Seven filmmakers will benefit from one of the most generous grants in the documentary field, as the North Points Institute today announced the recipients of the inaugural Diane Weyermann Fellowships.
The fellowship, named for the late Participant executive and producer who championed the careers of many leading documentary filmmakers and their work, will provide $100,000 and 18 months of mentorship to each of three nonfiction projects and their filmmaking teams.
“The three supported projects were chosen out of 401 submissions from 70 countries, through a 6-month selection process that included the Points North curatorial team and a jury of veteran filmmakers and programmers,” according to a release. “The projects include: The Last Nomads, directed and produced by Biljana Tutorov, co-directed by Petar Glomazić, and co-produced by Quentin Laurent, Rok Bicek and Eva Kuperman. The film is a co-production of Serbia, Montenegro, France, Slovenia, Belgium, and Croatia; The Production of the World, a co-production of Canada and USA,...
The fellowship, named for the late Participant executive and producer who championed the careers of many leading documentary filmmakers and their work, will provide $100,000 and 18 months of mentorship to each of three nonfiction projects and their filmmaking teams.
“The three supported projects were chosen out of 401 submissions from 70 countries, through a 6-month selection process that included the Points North curatorial team and a jury of veteran filmmakers and programmers,” according to a release. “The projects include: The Last Nomads, directed and produced by Biljana Tutorov, co-directed by Petar Glomazić, and co-produced by Quentin Laurent, Rok Bicek and Eva Kuperman. The film is a co-production of Serbia, Montenegro, France, Slovenia, Belgium, and Croatia; The Production of the World, a co-production of Canada and USA,...
- 9/16/2023
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Wide has come on board to represent international sales on Slovenian-Australian writer/director Sara Kern’s debut feature “Moja Vesna,” which premieres in the Generation Kplus section at the Berlin Film Festival.
“Moja Vesna” stars newcomer Loti Kovačič as Moja, a 10-year-old girl who lives with her grief-stricken Slovenian dad and pregnant 20-year-old sister Vesna in an outer suburb of Melbourne. Unable to accept the reality of her mother’s sudden death, Moja focuses on preparing for the baby while Vesna is lost in troubles of her own.
Adamant and full of light, Moja carries on, hoping in vain that Vesna will eventually fill the mother-shaped hole in her life. But Vesna pushes Moja to accept that their mother has in fact died, which causes the relationship between the sisters to strain. As the birth draws closer the grieving family continues to fragment. After meeting Miranda and her quirky daughter Danger,...
“Moja Vesna” stars newcomer Loti Kovačič as Moja, a 10-year-old girl who lives with her grief-stricken Slovenian dad and pregnant 20-year-old sister Vesna in an outer suburb of Melbourne. Unable to accept the reality of her mother’s sudden death, Moja focuses on preparing for the baby while Vesna is lost in troubles of her own.
Adamant and full of light, Moja carries on, hoping in vain that Vesna will eventually fill the mother-shaped hole in her life. But Vesna pushes Moja to accept that their mother has in fact died, which causes the relationship between the sisters to strain. As the birth draws closer the grieving family continues to fragment. After meeting Miranda and her quirky daughter Danger,...
- 2/8/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
One of the strangest and most vexing things about reviewing movies for a trade paper like Variety — which involves covering films at festivals and markets, as opposed to those consumer newspaper critics who follow the theatrical release schedule — is the fact that so many of the films we cover don’t have U.S. distribution at the moment we write about them. That’s the whole reason Variety is there: to give buyers, agents, and festival programmers an idea of where the quality lies. But it can be surreal to read (or write!) a rave review a movie that may never reach a movie theater near you.
Sometimes an enthusiastic critic can nudge a company into taking the risk on a foreign gem, but more often than not, the marketplace is too tough for a review to make a difference in a tiny film’s fate. And so the films...
Sometimes an enthusiastic critic can nudge a company into taking the risk on a foreign gem, but more often than not, the marketplace is too tough for a review to make a difference in a tiny film’s fate. And so the films...
- 1/2/2020
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Twenty of Europe’s up-and-coming producers are going to Cannes with European Film Promotion. The organization unveiled its latest roster of Producers on the Move on Wednesday, a lineup that features France’s Gregoire Debailly, who produced Jean-Bernard Marlin’s “Sheherazade,” which premiered in Critics’ Week in Cannes last year, and Ireland’s Cormac Fox, who produced Sophie Hyde’s “Animals.”
Other names include “Borg vs. McEnroe” producer Jon Nohrstedt and, from the U.K., Emily Morgan, whose credits include the critically acclaimed “I Am Not a Witch.”
Efp has been putting selected enterprising producers in the spotlight for 20 years, a period in which 400 have featured. The European Union’s Creative Europe – Media Program backs the initiative, which sees the selected producers take part in networking and production-skewed events.
A trio of producers from previous editions will have films at Cannes this year: Germany’s Janine Jackowski with Corneliu Porumboiu’s “The Whistlers,...
Other names include “Borg vs. McEnroe” producer Jon Nohrstedt and, from the U.K., Emily Morgan, whose credits include the critically acclaimed “I Am Not a Witch.”
Efp has been putting selected enterprising producers in the spotlight for 20 years, a period in which 400 have featured. The European Union’s Creative Europe – Media Program backs the initiative, which sees the selected producers take part in networking and production-skewed events.
A trio of producers from previous editions will have films at Cannes this year: Germany’s Janine Jackowski with Corneliu Porumboiu’s “The Whistlers,...
- 4/24/2019
- by Stewart Clarke
- Variety Film + TV
Winners include Dusan Milic’s latest feature Darkling and Hans Lukas Hansen’s ‘docu-fantasy’ The Quest For Tonewood.
Source: Facebook/Katja Goljat, Matjaz Rust
When East Meets West 2018 prize presentation
Projects from Serbia, Norway and the Czech Republic were among the winners at the 8th edition of the When East Meets West (Wemw) co-production forum held during this week’s Trieste Film Festival.
