Putting a spotlight on a record number of 28 European Oscar­ entries, EFP (European Film Promotion) offers additional screenings of the films in LA for Academy members, journalists, US-distributors and international buyers. With the special support of the EFP member organisations, the event helps the productions to stand out among a record number of 92 submissions for the 90th Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. This year the EFP SCREENINGS OF OSCAR­ ENTRIES FROM EUROPE are held from November 2 - 15 at a new location, the state of the art Dick Clark Screening Room. The campaign is financially supported by the Creative Europe - MEDIA Programme of the European Union and the participating EFP member organisations. 

Many of the European Oscar submissions feature European Shooting Stars or were made by EFP-related filmmakers. Notably four films were realized by participants of this year's edition of Producers on the Move (POM), such as the Georgian feature film debut, SCARY MOTHER, by Ana Urushadze, which was produced, amongst others, by Lasha Khalvashi. His fellow participant Gints Grube from Latvia realized THE CHRONICLES OF MELANIE, a wartime drama depicting the deportation of the Baltic people during the Stalin era. Alan Maher produced SONG OF GRANITE, the formally inventive portrait of traditional Irish singer Joe Heaney, while Maria Blicharska from Poland produced the Lithuanian submission FROST together with colleagues from Lithuania, France and the Ukraine. 

 

 

Tallinn Black Nights announces the lineups of five juries that will be judging three competition programmes of the festival and evaluate films in several other categories.
 
The Official Selection will consist of seven members: produver Zeynep Atakan, PR and marketing consultant Dennis Davidson, director Naoko Ogigami, sriptwriter Graziano Diana, composer Zygmunt Krauze, director Laila Pakalnina and producer Ivo Felt. They will select the winner of the grand prize of the festival that includes a grant of 10 000 euros and eight other awards for best director, cinematography, script, actress, actor, music and production design.
 
The First Feature Competition will see the return of director Eitan Anner who’s film A Quiet Heart was awarded the Grand Prix at the last edition of Black Nights. He will be joined by festival director Takeo Hisamatsu, actresses Tiina Mälberg and Aiste Diržiute, producers Fernando Loureiro and Guillaume de Seille who will decide on three awards: best film and two special jury prizes.
 
The NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) will select the best Asian film in the programme, selected from the lineup of the Official Selection, First Feature Competition and the Asian world premieres in the other sections. Its members are journalists Keoprasith Souvannavong and Lekha Shankar and director Martti Helde.
 
FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics) jury represents the voice of film critics. They pick their favourite from the First Feature Competition. The members for the 2017 edition are Kristin Aalen, Kata Orsolya Molnar and Emilie Toomela.
 
The Ecumenical jury brings together representatives of five major Christian churches and confessions in Estonia to highlight a film in the Official Selection that, through its script, performances or production notably represents Christian principles or general human principles beyond specific world views, an emphatic and mutually considerate attitude to life, traditional life values and the sanctity of life. The jury members are Andres Põder, Stefanus, Jaan Tamsalu, Erki Tamm, Indrek Sammul and Madis Kolk. 
 

SHORT BIOGRAPHIES

Official Selection
 
Zeynep Atakan is a Turkish producer who has worked with director Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s since 2006, including Once Upon A Time In Anatolia and Winter Sleep that won the Palme d’Or at Cannes film festival. Atakan won the European Film Academy’s Best European Co-Producer Award in 2010. She’s the Vice President of European Women’s Audiovisual Network Atakan and directs the Antalya Film Forum.
 
Dennis Davidson is a British PR and marketing consultant and the Founder of the DDA group of companies. His long list of credits include American Hustle, Jupiter Ascending, Cloud Atlas, Snowden, American Pastoral and Netflix series Sense8.
 
Graziano Diana is an Italian scriptwriter, writer and director whose work includes the scripts of Ultrà that won Silver Bear at the Berlinale and La scorta that was nominated for Palme d’Or at Cannes film festival.
 
Zygmunt Krauze is a renowned Polish composer whose work includes six operas, instrumental forms from miniatures to solo concertos, symphonic works engaging hundreds of musicians, music for theatre and film, choral pieces and spatial compositions.
 
Naoko Ogigami is a Japanese director whose films Glasses and Barber Yoshinohave won several awards at the Berlinale and have been screeened at PÖFF. Her most recent work Close-Knit will also be screened at this year’s PÖFF.
 
Laila Pakalnina is a Latvian director and scriptwriter who’s films have screened at Cannes, Venice, Berlinale, Locarno, Karlovy Vary and her last full-length feature Dawn premiered in the Main Competition competition of PÖFF.
 
