Dear Friends!

The awarded films of the 18th Titanic International Film Festival were announced at the festival's closing gala on 16th April.

In his closing speech festival director György Horváth recalled the serious financial problems that the 18th Titanic International Film Festival had to cope with due the denial of government grants, told some anecdotes about the work of the crew, thanked all the sponsors and the enthusiastic audience for their help and promised that the organizers will make every effort not to allow another year like this when the financial problems forced them to launch the festival in a shorter and humbler version full of restraints and completely lacking PR-costs.

Then came the awards. First the Student Jury's decision was revealed: their award was given to the Czech-Slovak film The House. As they explained, Zuzana Liová's film received the award for its simultaneously realistic and symbolistic representation, outstanding, authentic and impressive performances and its characteristically Eastern-European approach to universal themes.

Then the results of the audience vote were revealed. The Audience Award went to Thomas Vinterberg's Submarino with an average of 4,68 points. My Perestroika came second, while the 3rd most popular film was another documentary, the Danish Armadillo.

Finally the international jury entered the stage. Elliot Grove could be present only virtually, since at the time of gala he was already back in London. He sent a short video message to the audience, reminding them that the future of Titanic International Film Festival is not in the hands of politicians but in the hands of the audience. Therefore it is them who have to make a decision to support the unique cultural value represented by Titanic.

Ági Pataki thanked the organizers for their efforts to bring about the festival despite all the difficulties, expressed her support, sympathy and hope that Titanic's success will convince the representatives of cultural politics that there is a strong cultural need for Titanic International Film Festival and it is worth supporting it year after year. Esther Rots, director of last year's Breaking Waves Award-winner Can Go Through Skin told about how excited and happy she was when she was asked to be a jury member at Titanic and said she was very impressed by the fact that the festival managed to present many daring and innovative contemporary films even though there are less and less daring and innovative pieces nowadays.

Then at last the winner of the Breaking Waves Award was announced. The international jury awarded the prestigious prize to the Swedish film Savage directed by Martin Jern and Emil Larsson. As the jury explained, they appreciated the film's unpolished and playful style and the intense feeling of hopelessness conveyed in the drama. As it is known, due to the above mentioned financial problems raised by the denial of government grants the festival organizers cannot offer the 10.000 euro going with the Breaking Waves Award this year, but hopefully the moral and prestige value of the prize will serve as kind of a compensation.

Haapsalu Horror Film Festival (HÕFF) brings hobos with shotguns, directors with axes and lots more fearsome fare to Estonia between 29th April and 1st May 2011.

The city of Haapsalu will play host to weekend of gruesome gore, frightening films and devilish directors and the Haapsalu Horror Film Festival stakes it claim as the only genre festival in Estonia and the premier event of its kind in the Baltic region. With 19 films from across the world, it promises to be a chaotic weekend filled to the brim with enthralling genre cinema, special guests and enthusiastic audiences.

Highlights include the two European premiere of Beyond The Black Rainbow, a complex sci-fi film about a young woman imprisoned in an experimental laboratory and the mysterious scientist who is her captor. Lauded at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival, director Panos Cosmatos’ vision has been compared to that of Stanley Kubrick and Andrei Tarkovksy for his languid style and attempt to stretch the limits of cinema beyond traditional narrative. Also receiving it’s European premiere is The Catechism Cataclysm, an absurdist road-movie that captured the audience’s imagination at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. With a plethora of strange characters and even stranger situations, the film promises a break from the relentless onslaught of many of the other films to be screened.

Films such as Hobo With A Shotgun, which pretty much does at it promises as Rutger Hauer plays a homeless man going on a rampage for justice in a lawless town. Violent, sick and gloriously entertaining, the film is the second feature to be based on the trailers featured in Quentin Tarantino’s Grindhouse (the first being Machete). Vampire fans get to enjoy Stake Land, which dispenses with the tweeness of the Twilight franchise to create an apocalyptic tale of a North America overrun by the undead that – ironically – breathes new life into the genre. British director Simon Rumley also heads to America for Red, White and Blue a grim and brutal tale of revenge that is sure to leave a lasting impression. Also look out for Hatchet 2, a relentless slasher sequel that was released unrated in the US. Starring horror icons Tony Todd (best known for his role in the Candyman films) and Kane ‘Jason Voorhees’ Hodder, the film provides enough dismembered limbs and ultra-violence to keep the most bloodthirsty of fans happy.

