The Awards of Astra Film Festival 2019 go to France, Belgium, Israel, Estonia and Romania! The winners of the 26th edition of Astra Film - Sibiu International Film Festival 2019 were announced on Saturday, 19 October, during the AFF 2019 Awards held at Filarmonica de Stat Sibiu. The juries of the 4 competition sections had to choose from a final selection of 46 films.

The 9th edition of US in Progress Wrocław will be held from the 6th till the 8th of November as a part of American Film Festival and thanks to the support of Polish Film Institute and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. We are also proud to announce our partnership with Polish Producers Alliance.

US in Progress aims to facilitate professional networking among European and Polish film professionals and independent filmmakers from the United States. It is held twice yearly (June edition takes place in Paris during Champs-Elysees Film Festival).

US in Progress Wrocław invite-only Polish pitchings will feature four projects with co-production potential. Polish producers selected to pitch their projects to the US producers and investors are:

• Lost Voice. Searching for Marcella Sembrich dir. Radka Franczak, prod. Dagmara Brodziak

• Naked Coast dir. Michał Krzywicki, prod. Dagmara Brodziak

• America in Your Footsteps dir. Łukasz Kowalski, Anna Tarnawska, prod.Łukasz Kowalski, Anna Mazerant 

• Turkey Hunting in Mississippi dir. & prod. Bianca Lucas 
  
  

Polish-American co-production meetings is a networking opportunity for Polish producers seeking partners from the US and US producers willing to work in/with Poland. American producers invited to talk on a round-table on Transcontinental Co-Production are as follows:

• Andrew Hevia (Moonlight, Leave the Bus Through the Broken Window)
• Zach Nutman (Short Term 12, It Follows, Paterson, Beach Rats)
• Monique Walton (Bull, We’re Still Together) 
• Stephanie Wilcox (The Other Lamb, Whiplash, Drive)
• Jay Van Hoy (The Witch, The Lighthouse, American Honey)

The day will  be complimented by presentations of Polish production incentives and the scouting tour of Wrocław and one-on-one meetings. 

To learn more or contact US in Progress team please email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or check www.usinprogress.com

CentEast Market celebrates its 15th edition at the Warsaw Film Festival with the screenings of new Polish films, selected projects in various stages of production and post-production, a programme for documentary filmmakers and workshops for young Polish filmmakers and critics.

"CentEast was initiated as a Polish-Russian joint venture back in 2005. And we are still friends with my Russian partner, Mr Gindilis, and the man who did the matchmaking, Mr Medvedev. Our friendship is still stronger than politics" – said general manager of the Warsaw Film Foundation Stefan Laudyn. "The beginnings were very modest. In 2000 we organised the first edition of Warsaw Screenings, showing a couple of new Polish films with English subtitles to a handful of festival programmers, who attended the Warsaw Film Festival. It worked. Years later Mr Kitanov told me that our little event inspired him to launch Sofia Meetings, which became one of the top events for film professionals in the region. At some point we introduced presentations of works-in-progress from the region. Again it went well. At some point the Ukrainian film Tribe, launched at CentEast, landed at Cannes. This is how the steel was tempered. This year’s CentEast will be quite modest. The funding decision was made only 16th September. But we hope the future will be bright. Welcome to Warsaw!"

THE PROGRAMME OF 15th CENTEAST MARKET:

Warsaw Screenings - 35th presentations of the newest Polish films (including co-productions) with international potential, to international sales agents, distributors and festival programmers.

Warsaw Works-In-Progress - presentations of selected projects in various stages of production and post-production

New Talents | Wajda School - presentation of the most interesting projects of the students of the Wajda School.

Doc Lab Poland – a programme for documentary filmmakers (directors and producers) who have already produced their first film. Organized by the Ślesicki Foundation.

Warsaw Next – 9th workshops for young Polish filmmakers, who have at least one short film to their credit; meetings with professionals from Poland and abroad, lectures, participation in CentEast Market.

FIPRESCI Warsaw Critics Project - 14th workshops for young and aspiring Eastern European journalists and film critics, organized in collaboration with the International Federation of Film Critics (FIRPESCI). Tutored by Amber Wilkinson i Tommaso Tocci.