The three-day event ended on Tuesday evening with the presentation of Cannes Producers Network Award of free accreditation for Serbian writer-director Dusan Milic’s latest feature Darkling, which he describes as “arthouse with a touch of psychological horror”, and for Norwegian documentary filmmaker Hans Lukas Hansen’s “docu-fantasy” The Quest For Tonewood about the quest for the magical wood to make the finest violins in the world.
In addition, a Hot Docs Industry Pass was awarded to award-winning Serbian documentary filmmaker Srdjan Sarenac for his new project Prison Beauty Contest, which follows the staging...
Source: Facebook/Katja Goljat, Matjaz Rust
When East Meets West 2018 prize presentation
Projects from Serbia, Norway and the Czech Republic were among the winners at the 8th edition of the When East Meets West (Wemw) co-production forum held during this week’s Trieste Film Festival.
The three-day event ended on Tuesday evening with the presentation of Cannes Producers Network Award of free accreditation for Serbian writer-director Dusan Milic’s latest feature Darkling, which he describes as “arthouse with a touch of psychological horror”, and for Norwegian documentary filmmaker Hans Lukas Hansen’s “docu-fantasy” The Quest For Tonewood about the quest for the magical wood to make the finest violins in the world.
In addition, a Hot Docs Industry Pass was awarded to award-winning Serbian documentary filmmaker Srdjan Sarenac for his new project Prison Beauty Contest, which follows the staging...
- 1/24/2018
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
Update: Audience award winner revealed; Good Manners, Winter Brothers also among winners.
Documentary filmmaker Wang Bing became the fifth director from China in Locarno’s seven-decade history to win the top honour of the Golden Leopard at this year’s edition.
Mrs. Fang, which is the first documentray ever to win the festival’s top prize, follows the last days of a 67-year-old Alzheimer’s patient in southern China.
Previous Golden Leopard winners from China were Hongqui Li with Winter Vacation in 2010 and Xiaolu Guo with She, a Chinese a year before, as well as Shuo Wang with Father in 2000 and Yue Lü with Mr Zhao in 1998.
The decision by the international competition jury, headed by director Olivier Assayas, reflects a trend at international festivals of recent years for documentaries beating out competition from fiction productions.
While the special jury prize went to the Brazilian writing and directing team Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra’s Good Manners about...
Documentary filmmaker Wang Bing became the fifth director from China in Locarno’s seven-decade history to win the top honour of the Golden Leopard at this year’s edition.
Mrs. Fang, which is the first documentray ever to win the festival’s top prize, follows the last days of a 67-year-old Alzheimer’s patient in southern China.
Previous Golden Leopard winners from China were Hongqui Li with Winter Vacation in 2010 and Xiaolu Guo with She, a Chinese a year before, as well as Shuo Wang with Father in 2000 and Yue Lü with Mr Zhao in 1998.
The decision by the international competition jury, headed by director Olivier Assayas, reflects a trend at international festivals of recent years for documentaries beating out competition from fiction productions.
While the special jury prize went to the Brazilian writing and directing team Juliana Rojas and Marco Dutra’s Good Manners about...
- 8/12/2017
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Other finalists shortlisted for distribution support include Rams; audience winner also revealed at Karlovy Vary event.
The official selection of films competing for the European Parliament’s 2015 Lux Prize has been unveiled at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Kviff) (July 3-11).
At a packed event on the terrace of Karlovy Vary’s Hotel Thermal on Sunday night, the ten films were unveiled by European Parliament Committee on Legal affairs chair Pavel Svoboda, European Parliament Committee on Culture and Education member Bogdan Wenta, Lux Prize coordinator Doris Pack and Kviff’s artistic director and Lux Prize Selection panel member Karel Och.
The ten films are:
45 Years, Andrew Haigh (UK)A Perfect Day, Fernando León de Aranoa (Spa)Rams, Grímur Hákonarson (Ice-Den)The Measure Of A Man, Stéphane Brizé (Fra)Mediterranea, Jonas Carpignano (Ita-us-Ger-Fra-Qat)Mustang, Deniz Gamze Ergüven (Fra-Ger-Tur-Qat)Son Of Saul, László Nemes (Hun)Toto And His Sisters, Alexander Nanău (Rom-Hun-Ger)The Lesson, Kristina Grozeva and [link...
The official selection of films competing for the European Parliament’s 2015 Lux Prize has been unveiled at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Kviff) (July 3-11).
At a packed event on the terrace of Karlovy Vary’s Hotel Thermal on Sunday night, the ten films were unveiled by European Parliament Committee on Legal affairs chair Pavel Svoboda, European Parliament Committee on Culture and Education member Bogdan Wenta, Lux Prize coordinator Doris Pack and Kviff’s artistic director and Lux Prize Selection panel member Karel Och.
The ten films are:
45 Years, Andrew Haigh (UK)A Perfect Day, Fernando León de Aranoa (Spa)Rams, Grímur Hákonarson (Ice-Den)The Measure Of A Man, Stéphane Brizé (Fra)Mediterranea, Jonas Carpignano (Ita-us-Ger-Fra-Qat)Mustang, Deniz Gamze Ergüven (Fra-Ger-Tur-Qat)Son Of Saul, László Nemes (Hun)Toto And His Sisters, Alexander Nanău (Rom-Hun-Ger)The Lesson, Kristina Grozeva and [link...
- 7/6/2015
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Ida has continued its winning streak by being voted as the winner of the eighth Lux Film Prize by members of the European Parliament.
The Polish-Danish co-production was announced as the winner against 2014’s other two finalists — Rok Bicek’s Class Enemy and Céline Sciamma’s Girlhood — during the parliamentary plenary session in Strasbourg today (Dec 17).
Speaking after accepting the award from the hands of European Parliament president Martin Schulz, Ida’s director Pawel Pawlikowski said the award came just three days after receiving the European Film 2014 statuette in Riga, “which, I suppose, makes it officially the most Europeanist of European films this year.”
