Yes, it's true - we have opened the film submission for the 23rd edition of Black Nights and both of our sub-festivals - youth and children's festival Just Film and animation and short film festival PÖFF Shorts!

We had over 2400 feature-length and over 4000 short and animation submissions last year. Let's see if we can top this!

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival will run from the 15th of November until the 1st of December.

CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT YOUR FILM

NEWS FROM THE FEST CIRCUIT

Wondering what happened next to the films that were screened at the last edition of Black Nights? We'd like to share some updates from the international festival circuit regarding the alumni of our last year's competition programmes. The Grand Prix and Best Music award winner Wandering Girl (Colombia-France) by director Ruben Mendoza has just opened Colombia's Festival Internacional de Cine de Cartagena de Indias, having also played at Miami and Havana, screening next at Malaga film festival. The film was praised in Tallinn by the jury led by Andrea Pallaoro and critics writing for magazines such as Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Screen Daily and Cineuropa. Another favourite of the jury and critics, Cronofobia (Switzerland) by Francesco Rizzi that played in the First Feature Competition where it won the Special Jury Prize, went on to win the best director and script awards at Max Ophüls festival and has been selected to several well-known festivals, including Hongkong IFF. Read the reviews in Screen Daily and Variety. ESTONIAN FILM AND TELEVISION AWARDS

Film still: The Little Comrade

We are extremely glad to have screened so many nominees of the Estonian Film and Theatre awards of 2019, including all the Best Film nominees Take it or Leave it, The Little Comrade and Eia's Christmas Mission that had its world premiere as the opening film of the children's and youth film festival Just Film. We are also rooting for the Best Documentary entry Ahto. Chasing Dreams that was awarded the Best Estonian Film award at the last edition of Black Nights.

CHECK OUT THE FULL LIST OF NOMINEES HERE

17 debut film projects will be presented at the Coming Soon sessions during the 10th edition of Meeting Point – Vilnius (MPV). The international audiovisual event will take place April 2–4, during VIFF Kino Pavasaris.

11 fiction and 6 documentary in development features by debuting filmmakers will be presented to a jury comprising of film producers, agents, distributors and festival representatives during special Coming Soon pitching sessions on April 3.

“We are absolutely delighted to have received many applications from all around Europe. This year, we have chosen 17 feature films that cover various stories, narratives and genres. Moreover, I am very pleased that 7 of the selected features are directed by women and 13 are produced by them,” says MPV coordinator Alessandra Pastore.

The lineup includes films from Albania, Italy, Czech Republic, Latvia, Moldova, Hungary, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, Poland, France, Lithuania, Sweden, Germany, Romania and Brazil.

From comedies to dark psychological thrillers

The Coming Soon pitching sessions will include Jonid Jorrgji’s comedic road movie imbued with Albanian culture The Lions Heading Venice. The film analyses the concept of faithfulness and the creativity that emerges in liminal situations. Debuting director Antontio Lukich will present a mixture of comedy and drama in his first feature My Thoughts Are Silent. Co-produced with Alla Belaya and Dmytro Sukhanov, the story depicts a man who feels trapped and is eager to escape Ukraine. Most of the film’s comic relief comes from the contrast between its main characters, the introverted son and his extroverted mother.

Another entry comes from Poland, directed by Daria Woszek and produced by Marcin Lech. Marygoround uses dark humour to dissect societal norms, traps and a woman reborn. Vlada Senkova’s first feature Thrillseekers combines comedy and drama to portray three reckless young people willing to risk it all to make money. The sessions will also include The Last Bus, directed by Nandor Lorincz and Ballint Nagy, which was already awarded at the Transilvania Pitch Stop. The film is based on real-life events that prompt a discussion about sexual assault and its impact on the family unit.

Also selected is Marta Ribero’s sensual Portuguese coming of age story Undergrown, produced by Joana Peralta. Dorian Boguta will present his first feature, a psychological thriller Legacy produced by Oana Giurgiu and Hai Hui Entertainment. According to the director, the feature portrays many of his own experiences.  Kasia Hertz will pitch Batrachomyomachia, the story of a fictional town of Tluszcza, located somewhere in the outskirts of Eastern Europe, between the past and the future. Throughout the film, the director asks deep-rooted questions about an invasion of The Other.

