After the postponement of the 22nd Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, a significant part of the initiatives and projects hosted by Agora Doc Market, the development branch of the Festival, will be carried out online during the next week, with the support of the European program Creative Europe MEDIA.

Specifically, three main initiatives of the Agora Doc Market will take place in the next few days.

1. The Thessaloniki Pitching Forum, a co-production and co-financing platform for creative, television and new media documentaries. Twelve projects are presented. This new initiative by TDF aims to boost production in Southeast Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle Eastern regions. The awards of the Thessaloniki Pitching Forum are: The Thessaloniki Pitching Forum Award (2,000 euro), the ERT – Thessaloniki Pitching Forum Award (2,000 euro) to a Greek project, the Mediterranean Film Institute Award (MFI Script2Film Workshop), that offers a DocLab scholarship worth 2,500 euro, as well as accommodation in Nisyros and Rhodes islands where the MFI takes place). Further awards are: the DAE - Documentary Association of Europe Award (Consultation and free membership), the Aylon Productions Digital Services Award (Digitization by Aylon Productions) and the Beldocs Award (Accommodation and Accreditation for the next International Documentary Festival Beldocs).
2. The Agora Doc Market presents the Agora Docs in Progress: 11 projects from South-eastern Europe and the Mediterranean region participate in closed sessions exclusively for Thessaloniki’s accredited industry professionals, sales agents, distributors, producers and festival programmers. The post production company Two Thirty Five offers the main DiP award (post-production services), which is accompanied by a free accreditation and accommodation for the Visions du Réel festival in April. The MuSou company offers an award for music and sound services and the Greek Film Centre offers an award of 3,000 euro in cash. For the first time, Neaniko Plano will present an award for Subtitling.
   
3. In collaboration with Cinando, the Agora presents its digital video library, giving the opportunity to accredited industry professionals, sales agents, distributors, producers and festival programmers from all over the world to watch and evaluate documentaries from Greece and abroad, in order to include them in their festival programs.

We want to thank the participants of the Agora Doc Market, the filmmakers, the jury members and the award sponsors, who, after the announcement that the TDF is postponed, agreed to continue their work via the Internet.

Ten documentary experts (TV commissioners, festival representatives and sales agents) from all over the world, defying the challenges of time zones, will take part in the online pitching session of the Thessaloniki Pitching Forum.

The Agora awards will be announced on Thursday, March 12, 2020. Good luck to all the projects! 

The Festival continues to consider the prospect of hosting the 22nd Thessaloniki Documentary Festival at the end of May/beginning of June. We monitor the situation with the coronavirus in Greece and abroad, we are in coordination with the competent authorities and we examine every possible solution.

Emerging Producers introduced at Berlinale, new call open!

Eighteen up-and-coming documentary film producers from Europe were introduced to film professionals and journalists present at the 70th Berlinale (see photo gallery). The call for applications for the next edition of EMERGING PRODUCERS was also announced in Berlin, with a deadline on March 15, 2020. The programme will include two sessions – in Jihlava (October 2020) and Berlin (February 2021). You can now submit your applications or share the news with talented producers around you. The 17 Emerging Producers from Europe will be accompanied by a participant from Israel, which is the guest country of the 2021 edition.

Ji.hlava Film Fund offers 20,000 EUR in post-production services

Have your film supported from the Ji.hlava Film Fund! The Ji.hlava Film Fund provides in-kind grants totaling 20,000 EUR for visual and sound post-production of documentaries originating in Central and Eastern Europe. We are primarily looking for projects with unique authorial style and focus on contemporary and thought-provoking themes. Ji.hlava Film Fund's partners are UPP, Soundsquare and the Center for Documentary Film, and the deadline for submissions is March 15.

Submit your documentary to Ji.hlava IDFF

Film submissions to the 24th Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival are now open. We accept feature-length and short films, animated and interactive documentaries. The films premiered in Jihlava have a chance to be nominated for the European Film Academy Awards and the winners at the Ji.hlava IDFF are also eligible also for Oscar® consideration in the Documentary Short Subject and Documentary Feature Subject categories. Check the deadlines now.

Echoes of Ji.hlava in Belgium

The 8th Echoes of Ji.hlava IDFF are underway in Belgium and the programme continues until March 9 in Brussels and Antwerp. The Echoes include a number of public screenings followed by debates with the filmmakers and protagonists, as well as offering two masterclasses with progressive female directors for the students of the University of Antwerp and RITCS School of Arts.