He suggested that this was not so surprising given his personal biography and the fact that he had “somehow contrived to live and work in five different European countries in one lifetime.”
“Ida – a small black-and-white film, with unknown actors, with no musical score and a camera that doesn’t move – it actually...
The Polish-Danish co-production was announced as the winner against 2014’s other two finalists — Rok Bicek’s Class Enemy and Céline Sciamma’s Girlhood — during the parliamentary plenary session in Strasbourg today (Dec 17).
Speaking after accepting the award from the hands of European Parliament president Martin Schulz, Ida’s director Pawel Pawlikowski said the award came just three days after receiving the European Film 2014 statuette in Riga, “which, I suppose, makes it officially the most Europeanist of European films this year.”
He suggested that this was not so surprising given his personal biography and the fact that he had “somehow contrived to live and work in five different European countries in one lifetime.”
“Ida – a small black-and-white film, with unknown actors, with no musical score and a camera that doesn’t move – it actually...
- 12/17/2014
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Other winners include Assaf Korman’s Next To Her.
The 30th Haifa Film Festival (Oct 9-18) in Israel has closed with the Best Picture Award handed to Next to Her (At li Layla), Assaf Korman’s debut feature
A jury including Hamburg Film Festival director albert Wiederspiel and Hungarian filmmaker Szabolcs Hajdu, added a Best Script distinction for Liron Ben Shlush, who plays one of the leads in the film, first unveiled earlier this year in Cannes’ Directors Fortnight.
Cannes screenplay winner Leviathan won the Fedeora Film Critics’ Award with director Andrey Zvyagintsev, who was the festival’s guest of honour, presenting a full retrospective of his films.
Sophie Arthuis’ The Valley collected the First Film Award as well as a Best Actor for Nave Tsur.
For Best Actress, the jury picked Levana Finkelstein for her performance in The Farewell Party (Mita Tova), a black comedy which scored high notes at its Venice and Toronto shows and is...
The 30th Haifa Film Festival (Oct 9-18) in Israel has closed with the Best Picture Award handed to Next to Her (At li Layla), Assaf Korman’s debut feature
A jury including Hamburg Film Festival director albert Wiederspiel and Hungarian filmmaker Szabolcs Hajdu, added a Best Script distinction for Liron Ben Shlush, who plays one of the leads in the film, first unveiled earlier this year in Cannes’ Directors Fortnight.
Cannes screenplay winner Leviathan won the Fedeora Film Critics’ Award with director Andrey Zvyagintsev, who was the festival’s guest of honour, presenting a full retrospective of his films.
Sophie Arthuis’ The Valley collected the First Film Award as well as a Best Actor for Nave Tsur.
For Best Actress, the jury picked Levana Finkelstein for her performance in The Farewell Party (Mita Tova), a black comedy which scored high notes at its Venice and Toronto shows and is...
- 10/20/2014
- by dfainaru@netvision.net.il (Edna Fainaru)
- ScreenDaily
Olivier Assayas’ Cloud of Sils Maria will open European Film Promotion’s (Efp) second edition of its WestWind showcase of European cinema in Moscow’s Formula Kino Horizont Cinema tonight.
German actor Lars Eidinger, who appears in the French-us co-production with Kristen Stewart and Juliette Binoche, will come from the shooting of Alexey Uchitel’s historical drama-thriller Mathilde (working title) to attend the screening for a Q&A.
Clouds of Sils Maria was shown at last week’s International Media Forum in St Petersburg and will be released theatrically in Russia by Cinema Prestige.
Running until Oct 19, Efp’s event will present 11 European films to Moscow audiences, including two Oscar candidates - Germany’s Beloved Sisters by Dominik Graf and the Czech Republic’s Fair Play by Andrea Sedlackova - as well as Rok Bicek’s Class Enemy, Ragnar Bragason’s Metalhead and Petra Volpe’s Dreamland.
Other talent attending WestWind include Slovenian director Bicek, actresses [link=nm...
German actor Lars Eidinger, who appears in the French-us co-production with Kristen Stewart and Juliette Binoche, will come from the shooting of Alexey Uchitel’s historical drama-thriller Mathilde (working title) to attend the screening for a Q&A.
Clouds of Sils Maria was shown at last week’s International Media Forum in St Petersburg and will be released theatrically in Russia by Cinema Prestige.
Running until Oct 19, Efp’s event will present 11 European films to Moscow audiences, including two Oscar candidates - Germany’s Beloved Sisters by Dominik Graf and the Czech Republic’s Fair Play by Andrea Sedlackova - as well as Rok Bicek’s Class Enemy, Ragnar Bragason’s Metalhead and Petra Volpe’s Dreamland.
Other talent attending WestWind include Slovenian director Bicek, actresses [link=nm...
- 10/15/2014
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
The cast from Lux prize contender Girlhood Every year in Karlovy Vary the European Parliament announces the contenders for the Lux prize which is designed to celebrate “the richness, diversity and excellence of European cinema.”
This year’s crop includes no less than five features that deal with the challenges faced by young people in Europe. The films are Celine Sciamma’s Girlhood (Bande de filles) from France; The Wonders (Le Meraviglie) by Alice Rohrwacher from Italy; Class Enemy (Razredni Sovraznik) by Rok Bicek from Slovenia; Xenia by Panos H Koutras from Greece, and Jaime Rosales’ Beautiful Youth (Hermosa Juventud) from Spain.
Two other titles in the selection had younger people in prominent roles: Kornel Mundruczo’s White God (Hungary, Germany, Sweden) and Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida (Poland, Denmark). The rest of the selection comprises Dietrich Brueggemann’s Stations Of The Cross (Germany), Sudabeh Mortezai’s Macondo (Austria) and Ruben Ostlund’s Force Majeure (Sweden,...
