A new generation of creative documentary filmmakers and artists heads to ARISTOTELES WORKSHOP every year for a 5-week filmmaking boot camp experience. Artistic characters ensue, since 2006.

Their output landed and won on the festival circuit: Quinzaine des Realisateurs at the Cannes Film Festival, Locarno International Film Festival, Dok Leipzig, Vision du Reel, International Documentary Festival Amsterdam or Tampere International Film Festival 2017.

We’re now calling for you if you are:

• a (starting) director, cinematographer or editor with completed work;
• fluent in English;
• driven to make a documentary from pitch to final cut, with a crew you just met, in 5 weeks;
• ready for one of the most intense learning experiences you’ll ever have.

This is your chance to:

• be a director, cinematographer or editor in one of our four crews. You bring the ideas. We provide the production and post production equipment;
• meet bright young artists like you from all over the world and work together in a pristine natural setting;
• get full tutoring and mentoring from film industry professionals shaping the documentary landscape today;
• be on the festival circuit, if your film rises to the challenge.

How to apply:

• submit your form online and receive detailed instructions to complete application in your inbox.
• more information on the workshop online at www.aworkshop.org.

The festival presented a total of 207 films from 54 countries from all over the world. Over 300 international guests came to Sofia in 2018, amongst them were directors, producers, festival directors as well as media and film experts.

The Award Ceremony took place on the 16^th of March in Hall 1 of the National Palace of Culture.

THE INTERNATIONAL JURY FOR FIRST AND SECOND FEATURE FILMS

Ildikó Enyedi (Hungary) – Director, Jury President

Claudia Landsberger (The Netherlands) – Programme consultant, Producer

George Ovashvili (Georgia) – Director

Milan Maric (Serbia) – Actor

Ralitza Petrova (Bulgaria) – Director

DECIDED

SOFIA CITY OF FILM GRAND PRIX AWARD for best film in the International Competition for first and second films, amounted to 7 000 Euro provided by the Sofia Municipality, went to ‘3/4’ (Bulgaria-Germany) by director Ilian Metev.

SPECIAL JURY AWARD went to ‘Genesis’ (Hungary) by director Árpád Bogdán.

AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTOR went to Banu Sıvacı for her film ‘The Pigeon’ (Turkey) and was handed out by the American director Sean Baker.

JURY SPECIAL MENTION went to Mohsen Gharfaei for his film ‘Blockage’ (Iran).

JAMESON AWARD FOR BEST BULGARIAN SHORT FILM, amounted to 6 000 Euro, went to ‘The Transfiguration’ (Bulgaria) by director Stephan Ganoff.

JAMESON Special Mention AWARD was awarded to the short film ‘Shame’ (Bulgaria) by the director Petar Krumov.

The AUDIENCE AWARD was decided by the spectators’ vote for films from International and Balkan competitions in Sofia Film Festival’s programme and was presented to the film ‘Radiogram’ (Bulgaria-Poland), directed by Rouzie Hassanova, by European Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society at the European Commission Mariya Gabriel.

DOMAINE BOYAR AWARD FOR BEST BALKAN FILM handed by Balkan jury president Andrei Plakhov (film critic and historian of cinema, Russia) and members Zaza Khalvashi (director and festival director, Georgia) and Yanko Terziev (film critic and journalist, Bulgaria), went to ‘Heights’ (Bulgaria-Macedonia) by the director Victor Bojinov.

The Balkan Jury handed SPECIAL MENTION to the film ‘Secret Ingredient’ (Montenegro-Serbia) by Gjorce Stavreski.

AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY handed by the international jury president Melody Gilbert (director and producer, USA) and members Zaven Sargsyan (director of Parajanov Museum in Yerevan, Armenia) and Lyubomir Mladenov (director, Bulgaria), went to the film ‘Miniature for Piano’ (Bulgaria) by Eldora Traykova.

The FIPRESCI Jury members Emanuel Levy (Canada), Claus Löser (Italy), Olga Markova (Bulgaria) handed out the FIPRESCI Award to the film ‘Omnipresent’ (Bulgaria) by the director Ilian Djevelekov.

The Award of the Bulgarian Guild of Film Critics for film from the Balkan Competition went to ‘Omnipresent’ (Bulgaria) by Ilian Djevelekov.

THE YOUNG JURY AWARD of the festival went to ‘Genesis’ (Hungary) by director Árpád Bogdán as the best film in the International Competition.

