The symposium was held on 22-23 September, and the first session, which took place on September 22nd, was attended by Mayor Ahmet Çakır, Deputy Secretaries-General of the Municipality, Festival Director Suat Köçer, Deputy Mayor of Battalgazi, Vice Rector of İnönü University, AKP Vice Provincial Head, several officials, university students, and the cinema enthusiasts in Malatya.

In his opening speech, the Festival Director Suat Köçer emphasized the importance of discussing a major issue of 100-year-old Turkish cinema at the 7th edition of MIFF, and expressed his great joy for the participation of many esteemed film professionals. He also added that the content of the symposium will be compiled in a book, and many surprises are in store at this year’s Malatya International Film Festival.

Mayor Çakır also delivered a welcoming speech, noting that the symposium will contribute a great deal to the festival with the extensive discussion on indigenousness, which is an important concept as per the identity arguments in Turkish cinema.

Indigenousness Lies in Art, Not in Academy

The first session entitled “Turkish Cinema and Indigenousness” was moderated by İshak Aslan. “Discussion of indigenousness is associated with universalism,” Aslan said. Following his speech, Prof. Dr. Kurtuluş Kayalı took the floor. In his speech entitled “Indigenousness or Localism in Turkish Cinema?”, Kayalı reminded that the indigenousness emphasis, which was initiated by Kemal Tahir, was transferred to the silver screen by the first generation film directors, and that the academics’ quest for indigenousness is relatively a thing of the past. In this regard, “The values of this society lie in art, not in the academic texts,” he said. The symposium continued with Barış Saydam’s disquisition entitled “Transition From National History Thesis to National Cinema: A Panorama of the First Half of the 1950s,” and ended with Researcher Mesut Bostan’s speech. Bostan remarked that Kemal Tahir’s concerns about indigenousness have been thoroughly revealed in Lütfi Akad’s films.

The Most Prominent Influencer: Kemal Tahir

The second session entitled “Pursuits in Yeşilçam” was moderated by Abdulhamit Güler, who noted that indigenousness is an important essential not only in cinema, but also in many aspects of life. Following his speech, Festival Director Suat Köçer took the floor. “Knowledge of Kemal Tahir’s literature is equivalent to the knowledge of a certain period of Turkey. Beyond being a novelist and a writer, Tahir was a significant ideologist who influenced the generations with his theses and ideas. Kemal Tahir’s works lead the way to indigenousness concept, and particularly the young filmmakers should benefit from the ideas of the great thinker,” Köçer said. The next speaker of the session, director Mesut Uçakan, addressed the spiritual pursuits and the National Cinema endeavor in Yeşilçam.

“The faith phenomenon underlies the indigenousness argument, and in this regard, the idea of National Cinema is a fundamental insight that should be emphasized,” Uçakan said.

In his speech entitled “Halit Refiğ and the National Cinema Struggle”, the final speaker, film director Nazif Tunç, addressed Halit Refiğ’s endeavors in the indigenousness concept. “Refiğ scrutinized not only the national cinema struggle and the issues of our cinema, but he also made the most significant films of the national cinema movement; “Gurbet Kuşları”, “Bir Türk’e Gönül Verdim”, “Harem’de Dört Kadın.”

Sustainability Is The Answer

The second day of the symposium started with the session entitled “In Between Theory and Practice”, moderated by Ass. Prof. Dr. Hediyetullah Aydeniz. In his speech entitled “Cinema Researches and Indigenousness/Localism in Turkey”, Researcher Dr. Yusuf Ziya Gökçek stated that a corporate disintegration exists in the cinema studies in Turkey, and the studies on Turkish cinema theory do not suffice.

“Ayşe Şasa had a unique critical approach although the producers and the directors interfered with her scenarios back then,” Researcher Meltem İşler Sevindi stated in her disquisition entitled “Indigenousness in Turkey: Through the Example of Ayşe Şasa.” In his speech entitled “The Reflections of Style and Traditional Arts in Cinema,” film director Derviş Zaim said that the traditional styles must be reformed in accordance with today’s conditions, adding that the arguments evolved around the indigenousness concept in the 60s did not offer any concrete results, and sustainability is the only solution.