Festival director Sten Saluveer said:
“This year’s HÕFF programme shows that many quality genre films have been coming out of North America this year and shows that the inventiveness extends beyond traditional Hollywood blockbusters. We’re particularly thankful to Todd Brown of Twitch.com – one of the premier genre sites on the web – who has aided us with programme after he visited us last year.

Festival passes are now available, priced at EUR23, whilst individual tickets go on sale on the 18th April at a price of EUR 3.50.

For full information on HÕFF – including the programme, screening locations and overnight accommodation in the city of Haapsalu – visit www.poff.ee or www.facebook.com/hoffestival

Notes for Editors

For further press information contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit www.hoff.ee/press for information on accreditation

The festival is organized by the Municipality of Haapsalu, Haapsalu Cultural Centre and the Black Nights Film Festival.

Training Initiatives » Aristoteles Workshop

http://www.aworkshop.org

Vama, Suceava / Romania 25th of July - 28th of August. 2011

ARISTOTELES WORKSHOP (AW) is a HDTV training and development center dedicated to foster
a new generation of creative documentary filmmakers in Central and Eastern Europe.

Supported by CNC/Romania, the TV Channel ARTE/France and by MEDIA - the Continuous
Education Programme of the European Union -, AW became, in the last 5 years, a unique training
program, offering both a hands-on approach and a continuous tutoring system.

During this five week thorough workshop, 16 selected participants, divided in four groups, will be
guided through each and every step of the documentary production. Established and respected professionals will help the participants translate their own ideas into fresh, ground breaking documentaries.

The proposed module is a 30 minutes documentary film, but open to fiction elements in any way the
students choose. You will be assisted in pitching, promoting and distributing the outcoming films,
which gives you a triple benefit: learning, doing, and getting exposure.
AW provides production and post production equipment, facilities and accommodations
View projects from Aristoteles Workshop » (if possible, a new 15 min. trailer willbe uploaded.

Target Group
Our courses are designed for young people with previous film and/or video experience, directors,
producers, cinematographers and editors. We are looking for talented people with passion, commitment, a voice of their own and, above all, the ability to collaborate.

Conditions sine qua non
• you must be fluent in English.
• you must fill in the online application form (as stated on the AW website) and mail in all required materials to Arte/France (ARTE Relations Internationales 8, Rue Marceau 92785 Issy-les-Moulineaux Cedex 9, France)
The package consists of:
§ Application with photo
§ Resume or CV
§ Sample of your work in English
§ Letter of recommendation.

The application deadline is May 31st, 2011

The workshop is structured as follows:

Stage 1 - Training
Narrative style & strategies. Director’s perspective of development.
Camera, light, sound. Visual approach, planning & production schedule.

Stage 2 - Production
Treatment, research & scouting, shooting. Shoot adequate footage, taking into consideration that researching and planing are part of the documentary editing process.

Stage 3 - Editing
Shaping the documentary in the cutting room. Creative content and visual treatment. Coaching activity during and after the completion of the rough cut.

Stage 4 - Finish Line
Output to tape. Final evaluation.

Participation fee
€500 fee which covers accommodation, breakfast & dinner and production and post production
equipment and facilities.
Costs for the participants
• Travel expenses to & from Romania
• Additional daily subsistence (lunch and drinks)

Contact
For further information, please contact
• This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
• This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Upcoming events
The 6th Edition of the Aristoteles Workshop. Vama, Suceava / Romania, July 25 - Aug 28.

The application deadline: May 31, 2011

YESTERDAY AT THE FESTIVAL

Marcin Koszałka's "Declaration of Immortality" got the prestigious Silver Hugo for the Best Documentary and a TV animation series "The Storm Cloud Odyssey" by Agnieszka Sadurska received Special Mention in the category "children programming" in the 47th edition of the Hugo TV Awards in Chicago. The Gala Ceremony took place on April 14th and attracted numerous TV producers and journalists from around the world.

16th Vilnius international film festival ended with the record number of visitors. This year there were over 60 thousand film fans, who visited the biggest film event in Lithuania. This is 16 times more, than during the first festival in 1996, when festival had 4000 viewers.

