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“Baltic Uxo” and “The Big Chief” won awards Sunday at Docu Talents From the East during the Sarajevo Film Festival’s CineLink Industry Days.

Eight documentaries from Central and Eastern Europe, set for theatrical release in the next 12 months, were presented at Docu Talents From the East.

Lithuanian-German-Latvian co-production “Baltic Uxo,” directed by Agnė Dovydaitytė and Alexander Belinski, and produced by Dagnė Vildžiūnaitė, took the top award, which came with $5,000, in cooperation with Current Time TV.

The film looks at how 1.6 million tons of munitions, including chemical weapons, were dumped into the Baltic Sea and the North Sea after World War II. The film explores the ecological effects on marine life and the coastal landscapes.

The jury said the project “looks very professional, features beautiful cinematography, and seems to turn a hidden secret into a universal story.” They added: “We can imagine the success of the planned impact campaign, connecting...

As Switzerland’s international documentary film festival Visions du Réel is about to wrap up, its artistic director Emilie Bujès, who’s been running the show since 2017 and was part of the selection committee for several years before that, told Variety that packed theaters throughout the 10-day event are proof that the public is back.

She was very pleased to note that many of the 163 screenings were packed – “even the retrospectives!” – and she was delighted to have two women filmmakers among her guests.

“They were fantastic. Symbolically, to have two strong women who were so generous with the audience – it was paradise,” she said of Alice Rohrwacher, who will be in Cannes’ main competition with “La Chimera”, and acclaimed Argentinian filmmaker Lucrecia Martel, whose upcoming project, “Chocobar,” will be her first foray into feature-length non-fiction.

Bujès sat down with Variety for a look back at this 54th edition of Visions du Réel.

Swiss documentary film festival Visions du Réel (VdR) has unveiled the lineup of its 54th edition, which features a broad panorama of both established names and newcomers from around the world.

The festival kicks off on April 21 with the world premiere of “Nightwatchers” by Juliette de Marcillac and runs through April 30. The event will screen a total of 163 films from 46 countries, with a 50-50 parity between female and male directors.

No fewer than 12 out of 14 films in the main International Competition and 13 out of 15 in the Burning Lights section, the festival sidebar dedicated to new documentary expression, are world premieres, bearing testimony to the fest’s reputation for setting the trend on the global doc scene.

“I am thrilled to see that Visions du Réel is confirming both its role as a trailblazer – there are 24 first feature length films whilst 82 of the films screened are world premieres – and strong ties...

Edition runs April 23-27.

Swiss documentary festival Visions du Réel has unveiled the industry projects to be pitched and presented at its 2023 edition, taking place April 23-27.

This year’s selection includes Latvian filmmaker Laila Pakalnina whose new project Cat On My Mind will participate in VdR-Pitching. Pakalnina’s Ausma (2015) and In The Mirror (2020) played in competition at the Blak Nights Tallinn International Film festival while her shorts have screened at Berlin and Cannes.

Also participating in VdR-Pitching is Italy-us filmmaker Mo Scarpelli with her new project Faith about two young girls who live together in an abandoned classroom. Her...

The recent success of Cannes Directors’ Fortnight urban noir “Ashkal” from helmer Youssef Chebbi, and the 2021 international feature Oscar nomination for the provocative art world drama “The Man Who Sold His Skin” from director Kaouther Ben Hania reignited industry interest in projects from Tunisian directors. The Cairo Film Connection’s work-in-progress section supports this interest by offering the first Arab world look at “Red Path,” the second feature from Tunisian theater and cinema helmer Lotfi Achour (“Burning Hope”). The production is very different in style and genre from those of his aforementioned compatriots.

Inspired by real events and deeply rooted in a particular social context, “Red Path” is set in an extremely poor and isolated region of Tunisia’s northwest where, in 2015, terrorists attacked two young shepherds. They decapitated the older boy and commanded his younger cousin to bring the severed head back to the family as a gruesome message.

Ukrainian documentary “Dad’s Lullaby” and Romania’s “Between Revolutions” won the Docu Talent Awards, chosen from a field of nine documentary features from Central and Eastern Europe, at the Sarajevo Film Festival on Monday.

The Docu Talent Award for the most promising project went to “Dad’s Lullaby”, directed and produced by Lesia Diak. It tells the story of a Ukrainian veteran who returns home burnt out and traumatized from war but hoping to find peace for himself and his family. The jury described it as “a heartfelt depiction of a life under impossible circumstances,” adding: “Such a personal story is a valuable way to understand the scars of the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.”

