I really enjoy the yearly ritual of delving into the depths of the year to reflect on my favourite watches for Directors Notes and have done so now for over a decade. When I went to write my top ten last year, I had just heard about the sudden death of my good friend and artistic mentor in Nottingham; Carol Crowe. I was just too sad to even open my laptop and we ran away to Whitby to see the new year in instead. I needed to feel cold air on my face and see comforting, familiar views.
2022 has been a year of gentle steps, finishing a new, deeply personal film – both shooting in the US and editing as well as starting another. My highlight was at legendary Rak Studios listening to Composer Tara Creme’s score being brought to life by a room full of skilled string players. I spontaneously burst into tears,...
2022 has been a year of gentle steps, finishing a new, deeply personal film – both shooting in the US and editing as well as starting another. My highlight was at legendary Rak Studios listening to Composer Tara Creme’s score being brought to life by a room full of skilled string players. I spontaneously burst into tears,...
- 12/31/2022
- by Jeanie Finlay
- Directors Notes
Switzerland’s Srf and Japanese broadcaster Nhk have acquired Rise and Shine’s crowdpleaser “Karaoke Paradise.”
Directed by Einari Paakkanen and produced by Marianne Mäkelä and Liisa Karpo for Napafilms, it premiered at Cph:dox and was recently shortlisted for the Best Documentary Award at the European Film Awards.
“It’s one of those rare films that casts a warmhearted look into the soul of its characters, maybe even into the soul of a nation. Finns don’t talk. They sing karaoke,” says Rise and Shine’s managing director Stefan Kloos, calling it “one of the masterpieces of that dry Finnish humor we all love.”
“It’s uplifting while tackling an important issue that we can all relate to: how to find happiness.”
“Karaoke Paradise”
Listening to songs and stories of those who find refuge on stage, including Finland’s most experienced karaoke hostess, Paakkanen continues to come close to his protagonists.
Directed by Einari Paakkanen and produced by Marianne Mäkelä and Liisa Karpo for Napafilms, it premiered at Cph:dox and was recently shortlisted for the Best Documentary Award at the European Film Awards.
“It’s one of those rare films that casts a warmhearted look into the soul of its characters, maybe even into the soul of a nation. Finns don’t talk. They sing karaoke,” says Rise and Shine’s managing director Stefan Kloos, calling it “one of the masterpieces of that dry Finnish humor we all love.”
“It’s uplifting while tackling an important issue that we can all relate to: how to find happiness.”
“Karaoke Paradise”
Listening to songs and stories of those who find refuge on stage, including Finland’s most experienced karaoke hostess, Paakkanen continues to come close to his protagonists.
- 9/20/2022
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
As the Finnish Film Affair embarks on the start of its second decade, the organizers of the annual industry event, which runs parallel to the Helsinki International Film Festival — Love & Anarchy, can both reflect on 10 years of success and look ahead for ways to continue to serve both the Finnish and the Nordic film industries.
“Finnish Film Affair started in 2012 with 240 participants. This year, for our 11th edition, we have nearly 500 delegates attending from over 20 countries, with a third of them being international guests and buyers,” Finnish Film Affair director Maria Pirkkalainen told Variety on the eve of the event, which runs from Sept. 21 – 23.
It’s a return to form for a Nordic showcase that, like other industry events around the world, has faced a range of disruptions since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
“The past years haven’t been the easiest for the Nordic film industry, and...
“Finnish Film Affair started in 2012 with 240 participants. This year, for our 11th edition, we have nearly 500 delegates attending from over 20 countries, with a third of them being international guests and buyers,” Finnish Film Affair director Maria Pirkkalainen told Variety on the eve of the event, which runs from Sept. 21 – 23.
It’s a return to form for a Nordic showcase that, like other industry events around the world, has faced a range of disruptions since the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
“The past years haven’t been the easiest for the Nordic film industry, and...
- 9/20/2022
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
The Finnish Film Affair’s 11th edition runs September 21-23.
The Finnish Film Affair’s 11th edition (September 21-23) will showcase around 30 Nordic films in development or production and four Finnish TV series projects in early development.
Some of the projects being presented are Selma Vilhunen’s Four Little Adults, a polyamory drama now in post; Katja Gauriloff’s second fiction feature Je’vida, the first feature film in the Skolt Sámi language; Teemu Nikki’s fantasy comedy for all ages Snot And Splash; the third instalment in the Niko animations, Niko - Beyond The Northern Lights, by Kari Juusonen...
The Finnish Film Affair’s 11th edition (September 21-23) will showcase around 30 Nordic films in development or production and four Finnish TV series projects in early development.
Some of the projects being presented are Selma Vilhunen’s Four Little Adults, a polyamory drama now in post; Katja Gauriloff’s second fiction feature Je’vida, the first feature film in the Skolt Sámi language; Teemu Nikki’s fantasy comedy for all ages Snot And Splash; the third instalment in the Niko animations, Niko - Beyond The Northern Lights, by Kari Juusonen...
- 9/2/2022
- by Wendy Mitchell
- ScreenDaily
Selection includes the final film by murdered Lithuanian filmmaker Mantas Kvedaravicius.
The 13 feature documentaries in the running for the 2022 European Film Awards have been revealed.
Scroll down for full list of titles
They include Mariupolis 2 by murdered Lithuanian filmmaker Mantas Kvedaravicius, which premiered at Cannes and comprises footage the director shot before he was captured and killed by the Russian army in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in April.
Also selected is Mr Landsbergis by Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa, a four-hour account of the struggle for Lithuania’s independence from the Ussr in the early 1990s, which won the...
The 13 feature documentaries in the running for the 2022 European Film Awards have been revealed.
