Bangladeshi filmmakers Mostofa Sarwar Farooki and Nusrat Imrose Tisha‘s “Something Like an Autobiography” has been acquired for U.K. broadcast by Channel 4.
The film had its world premiere at the 2023 Busan International Film Festival, where was in the prestigious Jiseok competition. It was also a part of the South Asian icon strand at the 2023 Mumbai Film Festival.
The film follows Dhaka-based married couple, the filmmaker Farhan (Farooki) and actor Tithi (Tisha), who are under societal pressure to have a baby. Tithi conceives and towards the end of her pregnancy term an incident occurs that throws into sharp relief some realities of contemporary Bangladeshi society.
The title, a nod to Kurosawa Akira’s celebrated memoir, is also reflective of the real lives of Farooki and Tisha, a real-life celebrity couple who are the most recognized filmmaker and actor in Bangladesh, respectively.
“This is a special film for me and Tisha.
The film had its world premiere at the 2023 Busan International Film Festival, where was in the prestigious Jiseok competition. It was also a part of the South Asian icon strand at the 2023 Mumbai Film Festival.
The film follows Dhaka-based married couple, the filmmaker Farhan (Farooki) and actor Tithi (Tisha), who are under societal pressure to have a baby. Tithi conceives and towards the end of her pregnancy term an incident occurs that throws into sharp relief some realities of contemporary Bangladeshi society.
The title, a nod to Kurosawa Akira’s celebrated memoir, is also reflective of the real lives of Farooki and Tisha, a real-life celebrity couple who are the most recognized filmmaker and actor in Bangladesh, respectively.
“This is a special film for me and Tisha.
- 4/21/2024
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
While the war in Ukraine has upended global geopolitics and ratcheted up tensions between Russia and the West, the impact has been especially profound across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where many inhabitants have themselves been the victims of Moscow’s aggression in the past.
In Kazakhstan, which shares the world’s longest land border with Putin’s rogue state and was the last of the former Soviet republics to achieve independence, the past two years have not only seen the disruption of traditional political and economic ties but accelerated a process of uncoupling from Russian language and culture.
Even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, “the young generation started to be more aware and be more awake and passionate about [Kazakh] culture itself,” says 26-year-old filmmaker Aisultan Seitov, whose feature debut, “Qas” (Hunger), about the brutal Kazakh famine of the 1930s, won best director honors in the Asian New Talent...
In Kazakhstan, which shares the world’s longest land border with Putin’s rogue state and was the last of the former Soviet republics to achieve independence, the past two years have not only seen the disruption of traditional political and economic ties but accelerated a process of uncoupling from Russian language and culture.
Even before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, “the young generation started to be more aware and be more awake and passionate about [Kazakh] culture itself,” says 26-year-old filmmaker Aisultan Seitov, whose feature debut, “Qas” (Hunger), about the brutal Kazakh famine of the 1930s, won best director honors in the Asian New Talent...
- 12/11/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Bangladeshi director Mostofa Sarwar Farooki is attending Mumbai Film Festival with feature-length drama Something Like An Autobiography, which is playing in the festival’s Icons: South Asia section after premiering in the Jiseok section at Busan.
The project is the first in a series of 12 films that Farooki is co-producing with Bangladeshi streaming platform Chorki, among which he will direct the first two installments, with other established and newcomer filmmakers from Bangladesh directing the other ten films. Farooki recently wrapped the second film in the series, Last Defenders Of Monogamy, starring Chanchal Chowdhury in the story of married man and father who finds his firm belief in monogamy being tested.
Farooki and his wife, actress Nusrat Imrose Tisha, both star in the first film in the anthology, playing a semi-autobiographical version of themselves – a husband-and-wife filmmaking couple trying for a baby after the wife has endured several years of being...
The project is the first in a series of 12 films that Farooki is co-producing with Bangladeshi streaming platform Chorki, among which he will direct the first two installments, with other established and newcomer filmmakers from Bangladesh directing the other ten films. Farooki recently wrapped the second film in the series, Last Defenders Of Monogamy, starring Chanchal Chowdhury in the story of married man and father who finds his firm belief in monogamy being tested.
Farooki and his wife, actress Nusrat Imrose Tisha, both star in the first film in the anthology, playing a semi-autobiographical version of themselves – a husband-and-wife filmmaking couple trying for a baby after the wife has endured several years of being...
- 11/4/2023
- by Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
Two Japanese films take top honours, while Korean films ’Past Lives’ and ’Riceboy Sleeps’ are also awarded.
Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days took the best film prize at the 16th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa) today (November 3), while Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist won the jury grand prize.
The two Japanese films were honoured in a ceremony held for 250 people from 20 countries at the Home of the Arts on Queensland’s Gold Coast.
Perfect Days, which debuted in competition at Cannes this year, is Japan’s submission to the 2024 Academy Awards. The film, about finding beauty in the everyday world around us,...
Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days took the best film prize at the 16th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa) today (November 3), while Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist won the jury grand prize.
The two Japanese films were honoured in a ceremony held for 250 people from 20 countries at the Home of the Arts on Queensland’s Gold Coast.
Perfect Days, which debuted in competition at Cannes this year, is Japan’s submission to the 2024 Academy Awards. The film, about finding beauty in the everyday world around us,...
- 11/3/2023
- by Sandy George
- ScreenDaily
Japan has dominated this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa), with German filmmaker Wim Wenders’ latest Tokyo-set pic and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car follow-up taking the top prizes.
Wenders’ Cannes competition title Perfect Days won Apsa’s Best Film award, while Hamaguchi’s enigmatic Venice title Evil Does Not Exist nabbed the Jury Grand Prize this evening at the Australian ceremony.
“It is with great pleasure and pride that my Japanese producers Takuma Takasaki and Koji Yanai and myself received the news that our film Perfect Days was awarded Best Picture at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards,” Wenders said, accepting the award via video message.
He added: “Wow, what an honor. Especially for a German director. The film was, in many ways, a dream come true for all of us, especially the fact that nobody less than the great Koji Yakusho played the leading role, the humble public servant,...
Wenders’ Cannes competition title Perfect Days won Apsa’s Best Film award, while Hamaguchi’s enigmatic Venice title Evil Does Not Exist nabbed the Jury Grand Prize this evening at the Australian ceremony.
“It is with great pleasure and pride that my Japanese producers Takuma Takasaki and Koji Yanai and myself received the news that our film Perfect Days was awarded Best Picture at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards,” Wenders said, accepting the award via video message.
He added: “Wow, what an honor. Especially for a German director. The film was, in many ways, a dream come true for all of us, especially the fact that nobody less than the great Koji Yakusho played the leading role, the humble public servant,...
- 11/3/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
A first trailer has been unveiled for Bangladeshi filmmakers Mostofa Sarwar Farooki and Nusrat Imrose Tisha’s “Something Like an Autobiography.”
The film has its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival, where it is in the prestigious Jiseok competition. The film follows Dhaka-based married couple, the filmmaker Farhan (Farooki) and actor Tithi (Tisha), who are under societal pressure to have a baby. Tithi conceives and towards the end of her pregnancy term an incident occurs that throws into sharp relief some realities of contemporary Bangladeshi society.