The DAFilms.com Distribution Award, which covers international VOD release for two years on DAFilms.com, went to “Between Revolutions”, which is directed by Vlad Petri and produced by Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan. The archive-constructed film tells...

The buzzy documentary previously received the directing award at Sundance.

Danish filmmaker Simon Lereng Wilmont’s A House Made Of Splinters won the Golden Alexander prize of the international competition of the 24th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, which closed on Sunday, March 20.

With its European premiere at Thessaloniki, Wilmont’s film is gaining attention on the festival circuit, having won the directing award in the World Cinema Documentary section on debut at the online Sundance in January; and also received the Fipresci prize in Thessaloniki.

Scroll down for the full list of winners

Shot in Ukraine prior to the Russian invasion...

The buzzy documentary previously received the directing award at Sundance.

Danish filmmaker Simon Lereng Wilmont’s A House Made Of Splinters won the Golden Alexander main prize in the international competition of the 24th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, which closed on Sunday, March 20.

With its European premiere at Thessaloniki, Wilmont’s film is gaining attention on the festival circuit, having won the directing award in the World Cinema Documentary section on debut at the online Sundance in January; and also received the Fipresci prize in Thessaloniki.

Scroll down for the full list of winners

Shot in Ukraine prior to the Russian...

Dawn was named Best Fiction Feature Photo: Courtesy of Calvert Film Journal The Calvert Journal has announced the winners of this year's Calvert Journal Film Festival.

Latvian film Dawn, directed by Laila Pakalnina was named the Best Fiction Feature, with the jury saying: “In Dawn, the director handles with subtlety and depth her ambiguity and willfully elusive intentions. A very complex film, where one feels going through a range of emotions, in a familiar, yet strange, imaginative world. A blend of culture, history, political, and social commentary, all wrapped up in a visually exquisite world that is as appealing, as it is informative.”

Eric Bednarski's Warsaw: A City Divided took the prize for Best Documentary Feature. The jury said: “This documentary contextualises rare, archival found footage of the Warsaw Ghetto with personal testimony from survivors, and reflections on its modern-day legacy, to shed light on its place within the Holocaust,...

The strand showcases films from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

The Baltic competition of Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival will screen 12 films, including five world premieres, at the festival’s 25th edition.

The competition showcases films from the three Baltic states - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. There will be five Estonian films, with four from Lithuania and three from Latvia.

Scroll down for the full line-up

The five world premieres are Ivar Murd’s u.Q., which tells the story of Estonian funk-soul-jazz producer Uku Kuut’s; Emilis Vėlyvis’ Lithuanian crime thriller The Generation Of Evil, set in a small Latvian...

The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) added 65 titles to its lineup Tuesday, unveiling the non-competitive program sections Best of Fests, Masters and Paradocs. The 34th edition of IDFA takes place from Nov. 17-28 in Amsterdam.

Best of Fests honors award winners, critics’ picks and audience favorites from the year’s festivals. The 46 strong selection includes India-set story about estranged lovers “A Night of Knowing Nothing” by Payal Kapadia, documentary award winner at Cannes, wildlife film “The Velvet Queen,” by debut director Marie Amiguet, “Users,” an exploration of humanity’s future by Natalia Almada, and “Taming the Garden,” the slow-cinema feature by Salomé Jashi.

These are joined by buzzy audience films such as Alison Klayman’s Alanis Morissette biopic “Jagged,” and Bing Liu and Joshua Altman’s “All These Sons,” from the filmmaking team behind “Minding the Gap.” The section also pays tribute to the surprise gems from the festival circuit,...

Latvian writer-director Laila Pakalnina has established a uniquely absurdist voice over the last 25 years, switching fluidly between longform dramas, shorts and documentaries. Her latest feature, In the Mirror, is a playful contemporary reboot of the classic Grimm brothers fairy tale Snow White, set in a fitness gym and largely composed of “selfie” shots, with cast members hugging the camera close as they deliver their dialogue straight into the lens. Some viewers may find such highly stylized, anti-naturalistic methods irritating. But for this reviewer, Pakalniņa’s experimental comic fable was the most lively and original world premiere at last month’s Black ...

Latvian writer-director Laila Pakalnina has established a uniquely absurdist voice over the last 25 years, switching fluidly between longform dramas, shorts and documentaries. Her latest feature, In the Mirror, is a playful contemporary reboot of the classic Grimm brothers fairy tale Snow White, set in a fitness gym and largely composed of “selfie” shots, with cast members hugging the camera close as they deliver their dialogue straight into the lens. Some viewers may find such highly stylized, anti-naturalistic methods irritating. But for this reviewer, Pakalniņa’s experimental comic fable was the most lively and original world premiere at last month’s Black ...

