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Upcoming features by Babak Jalali, Kamila Andini, Martin Koolhoven, Emily Atef, Yann Gonzalez and Diego Lerman are among 67 projects selected for the 12th Venice Gap-Financing Market.

The project incubator which is a component of the Venice Film Festival’s Venice Production Bridge industry program will run from August 29 to 31.

The 67 projects from around the world in the final stages of development and funding have been selected from 330 applications.

They span 40 feature-length fiction and documentary projects, 14 immersive projects, 10 Biennale College Cinema immersive projects and three Biennale College Cinema projects.

Their director-producer teams will participate in one-to-one meetings organized by the Vpb with top industry decision-makers including producers, private and public financiers, banks, distributors, sales agents, TV commissioners, streamers, VoD platforms, institutions and post-production companies.

All meetings will be held at the Venice Production Bridge venues of Hotel Excelsior and Venice Immersive Island.

The full list of feature film projects:

93 – Echo Froma...

Projects from Emily Atef, Babak Jalali, Luis Ortega and Ulrich Seidl are among the 40 films selected for the 12th edition of the Venice Gap-Financing Market (August 29 – 31), taking place during the Venice Film Festivals.

The market is a part of the Venice Production Bridge and provides the 67 projects with the chance to close their intentional financing. This year’s focus is on projects from the UK, Chile and Morocco.

Atef makes her English-language debut with Call Me Queen about a friendship between an Irish journalist in Kenya and a Rwandan woman during the 1990s AIDS crisis. It is produced by Germany...

Nafta Films, led by Esko Rips, and Film and Music Entertainment, headed by Sam Taylor, have teamed to adapt Stanislaw Lem’s novella “The Inquest of Pilot Pirx.” Previous films based on Lem’s work include Steven Soderbergh’s “Solaris,” starring George Clooney, and György Pálfi’s “His Master’s Voice.”

British sci-fi novelist Adrian Tchaikovsky has adapted Lem’s story for the screen. Tchaikovsky’s series “Children of Time” won the Arthur C. Clarke Award, the Hugo Award and British Science Fiction Assn. Award. He recently spoke at the Worldcon in Glasgow on the topic of “AI and the End Times – Do Androids Dream of Killing Us All” and has previously been a guest speaker at the Turing Institute’s AI U.K. conference.

The English-language film tells the story of Commander Pirx who leads a small crew of half androids and half humans on a rescue mission into space.

Some 18 producers from 17 countries will attend workshops throughout 2023 and 2024.

Eve Gabereau of the UK’s Modern Films and Denmark’s Monica Hellstrom are among 18 independent producers selected for Ace 33, the latest intake for the Ace Producers Network.

The 18 producers from 17 different countries will attend three workshops throughout 2023 and 2024 with independent feature projects. The workshops will take place in Norway in October, on content development; in Warsaw, Poland in November, on financing strategies; and finally in France, looking at business strategies.

Scroll down for the Ace 33 selection

The producers will then join the Ace Network following the 2024 Ace meeting in Bordeaux,...

18 producers from 17 countries will attend workshops throughout 2023 and 2024.

Eve Gabereau of UK company Modern Films and Danish producer Monica Hellstrom are among 18 independent producers selected for Ace 33, the latest intake for the Ace Producers Network.

The 18 producers from 17 different countries will attend three workshops throughout 2023 and 2024 with independent feature projects. The workshops will take place in Norway in October, on content development; in Warsaw, Poland in November, on financing strategies; and finally in France, looking at business strategies.

Scroll down for the Ace 33 selection

The producers will then join the Ace Network following the 2024 Ace meeting in Bordeaux, France.

London-based...

The official selection of the Baltic Event Co-Production takes place on November 23-24.

The Baltic Event Co-Production Market has set the projects that will take part in next month’s event, set to run from November 23-24, including two co-productions with Iran that deal with the issues of violence against women.

Blue Girl is an Iranian-Luxembourg co-production written and directed by Iranian filmmaker Mahmoud Ghaffari, and produced by Elaheh Nobakht and Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu.

The Baltic Event Co-Production Market runs as part of the industry platform of Estonia’s Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (November 11-27). Marge Liiske returns as the...

Anyone wanting signs that film production is alive and kicking in some parts of the world – and not only the most obvious – need go no further than Locarno’s Match Me!

A networking event, expanded this year from 24 to 32 producers and fortified by the first-time presence of France, Match Me! focuses on emerging producers.

Featuring new projects from tracked auteurs – Lithuania’s Ignas Jonynas, India’s Payal Kapadia and Mexico’s Francisco Vargas – and winners at Cannes, San Sebastian and other major meets, many producers look only a title or two from full emergence.

If the fulsome slates of some producers are anything to go by – Dr’s Leticia Brea, Estonia’s Tallifornia and Kask Films, for instance – production is a going concern in countries outside traditional production centers..

Out of necessity or ambition, producers are scaling up, pushing ever more into genre and reaching out to production partners and talent from around the world.

The Santa Barbara Film Festival will open with the world premiere of Aaron Maurer’s documentary Invisible Valley, which profiles the stories of the disparate people that make up the Coachella Valley. It kicks off a festival that will run March 31-April 10 with a hybrid edition that includes online elements and screenings at a pair of pop-up beachside drive-in venues.

The full lineup revealed Tuesday features 47 world premieres and 37 U.S. premieres from 45 countries alongside the fest’s annual tributes featuring the likes of Bill Murray, Carey Mulligan, Sacha Baron Cohen and Amanda Seyfried which will be livestreamed online.

Every film screening will be offered for free this year, with a ticketed online component that will showcase the entire film lineup along with the tributes, industry panels and filmmaker Q&As.

The fest will close with a series of short documentaries by local filmmakers.

Here’s the trailer for Invisible Valley,...

Sadness and a sense of unease pervade this Western-inflected drama from Estonian director Veiko Õunpuu, which is set in a outpost of Finland that feels as though it is just beyond the edge of nowhere. It is here in this small community - dominated by men, with all the problems that brings with it - that the commercial drive of mining is coming up against the more traditional reindeer herding way of life, although both are threatening to either crumble or, possibly, explode.

It's not just the choice of employment, everything here has the feel of being caught between one thing and another, including Rupi (Pääru Oja), who works for the mines but whose ageing and infirm father (Sulevi Peltola) is flatly refusing to sell his land to unpleasant mining boss Kari. Rupi is also hovering between the legal...

At the Award Ceremony of the 24th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) awards were handed to the winners of the four competition programmes of the festival and PÖFF’s sub-festivals Youth and Children’s Film Festival Just Film and International Short Film and Animation Film Festival PÖFF Shorts.

The jury of Official Selection – Competition headed by Mark Adams selected director Ivaylo Hristov’s drama “Fear“ as their favourite, handing the film the Grand Prix of the festival. Blending drama with deadpan comedy, the film’s story is set on the Bulgarian border, on a new route for African migrants arriving from Turkey with hopes to reach Germany. The protagonist, the former school teacher, comes across an African man who will bring a dramatic turn to her life.