THE AWARD FOR BEST BULGARIAN FEATURE FILM handed by jury consisted of Lenka Tyrpakova (Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic), Elma Tataragic (Sarajevo Film Festival, Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Roberto Cueto (San Sebastian Film Festival, Spain) went to ‘3/4’ (Bulgaria-Germany) by director Ilian Metev.

Within the framework of the 22^nd Sofia International Film Festival the SOFIA AWARD of Sofia Municipality for contribution to world cinema was presented to:

VASIL MIHAYLOV, actor (Bulgaria)

ABEL FERRARA, director (USA)

ROMAN BALAYAN, director (Ukraine)

 

At the 15 edition of SOFIA MEETINGS the following awards were handed out:

Nu Boyana Film Studios presented for the third year in a row  Sofia Meetings Danny Lerner Grand Prix for Best Project in the main sections. For the FIRST TIME in 2018 the AWARDS were TWO. Тhe largest film production studio in Eastern Europe will back up two of the projects with a prize of 50,000 Euro in services and a cheque for 5,000 Euro. The award went to the projects WOLF (Ireland), presented by the director Nathalie Biancheri and the producer Jessie Fisk, and THE TROJAN CRISIS (Bulgaria), presented by the director Francois Nouguies and the producer Martichka Bozhilova.

Cinelab Romania Award – 25,000 Euro in post-production lab services was presented to the project MARCH.APRIL.MAY (Russia) by the producer Vlad Ketkovich and the director Andrey Gryazev.

 

Focusfox Studio (Hungary) Award equal to 10,000 Euro in post production services went to the project JA SAM ANA (Italy) by the director Ado Hasanovic and producer Massimo D'orzi.

Young Producer Award – Yapimlab (Turkey) will invite one producer for one week project consultancy in Istanbul or Antalya, during International Antalya Film Festival, and offer network possibilities within Turkish industry (equal of 5,000 Euro). The award went to the project DUO (Spain), presented by the director Meritxell Colell and the producer Belén Sánchez.

 

EastWest Filmdistribution Award – script consultancy (equal of 5,000 Euro) with Steven Goldsmith, an Irish-American script doctor and writer, went to the project THE CROWN OF CREATION (Hungary) by the director László Csuja and producers Anna Eszter Nemes and András Muhi.

MFI - Mediterranean Film Institute - Award - a scholarship for one of the projects from Sofia Meetings to participate at MFI Script 2 Film Workshops, went to CRISEA IV (Romania), presented by the director Vladimir Dembinski and the producer Bogdan Craciun.

FIRST FILMS FIRST AWARDS

 

Balkan Film Market Award for the best project in the FIRST FILMS FIRST selection went to the project LIFE BEATS REALITY (Romania), presented by the director and producer Andrea Valean. The prize grants the winning FFF project an invitation to an official selection of the next Balkan Film Market.

GoEast Award for the best pitch in the FIRST FILMS FIRST selection went to the project DAJNA (Albania-Germany), presented by the director Christos Netsos. The prize grants the winning FFF participant an invitation as a special guest to the East-West Talent Lab during the next edition of goEast Film Festival in Wiesbaden.

For further information, please contact

The Press Office of Sofia International Film Festival

Svetlana Damianova

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

 

A median audio-visual author in Europe earns €18,000 from their work after tax, with an additional €2,000 coming from secondary payments including CMOs.

As the Copyright Directive discussions have entered a crucial phase in the European Parliament and Council, FERA and FSE call on EU policy-makers to take a stand to secure effective measures to ensure European audio-visual authors’ fair and proportionate remuneration. Without it, there can be no sustainable future for European audio-visual creation.

Although the European audio-visual industries’ turnover in 2012 was € 107.3 billion[1], we know that, at national level, the majority of creators who produce the copyright goods on which the culture industries are built have extremely unstable incomes that are usually very modest. Investing the time, energy and resources necessary to create, has become increasingly difficult.

Preliminary results from the first ever, comprehensive, Europe-wide research aimed at mapping out the economic and social situation of European audio-visual authors[2] paint a sobering picture of the brutal economic reality faced by creators in the European audio-visual sector.

Including all sources of personal income young authors have annual income of less than €15,000. If they can sustain a career, this rises to €30,000 for men and €24,000 for women at the age of fifty, following which it drops again to less than €15,000 at 65. As a result, they usually have other work either within the industry (50% of authors) or outside the industry (34% of directors and 42% of screenwriters).

