COTTBUS: Four films have been selected for the first presentation of Works in Progress at the 19th edition of connecting cottbus, which takes place 9 – 10 November 2017.

Open letter to the Minister of Culture and National Heritage

ISFMF is one of only few festivals of this kind in the world. The mission of the festival is the promotion of film music and sound ad irreplaceable elements of the film, networking of composers, sound designers and engineers, filmmakers an other film and film music enthusiasts.

 

The 19th edition of the Bratislava International Film Festival will revolve around and explore film acting, emerging stars of the contemporary film scene as well as time proven festival hits. Its 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. As a traditional part of the festival programme, three finalists of the LUX Prize will also be introduced. The Bratislava IFF will moreover present a number of other notable European films from various prestigious festivals in their exclusive Slovak premieres.

By selection of its dramaturges, the main theme of the 19th edition of the Bratislava Film Festival will be the film actor. Its Lexicon programme section will comprise several films illustrating the history as well as specific challenges that the work of a film actor entails. In the genre of silent slapstick comedy, Charles Chaplin and Buster Keaton are regarded as acting opposites. In the film The Floorwalker (1916), we’re following a hero who actively moves the plot forward and whose clumsiness serves as a source of various comic situations taking place in a department store. The main character in the film One Week (1920) is, by contrast, a passive and stoic "receiver" of different comic disasters.

In terms of acting work, A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) with the legendary Marlon Brando in its lead role can be considered a breakthrough film due to its application of the so-called method acting principles. When compared to other actors starring in the film, Brando’s acting is noticeably more civil and more complex when dealing with emotions. The adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ theatre classic is a story of a woman struggling to preserve her mental health. Searching for a peaceful haven in the home of her sister Stella and her husband Stanley, she's unable to find it even there.

The section’s highlights will include a study of a consuming physical and psychological transformation of an actress who gradually merges with her character. The film Kate Plays Christine (2016) is the winner of last year’s Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in the category of documentary films. As a filmmaker, the film’s director Robert Greene systematically explores the concepts of fact and fiction, pretending and performing in different forms and contexts.

The Lexicon section also comprises accompanying programme, which will, among other things, demonstrate new technologies and working with a virtual actor. One of the top Slovak post production studios, Studio 727, will present the participants of its masterclass with motion-capture technology and a full-body scan, both a prerequisite for the future of film acting in the era of computer-generated and trick films.

Another film, loosely connected with this year’s main theme, is Requiem for Mrs. J. (Rekvijem za gospođu J., 2017), directed by Bojan Vuletić. The actress who plays a blinder is the fantastic Mirjana Karanović. The main character, whom she plays, virtually never leaves the projecting screen, remaining present in every shot. This tragicomedy with a successful festival career tells the story of an unemployed widow, meticulously preparing for her suicide. She pays her debts to the neighbours, tries to make peace with her pregnant daughter and submits an order at the stonemason’s. There are just a few more formalities to take care of, but in a country tossed in the midst of a social and economic transformation, not even these simple acts are easy.

In addition to its acting section, the Bratislava Film Festival will please its visitors with several acclaimed film hits. One of the Slovak premieres to look forward to is a new release of the all-star French director François Ozon called The Double Lover (L ' amant double, 2017). Chloé has a crush on her psychologist Paul, but gradually begins to realize that his past hides some truly dark secrets. One of them is the existence of his twin. This erotic film tells the story of the sexual imagination of a young torn woman, toying with the line between fantasy and reality. The film’s complex dual role is played by the Belgian actor Jérémie Renier.

A controversial portrait of one "velvet neo-Nazi", The White World According to Daliborek (Svět podle Daliborka, 2017), is the work of the acclaimed Czech director Vít Klusák. A soon to be forty-year-old worker and author of amateur horror videos Dalibor K. from Prostějov hates Jews, homosexuals, the Roma people, immigrants and spiders. He’s never had an actual relationship with a woman and still lives with his mother Věra. “He’s a good guy, he just has stupid opinions," says Věra about her son. However, it is opinions just like his that become symptomatic for whole groups of people in today's society.

