“Morichales,” an experimental mocumentary about a geographer and explorer working in Venezuela’s Guyana, won the recent 35th Mar del Plata Festival work in progress showcase. “Morichales” is produced by Felipe Guerrero and Chris Gude at Colombia’s Mutokino (“Los Conductos”).
A jury including producers Montse Triola, Zsuzsanna Kiràly and Sandra Gómez hailed Gude “for making a film that documents the fictitious figure of a miner and his tragic fate as a victim of the system and executioner of the planet.”
Director Chris Gude explained his protagonist, saying that “being both victim and executioner is a paradox, an existential trap that almost all human beings must confront.”
With “Morichales,” Gude closes a trilogy which began with 2013’s “Mambo Cool,” depicting the underworld of cocaine micro-trafficking and other drugs on the streets of Medellín, and continued with “Mariana,” (2017) about gasoline and whisky, hot-ticket contraband commodities in the frontier deserts between Colombia and Venezuela.
A jury including producers Montse Triola, Zsuzsanna Kiràly and Sandra Gómez hailed Gude “for making a film that documents the fictitious figure of a miner and his tragic fate as a victim of the system and executioner of the planet.”
Director Chris Gude explained his protagonist, saying that “being both victim and executioner is a paradox, an existential trap that almost all human beings must confront.”
With “Morichales,” Gude closes a trilogy which began with 2013’s “Mambo Cool,” depicting the underworld of cocaine micro-trafficking and other drugs on the streets of Medellín, and continued with “Mariana,” (2017) about gasoline and whisky, hot-ticket contraband commodities in the frontier deserts between Colombia and Venezuela.
- 12/5/2020
- by Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
Grasshopper Film has acquired U.S. rights to Camilo Restrepo’s critically acclaimed feature debut, “Los Conductos,” which won the best first film award at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.
“Los Conductos” — represented in international markets by Brussels-based Best Friend Forever — was expected to have its North American premiere at New Directors/New Films but the festival was canceled due to the coronavirus crisis. The movie world-premiered as part of the Berlinale’s new competitive section Encounters.
Exploring the shattered psyche of a man on the run, “Los Conductos” is a Spanish-language film set in Medellin, Colombia, and loosely based on the true story of Pinky, who freed himself from the grip of a religious sect and gets a job in a T-shirt factory. Misled by his own faith, he tries to to get his life back on track, but is haunted by the violent memories of his past.
“Los Conductos” — represented in international markets by Brussels-based Best Friend Forever — was expected to have its North American premiere at New Directors/New Films but the festival was canceled due to the coronavirus crisis. The movie world-premiered as part of the Berlinale’s new competitive section Encounters.
Exploring the shattered psyche of a man on the run, “Los Conductos” is a Spanish-language film set in Medellin, Colombia, and loosely based on the true story of Pinky, who freed himself from the grip of a religious sect and gets a job in a T-shirt factory. Misled by his own faith, he tries to to get his life back on track, but is haunted by the violent memories of his past.
- 6/23/2020
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Madrid — Brussels-based sales agent Best Friend Forever has dropped a first trailer for Colombian Camilo Restrepo’s feature debut “Los Conductos,” a movie which captures the shattered mental landscape of a man on the run from a sect.
Winner of last year’s Mar del Plata Work in Progress competition, Restrepo’s has scored a prime festival berth for its world premiere as one of the contenders in the Berlinale’s first ever Encounters competition.
Appealing to a kaleidoscope of visual styles, the movie can be read as a portrait of the difficulties of reinsertion in post civil conflict Colombia, or the enduring emotion devastation of any kind of fanaticism, even when an individual has renounced its creed.
Inspired by the experience of a real-life person, Pinky, whom the director befriended and persuaded to play himself in the film, “Los Conductos” captures Pinky now on the lam, living in a squat.
Winner of last year’s Mar del Plata Work in Progress competition, Restrepo’s has scored a prime festival berth for its world premiere as one of the contenders in the Berlinale’s first ever Encounters competition.
Appealing to a kaleidoscope of visual styles, the movie can be read as a portrait of the difficulties of reinsertion in post civil conflict Colombia, or the enduring emotion devastation of any kind of fanaticism, even when an individual has renounced its creed.
Inspired by the experience of a real-life person, Pinky, whom the director befriended and persuaded to play himself in the film, “Los Conductos” captures Pinky now on the lam, living in a squat.
- 2/12/2020
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Recipients include a Berlin Silver Bear winner.
The Hubert Bals Fund (Hbf) of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) has selected 11 film projects from countries across Middle East, Eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia for its latest script and project development programme.
Two sections, Hbf Bright Future and Hbf Voices, will see the selected films receive grants totalling €99,000.
Hbf Bright Future is supporting nine projects, all of which are debuts with the exception of Pepe, La Imaginación En El Tercer Cine by Dominican director Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias. His debut Cocote premiered at Locarno 2017.
The selection also includes Rwandan filmmaker Samuel Ishimwe,...
The Hubert Bals Fund (Hbf) of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) has selected 11 film projects from countries across Middle East, Eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia for its latest script and project development programme.
Two sections, Hbf Bright Future and Hbf Voices, will see the selected films receive grants totalling €99,000.
Hbf Bright Future is supporting nine projects, all of which are debuts with the exception of Pepe, La Imaginación En El Tercer Cine by Dominican director Nelson Carlo de los Santos Arias. His debut Cocote premiered at Locarno 2017.
The selection also includes Rwandan filmmaker Samuel Ishimwe,...
- 11/21/2019
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
Latin American cinema is having a moment.
With the rise of highly acclaimed auteurs like Pablo Larrain, the last handful of years has seen a steady increase in awareness amongst the cinephile set with regards to the cinema of Latin America. However, 2017 looks to be a coming out party of sorts for a film scene that’s routinely given cinema some of the most rewarding and exciting pieces of work.’
As Anthology Film Archives continue their premiere series with collaborator and boutique distributor Cinema Tropical, that brand is teaming up with yet another film collective for the second installment of the Neighboring Scenes film series.
Starting Thursday and running through January 31, Neighboring Scenes sees Cinema Tropical team with The Film Society Of Lincoln Center to bring some of the best films from Paraguay, Peru, The Dominican Republic, Chile, Mexico and various other countries to the big screen. Many seeing their...
With the rise of highly acclaimed auteurs like Pablo Larrain, the last handful of years has seen a steady increase in awareness amongst the cinephile set with regards to the cinema of Latin America. However, 2017 looks to be a coming out party of sorts for a film scene that’s routinely given cinema some of the most rewarding and exciting pieces of work.’
As Anthology Film Archives continue their premiere series with collaborator and boutique distributor Cinema Tropical, that brand is teaming up with yet another film collective for the second installment of the Neighboring Scenes film series.
Starting Thursday and running through January 31, Neighboring Scenes sees Cinema Tropical team with The Film Society Of Lincoln Center to bring some of the best films from Paraguay, Peru, The Dominican Republic, Chile, Mexico and various other countries to the big screen. Many seeing their...
- 1/27/2017
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
The Film Society of Lincoln Center
and Cinema Tropical announce
Neighboring Scenes: New Latin American CinemaJanuary 26–31: The Film Society of Lincoln Center announces the second annual Neighboring Scenes, a showcase of contemporary Latin American cinema, co-presented with Cinema Tropical
Exhibiting the breadth of styles, techniques, and approaches employed by Latin American filmmakers today, the festival highlights impressive recent productions from across the region. Featuring titles from Paraguay, Peru, and the Dominican Republic for the first time, as well as films from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, Neighboring Scenes celebrates the expanding range of contemporary Latin American filmmaking in its second edition.
“This year, we are pleased to highlight several emerging filmmakers, with many fantastic debut and second films in a range of styles — from political thriller and bleak comedy to observational documentary,” said Film Society of Lincoln Center Programmer at Large Rachael Rakes. “Furthermore, half of the works...
and Cinema Tropical announce
Neighboring Scenes: New Latin American CinemaJanuary 26–31: The Film Society of Lincoln Center announces the second annual Neighboring Scenes, a showcase of contemporary Latin American cinema, co-presented with Cinema Tropical
Exhibiting the breadth of styles, techniques, and approaches employed by Latin American filmmakers today, the festival highlights impressive recent productions from across the region. Featuring titles from Paraguay, Peru, and the Dominican Republic for the first time, as well as films from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico, Neighboring Scenes celebrates the expanding range of contemporary Latin American filmmaking in its second edition.
“This year, we are pleased to highlight several emerging filmmakers, with many fantastic debut and second films in a range of styles — from political thriller and bleak comedy to observational documentary,” said Film Society of Lincoln Center Programmer at Large Rachael Rakes. “Furthermore, half of the works...
- 1/9/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The Cinema Tropical Awards, which honor the best in Latin American film production, have announced the nominees for their seventh annual ceremony. They feature 23 films from eight countries nominated in six different categories: Best Feature Film; Best Documentary Film; Best Director, Feature Film; Best Director, Documentary Film; Best First Film and Best U.S. Latino Film.
Read More: LatinoBuzz: Nominees Announced for the 6th Annual Cinema Tropical Awards
The winners will be announced at a special evening ceremony at The New York Times Company headquarters in New York City on Friday, January 13. The winning films will be showcased as part of the Cinema Tropical Festival at Museum of the Moving Image this winter.
The jury for the festival this year includes the following: Carlos Aguilar, film critic and journalist; Fábio Andrade, film critic and screenwriter; Ela Bittencourt, film critic and programmer; Eric Hynes, Associate Curator of Film, Museum of the Moving Image; Toby Lee,...
Read More: LatinoBuzz: Nominees Announced for the 6th Annual Cinema Tropical Awards
The winners will be announced at a special evening ceremony at The New York Times Company headquarters in New York City on Friday, January 13. The winning films will be showcased as part of the Cinema Tropical Festival at Museum of the Moving Image this winter.
The jury for the festival this year includes the following: Carlos Aguilar, film critic and journalist; Fábio Andrade, film critic and screenwriter; Ela Bittencourt, film critic and programmer; Eric Hynes, Associate Curator of Film, Museum of the Moving Image; Toby Lee,...
- 12/14/2016
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
There are many paradoxes to being an indie filmmaker in 2016. Never has it been easier to make a quality movie, while at the same time it’s never been harder to maintain a stable career as a movie director. Equipment, viewing habit and the world are all rapidly changing, resulting in both opening and narrowing the opportunities for creative expression.
IndieWire checked in with the indie directors behind the “New Auteurs” and “American Independent” feature films at this year’s AFI Fest and asked: What is the most exciting and discouraging thing happening in filmmaking today?
Read More: 13 Lessons From Making a Film Festival Breakout: AFI Fest Directors Share Their Tips
Asaph Polonsky, “One Week and a Day”
Encouraging: That the miniseries “Olive Kitteridge” exists.
Discouraging: In Israel, where I made “One Week and a Day,” the Prime Minster, Bibi Netanyahu is now trying to shut down (before it even...
IndieWire checked in with the indie directors behind the “New Auteurs” and “American Independent” feature films at this year’s AFI Fest and asked: What is the most exciting and discouraging thing happening in filmmaking today?
Read More: 13 Lessons From Making a Film Festival Breakout: AFI Fest Directors Share Their Tips
Asaph Polonsky, “One Week and a Day”
Encouraging: That the miniseries “Olive Kitteridge” exists.
Discouraging: In Israel, where I made “One Week and a Day,” the Prime Minster, Bibi Netanyahu is now trying to shut down (before it even...
- 11/15/2016
- by Chris O'Falt and Casey Coit
- Indiewire
For many people, filmmaking is a process of ongoing education. The filmmakers who succeed are often the ones willing to learn from their mistakes and taking advice. IndieWire recently checked in with the up-and-coming indie directors behind the exciting films playing in the “New Auteurs” and “American Independent” categories at this year’s AFI Fest to find out what they learned while making their festival breakout.
Read More: AFI Fest 2016 – What Cameras Were Used to Shoot This Year’s Films
Kris Avedisian, “Donald Cried”: There was a time while shooting that I got lost in the process. I started to see the movie take shape but it was in a very deformed state. There are times when you have to make decisions, changes and adjust because of what you’re seeing. But it could be hard to know sometimes if I was only reacting to seeing scenes out of order,...
Read More: AFI Fest 2016 – What Cameras Were Used to Shoot This Year’s Films
Kris Avedisian, “Donald Cried”: There was a time while shooting that I got lost in the process. I started to see the movie take shape but it was in a very deformed state. There are times when you have to make decisions, changes and adjust because of what you’re seeing. But it could be hard to know sometimes if I was only reacting to seeing scenes out of order,...
- 11/14/2016
- by Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
Indiewire reached out to the filmmakers with films in the “New Auteurs” and “American Independent” sections of this year’s AFI Fest to find out what cameras they used and why they chose them.
