March 24th saw the kick-off of the 1st Cyprus International Film Festival. The CIFF opened with the Cyprus premiere of the recent Oscar nominated film ‘Transamerica’, starring Felicity Huffman. Over 130 films were screened during the chaotic four-day event. Being a competitive festival there were almost too many films for the VIP jurors to review. Those having the mammoth task of awarding the statuettes included, among others, such prestigious names as Hollywood film producer Gregory Cascant...
The members of European Film Promotion (EFP) have made their selection and chosen 22 aspiring and highly promising producers for the PRODUCERS ON THE MOVE initiative during the Festival de Cannes. They will be presented to the press and the film industry within the framework of an extensive PR campaign. This EFP initiative is financially supported by the MEDIA Programme of the EU.Since launching the PRODUCERS ON THE MOVE initiative in 2000, EFP has taken a central role in highlighting the wealth...
Istanbul International Film Festival assistant director, Ms Asize Tan, talks to Jeremy Colson on the occasion of the 25th edition of one of Asia’s biggest festivals where the audience this year is forecast to reach 140,000. Have you ever been involved in film-making yourself? I’ve been involved in short films and commercials and I’ve been in film circles since forever. I started work with the festival in 1994, worked in several different departments, became assistant director in 2003 and I...
What is changing in the cinema with the advent of digital? And what are the effects on exhibition? The second day of the exhibitors’ training course “DigiTraining Plus: New Technologies for European Cinemas”, taking place at the moment in Kuurne, Belgium, goes right to the heart of the matter. The exhibitors’ voices, with their questions and their expectations, were heard thanks to Jan Van Dommelen, representing Unic (the federation of national exhibitors’ associations) and Enrico Chie...
The seventh edition of the Stockholm Film Festival Junior opened on Sunday April 2nd. During eight days, children and young people may take part of an exciting film program with new films from all over the world. Several of this year¹s films have themes referring to cultural identity and culture clashes. Interesting directors, actors, producers and scriptwriters will visit the festival and meet their young audience in Face2Face-interviews.The Stockholm Film Festival Junior 2006 offers 19 new fi...
Yesterday, Hot Docs announced its official programming line-up for the 2006 festival, coinciding with the opening of the CBC Newsworld Advance Box Office, where tickets and passes for Hot Docs screenings can be purchased from now until the end of the festival. Hot Docs will screen 99 films from 23 countries between April 28 - May 7, including 18 world premieres, 17 international premieres, 13 North American premieres, 30 Canadian premieres, and seven Toronto premieres. Hot Docs' Canadian Spectru...
Film Festival Maastricht 6th - 9th April- The film event of the South!For a period of 4 days Filmtheater Lumière will be the venue for the annual ’film festival Maastricht’. The second edition of the festival comprises more than 40 titles for your consideration. With anything between new mainstream films, cutting-edge independent-productions from the U.S., the best in world cinema from all over the globe and major new works from renowned artists in the business making up the program, it ...
New Directors/New Films, one of the most anticipated film events on the New York film calendar, celebrates its 35th year, presenting the works of new directors from around the world. The festival will unspool 25 feature films and 5 shorts from March 22 through April 2, 2006. The program is presented jointly by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and The Department of Film and Media of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Screenings will be held at the Walter Reade Theater, the Film Society’s year-r...
Editorial by Elisabetta Brunella, Secretary General of MEDIA SallesAt the Berlin Film Festival, MEDIA Salles kept its appointment with the cinema community that pays the closest attention to economic and technological developments in the sector, presenting the 2005 final edition of the “European Cinema Yearbook”.As well as the first previews of the overall results of cinema-going in Europe in 2005, the prominent data in the Yearbook includes the situation of screens equipped with DLP CinemaT...
An interview with SMS Sugar Man producer Michelle Wheatley1. Tell us some things about you. Who is Michelle Wheatley?Hhmmm, that question caught me off guard… Usually people want to know about the director. I’m driven by passion; I absolutely love what I do. I’m not interested in conventional projects; I like to be on the edge. Doesn’t always make for easy film making…2. Why did you decide to produce a movie that is shot exclusively with the use of mobile phones? I have been collabora...
For the first time MEDIA Salles anticipates the publication of data on cinema-going in Europe in 2005 at the Berlin Film Festival, including it in the “2005 final edition” of the “European Cinema Yearbook”.The interpretation of this data shows that the last few months of 2005 – which saw a general recovery in cinema-going – proved unable to change the fate of a year marked by negative results. Throughout Europe and the Mediterranean Rim there was a decided decrease in audiences. On a...
200 entries, including first-time nominations from China, Finland, Israel and Hungary were submitted for the third annual FOCAL International Awards in association with APTN Library, celebrating the use of archive footage and images.The total was an increase of 10 per cent over last year with the UK, France, Germany, USA, Australia, Italy and Canada accounting for most of the submissions.An international jury has now whittled down the nominations to the best three in 14 categories with the winne...
Phoning it inThe world’s first full-length movie to be shot entirely on cellphones has just been wrapped up in Joburg, writes Ryan FortuneIT’S 3AM on Christmas morning 2005 and while Santa makes his final deliveries to good children around the world, a bunch of filmmakers in the pool bar of Johannesburg’s Melrose Arch Hotel are accelerating the digital cinema revolution.They’ve been shooting for over a week now, mostly nights. Everyone’s dead tired, so this particular scene is taking a...
