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Hungarian auteur Bence Fliegauf is about as far from the mainstream as you can get, although he has tried his hand at various Hollywood genres — including the 2010 English-language sci-fi flick Womb, which starred Eva Green and Lesley Manville. But his eclectic range of movies are often dark and difficult to classify, which may explain why he’s been a regular on the festival circuit for nearly two decades without ever getting much play in theaters.

The director’s latest feature, Jimmy Jaguar, is another brooding head-scratcher, one that’s equal parts fascinating and frustrating. On paper, it could be pitched as a Hungarian Blair Witch Project meets Insidious, using a faux-documentary device to explore a case of demonic possession among a group of outsiders living in the countryside. But it doesn’t include a single jump scare, killing scene or drop of blood, and never manages to frighten the viewer.

“Jimmy Jaguar,” “Jimmy Jaguar,” “Jimmy Jaguar.” In his new film, Hungarian director Bence Fliegauf is calling out for a new revenge demon.

“People believe in the just-world fallacy. If you eat healthy, you’ll live long. If you commit a crime, you’ll go to prison. The world should work like this – we all want to believe that. But what if it doesn’t?,” he wonders.

“Then you need Jesus, Batman, Muhammad, Krishna, Spiderman. In our case, it’s Jimmy Jaguar, who goes after people who are only alive because it’s illegal to kill them.”

Modern world – “Especially the mental climate of my own country” – is already dark enough to summon a dark entity, he argues.

“Hungary’s boiling like lava in hell.”

In “Jimmy Jaguar,” produced by Fraktal Film and vying for the Crystal Globe at Karlovy Vary Film Festival, Fliegauf’s characters give in to the mysterious...

Jimmy Jaguar is the latest film from Hungarian director Bence Fliegauf, who describes it as a “consensual mindfuck”.

Fliegauf has credits includingForest, I See You Everywherewhich won Lilla Kizlinger a Berlinale Silver Bear for best supporting performance in 2021,Just The Wind,which won theBerlinale grand jury prize in 2012, andMilky Way,winner of the Golden Leopard at Locarno in 2017.

Jimmy Jaguar, which has echoes of classic horror mockumentaries such as The Blair Witch Project,will make its world premiere in the Crystal Global competition at Karlovy Vary next week.

The director was inspired to make the film while working on a documentary.

The 59th edition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Kviff), which kicks off in the Czech spa town on Friday, is once again offering up a mix of world premieres and hidden gems to discover, as well as highlights from the festival circuit of the past year.

As is tradition, Central Europe’s biggest cinema fest and party will feature regional and international films, with Kviff will once again presenting some more edgy, yes, even outright bizarre sounding movies.

Here is THR‘s look at some of the more unusual and offbeat films that Kviff will unspool for cineasts, tastemakers and industry insiders at its 2025 edition, running July 4-12.

The “Czechoslovak Tom Jones”

Duchoň

Special Screenings section

‘Duchoň’ Courtesy of Kviff

Czardas of Two Hearts, In the Slovak Valleys and I Love You — those are the titles of some of the hits that made pop singer Karol Duchoň into...

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival has added Iranian feature Bidad by Soheil Beiraghi as the 12th and final title for its main Crystal Globe Competition.

When Karlovy Vary unveiled its line-up in early June, it said would add an Iranian film to the competition but was keeping it secret till closer to the festival to protect the safety of the film’s delegation.

Bidad is the story of the young singer Seti who refuses to accept the fact that women in Iran are not allowed to perform in public. In defiance of her country’s religious laws, she decides to sing in the street.

The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival has unveiled the official selection for its 59th edition, including new features by Bence Fliegauf, Miro Remo and Ondřej Provazník.

Scroll down for full lineup

The festival, which runs from July 4-July 12 in the Czech spa town, has announced 11 titles for its main Crystal Globe Competition, comprising nine world premieres and two international premieres.

Artistic director Karel Och said that one more title from Iran will be added to the Competition closer to the festival, with the announcement postponed “for the safety of its makers.”

Hungarian director Bence Fliegauf, whose Forest - I See...

The upcoming Josh O’Connor film “Rebuilding” will screen as part of the 2025 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival along with multiple world premieres, Kviff organizers announced on Tuesday.

The festival announced 11 films in its Crystal Globe competition section, but added that the section will include a 12th film from Iran. Artistic director Karel Och said in a release that the announcement of this final feature has been postponed until closer to the festival out of consideration for “the safety of its makers.”

“Rebuilding,” which makes its international premiere at the festival, immerses us in the life of a rancher (O’Connor) whose ranch has been destroyed in a wildfire and must now pick up the pieces in his life. It’s written and directed by Max Walker-Silverman, who previously made his feature debut with the delicate drama “A Love Song” in 2022. “Rebuilding” previously premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival...

Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival has revealed the official selection lineup for its 59th edition with artistic director Karel Och saying the selection “offers an exciting display of the diversity of contemporary arthouse cinema.”

He added that the filmmakers “fearlessly protect the right to challenge expectations, to disrupt stereotypes and to win over hearts and minds with equal intensity,” and “push the boundaries while keeping in mind the necessary connection between a film and its audience.”

Eleven titles from the usual dozen films in the Crystal Globe Competition were revealed. The remaining one comes from Iran. “For the safety of its makers, it has been decided to postpone its announcement until closer to the festival,” Och said.

Och said the festival “has always addressed political issues through powerful individual stories, fully supporting artists and their freedom of expression.”

Crystal Globe Competition

“Cinema Jazireh”

Director: Gözde Kural

Turkey, Iran, Bulgaria, Romania,...

The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival has unveiled its official selection and jury members for the upcoming 59th edition of the upcoming festival. It has announced 11 titles from its usual dozen films in its Crystal Globe Competition, which include the world premiere of Ondřej Provaznik’s Sbormistr (Broken Voices) and Hungarian title Jimmy Jaguar from Bence Fliegauf.