Ivo Felt is an Estonian producer whose CV includes Tangerines that was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe in 2015 as well as The Fencer, nominated for a Golden Globe in 2016. Both films have won the Best Estonian Film award at PÖFF.
 
 
First Feature Competition
 
Eitan Anner is an Israeli film and TV director, scriptwriter and lecturer. His film A Quiet Heart won the Grand Prix and Best Actress award for Ania Bukstein at last year’s PÖFF.
 
Takeo Hisamatsu is the director of Tokyo International Film Festival, who has worked for the Shochiku Broadcasting Co and Warner Bros. Pictures Japan. He has participated in the production of films Unforgiven, Air Doll, Love, Honor and runs the production company My Way Movies.
 
Tiina Mälberg is an Estonian theatre, TV and film actress and lecturer on stage speech. She played the leading role in Mother (Best Estonian Film award at PÖFF 2016) for which she was awarded the Best Leading Female Actress award at the Estonian Film and TV Awards.
 
Aiste Diržiute is a Lithuanian actress best known for her role in The Summer of Sangaile, that screened at Sundance and the Berlinale in 2015, where she became the first Lithuanian actress to participate as one of the European Shooting Stars. She has a a supporting role in the biographical drama Kharms that will be screened at PÖFF this year.
 
Guillaume de Seille is a French producer who slate of more than 40 films includes titles like Much Ado About Nothing, I, Olga Hepnarova and Zoology that screened at PÖFF last year.
 
Fernando Loureiro is the co-founder of the L.A.-based production company Exhibit. His work includes Sweet Virginia (will be screened at PÖFF this year) and Thump-er, both of which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.
 
 
NETPAC
 
Keoprasith Souvannavong has worked as a radio, TV and written press journalist and chief multimedia Editor at Radio France Internationale. In 1993 he played a role in Tran Anh Hung‘s The Scent of Green Papaya that won two prizes at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award.
 
Lekha Shankar is Bangkok-based Indian film journalist and programmer. She has worked as programmer of the International Film Festival of India and writes currently on cinema for several publications in Thailand and India.
 
Martti Helde is an up and coming Estonian film director whose first feature In the Crosswind was selected for the international Toronto Film Festival and won several awards at PÖFF.
 
 
FIPRESCI
 
Kristin Aalen is a Norwegian journalist and film critic and creator of the website www.kulturkritikk.no.
 
Kata Orsolya Molnar is an editor, journalist and a branding and communications expert from Hungary. She is the editor-in-chief of the leading independent Hungarian online movie magazine Filmtekercs.hu.
 
Emilie Toomela is a freelance film journalist writing regularly for both Estonian and Baltic outlets.
 
 
Ecumenical Jury
 
Andres Põder
Estonian Council of Churches, President Archbishop Emeritus
 
Stefanus
Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church, Metropolitan
 
Jaan Tamsalu
Pastor of St. John`s congregation and rural dean of Tallinn
 
Erki Tamm
Union of Free Evangelical and Baptist Churches of Estonia, President Reverend
 
Indrek Sammul
The Bishopric of the Estonian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate, actor
 
Madis Kolk
The Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church, Editor-of-Chief of magazine Teater. Muusika. Kino

 

 

The 21st Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (aka PÖFF) will see Flanders, Belgium as the focus region of the festival, that will include 10 films in the specially-curated programme In Focus: Flanders. The festival will be opened with another film from the region, Racer and the Jailbird.

Following the tradition of choosing a country of focus for each edition to introduce slices of its culture and cinematic history, PÖFF has instead focused on a region this time, choosing the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium - Flanders - as its region of focus for 2017. The festival has curated a retrospective programme of 10 films that explore the developments in Flemish cinema between 1983 and 2016.

The programme includes two Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award nominations - Daens by director Marc Didden (1983) and Bullhead by Michaël R. Roskam (2011), the only film in the programme that has screened at PÖFF before. One of the films, Facades by directors Kaat Beels & Nathalie Basteyns, will have its international premiere at the festival.

Other entries include the winner of the best director award in Venice’s Orizonti competition Home by director Fien Troch, Cargo that was nominated for the Sebastiane award at San Sebastian and Toto the Hero, a co-production between Flemish, Walloons and Germans, that was nominated for a BAFTA and won the Golden Camera award for the director Jaco van Dormael at Cannes in 1991.