Laila Pakalnina's blackly comic fairy tale is built on the central idea of the mobile phone as a mirror. This is Snow White seen through a selfie prism that retells the familiar tale in ways that question today's tendency towards self-centredness and surface pleasures, exemplified by the way we use our phones. Her conceit is to have a character in each scene holding the camera in phone-selfie style, either speaking directly to it or while action bustles in the background. Even when whoever is holding the camera is speaking to another person, they keep looking at the camera  - meaning that scenes such as the early funeral of Snow White's mother are given an added sense of black comedy, as those who come to pay respects also make time to pose for the lens as we watch her father, holding the camera, as tears of grief trickle down his face.

Play on social media riffs on Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs.

Los Angeles-based Oration Films has acquired world sales on Latvian director Laila Pakalnina’s In The Mirror (Spogulis) ahead of Sunday’s (November 22) world premiere at Tallinn Black Nights.

A play on social media that riffs on the classic fairy tale Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs, the Official Competition selection looks at characters from the perspective of a selfie.

The cast includes Madlēna Valdberga, Elza Leimane, Lauris Dzelzītis, Gatis Gāga, Kaspars Gods, and Ģirts Krūmiņš.

Pakalnina wrote the screenplay and produced the Latvia-Lithuania co-production.

“Placing the Snow...

Twelve films to receive their world premiere in competition at the festival.

Estonia’s Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (November 13-29) has unveiled the full lineup of its main competition strand as it prepares to go ahead as a mix of physical and online events.

The festival’s official selection comprises 12 world premieres, 12 international and two European premieres. Eight of these films were previously announced, including István Szabó’s Final Report.

Scroll down for full list of titles

Titles set to receive their world premiere include rural drama Armugan from Spanish director Jo Sol, who won a best new director...

The line-up includes new films by István Szabó, Laila Pakalnina, Dalibor Matanić, Georgi Mindadze, Nisan Dağ, Anna Melikyan and Leonardo António. The 24th edition of the Tallinn Black Nights International Film Festival, taking place physically with a stripped-back programme from 13-29 November, has announced the first eight titles of its main Official Selection - Competition. Six of the films will have their world premieres at Tallinn. The line-up includes the international premiere of the most recent film by the Tallinn's 2013 Lifetime Achievement Awardee István Szabó, Final Report (Hungary), the story of a cardiology professor played by Klaus Maria Brandauer, who returns to his home village after retirement to become the local Gp. The film was released in Hungary in February before the lockdown. Latvian director Laila Pakalnina returns to Tallinn with In the Mirror (Latvia/Lithuania) a playful take on the Snow White motif, after winning the Best Cinematography award.

Line-up includes six world premieres, international debut of István Szabó’s ‘Final Report’.

Estonia’s Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (November 13-29) has announced the first eight films in its main competition strand as it prepares to go ahead as a physical event.

The line-up includes the international premiere of Final Report by Oscar-winning Hungarian filmmaker István Szabó, having previously been released in its native Hungary before lockdown in February.

The film centres on a retired cardiologist, played by Klaus Maria Brandaue, who stirs up old resentments when he returns to his home village. Szabó, a four-time Oscar nominee and winner in 1982 with Mephisto,...

Line-up includes six world premieres, international debut of István Szabó’s ‘Final Report’.

Estonia’s Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (November 13-29) has announced the first eight films in its main competition strand as it prepares to go ahead as a physical event.

The line-up includes the international premiere of Final Report by Oscar-winning Hungarian filmmaker István Szabó, having previously been released in its native Hungary before lockdown in February.

The film centres on a retired cardiologist, played by Klaus Maria Brandaue, who stirs up old resentments when he returns to his home village. Szabó, a four-time Oscar nominee and winner in 1982 with Mephisto,...

Line-up includes six world premieres, international debut of István Szabó’s ‘Final Report’.

Estonia’s Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (Nov 13-29) has announced the first eight films in its main competition strand as it prepares to go ahead as a physical event.

The line-up includes the international premiere of Final Report by Oscar-winning Hungarian filmmaker István Szabó, having previously been released in its native Hungary before lockdown in February.

The film centres on a retired cardiologist, played by Klaus Maria Brandaue, who stirs up old resentments when he returns to his home village. Szabó, a four-time Oscar nominee and winner in 1982 with Mephisto,...

