19-11-2008

EFA Conference focuses on comedy

    On the occasion of the 21st EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS in Copenhagen:

    WHAT MAKES EUROPE LAUGH - Local Comedies for an International Market
    Cinematek, Cinema Carl, Saturday, 6 December 2008, 11.00 - 14.30

    As part of the weekend programme for the 21st European Film Awards in
    Copenhagen, this year's EFA Conference is dedicated to film comedies. A
    series of panel dicussions with European filmmakers and critics will
    look at different cultural variations of humour and the way they are
    depicted and perceived in film.

    "You know what? Comedians aren´t funny at all," said Spain´s megastar,
    the actor and director Santiago Segura Silva when talking about his
    contribution as a speaker to the EFA Conference. But if humour is a
    serious business, how then do film comedies work? What eventually
    triggers laughter?

    Is there a topography of humour, a shared European quality that unites
    us in laughter? In other words: Can film comedies be cross-culturally
    funny, humorous or witty? WHAT MAKES EUROPE LAUGH?

    The EFA Conference 2008 takes an informed look at the cinematography of
    humour and how it works. After an introduction by EFA´s Deputy Chairman
    Nik Powell, a series of compact panel discussions will follow, chaired
    by film journalist and scholar Eva Novrup Redvall and Jacob Neiiendam,
    director of the new CPH:PIX-Copenhagen Film Festival.

    Nordic Humour and Latin Laughter, the polar zones of European film
    comedies, will be subject to scrutiny in Panel 1 with film directors
    Anders Thomas Jensen from Denmark, Reza Bagher from Sweden, and Santiago
    Segura Silva from Spain, all of whom became a household name in their
    respective countries for their cinematographic achievements in this
    genre. Anders Thomas Jensen, the award-winning director and scriptwriter
    who invented the so-called Danish action-comedy with the box-office hit
    IN CHINA THEY EAT DOGS (1999), wrote the scripts for many of the Dogma
    films and received much critical acclaim for ADAM'S APPLES (2005) which
    he also directed. Screenwriter and director Reza Bagher is known across
    Europe for his prominently casted film POPULAR MUSIC FROM VITTULA
    (2004). And Spanish actor, screenwriter, director and producer Santiago
    Segura Silva rose to stardom in 1998 with his directorial debut film
    TORRENTE, THE STUPID ARM OF THE LAW in which he also played the lead.

    Laughing On Your Own? attempts to challenge the widely accepted
    conjecture that humour like wine travels badly, a phenomenon generated
    by cultural as well as religious differences. This subject will be
    presented and discussed by the Polish actor, comedian and founder of a
    highly successful cabaret ensemble Maciej Stuhr and the renowned and
    critically acclaimed Norwegian director, writer and producer Bent Hamer
    whose films which are marked by his silent humour have been distributed
    in more than 40 countries, have participated in over 80 film festivals
    around the world, and have won him some 30 prizes and awards.

    What´s So Funny? At first glance a simple question easy to answer that
    will be debated by two eminent film experts, Derek Malcolm from the UK
    and Jean Roy from France. Humour was born in Britain, the British claim,
    it is emotional, gentle, genial. French wit is seen to be opposed to
    Anglo-Saxon humour. What's the truth in that?
    Derek Malcolm, one of the most respected British film critics, film
    historians and author of acclaimed books like ´A Century of Cinema´,
    will join forces with his French colleague Jean Roy who is also active
    as critic both in newspapers and in television and like Malcolm author
    of many books on film.

    The Unbearable Lightness of Laughter -Where Does Humour End? will
    highlight a delicate matter which has become a globally discussed
    conflict: Does humour end where religion begins? Is there something like
    ´good´ humour and ´bad´ humour and where is the line between those two?
    German director, actor, scriptwriter and producer Dani Levy, whose
    latest film MEIN FÜHRER: THE TRULY TRUEST TRUTH ABOUT ADOLF HITLER
    (2007) has been enormously successful but also controversially discussed
    in regard to the ´fun factor´ of dictatorship, will debate with Danish
    stand-up comedian Omar Marzouk who seeks, as he once said, "to overcome
    the polarization between Islamic and Western societies with the help of
    humour".

    A final round-table session will look at strategies for internationally
    successful comedies, bringing together EFA Board members Adriana Chiesa
    di Palma (producer & sales agent, Italy) and Antonio Saura (producer,
    Spain), and producer Peter Aalbaek Jensen from Denmark.

    The EFA Conference 2008 is presented by the European Film Academy e.V.
    And EFA08 ApS with the support of The Danish Film Institute, FFA German
    Federal Film Board, MEDIA Desk Denmark, TNT Express, and United
    International Pictures (UIP).

    Berlin and Copenhagen, 19 November 2008
    --------------------------------------------------------
    Pascal Edelmann
    Head of Press & PR
    EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY e.V.
    Kurfürstendamm 225
    10719 Berlin
    GERMANY
    tel. +49 - 30 - 887 167 - 0
    fax +49 - 30 - 887 167 - 77

    This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
    www.europeanfilmacademy.org

    Director: Marion Döring / registered at Amtsgericht Charlottenburg 14236 Nz

    THE 21st EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS: Copenhagen, 6 Dec 2008

    The European Film Awards 2008 are presented by the European Film Academy
    e.V. and EFA Productions gGmbH in collaboration with EFA08 ApS and the
    Copenhagen Film Festivals with the support of the City of Copenhagen,
    the City of Frederiksberg, the Capital Region of Denmark, the Danish
    Ministry of Culture, the Danish Film Institute, Wonderful Copenhagen,
    the Nordic Film Fund and the Danish film industry.

    PATRONS: ADRIANA CHIESA ENTERPRISES SRL * AGICOA * CENTRO NIEMEYER *
    DANISH FILM INSTITUTE * EGEDA * ERNST & YOUNG AG * EURIMAGES * FUNDAÇÃO
    CALOUSTE GULBENKIAN * KORDA STUDIOS * MALTA FILM COMMISSION * MINISTRY
    OF EDUCATION AND CULTURE OF CYPRUS (CULTURAL SERVICES) * POLISH FILM
    INSTITUTE * RAI CINEMA * SEVILLE EUROPEAN FILM FESTIVAL, A PROJECT OF
    ICAS, ORGANISED BY ANDALUCIA FILM COMMISSION AND SEVILLE FILM OFFICE *
    SOCIEDAD GENERAL DE AUTORES Y EDITORES (SGAE) * TELEWIZJA POLSKA S.A.
    (TVP) * UGC CINE CITE SAS (UGC) * UNITED INTERNATIONAL PICTURES

    PARTNERS & SPONSORS: * FFA German Federal Film Board * MEDIA Programme
    of the EU * Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg * German State Minister of
    Culture and the Media * Stiftung Deutsche Klassenlotterie Berlin * TNT *
    UIP *