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Insgesamt 26 Stoffentwicklungen hat die Projektkommission des Österreichischen Filminstituts bei seiner fünften Sitzung 2024 gefördert. Zum Zuge kamen neue Arbeiten von Barbara Albert, Jessica Hausner, Johannes Schmid und Peter Brunner.

ÖFI-Chef Roland Teichmann hat den Vorsitz der Projektkommission Stoffentwicklung inne (Credit: privat)

Am 6. und 7. August hat die Projektkommission für Stoffentwicklung des österreichischen Filminstituts getagt. Das Ergebnis der fünften Sitzung des Jahres: 26 Projekte erhielten Stoffentwicklungsförderung in Höhe von gesamt 365.998 Euro. Die Kommission konnte aus einem Rekordwert an insgesamt 91 eingereichten Projekten auswählen.

Zu den geförderten Stoffen gehört „Heimaten“, die neue Arbeit von Barbara Albert. Das Drehbuch schreibt die renommierte Filmemacherin gemeinsam mit Marie Noel Ntwa, Produktionsfirma ist die von Albert mitgegründete coop99 Filmproduktion. „Heimaten“ handelt von einer Frau, die mit ihrer Vergangenheit und der Herkunft ihrer leiblichen Eltern konfrontiert wird. Das ÖFI förderte mit 15.000 Euro. Barbara Albert taucht noch zwei weitere Male in der Förderliste auf, und zwar als Dramaturin: Einmal von Elena...

Initiiert von Karl Markovics wurden seit 2012 im Rahmen der Österreichischen Kurzfilmschau Kurzfilme aus Österreich in rund 45 Ländern präsentiert. Aktuell befinden sich 13 österreichische Kurzfilme auf Welttournee.

13 Kurzfilme sind im Rahmen der Österreichischen Kurzfilmschau 2023/24 zu sehen (Credit: Akademie des Österreichischen Films)

Im Rahmen der Österreichischen Kurzfilmschau 2023/24 befinden sich derzeit die 13 Kurzfilme, die für den Österreichischen Filmpreis nominiert waren, auf einer Welttournee. Das teilt die Akademie des Österreichischen Films heute mit.

Initiiert wurde die Österreichische Kurzfilmschau, die in Kooperation mit dem Bundesministerium für europäische und internationale Angelegenheiten (Bmeia) durchgeführt wird, 2012 vom Schauspieler, Regisseur und Drehbuchautor Karl Marcovics, der von 2009 bis 2013 zusammen mit Barbara Albert Präsident der Akademie des Österreichischen Films war. Seitdem hätten in mehr als 45 Ländern Präsentationen österreichischer Kurzfilme stattgefunden, heißt es in der Mitteilung weiter.

„Wir können mittlerweile auf eine 12-jährige, äußerst symbiotische, Zusammenarbeit im Rahmen der Österreichischen Kurzfilmschau zurückblicken. Für unsere Vertretungsbehörden in aller Welt ist die Kurzfilmschau schon längst...

Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner will serve as jury president of the Concorso Internazionale, at the 77th Locarno Film Festival, organizers said on Thursday.

She will oversee the jury that decides the winner of the Pardo d’Oro – the Golden Leopard – at the Swiss film festival, taking place Aug 7-17.

Hausner began her career in short films after studying at the Film Academy of Vienna, creating austere and distinctive films. Locarno was the first international festival at which Hausner’s work made an impression, taking home the main prize in the section Pardi di Domani for the short Flora in 1997.

She moved to Cannes with Inter-View (1999), her 45-minute graduation film, and later co-founded the production company coop99 which, besides Hausner’s own films and those of the other co-founders (Barbara Albert, Antonin Svoboda, and Martin Gschlacht), has also gone on to produce film such as Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann (2016) and...

Austrian filmmaker Jessica Hausner is to serve as jury president for the international competition at this year’s Locarno Film Festival, which takes place August 7-17.

Locarno was the first international festival at which Hausner’s work made an impression, taking home the main prize in the Pardi di Domani section for her short Flora in 1997.

Hausner’s first feature films Lovely Rita (2001) and Hotel (2004) both premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes, while Lourdes (2009) debuted in competition at the Venice Film Festival and took home the Fipresci prize. Her subsequent films include Un Certain Regard premiere Amour Fou (2014), and...

European Film Promotion has revealed the participants for its Producers on the Move program, which runs before and during the Cannes Film Festival.

The promotion and networking program, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary, brings together 20 of Europe’s most promising producers. This year, Efp will also put a spotlight on the numerous collaborations that have developed between the around 500 participants from 37 European countries over the past quarter century.

The 20 producers were selected for the program from the nominations submitted by Efp’s member organizations, which are all European national film promotion institutes.

They are Katharina Posch (Austria), Elisa Heene (Belgium/Flanders), Kalin Kalinov (Bulgaria), Tibor Keser (Croatia), Tonia Mishiali (Cyprus), Kristýna Michálek Květová (Czech Republic), Lina Flint (Denmark), Delphine Schmit (France), Fabian Driehorst (Germany), Maria Kontogianni (Greece), Sara Nassim (Iceland), Evan Horan (Ireland), Giedrė Žickytė (Lithuania), Katarzyna Ozga (Luxembourg), Angela Nestorovska (North Macedonia), Anita Rehoff Larsen (Norway), Isabel Machado...

