Projects from directors Bodo Kox and Adrian Panek are also being introduced.
Projects by Agnieszka Holland [pictured], Bodo Kox and Adrian Panek are among the films being presented at this week’s Polish Days during the T Mobile New Horizons International Film Festival in Wroclaw (July 21-31).
Holland’s dark comedy-thriller Game Count, which she bills as “No Country For Old Women¨, is one of nine titles in the Works in Progress showcase.
The $3.9m (€3.5m) co-production between Krzysztof Zanussi’s Tor Film Studio and Germany’s Heimatfilm will be distributed internationally by Beta Cinema.
Polish Days’ international audience of sales agents, distributors and festival programmers were also treated to the first footage from Kasia Adamik’s thriller Amok and Dorota Kobiela’s animated drama Loving Vincent as well as from two films which will be featured in Locarno’s First Look works in progress sidebar next week: Maciej Pieprzyca’s psychological thriller I’m A Killer (which...
Projects by Agnieszka Holland [pictured], Bodo Kox and Adrian Panek are among the films being presented at this week’s Polish Days during the T Mobile New Horizons International Film Festival in Wroclaw (July 21-31).
Holland’s dark comedy-thriller Game Count, which she bills as “No Country For Old Women¨, is one of nine titles in the Works in Progress showcase.
The $3.9m (€3.5m) co-production between Krzysztof Zanussi’s Tor Film Studio and Germany’s Heimatfilm will be distributed internationally by Beta Cinema.
Polish Days’ international audience of sales agents, distributors and festival programmers were also treated to the first footage from Kasia Adamik’s thriller Amok and Dorota Kobiela’s animated drama Loving Vincent as well as from two films which will be featured in Locarno’s First Look works in progress sidebar next week: Maciej Pieprzyca’s psychological thriller I’m A Killer (which...
- 7/29/2016
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
School of Film Agents celebrated its third edition in Wroclaw, Poland, bringing together, once again, some of the best and most promising young players active in the European film industry today. The unique, core philosophy behind Sofa is the initiative's continuous commitment to strengthening the film landscape of countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus States where unstable political and economical conditions result in an underdeveloped film industry.
Sofa-Founder Nikolaj Nikitin: "Granted, many films from these countries are being successfully screened at the big film festivals. Nonetheless, they are still lacking the necessary infrastructure and institutional support that not only acknowledges and strengthens the position of film as an art form and relevant socio-cultural and economic factor, but also backs the much-needed film mediators managing these initiatives - such as film festival-makers, distributors and cinema operators."
The Program
Ten intensive days of workshop participation were made available to the eight film agents and their top-class tutors, where, together, they were given the opportunity to successfully develop and push their promising ideas forward towards realization. Strengths and weaknesses of the projects pitched were openly and constructively discussed in close dialogue with some of the biggest names in the European film industry. Lectures and panel discussions dealing with the central topics at hand were visited and numerous in-depth one-to-one meetings took place. In comparison to last year's edition, this year, an intensive exchange between mentors and participants was able to take place already in advance guaranteeing optimal preparation for the workshop activities ahead.
The film agents and their film projects
In its third year, Sofa was, once again, able to pave the way towards realization for eight particularly committed projects. The eight participants were selected out of over one hundred applicants in total - the rising number of applications in 2015 is a clear confirmation of the growing popularity of Sofa.
The goal of strengthening the regional film culture and industries in their respective countries unified most of the participants' projects in 2015. Additionally the production and distribution of European co-productions within the international theatrical market also took center stage at this year's Sofa edition.
With her project Lviv Film Commission the Ukrainian participant Olha Reiter pursued the establishment of the first regional film commission in the Ukraine, a project which already commenced with its important work in August earlier this year.
The Dushanbe Documentary Film Center from Sergey Chutkov serves as a place for film education in Tajikistan - a platform providing space, equipment and seminars for the production of documentary films by young filmmakers.
The project Criss-Cross Film Lab developed by the Serbian participant Milica Bozanic would also like to provide a space for workshops and networking. In addition to bringing together young filmmakers with producers, business skills and marketing strategies will also be taught.
A mobile film educational project will be put into motion by the Polish participant Malgorzata Tusk. With her project Cinebus - Mobile Center of Audiovisual Education she would like to bring the already well-established workshop initiative "Film Spring Open" (led by the world-renowned Dop Slawomir Idziak) into light in Poland.
With his project Cuz We Are Talented, the Czech participant Michal Kracmer plans to steer the attention to young talents from countries in Central Europe while promoting co-productions between these countries.
Conceptualized as a full-service agency, the project Kaleidoscope, developed by the Slovakian participant Katarina Tomkova, intends to offer consultation and internationalization strategies from script to theatrical release.
