Although most of the screenings during 36th Warsaw Film Festival are intended for adult viewers, we don’t forget about our youngest audiences! The program of Family Cinema Weekend includes films that can’t really be found in multiplexes – films that are really smart, warm, thoughtful, that encourage spending time in a careful and productive manner, that encourage empathy, sensitivity and appreciation of true family values and friends. At the Festival we also create a very special space for the kids, thanks to which they learn to actively participate in the cultural life of their home city. Come join us!

***ATTENTION: FESTIVAL TICKET PRESALE BEGINS ON OCTOBER 1!***

This autumn, the seventh Riga International Film Festival will take place 15 – 25 October. One of the most important sections of the festival is the feature film competition. Eight distinct, innovative and artistically challenging films from the Baltic Sea region and the Nordic countries have been selected for the competition this year. Films could be submitted without genre restrictions.

Closing Numbers and Highlights

La Biennale di Venezia is pleased to announce that the Venice Production Bridge (VPB) - the market for selected projects - held from September 3rd to 11th, 2020, during the 77. Venice International Film Festival, has successfully wrapped.

Above all we wish to express our thanks to all of the 1.312 Industry delegates who made the trip to Venice or joined online.

The screenplay for the short fiction film by young director and scriptwriter Paula Skelin and producer Tina Tišljar, an Eclectica from Zagreb production, is one of the 12 projects selected by Nisi Masa to participate in the European Short Pitch 2020 workshop programme, of which the first will be held online at the end of September.  

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival will invest one euro from every film submission fee collected to combat intensive clear-cuts in Estonia. The platform created by the Estonian startup Single.Earth gives money to forest owners for switching from clear-cutting to alternative forest management methods.

Six Croatian titles screening at this year’s edition of the International Short Film Festival – Filmfest, held 8th – 13th Sept, on locations around Dresden and online.

Screening in the international competition programme are short animated film Imbued Life, created by duo Ivana Bošnjak and Thomas Johnson, and director Stefan Đorđević’s The Last Image of Father, a Serbian-Croatian-Greek production (Croatian co-producer is Danijel Pek of Antitalent). The competition programme includes 37 live-action and animated films from 29 countries.

Writers, producers, directors and script consultants,
you have now seven extra days to apply! 

Feature Launch / Project Development Training

A unique training and networking platform for emerging talents - teams of writers, producers, and first- or second-time directors.

The 9 feature film projects go through an intensive 4-module program that enables them to work closely on the script and project development and provides them with financing and co-production opportunities and marketing strategies. 

For the most prestigious competition section of the 30th World Festival of Animated Film – Animafest Zagreb 2020, the selection committee consisting of Daniel Šuljić, Iva Kraljević and Božidar Trkulja among 861 entries selected 40 works from 27 countries. Next to the animation titans, Canada, France, USA, Japan, South Korea, Poland, Hungary and Czech Republic, the programmers were thrilled by works from countries appearing less frequently on the global map of animation, such as Columbia or Greece.

LEGEND OF THE CZECHOSLOVAK NEW WAVE, JIŘÍ MENZEL, OUR GUEST, HAS DIED

It is with great sadness that we learned about the death of Jiří Menzel, Czech director, screenwriter and actor, two-time guest and friend of the EnergaCAMERIMAGE festival. The winner of two of our prestigious special awards passed away on Saturday, September 5, after long-term health complications. His death is an irreparable loss for the world of cinema and our festival.

When: Monday, 14th September, 12:00-13:00 Central European Summer Time (watch your time zone)
Where: ZOOM
Cost: FREE (register here)

The long-awaited fusion of CG animation and film production has finally arrived with the use of game engines being adopted by small and large studios alike. It is opening doors into virtual production, empowering directors and artists to make projects look ever closer to their creative vision by easing their workflow and adding more flexibility to their production process. This session will delve into two best practice examples: the BBC/HBO live-action TV series HIS DARK MATERIALS and Blue Zoo’s distinctive short animation ADA, exploring why and how real-time engines helped them transition from a traditional animation production towards a brave new virtual future of powerful VR and game-creation capabilities. 

We will have a closer look at:

HIS DARK MATERIALS (BBC/HBO live-action TV series)

The beloved adaptation of Philip Pullman’s trilogy about a young girl, Lyra, and her quest to find her kidnapped friend. It’s a journey that leads her to uncover the sinister plot of a secret organisation, encounter extraordinary beings and protect dangerous secrets. The expansive and multiverse BBC/HBO series HIS DARK MATERIALS (2019) has been carefully crafted and brought to life with a unique and holistic design approach that spans the development, production and post-production stages. With season 2 already on the way, the series is set to be a ground-breaking example of television’s endless boundaries with the possibility of using real-time technology through Unreal Engine.  

speaker: Jassmine Najime, Studio Manager, Painting Practice, UK

ADA (short animation)

Stranded on an arctic island, an Alaskan seamstress must overcome her fear of the wilderness and find the strength to survive if she ever hopes to return home to her son. With this experimental short film, Blue Zoo’s shorts programme enters a completely new direction. Using ground-breaking real-time technology, the team rendered ADA in Unreal Engine to accelerate the process of animated storytelling. The result is a raw and emotive film in an illustrated and characterful style that differentiates itself from the video game-style of animation.

speaker: Dane Winn, Commercials Director at Blue Zoo, UK

Moderator: Jan von Meppen, game designer, writer, producer and co-founder of LudInc, Germany 

There is more to come!

Kids Kino Industry is just around the corner. But before the event starts, there are two more free Inspirational Webinars for you. Don’t forget to register. Remember that you need to register for each seminar separately (apologies for this inconvenience!).

The upcoming webinars:

• 14th September, 12:00 – 13:00  CEST, “A Quantum Leap – Game Tech in Filmmaking”
• 21st September, 12:00 – 13:00 CEST, “Curse or Blessing, Co-Production in a Changed Environment”

More details and the registration form for each meeting can be found here.

Have you missed our previous webinars? Don't worry, contact us: a style="text-decoration: underline; color: #e8a05d;" title="This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we will send you the links to the recordings.

Accreditation for the 2020 Kids Kino Industry, international pitching forum is now open! Be sure to submit your form before the 20th of the September to get the best offer. Read more and get your accreditation here!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND AND SEE YOU ON MONDAY!

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