Seven fiction and documentary projects to receive a share of 230,000.
Bangkok-based film fund Purin Pictures has selected seven projects from Southeast Asia as the recipients of its autumn 2022 funding round, which will receive a combined 230,000 in grants for production and post-production.
The production grants of 30,000 each are awarded to Aung Phyoe’s Fruit Gathering from Myanmar; Burmese-Indonesian co-production The Beer Girl In Yangon by Sein Lyan Tun; and Thai director Sompot Chidgasornpongse’s 9 Temples To Heaven.
The latter is co-produced by Cannes award-winning filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul, known for titles including Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives and Memoria.
Bangkok-based film fund Purin Pictures has selected seven projects from Southeast Asia as the recipients of its autumn 2022 funding round, which will receive a combined 230,000 in grants for production and post-production.
The production grants of 30,000 each are awarded to Aung Phyoe’s Fruit Gathering from Myanmar; Burmese-Indonesian co-production The Beer Girl In Yangon by Sein Lyan Tun; and Thai director Sompot Chidgasornpongse’s 9 Temples To Heaven.
The latter is co-produced by Cannes award-winning filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul, known for titles including Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives and Memoria.
- 11/1/2022
- by Silvia Wong
- ScreenDaily
Thai filmmaker Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s (pictured center) dark comedy film “A Useful Ghost” has scooped the top prize at the Locarno Film Festival’s Open Doors awards ceremony.
This year’s Open Doors co-production forum featured nine projects from Southeast Asia and Mongolia looking for international partners, and also represented the close of the forum’s three-year cycle focusing on that part of the world in particular.
The winning film tells the story of March and Nat, a happily married couple, and their seven-year-old son named Dot. One day, Nat dies of respiratory disease caused by air pollution. Saddened by the death of his wife, March is worried that the same fate will befall his son, who gradually develops similar symptoms. Nat then returns as a ghost haunting the house vacuum cleaner to try and suck up the dust hurting her son.
“This film touches upon current social and political issues in a humorous way.
This year’s Open Doors co-production forum featured nine projects from Southeast Asia and Mongolia looking for international partners, and also represented the close of the forum’s three-year cycle focusing on that part of the world in particular.
The winning film tells the story of March and Nat, a happily married couple, and their seven-year-old son named Dot. One day, Nat dies of respiratory disease caused by air pollution. Saddened by the death of his wife, March is worried that the same fate will befall his son, who gradually develops similar symptoms. Nat then returns as a ghost haunting the house vacuum cleaner to try and suck up the dust hurting her son.
“This film touches upon current social and political issues in a humorous way.
- 8/10/2021
- by Will Thorne
- Variety Film + TV
The latest edition of the Locarno Film Festival’s Open Doors section, which highlights new projects and fresh voices from Asia, feels like a culmination in more ways than one.
After an entirely remote affair last time around, Open Doors is adopting a hybrid in-person and online approach this time around, welcoming more than half of the filmmakers and producers to the Swiss fest. The section is also entering the final year in its three-year focus on Southeast Asia and Mongolia specifically.
“This one is much more the result of the exploration of the region and the collaboration we have been building with talents over the last two and a half years,” explains Open Doors director Sophie Bourdon. “On the co-production side, it’s only first-time feature directors with one exception, but many of them have had shorts featured at the festival.”
Bourdon admits the last couple years have been difficult for Open Doors.
After an entirely remote affair last time around, Open Doors is adopting a hybrid in-person and online approach this time around, welcoming more than half of the filmmakers and producers to the Swiss fest. The section is also entering the final year in its three-year focus on Southeast Asia and Mongolia specifically.
“This one is much more the result of the exploration of the region and the collaboration we have been building with talents over the last two and a half years,” explains Open Doors director Sophie Bourdon. “On the co-production side, it’s only first-time feature directors with one exception, but many of them have had shorts featured at the festival.”
Bourdon admits the last couple years have been difficult for Open Doors.
- 8/4/2021
- by Will Thorne
- Variety Film + TV
Final session of three-year cycle will showcase ight projects and nine producers.
Thai director Sompot Chidgasornpongse, a long-time collaborator of Palme d’Or winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul, and emerging Myanmar documentarian Sein Lyan Tun are among the filmmakers who will be presenting projects at this year’s edition of the Locarno Film Festival’s Open Doors programme.
