JAN HARLAN (Head of the Jury)
Producer and Director
„I joined Stanley Kubrick in 1969 for his Napoleon project, which was unfortunately abandoned, but I enjoyed working with Stanley and he liked me, so I added the study of film-production with a great teacher to my previous profession. My first film as an assistant was A Clockwork Orange. Four years later I became Kubri...
THE WORLD IS BIG AND SALVATION LURKS AROUND THE CORNER (Bulgaria)
by Sandy Mandelberger, Festival Dailies Editor
FORBIDDEN FRUIT, a comedic-drama about two religious girls who flaut their strict Christian fundamentalist community rules forbidding the pleasures of television, music, drinking and dancing, won the Gold Dolphin Award as Best Film at this year’s FESTROIA Official Competition. The Finnish film, written by Aleksei Bardy...
The juries of the 12th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival have been selected The two most important juries of the 12th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) – official jury of the international competition programme EurAsia and the jury of Tridens Baltic feature film competition – have been selected. The jury of the international competition programme EurAsia comprises producer and actor Rain Tolk (Estonia), producer and director Brian Yuzna (Indonesia/USA), president of the Festroia As...
One of the strong contenders for the Festroia Golden Dolphin grand prize is the competition film WORLDS APART from Danish director Niels Arden Oplev. The film, which is based on a true story, is a compelling story of a young teenage girl, whose family are committed Jehova´s Witnesses, who falls in love with a "non-believer".Young actress Rosaline Mynster gives a passionate performance as Sara, a budding teenager who must fight the temptations of sex and partying that do not gel with her religio...
Thursday, June 12------One of the strong contenders for the Festroia Golden Dolphin grand prize is the competition film WORLDS APART from Danish director Niels Arden Oplev. The film, which is based on a true story, is a compelling story of a young teenage girl, whose family are committed Jehova´s Witnesses, who falls in love with a "non-believer".Young actress Rosaline Mynster gives a passionate performance as Sara, a budding teenager who must fight the temptations of sex and partying...
Wedneday, June 11-----French director Damien Odoul´s film THE STORY OF RICHARD O is included in a special showcase at the Festroia called Seduction Cinema. The director began his career as an actor and alternates between acting and directing. His 2001 film SPECIAL BREATH won a Special Jury Prize and the FIPRESCI International Critics Award at the Venice Film Festival."This is not a movie about seduction, nor eroticism. It is just a film about sex, burlesque and poetry. It is very rare to s...
Thursday, June 7-----The Official Section of FESTROIA: Festival Internacional de Cinema is dedicated to films from countries that produce fewer than 25 films per year. While these individual countries have more modest outputs, the films they produce are choice gems. Films from Scandanivia have always figured strongly in the Festroia lineup (and have won many top prizes here over the years). This year's representation from Scandinavia is equally impressive, with the Oscar-nominated Danish fil...
Monday, June 4-------British actor Charles Dance (GOSFORD PARK) is the President of the Official Jury of the 23rd edition of FESTROIA: Festival Internacional de Cinema. Dance and his fellow Official Section jurors will determine the Dolphin Award prizes, which will be given out at a gala awards ceremony on Saturday, June 9. Dance is joined by Hungarian director Karoly Makk, Polish producer Joanna Kos Krauze, Finnish actress Maria Jarvenhelmi, Valladolid Film Festival director Juan Carlos Fr...
Sunday, June 3-------Now that gay coming-of-age films have become a (slight) cinematic cliche, what are the new areas that gay filmmakers want to explore as the community continues to evolve and become (somewhat) more mainstream. The answer in the excellent American indie film BOY CULTURE is love.....not as a substitute or an extension of sex, but as an adventure all its own. That is the provocative theme explored by director Q. Allan Brocka, who is attending the FESTROIA this week. His film i...
Sunday, June 3-------Audiences and visitors to the FESTROIA: Festival Internacional de Cinema have been treated to a Spanish film weekend. Not only did the Festival open on Friday evening with the documentary film INVISIBLES followed by the historical epic ALATRISTE, there have been celebrations of Spanish cinema all weekend long. On Saturday, the Argentine/Spanish co-production EL CAMINO DE SAN DIEGO (The Road To San Diego, 2006), by director Carlos Sorin, screened to great audience acclaim a...
Saturday, June 2--------It seems inconcievable to me that the current generation of filmgoers (and possibly even most of the filmmakers) do not know who Billy Wilder was. Or is, for his style of filmmaking remains remarkably fresh and current. For myself, Wilder is one of the giants, who combined the pace of Hollywood filmmaking with the sophistication of his European roots. His movies remain decidedly adult and deal with human emotions that are still very much in style. For local audiences who ...
TROIA FILM FESTIVAL SETS AN AMBITIOUS SLATEThe 21st edition of the Troia International Film Festival (Festroia), Portugal’s oldest and most adventurous film event devoted to international and independent cinema, kicked off on May 28 with a wide-ranging program, with particular nods to European and American Independent films.The Festival is based in the picturesque coastal town of Setúbal, about 90 minutes south of Lisbon. Troia is actually the name of the expansive beaches in the vicinity, an...