The Les Arcs Film Festival has unveiled its selection of work in progress projects for 2019. The event, held at a French ski resort, is a film fest with an industry wing that has become well regarded in its 11 years’ of existence. A total of 18 features will take part this year, seven of which are directed by women (39%) – there were 34% female applicants. None of the selected films have sales agents attached. They are: Anna Nemes’ Beauty Of The Beast (Hungary); Eva Küpper’s Dark Rider; Ekaterina Selenkina’s Figures In The Urban Landscape (Russia), Slávek Horák’s Havel (Czech Republic), Khadar Ahmed’s The Gravedigger; Luàna Bajrami’s The Hill Where Lionesses Roar; Alex Camilleri’s Luzzu (Malta); Alessandro De Toni’s Myjing (Italy); Nabil Ben Yadir’s Praey; Fredrik Louis Hviid and Anders Ølholm’s Shorta (Denmark); Roman Vasyanov’s...

The 18 projects are looking for sales agents and distributors.

Upcoming films by Belgian filmmakers Eva Küpper and Nabil Ben Yadir, and Hungary’s Anna Nemes are among the 18 feature projects from 34 territories to be presented at the Work in Progress event of Les Arcs Film Festival from December 14 to 21.

Nemes will show extracts from her documentary Beauty Of The Beast about female body builders. She is also working on fictional spin-off work Gentle Monster, with compatriot Laszlo Csuja, which won the top prize at the Sam Spiegel Film Lab in Jerusalem over the summer.

Ben Yadir’s upcoming film Præy...

The 18 projects are looking for sales agents and distributors.

Upcoming films by Belgian filmmakers Eva Küpper and Nabil Ben Yadir, and Hungary’s Anna Nemes are among the 18 feature projects from 34 territories to be presented at the Work in Progress event of Les Arcs Film Festival from ecember 14 to 21.

Nemes will show extracts from her documentary Beauty Of The Beast about female body builders. She is also working on fictional spin-off work Gentle Monster, with compatriot Laszlo Csuja, which won the top prize at the Sam Spiegel Film Lab in Jerusalem over the summer.

Ben Yadir’s upcoming film Præy...

Immigrant Song: Kursietis Explores a Modern Slave Trade in Sophomore Film

Latvian cinema seems on the verge of an international breakthrough, with various new directors appearing at major international film festivals over the past decade. With his sophomore film Oleg, Juris Kursietis becomes the most prominent Latvian figure since Laila Pakalnina, presenting a somber immigrant tale of Latvians abroad in the European underbelly of Brussels. Considering Sergei Eisenstein, one of the forefathers of cinematic technique, hailed from Riga, Latvia’s capital, it’s surprising the country’s film industry has not blossomed faster than it has (although neighboring Baltic countries Lithuania and Estonia have also presented a handful of new artists over the past several years).…...

Selection includes Hong Khaou’s Monsoon, Jan-Ole Gerster’s Lara and Damjan Kozole’s Half-Sister.

The 54th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (June 28 - July 6) has unveiled the first competition titles in its Official Selection, East of the West and Documentary sections.

Scroll down for full line-ups

The 12-strong main competition will include 10 world premieres and two international premieres.

UK director Hong Khaou’s Monsoon, his follow up to his 2014 Sundance debut Lilting, is among the world premieres. Backed by BBC Films, Monsoon stars Henry Golding, best known for Crazy Rich Asians, as a man struggling with his return to...

Psychological drama takes the Grand Prix plus best actor for Elliott Crosset Hove.

Hlynur Pálmason’s psychological drama Winter Brothers won the Grand Prix at the 23rd Vilnius Film Festival ’Kino Pavasaris’.

The international jury for the newly created European Debut Competition declared the film “heralds a new voice in arthouse cinema”.

The Danish-Icelandic co-production, which premiered at Locarno last summer, also picked up the best actor award for Elliott Crosset Hove.

Winter Brothers is being handled internationally by New Europe Film Sales.

The jury gave the best actress award to Darya Zhovner for her role in Kantemir Balagov’s coming of age drama Closeness,...

My Happy Family also wins two awards at Wiesbaden festival.

Bojan Vuletic’s second feature Requiem For Mrs J. has become the first Serbian film in the history of the goEast - Festival of Central and Eastern European Film’s 17 years to win the top award, the €10,000 Golden Lily, for best film in Wiesbaden’s competition.

The co-production between Serbia’s See Film Pro, Bulgaria’s Geopoly Film, Fyr Macedonia’s Skopje Film Studio, France’s Surprise Alley and Russia’s Non-Stop Production had had its world premiere at the Berlinale’s Panorama section in February and is in the sales line-up of Belgrade-based Soul Food Films.