The film to be screened at the opening ceremony of the festival on 17 November in the Nordea Concert Hall is Racer and the Jailbird, the romantic heist thriller by director Michaël R. Roskam that had its world premiere in Venice. The film has been chosen as the Belgian candidate for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Says Tiina Lokk, director of Black Black Nights Film Festival: ‘Why Flanders? Because it is a remarkable region with a rich cultural heritage and an exciting cinematic output. What I, as an Estonian, admire especially is how they have made a much greater impact in the world than their size would seem to suggest. They’ve been making great, distinctive films for decades now, having put themselves strongly on the map with two Academy Awards nomination in the last decade and a remarkable presence at the festival circuit. 

And their films have always made a strong impact our festival’s audiences and juries alike. To bring some examples, in 2012 Felix van Groeningen’s Broken Circle Breakdown won the audience award, in 2014 Gust van den Berghe’s Lucifer won the Grand Prix and in 2015 Martha Canga Antonio won the best actress award for Black. In addition, we have a great Flemish debut Resurrection in this year’s First Feature Competition programme.’

Says Yves Wantens, General Representative of the Government of Flanders:
‘The kind of Flanders Focus with Black Nights is one of the bigger events we have initiated with a film festival. The reputation and the quality of the PÖFF festival was one of the elements to decide on this collaboration with PÖFF.

From the side of the Flemish Government we try to promote the internationalization of our movies and audio visual series from a cultural and an economic side and participation in festivals like PÖFF is also one way of promoting our movies to the international public.’

The focus is supported by the Government of Flanders, the Flanders Audiovisual Fund and Screen Flanders.

The tickets for the Flanders Focus films are now available at poff.ee.

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival takes place from 17 November until 3 December. 

In Focus: Flanders

Brussels by Night (1983), director Marc Didden 
Crazy Love (1987), dir Dominique Deruddere
Toto the Hero (Toto le héros, 1991), Jaco van Dormael
Daens (Daens, 1992), Stijn Coninx
The Misfortunates (De helaasheid der dingen, 2009), Felix van Groeningen
Bullhead (Rundskop, 2011), Michaël R. Roskam
Home (2016), Fien Troch
Past Imperfect (Le passé devant nous, 2016), Nathalie Teirlinck
Cargo (2017), Gilles Coulier
Facades (Façades, 2017), Kaat Beels & Nathalie Basteyns

 

 

Sub-festival of Black Nights Film Festival to showcase a diverse array of shorts to a jury of renowned industry professionals.

PÖFF Shorts, the sub-festival of the Black Nights Film Festival that amalgamates previous events Animated Dreams and Sleepwalkers, has announced the titles that will comprise its five competitions alongside the jury members who will judge them. Selected from almost 4000 entries from more than 100 countries across the world, the competitions will showcase some of the very best live action and animation shorts that represent the very cutting edge of cinema.

The Animated Dreams International Competition - with Estonian animation studios Nukufilm and Eesti Joonisfilm presenting Heino Pars’ Nail, an award named after the legendary Estonian animator - contains 42 films that represent the best and most innovative approaches to short animation. With examples of animations from far and wide – with Korea, Iran and China all represented in the competition – this is a snapshot of the year in animation. The selection includes Ugly (Dir. Nikita Diakur, Germany) a short about a Native American chief and an ugly cat trying to find peace in an evil neighborhood. The film recently won Best Animation at the Encounters Festival in the UK and is also a nominee for the European Film Awards. Also included is Wednesday With Goddard (Dir Nicholas Menard, UK),  a hilarious tale of romance and despair, which won Best Animation at this year’s South By Southwest Festival. 

The jury for the Animated Dreams International Competition will consist of Mati Kütt (Estonia), the renowned Estonian animator who will also be the recipient of a retrospective during PÖFF Shorts, Yves Nougarède (France), a member of the selection committee at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, and Uri Kranot (Denmark), a filmmaker and the main tutor and content supervisor of AniDox:Lab.

The Sleepwalkers International Competition - with an award sponsored by Canon - will highlight the best live action fiction and documentary films. Running through a wide range of issues, from immigration to treatment of women to the power of social networks, the competition displays the vitality of the short film form and promises to give audiences a glimpse of some truly astounding cinema. The collection of shorts will include A Gentle Night (Dir. Qiu Yang, China), a delicate story of a woman looking for her daughter that won the Palme D’or for Best Short at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Also screening is Small Town[Cidade Pequena] (Dir. Diogo Costa Amarante, Portugal), a delicate and surreal examination of childhood lost innocence that won the Golden Bear for Best Short Film at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.