Audio-visual authors receive about 10% of their income from secondary sources, necessary to bring more stability to mostly freelance and self-employed professional lives, which includes income from Collective Management Organisations. This shows the importance of their initial contract, from which most of their income originates.

Nonetheless, while four out of five authors (83%) “would never give up their job”, 81 % of young authors and 56% of established authors say that it is difficult to bargain a good contract. 

Dan Clifton, FERA Chair, added : “As a part of the EU audio-visual industry, we fight for a sustainable future for our sector, so that its specificities are taken into account in the EU audio-visual regulatory framework and ongoing copyright review. It is now the industry’s turn to show that it also has a sustainable vision for the future of its creative community.” 

“The first results of this study are clear : the current economic situation of the European audio-visual creators community is simply not sustainable. The Copyright Directive is a once-in-a-decade opportunity to take concrete action to fix this : we count on the JURI MEPS and Member States to step up.” said Robert Taylor, FSE President.It is past time the audio-visual industry and the European Union stop looking the other way while paying lip-service to the importance of creativity and cultural diversity.
European citizens’ appetite for the films, TV series, documentaries we create is constantly growing. Yet our creative community struggles to make ends meet.

Contacts : 
Pauline Durand-Vialle, FERA (Federation of European Film Directors) CEO – +32 491 52 49 04
David Kavanagh, FSE (Federation of Screenwriters in Europe) Executive Officer – +353 (86) 837 1203

 

 

In just a month the 7th edition of Visegrad Film Forum will host silver screen art director, editor and cinematographer with many others.

Between 17th and 21st of April the Film and TV Faculty of Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava will become a place for uncovering the secrets of cinematography, networking between young filmmakers and informal entertainment.

Common visions with the director Christopher Nolan

Icelandic production designer, art director and special effects supervisor Eggert Ketilsson made his career breakthrough when Hollywood studios were discovering breath-taking nature of Iceland. After his work on part of Lara Croft Tomb Raider (2001) and the first episode of legendary comics series Batman Begins (2005) couple years later, he became a member of Christopher Nolan’s stable team. Ketilsson continued his work on the planet sections of epic space odyssey Interstellar (2014) and became an art director on the Oscar nominated feature film Dunkirk (2017) set during the II World War. Moreover, Ketilsson has also continued collaboration on Hollywood sci-fi and fantasy blockbusters. He was Icelandic Special Effects Supervisor on Prometheus (2011) by Ridley Scott, Thor: The Dark World (2012) or Transformers: The Last Knight (2017). He also cooperated on Icelandic part of shooting on Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) by J.J. Abrahms and Star Wars movie Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016).

Transforming words into pictures

Slawomir Idziak, born in Poland, is a renowned cinematographer of many American and European blockbusters. Being a DOP on an action movie Black Hawk Dawn (2001) directed by Ridley Scott brought him nominations for the Oscar Academy Award and BAFTA. Apart from that he has experience with the Hollywood productions thanks to his work on Gattaca (1997), Proof of life (2000) and King Arthur (2004). In 2007 he became main cinematographer on the fifth episode of the Harry Potter franchise titled Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Above all he is mainly known by his collaborations on the films of Polish directors Krzystof Zanussi and Krzystof Kieślowski. Three Colours: Blue (1993), which is Kieszlowski’s most famous work from the trilogy inspired by French Revolution, will be screened during the event with personal attendance of Slawomir Idziak.

Fantastic illusion of the film

Thrilling film storytelling is made by British filmmaker Mick Audsley directly in the editing room. Part of our programme is an exclusive screening of the movie Twelve Monkeys (1995) directed by Terry Gilliam with the presence of the editor himself. Audsley presented his skills in a film illusion on titles like Interview with Vampire (1994), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005).

Thanks to his long and fruitful cooperation with the director Stephen Frears Audsley was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Editing for Dangerous Liaisons (1988), and won the BAFTA TV Award for the The Snapper (1993). Furthermore, he contributed to the blockbuster Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010) and most recently to the adaptation of the cult classic by Agatha Christie Murder on the Orient Express (2017).

Visegrad Film Forum 2018

Date: April 17-21, 2018
Place: Bratislava, Slovak Republic
Venue: Film and TV Faculty VŠMU

web: http://www.visegradfilmforum.com

facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VisegradFilmForum/?fref=ts

instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vffbratislava/

youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mpj2r4K88c

 

 

Yesterday the Slovenian Film Centre, a public agency of the Republic of Slovenia (the SFC), organised an international consultation entitled "Women in the Film Sector: a Gender Issue" in the context of the 20th Documentary Film Festival. The event took place in the Lili Novy club at the Cankarjev Dom cultural and congress centre in Ljubljana and was moderated by Boštjan Narat.

