Day two of 33rd MIFF was full of events. First jury members of the three competitions – Main, Perspectives and Documentary – were introduced. On Friday first competing films were demonstrated.

The main event of Friday was a meeting with 33rd MIFF jury which took place in the lobby of Khudozhestvenny Cinema Hall. Photographers would not let go those who will shape destiny of festival films. It should come as no surprise that the most photographers’ attention was drawn to the Chairman of the jury, actress Geraldine Chaplin. Hardly had the improvised photo session ended, questions to the daughter of the outstanding Charles came like a flood. Despite her surname, Geraldine Chaplin made her own way in cinema with some dozens of characters – starting from Tonya Gromeko in Doctor Zhivago by David Lean and up to Catherine Bilova in Talk to Her by Pedro Almodóvar.

The press conference announcer Peter Shepotinnik opened the press conference with his traditional question, “What have you had to forgo to come to Moscow?” Geraldine Chaplin simply answered she had nothing to give up, but her family. “I had a lot of film projects in my life, last year I participated in five pictures simultaneously. And one film has been shot this year. So, it is enough for me.” Israeli stage director Amos Gitai also turned his attention to his colleague from Main competition jury. “My mother wrote me how she had met my father. It was in Haifa, my native city. At their first date they came to the cinema to watch a film with Charles Chaplin. So I owe my life to your great father”, Amos Gitai shared his personal story.

Another start person from 33rd MIFF jury – Hungarian classic Károly MAKK did not share his plans for film staging and also preferred to dive into recollections. “My first time at Moscow Film Festival was 45 years ago. I was a member of the jury in far 1977. Hungarian film-makers have always had tight bounds with Soviet, Russian colleagues. Now it is high time to see what has changed and to meet those whom I remember from that far period”. Javier Martín-Domínguez, the director of the Seville European Film festival and a member of 33rd MIFF jury, has also been to Moscow before, but not as a film-maker, he came here as a journalist. “It was late-1980s, I covered the meeting of Gorbachev and Reagan. This time I’ll combine business with pleasure: I’m preparing a Russian program for my festival in Spain, so this is the best opportunity to watch your films.”

The only representative of Russia in the Main competition jury is stage director Nikolay Dostal. Two years ago he won MIFF with his film Petya po doroge v Tsarstvie Nebesnoe / Pete on the Way to Heaven. “What do you not like in modern cinema?” the audience asked. “Dominance of entertainment over art, and it is our tragic future”, said the stage director hoping that MIFF’s films will make the future more bright. But probably the main question was addressed to the Chairman of the jury. “What are the criteria for Geraldine Chaplin to judge a film?” The answer was straight. “I hate the very word “judge”. Art does not tolerate judges. I can name one hundred reasons when I dislike a film. But there are none, if I think a picture is magnificent – you are just short of words. We watch films not with our mind, but with eyes, consciousness, our body. That is why it is very hard to understand who the best is when we talk about arts.”

On June 24 Moscow Film Festival saw some other contesting films. The first film demonstrated was Montevideo, Taste of a Dream / Montevideo, Bog te video (Serbia). It was presented by Director Dragan Bjelogrlić, Producer Dejan Petrović, actors Miloš Biković and Milutin Karadžić as well as Nina Jankovi. All the events taking place in the Former Yugoslavia in 1930s are about football. It is worth mentioning that this very game was the central topic of Hermano / Brother, last MMIF Main Prize winner. The press conference announcer Program Director Kirill Razlogov wished to the film crew that this year the tradition went on. “I wanted to shoot a film free of the spirit of nihilism and seamy side. I am interested in real human values”, described his aim Dragan Bjelogrlić. At the same time he mourned that in his country and in Europe in general such films are not staged any more. It turned out that he is an actor with 30-year experience. Montevideo,

Taste of a Dream is Dragan Bjelogrlić’s debut as a stage director. He decided to shoot this picture because of soreness, “There are a lot of stage directors who intentionally draw their countries in dark colours thus making their way to the global market. I wanted to make a good-natured picture with a note of nostalgia for the Former Yugoslavia.” And Producer Dejan Petrović added that before the shooting started they had known that they would like that the first night of their film was at Moscow International Film Festival. “MIFF is the best place for the first night of our film, it is a real honour for us”, director added. The story depicted in the film is real: protagonists’ prototypes are known Serbian football players. The featured actors are young Balkan actors, they are still students. “To shoot them was a bold and wise decision”, summed up Dragan Bjelogrlić.