The Best Director award goes to Turkish director Nisan Dağ for “When I’m Done Dying“, a vibrant portrayal of an upcoming hiphop artist struggling with drug addiction.

Nisan Dağ wins best director for ‘When I’m Done Dying’.

Director Ivaylo Hristov and producer Assen Vladimirov have won the Grand Prix for best film, for Bulgarian drama Fear, at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF).

The event presented its awards in Tallinn, Estonia this evening. Hristov and Vladimirov share the €10,000 grant that comes with the win.

Scroll down for the full list of awards

They were awarded the prize by a jury consisting of Mark Adams, Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, Izabela Kiszka-Hoflik and Ester Kuntu.

The jury praised “a beautifully-made film that astutely balances dry humour with important contemporary drama.

Bookmark this page for all the latest international feature submissions.

Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2021 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.

Scroll down for the full list

The 93rd Academy Awards is set to take place on April 25, 2021. It was originally set to be held on February 28, before both the ceremony and eligibility period were postponed for two months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Submitted films must have been released in their respective countries between the expanded dates of October 1, 2019, and December 31, 2020. (Last year it was October-September.

Estonia is the latest country to select its entry for the International Feature Film category of the Oscars with the Nordic Western “The Last Ones,” directed by Veiko Õunpuu, flying the flag for the Baltic country.

The film will world premiere as part of the Baltic Competition program of Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, which runs Nov. 13-29.

An expert committee called together by the Estonian Film Institute chose the film. The committee consisted of film director Tanel Toom, producers Evelin Penttilä and Ivo Felt, film journalist Tõnu Karjatse, costume designer Eugen Tamberg, former distributor and current advisor on audio-visual matters to the Minister of Culture, Siim Rohtla, and the Estonian Film Institute’s Edith Sepp.

“The Last Ones” takes place in the wild tundra of Lapland. Young miner Rupi is hollowing out the tundra in the hope of putting together enough money to leave the mining village behind forever.

Bookmark this page for all the latest international feature submissions.

Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2021 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.

The 93rd Academy Awards is set to take place on April 25, 2021. It was originally set to be held on February 28, before both the ceremony and eligibility period were postponed for two months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Submitted films must have been released in their respective countries between the expanded dates of October 1, 2019, and December 31, 2020. (Last year it was October-September).

In another change to the eligibility rules,...

The French sales agent will pull out all the stops to promote Ivan Ostrochovský’s film, screening in Encounters; its slate also includes movies in post-production by Luàna Bajrami and Veiko Õunpuu. After making a splash with his feature-length fiction debut, Koza, erstwhile Slovakian documentarian Ivan Ostrochovský (who also participated in the Berlinale Forum in 2014 with Velvet Terrorists) is pressing on with his exploration of the fiction world with Servants, which will be world-premiered in Encounters, the new competitive section of the Berlinale (the 70th edition of which will unspool from 20 February-1 March). The movie will be spearheading the slate of Paris-based international sales agent Loco Films at the impending European Film Market. The Loco Films team headed up by Laurent Danielou and Arnaud Godart will thus be negotiating deals for the...

The Estonia 100 project ignites local production and cinema-going.

Estonia is one of Europe’s most interesting emerging co-production territories. Buoyed by the success of the six films supported by last year’s government-backed Estonia 100 film programme, created to celebrate the country’s centenary, local producers are now putting together a wide array of productions aimed at an international market.

Veteran producer Ivo Felt of Allfilm is close to completing the finance on the English-language sci-fi thriller Gateway 6, which is set to star Olga Kurylenko It is being set up as a UK-Estonian-German coproduction. It will be the...

A total of 21 projects will be presented at the development and financing platform.

Caroline Deruas, Jonathan Nossiter and David Verbeek will be among the directors presenting their upcoming projects at the eighth edition of the Les Arcs Coproduction Village (Dec 10-13).

A total of 24 projects will presented at the three-day event unfolding within the Les Arcs European Film Festival (10-17) which announced the bulk of its programme last week.

Verbeek will present his long-gestating vampire project Dead & Beautiful.

Jonathan Nossiter will be at the market with The Last Words, his big screen adaptation of France-based Argentine writer Santiago Amigorena’s novel Mes derniers mots revolving around the last two members of the human race as they contemplate a world destroyed by mankind.

Deruas will present her second feature Sad Liza after Daydreams which premiered at the Locarno Film Festival over the summer.

Two animation projects have also made it into this year’s selection, Dutch experimental...

Competition section features six world premieres including titles from Koji Fukada and Yoshihiro Nakamura.

The 28th Tokyo International Film Festival (October 22-31) has unveiled its line-up with six world premieres in the Competition section, including Turkish director Mustafa Kara’s Cold Of Kalandar, Hao Jie’s My Original Dream and Thai film-maker Kongdej Jaturanrasmee’s Snap.

Also world-premiering in Competition are three Japanese titles: Kohei Oguri’s Foujita, Yoshihiro Nakamura’s The Inerasable and Koji Fukada’s Sayonara – the most local films in the main section since 2004.

The other selections are either Asian or international premieres. The topics of war or refugeeism are a common thread among some films, echoing current day headlines. “We were not conscious about choosing those types, it just happened that way and we noticed afterwards,” said Competition programming director Yoshi Yatabe.

“As much as possible we’d like to cover a wide range of geographical areas and genres,” he said of...

Competition section features six world premieres including titles from Koji Fukada and Yoshihiro Nakamura.

The 28th Tokyo International Film Festival (October 22-31) has unveiled its line-up with six world premieres in the Competition section, including Turkish director Mustafa Kara’s Cold Of Kalandar, Hao Jie’s My Original Dream and Thai film-maker Kongdej Jaturanrasmee’s Snap.

Also world-premiering in Competition are three Japanese titles: Kohei Oguri’s Foujita, Yoshihiro Nakamura’s The Inerasable and Koji Fukada’s Sayonara – the most local films in the main section since 2004.

The other selections are either Asian or international premieres. The topics of war or refugeeism are a common thread among some films, echoing current day headlines. “We were not conscious about choosing those types, it just happened that way and we noticed afterwards,” said Competition programming director Yoshi Yatabe.

“As much as possible we’d like to cover a wide range of geographical areas and genres,” he said of...

Estonian director’s new film will be part of Serbian festival’s 14-strong competition including My Mother, 45 Years and Heil; festival to fete five Spanish directors.

Roukli, the new film by Estonia’s Veiko Õunpuu, will have its world premiere in the 22nd edition of European Film Festival Palić (July 18-24).

This year’s festival will open with Magnus von Horn’s The Here After, while the main competition consists of 14 films, including recent Karlovy Vary titles The World Is Mine by Nicolae Constantin Tanase and Heil by Dietrich Brüggemann, as well as Cannes entries Rams by Grimur Hakonarson, Nanni Moretti’s My Mother, Panama by Pavle Vučković and Berlin title 45 Years.