No Insight Into the Rural

The fourth session entitled “Turkish Cinema After the 90s” was moderated by İhsan Kabil, and started with Hilal Turan’s speech, “Insight Into the Rural; Cinema of Ahmet Uluçay.”

“Uluçay’s legacy advises us to address the issue through authenticity first, not strong assertions,” Turan said. In his speech entitled “The Connotation of Folk Literature and Saga Tradition in Cinema,” Reis Çelik noted that the Turkish cinema is not nourished enough by the folk literature, and the ancient stories, sagas and tales should be adapted to cinema through a modern approach.

As the final speaker, Atalay Taşdiken delivered his speech entitled “Indigenousness in New Turkish Cinema.” “Recent Turkish cinema fails at providing a true insight into the rural.

A director’s depiction of the rural as an unlivable place is an outsider look, and making a realistic film about the rural is underrated due to the popular sense ,” Taşdiken said.

Through The Example of Iranian Cinema

Iranian films were discussed in the last session moderated by Faysal Soysal. In his speech entitled “A Comparative Analysis: Depiction of the Rural and the Rural People & Turkish Cinema,”  Rıza Oylum emphasized that the Iranian filmmakers successfully depict the rural concept through personal stories, while the Turkish filmmakers can’t. The symposium continued with the speech of Majid Sheikh Ansari, Advisor at The Fajr International Film Festival. “In order to gain a place in the world cinema, the existing style must be renovated and diversified. Iranian filmmakers have managed to adapt an original style by seeking answers to the unanswered questions. And Turkish cinema can also succeed at this through an indigenous approach,” Ansari said.

In his closing speech, Suat Köçer said that the productive discussions at the symposium will contribute a great deal to the indigenousness arguments.

 

 

Submissions to the first edition of Malatya Film Platform ended on September 1st, Friday. 108 projects have been submitted, including screenplays by awarded filmmakers along with debut projects.

Turkish Cinema will gain new talents through Malatya Film Platform, Mayor Ahmet Çakır said. Expressing his great joy at seeing such a high demand for the platform, he also added that the platform aims to support the national cinema and encourage the film projects based on Turkey’s ancient values.

Festival Director Suat Köçer said that the Malatya Film Platform will provide the directors and producers with opportunities to develop their projects, and it will be an important meeting point for the national filmmakers. He also noted that along with the awards, directors and producers of the 10 shortlisted films will get to work with experienced film professionals during 4 days on project development, pitching and co-productions. Subsequently, one of the two films selected by the jury will be awarded with 100,000 TL prize money as Ertem Eğilmez Family Films Production Support Award, while the other one will receive TRT’s Preemption Support. With the participation of many national and international film professionals; talk sessions, workshops, master classes and various events will be held as part of the Malatya Film Platform.

Malatya Film Platform, which aims to provide pre-production support for the film projects as well as hosting discussions on current co-production opportunities with the participation of film professionals, will be held between 11 and 15 November, 2017, as part of the 7th Malatya International Film Festival. 

 

Modern Russian cinema’s acclaimed director Andrey Zvyagintsev’s award-winning films and his latest film “Loveless” which won the Jury Award at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival will be screened at the 7th Malatya International Film Festival.

Award-winning director Andrey Zvyagintsev’s films focusing on rulership and human relations will meet the cinemagoers at the festival. The director has carried out Russia’s impressive cinema tradition to the 2000s, pioneering the new generation of Russian filmmakers. His films “The Return”, “The Banishment”, “Elena”, “Leviathan” and “Loveless” will be screened at the 7th Malatya International Film Festival.

