The Czech Film and Television Academy (CFTA) has announced the nominations for the 25th anniversary of the annual Czech Lion awards. The academics were choosing from 51 feature films, animated films and documentary features that had been distributed in the year of 2017. The films will be awarded the Czech Lion statuettes in 15 statutory categories. The most nominations throughout all the categories have been obtained by the films Ice Mother, Barefoot and Milada. The nominations for the television works of art will be announced on 12th February 2018. The ceremonial announcement of the winners of the film as well as television categories will take place on Saturday 10th March 2018 in Rudolfinum and it will be hosted by Adela Vinczeová for the second time. The news of the 25th year of the Czech Lion awards will be the new image of the statuette. It will be realized in cooperation with the Rückl glassworks.

The members of the CFTA had been voting about the nominations for the film categories of the 25th Czech Lion by 8th January 2018. 136 academics were choosing from 25 feature films and animated films and 26 documentary features. Among the candidates for the Czech Lion awards the winner is the film Ice Mother by the director Bohdan Sláma with its 15 nominations. Altogether 13 nominations were received by the film Barefoot by the director Jan Svěrák. The third highest number of nominations (10) was obtained by the biographical drama Milada by David Mrnka. These films were followed by the films Little Crusader by Václav Kadrnka with 9 nominations, Filthy by Tereza Nvotová with 8 nominations and Quartette by Miroslav Krobot with 8 nominations.

In the category of the best film the following five films have been nominated - Barefoot (directed by Jan Svěrák), Filthy (directed by Tereza Nvotová), Ice Mother (directed by Bohdan Sláma), Milada (directed by David Mrnka) and Quartette (directed by Miroslav Krobot). The Czech Lion award for the best documentary feature can be obtained by one of the following films – Cervena (directed by Olga Sommerová), Czech Journal – The Limits of Work (directed by Apolena Rychlíková), Let Misik sing! (directed by Jitka Němcová), The Lust for Power (directed by Tereza Nvotová) and The White World According to Daliborek (directed by Vít Klusák).

This year the television works of art will be awarded in two categories again. Four broadcasters have recommended their deeds – Czech Television, HBO Europe, TV Nova and TV Prima. Three projects with the highest number of votes from the academics will be announced by the means of a press release on 10th February 2018. The winners in the categories of best television film or miniseries and best television drama series will be announced right at the ceremonial gala evening on 10th March 2018. The presidium of the CFTA will also present the award for a Unique Contribution to Czech Film during the ceremonial gala evening.

Apart from the nominations, the winners of the non-statutory awards were also announced at the CFTA press conference. The award for the best film poster was presented to Jiří Karásek and Lukáš Fišárek, the designers of the poster for the film Barefoot. The director Jan Svěrák obtained the award of film fans for his film Barefoot.

In the category of the best actress in a leading role there are the following actresses among the nominees for the Czech Lion – Tereza Voříšková in the movie Barefoot, Dominika Morávková in the film Filthy,  Zuzana Kronerová in the film Ice Mother, Ayelet Zurer for her role in the film Milada and Barbora Poláková in the film Quartette. The following actresses have a chance to obtain the award for the best actress in a supporting role – Anna Šišková for her role in the film Filthy, Sabina Remundová for the film Garden Store: Deserter, Petra Špalková for the film Ice Mother, Tatiana Vilhelmová for her role in the film Ice Mother and Pavlína Štorková for the film Quartetto.

The Czech Lion award in the category of the best actor in a leading role will belong to one of the following nominees – Ondřej Vetchý for the film Barefoot, Pavel Nový for the film Ice Mother, Karel Roden for the film Little Crusader, Vladimír Javorský for the film Milada and Jaroslav Plesl for his role in the film Quartetto. The winner in the category of the best actor in a supporting role can be – Oldřich Kaiser for the movie Barefoot, Patrik Holubář for the film Filthy, Martin Finger for Garden Store: Family Friend, Marek Daniel for his role in the film Ice Mother and Václav Neužil for the film Ice Mother.

