The Czech film Fund announced the results on 28 February 2018.

 

Now running into its second year, the European Genre Forum has selected eight exciting projects to take part in the 2018 training cycle, starting on April 16th, 2018.

The 2018 project selection spreads geographically well over Europe, reaching as far as Israel. The stories reflect a wide variety of fantastic cinema, amongst them tales of witchcraft, nightmarish relationships, supernatural stories, plagues and mountain trips gone wrong… We are very please to officially announce the list of the 2018 EGF selected projects.

The Selected Projects

BIRDS OF A FEATHER - Dir. Hanna Bergholm (Finland)

FINGERNAIL - Dir. Boaz Armoni (Israel)

NO MAN’S LAND - Dir. Mel Piper (Germany)

SPINNERS - Dir. Ivars Tontegode (Latvia)

THE BASE - Dir. Alex Madia Levi (United Kingdom)

THE DESCENDANT - Dir. Colinda Bongers (The Netherlands)

THE HIKE - Dir. Daniel Rübesam (Germany)

THE PLAGUE DOCTOR - Dir. Michael O’Connor (Germany)

Click here for more information about the projects

The selected projects will have the opportunity to attend three talent labs over the course of the year 2018. The Director’s Lab takes place in Amsterdam during the Imagine Film Festival, from 16 to 20 April 2018. The Producer’s Lab takes place in Zagreb during Fantastic Zagreb, from 4 to 8 July 2018. The Packaging Lab takes place in Tallinn during PÖFF, in the final week of November 2018.

The training cycle aims to not only boost the selected film projects, but to also give an invaluable knowledge to the participants, offer new insights and to facilitate professional networking. During the three talent labs, participants will be able to discuss their project with script consultants, learn about the different aspects of (co-) production, sales and packaging from Industry professionals. Mentoring sessions with established genre filmmakers, crowd funders, legal experts, VR and AR experts, and case studies of recent, successful films complete the programme.

About the European Genre Forum

The European Genre Forum (EGF) is an educational event jointly organized by Fantastic Zagreb, Imagine Film Festival (Amsterdam), Black Nights FF and its Industry platform Industry@Tallinn&; Baltic Event (Tallinn) and Screen Division (Paris). The programme is supported by the Creative Europe – MEDIA programme of the European Union.

Project Coordinator
Annick Mahnert This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

 

 

Zagreb, 25 February 2018 – The 14th edition of ZagrebDox International Documentary Film Festival opened tonight in five theatres at Kaptol Boutique Cinema. In the upcoming seven days, festival visitors will be able to enjoy a total of 125 films covering a broad spectrum of topics and taking us to all the four corners of the world. The festival opened with the film Over the Limit by Polish director and festival guest Marta Prus, and the audience was greeted by the festival director Nenad Puhovski and mayor of Zagreb Milan Bandić, who also officially opened the festival.

In his speech Nenad Puhovski pointed out that ZagrebDox is a festival promoting and celebrating diversity, primarily the creative diversity of authorial aesthetics, as well as the diversity of people before the camera. Whenever I am asked if ZagrebDox has a special theme on a particular year, my answer is always – yes, 120 of them. ZagrebDox is a festival starting from the point that we are all different, special and belonging to a minority group which should be protected – not only racial, national, gender or economic, not only groups special attention should be paid to, such as persons with disabilities, children war victims, rejected workers or domestic violence victims, but also minorities such as the left-handed, people with feet of different sizes or (like m) men who don’t drink alcohol and aren’t into football, said the director of ZagrebDox and added we are heading for a week full of films which will hopefully inspire more respect to diversities, which our society lacks. He concluded his speech with a thanks to all the partners, sponsors and media coverage providers. A special thanks to our golden sponsor Addiko Bank and our general sponsor Croatian Telecom, as well as the City of Zagreb and Croatian Audiovisual Centre for their support. Big thanks to our volunteers and the outstanding festival team, led by the main producer Lucija Parać, said Nenad Puhovski in conclusion.

Milan Bandić wished everyone a warm welcome to the 14th ZagrebDox, describing it as a festival of great importance for Zagreb and our film community. This festival has for years been contributing to the image of Zagreb as a cultural and travel destination, but apart from international visibility even more important is the job it does in our society, the awareness of the world we live in and the motivation to change it. Besides, its official sections develop new generations of documentary filmmakers to carry the torch of conveying the cruel but beautiful reality, said mayor Bandić and added that the City of Zagreb has been supporting this festival from the beginning as a remarkable showcase of Croatian and Zagreb culture. As a mayor I can say I am very proud of ZagrebDox and once again I extend my congratulations to the festival team on these 14 years and wish them an even more successful future. May our citizens have a best of times enjoying the films in the programme, said Bandić in conclusion and with these words officially opened the festival.

After the screening of Over the Limit, the audience was greeted by the film’s director Marta Prus, thanking the organisers for opening this year’s ZagrebDox with her film. She pointed out that she put her whole heart and soul into the making of this film, deciding to speak up about the demanding world of professional sport partly because she was also oce a rhythmic gymnast.

The 14th ZagrebDox festival closes on Sunday, 4 March and during the seven festival days it will be screening from 11am to 10pm.