The Romanian participant Dorina Oarga aims to digitize student films from the National University of Theatre and Film Archive and make them available online with her project Cinepub 2nd Life - a pilot project with the intention of preserving the film heritage of Romania.
Creating new visibility for ambitious children's films is the goal of the möwe. derKinderFilmVerleih, conceptualized by the German Sofa-participant Hella Riehl.
The Lecturers
Each of the eight participants had a tutor by his/her side offering project feedback from his/her own special and professional perspective. The following mentors lent their expertise to Sofa this year: Claudia Dillmann (Deutsches Filminstitut, Frankfurt), Maciej Jakubczyk (New Horizons Association, Wroclaw), Matthijs Wouter Knol (European Film Market, Berlin), Roberto Olla (Eurimages, Strasbourg), Katriel Schory (Israel Film Fund, Tel Aviv), Riina Sildos (Baltic Event, Tallinn), Tamara Tatishvili (Ablabudafilm, Tbilisi) und Kristina Trapp (Eave, Luxemburg). An additional lecture dealing with the topic of Marketing and Consumer Psychology was presented by Domenico la Porta (Cineuropa, Brussels).
Four further experts - each of whom have been an integral part of the Sofa-Team since the inception of the initiative - accompanied the participants from the first day to the very last of the workshop. Participants were able to develop individually tailored marketing strategies for their projects with Renaud Redien-Collot (Novancia Business School, Paris), while Pitching Expert Sibylle Kurz (Frankfurt am Main) ensured that projects are presented with a sense of confidence and ease. Oliver Baumgarten (Programme Director, Max Ophüls Preis, Saarbrücken) und Oscar-Winner Ewa Puszczynska (Opus Film, Lodz) were also present, offering individual feedback-meetings aimed at stylistically and conceptually enhancing the participants' concept drafts as well as helping them to work out appropriate budgeting and realistic timeline schemes for their projects.
The Sofa-participants and lecturers were invited to attend a Film-Preview of the Cannes-premiered Swedish-Polish co-production "The Here After" in Wroclaw's largest arthouse cinema. After the screening director Magnus von Horn and producer Mariusz Wlodarski spoke about opportunities within and the challenges facing the European co-production scene.
Film culture for the future - success stories
A look back at the last two editions of Sofa proves that the pan-European Thinktank dedicated to the future of cinema is truly making waves with sustainable signs of change and the first projects bearing fruit. Many of the projects from the last two years have been able to be successfully realized or are close to realization and implementation.
The Eurimage-backed Serbian Sofa-project Fbo - Festival Box Office by Sonja Topalovic was launched as a beta version in February at the Berlinale. A presentation of the interactive online-database for film festivals followed in the Spring in Cannes. Meanwhile, Fbo is closely cooperating with the Film Center Serbia, officially evaluating for them the number of visitors and ticket sales of art house theaters participating at Serbian film festivals. Moreover, negotiations are continuously taking place with numerous international film festivals, not only keeping the project's network flow in full-swing, but also helping to supplement their valuable database at the same time. As an innovative business tool, Fbo has long-term, world-wide plans to evaluate the success of art house films screened at festivals, thereby giving key players in the industry invaluable insight into understanding public taste.
Leana Jalukse's project Doktok - a distribution initiative for Estonian documentary films was able to be realized with the help of Sofa. Leana was also able to participate in a six-week German language course in Munich where she completed a creative internship with Beta Cinema. This combination of language training with professional internship possibilities is the result of cooperation between Sofa and the Goethe-Institut Prague and will be continued in 2016. Former Sofa-participants Anna Bielak (Poland) and Gábor Böszörményi (Hungary) have also been able to take part in a German language course whilst building up their networks of German business contacts.
The Romanian Sofa-project Transilvania Film Fund by Cristian Hordila is close to being fully implemented and the Lithuanian Sofa-project Front - Film Republic of Networked Theatres by Kestutis Drazdauskas is making headway with the digitalization of cultural centers in Lithuania. The first agreements with local government administrative agencies have been reached and plans are being made to incorporate the private sector into the overall financing scheme of the project. Kestutis is also working out further financial support with Fatima Djoumer (Europe Cinemas), who plans to visit with him in Lithuania this Fall.
Sofa-Founder Nikolaj Nikitin: "Granted, many films from these countries are being successfully screened at the big film festivals. Nonetheless, they are still lacking the necessary infrastructure and institutional support that not only acknowledges and strengthens the position of film as an art form and relevant socio-cultural and economic factor, but also backs the much-needed film mediators managing these initiatives - such as film festival-makers, distributors and cinema operators."