"The second generation of festival lovers has grown - this is the main reason for the record number of festival visitors", says director of Vilnius international film festival Vida Ramaškienė.

130 films were shown during two weeks of the festival. Film "Incendies", which received audience award, was the most popular film also. More than 7000 people watched Lithuanian movies via internet.

There were 453 screenings in 4 cinema theatres around capital city and 35 more screenings in other four towns of Lithuania. 50 foreign guests participated in competition programme "New Europe-new names" and international film festival forum "East-Central drift". More than 600 accreditations were given away, almost a 100 to the media representatives.

17th Vilnius international film festival will be held in the March of 2012.

In the link here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMJK9K4rZXg you will find short film about the festival.

The best wishes and hope to see you next year.


Su geriausiais linkėjimais,

Rita Stanelytė
Vilniaus tarptautinio kino festivalio "Kino pavasaris"
Atstovė spaudai

THE COMPETITION EXCITEMENT HAS STARTED AT THE FESTIVAL!

the 30th Istanbul fIlm festIval
InternatIonal and natIonal Golden TulIP competItIon jury has been presented to the press

Since April 10, the films that are screened as a part of the 30th Istanbul Film Festival International and National Golden Tulip Competition has been introduced to the jury members and to the festival audience. The awards will be received on Saturday evening April 16 at Lütfi Kırdar Convention and Exhibition Centre. The International and National Golden Tulip jury members came together with the press members at a special meeting, organized on Tuesday, 12 April at Akbank Sanat.
The Golden Tulip International Competition Jury

During the press conference, at first the jury members of the International Golden Tulip Competition were introduced. While the press conference was moderated by the Director of the Istanbul Film Festival Azize Tan, the eight jury members answered the questions of the press members. This year, the French director Claire Denis is the Jury President of the International Golden Tulip Competition. The other members of the jury are, the Italian actress Anna Bonaiuto, the Director and the Chairman of the Toronto Film Festival Piers Handling, the writer Perihan Mağden, Jim Stark who is the producer of the master directors like Jim Jarmusch and Bent Hamer, the young director Jacob Tierney who is well-known by the festival followers with his film Trocki and included in the festival program this year with his new film Good Neighbours, and lastly Hülya Uçansu who started working at the Cinema Days in 1983 and worked as the director of the festival for 17 years.

One of the films that will be selected by the International Golden Tulip Competition Jury will receive the Golden Tulip Award during the Closing Ceremony. The International Competition Golden Tulip Award has been presented in memory of Şakir Eczacıbaşı since last year, and will be supported with the 25.000 Euros award by the Eczacıbaşı Group. The director of the winner film will receive 10.000 Euros, the company which will distribute the film will receive 10.000 Euros, and the remaining 5.000 Euros will be given to the film that received Special Jury Award.

In the "International Competition" section of the 30th Istanbul Film Festival, 12 films that deal with the themes of art and artist or literary adaptations are competing for the Golden Tulip.

Microphone - Ahmad Abdalla (Egypt)
Norwegian Wood - Tran Anh Hung (Japan)
Elisa K - Jordi Cadena, Judith Colell (Spain)
Pupupidu / Nobody Else But You - Gérald Hustache-Mathieu (France)
The Mill and the Cross - Lech Majewski (Poland-Sweden)
The Piano in a Factory - Zhang Meng (China)
Rio Sex Comedy - Jonathan Nossiter (France-Brazil)
Sound of Noise - Ola Simonsson & Johannes Stjarne Nilsson (Sweden-France)
Our Grand Despair - Seyfi Teoman (Turkey-Germany-Netherlands)
La vida útil / A Useful Life - Federico Veiroj (Uruguay-Spain)
Incendies - Denis Villeneuve (Canada-France)
The Trip - Michael Winterbottom (UK)
The Golden Tulip National Competition Jury

After the International Jury, the Golden Tulip National Competition Jury members were also introduced during the press conference. This year, the jury of the 30th Istanbul Film Festival National Competition Golden Tulip is headed by the successful director Reha Erdem. The other names of the jury are the actress Tülin Özen, the writer and film critic Fatih Özgüven, the Artistic Director of Karlovy Film Festival Karel Och and the writer of Variety magazine Jay Weissberg.