The festival said that the final competition title is from Iran and will be announced closer to the start of the festival “for the safety of its makers.”

Jury members this year include Mexican producer Nicolás Celis, who has worked with directors such as Alfonso Cuarón and Jacques Audiard as well as filmmaker Babak Jalali, whose second feature Radio Dreamswon the Tiger Award at Rotterdam Iff in 2016.

“The 59th Karlovy Vary Iff’s Official Selection offers an exciting display of the diversity of contemporary arthouse cinema, “ said Karlovy Vary Festial Director Karel Och in a statement.

Here’s a rundown of some of the top Hungarian projects in the pipeline or selling at the Cannes Market:

Semmelweis

Director: Lajos Koltai

Producer: Tamas Lajos (Film Positive)

Sales: N/A

Set in 1847, as a mysterious epidemic rages in a maternity clinic in Vienna, this period drama from the Oscar-nominated cinematographer and director Koltai (“Malena”) stars promising young thesp Miklos H. Vecsei as the titular doctor Ignác Semmelweis, who spurns traditional medical theories to find a cure.

The Lefkovicses Are in Mourning

Director: Ádám Breier

Producers: Kázmér Miklós, Felszeghy Ádám, Ausztrics Andrea

Sales: N/A

Breier’s feature debut is a dramedy about a generous but stubborn elderly boxing coach who gets along with everyone except his own son. While the two haven’t spoken in years, they’re reunited during after the death of the old man’s wife and forced to face old grievances.

Cat Call

Director:...

The Berlin International Film Festival continued to challenge expectations in its 66th edition, landing another auteur heavy competition line-up, albeit a slightly less sensational one than the landmark 2015 program. Although an attempt continues to be made to establish grand motifs between films in competition and the more experimental sidebars, topical issues seemed to be the name of the game across the board, particularly immigration. This culminated with this year’s Golden Bear winner, Gianfranco Rosi’s Fire at Sea, a documentary which was the clear early favorite and remained so up until the awards ceremony. Rosi has now won two major film festivals with his documentary work (previously taking home the top prize at Venice 2013 for Sacro Gra), and further solidifies an argument for the Cannes Film Festival to follow suit and allow documentary titles to play in the main competition. Berlin notably had two documentaries in the main competition this year,...

★★☆☆☆ Hungarian director Benedek Fliegauf, winner of the Silver Bear in 2012 for his bleak and brutally affecting thriller about the persecution faced by Hungary's Romany community Just the Wind, returns to Berlin with his sixth feature, Lily Lane (Liliom Ösvény). A harrowing journey between two worlds, one haunted by past mistakes, another populated by memories of the dead, this grim, yet weirdly beguiling mother-son drama uses the power of imagination to traverse the borders of a child's conception of reality. A portrayal of the continuous struggle at the core of our inner worlds Fliegauf creates an atmosphere of mounting unease by blurring the lines between fact and fiction.

Over the River and Through the Woods: Fliegauf Explores Intimate Portrait of Abuse Cycles

Hungarian auteur Bence Fliegauf returns with his first film since 2012’s Just the Wind, which picked up the Grand Jury Prize at the Berlinale, an emotionally taxing film concerning racial implications in the ruthless murder of several rural families. Known for his experimental flourishes and penchant for heavy material, the director begins in his comfortably downtrodden rhythm with his sixth feature, Lily Lane, an essay on nurtured cycles of familial abuse and the euphemistic nature of fairy tales as filter or escape from the clutches of a degraded existence. A refracted narrative unveils a troubled mother’s associations from her own childhood, hopelessly spilling into a present day predicament with her seven year old son. The result is a roundabout relay of psychological catharsis, at once frustrating and compelling.

Rebekah (Angela Stefanovics) tells her son Dani...

Returning with another diverse, auteur heavy line-up with their 66th edition, the Berlin International Film Festival continues to impress just as much with selections available outside of the titles competing for the coveted Golden Bear (including the festival’s second edition of a Critics’ Week, where the latest titles from Andrzej Zulawski and Philippe Grandrieux are playing). New items from Bence Fliegauf, Eugene Green, Anna Muylaert, Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Doris Dorrie are also significant highlights, but here’s a glance at my top five most anticipated.

#5. An Outpost of Progress – Dir. Hugo Vieira da Silva

Portuguese director Hugo Vieira da Silva returns with this adaptation of a Joseph Conrad story (the author considered this his best work), a tale of two colonial officials in a remote ivory trading post on the Congo. Conrad remains a difficult author to translate to the screen (some great exceptions from Coppola, Patrice Chereau, and...

Programme includes 34 world premieres.

The line-up for the 46th Berlinale Forum has been announced and will feature a total of 44 films in its main programme, of which 34 are world premieres and nine international premieres.

One focus of this year’s programme is the Arab region, with films shot by mainly young directors from an area that stretches between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, exploring both the past and present of their homelands.

In A Magical Substance Flows into Me, artist Jumana Manna sets out in search of the musical diversity of the Palestinian region.

Tamer El Said’s feature In the Last Days of the City (Akher ayam el madina) sends his alter-ego Khalid through the director’s home city of Cairo, which is in a state of uproar.

Maher Abi Samra’s documentary A Maid for Each (Makhdoumin) grapples with the employment of maids from the Global South in middle-class Lebanese households, a practice...

The 46th Berlinale Forum will be screening 44 films from February 11 through 21. Among the highlights will be Eugène Green's Le Fils de Joseph with Mathieu Amalric, a new documentaries from Wang Bing and Nikolaus Geyrhalter, Ted Fendt's Short Stay, the only film screening on 35mm, Robert Greene’s Kate Plays Christine with Kate Lyn Sheil, plus new work by Avi Mograbi, Bence Fliegauf, Jumana Manna, Tamer El Said, Philip Scheffner, Daichi Sugimoto, Rachel Lang, Mahmoud Sabbagh, Volker Koepp, Ahu Öztürk, Andrea Bussmann and Nicolás Pereda. » - David Hudson...