Series projects by filmmakers Kevin Macdonald, Barbera Albert and Erik Matti have won key prizes at the second edition of Seriesmakers, Series Mania’s development lab for film directors moving into series.

Macdonald and producer Femke Wolting won one of two Beta Development Awards worth €50,000 for their series project George Blake which tells the story of the prolific British double agent.

Macdonald has won the Oscar best documentary feature prize for One Day In September, while The Last King of Scotland won an Oscar for lead actor for Forest Whitaker. He was unable to collect the prize which was picked up by Wolting.

Projects from Oscar-winning Scottish director Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland), Philippine filmmaker Erik Matti (On the Job) and Austrian auteur Barbara Albert (Nordrand) have been picked as the most promising new TV pitches at this year’s Series Mania festival.

Macdonald’s George Blake, a real-life spy thriller about the famed double agent, and Matti’s The Squatter, an East-meets-West crime story about a secretive Filipino maid and a tenacious Ukrainian detective who team up, won this year’s Beta Development Awards and will receive $54,000 (€ 50,000) each in development cash from European production and sales company Beta Group.

In addition to his feature work, which includes The Mauritanian with Tahar Rahim and Jodie Foster, and State of Play starring Ben Affleck and Russell Crowe, Macdonald has helmed several acclaimed documentaries, including the Oscar-winning One Day in September (2000), 2004’s Touching The Void and 2013’s Marley.

Matti’s crime thriller On the Job 2: The Missing 8...

“George Blake,” from Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald, “The Squatter” from Venice-acclaimed Erik Matti and “Sleeping Swans” from esteemed auteur Barbara Albert were the big winners from this year’s second edition of scripted incubator Seriesmakers.

Backed by Beta Group and Series Mania, the mentoring program for feature filmmakers looking to make the leap to TV will return for a third edition, organizers announced at Wednesday’s awards ceremony. The call for admissions will open soon.

Produced by Femke Wolting, the U.K./Dutch series “George Blake” looks into the wilder-than-fiction tale of the most prolific double agent in British history, asking the question of what makes a working class, former resistance fighter turn against everything they ever stood for?

The project will interrogate the multiple identities – and families – of a man who reinvented himself time and again, dying a traitor in England and a national hero in Russia. The project received in €50,000 in prize money.

Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald has won the €50,000 Series Mania Seriesmakers award.

The One Day in September director’s project is one of two winners to take home the prize, which has been forged by the Lille Confab and German major Beta Film.

Macdonald and producer Femke Wolting’s project is titled George Blake and tells the story of one of the most prolific double agents of not just the Cold War, but British history. The other winner is director Erik Matti and producer Ronald Monteverde for The Squatter from The Philippines, about a secretive Filipino maid and a tenacious Ukrainian detective who have to unravel the mysteries of a crime just as the crime itself unravels who they truly are.

The development lab is for feature film directors sidestepping into series production. Ten projects faced off including those helmed by Kaouther Ben Hania, who directed the Oscar-nominated doc Four Daughters.

Newen Studios has partnered with Berlin-based Flare Film to set up Spark Studios, an umbrella banner which will bundle its German production activities. The new banner will be headed by Flare Film chief Martin Heisler and Eva Kemme, who will be co-CEOs.

As its first acquisition, Spark Studios has purchased a majority stake in Dog Haus, a production company based in Berlin and Munich with credits including the series “The Gryphon,” which was ordered by Amazon Prime.

Dog Haus was created in 2021 by producer André Zoch, scriptwriter Erol Yesilkaya and director Sebastian Marka. Together, the trio has written and produced numerous crime dramas, including “Tatort” and “Exit” for Ard. The three founders serve as managing and creative directors for the company.

“Dog Haus is a production label for creatives who aspire to tell exceptional stories. We aim to consistently produce television, multimedia, cinematic films and series with the highest artistic standards and thematic relevance,...

European Film Promotion has revealed the 10 emerging actors who will take part in the 27th edition of European Shooting Stars program, which promotes European acting talent. Past Shooting Stars have included Carey Mulligan, Alicia Vikander, Maisie Williams and Riz Ahmed.

From Feb. 16-19, the actors will be presented to the international press and industry, and the German public at the Berlin Film Festival. One of the highlights will be the Shooting Stars Awards Ceremony on Feb. 19 at the Berlinale Palast.

The Shooting Stars for 2024 are Belgium’s Thibaud Dooms, Bulgaria’s Margarita Stoykova, France’s Suzy Bemba, Georgia’s Salome Demuria, Germany’s Katharina Stark, Ireland’s Éanna Hardwicke, Italy’s Valentina Bellè, Lithuania’s Džiugas Grinys, Poland’s Kamila Urzędowska and Sweden’s Asta Kamma August.

The jury that selected the actors comprised of Austrian director, screenwriter and producer Barbara Albert, Lithuanian producer Živilė Gallego, Irish actor Moe Dunford,...

10-strong line-up includes Italian actress Valentina Bellè and Irish actor Éanna Hardwicke.

European Film Promotion (Efp) has revealed the ten young European talents selected for the 27th edition of European Shooting Stars, its initiative to showcase promising on-screen talent from the continent.