The National Competition Jury will evaluate the films and will choose The Best Turkish Film of the Year and The Best Director of the Year. The chosen film will be awarded 150000 TL, and the chosen director will be awarded 50.000 TL monetary awards by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The Best Actress and the Best Actor will each receive 10.000 TL. Also, the Jury Special Prize will be supported with a monetary award for the first time in 2011 and the winner film will receive 30.000 TL. The Jury will also present the Best Screenplay, Best Cinematographer and Best Original Score awards at the 30th Istanbul Film Festival National Competition.

This year 13 films are competing at the 30th Istanbul Film Festival:

- Ecumenopolis: City Without Limits - İmre Azem
- Zephyr - Belma Baş
- Merry-go-round - İlksen Başarır
- The Son - Atilla Cengiz
- White as Snow - Selim Güneş
- The Plane Tree- Handan İpekçi
- Toll Booth - Tolga Karaçelik
- Unseen - Ali Özgentürk
- Hair - Tayfun Pirselimoğlu
- 72nd Ward - Murat Saraçoğlu
- Our Grand Despair - Seyfi Teoman
- Broken Mussels - Seyfettin Tokmak
- Press - Sedat Yılmaz

The Film Award of the Council of Europe - FACE
FACE - The Film Award of the Council of Europe, which began five years ago and only in the Istanbul Film Festival in Europe, continues to be awarded with the support of the Council of Europe. The FACE Award will be presented to one of the films screened at Human Rights in Cinema section, which raises public consciousness and sensitivity of human rights related issues A representative from the Council of Europe will present the FACE award statue and 10.000 Euros to the director of the winning film at the Closing Ceremony of the Film Festival.

Among the 10 films that will compete for the FACE Award, the film titled Press by Sedat Yılmaz will represent Turkey. The President of the FACE Jury is Scandar Copti, who received the last year's award with Israeli Yaron Shani and with their film Ajami. The other names of the jury are Faruk Günaltay who is the director and the programmer of the movie theatre in Paris titled Cinema Odyseey, which is also a part of the European Culture Initiative, the director of Euroimages Roberto Olla, and Marja Ruotanen who is the Director of the European Council of Human Rights and the Legal Business General Management Cooperation.

The FIPRESCI Jury
The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) is watching the Istanbul Film Festival with its own jury as it always does every year. The FIPRESCI jury, which is headed by the Singaporean critic Philip Cheah, is composed of members including Frédéric Ponsard (France), Alissa Simon (USA), Suncica Unevska-Gvozdenovik (Macedonia), and Nil Kural and Murat Erşahin (Turkey).

During the Closing Ceremony of the Festival, Efes will also give a $30.000 award to the director whose film is chosen by the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI), to be used toward their next film. The FIPRESCI award of National Competition is presented in memory of Onat Kutlar.

For more information on the 30th Istanbul Film Festival and the Golden Tulip Competition films: www.film.iksv.org/en
For hi-def visuals from the festival: www.iksvpress.com/film2011
INTERNATIONAL GOLDEN TULIP COMPETITION JURY

Claire Denis (President)
Born in 1948, in Paris. She grew up in Africa. She studied at the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (now FEMIS) and was assistant director to Dusan Makaveyev, Jacques Rivette, Costa Gavras, and Wim Wenders. She is regarded as one of France's most important auteurs. She is also known with her collaboration with the British rock band Tindersticks. With her feature debut Chocolate (1988) she competed for the Palm d'or at Cannes. In 1996, she won the Golden Leopard at Locarno with Nenette and Boni. She gathered herself a loyal mass of admirers with her later films Good Work (1999), Trouble Every Day (2001), Friday Night (2002), The Intruder (2004), 35 Shots of Rum (2008) and the latest White Material (2009). She received the prestigious Berliner Kunstrpreis in 2011.