The award for the best director can be obtained at the gala evening by one of the following nominees – Jan Svěrák for Barefoot, Tereza Nvotová for her film Filthy, Bohdan Sláma for his film Ice Mother, Václav Kadrnka for his film Little Crusader or Miroslav Krobot for the direction of the film Quartetto.

The CFTA also announced the nominations for the non-statutory Magnesia Awards for the best student film, which is awarded in cooperation with Karlsbad Mineral Water and Czech Film Centre. The winner of the student award can be one of the following nominated films – Atlantis, 2003 (directed by Michal Blaško), Bo Hai (directed by Dužan Duong), Friendly Sport Meeting (directed by Adam Koloman Rybanský), Fruits of Clouds (directed by Kateřina Karhánková) and A Part (directed by Tereza Vejvodová).

The winners of the statutory categories of the 25th Czech Lion will receive a new statuette which is being created in cooperation with the Rückl glassworks. The crystal trophy will have a new look and the production will return to the glassworks in Nižbor.

The ceremonial presentation of the 25th annual awards of the Czech Film and Television Academy  will take place on Saturday 10th March 2018 In Rudolfinum in Prague. The gala evening will be again hosted by Adela Vinczeová. The whole evening will be broadcast live on CT1 channel at 8 o’clock.

OVERVIEW OF THE NOMINATIONS:

BEST FILM

Barefoot – producer Jan Svěrák

Filthy – producers Miloš Lochman, Peter Badač, Karel Chvojka

Ice Mother – producers Pavel Strnad, Petr Oukropec

Milada – David Mrnka, Kristina Hejduková, Juan Mayne

Quartetto – producer Ondřej Zima

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Cervena – directed by Olga Sommerová – producer Pavel Berčík

Czech Journal – The Limits of Work – directed by Apolena Rychlíková – producers Petr Kubica, Filip Remunda, Vít Klusák

Let Misik sing! – directed by Jitka Němcová – producer Viktor Schwarcz

The Lust for Power – directed by Tereza Nvotová – producers Zuzana Mistríková, Tereza Polachová, Kateřina Černá

The White World According to Daliborek – directed by Vít Klusák – producers Filip Remunda, Vít Klusák