The perennial Underground Spirit Award will be bestowed upon five Spanish film-makers: Ion de Sosa, Chema Garcia Ibarra, Luis Lopez Carrasco, Miguel Llanso, and Velasco Broca.

“At the time the world economic crisis struck Spain, leaving behind negative impacts on its cinema, a group of...

Estonian director’s new film will be part of Serbian festival’s 14-strong competition including My Mother, 45 Years and Heil; festival to fete five Spanish directors.

Roukli, the new film by Estonia’s Veiko Õunpuu, will have its world premiere in the 22nd edition of European Film Festival Palić (July 18-24).

This year’s festival will open with Magnus von Horn’s The Here After, while the main competition consists of 14 films, including recent Karlovy Vary titles The World Is Mine by Nicolae Constantin Tanase and Heil by Dietrich Brüggemann, as well as Cannes entries Rams by Grimur Hakonarson and Nanni Moretti’s Panama by Pavle Vučković and Berlin title 45 Years.

The perennial Underground Spirit Award will be bestowed upon five Spanish film-makers: Ion de Sosa, Chema Garcia Ibarra, Luis Lopez Carrasco, Miguel Llanso, and Velasco Broca.

“At the time the world economic crisis struck Spain, leaving behind negative impacts on its cinema, a group of...

Retrospective to include films from Danis Tanovic, Cristi Puiu, Mira Fornay and more.

A total of 50 films are to make up the retrospective Eastern Promises: Autobiography of Eastern Europe at the 62nd San Sebastian Film Festival (Sept 19-27).

The line-up includes movies produced since 2000 in the countries that lived under Soviet influence after the Second World War and include some that were never released theatrically in Spain.

Several directors of films in the retrospective will attend the festival to present their works including Sarunas Bartas (Lithuania), Kristina Buožytė (Lithuania), Marian Crisan (Romania), Mira Fornay (Slovakia), Bohdan Sláma (Czech Republic), Malgorzata Szumowska (Poland) and Anna Viduleja (Latvia).

A book will be published to accompany the retrospective with contributions from journalists and critics across Europe.

The titles are:

Kruh In Mleko / Bread And Milk

Jan Cvitkovic (Slovenia) 2001

A modern classic of Slovenian cinema, the tale of a man who went out for bread and milk and lost himself to alcohol...

The streaming start-up has added a trio of titles to its July line-up.

Antonio Naharro and Álvaro Pastor’s Spanish rom-com Me, Too (Yo, También), Veiko Õunpuu’s Estonian dark comedy The Temptation Of St. Tony (Püha Tõnu) and Semih Kaplanoglu’s Turkish drama Egg (Yumurta) will be available to stream on the company’s website.

The expanded schedule doubles Vyer’s previous release rate of one title every other week and the newly introduced titles will be available on July 8.

Going forward films will become available on the first day of each month.

“Our focus at Vyer Films is not simply putting films out into the digital space, but connecting audiences to those films,” said Vyer Films founder and CEO K C McLeod.

“We understand that that not every story will immediately appeal to every viewer and so we wanted to give our audience the opportunity to treat every month at Vyer Films like an art...

Pawel Pawlikowski’s Ida received the Skoda Film Prize for Best Film at Wiesbaden’s goEast – Festival of Central and Eastern European Film, which ended with the awards ceremony on Tuesday evening (April 15).

Ida, which had taken the prize for Best Narrative Film a day before at the Sarasota Film Festival in the Us, was released by Arsenal Film on 26 prints in German cinemas last Thursday (April 10) after opening goEast the previous evening.

The International Jury, headed by German-born producer Jan Harlan and including Russian actor Ivan Shvedoff, Ukrainian producer Dmytro Tiazhlov and Georgian film-maker Nana Ekvtimishvili and Hungarian film critic Ivan Forgacs, praised “a precise screenplay and the outstanding direction” of Pawlikowski’s Polish-language debut.

On announcing the winner, Harlan said that the whole jury was ¨agreed¨ and ¨elated¨ about giving the top honour to Pawlikowski’s film which includes a cash prize of € 10,000 for the producers.

Opus Film’s Ewa Puszczynska, the film’s...

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...

Below you will find our total coverage of the 64th Berlinale by our three attending critics. As our last couple pieces are published, they will be added to this index.

By Adam Cook

Impressions Parts I-iv:

Personal Programming

On Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel, Dominik Graf's Beloved Sisters, Bong Joon-ho's Snowpiercer

Journeys

On Tsai Ming-liang's Journey to the West, Richard Linklater's Boyhood

Time as Depth and Cinema-Space

On Ken Jacobs' The Guests, Nadège Trébal's Scrap Yard, Veiko Õunpuu's Free Range, Corneliu Porumboiu's The Second Game

On the Periphery

On Fruit Chan's The Midnight After, Diao Yinan's Black Coal, Thin Ice

New Spaces: A Conversation with Denis Lavant

By Yaron Dahan

The Fantastical Heart of the Old Continent That Was But Was-Not: Wes Anderson's The Grand Budapest Hotel

Sleepers, Robbers, and Superegos: An Interview with Benjamin Heisenberg

Baal, Resurrected

By Michael Pattison

Essayist,...

Ken Jacobs' The Guests, a 3D-remix of an 1896 Lumière brothers' film of a group of people walking towards the camera into a church wedding (and, in a sense, into the audience of the cinema), exploits an optical phenomenon in which the lateral movement within the image can be used to create 3D by putting two frames, slightly apart temporally, together. It's a process Jacobs himself gleefully described at the screening, making a point of distinguishing this method from his previous approaches to 3D. Essentially, in this case, it is a temporal dis-alignment which controls and creates this illusion of depth. Time creates the space.

It's an imperfect film, and an imperfect application of 3D, but within the space of The Guests (who are the real guests?), these imperfections point to a strange alternate dimension of images. How far can we stretch an image to find more within in it?...

★★☆☆☆A vapid and conceited slacker comedy about the lack of cultural identity felt by a despondent generation of Estonians, Veiko Õunpuu's Free Range (2013) inhabits the zeitgeist of his Baltic homeland via a sardonically lo-fi aesthetic of nostalgic hues and evocative music cues. However, this tale of longing and be-longing is far too burdened by its main protagonist's nauseating sense of entitlement for an international audience to experience much in the way of empathy. Mid-twenties suffering is embodied within Fred (Lauri Lagle), a young writer struggling to cope with the debilitating melancholy he's contracted.

Above: Rinko Kikuchi in Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter

The lineup for this year's Forum section has been unveiled (minus the special screenings which will be announced soon), providing "an overview of independent, artistic filmmaking with a disregard for convention, screening 28 world and eight international premieres from every single continent."