Dok.Revue brings again a pile of good documentary read

In the new issue of Dok.Revue you can enjoy an interview with the legend of Czech documentary, Karel Vachek, watch a masterclass by Sergey Dvortsevoy about boundaries between documentary and fiction, learn about emerging Czech female documentarians, and read Viera Čákanyová’s text about her film FREM, which premiered in Ji.hlava, opened Berlinale’s Forum section and continues its journey on the festival circuit.

Czech Docs… Coming Soon

Five upcoming documentaries will be presented at East Doc Platform in Prague during Czech Docs… Coming Soon on March 10: A New Shift (dir. Jindřich Andrš / CZ), Brotherhood (dir. Francesco Montagner, / CZ, IT), Every Single Minute (dir. Erika Hníková / CZ, SK), At Full Throttle (dir. Miro Remo, / CZ, SK) and Wolves on the Borders (dir. Martin Páv / CZ). The presentation is organized by the Institute of Documentary Film in cooperation with the Audiovisual Producers' Association (APA) and will be moderated by Diana Tabakov (DocAlliance Films). Find out more here and join the event on Facebook.

From this year the event will be held under a new name – CEDOC MARKET (Central European Documentary Market). The submissions will be open until March 31. The market will be held on June 4-5th in Krakow.

CEDOC MARKET (so far organized under the name DOC LAB POLAND Co-Production Market) is the only co-production platform in Poland addressed to documentary film producers looking for Polish and foreign partners. Organized since 2015, the event focuses primarily on building creative cooperation between producers and filmmakers from across Europe.

ph. Kamila Szatan

CEDOC MARKET  is dedicated to the producers with projects in development or early stage of production. Producers without a project can also apply on the condition that they are expirienced in the international co-productions. 

Application form
Information about requirements

Participation in CEDOC Market is free of charge.  We offer all participating producers a 2-night-accommodation in the city of Kraków, and a KFF Industry accreditation (entitling the holder to access all Industry events and Official Festival Screening programme). In selected cases the organizers can also cover one additional night and travel costs. If you wish to attend with the director of the film, please contact us.

The 60th Krakow Film Festival will take place on May 31 – June 7, 2020

Follow our news on the website and in the social media: Facebook, Twitter i Instagram.

More information on our website krakowfilmfestival.pl

Prague, 5 March 2020 – This evening marks the start of the 22nd edition of the One World International Human Rights Documentary film festival. This year’s motto – “Not till a hot January” – describes one of the core characteristics of climate change, specifically that, because of rising temperatures and poor management, the landscape cannot retain water. With our “films (not only) about the climate crisis, we want to show the global dimension of the entire issue, but mainly focus on its impact at the local level. Our aim is not only to draw attention to it, but to inspire people to action,” explains Ondřej Kamenický, the festival’s director. One World will screen 133 documentaries from 60 countries, and will bring more than 130 festival guests to Prague.

Honeyland

Honeyland has been chosen as the opening film, and it will be screened this evening at Prague’s Lucerna Cinema. This internationally award-winning film, which was historically the first documentary to be nominated for an Oscar in the Best International Feature Film category, captures the life of traditional beekeeper Hatidze Muratova. It offers not only a glimpse of a vanishing trade set in the breath-taking mountainous scenery of North Macedonia but also a strong portrayal of the state of our civilisation.

The festival will occupy eight of Prague’s cinemas from 6 to 14 March, and, for the second year in a row, also the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art in Prague’s Holešovice district.  This is where this year’s virtual reality projects – all focused on ecology and nature – will be presented. Visitors will be able to relocate themselves from the gallery to, for example, the forest, the desert, or the tip of an iceberg, or even catch a glimpse of a living hallucination of nature come to life, which is initiated by consuming the hallucinogenic Ayahuasca brew. The overall atmosphere will be complimented by a special nature installation designed by the Green Décor Studio. 

One World has been addressing environmental issues more or less since the time the festival was first established, and during the past three years films on this subject have had their own category – UnEarthed – which was chosen as our main thematic category this year. Of course, this year’s edition includes the three traditional competitive categories (the Czech Competition, the International Competition, and the Right to Know Competition), and another thirteen additional thematic categories. You can choose films from the individual categories on the festival’s website; it’s also possible to browse the programme according to screening dates and times, or according to the individual venues.

This year, the festival is pleased to present the exclusive premieres of 27 films (21 have their world and international premiere, and 6 are being seen in Europe for the first time). There are 11 documentaries competing for first place in the Czech Competition category, of which 5 are enjoying their world premiere. The first of these is Apolena Rychlíková’s film The Czechs Are Excellent Mushroom Pickers, which tracks climate change in the Czech Republic through a research probe carried out by extra-terrestrials. Andrea Culková’s documentary Grief looks at climate change and the emotions it evokes, particularly in women. Then in Doggy Love, director Linda Kallistová Jablonská presents a portrait of musher Jana, who sets out with her team for Europe’s longest sled dog race – the Finnmarksløpet. Currently, Mongolia’s capital of Ulaanbaatar is home to one and a half million people (50% of the country’s entire population). When 50-year-old Tumurbaator arrives in the city, will his dream of a better life come true? Find out in Anji Sauvé Clubb’s Nomad Meets the City. In his film Town of Glory, Dmitry Bogolyubov follows Putin’s political crew to examine how they use the legacy of the Great Patriotic War to gain the support of the Russian people. 