Karolis Kaupinis is going to pitch his first feature film Nova Lituania. Produced by Marija Ruzgutė, the film depicts an interwar Baltic geographer and a prime minister planning to save their homeland as World War II approaches. In the end, the most pressing question is whether they should save themselves or others? Another Lithuanian director Marat Sargsyan will present The Flood Won’t Come, a magical realism tale that erases any constraints and analyses the games that people and the authorities play with each other. Austėja Urbaitė’s debut feature The Family, co-produced with France, examines what constitutes a family and love, digging deeper into womanhood and maternal feelings.

Documentaries

This year, 6 feature documentaries will be presented during Coming Soon sessions. Lucia Kašova’s The Sailor offers a haunting observation of loneliness and strong will. Director and producer Dragosh Turea will pitch his debut documentary The Soviet Garden that took almost ten years to film. The director investigates a secret scientific experiment that might have taken place in Moldova.  Liene Linde and Armands Začs from Latvia will come to pitch their documentary 36 Months, which captures the entire period of pregnancy and the transformations that take place within women’s lives and bodies.

Andrej Andrejevic Jr. Tarkovskij, the son of Andrej Tarkovskij is going to present an in-development documentary about his father Tarkovskij – Printed Time. The feature examines the great film director ’s entire life, starting with his early childhood.  Another entry comes from well-known Lithuanian director Vytautas Puidokas. Co-produced with Brazil, El Padre Medico reveals the story of Alexander Ferdinand Bendoraitis, who has spent his life living in a Brazilian jungle pretending to be a European missionary, philanthropist and doctor. In his feature documentary Soviet Man, Ivo Briedis tries to deconstruct and understand the concept of the Soviet man with the help of stories told by the last Soviet and first post-Soviet generations. The film is co-produced with Latvia, Lithuania and Czech Republic.

As one of the most important parts of MPV, Coming Soon sessions provide young and debuting filmmakers with a platform to present projects that are still in development. Some of the projects will receive best pitch prizes, including Marché du Film industry workshop and producers network accreditations, a post-production award established by the Vilnius Film Cluster as well as a special Baltic View prize.

Meeting Point – Vilnius is organized in the framework of Vilnius International Film Festival, supported by Lithuanian Film Centre, Lithuanian Council of Culture, the City of Vilnius and Creative Europe Desk Lithuania, and in collaboration with Vilnius Film Cluster, MAIA Workshops, Connecting Cottbus, ICO-Independent Cinema Office, Baltic Pitching Forum, Film Fest Portugal, Marché du Film, Golden Apricot Film Festival, Minsk International Film Festival “Listapad” industry, Estonia Creative Europe Desk, Latvia Creative Europe Desk.