The initiative, aimed at supporting cinema from the global south and east, is in the final year of a three-year cycle focused on Southeast Asia and Mongolia and encompassing independent filmmaking communities in Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Mongolia.
Thai director Sompot Chidgasornpongse, a long-time collaborator of Palme d’Or winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul, and emerging Myanmar documentarian Sein Lyan Tun are among the filmmakers who will be presenting projects at this year’s edition of the Locarno Film Festival’s Open Doors programme.
The initiative, aimed at supporting cinema from the global south and east, is in the final year of a three-year cycle focused on Southeast Asia and Mongolia and encompassing independent filmmaking communities in Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Mongolia.
- 6/8/2021
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
When trains were first introduced to Thailand in the 1890s, through a royal decree heard at the beginning of the documentary, they were seen as a step towards progress and prosperity, but instead, the train system remained frozen in time due to corruption and inefficient management. First time director Sompot Chidgasornpongse spent 8 years, from 2008 to 2016 shooting in various railways in the country, in order to present his trip from the North to the South of Thailand, with his camera sharing the images an actual passenger would witness inside the trains. At the same time, he explains the history of the railways in Thailand, through narration and a sort of an interview with a lines’ surveyor.
“Railway Sleepers” screened at Bertha DocHouse, as part of On The Line, a season focusing on films which traverse the railways of the world.
Mostly shot with a digital camera, particularly in the interior of the trains,...
“Railway Sleepers” screened at Bertha DocHouse, as part of On The Line, a season focusing on films which traverse the railways of the world.
Mostly shot with a digital camera, particularly in the interior of the trains,...
- 7/11/2020
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
La Fabrique Cinéma, the French support program aimed at young filmmakers from emerging countries, presented a wide-ranging showcase of works from around the world at the Cannes online market on Tuesday, among them new works by Iranian filmmaker Keywann Karimi (“Drum”) and Thai helmer Sompot Chidgasornpongse (“Railway Sleepers”).
They are among 10 filmmakers taking part in the Institut Français’ La Fabrique Cinéma program, presenting projects in various stages of development with the aim of finding co-production partners.
The works explore such topical issues as the trauma of war and imprisonment, religion, gender identity, migration, mental illness, love and family.
In “Do You Know Anything About Omid?” Karimi tells the story of a middle-aged couple in Tehran who set off in search of their beloved cat, who has disappeared. The film examines 1980s Iran, right after the revolution, when many people were imprisoned and political prisoners, including communists, were executed.
“My film...
They are among 10 filmmakers taking part in the Institut Français’ La Fabrique Cinéma program, presenting projects in various stages of development with the aim of finding co-production partners.
The works explore such topical issues as the trauma of war and imprisonment, religion, gender identity, migration, mental illness, love and family.
In “Do You Know Anything About Omid?” Karimi tells the story of a middle-aged couple in Tehran who set off in search of their beloved cat, who has disappeared. The film examines 1980s Iran, right after the revolution, when many people were imprisoned and political prisoners, including communists, were executed.
“My film...
- 6/24/2020
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Singapore’s Fran Borgia among the producers working with up-and-coming talent.
The Southeast Asia Fiction Film Lab (Seafic) has announced the five projects that will participate in its fourth edition, including projects produced by Cannes Palme d’Or winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Singapore’s Fran Borgia (A Land Imagined).
The five projects, which come from Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and for the first time Malaysia, broach subject matter including sexual assault, illegal immigration and violent insurgency.
Among the selection is the first narrative film from Thailand’s Sompot Chidgasornpongse, whose documentary Railway Sleepers screened in Busan and...
The Southeast Asia Fiction Film Lab (Seafic) has announced the five projects that will participate in its fourth edition, including projects produced by Cannes Palme d’Or winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Singapore’s Fran Borgia (A Land Imagined).
The five projects, which come from Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and for the first time Malaysia, broach subject matter including sexual assault, illegal immigration and violent insurgency.
Among the selection is the first narrative film from Thailand’s Sompot Chidgasornpongse, whose documentary Railway Sleepers screened in Busan and...
- 2/14/2020
- by 89¦Liz Shackleton¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Leading Asia-based film makers Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Fran Borgia and Yulia Evina Bhara (“The Science of Fictions”) are set as producers among the five projects selected to participate in the 2020 edition of the Southeast Asia Fiction Film Lab (Seafic). The lab provides eight months of development under the guidance of dedicated script advisers.