The Sleepwalkers Student Competition - with an award presented by Playstation - will once again attempt to show that student films should not be dismissed with the notion that they are ‘practise before a real film’. This selection of live action shorts will display talents who will be taking cinema into the future with their bold visions. Amongst the delights to uncover will be Watu Wote (Dir. Katja Benrath, Germany), a powerful tale of distrust and hope in an age of terrorism, that recently won a Gold Medal at the Student Academy Awards. Audiences will also have the chance to see the European Premiere of Angelfish (Dir. Dane McCusker, Australia), a taut examination of dating and mating rituals.

The jury for both the Sleepwalkers International and Student Competition will consist of Rain Tolk (Estonia), the actor and director most known for starring in Autumn Ball, which was awarded the Orizzonti prize at the Venice Film Festival in 2007, Liene Linde (Latvia), the Latvian director whose latest shortSeven Awkward Sex Scenes. Part One was chosen to be part of Future Frames at this year’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, and Enrico Vanucci (Italy), short film advisor at the Venice Film Festival and a short film programmer at Torino Short Film Market.

The Animated Dreams Student Competition - with a prize sponsored by Sony - is a selection of films that are exceptionally mature but still carry a freshness that is so hard to maintain in later years. The student films on offer will include Foreign Body (Dir. Marta Magnuska,Poland) an intriguing exploration of female bodily autonomy and a winner of the Grand Prize from the Holland Animation Film Festival. The mysterious and apocalyptic Sog by Jonatan Schwenk, is a winner of the student competitions at both Annecy and Palm Springs.

The jury of the Animated Dreams Student Competition will be comprised by Märt-Matis Lill (Estonia), head of Estonian Composers’ Union whose compositions can be heard in numerous films, theatrical and dance productions, Clémence Bragard (France), a programmer and general coordinator of the Festival national du film d’animation for AFCA and a moderator of Annecy International Animation Festival, and Aleksey Savinsky (Russia) an animation curator, the founder of St.Petersburg Theater Laboratory “Like Theater” and Insomnia animation festival.

For the first time, the  - with a prize sponsored by Overall - will see both animations and live action films competing side by side with two programmes consisting of some of the best new works coming out of Estonia. Amongst the films will be the World Premiere of Early Spring (Dirs. Rain Tolk & Gustaf Boman Bränngård, Estonia), a delicate coming-of-age tale co-directed by actor Rain Tolk. The animation program includes the premiere of Letting Go, a tribute to an orphan girl from the renowned Estonian animator Ülo Pikkov, and Chintis Lundgren’s tragicomic love triangle Manivald a film that has already been popular at several festivals including Annecy.

The jury will be made up of Reet Aus (Estonia), the fashion and costume designer well known for her work in fashion, theatre and film, Anna Zača (Latvia), a curator, programmer and project manager for Short Riga and Clémence Bragard (France), who also serves on the Animated Dreams Student Competition Jury.

The 2017 edition of PÖFF Shorts will take place from 21st-25th November 2017 at various venues around Tallinn, Estonia. It is a sub-festival of the Black Nights Film Festival which takes place 17th November - 3rd December 2017

Full programme will be revealed online by November 3rd. Passes for PÖFF Shorts are available now.

For more information on PÖFF Shorts go to http://2017shorts.poff.ee/en/english/

For more information on Black Nights Film Festival go to: www.poff.ee

 

Full list of films in competition:

Sleepwalkers International Competition

A Gentle Night. Dir: Qiu Yang, China
Technical Break. Dir: Philip Sotnychenko, Ukraine
March 12th. Dir: Joe Morris, UK
No Man's Land. Dir: Marius Olteanu, Romania
Wave. Dir: Benjamin Cleary, TJ O'Grady-Peyton, Ireland
A Story About My Eyes. Dir: Guido Hendrikx, Netherlands
The Cardboard Man. Dir: Michael Labarca, Venezuela
For Real Tho. Dir: Baptist Penetticobra, France
Boxing Girl. Dir: Iman Djionne, Senegal
Small Town. Dir: Diogo Costa Amarante, Portugal
Nightshade. Dir: Shady El-Hamus, Netherlands
Preparation. Dir: Sofia Georgovassili, Greece
Milk. Dir: Daria Vlasova, Russia
Ice. Dir: Anna Hints, Estonia
Stay Ups. Dir: Joanna Rytel, Sweden
Blueberry Spirits. Dir: Astra Zoldnere, Latvia
For A Good Time. Dir: Aaemilla Scott, USA
Retouch. Dir: Kaveh Mazaheri, Iran
Watchkeeping. Dir: Karolis Kaupinis, Lithuania
I Have Nothing To Say. Dir: Ling Yiang, Taiwan
Robot and Scarecrow. Dir: Kibwe Tavares, UK
Welcome Home Allen. Dir: Andrew Kavanagh, Australia
Calamity. Dir: Maxime Feyers, Séverine De Streyker, Belgium