BEST DIRECTOR

Barefoot – Jan Svěrák

Filthy – Tereza Nvotová

Ice Mother – Bohdan Sláma

Little Crusader – Václav Kadrnka

Quartetto – Miroslav Krobot

BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE

Barefoot – Tereza Voříšková

Filthy – Dominika Morávková

Ice Mother – Zuzana Kronerová

Milada – Ayelet Zurer

Quartetto – Barbora Poláková

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Barefoot – Ondřej Vetchý

Ice Mother – Pavel Nový

Little Crusader – Karel Roden

Milada – Vladimír Javorský

Quartetto – Jaroslav Plesl

BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Filthy – Anna Šišková

Garden Store: Deserter – Sabina Remundová

Ice Mother – Petra Špalková

Ice Mother – Tatiana Vilhelmová

Quartetto – Pavlína Štorková

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Barefoot – Oldřich Kaiser

Filthy – Patrik Holubář

Garden Store: Family Friend – Martin Finger

Ice Mother – Marek Daniel

Ice Mother – Václav Neužil

BEST SCREENPLAY

Barefoot – Jan Svěrák, Zdeněk Svěrák

Filthy – Barbora Námerová

Ice Mother – Bohdan Sláma

Little Crusader – Jiří Soukup, Vojtěch Mašek, Václav Kadrnka

Quartetto – Miroslav Krobot, Lubomír Smékal

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Barefoot – Vladimír Smutný

Filthy – Marek Dvořák

Ice Mother – Diviš Marek

Little Crusader – Jan Baset Střítežský

Milada – Martin Štrba

BEST FILM EDITING

Barefoot – Alois Fišárek

Filthy – Jiří Brožek, Michal Lánský, Jana Vlčková

Ice Mother – Jan Daňhel

Milada – Olina Kaufmanová

Quartetto – Jan Daňhel

BEST SOUND

Barefoot – Jakub Čech, Claus Lynge

Ice Mother – Michal Holubec, Marek Poledna

Little Crusader – Jan Čeněk

Milada – Jiří Klenka

Quartetto – Viktor Ekrt

BEST MUSIC

8 Heads of Madness – Vladivojna La Chia

Barefoot – Michal Novinski

Garden Store: Family Friend – Petr Ostrouchov

Little Crusader – Irena Havlová and Vojtěch Havel

Milada – Aleš Březina, Drew Alan

BEST STAGE DESIGN

Barefoot – Jan Vlasák

Ice Mother – Jan Vlasák

Laika – Aurel Klimt, Martin Velíšek, František Lipták

Little Crusader – Luca Servino, Daniel Pitín

Milada – Milan Býček

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Barefoot – Simona Rybáková

Garden Store: Family Friend – Katarína Štrbová Bieliková

Ice Mother – Zuzana Krejzková

Little Crusader – Katarína Štrbová Bieliková

Milada – Simona Rybáková

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

Barefoot – Milan Vlček

Garden Store: Family Friend – Zdeněk Klika

Ice Mother – Zdeněk Klika

Little Crusader – Lukáš Král

Milada – Andrea McDonald

MAGNESIA AWARD FOR THE BEST STUDENT FILM – non-statutory award

Atlantis, 2003 – Michal Blaško

Bo Hai – Dužan Duong

Friendly Sport Meeting – Adam Koloman Rybanský

Fruits of Clouds – Kateřina Karhánková

A Part – Tereza Vejvodová

BEST FILM POSTER – non-statutory award

Barefoot – Jiří Karásek, Lukáš Fišárek – awarded poster

8 Heads of Madness – Anna Krtičková

Cervena – Ondrej Karásek, Jan Malíř

Ice Mother – Aleš Najbrt, Michal Nanoru

Little Crusader – Franta Petrák

AWARD OF FILM FANS – non-statutory award

Barefoot – Jan Svěrák – awarded film

OVERVIEW OF THE NUMBER OF NOMINATIONS

Ice Mother – 15 nominations

Barefoot – 13 nominations

Milada – 10 nominations

Little Crusader – 9 nominations
Filthy – 8 nominations

Quartetto – 8 nominations

Garden Store: Family Friend – 4 nominations

8 Heads of Madness – 1 nominations

Cervena – 1 nomination

Czech Journal ­– The Limits of Work – 1 nomination

Garden Store: Deserter – 1 nomination

Laika – 1 nomination

Let Misik sing! – 1 nomination

The Lust for Power – 1 nomination

The White World According to Daliborek – 1 nomination

 

 

The Baltic film institutions renewed the Mutual Cooperation Agreement at Trieste Film Festival. The addendum signed by Edith Sepp, CEO of the Estonian Film Institute, Dita Rietuma, CEO of the Latvian National Film Centre and Rolandas Kvietkauskas, CEO of the Lithuanian Film Centre envisages 12 joint film promotion projects spread throughout 2018 in celebration of the three countries’ statehood centenaries.

“Three years ago, we saw more potential in presenting ourselves as one region. When working together, it is easier for Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia to gain access to high-profile festivals and film industry events. This year, as we are celebrating statehood centenaries of all the three nations, we have an opportunity to draw attention to ourselves and plan an intensive year of promoting Baltic cinema,” says Rolandas Kvietkauskas, CEO of Lithuanian Film Centre.

Following up on the Mutual Cooperation Agreement, signed in 2015 in Cannes, to step up joint efforts in promoting Baltic film production and marketing, the film institutions of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have agreed to cooperate on projects presenting and promoting their national cinemas in a number of European feature film, documentary and animation festivals. Baltic film industry will be presented in Glasgow, Moscow, Stuttgart, Copenhagen, Karlovy Vary, San Sebastian, Reykjavik, Lübeck and Tbilisi. This includes joint film programmes, retrospectives and industry events presenting the filmmaking potential of the Baltic states.