The Program
Ten intensive days of workshop participation were made available to the eight film agents and their top-class tutors, where, together, they were given the opportunity to successfully develop and push their promising ideas forward towards realization. Strengths and weaknesses of the projects pitched were openly and constructively discussed in close dialogue with some of the biggest names in the European film industry. Lectures and panel discussions dealing with the central topics at hand were visited and numerous in-depth one-to-one meetings took place. In comparison to last year's edition, this year, an intensive exchange between mentors and participants was able to take place already in advance guaranteeing optimal preparation for the workshop activities ahead.
The film agents and their film projects
In its third year, Sofa was, once again, able to pave the way towards realization for eight particularly committed projects. The eight participants were selected out of over one hundred applicants in total - the rising number of applications in 2015 is a clear confirmation of the growing popularity of Sofa.
The goal of strengthening the regional film culture and industries in their respective countries unified most of the participants' projects in 2015. Additionally the production and distribution of European co-productions within the international theatrical market also took center stage at this year's Sofa edition.
With her project Lviv Film Commission the Ukrainian participant Olha Reiter pursued the establishment of the first regional film commission in the Ukraine, a project which already commenced with its important work in August earlier this year.
The Dushanbe Documentary Film Center from Sergey Chutkov serves as a place for film education in Tajikistan - a platform providing space, equipment and seminars for the production of documentary films by young filmmakers.
The project Criss-Cross Film Lab developed by the Serbian participant Milica Bozanic would also like to provide a space for workshops and networking. In addition to bringing together young filmmakers with producers, business skills and marketing strategies will also be taught.
A mobile film educational project will be put into motion by the Polish participant Malgorzata Tusk. With her project Cinebus - Mobile Center of Audiovisual Education she would like to bring the already well-established workshop initiative "Film Spring Open" (led by the world-renowned Dop Slawomir Idziak) into light in Poland.
With his project Cuz We Are Talented, the Czech participant Michal Kracmer plans to steer the attention to young talents from countries in Central Europe while promoting co-productions between these countries.
Conceptualized as a full-service agency, the project Kaleidoscope, developed by the Slovakian participant Katarina Tomkova, intends to offer consultation and internationalization strategies from script to theatrical release.
The Romanian participant Dorina Oarga aims to digitize student films from the National University of Theatre and Film Archive and make them available online with her project Cinepub 2nd Life - a pilot project with the intention of preserving the film heritage of Romania.
Creating new visibility for ambitious children's films is the goal of the möwe. derKinderFilmVerleih, conceptualized by the German Sofa-participant Hella Riehl.
The Lecturers
Each of the eight participants had a tutor by his/her side offering project feedback from his/her own special and professional perspective. The following mentors lent their expertise to Sofa this year: Claudia Dillmann (Deutsches Filminstitut, Frankfurt), Maciej Jakubczyk (New Horizons Association, Wroclaw), Matthijs Wouter Knol (European Film Market, Berlin), Roberto Olla (Eurimages, Strasbourg), Katriel Schory (Israel Film Fund, Tel Aviv), Riina Sildos (Baltic Event, Tallinn), Tamara Tatishvili (Ablabudafilm, Tbilisi) und Kristina Trapp (Eave, Luxemburg). An additional lecture dealing with the topic of Marketing and Consumer Psychology was presented by Domenico la Porta (Cineuropa, Brussels).
Four further experts - each of whom have been an integral part of the Sofa-Team since the inception of the initiative - accompanied the participants from the first day to the very last of the workshop. Participants were able to develop individually tailored marketing strategies for their projects with Renaud Redien-Collot (Novancia Business School, Paris), while Pitching Expert Sibylle Kurz (Frankfurt am Main) ensured that projects are presented with a sense of confidence and ease. Oliver Baumgarten (Programme Director, Max Ophüls Preis, Saarbrücken) und Oscar-Winner Ewa Puszczynska (Opus Film, Lodz) were also present, offering individual feedback-meetings aimed at stylistically and conceptually enhancing the participants' concept drafts as well as helping them to work out appropriate budgeting and realistic timeline schemes for their projects.
The Sofa-participants and lecturers were invited to attend a Film-Preview of the Cannes-premiered Swedish-Polish co-production "The Here After" in Wroclaw's largest arthouse cinema. After the screening director Magnus von Horn and producer Mariusz Wlodarski spoke about opportunities within and the challenges facing the European co-production scene.
Film culture for the future - success stories
A look back at the last two editions of Sofa proves that the pan-European Thinktank dedicated to the future of cinema is truly making waves with sustainable signs of change and the first projects bearing fruit. Many of the projects from the last two years have been able to be successfully realized or are close to realization and implementation.