His first feature film The Return (2003) had its world premiere at the 60th Venice Film Festival, making a tremendous impression worldwide, and won five awards including the Golden Lion. Zvyagintsev impressed the European cinema as a director pursuing and revamping the great Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky’s film style. His films focus on the effects of government and religion concepts on people as a result of the changing doctrine. As a director who has witnessed today’s Russia in the past 15 years, Zvyagintsev is famous for his elegant film language and aesthetics, as well as his social criticism.

Award-winning “Loveless” to be screened at the festival

Zvyagintsev’s latest film “Loveless”, which won the Jury Award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, will also be screened at the festival. The film brings to mind the opening line of the great Russian author Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina: “All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” The film tells the story of a couple going through a divorce, who want to give up their son in order to enjoy a new life with their new partners. However, the disappearance of little Alyosha lead them to team up, and look for him with the volunteers and the police. The film provides an insight into Russia’s recent history and social structure through a series of metaphors.

Zvyagintsev’s internationally acclaimed debut film The Return (2003) is part mystical tale, part eerie family drama. The story concerns a father who suddenly returns home after vanishing 12 years earlier, and takes his two sons to an island in the lake they live by, while his mystery remains unresolved. The film is a visual feast with its extraordinary imagery inspired by painting, and the references to Tarkovsky.

The director’s second film The Banishment (2007) competed at the 60th Cannes Film Festival, and gained Konstantin Lavronenko the Best Actor Award for his role as the father. The visually stunning film is a loose adaptation of The Laughing Matter, a novel by William Saroyan, an extremely disturbing family drama on deception and revenge.

Elena (2011) won the Jury Award at the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section, and gained the director a wider audience. The film addresses the human soul and people’s soft spots universally, while manifesting the ever-growing gap between the rich and the poor in Russia. The story concerns the struggle of a poor woman who marries a rich man and becomes his maid in order to protect her family.

Leviathan (2014) made a big international splash, winning the Best Screenplay Award at the 67th Cannes Film Festival and the Best Foreign Language Film award at the 72nd Golden Globe Awards, and was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards. In Leviathan, Zvyagintsev satirizes the coalition of the political power and the church through a property case which stands in stark contrast to the country’s communist past. Likened to “church government” by the 17th-century philosopher Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan is an invincible sea monster referenced in the 41st chapter of the Book of Job, and sometimes depicted as a whale. The visually stunning film tells the story of Nikolay, who tries to save his ancestral home located in a town harboring a whale skeleton from confiscation, in the wittiest way possible.

 

High demand for the 7th Malatya International Film Festival’s competition sections.

The “National Feature Film Competition”, “International Feature Film Competition”, “National Short Film Competition” and “International Short Film Competition” sections of the 7th Malatya International Film Festival are in high demand. The submission deadline is September 15th.

MANY AWARD CATEGORIES IN FEATURE FILM COMPETITIONS!

Fiction, documentary and animation films are eligible for submission to the festival’s National Feature Film Competition which aims to screen new and distinguished films, encourage artistic film productions, and make Turkish cinema even more significant at both national and international levels. Submissions will be accepted via the festival’s official website until 17:00 on September 15th. The Best Film will be awarded with the Crystal Apricot Award and 100,000 TL prize money.

Other award categories in National Feature Film Competition are:

Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematographer, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Film Editing, Best Art Direction, Fahri Kayahan Best Original Score, Kemal Sunal People’s Choice Award (Best Film), Special Jury Award (Best Film), Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Promising Actress, Best Promising Actor, Contribution to Turkish Cinema Award.

FILM SUBMISSIONS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD

There’s a high demand for International Feature Film and Short Film competitions as well. Many films from all over the world have been submitted since June. The Best Film in the International Feature Film Competition will be awarded with $15,000, while the winner of the International Short Film Competition will receive $1,000.

A CLOSELY CONTESTED COMPETITION

High demand for the competition sections heralds a closely contested competition, Festival Director Suat Köçer said. He also added that the submissions peaked as the deadline approaches, and the innovations in the National Short Film Competition and the first edition of International Short Film Competion are anticipated to jazz up the festival. Top 10 films in the Short Film Competition will be screened in DCP format at the main theaters before the feature film screenings, and three films will be awarded instead of one.