Vuletic, who had attended his film’s screenings and last night’s awards ceremony with lead actress Mirjana Karanovic (both pictured, top, alongside filmmaker Hana Jusic and festival director Gaby Babic), is no stranger to goEast after his feature debut Practical Guide To Belgrade With Singing And Crying had its...

The Baltic Event Coproduction Market Awards at the 20th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival

The Baltic Event Coproduction Market, taking place since 2005, is the largest coproduction platform in the region of Northern and Central Europe. With a complete overview of the year’s audiovisual production in the region and a range of programs open for feature film projects, Baltic Event is the key production platform to be at in November.

For its 15th edition, Baltic Event selected 14 projects from its traditional roster of new EU territories, Scandinavia and Russia, as well as a project from Georgia in collaboration with Eave and 2 projects from this year’s focus country, Luxembourg. The Baltic Event Coproduction Market presented these 17 projects from November 22 to 24, 2016 to international coproducers and buyers at more than 500 one-to-one meetings during the 20th jubilee edition of the Black Nights Film Festival.

The Baltic Event team was satisfied by the exceptionally...

Laila Pakalnina’s “Dawn” (“Ausma”) premiered at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival in 2015.

See the trailer here.

“The beauty of ‘Dawn’ lies in its richness, ambiguity and willfully elusive intentions. Stephen Dalton, Hollywood Reporter

Based on a Soviet propaganda story about Young Pioneers (the Soviet equivalent of a Boy Scouts), a young boy named Morozov denounced his father to Stalin’s secret police and was in turn killed by his family. His life exemplified the duty of all good Soviet citizens to become informers, at any expense. In our film, 75 years later, we call him little Janis. He is a pioneer who lives on the Soviet collective farm “Dawn”. His father is an enemy of the farm (and the Soviet system) and plots against it. Little Janis betrays his father; his father takes revenge upon his son.

Screen Pitch competition line-up; Queen Of Spades opens Main Competition.

Films from Russia, the Baltic states, Poland, Croatia and Georgia are among 17 projects selected for the 15th edition of the Baltic Event’s Co-Production Market (November 21-24).

The projects will be competing, among other awards, for Screen International’s Best Pitch Award which has gone in the past to projects from Finland, Estonia and Russia as well as the first ever Baltic co-production of a fiction feature film, Lithuania’s Seneca’s Day.

The prize is decided by the Co-Production Market’s participants.

This year’s selection features new projects by Latvia’s Laila Pakalnina (Insect Night), Croatia’s Vinko Bresan (What A Country!) and Poland’s Wojciech Smarzowski (The Clergy) and Dariusz Gajewski (Trust).

In addition, the Tallinn forum will serve as the venue for up-and-coming filmmakers such as Russia’s Maxim Dashkin, Lithuania’s Tomas Smulkis and Sweden’s Maria Eriksson to present new film...

Eighty-five countries have submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category for the 89th Academy Awards. Yemen is a first-time entrant.

The 2016 submissions are:

Albania, “Chromium,” Bujar Alimani, director;

Algeria, “The Well,” Lotfi Bouchouchi, director;

Argentina, “The Distinguished Citizen,” Mariano Cohn, Gastón Duprat, directors;

Australia, “Tanna,” Bentley Dean, Martin Butler, directors;

Austria, “Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe,” Maria Schrader, director;

Bangladesh, “link=tt5510934 auto]The Unnamed[/link],” Tauquir Ahmed, director;

Belgium, “The Ardennes,” Robin Pront, director;

Bolivia, “Sealed Cargo,” Julia Vargas Weise, director;

Bosnia and Herzegovina, “Death in Sarajevo,” Danis Tanovic, director;

Brazil, “Little Secret,” David Schurmann, director;

Bulgaria, “Losers,” Ivaylo Hristov, director;

Cambodia, “Before the Fall,” Ian White, director;

Canada, “It’s Only the End of the World,” Xavier Dolan, director;

Chile, “Neruda,” Pablo Larraín, director;

China, “Xuan Zang,” Huo Jianqi, director;

Colombia, “Alias Maria,” José Luis Rugeles, director;

Costa Rica, “About Us,” Hernán Jiménez, director;

Croatia, “On the Other Side,...

Eighty-five countries have submitted a film for consideration in the 60th anniversary year of the foreign language film category.