Read More: AFI Fest 2016: 14 Movies We Can’t Wait to See at the Festival
“One Week and a Day”
Arri Alexa Xt
Dir. Asaph Polonsky: “It allowed scenes in long takes and the use of zoom lenses, sticks, dolly, Steadicam and handheld, were the tools that served the D.P., Moshe Mishali, and I the most as we tried to be subtle about reflecting the characters journeys visually.”
“Dark Night”
Arri Amira with Cooke lenses
Dir. Tim Sutton: “Good combination.”
“Divine”
Red Dragon
Dir. Houda Benyamin: “We wanted to work on the idea of focus — getting to details from the big picture, getting to things from a distance, which in a way symbolizes...
Read More: AFI Fest 2016: 14 Movies We Can’t Wait to See at the Festival
“One Week and a Day”
Arri Alexa Xt
Dir. Asaph Polonsky: “It allowed scenes in long takes and the use of zoom lenses, sticks, dolly, Steadicam and handheld, were the tools that served the D.P., Moshe Mishali, and I the most as we tried to be subtle about reflecting the characters journeys visually.”
“Dark Night”
Arri Amira with Cooke lenses
Dir. Tim Sutton: “Good combination.”
“Divine”
Red Dragon
Dir. Houda Benyamin: “We wanted to work on the idea of focus — getting to details from the big picture, getting to things from a distance, which in a way symbolizes...
- 11/11/2016
- by Casey Coit and Chris O'Falt
- Indiewire
AFI Fest has announced the selections for its New Auteurs, American Independents, Midnights and Shorts sections. Already announced as part of the weeklong festival, which runs in Hollywood from November 10 – 17, are “Elle,” “20th Century Women” and the world premieres of both “The Comedian” and “Rules Don’t Apply.” Read the full announcement here, and see the New Auteurs, American Independents and Midnight selections below.
Read More: Warren Beatty’s ‘Rules Don’t Apply’ Will Open AFI Fest 2016
New Auteurs
“Always Shine” (dir. Sophia Takal)
“Buster’s Mal Heart” (dir. Sarah Adina Smith)
“Divines” (dir. Houda Benyamina)
“The Future Perfect” (dir. Nele Wohlatz)
“Godless” (dir. Ralitza Petrova)
“Kati Kati” (dir. Mbithi Masya)
“Kill Me Please” (dir. Anita Rocha da Silveira)
“One Week and a Day” (dir. Asaph Polonsky)
“Oscuro Animal” (dir. Felipe Guerrero)
“Still Life” (dir. Maud Alpi)
Read More: Watch: Lola Kirke Takes Us Inside the Mind of an Epileptic...
Read More: Warren Beatty’s ‘Rules Don’t Apply’ Will Open AFI Fest 2016
New Auteurs
“Always Shine” (dir. Sophia Takal)
“Buster’s Mal Heart” (dir. Sarah Adina Smith)
“Divines” (dir. Houda Benyamina)
“The Future Perfect” (dir. Nele Wohlatz)
“Godless” (dir. Ralitza Petrova)
“Kati Kati” (dir. Mbithi Masya)
“Kill Me Please” (dir. Anita Rocha da Silveira)
“One Week and a Day” (dir. Asaph Polonsky)
“Oscuro Animal” (dir. Felipe Guerrero)
“Still Life” (dir. Maud Alpi)
Read More: Watch: Lola Kirke Takes Us Inside the Mind of an Epileptic...
- 10/18/2016
- by Michael Nordine
- Indiewire
Miguel Gomes [pictured] and Reha Erdem to head international competition and India Gold juries, respectively; fest also unveils line-up and Jia Zhangke award.
Portuguese filmmaker Miguel Gomes (Arabian Nights) is heading the jury for the international competition at this year’s Mumbai Film Festival, while Turkish director Reha Erdem will preside over the jury for the India Gold section.
Gomes will be joined by filmmakers Tala Hadid and Anurag Kashyap, producer Christine Vachon and Hot Docs president Chris McDonald. Titles selected for the International Competition for first-time filmmakers include Israeli filmmaker Elite Zexer’s Sand Storm and Diamond Island, from French-Cambodian filmmaker Davy Chou (see full line-up below).
Erdem recently won the Special Orizzonti Jury Prize at Venice for Big Big World. He will be joined on the India Gold jury by composer Mychael Danna (Life Of Pi), Hong Kong director Yonfan (Peony Pavilion), Polish director Tomasz Wasilewski (United States Of Love) and critic Stephanie Zacharek.
The festival...
Portuguese filmmaker Miguel Gomes (Arabian Nights) is heading the jury for the international competition at this year’s Mumbai Film Festival, while Turkish director Reha Erdem will preside over the jury for the India Gold section.
Gomes will be joined by filmmakers Tala Hadid and Anurag Kashyap, producer Christine Vachon and Hot Docs president Chris McDonald. Titles selected for the International Competition for first-time filmmakers include Israeli filmmaker Elite Zexer’s Sand Storm and Diamond Island, from French-Cambodian filmmaker Davy Chou (see full line-up below).
Erdem recently won the Special Orizzonti Jury Prize at Venice for Big Big World. He will be joined on the India Gold jury by composer Mychael Danna (Life Of Pi), Hong Kong director Yonfan (Peony Pavilion), Polish director Tomasz Wasilewski (United States Of Love) and critic Stephanie Zacharek.
The festival...
- 9/30/2016
- by lizshackleton@gmail.com (Liz Shackleton)
- ScreenDaily
Debuts The Winter and The Giant, share the special jury prize; Hong Sang-soo wins Silver Shell for best director.
The San Sebastián International Film Festival (Sept 16-24) awards ceremony had a marked Asian flavour last night [24].
Feng Xiaogang’s I Am Not Madame Bovary - the social satire about a woman seeking to restore honour after a bitter divorce - won the Golden Shell for best film at the 64th edition of the festival.
I Am Not Madame Bovary, which had previously won the fipresci prize in Toronto, also earned Chinese star Fan Bingbing the Silver Shell in San Sebastián for best actress.
South Korea’s director Hong Sang-soo won the Silver Shell for best director for the love story Yourself And Yours.
The Special Jury Prize was shared between the Argentinian-French coproduction The Winter, a contemporary western set in a remote area in Patagonia by first time director Emiliano Torres, and the Swedish-Danish...
The San Sebastián International Film Festival (Sept 16-24) awards ceremony had a marked Asian flavour last night [24].
Feng Xiaogang’s I Am Not Madame Bovary - the social satire about a woman seeking to restore honour after a bitter divorce - won the Golden Shell for best film at the 64th edition of the festival.
I Am Not Madame Bovary, which had previously won the fipresci prize in Toronto, also earned Chinese star Fan Bingbing the Silver Shell in San Sebastián for best actress.
South Korea’s director Hong Sang-soo won the Silver Shell for best director for the love story Yourself And Yours.
The Special Jury Prize was shared between the Argentinian-French coproduction The Winter, a contemporary western set in a remote area in Patagonia by first time director Emiliano Torres, and the Swedish-Danish...
- 9/25/2016
- ScreenDaily
The 64th San Sebastian Film Festival, which ran from September 16 to 24, closed out its celebrations by announcing its winners on Saturday night. The top prize, known as the Golden Shell, was awarded to Feng Xiaogang’s drama “I Am Not Madame Bovary.” Its lead, Fan Bingbing, also took home the Best Actress award that night.
“I have a lot of experience and a lot of habits. These habits can cage you. When I started this film, I tried to set these habits aside and try to work as if it were my directorial debut and do something courageous. I knew it was very risky,” Feng said, per The Hollywood Reporter. “I didn’t know if it was the right thing to do, but today the San Sebastian Film festival gave me the answer with this prize for the best film.”
Read More: Critics Pick the Best Films From the Toronto...
“I have a lot of experience and a lot of habits. These habits can cage you. When I started this film, I tried to set these habits aside and try to work as if it were my directorial debut and do something courageous. I knew it was very risky,” Feng said, per The Hollywood Reporter. “I didn’t know if it was the right thing to do, but today the San Sebastian Film festival gave me the answer with this prize for the best film.”
Read More: Critics Pick the Best Films From the Toronto...
- 9/24/2016
- by Liz Calvario
- Indiewire
A total of 37 films will screen at the event, including the world premiere of Venezuala crime story and Rolling Stones doc.
The world premiere of Rober Calzadilla’s feature debut El Amparo, about two men wrongly accused of guerrilla activity in Venezuela, will kick off the 27th edition of the festival, set to run from September 15–October 5 in Silver Spring, Maryland
The 2016 AFI Latin American Film Festival will close with the Us premiere of Paul Dugdale’s documentary The Rolling Stones Olé Olé Olé!: A Trip Across Latin America (pictured), which culminates with the band’s first gig in Cuba.
All in all 37 films from Latin America will screen, including entries from Spain and Portugal as part of a celebration of Ibero-American cultural connections.
Among the anticipated highlights are Pablo Larrain’s unorthodox biopic Neruda, Cesc Gay’s Spain-Argentina dramedy Truman with Ricardo Darin, and the North American premiere of Eryk Rocha’s Cinema Novo.
The...
The world premiere of Rober Calzadilla’s feature debut El Amparo, about two men wrongly accused of guerrilla activity in Venezuela, will kick off the 27th edition of the festival, set to run from September 15–October 5 in Silver Spring, Maryland
The 2016 AFI Latin American Film Festival will close with the Us premiere of Paul Dugdale’s documentary The Rolling Stones Olé Olé Olé!: A Trip Across Latin America (pictured), which culminates with the band’s first gig in Cuba.
All in all 37 films from Latin America will screen, including entries from Spain and Portugal as part of a celebration of Ibero-American cultural connections.
Among the anticipated highlights are Pablo Larrain’s unorthodox biopic Neruda, Cesc Gay’s Spain-Argentina dramedy Truman with Ricardo Darin, and the North American premiere of Eryk Rocha’s Cinema Novo.
The...
- 9/1/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The festival’s Zabaltegi strand is introducing a competition for the first time.
The 64th San Sebastian Film Festival (Sept 16-24) has completed the line-up for its Zabaltegi-Tabakalera strand, which will be competitive for the first time.
New additions include sci-fi Midnight Special from Us filmmaker Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter, Mud), which premiered at the Berlinale in February.
Todd Solondz comedy-drama Wiener-Dog, first seen at Sundance in January, has also been selected for the strand. It marks the third time the Us writer/director has been chosen for Zabaltegi, after presenting Happiness in 1998 and Storytelling in 2001.
As previously announced, Bertrand Tavernier’s Voyage A Travers Le Cinema Francais (A Journey Through French Cinema) will open the strand.
Other highlights include Gimme Danger, Jim Jarmusch’s documentary about Iggy Pop and The Stooges, which premired at Cannes in May.
Also in the line-up is Portuguese director João Pedro Rodrigues’s fifth feature O Ornitólogo (L’Ornithologue), playing in competition...
The 64th San Sebastian Film Festival (Sept 16-24) has completed the line-up for its Zabaltegi-Tabakalera strand, which will be competitive for the first time.
New additions include sci-fi Midnight Special from Us filmmaker Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter, Mud), which premiered at the Berlinale in February.
Todd Solondz comedy-drama Wiener-Dog, first seen at Sundance in January, has also been selected for the strand. It marks the third time the Us writer/director has been chosen for Zabaltegi, after presenting Happiness in 1998 and Storytelling in 2001.
As previously announced, Bertrand Tavernier’s Voyage A Travers Le Cinema Francais (A Journey Through French Cinema) will open the strand.
Other highlights include Gimme Danger, Jim Jarmusch’s documentary about Iggy Pop and The Stooges, which premired at Cannes in May.
Also in the line-up is Portuguese director João Pedro Rodrigues’s fifth feature O Ornitólogo (L’Ornithologue), playing in competition...
- 8/11/2016
- ScreenDaily
“Dark Beast” (“Oscuro Animal”) directed by Felipe Guerrero won the prestigious Fipresci Prize given by film critics affiliated with the…
Continue reading on SydneysBuzz The Blog »...
Continue reading on SydneysBuzz The Blog »...
- 8/10/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Exclusive: Wroclaw moves 2017 dates to accommodate World Games; Polish festival reveals 2016 New Horizons winners.
The film festivals in Wroclaw and Locarno are set for a collision course as both festivals will be held concurrently for the first time next year.
A Locarno spokesperson confirmed to Screen that the Swiss festival’s 70th edition will be held from Wednesday 2 to Saturday 12 August, while New Horizons will kick off its 17th outing a day later, from Thursday 3 August, according to the New Horizons press department.
New Horizons’ organisers were obliged to change its dates from the traditional slot in the last two weeks in July as the Polish city will be hosting the 10th edition of sports event the World Games.
