This year’s 71st Berlin International Film Festival is a “hybrid event”, taking place in two stages – the online presentation of the official programme for the film industry representatives will last from 1 to 5 March; while the audiences will be able to see the selected films live between 9 and 20 June.
Three Slovenians have qualified for the nineteenth edition of the Berlinale Talents, dedicated to discovering new film authors from all over the world: the producer Nina Robnik as well as the screenwriters and directors Darko Štante and Urban Zorko. These talents have been selected from among 3,000 applicants from 65 countries, while the motto of this year’s edition was Dreams.
21 projects got selected for this year’s edition of DOC LAB POLAND organized by the Wladyslaw Slesicki Film Foundation. There are many recognized Polish filmmakers as Eliza Kubarska, Pawel Chorzepa, Piotr Bernas, Matej Bobrik among them. First session in 2021 will be held on April in Warsaw (online or in a hybrid mode) while the second one with pitchingis DOCS TO START, DOCS TO GO! and individual meetings is planned offline at Krakow Film Festival as part of the KFF Industry.
Every year, the Krakow Film Foundation Programme Council grants the Dragon of Dragon award for the exceptional contribution to the development of international cinema. At the 61st Krakow Film Festival, on the 1st of June, the award will be given to Piotr Dumała – the international master of animated film and the creator of original film techniques.
Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn has been awarded the Golden Bear for Best Film at the 71st Berlin International Film Festival. It was announced by the Competition jury earlier today in a video presentation. Romanian-Luxembourgish-Czech-Croatian drama, directed by Radu Jude, was made with a contribution of Czech producer Jiří Konečný of endorfilm, and supported by the Czech Film Fund.
ABOUT THE FILM
The film tells a story of Emi, a school teacher who finds her career and reputation under threat after a personal sex tape is leaked on the Internet. Forced to meet the parents demanding her dismissal, Emi refuses to surrender to their pressure. Radu Jude delivers an incendiary mix of unconventional form, irreverent humour and scathing commentary on hypocrisy and prejudice in our societies.
Charlatan is the main winner of the Czech Lion Awards 2020. A drama, directed by Agnieszka Holland and produced by Šárka Cimbalová & Kevan Van Thompson, won Best Feature Film, Best Director and three more categories. Six Czech Lions belong to Shadow Country, Best Documentary Feature award went to Caught in the Net and the very first ever Best Animated Film is A Colourful Dream.
The Metamorphosis of Birds, dir. Catarina Vasconcelos
The 21st edition of the New Horizons International Film Festival will take place in Wrocław, from 12 to 22 August 2021. The New Horizons International Competition — a platform where artistic cinema that extends the boundaries set by conventional filmmakers is presented — remains the core element of the festival. The competition is meant for films that constantly push the boundaries of “new horizons”. We look for unique and original narratives, documentaries, essays, and animations that experiment with how the film should look like and communicate with its audience, either following or opposing the traditional concepts. We await creations that demand a vastly different perspective – that provoke to think and feel. Recent winners are The Metamorphosis of Birds by Catarina Vasconcelos, Bait by Mark Jenkin, Holiday by Isabella Eklöf or Western by Valeska Grisebach.
This year’s 55th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival will take place from 20 to 28 August 2021.
In view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the Czech Republic, the organizers of the Karlovy Vary IFF have decided to move the date of this year’s festival. Moving the festival’s dates back by seven weeks will offer the best chance of holding this cultural event closer to the extent that audiences and festivalgoers have become accustomed to.
This year everything stays different - FilmFestival Cottbus and connecting cottbus kick off their festival year #digitally
Press releases 03-03-2021
FilmFestival Cottbus (FFC) and the East-West co-production market connecting cottbus (coco) celebrated the official kick-off of the new festival year with the #digital East European Brunch. The international industry meeting was combined with a preview of the upcoming festival.
Cozy get-togethers, interesting conversations, delicious appetizers: that's how we know and love the East European Brunch. Due to the current situation, however, this year's brunch presented itself in a new guise. "The exchange within the film industry is of very great importance, here foundations are laid, projects are developed further and experiences are shared. We wanted to offer this opportunity to our guests this year as well," explains FFC and coco managing director Andreas Stein.
We extended our deadline, so you have one more week to apply to BDC Discoveries. New Deadline – 19th March 2021.
After the challenging 2020, we are eager to continue supporting projects from the Balkans in 2021!
2020 was not easy for all of us. But we remained strong and tried to continue working on our documentaries in the best possible manner. BDC Discoveries conducted successful online edition and we are very grateful to the dedicated participants, who stayed with us.
One more year has passed and it was definitely a challenging one! We hope you stayed healthy and that you are ready to embrace the new 2021, bringing new beginnings and opportunities to all. What we are eagerly looking forward to in 2021 is the 11th edition of Docu Rough Cut Boutique, organized in a hybrid format with online activities and, if possible, also residential training. Our team is very eager to see your upcoming documentaries and offer tailor-made training to five projects from the region of South-East Europe. The workshop will take place in three parts and in order to apply, you have to submit a minimum of 60 minutes material.