Palme d’Or winner, Weerasethakul and Kissada Kamyoung will produce “9 Temples to Heaven,” a second feature by director Sompot Chidgasornpongse (“Railway Sleepers”). The story involves an outing that tests a family’s relationships and beliefs.
Borgia and Judith Tong are producing first film “Amoeba,” by Siyou Tan, a Singaporean filmmaker and visual artist, whose short film “Hello Ahma” played in Berlin and Toronto. The story focuses on a misfit girl in the 1990s.
Bhara and Siska Raharja are set to produce “Mayday,” by Indonesian first timer Eden Junjung. When a woman’s workplace sexual harassment secret is revealed to her husband,...
Palme d’Or winner, Weerasethakul and Kissada Kamyoung will produce “9 Temples to Heaven,” a second feature by director Sompot Chidgasornpongse (“Railway Sleepers”). The story involves an outing that tests a family’s relationships and beliefs.
Borgia and Judith Tong are producing first film “Amoeba,” by Siyou Tan, a Singaporean filmmaker and visual artist, whose short film “Hello Ahma” played in Berlin and Toronto. The story focuses on a misfit girl in the 1990s.
Bhara and Siska Raharja are set to produce “Mayday,” by Indonesian first timer Eden Junjung. When a woman’s workplace sexual harassment secret is revealed to her husband,...
- 2/14/2020
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Lin Cheng-sheng (“Betlnut Beauty”), Giddens Ko (“You Are The Apple of My Eye”), Pang Ho-cheung (“Love in a Puff”) and Yeo Siew-hua (“A Land Imagined”) are among the big name Asian directors lining up to participate in the 18th edition of the Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum.
The powerhouse project market will run for three days, alongside FilMart, traditionally Asia’s biggest film and TV rights market. With an unusual Wednesday start date for both, Haf will operate March 25-27, and FilMart 25-28 March.
In addition to the traditional one-on-one matching operation between producers and those distributors sales agents and financiers looking to invest at a film’s early stages, Haf also offers numerous cash and in-kind prizes. This year the 33 selected projects vie for 18 prizes and sponsorship packages.
The stellar lineup of directors is matched by equally established producers – and directors turned producer. These include: Hong Kong’s...
The powerhouse project market will run for three days, alongside FilMart, traditionally Asia’s biggest film and TV rights market. With an unusual Wednesday start date for both, Haf will operate March 25-27, and FilMart 25-28 March.
In addition to the traditional one-on-one matching operation between producers and those distributors sales agents and financiers looking to invest at a film’s early stages, Haf also offers numerous cash and in-kind prizes. This year the 33 selected projects vie for 18 prizes and sponsorship packages.
The stellar lineup of directors is matched by equally established producers – and directors turned producer. These include: Hong Kong’s...
- 1/20/2020
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
The 18th edition of the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum will run alongside Filmart from March 25-27.
The Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum has announced the 33 projects shortlisted for this year’s edition of the co-production and financing market, including 24 fictional features and nine documentaries.
The selection includes leading Asian filmmakers such as Thailand’s Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Taiwan’s Giddens Ko, Japan’s Naoko Ogigami and Singapore’s Yeo Siew Hua, as well as 11 first-time feature directors.
Seven Hong Kong projects have been selected, including Pang Ho-cheung’s The End, the story of a psychic medium who seeks help from...
The Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum has announced the 33 projects shortlisted for this year’s edition of the co-production and financing market, including 24 fictional features and nine documentaries.
The selection includes leading Asian filmmakers such as Thailand’s Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Taiwan’s Giddens Ko, Japan’s Naoko Ogigami and Singapore’s Yeo Siew Hua, as well as 11 first-time feature directors.
Seven Hong Kong projects have been selected, including Pang Ho-cheung’s The End, the story of a psychic medium who seeks help from...