The complete list of projects

1. 36 Months, directed by Liene Linde and Armands Začs, produced by Guntis Trekteris, Ego Media, Latvia;
2. Batrachomyomachia, directed by Kasia Hertz, produced by Wrota Podlasia and Jan Szewczyk, DFFB, Germany/Poland;
3. El Padre Medico, directed by Vytautas Puidokas, produced by Paulius Juočeris, Mauricio Filho, Gabija Siurbytė, Iron Cat, Lente Viva Filmes, Dansu Films, Lithuania/Brazil;
4. Legacy, directed by Dorian Boguta, produced by Oana Giurgiu, Hai Hui Entertainment, Romania;
5. Marygoround, directed by Daria Woszek, produced by Marcin Lech, Jan Pawlicki, Dagmara Molga, Janusz Bielecki, Jutrzenka Studio, Solopan, All Muses, Poland;
6. My Thoughts Are Silent, directed by Antonio Lukich, produced by Alla Belaya, Dmytro Sukhanov, Toy Cinema, Ukraine;
7. Nova Lituania, directed by Karolis Kaupinis, produced by Marija Razgutė, M-Films, Lithuania;
8. Soviet Man, directed by Ivo Briedis, produced by Elina Gedina-Ducena and Gints Grūbe, co-producers Jurga Gluskinienė, Jitka Kotrlova, Mistrus Media, Monoklis, Frame Films, Latvia/Lithuania/Czech Republic;
9. Tarkovskij – Printed Time, directed by Andrej Andreejevic Tarkovskij Jr., produced by Dimitry Klepatski, Paolo Maria Spina, Peter Krupenin, Klepatski Films, Revolver, Hobab Prod, Russia/Italy/Sweden;
10. The Family, directed by Austėja Urbaitė, produced by Živilė Gallego, Murielle Thierrin, Fralita Films, Aldabra Films, Lithuania/France;
11. The Flood Won’t Come, directed by Marat Sarksyan, produced by Ieva Norvilienė, Tremora, Lithuania;
12. The Last Bus, directed by Nandor Lorincz and Balint Nagy, produced by Agnes Pataki and Monika Mecs, M&M Films, Hungary;
13. The Lions Heading Venice, directed by Jonid Jorgji, produced by Elkjana Gjipali, Lukas Mracek, EJF Production, Blue Hills Picture, Albania/Czech Republic;
14. The Sailor, directed by Lucia Kašova, produced by Nazarij Klujev, TOXPRO, Slovakia;
15. The Soviet Garden, directed by Dragos Turea, produced by Dragos Turea, co-producer Marian Crisan, Parmis Film Studio, Rova Film, Moldova;
16. The Thrillseekers, directed by Vlada Senkova, produced by Larisa Oleinik, Viktor Labkovich, DOKA, Pervaja Kinovideo Company, Belarus/Russia;
17. Undergrown, directed by Marta Ribeiro, produced by Joana Peralta, Videolotion, Portugal;

ŽILINA, SLOVAKIA. ‘Bulgarian-Canadian Theodore Ushev is considered one of the most successful experimental film directors. In 2017, his internationally acclaimed film Blind Vaysha was nominated for an Academy Award. This summer, he will visit Slovakia to participate in the programme of Fest Anča International Animation Festival, taking place in Žilina between 28 June and 1 July.

Theodore Ushev was born in Kyustendil, Bulgaria. He studied at the National Academy of Arts in Sofia, and in 1999 moved to Canada where he found favourable conditions for the cultivation of his artistic vision under the patronage of the National Film Board of Canada. Although his films are often labelled ‘experimental’, he rejects such categorization and really inclines towards cross-genre films.

Ushev’s films leave us with no doubt that he is a bold artist with his own unique style. For instance, in the poetic film Blood Manifesto he used his own blood for animation and narrated in his own voice. For the animation magazine Skwigly, he said that was his cry for being unable to change things.
“I watched some students on the streets, rioting against corrupt and selfish governments. The police beat them. There was blood on their faces. Blood spilled for nothing. Nothing changed afterward.”

He has created 15 films and received more than 150 awards – one of which in Žilina. In 2015 at Fest Anča, Tomm Moore announced a special mention for The Sleepwalker observing it was “a beautiful and mesmerising abstract animation that evokes surrealist paintings, while working perfectly with the musical soundtrack. A piece of pure animated filmmaking.”

His exquisite work with music and sound in Blind Vaysha earned him an Oscar nomination. This short 3D film is based on a short story by Bulgarian writer Georgi Gospodinov about a woman who can see the past with her left eye and the future with the right one. Her split vision is like a course that keeps her from living in the present. “I don’t particularly like working in 3D, but it’s a very powerful storytelling tool. I’ve made three 3D films, but this is the first time that I’ve made a film where the 3D is part of the story itself – not just a gimmick or device,” said the director.

Due to his various styles, viewers of the retrospective may get the impression that the films have different directors. However, each of Ushev’s films is his own intimate confession. Hence he likes to work alone, without other animators. He wants his work to be as personal as possible. Each frame is its own artwork. And Theodore Ushev is also an entertaining and informative speaker – so take the opportunity to find out more about his work at his masterclass at Fest Anča!

The Festival is financially supported with public funds by the Slovak Audiovisual Fund and the Slovak Arts Council.

The following grants were announced by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre on 13 March 2019.

Barcelona: 11 June 2018 – During his keynote address at CineEurope 2018, Phil Clapp, President of the International Union of Cinemas (UNIC), the European Cinema trade grouping, reflected on the success of a sector which continued to thrive due to investment, innovation and diversity.