The 46th Berlinale Forum will be screening 44 films from February 11 through 21. Among the highlights will be Eugène Green's Le Fils de Joseph with Mathieu Amalric, a new documentaries from Wang Bing and Nikolaus Geyrhalter, Ted Fendt's Short Stay, the only film screening on 35mm, Robert Greene’s Kate Plays Christine with Kate Lyn Sheil, plus new work by Avi Mograbi, Bence Fliegauf, Jumana Manna, Tamer El Said, Philip Scheffner, Daichi Sugimoto, Rachel Lang, Mahmoud Sabbagh, Volker Koepp, Ahu Öztürk, Andrea Bussmann and Nicolás Pereda. » - David Hudson...

Lily Lane

Director: Bence Fliegauf

Writer: Bence Fliegauf

We had pegged Bence Fliegauf‘s latest Lily Lane as a definite 2015 title, but it was not to be. Those familiar with the films of the Hungarian filmmaker may find his style hard to pinpoint. He’s been building a reputation as an experimental filmmaker since 2001’s Talking Heads. Since then, his films regularly screen at Locarno (he won the Golden Leopard with 2007’s Milky Way). His first English language feature, the delightfully bizarre Eva Green film, Womb (2010) saw his audience widen, even as that also faced similar distribution issues. In 2012, Just the Wind snagged him the Silver Berlin Bear (along with several other accolades), and is still without distribution. Favoring strange and unnerving narratives, we’re greatly excited to see he has another project ready for the coming year (see on set pic above), Lily Lane, which the director describes as...

Now that we’ve come out of the Cannes ether, we can examine several of the names glaringly absent from the lineup that may potentially premiere on the Lido this fall. With controversial moves finding Garrel, Gomes, and Desplechin playing the Quinzaine, while Naomi Kawase and Apichatpong Weerasethakul got slotted in Un Certain Regard, we’re aggravated and pleased about some of this shifting around, but all in all, the main competition this year didn’t end up feeling like many programming risks were taken.

First off, to the general surprise of all, German director Maren Ade and British director Terence Davies were absent from the line-up, both with new highly anticipated titles (Toni Erdmann and Sunset Song respectively). Thierry Fremaux, arguably, tried to mix things up a bit with the Main Competition this year, inviting two female directors (Sacre Bleu!), including Valerie Donzelli and repeat offender Maiwenn (both titles...

Exclusive: Greece’s Syllas Tzoumerkas and Hungary’s Adam Csaszi are among 13 international filmmakers selected to each spend three months in Berlin as part of the Nipkow Programme residency.

An international jury under French producer Christine Camdessus decided on the latest intake of Nipkow fellows from 11 countries out of 86 applicants from 30 countries ranging from Bosnia & Herzegovina and Brazil through Uganda and Ukraine to the Us.

The first batch of filmmakers will arrive in Berlin this month for a three-month period, and others will come over subsequent months.

Tzoumerkas, who presented his last feature A Blast in competition in Locarno last summer, will be in Berlin from August to work on his new project The Miracle of the Sargasso Sea, while Csaszi, whose feature debut Land Of Storms premiered in the Berlinale’s Panorama Special in 2014, will be developing the screenplay for a new film High Dive for three months in the same period.

The largest...

With the world’s most prestigious film festival just around the corner, cineastes have been lasciviously salivating about what’s going to show up at Cannes, with wish lists appearing almost immediately after Berlin (a fest that had one of their most impressive line-ups ever) announced their awards. The remainder of the 2015 fest circuit looks to be a plentiful, diverse porridge, with many of the world’s most renowned auteurs’ sporting brand new titles. While many prognosticators will be sharing the same lists, more or less, hopes are incredibly high for a handful of sure bets, and a gaggle of hopefuls. The main competition always seems easier to postulate, though Thierry Fremaux always throws a few curves, (After the Battle in 2012, The Hunt in 2013 or last year’s Timbuktu, which won the Cesar for Best Picture recently, are a couple ready examples of under-the-radar titles).

Italy seems primed for saturation at the fest.

Enhanced tax rebate has resulted in a mini-production boom.

After troubled times, Hungarian film is on the mend. That was the message from Hungarian Film Fund CEO Agnes Havas at this year’s European Film Market (Efm).

Local market share for Hungarian films is still low (precise figures for 2014 are not yet available) but the industry is enjoying a mini-production boom.

The enhanced 25% tax rebate is helping draw foreign production to the country. Ridley Scott has been in Budapest shooting his new sci-fi thriller The Martian for Twentieth Century Fox, starring Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Kristen Wiig.

Scripted by Drew Goddard, and adapted from the Andy Weir book, it is the story of an astronaut stranded on a Martian colony. Scott recently gave a film masterclass in Budapest.

Also shooting in Hungary are Pernilla August’s Serious Game, Jonathan Mostow’s Hunter’s Prayer starring Sam Worthington and Alan Ball’s new HBO pilot...

Lily Lane

Director: Benedek Fliegauf// Writer: Benedek Fliegauf

Those familiar with the films of Hungarian filmmaker Benedek Fliegauf find him hard to pinpoint. He’s been building a reputation as an experimental filmmaker since 2001’s Talking Heads. Since then, his films regularly screen at Locarno (he won the Golden Leopard with 2007’s Milky Way). His first English language feature, the delightfully bizarre Eva Green film, Womb (2010) saw his audience widen, even as that also faced similar distribution issues. In 2012, Just the Wind snagged him the Silver Berlin Bear (along with several other accolades), and is still without distribution. Favoring strange and unnerving narratives, we’re greatly excited to see he has another project ready for the coming year (see on set pic above), Lily Lane, which the director describes as a story that sees a woman receive news of her mother’s death, which drives her to try to seek...