Anna Bonaiuto
Born in 1950 in Italy. She received her degree from the National Dramatic Arts Academy S.D'Amico in Rome. She has appeared as actress in 48 films and TV shows since 1973. In 1993, she won the Volpi Cup for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Dove Siete? Io Sono Qui / Where Are You? I'm Here. She starred in L'amore molesto / Nasty Love (1995) with which she won the David di Donatello Best Actress Award, De Sica Award, the Silver Ribbon for Best Actress from the Italian Syndicate of Film Journalists and from Chicago Film Festival, Fratelli e sorelle / Brothers and Sisters by Pupi Avati (1991) with which she won a Golden Grail from St. Vincent. Her acting credits include Storia di ragazzi e di ragazze / The Story of Boys and Girls by Pupi Avati (1989), Il Postino / The Postman by Michael Radford (1994), Il Caimano / The Caiman by Nanni Moretti (2006), Mio fratello e' figlio unico / My Brother is an Only Child by Daniele Luchetti (2007), and Il Divo by Paolo Sorrentino (2008).

Piers Handling
He is the Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Toronto International Film Festival since 1994, where he joined in 1982. He began his career at the Canadian Film Institute (CFI), ultimately becoming Deputy Director. After leaving the CFI, he taught Canadian cinema at Carleton University in Ottawa and Queen's University in Kingston. He has published extensively on Canadian cinema. He is currently Chair of the Canadian Festivals Coalition, on the Board of the Canadian Film Centre, and is a member of the Minister of Culture's Advisory Council for Arts and Culture. He has been honoured with the "Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres", France's highest cultural insignia. In 2003, Handling was named CEO of the Year by the Canadian Public Relations Society (Toronto), recognizing for the first time, a CEO from the cultural not-for-profit sector. In 2006 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Law from Ryerson University.

Perihan Mağden
Born in Istanbul in 1960. She graduated in psychology from Bosphorous University. She has written novels, poetry, short stories and worked as a columnist. She is the author of the novels Messenger Boy Murders, The Companion, Two Girls, Whom were We Running From? and lately Ali and Ramazan. Her novel, 2 Girls (2005) was a bestseller in Turkey and achieved high acclaim in English. It was adapted to film by Kutluğ Ataman and premiered in London Film Festival. Her latest novel Ali and Ramazan is published in 2010 and will be published in German in 2011. She is the honorary member of English PEN and recipient of Freedom of Speech Grand Award given by Turkish Publishers Association. Her novels have been translated into 17 languages including English, German, Italian, Spanish, French, Korean, Portuguese and Dutch.

Jim Stark
His first involvement with film came when he helped Jim Jarmusch finance, produce and sell the low budget independent hit Stranger than Paradise. He went on to work on three more feature films for Jim Jarmusch (Down by Law, Mystery Train, Night on Earth ), as well as producing two short Coffee and Cigarettes films. His other producing credits include such critically acclaimed and prize winning films as Alex Rockwell's In the Soup, and Gregg Araki's The Living End. In 2009 he co-produced Here & There, a first feature by Serbian director Darko Lungalov that won the Best Narrative Award at Tribeca. In addition to his producing activities, he co-wrote and produced Fridrik Thor Fridriksson's Cold Fever (which won the top prizes at Edinburgh and Troia film festivals) and Factotum, which he adapted as co-screenwriter with director Bent Hamer from the Charles Bukowski novel. In 2010, he executive produced Gerard Hurley's film The Pier and is developing the script The Package for a new film to be directed by Vladan Nikolic in 2011.

Jacob Tierney
Born in 1979 in Montreal. He has worked as a professional actor since the age of six. He acted in the feature film Josh and S.A.M., and appeared in The Neon Bible. He began his directorial career in 2002 with the comedic short film Dad, which he also wrote, produced and appeared in. His feature debut Twist, a modern take on Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, premiered at the Venice Film Festival, receiving Genie nominations. Following the comedy The Trotsky (2009), Good Neighbours (Notre Dame De Grace) (2010) is his latest feature film which premiered at Toronto Film Festival.