The title, a nod to Kurosawa Akira’s celebrated memoir, is also reflective of the real lives of Farooki and Tisha, a real-life celebrity couple who are the most recognized filmmaker and actor in Bangladesh, respectively.
Farooki previously directed and Tisha starred in “Television,” which closed Busan in 2012. More of the couple’s collaborations have played at Busan.
The screenplay of “Something...
The film has its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival, where it is in the prestigious Jiseok competition. The film follows Dhaka-based married couple, the filmmaker Farhan (Farooki) and actor Tithi (Tisha), who are under societal pressure to have a baby. Tithi conceives and towards the end of her pregnancy term an incident occurs that throws into sharp relief some realities of contemporary Bangladeshi society.
The title, a nod to Kurosawa Akira’s celebrated memoir, is also reflective of the real lives of Farooki and Tisha, a real-life celebrity couple who are the most recognized filmmaker and actor in Bangladesh, respectively.
Farooki previously directed and Tisha starred in “Television,” which closed Busan in 2012. More of the couple’s collaborations have played at Busan.
The screenplay of “Something...
- 10/5/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s latest feature, Evil Does Not Exist, leads this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa) with four nods, including the gong for Best Film.
Hamaguchi’s nominations haul includes Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Cinematography for Yoshio Kitagawa. The film is Hamaguchi’s first film since his Oscar-winning Drive My Car and debuted at this year’s Venice Film Festival. The pic follows Takumi and his daughter Hana, who live in Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo. Like generations before them, they live a modest life according to the cycles and order of nature. A plan to construct a glamping site near Takumi’s house, offering city residents a comfortable “escape” to nature, threatens to endanger the ecological balance of the area and the local people’s way of life.
Also nominated in the Best Film category are Wim Wenders’s Perfect Days, Snow Leopard by Pema Tseden,...
Hamaguchi’s nominations haul includes Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Cinematography for Yoshio Kitagawa. The film is Hamaguchi’s first film since his Oscar-winning Drive My Car and debuted at this year’s Venice Film Festival. The pic follows Takumi and his daughter Hana, who live in Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo. Like generations before them, they live a modest life according to the cycles and order of nature. A plan to construct a glamping site near Takumi’s house, offering city residents a comfortable “escape” to nature, threatens to endanger the ecological balance of the area and the local people’s way of life.
Also nominated in the Best Film category are Wim Wenders’s Perfect Days, Snow Leopard by Pema Tseden,...
- 10/3/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Ceremony will take place on November 3 on Australia’s Gold Coast.
Hong Kong filmmaker Clara Law will head the international jury for the 2023 Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa).
Law, who is based in Australia, will preside over a five-person jury, alongside Malaysian actress Yeo Yann Yann, German producer Anna Katchko, Japanese cinematographer Hideho Urata, and Saudi executive Faisal Baltyuor.
The full list of nominations for the 16th Apsa will be announced on October 4; alongside the programme for the fifth Asia Pacific Screen Forum, which will run from November 1-4.
Both the Forum and the ceremony on November 3 will take place...
Hong Kong filmmaker Clara Law will head the international jury for the 2023 Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa).
Law, who is based in Australia, will preside over a five-person jury, alongside Malaysian actress Yeo Yann Yann, German producer Anna Katchko, Japanese cinematographer Hideho Urata, and Saudi executive Faisal Baltyuor.
The full list of nominations for the 16th Apsa will be announced on October 4; alongside the programme for the fifth Asia Pacific Screen Forum, which will run from November 1-4.
Both the Forum and the ceremony on November 3 will take place...
- 9/21/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Rule Of Law
Director Clara Law (“The Goddess of 1967”) has been set as president of the jury which will discern this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards. She will be joined by Malaysia’s Yeo Yann Yann, German producer Anna Katchko, and Faisal Baltyuor, producer and CEO of Muvi Studios in Saudi Arabia.
A separate jury for documentaries and animation will be headed by Taiwan-based Myanmar director Midi Z, India’s Rima Das and Japanese documentary maker Toda Hikaru.
The APSAs will be presented at a ceremony in Gold Coast, Queensland on Nov. 4 and be preceded by three days of seminars and screenings. The awards and forum are presented by the Asia Pacific Screen Academy, the City of Gold Coast, Screen Queensland, the Motion Picture Association and Griffith Film School, Griffith University. Nominations will be announced on Oct. 4.
Law, who has previously been based in Hong Kong and Macau,...
Director Clara Law (“The Goddess of 1967”) has been set as president of the jury which will discern this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards. She will be joined by Malaysia’s Yeo Yann Yann, German producer Anna Katchko, and Faisal Baltyuor, producer and CEO of Muvi Studios in Saudi Arabia.
A separate jury for documentaries and animation will be headed by Taiwan-based Myanmar director Midi Z, India’s Rima Das and Japanese documentary maker Toda Hikaru.
The APSAs will be presented at a ceremony in Gold Coast, Queensland on Nov. 4 and be preceded by three days of seminars and screenings. The awards and forum are presented by the Asia Pacific Screen Academy, the City of Gold Coast, Screen Queensland, the Motion Picture Association and Griffith Film School, Griffith University. Nominations will be announced on Oct. 4.
Law, who has previously been based in Hong Kong and Macau,...
- 9/21/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Auteur Mostofa Sarwar Farooki is spearheading “Ministry of Love,” a 12-film anthology by the leading lights of the Bangladesh film industry for streamer Chorki.
The broad theme of the films will be love. Farooki, a celebrated filmmaker whose work including “Television,” “Saturday Afternoon” and “No Land’s Man,” has travelled to festivals worldwide, will co-produce the project on behalf of Chorki. He will also direct two of the 12 films.
“Something Like an Autobiography,” which Variety understands is heavily inspired from Farooki and his actor wife Nusrat Imrose Tisha’s personal life, is co-written by Tisha and Farooki and is co-produced by Anna Katchko, former Film Bazaar chief Nina Lath and Tisha. Farooki will also direct a project titled “Last Defenders of Monogamy.”
Couple Raka Noshin Nower (“Laugh Lines”) and Shangkha Dasgupta (“Guti”) will direct “50/50.” Redoan Rony (“Behind the Puppy”), filmmaker and CEO of Chorki, directs “Uki.” Abu Shahed Emon (Busan...
The broad theme of the films will be love. Farooki, a celebrated filmmaker whose work including “Television,” “Saturday Afternoon” and “No Land’s Man,” has travelled to festivals worldwide, will co-produce the project on behalf of Chorki. He will also direct two of the 12 films.
“Something Like an Autobiography,” which Variety understands is heavily inspired from Farooki and his actor wife Nusrat Imrose Tisha’s personal life, is co-written by Tisha and Farooki and is co-produced by Anna Katchko, former Film Bazaar chief Nina Lath and Tisha. Farooki will also direct a project titled “Last Defenders of Monogamy.”
Couple Raka Noshin Nower (“Laugh Lines”) and Shangkha Dasgupta (“Guti”) will direct “50/50.” Redoan Rony (“Behind the Puppy”), filmmaker and CEO of Chorki, directs “Uki.” Abu Shahed Emon (Busan...
- 8/3/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Bangladeshi auteur Mostofa Sarwar Farooki’s “Saturday Afternoon” has finally been cleared for release after a four year struggle with the Bangladesh Film Censor Board.