In the Name of the Devil / W imieniu diabła is another Eastern European film from the Main competition which was demonstrated on Friday. A Polish picture about strange events in a nunnery was presented by Director Barbara Sass and actress Katarzyna Zawadzka. At the press conference it turned out that initially the author had intended to shoot a film on another topic. 20 years ago she read in a newspaper a catching story about an American sect and got interested in the phenomenon of people manipulation. “I was really affected by the topic”, says Barbara Sass. “But when I started to dig dipper I realized that this American story is alien for our Eastern European environment, so we had to change the story.” The only thing the director was interested in was people manipulation. The reason for film shooting was a scandal about one Polish nunnery where the Mother Superior drawn nuns into a sect. But being a real artist, Barbara Sass wanted to imbed only her own feeling and emotions in this story, therefore she had not talked to participants of that conflict; she made her own story instead which turned out to be more close to the reality.

The Friday at MMIF started from a press conference with authors of the Undercurrent / Brim. Films from Iceland is an event in their nature, not often amateurs in Moscow get a chance to watch a film from the native country of Bjork and Eyjafjallajökull volcano. All the better that the Undercurrent / Brim is a kind of cubed Iceland. Cinema verité about everyday life of fishermen, nature subdual fleshed out with suicides and betrayals. The first question asked by journalists was not a surprise: why for his film Árni Ólafur Ásgeirsson chose such a stereotype Icelandic topic as fishing? “Yes, it is an important part of our culture. Nevertheless, for modern Icelanders, especially for town dwellers, fishing in the sea is rather exotic. There is certainly the memory of generations: our fathers, grandfathers, they all were fishermen. Even I, though not a professional fisherman, sail on the seas and fished. But the conflict of generations is nowhere to hide”, explained Árni Ólafur Ásgeirsson his decision. It is not by chance that the Undercurrent / Brim reminds you a performance. By the way, the director drew on the idea from the theatre when he saw the performance staged. After that he decided to shoot as true a story about Icelandic fishermen’s life as possible, “You may not shoot a film about fishermen in my country telling fibs – it will be noticed at once.”

True cinema uncensored – such films are expected from the participants of MIFF by members of Perspectives competition jury. They also had their conference on Friday. But not all of them had a talk with journalists in Khudozhestvenny Cinema Hall – Aleksandr Kott will join his colleagues only tomorrow. Nevertheless, there were no problems with the conversation – by chance, 33rd MIFF jury member all speak Russian. These are a Serbian film critic Miroljub Vučković and Kazakh stage director Ermek Shinarbayev. These were them who answered journalists’ questions. Miroljub Vučković, the Program Director of Film festival in Belgrade and Head of the Film Centre Serbia, knows he expects from the films participating in MIFF, “Fresh mountain air or sea breeze. The main task of the film festival is to discover new trends which in the near future will become a dominant in the world cinema art. They say that at the moment auteur cinematography is having a bad time, but believe me such words would be appropriate any time. In the Perspectives competition I will search for a film which will stir me up.” It turns out in all appearances that his colleague from the jury Ermek Shinarbayev is prompted by the very Moscow atmosphere, “It has a kind of energy in it which you want to share. It is very familiar to me as we are brought up by Russian cinematographers and make our films in Russian.” According to the stage director from Kazakhstan, perspective film does not necessarily mean negation of all cinema cannons. “For me, expectation of a miracle in the cinema hall is very important and, you know, miracles usually happen and when we were to talk about modern cinema, young stage directors say that classics in out-of-date. Then you see: their films are directly associated with classic cinematography.”

The Abendland, a film from the Documentary competition which is held within MIFF first time for 22 years, is presented by Nikolaus Geyrhalter. He is the leading documentalist of Austria, his home country. And this status was officially confirmed as early as in 2003 with the state award, some local award similar to the State Prize. Apart from this award Geyrhalter won film festivals in Vienna, Amsterdam and Berlin for his film Das Jahr Nach Dayto, a shrilling documentary film about the war in Bosnia. His latest work which the author brought to Moscow is called Abendland.