Open Workshop "The Art of Film Editing" - 16th edition of an event for everyone interested in editing, organized with Polish Film Editors Association.

Presentation "Possibilities of cooperation on the Chinese market" - delegation of the Shanghai International Film Festival will talk about the prospects of cooperation with China.

CentEast Market is organized by the Warsaw Film Foundation, and the main partner is Polish Film Institute.

The sub-festival of Black Nights Film Festival selected a total of 42 short films to the animation competition programmes, with 27 in the International Animation Competition and the festival's student section entitled New Talents screening 15 animated films.

"There is a programme diversity and an interplay between narrative and more experimental animation shorts. Animation shorts dare to be longer in length, and at the same time, highly accomplished," notes Vassilis Kroustallis, PÖFF Shorts' new animation programme director.

The PÖFF Shorts animation competition will host the Baltic premieres for many acclaimed films including MEMORABLE (France) the Annecy Short Film and Audience Award winner directed by Bruno Collet, and ACID RAIN (Poland 2019) by director Tomek Popakul. a 26-minute experiential trip in Central Eastern Europe that premiered in Sundance and won the Grand Prix at Animafest Zagreb 2019.

Selection highlights include THE PHYSICS OF SORROW (Canada 2019) the latest film by the Oscar-nominated artist Theodor Ushev who received a special mention at 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. 

The New Talents competition will host a screening of DAUGHTER (Dir. Daria Kascheeva, Czech Republic 2019), a handheld-camera stop-motion film, recently awarded the Student Academy Award 2019.

The international short film and animation festival PÖFF Shorts comprises of three competition programmes: live action and animation with their respective student sections known as New Talents, and a National Competition to showcase the best of Estonian short form cinema.

The titles for the international short film competition can be found at https://mailchi.mp/poff/short-competition-announced-2019.

Full programme will be revealed online by November 8.

The international short film and animation festival PÖFF Shorts will be held from November 19-27, 2019.

For more information on PÖFF Shorts go to http://2019shorts.poff.ee/en/english/
For more information on Black Nights Film Festival go to: www.poff.ee
Press accreditation for the 23rd Black Nights Film Festival now open: https://vp.eventival.eu/poff/23
PÖFF Shorts 2018 Flickr gallery: https://www.flickr.com/photos/poffihunt/collections/72157700601395162/

Astra Film - Sibiu International Film Festival 2019 is a revealing experienceboth for general audiences who are willing to explore new realities from the entire world based on the proposed film selection and for young directors, through the programme for developing documentary film projects. DocTank, the special programme dedicated to industry professionals, will take place during Astra Film Festival between 17 and 19 October and it includes debates, workshops, events, presentations and networking opportunities.

Over the course of 3 days, theDocTankprogramme will bring together renowned directors and beginners, students from profile faculties, producers, distributors and buyers, festival representatives and other industry professionals from Europe and all over the world for a series of productive meetings.

DocTank also includes Astra Film Lab, an intensive workshop in which 10 ongoing projects of young filmmakers from Romania, Italy, Bulgaria, Republic of Moldova, Czech Republic and Ukraine will be screened for several outstanding industry representatives: Gabriela Bussmann (producer), Olivia Cooper-Hadjian (representative of Cinéma du Réel), Alina David (HBO producer), Aleksandar Govedarica (distributor), Martin Horyna (representative of Karlovy Vary International Film Festival), Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan (producer), Hanka Kastelicová (executive producer of documentaries for HBO Europe), Irina Malcea (producer), Sorin Manu (producer), Cornelia Popa (manager CineLab), Adam Paplinski (producer), Katarzyna Szarecka (consultant for Pitch the Doc), Elena Santamaria (producer) or Valentina Miu (coordinator MEDIA Desk Romania). This year, the tutors of the Astra Film Lab programme are Irina Maldea (who has over 30 years of experience working in the industry), Brendan Culleton (producer and director) and Michael Treves (producer and distributor). The winners will receive prizes for development, post-production and digital marketing. 