This year’s crop includes no less than five features that deal with the challenges faced by young people in Europe. The films are Celine Sciamma’s Girlhood (Bande de filles) from France; The Wonders (Le Meraviglie) by Alice Rohrwacher from Italy; Class Enemy (Razredni Sovraznik) by Rok Bicek from Slovenia; Xenia by Panos H Koutras from Greece, and Jaime Rosales’ Beautiful Youth (Hermosa Juventud) from Spain.
Two other titles in the selection had younger people in prominent roles: Kornel Mundruczo’s White God (Hungary, Germany, Sweden) and Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida (Poland, Denmark). The rest of the selection comprises Dietrich Brueggemann’s Stations Of The Cross (Germany), Sudabeh Mortezai’s Macondo (Austria) and Ruben Ostlund’s Force Majeure (Sweden,...
- 7/8/2014
- by Richard Mowe
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
UK film-makers are in the spotlight at the fifth edition of Vologda’s Voices festival (July 4-8), which will open with Ken Loach’s Cannes Competition film Jimmy’s Hall.
British actress Justine Waddell, who learnt Russian for her role in Alexander Zeldovich’s Target (Mishen), will join the competition’s international jury, including Moscow Film Festival programme director Kirill Razlogov, Russian actress Olga Sutulova, and Armenian-French actor-director-producer Serge Avedikian, with writer-director Svetlana Proskurina as jury chairperson.
The competition line-up of 10 first and second features are as follows:
Life Feels Good, dir: Maciej Pieprzyca, PolandStill Life, dir: Uberto Pasolini, UKClass Enemy, dir: Rok Bicek, SloveniaBlind, dir: Eskil Vogt, NorwayStereo, dir: Maximilian Erlenwein, GermanyThe Art Of Happiness, dir: Alessandro Rak, ItalyWolf, dir: Jim Taihuttu, The NetherlandsTo See The Sea, dir: Jirí Mádl, Czech RepublicWhen Animals Dream, dir: Jonas Alexander Arnby, DenmarkSkinless, dir: Vladimir Beck, Russia.
Sidebars include the out-of-competition European section with such films as The Great Beauty...
British actress Justine Waddell, who learnt Russian for her role in Alexander Zeldovich’s Target (Mishen), will join the competition’s international jury, including Moscow Film Festival programme director Kirill Razlogov, Russian actress Olga Sutulova, and Armenian-French actor-director-producer Serge Avedikian, with writer-director Svetlana Proskurina as jury chairperson.
The competition line-up of 10 first and second features are as follows:
Life Feels Good, dir: Maciej Pieprzyca, PolandStill Life, dir: Uberto Pasolini, UKClass Enemy, dir: Rok Bicek, SloveniaBlind, dir: Eskil Vogt, NorwayStereo, dir: Maximilian Erlenwein, GermanyThe Art Of Happiness, dir: Alessandro Rak, ItalyWolf, dir: Jim Taihuttu, The NetherlandsTo See The Sea, dir: Jirí Mádl, Czech RepublicWhen Animals Dream, dir: Jonas Alexander Arnby, DenmarkSkinless, dir: Vladimir Beck, Russia.
Sidebars include the out-of-competition European section with such films as The Great Beauty...
- 7/1/2014
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
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The first feature from Slovenian Director, Rok Bicek is a powerful meditation on grief, tolerance and victimisation. Set in a very liberally-minded secondary school, Class Enemy follows the brief career of Robert Zupon as a substitute, a German teacher acting as maternity cover for Nusa (Masa Derganc), a well-loved mother figure for her adoring but troubled class.
Arriving at the school Mr Zupon (Igor Samobar) is warned of a tragedy one of his form group has recently experienced; something has happened to Luka (Voranc Boh) but he's chosen to return early to class, despite mention of intervention by the school psychologist. Exactly what has occurred remains a mystery to viewers until one of Zupon's students commits suicide.
Initial assessments by Zupon of his new class view them as “excitable,...
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The first feature from Slovenian Director, Rok Bicek is a powerful meditation on grief, tolerance and victimisation. Set in a very liberally-minded secondary school, Class Enemy follows the brief career of Robert Zupon as a substitute, a German teacher acting as maternity cover for Nusa (Masa Derganc), a well-loved mother figure for her adoring but troubled class.
Arriving at the school Mr Zupon (Igor Samobar) is warned of a tragedy one of his form group has recently experienced; something has happened to Luka (Voranc Boh) but he's chosen to return early to class, despite mention of intervention by the school psychologist. Exactly what has occurred remains a mystery to viewers until one of Zupon's students commits suicide.
Initial assessments by Zupon of his new class view them as “excitable,...
- 5/7/2014
- Shadowlocked
The East End Film Festival returns to the city of London this summer celebrating its thirteenth year, and running in the height of the World Cup, Director Alison Poltock says she’s determined to make it the festival’s best year ever.
Opening on Friday, 13th June, the festival will run in East London for thirteen days, playing host to over 100 feature narrative and documentary films, and close to 100 shorts, the majority of which will be either World, UK, or London premieres.
Ross Clarke’s sophomore feature, Dermaphormia, will kick events off as the Opening Night Gala selection. Clarke has lined up an impressive cast for his first narrative film, following his award-winning documentary Skid Row, led by Joseph Morgan (The Vampire Diaries), Nicole Badaan, Walton Goggins (Django Unchained), Lucius Falick, Ron Perlman (Hellboy), Anwan Glover (The Wire), and Kate Walsh (Grey’s Anatomy). The crime-thriller centres on an experimental...
Opening on Friday, 13th June, the festival will run in East London for thirteen days, playing host to over 100 feature narrative and documentary films, and close to 100 shorts, the majority of which will be either World, UK, or London premieres.
Ross Clarke’s sophomore feature, Dermaphormia, will kick events off as the Opening Night Gala selection. Clarke has lined up an impressive cast for his first narrative film, following his award-winning documentary Skid Row, led by Joseph Morgan (The Vampire Diaries), Nicole Badaan, Walton Goggins (Django Unchained), Lucius Falick, Ron Perlman (Hellboy), Anwan Glover (The Wire), and Kate Walsh (Grey’s Anatomy). The crime-thriller centres on an experimental...