Welcoming yet another increasingly diverse and engaging CineEurope programme, he also pointed to the importance of support for European content and its position in the global box office landscape, whilst extending his gratitude to the numerous partners and organisations that help make the convention a success year-on-year.

Reporting on cinema-going across UNIC territories in 2017, he mentioned the “renewed confidence” the year had brought in terms of increasing admissions, which:

“… confirms that the cinema-going public recognise the massive levels of investment that European operators are making in all aspects of the Big Screen experience.”

Furthermore, he noted the crucial role of Europe’s diversity with regard to film content, noting that domestic titles are now better able to find audiences across the region due to digital advances across the sector and declaring that their importance could not be overstated in terms of catering for audiences from all backgrounds. Special mention was also given to efforts by partners in production and distribution in enabling audience-friendly domestic films to “find their way to their natural home on the Big Screen.”

Pointing to the continued need for diversity also in the cinema workforce, he also noted the success of the UNIC Women’s Cinema Leadership Programme, which looked to tackle underrepresentation of women in senior roles across the industry. The second edition of the Programme would be announced later in the week at CineEurope.   

Touching upon another important development over the last year, he updated attendees on the status of the Global Cinema Federation. Established by UNIC, the US trade body the National Association of Theatre Owners and eleven of the world’s leading cinema operators, the Federation’s recently published policy statements would, he hoped, provide not only a “clear sign of the progress made by the Federation over the last year” but also “a rallying point for operators across the world.”

In closing, he highlighted the importance of three main pillars behind the industry’s success, declaring that despite the challenges the European cinema sector faced, operators could remain confident:

“Knowing that whatever the distractions posed by the unsustainable business practices of so-called ‘disruptors,’ our focus will remain on sustaining the diversity, innovation and investment that is the hallmark of our industry and the key to its ongoing success.”

Notes for editors

A copy of Phil Clapp’s keynote speech is attached to this Press Notice (check against delivery).

CineEurope
CineEurope 2018 will take place from 11-14 June at the Centre Convencions Internacional Barcelona (CCIB) in Barcelona, Spain. CineEurope is the longest-running and most successful European convention and trade show for Major, Regional, and Independent cinema professionals. CineEurope will feature exclusive screenings and product presentations of upcoming films, sponsored events, timely and informative seminars and the CineEurope Trade Show. CineEurope is the Official Convention of the Union Internationale des Cinémas/International Union of Cinemas (UNIC).

The International Union of Cinemas (UNIC)

The Union Internationale des Cinémas/International Union of Cinemas (UNIC) represents the interests of cinema trade associations and cinema operators covering 37 countries in Europe and neighbouring regions.

The Film Expo Group

The Film Expo Group is the premier organizer of events in the motion picture industry. The Film Expo Group produces CineEurope, held in Barcelona; ShowEast, held in Miami; and CineAsia, held in Hong Kong. Additionally, the group publishes Film Journal International, a trade magazine and website covering the motion picture industry with a special emphasis on theatrical exhibition.

At this year's international 53rd film festival in Karlovy Vary, which is to take place between 29 June and 7 July, the feature film History of Love by the screenwriter and director Sonja Prosenc will be featured in the official competition program. This will also be the film's world premiere.

History of Love is the first co-production between Slovenia, Italy, and Norway, with authors and actors from all three countries. The film has already received several development awards and has also been supported by Eurimages. Sonja's approach to film language has so far been appreciated by both cinephiles and film critics, and she was described as "a distinctively talented young filmmaker … who can tell a story in a startlingly unconventional manner" by The Hollywood Reporter and selected among eight notable up-and-coming European female directors by Cineuropa.

History of Love is an elegiac tableau of a family dealing with the loss of the mother in the light of a new discovery about her. We witness the struggle of those who are left behind – people incapable of sharing their loss and connecting with each other in their almost physical pain, who are thus in danger of becoming nothing more than bodies of grief – until something is sacrificed and the family is able to reconnect.