Scroll down for full list of titles
They include Mariupolis 2 by murdered Lithuanian filmmaker Mantas Kvedaravicius, which premiered at Cannes and comprises footage the director shot before he was captured and killed by the Russian army in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in April.
Also selected is Mr Landsbergis by Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa, a four-hour account of the struggle for Lithuania’s independence from the Ussr in the early 1990s, which won the...
- 8/30/2022
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
There is something nakedly revealing about singing karaoke. The activity invites singers of all stripes to tap into their inner divas even, or especially, if you really can’t hit those notes or truly master that tricky wording. Given this, karaoke often lends itself to being a liberating and rather joyful pastime, the kind of drunken escapade from one’s life that allows you to let loose. Not so (or not only so) in Einari Paakkanen’s tender ode to the practice, “Karaoke Paradise.” This Finnish documentary chronicles instead the underlying melancholy that may also be excavated in those moments when it’s just you and a song you wish to make your own.
Paakkanen opens “Karaoke Paradise” with the kind of mundane image that will make up the bulk of his film. A barn in the distance at dawn fades as the camera swivels to find an unassuming building surrounded by a welcome,...
Paakkanen opens “Karaoke Paradise” with the kind of mundane image that will make up the bulk of his film. A barn in the distance at dawn fades as the camera swivels to find an unassuming building surrounded by a welcome,...
- 4/13/2022
- by Manuel Betancourt
- Variety Film + TV
German sales company has also done good business on Berlinale titlte ’Nelly & Nadine’.
Germany-based Rise And Shine World Sales has completed deals on Cph:Dox titles including Einari Paakkanen’s Finnish feature Karaoke Paradise, which had its world premiere last week at the festival.
Docs Barcelona Distribution has acquired the film for Spain, with a date still to be confirmed for the release.
Described as a “feel-good film”, Karaoke Paradise tells the story of how karaoke culture has unexpectedly taken hold in the cold north of Finland.
Rise and Shine has also sold Germany and Austria rights for Magnus Gertten...
Germany-based Rise And Shine World Sales has completed deals on Cph:Dox titles including Einari Paakkanen’s Finnish feature Karaoke Paradise, which had its world premiere last week at the festival.
Docs Barcelona Distribution has acquired the film for Spain, with a date still to be confirmed for the release.
Described as a “feel-good film”, Karaoke Paradise tells the story of how karaoke culture has unexpectedly taken hold in the cold north of Finland.
Rise and Shine has also sold Germany and Austria rights for Magnus Gertten...
- 3/31/2022
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Susanne Regina Meures’ Girl Gang is about a 14-year old social media influencer in Berlin.
Berlin-based Rise and Shine World Sales has acquired international rights to Susanne Regina Meures’ Girl Gang which will have its world premiere in the Dox:Award section at next week’s Cph:dox festival in Copenhagen.
Meures’ film centres on 14-year-old Leonie, a successful influencer living on the outskirts of Berlin - and her biggest fan.
Girl Gang is produced by Switzerland’s Christian Frei Filmproduktion with Swiss broadcaster Srf. It is Meures’ third feature-length documentary following her 2016 debut Raving Iran and Saudi Runaway. The latter premiered...
Berlin-based Rise and Shine World Sales has acquired international rights to Susanne Regina Meures’ Girl Gang which will have its world premiere in the Dox:Award section at next week’s Cph:dox festival in Copenhagen.
Meures’ film centres on 14-year-old Leonie, a successful influencer living on the outskirts of Berlin - and her biggest fan.
Girl Gang is produced by Switzerland’s Christian Frei Filmproduktion with Swiss broadcaster Srf. It is Meures’ third feature-length documentary following her 2016 debut Raving Iran and Saudi Runaway. The latter premiered...
- 3/17/2022
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
The Swiss documentary festival has unveiled the line-ups for its Grand Angle and Latitudes sections.
Swiss documentary festival Visions du Réel has unveiled the line-ups for its Grand Angle and Latitudes sections, ahead of the full programme’s announcement on March 15, which includes A House Made Of Splinters, set in a children’s home in Eastern Ukraine.
A statement from the festival said: “Visions du Réel is joining the international movement of solidarity with the Ukrainian people, who are fighting for their freedom. We express our support for Ukrainian artists and filmmakers, and for all those whose lives are threatened and upended by the war.
Swiss documentary festival Visions du Réel has unveiled the line-ups for its Grand Angle and Latitudes sections, ahead of the full programme’s announcement on March 15, which includes A House Made Of Splinters, set in a children’s home in Eastern Ukraine.
A statement from the festival said: “Visions du Réel is joining the international movement of solidarity with the Ukrainian people, who are fighting for their freedom. We express our support for Ukrainian artists and filmmakers, and for all those whose lives are threatened and upended by the war.
- 3/8/2022
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Pitching forum moved online in the wake of coronavirus concerns.
Participants in the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival’s first live-stream pitching session have praised the initiative but said it cannot replace face-to-face events.
The Greek festival moved the one-day pitching forum of its annual Agora Doc Market to an online streaming format this week, in the wake of concerns over coronavirus and shortly after its 22nd edition was postponed.
Some 12 documentary film projects took part in Monday’s Thessaloniki Pitching Forum, which saw 40 producers, directors, commissioning editors, festival programmers and other industry professionals dial in from 16 countries. Organisers said it was...
Participants in the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival’s first live-stream pitching session have praised the initiative but said it cannot replace face-to-face events.
The Greek festival moved the one-day pitching forum of its annual Agora Doc Market to an online streaming format this week, in the wake of concerns over coronavirus and shortly after its 22nd edition was postponed.
Some 12 documentary film projects took part in Monday’s Thessaloniki Pitching Forum, which saw 40 producers, directors, commissioning editors, festival programmers and other industry professionals dial in from 16 countries. Organisers said it was...
- 3/11/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
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