TALLINN: Tanel Toom’s debut feature Truth And Justice, shortlisted for the 92nd Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ award in the best international feature film category, has been acquired by Berlin-based sales agent Films Boutique.
TRIESTE: Ten long documentary and 12 feature film projects have been selected out of a record number of applications (338) for the Co-Production Forum of the 10th edition of When East Meets West (WEMW). The industry section of the Trieste Film Festival (17-23 January 2020) will be held from 19 to 21 January 2020.
WHEN EAST MEETS WEST
(Trieste, January 19-21, 2020)
Trieste - December 20, 2019 – 22 film projects from 17 countries will be presented at the special 10th anniversary edition of When East Meets West, the Italian Co-Production Forum taking place from January 19-21, 2020 in the frame of the Trieste Film Festival. This year WEMW will bring together more than 500 industry professionals from over 40 countries, particularly from the 2020 East & West spotlight territories: Hungary, Moldova and Romania and Austria, Germany and Switzerland.
The 22 projects in development - 10 long feature documentaries and 12 fiction features - were selected out of 338 submissions from 55 different countries. The final selection will include several debut features such as Double Happiness by Sebastian Mihailescu (Old Luxurious Flat Located In An Ultra-Central, Desirable Neighborhood, Locarno Film Festival 2016) and Larry by Szilárd Bernáth (Pay Day, Clermont-Ferrand 2016) but also upcoming films by Ann-Kristin Reyels (Berlinale Forum 2012 with Formentera), Lieven Corthouts (Little Heaven, IDFA 2011) and Elina Psykou (The Eternal Return of Antonis Paraskevas, Berlinale Forum 2013). Furthermore, thanks to the brand new cooperation with IFFR's CineMart the WEMW final line-up will also feature the Bulgarian title Women Do Cry and directors Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova (Cat in the Wall, Locarno Film Festival 2019) will have the chance to present their upcoming project in these different but complementary events to further enhance its market opportunities.
“The record number of applications received this year shows once more the great drive of so many filmmakers from all over the world and we are proud to celebrate 10 years of WEMW with the beautiful stories they will share. This is going to be a special edition because we are also expanding our network of partners to offer a tailor made follow-up to our selected projects: we are very happy to launch the new collaboration with IFFR's CineMart and we are also making the first steps to launch a new partnership in Cannes with the Marché du Film.”, remarks Alessandro Gropplero, head of WEMW.
Also this year all 22 projects will compete for the Film Center Serbia Development Award, the EAVE European Producers Workshop scholarship, the Cannes Producers Network Prize and the Flow Postproduction Award. Moreover, all selected fiction projects will compete for the Pop Up Film Residency Award, whereas all female directors will be eligible for the EWA Network Best Woman Director Award.
In addition to the 22 projects selected for the pitching forum, WEMW will invite two additional guest projects previously presented at DOCMONTEVIDEO and DOCSP Brazil.
Together with the Co-Production Forum, the programme of WEMW 2020 will be as rich as ever and include all its now established side events: the fine cut section for creative documentaries Last Stop Trieste, the workshop for long feature fiction films in editing phase First Cut Lab and the work in progress section for films produced or co-produced by Italian companies This is IT. But there will also be room for some new fresh initiatives, such as the TV series mini lab MIDPOINT Cold Open, the project showcase of short films developed at MIDPOINT Shorts and the international Work-in-Progress presentation of the First Cut + curated portfolio of 8 fiction features.