Efp has selected seven actresses and three actors who will be presented to international press, industry, and the public during the 2024 Berlin Film Festival.

The line-up includes Italian actress Valentina Bellè who starred in two competition films at Venice this year: Michael Mann’s Ferrari and Lubo by Giorgio Diritti. She also plays the leading role in Disney + series The Good Mother,...

The Tokyo Film Festival has set the lineup for its bumper 2023 edition, running October 23 to November 1. Scroll down for the full list.

In the main competition, the festival has set 10 world premieres. The features include Japanese filmmaker Kishi Yoshiyuki’s latest pic (Ab)normal Desire and Gu Xiaogang’s Dwelling by the West Lake. Xiaogang is also set to receive the festival’s Kurosawa Akira Award alongside Mouly Surya.

Of the main competition titles, six are from East Asia, and there is noticeably a feature from Russia, with Alexey German Jr. screening his latest film, Air. Elsewhere, the festival’s Gala section is chock-full of audience favorites from fall festivals. Titles like Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things and All of Us Strangers by Andrew Haigh will screen alongside David Gordon Green’s remake The Exorcist: Believer. The Japanese films set for the Gala section include Kitano Takeshi’s Kubi, Miike Takashi’s Lumberjack the Monster,...

The Tokyo International Film Festival undertook a series of bold changes in 2020 to enhance its international reach, including a location change and major shakeups across staffing and programming. For the global film community, however, much of the overhaul went unfelt due to the travel restrictions of the pandemic. The Tokyo festival’s chairman, Hiroyasu Ando, emphasized at a press conference in the Japanese capital Wednesday that the event “aims to take a bigger leap” this year with its upcoming 36th edition, making good on its ambitions for a transformation.

“We’re really focussing on international interaction,” Ando said, noting that the festival would welcome some 600 overseas guests this year, including filmmakers, jury members and industry professionals, a major uptick from the 104 international industry VIPs who attended in 2022.

The Tokyo International Film Festival will open Oct. 23 with a gala screening of acclaimed German auteur Wim Wenders’ Tokyo-set drama Perfect Days, which...

The full lineup has been unveiled for the festival’s 36th edition.

The Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) today revealed the lineup for its 36th edition, including 20 world premieres across its two competition strands.

The festival, set to run October 23 to November 1, will feature 15 titles in its main Competition section led by Japan and China, which each have three films in the selection.

Scroll down for full list

From China are crime drama A Long Shot from debut feature director Gao Peng; Snow Leopard by late Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden, which premiered at Venice; and Dwelling By The West Lake by Gu Xiaogang,...

More than 500 international projects were submitted to the Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo (Mia).

Rome’s Mia film and TV market has selected 62 projects for its co-production market, which runs from October 9-13.

More than 500 projects were submitted this year from 80 countries worldwide.

Of these, 62 were selected - 15 films, 15 animation, 18 documentaries and 14 drama - from 36 countries.

The film projects include I Will Find You by György Kristóf, whose previous film Out played in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard in 2017.

UK writer and director Aaron Brookner of Pinball London also heads to Mia with mystery thriller A Gift To My Mother along with producers Paula Vaccaro and Pauliina Ståhlberg.

Lila Aviles received best director in the international competition.

Marie Amachoukeli’s Ama Gloria and Juraj Lerotic’s Safe Place lead the winners of the 40th Jerusalem Film Festival, which handed out 1m Ils in prizes this evening (July 20).

Ama Gloria, which premiered in Critics’ Week at Cannes this year, won the best international film award. The film depicts the last summer between a six-year-old girl and her nanny Gloria, before the latter returns to Cape Verde to care for her own children.

Scroll down for the full list of feature winners

A jury led by Claire Denis and consisting of Whit Stillman,...

Marie Amachoukeli’s Ama Gloria has won the Best International Film Prize at the 40th edition of the Jerusalem Film Festival, running from July 13 to July 26.

The feature, which world premiered as the opening film of Cannes Critics’ Week in May, revolves around a motherless six-year-old girl who travels to Cape Verde to reunite with her longtime nanny.

The jury presided over by Claire Denis, and also figuring Whit Stillman, Florian Zeller, Joana Vicente, and Maria Schrader praised the film’s “extraordinary poignancy, beauty and insight”.

Ama Gloria is produced by Bénédicte Couvreur, the long-time producer of Céline Sciamma and her films Petite Maman and Portrait Of A Lady On Fire.

Other winners in the International Competition include Best Director for Mexico’s Lila Avilés for Berlinale-selected family drama Totem and a Special Mention for the ensemble cast of Argentinian director Rodrigo Moreno’s The Delinquents, which debuted in Un Certain Regard this year.

Jurors include Whit Stillman, Florian Zeller, Maria Schrader, Joana Vicente.

French filmmaker Claire Denis will lead the international competition jury for the 40th Jerusalem Film Festival, which runs from July 13-23.

Denis will be joined by directors Whit Stillman, Florian Zeller and Maria Schrader on the jury, plus Sundance Institute CEO Joana Vicente.

Hungarian director Kornel Mundruczo will preside over the Israeli competition jury. Directors make up the majority of the jurors across the competitive sections, including Jasmila Zbanic, Ali Abbasi, Sebastian Meise, Julian Rosefeldt, Joseph Cedar, Sebastien Lifshitz, Barbara Albert, Alexandru Belc and Manuela Martelli, plus Mathilde Henrot from Locarno Film Festival.