Hülya Uçansu
Born in 1950 in Bandırma, Turkey. She studied English Language and Literature at Istanbul University. After working with various film festivals in Turkey, and later at the Film Production Centre, a subsidiary of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism as Screening Director, she started working as the Director of the International Istanbul Film Festival organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts in 1983, a post she held until 2006 when the festival celebrated its 25th year. She took part as a jury member or jury president at numerous film festivals, such as Venice (1996), Edinburgh (1990), Montpellier (1995), Chicago (1997), Montreal (2001), Rotterdam (2004), Taormina (2004) and San Sebastian (2004) She is currently a lecturer at the University of Kadir Has, and also appointed member of the Executive Committee of the Mithat Alam Film Center of the Bogazici University.
NATIONAL GOLDEN TULIP COMPETITION JURY

Reha Erdem (President)
Born in Istanbul in 1960. He graduated from the Film Department of Paris 8 University. He obtained his MA in Plastic Arts at the same university He shot his first feature-length film Oh Moon in 1989 as a French-Turkish co-production. He scripted all of his films except for Mommy, I'm Scared, for which he was one of the co-writers. He also has short films and directed a stage play, Maids (Les Bonnes) by Jean Genet. His feature films are Run for Money (1999), Mommy, I'm Scared (2004), Times and Winds (2006) which won the Golden Tulip at Istanbul Film Festival, My Only Sunshine (2008), and Kosmos (2009) which won the Golden Orange at Antalya Film Festival.

Tülin Özen
Born in İskenderun. She first went on stage in high school. She graduated from Yeditepe University Drama Department. While she was a student, she took on some parts at the State Theatre and some private theatres. With her role in Semih Kaplanoğlu's Angel's Fall (2004) she won awards at Antalya, Ankara and Nürnberg film festivals. She later acted in Semih Kaplanoğlu's Egg (2006), Milk (2007), and Honey (2010), and Pelin Esmer's 10 to 11 (2009). She won Best Supporting Actress awards from SİYAD, Sadri Alışık and at Adana Film Festival with Erden Kıral's Vicdan / Conscience (2008). She worked with the State Theatre, private theatres and dance companies. She took part in TV series such as "Beyaz Gelincik" and "Kapalıçarşı". She is actively working in theatre and film.

Fatih Özgüven
Born in Istanbul. He graduated from the Austrian Highschool and later the English language and Literature department of the Istanbul University Faculty of Letters. His articles on film and literature were published in magazines such as Yazko, Çağdaş Eleştiri, Gösteri, Video-Sinema, Sokak, Yeni Gündem, Roll, and the dailies Cumhuriyet and Radikal. He taught film and literature at Boğaziçi and İstanbul Bilgi universities. He translated works of Borges, Nabokov, Kundera, Henry James, Karen Blixen, Thomas Mann, Thomas Bernhard, Raymond Chandler, Paul Auster, Flannery O'Connor, and Virginia Woolf into Turkish. He published three books which comprise of his short stories.

Karel Och
Born in 1974 in the Czech Republic. He studied law and received his BA in film theory and history at Prague's Charles University. Since 2001, he has worked for the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival as a member of the selection committee. He has programmed this festival's documentary competition and curated tributes and retrospectives to Sam Peckinpah, John Huston and Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, among others. In 2010, he was appointed artistic director of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. He is a member of FIPRESCI and has published in numerous magazines such as Cinepur, Cinema and Iluminace

Jay Weissberg
Born in New York. He is a is a film critic for the industry paper Variety since 2003, regularly travelling to film festivals throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. His articles on silent cinema have appeared in numerous publications, and he's curated for the Pordenone Silent Film Festival. He has served on a number of festival juries worldwide and has taken part in panel discussions on the state of contemporary cinema as well as acted as a mentor in programmes for young film critics, most recently in Abu Dhabi, Rotterdam and Berlin. In addition to film history and criticism, he has a background in art history. He lives in Rome.

For media enquiries:
Elif Obdan
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
T: +90 212 334 07 13

"Venice" by Jan Jakub Kolski has been honored with the Special Jury Mention for Cinematography by Arthur Reinhartd at this year's 35^th Cleveland International Film Festival. This is the next of the important international prizes for the film in the North America.

Claire Denis (President)
Born in 1948, in Paris. She grew up in Africa. She studied at the Institut des hautes études cinématographiques (now FEMIS) and was assistant director to Dusan Makaveyev, Jacques Rivette, Costa Gavras, and Wim Wenders. She is regarded as one of France's most important auteurs. She is also known with her collaboration with the British rock band Tindersticks. With her feature debut Chocolate (1988) she competed for the Palm d'or at Cannes. In 1996, she won the Golden Leopard at Locarno with Nenette and Boni. She gathered herself a loyal mass of admirers with her later films Good Work (1999), Trouble Every Day (2001), Friday Night (2002), The Intruder (2004), 35 Shots of Rum (2008) and the latest White Material (2009). She received the prestigious Berliner Kunstrpreis in 2011.

