Project selection started – Receptions in Karlovy Vary and Sarajevo – New award for postproduction

Berlin, July 1 2011- November 3 and 4 will see the 13th edition of the East- West-Co-production market Connecting Cottbus in the context of FilmFestival Cottbus. 13 East European feature film productions will be presented with the goal of initiating co-productions between East and Western Europe. The market that has launched films such as MY JOY (Cannes 2010), TILVA ROSH (Sarajevo 2010), THE TRAP (Berlinale 2008) or PIGGIES (Karlovy Vary 2009) will also be a forum for discussions about current trends in the European film industry. 150 guests from East and Western Europe are expected for the event.

Since the beginning of 2011, Connecting Cottbus has a new director. Bernd Buder, who will leverage his intimate knowledge of the industry acquired as curator, festival scout, and film journalist with a focus on Eastern Europe, succeeded Gabriele Brunnenmeyer who had been the artistic director until 2010. "To take over from Gabriele Brunnenmeyer who developed Connecting Cottbus into a focal meeting point for the industry is an exciting challenge that I am looking very much forward to", says Buder.

Another new addition to the Connecting Cottbus team is Martina Bleis, who can look back on 15 years of working for various film festivals and has vast experiences especially regarding co-production markets.

Buder and Bleis intend to strengthen the program offerings of Connecting Cottbus this year, using panel discussions and workshops to more thoroughly discuss the structural and immediate challenges for European films in the market and lay the foundation for developing future market strategies. The core of the event will still be project pitches, opening on November 3 with the winner of the Special Pitch Awards 2010, the current project of Serbian director Oleg Novković. With his internationally successful feature WHITE, WHITE WORLD, pitched at Connecting Cottbus in 2007, Novković won the Grand Prize of the Jury at the FilmFestival Cottbus for the second time last year. The additional twelve projects will be selected in September by a jury consisting of eight members including Kirsten Niehuus (Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg), Susanne Schmitt (MEDIAAntenne Berlin-Brandenburg) and Franka Bauer (MDR television). The application deadline is July 15, 2011.

Internationally, Connecting Cottbus extends its outreach this year by participating in receptions at the festivals in Karlovy Vary and Sarajevo, organized in collaboration with the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and the FilmFestival Cottbus.

Another first for the coming fall is the new "Post Pitch Award". The Berlinbased post production company "The Post Republic" is donating color correction services and the production of a DCP for a suitable project. The winner is chosen by a jury of three film professionals. "The Post Republic" will also run a workshop on processes and budgeting for digital film productions for participants in the pitch.

Connecting Cottbus takes place parallel to the 21st FilmFestival Cottbus - Festival of East European Cinema. The festival, which runs from 1st till 6th of November 2011, will show around 100 films from more than 30 countries, thus providing a unique overview of the current Central- and East European cinema scene. This year's Focus “Eastern Europe by Regions” concentrates on the regional diversity in our Eastern neighbouring countries, with particular emphasis on Poland and the Ukraine, who will be co-hosting the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship. In parallel to Poland taking over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2011, an additional separate film series set in the context of the Weimarer Dreieck will investigate the cinematic cultural relationship between Poland, France and Germany. Because of its huge success, the previous year's Focus “globalEAST” now will constitute an independent section within the festival and continue its tracing of East European influences in cinema production around the world. The Retrospective titled “Location Lusatia” will present film locations in Brandenburg and thus will bring its landscape, people and mentalities to life and thereby raise awareness for these in others. Film Submission will be open till the 1st of August 2011.

Connecting Cottbus is supported by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the MEDIA Programme of the European Union and MDM/Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung. Connecting Cottbus is organized by pool production GmbH. The partners of Connecting Cottbus are MEDIA Antenne Berlin- Brandenburg, CineLink, EAVE, Moscow Business Square, the Nipkow

Programm Berlin and Sofia Meetings.

Press:

claudiatomassini & associates

International Film Publicity

Saarbrücker Str. 24 | Haus B | 2. OG

10405 Berlin

Tel.:+49 30 44 34 06 06

Fax:+49 30 47 37 77 33

Mobile:+49 173 205 5794

www.claudiatomassini.com

The upcoming Karlovy Vary IFF will present several documentary films from Eastern Europe, many of them in competition. Among them is the Polish documentary film At the Edge of Russia by Michal Marczak, a unique insight into the private worlds of soldiers stationed in a military outpost deep behind the Arctic circle, guarding the Russian border.