Speaking exclusively to Screen, New Horizons festival president Roman Gutek explained that the decision to move to August for 2017 had been made two years ago in order to avoid a strain on resources in the city.
¨We have consulted...
The film festivals in Wroclaw and Locarno are set for a collision course as both festivals will be held concurrently for the first time next year.
A Locarno spokesperson confirmed to Screen that the Swiss festival’s 70th edition will be held from Wednesday 2 to Saturday 12 August, while New Horizons will kick off its 17th outing a day later, from Thursday 3 August, according to the New Horizons press department.
New Horizons’ organisers were obliged to change its dates from the traditional slot in the last two weeks in July as the Polish city will be hosting the 10th edition of sports event the World Games.
Speaking exclusively to Screen, New Horizons festival president Roman Gutek explained that the decision to move to August for 2017 had been made two years ago in order to avoid a strain on resources in the city.
¨We have consulted...
- 8/1/2016
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
I caught up with Argentine producer Gema Juarez Allen at the Panama Film Festival. Since seeing (and falling in love with) the Argentine road movie “Road to La Paz”/ “Camino a La Paz in Guadalajara and interviewing its director, Francisco Varone, I was interested in meeting her as well, even more so because her other film, the Colombian drama “Oscuro Animal” which premiered in Rotterdam and won four prizes at Mexico’s Guadalajara International Film Festival in March 2016, for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress and Best Cinematography and has been sold to seven territories. “Oscuro Animal” is about three women fleeing armed conflict in Colombia. It was directed by Colombia’s Felipe Guerrero, an editor on “La Playa DC,” “Perro come perro” and “El Paramo”. It received funding from the Hubert Bals Fund and World Cinema Fund.
In Panama Gema was quite busy, not only with “Road to La Paz” but participating on the panel, Your Project in Motion: Coproduction and Financing along with Panamanian producers and directors, Delfina Vidal (“Caja 25”), Annie Canavaggio (“Breaking the Wave”) and Abner Benaim (“Invasion”) who also happens to be Gema’s partner.
As one of Latin America’s most active producers, Gema’s extensive experience international coproduction was invaluable and she shared it freely at the panel. Her participation in workshops in Europe, such as the Eave Producers Workshop and Eurodoc, has played a key role in establishing her international connections. While at Eave, she met Greek Boo Productions and Germany’s Ingmar Trost of Sutor Kolonko who came on board to coproduce “Oscuro Animal”.
“Road to La Paz” director, Francisco Varone said,
"In 2012 we submitted the project to Visions Sud Est in Switzerland. I was almost working by myself on the film at this time and then started working with a larger Argentinean production company, Concreto Films, owned by Juan Taratuto, a big film director who was directing TV commercials and said he’d help. They had a tough time finding investors so he introduced me to Gema Juarez Allen (whose recent film “Invasion” is the story of the U.S. invasion of Panama in the 1980s). She is a well-known documentary producer with experience in coproductions who knows how to find money and understands the value of going to festivals. She said she would do it as her first fiction film and went to San Sebastian Film Festival’s Foro de Coproduccion in 2013. There she had lots of one-on-one meetings and met Julius Ponten our Dutch coproducer who got funding from the Netherlands Film Fonds and Gunter Hanfgarn (“Bad Hair”) who applied to Ezef, an Evangelistic Fund for films from the south (one of the backers of “Timbuktu”). “
Read more on “Road to La Paz” here.
Gema continued this story when we spoke:
Juan liked the project but it was not in his domain so he sought me out. I read the script about two men and one car and thought, “This is easy”. But of course it was not. A road movie is the most difficult of all genres, and with animals, and covering two countries! Working with Pancho (Francisco Varone), he is the kind of director I like. I find the shooting is usually more important than the people, but with Pancho, the crew is important and he balanced the people and the shoot, so after all, it was ‘easy’.
The film is being sold internationally by FiGa. It is doing well in Argentina with 35,000 admissions, 20 copies and now in its fourth month in the cinemas. It is a ‘word of mouth’ film.
Sl: What are you working on now?
Gema Juarez Allen: I am now filming “Mapa Mudo”/ “Silent Map”.
A doc project by Felipe Guerrero, Nicolás Rincón and Jorge Caballero, based on video letters of three Colombian filmmakers who left their home country in the late 90s.
And I am developing a new project with the directors of our breakthough film from 2011, “Revenge of the Antipodes”/ “¡Vivan las antípodas!“ which screened in Venice. It’s called “Cro-goo-fant” and is a documentary for children, a funny story about animals. The director, Victor Kossokovsky, did a short doc for kids before.
I am also working with Andres di Tella, the most important documentary filmmaker and founder of Bafici in Argentina. It’s a very personal story about the avant garde art Institute lead by his father, the Instituto Di Tella.
And I am working on “Veterans” about the Falkland Islands War. Bertha Fund is backing it. Lola Arias is directing this documentary feature about the unexpected consequences of war on its protagonists, about the way memory is turned into fiction. I am looking for coproducers now. It is a different look at United Kingdom and Argentina vets that is at the same time both serious and humorous. We are creating a film around a theater play which will open in London this May. It began with the London International Theater Festival along with the Royal Court House Theater. It is not filmic; Lola Arias’ language is so refreshing; she is from the theater.
A winner of the 2015 Berlinale Co-production Market Pitch, Abner Benaim’s “Plaza catedral,” is also in the works. It is a tangled false friendship drama with thriller elements, set against the background of Panama’s social divide.
And I am currently producing Benaim’s doc, “My Name is Not Ruben Blades” with Ruben Blades.
Also in the works: the next film from Manuel Abramovich (“La Reina”), a Mar del Plata 2014 Works in Progress winner for “Solar” – a small but remarkable heart-warming doc-feature whose power struggle between director and subject adds unusually honest depths to a bio-portrait of someone who claims to come from the sun.
Sl: You are so prolific! How did you get started in this?
I studied anthropology at the University of Buenos Aires and the University of Rio de Janeiro but didn’t like academia and so I studied film at the National Film School and thought I would combine the two. In England I studied Visual Anthropology and worked as a P.A. and as a researcher for the BBC for a “Discovery Channel” type of channel and then I returned to Argentina.
Between 2003 to 2008 I worked at Cine Ojo the oldest doc company in Argentina and at Habitación 1520 Producciones (“Imagen Final”, “Criada”, “Los Jóvenes Muertos”, “Dulce Espera”) before creating my own company Gema Films in 2009.
Sl: You were coordinator of DocBuenos Aires until 2003, a training initiative as well.
Gema Juarez Allen: I have produced 17 films with lots of help.
I was a Sundance Documentary Fund grantee on two films. My projects have been supported by Visions Sud Est, Tribeca Film Institute, Hubert Bals Fund, Idfa Fund, Cinereach, Fondo Nacional de las Artes, DocStation Berlin, et al. I received the Arte/Bal Award in 2008 for Upcoming Producers at Bafici.
I coproduce with Wg Film (Sweden), Majade FilmProduktion (Germany), Gebrüder Beetz (Germany), Lemming Film (Netherlands) and Producciones Aplaplac (Chile).
I have received awards at Berlinale, Bafici, Roma, Guadalajara, Silverdocs, among many others. Gema is part of EuroDoc since 2010 and is a member of the Board of Adn, the Argentinean Documentary Filmmakers Network.
Sl: What advice do you have for young filmmakers?
Gema Juarez Allen: First find a good project. It is very competitive and you must have an original perspective on the subject. There are so many ideas everywhere, it must be good.
Producers should be highly-organized. Be sure to fully develop projects before presenting them to partners and funding decision makers. The key elements to present when the project is fully conceived are an overview, a synopsis, a director’s statement, a brief treatment, a financial plan, a budget, a production timetable and bio-filmographies.
Find a producer with experience. I’m always interested in new directors and new voices.
The best opportunities to find partners are at festivals, markets and above all workshops. These are good places to find colleagues and mentors to give you great feedback. Diana Elbaum is my mentor from Eave and she is always looking at what I’m doing. And most of my coproduction partners came from the Eave and Eurodoc workshops.
Beyond Eave and Eurodoc, which are very open to Latin American projects, other good workshops are Docmontevideo, Guadalajara, Typa, Cinergia Lab, Idfa Summer Academy, Chiledoc, Berlin Talent Campus, Documentary Campus, Morelia Lab among others.
Good international funding sources are Ibermedia and also the “Plus” schemes associated to funds such as Creative Europe, World Cinema Fund, Hubert Bals Fund and the Idfa Bertha fund. Other funds are Fonds d’Aide aux Cinémas du Monde, the Sundance documentary fund, Visions Sud Est, the Tribeca Film Institute, the Doha Film Institute and Sorfond, for co-productions with Norway.
In terms of leading international markets, Cannes, Rotterdam’s Cinemart, Berlin’s European Film Market, Ventana Sur and Guadalajara – and for documentaries – starting with Idfa Forum and Hotdocs, followed by Meetmarket Sheffield and Docmontevideo.
It is also important to choose the right festival to premiere a project since it’s virtually impossible to premiere a picture in a small festival and then get a larger fest to screen the film. It’s also important to explore the work-in-progress sidebars that now exist at most Latin American festivals, including Iff Panama’s Primera Mirada competition.
State funding sources in Latin America include Dicine, in Panama, Incaa in Argentina, Proimagenes in Colombia, Brazil’s Fundo Setorial do Audiovisual, the Fondo Audiovisual in Chile, and Imcine in Mexico. The selection criteria used by these national funds varies considerably. Proimagenes in Colombia, which only finances around 14 films per year last year had three pictures at Cannes.
Over the last three or four years many national funds have created specific lines of funding for co-productions, through bilateral agreements, such as that between Brazil’s Ancine and Argentina’s Incaa, which grants $250,000 per pic supported. As a result of such bilateral agreements Brazil, for example, is now a key partner for all of Latin America.
“I’d like to make the second or third films of my directors. They’ve all been such good experience. We’ve grown together,” Juarez Allen told Variety at the Mar del Plata Festival.
In Panama Gema was quite busy, not only with “Road to La Paz” but participating on the panel, Your Project in Motion: Coproduction and Financing along with Panamanian producers and directors, Delfina Vidal (“Caja 25”), Annie Canavaggio (“Breaking the Wave”) and Abner Benaim (“Invasion”) who also happens to be Gema’s partner.
As one of Latin America’s most active producers, Gema’s extensive experience international coproduction was invaluable and she shared it freely at the panel. Her participation in workshops in Europe, such as the Eave Producers Workshop and Eurodoc, has played a key role in establishing her international connections. While at Eave, she met Greek Boo Productions and Germany’s Ingmar Trost of Sutor Kolonko who came on board to coproduce “Oscuro Animal”.
“Road to La Paz” director, Francisco Varone said,
"In 2012 we submitted the project to Visions Sud Est in Switzerland. I was almost working by myself on the film at this time and then started working with a larger Argentinean production company, Concreto Films, owned by Juan Taratuto, a big film director who was directing TV commercials and said he’d help. They had a tough time finding investors so he introduced me to Gema Juarez Allen (whose recent film “Invasion” is the story of the U.S. invasion of Panama in the 1980s). She is a well-known documentary producer with experience in coproductions who knows how to find money and understands the value of going to festivals. She said she would do it as her first fiction film and went to San Sebastian Film Festival’s Foro de Coproduccion in 2013. There she had lots of one-on-one meetings and met Julius Ponten our Dutch coproducer who got funding from the Netherlands Film Fonds and Gunter Hanfgarn (“Bad Hair”) who applied to Ezef, an Evangelistic Fund for films from the south (one of the backers of “Timbuktu”). “
Read more on “Road to La Paz” here.
Gema continued this story when we spoke:
Juan liked the project but it was not in his domain so he sought me out. I read the script about two men and one car and thought, “This is easy”. But of course it was not. A road movie is the most difficult of all genres, and with animals, and covering two countries! Working with Pancho (Francisco Varone), he is the kind of director I like. I find the shooting is usually more important than the people, but with Pancho, the crew is important and he balanced the people and the shoot, so after all, it was ‘easy’.
The film is being sold internationally by FiGa. It is doing well in Argentina with 35,000 admissions, 20 copies and now in its fourth month in the cinemas. It is a ‘word of mouth’ film.
Sl: What are you working on now?
Gema Juarez Allen: I am now filming “Mapa Mudo”/ “Silent Map”.
A doc project by Felipe Guerrero, Nicolás Rincón and Jorge Caballero, based on video letters of three Colombian filmmakers who left their home country in the late 90s.
And I am developing a new project with the directors of our breakthough film from 2011, “Revenge of the Antipodes”/ “¡Vivan las antípodas!“ which screened in Venice. It’s called “Cro-goo-fant” and is a documentary for children, a funny story about animals. The director, Victor Kossokovsky, did a short doc for kids before.