It is still possible to request an online accreditation to participate in the coproduction forum. All detailed information about the programme and the confirmed participants are on www.wemw.it
The 22 projects selected for WEMW 2020 are:
1970 by Darko Lungulov - Papa Films (Serbia)
A SAD AND VULGAR LONER by Efthymia Zymvragaki, Xavier Domènech - Grismedio (Spain)
BLIND PIT by Federico Schiavi, Giorgio Bianchi - Nacne (Italy)
DOUBLE HAPPINESS by Sebastian Mihailescu - Microfilm (Romania)
ELECTING MISS SANTA by Raisa Razmerita - Niste Filme (Moldova)
GIRLS & GODS by Verena Soltiz, Arash T. Riahi - Golden Girls Filmproduktion (Austria)
IRENE'S WORLD by Mery Aghakhanyan - Hoshkee Film (Armenia)
LARRY by Szilárd Bernáth - Focusfox Studio (Hungary)
LILI by Sylwia Rosak - Haka Films (Poland)
NOT A WORD by Hanna Slak - Volte (Germany)
ORDINARY FAILURES by Cristina Groșan - Xova Film (Czech Republic)
SANDBAG DAM by Čejen Černić - Kinorama (Croatia)
STRANDZHA by Pepa Hristova - Fünferfilm (Germany)
STRAY BODIES by Elina Psykou - Contrast Film (Switzerland)
THE LAST MISFITS BY THE GOLDEN RIVER by Juho-Pekka Tanskanen - Danish Bear Productions (Finland)
THE MAN WITHOUT GUILT by Ivan Gergolet - Transmedia production (Italy)
THE MONKEY AND THE GIRL by Ann-Kristin Reyels - Unafilm (Germany)
THE WHITE CLUB by Michele Pennetta - Beauvoir Films (Switzerland)
THIS IS MY MOMENT by Lieven Corthouts - Cassette for timescapes (Belgium)
TOO CLOSE by Botond Pusok - Luna Film (Romania)
VALLEY OF MONUMENTS by Srdan Vuletic - Artikulacija Film (Montenegro)
WOMEN DO CRY by Mina Mileva, Vesela Kazakova - Activist38 (Bulgaria)
The 2 guest projects are:
AMAZON, A NEW MINAMATA? by Jorge Bodansky – Ocean Films (Brazil)
MOTOCYCLE by Gastón Sahajdacny – Ana Apontes (Argentina)
WARSAW: FNE has teamed up with the Brussels based team of the International Union of Cinemas (UNIC) to bring you regular updates on EU cinema policies that impact all industry professionals across Europe. Click here for FNE UNIC EU Cinema Policy Update.
EU Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027
12/12: Prospective cuts to Erasmus+ and Creative Europe in EU long-term budget deeply worrying – European Parliament
Ahead of talks among EU leaders on the long-term budget in the European Council, the Chair of Culture and Education Committee, Sabine Verheyen (EPP, DE), issued a statement.
10/12: MFF: Commission’s plan “impossible to implement” with Finnish proposal – European Parliament
For Parliament’s negotiating team, the preliminary proposal by Finland's presidency of the Council for the next long-term budget of the EU would “condemn the European Union to failure”.
05/12: Useful information on the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) – European Parliament
Parliament's resolutions, press releases and factsheets available online about the MFF and the reform of the EU's Own Resources.
05/12: Finnish Presidency proposes greater EU investment in building a sustainable future – eu2019.fi
Finland’s Presidency has submitted its proposal for the next long-term EU budget, the multiannual financial framework (MFF) for 2021–2027, to the member states. The proposal is a budget of €1 087 billion for the seven-year period, equal to 1.07% of the gross national income of the EU member states.
European Council
12/12: European Council meeting (12 December 2019) – Conclusions – EU Council
The document presents the conclusions adopted at the European Council meeting from 12 December 2019.
European Commission
/12: Cabinets of Commissioners – EU Who is Who
04/12: Opening remarks by President von der Leyen at the read-out of the first College meeting of the von der Leyen Commission – European Commission
03/12: [Document] List of agenda points for upcoming Commission meetings – European Commission
European Parliament
04/12: Cristian-Silviu Buşoi elected Chair of the ITRE Committee – ITRE Committee
Mr Cristian-Silviu Buşoi is the new Chair of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, elected on 4 December 2019.
Events
16-19 December: European Parliament Plenary Session, Strasbourg
1 January: Croatian Presidency of the Council of the EU enters into office
9 January: JURI Committee meeting, Brussels
16 February: Fifth European Commission copyright stakeholders’ dialogue, Brussels
20-21 January: CULT Committee meeting, Brussels
10 February (TBC): Sixth European Commission copyright stakeholders’ dialogue, Brussels
18 February: Save the Date – UNIC conference at the European Parliament, Brussels
Meet the educational and networking platform entitled Visegrad Film Forum, set in the cosy central Europe, Bratislava, Slovakia. The 9th edition of the event is the right place for filmmakers looking for new international contacts and eager to know more about the filmmaking process from world-known professionals. Packaged in the informal atmosphere.
