Director Bohdan Sláma and producer Pavel Strnad will present their film Four Suns (Čtyři slunce) as the opening film of the prestigious 12th goEast international film festival in Wiesbaden, Germany. Four Suns will contend for the title of Best Film and €10,000 in the main competition. The goEast festival, which focuses on the cinematography of Central and Eastern Europe, begins tomorrow (April 18) and will screen five Czech films in its competition and non-competition sections. Among the fe...
Celebrating their 17th anniversary, the prestigious Time For Peace Film & Music Awards, founded by Marion and Robert Einbeck, will be this year devoted exclusively to music and films from Europe.It is with this in mind that the European cinematographic and musical works were selected based on criteria of high artistic quality but also on those of humanist values, such as tolerance, respect for difference, solidarity, care provided to others, better understanding between peoples, freedom of expre...
The Zlin Film Festival in the Czech Republic is one of the leading festivals around the world devoted to films, videos and new media works for the children and young adult sector. The Festival, which runs in the UNESCO Heritage City of Zlin in eastern Czech Republic, opens on Monday with the world premiere of IN THE DUVET, a new Czech film that is the first made completely in 3D. The film will unspool in the historic Grand Cinema, one of the last remaining movie palaces in Eastern Eur...
The 26th Warsaw Film Festival ended on Sunday, 17 October 2010.
“I feel great satisfaction after this year’s festival. Our programme included about twenty European and international premieres. More than a hundred filmmakers from Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Americas visited us to present their films in person in Warsaw. We had waited for some of them for years, to mention Jan Sverak, double Oscar winner, or Alexei Uchitel, whose new film The Edge is Russia’s Oscar candidat...
The 26th Warsaw Film Festival ended on Sunday, 17 October 2010.“I feel great satisfaction after this year’s festival. Our programme included about twenty European and international premieres. More than a hundred filmmakers from Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Americas visited us to present their films in person in Warsaw. We had waited for some of them for years, to mention Jan Sverak, double Oscar winner, or Alexei Uchitel, whose new film The Edge is Russia’s Oscar candidate this...
San Sebastian Film Festival and EFP provide forum for European distributorsEuropean Film Promotion announces participants 2010The majority of exciting films made in Europe still can't be seen in cinemas outside of their home countries. With the programme “European Distributors: Up Next!”, European Film Promotion (EFP) and the San Sebastian International Film Festival raise the issue of how to promote the circulation of European films and see them cross borders. In the third edition of the tw...
For this year's 50th anniversary Jubilee edition of the Zlin Film Festival, held in the UNESCO Heritage City of Zlin in northeastern Czech Republic, several programs heralding Czech cinema of the past and the present are among this year's highlights. This includes a special sidebar for actor/writer/composer Zdenek Sverák, one of Czech cinema's best known faces and talents. Zdenek Sverák is a true renaissance man, having scaled the heights of the film, theater and television worlds as both an ...
Zdenek Sverák in KOLYA
For this year's 50th anniversary Jubilee edition of the Zlin Film Festival, held in the UNESCO Heritage City of Zlin in northeastern Czech Republic, several programs heralding Czech cinema of the past and the present are among this year's highlights. This includes a special sidebar for actor/writer/composer Zdenek Sverák, one of Czech cinema's best known faces and talents.
Zdenek Sverák is a true renaissance man, having scaled the heights of the fil...
by Sandy Mandelberger, Festival Dailies Editor
Each year, FESTROIA shines its spotlight on a different film producing country. This year, it is the turn of the Czech Republic, which has been at the forefront of international filmmaking since its celebrated heyday in the 1960s. One of its best known films of that era, CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS by Jiri Menzel was screened here on Sunday evening, with the 76-year-old director in attendance. A gentle satire on Czech life du...
You may not know Pilsen, but any beer connoisseur can guess from its name that the Czech town is a source of ferment. Pilsner Urquell calls it home, as does the annual festival of Czech films, Finále Plzeň, which runs April 19–25. The festival dates back to 1968, when the Communist Party allowed a “Spring” thaw. Finále Plzeň sought to acquaint Czechs with their own New Wave of films sweeping world festivals, but three years later packed itself on ice as Czech cinema ran afoul o...
Monday, June 16------EMPTIES, the ironic comedy by Czech director Jan Sverak, has won the Gold Dolphin, the top award at the 24th edition of Festroia in Portugal. The film, a comic love story about a man facing old age, is the third in a trilogy that includes the director’s previous films ELEMENTARY SCHOOL and the Oscar winning KOLYA. The film has previously won the Czech Lion (the local Oscar) for Best Director and Audience Prize, as well as the Audience Award at last year’s Karlovy Vary ...
The film event "PICTURE EUROPE! The Best of European Cinema" came to an end now in Madrid after stops in Munich and Copenhagen with packed cinemas and enthusiastic cinema-goers."Compared to the previous year, we could post considerable increases of 59 per cent altogether. We reached a total of almost 4000 admissions in the three cities," Renate Rose, EFP managing director, concludes after the second round. "The project seems now to be becoming established. Our additional offer to distributors an...