Press release Warsaw, 1 July 2011

Cinema City awarded the title "International Exhibitor of the Year"
Moshe Greidinger receives the highest award of the cinema industry in Amsterdam

Moshe (Mooky) Greidinger received yesterday the award "International Exhibitor of the Year" granted by European theatrical community during CineEurope in Amsterdam, the largest convention of cinema industry in Europe. This is the second award for Cinema City following the title "International Exhibitor of the Year" received in 2004 in Las Vegas during ShoWest convention.

"It's a great feeling to receive this title and to receive it for the second time. This is the highest recognition from the industry for all Cinema City team. We believe very strong in bringing modern multiplexes and best standard of services to territories thirsty for good exhibition." said Moshe (Mooky) Greidinger, CEO of Cinema City, the largest multiplex cinema operator in Central & Eastern Europe and in Israel. "We are now operating close to 900 screens in 7 countries and we came a long way from the beginning of our business and a long way even from 2004, when we were running 350 screens in 4 countries. The greatest potential to expand this business lies in emerging countries, where cinema going levels are much behind mature markets. We will be continuing our expansion as there is still so many empty places on the map."

"It is a great pleasure for CineEurope to be able to acknowledge and pay tribute to Mooky Greidinger, who heads up the leading cinema circuits in Israel and Central and Eastern Europe," noted CineEurope managing director Robert Sunshine. "From its humble beginnings as a family business and the first cinema in Haifa, Israel, to the launch of the first multiplex in Israel to their expansion into Europe, Cinema City International are cinema exhibition forces to be reckoned with."

Cinema City International is the largest multiplex cinema operator in Central & Eastern Europe and in Israel. The Company operates 93 multiplexes with 885 screens, in 7 countries: Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Israel. In the beginning of the year the Company boosted its screen count by 141 screens through acquisition of the Palace Cinemas chain in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. Cinema City is also actively involved in cinema related advertising through New Age Media and film distribution through Forum Film companies, its wholly owned subsidiaries. Cinema City is the fastest growing cinema chain in Europe having binding lease agreements for 35 more multiplexes, which will offer approximately 360 new screens, which are planned to be opened mostly in the coming 2-3 years. The major portion of openings will be in Romania, where in 2010 the admission per capita ratio stood at 0.3.

In 2010 Cinema City reached EUR 235 million cinema related revenues (24.4% more over 2009), EBITDA of EUR 56 million (21.1% over 2009) and EUR 30.4 million net profit (24.5% over 2009). The company sold 30.5 million tickets in six countries. The Cinema City group employs over 4,000 people in 7 countries.

Investor Relations
Cinema City International NV

Office in Warsaw:
37 Fosa Street
02-768 Warsaw
tel: + 48 22 5 666 960
fax: + 48 22 5 666 984
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Dear Colleagues & Friends,

Let me inform you about the strong presence of Slovak films at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2011 (direct link).

Please, find attached the newsletter and here a link to more information at the information website www.aic.sk:
SLOVAK FILMS – KARLOVY VARY 2011 (direct link)

Slovak films in the KV Programme:
Official Selection – Competition: GYPSY (orig. Cigán) by Martin Šulík (SK – CZ 2011) - great comeback of Mr. Šulík after 6 years break from feature films
East of the West – Competition: VISIBLE WORLD (orig. Viditeľný svet) by Peter Krištúfek (SK 2011) – first feature film, with Ivan Trojan in the main role

Variety´s 10 Euro Directors to Watch: THE HOUSE (orig. Dom), by Zuzana Liová (SK – CZ 2011) – you surely know this title from the 2011 Berlinale´s selection for the FORUM

2011: Musical Oddyssey: ILJA by Ivan Ostrochovský, SK 2010 – a portrait of one of the leading personalities of Slovak music on 20th century

Czech Films 2010 – 2011 section includes several interesting Slovak and Czech co-productions:
NICKY´S FAMILY (orig. Nickyho rodina) by Matej Mináč (SK – CZ 2011)
I.D. (orig. Občanský průkaz) by Ondrej Trojan (CZ – SK 2010)
Surviving Life (orig. Přežít svůj život) by Jan Švanjkmajer (CZ – SK 2010)

Several Slovak film projects will be presented within Film Industry events, both in Works in Progress and Docu Talents from the East.