I am also working with Andres di Tella, the most important documentary filmmaker and founder of Bafici in Argentina. It’s a very personal story about the avant garde art Institute lead by his father, the Instituto Di Tella.
And I am working on “Veterans” about the Falkland Islands War. Bertha Fund is backing it. Lola Arias is directing this documentary feature about the unexpected consequences of war on its protagonists, about the way memory is turned into fiction. I am looking for coproducers now. It is a different look at United Kingdom and Argentina vets that is at the same time both serious and humorous. We are creating a film around a theater play which will open in London this May. It began with the London International Theater Festival along with the Royal Court House Theater. It is not filmic; Lola Arias’ language is so refreshing; she is from the theater.
A winner of the 2015 Berlinale Co-production Market Pitch, Abner Benaim’s “Plaza catedral,” is also in the works. It is a tangled false friendship drama with thriller elements, set against the background of Panama’s social divide.
And I am currently producing Benaim’s doc, “My Name is Not Ruben Blades” with Ruben Blades.
Also in the works: the next film from Manuel Abramovich (“La Reina”), a Mar del Plata 2014 Works in Progress winner for “Solar” – a small but remarkable heart-warming doc-feature whose power struggle between director and subject adds unusually honest depths to a bio-portrait of someone who claims to come from the sun.
Sl: You are so prolific! How did you get started in this?
I studied anthropology at the University of Buenos Aires and the University of Rio de Janeiro but didn’t like academia and so I studied film at the National Film School and thought I would combine the two. In England I studied Visual Anthropology and worked as a P.A. and as a researcher for the BBC for a “Discovery Channel” type of channel and then I returned to Argentina.
Between 2003 to 2008 I worked at Cine Ojo the oldest doc company in Argentina and at Habitación 1520 Producciones (“Imagen Final”, “Criada”, “Los Jóvenes Muertos”, “Dulce Espera”) before creating my own company Gema Films in 2009.
Sl: You were coordinator of DocBuenos Aires until 2003, a training initiative as well.
Gema Juarez Allen: I have produced 17 films with lots of help.
I was a Sundance Documentary Fund grantee on two films. My projects have been supported by Visions Sud Est, Tribeca Film Institute, Hubert Bals Fund, Idfa Fund, Cinereach, Fondo Nacional de las Artes, DocStation Berlin, et al. I received the Arte/Bal Award in 2008 for Upcoming Producers at Bafici.
I coproduce with Wg Film (Sweden), Majade FilmProduktion (Germany), Gebrüder Beetz (Germany), Lemming Film (Netherlands) and Producciones Aplaplac (Chile).
I have received awards at Berlinale, Bafici, Roma, Guadalajara, Silverdocs, among many others. Gema is part of EuroDoc since 2010 and is a member of the Board of Adn, the Argentinean Documentary Filmmakers Network.
Sl: What advice do you have for young filmmakers?
Gema Juarez Allen: First find a good project. It is very competitive and you must have an original perspective on the subject. There are so many ideas everywhere, it must be good.
Producers should be highly-organized. Be sure to fully develop projects before presenting them to partners and funding decision makers. The key elements to present when the project is fully conceived are an overview, a synopsis, a director’s statement, a brief treatment, a financial plan, a budget, a production timetable and bio-filmographies.
Find a producer with experience. I’m always interested in new directors and new voices.
The best opportunities to find partners are at festivals, markets and above all workshops. These are good places to find colleagues and mentors to give you great feedback. Diana Elbaum is my mentor from Eave and she is always looking at what I’m doing. And most of my coproduction partners came from the Eave and Eurodoc workshops.
Beyond Eave and Eurodoc, which are very open to Latin American projects, other good workshops are Docmontevideo, Guadalajara, Typa, Cinergia Lab, Idfa Summer Academy, Chiledoc, Berlin Talent Campus, Documentary Campus, Morelia Lab among others.
Good international funding sources are Ibermedia and also the “Plus” schemes associated to funds such as Creative Europe, World Cinema Fund, Hubert Bals Fund and the Idfa Bertha fund. Other funds are Fonds d’Aide aux Cinémas du Monde, the Sundance documentary fund, Visions Sud Est, the Tribeca Film Institute, the Doha Film Institute and Sorfond, for co-productions with Norway.
In terms of leading international markets, Cannes, Rotterdam’s Cinemart, Berlin’s European Film Market, Ventana Sur and Guadalajara – and for documentaries – starting with Idfa Forum and Hotdocs, followed by Meetmarket Sheffield and Docmontevideo.
It is also important to choose the right festival to premiere a project since it’s virtually impossible to premiere a picture in a small festival and then get a larger fest to screen the film. It’s also important to explore the work-in-progress sidebars that now exist at most Latin American festivals, including Iff Panama’s Primera Mirada competition.
State funding sources in Latin America include Dicine, in Panama, Incaa in Argentina, Proimagenes in Colombia, Brazil’s Fundo Setorial do Audiovisual, the Fondo Audiovisual in Chile, and Imcine in Mexico. The selection criteria used by these national funds varies considerably. Proimagenes in Colombia, which only finances around 14 films per year last year had three pictures at Cannes.
Over the last three or four years many national funds have created specific lines of funding for co-productions, through bilateral agreements, such as that between Brazil’s Ancine and Argentina’s Incaa, which grants $250,000 per pic supported. As a result of such bilateral agreements Brazil, for example, is now a key partner for all of Latin America.
“I’d like to make the second or third films of my directors. They’ve all been such good experience. We’ve grown together,” Juarez Allen told Variety at the Mar del Plata Festival.
- 4/26/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The International Film Festival in Guadalajara (FICG31) celebrated its 31th anniversary this year and moved to the center of town, a move toward regaining its early luster within the galaxy of younger festivals now competing for resources in México. With its myriad of activities beyond the mere programming of films, its mentoring other festivals such as Puerto Vallarta and Oaxaca, I would give it two thumbs up.
On Friday, March 11, it announced its awards and officially announced next year’s Guest of Honor, Germany, closing with the German film, Doris Dörrie’s “Fukushima Mon Amour” (Isa: The Match Factory). This film is a deeply moving homage to the spirit of humanity, recovery and love as a German clown, played by Rosalie Thomass and her clown partners, the wonderful Moshe Cohen of San Francisco and Nami Kamata, visit the people remaining at the devastated town of Fukushima and Rosalie bonds with the last geisha of Fukushima played by the beautiful Aya Irizuki. It premiered at the Panorama of the Berlinale where Doris won the C.I.C.A.E. Award and the Heiner Carow Prize.
Official Competition Winners FICG31
Mezcal Award for Best Mexican Film to “Maquinaria Panamericana”/ “Panamerican Machinery”
Mezcal jury
The jury consists of 30 students from related fields from universities or major schools of Mexico, Latin American, Europe and Canada. Serving as a sort of tutor, Jose Ramon Mikelajauregui, Director of Dis was responsible for the academic program held at FICG31.
The Mezcal Award consisting of 500,000 Mexican pesos went to the director, Joaquín del Paso for “Maquinaria Panamericana”/ “Panamerican Machinery”, a portrait of an inefficient factory on the edge of Mexico City where the workers lock themselves in when the owner is found dead in the back of the warehouse and they discover he has been bankrolling the wages out of his own pocket for years.
A coproduction of Mantarraya Producciones, it also won the Fipresci Prize at its premiere in the Forum of the Berlinale. International sales agent (Isa) is the new Paris-based sales and co-production company Luxbox whose
co-ceo Fiorella Moretti was formerly head of sales at Ndm, the Mexico City-based sales company she set up with director Carlos Reygadas and producer Jaime Romandia of Mantarraya Productions in 2012 to sell “Post Tenebras Lux”.
Co-ceo Hédi Zardi previously worked in sales for Fortissimo and went on to Unifrance, the French cinema promotions agency and then to the PR and events company Le Public Systeme, where he was in charge of industry initiatives at Marrakesh and Deauville festivals.
The pair got to know one another through Gabriel Ripstein’s “600 Miles”, winner of the best first feature last year at the Berlinale, which Zardi associate produced and Moretti sold.
Special Mention went to “Margarita” directed by Bruno Santamaría Razo
Infinitum Aaward Grante dby the Public, consisting of 150,000 pesos, went to " El Charro de Toluquilla" (Isa: Imcine) by José Villalobos Romero, a doc about mariachi singer Jaime Garcia Dominguez who became fascinated by the recklessness and ladies´ man lifestyle of the classic Mexican movie characters with one difference: he´s got HIV. Jaime faces an inner maturing process as he decides between keeping this lifestyle or becoming a family man. It also won the award for Best Iberoamerican Documentary of 150,000 Mexican pesos or its equivalent in dollars to the director.
Best Latin American Fiction Film consisting of 250,000 Mexican pesos or its equivalent in dollars went to the production company of Felipe Guerrero’s film “ Oscuro animal”, about three women forced to flee their homes in a war torn region in Colombia. The film also won Best Actress Award (s) for Marleyda Soto, Luisa Galiano and Jocelyn Vides Meneses and Best Photography Award to Fernando Lockett.
A coproduction of Argentina, Greece, Netherlands, Germany and Colombia, it is being sold internationally by FiGa. It previously played in the Rotterdam Film Festival’s Tiger Competition and Ficci Cartagena 2016’s Official Dramatic Competition. At the Berlinale’s Efm 2016 it was part of the World Cinema Fund’s First Look section. Financing for the film came from Colombia’s Proimágenes, Argentina’s Incaa, Netherlands’ Hubert Bals Fund, Fundación Typa, and Germany’s Nrw and World Cinema Fund.
It also won the award for Award for Best Iberoamerican Director consisting off 150,000 Mexican pesos or its equivalent in dollars, because “almost wordlessly it portrays a complex and painful situation in Colombia which is all too common in Latin America.”
Special Feature Film Jury Award Iberoamerican Fiction of 125,000 Mexican pesos or its equivalent in dollars, went to the production company of “The 4th Company”/ ”La 4a Compañía” by Amir Galván Cervera and Mitzi Vanessa Arreola, based upon a true story about an underdog prison (American-style) football team that, against all odds, wins against the police force team. The jury stated that it “considers it a cinematic achievement about a shameful moment in the history of Mexico to be remembered and not to be repeated”. Adrian Thief also won for Best Actor, and he is that! There is no Isa of record, so those ISAs reading this should check it out on Cinando! It’s a seller!
Award for Best Latin American Film of 125,000 Mexican pesos or its equivalent in dollars went to the superb debuting director from Puerto Rico, Angel Manuel Soto for“La Granja”/ “The Farm”. Also the first film produced independently by Tom Davia’s Cinemaven (but check out his credits!), this film is a full-circle “Crash”-style story that rivals “Gemorrah” in its look at the barrio called “The Farm” or “La Granja” in which the lives of a midwife, a young boxer, a janitor, a mute kid and a young couple collide in a story about the desperate pursuit of happiness on the mean streets of La Granja. Shot on a budget of $250,000, this film took four years to complete as the Puerto Rican government film establishment sought to block its production and release – and you can see why. It previously played in Fantastic Fest.
This is another discovery film with no Isa, and I am sure the agents have already locked their eyes upon writer-director Angel Manuel Soto. He lives in Los Angeles. “Born in Santurce, Puerto Rico. Son of a car salesman and a flight attendant. Studied architecture and advertising. Always loved films. Now he makes them. He is a cinephile. He travels all over the world doing it, including Australia, Thailand, Cambodia, France, USA, and Puerto Rico. He is not planning on stopping.”
Best Screenplay Award went to Marina Seresesky for “La Puerta Abierta”/ “Open Door” (pictured above). Marina also directed this first film. She has made two shorts previously. After Ficg it will play at Sofia Iff 2016 in International Competition, San Diego Latino 2016 and Chicago Latino 2016 Film Festivals.
Movies Recommended for Selection for the Golden Globes Awards 2017 are “The 4th Company” and “Ciudades Desiertas” / “Deserted Cities” by Roberto Sneider.
Documentary Jury Special Award of 100,000 Mexican pesos or its equivalent in dollars to the director Jorge Caballero for“Patient”/ "Paciente" Isa Rise and Shine, a new company in Germany, picked up the film at its world premiere in Competition at Idfa.
Best Iberoamerican Short Film Award D of 75,000 pesos or its equivalent in dollars to the directors Miguel de Olaso and Bruno Zacharias for the 10 minute short “ Los Angeles 1991”.
Special Mention went to “Juan's Sundown”/ "El Ocaso de Juan" by Omar Deneb Vargas Juárez
Rigo Mora Award for Best Mexican Animated Short Film of 100,000 Mexican pesos went to the director Alejandro Rios for “ The Cats”/"Los Gatos."
Maguey Award for best Lgbt film went to "Theo et Hugo dans le meme bateau"/ "Paris 05:59" of France, directed by Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau.