In the words of Sonja Prosenc herself: “In my first film The Tree, I focused on three distinct forms of imprisonment – physical, within a system, and by our own feelings of guilt – all of this by means of a single story about a blood feud. In History of Love I venture away from this kind of commentary on a social issue in order to explore an intimate tale of Iva and her family. However, the urge to explore the characters' inability to connect with each other during the worst moments of their lives still derives from a reflection on the society: the currently prevalent nihilism, violence, and emotional detachment. One of the possible oppositions to this, which I have tried to keep in mind while making the film, is beauty as an aesthetic as well as ethical category.

Stepping away from a linear narration, the film follows the main character, builds on her subjective experience, and uses the story as a framework. Contrary to what one might think, this kind of a film requires a very precise screenplay in order to determine the exact line between how much of a story to present without creating an impression that the point of the film is to tell a story, while also providing the most appropriate story clues to create a film universe wherein we can explore the inner states of the characters as well as the more abstract concepts of emotional detachment and other main leitmotifs. I have had an opportunity to develop the concept during a very fruitful collaboration with Midpoint and Torino Film Lab script consultants. Together with the actors, we have created characters who are alienated from themselves and each other, while we can at the same time sense the pain that they cannot escape as well as their underlying need to connect.

Furthermore, the sound design for this film has been a special process in itself, as the sound carries as much of the film's weight as the visual narration does. It connects the parts that could be perceived as past and present into a meandering of events, memories and thoughts, with shots or sequences echoing variations and details.”

Starring the young Slovenian actress Doroteja Nadrah, known to the Slovenian audience particularly for her role in the film Class Enemy, and the renowned Norwegian actor Kristoffer Joner. During his long career as a film actor, Kristoffer Joner also appeared in the Scandinavian box-office hit and Norwegian Academy Award candidate The Wave; in King of Devil Island, where he performed side by side with Stellan Skarsgård; and in The Revenant by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, which won as many as three Oscars. Kristoffer also received the EFP Shooting Star Award at the Berlin Film Festival.

The film was produced by Rok Sečen, this year's Producer on the Move from the Monoo production house. Sečen has worked as a producer since 2012, and among other works he has also produced the previous festival hit by Sonja Prosenc: her debut The Tree (2014), which has also been one of the Slovenian candidates for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The world premiere of The Tree took place in 2014, also in Karlovy Vary – though in the East of the West competition programme, intended for first and second films.

History of Love is financially supported from Slovenian Film Centre and will be screened at the Karlovy Vary festival on Saturday, 30 June, as well as on 1 and 3 July.

On Tuesday, 19 June, the shooting of the third live-action feature Don't Forget to Breathe by the director Martin Turk, born in Trieste in 1978, began. Turk's films have been presented at more than a hundred film festivals all around the world, and he was the first Slovenian to be chosen for the prestigious Cinefondation Residence programme of the Cannes Festival in 2009.

At the beginning of the shooting the director stated that "the film Don't Forget to Breathe is an intimate and atmospheric drama about growing up, jealousy, first love, and strong emotions that one is often overcome with during this period of life. As a screenwriter and director, I want to relive this important time and the formative feelings we were all familiar with once, but that we have since forgotten in the haste of our daily lives, even though they have shaped our personalities decisively.«

The film focuses on the fifteen-year-old Klemen, who lives with his elder brother Peter and single mother in a small and remote rural town. Klemen's well-established routine of spending time with his beloved brother on the tennis court and by the nearby river gets interrupted by Peter's sudden and passionate love affair with his gorgeous peer Sonja, which triggers a torrent of conflicting emotions and reckless actions in Klemen.

The role of Klemen has been entrusted to Matija Valant, pupil of the Pre-School Education and Grammar School (Arts High School) in Ljubljana, who has auditioned with more than 200 candidates. His brother Peter will be played by Tine Ugrin, who has already appeared in the films Nika and The Invisible Hand of Adam Smith, both directed by Slobodan Maksimović. The fatal girl will be portrayed by Klara Kuk, a student of acting at the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television.

A prominent role has also been entrusted to Jakob Cilenšek and Ronja Matijevec Jerman, whom we still remember from the film Come Along, while Klemen and Peter's mother will be portrayed by Iva Krajnc Bagola. The role of the tennis coach has been assigned to Nikola Đuričko, the star of the Yugoslav Drama Theatre, who has also appeared in many international and Serbian film productions: In the Land of Blood and Honey (directed by Angelina Jolie); Genius (with Geoffrey Rush); Legends (with Sean Bean); Shadows over Balkans; Montevideo, God Bless You; and many others.

