Reality blends into fiction as Liam Gallagher (and Michael Hutchence!) meet with the acclaimed Icelandic director Runar Runarsson, French female rock stars and Ridley Scott's Alien in Warsaw Film Festival's Special Screenings section. 

Memory: The Origins of Alien dir. Alexandre O. Philippe

Echo / Bergmál dir. Rúnar Rúnarsson, Iceland, France, Switzerland 2019, 80’             

Iceland is preparing for Christmas. In 56 scenes, the film draws a bittersweet portrait of modern society. The latest film from the director who won at the Warsaw Film Festival in 2008 and 2015.

First Love / Hatsukoi dir. Takashi Miike, Japan 2019, 108’

A boxer helps a call girl in the street. Before the night is over, they will be chased by a corrupt cop, a yakuza and a female assassin in a film by one of the most controversial Japanese directors.

Liam Gallagher: As It Was dir. Charlie Lightening, Gavin Fitzgerald, UK 2019, 85’

A fascinating take on one of the true British rock eccentrics. Liam Gallagher is finally able to tell his own story for the very first time, in his own special style: candid, honest and humorous.             

Memory: The Origins of Alien dir. Alexandre O. Philippe, USA 2019, 95’    

This year, Ridley Scott’s Alien celebrates the 40th anniversary of its theatrical release. It all started with a 29-page script by Dan O’Bannon, but how did it lodge itself into our cultural imagination?

Mystify: Michael Hutchence dir. Richard Lowenstein, Australia 2019, 102’

An uninhibited stage performer and a loner shutting himself away. A magnetic, long anticipated portrait of the lead singer and songwriter of the Australian band INXS, Michael Hutchence.

Oh Les Filles! / Haut Les Filles dir. François Armanet, France 2019, 80’

An alternative reading of French rock history. From sixties pop to gender-indifferent anthems, from feminist rebels to fashion icons of the social media age, from Françoise Hardy to Christine & The Queens.

Once in Trubchevsk / Odnazhdy v Trubchevske dir. Larisa Sadilova, Russian Federation 2019, 80’

No matter how hard you try to conceal having an affair, the truth will come out sooner or later. A charming comedy-drama about women’s dreams, set in a small-town Russia. 

Papicha dir. Mounia Meddour, Algieria, France, Belgium, Katar 2019, 105’

Algiers 1997. A female student dreams of becoming a fashion designer when her country is in a state of civil war with Islamic fundamentalists. The film premiered at this year’s Cannes festival.

Mystify: Michael Hutchence dir. Richard Lowenstein

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Warsaw Film Foundation /35th Warsaw Film Festival, October 11-20, 2019

For the twelfth time Latvia is submitting a film for Academy Award nomination consideration in the Best International Feature Film category, competing with films from some 80 countries. The panel of experts created by the National Film Centre (NFC) made a decision to put forward the Latvian Centenary film The Mover by the director Dāvis Sīmanis and studio Mistrus Media.

The NFC’s panel of experts who evaluated the submissions from Latvian film studios, included: film theoretician Zane Balčus – Baltic Sea Documentary Film Forum project manager; NFC representative Kristīne Matīsa – editor-in-chief of Kino Raksti web portal; film theoretician Dr. Elīna Reitere from Germany; filmmaker Pēteris Krilovs – professor at the Latvian Academy of Culture; Ieva Romanova – head of the Latvian Filmmakers Union; director Jānis Putniņš – head of the National Film School at the Latvian Academy of Culture, and producer Uldis Cekulis – head of VFS Films studio.

The Mover was one of the films created for the NFC’s Latvian Films for Latvian Centenary line-up. This Latvian feature film offers a gripping account of Žanis Lipke, a blue-collar worker honored as one of the 'Righteous Among the Nations' for his heroic deeds during the war. Despite his family’s hardship under successive Soviet and German occupations, Lipke embarked on a covert operation to save local Jews from Nazi persecution and certain death, moving them from the Riga ghetto to an underground bunker hidden on his property. From the start, Filmmaker Davis Simanis creates a powerfully ominous and suspenseful atmosphere, positioning the viewer, like Lipke, as a reluctant eyewitness to unfolding horrors.

The film received 12 nominations for the Latvian National Film Award Lielais Kristaps and won in four categories: Best director, Best cinematographer, Best production design and Best supporting actress. “The Mover is humanizing heroism. The main character acted without any kind of reflection on his own benefit. It’s the kind of message that is very important currently,” says the director Sīmanis.

Dāvis Sīmanis works as a film director, scriptwriter, editor, lecturer as well as assistant DoP. His documentary ESCAPING RIGA (2014) was selected in numerous festivals including IDFA, Vilnius IFF and CPH:Dox. His film is EXILED (2016) won Best Film at Riga IFF. His feature documentary D IS FOR DIVISION premiered at Visions du Réel in 2018.