Film-makers across Europe are “in shock” after learning the news that the Nipkow Programm has not received backing from the EU’s Creative Europe programme for 2015-2016.

Speaking exclusively to ScreenDaily, Nipkow Programm managing director Petra Weisenburger explained that the Berlin-based training initiative had not been successful in the latest round of funding for the next two years and would explore alternative strategies for a survival plan.

In the current financial year, Creative Europe had provided nearly 46% (€180,400) of Nipkow’s overall budget, with the remaining €215,543 coming from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg (Mbb) and Germany’s State Minister for Culture and the Media (Bkm).

Weisenburger said that Mbb’s CEO Kirsten Niehuus had already indicated a desire to see the Nipkow Programm continue to exist, but the situation remains unclear about the funding from Bkm for 2015 onwards.

She added that the Nipkow Programm jury of experts will meet during the next Berlinale in February to discuss the initiative’s future...

In today's roundup of news and views, we point to Terence Nance's (An Oversimplification of Her Beauty) discussion of Tim Sutton’s Memphis, an interview with Harry Dean Stanton, R. Emmet Sweeney on an overlooked film by Jean Renoir and an excerpt from Paul Cronin's new book of interviews with Werner Herzog. And currently working on new films are Ringo Lam, Todd Haynes, David Fincher, Martin Scorsese and Benedek Fliegauf. Plus: videos on the work of Wes Anderson and the late Robin Williams. » - David Hudson...

In today's roundup of news and views, we point to Terence Nance's (An Oversimplification of Her Beauty) discussion of Tim Sutton’s Memphis, an interview with Harry Dean Stanton, R. Emmet Sweeney on an overlooked film by Jean Renoir and an excerpt from Paul Cronin's new book of interviews with Werner Herzog. And currently working on new films are Ringo Lam, Todd Haynes, David Fincher, Martin Scorsese and Benedek Fliegauf. Plus: videos on the work of Wes Anderson and the late Robin Williams. » - David Hudson...

In Cannes, the eighth annial Krzysztof Kieslowski ScripTeast award has gone to Merican Chick.

Evita Naušová and Viktor Tauš from the Czech Republic get the prize along with €10,000 ($14,000) to further develop their project. The award recognises a script from Eastern and Central Europe.

The script is about a defiant circus girl in the 1980s who is kidnapped from the Us and taken back to communist Czechoslovakia.

A special mention was given to Life Beats Reality by Andreea Valean (Romania), a “unique 21st century family portrait”.

The selection was made by the Advisory Board members, comprising Sandy Lieberson, Manfred Schmidt, Simon Perry, Antonio Saura, Dariusz Jablonski, and heads of studies Tom Abrams and Christian Routh.

Past Kieslowski award winners that have already been produced include The House by Zuzana Liova and Womb by Benedek Fliegauf.

Last month, we unveiled our all-encompassing, most anticipated films for the current year in film. Now we peer into a future that is a little past the limits of 2014 thus we find ourselves with a quickie overview of the Top 100 Most Anticipated Films for 2015. Curated by our Nicholas Bell, with a little luck, we might see less than a finger count on one hand sum of films break this year, but for the most part, a good deal of these projects have planned 2014/15 production start dates. Here are 100 projects/filmmakers worth keeping tabs on (picks 100 to 11)

100. The Double Hour – Dir. Joshua Marston

99. Lila & Eve – Dir. Charles Stone III

98. Legacy of Secrecy – Dir. David O. Russell

97. The Theory of Everything – James Marsh

96. Elvis and Nixon – Dir. Liza Johnson

95. Hier – Dir. Balint Kenyeres

94. Timeless – Dir. Vadim Perelman

93. Wonderful Tonight – Dir. Christine Jeffs

92. Rocketman – Dir. Dagur Kari

91. Passengers – Dir. Brian Kirk

90. Sweet Cheeks – Dir.

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...

The Berlin International Film Festival (February 6 – 16, 2014), one of our industry's major festivals, is calling for projects for the second year of its residency program. The Berlinale Residency is an initiative of the Berlin International Film Festival, the Nipkow Programme and the Guadalajara International Film Festival, in cooperation with the Media Mundus program of the European Union and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg.

The international Berlinale Residency fellowship program is inviting six filmmakers with their latest film projects to Berlin from August 15 to November 15, 2013, so they can finalize their screenplays, and develop production and distribution strategies. An international jury – consisting of Clare Binns (Director of Programming and Acquisitions at City Screen, Great Britain), producer Cedomir Kolar (Asap Film, France) and Thomas Hailer (Berlinale Programme Manager, Germany) – has chosen six directors and their projects.

Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick comments: “With the Berlinale Residency, the Berlinale has successfully expanded its programme to promote filmmakers. I’m delighted that in the initiative’s second year we’ll again be supporting international directing talents in developing their new projects.”

Berlinale Residency participants in 2013:

Emir Baigazin, Kazakhstan: The Wounded Angel

Producer: Beibit Muslimov, Kazakhfilm Studios, Kazakhstan

Born in Kazakhstan in 1984, Emir Baigazin studied film and television directing at the Kazakh National Academy of Arts. In 2007 he participated in the Asian Film Academy in Busan. He is also an alumnus of the 2008 Berlinale Talent Campus. Baigazin’s debut feature film, Harmony Lessons, was supported by the World Cinema Fund and celebrated its premiere in the Berlinale Competition 2013, where it won a Silver Bear for an Outstanding Artistic Contribution. The film was considered an extraordinary discovery and is now travelling the international festival circuit.

Bence Fliegauf, Hungary: Glowing Wormhole

Producer: Bence Fliegauf, Fraktál Film, Hungary

Hungarian filmmaker Bence Fliegauf’s debut feature film Forest premiered in the Berlinale Forum in 2003. One year later, Dealer (2004) garnered him over 20 awards, including the Fipresci Prize at the Mar del Plata Film Festival. He won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival forMilky Way in 2007. His first English-language movie, Womb, was screened in Locarno and Toronto. The Berlinale Competition 2012 presented Fliegauf’s latest film, Just the Wind, which received the Jury Grand Prix and went on to be screened at many other film festivals.