- 1/20/2020
- by 89¦Liz Shackleton¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Below you will find our favorite films of the 2017 Berlin International Film Festival, as well as an index of our coverage.Awardstop PICKSGiovanni Marchini CamiaI.On the Beach at Night AloneII.Bright NightsIII.Ulysses in the Subway, The Other Side of Hope, The Party, El Mar La Mar, Railway Sleepers, UntitledYaron DahanI.El Mar La MarII.The Other Side of HopeHave a Nice DayIII.On Body and SoulCOVERAGEGiovanni Marchini CamiaRead | How Political Is the Berlinale?: On Berlin's Critics' Week and Étienne Comar's DjangoRead | Family Dinners and Parisian Hotels: On Oren Moverman's The Dinner and Neïl Beloufa's OccidentalRead | Getting Better—and Funnier: On Aki Kaurismäki's The Other Side of Hope and Sally Potter's The PartyRead | Chromesthetic Delirium and Documentary Spontaneity: On Marc Downie, Paul Kaiser, Flo Jacobs & Ken Jacobs' Ulysses in the Subway and Michael Glawogger & Monika Willi's UntitledYaron DahanRead | Elemental Poetics: On J.
- 3/6/2017
- MUBI
As a critic, especially if you cover the festival circuit, befriending filmmakers is both a pleasant matter of course and a recurring cause for minor ethical quandaries. When they release a new film, do you avoid writing about it? And if not, will you be able to remain critical even if you dislike it, potentially severing a friendship?It’s therefore with some trepidation that I approached Railway Sleepers by Sompot Chidgasornpongse, whom I’d met in 2014 on the set of Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Cemetery of Splendour, where he was the 1st Assistant Director (since starting out as an intern on The Adventure of Iron Pussy, Sompot has worked on the majority of Apichatpong’s films). He first told me about his film on the ride back from the shoot one day, during a discussion about the Dardennes’ Two Days, One Night. He wanted to see the Dardennes’ film to...
- 2/14/2017
- MUBI
World premieres include Barrage, starring Isabelle Huppert and her daughter Lolita Chammah.Scroll down for full list
This year’s Forum programme at the Berlin Film Festival (Feb 9-19), which highlights avant garde and experimental works, will feature 47 films, including 29 world premieres.
These include the premiere of Laura Schroeder’s Barrage, which stars Isabelle Huppert alongside her daughter Lolita Chammah in the story of a young woman who returns to Luxembourg after a 10-year absence to spend time with her estranged child. Huppert plays the grandmother, who has fostered the young girl during that absence.
Read: ‘Barrage’, starring Isabelle Huppert and daughter Lolita, finds sales home
Having its international premiere at Forum this year will be Golden Exits, the new feature from American filmmaker Alex Ross Perry. His previous credits include Queen Of Earth, which premiered at Berlin in 2015. His latest tells the story of a young Australian woman who comes to New York for a few months...
This year’s Forum programme at the Berlin Film Festival (Feb 9-19), which highlights avant garde and experimental works, will feature 47 films, including 29 world premieres.
These include the premiere of Laura Schroeder’s Barrage, which stars Isabelle Huppert alongside her daughter Lolita Chammah in the story of a young woman who returns to Luxembourg after a 10-year absence to spend time with her estranged child. Huppert plays the grandmother, who has fostered the young girl during that absence.
Read: ‘Barrage’, starring Isabelle Huppert and daughter Lolita, finds sales home
Having its international premiere at Forum this year will be Golden Exits, the new feature from American filmmaker Alex Ross Perry. His previous credits include Queen Of Earth, which premiered at Berlin in 2015. His latest tells the story of a young Australian woman who comes to New York for a few months...
- 1/19/2017
- by tom.grater@screendaily.com (Tom Grater)
- ScreenDaily
The 67th Berlin International Film Festival announced 43 additions to its 2017 roster today, including Alex Ross Perry’s “Golden Exits,” Joshua Z. Weinstein’s “Menashe,” and Amman Abbasi’s “Dayveon,” and rounding out much of the festival’s main line-up.
Read More: Berlinale 2017 Will Premiere ‘Logan,’ ‘Trainspotting: T2,’ and Hong Sangsoo’s Latest
Known for its robust variety of programming, the festival previously announced new films from Aki Kaurismaki, Oren Moverman, Sally Potter, Agnieszka Holland, and Sebastian Lelio. More commercial fare includes the international premiere of Danny Boyle’s “Trainspotting” sequel, and the world premiere of James Mangold’s addition to the Wolverine franchise, “Logan.”
Read More: 5 Exciting Films in the 2017 Berlin Film Festival Competition Lineup
The films of the 47th Forum are:
2 + 2 = 22 [The Alphabet] by Heinz Emigholz, Germany – Wp
Adiós entusiasmo (So Long Enthusiasm) of Vladimir Durán, Argentina / Colombia – Wp
At Elske Pia (Pia Loving) by Daniel Joseph Borgmann, Denmark – Wp...