The Airstrip (Heinz Emighol), Germany - World Premiere

Al doilea joc (The Second Game) (Corneliu Porumboiu), Romania - World Premiere

Le beau danger (René Frölke), Germany / Italy - World Premiere

Butter on the Latch (Josephine Decker), USA - World Premiere

Casse (Scrap Yard) (Nadège Trebal), France - International Premiere

Castanha (Davi Pretto), Brasil - World Premiere

Cheol-ae-kum (A Dream of Iron) (Kelvin Kyung Kun Park), Republic of Korea / USA - World Premiere

Chilla (40 Days of Silence) (Saodat Ismailova), Uzbekistan / Tajikistan / Netherlands / Germany / France - World Premiere

The Darkside (Warwick Thornton), Australia - International Premiere

L’enlèvement de Michel Houellebecq (The Kidnapping...

The Berlinale’s Forum line-up includes new films from Corneliu Porumboiu, Denis Côté and Guillaume Nicloux.

The strand will include 28 world premieres and eight international premieres from every continent.

Porumboiu’s Al Doilea Joc (The Second Game) follows a football match between top Romanian teams Dinamo and Steau and the experience of the director’s father who refereed the game.

In L’enlèvement de Michel Houellebecq (The Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq), French director Guillaume Nicloux has brawny gangsters kidnap controversial writer Michel Houellebecq, where he is held captive for days in a house outside Paris.

Canadian director Cote was last year nominated for the Golden Bear for Vic + Flo Saw a Bear.

Ken Jacobs’ The Guests is an expanded one-minute film turned into a 70-minute black-and-white silent film in 3D.

The strand’s Special Screenings will be announced soon.

Forum

Wp = World premiere, IP = International premiere

The Airstrip by Heinz Emigholz, Germany - Wp[p...

Copenhagen-based sales outfit unveils Efm line-up.

Psychological teen drama The Word, from Polish director Anna Kazejak, is to be sold at Berlin’s Efm next month by LevelK.

The sales outfit, which has offices in Copenhagen and New York, also has The Turning, Free Range and The Contest in official selection at the Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 6-16).

LevelK will also bring Mona Fastvold’s The Sleepwalker and Berit Madsen’s Sepideh, both of which will screen at Sundance this month.

The Word is inspired by real events and centres on Lila who coerces her cheating boyfriend Janek into a series of unfortunate events

It was co-written by Kazejak and Magnus von Horn, and produced by Lukasz Dzieciol for Opus Film (Pl), in co-production with Jesper Morthorst of Sf Film Production (Dk).

Support comes from Opus Film, Sf Film Production, Polish Film Institute, Eurimages, Danish Film Institute, Pomerania Regional Film Fund, Mainstream, Cameo...

New films from Peter Webber, Pernille Fischer Christensen, Oliver Schmitz, Eran Kolirin.

A total of 39 features have been selected for Berlin’s co-production market (Feb 9-11).

Directors with work in the market include Peter Webber, Pernille Fischer Christensen, Oliver Schmitz, Eran Kolirin, Christos Georgiou, Erik Skjoldbjaerg and Nir Bergman.

All projects have 30% of their financing in place while budgets range from €700,000 to €6.5m.

This year’s Residency participants comprise Emir Baigazin, Alistair Banks Griffin, Bence Fliegauf, Sebastián Lelio, Elina Psykou and José Luis Valle. The participants will present new projects to potential partners at the co-production market.

The Talent Project Market will see ten new producers and directors primed for the international market. Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox featured last year, while Italian filmmaker Fabio Mollo’s Il Sud e Niente plays in this year’s Generation programme.

Five companies have been selected for the Company Matching programme and three more projects have been picked for the...

Best Foreign Language Film Oscar 2014 submissions (photo: Ziyi Zhang in ‘The Grandmaster’) (See previous post: Best Foreign Language Film Oscar: ‘The Past,’ ‘Wadjda,’ Andrzej Wajda Among Omissions) In case you missed it, here’s the full list of submissions (in alphabetical order, per country) for the 2014 Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award. The list of contenders was originally announced on October 7, 2013. Of note: Saudi Arabia and Moldova were first-timers; Montenegro was a first-timer as an independent country. Afghanistan, Wajma — An Afghan Love Story, Barmak Akram, director; Albania, Agon, Robert Budina, director; Argentina, The German Doctor, Lucía Puenzo, director; Australia, The Rocket, Kim Mordaunt, director; Austria, The Wall, Julian Pölsler, director; Azerbaijan, Steppe Man, Shamil Aliyev, director; Bangladesh, Television, Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, director; Belgium, The Broken Circle Breakdown, Felix van Groeningen, director; Bosnia and Herzegovina, An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker, Danis Tanovic, director; Brazil, Neighboring Sounds, Kleber Mendonça Filho,...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its shortlist for the 2014 Foreign Language Film Oscar — totaling a not-so-short 76 submitted films.

The number, up from 71 films last year, sets a new record for the category and includes frontrunners such as Asghar Farhadi’s The Past from Iran, Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt from Denmark, and Wong Kar-Wai’s The Grandmaster from Hong Kong. Abdellatif Kechiche’s festival favorite lesbian drama Blue Is the Warmest Color from France, however, failed to make the cut-off date for eligibility, while India controversially submitted Gyan Correa’s The Good Road over Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox.

A record 76 countries have submitted films for consideration in the foreign language film category for the 86th Academy Awards.

Moldova and Saudi Arabia are first-time entrants while Montenegro is submitting for the first time as an independent country.

Earlier this year the Academy changed its rule allowing all voting members to vote on the shortlist.

The nominations will be announced on January 16 2014 and the Academy Awards ceremony is scheduled to take place on March 2 2014 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

The 2013 submissions are:

Afghanistan, Wajma: An Afghan Love Story, Barmak Akram

Albania, Agon, Robert Budina

Argentina, Wakolda, Lucía Puenzo

Australia, The Rocket, Kim Mordaunt

Austria, The Wall, Julian Pölsler

Azerbaijan, Steppe Man, Shamil Aliyev

Bangladesh, Television, Mostofa Sarwar Farooki

Belgium, The Broken Circle Breakdown, Felix van Groeningen

Bosnia and Herzegovina, An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker, Danis Tanović

Brazil, Neighbouring Sounds, Kleber Mendonça Filho

Bulgaria, The Colour of the Chameleon, Emil Hristov

Cambodia...

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences has released the list of the 76 countries and their submissions officially competing for the 2014 Foreign Language Film Oscar.

Amongst the high profile entries this year are Australia's "The Rocket," Denmark's "The Hunt," France's "Renoir," Wong Kar-wai's "The Grandmaster," Iran's "The Past," and Saudi Arabia's "Wadjda".

