Famous faces etched in viewers' minds and famous names behind major cinematic oeuvres are set to pay a visit to the 20th Art Film Fest, running from 16 to 23 June in Trenčianske Teplice and Trenčín.
As in previous years, Art Film Fest is honouring Slovak and international performers for their extraordinary contributions to film acting with the Actor's Mission Award. In the festival park, each recipient will personally place a brass plaque bearing their name: Oscar laureate Ben Kingsley, French film star Emmanuelle Béart and beloved Czech actor Miroslav Donutil.
This year Art Film Fest's Golden Camera will go to three film professionals for their significant contributions to cinema: Andrei Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky, one of the most distinguished directors in Russia (and Hollywood for that matter), notable Slovak cinematographer Dodo Šimončič and influential Slovak dramaturge and director Rudolf Urc.
Béart, Konchalovsky and Šimončič will accept their awards at Art Film Fest's opening, and Kingsley, Donutil and Urc will do so at its closing.
MADE IN ASH
47th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival announced its Competition Programme, and we are happy to have the World Premiere of the film MADE IN ASH as the opening film of the EAST OF THE WEST Competition.
MADE IN ASH (orig. Až do mesta Aš, SK - CZ 2012, 84 min., aka Town of Ash) is a debut feature film by young Slovak filmmaker Iveta Grofová, as taken from KV IFF website:
Noteworthy social drama about a Romany girl named Dorota, who leaves her native Slovakia after graduating from high school for a job in the Western Bohemian town of Aš. Thanks to authentic shots and the use of non-actors, the director achieves marked rawness and maximum punch.
World Premiere of the film / Opening of East of the West Competition: Saturday, June 30 - 4:30 p.m - PUPP Cinema
THE SUN IN A NET
In addition, we are happy to announce a very special screening of one of the treasures of the Slovak cinema, THE SUN IN A NET by Štefan Uher, to commemorate the film´s 50th anniversary. The gala premiere of the film in a digitally restored copy/DCP will be part of the section Out of the Past dedicated to bringing the best classic films to contemporary audiences.
Premiere of the restored version of the film: Sunday, July 1 - 4:30 p.m. - PUPP Cinema
THE SUN IN A NET (orig. Slnko v sieti, CS 1962), written by Alfonz Bednár, directed by Štefan Uher, with the excellent cinematography of Stanislav Szomolányi, is considered the beginning of the New Wave in Slovak and Czech cinema and is a breakthrough pioneering achievement for Slovak, and the Czechoslovak cinema. In the period of a relative relaxation of the Communist regime, the film brought a new way of film narration (breaking up the traditional linear story narration into smaller episodes and motifs), a new, analytical view of reality focusing on people and their emotions as well as on the historical and social backgrounds. The film was restored by the Slovak Film Institute (National Film Archive) within the Project of the Systematic Restoration of Audiovisual Heritage, and will be presented from a DCP.
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Within the INDUSTRY DAYS of the festival, new platform for films in development from Slovakia and the Czech Republic will be introduced, with project presentation schedule for Tuesday, July 3, 10:30 at "Becherova Villa", provided in partnership with Barrandov Studios. More information will follow.
More information to Slovak participation at the festival will follow shortly, and we hope to meet with many of you in Karlovy Vary and enjoy and celebrate the Slovak presence there.
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The Haapsalu Horror and Fantasy Film Festival (HOFF, www.hoff.ee), the exclusive genre film festival in the Baltics has become the latest member of the European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation (EFFFF). Following the announcement by the Federation Board, HOFF will assume the duties as Adherent Member of the Federation as of next edition in April 2013.
The European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation (EFFFF) is a network of more than 20 film festivals in 16 countries dedicated to promote the originality and creativity of the European fantasy film industry and annually gathers the audience of over 600 000 spectators. HOFF, now in its 8th edition, held in the city of Haapsalu, Estonia, once a renown summer retreat of the Russian Czars, now a picturesque town on the western coast of the Baltic sea, will be standing in line with established genre events such as Sitges, Brussels and Neuchatel. The regional members of the Federation include respected events in Lund (Sweden) and Espoo (Finland). The goal of the EFFFF is to introduce and nourish European fantasy, sci-fi and horror cinema in the world dominated by US genre films. For doing so, all members of the Federation present an international competition program, the Méliès d'Argent. The nominees run for the competition for the most remarkable European Fantastic and Short Film, the Méliès d'Or - Best European Fantastic Film, awarded at the annual gala presently held in Sitges.