During the press conference in Khudozhestvenny Cinema Hall Nikolaus Geyrhalter said that he had crossed half Europe in order to understand what the Old World is if the lights are out. It is a series of stories about life of European megalopolis – from Rome to Berlin, from the Pope on the St. Peter's Square in Vatican to whores in the red light quarter of Amsterdam. Scrambling through night club raves and criminal shoot-outs in city suburbs, the stage director came to a surprising conclusion which he wants to share with Moscow audience, “Only homes for elderly people are similar all over Europe. Elderly people and the romanticism they keep in Europe are the things worth seeing and thinking of.” Watching the film, the viewer is not always aware of where Nikolaus Geyrhalter’s camera is. “For the most curious audience we placed the list of all cities where we were shooting the film in the closing credits”, promised the Austrian stage director.
Also the documentary film program presents the Czech Peace by Vít Klusák and Filip Remunda. Te film is about citizens of a small Czech town the mayor of which decided to lead a matchless fight again the USA planning to place their air defence missile systems in the town. It is a very topical story which will undoubtedly draw viewers’ attention.

On that very day members of the Documentary competition jury were introduced, among them were the Chairman of the Jury director Michael Apted, director and cinematographer Alexander Gutman and film expert Tue Steen Müller. Films selected by them, like in the Main and Perspectives competitions, will be awarded with St. George for the first time during 22 years of MIFF.

Grigory Libergal, one of the competition supervisors, who announced the press conference open, said that “disappearance of documentary films from the competition was due to the hard economic situation in the country and in the cinema art in particular.” But he thinks that now documentaries are coming back. Danish film expert Steen Müller agreed with this statement, “as nowadays documentary cinematography may afford practically anything up to using game history episodes.” And director Michael Apted confessed that h loves documentary for its unexpectedness as “at the beginning of the film-making process it is impossible to predict what the end of the film will be.”

‘Being John Malkovich’ – what does it mean? Who knows. Anyhow the actor himself affirms that in the noted Spike Jonze’s picture, where his head was being turned into a virtual portal, he just played an odd role of the character with such a name, no way related to him.

Malkovich played over 70 various parts in cinema, including the noblest Athos in The Man in the Iron Mask, but gained great recognition after vicious Vicomte de Valmont in Dangerous Liaisons, and for the psychotic political assassin from In the Line of Fire he was nominated for the Academy Award and the Golden Globe. It might be said that his range stretches between judicial Dr. Jekyll and ominous Mr. Hyde from thriller Mary Reilly, but Malkovich confesses: "I'm drawn to a character with a lack of humanity. People give reasons for being cruel or sadistic but I think it is just a lack of humanity and concern for others. I think I'm good at them because I don't like them”. Paradoxically enough - audiences are attracted to those roles played by Malkovich which he deeply hates. Maybe this makes him agree to participate in the projects where he can parody his dramatic type.
The actor indulges portraying a burlesque of those villains and rogues which made him public’s favourite, with special delight picturing his character’s abasement.

As Malkovich recalls, his first teacher in acting taught, that the worst sin was to be boring. With this lesson in mind he daringly takes up inconceivable tasks always presenting something an audience won't have seen. Nowadays public at large not only in Italy, Germany, Australia or Austria, but also in St. Petersburg and Moscow came to know his operatic talent as he toured with the opera The Infernal Comedy: Confessions of a Serial Killer. His performance of Jack Unterweger, who strangled 11 women, arose a controversial reception; some spectators reproached him of glorifying the monster. But this impression is deceitful: charming as usual in this part, Malkovich just shows that moral monsters often have human face and that the evil may appear very attractive. But his own sympathy wins another charming operatic personage – famous womanizer Casanova in The Giacomo Variations where he plays against Ingeborga Dapkunaite.

Nina Tsyrkun

The winner of the 2011 Golden Bear in Berlin, Nader And Simin, A Separation by Asghar Farhadi will open the Wrocław-based event on the 21^st July. The second opening film will be Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Once Upon a Time in Anatolia. The closing film on the 31^st July will be Pedro Almodovar’s latest movie The skin I live In.

Among the confirmed guests are Terry Gilliam, Kim Ki-Duk and Bruno Dumont.

All three competitions of the festival are looking strong this year with titles such as Urszula Antoniak’s Code Blue, Paula Markovitch’s El Premio and Nanouk Leopold’s Brownian Movement in the main, New Horizons International Competition and Kim Ki-Duk’s Arirang and Marie Losier’s The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye, among others, in the Films on Art International Competition.