The 19th edition of the Bratislava IFF also features three finalists of the LUX Prize, awarded by the European Parliament since 2007. As its current President Antonio Tajani said: "The Lux Prize not only brings cinema closer to citizens, but Europe to Europeans.”

In accordance with this creed, three remarkable European films made it to the finals. A French "queer" drama 120 Beats per Minute (120 battements par minute, 2017) by Robin Campillo, telling the story of the activist movement ACT UP, which tried to increase awareness of HIV in the early nineties in Paris. A character study on contemporary Europe, problems of integration and the search for identity called Western (2017), shot by the renowned German director and screenwriter Valeska Grisebach and Sami Blood (Sameblod, 2016), an engrossing directorial debut of a talented upcoming Swedish screenwriter Amanda Kernell, dedicated to a dark chapter of the Swedish colonial history.

The festival will also introduce the film Ciambra (A Ciambra, 2017), one of the top ten nominees for this year's LUX Prize and, at the same, Italy’s candidate for the Academy Awards. Ciambra is the name of a ghetto in southern Italy and the home of a closed Roma community. One of its members is a 14-year-old Pio, who piously looks up to his older brother Cosimo. One day Cosimo suddenly disappears and Pio decides to take his place. During his rapid maturation, Pio is accompanied by his good friend Aiyva, an illegal migrant from Burkina Faso. After his acclaimed feature debut Mediterranea, the talented director Jonas Carpignano has filmed yet another realistic film that so fantastically works with the spontaneity of its non-actors. Both films are part of a loose trilogy connected by the main protagonists. While in Mediterranea, the fate of a migrant called Aiyvu lies at the forefront of the story, Ciambra follows the life story of a young Roma boy Pio.

For 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.

You can buy Festival Pass or Student Festival Pass online (more information: http://bratislavaiff.sk/en/service/tickets-and-festival-passes/ )


19 th BRATISLAVA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
November 9 – 16, 2017
Main Organisers: Partners Production
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
COME AND EXPERIENCE IT!

 

 

We announce the line-up of the Documentary Features Competition "IMAGE OF THE WORLD AND WORLD IN IMAGES" of the 25th anniversary edition of theInternational Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography CAMERIMAGE.

The aim of the competition is to recognize the art of documentary filmmaking as creative interpretation of reality. Putting emphasis on the visual and aesthetic aspects of the selected nonfiction entries, the jury awards the best cinematographers in the competition.

Good Postman, The

A small Bulgarian village just by the Turkish border has found itself in the middle of a European crisis – at night asylum seekers sneak past the border. The forgotten village has become the most important secret loophole of Europe. Ivan, the local postman, has a vision. He decides to run for mayor and bring the dying village back to life by welcoming refugees. His opponents want to close their eyes, close down the border, and reintroduce communism.

Original title: Hyvä postimies
Polish title: Dobry listonosz
Director: Tonislav Hristov
Cinematographer: Orlin Ruevski
Produced by: Soul Food, Making Movies Oy
Finland, Bulgaria, 2016

Grey Matter

In Grey Matter, director Jan Louter follows neurosurgeons Clemens Dirven and Arnaud Vincent during the treatment of various patients with brain disorders, a very intensive process for both surgeon and patient during which – besides life and death – personality, the essence of the patient, is at stake.

Original title: Hersenleed
Director: Jan Louter
Cinematographer: Roel Van 't Hoff
Produced by: Basalt Film
Netherlands, 2017

Kreatura

A young woman detaches herself from her family as she goes on an ecstatic journey to the birthplaces of her Ukrainian-German-Jewish self. Instead of finding support, she loses herself in the midst of national and religious conflicts. Leaving her cultural past behind, she embraces the idea of having no identity at all – in the void of the biblical desert. Kreatura is biographical and fictitious, like identity itself.