“We are pleased to celebrate our anniversary together with our closest neighbours. Together we get more visibility than separately,” says Edith Sepp, CEO of the Estonian Film Institute.

The agreement also reaffirms the Baltic Prize, established by the national film institutions of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The prize of €3,000 will be awarded to the best Baltic project at the co-production forum “When East Meets West” in Trieste every year between 2018 and 2020. This year, it went to I’ll Stand By You, a project presented to the international audience by Virginija Vareikytė from Lithuania and Maximilien Dejoie from Italy.

“We highly appreciate the opportunity to team up and continue the successful cooperation with the co-production forum “When East Meets West”. The Baltic Special Award should foster co-productions and encourage development of new projects between our countries,” says Dita Rietuma, CEO of the Latvian National Film Centre.

By the Mutual Cooperation Agreement Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia seek to invite more co-production, promote their respective national cinemas in neighbouring countries, present more widely the Baltic film industries in Europe and beyond, cooperate more closely in European audiovisual policymaking.

In 2017, the Lithuanian Film Centre granted 7 co-productions with Latvia and Estonia. The funding of €719,260 went to 5 Lithuanian-Latvian co-productions; a Lithuanian-Estonian co-production received €45,000; and €60,000 was given to a co-production of all three Baltic countries.

 

Introduction

‘A stronger Union needs to be equipped with appropriate financial means to continue to deliver its policies. The Union has changed fundamentally in recent years, as have the challenges it faces. Our Union needs a budget that can help us achieve our ambitions. The Multiannual Financial Framework for the period after 2020 must reflect this.’ (Commission Work Programme 2018)

The EU budget currently amounts to less than 1 euro per citizen per day. Although a modest budget, at around 1 % of the EU’s gross national income or 2 % of all EU public spending, it supports the EU’s shared goals by delivering essential public goods and tangible results for EU citizens. These include: investing in skills, innovation and infrastructure; ensuring sustainable food supply and developing rural areas; promoting joint research and industrial projects; funding shared activities in the field of migration and security; and supporting development and humanitarian aid.

The current Multiannual Financial Framework — the EU’s long-term budget — runs until the end of 2020. In 2018, the Commission will put forth comprehensive proposals for the post-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework and for the next generation of financial programmes that will receive funding. These programmes/funds provide financial support to hundreds of thousands of beneficiaries such as regions, towns, NGOs, businesses, farmers, students, scientists, and many others.

The Commission’s proposals will be designed to make it possible for the EU to deliver on the things that matter most, in areas where it can achieve more than Member States acting alone. This requires a careful assessment both of what has worked well in the past and what could be improved in the future. What should the priorities be for future policies and programmes/funds? And how can they be designed to best deliver results on the ground?

As an integral part of this process and following on from the Reflection Paper on the Future of EU Finances, the Commission is launching a series of public consultations covering all the major spending areas to gather views from all interested parties on how to make the very most of every euro of the EU budget.

The scope of this public consultation covers programmes and actions aiming at protecting and promoting European values as well as supporting mobility, education and training, cultural diversity, fundamental rights, an EU area of justice, digital competence, creativity and European historical memory and remembrance. Such programmes and actions empower citizens, develop their skills and competences and contribute to open, democratic, more equal, inclusive and creative societies. This public consultation seeks to identify strengths and weaknesses of existing programmes and actions, as well as possible ways forward and highlight any possible synergies among them.

Recent consultations already covered several policy areas, including on current performance and future challenges. The views already expressed by stakeholders in these consultations will be taken into account as part of the preparatory process for the future of the multiannual financial framework.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND THE SURVEY.