Special Mention went to “Neon Bull” of Brazil, directed by Gabriel Mascaro for its poetic and innovative illustrating of how traditional ideas of masculinity slowly have been made obsolete inviting us to question our own perspectives on gender bias.
After the Awards, Ficg gave a great closing night party. Lots of good people, new and old friends, great salsa band, danced til 3! Here’s me with my friend David Martinez of Raindance Film Festival. Coming from Guadalajara, living in London, this year he came home with Elliot Grove of Founder and Director of Raindance, and Aaron Wileman of Imaginative Exposure who gave a Master Class on Film Funds and Product Placement.
And of course I presented my own book in its abridged, Spanish language format, published by the University of Guadalajara Press, Cine Iberoamerican Industria y financiamiento por pais (Iberoamerican Cinema: Industry and Financing by Country). Read more about it here.
On Friday, March 11, it announced its awards and officially announced next year’s Guest of Honor, Germany, closing with the German film, Doris Dörrie’s “Fukushima Mon Amour” (Isa: The Match Factory). This film is a deeply moving homage to the spirit of humanity, recovery and love as a German clown, played by Rosalie Thomass and her clown partners, the wonderful Moshe Cohen of San Francisco and Nami Kamata, visit the people remaining at the devastated town of Fukushima and Rosalie bonds with the last geisha of Fukushima played by the beautiful Aya Irizuki. It premiered at the Panorama of the Berlinale where Doris won the C.I.C.A.E. Award and the Heiner Carow Prize.
Official Competition Winners FICG31
Mezcal Award for Best Mexican Film to “Maquinaria Panamericana”/ “Panamerican Machinery”
Mezcal jury
The jury consists of 30 students from related fields from universities or major schools of Mexico, Latin American, Europe and Canada. Serving as a sort of tutor, Jose Ramon Mikelajauregui, Director of Dis was responsible for the academic program held at FICG31.
The Mezcal Award consisting of 500,000 Mexican pesos went to the director, Joaquín del Paso for “Maquinaria Panamericana”/ “Panamerican Machinery”, a portrait of an inefficient factory on the edge of Mexico City where the workers lock themselves in when the owner is found dead in the back of the warehouse and they discover he has been bankrolling the wages out of his own pocket for years.
A coproduction of Mantarraya Producciones, it also won the Fipresci Prize at its premiere in the Forum of the Berlinale. International sales agent (Isa) is the new Paris-based sales and co-production company Luxbox whose
co-ceo Fiorella Moretti was formerly head of sales at Ndm, the Mexico City-based sales company she set up with director Carlos Reygadas and producer Jaime Romandia of Mantarraya Productions in 2012 to sell “Post Tenebras Lux”.
Co-ceo Hédi Zardi previously worked in sales for Fortissimo and went on to Unifrance, the French cinema promotions agency and then to the PR and events company Le Public Systeme, where he was in charge of industry initiatives at Marrakesh and Deauville festivals.
The pair got to know one another through Gabriel Ripstein’s “600 Miles”, winner of the best first feature last year at the Berlinale, which Zardi associate produced and Moretti sold.
Special Mention went to “Margarita” directed by Bruno Santamaría Razo
Infinitum Aaward Grante dby the Public, consisting of 150,000 pesos, went to " El Charro de Toluquilla" (Isa: Imcine) by José Villalobos Romero, a doc about mariachi singer Jaime Garcia Dominguez who became fascinated by the recklessness and ladies´ man lifestyle of the classic Mexican movie characters with one difference: he´s got HIV. Jaime faces an inner maturing process as he decides between keeping this lifestyle or becoming a family man. It also won the award for Best Iberoamerican Documentary of 150,000 Mexican pesos or its equivalent in dollars to the director.
Best Latin American Fiction Film consisting of 250,000 Mexican pesos or its equivalent in dollars went to the production company of Felipe Guerrero’s film “ Oscuro animal”, about three women forced to flee their homes in a war torn region in Colombia. The film also won Best Actress Award (s) for Marleyda Soto, Luisa Galiano and Jocelyn Vides Meneses and Best Photography Award to Fernando Lockett.
A coproduction of Argentina, Greece, Netherlands, Germany and Colombia, it is being sold internationally by FiGa. It previously played in the Rotterdam Film Festival’s Tiger Competition and Ficci Cartagena 2016’s Official Dramatic Competition. At the Berlinale’s Efm 2016 it was part of the World Cinema Fund’s First Look section. Financing for the film came from Colombia’s Proimágenes, Argentina’s Incaa, Netherlands’ Hubert Bals Fund, Fundación Typa, and Germany’s Nrw and World Cinema Fund.
It also won the award for Award for Best Iberoamerican Director consisting off 150,000 Mexican pesos or its equivalent in dollars, because “almost wordlessly it portrays a complex and painful situation in Colombia which is all too common in Latin America.”
Special Feature Film Jury Award Iberoamerican Fiction of 125,000 Mexican pesos or its equivalent in dollars, went to the production company of “The 4th Company”/ ”La 4a Compañía” by Amir Galván Cervera and Mitzi Vanessa Arreola, based upon a true story about an underdog prison (American-style) football team that, against all odds, wins against the police force team. The jury stated that it “considers it a cinematic achievement about a shameful moment in the history of Mexico to be remembered and not to be repeated”. Adrian Thief also won for Best Actor, and he is that! There is no Isa of record, so those ISAs reading this should check it out on Cinando! It’s a seller!
Award for Best Latin American Film of 125,000 Mexican pesos or its equivalent in dollars went to the superb debuting director from Puerto Rico, Angel Manuel Soto for“La Granja”/ “The Farm”. Also the first film produced independently by Tom Davia’s Cinemaven (but check out his credits!), this film is a full-circle “Crash”-style story that rivals “Gemorrah” in its look at the barrio called “The Farm” or “La Granja” in which the lives of a midwife, a young boxer, a janitor, a mute kid and a young couple collide in a story about the desperate pursuit of happiness on the mean streets of La Granja. Shot on a budget of $250,000, this film took four years to complete as the Puerto Rican government film establishment sought to block its production and release – and you can see why. It previously played in Fantastic Fest.
This is another discovery film with no Isa, and I am sure the agents have already locked their eyes upon writer-director Angel Manuel Soto. He lives in Los Angeles. “Born in Santurce, Puerto Rico. Son of a car salesman and a flight attendant. Studied architecture and advertising. Always loved films. Now he makes them. He is a cinephile. He travels all over the world doing it, including Australia, Thailand, Cambodia, France, USA, and Puerto Rico. He is not planning on stopping.”
Best Screenplay Award went to Marina Seresesky for “La Puerta Abierta”/ “Open Door” (pictured above). Marina also directed this first film. She has made two shorts previously. After Ficg it will play at Sofia Iff 2016 in International Competition, San Diego Latino 2016 and Chicago Latino 2016 Film Festivals.
Movies Recommended for Selection for the Golden Globes Awards 2017 are “The 4th Company” and “Ciudades Desiertas” / “Deserted Cities” by Roberto Sneider.
Documentary Jury Special Award of 100,000 Mexican pesos or its equivalent in dollars to the director Jorge Caballero for“Patient”/ "Paciente" Isa Rise and Shine, a new company in Germany, picked up the film at its world premiere in Competition at Idfa.
Best Iberoamerican Short Film Award D of 75,000 pesos or its equivalent in dollars to the directors Miguel de Olaso and Bruno Zacharias for the 10 minute short “ Los Angeles 1991”.
Special Mention went to “Juan's Sundown”/ "El Ocaso de Juan" by Omar Deneb Vargas Juárez
Rigo Mora Award for Best Mexican Animated Short Film of 100,000 Mexican pesos went to the director Alejandro Rios for “ The Cats”/"Los Gatos."
Maguey Award for best Lgbt film went to "Theo et Hugo dans le meme bateau"/ "Paris 05:59" of France, directed by Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Martineau.
Special Mention went to “Neon Bull” of Brazil, directed by Gabriel Mascaro for its poetic and innovative illustrating of how traditional ideas of masculinity slowly have been made obsolete inviting us to question our own perspectives on gender bias.
After the Awards, Ficg gave a great closing night party. Lots of good people, new and old friends, great salsa band, danced til 3! Here’s me with my friend David Martinez of Raindance Film Festival. Coming from Guadalajara, living in London, this year he came home with Elliot Grove of Founder and Director of Raindance, and Aaron Wileman of Imaginative Exposure who gave a Master Class on Film Funds and Product Placement.
And of course I presented my own book in its abridged, Spanish language format, published by the University of Guadalajara Press, Cine Iberoamerican Industria y financiamiento por pais (Iberoamerican Cinema: Industry and Financing by Country). Read more about it here.
- 3/17/2016
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Anyone doubting the effectiveness of Rotterdam’s Hubert Bals Fund need only look at the make-up of next month’s Berlinale competition.
There are no fewer than three Hbf-backed features in the hunt for this year’s Golden Bear: Lav Diaz’s A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mission, Cross Current by Yang Chao and Inhebbek Hedi (Hedi) by Mohamed Ben Attia
Hbf provides grants to filmmakers from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe. The Fund, established in 1989, takes its name from the Festival’s founder, Hubert Bals, and has long been recognised as an integral part of what Iffr offers.
A total of 13 titles in Rotterdam’s programme were made with Hbf support. That, suggests Iwana Chronis, Manager Hbf, is “about average”.
Four are world premieres including two Tiger competition contenders, La Ultima Tierra from Pablo Lamar (Paraguay) and Oscura Animal from Felipe Guerrero (Colombia.) Both of these...
There are no fewer than three Hbf-backed features in the hunt for this year’s Golden Bear: Lav Diaz’s A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mission, Cross Current by Yang Chao and Inhebbek Hedi (Hedi) by Mohamed Ben Attia
Hbf provides grants to filmmakers from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe. The Fund, established in 1989, takes its name from the Festival’s founder, Hubert Bals, and has long been recognised as an integral part of what Iffr offers.
A total of 13 titles in Rotterdam’s programme were made with Hbf support. That, suggests Iwana Chronis, Manager Hbf, is “about average”.
Four are world premieres including two Tiger competition contenders, La Ultima Tierra from Pablo Lamar (Paraguay) and Oscura Animal from Felipe Guerrero (Colombia.) Both of these...
- 1/29/2016
- by geoffrey@macnab.demon.co.uk (Geoffrey Macnab)
- ScreenDaily
Writing for Screen, Geoffrey Macnab notes that the The 45th International Film Festival Rotterdam, running from January 27 through February 7, "opened last night with an unlikely infusion of glamor in the shape of 44-year-old Queen Maxima," attending the festival for the first time. We've collected an interview with the new festival director, Bero Beyer and, so far, reviews of the Iffr 2016 opener, Boudewijn Koole's Beyond Sleep, plus Felipe Guerrero’s Oscuro Animal and Fiona Tan's History's Future. Plus, De Filmkrant's Slow Criticism 2016, with contributions from Thomas Elsaesser, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Adrian Martin, Mark Cousins, Gabe Klinger and many more. » - David Hudson...
- 1/28/2016
- Keyframe
Writing for Screen, Geoffrey Macnab notes that the The 45th International Film Festival Rotterdam, running from January 27 through February 7, "opened last night with an unlikely infusion of glamor in the shape of 44-year-old Queen Maxima," attending the festival for the first time. We've collected an interview with the new festival director, Bero Beyer and, so far, reviews of the Iffr 2016 opener, Boudewijn Koole's Beyond Sleep, plus Felipe Guerrero’s Oscuro Animal and Fiona Tan's History's Future. Plus, De Filmkrant's Slow Criticism 2016, with contributions from Thomas Elsaesser, Jonathan Rosenbaum, Adrian Martin, Mark Cousins, Gabe Klinger and many more. » - David Hudson...
- 1/28/2016
- Fandor: Keyframe
History's FutureScheduled to open later this month (27 January - 7 Febuary 2016), the 45th International Film Festival Rotterdam has announced the titles included in its competition, which has scaled back the number of films competing to eight this year.Tiger Award COMPETITIONHistory's Future – Fiona Tan (The Netherlands, world premiere)The Land of the Enlightened – Pieter-Jan De Pue (Belgium, The Netherlands, Ireland, Germany, European premiere)Motel Mist – Prabda Yoon (Thailand, world premiere)Oscuro animal – Felipe Guerrero (Colombia, Argentina, The Netherlands, Germany, Greece, world premiere)Radio Dreams – Babak Jalali (USA, world premiere)La última tierra – Pablo Lamar (Paraguay, The Netherlands, Chile, Qatar, world premiere)Where I Grow Old – Marília Rocha (Brazil, Portugal, world premiere)A Woman, a Part – Elisabeth Subrin (USA, world premiere)
Bright FUTUREAlba – Ana Cristina Barragán (Ecuador, Mexico, Greece, world premiere)Alone – Park Hongmin (South Korea, international premiere)Animal político – Tião (Brazil, world premiere)The Bear Tales – Samuele Sestieri, Olmo Amato (Italy,...