The consultation focused on the research into the representation of filmmakers according to their gender, while our guests commented on the research findings and attempted to establish how to balance the scales. The consultation took place in the context of the Our Films At Home project, organised by the Slovenian Film Centre in order to present its current film production and strengthen the wider importance of film in the Slovenian culture.

The fact that we cannot possibly overlook is that during the Yugoslav period the Slovenian film production failed to create even a single female director. Only as late as in 2002, in the independent state of Slovenia, did the first two women finally sign two live-action features: Maja Weiss (Guardian of the Frontier) and Hanna Slak (Blind Spot). Their films with cinematographic distribution were made with the support of what was then the Slovenian Film Fund. To date, the following films by female directors have been realised with the national support: eight live-action feature films by the directresses Maja Weiss (Guardian of the Frontier, 2002; and Installation of Love, 2007), Hanna Slak (Blind Spot, 2002; Teah, 2007; and The Miner, 2017), Janja Glogovac (L ... Like Love, 2007), Dafne Jemeršić (Reality, 2008) and Sonja Prosenc (The Tree, 2014); two full-length experimental films by Ema Kugler (For the End of Time, 2008; and Echoes of Time, 2013); and a single documentary feature by Petra Seliškar (Mother Europe, 2013).

In the introduction, Nataša Bučar, director of the Slovenian Film Centre, stated the following: "With this research, the first of its kind in Slovenia, the Slovenian Film Centre will get more actively involved in the European and national initiatives for the more balanced representation of both genders. This February at the film festival in Berlin, Eurimages, the European film coproduction fund, presented its Gender Equality Strategy in the European film industry for the period 2018–2020, entitled "Aiming for 50/50 by 2020", whose goal is to ensure gender equality in the field of film.

The key information, collected during the study organised by the Slovenian Film Centre in cooperation with the researcher Nika Gričar, indicates that in the period between 1995 and 2017 the films within the national film programme were directed by men in 90 % of cases; the stories were written by male screenwriters in 78 % of cases; while approximately 80 % of films were produced by men. Only one of the nine live-action feature films, screened in the context of the national film programme in this period, was directed by a woman. We can also not ignore the fact that directresses have been less successful at the tenders for feature film projects and script development, while they have been relatively successful at the tenders for the realisation of first films and audio-visual works. Between 2011 and 2017, approximately one third of graduates in film and television directing in Slovenia were women; while the proportion of film directresses, included in the competent ministry's register of those self-employed in culture with the status of film directors, was similar (32 %).

At the consultation, Deputy Executive Director of the European coproduction fund Eurimages Enrico Vannucci emphasised, that "gender equality is an integral part of human rights and a fundamental criterion of democracy". He is convinced of "the decisive role of the audiovisual sector in perpetuating gender-based inequalities on and off-screen but also in positively influencing perceptions and promoting equality". Therefore "the Council of Europe adopted in 2017 a landmark Recommendation on gender equality in the audiovisual sector".

Vannucci's reasoning was expanded on by Susan Newman-Baudais, a project manager at Eurimages, as "Eurimages takes a special interest in the question of gender equality in the film industry. Since 2012 the Fund has collected information on the participation of women in projects submitted, and in 2015 adopted a first strategy to address the gender imbalance that was clearly demonstrated by the data."

The main thesis of Kristine Börjeson, Head of Film Funding at the Swedish Film Institute, was that the said institute was an example of good practice: "The Swedish Film Institute wants to inspire more active work on gender equality issues and show that gender equality is possible with a systematic approach, and also that gender equality can be a tool for raising quality."

Meanwhile, the film critic Maja Bogojević took a look at the history. In her own words, her presentation focused "on the analysis of gender relations and identities as cinematically constructed in some films during the existence of Yugoslav country, which introduced both aesthetic innovations and the socio-political critique of the dominant ideology, but with the cinematic strategies employed still much more patriarchal than anti-communist. This film tradition is compared to post-Yugoslav film, exhibiting backlash of patriarchy as a dominant mode of representation to reflect the new socio-political realities." In conclusion, Maja also discussed "some filmic counter-examples, defying the dominant representation of ideology".