The Bengali-and-English-language film takes its cue from the brutal terrorist attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka in 2016, which took place on a quiet Saturday afternoon and left more than 20 people dead. It had considerable festival play, winning awards at Fukuoka, Moscow and Vesoul.
However, the Bangladesh Film Censor Board banned the film. “The board did not sanction permission for the movie’s exhibition, both at home or abroad, as it would disrupt internal security and also tarnish the country’s global image,” the censor board’s then vice chairman Nizamul Kabir had told Afp.
Farooki began a long campaign to get the film cleared for release. Meanwhile, he also made his next film, “No Land’s Man.” The efforts intensified when it emerged that Hansal Mehta’s “Faraaz,...
The Bengali-and-English-language film takes its cue from the brutal terrorist attack on the Holey Artisan Bakery in Dhaka in 2016, which took place on a quiet Saturday afternoon and left more than 20 people dead. It had considerable festival play, winning awards at Fukuoka, Moscow and Vesoul.
However, the Bangladesh Film Censor Board banned the film. “The board did not sanction permission for the movie’s exhibition, both at home or abroad, as it would disrupt internal security and also tarnish the country’s global image,” the censor board’s then vice chairman Nizamul Kabir had told Afp.
Farooki began a long campaign to get the film cleared for release. Meanwhile, he also made his next film, “No Land’s Man.” The efforts intensified when it emerged that Hansal Mehta’s “Faraaz,...
- 1/21/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Leading independent producers from Asia and Europe showed the complicated routes taken in making indie films that are co-produced between the two regions.
They were gathered on Monday at Platform Busan, the Busan International Film Festival’s venue for sharing experiences.
Raymond Phathanavirangoon, a Bangkok-based producer and co-founder of the Seafic script lab, took the audience on the myriad paths taken by 2016 multi-country co-production “Apprentice,” by Singapore’s Boo Junfeng, that he co-wrote and co-produced.
The project was introduced in 2012 at the Rotterdam CineMart, then benefited from the Busan Asian Cinema Script Development Fund and Singapore’s Media Development Authority Development Fund before going to the Jerusalem Script Lab the same year. In 2013, the project received funding from Germany’s Film – und Medienstiftung Nrw and France’s Aide aux Cinemas du Monde.
In 2014, Germany’s Zdf Das Kleine Fernsehspiel did a pre-buy. The same year “Apprentice” received a Singapore Media Development Authority Production Grant.
They were gathered on Monday at Platform Busan, the Busan International Film Festival’s venue for sharing experiences.
Raymond Phathanavirangoon, a Bangkok-based producer and co-founder of the Seafic script lab, took the audience on the myriad paths taken by 2016 multi-country co-production “Apprentice,” by Singapore’s Boo Junfeng, that he co-wrote and co-produced.
The project was introduced in 2012 at the Rotterdam CineMart, then benefited from the Busan Asian Cinema Script Development Fund and Singapore’s Media Development Authority Development Fund before going to the Jerusalem Script Lab the same year. In 2013, the project received funding from Germany’s Film – und Medienstiftung Nrw and France’s Aide aux Cinemas du Monde.
In 2014, Germany’s Zdf Das Kleine Fernsehspiel did a pre-buy. The same year “Apprentice” received a Singapore Media Development Authority Production Grant.
- 10/7/2019
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Selection includes films from Siddiq Barmak, Yoon Gaeun and Min Bahadur Bham.
In South Korea, the Busan International Film Festival (Biff)’s Asian Project Market (Apm) has announced 28 titles from 17 countries for this year.
The 20th Apm’s selection includes projects from Golden Globe best foreign language film award winner Siddiq Barmak (Osama) and Berlinale Generation director Yoon Gaeun (The World Of Us).
Afghan filmmaker Barmak’s Georgia-France co-production The Pass is a wartime drama about two soldiers from opposite sides who are forced to cooperate in order to cross a dangerous mountain pass alongside refugees.
Korean director Yoon’s Sora is a drama about a middle school girl who finds out a secret about the new kid in the neighborhood.
According to organizers, the number of projects submitted to Apm this year went up “almost 25%” from the previous year to reach 317. In the 19 previous years, “a total of 499 projects have been selected with more than 220 of...
In South Korea, the Busan International Film Festival (Biff)’s Asian Project Market (Apm) has announced 28 titles from 17 countries for this year.
The 20th Apm’s selection includes projects from Golden Globe best foreign language film award winner Siddiq Barmak (Osama) and Berlinale Generation director Yoon Gaeun (The World Of Us).
Afghan filmmaker Barmak’s Georgia-France co-production The Pass is a wartime drama about two soldiers from opposite sides who are forced to cooperate in order to cross a dangerous mountain pass alongside refugees.
Korean director Yoon’s Sora is a drama about a middle school girl who finds out a secret about the new kid in the neighborhood.
According to organizers, the number of projects submitted to Apm this year went up “almost 25%” from the previous year to reach 317. In the 19 previous years, “a total of 499 projects have been selected with more than 220 of...
- 8/14/2017
- by hjnoh2007@gmail.com (Jean Noh)
- ScreenDaily
Despite its low box-office returns, Gina Prince-Bythewood‘s Beyond the Lights was something of a sleeper hit, in the time since its quiet release earning the praise of critics and filmmakers alike — including Rian Johnson, who liked the film so much that he hosted a BFI-supported screening and Q & A. Many will be pleased to read, then, that she’s set her next project: An Untamed State, which will reunite the helmer with Beyond‘s Gugu Mbatha-Raw, also of Johnson’s Star Wars: Episode VIII. [Deadline]
Based on the novel by Roxanne Gay, who will co-write with Prince-Bythewood, it follows “a Haitian-American woman kidnapped for ransom in front of her husband and child” while thematically focusing on “the privilege that made her a target and the strength she must draw on to survive and reclaim her life.” Fox Searchlight are backing the endeavor.
Meanwhile, Variety has learned that Lake Bell will...
Based on the novel by Roxanne Gay, who will co-write with Prince-Bythewood, it follows “a Haitian-American woman kidnapped for ransom in front of her husband and child” while thematically focusing on “the privilege that made her a target and the strength she must draw on to survive and reclaim her life.” Fox Searchlight are backing the endeavor.
Meanwhile, Variety has learned that Lake Bell will...
- 3/23/2016
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Luxembourg
Director: Miroslav Slaboshpitsky
Writer: Miroslav Slaboshpitsky
Ukrainian director Miroslav Slaboshpitsky‘s debut, The Tribe, was one of the best theatrical releases of the past year, documenting the struggles of a new student at a deaf boarding school as he’s inducted into the troubling social customs among the students (and told without any subtitles). Slaboshpitsky’s since made more headlined with the Ukraine’s most ambitious co-production ever, his sophomore film Luxembourg, which focuses on ‘a group of people living in a permanent nuclear winter in a primitive post-apocalyptic society in the ruins of the old civilization destroyed by atomic war.’ The director is actually filming in the Chernobyl Nuclear Exclusion Zone, which is where he also shot his 2012 short film “Nuclear Waste.”
Cast: Na
Production Co./Producer(s): Alpha Violet, Garmata Film Production’s Valentyn Vasyanovych, Tandem Communications’ Anna Katchko.
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available. Tbd (domestic...