This year, DocTank teams up with Pitch the Doc, an online pitching platform, in a workshop that maximizes the success rate of directors with an ongoing project, which will take place on Thursday, 17 October. On Friday, 18 October, ”Making your first documentary”,a roundtable discussion,will bring together the interested students andsome of the directors whose films are part ofthe official selection of AFF 2019. This meeting aims to encourage the sharing of personal experiences, advice and development opportunities, workshop and scholarship applications, the ways in which you can organize a project and the steps you have to take after the production of a film has ended. ”Creative Europe MEDIA” will also take place on Friday, during which European development opportunities for documentary filmmaking will be presented, as well as”From Script to Screen: best practices of documentary development”, a panel discussion which will detail some of the current conditions, opportunities and issues that European filmmakers must take into account. The discussions and meetings on Thursday and Friday will be heldin the Glass Hall of Filarmonica de Stat Sibiu. On Saturday, 19 October, at the Dome in the Large Square, there will be a discussion entitled”Interface. Comunication between machines and humans” about how messages converse with the space in which they are exposed to be fully integrated into the architecture through digital techniques, which allows a total video adaptation of the three-dimensional space. In each of the three days of DocTank, the guests will have access to the Video Bar at the Filarmonica de Stat Sibiu, where they can watch over 100 documentaries from the official programme of this edition of the festival.

The AFF 2019 Awards will be held on Saturday, 19 October, 7 PM, at Filarmonica de Stat Sibiuin the presence of hundreds of guests. The winning films of the 2019 edition of Astra Film Festival will be announced. A prestigious jury made up of 10 professionals had the difficult mission of evaluating the 46 films in the 4 competition sections: International, Central & Eastern Europe, Romania and DocSchool. The award ceremony on Saturday will end with a live music performance of Om la lună.

Astra Film Festival Sibiu is held under the High Patronage of the Romanian Presidency.

Astra Film Festival 2019 is coordinated by Astra Film, CNM Astra and the Astra Film Foundation, with the support of the Sibiu County Council, the Ministry of Culture and National Identity and the National Center of Cinematography. The event is co-financed by the Sibiu Local Council through the City Hall of Sibiu.

We announce the line-up of the Student Etudes Competition of the 27th edition of EnergaCAMERIMAGE International Film Festival .

First held in 1997, Student Etudes Competition supports the development of novice filmmakers and provides unique opportunity to confront cinematic achievements of students from various parts of the world. Each year, a growing number of film schools submit their best etudes for consideration of the EnergaCAMERIMAGE selection committee. The winners are chosen by an international jury of prominent filmmakers and industry professionals.

The author of the best cinematography wins the coveted Laszlo Kovacs Student Award - The Golden Tadpole. Silver and Bronze Tadpoles are awarded for the second and third place respectively. Additionally, Polish Filmmakers Association will award the winner of the Student Etudes Competition a cheque for PLN 10 000.

17 HOURS

A short film based on the last moments of a ten-year-old girl named Julia, who has been trapped under debris from an earthquake in Italy for 17 hours.

Original title: 17ساعت
Polish title: 17 godzin
Director: Pedram Noori
Cinematographer: Aean Irani
School: Soore Art University Of Tehran
Country and year: Iran, 2019

ANIMALS

Su Su Myat, a Burmese child soldier, escapes from battle with her best friend, Tin Min. When they get captured, she must face the most awful of decisions.

Director: Chen-Wen Lo
Cinematographer: Łukasz Dziedzic
School: AFI - American Film Institute Conservatory
Country and year: USA, 2019

BIKE OF A BOY

War is raging. A boy loses his home in an air raid. Disoriented, he flees on his bike- his only possession- through an increasingly disrupted world. The people he meets and tries to connect with mirror his own search for the right path, although there is no set destination.

Original title: Das Rote Rad
Director: Nicolas Ehret
Cinematographer: Dennis Mill
School: Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg GmbH
Country and year: Germany, 2019

BITTER HERB

In the past, when mothers wanted to stop breastfeeding, they would rub their breasts with an infusion of wormwood, so that the bitter taste would make the child never want breast milk again.