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Science said on Tuesday that this season also marks the first time Yemen has submitted a film, Khadija Al-Salami’s I Am Nojoom, Age 10 And Divorced.

The 89th Oscars will take place on February 26, 2017, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood. László Nemes’ Hungarian entry Son Of Saul won the award last February.

Foreign-language Academy Award Submissions

(Country, Title, director)

Albania, Chromium, dir Bujar Alimani;

Algeria, The Well, Lotfi Bouchouchi;

Argentina, The Distinguished Citizen, Mariano Cohn, Gastón Duprat;

Australia, Tanna, Bentley Dean, Martin Butler;

Austria, Stefan Zweig: Farewell To Europe, Maria Schrader;

Bangladesh, The Unnamed, Tauquir Ahmed;

Belgium, The Ardennes, Robin Pront;

Bolivia, Sealed Cargo, Julia Vargas Weise;

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Death In Sarajevo, Danis Tanovic;

Brazil, Little Secret, David Schurmann.

Bulgaria, Losers, [link...

The Busan film fest’s Asian Project Market (Apm) has highlighted a “strong presence” of women filmmakers in this year’s line-up.

A total of 27 titles from 16 countries have been selected including projects from names including Yim Soon-rye, Tan Chui Mui and Laila Pakalnina.

In its 19th year, the Apm (formerly called the Pusan Promotion Plan or Ppp) said it tried to go back to its original mission of discovering up-and-coming talent with a selection that includes Pavle Vuckovic - who debuted last year in Cannes with Panama - bringing his Serbian thriller Mountain Eyes and Lei Lei with her debut feature animation Ningdu,which has Isabelle Glachant attached as a producer.

Apm stated it saw “an increased interest and more submissions by female directors and producers” this year. Yim is bringing Project Lee Jung-Seob, based on the legendary Korean artist’s life, while Tan has Malaysian coming-of-age drama All About Yuyu and Pakalnina has Latvia-Estonia...

The producers of The Throne have returned their $10,600 prize, citing a desire to help the festival’s growth.

The team behind The Throne, which won Best Film at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (Nov 13-29) last week, have returned their $10,600 (€10,000) prize to the festival.

Production company Tiger Pictures and director Lee Joon-ik stated that they were impressed with the festival and they wished to donate their grant to help Black Nights become “a new European hub to create cinematic joy and fun.”

The Throne, which is South Korea’s Oscar submission for 2015, follows an 18th-century Korean ruling family. It also took the Best Music prize during the festival’s award ceremony on Nov 27.

The film’s screenwriter and producer, Cho Chul-hyun—who accepted the awards on behalf of Lee and music director Bang Jun-seok who were both absent—left a handwritten letter on Dec 1 to Festival Director Tiina Lokk explaining what Lee and Tiger Pictures wanted...

Tales of mythic figures, particularly those whose myth is perpetuated by governments, are ripe fodder for film. This can be especially interesting if someone like myself is ignorant of said mythic figure. Such is the case with Dawn, Laila Pakalnina's first fiction feature. I'll be honest, I'm not sure I really understood what was going on for much of the film, but it was completely engrossing. Part Tarkovsky, part Haneke, with a more than a touch of Einsenstein thrown in, this black and white surreal fable is a fascinating look at the early Soviet era, a tale of children gone wild, the price of communism, and a community under the siege of hunger and madness.Inspired by the tale of real life boy Pavlik Morozov who became...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Line-up includes seven world premieres and Oscar submissions from the Netherlands, South Korea and Kazakhstan.Scroll down for full list

Estonia’s Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (Nov 13-29) has revealed the international competition line-up for its 19th edition.

The festival will screen 18 titles in competition, comprising seven world premieres, three international premieres and eight European premieres.

Among them is Vitaliy Manskiy’s North Korea documentary Under The Sun, which reveals a simultaneously absurd and sinister portrayal of life under the nation’s regime.

The line-up also includes three submissions for this year’s Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar.

The Paradise Suite, The Netherlands’ submission, intertwines multiple storylines to highlight the trials and tribulations of modern day immigrants trying to survive in Amsterdam.

The Throne, South Korea’s entry, is an 18th-century historical drama about internal struggles within Korea’s royal family.

Stranger, Kazakhstan’s submission to the Academy, follows a nomad living out a meagre existence in the...

Producers from Finland, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Poland and Russia picked up awards at this year’s 13th Baltic Event co-production market (Nov 24-28) in Tallinn.

Finnish comedy Impaled Rektum by feature debutants Jukka Vidgren and Juuso Laatio was awarded the Screen International Best Pitch Award.