Alistair Banks Griffin, USA: Therese (working title)

Producer: Eric Overmyer, USA

Alistair Banks Griffin was born in 1978 in England and raised in New Orleans. He received his BA from the Rhode Island School of Design. Griffin’s short film Gauge (2008) premiered at the New York Film Festival. In 2009 he was the recipient of a Cinereach grant for his first feature film, Two Gates of Sleep, which premiered at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival and then won the New Talent Grand Pix Award at Cph:pix in Copenhagen in 2011. The film has screened at numerous international festivals and museums.

Sebastián Lelio, Chile: Greeting to the Sun

Producer: Juan de Dios Larraín, Fábula, Chile

Born in Chile in 1974, Sebastián Lelio graduated from the Escuela de Cine de Chile. In 2006, he completed his first film, La Sagrada Familia, which received many awards and international recognition. His second film, Navidad, made its debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009. El Año del Tigre, his third feature film, was released in the international competition of the Locarno Film Festival in 2011. His latest film, Gloria, premiered in the Competition of the Berlinale in 2013, where it was highly acclaimed by the critics and the audience, and took home a Silver Bear for Best Actress.

Elina Psykou, Greece: Ivo & Sofia

Producer: Giorgos Karnavas, Heretic, Greece

Born in 1977 in Greece, Elina Psykou studied film directing at the Lykourgos Stavrakos Film School and sociology at Panteion University, both in Athens. She went on to study cultural history at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris. In 2007 she participated in theBerlinale Talent Campus. She has written and directed two short films, Sunday Trip (2004) and Summer Holidays (2006). Psykou’s first fictional feature film, The Eternal Return of Antonis Paraskevas, won the Best Work in Progress award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival; the film had its world premiere in the Berlinale Forum in 2013.

José Luis Valle, Mexico: Operation Baby

Producer: José Luis Valle, Caverna Cine, Mexico

Born in El Salvador, José Luis Valle became a citizen of Mexico, where he studied literature and film. His short film Chimera won the Kodak Film School Competition and received an Honorary Mention at the Guadalajara International Film Festival in 2006. His documentary The Pope’s Miracle screened at the Locarno Film Festival in 2009. Valle’s first fictional feature, Workers, received support from the World Cinema Fund, premiered in the Berlinale Panorama in 2013, and won the Mezcal Prize for the best Mexican entry at the 28th Guadalajara International Film Festival.

Kirsten Niehuus, Managing Director of Film Funding at the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, states: “Alongside our other artist-in-residence initiatives, the Berlinale Residency represents the successful continuation of our Berlin 24/7 program. Together with the Berlinale and the Nipkow Programme, we wish the six filmmakers a creative and inspiring time in the metropolitan area of the capital.”

The Berlinale Residency directors will stay in Berlin from August 15 to November 15, 2013. With script consultants from the Nipkow Programme and other experts from the industry, they will finalize their screenplays. In a workshop towards the end of the Residency, their producers will also receive concrete feedback from experienced industry professionals and assistance in preparing the projects for the international market. In February 2014, the filmmakers will return to Berlin so they can present their projects with their producers to potential co-producers and financers at the Berlinale Co-Production Market. A number of the participants will also be given the opportunity to present their works at the Ibero-American Co-Production Meeting in Guadalajara in March 2014.

The international Berlinale Residency fellowship programme is inviting six filmmakers with their latest film projects to Berlin to finalise their screenplays, and develop production and distribution strategies.

An international jury – consisting of Clare Binns (director of programming and acquisitions at City Screen, UK), producer Cedomir Kolar (Asap Film, France) and Thomas Hailer (Berlinale programme manager, Germany) – has chosen six directors and their projects.

Participates include:

Emir Baigazin, Kazakhstan: The Wounded Angel

Producer: Beibit Muslimov, Kazakhfilm Studios, Kazakhstan

Bence Fliegauf, Hungary: Glowing Wormhole

Producer: Bence Fliegauf, Fraktál Film, Hungary

Alistair Banks Griffin, USA: Therese (working title)

Producer: Eric Overmyer, USA

Sebastián Lelio, Chile: Greeting to the Sun

Producer: Juan de Dios Larraín, Fábula, Chile

Elina Psykou, Greece: Ivo & Sofia

Producer: Giorgos Karnavas, Heretic, Greece

José Luis Valle, Mexico: Operation Baby

Producer: José Luis Valle, Caverna Cine, Mexico

The Berlinale Residency directors will stay in Berlin from August 15 to November 15, 2013. With script consultants from the Nipkow Programme and other...

The Berlinale Talent Campus, a part of the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival (Belinale), will have a gathering of big names of art house cinema and industry experts including Jane Campion, Anita Ekberg, Bence Fliegauf, Nina Hoss, Ken Loach, Lucrecia Martel, John Cameron Mitchell, Walter Murch, Hengameh Panahi, Ulrich Seidl, and Paul Verhoeven to mentor the promising filmmakers. Read More...

★★★★☆ Hungarian director Benedek Fliegauf's bleak and brutally affecting Eastern block drama Just the Wind (Csak a szél, 2011) was one of the very best films screened at this year's Berlin Film Festival, rightfully finding itself in the running for the top Golden Bear award. Fliegauf's latest may still be looking to secure UK distribution, but a hard-fought place in the revitalised Lff's 'Debate' strand may well bring the filmmaker - and his highly topical chosen subject matter - the platform it so richly deserves.

Read more »...