Greenbird Flies To New Owner

Scotland’s Stv Studios has acquired the 15 companies operated by “Lego Masters” company Greenbird Media for £21.4 million ($27.3 million). Israel’s Keshet International acquired 60% of Greenbird five years ago. Stv Studios has now acquired 100% of Greenbird, including Keshet’s stake.

Greenbird founders, Jamie Munro and Stuart Mullin, will join the Stv Studios board in the roles of chief commercial officer and finance and integration director respectively, working alongside COO, Paul Sheehan, and under the leadership of MD, David Mortimer.

The deal boosts the number of labels within Stv Studios from nine to 24. As a result of the acquisition, Stv Studios now has expanded bases in Glasgow and London, as well as offices in Cardiff, Belfast, Brighton and Manchester.

Hit shows made by the producers in Greenbird’s cluster include: “Lego Masters” (Tuesday’s Child for Channel 4/Fox) and “The Hit List” (Tuesday’s Child for BBC One...

This year’s Pitch Point includes new projects from Nir Bergman, Yona Rozenkier, Hadar Morag.

Jerusalem Film Festival has confirmed the Industry Days programme for its 40th-anniversary edition, including the 10 projects for its Pitch Point Competition for Israeli co-production features.

The Industry Days will run from July 13-15, and will also include the final pitching event of the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab on July 14.

Scroll down for the full list of Pitch Point projects.

Pitch Point pitches will run on July 13, to a jury presided over by Arte Cinema France’s Olivier Pere, and including Beta Cinema’s Thorsten Ritter,...

Jerusalem Film Fest Unveils 2023 Industry Program

Nir Bergman and Yona Rozenkier will be among the Israeli filmmakers presenting new projects at the Jerusalem Film Fest’s Pitch Point event this year. The annual meeting connecting Israeli directors with international partners is one pole of the festival’s Jerusalem Industry Days, running July 13 to 15. Jurors will be Olivier Père (Arte Cinema France), Thorsten Ritter (Beta Cinema), Kevin Chan (Mubi) and Claudia Solano (The Match Factory), alongside Helge Albers and producer Yael Fogiel (Les Films du Poisson). The Industry Days will also host the final pitching session for the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab. Other highlights include a focus on Austria, accompanied by Austrian Films’ Anne Laurent-Delage and Emilie Dauptain and producers Antonin Svoboda (coop99), Oliver Neumann (FreibeuterFilm), Sabine Gruber (Golden Girls) and Barbara Pichler (Kgp Filmproduktion). Filmmakers Sebastian Meise,...

“Snow,” an Austrian-German co-production and one of 16 titles presented in the Berlinale Series Market Selects showcase, weaves the timely issue of climate change and local folklore into a suspenseful mystery drama set in the picturesque Austrian Alps.

Brigitte Hobmeier stars as Lucia, a physician who with her husband and children moves to the village, where she is replacing the local doctor, who is retiring. Things take a troubling turn when her daughter is visited by a strange woman at night.

The series presentation at the EFM event brings the title back to Berlin, where it came together in 2020 at the Berlinale Co-Production Market’s Co-Pro Series event.

Based on an idea by Michaela Taschek about the impact of climate change and old secrets that come to light, the series was initially developed early on by late producer Ursula Wolschlager of Vienna-based Witcraft and filmmaker Barbara Albert, who initially planned to...

Die Mittagsfrau

For her next feature outing Barbara Albert lands on some heavy material in the adaptation based Julia Franck’s novel which reconstructs the complete mindf*ck of a situation where a mother is forced to leave her young son at a railway station in 1945. Production on Die Mittagsfrau (which translates to the midday woman) took place in May on the on what is a decade-spanning drama. Mala Emde and Max von der Groeben share the lead.

Gist: This follows the journey of a woman named Hélène who, in the aftermath of the Second World War, is ready to do anything to start a new life.…...

Clara Stern on Paul (Tobias Samuel Resch) on the bridge chasing after Theresa (Judith Altenberger) and Mira (Alina Schaller) in Breaking the Ice recalling François Truffaut’s Jules et Jim: “I noticed it while editing that we did that.” Photo: Johannes Hoss

Clara Stern’s Breaking The Ice, shot by Johannes Hoss with a score by Benedikt Palier and edited by Matthias Writze, stars Judith Altenberger Alina Schaller Tobias Samuel Resch, Pia Hierzegger (Peter Hengl’s Family Dinner), and Wolfgang Böck. It will be screened later this month in OutfestLA. The director discussed why she has a “big fascination with professional athletes,” her work with the composer and cinematographer, seeing in the editing a resemblance to a scene in François Truffaut’s Jules Et Jim, her Vienna Film Academy connection to Michael Haneke, Barbara Albert, Jessica Hausner, and Marie Kreutzer, where the Dragons come from, and a phone call to her grandmother.

Medienboard Berlin-Brandenberg will increase the amount it invests in production and VFX companies.

Medienboard Berlin-Brandenberg (Mbb) is to receive a cash injection of €15m from Berlin’s state government to boost the amount it invests in film and TV productions over the next two years, Berlin’s VFX companies and the creation of a new office to administer permits.