For even more, see the newsletter, our website, and/or contact us directly.

Slovak Film Institute Representatives in Karlovy Vary:
Peter Dubecký
Alexandra Strelková July 2-6,2011
Katarína Tomková July 2-6,2011
Miro Ulman July 2-6,2011
Viera Ďuricová July 1-5,2011

W look forward to meeting you in Karlovy Vary!

With my best regards,

Alexandra Strelková
In KV: July 2-6,2011
______________________________
National Cinematographic Centre - Slovak Film Institute
Grösslingova 32, SK 811 09 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Tel: +421 2 5710 1527, Fax: +421 2 5273 3214,
Cell: +421 905 730 040
www.sfu.sk, www.aic.sk
FB: www.facebook.com/filmovyustav
TW: www.twitter.com/filmovyustav

MOSCOW: MIFF's business platform Moscow Business Square (27-29 June 2011) chose to focus on the Baltics, Georgia and CIS countries in its third edition giving Russian producers and film professionals a chance to develop coproduction partnerships with their neighbours.

Only three days left to submit your films to Doc Launch – a presentation that showcases 9 soon-to-be-released documentaries from Central and Eastern Europe. Festival programmers, distributors, sales agents, members of the press and audiences get the first glimpse of films in post-production slated for theatrical release over the next year.
Application deadline: June 30, 2011.
http://www.dokweb.net/en/doc-launch/

Entry deadline: June 30, 2011
Dates: October 27 - 28, 2011
Location: Jihlava, Czech Republic
Participants: Filmmaker/producer teams representing 9 selected documentary projects
Organized by the Institute of Documentary Film.
Requirements:
The Doc Launch presentation accepts Central and East European documentary projects slated for release from November 2011 through October 2012. The event is geared towards remarkable feature documentary projects or rough cuts made for the cinema.
For the online entry form, go to: http://www.dokweb.net/en/doc-launch/doc-launch-presentation-application-627/?sac=60
To apply, please send 2 DVD copies with an excerpt, trailer or rough cut, as well as any other additional materials to the following address:

Hana Rezková, Institute of Documentary Film, Školská 12, 110 00 Praha 1

Additional IDF deadlines:
June 30, 2011 – EAST SILVER
September 1, 2011 – EAST EUROPEAN FORUM
September 30, 2011 - INDUSTRY ACCREDITATION

We look forward to receiving your submissions.
Kind regards,




Kristina Valentova




This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Institute of Documentary Film
Skolska 12
110 00 Prague 1
Czech Republic
T: +420 224 214 858
M: +420 739 323 938
www.DOKweb.net

Jan Komasa awarded at ART FILM FEST 2011.

The Blue Angel for Best Director went to Polish director Jan Komasa for his "Suicide Room" (Sala samobójcow). The five-member international jury summed up the picture as:
"[a] violent film steeped in the loneliness of a young generation lost in modern technology, on the backdrop of a society coming to terms with the problems of the post-communist era."

Komasa’s feature debut was presented in Main Competition with 15 other titles among which there was “The Hunter” by Bakur Bakuradze. The nineteenth annual Art Film Fest was held from June 17 to 25 in Trenčianske Teplice and Trenčín.

Art Film Fest was established in 1993 as the first international film festival of its kind in Slovakia. It was originally aimed at presenting exclusively 'art films', hence the festival's original name, Art Film. During its seventeen-year history, the festival has undergone several reorganizations and has grown noticeably in size. Each year in its festival cinemas, Art Film Fest presents films introduced at prestigious international film festivals such as Berlin, Cannes, Venice and Locarno.


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 documentary movie "Mother" by Jakub Piątek won Best Documentry award during 9th In the Palace International Short Film Festival in Bułgaria, one of the biggest documentary event in Balcan region.

In the Palace International Short Film Festival took a place in Balchik, Bulgaria between 18-25 June. 250 movies up to 45minutes from 44 countries were shown during the Festival.

The Movie was produced by Munk Studio of Polish Filmmakers Association uner the First Documentary Movie program.

"Mother" by Jakub Piatek is a psychological studium of the mother visiting her son in prison.