- 5/7/2014
- by Kenji Lloyd
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The second installment of the First Time Fest, the Second Time Around, took place in New York City from April 3rd to April 7th where ten first time filmmakers were able to showcase their films and possibly be in competition to receive distribution of their films by Cinema Libre Studios. Since its debut in March of last year, the First Time Fest has grown to honor and embrace first time filmmakers for their efforts in trying to make their first work and trying to get recognized in an ever difficult field of art.
Johanna Bennett and Mandy Ward thought up of the idea for this type of film festival seven years ago when they realized that no other event had honored the first time filmmaker. Taking this idea in mind, they agreed to bring these newcomers to the field and give them advice as well as bring them closer to...
Johanna Bennett and Mandy Ward thought up of the idea for this type of film festival seven years ago when they realized that no other event had honored the first time filmmaker. Taking this idea in mind, they agreed to bring these newcomers to the field and give them advice as well as bring them closer to...
- 4/21/2014
- by Catherina Gioino
- Nerdly
First Time Fest, a film festival that celebrates and supports first time filmmakers, wrapped up its second edition on April 7 with a closing night awards ceremony held at 42West nightclub. During the festival, besides Josephine Decker's psychological horror film Butter on the Latch (read my review here), I was able to catch three other great features. Tommy Oliver's 1982, set in Philadelphia in the titular year at the onset of the crack epidemic, is a semi-autobiographical and emotionally moving film featuring a great central performance by Hill Harper. Harper plays a man struggling to raise his daughter while dealing with his wife's raging crack addiction, and the film itself has beautiful visual textures and a realistic-feeling sense of its time and place. Rok Bicek's Class Enemy,...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 4/9/2014
- Screen Anarchy
Class Enemy won the top prize at Bradford Film Festival The 20th edition of the Bradford International Film Festival came to a close today with the announcement of its awards.
The winner of the Bradford Unesco City Of Film European Competition was Class Enemy, directed by Rok Bicek and co-written by Nejc Gazvoda and Janez Lapajne, which tells the story of a teacher whose pupils rebel after tragedy hits the school.
The blackly comic short Cadet, directed by Kevin Meul, was named the winner of the 2014 Shine Short Film Competition. Meanwhile, the Best Of Biff competition - which saw audiences vote for their favourite British film at the festival from the past 20 years - went to Martin McDonagh's In Bruges.
The final day of the festival also saw actor Brian Cox take part in a screen talk and receive his Lifetime Achievement Award. Other highlights of this year's festival...
The winner of the Bradford Unesco City Of Film European Competition was Class Enemy, directed by Rok Bicek and co-written by Nejc Gazvoda and Janez Lapajne, which tells the story of a teacher whose pupils rebel after tragedy hits the school.
The blackly comic short Cadet, directed by Kevin Meul, was named the winner of the 2014 Shine Short Film Competition. Meanwhile, the Best Of Biff competition - which saw audiences vote for their favourite British film at the festival from the past 20 years - went to Martin McDonagh's In Bruges.
The final day of the festival also saw actor Brian Cox take part in a screen talk and receive his Lifetime Achievement Award. Other highlights of this year's festival...
- 4/6/2014
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Romania was the big winner at Vilnius’ Kino Pavasaris (Cinema Spring) festival with Tudor Cristian Jurgiu’s feature debut Japanese Dog was named Best Film in the New Europe - New Names competition.
A Romanian producer present in Vilnius expressed the hope that this latest success - after winning veteran actor Viktor Rebengiuc a Gopo Award in Bucharest last month - would spur his national film fund Cnc on to showing more support for its filmmakers.
However, Romania’s filmmaking community is still waiting in vain for the Cnc to announce the results of its latest competition for funding of film projects.
Awards for Blind Dates, Ida
The competition jury of Japanese actress Kaori Momoi, Latvian film-maker Laila Pakalnina, and festival programmers Verena von Stackelberg, Ludmila Cvikova and Dimitris Kerkinos, gave their Best Director statuette to Levan Koguashvili’s Blind Dates.
The acting honours went to Igor Samobor, the new teacher in Rok Bicek’s Class Enemy, and...
A Romanian producer present in Vilnius expressed the hope that this latest success - after winning veteran actor Viktor Rebengiuc a Gopo Award in Bucharest last month - would spur his national film fund Cnc on to showing more support for its filmmakers.
However, Romania’s filmmaking community is still waiting in vain for the Cnc to announce the results of its latest competition for funding of film projects.
Awards for Blind Dates, Ida
The competition jury of Japanese actress Kaori Momoi, Latvian film-maker Laila Pakalnina, and festival programmers Verena von Stackelberg, Ludmila Cvikova and Dimitris Kerkinos, gave their Best Director statuette to Levan Koguashvili’s Blind Dates.
The acting honours went to Igor Samobor, the new teacher in Rok Bicek’s Class Enemy, and...
- 4/4/2014
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
While we could wish it had a less punny title, “Class Enemy,” the debut feature film from Slovenian shorts filmmaker Rok Bicek is in almost every other way exemplary. Unashamedly cerebral, the film’s cool intelligence shows most in its control and formal rigor that encourage the audience—whose sympathies are expertly maneuvered to lie first on one side, then on the other, and then possibly nowhere at all—to read the story on levels above and beyond what is shown on screen. So while the film itself is extremely contained, almost to the point of claustrophobia, its scope feels large, epic almost, as we are provoked to think about what it means if we substitute the characters for what they might perhaps represent. And while it occasionally flirts with a kind of psychodramatic horror, Haneke-style, mostly it’s a master class in narrative restraint, that still somehow grips your...