The New Polish Films competition will see the world premiere of Wilhelm Sasnal’s It Looks Pretty from a Distance. Sasnal is a world-famous contemporary artist, whose works are in collections of the Saatchi Gallery and Tate Modern in London.

Jury highlights include Frédéric Boyer (Directors’ Fortnight Director in 2009-2011), Anocha Suwichakornpong (Mundande History), Denis Côté (Curling), Dimitris Eipides (Director of the Thessaloniki IFF) and György Pálfi (Taxidermia).

The Juries will award 65.000 EUR in cash prizes. The winners of the Grand Prix, Audience Award, FIPRESCI Prize and the Films on Art International Competition are guaranteed distribution in Poland.

The festival will host a big presentation of Norwegian cinema and films from the phenomena of pinku eiga, red westerns and midnight movies, as well as retrospectives of Terry Gilliam, Bruno Dumont, Andrzej Munk and Mariusz Wilczyński.

The main music star of the 11. New Horizons International Film Festival will be Nick Cave and Grinderman, who will stage a concert on 29th July.

Project selection started – Receptions in Karlovy Vary and Sarajevo – New award for postproduction

Berlin, July 1 2011- November 3 and 4 will see the 13th edition of the East- West-Co-production market Connecting Cottbus in the context of FilmFestival Cottbus. 13 East European feature film productions will be presented with the goal of initiating co-productions between East and Western Europe. The market that has launched films such as MY JOY (Cannes 2010), TILVA ROSH (Sarajevo 2010), THE TRAP (Berlinale 2008) or PIGGIES (Karlovy Vary 2009) will also be a forum for discussions about current trends in the European film industry. 150 guests from East and Western Europe are expected for the event.

Since the beginning of 2011, Connecting Cottbus has a new director. Bernd Buder, who will leverage his intimate knowledge of the industry acquired as curator, festival scout, and film journalist with a focus on Eastern Europe, succeeded Gabriele Brunnenmeyer who had been the artistic director until 2010. "To take over from Gabriele Brunnenmeyer who developed Connecting Cottbus into a focal meeting point for the industry is an exciting challenge that I am looking very much forward to", says Buder.

Another new addition to the Connecting Cottbus team is Martina Bleis, who can look back on 15 years of working for various film festivals and has vast experiences especially regarding co-production markets.

Buder and Bleis intend to strengthen the program offerings of Connecting Cottbus this year, using panel discussions and workshops to more thoroughly discuss the structural and immediate challenges for European films in the market and lay the foundation for developing future market strategies. The core of the event will still be project pitches, opening on November 3 with the winner of the Special Pitch Awards 2010, the current project of Serbian director Oleg Novković. With his internationally successful feature WHITE, WHITE WORLD, pitched at Connecting Cottbus in 2007, Novković won the Grand Prize of the Jury at the FilmFestival Cottbus for the second time last year. The additional twelve projects will be selected in September by a jury consisting of eight members including Kirsten Niehuus (Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg), Susanne Schmitt (MEDIAAntenne Berlin-Brandenburg) and Franka Bauer (MDR television). The application deadline is July 15, 2011.

Internationally, Connecting Cottbus extends its outreach this year by participating in receptions at the festivals in Karlovy Vary and Sarajevo, organized in collaboration with the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and the FilmFestival Cottbus.

Another first for the coming fall is the new "Post Pitch Award". The Berlinbased post production company "The Post Republic" is donating color correction services and the production of a DCP for a suitable project. The winner is chosen by a jury of three film professionals. "The Post Republic" will also run a workshop on processes and budgeting for digital film productions for participants in the pitch.

Connecting Cottbus takes place parallel to the 21st FilmFestival Cottbus - Festival of East European Cinema. The festival, which runs from 1st till 6th of November 2011, will show around 100 films from more than 30 countries, thus providing a unique overview of the current Central- and East European cinema scene. This year's Focus “Eastern Europe by Regions” concentrates on the regional diversity in our Eastern neighbouring countries, with particular emphasis on Poland and the Ukraine, who will be co-hosting the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship. In parallel to Poland taking over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2011, an additional separate film series set in the context of the Weimarer Dreieck will investigate the cinematic cultural relationship between Poland, France and Germany. Because of its huge success, the previous year's Focus “globalEAST” now will constitute an independent section within the festival and continue its tracing of East European influences in cinema production around the world. The Retrospective titled “Location Lusatia” will present film locations in Brandenburg and thus will bring its landscape, people and mentalities to life and thereby raise awareness for these in others. Film Submission will be open till the 1st of August 2011.