Submissions for the 7th Malatya International Film Festival’s competition sections will close on September 15th, at 17:00. Submissions are accepted via http://www.malatyafilmfest.org.tr.

 

 

As a result of the strong interest in the co-production forum, the deadline has been extended to November 7 to allow as many producers as possible to submit their project.
The upcoming edition of WEMW (January 21-23, 2018) will launch a new East & West double focus and will bring together over 400 film professionals from more than 30 countries and, in particular, from the 2018 spotlight regions: the Nordic Countries* and South East Europe**.
Producers from Europe, Canada, USA and Latin America are eligible to apply and WEMW will select 20 projects in development with co-production or co-financing potential either with the Nordic Countries, South East Europe or Italy. Projects can be long feature fiction films or documentaries, with preferably 15% of the total budget already in place.
Along with the EAVE scholarship, the Flow Postproduction Award, the EWA – European Women’s Audiovisual Network Award (cash prize for the best female director) and the PRODUCERS NETWORK Prize, all selected projects will compete forthe brand new FILM CENTER SERBIA Development Award, a 3.000 EUR grant for the best project.
 
* Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden
** Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia
 
More information on the submission process and the event are available at www.wemw.it
 
WEMW is organized by the FVG Audiovisual Fund and the Trieste Film Festival in collaboration withEAVE, Maia Workshops, Creative Europe Desk Italy, EURIMAGES, and the support of Creative Europe/MEDIA Programme, MiBACT - Direzione Generale per il Cinema, CEI - Central European Initiative and the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia.

 

Animated and young audience productions funded by the Polish Film Institute in the 3rd session of 2017

 

In a collective action, EFP (European Film Promotion) highlights European cinema at the upcoming American Film Market (November 1 – 8), by granting FILM SALES SUPPORT(FSS) for the promotion and marketing of 33 European films totalling more than €120.000, by running the EUROPE! UMBRELLA for European world sales and production companies and by organising screenings for European Oscar­ submissions. With its annual European cocktail, EFP kicks off with a tailor-made event for business and networking during the AFM, welcoming buyers, sales agents and European filmmakers who take part in the EFP Oscar­ screenings. EFP’s joint initiatives are supported by the Creative Europe – MEDIA Programme of the European Union and the participating EFP member organisations.

This year the EUROPE! UMBRELLA at AFM’s headquarter, the Loews Hotel, welcomes 16 sales companies and producers from 12 European countries. Their line-ups offer more than 50 productions, including the Serbian Oscar entry REQUIEM FOR MRS. J. by Bojan Vuletić, which will be represented by the production company SEE Film Pro and sales company Soul Food and the Latvian Oscar entry THE CHRONICLES OF MELANIE by Viestur Kairish handled by EastWest Filmdistribution. Both films are part of the EFP OSCAR SCREENINGS taking place at the Dick Clark Screening Room.

Since 2009, EFP has been granting FSS to European world sales companies to help boost sales to North America at the AFM. This year, 33 films from 11 European countries are benefiting from EFP’s marketing initiative. Three of the films are receiving FSS Slate Funding, covering promotion campaigns for films starting off at the Toronto 

 

 

The call for MIDPOINT Feature Launch is open – for writers, directors and producers of narrative storytelling. Deadline tomorrow Thursday October 26.

Next year's edition has been expanded to become a year-long platform with two residential workshops, a project showcase at Karlovy Vary IFF and a networking spotlight at When East Meets West – all selected and presented in collaboration with the involved partners.

Who can apply

Teams of writers, directors and producers. The training platform is for emerging talents, meaning 1st and 2nd feature filmmakers.