This brings Berlin’s total funding for Mbb to €17.2m for 2022 and €17.9m for 2023.

Among the projects now shooting in Berlin and the neighbouring state of Brandenburg are German films Christian Petzold’s Roter Himmel, Barbara Albert’s Mittagsfrau, Simon Verhoeven...

Projects are Barbara Albert’s ’Die Mittagsfrau’ and Christoph Hochhäusler’s ’Learning To Die’.

The Match Factory is to handle international sales for the new feature films by Barbara Albert and Christoph Hochhäusler, which are currently in production at locations in Germany.

Shooting began earlier this month in Bavaria on Albert’s screen adaptation of Julia Franck’s international bestseller Die Mittagsfrau which won the German Book Prize and has been translated into 37 languages.

The book, which first appeared in English in 2009 as The Blind Side Of The Heart ( US title: Blindness Of The Heart), reconstructs a mother’s biography...

New films from Cristian Mungiu, Abderrahmane Sissako, Bertrand Bonello and Nikolaj Arcel have also receieved funding.

French director Houda Benyamina’s All For One and Austrian Jessica Hausner’s Club Zero are two of the 37 European co-productions set to receive of a share of Eurimage’s latest round of funding, totalling €9.1m ($10.3).

Benyamina’s All For One will receive €500,000, the largest share of funding, The co-production between France and Belgium (Versus Production) is the second feature from from Benyamina, whose debut Divines won the Caméra d’Or in Cannes 2016. Her latest title is a Three Muskateers-style adventure, with a female focus.

New films from Cristian Mungiu, Abderrahmane Sissako, Bertrand Bonello and Nikolaj Arcel have also receieved funding.

French director Houda Benyamina’s All For One and Austrian Jessica Hausner’s Club Zero are two of the 37 European co-productions set to receive of a share of Eurimage’s latest round of funding, totalling €9.1m ($10.3).

Benyamina’s All For One will receive €500,000, the largest share of funding, The co-production between France and Belgium (Versus Production) is the second feature from from Benyamina, whose debut Divines won the Caméra d’Or in Cannes 2016. Her latest title is a Three Muskateers-style adventure, with a female focus.

Wolschlager was a member of the European and Austrian Film Academies and the project commission of the Austrian Film Institute.

Austrian producer, screenwriter and educator Ursula Wolschlager died on September 26 in Vienna at the age of 52, after suffering from an illness.

Wolschlager has collaborated with filmmakers including Barbara Albert, Ruth Beckermann, Nathalie Borgers, Christian Frosch, Michael Glawogger, Bakhtiar Khodoynazarov, Marie Kreutzer, Tina Leisch, Tony Pemberton and Kirill Serebrennikov.

Alongside Robert Buchschwenter, she founded the script development and later also film production company Witcraft Scenario in 2008. She was also a mentor at the Diverse Stories script development programme, a founding member...

First production to receive backing is Netflix’s ‘1899’ by ‘Dark’ creators.

The German federal states of Berlin and Brandenburg are investing €13m annually to develop the region as an international hub for digital film and TV production.

Administered by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, its first investment has been made in Dark creators Jantje Friese and Baran bo Odar 1899 for Netflix. The eight-part mystery series began shooting at a custom-built virtual production studio called Dark Bay on the Studio Babelsberg lot yesterday (May 3). The studio has been set up by Friese and bo Odar’s own company Dark Ways with Studio Babelsberg and backing from Netflix.

L.A. and Berlin-based producer Gabriela Bacher, CEO of media company Film House Germany, is attached to executive produce Witcraft Filmproduktion’s mystery drama project “Snow,” selected for this year’s Co-Pro Series at the Berlinale Co-Production Market.

Bacher, a former Fox International Productions executive and principal of Studio Babelsberg, joined the company in 2011 as both CEO of Film House Germany and managing director at Fhg’s subsid Summerstorm Ent..

Set-up at Witcraft, a company co-founded by Ursula Wolschlager, “Snow” is a mystery drama created by Michaela Taschek, and co-directed by distinguished Austrian cineaste Barbara Albert (“Mademoiselle Paradis”) and Sandra Wollner (“The Impossible Picture.”)

Aimed to start principal photography in fall 2021 in Italy’s South Tyrol, the German language project is currently in treatments for all six episodes of Season One.

With Elisabeth Moss-starrer TV series “Top of the Lake” as a reference, “Snow” is set in the mountain village of Rotten,...

The new projects by Sabine Derflinger, Daniel Prochaska and Barbara Albert have also received grants. The Austrian Film Institute has announced the recipients of its latest round of grants, which were decided on during its eighth funding session of 2019. The three members of the selection committee decided to split a total sum of €700,300 among 27 film projects and to hand out one grant for professional development. Among the projects chosen to receive funding is Jessica Hausner’s Club Zero, which received a script-development grant of €15,000. The Austrian filmmaker is ready to follow up on the success of her sci-fi flick Little Joe, which was part of the Cannes Film Festival’s main competition this year, with a satire. Inspired by the 13th-century fable The Pied Piper of Hamelin, in which the townspeople never pay the flute-playing rat-catcher for his services, leading him...

Titles include Berlin winner ‘Touch Me Not’, ‘Cold War’ and ‘Paddington 2’.

The 49 films recommended for nomination for the 2018 European Film Awards have been revealed.