Director: Viki Aleksandrovich
Cinematographer: Dino Osmanovic
Produced by: Pronoia
Germany, 2017

Last Men in Aleppo

After five years of war in Syria, Aleppo’s remaining residents prepare themselves for a siege. The main characters of the film – Khalid, Subhi, and Mahmoud – are members of the White Helmets, also called the Syrian Civil Defence, which consists of common people that decided to stay in the city to help the victims of bombing. Until now, they have managed to save over 60,000 lives, often by pulling them from debris with their bare hands. The film, directed by Feras Fayyad, makes us experience not only the huge devastation of war, but also the personal story of everyday people that became real heroes in the face of a mass tragedy playing out in front of the eyes of the entire world.

Original title: De sidste mænd i Aleppo
Polish title: Ostatni w Aleppo
Director: Feras Fayyad
Cinematographers: Fadi Al Halabi, Mojahed Abo AlJood, Thaer Mohammed, Hassan Kattan
Produced by: Larm Film Aps
Polish distributor: Against Gravity Sp. z o. o.
Denmark, Syria, Germany, 2017

Life Is Be

There are five main characters in the film, and each of them has their own history. They live in Telavi (Eastern Georgia) in the same neighbourhood. Two homeless German men. One of them plays the piano at the Charity House. He is a former fireman. He saved Tsinandali Museum from burning down. He lives in an abandoned canning factory and is trying to set up a chicken farm, but he keeps getting robbed. It has been 20 years since the electricity supply was cut off for the other German man. He invented a stove which produces electricity. He calls his semi-dilapidated house the symbol of ‘the Broken Soviet Union’ and he considers himself as the museum exhibit. The third character is an 80-year-old former communications office director. His house is a historical monument protected by the government. But the house is in poor condition. As soon as the owner tries to repair it, he is fined by City Hall. The fourth character is a former engineer, a former lecturer of Telavi University, but now he only stays at home and listens to rock music and complains about his life. He has a dream to establish an elite pool in Telavi and is in search of the first million dollars. So far, he only lives on the support of his wife. The fifth character is a successful farmer and businessman. He needs some additional workers to assist him, but he can’t find anybody. Nobody wants to work. On his farm he has a mini chapel where he prays for the best future.

Original title: Eto jizn
Director: Vakhtang Kuntsev-Gabashvili
Cinematographer: Vakhtang Kuntsev-Gabashvili
Produced by: The Production Studio "Akrobat"
Georgia, 2016

New Wild, The: Life in the Abandoned Lands

As rural populations age and decline, new and surprising landscapes are appearing across Europe. Farmland lies abandoned, reclaimed by a self-willed natural world: trees are growing where once there were fields; wild animals roam free amongst the debris. Away from the pull of our economic centres, marginalised regions are witnessing a demographic and cultural collapse. Ways of life become stories, stories become history, and as the city grows the memory fades. But things grow from the cracks of ruin, and in the cracks of great change are small stories. In an abandoned alpine valley, one village’s precarious attempt to survive offers a series of reflections on our changing relationship with the countryside and as such with the natural world itself.

Director: Christopher Thomson
Cinematographer: Christopher Thomson
Produced by: Christopher Thomson
UK, Austria, Italy, 2017

Normal Autistic Film

Direct and thoughtful, Luka has a distinctive sense of humour; he loves movies and he writes his own screenplays. Piano virtuoso Denis is able to play demanding classical pieces; he is also incredibly intelligent and well-read. He adores The Little Prince so much that he keeps rereading it. Majda likes to rap and isn’t shy about it; her bold lyrics expose the surrounding world with disarming accuracy. Marjamka is able to tell long stories in English, while her tireless brother Ahmed is uncommonly friendly. Five remarkable children that society has consistently and unflatteringly labelled ‘autistic’. A foremost Czech documentarian with a unique authorial vision challenges us once and for all to stop perceiving autism as a medical diagnosis and to try to understand it as a fascinating way of thinking that’s often maddeningly difficult to decipher. Because who’s to determine what’s normal? Living in a constant rush while disregarding the absurdity of modern life, or wistfully seeking order, peace, and tranquillity in the world?

