BUCHAREST: The Whistlers / La Gomera by Corneliu Porumboiu has been selected as Romania’s candidate for the 92nd Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences award in the best international feature film category. This Romanian/French/German coproduction had its world premiere in the Competition of the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.
SARAJEVO: Cineplexx will build a multiplex with eight cinema halls totaling 1,400 seats in Sarajevo. Cineplexx Sarajevo will be opened in summer 2020 and will become one of the venues of Sarajevo Film Festival.
VENICE: Venice competitor Czech / Ukrainian / Slovak coproduction The Painted Bird directed by Václav Marhoul has been acquired by French sales company Celluloid Dreams. The film is the first majority Czech coproduction selected for the main competition of Venice Film Festival in 25 years.
PIEŠŤANY: Ten films have been selected for Meeting Point Europe, the main competition of the 14th Cinematik International Film Festival, which will take place in the spa city of Piešťany from 10 to 15 September 2019.
TALLINN: Black Nights Film Festival is launching a new side-festival in Estonia, Kino FF, focusing on Russian cinema. The first edition will be held in two cities in the prominently Russian-speaking region Ida-Virumaa in Eastern Estonia, Narva (from 15 to 17 November 2019) and Kohtla-Järve (22-24 November 2019).
Czech branch of HBO Europe grants a financial award at MIDPOINT TV Launch
The third and final workshop of MIDPOINT TV Launch has concluded with the Partners´Awards Ceremony at the industry platform CineLink Drama within Sarajevo Film Festival.
The 2019 edition of TV Launch program introduced six projects of TV series, three projects of web series and two development executive participants, altogether 22 participants from the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Slovenia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Italy, UK, USA/Switzerland, France and Cyprus. The projects, along with the development executive participants, were pitched on Tuesday, August 20, 2019 at a pitching session entitled Season Finale.
During the ceremony, which took place on Thursday, August 22, 2019, twoMIDPOINT TV Launch projects were awarded.
The HBO Europe Award, a financial award of 5.000 USD granted by HBO Czech Republic, was handed out by the VP Executive Producer of Drama Development Steve Matthews, who at the same time participated in the role of a development executive tutor of TV Launch. The awarded project of this year´s edition is WILLOWS, a story about immortal beings who look just like regular people but spend their days indulging in mind numbing decadence (writer: Milada Tesitelova, director: Jan Tesitel, producer: Julie Zackova).
Synposis of the project:
Young Anezka loses her beloved groom on the day of their wedding. He returns from the dead to her surprise, though he is soon whisked away by a secret society of immortal beings called the Willows. Anezka is determined to free him from their grasp, no matter what!
Steve Matthews commented upon the decision in following words:
“The decision gets harder every year and was particularly challenging this time around; the quality of the projects continues to improve every time as MIDPOINT itself goes from strength to strength finding and supporting talent in these dynamic times.
This year’s winner stood out for its breadth of imagination, distinctive quirky and poetical style, and colourful memorable characters displayed through an obviously personal lens; for its heart and its attractive and intriguing supernatural backdrop; and for its powerful atmospheric sense of place. We often hear in pitches that “the city is a character” and it’s rarely true. But here, there shines through a real sense of the team’s obvious love for their home city of Prague.”
The Marseille Web Fest Award, granting one person from the creative team of the winning web series project a participation at the Marseille Web Fest Writing Residence (October 14 - 19, 2019), went to the project PLAYGIRL, written by Michaela Pnacekova and Marijana Verhoef.
Synopsis of the project:
Lost in the fast-paced city of Berlin, where intimacy has the lifespan of a mayfly, two young women, one a tomboy-gamer and the other a romantic sociopath, develop an unusual quasi-mother-daughter relationship full of drugs, sex, and video games.
On behalf of MWF and its Artistic Creator Jean-Michel Albert, the award was handed out by Michaela Sabo, who acts as
TV Launch´s pitching tutor and web series consultant.
After the decision has been made, she stated: “The short form series award goes to a project with a very unique voice. This project is also very well conceived for the digital market and was delivered through a strong pitch but also already has a very solid script.”
Heartfelt congratulations to all the winners and all TV Launch 2019 graduates!
MIDPOINT TV Launch is realized with the support of Creative Europe – MEDIA Programme of the European Union, the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, the Czech Film Fund, the International Visegrad Fund and the Slovak Audiovisual Fund. It is presented in cooperation with the Finale Plzen Film Festival, the Sarajevo Film Festival – CineLink Industry Days, HBO Europe, Serial Eyes, Marseille Web Fest, C21 Media, Series Mania, CANNESERIES Institute, MIA TV Market, Art Department Masterclass, CHARACTER – Film Development Association and the Audiovisual Producers' Association. MIDPOINT operates under the auspices of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.
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 Štumpfand Michaela 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
CONTACT:
Celluloid Dreams, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.,
Pascale Ramonda (festivals), This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
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
JOHN BAILEY WITH CAMERIMAGE LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD!
EnergaCAMERIMAGE Film Festival is pleased to recognize John Bailey with the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award at the 27th edition of the Festival held in Toruń, Poland, November 9-16, 2019.
John Bailey, photo by Aleksander Salski
Born in Moberly, Missouri, on August 10, 1942, John Ira Bailey is a lifelong resident of Southern California. He was already interested in literature and creative writing during his Pius X High School days in Downey. In addition to editing a school newspaper, Bailey also explored classical music, cool jazz and the 1950s Hollywood film scene.