Animated Dreams International Competition

Grandpa Walrus. Dir: Lucrèce Andreae, France
Among The Black Waves. Dir: Anna Budanova, Russia
On The Horizon. Dir: Izabela Bartosik, France, Switzerland
Tap Water. Dir: Lilli Carré, United States
Ugly. Dir: Nikita Diakur, Germany
I Want Pluto To Be A Planet Again. Dir: Marie Amachoukeli, Vladimir Mavounia Kouka. France
Aenigma. Dir: Antonis Ntoussias, Aris Fatouros, Greece
Hedgehog's Home. Dir: Eva Cvijanovic, Canada, Croatia
Cupcake. Dir: Gina Kamentsky, United States
Life Cycles. Dir: Ross Hogg, United Kingdom
9 Ways to Draw a Person. Dir: Sasha Svirsky, Russia
Estate. Dir: Ronny Trocker, France, Belgium
Elegy. Dir: Paul Bush, United Kingdom, Switzerland
Dolls Don't Cry. Dir: Frédérick Tremblay, Canada
Little Girl. Dir: Steven Subotnick, United States
And The Moon Stands Still. Dir: Yulia Ruditskaya, Belarus, Germany, United States
Negative Space. Dir: Max Porter & Ru Kuwahata, France
(Fool Time) JOB. Dir: Gilles Cuvelier, France
Persistence of Vision IV. Dir: Ismael Sanz-Pena, Norway
Drop By Drop. Dir: Laura Gonçalves, Alexandra (Xá) Ramires, Portugal
Airport. Dir: Michaela Müller, Switzerland, Croatia
Jungle Taxi. Dir: Hakhyun Kim, Japan, South Korea
Maned & Macho Shiva. Dir: Sadegh Asadi, Iran
Impossible Figures and Other Stories II. Dir: Marta Pajek, Poland
Wednesday with Goddard. Dir: Nicolas Menard, United Kingdom
Manivald. Dir: Chintis Lundgren, Estonia, Croatia, Canada
Rabbit's Blood. Dir: Sarina Nihei, United Kingdom, Japan
The Empty. Dir: Dahee Jeong. France, South Korea
Orogenesis. Dir: Boris Labbé, Spain, France
Sleepy, Dir: Marta Monteiro, Portugal
My Father's Room. Dir: Nari Jang, South Korea
Folly. Dir: Thomas Corriveau, Canada
The Tesla World Light. Dir: Matthew Rankin, Canada
Mark Lotterman – Happy. Dir: Alice Saey, France, Netherlands
The Full Story. Dir: Daisy Jacobs, United Kingdom
Deer Flower. Dir: Kangmin Kim, South Korea, United States
Lupus. Dir: Carlos Gomez Salamanca, Colombia
Stretch. Dir: Cagil Harmandar, Turkey, United States
Superbia. Dir: Luca Tóth, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovakia
The Blissfull Accidental Death. Dir: Negulici Sergiu, Romania
Setting West. Dir: Judith Poirier, Canada
The Gap. Dir: Patrick Vandebroeck, Belgium, Netherlands

Animated Dreams Student Competition

Apple Slices. Dir: Moe Koyano, Denmark
My Second Eye. Dir: Ahmad Saleh, Germany, Jordan, Palestine
Night Witches. Julie Baltzer, Denmark
Fall. Dir: Ollie Magee, United Kingdom
Barbeque. Dir: Jenny Jokela, United Kingdom
678. Dir: EunJin Park, Germany
Hunters. Dir: Cohen Amit, Israel
Freedom. Dir: Kathrin Steinbacher, Austria, United Kingdom
Moulinet. Dir: Sander Joon, Estonia
He so khero. Dir: Aline Höchli, Switzerland
Foreign body. Dir: Marta Magnuska, Poland
Muteum. Dir: Äggie Pak Yee Lee, Estonia, Hong Kong SAR China
Oh Mother! Dir: Paulina Ziółkowska, Poland
Remember How We Used To Play? Dir: Matthias Cuciniello, United Kingdom
Race. Dir: Yan Dan Wong, United Kingdom
Ooze. Dir: Kilian Vilim, Switzerland
Tendrils. Dir: Helen Woolston, Estonia
Sog. Dir: Jonatan Schwenk, Germany
Microdistrict. Dir: Ivelina Ivanova, Bulgaria, United Kingdom
Tête à Tête. Dir: Natasha Tonkin, United Kingdom
"The Stranger" In My Head. Dir: Petra Balekić, Croatia
Summer’s Puke is Winter’s Delight. Dir: Sawako Kabuki , Japan