- 1/31/2014
- by Jessica Kiang
- The Playlist
Best Foreign Language Film Oscar 2014 submissions (photo: Ziyi Zhang in ‘The Grandmaster’) (See previous post: Best Foreign Language Film Oscar: ‘The Past,’ ‘Wadjda,’ Andrzej Wajda Among Omissions) In case you missed it, here’s the full list of submissions (in alphabetical order, per country) for the 2014 Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award. The list of contenders was originally announced on October 7, 2013. Of note: Saudi Arabia and Moldova were first-timers; Montenegro was a first-timer as an independent country. Afghanistan, Wajma — An Afghan Love Story, Barmak Akram, director; Albania, Agon, Robert Budina, director; Argentina, The German Doctor, Lucía Puenzo, director; Australia, The Rocket, Kim Mordaunt, director; Austria, The Wall, Julian Pölsler, director; Azerbaijan, Steppe Man, Shamil Aliyev, director; Bangladesh, Television, Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, director; Belgium, The Broken Circle Breakdown, Felix van Groeningen, director; Bosnia and Herzegovina, An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker, Danis Tanovic, director; Brazil, Neighboring Sounds, Kleber Mendonça Filho,...
- 12/25/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Pawel Pawlikowski’s Polish nun drama adds to a growing haul of prizes. Other winners include Starred Up and Of Horses and Men
Ida picked up the Crystal Arrow at the 5th Les Arcs European Film Festival (Dec 14-21) in the French Alps last night.
The Best Actress Prize was jointly awarded to Ida’s Agata Trzebuchowska and Agata Kulesza. Trzebuchowska, who plays the titular role, collected the trophy at the awards ceremony
They are the latest in a string of top awards for the film, directed by Paweł Pawlikowski, which tells the story of a novitiate nun in 1960s Poland who is on the verge of taking her vows when she discovers a dark family secret dating back to the Nazi occupation.
It marks the first Polish-language film for Warsaw-born British filmmaker Pawlikowski, best known for The Last Resort and BAFTA-award winning My Summer of Love.
The film has picked up prizes at festivals around the world...
Ida picked up the Crystal Arrow at the 5th Les Arcs European Film Festival (Dec 14-21) in the French Alps last night.
The Best Actress Prize was jointly awarded to Ida’s Agata Trzebuchowska and Agata Kulesza. Trzebuchowska, who plays the titular role, collected the trophy at the awards ceremony
They are the latest in a string of top awards for the film, directed by Paweł Pawlikowski, which tells the story of a novitiate nun in 1960s Poland who is on the verge of taking her vows when she discovers a dark family secret dating back to the Nazi occupation.
It marks the first Polish-language film for Warsaw-born British filmmaker Pawlikowski, best known for The Last Resort and BAFTA-award winning My Summer of Love.
The film has picked up prizes at festivals around the world...
- 12/21/2013
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Top brass at the 25th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (Psiff) have announced a new programme on Canadian Cinema as well as the traditionally strong roster of foreign-language films eligible for the Fipresci Award in the Awards Buzz section, and Modern Masters.
The festival will screen 45 of the 76 official foreign-language Oscar submissions under the umbrella of Awards Buzz.
“We’ve selected Canadian films for a special focus at this year’s festival for many reasons, not the least of which is the wealth of talent emerging from its relatively small, indigenous film industry, and the depth and richness of story and character portrayal its films exemplify,” said festival director Darryl Macdonald.
“Whether it’s established auteurs like Denis Coté, Denis Villenueve and Atom Egoyan, gifted actor-directors like Don McKellar and Sarah Polley or newly emerging talents like Chloé Robichaud, Craig Goodwill and Sébastien Pilote, Canadian creative ingenuity is on abundant display in its films. All of this...
The festival will screen 45 of the 76 official foreign-language Oscar submissions under the umbrella of Awards Buzz.
“We’ve selected Canadian films for a special focus at this year’s festival for many reasons, not the least of which is the wealth of talent emerging from its relatively small, indigenous film industry, and the depth and richness of story and character portrayal its films exemplify,” said festival director Darryl Macdonald.
“Whether it’s established auteurs like Denis Coté, Denis Villenueve and Atom Egoyan, gifted actor-directors like Don McKellar and Sarah Polley or newly emerging talents like Chloé Robichaud, Craig Goodwill and Sébastien Pilote, Canadian creative ingenuity is on abundant display in its films. All of this...
- 12/12/2013
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
Films from former socialist bloc countries swept the awards at the 26th Panorama of European Cinema Festival in Athens.
Alexandra Strelyanaya’s The Sea, a Russian production by Alexey Uchitel, received the best film award.
The film is a sentimental drama with social and environmental overtones set in the Russian Kola peninsula on the North Sea coast.
Class Enemy by Slovenian Rok Bicek, in which students and teachers clash at a high school, received the Fipresci award.
Withering by Milos Pusic, a Serbian-Swedish-Swiss co-production about a young villager’s efforts to escape poverty by emigrating to Switzerland, received the audience award.
A career award was presented to local director Yorgos Tsemberopoulos, back from the UK where his latest The Enemy Within played at the London Film Festival.
Other career awards went to veteran art director Anastasia Arseni and celebrated theatre and film actor Minas Hatzissavas.
The festival, steered by artistic director Ninos Fenek Mikelides, featured more than...
Alexandra Strelyanaya’s The Sea, a Russian production by Alexey Uchitel, received the best film award.
The film is a sentimental drama with social and environmental overtones set in the Russian Kola peninsula on the North Sea coast.
Class Enemy by Slovenian Rok Bicek, in which students and teachers clash at a high school, received the Fipresci award.
Withering by Milos Pusic, a Serbian-Swedish-Swiss co-production about a young villager’s efforts to escape poverty by emigrating to Switzerland, received the audience award.
A career award was presented to local director Yorgos Tsemberopoulos, back from the UK where his latest The Enemy Within played at the London Film Festival.
Other career awards went to veteran art director Anastasia Arseni and celebrated theatre and film actor Minas Hatzissavas.