Apart from renowned Slovenian authors, an international team is taking part in the film as well: this is the fifth time that Turk is working with Radislav Jovanov – Gonzo, the Croatian director of photography and cult director of music videos by almost all of the more important musicians from the former common country. Furthermore, the film score will be written by the Italian composer and musician Teho Teardo, who has, among other things, also created the music for the films by Paolo Sorrentino and Gabriel Salvatores. In Slovenia he is mostly known for his music projects with Blixa Bargeld.

"We will spend six of the planned seven weeks of shooting at locations in Bela krajina, especially in the municipality of Metlika," says Ida Weiss, the producer of the film. "The director Martin Turk wrote the script with the hills of Bela krajina and the green river Kolpa in mind, and therefore we are more than happy to be so warmly welcomed by the inhabitants of Metlika – including Mayor Darko Zevnik, the municipal administration and councillors, the public utility company, the Youth Centre, the Bela krajina hotel, and everyone that we have already worked with and have yet to cooperate with during the next month and a half," Weiss adds.

The Bela film production house, named by Ida Weiss precisely after the Slovenian region of Bela krajina, thus returns to these parts almost twenty years after Maja Weiss's Guardian of the Frontier was filmed here –at the exact time when the river Kolpa and the local border keep appearing in the media because of the current refugee crisis. The film crew thus hopes that their presence can positively influence the local tourism as well as enliven the local scene.

Film is produced by Bela film in co-production with Quasar (Italy), Studio Dim (Croatia), RTV Slovenija and RAI Cinema (Italy), with financial support of Slovenian Film Centre, FVG Audiovisual Fund, Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Creative Europe - Media programme, Re-Act development scheme and with the technical support by FS Viba film.

World sales are handled by Intramovies (Italy).

 

Conceived and directed by: Martin Turk

Producer: Ida Weiss

Script: Martin Turk, Gorazd Trušnovec

Director of photography: Radislav Jovanov – Gonzo (Croatia)

Music: Teho Teardo (Italy)

Production design: Marco Juratovec

Costumes designer: Emil Cerar

Makeup design: Mojca Gorogranc Petrushevska

Editor: Beppe Leonetti (Italy)

Sound recordist: Antonio Petris (Italy)

Production manager: Matija Kozamernik

Co-producers: Marta Zaccaron, Darija Kulenović Gudan, Marina Andree Škop

 

Cast: Matija Valant, Tine Ugrin, Iva Krajnc Bagola, Klara Kuk, Nikola Đuričko, Ronja Matijevec Jerman, Jakob Cilenšek, Miha Rodman, and many others.

March 19 - 23, 2019 / Bratislava

From the 19th to 23rd of March, the eighth annual Visegrad Film Forum will feature the Oscar – winning Roma by Alfons Cuarón and the black-and-white road-movie Nebraska with 6 Oscar nominations. Participants can see the documentary Untitled by Haneke´s long-term editor Monika Willi, the (a)political documentary The Trial by the darling of top-notch film festivals, Sergei Loznitsa, the autobiographical Cameraperson debuted at Sundance, and the documentary set in Tel Aviv, Central Bus Station. Everything will be screened with the personal attendance of the creators.

PROGRAMME

https://www.visegradfilmforum.com/2019/programme/

 

Love. Courage. Hope. Change. Home. ROMA.

“ROMA is an attempt to capture the memory of events that I experienced almost 50 years ago.”, says the Oscar – winning director Alfonso Cuarón. “It is an exploration of Mexico's social hierarchy, where class and ethnicity have been perversely interwoven to this date and, above all, it's an intimate portrait of the women who raised me in a recognition of love as a mystery that transcends space, memory and time.”, Cuarón continues. His latest film won the main prize at the Venice Film Festival and, more recently, won the Oscar in the category of Best Foreign Language Film. The viewers will have a special chance to see the film on the big screen with the personal attendance of the film architect Eugenio Caballero.

Black and white unsentimental wandering. Nebraska.