In the further discussion, the directress Hanna Slak commented that "the question of gender equality in the audio-visual sector was of key importance for the social equality in general. Although the number of male and female graduates from film schools is roughly the same and even though the public finances depend on the taxes collected from all citizens regardless of gender, only one fifth of public finances, the main source for the financing of audio-visual contents in Europe, is allocated to the projects proposed by women.  As a result, one half of the talents whose education has been invested in are lost; the competition is not diverse enough; the contents remain monolithic; and the same pattern of interpreting the society keeps being repeated."

Maja Weiss stated the following: "Without men who understood the gender issue and finally opened and held the door for women and projects struggling for equality within the Slovenian film sector, we would still be where we started – in spite of the female persistence, belligerence, diligence, and talent. For me personally, the door to television production was opened by Drago Pečko, while Franci Slak and Filip Robar Dorin introduced me to film production. The first video film marathon of Slovenian female authors, organised in 1997, initiated a public discussion. Koen van Daele and Vlado Škafar were vital for the Slovenian Cinematheque in the time when Silvan Furlan was its director. Thanks to Metod Pevec's initiative, I also became the first elected female President of the Association of Slovenian Filmmakers after more than sixty years of male leadership. To make a long story short: women could not open any doors for me, as at that time, 'during all these beginnings', women were not in the positions of power and could not make any decisions."  

Ida Weiss: "The long years of practice in the field of film production have shown that women negotiate their fees much more rarely than men. Even so, those that may wish to negotiate are quickly seen as problematic and can soon become unwanted. For me personally, this is a major social problem. This is precisely why many women are still unable to ensure an equal economic position for themselves, which is actually the first and most basic precondition for the implementation of all other rights.  

The representatives of the younger generation of Slovenian film directresses addressed the female presence in the film industry from another perspective. Urša Menart underlined that "gender equality in the film industry will not exist until the working conditions are more favourable for filmmakers who also happen to be parents. However, better working conditions will remain elusive for as long as the Slovenian budgets do not rise to the level comparable with the other EU countries." Sonja Prosenc added the following: "As far as the presence of black filmmakers was concerned, Spike Lee stated that they should control their image themselves, as films are a very strong medium and black people should therefore not allow others to define their existence. Logically we should ask ourselves how important it is that the image of women in films is shaped by women."

The consultation in the Slovenian Cinematheque was followed by the premiere of Maja Weiss's documentary feature My Way 50 – Between Lost and Found World and Ida Weiss's documentary debut Peter vs. Harry.

 

 

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (aka PÖFF), Youth and Children’s Film Festival Just Film and PÖFF Shorts have opened submissions for the 2018 edition.

The 22nd edition of PÖFF, running from November 16th to December 2nd, will see a major change in one of the three competition programmes of the festival. The former Estonian Film Competition that used to be judged by the same jury as the First Feature Competition will be turned into a new programme with its own international jury – the Baltic Film Competition – screening a selection of feature-length films made in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The programme requires Estonian premiere for the Lithuanian and Latvian films (no premiere requirements for Estonian films) and is designed as a showcase of the best Baltic cinematic output from the last year. The programme will have one award - Award for Best Baltic Feature Film with a grant of 3200 Euros, shared by the director and producer.

Festival director Tiina Lokk comments: „The Baltic Competition is actually an old idea of ours that we are excited to return to. It was a programme we had to cancel years back, as the Baltic film output was just not sufficient enough. We are glad that the situation in the three countries has improved significantly and we can embrace the regional aspiration of PÖFF, to introduce the best cinematic output of the three states.“

The festival will also continue its two other competition programmes. The Official Selection Competition will look for films completed after the 15th of September, 2017. With world, international or European premiere as a eligibility criterium.

The First Feature Competition, open for filmmakers presenting their feature debut, will accept films completed after the 15th of September, 2017. That have not had their world or international premiere.

Submissions are also open for all the non-competitive sections of the festival. The programme will include around 200 feature films and documentaries. The final day for submissions is the 17th of August.

The 17th Youth and Children’s film festival Just Film will also see a significant change as the festival will now be run as long as the main festival - 17 days - to meet the growing demand of the audience. The festival broke its audience record for the fourth year in a row, reaching 17500 last year. Just Film is looking for films for its youth and children’s competitions and documentary sections. Submissions will stay open until the 17th of August.