Sleepwalkers Student Competition

Present. Dir: Meg Campbell, United Kingdom
Corteza. Dir: Paloma Rincon, Colombia 
The Law of Averages. Dir: Elizabeth Rose, Canada
The Gravedigger's Daughter. Dir: Shira Gabay, Israel
After The Ispeguy Pass. Dir: Patrick Vuittenez, France 
Faith. Dir: Tatiana Fedorovskaya, Russia
How To Become A Pope? Dir: Justyna Mytnik, Poland
Not Yet. Dir: Arian Vazirdaftari, Iran 
Strangers. Dir: Jonathan Behr, Germany
Leftovers. Dir: Yael Zafrir, Israel 
State of Emergency. Dir: Tarek Roehlinger, Germany
Molotov Man. Dir: Joris Weerts, Netherlands
Watu Wote. Dir: Katja Benrath, Germany 
280KM. Dir: Zaher Jureidini, Lebanon 
The Sun of The Sleepless. Dir: Akaki Popkhadze, France
Elegy. Dir: Alba Tejero, Spain 
I Am Free. Dir: Edvard Karijord, Bendik Mondal, Norway
Dobermann. Dir: Felix Schroeder, Germany
Close Relations. Dir: Anna Simakova, Russia
About the Birds and the Bees. Dir: J.J. Vanhanen, Finland 
Angelfish. Dir: Dane McCusker, Australia
Approaching. Dir: Tereza Pospíšilová, Czech Republic
Nowness. Dir: Kristiina Tang, Estonia
Waltzing Tilda. Dir: Jonathan Wilhelmsson, Australia

PÖFF Shorts National Competition

Letting go. Dir: Ülo Pikkov, Estonia
Manivald. Dir: Chintis Lundgren, Estonia, Croatia, Canada
Pearfall. Dir: Leonid Shmelkov, Estonia
5th Round. Dir: Leander Meresaar, Estonia
A Table Game. Dir: Nicolás Petelski, Spain, Estonia
Moulinet. Dir: Sander Joon, Estonia
Tendrils. Dir: Helen Woolston, Estonia
Once in the Fields of Boredom. Dir: Teele Strauss, Estonia
Corner. Dir: Lucija Mrzljak, Estonia
Muteum. Dir: Äggie Pak Yee Lee, Estonia, Hong Kong SAR China
An Old Man And An Old Woman. An Erzya Story. Dir: Ülo Pikkov, Estonia
A Husband And A Wife. A Voitan Story. Dir: Mait Laas, Estonia
The Eyeless Hunter. A Khanty Story. Dir: Priit Pärn, Olga Pärn, Estonia
Attack of the Cyber Octopuses. Dir: Nicola Piovesan, Estonia
Early Spring. Dir: Rain Tolk, Gustaf Boman Bränngård, Estonia
Lembri Uudu. Dir: Eeva Mägi, Estonia
A Car Called Victory. Dir: Vladislav Mukovnin, Estonia
Recover Connection. Dir: Tõnis Pill, Estonia
Man To Man. Dir: Mihail Lustin, Estonia

 

 

After the great success of the past editions of Last Stop Trieste, work in progress section dedicated to creative documentaries, When East Meets West and Trieste Film Festival expand their initiatives targeting projects in post-production phase and launch This is IT, a new section exclusively dedicated to long feature fiction films produced or co-produced by Italian producers.

The main purpose is to create a unique showcase of high quality Italian independent cinema where selected teams will have the chance to present their works and screen 10' of their films to an exclusive panel of more than 40 international sales agents, festival programmers and buyers. This is IT will select up to 5 long feature fiction films and an international jury will deliver the LASER FILM Award, a special in kind prize consisting in the color correction of one film (40 hours of work, technician included) of the value of approximately 10.000 EUR.

All applications must be submitted by the Italian producer/co-producer and must include: complete online application form and video material not less than 10 minutes long. In order to submit the application and required materials please click on the following link. The deadline is Dec 7, 2017 and the results of the final selection will be announced by Dec 22, 2017.

Thanks to the partnership with Milano Film Network (MFN) all films submitted to L'Atelier MFN 2017 and to This is IT by Nov 13 will be shared and considered by both selection committees. The main goal is to offer a dual opportunity to all Italian producers, fostering their chances to attract distribution partners on a domestic and international level. Furthermore, one of the projects selected at L'Atelier MFN 2017 will be selected by WEMW and TSFF and presented at This is IT in January 2018.