 

The sixth dok.incubator film in the past six years is flying to Sundance competition. Bernadett Tuza-Ritter’s first feature film ‘A Woman Captured’ traces the unbelievable story of Marish, a European woman who has been working as a slave in a Hungarian home for ten years. Starved, beaten, and exhausted, Marish’s determination to reclaim her life remains steadfast and, drawing courage from Tuza-Ritter‘s presence, she steels herself to escape. Watch the trailer here.

Apply for dok.incubator 2018!

DEADLINE: 31st January FIND OUT MORE

www.dokincubator.net

 

 

Polish documentary films represented by KFF Sales & Promotion will be shown in January at five international film festivals in Europe and America, including Sundance Film Festival.

The audience of one of the most important international film events - Sundance Film Festival - on January 19th will have a chance to see a short documentary made by Monika Kotecka and Karolina Poryzała. "Volte" is a short story about irreversible changes that growing up brings.

Only two days later the Slamdance Festival, which was founded over 20 years ago by the filmmakers themselves as an alternative for Sundance, will present "Icon" by Wojciech Kasperski. A moving film about a psychiatric hospital in Siberian countryside, which won the Golden Hobby-Horse at the Krakow Film Festival, was invited to the Documentary Features competition. 15 films will compete for a title of the best Slamdance documentary, only 4 of them from Europe.

In the last week of January Marcin Borchardt's film about the uncanny family of Beksińskis will be shown for the first time in Italy and Scandinavia. " THE BEKSIŃSKIS. A Sound and Picture Album" is in the programme of the Trieste Film Festival, which this year will present a few more Polish productions: "Over the Limit" by Marta Prus, "Runners" by Łukasz Borowski and "The Prince and the Dybbuk" by Piotr Rosołowski and Elwira Niewiera. Swedish audience will have a chance to see Borchardt's documentary even three times during the Göteborg Film Festival.

On January 26th the MiradasDoc Festival will begin in Tenerife. The festival will present five Polish short documentaries: "One Two Zero" by Anna Pawluczuk, "Collection" by Marcin Polar, "Volte" by Monika Kotecka and Karolina Poryzała, "Dust" by Jakub Radej and "Between Us" by Maciej Miller.

 

 

Krakow, 31st January 2018 - This year, the Krakow Film Foundation Programme Council decided to honour the eminent director of documentary films, Sergei Loznitsa, with the Dragon of Dragon award in recognition of his exceptional contribution to the development of the international cinema. The 21st laureate of this prestigious award is at the same time the youngest winner of the award in history.

"Winning the Dragon of Dragons award at Krakow Film Festival is a great honour for me. My first documentary film, "Today We Are Going to Build a House," was awarded the Bronze Dragon here in 1996. Since that time, all my films have been very well received in Krakow, and I always visit this beautiful city with great pleasure, in order to present new films to the audience. The festival and the city have a special place in my heart. I cannot wait to come to Krakow in May!" Sergei Loznitsa did not hide his emotion.

The President of the Programme Council, the film critic and film theorist, Prof. Tadeusz Lubelski, gave three main reasons for the nomination: "First, the consistent, extremely original and fruitful explorations of the form. Loznitsa created his own style of documentary film, resulting from patience and distance to the world, based on long shots and brilliant soundtrack. Kracauer would have had an insoluble problem with his works, because this is the cinema of pure recording, at the same time completely created. And the end result tends to be worthy of the dramas by Beckett.

Secondly, Loznitsa as a film-maker is an inquisitive and unyielding explorer of Russia. He discovers the weight of its past (often bringing archival tapes to life), but also its unique, sometimes shocking present. To this aim serve him the explorations of the documentary film's form, though he often uses them also in feature films, such as the recent brilliant film "A Gentle Creature." Thirdly, this is a film-maker who is connected with our festival since the very beginnings of his artistic work, that is, for over twenty years. So we can almost view this director - born in Baranavichy, educated in Kiev, residing in Germany for many years – as a film-maker from Krakow."