For the first time in Academy Award history, 71 countries are vying for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. The submissions for 2012 include director Michael Haneke’s Amour, which won the Palme d’Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival; France’s global box office sensation The Intouchables; and Nairobi Half Life, the first film ever submitted by Kenya. Check out the full list below:

Afghanistan: The Patience Stone, Atiq Rahimi, director

Albania: Pharmakon, Joni Shanaj, director

Algeria: Zabana!, Said Ould Khelifa, director

Argentina: Clandestine Childhood, Benjamín Ávila, director

Armenia: If Only Everyone, Natalia Belyauskene, director

Australia: Lore, Cate Shortland, director

Austria: Amour,...

The Oscar season is almost upon us, and the submissions list is in for the Best Foreign Language Film category, featuring a record 71 entries, including the first submission from Kenya.

Last year, Iran’s Asghar Farhadi came away with the top prize for his acclaimed film, A Separation, and the year before, it was Denmark’s Susanne Bier with her In a Better World.

This year, there are already a handful of strong contenders amongst the pack, most notably Michael Haneke’s Amour, for Austria, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes; Olivier Nakache’s and Éric Toledano’s The Intouchables, for France, which has been breaking records at the global box office; Pablo Larráin’s No, for Chile, which also came away from Cannes with an award in hand; Kim Ki-duk’s Pieta, for South Korea, which took four awards at Venice, including (controversially) the Golden Lion; and...

The Intouchables

A record 71 countries, including first-time entrant Kenya, have submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category for the 85th Academy Awards®. In May, Michael Haneke.s Amour (Love) won the Palme d.Or at the 65th Cannes Film Festival and was shown this past weekend at the 50th New York Film Festival. However the film I was happiest to see make the list below is from France – The Intouchables from directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano. Check out our review Here.

In the Academy’s rules, only one picture will be accepted from each country. Plus the Academy Statuette (Oscar) will be awarded to the motion picture and accepted by the director on behalf of the picture.s creative talents. Ultimately five foreign language motion pictures are nominated for this award.

Director/writer Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation from Iran won the Oscar for the Best...

Update: The official list has been revealed and the total is a record 71 movies. I have updated the list directly below or you can check it out here. The original article follows. I have been tracking the Oscar Foreign Language submissions again this year, as I have for the past several years, and it looks like we finally have a full field as I expect we will be seeing an official press release from the Academy some time this week. This year we have five more submissions already over last year as the total has now reached 68 submissions compared to last year's 63. This, despite, Iran boycotting the Oscars this year due to the anti-Islam film Innocence of Muslims, which has sparked so much controversy as of late. To reach the total of 68 films I have just finished adding 16 more titles to the list from the following countries: Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina,...

I have been tracking the Oscar Foreign Language submissions again this year, as I have for the past several years, and it looks like we finally have a full field as I expect we will be seeing an official press release from the Academy some time this week. This year we have five more submissions already over last year as the total has now reached 68 submissions compared to last year's 63. This, despite, Iran boycotting the Oscars this year due to the anti-Islam film Innocence of Muslims, which has sparked so much controversy as of late. To reach the total of 68 films I have just finished adding 16 more titles to the list from the following countries: Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, China, Georgia, Greenland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Peru, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey and Uruguay. To siphon out front-runners is never easy in this category, though there are a few that stick out immediately.

Arvind Iyer’s Drapchi will be screened under the ‘The World Today’ section of the 28th Warsaw Film Festival. The 80 minute musical was earlier screened at the Osian’s Cinefan Film Festival 2012.

The Warsaw Film Festival will run from 12th – 21st October, 2012.

The synopsis of the film on the festival website reads: “Modern Tibet: a systematic war is being waged with the traditional past. Punishment awaits those who raise their voices in protest. This is the case with Yiga Gyalnang, a traditional Tibetan opera singer. She is abducted one morning and finds herself in near complete isolation in an underground prison cell in Drapchi, the biggest jail in Lhasa, Tibet. After two years, she breaks free and escapes to Nepal and from there, to the West. With her, she takes her strength, her spirituality, her Tibetan song.

Namgyal Lhamo, Lobsang Yonten, Chris Constantinou, Tashi Choephel and Gen Tenzin la are...

Indian Oscar entry Anurag Basu’s “Barfi” will have to compete with 64 films from around the world. Barfi’s chance will be sealed on January 24th 2013 when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will announce the five nominees.

The deadline for submission of entries for the foreign language category got over yesterday on October 1st.

63 countries had sent their entries for the category last year.

Iran, the winner of last year (A separation) decided not to send an entry this year in protest of a youtube film that ridiculed the prophet.

The final list of submissions is yet to be announced by the academy.

Also Read: Who Selected “Barfi” for Oscars? and Where does “Barfi” stand in the Oscar race?

Here is the complete list of announced submissions:-

Afghanistan – The Patience Stone, directed by Atiq Rahimi (Persian) Albania – Pharmakon, directed by Joni Shanaj (Albania) Algeria – Zabana!, directed by Saïd Ould Khelifa (Arabic,...

You think it’s too early for this? Trust me, it’s not and that’s exactly why we’re here today to start our little chat about the official foreign language submissions for Oscar.

Nothing to be surprised about, after all – these titles are already familiar to you, mostly because of their success in some Film Festivals. Check out the rest of this report to see the list of announced submissions.

As you’re about to see, quite interesting list of movies from all over the world. Unfortunately we don’t have trailers and official synopsis part for every single film, but I’m sure we’ll soon have more material to share with you.

In the mean time, we will inform you that Kim Ki-duk‘s movie, Pieta, which won Golden Lion statue for best movie at the Venice Film Festival this year, has been submitted by South...

Anurag Basu’s Barfi to compete with Michael Haneke’s “Amour” and Kim Ki-duk’s “Pieta”

Anurag Basu’s “Barfi” might have lured the selectors at home but it’s unlikely to have an easy ride ahead. Basu will have to compete against the veterans like Michael Haneke who took home a second Palme d’Or at Cannes this year for his “Amour” (Official Austrian Entry). Closer home in Asia, Korean Master Kim Ki-duk will also pose an equal threat to the Ranbir Kapoor-Priyanka Chopra starrer Barfi. Kim Ki-duk’s “Pieta” clinched the Golden Lion at Venice this year.

