The list is ready: the competition program of 8th Jameson CineFest is complete. We can say that this year’s program, all the 14 movies, is much stronger than last year’s, moreover, it is going to be the strongest Hungarian festival competition program ever. Our aim is unchanged: to create the best international film festival in Hungary – without any compromises.

We regard the US line important: you will be able to watch the best indie oversea films in Miskolc and also find Sundance awarded movies like the special crime drama Animal Kingdom (Main Prize, 2010) directed by the Australian David Michôd, in which we can follow up how a gangster family falls apart. Martha Marcy May Marlene, a movie which appeared in Cannes and was awarded for best direction at Sundance, will be screened one month earlier than its US premiere as an unconventional suspense: the paranoiac title hero escapes from a sect were she has spent long years, however, it is no sure whether a traumatized person is welcomed in a “normal” society. Two British films are included in the section: Harry Brown with the starring of the Oscar winner Michael Caine, telling a classical revenge story; and, as no Jameson CineFest can lack sci-fi movies, Attack the Block set in London will surely be a titbit for the genre’s fans, just like Sala samobójców/Suicide Room, the first polish cyber-drama.

Karl Markovics’s first direction, Breathing/Atmen, which can be compared mostly to the works of the Dardenne brothers, will also be presented in Miskolc: this film has been awarded in Sarajevo and it turned out to be the official Austrian Oscar-nominee. Two Hungarian co-productions will be in the competition program: Adrian Sitaru’s Din dragoste cu cele mai bune intentii, which got the award for the Best Direction in Locarno; and The Other Side of Sleep, a drama by the Irish director Rebecca Daly. Even though Fleurs du mal is a French production, its director, David Dusa is of Hungarian origins and so we can regard this work as a little bit of ours, either. The drama Michael is coming straight from this year’s Cannes competition: Markus Schleinzer’s (he is Michael Haneke’s casting director) very strong debuting topic, the portrait of a pedophile, it has divided the critics’ opinion.

We will screen 14 long feature films in competition and 6 out of competition. True to the traditions of the Miskolc International Film Festival, it is going to present only Hungarian premieres. The greatest hit out of competition is Gus Van Sant’s movie Restless, which was the opening film of Cannes’s Un certain regard. We are going to screen it only a few days after its US premiere, and it will be presented exclusively at Jameson CineFest.

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All parties and events strictly require an invitation from the organisers

2011 Regulations

The Film New Europe Visegrad Prix recognizes the fiction and documentary films of the Central European region, promotes mutual cultural understanding and promotes professional co-operations international co-productions.

The Prix is organized by Film New Europe and financed by the Visegrad Fund (www.visegradfund.org)

In the competition entries are selected by the programme committee of participating film festivals from among those films in its main programme and sections of the festival’s official program.The entries must be coproductions produced in a Visegrad country.

Coproductions in which a Visegrad country is a minority coproducer also qualify to compete for the Prix.In selecting entries priority will be given to coproductions between one of the four Visegrad countries and another European country.

Once selected to compete for the FNE Visegrad Prix all films in the selection will be treated equally by the jury and will be evaluated according to the decision of the jury.

The prix will be awarded to one feature film at one participating festival and one documentary film at a different participating festival each year.

The festival programme committee will select between 4 and 8 films for the competition.The main jury of the participating festival will decide the will decide the winning film.

The winning films will be shown where possible at other participating festivals later that same year or the following year provided there are no restrictions on copyright or other prohibitions that would prevent such screenings.

The Prix and the festival do not pay copyright fee for presenting the films.

In 2011 the amount of the Prix will 1000 Euros for best documentary coproduction and 1000 Euros for best fiction coproduction.

The Prix will be presented at the participating festival.The members of the jury must sign a document confirming that they have awarded the FNE Visegrad Prix to the winning film.

The winning films will be promoted on FNE.

Cash Value of the combined prizes in 2011: 2 000 Euros.

Participating festivals 2011: Jameson CineFest- Miskolc International Film Festival (Hungary), Era New Horizons (Poland), Bratislava IFF (Slovakia) Jihlava (Czech Republic)

Fiction presenting festival 2011: Jameson CineFest – Miskolc International Film Festival

Documentary presenting festival 2011: Jihlava IFF

The presentation will be rotated annually between participating festivals.Non-presenting festivals will provide publicity support for the Prix and where possible screen the winning films within limitations of copyright and other possible logistical prohibitions.

Jos Horemans, president of SIGNIS Europe is going to head the international ecumenical jury of 8^th Jameson CineFest. ‘It is a great honour to be the president of the first international ecumenical jury in Hungary’, says Horemans, the leader of the European branche of the catholic world association for media and communication. ‘We are present at the world’s leading festivals and it is a great pleasure for us that in Hungary, at the dynamically developing Miskolc International Film Festival there will be a body of two catholic and two protestant members.’

