The following production grants were announced by the Romanian Film Centre on 27 September 2019

These are the production grants announced by Film Centre of Montenegro in 2019.

Between 14 and 20 October, Sibiu International Film Festival will screen 20 movies that relate to Romania either by subject or their author: 13 documentaries are in the running for an award in the Romania and DocSchool competitive sections, four films will be shown in thematic programs and in the Astra Film Junior section, and three films are to be shown in special screenings. 

The films that compete in the Romania section cover both intimate, small-scale history, as well as the big History with a capital H. The issues they deal with are some of the most difficult confronting Romanian society and bring about a deeper understanding of the country’s destiny, from its founding in 1918 to the dark years of the Communist dictatorship and later developments like migration or corruption, which have constantly grown in the 30 years since the Romanian Revolution.

Fata de aur (The Golden Girl), directed by Denisa Morariu Tamaş and Adrian Robe, explores a dramatic incident in the history of Romanian sports: the events at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, when gymnast Andreea Răducan was stripped of her gold medal, and her subsequent fight with the people who had betrayed her in the quest to recover her medal and restore her dignity. Pastures New (by Anne Schiltz and Charlotte Grégoire) is about emigration abroad and homesickness as experienced by the people of the Sibiu county village of Mălâncrav. Casa cu lacăt (The House with a Lock), directed by Diana Gavra, is an exploration of corruption, a plague that has taken deep roots in the minds and daily lives of Romanians. Also, the documentary Teach, directed by Alex Brendea, developed in the Romanian Docs in Progress program of AFF 2016, will have its worldwide premiere at this years’ edition of the festival.

30 years after the fall of Communism, Dobrivoie Kerpenisan’s Rebel With A Cause spotlights the unsung heroes of 1989’s Romanian Revolution. Omul care a vrut să fie liber (The Man Who Would Be Free), by Mihai Mincan and George Chiper-Lillemark tells the story of a rebellious young man who decided that he would live free under Communism, in a country plagued by poverty and terror. Dragoș Zămosteanu’s Grup canal ’77 (Group Canal ’77) narrates the story of five young anti-Communists, followers of the Goma Movement, sent to a labor camp for trying to escape the Communist “paradise”. Palace for the People, by Boris Missirkov and Georgi Bogdanov, is a collection of four mini-documentaries that evoke the opulence, grandeur, and sense of oppression seen in Romanian, Bulgarian, Serb, and Russian architecture. Dragoș Turea’s Grădina Sovietică (The Soviet Garden) unveils the truth about the secret nuclear experiments in Moldova’s agriculture from the ’60s to the present time.

Distanța dintre mine și mine (The Distance Between Me and Me), a film by Mona Nicoară and Dana Bunescu, is an ambitious documentary centered on a conversation between author Nina Cassian’s personal recollections and Communist-era archival material. Jurnalul familiei –escu (Being Romanian: A Family Journal) is director Șerban Georgescu’s attempt at connecting life’s small events to history’s great events the nation has witnessed in the 100 years since the Great Union. 

The DocSchool competition also features two films set in Romanian life: La căpșuni (Strawberry Fields), by Priscilla Rasyid and Simon Frey, a Cineimpact Film Academy production, and Angor Pectoris (Sophie Dascal), the recipient of an award at Visions du Réel 2019. 

Other Romanian features are Videograme dintr-o Revoluție (Videograms of a Revolution), a joint feature by Andrei Ujică and Harun Farocki, threads back together the events of 19-25 December 1989 using archival footage and will be screened in the thematic program Videograms - Romania 1989, while Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan’s Oamenii dreptății (People of Justice) reveals the human faces of the Romanian judiciary through a series of portraits of young law professionals. The movie will be screened both as part of the thematic program The Judiciary Examined and in Astra Film Junior, together with Sibiu 1989, by Octavian Repede, and Alexandra Coca-Cozma’s George. 

The Romanian film roster also includes three special screenings: Touch Me Not (directed by Adina Pintilie), Leontina Vătămanu’s Siberia din Oase (Siberia in My Bones) and Între Chin și Amin (Between Torment and Redemption), directed by Toma Enache. Siberia in My Bones, which recounts the horrors thousands of Moldovans met under Stalin’s regime, and the latter movie, thought to be the first fiction feature about the Pitești Phenomenon, will both premiere at Sibiu. After winning the Golden Bear award at 2018’s Berlinale and having been selected at more than 150 major film festivals, Touch Me Not will have a special screening at this year’s AFF. The film will be followed by an educational debate titled “Politics of the Body”, which will give the audience the opportunity to talk to the actors and director Adina Pintilie, for a transformative experience focused on Sibiu’s communities of the disabled that have been invited to be a part of the event. 

Astra Film Festival Sibiu is held under the High Patronage of the President of Romania.

Astra Film Festival 2019 is organized by Astra Film, CNM Astra and Astra Film Foundation, with the support of the Sibiu County Council, the Ministry of Culture and National Identity, and the Romanian Film Center. The Festival is co-financed by the Sibiu Local Council through Sibiu City Hall.