Director: Miroslav Slaboshpitsky
Writer: Miroslav Slaboshpitsky
Ukrainian director Miroslav Slaboshpitsky‘s debut, The Tribe, was one of the best theatrical releases of the past year, documenting the struggles of a new student at a deaf boarding school as he’s inducted into the troubling social customs among the students (and told without any subtitles). Slaboshpitsky’s since made more headlined with the Ukraine’s most ambitious co-production ever, his sophomore film Luxembourg, which focuses on ‘a group of people living in a permanent nuclear winter in a primitive post-apocalyptic society in the ruins of the old civilization destroyed by atomic war.’ The director is actually filming in the Chernobyl Nuclear Exclusion Zone, which is where he also shot his 2012 short film “Nuclear Waste.”
Cast: Na
Production Co./Producer(s): Alpha Violet, Garmata Film Production’s Valentyn Vasyanovych, Tandem Communications’ Anna Katchko.
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available. Tbd (domestic...
- 1/14/2016
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Luxembourg, the second feature by The Tribe director Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, is set to become the first ever co-production between Ukraine and Norway.
The co-production between Ukraine’s Studio Garmata Film, France’s Alpha Violet, Norway’s DUOFilm and Germany’s Tandem Production also marks the first time that a project from Ukraine has benefited from the new Hbf+Europe minority co-production fund.
Speaking to ScreenDaily from Kyiv, Tandem Productions’ Anna Katchko explained that the Hbf+Europe support was awarded to her Berlin-based company and will be spent partly in Germany and partly in Ukraine.
She added that Slaboshpytskiy’s second feature has received support from the Ukrainian State Film Agency, France’s Cnc ‘Aide aux Cinémas du Monde’, development backing from the Hubert Bals Fund as well as $64,000 (Nok 500,000) from Norway’s Sorfond.
“It is very important for a Ukrainian project to build up a co-production with European countries, we are very pleased to have such support...
The co-production between Ukraine’s Studio Garmata Film, France’s Alpha Violet, Norway’s DUOFilm and Germany’s Tandem Production also marks the first time that a project from Ukraine has benefited from the new Hbf+Europe minority co-production fund.
Speaking to ScreenDaily from Kyiv, Tandem Productions’ Anna Katchko explained that the Hbf+Europe support was awarded to her Berlin-based company and will be spent partly in Germany and partly in Ukraine.
She added that Slaboshpytskiy’s second feature has received support from the Ukrainian State Film Agency, France’s Cnc ‘Aide aux Cinémas du Monde’, development backing from the Hubert Bals Fund as well as $64,000 (Nok 500,000) from Norway’s Sorfond.
“It is very important for a Ukrainian project to build up a co-production with European countries, we are very pleased to have such support...
- 11/17/2015
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
In other Cottbus news, F&Me boards The Disciple and Macedonia backs Sugar Kid.
Projects from Ukraine and Georgia were the award-winners at this year’s edition of the East-West co-production market connecting cottbus (November 5-6).
Ukrainian filmmaker Max Ksjonda’s feature debut Tank received the CoCo Best Pitch Award sponsored by Eurotape Medien Service to the tune of €1,500 plus a free accreditation to the Producers Network at next year’s Cannes Film Festival, while a jury of Film Repubic’s Xavier-Henry Rashid, Sarajevo Film Festival’s Elma Tataragic and The Post Republic’s Jan-Philip Lange chose Rusudan Chkonia’s [pictured] black comedy Venice for the CoCo Post Pitch Award offering a colour correction and Dcp worth €25,000.
Tank, which will be produced by Max Serdiuk’s Kiev-based production outfit Noosphere Films, already has in-kind investment of equipment by Ukraine’s TechnoRent and private equity investment from Cyprus-based Pride Capital.
The project was previously pitched at the Odessa Film Festival...
Projects from Ukraine and Georgia were the award-winners at this year’s edition of the East-West co-production market connecting cottbus (November 5-6).
Ukrainian filmmaker Max Ksjonda’s feature debut Tank received the CoCo Best Pitch Award sponsored by Eurotape Medien Service to the tune of €1,500 plus a free accreditation to the Producers Network at next year’s Cannes Film Festival, while a jury of Film Repubic’s Xavier-Henry Rashid, Sarajevo Film Festival’s Elma Tataragic and The Post Republic’s Jan-Philip Lange chose Rusudan Chkonia’s [pictured] black comedy Venice for the CoCo Post Pitch Award offering a colour correction and Dcp worth €25,000.
Tank, which will be produced by Max Serdiuk’s Kiev-based production outfit Noosphere Films, already has in-kind investment of equipment by Ukraine’s TechnoRent and private equity investment from Cyprus-based Pride Capital.
The project was previously pitched at the Odessa Film Festival...
- 11/6/2015
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
In other Cottbus news, F&Me boards The Disciple and Macedonia backs Sugar Kid.
Projects from Ukraine and Georgia were the award-winners at this year’s edition of the East-West co-production market connecting cottbus (November 5-6).
Ukrainian filmmaker Max Ksjonda’s feature debut Tank received the CoCo Best Pitch Award sponsored by Eurotape Medien Service to the tune of €1,500 plus a free accreditation to the Producers Network at next year’s Cannes Film Festival, while a jury of Film Repubic’s Xavier-Henry Rashid, Sarajevo Film Festival’s Elma Tataragic and The Post Republic’s Jan-Philip Lange chose Rusudan Chkonia’s [pictured] black comedy Venice for the CoCo Post Pitch Award offering a colour correction and Dcp worth €25,000.
Tank, which will be produced by Max Serdiuk’s Kiev-based production outfit Noosphere Films, already has in-kind investment of equipment by Ukraine’s TechnoRent and private equity investment from Cyprus-based Pride Capital.
The project was previously pitched at the Odessa Film Festival...
Projects from Ukraine and Georgia were the award-winners at this year’s edition of the East-West co-production market connecting cottbus (November 5-6).
Ukrainian filmmaker Max Ksjonda’s feature debut Tank received the CoCo Best Pitch Award sponsored by Eurotape Medien Service to the tune of €1,500 plus a free accreditation to the Producers Network at next year’s Cannes Film Festival, while a jury of Film Repubic’s Xavier-Henry Rashid, Sarajevo Film Festival’s Elma Tataragic and The Post Republic’s Jan-Philip Lange chose Rusudan Chkonia’s [pictured] black comedy Venice for the CoCo Post Pitch Award offering a colour correction and Dcp worth €25,000.
Tank, which will be produced by Max Serdiuk’s Kiev-based production outfit Noosphere Films, already has in-kind investment of equipment by Ukraine’s TechnoRent and private equity investment from Cyprus-based Pride Capital.
The project was previously pitched at the Odessa Film Festival...
- 11/6/2015
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s Mustang and Eva Neymann’s Song Of Songs among winners; industry awards.
Women filmmakers were the big winners at this year’s Odessa International Film Festival (Oiff) which closed at the weekend with a gala screening of Naomi Kawase’s film Sweet Red Bean Paste (An), which premiered in Cannes in May.
The festival-goers voted to give the “Golden Duke” Grand Prix to Deniz Gamze Ergüven for her feature debut Mustang.
The Turkish director was also named Best Director by the International Competition jury headed by French writer-director-actress Jeanne Labrune.