Later on, Bailey briefly studied chemistry at Santa Clara University—a private Jesuit University in Northern California’s Silicon Valley—where he began to research the history of cinema. Following a transfer to Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, in 1962 Bailey traveled to Innsbruck, Austria, on a junior year abroad program. During his stay in Europe Bailey decided to focus on studying film history. Back in Los Angeles a year later, he enrolled in a new graduate program in film studies at the University of Southern California. Coming under the tutelage of professors Woody Omens and Gene Peterson and completing a required camera course at USC proved pivotal to Bailey’s career choice of cinematography over cinema theory.
After completing USC’s two-year graduate program, Bailey’s first professional assignments date from the late 1960s and include working in postproduction for American Airlines’ promotional films as well as assisting such cinematographers as Charles Correll, Erik Daarstad, John Koester, and Gary Young. Having joined the union in 1969, throughout the 1970s Bailey apprenticed as an assistant and operator for such Hollywood legends as Néstor Almendros, Jules Brenner, Dave Meyers, Chuck Rosher, Gregory Sandor, Ric Waite and Vilmos Zsigmond. As a result, by the mid-1970s, Bailey had the chance to work on some iconic productions, including Monte Hellman’s Two-Lane Blacktop (1971), Emergency! (1974) and Kojak (1975) TV series, as well as Terrence Malik’s Days of Heaven (1976) and Robert Altman’s 3 Women (1977).
Still from "American Gigolo"
Still from "Mishima"
Only a few years later Bailey became the Director of Photography for such noted films as Boulevard Nights (1978) directed by Michael Pressman and Paul Schrader’sAmerican Gigolo (1980). In the 1980s and 1990s Bailey’s collaboration with Schrader extended into Cat People (1981), Mishima (1984), Light of Day (1986), and Forever Mine (1999).
In 1980 Bailey teamed up with Robert Redford on the iconic Ordinary People and shortly thereafter worked on Honky Tonk Freeway with John Schlesinger. Other directors who became Bailey’s partners on numerous projects included Lawrence Kasdan (The Big Chill, 1982; Silverado, 1984; The Accidental Tourist, 1988), Michael Apted (Continental Divide, 1980; Extreme Measures, 1996; Always Outnumbered, 1997) and Ken Kwapis (Vibes, 1987; The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, 2004; License to Wed, 2006; He’s Just Not That Into You, 2007; Big Miracle, 2010; and A Walk in the Woods, 2014). John Bailey’s long and distinguished list of credits also includes Gene Saks’ Brighton Beach Memoirs (1985), Norman Mailer’s Tough Guys Don’t Dance (1986), Harold Ramis’ Groundhog Day (1992), Wolfgang Petersen’s In the Line of Fire (1992), and Peter Howitt’s Antitrust (2000).
Bailey’s salient achievements as cinematographer are fittingly complemented by his confident work as director of The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (a 1990 film of Lily Tomlin’s one-woman show), China Moon (a 1994 crime mystery with Ed Harris, Madeleine Stowe and the first big role for Benicio del Toro) and Mariette in Ecstasy (a 1996 adaptation of Ron Hansen’s novel about a young nun with a stellar cast of Geraldine O’Rawe, Eva Marie Saint, Rutger Hauer, Mary McDonnell, and John Mahoney).
Still from "Ordinary People"
Still from "Silverado"
A member of the American Society of Cinematographers since 1985, John Bailey has been an active and vocal member of the society. Posted under the “John’s Bailiwick” tab, Bailey’s stylishly written blogs grace the ASC website and cover a wide area of topics not only centered on film and cinematic history but also covering music, literature, history and the arts. In 1972 Bailey married film editor, Carol Littleton; they have resided in Los Angeles ever since.
Bailey’s 15 years as an Academy governor includes his most recent service as the Academy’s President from 2017-2019.
Bailey’s professional achievements were recognized with numerous nominations, including the 1988 Film Independent Spirit Awards for Best Cinematography in Tough Guys Don’t Dance and the 1999 CAMERIMAGE Film Festival Golden Frog for Forever Mine. He is also the winner of the 1994 CableACE Award for The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, the 2001 Society of Camera Operators President’s Award, the 2014 William A. Fraker Cinematography Journalist of the Year Award, the 2015 ASC Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2018 Society of Camera Operators Governors’ Award, and the 2019 Gianni di Venanzo Award. Recently, he was awarded by the French government with Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters.
At the 76th Venice International Film Festival, Czech Cinema is represented by 4 films in Official Selection. Václav Marhoul’s The Painted Bird was selected for the main competition Venezia 76, animeted short SH_T HAPPENS by Dávid Štumpf and Michaela Mihályi will compete in Orizzonti, Gustav Machatý's digitally restored Extase will be screened as a pre-opening film in Venice Classics, and Dutch-Lithuanian-Czech State Funeral by Sergei Loznitsa will premiere Out of Competition.
SARAJEVO: Take Me Somewhere Nice by Ena Sendijarevic, a coproduction between the Netherlands and Bosnia and Herzegovina, was awarded the Heart of Sarajevo for best feature film at the 25th Sarajevo Film Festival. The festival was held from 16 to 23 August 2019 under the patronage of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
