The 21st edition of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (aka PÖFF) saw the festival’s global online media reach cross the one billion mark, more than doubling last year’s result. The festival had media coverage in 70 different countries.

Black Nights also set a new attendance record of 80 289 which is a slight rise from the previous two editions. The festival and its industry event Industry@Tallinn, co-organised with the Baltic Event co-production market, hosted 1291 guests, which is a 24% rise on last year.

The festival held 909 screenings, with the main programme including 233 feature films from 70 different countries.  There were 20 world, 26 international and 10 European premieres.

In addition, 50 features were screened at the Children’s and Youth Film Festival, Just Film, which also set a new attendance record of 17 000 and hosted its biggest number of guests to date - 28 people.

The new sub-festival PÖFF Shorts that combines two formerly separate sub-festivals – animation festival Animated Dreams and short film festival Sleepwalkers – hosted 130 people and screened 257 shorts, with eight films having their world premieres.

The festival saw it’s biggest number of volunteers to date, with more than 400, from 10 different countries, doing over 15 000 work hours.

This rise in interest comes as a positive surprise to festival director Tiina Lokk: „We are extremely grateful to the journalists and filmmakers who have trusted us and attended the festival during the busy pre-holiday period of the year! It is truly astonishing to see both, the number of accredited guests and journalists rise by a quarter with one edition!“

She went on to add: 'Although I consider the festival, in many senses, to still be in the early development phases. Having gained A-category festival accreditation, we can now say that a considerable part of the world is showing interest in what we do and that is extremely inspiring for the whole team."

Programme entries make first deals

As reported by Screen International, some of the titles in the two international competition programmes of the festival have already confirmed their first deals. The Official Selection title The Ball (dir Pasquale Scimeca) that had its world premiere at Black Nights has sold world rights to Italy‘s Coccinelle Film.

Also world-premiering in the Official Selection, the German-US co-production A Thought of Ecstasy (dir RP Kahl) has sold international rights to Luxembourg-based Paul Thiltges Distributions.

Having its international premiere in the Official Selection, Little Tito and the Aliens, (dir Paola Randi), distributed by True Colours has sold to Turkey (buyer Medyavizyon), Poland (Kino Swiat) and China (Times Vision).

The Belgian drama Resurrection that had its international premiere in the First Feature Competition of the festival was acquired by the Italian sales company TVCO.

 

 

The EU film and directors community welcomes the result of the plenary vote on the Broadcasting "SatCab" Regulation today which confirmed the mandate for negotiations drawn up by the Legal Affairs Committee in November.

In its mission as co-legislator, the European Parliament reflects the diversity of European citizens themselves : today, it has ensured the sustainability of the European audiovisual sector’s cultural and linguistic diversity in the digital era by supporting an approach which preserves territorial exclusivity, cornerstone for financing and distribution of European audiovisual works.

We call on the Member States to follow in the EP footsteps in that regard, but also to provide European authors with a sustainable legal framework ensuring their fair remuneration for the retransmission of their works.

Contact : Pauline Durand-Vialle – This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. – +32 25 44 03 33

 

 

dok.incubator workshop invites directors, editors and producers with feature docs in the rough cut stage to apply. There are many good films, but only a few of them are really excellent, good enough to be selected for competition at the main festivals, to get an international distribution and become an economic as well as an artistic success. What makes the difference?

Over six months, eight teams (each comprising of a director, editor, and producer) will work intensively to sharpen the storytelling, emphasise the film’s unique perspective, and find concrete tools to effectively approach an international audience. You will have access to internationally experienced experts in the world of documentary film and they will guide you in the development of your film, as well as in devising a personalised marketing and distribution strategy. dok.incubator will nurture your project on its journey from a modest rough-cut to a high-end film with the potential to attract attention worldwide.

Included:

• 6 months of intensive editing and project development, aiming for picture lock early autumn 2018
• 25 internationally-active filmmakers tutor you throughout the postproduction period
• Find your film’s unique perspective within an international context
• Devise your own tailor-made marketing and distribution strategy
• Participation of your whole creative teams in three intensive week-long workshops (all dates and places are to be confirmed):

1st session: April – Czech Republic / rough cut
2nd session: June – Slovakia / fine cut
3rd session: September – Sweden / near picture lock  

• The nearly-finished films are introduced to key decision-makers at Nordisk Panorama

 

The programme opens your film to a testing audience of lecturers, festival representatives, and sales agents for you to receive feedback on your film and distribution strategy.

To apply, please go to www.dokincubator.net

 

 

Today, at the Cinema Amirani the closing ceremony of the 18th Tbilisi International Film Festival was held.

British director and producer Uberto Pasolini was the head of the International Jury, while other jury members were Film Critic and a program coordinator at Seattle International Film Festival Maryna Ajaja (USA), Director and producer Srdjan Dragojevic (Serbia), Actor Stephane Rideau (France) and Literature Critic and Actor Lasha Bakradze (Georgia).

International Competition winners are:

Golden Prometheus for the Best Picture – “Ravens” by Jens Assur (Sweden 2017).

Silver Prometheus for the Best Directing – “The Charmer” by Milad Alami (Denmark/Sweden/France 2017).

International competition jury gave special mention to the following films:

“Scary Mother” by Ana Urushadze (Georgia, Estonia, 2017)

“Scaffolding” by Matan Yair (Israel 2017). 