The Turkish-French-German co-production had its world premiere in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight in May and is handled internationally by Kinology.
Ukrainian-born Eva Neymann’s third feature Song Of Songs – which had premiered in Karlovy Vary - was named Best Film by the juries for the International and National Competitions.
Israeli actress Tamar Alkan received the Best Acting Award for her performance as a woman...
Women filmmakers were the big winners at this year’s Odessa International Film Festival (Oiff) which closed at the weekend with a gala screening of Naomi Kawase’s film Sweet Red Bean Paste (An), which premiered in Cannes in May.
The festival-goers voted to give the “Golden Duke” Grand Prix to Deniz Gamze Ergüven for her feature debut Mustang.
The Turkish director was also named Best Director by the International Competition jury headed by French writer-director-actress Jeanne Labrune.
The Turkish-French-German co-production had its world premiere in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight in May and is handled internationally by Kinology.
Ukrainian-born Eva Neymann’s third feature Song Of Songs – which had premiered in Karlovy Vary - was named Best Film by the juries for the International and National Competitions.
Israeli actress Tamar Alkan received the Best Acting Award for her performance as a woman...
- 7/20/2015
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
New film from The Tribe director among projects at Odessa.
New films by award-winning Ukrainian director Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy (The Tribe), documentary filmmaker Vitaly Mansky (Pipeline) and Lithuania’s Sharunas Bartas (Freedom) are among over two dozen projects being presented at the Odessa International Film Festival’s industry section, the Film Industry Office (Fio, July 14-17).
Bartas’ drama Frost, which is being structured as a co-production between Ukraine, Lithuania and France, tells the story of a young Lithuanian’s experiences as he drives his truck with humanitarian aid from Vilnius to Ukraine.
The $936,000 (€850,000) production by Odessa-based Truman Production is one of ten feature film projects competing for a prize to be judged by a jury made up of the producers Guillaume de Seille, Raymond van der Kaaij and Anna Katchko as well as Meetings on the Bridge chief Gülin Üstün.
The pitching line-up this year ranges from Sebastian Saam’s black comedy-thriller Midnight In Uman (working title) through...
New films by award-winning Ukrainian director Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy (The Tribe), documentary filmmaker Vitaly Mansky (Pipeline) and Lithuania’s Sharunas Bartas (Freedom) are among over two dozen projects being presented at the Odessa International Film Festival’s industry section, the Film Industry Office (Fio, July 14-17).
Bartas’ drama Frost, which is being structured as a co-production between Ukraine, Lithuania and France, tells the story of a young Lithuanian’s experiences as he drives his truck with humanitarian aid from Vilnius to Ukraine.
The $936,000 (€850,000) production by Odessa-based Truman Production is one of ten feature film projects competing for a prize to be judged by a jury made up of the producers Guillaume de Seille, Raymond van der Kaaij and Anna Katchko as well as Meetings on the Bridge chief Gülin Üstün.
The pitching line-up this year ranges from Sebastian Saam’s black comedy-thriller Midnight In Uman (working title) through...
- 7/8/2015
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
It’s a thrill to see two out of three of the CineMart Awards are to filmmakers we are tracking: “Luxembourg” by Myroslav Slaboshptyskly from Ukraine and Cuba’s Claudia Calvino and Carlos Lechuga's “Santa y Delfin” won the inaugural Wouter Barendrecht Award. Best unpublished screenplay prize was awarded to the team this past December at Havana’s Festival de Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano. The Ukrainian-German production to be produced by Miff’s Business Square founder Anna Katchko, “Luxembourg”, was awarded the €7,000 Arte International Prize after winning the Sundance Aj+ sponsored Global Filmmaking Award of Us $10,000.
The project has a budget of €1.5 million and is half financed by the Ukrainean State Film Agency. It received a grant from Hubert Bals Fund earlier and will be at Berlin’s Efm Coproduction Market next week. This U.K.-German-French coproduction is being sold internationally by Ultra Violet who sold writer-director Myroslav Slaboshptyskly’s first film “The Tribe” to 35 territories. Myroslav and I spoke at Sundance and he gave me a link to his short “Nuclear Waste” which is a pilot for this film, shot in the Chernobyl exclusion zone and awarded the Silver Leopard of Tomorrow at the Locarno Film Festival and showed at many festivals.
CineMart 2015 awards were announced recently, marking the close of the 32nd edition of the co-production market. Dutch/French/Belgian production “Tonic Immobility” was awarded the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award of €20,000, which is given to a project presented by a European producer.
CineMart selected 24 international projects to participate in the four day event which has been one of the most successful in recent years. A panel discussion to launch Iffr’s new VoD initiative, Tiger Release, was well attended with several filmmakers now in discussion with the Iffr team on releasing their new films via this platform. Multiple conferences and panels covering topics ranging from “Making the most of a film festival” to “The Director-Producer Partnership” were held in front of packed audiences who were invited to be involved in the debates and receive advice. The "Creative Europe Day" on Tuesday, January 27th which offered advice and guidance on creating beyond the boundaries of Europe proved one of the highlights of Iffr 2015.
On making the announcement Head of Industry & CineMart, Marit van den Elshout commented “The quality of our line-up this year is something the whole team is very proud of - so many standout projects with talented teams behind them, the award winners exemplify this. We hosted multiple extremely well attended panels and conversations, experienced great success with the launch of Tiger Release and the enthusiasm with which our Creative Europe day was received all adds up to one of the strongest CineMart’s in a long time. ”
This year’s Eurimages Co-Production Development Award winner, “Tonic Immobility” by Nathalie Teirlinck, (The Netherlands, France, Belgium), is a Bart van Langendonck, Xavier Rombaut, Savage Film production. It tells the story of Alice, an escort who abandons her baby son Robin. Unexpectedly, seven years later Alice is reunited with the boy and they must find a way to co-exist while Alice is confronted with the fact that true emotions can't be controlled and that intimacy can lead to vulnerability. On the Jury’s decision Dorien van de Pas commented “ The award is being given to a project from a multitalented first time feature director who will tell a very emotional, universal story. His short films demonstrate a strong visual style in combination with a great focus on sound. ”
The Arte International Prize winner “Luxembourg”, (Ukraine, Germany) by Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, and produced by Anna Katchko with Tandem Production is a film noir with touches of a western. A great project by a very talented director, stunningly set up for a strong and cinematic story. On presenting the award Annamaria Lodato commented. “This year the Arte International Prize is awarded to a talented, daring and radical director. He is preparing a film that explores a world unknown to most of us: today’s Chernobyl. Far from being a ‘disaster film’, it is a story about living in the Chernobyl zone, a world with its own rules, an almost primitive community that the director knows from the inside. ”
The Wouter Barendrecht Award winner “Santa y Delfin” (Cuba), by Carlos Lechuga is produced by Claudia Calvino and Producciones de la 5ta Avenida. Cuba, homosexuality, censorship, working class and intellectuals, a young talented director and a real story - real potential for a hit project.