Bright FUTUREAlba – Ana Cristina Barragán (Ecuador, Mexico, Greece, world premiere)Alone – Park Hongmin (South Korea, international premiere)Animal político – Tião (Brazil, world premiere)The Bear Tales – Samuele Sestieri, Olmo Amato (Italy,...
- 1/5/2016
- by Notebook
- MUBI
The International Film Festival Rotterdam has announced the eight titles lined up for its revamped Hivos Tiger Awards Competition. Festival director Bero Beyer: "Not only is the prize money higher, but from the upcoming festival, every day a new 'Tiger' will be put in the spotlight, with full attention for that film that day." We've got notes on History's Future, directed by Fiona Tan, Motel Mist (Prabda Yoon), Oscuro animal (Felipe Guerrero), Radio Dreams (Babak Jalali), La última tierra (Pablo Lamar), Where I Grow Old (Marília Rocha), A Woman, a Part (Elisabeth Subrin) and The Land of the Enlightened (Pieter-Jan De Pue). » - David Hudson...
- 1/5/2016
- Keyframe
The International Film Festival Rotterdam has announced the eight titles lined up for its revamped Hivos Tiger Awards Competition. Festival director Bero Beyer: "Not only is the prize money higher, but from the upcoming festival, every day a new 'Tiger' will be put in the spotlight, with full attention for that film that day." We've got notes on History's Future, directed by Fiona Tan, Motel Mist (Prabda Yoon), Oscuro animal (Felipe Guerrero), Radio Dreams (Babak Jalali), La última tierra (Pablo Lamar), Where I Grow Old (Marília Rocha), A Woman, a Part (Elisabeth Subrin) and The Land of the Enlightened (Pieter-Jan De Pue). » - David Hudson...
- 1/5/2016
- Fandor: Keyframe
World premieres of new features from the Us, South America and Asia; titles include A Woman, A Part starring Mad Men’s Maggie Siff; jury named.
International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) has revealed the eight titles that will compete in the revamped Hivos Tiger Awards Competition at this year’s 45th edition (Jan 27-Feb 7).
The titles are:
History’s Future - Fiona Tan (Neth)The Land Of The Enlightened - Pieter-Jan De Pue (Bel-Neth-Ire-Ger)Motel Mist - Prabda Yoon (Thai)Oscuro Animal - Felipe Guerrero (Col-Arg-Neth-Ger-Gre)Radio Dreams - Babak Jalali (Us)La Ultima Tierra - Pablo Lamar (Par-Neth-Chi-Qat)Where I Grow Old - Marília Rocha (Bra-Por)A Woman, A Part - Elisabeth Subrin (Us)
All are world premieres, except The Land Of The Enlightened, which will receive its European premiere at Iffr after screening at Sundance in the world cinema documentary competition.
Other notable titles include Us drama A Woman, A Part, which...
International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) has revealed the eight titles that will compete in the revamped Hivos Tiger Awards Competition at this year’s 45th edition (Jan 27-Feb 7).
The titles are:
History’s Future - Fiona Tan (Neth)The Land Of The Enlightened - Pieter-Jan De Pue (Bel-Neth-Ire-Ger)Motel Mist - Prabda Yoon (Thai)Oscuro Animal - Felipe Guerrero (Col-Arg-Neth-Ger-Gre)Radio Dreams - Babak Jalali (Us)La Ultima Tierra - Pablo Lamar (Par-Neth-Chi-Qat)Where I Grow Old - Marília Rocha (Bra-Por)A Woman, A Part - Elisabeth Subrin (Us)
All are world premieres, except The Land Of The Enlightened, which will receive its European premiere at Iffr after screening at Sundance in the world cinema documentary competition.
Other notable titles include Us drama A Woman, A Part, which...
- 1/5/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
The Monterrey International Film Festival (ficmonterrey), which will take place from the 25 to the 30 of August, 2015, will scren a selection of Colombian short films, winners of the Santa Lucía award on different categories at National Competition of the 12th Bogota Short Film Festival – Bogohsorts. The list of titles includes "Leidi" by Simón Mesa; "Lux Aeterna" by Carlos Tribiño; "Elefante" (Elephant) by César Heredia; "Julia" by Jaime Avendaño; "Las Bromelias" (The Bromeliads) by Manuela Montoya; "Nelsa" by Felipe Guerrero; "Enhebrado" (Threaded) by Manuela Montoya and "Cesó la horrible noche" (Ceased the horrible night) by Ricardo Restrepo.
The arrangement between the festivals consists on the immediate participation of the Bogota Short Film Festival–Bogohsorts winner on the Short Film Competition of the Monterrey International Film Festival, while the winner in Monterrey, will be a part of one of the traditional sections of the next edition of the Bogohsorts.
Bogohsorts world tour works year-round to maintain the validity of short films in the most representative short film festivals around the world, including Shorts Mexico, Sao Paulo International Short Film Festival, Non Stop Barcelona, among others. Now is the turn for the Monterrey International Film Festival, one of the five most important Festivals in Mexico, and the most important in the northern region. Under the motto: "One planet, millions of stories", Ficmonterrey has as a vision to be a unique source of formation and opportunities for young Mexican filmmakers, by offering new windows of exhibition and production opportunities for their projects.
The arrangement between the festivals consists on the immediate participation of the Bogota Short Film Festival–Bogohsorts winner on the Short Film Competition of the Monterrey International Film Festival, while the winner in Monterrey, will be a part of one of the traditional sections of the next edition of the Bogohsorts.
Bogohsorts world tour works year-round to maintain the validity of short films in the most representative short film festivals around the world, including Shorts Mexico, Sao Paulo International Short Film Festival, Non Stop Barcelona, among others. Now is the turn for the Monterrey International Film Festival, one of the five most important Festivals in Mexico, and the most important in the northern region. Under the motto: "One planet, millions of stories", Ficmonterrey has as a vision to be a unique source of formation and opportunities for young Mexican filmmakers, by offering new windows of exhibition and production opportunities for their projects.
- 8/19/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The Hubert Bals Fund (Hbf) of International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) has selected fourteen film projects from nine countries across Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East to receive post-production, script and project development grants totaling €180,000. In its Fall 2014 selection round, the Hbf provides financial support to outstanding projects from nine established filmmakers, which this year includes award winning Ukrainian filmmaker Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy’s, and five first-time feature filmmakers. In addition, €100,000 has been awarded to Oak Motion Pictures and Viking Film through Hubert Bals Fund Plus, whereby the Netherlands Film Fund provides the funding to Dutch producers who are co-producing a Hbf supported film.
Script and project development
A script and project development grant can be used for the further development of the script or presentation of the project to financiers or other potential partners at (international) co-production meetings or film festivals. Based on his 2012 short "Nuclear Waste," Miroslav Slaboshpitsky’s new feature film project "The Luxembourg" was selected for a grant in this category and tells a gripping tale of love and revenge set against the backdrop of Chernobyl’s nuclear wasteland. Slaboshpytskiy’s previous film, "The Tribe," winner of the Grand Prix, Semaine de la Critique 2014, was also supported by the Hbf and will screen in the Limelight section of Iffr 2015.
Hbf has selected several projects by new and promising filmmakers in the script and project development category, including two debut feature films by filmmakers who previously screened their short films at Iffr. Julia De Simone (Brazil), presented The Harbor in the Iffr 2014 Spectrum Shorts section and Hbf is now providing financing for her debut feature, "Corte Real," a layered hybrid story of the history of slavery in Brazil. Argentinean director Mónica Lairana presented her short films at Iffr in 2010 (Rosa) and 2013 (Maria) and her Hbf-supported debut feature "La Cama" is an intimate and touching portrait of an aging married couple.
Fall 2014 projects selected for script and project development support:
"A Young Executioner," Li Luo, China "Corte Real," Julia De Simone, Brazil "Diamond Island," Davy Chou, Cambodia "La Cama," Mónica Lairana, Argentina "Neonboy," Marcio Reolon & Filipe Matzembacher, Brazil "Shanghai Youth," Wang Bing, China "The Center of the Earth," Gabriel Mascaro, Brazil "The Luxembourg," Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, Ukraine "The Uunfound (UFO)," Sattha Saengthon, Thailand "To All Naked Men" Bassam Chekhes, Syria
Post-production
A post-production grant can be used for different activities in the post-production process varying from editing to sound mixing. Promising Peruvian director and 2010 alumni of Iffr’s Trainee Project for Young Film Critics, Juan Daniel Fernández Molero, has been awarded a post-production grant for his second feature "Videophilia (and Other Viral Syndromes)," a modern and visually psychedelic take on youth culture in Lima. In total four film projects have been selected to receive post-production grants and all are expected to join the recently completed Hbf-supported films that have been selected for Iffr 2015.
Fall 2014 projects selected for post-production support:
"La Mujer de los Perros," Laura Citarella & Verónica Llinás, Argentina "La Obra del Siglo," Carlos Quintela, Cuba "Vanishing Point," Jakrawal Nilthamrong, Thailand "Videophilia (and Other Viral Syndromes)," Juan Daniel Fernández Molero, Peru
Hubert Bals Fund Plus
Now in its ninth year, the successful Hubert Bals Fund Plus programme of The Netherlands Film Fund and Iffr gets Dutch producers involved in Hbf-supported, international co-productions. This Fall Hbf Plus support is granted to Oak Motion Pictures for the realisation of "The Wound," John Trengove’s first feature film on the ritual circumcision of a teenage gay Xhosa boy in South Africa. The second grant goes to Viking Film for "Oscuro Animal" by Colombian filmmaker Felipe Guerrero, on the journey of three women forced to flee their homes following the violent conflict in their region. Hbf Plus has now supported five projects this year, including the three projects announced last May.
Fall 2014 projects selected for Hbf Plus support:
"The Wound," John Trengove, South Africa. Produced by Oak Motion Pictures (The Netherlands), Urucu Media (South Africa), Sampek (France), and Salzgeber (Germany). "Oscuro Animal," Felipe Guerrero, Colombia. Produced by Viking Film (The Netherlands) mutokino (Colombia), Gema Films (Argentina), and ma.ja.de. filmproduktion (Germany)
About the Hubert Bals Fund : Hbf is an initiative of International Film Festival Rotterdam. The Fund has been designed to offer financial support to remarkable and unique feature films by talented filmmakers from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe. Since its creation 25 years ago, over 1,000 projects from over 100 countries have received support from the Hbf. As of 2015, the Hbf provides support in the following funding categories:
Hbf Script and Project Development (max. €10,000) – next deadline 1 March 2015 Hbf Post-production (max. € 20,000) – next deadline 1 August 2015 Hbf Plus - A minority co-production programme for Dutch producers- in collaboration with the Netherlands Film Fund (€ 50,000) – next deadline 1 April 2015 Hbf+Europe – Minority co-production support (€ 55,000) – next deadline 1 April 2015 Hbf+Europe - Distribution support for international co-productions (€ 20,000) – next deadline 1 September 2015
The Hbf is funded by the Creative Europe – Media programme of the European Union, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hivos, the Dioraphte Foundation, the Tiger Friends Foundation and the Lions Club Rotterdam: L’Esprit du Temps.
Information about the Fund and the application procedures can be found via www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/hubertbalsfund .
International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) offers a high quality line-up of carefully selected fiction and documentary feature films, short films and media art. The festival's Tiger Awards Competitions, Bright Future, Spectrum and Limelight sections contain new work by auteurs from all over the world including many World Premieres. In the Signals section, Iffr presents retrospectives and themed programmes. Iffr actively supports new and adventurous filmmaking talent through numerous industry initiatives including co-production market CineMart, its Hubert Bals Fund and Rotterdam Lab.
Script and project development
A script and project development grant can be used for the further development of the script or presentation of the project to financiers or other potential partners at (international) co-production meetings or film festivals. Based on his 2012 short "Nuclear Waste," Miroslav Slaboshpitsky’s new feature film project "The Luxembourg" was selected for a grant in this category and tells a gripping tale of love and revenge set against the backdrop of Chernobyl’s nuclear wasteland. Slaboshpytskiy’s previous film, "The Tribe," winner of the Grand Prix, Semaine de la Critique 2014, was also supported by the Hbf and will screen in the Limelight section of Iffr 2015.
Hbf has selected several projects by new and promising filmmakers in the script and project development category, including two debut feature films by filmmakers who previously screened their short films at Iffr. Julia De Simone (Brazil), presented The Harbor in the Iffr 2014 Spectrum Shorts section and Hbf is now providing financing for her debut feature, "Corte Real," a layered hybrid story of the history of slavery in Brazil. Argentinean director Mónica Lairana presented her short films at Iffr in 2010 (Rosa) and 2013 (Maria) and her Hbf-supported debut feature "La Cama" is an intimate and touching portrait of an aging married couple.