The nominations will be announced on January 16th 2014 ahead of the ceremony on March 2nd. Here is the complete list:

Afghanistan, "Wajma – An Afghan Love Story," Barmak Akram

Albania, "Agon," Robert Budina

Argentina, "The German Doctor," Lucía Puenzo

Australia, "The Rocket," Kim Mordaunt

Austria, "The Wall," Julian Pölsler

Azerbaijan, "Steppe Man," Shamil Aliyev

Bangladesh, "Television," Mostofa Sarwar Farooki

Belgium, "The Broken Circle Breakdown," Felix van Groeningen

Bosnia and Herzegovina, "An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker," Danis Tanovic

Brazil, "Neighboring Sounds," Kleber Mendonça Filho

Bulgaria, "The Color of the Chameleon," Emil Hristov

Cambodia, "The Missing Picture,...

A record 76 countries have submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category for the 86th Academy Awards®.

Moldova and Saudi Arabia are first-time entrants; Montenegro is submitting for the first time as an independent country.

The 2013 submissions are:

Afghanistan, “Wajma – An Afghan Love Story,” Barmak Akram, director;

Albania, “Agon,” Robert Budina, director;

Argentina, “The German Doctor,” Lucía Puenzo, director;

Australia, “The Rocket,” Kim Mordaunt, director;

Austria, “The Wall,” Julian Pölsler, director;

Azerbaijan, “Steppe Man,” Shamil Aliyev, director;

Bangladesh, “Television,” Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, director;

Belgium, “The Broken Circle Breakdown,” Felix van Groeningen, director;

Bosnia and Herzegovina, “An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker,” Danis Tanovic, director;

Brazil, “Neighboring Sounds,” Kleber Mendonça Filho, director;

Bulgaria, “The Color of the Chameleon,” Emil Hristov, director;

Cambodia, “The Missing Picture,” Rithy Panh, director;

Canada, “Gabrielle,” Louise Archambault, director;

Chad, “GriGris,” Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, director;

Chile, “Gloria,” Sebastián Lelio, director;

China, “Back to 1942,” Feng Xiaogang,...

All entries for the Best Foreign-Language Film at the Academy Awards 2014.

Submissions for the Best Foreign-Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards are coming in and will continue until October, when the full list of eligible submissions will be revealed.

Last year, a record 71 countries submitted features and the eventual winner was Austrian entry Amour, directed by Michael Haneke.

An initial nine finalists will be shortlisted, which will be whittled down to five nominees that will be announced on Jan 16, 2014.

Submissions

Afghanistan, Wajma: An Afghan Love Story, Barmak Akram

Albania, Agon, Robert Budina

Argentina, Wakolda, Lucía Puenzo

Australia, The Rocket, Kim Mordaunt

Austria, The Wall, Julian Pölsler

Azerbaijan, Steppe Man, Shamil Aliyev

Bangladesh, Television, Mostofa Sarwar Farooki

Belgium, The Broken Circle Breakdown, Felix van Groeningen

Bosnia and Herzegovina, An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker, Danis Tanović

Brazil, Neighbouring Sounds, Kleber Mendonça Filho

Bulgaria, The Colour of the Chameleon, Emil Hristov

Cambodia...

In line with SydneysBuzz’s focus on the international film business we have put together the most complete list on the 67 national submissions to compete for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. This list showcases films that have been the centerpieces of the most renowned festivals and that represent the best in the cinematic landscape from across the globe. Last year, at this point in the race the clear favorite was Palm d'Or winner Amour, which went on to win the award with no significant competition and scoring 4 other nominations including Best Picture, an outstanding feat for a foreign film about love at the end of life, by Michael Haneke.

This time around the story could have repeated almost identically with the most recent winner of Cannes’ biggest prize Blue is the Warmest Color. However, the film became one more victim of the Academy's rules, which rendered it unqualified to compete because of the late release date in France. With Blue out of the race the award is fair game for virtually anyone on the list, although there are certainly some favorites.

Saudi Arabia's first ever submission, the charming Wadjda might turn into beginners luck and score the Kingdom, in which movie theaters are banned, a nomination or even a win. Iran's audacious decision to submit the French-language The Past caused uproar among conservatives, but might certainly score the nation another nomination after their win in 2012 with the masterful A Separation. Other strong contenders are Denmark's The Hunt starring Mads Mikkelsen, and which would continue the countries streak of 3 consecutive nominations winning in 2011 with In A Better World, as well as Canada's Gabrielle about the romantic relationship of a handicapped couple, and Hong Kong’s The Grandmaster by famous director Wong Kar-wai.

Italy’s The Great Beauty, Australia’s The Rocket, Romania’s Child’s Pose, and Chile’s Gloria are among other titles that might score a nomination given their success and prominence during their festivals rounds. Some countries decided to take a chance and send audacious choices as their representation to the Academy, so is the case Mexico, a country that chose the more violent and artistically daring Cannes winner Heli, over the hit comedy Instructions Not Included, or Greece’s Boy Eating The Bird’s Food, which includes grotesque imagery that might not sit well with academy members.

The African continent is minimally represented with only 3 entries, South Africa’s Four Corners, and the Arabic-language works God’s Horses from Morocco, and Winter of Discontent from Egypt. Algeria, which has submitted regularly and even scored several nominations, is absent in this occasion. Another big omission is China who did not submit an entry but whose language is represented by Taiwan and the above-mentioned Hong Kong; equally strange is France’s decision to enter Renoir over tons of other films that could have substituted Abdellatif Kechiche.

Less surprising is Russia’s decision to submit a blockbuster-style production with a very nationalistic message in lieu of a more intimate film. On the other hand, Cambodia, Lithuania, and Switzerland decided to go with a documentary, a choice that has never been very fruitful in this category. Lastly, Israel and Palestine both entered strong candidate with Bethlehem and Omar respectively, adding with that to the great year the region has seen in the cinematic realm.

The rest of the films are a mixture of obscure titles with not much exposure outside their homelands, and a others with great premise but equally unknown quality. Thankfully for SydneysBuzz readers, the list below compiles all 67 Foreign Submissions and includes links to more information and a link to the trailer of every single one of them. For the most part the clips are subtitled; the ones that are not will at least give the reader a sense of what the film is about. As the Awards Season develops, we will have updates on predicted nominees and other developments in the race for the Best Foreign Language Film.