On presenting the award Managing Director of Fortissimo Films, Nelleke Driessen commented “The Wouter Barendrecht Foundation (Wbf) encourages the work of talented young filmmakers, we encourage daring films, films that oppose social conventions, with a large urgency. There were 8 films eligible for this award, but in the end only one can win and 'Santa y Delfin' stood out amongst all - if Wouter were here he would be thrilled with the choice. ”
CineMart Selected Projects
"A Shining Flaw" by Erwin Olaf
Eyeworks Film & TV Drama, Netherlands
"Cobain" by Nanouk Leopold
Circe Films/Waterland Film, Netherlands
"Vita & Virginia" by Sacha Polak
Mirror Productions/Viking Film, United Kingdom/Netherlands
"Tonic Immobility" by Nathalie Teirlinck
Savage Film/Ctm Pictures, Belgium/France/Netherlands
"The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea" by Syllas Tzoumerkas
Homemade Films/Prpl, Greece/Netherlands
"Angel" by Koen Mortier
Czar Film/Tobina Films/Anonymes Films, Belgium/Senegal/France
"Ceux qui travaillent" by Antoine Russbach
Box Productions, Switzerland
"Cunningham" by Alla Kovgan
Arsam International/Chance Operations, France/USA
"La Fille de l’Estuaire" by Gaëlle Denis
Life to Live Films, United Kingdom/France
"Holiday" by Isabella Eklöf
Dharmafilm/Beofilm, Denmark
"Luxembourg" by Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy
Tandem Production/Garmata Film, Ukraine/Germany
"Bat, Butterfly, Moth" by Sergio Caballero
Corte y Confección de Películas/Am Films, Spain
"The Gray Beyond" by Alejandro Fernández Almendras
Jirafa Films/Wa Entertainment, Chile/Japan
"Only the Dead Have Seen the End of the War" by Khavn
Kamias Overground, Philippines
"Rojo" by Benjamin Naishtat
Pucará Cine, Argentina
"La Barracuda" by Jason Cortlund & Julia Halperin
Small Drama/Hot Metal Films/Blue Suitcase Productions, USA
"Boyfriend" by Ashim Ahluwalia
Future East Film, India
"Gabriel and the Mountain" by Fellipe Barbosa
TvZero/Gamarosa Filmes, Brazil
"Los Delincuentes" by Rodrigo Moreno
Compañía Amateur/Rizoma, Argentina
"Santa y Delfín" by Carlos Lechuga
Producciones de la 5ta Avenida, Cuba
"Kodokushi" by Janus Victoria
Paperheart, Philippines/Malaysia/Japan
Art:Film projects "Cactus Flower" by Hala Elkoussy
Transit Films, Egypt
"Hurrah, Wir Leben Noch" by Agnieszka Polska
Kijora Anna Gawlita/Museum of Modern Art Poland, Poland/Germany
"Mr Sing Sing" by Phil Collins
Shady Lane Productions, Germany/USA
Audience Awards Winners
The awards, as voted for by the public audience attending the Festival, were announced this evening at the Iffr 2015 Closing Night Ceremony, hosted by Festival Director, Rutger Wolfson and Managing Director, Janneke Staarink. James Napier Robertson was awarded the Iffr Audience Award 2015 of €10,000 for his film "The Dark Horse." The award is Napier’s second of the Festival following the MovieZone Iffr Award which was presented on Friday, January 30th at the Iffr Awards Ceremony. The Hubert Bals Fund Dioraphte Award, also of €10,000, presented to the most popular film which received support from the Hubert Bals Fund (Hbf) went to Oscar Ruiz Navia for "Los Hongos," an autobiographical drama centering on the youth culture of Cali, Colombia.
Read More - Toronto Review: Cliff Curtis is a Fallen Champion Turned Mentor in "The Dark Horse"
On the announcement of the Iffr Audience Award 2015 Wolfson commented “The audiences who come from all over the Netherlands and around the world to participate in the Festival and explore our diverse, thought provoking programme are integral to Iffr. It would not be the special Festival it is without them so we would like to thank all who joined us in celebrating cinema this year and of course congratulations to James who created a wonderful, personal film.”
On the announcement of the Hubert Bals Fund Dioraphte Award, Manager of the Hubert Bals Fund, Iwana Chronis commented “I am thrilled with the reception the Hbf supported films received throughout the twelve days of the Festival. Oscar Ruiz Navia is a talented filmmaker with a long and successful career ahead of him, this recognition is fully deserved, we are so pleased to have been a part of helping getting this film to the big screen .”
A highly acclaimed drama, "The Dark Horse" tells the true and moving story of Genesis Potini, who fought for the future of disadvantaged children in New Zealand until his death in 2011. In spite of his own bipolar disorder, he taught them to play chess and fight for opportunities. "The Dark Horse" is both amusing and raw, and above all intensely moving. Born in New Zealand, director James Napier Robertson made a name for himself in the world of television before switching to cinema. He appeared as an actor in the series "The Tribe" and "Shortland Street." He directed his first feature film "I’m Not Harry Jenson" in 2009.
Directed by Oscar Ruiz Navia, "Los Hongos" is an autobiographically inspired drama based around two skater friends who are at the heart of the colorful, noisy street and youth culture of Cali, Colombia. With a warm heart, Ruiz tells the story of Ras and Calvin, who are looking for their own voice, a stage and of course freedom, love and fun. Born in Colombia, Oscar Ruiz Navia’s debut film "Crab Trap" won a Fipresci Award at the Berlinale in 2010. Prior to that he was focused on the development and production of independent cinema in Colombia and founded the production company Contravia Films having previously studied Social Communications and Journalism.
Top 5 Audience Award Iffr 2015
"The Dark Horse" "The Farewell Party" "Loin des Hommes" "La Vie de Jean-Marie" "Alice Cares" Top 5 Hbf Dioraphte Award 2015
"Los Hongos" "La Mujer de los Perros" (Dog Lady) "Nn" "Court" "The Tribe" The full list can be found on the Festival's website:
www.iffr.com/professionals/iffr-2015/iffr-audience-award-2015...
The project has a budget of €1.5 million and is half financed by the Ukrainean State Film Agency. It received a grant from Hubert Bals Fund earlier and will be at Berlin’s Efm Coproduction Market next week. This U.K.-German-French coproduction is being sold internationally by Ultra Violet who sold writer-director Myroslav Slaboshptyskly’s first film “The Tribe” to 35 territories. Myroslav and I spoke at Sundance and he gave me a link to his short “Nuclear Waste” which is a pilot for this film, shot in the Chernobyl exclusion zone and awarded the Silver Leopard of Tomorrow at the Locarno Film Festival and showed at many festivals.
CineMart 2015 awards were announced recently, marking the close of the 32nd edition of the co-production market. Dutch/French/Belgian production “Tonic Immobility” was awarded the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award of €20,000, which is given to a project presented by a European producer.
CineMart selected 24 international projects to participate in the four day event which has been one of the most successful in recent years. A panel discussion to launch Iffr’s new VoD initiative, Tiger Release, was well attended with several filmmakers now in discussion with the Iffr team on releasing their new films via this platform. Multiple conferences and panels covering topics ranging from “Making the most of a film festival” to “The Director-Producer Partnership” were held in front of packed audiences who were invited to be involved in the debates and receive advice. The "Creative Europe Day" on Tuesday, January 27th which offered advice and guidance on creating beyond the boundaries of Europe proved one of the highlights of Iffr 2015.