Additionally, this is the third year that One World includes the Talking Cinema series of special discussions. Experts from various fields will come to Prague and give lectures to accompany the screenings of selected films. UN Special Rapporteur Leilani Farha will discuss the worldwide problem of inaccessible housing. World renowned oceanographer and professor Stefan Rahmstorf will speak on the topic of climate change. And former Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs Margot Wallström will discuss the role of women in politics both as it is and how it should be. All of the discussions will take place at Kino 35 and will be simultaneously interpreted from English to Czech; three of them will also be interpreted into Czech Sign Language.

The festival guests include not only well-known film directors, such as Feras Fayyad, who will sit on the International Jury and also present his Oscar-nominated film The Cave at the festival, but also many film protagonists. For instance, the participants in the post-screening discussions will include Lea Tsemel, an Israeli lawyer who defends Palestinian rights, the well-known artist Badiucao, who uses his art to criticise China’s totalitarian regime, and Danish war photographer Jan Grarup, who will also open his exhibition at the Audience Centre at the Tibet Open House during the festival.

Over the past three years, making the festival accessible to people with disabilities has become a matter of course. All of the documentaries, even those in Czech, have Czech subtitles for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. Four of the films will be screened with an accompanying audio description, and there will be three relaxed screenings which might be appreciated chiefly by people with a mental disability or difficulty concentrating. And last but certainly not least, we aim to increase the number of places accessible to audience members who use a wheelchair or have other mobility issues.

The youngest festival visitors and their parents will be able to take advantage of the Kid’s Corner for children 3 and up, located at the Municipal Library in Prague 1. It will be open every weekday from 2 pm to 8 pm, and, at weekends it will open at noon. Film workshops, led by teachers from the Free Cinema organisation, will be held at the Kid’s Corner on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

Practical information:   

• This year the festival’s audience centre will once again be located at the Tibet Open House, in Školská Street in Prague. Here, visitors to the festival will have the opportunity to buy festival merch, relax with their children over a cup of coffee, or participate in one of the festival’s accompanying events.
• You’ll find the Press Centre, where we will be issuing press accreditations during the festival, on the first floor of the People in Need’s Langhans Centre (37 Vodičkova Street, Prague). It will be open from 5 to 14 March from 10 am to 8 pm.

In addition to the box offices of the individual cinemas, tickets may also be purchased through the central assisted sales desk at the festival’s Infopoint in the Lucerna Passage.

Unusual film stories about women within the frames of the documentary film series ” World Stories. Women’s world.”

World Stories is a permanent non-competing section of the Krakow Film Festival, which transports the viewers to the most distant corners of the world. This year, the protagonists of the documentary films are women, mothers, daughters, wives and their struggle with the often confusing fate. In these stories, women’s strength comes to the fore, as well as the irreplaceable solidary support in the struggle with hardships of the world.

Within the frames of the series, we get acquainted with diverse stories of female protagonists from Iran, Nicaragua, Israel, Hungary, Australia and the American prairie. Among them, there are warriors, rebels, but also women for whom the fate turned out to be unkind. They share the dreams of freedom and happiness against all odds, emphasizes Krzysztof Gierat, the Director of the Festival.

Hachof Hanifrad, reż. Karin Kainer

“Lili” is a shocking story about how trauma can affect three generations of women. The daughter of the eponymous protagonist sets out on a journey throughout three continents to discover family secrets and to confront her loved ones with the dramatic past. The film presents an emotional study of a woman – a mother who abandoned her own child. Are we able to look at her without judging her? 

The eponymous protagonist of the next film in the section, “Ninosca” also abandons her children. Amazingly, the film camera accompanies her for over 40 years, observes her childhood in a small village in Nicaragua, watches her as she enters adulthood, and finally escapes from a violent relationship. In pursuit of freedom and sense of dignity, full of strength and determination, she tries to find a better life in Europe.

Details

The 60th Krakow Film Festival will take place on May 31 – June 7, 2020

Follow our news on the website and in the social media: Facebook, Twitter i Instagram.

More information on our website krakowfilmfestival.pl

Restoring the function of Artistic Director and entrusting them with the main role when choosing competition films – these are the most important changes that await the Polish Film Festival in 2020. The new regulations were created after extensive consultations with the filmmakers community.