Original title: Normální autistický film
Director: Miroslav Janek
Cinematographer: Miroslav Janek
Produced by: Mimesis Film
Czech Republic, 2016

On Yoga the Architecture of Peace

The film is based on Michael O’Neill’s book of the same name published by Taschen. This project tells the story of the ten years the author spent photographing yoga’s great masters. It has been created as a deep extension of the original book. By posing very human questions from our current perspective and mixing them with elements of movement and experiential sound, a new view of the Art of Yoga will emerge.

Director: Heitor Dhalia
Cinematographer: Adolpho Veloso
Produced by: Paranoid Filmes
Brazil, 2017

Potentiae

Potentiae is an intimate portrait of people with different disabilities. These people form groups according to their specific condition, becoming then a living organism, a blend through which individuals are supplemented through the capacities of others, thus developing, as a multiplicity, new strengths and possibilities. The camera follows them closely in their everyday activities, and a minimal story serves as an excuse, a provocation to bring them all together in a thread of perceptual experiences that lasts one single day. The film becomes a one-day epic of senses and lives.

Director: Ricardo Garfias
Cinematographer: Javier Toscano
Produced by: Alejandra Liceaga Cevallos
Mexico, 2016

Radio Kobanî

The Syrian border town of Kobanî was occupied and destroyed by IS. When liberation came, 20-year-old Kurdish reporter Dilovan started a radio station. She and her friend Biter report on refugee camps, talk to survivors, and interview fighters and musicians. The broadcasts seem to offer their listeners comfort and a sense of stability as reconstruction gets underway and they cautiously dare to think about the future again. The film documents events in Kobanî over a three-year period, both during and after the fighting. Over subdued images of the war torn town, Dilovan reads a letter to the child she hopes to have one day, describing the merciless terror to which IS subjected Kobanî and the terrible effects this has had on the lives of her friends and family. Slowly but surely, Dilovan is able to enjoy the lighter sides of life again: listening to music, flirting in the park, falling in love.

Director: Reber Dosky
Cinematographer: Nina Badoux
Produced by: Journeyman Pictures Ltd.
Netherlands, 2016

To Stay Alive: A Method

In 1991, an unknown writer Michel Houellebecq published an essay titled Rester Vivant (To Stay Alive). The relatively short text fascinated Iggy Pop, who recognized the French writer’s anguish as his own pain accompanying him on stage for so many years. Houellebecq's essay is a brilliant collection of tips for “those who are about to give up”. It is a praise of creative freedom and a lesson that an uncompromising realization of “self” comes with great suffering. Iggy Pop, the pop culture icon, plays a major role in the film – that of our guide. To Stay Alive: A Method follows Iggy to Michel’s house... Although it’s not exactly Michel, and it’s not exactly his house...

Polish title: Przeżyć: metoda Houellebecqa
Directors: Arno Hagers, Erik Lieshout, Reinier van Brummelen
Cinematographer: Reinier van Brummelen
Produced by: AT - Production
Polish distributor: Against Gravity Sp. z o. o.
Netherlands, 2016

 

 

For the first time Work in Progress (WIP) projects will be in competition at connecting cottbus November 9 and 10 

Cottbus, October 17, 2017 – connecting cottbus one of the leading international gatherings for film professionals focusing on Eastern European cinema announces its Work in Progress selection coco WIP 2017

In its 19th edition in 2017, competition for one of the four coco WIP slots was hard – the selection was made from 50 submissions from 25 countries.

A novelty this year, connecting cottbus (coco) will enable the selected Work in Progress projects to present themselves at the co-production market. The projects are competing for the € 35,000 coco WIP Award, an in-kind prize sponsored by the German post-production company D-FACTO MOTION.