Scroll down for full list of titles

The list includes Adina Pintilie’s Berlin winner Touch Me Not and Cannes prize winners Cold War, Dogman and Happy As Lazzaro.

Films with UK involvement on the list include Michael Pearce’s Beast and Paddington 2.

The films were selected by the 20 countries with the most Efa members as well as a selection committee consisting of the Efa board and experts.

In the coming weeks, more than...

Four world premieres selected for festival’s Competition.

The 2018 Sarajevo Film Festival (Aug 10-18) has unveiled the titles selected for its Competition and In Focus programmes.

This year’s Competition selection features four world premieres, one international premiere and five regional premieres, all either produced or co-produced from the Eastern European region.

As previously announced, Asghar Farhadi will preside over the Competition jury, which will award the festival’s top prize, the Heart of Sarajevo.

Selected titles having their world premieres include All Alone, the latest feature from Croatian director Bobo Jelčić, whose 2013 drama A Stranger premiered at Berlin and...

Festival launches international competition to be judged by audiences.

The Goteborg Film Festival (Jan 26-Feb 5) has unveiled its 2018 of 399 films from 78 countries.

Source: Goteborg Film Festival

Amateurs

Gabriela Pilcher’s Amateurs will open the festival and also compete for the lucrative Dragon Award for best Nordic film (full list of competition titles below).

Pilcher, who previously directed festival hit Eat Sleep Die, presents the world premiere of her second feature, which is about a small town in Sweden that hopes to revive its economic activity by bringing in a German discount supermarket. The supermarket brand asks local teenagers to make films about their hometown, but the films don’t turn out as expected.

The festival’s new prize, the Dragon Award for best international film, will be fought over by 20 international films that will be voted on by the festival audience for a $6,000 (Sek 50,000) prize.

Films competing are: Disobedience by Sebastián Lelio The Death of Stalin by [link=nm...

Maria Theresia von Paradis was the daughter of Empress Maria Theresa’s Court Councilor and thus a young woman of standing despite the blindness that took her eyes before the age of five. Her father Joseph Anton and mother Maria Rosalia had the means to therefore teach her the finer things such as piano — a vocation to which she found expertise. The Empress allowed her a disability pension as financial assistance to help offset the strain of raising a daughter in the eighteenth century without prospects for marriage. But the pain in her eyes grew and every doctor hired to alleviate it only made matters worse. Franz Anton Mesmer became their last hope with his laughable method of healing via an invisible, odorless, and weightless magnetic “fluid.” It worked.

Paradis (Maria-Victoria Dragus) would eventually become a touring musician and composer who may have also been an inspiration to Mozart (she...

Below you will find our favorite films of the 42nd Toronto International Film Festival, as well as an index of our coverage.Top Picksfernando F. CROCE1. First Reformed (Paul Schrader)2. Zama (Lucrecia Martel)3. Western (Valeska Grisebach)4. Ex Libris (Frederick Wiseman)5. Faces Places (Agnès Varda, Jr)6. Manhunt (John Woo)7. Jeanette: The Childhood of Joan of Arc (Bruno Dumont)8. Brawl in Cell Block 99 (S. Craig Zahler)9. The Day After (Hong Sang-soo)10. Let the Corpses Tan (Hélène Cattet, Bruno Forzani)Kelley DONG1. Rose Gold (Sarah Cwynar), Strangely Ordinary This Devotion (Dani Restack, Sheilah Wilson Restack)3. Good Luck (Ben Russell)4. Manhunt (John Woo)5. The Third Murder (Hirokazu Kore-eda), Angels Wear White (Vivian Qu)Daniel KASMAN1. Ex Libris (Frederick Wiseman)2. First Reformed (Paul Schrader)3. Zama (Lucrecia Martel)4. Strangely Ordinary This Devotion (Dani Restack, Sheilah Wilson Restack)5. I Love You, Daddy (Louis C.K.)6. Rose Gold (Sarah Cwynar)7. Brawl in Cell Block 99 (S. Craig Zahler)8. below-above (André...

Mademoiselle Paradis opens with a gripping shot of Maria Paradis, a blind musician and composer. Rather than cut away, we are compelled to watch her play the harpsichord, her face...

The opening shot of Barbara Albert’s “Mademoiselle Paradis” is one of the most startling medium close-ups in recent memory. We see a young female pianist’s face during a musical performance, and her expression is a complex mixture of emotions: fear, concentration, exhaustion, exhilaration. Each note seems a struggle, and each movement a battle. Even if one knows nothing of the plot, or perhaps just the brief synopsis, it is easy to discern from the wig and dress that this is 17th Century Europe (Austria, to be precise), and that there is clearly something afflicting her eyes (she is blind).

Continue reading Barbara Albert’s ‘Mademoiselle Paradis’ Is A Haunting Period Tale [Tiff Review] at The Playlist.

A blind harpsichordist in Rococo Vienna who is “not pretty but talented,” as one of the characters describes her, can see again after a rather dubious medical treatment in Mademoiselle Paradis (Licht), from Austrian director Barbara Albert. There is, however, a catch: After the titular protagonist has regained her eyesight, her tinkling talents start to diminish rapidly. This adaptation of Alissa Walser’s novel Mesmerized is an inquisitive, curious and gorgeously accoutered period piece about science, the senses and the position of women in Mozart-era Austria. But it might have a thing or two too many on the brain to finally...