“Barfi” was declared official Oscar entry from India on Saturday night by the Film Federation of India. Other Indian films which were in race included Milan Luthria’s The Dirty Picture, Tigmanshu Dhulia’s Paan Singh Tomar, Sujoy Ghosh’s Kahaani, Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs Of Wasseypur Parts I and II,...

Last year, 63 countries submitted their films for consideration for the annual Academy Awards' Best Foreign Language category. This year, 28 countries have made their presence known, and one of them is my homeland, the Philippines, submitting "Bwakaw" (pictured above) for consideration.

The Academy will provide a full list of eligible submissions by October, and out of the list, nine finalists will be chosen then shortlisted with the final five nominees to be announced on January 24, 2013.

Here's the list for the announced submissions, so far...

Australia - Lore, directed by Cate Shortland (German)

Austria - Amore, directed by Michael Haneke (French)

Azerbaijan - Buta, directed by Ilgar Najaf (Azeri)

Belgium - Our Children, directed by Joachim Lafosse (French)

Bosnia and Herzegovina - Children of Sarajevo, directed by Aida Begic (Bosnian)

Bulgaria - Sneakers, directed by Valeri Yordanov (Bulgarian)

Cambodia - Lost Loves, directed by Chhay Bora (Khmer)

Canada - War Witch, directed...

Budapest, Hungary — Hungary's National Film Fund has selected "Just the Wind," a film featuring a cast of amateur Roma actors, as the country's entry for next year's Academy Awards.

The Hungarian-German-French co-production directed by Bence Fliegauf won a Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival this year. It depicts a day in the life of a Roma family while their community is threatened by a series of deadly attacks.

Four men are on trial in Budapest charged with attacking Roma, or Gypsies, in nine Hungarian villages in 2008 and 2009. Six Roma were shot to death, including a 5-year-old boy, and many were injured.

The Oscar for best foreign film is awarded to one of five nominations selected by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from the international entries.

Above: Ernie Gehr's Auto-Collider Xv.

The vast bulk of Tiff's 2012 has been announced and listed here, below. We'll be updating the lineup with the previous films announced, as well as updating links to specific films for more information on them in the coming days. Of particular note is that the Wavelengths and Visions programs have been combined to create what is undoubtedly the most interesting section of the festival. Stay tuned, too, for our own on the ground coverage of Tiff.

Galas

A Royal Affair (Nikolai Arcel, Demark/Sweden/Czech Republic/Germany)

Argo (Ben Affleck, USA)

The Company You Keep (Robert Redford, USA)

Dangerous Liaisons (Hur Jin-ho, China)

Emperor (Peter Webber, Japan/USA)

English Vinglish (Gauri Shinde, India)

Free Angela & All Political Prisoners (Shola Lynch)

Great Expectations (Mike Newell, UK)

Hyde Park on Hudson (Roger Michell, UK)

Inescapable (Ruba Nadda, Canada)

Jayne Mansfield's Car (Billy Bob Thorton, USA/Russia)

Looper (Rian Johnson,...

The globe-trotting section of this year’s Contemporary World Cinema programme has your Sundance (in a pair of excellent titles in Ava DuVernay’s Middle of Nowhere and James Ponsoldt’s Smashed) and has select items from several sections from this year’s Cannes ranging from Pablo Stoll Ward’s 3, Yousry Nasrallah’s After the Battle, Aida Begic’s Children of Sarajevo, Catherine Corsini’s Three Worlds, Ulrich Seidl’s Paradise: Love, and they must see In The Fog a masterwork from Sergei Loznitsa and will be padded by world premiere items such as Annemarie Jacir’s When I Saw You, Lenny Abrahamson’s What Richard Did and Sion Sono’s The Land of Hope (see pic above). Here’s the entire list of items that make up this year’s section:

3 Pablo Stoll Ward, Uruguay/Germany/Argentina North American Premiere For Rodolfo (Humberto de Vargas), life at home feels empty and cold,...

Paris -- Bence Fliegauf’s Just the Wind swept through the competition at the Paris Cinema Festival, taking the top jury prize Monday night. The lights went down on the City of Lights’ annual ode to France’s “7th art” form after nearly two weeks of movie premieres, talent visits and a tribute to Hong Kong’s film industry in partnership with the Hong Kong International Film Festival. The event featured appearances from an eclectic mix of talent from all over the world, including Kylie Minogue, Johnnie To, Olivier Assayas, Michel Gondry, Juliette Binoche and Melvil Poupaud, for its 10th birthday celebration. The fest

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So begins my interview with Sophie Dulac, President of the Champs Élysées Film Festival, film distributor, exhibitor and producer. The first edition of the Festival, co-presided by actors Lambert Wilson and Michael Madsen reached an audience of 15,000 people in Paris, June 6 – 12, 2012.

"And I work with another real blond and her name is Isabelle” [Svanda, General Manager], she adds.

Champs Elysees Film Festival

We are sitting in the outdoor restaurant of Fouquet’s Barriere Hotel, Paris. Also with us are Astrid de Beauregard who has handled all the 50 industry-ites converging on the festival to view four well curated U.S. indie films for the second edition of U.S. in Progress. Maxine Leonard, the festival's publicist and Matthew Akers, the director and cinematographer of Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present are also present. Little did I know he was going to win the Audience Prize for a feature length film from the U.S.

The Festival ended for me with current French resident, with white hair and beard, Donald Sutherland presenting Klute by Alan J. Pakula and starring Jane Fonda, and then giving a A Hollywood Conversation in his American accented but fluent French in a good humored atmosphere. I could write an entire blog on what that film and all that he and Jane meant to me at the very beginning of my career in the film business, but I won’t do that here. He was subsequently post-film appointed Commandeur des Arts & Lettres by Frédéric Mitterrand.