Argentina

The German Doctor (Wakolda)

Dir: Lucia Puenzo

Language: Spanish, German, Hebrew

U.S Release: Acquired by Samuel Goldwyn Films

Festivals: Cannes 2013 Un Certain Regard

Trailer

Australia

The Rocket

Dir: Kim Mordaunt

Language: Lao

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Berlin 2013: Best First Feature Film ,Tribeca 2013: World Narrative Competition

Trailer

Austria

The Wall

Dir: Julian Polsler

Language: German

U.S Release: Released by Music Box Films on May 31st, 2013

Festivals: Sitges Ff 2012 Oficial Fantastic, Mumbai Ff 2012 Int'l Competition

Trailer

Bangladesh

Television

Dir: Mostofa Sarwar Farooki

Language: Bengali

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Dubai Diff 2012 (Muhr AsiaAfrica Feature Special Mention)

Trailer

Belgium

The Broken Circle Breakdown

Dir: Felix van Groeningen

Language: Flemish

U.S Release: Tribeca Film Will Release the Film on November 1st, 2013

Festivals: Berlinale - Efm 2013 - Panorama

Trailer

Bosnia And Herzegovina

An Episode in the Life of an Iron Picker

Dir: Danis Tanović

Language: Bosnian, Romani

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Berlinale - Efm 2013 Competition, Tiff 2013 Contemporary World Cinema

Trailer

Brazil

Neighboring Sounds

Dir: Kleber Mendonça Filho

Language: Portuguese, Mandarin

U.S Release: Released by Cinema Guild, Now Available on Netflix streaming

Festivals:Mar Del Plata Ff 2012 Competencia Int'l, Bafici (Buenos Aires) 2013 Panorama

Trailer

Bulgaria

The Color of the Chameleon

Dir: Emil Hristov

Language: Bulgarian

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Toronto - Tiff 2012 Discovery, Thessaloniki Iff 2012 Int'l Competition

Trailer

Cambodia

The Missing Picture

Dir: Rithy Panh

Language: French

U.S Release: Acquired by Strand Releasing for U.S Distribution

Festivals: Cannes 2013 - Un Certain Regard Prix, San Sebastian 2013 Pearls

Trailer

Canada

Gabrielle

Dir: Louise Archambault

Language: French

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Cannes 2013, Toronto- Tiff 2013, Locarno International Film Festival 2013

Trailer

Chile

Gloria

Dir: Sebastian Lelio

Language: Spanish

U.S Release: Acquired by Roadside Attractions for U.S Distribution

Festivals: Berlin Efm 2013, Cannes 2013, Toronto - Tiff 2013

Trailer

Colombia

La Playa DC

Dir: Juan Andrés Arango

Language: Spanish

U.S Release: Released by Artmattan Productions on July 19th, 2013

Festivals:Official Selection Cannes 2012 Un Certain Regard, Chicago Iff 2012 New Directors Competition

Trailer

Croatia

Halima's Path

Dir: Arsen Anton Ostojić

Language: Bosnian

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Berlin Efm 2013, Tallinn Black Nights Iff 2012 - EurAsia (Special Jury Prize)

Trailer

Czech Republic

Burning Bush

Dir: Agnieszka Holland

Language: Czech

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Toronto - Tiff 2013

Trailer

Denmark

The Hunt

Dir: Thomas Vinterberg

Language: Danish

U.S Release: Released by Magnolia Pictures on July 12th

Festivals: Cannes 2012 Competition, Toronto - Tiff 2012, AFI Fest

Trailer

Dominican Republic

Who's the Boss?

Dir: Ronni Castillo

Language: Spanish

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: N/A

Trailer

Egypt

Winter of Discontent

Dir: Ibrahim el-Batout

Language: Arabic

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Cannes 2013

Trailer

Estonia

Free Range

Dir: Veiko Õunpuu

Language: Estonian

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Berlin Efm 2012

Trailer

Finland

The Disciple

Dir: Ulrika Bengts

Language: Finnish

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals:Helsinki International Film Festival, Montréal World Film Festival

Trailer

France

Renoir

Dir: Gilles Bourdos

Language: French

U.S Release: Released by Samuel Goldwyn Films on March 29th, 2013

Festivals: Cannes 2012 Un Certain Regard

Trailer

Georgia

In Bloom

Dir: Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Groß

Language: Georgian

U.S Release: Acquired by Big World Pictures for U.S Distribution

Festivals: Cannes 2013, Cicae award Berlinale Forum 2013

Trailer

Germany

Two Lives

Dir: Georg Maas

Language: German

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Berlin Efm 2013, Cannes 2013, Toronto-tiff 2013, Busan 2013

Trailer

Greece

Boy Eating The Bird's Food

Dir: Ektoras Lygizos

Language: Greek

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Toronto - Tiff 2012 Discovery

Trailer

Hong Kong

The Grandmaster

Dir: Wong Kar-wai

Language: Cantonese, Mandarin

U.S Release: Released by The Weinstein Company on August 23rd, 2013

Festivals: Berlinale - Efm 2013, Cannes 2013

Trailer

Hungary

The Notebook

Dir: Janosz Szasz

Language: Hungarian

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Toronto - Tiff 2013 Contemporary World Cinema

Trailer

Iceland

Of Horses and Men

Dir: Benedikt Erlingsson

Language: Icelandic

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Berlin Efm 2013, Sundance 2013

Trailer

India

The Good Road

Dir: Gyan Correa

Language: Gujarati

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: London Indian Film Festival in 2013

Trailer

Iran

The Past

Dir: Asghar Farhadi

Language: French, Persian

U.S Release: Sony Pictures Classics will release the film on December 20th, 2013

Festivals:Cannes 2013 Competition-Won Best Actress, Toronto - Tiff 2013

Trailer

Israel

Bethlehem

Dir: Yuval Adler

Language: Hebrew

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Toronto - Tiff 2013 Discovery, Cannes 2013 , Berlin Efm 2013

Trailer

Italy

The Great Beauty

Dir: Paolo Sorrentino

Language: Italian

U.S Release: Acquired by Janus Films for U.S Distribution

Festivals: Cannes 2013 Competition, Berlin Efm 2013,

Trailer

Japan

The Great Passage

Dir: Yuya Ishii

Language: Japanese

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Fantasia Ff 2013 Official Selection, Cannes 2013

Trailer

Kazakhstan

The Old Man

Dir: Ermek Tursunov

Language: Russian, Kazakh

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: N/A

Trailer

Latvia

Mother, I Love You

Dir: Janis Nords

Language: Latvian

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Cannes 2013, Los Angeles Film Festival 2013

Trailer

Lebanon

Ghadi

Dir: Amin Dora

Language: Arabic

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: N/A

Trailer

Lithuania

Conversations on Serious Topics

Dir: Giedrė Beinoriūtė

Language: Lithuanian

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Berlin Efm 2013

Trailer

Luxembourg

Blind Spot

Dir: Christophe Wagner

Language: Luxembourgish, French

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Cannes 2012

Trailer

Mexico

Heli

Dir: Amat Escalante

Language: Spanish

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Cannes 2013 Competition-Won Best Director, San Sebastian 2013 Horizontes Latinos,

Trailer

Montenegro

Bad Destiny

Dir: Draško Đurović

Language: Serbo-Croatian

U.S Release: Acquired by Princ Films for U.S Distribution

Festivals: Toronto- Tiff 2013, Busan 2013

Trailer

Morocco

God's Horses

Dir: Nabil Ayouch

Language: Arabic

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Cannes 2012, Bif London Film Festival 2012

Trailer

Nepal

Soongava: Dance of the Orchids

Dir: Subarna Thapa

Language: Nepalese

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Cannes 2012, Berlin Efm 2013