"Joining the Méliès' federation could be compared to the Michelin star rating of the haute cuisine testifying to the high level of organization and programming of HOFF that we have been dedicated for years. Méliès' membership is not exclusively tied to the budget nor the audience numbers, as besides cutting edge programming and execution, the festival has to serve as a gateway to the region as well as contribute to the federation by industry and territorial expertise - and I'm happy that HOFF fills this role perfectly", comments the founding Festival Director Sten Saluveer
"The rapid increase in international publicity and trust from the industry that goes along with Méliès helps to ensure that Haapsalu would host greater genre stars and films, an attractive competition and the prize laden audience award. We are determined that the fans of HOFF and filmmakers will be delighted by a new chance for the films to run for the award of best European fantastic film", comments the just inaugurated Fest head Maria Reinup.
"We are very happy to include Haapsalu Intl. Horror and Fantasy Film Festival as an adherent member of the European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation. They will be a great addition to our team of festivals and will play an important part in promoting European genre films in the Baltic region", said Christian Hallman, coordinator of the European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation.
The 2012 edition of HOFF presented 19 features with the audience record of over 2800 visitors. The highlights of the program, IRON SKY (Finland, 2012) and SLEEP TIGHT (Spain, 2011) are contenders to the Méliès d'Or Award for the Best European Fantastic Feature Film 2012.
Note to editors:
The Haapsalu Horror & Fantasy Film Festival (HÕFF, www.hoff.ee) is an international genre film festival organized by Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (NGO Pimedate Ööde Filmifestival or PÖFF, www.poff.ee ) - one of the largest and most known art house film festivals and organizations in North-Eastern European region, the city of Haapsalu and Haapsalu Culture Center.
Press inquiries and clarifications:
Maria Reinup
Festival Director
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Helmut Jänes
Press and Publicity
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The new short film by Rudolf Smid, ‘The
Chronicle of Oldrich S.", has been selected for the
prestigious American
documentary film festival SilverDocs in Silver Spring, Maryland. This is
a
great honor for a Czech animated documentary, which only started screening
at international
festivals in February 2012.
SilverDocs Documentary
Film Festival is organized by the American Film Institute and the
Discovery
Channel. It is the largest documentary event of the year in the
United States with over 27,000 visitors
and industry professionals each year,
showcasing more than two hundred new documentaries from
around the world,
(including films from Central and Eastern Europe). This makes Silverdocs the
best
festival for the North American premiere of ‘The Chronicle of Oldrich
S.'
Because of its connection to the Discovery Channel the festival has
had guests such as Jonathan
Demme, Al Gore, Alex Gibney, and Martin Scorsese.
The special guests for this year's festival will be
the American filmmakers
Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky.
And don't forget, ‘The Chronicle of
Oldrich S.' is a hit on the international festival scene. It was
nominated
for Silver Eye ,Jihlava 2011; selected for the SXSW Film Festival 2012 in
Austin,
Texas; received the special jury award at the Docudays festival in
Kiev; received the IFAF AniFest
main prize for short film; selected for the
Trickfilm Festival Stuttgart; selected for the DOXA festival
Vancouver;
andselected for the DocAviv festival in Tel Aviv, 2012.
In the upcoming
months, the film will be screened at the 52nd Krakow Film Festival in Poland,
the Huesca
Film Festival in Spain and as mentioned above, the Silverdocs
festival in June.
‘The Chronicle of Oldrich S.' was produced by Anima and
AniFest.
Contact: Jakub Hora/AniFest
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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. Documentaries
produced within AW have won awards at major film festivals such as Cannes, Locarno,
Leipzig and Nyon, among many others. Over the years, professional training was provided by
preeminent leaders in the field: Thierry Garrel, Rafi Pitts, Nino Kirtadze, Jennifer Fox, John Appel,
Jeroun Berkvens, Simon Brook, Marijke Rawie, Michal Bregant, Niels Pagh Anderson, Martichka
Bozhilova, and commissioning editors from ARTE/France. AW is supported by ARTE,
Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR) and the National Center of Cinematography (CNC)
THE BENEFITS
● you'll spend five weeks in a beautiful mountain resort with filmmakers from all over Europe
● you'll be part of one of the four teams of three, as either director, cinematographer, or editor
● film industry professionals guide your team every step of the way, from pitch to final cut
● you'll have access to every necessary production and post production equipment
● your resulting film, if worthy, will join a network of festivals across the world.
ICR will award the best film 2000
CONDITIONS
● Fluency in English
● Previous experience with one of the following: directing, cinematography, editing.
CONTACT
You can apply directly at www.aworkshop.org or get in touch with us at:
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or you may visit these sites
www.facebook.com/AristotelesWorkshopAssociation
www.vimeo.com/aworkshop