Fall 2014 projects selected for script and project development support:
"A Young Executioner," Li Luo, China "Corte Real," Julia De Simone, Brazil "Diamond Island," Davy Chou, Cambodia "La Cama," Mónica Lairana, Argentina "Neonboy," Marcio Reolon & Filipe Matzembacher, Brazil "Shanghai Youth," Wang Bing, China "The Center of the Earth," Gabriel Mascaro, Brazil "The Luxembourg," Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, Ukraine "The Uunfound (UFO)," Sattha Saengthon, Thailand "To All Naked Men" Bassam Chekhes, Syria
Post-production
A post-production grant can be used for different activities in the post-production process varying from editing to sound mixing. Promising Peruvian director and 2010 alumni of Iffr’s Trainee Project for Young Film Critics, Juan Daniel Fernández Molero, has been awarded a post-production grant for his second feature "Videophilia (and Other Viral Syndromes)," a modern and visually psychedelic take on youth culture in Lima. In total four film projects have been selected to receive post-production grants and all are expected to join the recently completed Hbf-supported films that have been selected for Iffr 2015.
Fall 2014 projects selected for post-production support:
"La Mujer de los Perros," Laura Citarella & Verónica Llinás, Argentina "La Obra del Siglo," Carlos Quintela, Cuba "Vanishing Point," Jakrawal Nilthamrong, Thailand "Videophilia (and Other Viral Syndromes)," Juan Daniel Fernández Molero, Peru
Hubert Bals Fund Plus
Now in its ninth year, the successful Hubert Bals Fund Plus programme of The Netherlands Film Fund and Iffr gets Dutch producers involved in Hbf-supported, international co-productions. This Fall Hbf Plus support is granted to Oak Motion Pictures for the realisation of "The Wound," John Trengove’s first feature film on the ritual circumcision of a teenage gay Xhosa boy in South Africa. The second grant goes to Viking Film for "Oscuro Animal" by Colombian filmmaker Felipe Guerrero, on the journey of three women forced to flee their homes following the violent conflict in their region. Hbf Plus has now supported five projects this year, including the three projects announced last May.
Fall 2014 projects selected for Hbf Plus support:
"The Wound," John Trengove, South Africa. Produced by Oak Motion Pictures (The Netherlands), Urucu Media (South Africa), Sampek (France), and Salzgeber (Germany). "Oscuro Animal," Felipe Guerrero, Colombia. Produced by Viking Film (The Netherlands) mutokino (Colombia), Gema Films (Argentina), and ma.ja.de. filmproduktion (Germany)
About the Hubert Bals Fund : Hbf is an initiative of International Film Festival Rotterdam. The Fund has been designed to offer financial support to remarkable and unique feature films by talented filmmakers from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe. Since its creation 25 years ago, over 1,000 projects from over 100 countries have received support from the Hbf. As of 2015, the Hbf provides support in the following funding categories:
Hbf Script and Project Development (max. €10,000) – next deadline 1 March 2015 Hbf Post-production (max. € 20,000) – next deadline 1 August 2015 Hbf Plus - A minority co-production programme for Dutch producers- in collaboration with the Netherlands Film Fund (€ 50,000) – next deadline 1 April 2015 Hbf+Europe – Minority co-production support (€ 55,000) – next deadline 1 April 2015 Hbf+Europe - Distribution support for international co-productions (€ 20,000) – next deadline 1 September 2015
The Hbf is funded by the Creative Europe – Media programme of the European Union, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hivos, the Dioraphte Foundation, the Tiger Friends Foundation and the Lions Club Rotterdam: L’Esprit du Temps.
Information about the Fund and the application procedures can be found via www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com/hubertbalsfund .
International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) offers a high quality line-up of carefully selected fiction and documentary feature films, short films and media art. The festival's Tiger Awards Competitions, Bright Future, Spectrum and Limelight sections contain new work by auteurs from all over the world including many World Premieres. In the Signals section, Iffr presents retrospectives and themed programmes. Iffr actively supports new and adventurous filmmaking talent through numerous industry initiatives including co-production market CineMart, its Hubert Bals Fund and Rotterdam Lab.
- 11/17/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Some 14 films selected to receive post-production, script and project development grants.
For its autumn selection round, the Hubert Bals Fund has selected 14 film projects to receive post-production, script and project development grants totaling €180,000 ($225,000).
The projects come from nine countries across Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. The selection includes nine established filmmakers, including award-winning Ukrainian filmmaker Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy (The Tribe), and five first-time feature filmmakers.
In addition, €100,000 ($125,000) has been awarded to Oak Motion Pictures and Viking Film through Hubert Bals Fund Plus, whereby the Netherlands Film Fund provides the funding to Dutch producers who are co-producing a Hbf supported film.
Script and project development
Based on his 2012 short Nuclear Waste, Slaboshpytskiy’s new feature film project The Luxembourg was selected for a grant in the script and project development category, which can be used for the further development of the script or presentation of the project to financiers or other potential partners at (international...
For its autumn selection round, the Hubert Bals Fund has selected 14 film projects to receive post-production, script and project development grants totaling €180,000 ($225,000).
The projects come from nine countries across Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. The selection includes nine established filmmakers, including award-winning Ukrainian filmmaker Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy (The Tribe), and five first-time feature filmmakers.
In addition, €100,000 ($125,000) has been awarded to Oak Motion Pictures and Viking Film through Hubert Bals Fund Plus, whereby the Netherlands Film Fund provides the funding to Dutch producers who are co-producing a Hbf supported film.
Script and project development
Based on his 2012 short Nuclear Waste, Slaboshpytskiy’s new feature film project The Luxembourg was selected for a grant in the script and project development category, which can be used for the further development of the script or presentation of the project to financiers or other potential partners at (international...
- 11/12/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Industry events include co-pro forum, China Day, Argentina-Brazil focus.
The Rome Film Festival’s (Oct 16-25) boutique market Business Street (Oct 17-21) has reported a record 25% increase year-on-year in international buyers, sales agents and producers, according to organisers. This should see a rise on the average number of industry accreditations of 750.
The market will welcome approximately 90 sellers and 283 buyers from more than 50 countries.
Attending sellers will include The Match Factory, Beta Cinema, Wild Bunch, Gaumont, Le Pacte, EuropaCorp, HanWay, WestEnd and Bankside.
Buyers include TWC, Magnolia, Film Movement, Memento, Senator, Soda, A Contracorriente, Metropole and Cineart as well as Asian buyers from Hong Kong, South Korea, China, Japan and Australia.
“This year we are looking at 20-25% year-on-year growth,” confirmed Business Street head Massimo Saidel. “By the end of July we were having to turn people away.”
Industry events
The market will feature around 80 market screenings as well as the return of sidebar Re-make It!, a selection...
The Rome Film Festival’s (Oct 16-25) boutique market Business Street (Oct 17-21) has reported a record 25% increase year-on-year in international buyers, sales agents and producers, according to organisers. This should see a rise on the average number of industry accreditations of 750.
The market will welcome approximately 90 sellers and 283 buyers from more than 50 countries.
Attending sellers will include The Match Factory, Beta Cinema, Wild Bunch, Gaumont, Le Pacte, EuropaCorp, HanWay, WestEnd and Bankside.
Buyers include TWC, Magnolia, Film Movement, Memento, Senator, Soda, A Contracorriente, Metropole and Cineart as well as Asian buyers from Hong Kong, South Korea, China, Japan and Australia.
“This year we are looking at 20-25% year-on-year growth,” confirmed Business Street head Massimo Saidel. “By the end of July we were having to turn people away.”
Industry events
The market will feature around 80 market screenings as well as the return of sidebar Re-make It!, a selection...
- 10/6/2014
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
The Hubert Bals Fund of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr) has selected twenty-five film projects that receive grants for script development, digital production, postproduction, distribution or workshops. In its Fall 2012 selection round, the Fund gave 330,000 Euro to projects from seventeen Asian, Eastern European, Latin-American and African countries. (See full list below)
From many strong applications for workshop initiatives, the Hubert Bals Fund chose to support the Naas Training Workshop (Egypt), the Digital Cinema Workshops Series (Morocco) and Cinema Land (Vietnam). The Naas workshop offers a training and networking program for art house and cine club managers in the Mena region. In Morocco, the Workshop Series aims to increase digital filming skills among young film professionals. Cinema Land offers filmmaking talents expertise and training in the Central-Vietnamese cities of Danang and Hue, where there are no such facilities as yet.
In the distribution category, the Hubert Bals Fund supports the plan to screen acclaimed director Riri Riza’s Atambua 39° Celsius (pictured top) during open air screenings – the region has no cinemas - within the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara, where the film was shot.
Atambua 39° Celsius received Hubert Bals Fund support for digital production earlier this year, recently premiered in competition at the Tokyo Iff and will see its European premiere during Iffr 2013. The film offers a sensitive portrait of refugees from East Timor and of their scattered families.
One of the eleven projects selected in the script development category is Tarde para morir joven (Late To Die Young), second feature film project by Chilean filmmaker Dominga Sotomayor. Her very successful début feature film De jueves a domingo (Thursday Till Sunday), also supported in script stage by the Hubert Bals Fund, won a Hivos Tiger Award in Rotterdam and subsequently screened in many film festivals worldwide. Tarde para morir joven tells about members of an isolated community that see their existence threatened by a forest fire.
Also selected for script development support is Teboho Edkins, a promising new talent from South Africa, who prepares his first feature length film Days of Cannibalism. Edkins previously made The Gangster Project, a 55-minute documentary/fiction hybrid that was selected for Fid Marseille and Iffr 2012. In Days of Cannibalism, Edkins again uses a clever mix of documentary and fictional elements to focus on the expanding trade relations between China and the African continent.
Milagros Mumenthaler, Golden Leopard-winner for her Hubert Bals Fund-supported first feature film Abrir puertas y ventanas (Back to Stay), has been granted digital production support for Pozo de aire (Air Pocket). This second film, backed again by the ‘Abrir’-team in Argentina and Switzerland, is a more low budget and experimental take on female lead characters and the notion of absence.
When finished in time, the films receiving postproduction grants are expected to screen at the 2013 International Film Festival Rotterdam. One of these is Yang Tidak Dibicarakan Ketika Membicarakan Cinta (What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love), second feature film project by Mouly Surya, one the most promising female directors in Indonesia. Her film is a both sensitive and sensual examination of the dynamics among a group of teenagers played by visually and aurally impaired actors.
The harvest of newly finished Hubert Bals Fund-supported films will be screened during the next International Film Festival Rotterdam (23 January – 3 February 2013). The next application deadline for Hubert Bals Fund support is 1 March 2013. All information about the Fund may be found here.
The line up of the Iffr’s Hubert Bals Fund Fall 2013 Selection Round in full:
Post-production & final-financing
Noche (Night) / Leonardo Brzezicki / Argentina
O Rio nos pretence (Rio Belongs to Us) / Ricardo Pretti / Brazil
O Uivo da Gaita (The Harmonica’s Howl) / Bruno Safadi / Brazil
On Mother’s Head / Kusuma Widjaja Putu / Indonesia
Yang Tidak Dibicarakan Ketika Membicarakan Cinta (What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love) / Mouly Surya / Indonesia
Larzanandeye Charbi (Fat Shaker) / Mohammad Shirvani / Iran
Something Necessary / Judy Kibinge / Kenya
Penumbra / Eduardo Villanueva / Mexico
Digital Production
A Corner of Heaven / Zhang Miaoyan / China
Pozo de aire (Air Pocket) / Milagros Mumenthaler / Argentina
Script and project development
Otra madre (Another Mother) / Mariano Luque / Argentina
Tabija / Igor Drljaca / Bosnia and Herzegovina
Elon Rabin Não Acredita na Morte (Elon Rabin Doesn’t Believe in Death) / Ricardo Alves Jr. / Brazil
Tarde para morir joven (Late To Die Young) / Dominga Sotomayor / Chile
Oscuro animal (Obscure Animal) / Felipe Guerrero / Colombia
Court / Chaitanya Tamhane / India
The Room on a Tree / Amit Dutta / India
Extraño pero verdadero (Strange But True) / Michel Lipkes / Mexico
Tempestad (Tempestuous) / John Torres / Philippines
Days of Cannibalism / Teboho Edkins / South Africa
Rüzgarli Bir Güne Agit (Requiem for a Windy Day) / Özcan Alper / Turkey
Distribution
Atambua 39° Celsius / Riri Riza / Indonesia
Workshops
Naas Training Workshop / Egypt
Digital Cinema Workshop Series / Morocco
Cinema Land / Vietnam
Profile of the Hubert Bals Fund
The Hubert Bals Fund (Hbf), along with the CineMart, is part of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr). The 42nd Iffr will take place January 23 – February 3, 2013. Year-round news on Iffr, Hbf and CineMart can be found on www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com.