The full list of selected Work in Progress projects

CRYSTAL SWAN
director: Darya Zhuk | producer: Birgit Gernboeck | production company: Demarsh Film | country: Germany 

HIER
director: Bálint Kenyeres | producer: Jamila Wenske | production company: One Two Films GmbH | country: Germany

SPEEDWAY
director: Dorota Kędzierzawska| producer: Arthur Reinhart | production company:  Kid Film | country: Poland

VOROSHILOVGRAD
director: Yaroslav Lodygin| producer: Vladimir Yatsenko | production company:  LIMELITE | country: Ukraine

connecting cottbus is supported by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Creative Europe/MEDIA and MDM Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung.

More information about connecting cottbus can be found online at www.connecting-cottbus.de/ or on facebookwww.facebook.com/connecting.cottbus

 

 

Written and directed by: Dana Budisavljević
Co-written by: Jelena Paljan
Director of photography: Jasenko Rasol
Production design: Duško Milavec and Ivo Hušnjak
Costume design: Martina Franić
Makeup design: Dušica Vuksanović
Sound: Julij Zornik
Producers: Miljenka Čogelja and Olinka Vištica
Produced by: The Hulahop production house from Zagreb
Co-produced by: Vlado Bulajić and Lija Pogačnik, the December production house from Ljubljana;Snežana Penev, the This and That production house from Belgrade
Financial support / co-financing: Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Slovenian Film Centre – a publicagency of the Republic of Slovenia, Serbian Film Centre, Eurimages, and the MEDIA programme

The shooting of the live-action documentary film Action D.B. by the screenwriter and director Dana Budisavljević from Zagreb began on Tuesday, 10 October, in the same Croatian city. The film is co-produced by Croatia, Slovenia, and Serbia.

Action D.B. tells the story of one of the most extensive actions aimed at rescuing children duringWorld War II and the extraordinary women who organised it: Diana Budisavljević. The film aboutDiana Budisavljević focuses on a remarkable tale of courage and strength exhibited in the hardestmoments. It contains staged reconstructions, documentary testimonies, and precious archivefootage. The story is based on Diana's diary and historical research. The protagonist of the film DianaBudisavljević was born in a respectable family Obexer from Innsbruck. After she had married themedical doctor Julij Budisavljević, she moved to Zagreb. As a housewife, she dedicated herself to herhusband and their children – until she found out, in the autumn of 1941, about the existence ofconcentration camps where Orthodox women and their children were imprisoned in the capital ofthe newly-established Independent State of Croatia. Convinced that her own life was not any morevaluable than the lives of the unjustly persecuted, she undertook a risky attempt at rescuing thechildren from the camps. More than 10,000 children were then saved during her Action D.B., as she called her efforts herself. Due to the historical circumstances, her story remained undiscovered until recently.

Starring Alma Prica – the first lady of the Croatian National Theatre, who has also worked withTomaž Pandur and is known to the Slovenian public for her exquisite role in the 2013 film Halima's Path – as Diana. Igor Samobor performed in the role of Diana's husband Julij, while some of themost interesting actors from the region like Ermin Bravo, Areta Ćurković, Krešimir Mikić, OzrenGrabarić, Mirjana Karanović, Vilim Matula and others appear in the film as well.

The director Dana Budisavljevič graduated in film and TV editing from the Academy of Dramatic Art,University of Zagreb. Already as a student she organised F.R.K.A., the first student film festival, whilelater she took part in the organisation of the film festival in Motovun. In 2005 she established,together with Nenad Puhovski, the biggest regional documentary film festival ZagrebDox.

Action D.B. will be shot on locations in Croatia and Slovenia. The shooting is slated to conclude in thebeginning of November.

Contact for additional information:
Vlado Bulajić, December - Zavod za kulturne dejavnosti
m. + 386 40 454 681
e. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

WARSAW: Polish director Bartosz Prokopowicz is working on his second film, a romantic comedy Fake fiancée / Narzeczony na niby. Agnieszka Odorowicz, Andrzej Papis and Maciej Sowiński are producing.

WARSAW: FNE has teamed up with the Brussels based team of the International Union of Cinemas (UNIC) to bring you regular updates on EU cinema policies that impact all industry professionals across Europe. Click here for FNE UNIC EU Cinema Policy Update.