Paradis Regained: Albert Explores Thwarted Romantic Episode of Obscured Pianist

Austrian director Barbara Albert revisits 1770s high-society Vienna in her exploration of an attraction between a physician and his blind client in Mademoiselle Paradis.

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One of the most compelling sections in the Toronto International Film Festival lineup is the recently-launched Platform sidebar. Showcasing original voices in contemporary cinema, last year’s slate including Bertrand Bonello’s Nocturama, William Oldroyd’s Lady Macbeth, Pablo Larrain’s Jackie, and Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight. They’ve now unveiled this year’s lineup, which includes some of our most-anticipated festival premieres, including Armando Iannucci’s The Death of Stalin, Euphoria, starring Eva Green and Alicia Vikandar, and Clio Barnard’s Dark River.

“The films unveiled today embody our bold vision for the programme, and our ongoing commitment to showcase artistic and inventive directors that fearlessly push boundaries,” said Piers Handling, Director and CEO of Tiff. “The twelve titles exemplify bravery, dynamism and a unique voice in storytelling that we look for when curating the Platform programme.”

“Platform is the place to look for the distinct stamp of today’s...

Films from Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano, Alexandros Avranas and Diego Lerman added to competition line-up.

Further competition titles for the 2017 San Sebastian Film Festival (22-30 September) have been announced, including The Disaster Artist.

Written, directed and starring James Franco, the project tells the story of Tommy Wiseau’s infamous cult film The Room. It will also appear at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Other titles competing for the Golden Shell include Diego Lerman’s A Sort Of Family (Una Especie De Familia); Love Me Not from Alexandros Avranas; Barbara Albert’s Mademoiselle Paradis; and The Lion Sleeps Tonight from Nobuhiro Suwa.

Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano’s C’est La Vie!, Ivana Mladenovic’s Soldiers. Story From Ferentari and Matt Porterfield’s Sollers Point have also been announced.

Alexandros Avranas won the best director Silver Lion at Venice for Miss Violence in 2013. Diego Lerman’s Suddenly won the Silver Leopard at the Locarno Festival in 2002.

Nakache...

The Disaster Artist is heading to San Sebastian Photo: Courtesy of San Sebastian Film Festival San Sebastian Film Festival announced a selection of the films that will compete at its 65th edition this September - including features from James Franco, Alexandros Avranas, Diego Lerman and Barbara Albert.

Other directors in contention for the Golden Shell include Olivier Nakache, Eric Toledano Matt Porterfield and Ivana Mladenovic..

Franco puts himself in front of the camera for his latest film, comedy The Disaster Artist, starring as Tommy Wiseau, the director of the "Citizen Kane of bad movies" The Room. The film showed as a work in progress at SXSW with considerable success and will have its world premiere in Toronto.

Also heading to the festival after a premiere in Canada is Mademoiselle Paradis (Licht), a historical drama about a blind piano prodigy, directed by Austrian filmmaker Albert, who previously competed at the festival...

by StaffDirectors’ cinema, now: Tiff’s three-year-old Platform program returns for 2017 with more original voices and visionary films.

Last year, Platform included celebrated works such as William Oldroyd’s Lady Macbeth — currently playing at Tiff Bell Lightbox — Pablo Larraín’s Jackie, and Barry Jenkins’ Academy Award Best Picture winner, Moonlight. The 12 films in this year’s programme are another showcase for the artistry of a group of bold, dynamic voices in contemporary cinema.

Sweet CountryIf You Saw His Heart

This year’s lineup presents 12 films from eight countries on five continents. All selected films will compete for the Platform Prize, to be awarded by a jury made up of award-winning filmmakers Chen Kaige, Małgorzata Szumowska, and Wim Wenders.

The program will open with the world premiere of The Death of Stalin, from award-winning director-writer Armando Iannucci (In the Loop, Veep). The historical epic follows the final days leading up to the Soviet dictator’s death.

ThelmaA selection of films from the 2017 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival has been unveiled, with new films by Sebastián Lelio, Deniz Gamze Ergüven, Darren Aronofsky, Greta Gerwig, Guillermo Del Toro, Joachim Trier, Wim Wenders, and many more.Special PRESENTATIONSOpening Night: Ladybird (Greta Gerwig)Closing Night: Sheikh Jackson (Amr Salama)Battle of the Sexes (Valerie Faris & Jonathan Dayton)Bpm (Beats Per Minute) (Robin Campillo)The Brawler (Anurag Kashyap)The Breadwinner (Nora Twomey)Call Me By Your Name (Luca Guadagnino)Catch the Wind (Gaël Morel)The Children Act (Richard Eyre)The Current War (Alfonso Gomez-Rejon)Disobedience (Sebastián Lelio)Downsizing (Alexander Payne)A Fantastic Woman (Sebastián Lelio)First They Killed My Father (Angelina Jolie)The Guardians (Xavier Beauvois)Hostiles (Scott Cooper)The Hungry (Bornila Chatterjee)I, Tonya (Craig Gillespie)Mother! (Darren Aronofsky)Novitiate (Maggie Betts)Omerta (Hansal Mehta)Plonger (Mélanie Laurent)The Price of Success (Teddy Lussi-Modeste)Professor Marston & the Wonder Women...