Films from the other two Baltic countries have already been submitted for the Oscars, and there is strong Latvian presence in both Lithuanian and Estonian submissions. Lithuania submitted the documentary co-production Bridges of Time by directors Kristīne Briede (Latvia) and Audrius Stonys (Lithuania) – it’s another Latvian Centenary film. Estonian submission for the Documentary Film Category – the film by the director Ksenia Okhapkina – Immortal - is a co-production with the Latvian film studio VFS Films, just like Bridges of Time. 

The 92nd annual Academy Awards ceremony, honouring the best in film from 2019, will take place on February 9, 2020, in Los Angeles.

More on Latvian cinema: http://nkc.gov.lv/en/

The East Doc Platform is the largest co-production, funding and distribution platform tailor-made for Central and East European documentaries.
Every year, we connect East European filmmakers with key decision makers - producers, broadcasters, distributors and festival programmers from around the world.

Dates: March 7–13, 2020
Where: Prague, Czech Republic
Application deadline: November 8, 2019
>>APPLICATION FORM

Feature-length projects are invited to the 19th edition of the East Doc Forum, the oldest and largest central pitch in the region.
Transmedia and VR projects are presented at East Doc Interactive pitching, an integral part of the Forum.

Since 2001, more than 180 documentary films have been completed with the direct support of the East Doc Forum,
including award-winning Over the Limit, When the War Comes, Sofia’s Last Ambulance, Ukrainian Sheriffs, The Russian Job, Domino Effect and Rabbit a la Berlin.

The East Doc Market offers the opportunity to meet with international funders, broadcasters, distributors, sales agents and festival representatives in the frame of pre-scheduled one-on-one meetings.

The East Doc Platform is organized by the Institute of Documentary Film in association with One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival.

Find more information including the application form HERE.

We are looking forward to receiving your projects!

connecting cottbus project line-up 2019: politics, lovers in space and a killer bunny

CARBON | Moldova | dir: Ion Borș |
prod: Ion Borș, Sergiu Cumatrenco Jr. | Kantora Film Production, YOUBESC

CONVENIENCE STORE | Russia | dir: Mikhail Borodin |
prod: Artem Vassiliev | Metrafilms

FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEACE | Montenegro, Serbia | dir: Ivan Marinović |
prod: Marija Stojanović, Ivan Marinović | Adriatic Western, SENSE Production

NO LAND FOR ME | Israel | dir: Ram Nehari |
prod: Yifat Prestelnik | Yifat Prestelnik Films

Midpoint - coco Award (Midpoint Feature Launch)
RATTLESNAKES | Serbia | dir: Nikola Ljuca |
prod: Nikolina Vučetić-Zečević, Maja Ilić | Biberche

SPAS | Ukraine | dir: Maksym Nakonechnyi |
prod: Yelizaveta Smith, Darya Bassel | Tabor Production

Special Pitch Award FilmFestival Cottbus
THREE, SEVEN, ACE | Russia | dir: Sergey Dvortsevoy |
prod: Sergey Dvortsevoy | Kinodvor

TRACES | Croatia | dir: Dubravka Turić |
prod: Ira Cecić | Kinorama

VESPER SEEDS | Lithuania | dir: Kristina Buožytė & Bruno Samper |
prod: Asta Liukaityte, Daiva Jovaišiene, Kristina Buožytė | Natrix Natrix

WET MONDAY | Poland | dir: Justyna Mytnik |
prod: Marta Gmosińska | Lava Films

YOU ARE THE UNIVERSE | Ukraine | dir: Pavlo Ostrikov |
prod: Vladimir Yatsenko, Anna Sobolevska | LimeLite

Selected cocoWIP Projects 2019

BETWEEN TWO DAWNS | Turkey / Romania | dir: Selman Nacar |
prod: Burak Çevik, Diloy Gülün, Oana Giurgiu | Kuyu Film, Karma Film, Hai Hui Entertainment

BLINDFOLD | Ukraine | dir: Taras Dron |
prod: Valeria Sochyvets | Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema

CELTS | Serbia | dir: Milica Tomović |
prod: Vladimir Vasiljevic | EED Productions

MIA MISSES HER REVENGE | Romania | dir: Bogdan Theodor Olteanu |
prod: Anamaria Antoci, Anda Ionescu | Tangaj Production

POPPY FIELD | Romania | dir: Eugen Jebeleanu |
prod: Velvet Moraru | Icon Production

THE THRILLSEEKERS | Belarus | dir: Vlada Senkova |
prod: Larisa Oleinik, Viktar Labkovich | DOKA, Pervaja Kinovideo Company

For the second time SOFA – School of Film Advancement will hold a workshop in Vilnius, Lithuania from September 17-21, 2019. Here, selected SOFA alumni will get the chance to present their projects in front of experienced private investors and representatives of European public film funds. This way SOFA offers its participants and their cultural projects direct access to potential financing partners from the public and private sector.

politics, lovers in space and a killer bunny