Connecting Cottbus is supported by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the MEDIA Programme of the European Union and MDM/Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung. Connecting Cottbus is organized by pool production GmbH. The partners of Connecting Cottbus are MEDIA Antenne Berlin- Brandenburg, CineLink, EAVE, Moscow Business Square, the Nipkow

Programm Berlin and Sofia Meetings.

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www.claudiatomassini.com

The upcoming Karlovy Vary IFF will present several documentary films from Eastern Europe, many of them in competition. Among them is the Polish documentary film At the Edge of Russia by Michal Marczak, a unique insight into the private worlds of soldiers stationed in a military outpost deep behind the Arctic circle, guarding the Russian border.

Press release Warsaw, 1 July 2011

Cinema City awarded the title "International Exhibitor of the Year"
Moshe Greidinger receives the highest award of the cinema industry in Amsterdam

Moshe (Mooky) Greidinger received yesterday the award "International Exhibitor of the Year" granted by European theatrical community during CineEurope in Amsterdam, the largest convention of cinema industry in Europe. This is the second award for Cinema City following the title "International Exhibitor of the Year" received in 2004 in Las Vegas during ShoWest convention.

"It's a great feeling to receive this title and to receive it for the second time. This is the highest recognition from the industry for all Cinema City team. We believe very strong in bringing modern multiplexes and best standard of services to territories thirsty for good exhibition." said Moshe (Mooky) Greidinger, CEO of Cinema City, the largest multiplex cinema operator in Central & Eastern Europe and in Israel. "We are now operating close to 900 screens in 7 countries and we came a long way from the beginning of our business and a long way even from 2004, when we were running 350 screens in 4 countries. The greatest potential to expand this business lies in emerging countries, where cinema going levels are much behind mature markets. We will be continuing our expansion as there is still so many empty places on the map."

"It is a great pleasure for CineEurope to be able to acknowledge and pay tribute to Mooky Greidinger, who heads up the leading cinema circuits in Israel and Central and Eastern Europe," noted CineEurope managing director Robert Sunshine. "From its humble beginnings as a family business and the first cinema in Haifa, Israel, to the launch of the first multiplex in Israel to their expansion into Europe, Cinema City International are cinema exhibition forces to be reckoned with."

Cinema City International is the largest multiplex cinema operator in Central & Eastern Europe and in Israel. The Company operates 93 multiplexes with 885 screens, in 7 countries: Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Israel. In the beginning of the year the Company boosted its screen count by 141 screens through acquisition of the Palace Cinemas chain in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. Cinema City is also actively involved in cinema related advertising through New Age Media and film distribution through Forum Film companies, its wholly owned subsidiaries. Cinema City is the fastest growing cinema chain in Europe having binding lease agreements for 35 more multiplexes, which will offer approximately 360 new screens, which are planned to be opened mostly in the coming 2-3 years. The major portion of openings will be in Romania, where in 2010 the admission per capita ratio stood at 0.3.

In 2010 Cinema City reached EUR 235 million cinema related revenues (24.4% more over 2009), EBITDA of EUR 56 million (21.1% over 2009) and EUR 30.4 million net profit (24.5% over 2009). The company sold 30.5 million tickets in six countries. The Cinema City group employs over 4,000 people in 7 countries.

Investor Relations
Cinema City International NV

Office in Warsaw:
37 Fosa Street
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Dear Colleagues & Friends,

Let me inform you about the strong presence of Slovak films at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2011 (direct link).

Please, find attached the newsletter and here a link to more information at the information website www.aic.sk:
SLOVAK FILMS – KARLOVY VARY 2011 (direct link)

Slovak films in the KV Programme:
Official Selection – Competition: GYPSY (orig. Cigán) by Martin Šulík (SK – CZ 2011) - great comeback of Mr. Šulík after 6 years break from feature films
East of the West – Competition: VISIBLE WORLD (orig. Viditeľný svet) by Peter Krištúfek (SK 2011) – first feature film, with Ivan Trojan in the main role

Variety´s 10 Euro Directors to Watch: THE HOUSE (orig. Dom), by Zuzana Liová (SK – CZ 2011) – you surely know this title from the 2011 Berlinale´s selection for the FORUM

