Arc 1950 Coproduction Village: the 6th, 7th and 8th of DecemberLes Arcs European Film Festival is happy to reveal the programme of Arc 1950 Coproduction Village and the list of selected projects. Programme of the Arc 1950 Coproduction Village- one-to-one meetings so that selected project producers could meet their potential partners (producers, sales agents, distributors, exhibitors, regional funds...) every morning ;- at the end of each year, conferences are organized and are followed by cockta...

Film festivals come in various shapes, sizes, formats and orientations. The currently ongoing 22nd installment of the Santa Barbara Film Festival is a bit off-beat in certain aspects. Lasting eleven days and presenting some 200 films it is certainly not small -- more like "medium to large." In terms of importance, however, while it is not considered to be quite in the same class as the North-American majors, Sundance, Telluride, Chicago, New York, Toronto and Montreal, it can nevertheless ce...

SZABO FLAP FLUSTERS FIRST-NIGHTERS IN BUDAPEST AT MAGYAR FILMSZEMLE February 6, 2006 The opening night of the Hungarian film week at the Budapest Congress Centre turned out to be more of a political than a cinematic event. "Rokonok" (Relatives), the eagerly awaited new film by Hungary's leading filmmaker, Istvan Szabo -- his first Hungarian language film since 1992 -- was scheduled to open the festivities, but just a few days prior to the opening an article appeared in a prestigious literary mag...

The 16th Cottbus International Film Festival festival closed its five day run on Saturday November 18th with the distribution of the prizes and the premiere of the new German film "Herzentöter" (Heartbreaker) by Cottbus born director Bernd Heiber. This absurd slap-sticky comedy set completely in the local Spreewald area, went over well with the local audience but is not likely to travel very far from Lusatia. The main prize, 25,000 €, for Best Film went to the Serbian competition entry "Sutra...

The 16th Cottbus International Film Festival festival closed its five day run on Saturday November 18th with the distribution of the prizes and the premiere of the new German film "Herzentöter" (Heartbreaker) by Cottbus born director Bernd Heiber. This absurd slap-sticky comedy set completely in the local Spreewald area, went over well with the local audience but is not likely to travel very far from Lusatia. The main prize, 25,000 €, for Best Film went to the Serbian competition entry "Sutra...

New Hungarian features on view here range from the utterly ridiculous to the utterly sublime. At the ridiculous extreme is "TAXIDERMIA" by "Hukkle" director Pálfi György, while on the sublime side of the spectrum is the ethereally sensuous "The Bird Saviour, Clouds and Wind", by first time director István "Taikyo" Szaladják."Taxidermia" doesn't have much to do with the art of taxidermy (although a taxidermist does make a brief appearance toward the end), but everything to do with force feedi...

And the winner was -- (don't hold your breath, just your noses) -- TAXIDERMIA! -- And not just the Grand Prize, named as "Best" Film from a field of 24 features by a jury including foreigners for the very first time -- but four other prizes, to wit: two best supporting roles, both male and female, best "visual design", and ex-aequo with "White Palm", the foreign critics Gene Moskovitz award.The best director award went, deservedly, to young Hajdu Szabolcs for "White Palm", best actor to Sándor...

The opening night of the Hungarian film week at the Budapest Congress centre turned out to be more of a political than a cinematic event. "Rokoknok" (Relatives), the eagerly awaited new film by Hungary's leading filmmaker, Istvan Szabo -- his first Hungarian language film since 1992 -- was scheduled to open the festivities, but just a few days prior to the opening an article appeared in a prestigious literary magazine casting serious doubts upon director Szabo's past political integrity. To put ...