At the world’s top festivals, these bodies have been granting awards for long decades now. Only few may know but many Hungarian films have also been awarded with the ecumenical jury’s award in Berlin and Cannes and other festivals. Jameson CineFest has prepared with a retrospective film selection to honour the first ecumenical jury in Hungary. The program contains such films as Szerelem (Love), the legendary film by Károly Makk (awarded in 1971, Cannes); Pál Schiffer’s Cséplő Gyuri (Gyuri Cséplő), which is focusing on roma matters and was awarded in 1978 in Locarno; the staggering documentary Száműzöttek (Exiles) by Imre Gyöngyössy and Barna Kabay (1991, Montreal) and the excellent but rarely screened Azonosítás (Man with No Name) by László Lugossy (1976, Berlin).

Peter Muszatics

JAMESON CINEFEST - MISKOLCI NEMZETKÖZI FILMFESZTIVÁL
JAMESON CINEFEST - MISKOLC INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

2011. szeptember 17-25./September 17-25, 2011

www.cinefest.hu

Telefon (+36) 30 9277726

We follow a successful businessman as he buys land, negotiates with politicians, commissions extensive market surveys and meets with his associates at a major real estate exhibition. He collects art, lives in a luxurious lakeside villa and is part of an industry that builds shopping centres around the world, generating huge profits. Nevertheless, this pursuit of profit has its consequences. Not only does The Global Town follow the businessman as he goes about his dealings, it also shows how what he does dramatically changes our living environment.

Jacek Borcuch’s new film, under working title Lasting Moments (Chwile nieulotne), begins shooting on September 8^th in the Valencia region. The plot centres around a pair of Polish students who meet during holidays in Spain. Unexpectedly nightmare reality breaks into this carefree time and heavenly landscape and puts their lives to an unwanted test…

Leading roles will be played by Jakub Gierszał, an actor who has worked with Jacek Borcuch on his last film All That I Love, and Magdalena Berus. Among the Spanish cast are a great personality of the Spanish cinema, Angela Molina, and Juanjo Ballesta, one of the most interesting actors of the young generation. The director of photography will be Michał Englert, the music will be composed by Daniel Bloom while the set design will be created by Elwira Pluta. The producers of the film are Piotr Kobus and Agnieszka Drewno.

At the beginning of October the crew will travel to Cracow for the second part of shooting and afterwards to Kwidzyn. The end of principal photography is scheduled for mid-November and the premiere for autumn 2012.

The film is being produced by Manana in co-production with Espiral Producciones (Spain) and Cracow Festival Office, and is co-financed by the Polish Film Institute and the Regional Film Fund in Cracow with the support of the City of Kwidzyn.

The last film by Jacek Borcuch, All That I Love, was distributed in 20 countries, won several international and national film awards and was the Polish candidate for the Oscars. It was also the first Polish production to be shown in the main competition of the Sundance Film Festival.

PS. Please do not combine this information with earlier news about the content and cast of the film which are either outdated or erroneous.

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Mañana

At the 64^th Locarno International Film Festival, the film Opowieści z chłodni (Frozen Stories) by Grzegorz Jaroszuk received a nomination for the European Film Awards in the Best Short Film category. Special mention of the International Federation of Film Societies went to the Polish-Romanian animated film Crulic - Droga na drugą stronę (Crulic - Road to the Beyond) by Anca Damian. Both films were co-financed by the Polish Film Institute.

Photo by Easy Busy Productions

Frozen Stories screened in the Pardi di domani / Leopard of Tomorrow short film competition, alongside Bez śniegu (Without Snow) by Magnus von Horn. Both features were produced at the National Film, Television and Theatre School in Łódź.

Frozen Stories is focused around two supermarket workers who have two days to find their purpose in life. The film was previously recognized at the "Łodzią po Wiśle" film festival, receiving the Grand Prize and audience award. Frozen Stories also screened at the 36^th Polish Film Festival in Gdynia (Young Cinema Competition), at the New Horizons festival in Wrocław, and at the "Dwa Brzegi / Two Riversides" film festival in Kazimierz Dolny.

Crulic, which screened in Main Competition at this year's Locarno IFF, is a combination of animation, documentary, and feature film. The plot is based on real events from 2007 and 2008, when Claudiu Crulic, a Romanian prison inmate, died in a Krakow prison after a four-month-long hunger strike.

At this year's 51^st edition of the Krakow Film Festival, the short documentary Paparazzi by Piotr Bernaś also received a nomination for the European Film Awards. Paparazzi was also co-financed by the Polish Film Institute.