Trailer

The Netherlands

Borgman

Dir: Alex van Warmerdam

Language: Dutch

U.S Release: Acquired by Drafthouse Films for U.S Distribution

Festivals: Cannes 2013 Competition, Busan 2013, Toronto-tiff 2013

Trailer

New Zealand

White Lies

Dir: Dana Rotberg

Language: Maori

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: N/A

Trailer

Norway

I Am Yours

Dir: Iram Haq

Language: Norwegian, Urdu

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Toronto-tiff 2013

Trailer

Pakistan

Zinda Bhaag

Dir: Meenu Gaur and Farjad Nabi

Language: Udu, Punjabi

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: N/A

Trailer

Palestine

Omar

Dir: Hany Abu-Assad

Language: Arabic

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Cannes 2013 Un Certain Regard, Toronto-tiff 2013

Trailer

Peru

The Cleaner

Dir: Adrian Saba

Language: Spanish

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Palm Springs Film Festival, Seattle International Film Festival

Trailer

Philippines

Transit

Dir: Hannah Espia

Language: Filipino, Tagalog, Hebrew

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Cinemalaya Film Festival 2013

Trailer

Poland

Walesa

Dir: Andrzej Wajda

Language: Polish

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Toronto - Tiff 2013, Venice- Biennale 2013

Trailer

Portugal

Lines of Wellington

Dir: Valeria Sarmiento

Language: Portuguese, English, French

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Venice - Biennale 2012 Competition, Toronto - Tiff 2012

Trailer

Romania

Child's Pose

Dir: Calin Peter Netzer

Language: Romanian

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Berlinale - Efm 2013 - Competition (Golden Bear for the Best Film), Toronto - Tiff 2013 Contemporary World Cinema

Trailer

Russia

Stalingrad

Dir: Fedor Bondarchuk

Language: Russian

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: N/A

Trailer

Saudi Arabia

Wadjda

Dir: Haifaa al-Mansour

Language: Arabic

U.S Release: Released by Sony Pictures Classics on September 13th, 2013

Festivals: Cannes 2012, Venice International Film Festival 2012, Los Angeles Film Festival, Toronto-tiff 2013

Trailer

Serbia

Circles

Dir: Srdan Golubovic

Language: Serbian

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Sundance 2013 World Dramatic, Berlinale - Efm 2013 Forum, Cannes 2013

Trailer

Singapore

Ilo Ilo

Dir: Anthony Chen

Language: Mandarin, Hokkien, English, Tagalog

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Cannes 2013 Directors Fortnight, Toronto - Tiff 2013 Discovery

Trailer

Slovakia

My Dog Killer

Dir: Mira Fornay

Language: Slovak

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Berlin Efm 2013, Cannes 2013, Busan 2013

Trailer

Slovenia

Class Enemy

Dir: Rok Biček

Language: Slovene

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Cannes 2013, Toronto-tiff 2013

Trailer

Spain

15 Years and One Day

Dir: Gracia Querejeta

Language: Spanish

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: San Sebastian 2013 Made in Spain, Berlin Efm 2013

Trailer

South Africa

Four Corners

Dir: Ian Gabriel

Language: Afrikaans, Tsotsitaal

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals:N/A

Trailer

South Korea

Juvenile Offender

Dir: Kang Yi-kwan

Language: Korean

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Toronto - Tiff 2012 Contemporary World Cinema,

Trailer

Sweden

Eat Sleep Die

Dir: Gabriela Pichler

Language: Swedish, Croatian

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Venice International Film Festival 2012, Toronto - Tiff 2012

Trailer

Switzerland

More Than Honey

Dir: Markus Imhoof

Language: German, Mandarin

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Toronto - Tiff 2012 Tiff Docs, Cannes 2013, Berlin Efm 2013

Trailer

Taiwan

Soul

Dir: Mong-Hong Chung

Language: Mandarin

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Cannes 2013, Toronto - Tiff 2013 Vanguard

Trailer

Thailand

Countdown

Dir: Nattawut Poonpiriya

Language: Thai

U.S Release: Acquired by Birch Tree Entertainment for U.S Distribution

Festivals: Cannes 2013, Far East Film Festival 2013

Trailer

Turkey

The Butterfly's Dream

Dir: Yılmaz Erdoğan

Language: Turkish

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Istanbul Film Festival, Los Angeles Turkish Film Festival

Trailer

Ukraine

Paradjanov

Dir: Serge Avedikian and Olena Fetisova

Language: Russian

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Toronto 2013

Trailer

United Kingdom

Metro Manila

Dir: Sean Elllis

Language: Filipino, Tagalog

U.S Release: Acquired by Paladin/108 Media for U.S Distribution

Festivals: Sundance 2013 World Dramatic, Berlin Efm 2012, Cannes 2012, Afm 2012, Berlin Efm 2013

Trailer

Venezuela

Breach in the Silence

Dir: Luis and Andrés Rodríguez

Language: Spanish

U.S Release: Tba

Festivals: Ventana Sur 2012, Festival de Mar del Plata "Panorama Latinomaericano"

Trailer...

The recently created Saint-Petersburg-based Point Of View (Pov) Development Fund has backed three film projects a total of $86,000 (€65,000).

An international expert group of producers that selected the projects included Sergei Selyanov (Ctb Film Company), Artem Vasiliev (Metrafilms), Riina Sildos (Amrion), Konstantinos Kontovrakis (Heretic) and Berlin-based sales agent Jean-Christophe Simon of Films Boutique.

The films they selected each have the fate of a woman at their centre:

The Woman From Ingria, to be produced by Pavel Odynin, is based on the biography of a simple woman in the north-western corner of Russia during the 20th century (€25,000);

Svetlana follows the real love story between Stalin’s daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva and the Indian raj Brajesh Singh in the mid-1960s. It will be produced by Anastasia Perova, Olga Kolegaeva and Konstantin Nafikov with Karsten Stöter of Germany’s Rohfilm,which was a co-producer of Ritesh Batra’s Cannes hit The Lunchbox (€25,000);

Manifestation, the feature debut by Georgian-born film-maker Anna Sarukhanova...

Veiko Ounpuu's films view humanity's daftness through a lens of despair and depression and the end product turns out to be effortlessly cool, stylish, and darkly humorous. His latest, which he calls an "anti-western" looks like it will follow the same somber path of the Eastern European "independent" oddity as evinced by the stylish, unrevealing teaser we've been provided. [Continued ...]...

Estonian director Veiko Õunpuu and actor Taavi Eelmaa are the brains behind 60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero, a recent film event that went up in flames. An international collective of directors ranging from Oldboy's Park Chan-wook and 9 Songs' Michael Winterbottom, to up-and-comers like A Horrible Way to Die's Adam Wingard contributed their shorts to the single 35 mm film anthology that was screened for an audience one time — as part of Estonia's 2011 European Capital of Culture celebration — and then burned to the ground (along with the screen itself). Why, exactly? The project's website describes it as "flying in the face of the cynicism of marketing, production, business operators, and the moral majority...