This is IT will take place alongside the Trieste Film Festival and When East Meets West on January 23, 2018. Please visit www.wemw.it or www.triestefilmfestival.it to find the complete guidelines and detailed info about the submission process.

For any further information you can write to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

 

At the Seville European Film Festival, the European Film Academy and EFA Productions proudly announced the nominations for the 30th European Film Awards. The more than 3,000 EFA Members will now vote for the winners who will be presented during the awards ceremony on 9 December in Berlin. 

check out the nominated films

 

 

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) continues more than 15 years of co-operation with the Goethe-Institut by screening 11 German films and the first two episodes of the high-budget German TV series Babylon Berlin in the initiative Goethe-Institut presents: New German Films.

Babylon Berlin will be part of the new programme of the festival called TV Beats, that will bring fresh TV-series to the big screen. The 16 episode series adapted from Volker Kutscher is one of the most expensive drama series ever created for television, following a young police officer during the decadent and glamorous years of the ill-fated Weimar Republic.

Leading the film lineup is Different Kinds of Rain that will have it’s world premiere in the festival’s First Feature competition, directed by Isabel Prahl, it is a depiction of a family dealing with the repercussions that ensue after the 18-year-old son isolates himself in his room.

Another debuting female director is Nina Vukovic with the thriller Detour that will have its international premiere at Black Nights, having received strong support from the critics after its world premiere in Munich this summer.

The selection also includes the biographic documentary Beuys (director Andres Veiel) and In Times of Fading Light (director Matti Geschonneck) that premiered at Berlinale, Axolotl Overkill, debut by Helene Hegemann that had its world premiere at Sundance and the Locarno-premiering Neolithic revenge thriller Iceman by director Felix Randau.

According to the programme coordinator on PÖFF’s side Christoph Grönerdecisive impulses in German cinema are coming from female filmmakers. Axolotl Overkill has to be named here, with the uncompromising vision of Helene Hegemann. Berlin on screen, like never seen before, pure Zeitgeist. And the world premiere in the first feature competition here at the Black Nights Film Festival is yet another superbly fresh example of female filmmaking: The formally astounding Different Kinds of Rain by ­Isabel Prahl.

He added: ‘Another trend has emerged this year: A new urge towards the fantastic, away from the social realist cinema of former years, becomes palpable. Lighting becomes more expressionistic, dream sequences occur more often, apocalyptic themes are touched upon, dark spots in characters get explored. Without doubt, there is a new lust for genre, for stranger and wilder tastes and the Black Nights Film Festival and the Goethe-Institut have picked up this trend in their German selection.’

Also, the programme coordinator of the Goethe-Institut in Estonia Markus Köcher is looking forward to this year’s screenings: “We are happy to continue our fruitful co-operation with the Black Nights Film Festival and showing again so many hand-picked film productions from Germany - both in Tallinn and Tartu. Many of them will be presented by the directors themselves who will be guests in Estonia.”  

Different Kinds of Rain (1000 Arten, den Regen zu beschreiben), Germany, 2017, dir Isabel Prahl - world premiere
Detour, Germany, 2017, dir Nina Vukovic - International premiere
Only A Day (Nur ein Tag), Germany, 2017, dir Martin Baltscheit  - International premiere (screens in the programme of children’s and youth film festival Just Film)
Axolotl Overkill, Germany, 2017, dir Helene Hegemann
Babylon Berlin, Germany, 2017, dir Henk Handloegten, Tom Tykwer, Achim von Borries
Beuys, Germany, 2017, dir Andres Veiel
Do You Sometimes Feel Burned Out and Empty? (Fühlen sie sich manchmal ausgebrannt und leer?), Germany-Netherlands, 2017, dir Lola Randl
Four Hands (Die Vierhändige), Germany, 2017, dir Oliver Kienle
Iceman (Der Mann aus dem Eis), Germany-Italy-Austria, 2017, dir Felix Randau
In Times of Fading Light, (In Zeiten des abnehmenden Lichts), Germany, 2017, dir Matti Geschonneck
The Garden, (Sommerhäuser), Germany, 2017, dir Sonja Kröner
Three Peaks (Drei Zinnen), Germany-Italy, 2017, dir Jan Zabeil

www.goethe.de/saksafilm
www.fb.com/goetheinstitut.estland

 

We would like to inform you with great pleasure that the 25^th anniversary edition of Camerimage Film Festival will also be the first one including the FIPRESCI Jury. Which means that the International Critics Prize will be granted for the first time in the Festival’s history.