Thirty years have passed since the Fall of the Iron Curtain. This is a good opportunity to question, through some  lmmakers’ point of view, the ways in which profound changes have taken place since 1989 in Hungarian, Polish, Slovak and Czech societies.Thirty years have passed since the Fall of the Iron Curtain. This is a good opportunity to question, through some  lmmakers’ point of view, the ways in which profound changes have taken place since 1989 in Hungarian, Polish, Slovak and Czech societies.The event will o er a series of screenings and debates in the presence of many guests with diverse backgrounds and will take place from October 18th to October 20th 2019 in di erent venues in Paris. This program is a unique opportunity to discover talented and multi-award-winning artists, as well as the newest  lmmaking trends in Central Europe. With the support of Visegrad International Fund and the Paris City Hall - Label Paris Europe.

PROGRAM:

October 18th from 3pm to 6pm - House of Europe (29, avenue de Villiers, 75017 Paris)

Debates: Cinema as a cultural challenge in uni ed Europe

With the presence of: Andor F. Dávid (General Director of the Visegrad International Fund), Julien Ezanno (Department of European and International A airs of the CNC), Szabolcs Hajdu (Filmmaker, Hungary), Markéta Hodouskova (Creative Europe Expert and Czech-In Festival), Catherine Horel (Historian, CNRS), Isabella Kiszka-Ho ik (International Sales, former director of PISF, Poland), Jana Kluková (Producer, Slovakia), Sophie Mirouze (La Rochelle Film Festival and Weekend of East) and Ariel Schweitzer (critic in the Cahiers du cinéma).

Film Screenings:

October 18th at 7pm - Auditorium of the Cityof Paris (5, quai de l'Hôtel de ville, 75004 Paris) Film: Rabbit à la Berlin / Królik po berlińsku, director Bartosz Konopka, Poland,52 minutes, 2009— Screening followed by a cocktail

October 19th at 7pm - Hungarian Institute of Paris (92, rue Bonaparte, 75006 Paris)Film: It’s not the time of my life / Ernelláék Farkaséknál, director Szabolcs Hajdu, Hungary, 81 minutes, 2016— Screening followed by a meeting with the director and a cocktail

October 20th at 4pm - Cinéma Les 3 Luxembourg (67 Rue Monsieur le Prince, 75006 Paris)Film: When the war comes / Až přijde válka, director Jan Gebert, Czech Republic,76 minutes, 2018

October 20th at 6:30pm - Czech Center of Paris (18, rue Bonaparte, 75006 Paris)Film: Cooking History / Ako sa varia dejiny, Director Péter Kerekes, Slovakia, 88 minutes, 2009 — Screening followed by a cocktail

More information: http://kino-visegrad.fr/

The ninth edition of the US in Progress co-production forum will be held from the 6th-8th of November 2019, as a part of the 10th anniversary edition of the American Film Festival in Wrocław (November 5th-11th).

The event aims to facilitate professional networking among European and Polish film professionals and independent filmmakers from the United States. It is held twice yearly (June edition takes place in Paris during Champs-Elysees Film Festival). Invite-only screenings will feature six projects selected from numerous submissions of independent American feature-length films in the final editing stages. 

Congratulations to the 2019 US in Progress Wrocław participants:

• Aleph by Iva Radivojevic 

• In a Silent Way by Collin Levin

• My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To by Jonathan Cuartas

• The Unknown Country by Morissa Maltz

• Tiger Style! by Cory Santilli

• Time Now by Spencer King

The directors and/or producers will attend the presentations as well as one-on-one meetings with top European festival programmers and buyers (Cannes, Tribeca, Venice, Berlinale, Bankside Films, Film Republic, WTFilms, among others). 

The 2019 US in Progress Wrocław partners provide in-kind awards of post-production service packages of combined value amounting to $50,000. They are leading Polish sound and image studios:

• Orka (http://www.orkafilm.pl/about/)
• Coloroffon (http://coloroffonfilm.pl/index.php/o-nas/)
• Fixafilm (http://www.fixafilm.pl/en/)

• a score composed by Maciej Zielinski from Soundflower Studio (http://www.polishcomposer.com/

• Platige Image (https://www.platige.com)   

Other awards include an acquisition offer from Ale Kino + and a free pass to Cannes Producers' Network next year and a round trip ticket up to the cost of $1000 USD for post-production in Poland.

The screenings will be complemented by Polish-American co-production meetings, a networking opportunity for Polish producers seeking partners from the US and US producers willing to work in/with Poland. Our event will consist of presentations of Polish production incentives, a scouting trip in Lower Silesia and panel talks about transatlantic collaboration. Guest speakers will include: Andrew Hevia (Moonlight, Leave the Bus Through the Broken Window) and Jay Van Hoy (American Honey, The Witch, The Lighthouse). 

Number of selected Polish producers and filmmakers attending will pitch their ideas to the US producers. Other local professionals are invited to network and learn more about the differences in European and American film production systems.   

This year, for the sixth instalment of the Riga International Film Festival all industry events will be gathered under the name RIGA IFF FORUM. By taking a look into the festivals guest list, one can feel captivated – FORUM will welcome board members of the European Film Academy, Baltic animation industry experts, and virtual reality enthusiasts. It will serve as a platform for foreign guests of the festival and Latvian film professionals to meet and exchange their experiences and ideas.