Dates and venues

1. Feature Launch Workshop 1 @ EASTWEEK – Trieste FF, Italy – January 20 – 26, 2018

2. Feature Launch Workshop 2 @ MIDPOINT – in collaboration with Film Center Serbia, Serbia – April 27 – May 4, 2018

3. Project Showcase with Industry experts @ KVIFF – in collaboration with Karlovy Vary IFF, Czech Republic – July 2018

4. Feature Launch Spotlight @ WEMW – in collaboration with When East Meets West (during Trieste FF) – January 2019

Apply now!

If you have any questions regarding your application you are very welcome to get in touch with Program Coordinator, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

MIDPOINT Feature Launch is realized in collaboration with Ministry of Culture Czech Republic, Czech Film Fund, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Trieste Film Festival, When East Meets West, Film Center Serbia, COCO – Connecting Cottbus and CineMart.

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 MIDPOINT Feature Launch 2018 – deadline tomorrow

The call for MIDPOINT Feature Launch is open – for writers, directors and producers of narrative storytelling. Deadline tomorrow Thursday October 26.Next year's edition has been expanded to become a year-long platform with two residential workshops, a project showcase at Karlovy Vary IFF and a networking spotlight at When East Meets West – all selected and presented in collaboration with the involved partners.Who can applyTeams of writers, directors and producers. The training platform is for emerging talents, meaning 1st and 2nd feature filmmakers.Dates and venues1. Feature Launch Workshop 1 @ EASTWEEK – Trieste FF, Italy – January 20 – 26, 20182. Feature Launch Workshop 2 @ MIDPOINT – in collaboration with Film Center Serbia, Serbia – April 27 – May 4, 20183. Project Showcase with Industry experts @ KVIFF – in collaboration with Karlovy Vary IFF, Czech Republic – July 20184. Feature Launch Spotlight @ WEMW – in collaboration with When East Meets West (during Trieste FF) – January 2019Apply now!If you have any questions regarding your application you are very welcome to get in touch with Program Coordinator, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..MIDPOINT Feature Launch is realized in collaboration with Ministry of Culture Czech Republic, Czech Film Fund, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Trieste Film Festival, When East Meets West, Film Center Serbia, COCO – Connecting Cottbus and CineMart.

MIDPOINT Shorts 2018 – deadline tomorrow

A professional project development program open to creative teams of writers, directors and producers. Within two residential workshops the participants get to develop their script as well as prepare the production and promotional aspects of the projects. The feedback format is based on one-to-one tutoring as well as group feedback.Dates and venuesWORKSHOP 1 / Feature Launch Workshop 1 @ EASTWEEK / January 20 – 26, 2018 – in collaboration with Trieste FF / ItalyWORKSHOP 2 / Feature Launch Workshop 2 @ MIDPOINT / April 27 – May 4, 2018 – in collaboration with Film Center Serbia / Serbia
Apply now!

Interview with WEMW's Alessandro Gropplero about FL18

"We look at the needs of each project and team, and we work all year around to meet these needs – and in the end to strengthen the participants' skills to break through the market." Alessandro Gropplero, MIDPOINT's partner from When East Meets West, here tells about what he sees as the new advantages of the expanded Feature Launch program – and what's in it for future participants.Read the interview here.

MIDPOINT Alumni successes 

Here are some of the latest successes of MIDPOINT participants:OUTSIDE by Michal Hogenauer (Czech Republic/Latvia/Netherlands) receives Eurimages support (120,000 EUR) 
– MIDPOINT Intensive CZ 2014 AlumnusOPEN DOOR by Florenc Papas (Albania/Macedonia) receives Eurimages support  (45,000 EUR) 
– MIDPOINT Intensive @ KVIFF 2016 Alumnus 

 

The already 19th edition of the Bratislava International Film Festival, which will take place from 9 to 16 November, will bring a new perspective on the art of film acting, new local releases in their film premieres as well as award-winning hits from festivals around the world. The main faces of the festival will be the remarkable star actor Jean-Marc Barr and the award-winning Canadian director Denis Côté.