The €1.4m production about a young loser trying to overcome his stage fright and other fears by leading the worst heavy band of Finland, Impaled Rektum, to the hottest metal festival in Norway, will be produced by Kai Nordberg and Kaarle Aho of Helsinki-based Making Movies Oy.

This is the second time that Nordberg and Aho have received Screen’s Best Pitch Award after having previously been selected with Petri Kotwica’s Rat King which then went on to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Other past winners of the award include Alexei German’s Under Electric Clouds, which is understood to be premiering at a major international film festival soon, and...

Romania was the big winner at Vilnius’ Kino Pavasaris (Cinema Spring) festival with Tudor Cristian Jurgiu’s feature debut Japanese Dog was named Best Film in the New Europe - New Names competition.

A Romanian producer present in Vilnius expressed the hope that this latest success - after winning veteran actor Viktor Rebengiuc a Gopo Award in Bucharest last month - would spur his national film fund Cnc on to showing more support for its filmmakers.

However, Romania’s filmmaking community is still waiting in vain for the Cnc to announce the results of its latest competition for funding of film projects.

Awards for Blind Dates, Ida

The competition jury of Japanese actress Kaori Momoi, Latvian film-maker Laila Pakalnina, and festival programmers Verena von Stackelberg, Ludmila Cvikova and Dimitris Kerkinos, gave their Best Director statuette to Levan Koguashvili’s Blind Dates.

The acting honours went to Igor Samobor, the new teacher in Rok Bicek’s Class Enemy, and...

Matthew McConaughey and Scarlett Johansson win actor prizes.Scroll down for full list of winners

Tir, the first narrative film by Italian director Alberto Fasulo, has picked up the Golden Marc Aurelio Award for best film at the 8th Rome Film Fesival.

The docu-drama explores the current econmic crisis as seen through the eyes of a former professor who becomes a trucker to solve his money problems. It stars Slovenian actor Branko Zavrsan (No Man’s Land).

Fasulo is best known for documentaries including White Noise (Rumore bianco). Tir is being sold internationally by Fandango Sales.

One of 18 competition titles, Tir beat heavyweight Us titles including Jean-Marc Vallee’s Dallas Buyers Club, Spike Jonze’s Her and Scott Cooper’s Out of the Furnace.

However, all three of those films did manage to secure wins at the festival on Saturday evening.

Scarlett Johansson, who walked the red carpet at Rome earlier in the festival, won the best...

New projects from Pakalnina, Louhimies and Kilmi at Tallinn market.

New films from Laila Pakalnina (Dawn), Aku Louhimies (True) and Jaak Kilmi (Heroes from the East) are among 12 projects from 11 countries selected for this year’s Baltic Event co-production market which will be held in Tallinn from November 27-29.

Local Estonian film-maker Kilmi will be at the Baltic Event for the second year in a row after presenting another feature project, The Hoppers, which won the Screen International Best Pitch Award last year.

As the Baltic Event’s organisers point out, the 2013 line-up has a large number of feature debutants – six in total – ranging from Romania’s Botond-Csaba Püsök (Miracle in Cluj) through Ukraine’s Marysia Nikitiuk (When The Trees Are Falling) to Finland’s Jussi Hiltunen (Law of the Land).

In addition, Julietta Sichel, the former programme director of Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, is coming to Tallinn with her company 8Heads Production and Stanislav Babic of Croatia...

A total of 24 co-production projects and sections devoted to China, digital and remakes help make up Rome’s industry events.

The 8th Rome Film Festival (Nov 8-17) has revealed details of its International Film Market ahead of its launch next week.

Rome’s key industry initiatives – the informal The Business Street (TBS) screenings market and the New Cinema Network (Ncn) co-production market – will run from Nov 13-17.

Organisers are expecting distributors and producers from 45 countries and 700 accredited visitors as well as 24 selected projects, a China Day and a new initiative dedicated to remakes as well as meetings, panel discussions and conferences.

Single venue; digital focus

For its eighth edition, TBS will take place once again in Via Veneto, the street famously featured in Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita.

But for the first time both TBS and Ncn will be held in a single venue, the Hotel Bernini Bristol.

The Terrace will host the buyers and sellers...

Ashim Ahluwalia

Ashim Ahluwalia will sit on the Jury of the CinemaXXI section of the Rome Film Festival to be held from November 8 to 17, 2013.

The Jury, chaired by American director and artist Larry Clark, is composed of Ashim Ahluwalia (India), Yuri Ancarani (Italy), Laila Pakalnina (Latvia) and Michael Wahrmann (Uruguay).