The festival, steered by artistic director Ninos Fenek Mikelides, featured more than...
- 11/28/2013
- by alexisgrivas@yahoo.com (Alexis Grivas)
- ScreenDaily
Love is the Perfect Crime and The Notebook among competition titles.Scoll down for competition line-up
France’s end-of-year, alpine Les Arcs European Film Festival has unveiled the line-up for its fifth edition (Dec 14-21).
In a joint statement, the event’s Paris-based co-founders Pierre Emmanuel Fleurantin and Guillaume Calop, who both hail from Les Arcs, said: “Les Arcs is celebrating its fifth year. It’s been five years of cinephile pleasures, surprises, discoveries, snowflakes, faith, hard work and storms - both figuratively and literally.”
A total of 12 titles selected by artistic director Frédéric Boyer will compete for the festival’s top prize, the Crystal Arrow. The international jury will be announced at a later date.
The contenders include French Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu’s Love is the Perfect Crime, which also opens the festival, Hungary’s foreign language Oscar submission The Notebook by Janos Szasz, Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida and Bosnian Jamila Zbanic’s For Those Who Can Tell No Tales about...
France’s end-of-year, alpine Les Arcs European Film Festival has unveiled the line-up for its fifth edition (Dec 14-21).
In a joint statement, the event’s Paris-based co-founders Pierre Emmanuel Fleurantin and Guillaume Calop, who both hail from Les Arcs, said: “Les Arcs is celebrating its fifth year. It’s been five years of cinephile pleasures, surprises, discoveries, snowflakes, faith, hard work and storms - both figuratively and literally.”
A total of 12 titles selected by artistic director Frédéric Boyer will compete for the festival’s top prize, the Crystal Arrow. The international jury will be announced at a later date.
The contenders include French Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu’s Love is the Perfect Crime, which also opens the festival, Hungary’s foreign language Oscar submission The Notebook by Janos Szasz, Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida and Bosnian Jamila Zbanic’s For Those Who Can Tell No Tales about...
- 11/6/2013
- ScreenDaily
Love is the Perfect Crime [pictured] and The Notebook among competition titles.
France’s end-of-year, alpine Les Arcs European Film Festival has unveiled the line-up for its fifth edition running Dec 14-21.
“Les Arcs is celebrating its fifth year! It’s been a first five years of cinephile pleasures, surprises, discoveries, snowflakes, faith and hard work, and storms - both figuratively and literally,” said the event’s Paris-based co-founders Pierre Emmanuel Fleurantin and Guillaume Calop, who both hail from Les Arcs, said in a joint statement.
A total of 12 titles selected by artistic director Frédéric Boyer will compete for the festival’s top prize, the Crystal Arrow. The international jury will be announced at a later date.
The contenders comprise French Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu’s Love is the Perfect Crime, which also opens the festival, Hungary’s foreign language Oscar submission The Notebook by Janos Szasz, Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida and Bosnian Jamila Zbanic’s For Those Who Can Tell No Tales about...
France’s end-of-year, alpine Les Arcs European Film Festival has unveiled the line-up for its fifth edition running Dec 14-21.
“Les Arcs is celebrating its fifth year! It’s been a first five years of cinephile pleasures, surprises, discoveries, snowflakes, faith and hard work, and storms - both figuratively and literally,” said the event’s Paris-based co-founders Pierre Emmanuel Fleurantin and Guillaume Calop, who both hail from Les Arcs, said in a joint statement.
A total of 12 titles selected by artistic director Frédéric Boyer will compete for the festival’s top prize, the Crystal Arrow. The international jury will be announced at a later date.
The contenders comprise French Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu’s Love is the Perfect Crime, which also opens the festival, Hungary’s foreign language Oscar submission The Notebook by Janos Szasz, Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida and Bosnian Jamila Zbanic’s For Those Who Can Tell No Tales about...
- 11/6/2013
- ScreenDaily
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its shortlist for the 2014 Foreign Language Film Oscar — totaling a not-so-short 76 submitted films.
The number, up from 71 films last year, sets a new record for the category and includes frontrunners such as Asghar Farhadi’s The Past from Iran, Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt from Denmark, and Wong Kar-Wai’s The Grandmaster from Hong Kong. Abdellatif Kechiche’s festival favorite lesbian drama Blue Is the Warmest Color from France, however, failed to make the cut-off date for eligibility, while India controversially submitted Gyan Correa’s The Good Road over Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox.
The number, up from 71 films last year, sets a new record for the category and includes frontrunners such as Asghar Farhadi’s The Past from Iran, Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt from Denmark, and Wong Kar-Wai’s The Grandmaster from Hong Kong. Abdellatif Kechiche’s festival favorite lesbian drama Blue Is the Warmest Color from France, however, failed to make the cut-off date for eligibility, while India controversially submitted Gyan Correa’s The Good Road over Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox.
- 10/8/2013
- by Shirley Li
- EW - Inside Movies
The Academy officially announced today that a record 76 countries have submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category for the 2014 Oscars. Among those submitting, Moldova and Saudi Arabia are first-time entrants and this is the first time Montenegro has submitted a film as an independent country. Based solely on name recognition alone I'd say Thomas Vinterberg's The Hunt (Denmark) and Asghar Farhadi's The Past (Iran) will be looked at as front-runners. However, I haven't only seen a few of the titles on this list, another of which is Mexico's entry, Heli from Amat Escalante. I have heard good things about Borgman (Netherlands) and it will be interesting to see how Haifaa al-Mansour's Wadjda is treated as it is a story unto itself, not to mention it seems to be receiving high marks from those that have seen it. I'm personally hoping to catch it soon...
- 10/7/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has released the list of the 76 countries and their submissions officially competing for the 2014 Foreign Language Film Oscar.
Amongst the high profile entries this year are Australia's "The Rocket," Denmark's "The Hunt," France's "Renoir," Wong Kar-wai's "The Grandmaster," Iran's "The Past," and Saudi Arabia's "Wadjda".