On making the announcement Head of Industry & CineMart, Marit van den Elshout commented “The quality of our line-up this year is something the whole team is very proud of - so many standout projects with talented teams behind them, the award winners exemplify this. We hosted multiple extremely well attended panels and conversations, experienced great success with the launch of Tiger Release and the enthusiasm with which our Creative Europe day was received all adds up to one of the strongest CineMart’s in a long time. ”
This year’s Eurimages Co-Production Development Award winner, “Tonic Immobility” by Nathalie Teirlinck, (The Netherlands, France, Belgium), is a Bart van Langendonck, Xavier Rombaut, Savage Film production. It tells the story of Alice, an escort who abandons her baby son Robin. Unexpectedly, seven years later Alice is reunited with the boy and they must find a way to co-exist while Alice is confronted with the fact that true emotions can't be controlled and that intimacy can lead to vulnerability. On the Jury’s decision Dorien van de Pas commented “ The award is being given to a project from a multitalented first time feature director who will tell a very emotional, universal story. His short films demonstrate a strong visual style in combination with a great focus on sound. ”
The Arte International Prize winner “Luxembourg”, (Ukraine, Germany) by Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, and produced by Anna Katchko with Tandem Production is a film noir with touches of a western. A great project by a very talented director, stunningly set up for a strong and cinematic story. On presenting the award Annamaria Lodato commented. “This year the Arte International Prize is awarded to a talented, daring and radical director. He is preparing a film that explores a world unknown to most of us: today’s Chernobyl. Far from being a ‘disaster film’, it is a story about living in the Chernobyl zone, a world with its own rules, an almost primitive community that the director knows from the inside. ”
The Wouter Barendrecht Award winner “Santa y Delfin” (Cuba), by Carlos Lechuga is produced by Claudia Calvino and Producciones de la 5ta Avenida. Cuba, homosexuality, censorship, working class and intellectuals, a young talented director and a real story - real potential for a hit project.
On presenting the award Managing Director of Fortissimo Films, Nelleke Driessen commented “The Wouter Barendrecht Foundation (Wbf) encourages the work of talented young filmmakers, we encourage daring films, films that oppose social conventions, with a large urgency. There were 8 films eligible for this award, but in the end only one can win and 'Santa y Delfin' stood out amongst all - if Wouter were here he would be thrilled with the choice. ”
CineMart Selected Projects
"A Shining Flaw" by Erwin Olaf
Eyeworks Film & TV Drama, Netherlands
"Cobain" by Nanouk Leopold
Circe Films/Waterland Film, Netherlands
"Vita & Virginia" by Sacha Polak
Mirror Productions/Viking Film, United Kingdom/Netherlands
"Tonic Immobility" by Nathalie Teirlinck
Savage Film/Ctm Pictures, Belgium/France/Netherlands
"The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea" by Syllas Tzoumerkas
Homemade Films/Prpl, Greece/Netherlands
"Angel" by Koen Mortier
Czar Film/Tobina Films/Anonymes Films, Belgium/Senegal/France
"Ceux qui travaillent" by Antoine Russbach
Box Productions, Switzerland
"Cunningham" by Alla Kovgan
Arsam International/Chance Operations, France/USA
"La Fille de l’Estuaire" by Gaëlle Denis
Life to Live Films, United Kingdom/France
"Holiday" by Isabella Eklöf
Dharmafilm/Beofilm, Denmark
"Luxembourg" by Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy
Tandem Production/Garmata Film, Ukraine/Germany
"Bat, Butterfly, Moth" by Sergio Caballero
Corte y Confección de Películas/Am Films, Spain
"The Gray Beyond" by Alejandro Fernández Almendras
Jirafa Films/Wa Entertainment, Chile/Japan
"Only the Dead Have Seen the End of the War" by Khavn
Kamias Overground, Philippines
"Rojo" by Benjamin Naishtat
Pucará Cine, Argentina
"La Barracuda" by Jason Cortlund & Julia Halperin
Small Drama/Hot Metal Films/Blue Suitcase Productions, USA
"Boyfriend" by Ashim Ahluwalia
Future East Film, India
"Gabriel and the Mountain" by Fellipe Barbosa
TvZero/Gamarosa Filmes, Brazil
"Los Delincuentes" by Rodrigo Moreno
Compañía Amateur/Rizoma, Argentina
"Santa y Delfín" by Carlos Lechuga
Producciones de la 5ta Avenida, Cuba
"Kodokushi" by Janus Victoria
Paperheart, Philippines/Malaysia/Japan
Art:Film projects "Cactus Flower" by Hala Elkoussy
Transit Films, Egypt
"Hurrah, Wir Leben Noch" by Agnieszka Polska
Kijora Anna Gawlita/Museum of Modern Art Poland, Poland/Germany
"Mr Sing Sing" by Phil Collins
Shady Lane Productions, Germany/USA
Audience Awards Winners
The awards, as voted for by the public audience attending the Festival, were announced this evening at the Iffr 2015 Closing Night Ceremony, hosted by Festival Director, Rutger Wolfson and Managing Director, Janneke Staarink. James Napier Robertson was awarded the Iffr Audience Award 2015 of €10,000 for his film "The Dark Horse." The award is Napier’s second of the Festival following the MovieZone Iffr Award which was presented on Friday, January 30th at the Iffr Awards Ceremony. The Hubert Bals Fund Dioraphte Award, also of €10,000, presented to the most popular film which received support from the Hubert Bals Fund (Hbf) went to Oscar Ruiz Navia for "Los Hongos," an autobiographical drama centering on the youth culture of Cali, Colombia.
Read More - Toronto Review: Cliff Curtis is a Fallen Champion Turned Mentor in "The Dark Horse"
On the announcement of the Iffr Audience Award 2015 Wolfson commented “The audiences who come from all over the Netherlands and around the world to participate in the Festival and explore our diverse, thought provoking programme are integral to Iffr. It would not be the special Festival it is without them so we would like to thank all who joined us in celebrating cinema this year and of course congratulations to James who created a wonderful, personal film.”
On the announcement of the Hubert Bals Fund Dioraphte Award, Manager of the Hubert Bals Fund, Iwana Chronis commented “I am thrilled with the reception the Hbf supported films received throughout the twelve days of the Festival. Oscar Ruiz Navia is a talented filmmaker with a long and successful career ahead of him, this recognition is fully deserved, we are so pleased to have been a part of helping getting this film to the big screen .”
A highly acclaimed drama, "The Dark Horse" tells the true and moving story of Genesis Potini, who fought for the future of disadvantaged children in New Zealand until his death in 2011. In spite of his own bipolar disorder, he taught them to play chess and fight for opportunities. "The Dark Horse" is both amusing and raw, and above all intensely moving. Born in New Zealand, director James Napier Robertson made a name for himself in the world of television before switching to cinema. He appeared as an actor in the series "The Tribe" and "Shortland Street." He directed his first feature film "I’m Not Harry Jenson" in 2009.
Directed by Oscar Ruiz Navia, "Los Hongos" is an autobiographically inspired drama based around two skater friends who are at the heart of the colorful, noisy street and youth culture of Cali, Colombia. With a warm heart, Ruiz tells the story of Ras and Calvin, who are looking for their own voice, a stage and of course freedom, love and fun. Born in Colombia, Oscar Ruiz Navia’s debut film "Crab Trap" won a Fipresci Award at the Berlinale in 2010. Prior to that he was focused on the development and production of independent cinema in Colombia and founded the production company Contravia Films having previously studied Social Communications and Journalism.