The official award ceremony of the Dragon of Dragons will be held on May 29, 2018  at the 58th Krakow Film Festival in Krakow. In addition, in the programme of the Festival, within the frames of the retrospective, there will be many eminent works of the director, among others, his film "Victory Day" (“Den’ Pobedy”), finished just a couple of weeks before, which will have its Polish premiere in Krakow, there will also be held the traditional master class of the laureate.

 

 

European Film Forum

19/01: European Film Forum goes to Berlinale 2018 - European Commission

The first European Film Forum of this year will take place alongside Berlinale on 19 February 2018 and will focus on: The future of MEDIA: connecting Europeans through films.

Bulgarian Presidency

16/01: Prime Minister Boyko Borisov presented the priorities of the Bulgarian Presidency before the European Parliament - Bulgarian Presidency

“There are four priorities of our Presidency – the future of Europe and young people as our main priority, the European perspective and connectivity of the Western Balkans, a secure and stable Europe and digital economy and skills for the future, which has a direct and significant importance for the entire internal market” stated Mr. Borisov.

23/01: Three Bulgarian ministers present the Presidency priorities before the Culture and Education Committee of the European Parliament - Bulgarian Presidency

Young people in the focus of the Bulgarian Presidency – three Bulgarian ministers present the Presidency priorities before the Culture and Education Committee of the European Parliament.

Online Platforms

19/01: Fact Sheet: Countering illegal hate speech online - European Commission

The third evaluation of the Code of Conduct on countering illegal online hate speech carried out by NGOs and public bodies released last week shows that IT companies removed on average 70% of illegal hate speech notified to them.

DSM

18/01: Citizens' Dialogue in Ljubljana with Commissioner Mariya Gabriel - European Commission 

On 18 January 2018, Commissioner Mariya Gabriel participated in her very first Citizens' Dialogue at the Faculty of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Ljubljana. 

Infringement

22/01: Commission launches consultation on future "Counterfeit and Piracy watch-list" - European Commission

The aim is to identify the marketplaces outside the EU where counterfeiting, piracy or other forms of intellectual property abuse are common practice.

Creative Europe Media

23/01: New edition of the EU Film Contest - European Commission 

The Commission has launched the second edition of the EU Film Contest today. Participants can test how much they know about European films for a chance to experience the Cannes Film Festival and discover the European audiovisual industry at work.

Copyright

22/01: Copyright is the fuel that allows creators to keep working - The Parliament Magazine

Content creators face a grim reality within the digital single market, and it’s up to politicians to rectify the situation with fair copyright rules for all, says MEP Marc Joulaud.

22/01: EU copyright reform: Parliament must stand up on behalf of consumers - The Parliament Magazine 

Fixing the value gap without jeopardising citizens’ fundamental rights is the red line in the copyright debate, says MEP Lidia Geringer de Oedenberg.

25/01: Collective Rights Management: Commission refers Poland to the Court of Justice and closes eight cases - European Commission

The European Commission decided today to refer Poland to the Court of Justice of the EU for failure to notify complete transposition (partial non-transposition) of EU rules on collective management of copyright and related rights, and multi-territorial licensing of rights in musical works for online use into national law.

 European Parliament

 25/01: MEPs propose reducing number of seats in EU Parliament - The Parliament Magazine 

Parliament should shrink from 751 to 705 MEPs when the UK leaves the EU, to make room for EU-wide electoral lists, according to members of the constitutional affairs committee.

Data protection

24/01: Commission publishes guidance on upcoming new data protection rules - European Commission 

The Commission has published guidance to facilitate a direct and smooth application of the new data protection rules across the EU as of 25 May. The Commission also launched a new online tool dedicated to SMEs.

Events

19/02: EFF Berlin21/02: UNIC Conference at the European Parliament27-28/03: Digitising European Industry Stakeholder Forum 2018

11 – 14/06: CineEurope. Register here.

 

The Macedonian Film Agency announced the following production grants for feature, short, animation films and documentaries on 26 January 2018.