Read More: Berlinale 2017 Will Premiere ‘Logan,’ ‘Trainspotting: T2,’ and Hong Sangsoo’s Latest
Known for its robust variety of programming, the festival previously announced new films from Aki Kaurismaki, Oren Moverman, Sally Potter, Agnieszka Holland, and Sebastian Lelio. More commercial fare includes the international premiere of Danny Boyle’s “Trainspotting” sequel, and the world premiere of James Mangold’s addition to the Wolverine franchise, “Logan.”
Read More: 5 Exciting Films in the 2017 Berlin Film Festival Competition Lineup
The films of the 47th Forum are:
2 + 2 = 22 [The Alphabet] by Heinz Emigholz, Germany – Wp
Adiós entusiasmo (So Long Enthusiasm) of Vladimir Durán, Argentina / Colombia – Wp
At Elske Pia (Pia Loving) by Daniel Joseph Borgmann, Denmark – Wp...
- 1/18/2017
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
The 19th Busan International Film Festival (Biff) has announced 29 projects selected to benefit from Asian Cinema Fund (Acf) 2014, including projects by award-winning directors such as O Muel (Jiseul) and Hannah Espia (Transit).
Acf this year picked 11 projects from Korea and 18 from around the rest of the continent.
Organisers stated Acf got a total of 565 submissions, approximately 30% up from last year. The submissions came from 52 countries including 161 projects from India and 50 from China.
“We think this big increase in submissions is due to the fact that we’ve publicized the Acf a lot, but also possibly because the production environment in Asia has gotten more difficult,” said Acf director Hong Hyosook.
The Acf 2014 Script Development Fund goes to eight projects - three from Korea and five from the rest of Asia. Each will receive a cash grant of KW10m (currently approximately $9,880).
They include projects from filmmakers who previously screened films in Busan like Cambodian-French director Davy Chou, whose...
Acf this year picked 11 projects from Korea and 18 from around the rest of the continent.
Organisers stated Acf got a total of 565 submissions, approximately 30% up from last year. The submissions came from 52 countries including 161 projects from India and 50 from China.
“We think this big increase in submissions is due to the fact that we’ve publicized the Acf a lot, but also possibly because the production environment in Asia has gotten more difficult,” said Acf director Hong Hyosook.
The Acf 2014 Script Development Fund goes to eight projects - three from Korea and five from the rest of Asia. Each will receive a cash grant of KW10m (currently approximately $9,880).
They include projects from filmmakers who previously screened films in Busan like Cambodian-French director Davy Chou, whose...
- 6/30/2014
- by hjnoh2007@gmail.com (Jean Noh)
- ScreenDaily
Though the market seemed slow on the surface, the usual sales got made: the larger companies selling almost out, the smaller ones busily speaking with others, selling here and there, worrying if this would get better, worse, or stay the same.
Meanwhile fascinating and energizing conversations were carried on with friends, newcomers, keepers of funds, representatives of countries and their needs to internationalize, to join forces with one another to create new models, internationalize, form cross cultural competent and cooperative ways of working together. We know the past model is failing to keep up with the technology and its fast spawning product. Some would say the old model is old and frail, sucking its old teeth as it pretends to carry on, but in reality, it is carrying its own corpse upon its shoulders. I would never go so far as to say this; the model will be changed, refined and redesigned, but it will survive because some people enjoy theatrical settings and that helps further other sales
FBI Casting Director Beatrice Kruger (now working on Fatih Akin¹s The Cut) spoke to us over dinner at Einsteins about her experience on Woody Allen¹s To Rome With Love, how he got involved in the real life politics of Italy as he attempted to cast real newscasters in the roles they play in real life. He didn't want the right wingers. He didn't like them, but he was told he had to hire them if he wanted to access the government monies, ...besides, how could he cast a left wing newscaster into the role off a right wing commentator? The experience of Italian politics did not make him happy.
Frank Cox, the founder of the Australian arthouse distributor Hopscotch which has been sold to eOne Entertainment, was in the Scandinavian Pavilion and told me he is still carrying on though on a smaller scale with his original company, New Vision Distribution. He recently acquired We¹re The Best by Lucas Moodyson, a darling film that showed in Cannes and Toronto and totally endeared me to its 13 year old girls as they searched for ways to get into trouble. (Magnolia has U.S.)