Founded in 1930, FIPRESCI (Federation Internationale de la Presse Cinematographique) is the name of the international umbrella organization for professional film critics and film journalists. FIPRESCI works to promote film culture and safeguard professional interests. At present it has members in more than 50 countries worldwide. FIPRESCI awards its prize during film festivals (such as the Vienna International Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, the Cannes Film Festival, the Venice Film Festival) to reward what they see as enterprising film making. Winners of the award include Pedro Almodóvar, Paul Thomas Anderson, Jean-Luc Godard, Michael Haneke, Kim Ki-duk, Aki Kaurismäki, Werner Herzog, Terrence Malick, Roman Polanski, Woody Allen and Wong Kar-wai.

The first-ever FIPRESCI Jury at Camerimage will consist of Karsten Kastelan(Germany), István Szathmáry (Hungary) and Mateusz Werner (Poland).

 

 

The European Film Agency Directors (EFADs) would like to thank the three institutions participating in the trilogue negotiations for their positive positions on Article 13 in the proposal revising the Audiovisual Media Services Directive. So far there have been some great results which the EFADs welcomes, such as:

1. The consensus on the importance of allowing financial contributions to be applied to non- linear services targeting other EU Member
2. The introduction of a 30% minimum quota for European works in non-linear audiovisual media services’ catalogues.
3. The obligation on on-demand audiovisual media services to ensure prominence of European works in their catalogues.

These measures will create a better level playing field, integrate key online players into the European film value chain, and improve European audiences’ access to European works. As the EFADs have highlighted in the past, these measures are essential to the promotion of cultural diversity in Europe1 and we hope that you will continue to support them.

However, the EFADs think that all the participants in the trilogue negotiations should approve the text adopted by the Council, in particular the explicit reference to the application of Article 13 not only to on-demand services but also to linear services specifically targeting the market of another country for the following reasons:

 

1. Currently, financial contributions are in place for broadcasters in 13 countries.2 The money generated in the form of levies and taxes feeds into the film agencies’ budgets which allow them to support various cultural activities such as film education, the production of local and European content, and distribution in theatres or

2. In 2016, almost as much TV channels (31%) as on demand services (34%) established in the EU were specifically targeting foreign markets.3 These players are currently not subject to levies and investment obligations in the countries they are

3. Allowing Member States to apply financial contributions to linear services targeting their territory is necessary to ensure these services contribute to local creation, film agencies can continue to meet their public interest mission of promoting cultural diversity, and VoD and broadcasters operate under the same rules. This is consistent with the objectives of the Commission’s Digital Single Market 

Furthermore, the EFADs insist on the need to strengthen the monitoring and enforcement of quotas and prominence, falling under the responsibility of the regulator in the Member State of origin by:

 

1. Including additional provisions to ensure that Article 13 is effectively enforced. This could be done by regular monitoring and reporting as well as mechanism to ensure exchange of information and best practices between

2. Including prominence in the requirements set out in paragraph 5a of the Council’s position. Prominence should be listed as a matter for guidelines to be prepared by the Commission and the AVMSD Contact Committee.

3. Including a role for the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA) to facilitate the smooth implementation of Article 13, and the exchange of information and best practices between the national

About the EFADs

The EFADs brings together the Directors of European Film Agencies in 31 countries in Europe (EU, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland). We are an association of government and government associated public bodies pursuing a mandate in the public interest to support cultural diversity and creativity in Europe. EFADs members are in charge of national funding for the audiovisual sector and advise or regulate on all aspects of national and European audiovisual policy.

 

 

25th anniversary edition of the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography CAMERIMAGE was officially opened today in Opera Nova, Bydgoszcz, Poland. During the ceremony Kenneth Branagh received the Krzysztof Kieślowski Award, and - together with Haris Zambarloukos - the Cinematographer - Director Duo Award. Frederick Wiseman took the stage to get the Award for Outstanding Achievements In Documentary Filmmaking, Paul Hirsch received the Award to Editor with Unique Visual Sensitivity, and Volker Schlöndorff received the Award to a Friend of the Festival. Additionally, as a part of the Opening Gala the Festival screened Murder on the Orient Express (dir. Kenneth Branagh, cin. Haris Zambarloukos) and Downsizing (dir. Alexander Payne, cin. Phedon Papamichael).

25th Camerimage will last until Saturday, 18th November. You can read more on this year's edition everyday on the Festival website, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.