Anna Bonaiuto
Born in 1950 in Italy. She received her degree from the National Dramatic Arts Academy S.D'Amico in Rome. She has appeared as actress in 48 films and TV shows since 1973. In 1993, she won the Volpi Cup for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Dove Siete? Io Sono Qui / Where Are You? I'm Here. She starred in L'amore molesto / Nasty Love (1995) with which she won the David di Donatello Best Actress Award, De Sica Award, the Silver Ribbon for Best Actress from the Italian Syndicate of Film Journalists and from Chicago Film Festival, Fratelli e sorelle / Brothers and Sisters by Pupi Avati (1991) with which she won a Golden Grail from St. Vincent. Her acting credits include Storia di ragazzi e di ragazze / The Story of Boys and Girls by Pupi Avati (1989), Il Postino / The Postman by Michael Radford (1994), Il Caimano / The Caiman by Nanni Moretti (2006), Mio fratello e' figlio unico / My Brother is an Only Child by Daniele Luchetti (2007), and Il Divo by Paolo Sorrentino (2008).

Piers Handling
He is the Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Toronto International Film Festival since 1994, where he joined in 1982. He began his career at the Canadian Film Institute (CFI), ultimately becoming Deputy Director. After leaving the CFI, he taught Canadian cinema at Carleton University in Ottawa and Queen's University in Kingston. He has published extensively on Canadian cinema. He is currently Chair of the Canadian Festivals Coalition, on the Board of the Canadian Film Centre, and is a member of the Minister of Culture's Advisory Council for Arts and Culture. He has been honoured with the "Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres", France's highest cultural insignia. In 2003, Handling was named CEO of the Year by the Canadian Public Relations Society (Toronto), recognizing for the first time, a CEO from the cultural not-for-profit sector. In 2006 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Law from Ryerson University.

Perihan Mağden
Born in Istanbul in 1960. She graduated in psychology from Bosphorous University. She has written novels, poetry, short stories and worked as a columnist. She is the author of the novels Messenger Boy Murders, The Companion, Two Girls, Whom were We Running From? and lately Ali and Ramazan. Her novel, 2 Girls (2005) was a bestseller in Turkey and achieved high acclaim in English. It was adapted to film by Kutluğ Ataman and premiered in London Film Festival. Her latest novel Ali and Ramazan is published in 2010 and will be published in German in 2011. She is the honorary member of English PEN and recipient of Freedom of Speech Grand Award given by Turkish Publishers Association. Her novels have been translated into 17 languages including English, German, Italian, Spanish, French, Korean, Portuguese and Dutch.

Jim Stark
His first involvement with film came when he helped Jim Jarmusch finance, produce and sell the low budget independent hit Stranger than Paradise. He went on to work on three more feature films for Jim Jarmusch (Down by Law, Mystery Train, Night on Earth ), as well as producing two short Coffee and Cigarettes films. His other producing credits include such critically acclaimed and prize winning films as Alex Rockwell's In the Soup, and Gregg Araki's The Living End. In 2009 he co-produced Here & There, a first feature by Serbian director Darko Lungalov that won the Best Narrative Award at Tribeca. In addition to his producing activities, he co-wrote and produced Fridrik Thor Fridriksson's Cold Fever (which won the top prizes at Edinburgh and Troia film festivals) and Factotum, which he adapted as co-screenwriter with director Bent Hamer from the Charles Bukowski novel. In 2010, he executive produced Gerard Hurley's film The Pier and is developing the script The Package for a new film to be directed by Vladan Nikolic in 2011.

Jacob Tierney
Born in 1979 in Montreal. He has worked as a professional actor since the age of six. He acted in the feature film Josh and S.A.M., and appeared in The Neon Bible. He began his directorial career in 2002 with the comedic short film Dad, which he also wrote, produced and appeared in. His feature debut Twist, a modern take on Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, premiered at the Venice Film Festival, receiving Genie nominations. Following the comedy The Trotsky (2009), Good Neighbours (Notre Dame De Grace) (2010) is his latest feature film which premiered at Toronto Film Festival.