Robbie Little and Elie Mechoulam, Director of Sales and Marketing of The Little Film Company tallying up that $30,000,000 at the box office at $11 per ticket is only 3 million admissions, or 300,000 tickets sold...TV would be failure if it had such numbers. TV makes $46 million in ad sales on one episode of a great series...
Andrea Kaul, the EFM¹s new Co-Director who comes from Rtl TV and ad sales was not at that conversation, but when we spoke after the market was finished, such a topic as episodic content and online ad sales was also on her mind. The Berlinale screening of Netflix¹s second installment of Houses of Cards was a great success in the last days of the Berlinale, which was in itself food for thought. Even Dieter Kosslick, in his interview with Indiewire¹s Eric Kohn (Read Here) said, "We showed, for the first time in history, House of Cards. We have never done such a thing before. Heads were turning last night. Last year, we had [Jane Campion¹s TV series] Top of the Lake (in its entirety),so we are starting this new whole world."
Ted Hope of Fandor pointed out, "Research company Markets and Markets predicts global video-on-demand (VOD) revenue will grow from $21 billion last year to $45 billion in 2018. They define this as the combined revenues of all VOD outlets, worldwide ‹ essentially digital (online) VOD plus cable & satellite VOD. Huge numbers, but actually not a particularly high compound annual growth rate (16%) to get to the $45b number in years. Figure roughly half of this revenue flows to content owners and half to the VOD outlets."
To see the excitement of young people just beginning...everything to gain and little to lose, learning to like what they are doing to further their aims at telling stories their way. When I spoke with Wafa Tajdin, a founding partner and lead producer at Seven Thirty Films, an Africa based indie production company she runs with her sister, artist and film maker Amirah Tajdin. This Arab Indian pair of sisters is working to tell their stories of growing up in Kenya and living in Dubai...I asked which parent was what and was told that each parent was also half Arab, half Indian, the same sexes too...I should have told them about Peter, whose Italian Jewish parents also lived in such a ghetto of mixed marriages in east Harlem in the 1910s and 1920s. These are the stories which are forming in world cinema today. You can see her work Here
True cross-culture creation is taking place in the Talents section of the Efm. Eleven films of former Talent Campus participants are showing in the festival this year
One talent, Sompot Chidgasornpongse has formed a new international sales agency (and distribution company) called Mosquito. Thailand¹s leading independent filmmakers Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives), Pimpaka Towira (One Night Husband), Aditya Assarat (Hi-So), Soros Sukhum (Wonderful Town), Anocha Suwichakornpong (Mundane History), and Lee Chatametikool have joined hands to open Mosquito Films Distribution. The new company will handle international sales and festival distribution for the partners¹ films as well as upcoming titles from the new generation of Southeast Asian filmmakers. - See more Here
Ben Gibson of London Film School,Ira Deutchman of Colombia Film School, German film school dffb, Frances La Femis, Fescac the Romanian Film and Theater University are continuing their initiative Making Waves, bringing in students to work collaboratively to develop creative campaigns, edit trailers, design posters and plan roll-out packages for actual independent movies in the Efm.
Also exciting was the search for new models, not only in the film world of funding by government organizations, but of society as discussed in such films as Göran Hugo Olsson¹s (Black Mix Tapes) Concerning Violence and Hubert Sauper¹s We Come as Friends , and of women in society. 50% of public funds should be made available for women who not only constitute 50% of the public as moviegoers and should represent 50% of the cinephiles (those working in the film business) but 50% of all societies and therefore should have 50% of the voice of public policy.
In its second year, the Dortmund Women's Film Festival drew even more women to hear and discuss the status of women in the film business and gender parity. Speakers such as Heike Meyer-Döring of the Creative Europe Desk of Film and Medienstiftung Nrw, Bosnian filmmaker and Golden Bear Winner in 2006 Jasmila Zbanic, So-in Hong of the Seoul International Womens Film Festival speaking on aims and projects of the Asian Women Film Network, Melissa Silverstein of the Athena Film Festival and blogger on Women and Hollywood updating on the status of women filmmakers in the U.S., Mariel Macia of Mica/ Cima, Spain speaking of the proposal for the EU Commission regarding gender equality on state aid for film - all these and more, like Claudia Landsberger head of Eye International, Film Institute Netherlands hosting a panel of Susana de la Sierra, General Director of Icaa, Spanish Film Institute noting that 7% of the leading roles were women and the 2007 Law for Gender Equality, Cornelia Hammelmann, Project Director of the German Federal Fund, Sanja Ravlic, President of the Gender Equality Study Group of Eurimages, Croatia -- all spoke of what seems as obvious as the noses on our faces, but which has made little impact on the reality of policies yet... We had so many more conversations, I wish I could put them all here.