The European Film Awards ceremony will be held in Berlin on December 3, 2011.

Further details about the Locarno International Film Festival available at: www.pardolive.ch.

The official website of the European Film Academy available at: www.europeanfilmacademy.org.

Best regards,

Olga Domżała

Olga Domżała

Film Sales Support & PR Manager

Polish Film Institute

Krakowskie Przedmieście 21/23

00-071 Warsaw PL

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Mobile: +48 695 363 335

The grants contest in Romania takes place twice a year, following the Government's Ordinance No.39/2005 and the contest regulations approved by the Minister of Culture and National Trust by Decree No.2335/2006. The main body for film and film financing is the National Centre for Cinema/ Centrul National al Cinematografiei (4-6 Dem. I. Dobrescu street, Sector 1, Bucuresti 010026, Romania, Phone:+4.21. 310.43.01, Fax:+4.21 3104300, www.cncinema.abt.ro, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

CNC provides Direct credit, meaning reimbursable interest-free credit granted from the Cinematographic Fund for film production and project development, and Non-reimbursable financial support, which is non-reimbursable funds allotted from the Film Fund for the distribution of the Romanian films, the organization of or participation in specialized festivals and fairs, ans for educational programs.

CNC is coordinated by an administrative board of seven members: five appointed upon recommendation of the film associations, one recommended by the Ministry of Culture, and the general director of the CNC (who is also the chairman of the board).

The Film Fund - the supporting fund - consists of: 2% contribution from the price for sale/rental of recorded video cassettes, DVDs, etc; 4% contribution from the publicity minutes purchased by public and private television stations; 3% contribution from the price of the publicity minutes sold by the cable television companies; 3% contribution from the film exploitation; 1% contribution from the monthly income of cable, satellite and digital companies; 20% of the income obtained from the privatization of the cinema halls and parks. The Government's Ordinance No.39/2005 also states that the public television (www.tvr.ro) has to contribute to the Film Fund with 15% of its advertising income. It can also opt for the direct financing of film production.

The Film Fund was 31 million RON in 2010, the lowest amount in the last five years (35,849,793 RON in 2006, 40 million RON in 2007, 44 million RON in 2008 and 32 million RON in 2009). The Government approved the exemption from the contribution to the Film Fund of the national lottery Loteria Romana, which until 2009 contributed 4% to the Film Fund. The budgetary support to the Film Fund also stopped in 2006.

CNC finances (by direct credit) the production of short fiction films, feature films, documentaries and animated films, and also the developement of such projects. A production grant cannot exceed 50% of the budget, with the exception of low-budget and difficult films (which can be supported with up to 80%). The producer can spend at least 20% of the film's budget inside the EU member states or the states having agreed with the Central European Free Trade Agreement.

A Romanian co-producer cannot enter into a multilateral international co-production with less than 10% of the budget, and with less than 20% in a bilateral co-production. Direct credit cannot exceed 50% for a Romanian co-producer, with the exception of a low-budget or difficult film.

The grant contest has three selection committees: fiction, documentary and animation, made up of professionals proposed by the filmmakers associations. The selection committee for fiction evaluates the features and short films projects, as well as the development of projects. The selection committee for documentary decides the production and development grants for short and long documentaries. The selection commitee for animation does the same for animated films.

From a grant session, 5% usually supports first feature films, 5% short fiction films, 10% documentaries, 10% animated films, and 59% long feature films, while 1% goes for developing long features, documentaries and long animated films. A maximum of 50% of the total sum may be granted at the beginning of the preparation, up to 20% (upon the request by the producer) at the end of the shooting, and 10% (upon the demand by the producer) once the standard copy is delivered. A direct credit can be reimbursed in 10 years.

CNC announced at the end of 2010 that production companies that don't respect their contracts with the CNC and producers who dropped projects which were awarded at previous sessions will not be eligible to apply for the next grant session. The European Commission (ec.europa.eu) approved €80.68 million (RON 347 million) in state aid for the Romanian funding scheme at the end of 2010. The scheme approved by the European Commission will be run by the Romanian authorities until 31 December 2014. It allows producers to spend up to 20% of the film budget within the European Economic Area (EEA), not just in Romania.

In 2010, 19 features were produced in Romania, the highest number in the last five years (18 in 2006, 11 in 2007, 9 in 2008, 18 in 2009). Of those, eight were made with a production grant from CNC, nine entirely financed in Romania and ten co-productions. The National Cinema Center supported almost all the big successes of the Romanian New Wave. For a Romanian co-producer, the support of the CNC is indispensable. Moreover, if he wants an international co-producer, he has to have the support of his national body.