The 2nd PÖFF Shorts, showcasing short films and animations, will run from the 20th to the 25th of November. The festival saw the merging of two separate sub-festivals last year - the animation film festival Animated Dreams and the International Short Film Festival Sleepwalkers. The new festival has retained the identities and most programmes of the former festival. Submissions close on the 25th of August.

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WHERE TO SUBMIT?
 
Black Nights FF and Just Film - https://filmfreeway.com/BlackNightsFilmFestival
 
PÖFF Shorts - https://filmfreeway.com/poffshorts

 

 

 

What moves people in Europe? What triggers and lies beneath the manifold changes in the political, social and economical landscape? For a better understanding and insight into the rapidly evolving processes affecting Europe today EFP (European Film Promotion) in collaboration with Hot Docs - Canadian International Documentary Festival (April 26 - May 6, 2018) presents THE CHANGING FACE OF EUROPE. The line-up of 10 outstanding new documentaries - including one world, two international and four North American premieres - selected by the festival out of 36 submissions by EFP member organisations, is co-produced by a total of 14 European countries and is an exciting example of the diversity of European cinema. EFP's new initiative is supported by the Creative Europe - MEDIA Programme of the European Union and the participating EFP member organisations.

All outstanding creative documentaries, personally introduced by the filmmakers, many of them also accompanied by the respective producers, touch a wide range of topics: BRAGUINO shows the clash of traditional ways with a freewheeling outline of life in the vast loneliness of the Siberian Taiga. The film by Clément Cogitore, a French Finnish co-production, was submitted by EFP member UniFrance. German filmmakers Melanie Andernach and Andreas Köhler follow a family clan scattered around the globe following their flight from war-torn Somalia. Their concept of home, family and future is challenged by the necessity to look after the exiled grandmother in GLOBAL FAMILY, a documentary proposed by German Films. Heike Bachelier and Andy Heathcote show in OF FISH AND FOE how traditional salmon fishermen on the Scottish coast have to fight to make a living, a submission by the British Council. From Estonia comes the documentary RODEO covering the first free election since World War II, that brought to power Europe's youngest Prime Minister Mart Laar and the widening conflict between idealists and a rising economic elite, which was suggested by the Estonian Film Institute. The effects of war especially on children are reflected in THE DISTANT BARKING OF DOGS by Simon Lereng Wilmont documenting the life of ten-year-old Oleg in the Eastern part of Ukraine. The Danish-Finnish-Swedish co-production was submitted by the Danish Film Institute.

THE RUSSIAN JOB by Petr Hork¤ centers on a run-down automobile factory, once the pride of the former Soviet Union, that takes on an experienced Swedish manager to return to prosperity without wanting to commit to changes. The film is presented by the Czech Film Center, as well as THE WHITE WORLD ACCORDING TO DALIBOREK by Vít Klusák, a stylized portrait of a Czech Neo-Nazi at odds with his life, gives insight into the radical worldview of so-called "ordinary decent people". On a much lighter note the Italian entry THE STRANGE SOUND OF HAPPINESS by Diego Pascal Panarello follows Diego whose dream of becoming a musician turns to dust until an ancient musical instrument, the mouth harp, points him in a new direction. This recollection of old traditions is supported by EFP member Istituto Luce Cinecittà. Two films center around very personal stories to talk about cultural identity and new life concepts. WHEN PIGS COME by Biljana Tutorov follows upbeat Serbian grandmother Dragoslava in her daily life. Over the years she has lived in five countries without ever moving from her flat in a small borderline town - a submission by the Film Center Serbia. In TO WANT, TO NEED, TO LOVE by Ilir Hasanaj, a recently separated couple tries to find a way to still work and live together by joining a performance art project travelling through Europe. The Kosova Cinematography Center recommended the entry.

EFP and its member organisations are delighted that this new cooperation with Hot Docs provides a prominent platform to present the diversity and artistic excellence of European documentaries to North American audiences. In addition to discussing their projects with the audience, the filmmakers will take part in industry events including workshops, pitches and meetings with potential buyers, expanding their professional development on an international scale, and increasing their film's access to North American and international markets.

Since 2017, EFP also provides Film Sales Support for European world sales companies to market films selected for Hot Docs, increasing Europe's presence at the Festival and helping to stimulate distribution of European films to North America and beyond.

>>> visit our website for more information on the films www.efp-online.com

 

Transilvania International Film Festival (TIFF) invites filmmakers to submit their projects in development for the second edition of the Transilvania Pitch Stop co-production platform, which will be held on 1-2 June 2018 in Cluj-Napoca.