Original title: Piołun
Director: Maria Ornaf
Cinematographer: Zuzanna Zachara
School: Łódź Film School
Country and year: Poland, 2019

CHAOS

Chaos is a fairy-tale about the devil. What are one jogger, one hobo and two pigs doing in a forest? Chaos is a story about greed and its consequences. It’s a short that should be seen several times as, each time, the deeper meaning reveals itself even more.

Director: Samuel Auer
Cinematographer: Lukas Eylandt
School: DFFB - German Film and Television Academy 
Country and year: Germany, 2019

CRU

Jeanne, a young chef, has made it in a top restaurant. With an iron discipline, she tries to convince her chef, known for her brutal work ethic, of her talent, but in this kitchen there is a merciless pecking order. It is only when Jeanne cuts her finger that she accidentally creates the perfect sauce - with her own blood. Now she must decide how far she wants to go for her career...

Director: David Oesch
Cinematographer: Ramón Königshausen
School: ZHdK - Zurich University of the Arts
Country and year: Switzerland, 2019

DAY RELEASE

Single mother Kathi is on day release from prison and finds her three-year-old son, who is living with his unstable grandmother, in a terrible situation. She is forced to find a way to make a better future for him, but time is against her - she has to be back in prison at 6PM.

Original title: Freigang
Director: Martin Winter
Cinematographer: Aram Baroian
School: Filmcollege Wien - VHS Polycollege
Country and year: Germany, Austria, 2019

ENCAGED FLOWER

A girl is lying on her bed, reading a book. This is the moment when she is overcome with a desire to explore. The girl will ask herself who she really is, what her legacy is, what she truly wants, and most importantly, is she free? An intimate and melancholic portrait of a young woman who, trapped within a monotony, determines how her life will be.

Original title: Flor de Invernadero
Director: Daniel Álvarez
Cinematographer: Daniel Álvarez
School: Escola Universitària ERAM - Universitat de Girona
Country and year: Spain, 2019

F FOR FREAKS

A world that is defined by neither time nor space. Nature overgrowing, gaping spaces and human emptiness shape this environment. You can get anything here, for the right price. Cheap staff or slaves, surrogate babies, vital organs, anything and everything is possible. The supposed dream of eternal life is for sale, along with human dignity.

Director: Sabine Ehrl
Cinematographer: Stephan Buske
School: Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF
Country and year: Germany, 2019

GRENADINE

After their parents inexplicably leave them to fend for themselves, three brothers must learn to grow up in a world devoid of authority.

Director: Corentin Leroux
Cinematographer: Rob Schmidt
School: Dodge College of Film and Media Arts at Chapman University
Country and year: USA, 2019

JAKAB

A young man living abroad visits his home-town to deal with the aftermath of his estranged father's death. The unexpected journey forces him to face feelings and affairs long thought to be gone. A film about the inability to connect, or to find a home.

Director: Attila Dávid
Cinematographer: Péter Lehr Juhász
School: SZFE - Színház- és Filmmûvészeti Egyetem, Budapest
Country and year: Hungary, 2018

LAST CHILDREN IN PARADISE,THE

In the countryside, siblings Leah (14) and Theo (10) live with their grandmother in an isolated farmhouse. But it's when their grandmother suddenly dies, and the two kids find themselves completely on their own, that Leah - on the brink of puberty - has her first encounter with the opposite sex. We watch as Leah struggles to cope with being the woman of the house, and we see her torn between taking responsibility for her brother, and being thrust into womanhood. As a thunderstorm approaches and, along with it, a group of troublesome teenagers, Leah and Theo's paradise is threatened to be destroyed forever.

Original title: Die letzten Kinder im Paradies
Director: Anna Roller
Cinematographer: Felix Pflieger
School: HFF München - Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film
Country and year: Germany, 2019

LEFTY/RIGHTY

The death of a patriarch bridges the gap between a divorced cowboy and his young daughter. What follows is a tale of forgiveness, albeit in few words.

Director: Max Walker-Silverman
Cinematographer: Alfonso Herrera Salcedo
School: NYU - Tisch School of the Arts
Country and year: USA, 2018