The visual communication of the Bratislava International Film Festival is traditionally based on its current main theme, which also has its own special section in the festival programme. This year’s main theme is the art of film acting. The idea and execution of the festival spot was entrusted to the director Martin Hasák, who was inspired by joining the old and the new, the classic and the technical - subjects also included in Bratislava IFF’s programme. The seemingly simple single-shot spot hides a surprise, related to the notions of film illusion and special-effectstechnology as a backdrop to the iconic motif of a kiss on screen.

The 19th edition of the Bratislava IFF will ceremonially open with Requiem for Mrs. J. (J. Rekvijem za gospođu, 2017) by the Serbian director and one of the members of the Fiction Competition juryBojan Vuletić. This tragicomedy with a successful festival career tells the story of an unemployed widow, meticulously preparing for her suicide. The film rests on the masterly acting performance of Mirjana Karanović. The survey section Cinema Now, comprising a selection of festival hits and highly anticipated new releases, will also feature the Indian film Sexy Durga (2017), which won the Hivos Tiger Award at this year's festival in Rotterdam. This road movie about two lovers wandering the southern Indian province of Kerala is a great improvisation as well as a fascinating reflection on the contemporary India. The Chronicles of Melanie (Melānijas hronika, 2016) tells a story unravelling during the 1940’s Soviet occupation of Latvia, inspired by true life events of the journalist Melānija Vanaga. The film directed by Viesturs Kairišs is the Latvian candidate for anOscar. Another film featured in the section is the Slovak premiere of a new release from the all- star French director François Ozon called Double lover (L’amant double, 2017). The titillating erotic thriller toys with a secret and a blurred line between expectations and reality. A Ciambra (2017) directed by Jonas Carpignano is the Italian candidate for an Oscar as well as one of the top ten nominees for this year's LUX Prize. The story revolves around a teenage Romani boy Pio, who must quickly become a man in order to support his family.

One of the traditional festival sections Made in Slovakia presents the local and international audience with several attractive new local releases, many of them in their Slovak premiere. An anticipated documentary film, which will enter the current local film scene by its premiere at the Bratislava IFF, is a portrait of a recently late Slovak big beat icon Varga. The young director SonyaMaletzová met and started filming Marián Varga towards the end of his life. Through a sophisticated montage of archival records, the film condenses Varga’s life and career decades into musical numbers, where one track echoes in interpretations from different periods. His mortal frame visibly changes along with his musical style and temperament. However, somewhere beneath, Varga remains preciously unchanging and artistically as well as humanly consistent.

Another premiere to look forward to is the final part of Jan Hřebejk’s and Petr Jarchovský’s trilogyGarden store: Suitor (Zahradnictví: Nápadník, 2017) This time, it is a story of love, exposing the quiet war between parents and their children, affected by the war and the communist coup d'état. Suitor is a bird's-eye-view portrayal of the sharp dividing line between the pre- and post-wargenerations. They each have their own vision of happiness and therefore tread their own paths to reach it.

The section will also present a controversial portrait of a “velvet neo-Nazi”, The White World According to Daliborek (Svět podle Daliborka, 2017), by the Czech director Vít Klusák. The film was realised partially thanks to a co-production with Slovakia, especially through a significant creative input of the composer Vladimír Godár, whose music tinted the grotesque images of Dalibor’s everyday life a with a colour of human tragedy.

The Made in Slovakia section will traditionally comprise a selection of films made by the students of the Film and Television Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava and the Academy of Arts in Banská Bystrica. This year the audience should not miss the internationally successful student films noticed by some of the biggest world festivals. Atlantis, 2003 (Atlantída,2003, 2017) directed by Michal Blaško appeared in the student competition of the Cinéfondation film festival in Cannes and Magic Moments (2017) by Martina Buchelová made it to the Short Cuts competition section at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The list of legendary Slovak actors currently featuring Ladislav Chudík, Mária Kráľovičová, Jozef Adamovič, Štefan Kvietik, Eva Krížiková, Ivan Palúch, Emília Vášaryová and Martin Huba, whose memorial tiles are already embedded in the Bratislava Film Walk of Fame, will include the name of yet another outstanding actress – Božidara Turzonovová. This year's laureate of the award for lifetime artistic creation and holder of a Film Walk of Fame memorial tile will personally introduce the film Penelope (Penelopa, 1977) directed by Štefan Uher, in which she played the lead role.

