand new dimension, interconnecting the educated and inquisitive festival audience with inspiring personalities in a focused discussion format,” says Marek Hovorka, the founder of the forum.

What will you find on this year’s programme? Bill McKibben, a notable American environmentalist, will talk about the climate crisis as a challenge. His book The End of Nature published in 1989 provided a visionary account of today’s climate situation. He will be followed by Isabella Salton, the head of Brazilian environmental organization Instituto Terra that is fighting to save the Brazilian forest and Jihlava’s native AlešPalán whose book of interviews with loners from the ŠumavaMountainsBetter to Go Crazy in the Wild has become a bestseller. 

One day will be dedicated to the position of women in society. The topic of Women in Transformation will be discussed by FawziaKoofi, an advocate for women rights and a candidate for the president of Afghanistan, Dagestani writer, Alisa Ganieva. Her debut, Salaam, Dalgat! had to be published under a male pseudonym to avoid the label “a story for women”.

Democracy and drones in Africa

Another major topic of the ninth Inspiration Forum is the crisis of the democratic society. And who will be the debaters? For instance, Sophie Howe, who has for three years been in office as the ‘future generations commissioner’ in Wales. Another guest will be the political scientist and NATO’s strategic communication specialist, Jonathan Terra, who worked as a diplomat in Afghanistan. As a political analyst and commentator he writes about the state of democracy in the USA.

Environmental disasters, fake news, wars for water and resources, terrorism, end of the world. These catastrophic scenarios are slowly becoming an integral part of our everyday existence. This year, the Ji.hlava IDFF will also discuss “how not to be afraid” of these visions and not to be paralysed by fear. The guests will include British futurologist Jonathan Ledgard, author of the cargo drone and droneport concept for Africa, and an American of Mexican descent, writer and former border guard Francisco Cantú, or the director of Ji.hlava’sHorácké Theatre, OndrejRemiáš.

Another sphere of interest of this year’s Inspiration Forum is China. Norwegian political scientist Stein Ringen or Czech analyst TomášRezek who is engaged with cyber safety and criminality will be among those answering the questions. A day block called God & Co. will then focus on the topic of Catholic Church, its role in today’s world, and its further development. The guest will be the first Czech army chaplain, BishopTomáš Holub. He is one of the more progressive Catholic representatives: clearly denouncing nationalism just as the “building of ideological barricades against gender”.

And apples and pears!