With all the ideas circulating, one could hardly say that the Berlinale and the European Film Market were not busy.
Meanwhile fascinating and energizing conversations were carried on with friends, newcomers, keepers of funds, representatives of countries and their needs to internationalize, to join forces with one another to create new models, internationalize, form cross cultural competent and cooperative ways of working together. We know the past model is failing to keep up with the technology and its fast spawning product. Some would say the old model is old and frail, sucking its old teeth as it pretends to carry on, but in reality, it is carrying its own corpse upon its shoulders. I would never go so far as to say this; the model will be changed, refined and redesigned, but it will survive because some people enjoy theatrical settings and that helps further other sales
FBI Casting Director Beatrice Kruger (now working on Fatih Akin¹s The Cut) spoke to us over dinner at Einsteins about her experience on Woody Allen¹s To Rome With Love, how he got involved in the real life politics of Italy as he attempted to cast real newscasters in the roles they play in real life. He didn't want the right wingers. He didn't like them, but he was told he had to hire them if he wanted to access the government monies, ...besides, how could he cast a left wing newscaster into the role off a right wing commentator? The experience of Italian politics did not make him happy.
Frank Cox, the founder of the Australian arthouse distributor Hopscotch which has been sold to eOne Entertainment, was in the Scandinavian Pavilion and told me he is still carrying on though on a smaller scale with his original company, New Vision Distribution. He recently acquired We¹re The Best by Lucas Moodyson, a darling film that showed in Cannes and Toronto and totally endeared me to its 13 year old girls as they searched for ways to get into trouble. (Magnolia has U.S.)
Robbie Little and Elie Mechoulam, Director of Sales and Marketing of The Little Film Company tallying up that $30,000,000 at the box office at $11 per ticket is only 3 million admissions, or 300,000 tickets sold...TV would be failure if it had such numbers. TV makes $46 million in ad sales on one episode of a great series...
Andrea Kaul, the EFM¹s new Co-Director who comes from Rtl TV and ad sales was not at that conversation, but when we spoke after the market was finished, such a topic as episodic content and online ad sales was also on her mind. The Berlinale screening of Netflix¹s second installment of Houses of Cards was a great success in the last days of the Berlinale, which was in itself food for thought. Even Dieter Kosslick, in his interview with Indiewire¹s Eric Kohn (Read Here) said, "We showed, for the first time in history, House of Cards. We have never done such a thing before. Heads were turning last night. Last year, we had [Jane Campion¹s TV series] Top of the Lake (in its entirety),so we are starting this new whole world."
Ted Hope of Fandor pointed out, "Research company Markets and Markets predicts global video-on-demand (VOD) revenue will grow from $21 billion last year to $45 billion in 2018. They define this as the combined revenues of all VOD outlets, worldwide ‹ essentially digital (online) VOD plus cable & satellite VOD. Huge numbers, but actually not a particularly high compound annual growth rate (16%) to get to the $45b number in years. Figure roughly half of this revenue flows to content owners and half to the VOD outlets."
To see the excitement of young people just beginning...everything to gain and little to lose, learning to like what they are doing to further their aims at telling stories their way. When I spoke with Wafa Tajdin, a founding partner and lead producer at Seven Thirty Films, an Africa based indie production company she runs with her sister, artist and film maker Amirah Tajdin. This Arab Indian pair of sisters is working to tell their stories of growing up in Kenya and living in Dubai...I asked which parent was what and was told that each parent was also half Arab, half Indian, the same sexes too...I should have told them about Peter, whose Italian Jewish parents also lived in such a ghetto of mixed marriages in east Harlem in the 1910s and 1920s. These are the stories which are forming in world cinema today. You can see her work Here
True cross-culture creation is taking place in the Talents section of the Efm. Eleven films of former Talent Campus participants are showing in the festival this year
One talent, Sompot Chidgasornpongse has formed a new international sales agency (and distribution company) called Mosquito. Thailand¹s leading independent filmmakers Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives), Pimpaka Towira (One Night Husband), Aditya Assarat (Hi-So), Soros Sukhum (Wonderful Town), Anocha Suwichakornpong (Mundane History), and Lee Chatametikool have joined hands to open Mosquito Films Distribution. The new company will handle international sales and festival distribution for the partners¹ films as well as upcoming titles from the new generation of Southeast Asian filmmakers. - See more Here
Ben Gibson of London Film School,Ira Deutchman of Colombia Film School, German film school dffb, Frances La Femis, Fescac the Romanian Film and Theater University are continuing their initiative Making Waves, bringing in students to work collaboratively to develop creative campaigns, edit trailers, design posters and plan roll-out packages for actual independent movies in the Efm.