MEDIA CONTACTS

Ivana Sansević E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., M: 091 528 7605

Iris Mošnja E: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., M: 098 9309 609

www.zagrebdox.net

 

 

The EAST DOC PLATFORM, the largest event for documentary professionals in Central and Eastern Europe, takes place March 3-9, 2018. During the week-long event, Prague will host leading documentary professionals, distributors, TV and festival selectors from around the world. Filmmakers will pitch their documentary projects and compete for several prizes in the total amount of EUR 35,000. General audiences can attend a number of interesting talks by international professionals. Most events take place at the Cervantes Institute, entrance to talks is free.

The theme of the 7th EDP “New Resistance” addresses the rise of nationalism in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. “We hear more and more political voices today calling for the restriction of critical free press. Public media and free speech have come under attack, documentary filmmakers and journalists have been facing threats of censorship even in the Czech Republic. Countries in the former Eastern bloc share a common history with regard to these issues. It is time to reopen the subject and find some lessons for the present,” explains Tereza Šimíková, EDP Manager. What impact do these tendencies have on the life of documentary filmmakers? Is their stubborn unwillingness to turn a blind eye to current issues more important today than ever before? Get answers to these and other questions at a panel discussion with the invited guests: Max Tuula (The Trial: The State of Russia vs Oleg Sentsov), Filip Remunda (Czech Journal), Konrad Szołajski (The Battle with Satan) or Outriders, a platform for independent Polish journalism. The discussion will be hosted by Czech journalist Veronika Sedláčková and it will be translated into Czech. It takes place on Tuesday, March 6 at 4 p.m., Kino 35, French Institute in Prague.

This year’s EDP has a slate of inspiring talks for visitors. On Wednesday, March 7 at 5 p.m., we are proud to introduce Kim Longinotto, one of the most popular documentary filmmakers whose previous films include the Cannes IFF winner Sisters in Law and Rough Aunties, awarded at Sundance. Liz Rosenthal, a curator of the world’s first festival VR competition that takes place as part of the Venice Biennale, will deliver a talk entitled “How to Bring VR Projects to Life”. It takes place on Monday, March 5 at 6 p.m., Cervantes Institute.

Another attractive panel discussion will be dedicated to new funding opportunities. The traditional model of international collaboration with TV networks is in troubles due to cuts in co-production funding, and so the East Doc Platform has decided to invite an entirely new type of partners – international fund representatives and investors connecting film and private equity. For the first time in Prague, we have the pleasure of hosting representatives of Chicken & Egg Pictures, a US fund that supports women nonfiction filmmakers, Whicker’s World Foundation and the Tribeca Film Institute that in partnership with the EDP organizes a brand new short film pitch competition this year. The panel discussion takes place on Wednesday, March 7, at 3 p.m.

Filmmakers who will pitch their documentary projects at the East Doc Platform will compete for one of several awards designed to aid further film development. Czech audiences will surely appreciate the fact that nearly one in three selected projects has a Czech director or (co-)producer. These and other projects will be carefully assessed by international festival selectors, including Martijn te Pas, Senior programmer at IDFA, who will be looking to find the best films in the region and set them on a successful path. An international jury consisting of Serge Gordey, Esther van Messel, Rada Šešić, Lejla Dedić and Lars Säfstrom will present the best project in development and production with the East Doc Platform Award that comes with EUR 7,500. Czech TV, EDP’s general media partner, will announce the Czech TV Co-production Award that comes with EUR 5,700. The best short project will receive USD 20,000, year-long mentoring service and distribution support from the Tribeca Film Institute. In addition, all projects selected for the 2018 East Doc Platform will compete for the HBO Europe Award and EUR 2,000 for project development. Current Time TV will support a selected filmmaker with EUR 1,500.

East Doc Platform will also hold the official opening of the fourth edition of the project KineDok, focused on alternative distribution of creative documentaries. It will start fashionably with a screening of Polish film Communion (Anna Zamecka, 2017), awarded the best European Documentary Award. The screening will be followed by Q&A with filmmakers and party.

The East Doc Platform is organized by the Institute of Documentary Film in partnership with the One World International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival.

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About the Institute of Documentary Film

The Institute of Documentary Film (IDF) has been supporting creative documentary films from Central and Eastern Europe since 2001. IDF provides both emerging and experienced filmmakers with training, financing, networking and pitching opportunities, helps them get international attention and co-productions, rewards the exceptional projects with Awards and further opportunities and improves their orientation on the international market. To the audience of documentary enthusiasts, IDF also brings a rich programme of lectures, presentations and screenings in their home regions or during IDF’s industry events. 

About the East Doc Platform

The East Doc Platform (EDP) is the largest co-production, funding and distribution platform tailor-made for Central and East European documentaries. Every year, connecting 120 East European filmmakers to more than 100 key decision makers - producers, broadcasters, distributors and festival programmers from around the world.

More details on selected projects here: https://dokweb.net/articles/detail/458/best-documentary-projects-selected-for-east-doc-platform-2018  

More details on invited guests and programme highlights here: https://dokweb.net/articles/detail/466/east-doc-platform-2018-meeting-point-with-interesting-guests 

For more information, please visit dokweb.net

Contact for international media

Marta Jallageas / This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. / Tel : +420 775 669 222

 

The film had been already sold to 23 countries, Netflix is among the distributors.

The author of this year's World Festival of Animated Film - Animafest Zagreb illustration is Stipan Tadić. Tadić is one of the most prominent Croatian painters of the younger generation, has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions all over the world and is a winner of several awards. His unusual approach in creating the visuals won over the artistic director Daniel Šuljić and the rest of the Festival Council who had unanimously decided that Stipan will be the author of the poster and the trailer for Animafest Zagreb 2018.

FIND MORE INFORMATION HERE