23rd Baltic Sea Forum for Documentaries (Baltic Sea Docs) was held in Latvia, 3 - 8 September 2019. During the Baltic Sea Docs, the pitching forum took place in Riga, presenting 25 documentary film projects to the panel of decision makers; the film programme was shown in the art house cinema K.Suns in Riga, as well as a selection of films screened in five regional towns (Cēsis, Jēkabpils, Liepāja, Rēzekne, Valmiera), but films from the previous Baltic Sea Docs editions were presented at online streaming platform Straume LMT.
RIGA: The Russian project How to Save a Dead Friend directed by Marusya Syroechkovskaya received the Baltic Sea Docs Award at the 23rd Baltic Sea Forum for Documentaries (Baltic Sea Docs). It was the first year when Baltic Sea Docs presented awards to the projects participating in the forum.
VILNIUS: The documentary Bridges of Time / Laiko tiltai by Kristine Briede and Audrius Stonys has been selected as Lithuania’s candidate for the 92nd Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences award in the best international feature film category.
SIBIU: The Astra Film Festival has announced the official programme for its 26th edition (14-20 October 2019). A total of 46 films will vie for awards in the competitive sections: International, Central & Eastern Europe, Romania and DocSchool.
Astra Film Festival 2019 Lineup Revealed: An Outstanding Selection Presenting 126 Cinematic Experiences of Today's World
Festivals 15-09-2019126 films from across the world have made it to the Official Programme of the 26th Astra Film Festival, which will take place in Sibiu, between 14th and 20th October 2019.
WARSAW: Jan Komasa’s costume drama Corpus Christi has been selected as Poland’s candidate for the 92nd Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences award in the best international feature film category.
PRAGUE: The Czech film Daughter directed by Daria Kashcheeva has received the Academy Award in the best animated film from international schools category. Daria Kashcheeva is a student of FAMU - Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.
BRATISLAVA: Marko Škop's second feature film Let There Be Light / Nech je svetlo has been selected as Slovakia’s candidate for the 92nd Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences award in the best international feature film category. The film is a Slovak/Czech coproduction from Artileria and Negativ.
22nd Festival of Slovenian film to show a best-of of Slovenian cinema and promote international cooperation
Festivals 13-09-2019This year's edition of the Festival of Slovenian Film runs from 17 to 22 September 2019 in Portorož, with screenings and events taking place in two venues: Avditorij Portorož and Monfort Cinema. After the festival, between Tuesday, 24 September, and Saturday, 28 September, the award-winning films will also be screened in the Komuna Cinema, Ljubljana. The line-up will be announced after the awards ceremony on 22 September. As already revealed, the 2019 Badjura Award goes to the filmmaker and sound composer Andrej Zdravič. To pay tribute to the laureate, the festival is showing a selection of 14 of his experimental works.
At the 22nd FSF press conference, the Festival Director Jelka Stergel outlined the structure of the line-up, emphasising the large share of world premieres. In terms of subject matter, “compared with last year, there has been an apparent shift from social drama to drama that is more political, verging even on political thriller”. Minority co-productions are represented very strongly in this edition, “which suggests that Slovenian producers are good at recognising films that deserve financial and creative support”. In the light of this trend, Stergel highlighted the industry programme as an increasingly vital pillar of the festival, its aim being to set up a platform for filmmakers to exchange their knowledge and experience and seek international partners for their ongoing or future projects.
The industry programme will span five days from Wednesday, 18 September, to Sunday, 22 September. Its main event is the Coproduction Meeting (CPRM) – In Focus: Italy, with a rundown of Italian institutions making up the funding network for film production and cultural exchange (MiBAC, ANICA, regional funds, the Italian Cultural Institute in Ljubljana, the Italian Trade Agency in Slovenia) and pitching sessions for selected projects in development and postproduction to further facilitate and promote co-productions between the two countries, after endeavours in the recent years have already started to bear fruit. The programme also features a series of workshops, lectures, and debates. Among these other events, Stergel drew attention to a pitching event organised in collaboration with the Slovenian Book Agency, in which editors and publishers will pitch, to an audience of film producers, notable literary works that lend themselves perfectly to adaptation for the screen. Inspired by Cannes’ Shoot the Book! and Berlin’s Books at Berlinale, the aim of the event is to encourage adaptations of books by Slovenian authors for the screen, and to join the efforts for 2022, when Slovenia is the guest of honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
The festival will open with the premiere screening of Metod Pevec’ new feature I Am Frank. The host of the opening is Jure Longyka. Featuring an appearance by the popular local singer-songwriter Rudi Bučar, the ceremony will be followed by a reception in the Avditorij foyer.