Also exciting was the search for new models, not only in the film world of funding by government organizations, but of society as discussed in such films as Göran Hugo Olsson¹s (Black Mix Tapes) Concerning Violence and Hubert Sauper¹s We Come as Friends , and of women in society. 50% of public funds should be made available for women who not only constitute 50% of the public as moviegoers and should represent 50% of the cinephiles (those working in the film business) but 50% of all societies and therefore should have 50% of the voice of public policy.
In its second year, the Dortmund Women's Film Festival drew even more women to hear and discuss the status of women in the film business and gender parity. Speakers such as Heike Meyer-Döring of the Creative Europe Desk of Film and Medienstiftung Nrw, Bosnian filmmaker and Golden Bear Winner in 2006 Jasmila Zbanic, So-in Hong of the Seoul International Womens Film Festival speaking on aims and projects of the Asian Women Film Network, Melissa Silverstein of the Athena Film Festival and blogger on Women and Hollywood updating on the status of women filmmakers in the U.S., Mariel Macia of Mica/ Cima, Spain speaking of the proposal for the EU Commission regarding gender equality on state aid for film - all these and more, like Claudia Landsberger head of Eye International, Film Institute Netherlands hosting a panel of Susana de la Sierra, General Director of Icaa, Spanish Film Institute noting that 7% of the leading roles were women and the 2007 Law for Gender Equality, Cornelia Hammelmann, Project Director of the German Federal Fund, Sanja Ravlic, President of the Gender Equality Study Group of Eurimages, Croatia -- all spoke of what seems as obvious as the noses on our faces, but which has made little impact on the reality of policies yet... We had so many more conversations, I wish I could put them all here.
With all the ideas circulating, one could hardly say that the Berlinale and the European Film Market were not busy.
- 2/27/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
Six of Thailand’s leading independent filmmakers have joined forces to launch an international sales and festival distribution company, Mosquito Films Distribution.
The six filmmakers include Apichatpong Weerasethakul, who won the Cannes Palme d’Or for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, along with Pimpaka Towira (One Night Husband), Aditya Assarat (Hi-So), producer Soros Sukhum, Anocha Suwichakornpong (Mundane History) and Lee Chatametikool (Concrete Clouds).
The new company will handle international sales and festival distribution for the six partners’ films, as well as upcoming titles from the new generation of South-East Asian filmmakers. In addition to working on individual films, the new outfit aims to aggregate the content into curated programmes for film festivals and educational institutions.
Mosquito Films Distribution will make its debut at the Rotterdam Film Festival, which starts tomorrow (Jan 22-Feb 2) and also attend the Berlin Film Festival.
The company’s initial slate includes Concrete Clouds, directed by Chatametikool...
The six filmmakers include Apichatpong Weerasethakul, who won the Cannes Palme d’Or for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, along with Pimpaka Towira (One Night Husband), Aditya Assarat (Hi-So), producer Soros Sukhum, Anocha Suwichakornpong (Mundane History) and Lee Chatametikool (Concrete Clouds).
The new company will handle international sales and festival distribution for the six partners’ films, as well as upcoming titles from the new generation of South-East Asian filmmakers. In addition to working on individual films, the new outfit aims to aggregate the content into curated programmes for film festivals and educational institutions.
Mosquito Films Distribution will make its debut at the Rotterdam Film Festival, which starts tomorrow (Jan 22-Feb 2) and also attend the Berlin Film Festival.
The company’s initial slate includes Concrete Clouds, directed by Chatametikool...
- 1/21/2014
- by lizshackleton@gmail.com (Liz Shackleton)
- ScreenDaily
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