2011: Musical Oddyssey: ILJA by Ivan Ostrochovský, SK 2010 – a portrait of one of the leading personalities of Slovak music on 20th century

Czech Films 2010 – 2011 section includes several interesting Slovak and Czech co-productions:
NICKY´S FAMILY (orig. Nickyho rodina) by Matej Mináč (SK – CZ 2011)
I.D. (orig. Občanský průkaz) by Ondrej Trojan (CZ – SK 2010)
Surviving Life (orig. Přežít svůj život) by Jan Švanjkmajer (CZ – SK 2010)

Several Slovak film projects will be presented within Film Industry events, both in Works in Progress and Docu Talents from the East.

For even more, see the newsletter, our website, and/or contact us directly.

Slovak Film Institute Representatives in Karlovy Vary:
Peter Dubecký
Alexandra Strelková July 2-6,2011
Katarína Tomková July 2-6,2011
Miro Ulman July 2-6,2011
Viera Ďuricová July 1-5,2011

W look forward to meeting you in Karlovy Vary!

With my best regards,

Alexandra Strelková
In KV: July 2-6,2011
______________________________
National Cinematographic Centre - Slovak Film Institute
Grösslingova 32, SK 811 09 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Tel: +421 2 5710 1527, Fax: +421 2 5273 3214,
Cell: +421 905 730 040
www.sfu.sk, www.aic.sk
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MOSCOW: MIFF's business platform Moscow Business Square (27-29 June 2011) chose to focus on the Baltics, Georgia and CIS countries in its third edition giving Russian producers and film professionals a chance to develop coproduction partnerships with their neighbours.

Only three days left to submit your films to Doc Launch – a presentation that showcases 9 soon-to-be-released documentaries from Central and Eastern Europe. Festival programmers, distributors, sales agents, members of the press and audiences get the first glimpse of films in post-production slated for theatrical release over the next year.
Application deadline: June 30, 2011.
http://www.dokweb.net/en/doc-launch/

Entry deadline: June 30, 2011
Dates: October 27 - 28, 2011
Location: Jihlava, Czech Republic
Participants: Filmmaker/producer teams representing 9 selected documentary projects
Organized by the Institute of Documentary Film.
Requirements:
The Doc Launch presentation accepts Central and East European documentary projects slated for release from November 2011 through October 2012. The event is geared towards remarkable feature documentary projects or rough cuts made for the cinema.
For the online entry form, go to: http://www.dokweb.net/en/doc-launch/doc-launch-presentation-application-627/?sac=60
To apply, please send 2 DVD copies with an excerpt, trailer or rough cut, as well as any other additional materials to the following address:

Hana Rezková, Institute of Documentary Film, Školská 12, 110 00 Praha 1

Additional IDF deadlines:
June 30, 2011 – EAST SILVER
September 1, 2011 – EAST EUROPEAN FORUM
September 30, 2011 - INDUSTRY ACCREDITATION

We look forward to receiving your submissions.
Kind regards,




Kristina Valentova




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Institute of Documentary Film
Skolska 12
110 00 Prague 1
Czech Republic
T: +420 224 214 858
M: +420 739 323 938
www.DOKweb.net

Jan Komasa awarded at ART FILM FEST 2011.

The Blue Angel for Best Director went to Polish director Jan Komasa for his "Suicide Room" (Sala samobójcow). The five-member international jury summed up the picture as:
"[a] violent film steeped in the loneliness of a young generation lost in modern technology, on the backdrop of a society coming to terms with the problems of the post-communist era."

Komasa’s feature debut was presented in Main Competition with 15 other titles among which there was “The Hunter” by Bakur Bakuradze. The nineteenth annual Art Film Fest was held from June 17 to 25 in Trenčianske Teplice and Trenčín.

Art Film Fest was established in 1993 as the first international film festival of its kind in Slovakia. It was originally aimed at presenting exclusively 'art films', hence the festival's original name, Art Film. During its seventeen-year history, the festival has undergone several reorganizations and has grown noticeably in size. Each year in its festival cinemas, Art Film Fest presents films introduced at prestigious international film festivals such as Berlin, Cannes, Venice and Locarno.


Best regards,
Olga Domżała

Olga Domżała
Film Sales Support & PR Manager
Polish Film Institute
Krakowskie Przedmieście 21/23
00-071 Warsaw PL
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Mobile: +48 695 363 335