On the occasion of the 100 Years of Indian Cinema, a restored version of Kamal Swaroop’s 1988 cult classic Om Dar Ba Dar will be screened out of competition in CinemaXXI.

Two Indian films are in competition in the CinemaXXI section: Prantik Basu’s Makara and Kamal Swaroop’s Rangbhoomi.

The Seventh Walk (Saatvin Sair) by Amit Dutta will be the closing film of CinemaXXI.

CinemaXXI is the Rome Film Festival competitive section devoted to new trends in world cinema and focuses on works that reflect the continuous reinvention of cinema in the contemporary audiovisual landscape. CinemaXXI hosts feature-length, medium-length, and short films.

The Busan International Film Festival has announced its Asian Project Market (Apm) line-up for this year with 30 projects including name directors like Kim Jee-woon, Wayne Wang and Mohsen Makhmalbaf.

A total of 249 projects were submitted this year, with Apm organizers noting 35% were international co-productions.

Out of the final 30 selected, 11 are co-productions, including Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s Iran-Georgia project The President, A Brand New Life director Ounie Lecomte’s Korea-Japan project A Thousand Weeds, and Edwin’s Exotic Pictures, an Indonesia-Netherlands-Germany collaboration.

ScreenDaily first reported on Makhmalbaf’s The President - his first English-language feature - last week.

Wayne Wang’s Japan-us project While The Women Are Sleeping, based on a short story from The New Yorker magazine about two vacationing couples at a resort, has been changed to incorporate Asian characters and settings.

Kim Jee-woon, who made his English language directorial debut earlier this year with The Last Stand starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, is planning...

Main Competition

Golden Marc.Aurelio for Best Film: "Marfa Girl" by Larry Clark

Best Director Award: Paolo Franchi, "And They Call It Summer" ("E la Chiamano Estate")

Special Jury Prize: "Ali Has Blue Eyes" ("Alì ha gli occhi azzurri") by Claudio Giovannesi

Best Actor Award: Jérémie Elkaïm, "Hand in Hand" ("Main dans la main")

Best Actress Award: Isabella Ferrari, "And They Call It Summer" ("E la Chiamano Estate")

Best Emerging Actor Award: Marilyne Fontaine, "A Child With You" ("Un enfant de toi")

Best Technical Contribution: Arnau Valls Colomer, for the cinematography of "Never Die" ("Mai morire")

Best Screenplay Award: Noah Harpster and Micah Fitzerman-Blue for "The Motel Life"

Cinemaxxi Competition

The International Jury, chaired by Douglas Gordon and composed of Hans Hurch, Ed Lachman, Andrea Lissoni and Emily Jacir, awarded:

CinemaXXI Award (for feature-length films): "Avanti Popolo" by Michael Wahrmann

Special Jury Prize . CinemaXXI (for feature-length films): "Picas...

• With only nine chosen titles, Cannes Short Films competition is probably the most exclusive competitive event at the festival. I can only imagine what the ratio was from submitted pictures to the lucky nine selected. Apart from an offering from New Zealand, this year's batch of short films resembles the dominance and output of European films in all sections of the festival this year. And like what Sundance has been doing for over two decades now, Cannes and The Cannes Cinefondation have lined-up short film offerings from the cinema schools from the four corners of the globe. Look for some form of coverage on our part Live at the festival.  Cannes Short Films In Competition "Ciao Mama," Croatia, Goran Odvorcic "Larsog Peter," Denmark, Daniel Borgman "L'homme a la Gordini," France, Jean-Christophe Lie "Klusums," Latvia, Laila Pakalnina "Missen," Netherlands, Jochem de Vries "The Six Dollar Fifty Man," New Zealand, Mark Albiston,

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TORONTO -- The 32nd Montreal International Festival of New Cinema and New Media unveiled a final lineup Tuesday that includes 85 feature-length films and 30 digital films. Festival organizers also noted that Werner Herzog will be on hand to recieve a tribute and that Peter Greenaway will take part in a panel on new media and new film. Both directors have films entered in the festival. The festival, set to run from Oct. 9-19, annually screens films that were earlier bypassed the rival Montreal World Film Festival and were shown at Toronto's international film event. In addition, the festival -- familiarly known by the acronym FCMM -- will offer a batch of new films, including "Man of the Year", from Brazilian director Jose Henrique Fonseca, Latvian director Laila Pakalnina's "Python", Canadian filmmaker Claude Fortin's "100% Bio" and Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan's "Distant".