Read More...

by Vadim Rizov

Veiko Õunpuu's second film, The Temptation of St. Tony, offers special thanks to Pier Paolo Pasolini and Luis Buñuel in the end credits. That's apt for a film whose skepticism about religion as a redemptive force resembles the latter and which pays explicit homage to the former in a song cue. Odetta's "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child," used during the Nativity sequence of The Gospel According to St. Matthew, plays over a cannibalism scene directly reminiscent of Porcile. Despite that double-barreled reference, Õunpuu denies any direct influence: in an interview last year, he allowed that "the homage to all of them" (Tarkovsky, Fellini, Lynch and Bresson as well) "is there, whether I like it or not."

He very much does like it. His first film Autumn Ball reveled in post-Soviet architecture and dour, lifeless color. Despite one character's outburst that "Baltic consciousness" is a...

A look at what's new on DVD today:

"Black Lightning" (2009)

Directed by Dmitriy Kiselev and Aleksandr Voytinskiy

Released by Universal Studios

"Wanted" director Timur Bekmambetov produced this Russian action flick about a man and his flying car, using the same effects team that worked on all of his previous films including "Night Watch." A Russian trailer is here since where we're going, we don't need to understand words.

"7th Hunt" (2010)

Directed by Jon Cohen

Released by Vanguard Cinema

A motley group of young adults are abducted and forced to fend for their survival at an abandoned military training center in the middle of nowhere in Jon Cohen's thriller.

"Alien Vs. Ninja" (2010)

Directed by Seiji Chiba

Released by Funimation

A selection of last year's New York Asian Film Festival, Seiji Chiba's crazy genre mashup may just be "the best and wittiest movie ever to air at 2am on the SyFy Channel" in the future,...

David of Victim of the Time reporting from the 54th BFI London Film Festival.

I'd like to stick some exciting star sightings into my little introduction here, but sadly the only famous body part I've laid eyes on (so far) is Freida Pinto's head. Before we get to the enticing capsules -two starkly different Foreign Film Oscar contenders and one harrowing prison drama that trumps them both - a bit on one of the highlights so far:

Meek’s Cutoff feels like the natural evolution of Reichardt’s attitude towards her filmmaking – it is broader than but not indistinct from her previous films, an experiment in how starkly different elements (of plot, of acting, of character) can be understood in the low-key shooting style many admire her for.More on Meek's here.

Now about that harrowing prison drama...

It’s part of the festival experience to overload your schedule,...

While I do not think that something as edgy or unusual as Giorgos Lanthimos' Dogtooth (pictured above) will make the 'final five' short list, but kudos to Greece for throwing it out there.  Perhaps something like Tetsuya Nakashima's Confessions will make the cut despite its similarly unsettling subject matter.  Either way, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences did put out a big release yesterday with all of their Foreign Language film submissions, 65 of them in total even Greenland, from various countries.  Many of these films have reviews in our archives.

Albania, East West East, Gjergj Xhuvani

Algeria, Hors la Loi ("Outside the Law"), Rachid Bouchareb

Argentina, Carancho, Pablo Trapero

Austria, La Pivellina, Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel

Azerbaijan, The Precinct, Ilgar Safat

Bangladesh, Third Person Singular Number, Mostofa Sarwar Farooki

Belgium, Illegal, Olivier Masset-Depasse

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Circus Columbia, Danis Tanovic

Brazil, Lula the Son of Brazil,...

65 Countries Enter Race for 2010 Foreign Language Film Oscar®

Beverly Hills, CA: Sixty-five countries, including first-time entrants Ethiopia and Greenland, have submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category for the 83rd Academy Awards®.

The 2010 submissions are:

.Albania, .East, West, East,. Gjergj Xhuvani, director;

.Algeria, .Hors la Loi. (.Outside the Law.), Rachid Bouchareb, director;

.Argentina, .Carancho,. Pablo Trapero, director;

.Austria, .La Pivellina,. Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel, directors;

.Azerbaijan, .The Precinct,. Ilgar Safat, director;

.Bangladesh, .Third Person Singular Number,. Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, director;

.Belgium, .Illegal,. Olivier Masset-Depasse, director;

.Bosnia and Herzegovina, .Circus Columbia,. Danis Tanovic, director;

.Brazil, .Lula, the Son of Brazil,. Fabio Barreto, director;

.Bulgaria, .Eastern Plays,. Kamen Kalev, director;

.Canada, .Incendies,. Denis Villeneuve, director;

.Chile, .The Life of Fish,. Matias Bize, director;

.China, .Aftershock,. Feng Xiaogang, director;

.Colombia, .Crab Trap,. Oscar Ruiz Navia, director;

.Costa Rica, .Of Love and Other Demons,. Hilda Hidalgo, director;

.Croatia, .The Blacks,...

I have been keeping track of all of the Foreign Language Oscar submissions in my "The Contenders" section of the site and today the official list of sixty-five films from sixty-five countries was unveiled by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for consideration for the 83rd Academy Awards. On January 20, 2011 a shortlist of nine contenders will be announced prior to the naming of the nominees on January 25, 2011.

I have included the complete list directly below, which includes first-time entrants Ethiopia and Greenland. The only film that was originally thought to be under consideration, but didn't show up on the Academy's final list was Afghanistan's entry, Black Tulip, directed by Sonia Nassery Cole. IMDb doesn't list a release date for the film, which means it may not have met the release requirements in time.

I have linked each film to their corresponding IMDb page for those films not included...

A metaphysical chess game? A dream/nightmare? The afterlife: One, or two, of the circles of hell? An allegorical odyssey or a road movie of self-discovery with a mostly stationed car and not much of a road? These are just some of the impressions left in the wake of Estonian filmmaker Veiko Õunpuu's latest work, The Temptation of St. Tony. The title character isn't so much a man as he is a pawn, dressed in alternating light or dark, moving one moral choice at a time--perhaps by the hand of God, perhaps by the complexities of simply being flesh-and-bone--through a thick cluster...

I'm not sure what the cutoff date is for from the individual countries for the Foreign Language Film nominations, but Sony Pictures Classics are glad to see Canada select Denis Villeneuve's Incendies. The company now has three horses in the race and once again, places the distributor in a pretty good position to grab the most of the spots in the final five nominations. Their solid trio so far includes: the Villeneuve film that played at Venice, Telluride and Tiff with Cannes items Xavier Beauvois' Of Gods and Men and Olivier Schmitz's Life, Above All. Having seen all three mentioned titles, I can say that this will please Academy voters. Cross your fingers for Dogtooth folks. Algeria: Outside the Law, Rachid Bouchareb Austria: La Pivellina, Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel Azerbaijan: The Precinct, Ilgar Safat Belgium: Illègal, Olivier Masset-Depasse Bosnia and Herzegovina: Circus Columbia, Danis Tanovic Bulgaria: Eastern Plays,...