Director Alexander Payne managed to reveal the underbelly of America matter-of-factly and without emotional coercion in the black-and-white road-movie Nebraska. The film attracted the attention of critics and received a nomination for the Palme d´Or in Cannes and six Oscar nominations. "I've won a million dollars," says Woody Grant, a retired eighty-year-old from Montana, as he waves around a letter from a publisher the likes of Reader's Digest. He forces his son to take him on a trip from Montana to Nebraska to pick up the winnings. The son reluctantly goes even though he suspects that his father's winning ticket is just one of many personalized flyers spread across America. The film will be introduced by cinematographer Phedon Papamichael.

A path with open eyes and an open mind. Untitled.

Despite the fact that Monika Willi has never studied film, she has worked alongside directors such as Michael Haneke and Michael Glawogger. At the Visegrad Film Forum 2019 she will present Untitled which she finished after Glawogger´s tragical death, and will hold master class about her work including cooperation with Michael Haneke on films such as White Ribbon, Amour or Happy End. In the December of 2013, director Michael Glawogger set off on a fateful documentary journey. As an observing wanderer, he wanted to travel around the world and capture it in its entirety without defining a subject, having a firm plan, or issuing preliminary judgments. He was conducted only by the principle of happy coincidence or providence. Unfortunately, in 2014, he died of malaria and his journey ended. The processing of the filmed material became an commitment for Glawogger's editor Monika Willi in the name of the deceased adventurer. Thus, she cuts, edits and finishes the film without the director’s input. A journey into the world with open eyes and an open mind -  observing, listening and experiencing. The concept for filming and cutting the film is a happy coincidence.

The drama is real, but the story is made up. The Trial.

Unique archive footage is the reconstruction of one of the first elaborate political trials orchestrated by Stalin, which unfolds almost like a theatrical performance with actors who deceive themselves, the audience and the whole world. "I decided to make a movie during which the spectator had the chance to spend two hours in the USSR in 1930. To see and experience the moment when Stalin's state terrorist machine was put into action." Slovak premiere of the film will present Sergei Loznitsa.

What does it mean to film and be filmed? Behind the camera (Cameraperson).

Award-winning cinematographer Kirsten Johnson, that participated in the making of the Oscar-winning documentary Citizenfour, will introduce her personal debut premiered at the Sundance at the Visegrad Film Forum 2019. During her 25-year career, she has filmed thousands of human dramas. In an impressive collage of the shots she had collected during that time, she asks intense questions about her own work and the documentary genre as such. Is it ethical to film your own mother, whose mind is slowly being overtaken by Alzheimer’s disease? When becoming witness to a potentially dangerous situation, when should a documentary filmmaker intervene and when should he just look on and stay impartial?

The city under one roof. Central Bus Station.

The documentary, that won a special mention award at the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, will be personally presented by its director, Tomáš Elšík, along with the protagonist  Yonathan Mishal. "For me, the central bus station is not only a strange place, but it's also a place where everyone can find a piece of home," the director says. The Tel Aviv´s central bus station has been the largest in the world up until recently. However, the oversized space does not serve its original intention any longer - to attract crowds of people who, confused by the optical illusion of the interior design, end up contracting shopping fever. The concrete monster, which can not be easily dismantled, has gradually become a sanctuary that is temporarily occupied by people from the edge of society - refugees, criminals, prostitutes. The director of the feature, as well as itsmain character, the tourist guide Yonathan, confess in the documentary that they are fascinated by one of the wonders of the world of wastefulness and the microcosm of those who live there.

Visegrad Film Forum 2019
Date: 19th – 23rd of March 2019
Place: Bratislava, Slovakia
Venues: Film and TV Faculty VŠMU, Cinema Lumière

web: http://www.visegradfilmforum.com
facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VisegradFilmForum
instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vffbratislava/
youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mpj2r4K88c

Organized by: Boiler NGO
Co-organized by: Film and TV Faculty VŠMU
Financial support: International Visegrad Fund, Audiovisual Fud, Nadácia SPP

Partner schools: The Academy of Performing Arts, Film and TV Faculty in Bratislava, The University of Silesia in Katowice, The Academy of Drama and Film in Budapest, KNUTCT Kyjev, BFM Tallinn, Sahara Lab and UNATC Bucharest