The nominations will be announced on January 16th 2014 ahead of the ceremony on March 2nd. Here is the complete list:
Afghanistan, "Wajma – An Afghan Love Story," Barmak Akram
Albania, "Agon," Robert Budina
Argentina, "The German Doctor," Lucía Puenzo
Australia, "The Rocket," Kim Mordaunt
Austria, "The Wall," Julian Pölsler
Azerbaijan, "Steppe Man," Shamil Aliyev
Bangladesh, "Television," Mostofa Sarwar Farooki
Belgium, "The Broken Circle Breakdown," Felix van Groeningen
Bosnia and Herzegovina, "An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker," Danis Tanovic
Brazil, "Neighboring Sounds," Kleber Mendonça Filho
Bulgaria, "The Color of the Chameleon," Emil Hristov
Cambodia, "The Missing Picture,...
Amongst the high profile entries this year are Australia's "The Rocket," Denmark's "The Hunt," France's "Renoir," Wong Kar-wai's "The Grandmaster," Iran's "The Past," and Saudi Arabia's "Wadjda".
The nominations will be announced on January 16th 2014 ahead of the ceremony on March 2nd. Here is the complete list:
Afghanistan, "Wajma – An Afghan Love Story," Barmak Akram
Albania, "Agon," Robert Budina
Argentina, "The German Doctor," Lucía Puenzo
Australia, "The Rocket," Kim Mordaunt
Austria, "The Wall," Julian Pölsler
Azerbaijan, "Steppe Man," Shamil Aliyev
Bangladesh, "Television," Mostofa Sarwar Farooki
Belgium, "The Broken Circle Breakdown," Felix van Groeningen
Bosnia and Herzegovina, "An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker," Danis Tanovic
Brazil, "Neighboring Sounds," Kleber Mendonça Filho
Bulgaria, "The Color of the Chameleon," Emil Hristov
Cambodia, "The Missing Picture,...
- 10/7/2013
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
A record 76 countries have submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category for the 86th Academy Awards®.
Moldova and Saudi Arabia are first-time entrants; Montenegro is submitting for the first time as an independent country.
The 2013 submissions are:
Afghanistan, “Wajma – An Afghan Love Story,” Barmak Akram, director;
Albania, “Agon,” Robert Budina, director;
Argentina, “The German Doctor,” Lucía Puenzo, director;
Australia, “The Rocket,” Kim Mordaunt, director;
Austria, “The Wall,” Julian Pölsler, director;
Azerbaijan, “Steppe Man,” Shamil Aliyev, director;
Bangladesh, “Television,” Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, director;
Belgium, “The Broken Circle Breakdown,” Felix van Groeningen, director;
Bosnia and Herzegovina, “An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker,” Danis Tanovic, director;
Brazil, “Neighboring Sounds,” Kleber Mendonça Filho, director;
Bulgaria, “The Color of the Chameleon,” Emil Hristov, director;
Cambodia, “The Missing Picture,” Rithy Panh, director;
Canada, “Gabrielle,” Louise Archambault, director;
Chad, “GriGris,” Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, director;
Chile, “Gloria,” Sebastián Lelio, director;
China, “Back to 1942,” Feng Xiaogang,...
Moldova and Saudi Arabia are first-time entrants; Montenegro is submitting for the first time as an independent country.
The 2013 submissions are:
Afghanistan, “Wajma – An Afghan Love Story,” Barmak Akram, director;
Albania, “Agon,” Robert Budina, director;
Argentina, “The German Doctor,” Lucía Puenzo, director;
Australia, “The Rocket,” Kim Mordaunt, director;
Austria, “The Wall,” Julian Pölsler, director;
Azerbaijan, “Steppe Man,” Shamil Aliyev, director;
Bangladesh, “Television,” Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, director;
Belgium, “The Broken Circle Breakdown,” Felix van Groeningen, director;
Bosnia and Herzegovina, “An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker,” Danis Tanovic, director;
Brazil, “Neighboring Sounds,” Kleber Mendonça Filho, director;
Bulgaria, “The Color of the Chameleon,” Emil Hristov, director;
Cambodia, “The Missing Picture,” Rithy Panh, director;
Canada, “Gabrielle,” Louise Archambault, director;
Chad, “GriGris,” Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, director;
Chile, “Gloria,” Sebastián Lelio, director;
China, “Back to 1942,” Feng Xiaogang,...
- 10/7/2013
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Denmark Selects 'The Hunt' & Hong Kong 'Grandmaster' as Foreign List for the 2014 Oscars Grows to 57
It had been a while since I last updated the list of films submitted for the 2014 Oscar race for Best Foreign Language Feature, but today I bring you 21 new titles as the list has now grown to 57 total films. Perhaps the most notable of the films added today is Thomas Vinterberg's The Hunt starring Mads Mikkelsen. The film played the 2012 Cannes Film Festival but it wasn't released in the Netherlands until late October last year, which means it missed the eligibility date by about a month. The Hunt won Mikkelsen the award for Best Actor in Cannes last year and I finally saw it earlier this year, calling it "one of the best films of the year" with a "masterclass performance from Mikkelsen." You can read my full review here. Additional titles worth of note include Hong Kong's submission of Wong Kar-wai's The Grandmaster and Italy's submission of...
- 9/26/2013
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Rome – The first awards at the Venice Film Festival were announced Friday, with Stephen Frears’ Philomena winning the Queer Lion award for the best portrayal of a gay character while Bethlehem from Israel’s Yuval Adler won the Venice Days section of the festival, and Class Enemy from Slovenian director Rok Bicek was selected as the best film in the Critics’ Week sidebar. Additionally, Alexandros Avranas’ Miss Violence, about a family dealing with the suicide of a young girl, was selected as the Fedeora prize for the best film from the Mediterranean region. Ana Arabia, which tells the story of a small
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- 9/6/2013
- by Eric J. Lyman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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