Top 5 Audience Award Iffr 2015
"The Dark Horse" "The Farewell Party" "Loin des Hommes" "La Vie de Jean-Marie" "Alice Cares" Top 5 Hbf Dioraphte Award 2015
"Los Hongos" "La Mujer de los Perros" (Dog Lady) "Nn" "Court" "The Tribe" The full list can be found on the Festival's website:
www.iffr.com/professionals/iffr-2015/iffr-audience-award-2015...
- 2/5/2015
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy’s Chernobyl-based drama wins one of three awards at International Film Festival Rotterdam’s co-production market.
Rotterdam co-production market CineMart closed last night (Jan 28) with a hat trick of awards.
Ukrainian-German production Luxembourg was awarded the €7,000 ($7,900) Arte International Prize.
Directed by Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy (The Tribe), the film tells a story of love and revenge based in the the area around Chernobyl - the city that was decimated during the notorious nuclear power plant disaster in 1986.
Slaboshpytskiy, who won Cannes’ Critics Week Grand Prize with deaf boarding school drama The Tribe, has based Luxembourg on his 2012 short, Nuclear Waste.
On presenting the award, producer Annamaria Lodato described Slaboshpytskiy as “a talented, daring and radical director”.
“He is preparing a film that explores a world unknown to most of us: today’s Chernobyl,” she added. “Far from being a ‘disaster film’, it is a story about living in the Chernobyl zone, a world with...
Rotterdam co-production market CineMart closed last night (Jan 28) with a hat trick of awards.
Ukrainian-German production Luxembourg was awarded the €7,000 ($7,900) Arte International Prize.
Directed by Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy (The Tribe), the film tells a story of love and revenge based in the the area around Chernobyl - the city that was decimated during the notorious nuclear power plant disaster in 1986.
Slaboshpytskiy, who won Cannes’ Critics Week Grand Prize with deaf boarding school drama The Tribe, has based Luxembourg on his 2012 short, Nuclear Waste.
On presenting the award, producer Annamaria Lodato described Slaboshpytskiy as “a talented, daring and radical director”.
“He is preparing a film that explores a world unknown to most of us: today’s Chernobyl,” she added. “Far from being a ‘disaster film’, it is a story about living in the Chernobyl zone, a world with...
- 1/29/2015
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
A roundup of news from the inaugural St Petersburg International Media Forum includes a busy French delegation and a local controversy brewing over Leviathan.
The King Of Madagascar, a kind of Russian answer to the pirate adventure films à la Pirates of the Caribbean, is being set up as a $ 16m international co-production by producer-director Oleg Ryaskov’s Moscow-based Bft Movie.
Speaking at the opening of St Petersburg International Media Forum’s (Spimf) co-production market this morning, producer Ryaskov revealed that the project - which is based on real historical events abouta Russian expedition by Peter The Great to the island of Madagascar in danger of being thwarted by Great Britain’s King George - has Spain’s Smartline Spain and the Us casting company Scott Carlson Entertainment on board as partners and is currently in talks with French and German production companies to join.
Ryaskov added that he intends to have American, European and Russian...
The King Of Madagascar, a kind of Russian answer to the pirate adventure films à la Pirates of the Caribbean, is being set up as a $ 16m international co-production by producer-director Oleg Ryaskov’s Moscow-based Bft Movie.
Speaking at the opening of St Petersburg International Media Forum’s (Spimf) co-production market this morning, producer Ryaskov revealed that the project - which is based on real historical events abouta Russian expedition by Peter The Great to the island of Madagascar in danger of being thwarted by Great Britain’s King George - has Spain’s Smartline Spain and the Us casting company Scott Carlson Entertainment on board as partners and is currently in talks with French and German production companies to join.
Ryaskov added that he intends to have American, European and Russian...
- 10/6/2014
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
A roundup of news from the inaugural St Petersburg International Media Forum includes a busy French delegation and a local controversy brewing over Leviathan.
The King Of Madagascar, a kind of Russian answer to the pirate adventure films à la Pirates of the Caribbean, is being set up as a $ 16m international co-production by producer-director Oleg Ryaskov’s Moscow-based Bft Movie.
Speaking at the opening of St Petersburg International Media Forum’s (Spimf) co-production market this morning, producer Ryaskov revealed that the project - which is based on real historical events abouta Russian expedition by Peter The Great to the island of Madagascar in danger of being thwarted by Great Britain’s King George - has Spain’s Smartline Spain and the Us casting company Scott Carlson Entertainment on board as partners and is currently in talks with French and German production companies to join.
Ryaskov added that he intends to have American, European and Russian...
The King Of Madagascar, a kind of Russian answer to the pirate adventure films à la Pirates of the Caribbean, is being set up as a $ 16m international co-production by producer-director Oleg Ryaskov’s Moscow-based Bft Movie.
Speaking at the opening of St Petersburg International Media Forum’s (Spimf) co-production market this morning, producer Ryaskov revealed that the project - which is based on real historical events abouta Russian expedition by Peter The Great to the island of Madagascar in danger of being thwarted by Great Britain’s King George - has Spain’s Smartline Spain and the Us casting company Scott Carlson Entertainment on board as partners and is currently in talks with French and German production companies to join.
Ryaskov added that he intends to have American, European and Russian...
- 10/6/2014
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Zvyagintsev, Hazanov and Harö projects set for 2nd Northern Seas Film Forum.
Projects by Andrey Zvyagintsev, Elena Hazanov and Klaus Harö are among 24 projects being presented at the 2nd Northern Seas Film Forum (Oct 6-8) co-production market during the inaugural St Petersburg International Media Forum (Oct 1-11).
Zvyagintsev, who won best screenplay at this year’s Cannes with Leviathan, is in talks with Russian producer Vasily Korvyakov and Fyodor Druzin of the UK-Russian production outfit Curb Denizen to direct the $5m drama No Tolstoy about the legendary writer’s wife and family fighting over his inheritance after his death.
Russia’s Oscar selection committee yesterday submitted Leviathan to the Best Foreign Language Film category of the Academy Awards.
Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky told journalists that he would support the film’s Russian theatrical release so that it can be released on more than 1,000 prints by A Company in cooperation with 20th Century Fox Russia on Nov...
Projects by Andrey Zvyagintsev, Elena Hazanov and Klaus Harö are among 24 projects being presented at the 2nd Northern Seas Film Forum (Oct 6-8) co-production market during the inaugural St Petersburg International Media Forum (Oct 1-11).
Zvyagintsev, who won best screenplay at this year’s Cannes with Leviathan, is in talks with Russian producer Vasily Korvyakov and Fyodor Druzin of the UK-Russian production outfit Curb Denizen to direct the $5m drama No Tolstoy about the legendary writer’s wife and family fighting over his inheritance after his death.
Russia’s Oscar selection committee yesterday submitted Leviathan to the Best Foreign Language Film category of the Academy Awards.
Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky told journalists that he would support the film’s Russian theatrical release so that it can be released on more than 1,000 prints by A Company in cooperation with 20th Century Fox Russia on Nov...
- 9/29/2014
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
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