Visegrad Film Forum will host top-notch filmmakers from all over the world for the ninth time. From the 10th to the 14th of March 2020 they will introduce themselves to the public via lectures and case studies of their films. One of the first confirmed guest speaker is American producer and scriptwriter Jim Stark.
The Role of the Producer in Independent Filmmaking
The producer and scriptwriter Jim Stark has helped many of the landmark indie US and European films to get made and get seen, including collaboration with Jim Jarmusch, SzabolcsHajdu or CorneliuPorumboiu. “People think filmmaking is all about the weeks that a film is shooting. In fact, from first idea to release online or home video, an independent producer like me works on a film for at least three or four years, and I have done films that took a decade to finish.”says Jim Stark
Jim Stark first came into contact with the film world in 1983. He helped to finance and produce second film by Jim JarmuschStranger Than Paradise. Stark produced for him also Down by Law, Mystery Train, Night on Earth and two short Coffee and Cigarettes films.
Jim Stark was on the jury of Romania’s Transilvanian Film Festival when he met SzabolcsHajdu, who approached him. They started to collaborate on Mirage - Hungarian-Slovak western which takes place on the Great Hungarian Plain with a story that is characteristic of the genre, however unique in its Eastern European interpretation.
Recently has aslo worked as an associate producer on many films like Foxtrot by Samuel Maoz which won Silver Lion in Venice IFF, Our Time by Carlos Reygadas or La Gomera by CorneliuPorumboiu which was nominated to Palme d'Or in Cannes.
Get to know Visegrad Film Forum
VFF is an international educational and networking event facilitating contact between talented young film professionals from the neighbouring European countries and internationally recognised and appreciated film creators.Thanks to a series of master classes, case studies, discussions, film screenings and practical workshops with respected filmprofessionals, filmmakers get a unique opportunity to gain valuable theoreticaland practical knowledge for their work in future.
The beneficial value is a friendly and informal atmosphere, where all the discussions and networking are basically going on during the off programme. All participants have also chance of late night networking at parties organized by VFF every night during the event.
During last years guests included Oscar winners Alan Starski(Pianist, Schindler´s List), Eugenio Caballero (Roma, Pan´s Labyrinth) and Christopher Newman (Godfather, Exorcist),
Oscar nominees Christian Frei (War Photographer), PacoDelgado (Les Miserables, Danish Girl), SlawomirIdziak(Black Hawk Down) and Christian Berger (The White Ribbon),
as well as prize winner from Cannes and Venice, Sergei Loznitsa (Trial) and Colin Arthur (NeverEnding Story, 2001: Space Odyssey) or LudovicaFerrario (The Young Pope, The Great Beauty) came to share their knowledge and experience.
Are you an Early Bird?
Early bird accreditations valued at 20 EUR (10 EUR for students) are available only until 10.1.2019, after that the price goes up.
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Visegrad Film Forum 2020
Date: 10th – 14th of March 2020
Place: Bratislava, Slovakia
Venues: Film and TV Faculty VŠMU, Cinema Lumière
web: http://www.visegradfilmforum.com
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VisegradFilmForum
instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vffbratislava/
youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mpj2r4K88c
Organized by: Boiler NGO
Co-organized by: Film and TV Faculty VŠMU
Financial support: International Visegrad Fund, Slovak Audiovisual Fund
International Film Festival Rotterdam 2020 has revealed the complete programme, and three Czech films will be part of its official selection.
Directors Adam Ol'ha and Jan Daňhel focused on the making of Jan Švankmajer’s Insect (IFF Rotterdam 2018) in their brand-new documentary The Alchemical Furnace, produced by Jaromír Kallista (Athanor) and co-produced by the Slovak company PubRes. The film will premiere in Deep Focus section as a part of programme „Regained“.
Karel Vachek’s essay Communism and the Net or the End of Representative Democracy, produced by Mikuláš Novotný and Radim Procházka (Background Films), will be screened in The Tyger Burns section. The documentary examines the history of regimes and revolutions, leaders and martyrs, from a philosophical perspective.