PICTURE EUROPE! The Best of European Cinema – the European film event in Munich, Copenhagen, and Madrid A European Voyage of Discovery: Picture Europe!Film programme for Madrid now completeThe film programme for “PICTURE EUROPE! The Best of European Cinema 2008” in Madrid is complete. 13 current box-office hits from the neighbour countries will appear here on the screen from April 11 – 17. Director Jan Sverák will personally introduce the absolute top hit from the ...
The 31st Portland International Film Festival announces the Oregon Live Audience Award winners. This year's Festival wrapped up its 18 day run Sunday, February 24th after 186 total screenings at multiple theater locations in the downtown cultural district of Portland. This year's Festival was attended by over 30,000 attendees and included 74 features and 38 shorts from over 30 countries.Audience winners included Jan Sverák's EMPTIES (Czech Republic) for Best Feature, followed by THE VISITOR (US...
On Saturday, November 10, the 17th FilmFestival Cottbus came to an end with an impressive closing event where prizes with a total value of Euros 64,000 were presented. All the expectations could be surpassed with a high audience turnout: around 16.000 visitors attended the multifaceted programme on offer. With 80 films from 25 countries, numerous concerts, readings and exhibitions, this year again saw the festival invite the audience to go on a varied journey through the cultural landscapes of C...
Friday, November 2--------This was my first time at the London Film Festival, a storied event that just concluded its 51st edition, making it one of the oldest and most venerated film festivals in the world. London is a great city and it does have a great film festival.....an event that delivers an equal measure of star power and filmmaker discoveries, includes intimate special events and gala premieres, and also serviced the professional industry and aspiring filmmakers. The series of market...
Just a few days left to go until The Times BFI 51st London Film Festival opens its doors throughout the city for a celebration of cinema with a talent laden guest-list attending the 16 day Festival. Attending the Opening Night Gala on Wednesday 17 October for the UK premiere of the acclaimed EASTERN PROMISES will be director David Cronenberg, accompanied by Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel and Armin Mueller-Stahl.The Odeon West End will welcome an array of actors and filmmakers attending the premiere...
For the 27th time, the Munich International Festival of Film Schools is inviting the next generation of filmmakers to town and screening the best student films of the year from around the world. The festival is the most important of its kind worldwide. It gives audiences the rare chance to get a look at current trends and meet tomorrow's top directors. The festival will be screening 39 films from 28 film schools from 20 countries at the Munich Filmmuseum (St.-Jakobs-Platz 1).Over 300 films from ...
Four awards were presented tonight within the framework of the closing event of Filmfest Hamburg in the cinema CinemaxX Dammtor:The Hamburg Film Critics Award, presented this year for the fourth time by ‘DerSpiegel’, ‘Stern’, ‘Hamburger Abendblatt’ and ‘NDR 90,3’, went to the English film ‘Control’ (director: Anton Corbijn, German distributor: capelight pictures).Endowed with 30,000 euros by the Department of Economy and Finance, the TVProduzentenpreis (TV Producers Award) we...
Tuesday, September 4---------The Toronto International Film Festival doesn't officially open for another 48 hours, but already a hurricane of film talents, industryites, press and film buffs are descending onto the Ontario metropolis with a torrent that is almost audible. Coming in from Los Angeles, New York and the four corners of the globe, including the just concluded Montreal World Film Festival, and the still continuing Venice Film Festival......all eyes are on "the gateway to North...
The Toronto International Film Festival doesn't officially open for another 48 hours, but already a hurricane of film talents, industryites, press and film buffs are descending onto the Ontario metropolis with a torrent that is almost audible. Coming in from Los Angeles, New York and the four corners of the globe, including the just concluded Montreal World Film Festival, and the still continuing Venice Film Festival......all eyes are on "the gateway to North America" as the frenzy, fun and fero...
39 European films benefit from Film Sales Support at the Toronto International Film Festival, 6-15 September 200726 different European sales agents and production companies are receiving EFP’s established Film Sales Support (FSS) for the promotion of 39 films at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. For the third year in succession, FSS, which is backed by the MEDIA Programme of the European Union, is helping to increase the visibility of European films outside of Europe by encour...
117 Features and Documentaries from 24 of European Film Promotion’s 28 Member Countries to Screen at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival®European Film Promotion (EFP) with support from the European Union's MEDIA Programme, will attend the Toronto International Film Festival® (September 6-15) for the eleventh consecutive year. Joining the 17 EFP member countries who comprise a de facto European delegation with display booths in the Festival’s Sales & Industry Office, are two EFP me...
The Best Student Films at the 2006 Munich Filmschoolfest From November 19 - 25, the Munich International Festival of Film Schools will be a forum for film students from around the world for the 26th time. It has long been the most important student festival of its kind, in which the public can get a glimpse of the cinema of the future and check out the latest worldwide trends. In Munich's Film Museum, we will be screening 65 theatrical shorts, animation films and documentaries from 42 film schoo...
25th Munich International Festival of Film Schools (November 19 - 26). From November 19 - 26, the Munich International Festival of Film Schools will be showcasing the best new films from young, upcoming directors from around the world. A selection committee has chosen the most interesting 54 films out of a total of over 250 submissions from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and North & South America. A day before the official competition begins, on November 19, the festival, in collaboration with...
