Works in Progress Award

Jury:

• Matthijs Wouter Knol, Director of European Film Market - Berlinale
• Rossitsa Valkanova, Director and Producer, Bulgaria
• Rickard Olsson, Picture Tree International, Sweden

Works in Progress Award

On Works in Progress, eleven projects were presented from countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the former Soviet Union, and now also the Middle East. The jury chose ALL THIS VICTORY by director Ahmad Ghossein as the winning project. A prize in the value of 100,000 Euro will be given to the project. The whole award consists of post-production services in UPP (60 000 Euro), Soundsquare (30 000 Euro), and a cash prize of 10,000 Euro from Barrandov Studio.

Jury statements:

Matthijs Wouter Knol:

The “Eastern Promises” Work in Progress Award 2018 goes to ALL THAT VICTORY by director Ahmad Ghossein, produced by Myriam Sassine, Abbout Productions, Lebanon.

Rossitsa Valkanova:

After a long and thorough deliberation, one project stood out in its creative approach to a complex idea and a highly relevant topic. The director and producer of this project presented it with precision and deep personal involvement, convincing us of their ability to build a multi-layered film world within a limited space, using minimalistic yet cinematic methods of storytelling. We expect this film to impress and resonate with audiences, as it manages to rise above the particularities of a military conflict, implying questions of existential importance with a bitter smile.

Rickard Olsson:

The 11 “Eastern Promises” of this year’s Works in Progress filled us with great expectations and made the Jury decision extremely difficult. In our hearts, we give 10 Special Mentions, as the generous award could only go to one of the projects.

Eurimages Lab Project Award

Jury

• David Kořínek, Director, Co-founder of Supermedia Studio at the Czech Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design
• Dorien van de Pas, Netherlands Film Fund
• Christoph Terhechte, Artistic Director of Marrakesh International Film Festival

The Eurimages Lab Project prize went to the winning project NORMAL by director Adele Tulli. KVIFF is the first of four international film festivals in Europe to be awarding the Eurimage prize. KVIFF has selected projects for the Eurimage prize that surpass traditional film methods and are based on international cooperation. The prize was awarded in the value of 50,000 Euro.

Jury statement

The jury thinks this was the most convincing pitch and the images correspond perfectly with the introduction. All three clips were very strong and together they are part of a visual journey through gender norms in contemporary Italy.

Docs in Progress Award

Jury:

• Tanja Georgieva, CEO and Producer at Elemag Pictures
• Noemi Schory, Independent Producer and Director, founder of the Documentary Filmmakers Forum, Israel
• Shane Smith, Director of Programming at HotDocs, Canada

The Docs in Progress prize went to the winning project THE PROJECTIONIST. For this section, projects are chosen from Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the former Soviet Union, and the Middle East. The winning film received a cash prize in the amount of 5,000 Euro.

A Special Mention was awarded to the Polish project Little Poland.

Jury statement

First of all, we saw very different and interesting projects and our judgement is based only on the presentation and what we saw today. We would first like to acknowledge the project “Little Poland” with a Special Mention for its humor and humanity.

The 5,000 Euro cash award goes to a documentary that takes us on a journey with a very special and charismatic protagonist. This film reminds us of what stands at the heart of documentary filmmaking – people. “The Projectionist”.

Macedonian Film Agency announced public Call for support for international promotion and promotion and distribution of domestic films and minority co-productions for the first time since its founding as a film fund in 2008. The support is given for participation on festivals and events and promotion and distribution of the films in Republic of Macedonia and abroad.

The main condition is that the films are in post-production phase at the moment of application or completely finished and are not previously, on any grounds, supported by the Macedonian Film Agency. The applicants can submit an application for international promotion if the film has been released no longer than one year.

The Call is opened and lasts throughout the year.  The application is an integral part of the Call and should be downloaded from the website of the Macedonian Film Agency.

EU Copyright Directive

27/06: Europe’s cultural and creative sectors call on MEPs to uphold the mandate on copyright in plenary – UNIC Website

“We represent 4.5% of EU GDP and 12 million European jobs. We are the heart and soul of Europe’s plurality and rich identities. On July 5 we ask for you to back the mandate adopted by JURI on 20 June which is the result of long and intense negotiations” highlights the main message of the Europe’s creative and cultural sectors to the MEPs.

29/06: CW! asks MEPs to uphold JURI mandate on Copyright Directive – Creativity Works!

Creativity Works! has joined 93 organisations from Europe’s creative and cultural sectors that are asking Members of the European Parliament to support the Legal Affairs (JURI) mandate on the Copyright Directive report during the Plenary vote on 5 July.

20/06: Copyright: MEPs update rules for the digital age – European Parliament

Plans to update of EU copyright rules for today’s online world and ensure fair pay for artists and journalists were backed by the Legal Affairs Committee.

20/06: Joint Press Release: The European Parliament’s report on the Copyright Directive in the Digital Single Market: a first good step for audiovisual authors – SAA, FERA & FSE

The Federation of European Film Directors (FERA), the Federation of Screenwriters in Europe (FSE) and the Society of Audiovisual Authors (SAA) welcome the vote of the Legal Affairs’ Committee in favour of a new Article -14a establishing a principle of fair and proportionate remuneration for authors and performers.

Copyright Enforcement

26/06: Press Release: AAPA Launches Anti-Piracy Award – Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance

At this year’s Europol Intellectual Property Crime conference, the Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAPA) announced the winner of it first award for a successful initiative to tackle audiovisual piracy. The winner was Grupo de Antipirateria of the Policia Nacionale (Spain), led by Inspector Marlene Álvarez Vicente. The award recognised the Grupo de Antipirateria’s successful operations in large scale illegal streaming cases, many of which affected AAPA members.

Digital Single Market

/07: European Commission Communication on completing a trusted Digital Single Market for all – EAO Newsletter

 In the Communication, the Commission provides an overview of the legislative proposals it has made over the last three years, reviews the progress of their adoption and implementation, and calls on its co-legislators - the European Parliament and the Council - to accelerate their work in order to meet the European Council’s goal of concluding the DSM Strategy by the end of 2018.

Council of the European Union

01/07: Austria takes over presidency of the Council of the European Union on 1 July 2018 – Austrian Presidency of the Council of the EU

On the first of July, Austria took over the presidency of the Council of the European Union for the next six months.

Competition

15/06: Mergers: Commission clears Comcast’s proposed acquisition of Sky under EU merger rules – European Commission

The European Commission has approved unconditionally under the EU Merger Regulation the proposed acquisition of Sky by Comcast, a US based global media, technology and entertainment company. The Commission concluded the transaction would raise no competition concerns in Europe.

Gender Balance

19/06: Working report on gender representation in the audiovisual media sector – European Commission

A short working report, outlining the national measures and initiatives to support the place and image of women in audiovisual media, both on- and off-screen, has been published.

Events

5 July: Vote in Plenary - EU Copyright Directive16 July: Creative Europe MEDIA Stakeholder Meeting 24-27 September: FNCF Congress 2018 - Deauville 26 & 27 September: EUIPO Plenary Meeting 2018 - Alicante 15 & 16 October: UNIC Cinema Days - Brussels 

Film Centre of Montenegro announced Public call for co-financing of the minority co-productions.