The Hubert Bals Fund is designed to bring remarkable or urgent feature films and feature-length creative documentaries by innovative and talented filmmakers from developing countries closer to completion. The Hubert Bals Fund provides grants that often turn out to play a crucial role in enabling these filmmakers to realize their projects. Although the Fund looks closely at the financial aspects of a project, the decisive factors remain its content and artistic value. Since the Fund started in 1989, hundreds of projects from independent filmmakers in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe have received support. Approximately 80% of these projects have been realized or are currently in production. Every year, the Iffr screens completed films supported by the Fund.
The Hubert Bals Fund is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Media Mundus, Dutch non-governmental development organization Hivos Culture Foundation, the Doen Foundation and the Dioraphte Foundation and Lions Club Rotterdam: L’Esprit du Temps.
Grants and selection rounds
Annually, the Hubert Bals Fund is able to make individual grants of up to Euro 10,000 for script and project development, Euro 20,000 for digital production, Euro 30,000 for post-production, Euro 15,000 towards distribution costs in the country of origin or Euro 10,000 for special projects such as workshops. Selection rounds take place twice a year and have application deadlines on March 1 and August 1.
Hubert Bals Fund-supported films in Iffr and on DVD/VOD
Most of the films supported by the Hubert Bals Fund throughout the year are screened during the International Film Festival Rotterdam in attendance of the filmmaker. Subsequently, part of the Hbf-supported films is released by the Iffr on DVD or VOD, available on www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com (VOD for viewers in the Benelux only).
From many strong applications for workshop initiatives, the Hubert Bals Fund chose to support the Naas Training Workshop (Egypt), the Digital Cinema Workshops Series (Morocco) and Cinema Land (Vietnam). The Naas workshop offers a training and networking program for art house and cine club managers in the Mena region. In Morocco, the Workshop Series aims to increase digital filming skills among young film professionals. Cinema Land offers filmmaking talents expertise and training in the Central-Vietnamese cities of Danang and Hue, where there are no such facilities as yet.
In the distribution category, the Hubert Bals Fund supports the plan to screen acclaimed director Riri Riza’s Atambua 39° Celsius (pictured top) during open air screenings – the region has no cinemas - within the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara, where the film was shot.
Atambua 39° Celsius received Hubert Bals Fund support for digital production earlier this year, recently premiered in competition at the Tokyo Iff and will see its European premiere during Iffr 2013. The film offers a sensitive portrait of refugees from East Timor and of their scattered families.
One of the eleven projects selected in the script development category is Tarde para morir joven (Late To Die Young), second feature film project by Chilean filmmaker Dominga Sotomayor. Her very successful début feature film De jueves a domingo (Thursday Till Sunday), also supported in script stage by the Hubert Bals Fund, won a Hivos Tiger Award in Rotterdam and subsequently screened in many film festivals worldwide. Tarde para morir joven tells about members of an isolated community that see their existence threatened by a forest fire.
Also selected for script development support is Teboho Edkins, a promising new talent from South Africa, who prepares his first feature length film Days of Cannibalism. Edkins previously made The Gangster Project, a 55-minute documentary/fiction hybrid that was selected for Fid Marseille and Iffr 2012. In Days of Cannibalism, Edkins again uses a clever mix of documentary and fictional elements to focus on the expanding trade relations between China and the African continent.
Milagros Mumenthaler, Golden Leopard-winner for her Hubert Bals Fund-supported first feature film Abrir puertas y ventanas (Back to Stay), has been granted digital production support for Pozo de aire (Air Pocket). This second film, backed again by the ‘Abrir’-team in Argentina and Switzerland, is a more low budget and experimental take on female lead characters and the notion of absence.
When finished in time, the films receiving postproduction grants are expected to screen at the 2013 International Film Festival Rotterdam. One of these is Yang Tidak Dibicarakan Ketika Membicarakan Cinta (What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love), second feature film project by Mouly Surya, one the most promising female directors in Indonesia. Her film is a both sensitive and sensual examination of the dynamics among a group of teenagers played by visually and aurally impaired actors.
The harvest of newly finished Hubert Bals Fund-supported films will be screened during the next International Film Festival Rotterdam (23 January – 3 February 2013). The next application deadline for Hubert Bals Fund support is 1 March 2013. All information about the Fund may be found here.
The line up of the Iffr’s Hubert Bals Fund Fall 2013 Selection Round in full:
Post-production & final-financing
Noche (Night) / Leonardo Brzezicki / Argentina
O Rio nos pretence (Rio Belongs to Us) / Ricardo Pretti / Brazil
O Uivo da Gaita (The Harmonica’s Howl) / Bruno Safadi / Brazil
On Mother’s Head / Kusuma Widjaja Putu / Indonesia
Yang Tidak Dibicarakan Ketika Membicarakan Cinta (What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love) / Mouly Surya / Indonesia
Larzanandeye Charbi (Fat Shaker) / Mohammad Shirvani / Iran
Something Necessary / Judy Kibinge / Kenya
Penumbra / Eduardo Villanueva / Mexico
Digital Production
A Corner of Heaven / Zhang Miaoyan / China
Pozo de aire (Air Pocket) / Milagros Mumenthaler / Argentina
Script and project development
Otra madre (Another Mother) / Mariano Luque / Argentina
Tabija / Igor Drljaca / Bosnia and Herzegovina
Elon Rabin Não Acredita na Morte (Elon Rabin Doesn’t Believe in Death) / Ricardo Alves Jr. / Brazil
Tarde para morir joven (Late To Die Young) / Dominga Sotomayor / Chile
Oscuro animal (Obscure Animal) / Felipe Guerrero / Colombia
Court / Chaitanya Tamhane / India
The Room on a Tree / Amit Dutta / India
Extraño pero verdadero (Strange But True) / Michel Lipkes / Mexico
Tempestad (Tempestuous) / John Torres / Philippines
Days of Cannibalism / Teboho Edkins / South Africa
Rüzgarli Bir Güne Agit (Requiem for a Windy Day) / Özcan Alper / Turkey
Distribution
Atambua 39° Celsius / Riri Riza / Indonesia
Workshops
Naas Training Workshop / Egypt
Digital Cinema Workshop Series / Morocco
Cinema Land / Vietnam
Profile of the Hubert Bals Fund
The Hubert Bals Fund (Hbf), along with the CineMart, is part of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Iffr). The 42nd Iffr will take place January 23 – February 3, 2013. Year-round news on Iffr, Hbf and CineMart can be found on www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com.
The Hubert Bals Fund is designed to bring remarkable or urgent feature films and feature-length creative documentaries by innovative and talented filmmakers from developing countries closer to completion. The Hubert Bals Fund provides grants that often turn out to play a crucial role in enabling these filmmakers to realize their projects. Although the Fund looks closely at the financial aspects of a project, the decisive factors remain its content and artistic value. Since the Fund started in 1989, hundreds of projects from independent filmmakers in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe have received support. Approximately 80% of these projects have been realized or are currently in production. Every year, the Iffr screens completed films supported by the Fund.
The Hubert Bals Fund is supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Media Mundus, Dutch non-governmental development organization Hivos Culture Foundation, the Doen Foundation and the Dioraphte Foundation and Lions Club Rotterdam: L’Esprit du Temps.
Grants and selection rounds
Annually, the Hubert Bals Fund is able to make individual grants of up to Euro 10,000 for script and project development, Euro 20,000 for digital production, Euro 30,000 for post-production, Euro 15,000 towards distribution costs in the country of origin or Euro 10,000 for special projects such as workshops. Selection rounds take place twice a year and have application deadlines on March 1 and August 1.
Hubert Bals Fund-supported films in Iffr and on DVD/VOD
Most of the films supported by the Hubert Bals Fund throughout the year are screened during the International Film Festival Rotterdam in attendance of the filmmaker. Subsequently, part of the Hbf-supported films is released by the Iffr on DVD or VOD, available on www.filmfestivalrotterdam.com (VOD for viewers in the Benelux only).
- 12/11/2012
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
From the looks of the teaser below, as well as the description of the film, it's probably safe to say that it's more of a visual mood piece that would likely be better appreciated in a museum that in a movie theater. Not that there's anything wrong with that at all. Just making an observation. But I haven't seen the film, so it may be something totally different than what I imagine. One of 68 feature films in this year's Rotterdam Bright Future section (which is devoted to first or second features), where it made its world premiere, is Corta by Felipe Guerrero, a Colombia/Argentina/France co-production about the craft of harvesting sugarcane in Valle del...
- 12/7/2012
- by Courtney
- ShadowAndAct
Court by Chaitanya Tamhane and The Room on a Tree by Amit Dutta have been selected for Script and Project Development of Hubert Bals Fund (Hbf) Fall 2012.
Post completion, the films will be made a part of the International Film Festival Rotterdam under the competition section or the main sections Bright Future, Spectrum or Signals.
Both these projects have also been selected for the National Film Development Corporation’s annual co-production market at Film Bazaar 2012.
Tamhane’s first short Six Strands was screened at International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2011. It has toured many festivals including Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival 2011, Slamdance 2011and Edinburgh International Film Festival 2011.
Amit Dutta’s The Room on a Tree too has also been selected for New Cinema Network, the co-production market at Rome Film Festival.
Hubert Bal Fund was founded in 1988 to help independent film makers from developing countries complete their projects. So far the fund...
Post completion, the films will be made a part of the International Film Festival Rotterdam under the competition section or the main sections Bright Future, Spectrum or Signals.
Both these projects have also been selected for the National Film Development Corporation’s annual co-production market at Film Bazaar 2012.
Tamhane’s first short Six Strands was screened at International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2011. It has toured many festivals including Clermont-Ferrand International Film Festival 2011, Slamdance 2011and Edinburgh International Film Festival 2011.
Amit Dutta’s The Room on a Tree too has also been selected for New Cinema Network, the co-production market at Rome Film Festival.
Hubert Bal Fund was founded in 1988 to help independent film makers from developing countries complete their projects. So far the fund...
- 11/15/2012
- by NewsDesk
- DearCinema.com
I'm only just now catching up with this year's edition of De Filmkrant's best-known project, Slow Criticism 2012, for which editor Dana Linssen has invented a new game: "It is called The Other Side(s) of the World and includes a lot of cinephile Wanderlust and cybernetic travel schedules. With the kind assistance of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (that made the films available trough a preview stream) we have assembled a dossier with reviews of most of the premieres in the Bright Future section. Playing along were film critics from all over the world who embarked on a virtual journey to see a film that came from a country or film culture that was as far from their current location as possible. Or was it?"
Adrian Martin and Cristina Álvarez López launch this collection of journeys with an essay on the "intimate connection between cinephilia and travel," in which they...
Adrian Martin and Cristina Álvarez López launch this collection of journeys with an essay on the "intimate connection between cinephilia and travel," in which they...
- 2/20/2012
- MUBI
Today's announcement from the International Film Festival Rotterdam lays out the full lineup for the Bright Future program. With descriptions from the festival:
World premieres
A la cantábrica (To La Cantábrica), Ezequiel Erriquez, Argentina. A "coming of age film set in the outskirts of Buenos Aires during the economic crisis of the late 1990s." Blog.
Corta, Felipe Guerrero, Colombia, Argentina, France. Guerrero "associates the work of sugar cane harvesters with the process of 16mm filmmaking. This film is a beautiful, cinematic meditation reminiscent of the work of Sharon Lockhart or Ben Russell." The Ultimate Pranx Case, Influenz Films, Canada. "In 2010, three boys had a prank with a girl at school and streamed it live on Internet. What started as an innocent joke soon got completely out of hand." Par exemple, Electre (Electre, For Instance), Jeanne Balibar and Pierre Léon, France. "In this eclectic homage to the Greek tragedy, Balibar and...
World premieres
A la cantábrica (To La Cantábrica), Ezequiel Erriquez, Argentina. A "coming of age film set in the outskirts of Buenos Aires during the economic crisis of the late 1990s." Blog.
Corta, Felipe Guerrero, Colombia, Argentina, France. Guerrero "associates the work of sugar cane harvesters with the process of 16mm filmmaking. This film is a beautiful, cinematic meditation reminiscent of the work of Sharon Lockhart or Ben Russell." The Ultimate Pranx Case, Influenz Films, Canada. "In 2010, three boys had a prank with a girl at school and streamed it live on Internet. What started as an innocent joke soon got completely out of hand." Par exemple, Electre (Electre, For Instance), Jeanne Balibar and Pierre Léon, France. "In this eclectic homage to the Greek tragedy, Balibar and...
- 1/15/2012
- MUBI
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.