Hülya Uçansu
Born in 1950 in Bandırma, Turkey. She studied English Language and Literature at Istanbul University. After working with various film festivals in Turkey, and later at the Film Production Centre, a subsidiary of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism as Screening Director, she started working as the Director of the International Istanbul Film Festival organized by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts in 1983, a post she held until 2006 when the festival celebrated its 25th year. She took part as a jury member or jury president at numerous film festivals, such as Venice (1996), Edinburgh (1990), Montpellier (1995), Chicago (1997), Montreal (2001), Rotterdam (2004), Taormina (2004) and San Sebastian (2004). She is currently a lecturer at the University of Kadir Has, and also appointed member of the Executive Committee of the Mithat Alam Film Center of the Bogazici University.


NATIONAL GOLDEN TULIP COMPETITION JURY

Reha Erdem (President)
Born in Istanbul in 1960. He graduated from the Film Department of Paris 8 University. He obtained his MA in Plastic Arts at the same university. He shot his first feature-length film Oh Moon in 1989 as a French-Turkish co-production. He scripted all of his films except for Mommy, I'm Scared, for which he was one of the co-writers. He also has short films and directed a stage play, Maids (Les Bonnes) by Jean Genet. His feature films are Run for Money (1999), Mommy, I'm Scared (2004), Times and Winds (2006) which won the Golden Tulip at Istanbul Film Festival, My Only Sunshine (2008), and Kosmos (2009) which won the Golden Orange at Antalya Film Festival.

Tülin Özen
Born in İskenderun. She first went on stage in high school. She graduated from Yeditepe University Drama Department. While she was a student, she took on some parts at the State Theatre and some private theatres. With her role in Semih Kaplanoğlu's Angel's Fall (2004) she won awards at Antalya, Ankara and Nürnberg film festivals. She later acted in Semih Kaplanoğlu's Egg (2006), Milk (2007), and Honey (2010), and Pelin Esmer's 10 to 11 (2009). She won Best Supporting Actress awards from SİYAD, Sadri Alışık and at Adana Film Festival with Erden Kıral's Vicdan / Conscience (2008). She worked with the State Theatre, private theatres and dance companies. She took part in TV series such as "Beyaz Gelincik" and "Kapalıçarşı". She is actively working in theatre and film.

Fatih Özgüven
Born in Istanbul. He graduated from the Austrian Highschool and later the English language and Literature department of the Istanbul University Faculty of Letters. His articles on film and literature were published in magazines such as Yazko, Çağdaş Eleştiri, Gösteri, Video-Sinema, Sokak, Yeni Gündem, Roll, and the dailies Cumhuriyet and Radikal. He taught film and literature at Boğaziçi and İstanbul Bilgi universities. He translated works of Borges, Nabokov, Kundera, Henry James, Karen Blixen, Thomas Mann, Thomas Bernhard, Raymond Chandler, Paul Auster, Flannery O'Connor, and Virginia Woolf into Turkish. He published three books which comprise of his short stories.

Karel Och
Born in 1974 in the Czech Republic. He studied law and received his BA in film theory and history at Prague's Charles University. Since 2001, he has worked for the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival as a member of the selection committee. He has programmed this festival's documentary competition and curated tributes and retrospectives to Sam Peckinpah, John Huston and Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, among others. In 2010, he was appointed artistic director of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. He is a member of FIPRESCI and has published in numerous magazines such as Cinepur, Cinema and Iluminace.

Jay Weissberg
Born in New York. He is a is a film critic for the industry paper Variety since 2003, regularly travelling to film festivals throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America. His articles on silent cinema have appeared in numerous publications, and he's curated for the Pordenone Silent Film Festival. He has served on a number of festival juries worldwide and has taken part in panel discussions on the state of contemporary cinema as well as acted as a mentor in programmes for young film critics, most recently in Abu Dhabi, Rotterdam and Berlin. In addition to film history and criticism, he has a background in art history. He lives in Rome.

Blueberry spirits tells the ghost stories of the small Gypsy family who spend their summers living in forest. Every member of the small community has experienced several scary encounters with the ones from the other world. These meetings change the behavior of the Gypsy family. They often move because of the unwanted visitors. In film the visualized ghost stories do alternate with the events from the main characters' everyday life. It feels in the air that the two worlds are going to meet again.