Argentinean filmmaker Alexis Dos Santos was honoured for his film GLUE (GLUE (HISTORIA ADOLESCENTE EN MEDIO DE LA NADA) February 2, 2006 at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2006 by the young people’s jury. The film-maker received the Golden MovieSquad Shield from five 16 up to 20 year old jury members. GLUE saw its world premiere in the Rotterdam film festival as one of the fourteen films in VPRO Tiger Awards Competition and is supported by the IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund.Jelle (16), Ni...
The 35th International Film Festival Rotterdam attracted the same number of visitors as in 2005. The organisation registered 358,000 admissions to its films, exhibitions, debates, talkshows and other festival events. The festival closed on Sunday, 5 February 2006, with the Volkskrantdag. Together with the Holland Festival, the festival is organising a summer edition from Thursday 15 through Sunday 18 June 2006. The 36th International Film Festival Rotterdam will take place from Wednesday 24 Janu...
35th International Film Festival RotterdamWednesday, January 25 – Sunday, February 5, 2006During the IFFR 2006 Awards Ceremony on Friday, February 3, 2006 in Concert and Congress Centre ‘de Doelen’ in Rotterdam, the winning films of the 35th International Film Festival Rotterdam were announced. The three VPRO Tiger Awards were granted to WALKING ON THE WILD SIDE (LIA XIAO ZI) by Han Jie (China/France), THE DOG POUND (LA PERRERA) by Manuel Nieto Zas (Uruguay/Argentina/Canada/Spain), both su...
35th International Film Festival Rotterdam25 January – 5 February 2006Arte France Cinema Awards and Prince Claus Fund Film Grant handed out at CineMart 2006 Closing Night PartyDuring the CineMart 2006 Closing Night Party, Wednesday February 1, 2006 in Club Rotterdam (Rotterdam, The Netherlands), the two Arte France Cinema Awards went to CineMart 2006 Projects A MEXICAN STORY by Arturo Aristakisian (Mexico/Russia) and the Hubert Bals Fund supported HEI TIE DE RI ZI (BLACK IRON DAYS) by Wang Bin...
On day number three of the Rotterdam film festival the buzz is still going strong regarding the new Japanese film "A Heart Beating In the Dark" (Yami ni utsu Shinzo) by maverick Nippon director Shunichi Nagasaki. Mr. Nagasaki has been around for a long time but his films are so wide of the mainstream that he is barely known outside of Japan and not particularly well known even in his own country. Rotterdam, a festival which specializes in introducing new faces as well as older ones who have no...
the International Film Festival Rotterdam has taken the initiative to create the Hubert Bals Fund Plus!, aimed at offering Dutch producers an opportunity to participate more in international film projects. The Netherlands Film Fund has made two hundred thousand euros available for the finance of co-productions with films awarded by the HBF for 2006. During the next Holland Festival (June 2-25, 2006 in Amsterdam), IFFR will be presenting a limited summer edition, June 15 – 18, of the film festi...
35th International Film Festival RotterdamJanuary 25 – February 5, 2006Rotterdam programme section ‘Vita Brevis’ on biographical filmsIn its theme programme section ‘Vita Brevis’, the 35th International Film Festival Rotterdam presents fifteen biographically inspired feature fiction and documentary films. The section includes world premieres of RETURN OF THE POET by Armenian film-maker Harutyun Khachatryan and KLIMT (DIRECTOR’S CUT) by Raúl Ruiz (starring John Malkovich). ‘Vita Br...
Further supporting its ongoing campaign to promote European films, Europa Cinemas will return to this years Berlin Film Festival, awarding its Label prize to the best European film in the Panorama section (February 9-19).This marks the second year that the Europa Cinemas Label will be awarded at Berlin, and complements the Labels awarded at the Directors' Fortnight in Cannes and the Venice Days section of the Mostra del Cinema.A jury of four Europa Cinemas exhibitors will award the Label at Berl...
The International Film Festival Rotterdam has selected fourteen films for the VPRO Tiger Awards Competition of its 35th edition which will start January 25. The Competition line up counts nine world premieres, three international premieres and two European premieres. Four titles were supported by the IFFR’s Hubert Bals Fund and one title was previously selected as CineMart Project. Two competition titles have been acquired already for release in The Netherlands: LAND OF THE BLIND and NORTHERN ...
Hubert Bals Fund Conference on training next generation of filmmaking voicesOn Sunday 29th January 2006, the International Film Festival Rotterdam will organize a Hubert Bals Fund Conference in Rotterdam entitled “Raising Voices.” Representatives from training organizations from around the world will come together to discuss the design of training programs that will stimulate the next generation of culturally distinctive and authentic filmmaking voices.The conference will examine the questio...
8 european first feature filmsEen ander zijn geluk (Someone Else’s Happiness) - Fien Troch - BelgiumMeleğin düşüşü (La Chute de l'ange) - Semih Kaplanoğlu - TurkeyPavee Lackeen - Perry Ogden - IrelandRyna - Ruxandra Zenide - Swiss / RomaniaSauf le respect que je vous dois - Fabienne Godet - FranceSchläfer - Benjamin Heisenberg - AustriaStesti (Something Like Happiness) - Bodhan Slama - Czech RepublicThe Passenger - François Rotger - France / Canada / Japan8 european fi...
GÖTEBORG FILM FESTIVAL FUND SUPPORTS EIGHT PROJECTS For six years the Göteborg Film Festival in cooperation with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) manage a fund that supports film makers living and working in countries in transition. During the next year a total amount of four million SEK will be distributed as development support, postproduction support and contributions towards training, education and organization of technical facilities in the film area. This ...