The National Competition - Georgian Panorama is the traditional section uniting this year's most significant Georgian films. The aim of the program is to support and promote Georgian films among the wide audience.

For the second time, this year Prometheus was awarded in 3 nominations: The Best Full Feature Film, The Best Short Film and The Best Documentary Film.

As for the jury, together with German film critics Erika and Ulrich Gregor, Georgian films were evaluated by British film critic and journalist Carmen Gray.

Best Georgian Fiction Film - “Scary Mother” by Ana Urushadze (Georgia, Estonia, 2017)

Best Georgian Documentary Film – “City Of Sun” by Rati Oneli (Georgia/Netherlands/Qatar/United States of America, 2017)

Best Georgian Short Film – “Ana” by Margo Zubashvili (Georgia, 2017)

Jury Special Mention - “Fishing”  by Tornike Bziava (Georgia/France, 2017).

Besides the international and national competition, "The European Union for Georgia" dedicated a special prize to the film with a focus on Human Rights in the frames of Tbilisi International Film Festival. The film was selected from the ten films included in the International Competition. The winner of “The European Union for Georgia” is - “The Charmer” by Milad Alami.

The winner of the Short Film Pitching Workshop organized in frames of Tbilisi IFF Industry Days is Lord of Oneself - Director: Elene Mikaberidze, Producer: Nushi Film/Takes Film.

The winner of full-length film Pitching workshop is Spineless - Director: Grigol Abashidze, Producer: Studio Artizm/Lasha Khalvashi. Writer: Gigisha Abashisze, Alex Chigvinadze.

The 18th International Film Festival Closing film was “Namme” by Georgian director Zaza Khalvashi.

 

 

The more than 3,000 members of the European Film Academy – filmmakers from across Europe – have voted for this year’s European Film Awards. At the awards ceremony in Wroclaw the following awards were presented:

EUROPEAN FILM 2017
THE SQUARE
directed by Ruben Östlund

EUROPEAN COMEDY 2017
THE SQUARE
directed by Ruben Östlund

EUROPEAN DISCOVERY 2017 – Prix FIPRESCI
LADY MACBETH
directed by William Oldroyd

EUROPEAN DOCUMENTARY 2017
COMMUNION
directed by Anna Zamecka

EUROPEAN ANIMATED FEATURE FILM 2017
LOVING VINCENT
directed by Dorota Kobiela & Hugh Welchman

EUROPEAN SHORT FILM 2017
TIMECODE
directed by Juanjo Giménez

EUROPEAN DIRECTOR 2017
Ruben Östlund for THE SQUARE

EUROPEAN ACTRESS 2017
Alexandra Borbély in ON BODY AND SOUL

EUROPEAN ACTOR 2017
Claes Bang in THE SQUARE 

EUROPEAN SCREENWRITER 2017
Ruben Östlund for THE SQUARE 

EUROPEAN CINEMATOGRAPHER 2017 – Prix CARLO DI PALMA
Michail Krichman for LOVELESS

EUROPEAN EDITOR 2017
Robin Campillo for BPM (BEATS PER MINUTE)

EUROPEAN PRODUCTION DESIGNER 2017
Josefin Åsberg for THE SQUARE

EUROPEAN COSTUME DESIGNER 2017
Katarzyna Lewińska for SPOOR

EUROPEAN HAIR & MAKE-UP ARTIST 2017
Leendert van Nimwegen for BRIMSTONE

EUROPEAN COMPOSER 2017
Evgueni & Sacha Galperine for LOVELESS

EUROPEAN SOUND DESIGNER 2017
Oriol Tarragó for A MONSTER CALLS 

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Aleksandr Sokurov

EUROPEAN ACHIEVEMENT IN WORLD CINEMA
Julie Delpy 

EUROPEAN CO-PRODUCTION AWARD 2017 – Prix EURIMAGES
Cedomir Kolar

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD 2017 for Best European Film
STEFAN ZWEIG - FAREWELL TO EUROPE (VOR DER MORGENRÖTE)
directed by Maria Schrader

 

 

European Film Academy Board appeals to the EP members to respect the JURI mandate on the proposed Broadcasters’ Regulation

On the occasion of the General Assembly of the European Film Academy (EFA) in Berlin on 9 December 2017, the EFA Board has expressed its deep concern that the future of Europe’s film culture may be at stake should the fundamental principle of financing and distributing movies across the EU be unnecessarily jeopardized. As an example, the EFA Board has mentioned the so-called Broadcasting Regulation and the proposed extension of the Country of Origin (CoO) principle, which it sees as a threat for the territoriality principle and the economic viability and diversity of European film culture. 

The Board reminded of the fact that the members of the audio-visual sector in Europe, be they writers, directors, producers, actors, or professionals in the fields of production, marketing, distribution and exhibition, have expressed their opposition to the proposed Regulation on numerous occasions. These concerns were considered in all responsible committees of the European Parliament and are also reflected in the well-balanced positioning of the leading Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI).

For the sake of a vibrant and diverse audio-visual landscape and the requirements of the audiences across Europe the EFA Board appeals to the members of the European Parliament to respect this mandate in the plenary session on 12 December. 

 

These grants were announced by Film Center Serbia on 8 December 2017.