ANNOUNCEMENT

International Short Film Festival of Cyprus
15 - 22/10/2011

Announcement for the new International Short Film Festival of Cyprus
Call for Entries

The Ministry of Education and Culture and Rialto Theater announce that the Short Film and Short Documentary Festival has been upgraded to the International Short Film Festival of Cyprus (ISFFC). The aim of the festival is to promote and propagate the production of short films and to develop a spirit of friendship and cooperation among filmmakers. ISFFC has as its main objective the promotion of cinematographic art by presenting a diverse showcase of short films from around the globe. It also aspires to present the work of talented filmmakers who successfully use creative cinematic language forms and effectively tell a story in a short film. It is an annual event. Fiction, documentaries, experimental and animation short films not exceeding 25 minutes in length are eligible for participation in the festival’s competition. Cypriot films compete for both the international awards and the national awards of the Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture. Cypriot Directors who live and work in Cyprus or abroad are entitled to submit their work. Foreign films running the international contest for 2011 are selected and invited by the Artistic Committee, comprised by directors Alexia Roider and Ioakim Mylonas. The right to participate is reserved for films that were not shown in any other festival in Cyprus.

The Festival will take place at the Rialto Theatre in Limassol, between 15-22 October 2011.

A five-member international Jury will award the prizes among submitted and invited films. Jury names will be announced in due time.

The Festival’s upgrade to an International Competitive one marks an especially prolific year which aspires to boost local production of short films and at the same time reveal new talents and stories from around the globe.

Interested parties are invited to submit an entry form by 20 July 2011.

For details on the ISFFC terms and entry forms, please visit www.isffc.com.cy , www.filmfestival.com.cy and www.moec.gov.cy (Announcements) For further information, call 77 77 77 45, 77 77 25 52 and 00357 22-80 98 11.


RIALTO THEATRE ΘΕΑΤΡΟ ΡΙΑΛΤΟ
Anastazia Anastassiou Αναστάζια Αναστασίου
Τ:(+357) 25 34 39 00 Τ:(+357) 25 34 39 00
F:(+357) 25 74 96 63 Φ:(+357) 25 74 96 63
www.rialto.com.cy www.rialto.com.cy

33 MIFF presents: Sam Peckinpah

Kathryn Bigelow and Michael Mann, Takeshi Kitano and Park Chan-wook acknowledge his influence, though he stays one of the most disputable filmmakers in history. Sam Peckinpah began his feature career in 1961. The Deadly Companions, Ride the High Country, Major Dundee, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid distinguished him as innovator in the old western genre,dismantling the great America myth and depicting anti-heroes - loners and outsiders facing obsolescence, betrayal and death. Since the time he shot western epic The Wild Bunch in 1968, which was seen as a metaphor of intervention in Vietnam, Sam Peckinpah became a notorious legend with the nick Bloody (or Mad) Sam. This one of the most controversial movie of the period alongside with Stanley Kubrick’s Clockwork Orange and Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde, disclaimed for their naturalistic ultra-violence marked the helmer as a ‘counter-studio’ director. The latter implied that Peckinpah joined the row of respected losers like Orson Welles, whose works underwent brutal truncation. He battled producers, ruining his reputation in Hollywood and as a result managed to shoot just a dozen of movies for theatre distribution. Straw Dogs (1971) with Dustin Hoffman evoked still more controversy and deprived many of his advocates of their reason: Peckinpah was accused of over-exploitation of violence as the element to be sold in movie market; the feminists gang up on him for sexism and machism…

Peckinpah tried his innovation in various genres; in his war movie Cross of Iron (1977) he delivered a powerful antiwar message in depicting two philosophically opposed German officers on the Eastern front in World War II.

Though Peckinpah underwent a heart attack in 1979, he never stopped working and entered music video with two clips for Julian Lennon and was preparing a Stephen King adaptation when he suffered a fatal heart attack in 1984.

Unfortunately the actual value of his work was overshadowed by debates about the limits of screen violence whereas its technological and moral subtleties were neglected.

In the course of time his creation has been reconsidered. Now they say there would be no Quentin Tarantino, Robert Rodriguez or John Woo without Sam Peckinpah. Last year producer Al Ruddy (The Godfather, Million Dollar Baby) put into development the script The Texans written by Peckinpah more than 20 years ago. And in 2011 the launch of two Peckinpah’s remakes was announced, that is a spy thriller The Osterman Weekend and Straw Dogs. And, as the star of the latter Kate Bosworth mentioned, “Of course there will be controversy, I can't see how there wouldn't be with a remake of 'Straw Dogs'!”

List of films would be announced later.