This year’s Lexicon section will shed some light on the specifics, history and future of acting for film, starting with the perfect acting opposites of silent slapstick comedy – Chaplin and Keaton – and ending with virtual actors in the era of 3D cinema. The section will feature two films from the silent era, The Floorwalker (1916) and One Week (1920), followed by the breakthrough A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), whose legendary lead star Marlon Brando uses the so-calledmethod acting. The history of the Slovak cinema will be represented by the remarkable film Our Daily Life (Deň náš každodenný, 1969), interesting by the way it works with non-actors. The section’s highlight is a study of a consuming physical and psychological transformation of an actress who gradually merges with her character Kate Plays Christine (2016). The film directed by the American filmmaker Robert Greene is the winner of last year’s Special Jury Prize for the best screenplay in the category of documentary films at the Sundance Film Festival.

The 19th edition of the Bratislava International Film Festival will welcome one of the most outstanding actors on the current European acting scene, Jean-Marc Barr, who has received world recognition thanks to his cooperation with the controversial Danish director Lars von Trier, especially as the star of Luc Besson’s cult film The Big Blue (Le grand bleu, 1988). In Bratislava, Jean-Marc Barr will receive the festival’s own Award for Artistic Excellence in World Cinema as well as personally introduce his latest film Grain (Bugday, 2017), directed by the renowned Turkish filmmaker Semih Kaplanoğlu and often likened to Tarkovsky’s Stalker.

Another big name to attend the festival is the star of the North American independent film, the Canadian Denis Côté. The works of the 43-year-old Canadian director and former film critic with images from Eisenstein's Ten Days that Shook the World tattooed on his back, are characteristic by their blending of fiction and documentary methods, as well as things left unsaid and secrets. The highlight of the profile section will be represented by the Slovak premiere of Côté’s latest film A Skin so Soft (Ta peau si lisse, 2017) about professional strongmen and bodybuilders.

The events accompanying the main festival programme will include a number of great musical evenings, thought-provoking discussions and masterclasses of this year’s main festival faces Jean- Marc Barr and Denis Côté. The theme of acting will also sound throughout the lecture of Ladislav Dedík, the founder of Studio 727 post-production company, who will talk about the issue of the digital actor, motion-capture technology and full-body scan, linked to the future of film acting in the era of computer generated and special effects films and video games.

The screenings of the 19th edition of Bratislava IFF will take place in two screening rooms of Kino Lumière, in Kino Mladosť and Kino Nostalgia. For the first time, the festival programme will step out of the capital and appear in the cities around Bratislava. Selected films will be screened in the cinemas in Modra, Senec and Malacky. This year again, the official festival café is Gorila.sk Urban Space. Apart from its pleasant atmosphere, the visitors will have a chance to enjoy special screenings and some of the festival’s accompanying events. The popular Bratislava club Fuga – Space for the missing culture will hosts several great concerts and music parties.

For the latest updates on the programme of the 19th Bratislava International Film Festival, please visit our official website at www.bratislavaiff.sk or our official Facebook account at www.facebook.com/bratislavaiff.

19th BRATISLAVA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
November 9 – 16, 2017
Kino Lumière, Kino Mladosť, Kino Nostalgia, Gorila.sk Urban SpaceKino Mier Senec, Kino Záhoran Malacky, Kino MIER Modra
Main Organiser: Partners ProductionThe International Film Festival is held under the auspices of Marek Maďarič, Minister of Culture of the Slovak Republic
The Festival is held with the generous financial support of Slovak Audiovisual Fund.
Main Partners: Slovenská elektrizačná prenosová sústava, KiK textil a Non-Food,Transpetrol, innogy Slovensko