Mira Fornay returns to Rotterdam with her new absurd drama Cook F**k Kill which will be presented in Voices. Czech-Slovak co-production, produced by Viktor Schwarcz from Cineart TV Prague and co-produced by the director herself, is a provocative and absurdly playful take on violence within family and sexual abuse using repetition or folk tales with an unexpected end.
Read more information about Czech films at IFF Rotterdam 2020 HERE.
LOS ANGELES: Seven films from FNE partner countries are among the films shortlisted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in four of the nine Oscar categories announced on 17 December 2019. Macedonian Honeyland has been shortlisted in two categories, international feature film and documentary feature.
AMSTERDAM: Two CEE minority coproductions received production support totalling 403,607 EUR from the Netherlands Film Fund. These feature films are directed by Polish director Olga Chajdas and Dutch Floor van der Meulen.
BBC Studios, CBS Studios International, AMC Networks, Keshet International, all3media international and many others highlighted NEM Zagreb’s day two
Zagreb, December 13th – The second day of NEM Zagreb put a spotlight on some of the most recognizable world-renowned broadcasters. BBC Studios and CBS Studios International showcased their newest content at exclusive screenings.
BBC Studios offered a glimpse of its newest show “Sanditon”, inspired by Jane Austen’s unfinished final novel. In addition to the exclusive screening, participants enjoyed Q&A with Kris Marshall and Rose Williams, who are starring in leading roles.„There is a certain element of modernism to this adaptation of Austen’s writing that will make it more appealing to today's audience. Also, neither of the sets was constructed in the studio in order to achieve authenticity“, said Kris Marshall.
„Austen’s subjects are still important today. She is addressing the issues of women’s place in society and family. Andrew Davies's adaptation made Charlotte an empowering young woman. For me, it is important for audience to see the strong female character and to see that it is not something new“, Rose Williams added.
CBS Studios International presented its newest show “The Moodys” and sparked up a holiday feeling with a little help from the eccentric Moody family and their attempt at a ‘perfect’ holiday.
The screening of Keshet’s “The Trial of Christine Keeler” was followed by insights from Keren Shahar, COO and president of distribution at Keshet International. In her talk with Sanja Božić-Ljubičić, CEO and owner of Mediatranslations, Mediavision and Pickbox, Shahar shared an experience of bringing a real-life story to the TV screen: „When you portrait real-life people, you have additional responsibility. In order to do the story justice, it needed to be produced predominantly by women. What attracted us to this project was the possibility to tell the story from Christine’s eyes.”
Harold Gronenthal, Executive Vice President of Programming and Marketing at AMC Networks, shared his expert view on adjusting to the ever-changing demand for TV content: „It has been nothing but change in this business since day one, making AMC a product of these transformations. Also, technology and audience will not stop changing. A more varied choice and empowerment for users is the most important change. AMC has transformed from a movie channel to a channel that produces shows and finally to a channel that both produces and owns shows.“
Gabrielle Tana, an Oscar and BAFTA nominated producerand the co-founder of Magnolia Mae Films, emphasized that the bright future of the independent film industry depends on audience: „With all the other changes in the industry, standards and quality have not and should not change. Streaming platforms are supporting new voices and keeping the industry vibrant and competitive. It is no longer about the cinema experience but audiovisual experience as well. When you make a film independently, you don’t know if it’s going to be distributed or not. With independent films, quality is more important than the studio and the distributor.“
Demand for original content
One of the key questions during the second day of NEM Zagreb was detecting projects with strong local potential andbroad international ambition. During the panel Non-English Content on a Global Stage, yes Studios from Izrael announced season three of its successful series Fauda. It will premiere during December and it is coming to Netflix in 2020.
Non-English content on a global stage, the popularity of Nordic TV projects and the success of Greek production were discussed by experienced professionals who gave their point of view. Focus was also on global production in the Balkan region and detecting local content with global potential.
Also, some of the most recognizable names of Croatian original production offered a glimpse into the variety and originality of local production. Emphasis was made on the quality of these projects considering the budget limitations. More on the latest trends in content financing andcommissioning is expected during NEM Zagreb’s day three.
See the complete NEM Zagreb agenda here: neweumarket.com/zagreb/agenda-2019/