Regulations of the 45th Polish Film Festival were approved by the Festival Organizational Committee on February 27, 2020. The new statutory provisions respond to the demands of filmmakers, already reported during last year's edition of the Gdynia Festival.

- We analyzed all the comments and suggestions of the film industry representatives very carefully. The postulate that was raised most often was to restore the function of the Festival's Artistic Director, personally responsible for choosing films for the Main Competition. We want the basic criteria for selection of competition films to be their artistic value and professionalism of their creation. The regulations state this explicitly and clearly define the selection mode - emphasizes Leszek Kopeć, Festival Director.

Let us remind you that during the 44th Polish Film Festival in September 2019, Directors' Guild of Poland announced its proposition of regulations. Also later, the Guild forwarded further changes to the Organising Committee.
As part of the consultation, there was also a meeting organized by the Polish Filmmakers Association, in which representatives of the following institutions took part: the National Chamber of Audiovisual Producers, the Polish Association of Editors, PSC Polish Society of Cinematographers, Polish Women in Film, Producers Guild of Poland, Polish Screenwriters Guild, ZASP the Association of Polish Theatre, Film, Radio and Television Artists, and the Guild of Polish Film, Television and Theatre Make-up Artists.

Festival Regulations are available the Polish Film Festival website. LINK

Selecting the Artistic Director

We will know the name of the Artistic Director by mid-May 2020. The selection will be made by the Contest Committee, whose members will be selected from the previous winners of Golden and Silver Lions. By mid-March, the members of the Committee will be selected by the Program Council of the Festival, composed of recognized Polish filmmakers. The Council, as an advisory body to the Organizational Committee, has been operating since 2013.

Selecting films for the competitions

One of the most important tasks of the Artistic Director will be selecting films for the Main Competition and the Short Film Competition. The person performing this function will be supported with reccomendations of selection teams appointed by him or her.

A maximum of 16 films may qualify for the Main Competition. The Artistic Director will indicate 12 of them and his decision will be final. The Organizational Committee may add up to 4 films to the competition pool. As in previous years, the selection of films for both competitions will take place in May, and the selection results will be announced in July.

The 45th Polish Film Festival will be held on September 14-19, 2020 in Gdynia.

      

Marygoround - Daria Woszek

“Dark, sexy, eccentric, estrogen-fueled comedy about a Virgin Mary-obsessed 50-year-old woman who never had sex in her life.” That’s how Daria Woszek, the director and co-writer of the film is pitching it. 

Mary’s life isn't all that exciting. One day, plagued by the annoying symptoms of her menopause, she overdoses on the hormone patches her doctor prescribed to her. And when her vibrant and free-spirited niece Helena decides to crash at her house, Mary’s senses and imagination suddenly come alive. The two women are not only forced to redefine their relationship but also break free once and for all.

It is a story of a woman reclaiming her own body — as well as a moving tale of fantasy and reality clashing in a world that ignores the power of women.

The film has been developed during Less is More – LIM, the program launched by Le Group Ouest. It also has been presented at Works in Progress section at Hong Kong Asian Film Financing Forum in 2019, where it won the HASF Goes To Cannes Award. It has also been selected to the Coming Soon section at Meeting Point Vilnius 2019. It is a Polish production by Jutrzenka Studio in a co-production with TVP, All Muses, Super Krak, Krakow Festival Office, co-financed by Polish Film Institute. Media Luna New Films manages the worldwide sales.

The festival premiere will be held on March 14th. More info on the Festival official website.

EMERGING PRODUCERS 2021, 9th edition October 27 – November 1, 2020 / 24th Ji.hlava IDFF / Czech Republic February 8 – 12, 2021 / Berlin / Germany 

Promotional and networking project presenting a new generation of talented European documentary film producers. 

The aim of the project is to introduce an up-and-coming generation of talented European producers to professionals from various fields of the film industry. The project creates a platform for meetings of film professionals with an emphasis on documentary cinematography. 

The project is organised and curated by Ji.hlava IDFF. The selection of producers will be announced during summer 2020. 

SELECTION CRITERIA 

- A producer with a several years’ experience in the local market (i.e. not a student or recent graduate) with a capacity for professional growth and with ambitions to be active on the European market - At least one realized film (fiction or documentary, mid-length or feature) which has entered theatrical distribution, has been screened at a festival etc. - Producers from all European countries are eligible. The guest country of the Emerging Producers 2021 edition is Israel. 

More information here.

REGISTRATION DEADLINE: March 15, 2020 Contact: Jarmila Outratová / Head of Industry Office / This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.