The organisational aspects of the festival were presented by the 22nd FSF Project Manager Tjaša Smrekar. The screenings will take place in two venues, Avditorij Portorož and Monfort Cinema, connected by a minibus service. The Monfort Cinema is also the venue for daily post-screening socialising with a varied live-music line-up. Admission to Monfort screenings starting before 5 pm is free, subject to capacity, while tickets are required for screenings after 5 pm. Evening events are open to visitors with a festival pass or a ticket for any festival screening.
The festival will close on Sunday, 22 September at 19:30 with the awards ceremony hosted by three actors from last year’s award-winning film Consequences. Unlike previous years, the event will be broadcast live on TV Slovenia.
Over a little less than a week, the main Slovenian film event will provide a curated overview of the latest Slovenian cinema, which includes fiction, documentary and animated films of all lengths. A total of 157 films were submitted to the festival for consideration by the Programming Board, with 106 films making it into the official selection. Of this, the Official Competition includes 57 films: 11 feature-length films, 10 minority co-productions (8 feature-length and 2 short), 5 medium-length films, 19 short films, and 13 student films.
AWARDS AHEAD?
We are glad to share the news that two entries from the Black Nights Official Selection of 2018 have been shortlisted by the European Film Academy in the feature film category!
Bad Poems
A poetic, playful, witty tale by director-writer-lead actor Gabor Reisz about a 30-something dealing with a rough breakup. As critic Wendy Ide wrote in Screen International 'Reisz maintains a gently mocking levity when it comes to his character’s sad sack melancholy and there’s a deft sleight of hand in the way the film negotiates the transitions between the glum reality and the fantasies and flashbacks'. Read the review.
Werewolf
The World War II-themed allegorical thriller was a success among the critics and audience, winning the Audience Award and the Ecumenical Award of the festival. The Hollywood Reporter's critic Stephen Dalton called it '...a thematically rich combination of coming-of-age drama, wartime thriller and horror movie'. Read the review.
ANOTHER WIN FOR BABYLON BERLIN
Babylon Berlin, the series with the biggest budget ever in Europe, continues its winning streak! After a series of screenings at several festivals, including a gala screening at Black Nights with the attendance of the key members of the crew (creators Achim von Borries, Henk Handloegten) and cast (leading stars Volker Bruch and Lisa Liv Fries), followed by an acquisition by Netflix, the series will now be the first series ever to be honored by the European Film Academy!
READ THE STORY IN SCREEN INTERNATIONAL
ON A FESTIVAL SPREE
Our last year's First Feature Competition entry Why Don't You Just Die! continues its bloody festival spree, adding a New Flesh Award (best debut) at Fantasia and screenings at Fantastic Fest and What the Fest to an already impressive run.
After seeing the film in Tallinn critic Stephen Dalton (The Hollywood Reporter) called it "a splatterpunk action comedy drenched in gleefully dark Russian humor" and mentioned early echoes of Tarantino. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?
PÖFF LAUNCHES KINOFF
Black Nights will launch a new side-festival called KinoFF that will take place in two cities - Narva and Kohtla-Järve - in the prominently Russian-speaking region Ida-Virumaa in Eastern Estonia. The new festival, running parallel to Black Nights and screening selected films from its programme, will hold a special focus on Russian cinema. The programme, curated by the programmers at the Black Nights Film Festival, is currently under consideration.
ACCREDITATION DISCOUNT ALERT!
The Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival and Industry@Tallinn &; Baltic Event accreditation is available at a discount price for the last days - 125 EUR - until the 16th of September!
The Festival + Industry@Tallinn &; Baltic Event accreditation is reserved exclusively for film industry professionals and is valid for the festival period, from the 15th of November until the 1st of December, 2019. It allows you to get the most out of Tallinn - take part of all the open lectures, pitch sessions, the audiovisual conference European Film Forum Tallinn, numerous workshops and events of Industry@Tallinn &; Baltic Event and to see up to 40 films from the programme of Black Nights.