Strand also includes Clio Barnard’s Dark River and Brad’s Status with Ben Stiller.

Top brass at the Toronto International Film Festival (Tiff) unveiled on Thursday the 12 films that comprise this year’s Platform programme.

The line-up opens with Armando Iannucci’s satire The Death Of Stalin (pictured), and includes Mike White’s Us comedy Brad’s Status starring Ben Stiller, and Clio Barnard’s UK selection Dark River.

Warwick Thornton’s Australian western Sweet Country closes the section. Every entry is a world premiere except Sweet Country and Xavier Legrand’s Custody, both of which premiere in Venice.

The films represent eight countries and will compete for the Platform Prize awarded by a jury comprising filmmakers Chen Kaige, Malgorzata Szumowska and Wim Wenders.

This will mark the third year of Platform., designed to showcase “original voices in contemporary cinema.” Previous selections include this year’s best picture Oscar winner Moonlight, Lady Macbeth, Land Of...

No pressure or anything, but last year’s Toronto International Film Festival Platform section turned out a Best Picture winner.

Now in only its third year, the festival’s director-driven program aims to showcase original names in international cinema, and has steadily become one of the most exciting sections of the annual festival. Last year, it played home to such gems as “Moonlight,” “Jackie,” and “Lady MacBeth,” following its inaugural year, where it bowed titles like “High-Rise,” “Bang Gang,” and “Land of Mine.”

Read MoreTIFF Reveals First Slate of 2017 Titles, Including ‘The Shape of Water,’ ‘Downsizing,’ and ‘Call Me By Your Name’

This year promises to only further the mission of the section, thanks to 12 titles that speak to the breadth of modern cinema, and some of the rising stars it’s currently fostering. “Platform is the place to look for the distinct stamp of today’s most interesting directors as they establish their reputations,” said Cameron Bailey, Tiff’s Artistic Director, in a statement.

This year’s lineup hails from eight countries on five continents. The films will compete for the Platform Prize, to be awarded by a jury that includes award-winning filmmakers Chen Kaige, Malgorzata Szumowska, and Wim Wenders.

Read MoreTIFF Announces Midnight Madness and Documentaries Slate, Including ‘The Disaster Artist,’ ‘Super Size Me’ Sequel, and More

The section will open with the world premiere of “The Death of Stalin,” from award-winning director-writer Armando Iannucci, which “follows the final days leading up to the Soviet dictator’s death.” “Sweet Country,” a period Western from acclaimed Australian filmmaker Warwick Thornton, will close out the section.

Other highlights include Mike White’s Ben Stiller-starring “Brad’s Status” and Clio Barnard’s “Dark River,” along with Lisa Langseth’s “Euphoria,” starring Alicia Vikander and Eva Green as sisters on a mysterious trip.

“The films unveiled today embody our bold vision for the programme, and our ongoing commitment to showcase artistic and inventive directors that fearlessly push boundaries,” said Piers Handling, Director and CEO of Tiff. “The twelve titles exemplify bravery, dynamism and a unique voice in storytelling that we look for when curating the Platform programme.”

Below are the newest additions to the Tiff 2017 lineup, including the Platform program. Stay tuned for more programming announcements in the days to come.

The Toronto International Film Festival runs September 7 – 17 in Toronto, Canada.

Platform

“Beast,” Michael Pearce, United Kingdom, World Premiere

“Brad’s Status,” Mike White, USA, World Premiere

“Custody,” Xavier Legrand, France, North American Premiere

“Dark River,” Clio Barnard, United Kingdom, World Premiere

“The Death of Stalin,” Armando Iannucci, France/United Kingdom/Belgium, World Premiere, Platform Opening Film

“Euphoria,” Lisa Langseth, Sweden/Germany, World Premiere

“If You Saw His Heart,” Joan Chemla, France, World Premiere

“Mademoiselle Paradis,” Barbara Albert, Austria/Germany, World Premiere

“Razzia,” Nabil Ayouch, France, World Premiere

“The Seen and Unseen,” Kamila Andini, Indonesia, World Premiere

“Sweet Country,” Warwick Thornton, Australia, North American Premiere, Platform Closing Film

“What Will People Say: (Hva vil folk si), Iram Haq, Norway/Germany/Sweden, World Premiere

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Funds Mdm and Fff Bayern are providing more than $9.4m (€8.6m).

New films by Gore Verbinski, Steve Barron and Margarethe von Trotta are among the projects backed with more than $9.4m (€8.6m) by two German regional funds, Mdm and Fff Bayern, in their latest funding sessions.

Mdm stumped up $437,000 (€400,000) production support for Verbinski’s horror film A Cure For Wellness, which wraps shooting today (July 24) at the Hohenzollern Castle in Baden-Württemberg’s Hechingen, the ancestral seat of the imperial House of Hohenzollern.

The cast for the production by Blind Wink Productions, New Regency and Studio Babelsberg includes Dane deHaan, Mia Goth and Jason Isaacs, and 20th Century Fox is planning a Us theatrical release in September 2016.

A Cure For Wellness is the third major international project co-produced by Studio Babelsberg this year after serving as a partner on Eddie The Eagle, starring Taron Egerton and Hugh Jackman, and for the fifth season of the Us series Homeland...