The Eurimage-backed Serbian Sofa-project Fbo - Festival Box Office by Sonja Topalovic was launched as a beta version in February at the Berlinale. A presentation of the interactive online-database for film festivals followed in the Spring in Cannes. Meanwhile, Fbo is closely cooperating with the Film Center Serbia, officially evaluating for them the number of visitors and ticket sales of art house theaters participating at Serbian film festivals. Moreover, negotiations are continuously taking place with numerous international film festivals, not only keeping the project's network flow in full-swing, but also helping to supplement their valuable database at the same time. As an innovative business tool, Fbo has long-term, world-wide plans to evaluate the success of art house films screened at festivals, thereby giving key players in the industry invaluable insight into understanding public taste.
Leana Jalukse's project Doktok - a distribution initiative for Estonian documentary films was able to be realized with the help of Sofa. Leana was also able to participate in a six-week German language course in Munich where she completed a creative internship with Beta Cinema. This combination of language training with professional internship possibilities is the result of cooperation between Sofa and the Goethe-Institut Prague and will be continued in 2016. Former Sofa-participants Anna Bielak (Poland) and Gábor Böszörményi (Hungary) have also been able to take part in a German language course whilst building up their networks of German business contacts.
The Romanian Sofa-project Transilvania Film Fund by Cristian Hordila is close to being fully implemented and the Lithuanian Sofa-project Front - Film Republic of Networked Theatres by Kestutis Drazdauskas is making headway with the digitalization of cultural centers in Lithuania. The first agreements with local government administrative agencies have been reached and plans are being made to incorporate the private sector into the overall financing scheme of the project. Kestutis is also working out further financial support with Fatima Djoumer (Europe Cinemas), who plans to visit with him in Lithuania this Fall.
- 11/12/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Swiss cinema is to be put in the spotlight in Mexico and Brazil over the next two years.
At the Locarno Film Festival (Aug 5-15), Swiss Films’ MD Catherine Ann Berger revealed details to ScreenDaily about how Switzerland will be a guest country at next year’s Guadalajara Film Festival (March 4-13) against the backdrop of the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Mexico and Switzerland.
“To begin with, we will have a historical retrospective of Swiss cinema in the Cineteca in Mexico City this December, and then in March, there will be a programme in Guadalajara of Swiss films from the past two, three years,” Berger explained.
“In addition, there will be an industry dimension with co-production meetings and the opportunities for professionals from both countries to meet and discuss partnerships,” she added, pointing out that the focus in Mexico will be the first major project of its kind that she is preparing since coming to Swiss...
At the Locarno Film Festival (Aug 5-15), Swiss Films’ MD Catherine Ann Berger revealed details to ScreenDaily about how Switzerland will be a guest country at next year’s Guadalajara Film Festival (March 4-13) against the backdrop of the 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Mexico and Switzerland.
“To begin with, we will have a historical retrospective of Swiss cinema in the Cineteca in Mexico City this December, and then in March, there will be a programme in Guadalajara of Swiss films from the past two, three years,” Berger explained.
“In addition, there will be an industry dimension with co-production meetings and the opportunities for professionals from both countries to meet and discuss partnerships,” she added, pointing out that the focus in Mexico will be the first major project of its kind that she is preparing since coming to Swiss...
- 8/12/2015
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Lithuanian documentaries will be in the spotlight at this year’s 55th Krakow Film Festival (May 31-June 7) which opens with Krzysztof Kopczynski’s The Dybbuk. A Tale Of Wandering Souls.
It marks is the fourth time Krakow has selected a guest country and will include a special screening of Giedrė Žickytė’s How We Played The Revolution, produced by Dagne Vildziunaite, one of Screen’s Future Leaders in Cannes last month.
Vildziunaite also has the latest film by Žickytė, Master And Tatjana, screening in the festival’s International Documentary Competition.
She will also be participating with such colleagues as the Lithuanian Film Centre’s chief Rolandas Kvietkauskas, filmmaker Audrius Stonys and broadcaster Izolda Keidosiute of Lrt in a conference during the festival to discuss the various strategies adopted by the documentary community in her country .
Other films shown in the “Focus on Lithuania” will include Linas Mikuta’s Dinner, Rimantas Gruodis’ Lucky Year, and Ričardas...
It marks is the fourth time Krakow has selected a guest country and will include a special screening of Giedrė Žickytė’s How We Played The Revolution, produced by Dagne Vildziunaite, one of Screen’s Future Leaders in Cannes last month.
Vildziunaite also has the latest film by Žickytė, Master And Tatjana, screening in the festival’s International Documentary Competition.
She will also be participating with such colleagues as the Lithuanian Film Centre’s chief Rolandas Kvietkauskas, filmmaker Audrius Stonys and broadcaster Izolda Keidosiute of Lrt in a conference during the festival to discuss the various strategies adopted by the documentary community in her country .
Other films shown in the “Focus on Lithuania” will include Linas Mikuta’s Dinner, Rimantas Gruodis’ Lucky Year, and Ričardas...
- 5/29/2015
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
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