My interview with Sophie is the summit of my experience so far as a "blogger". After all I am not a journalist, nor do I pal around with the glitterati or the “elite” folks in the film business. I knew I was entering a rare atmosphere strolling everyday along the Rue de Montaigne to the Champs Elysees. And now, I was going to talk to the granddaughter of one of France's most illustrious citizens. (and no slouch herself! What a truly lovely, amazing woman!!)

U.S. in Progress

The night before, we, the jury of 9, presented the winners of the 2nd edition of U.S. in Progress with their prizes of post production services. First Prize went to a film worthy of a Cannes slot in Un Certain Regard or Fortnight or Critics Week, A Teacher by Hannah Fidell ♀, whose about-to-turn-thirty protagonist is forced to acknowledge her sin of having an affair with a student. The film's affect upon us women was overwhelmingly cathartic. Receiving an Honorable Mention, I Am I, a Sundance-worthy film, well executed very interesting story, well acted by the extremely professional first-time director Joceyln Towne ♀ with additional casting by Ronnie Yeskel ♀, one of the top indie film casting agents. Julie Bergeron, one of the nine-member jury loved Desert Cathedral, a man's quest for peace after an increasing estrangement from his life. She liked its combination of documentary depiction of the desert and the fictional story about a contemporary and universal dilemma faced by too many people today. I want to see more of the three actors, Lee Tergesen is a young and handsome William Macy type and Chaske Spencer, a charismatic First Nation descendant of Lakota (Sioux) Nation, and Petra Wright. The fourth film Michael Bartlett's House Of Last Things is Bonnie Darko meets Twin Peaks, a paean to the Maestro, David Lynch. More than 50 distributors and sales agent watched these films with us.

As part of the selection, the winner of U.S. in Progress from the 1st edition in Wroclaw, Poland last November, Not Waving But Drowning directed by Devyn Waitt and produced by Nicole Emanuele was also showing and Nicole was accompanied by the star, her boyfriend Steven Farneth from Cinetic, the godmother of the movie and other "family" members. Nicole is now working with Google and YouTube in Content Partnerships, Film/ TV while contemplating her next moves in the business.

Created by Sophie Dulac, the Festival programmed some 50 films enabling Parisian audiences to discover the variety of productions available from France and the United States, in the 5 cinema theaters of the Champs Elysees, the most beautiful avenue in the world: the normally rival cinemas Le Balzac and Le Lincoln, the rivals Gaumont Champs-Elysées and Ugc George V, and the Publicis Cinéma.

This success was thanks to an inquiring public which appreciated the simplicity of organization, the fact that projections started on time, and also the quality of programming, with a special heartfelt interest for the 10 independent films from the U.S. in the official selection.

What Makes Sophie Run?

One night at an extraordinary dinner at the Renault Restaurant on the Champs Elysees, where we sat with Julie Bergeron (of Cannes Marche prominence), Pascal Diot (former Paris based sales agent and now organizer in chief of both Venice and Dubai Ff’s Markets), Adeline Monzier (founder of U.S. in Progress and Europa Distribution), and Producer Christophe Bruncher (whose latest film, If We All Lived Together stars Jane Fonda), I learned about Sophie’s grandfather, Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet,who founded Publicis in 1926 and in effect, invented modern advertising in much the same way that Lucien Barriere invented the resort and the casino. Today Publicis is a French multinational advertising and communications company, headquartered in Paris, France and one of the world's three largest advertising holding companies holding among others, Saatchi & Saatchi and Leo Burnett Worldwide. The company conducts its operations in over 200 cities in 104 countries and has a strategic alliance with Dentsu, Inc. He began it as a young man and the Nazis confiscated it as Jewish property. He fled and fought with The Free French...and worked in the Resistance under the name of Blanchet. When he returned to France, he got back his advertising agency and continued doing the sort of pioneering work he loved the best. He also added Blanchet onto his surname. Publicis' current president is Maurice Lévy who was just in the news for having called for higher taxes on the wealthy and now objecting to France’s new President's pledging that he would tax the rich 75% of their income. Read more about the company here.

One more boast about this family: One of Bleustein-Blanchet’s daughters was a legislator and is responsible for abolishing capital punishment in France.

Aside from being totally impressed by all I was hearing, I was beginning to see what informed the personality of the festival and of Sophie herself who was there and everywhere, meeting and mixing with us all. As Maxine said, in effect, Sophie is a mensch. She is the real thing, feet planted firmly on the ground and real. And yet she seems so idealistic in the choices she makes. To this remark of mine, she responded, that in fact, she is very pragmatic, but one must take pleasure in life.

Her grandfather and grandmother raised her and her brother and half brother after their 27 year old mother died in an automobile accident. Sophie was eight years old at the time.

Her grandfather told her that when he began Publicis as a teenager, he never thought about the money he might make. He did it for pleasure. He thought of how best to do what he loved to do the most. For her too, life is about innovation and being happy. She hopes that in ten years the festival and her film business will continue to inspire and motivate her.

Sophie has three children and she tells them to do whatever they want as she would advise everyone: Do what is inside of you, even if it is not what you end up doing. It will make you a better person. Her first son, whom she had when she was 17 and who is now 24, lived one year in Australia and another year in Canada. He is now working with her at the festival. Her 22 year old daughter whom she had when she was 19, lives in London, and the 19 year old, following in his brother’s footsteps, is spending a year in Australia, alone and exploring on his own.

If she succeeds in the movie business, it is because she was not born into films. She has been in the business of Arthouse film production, distribution and exhibition for ten years. Before that she was a practicing psycho graphologist, counseling people from 16 to 60 years old, male and female. You can know a person totally through the handwriting she says. She also did a stint in PR which she hated, before going into film. Her father was a writer and told her to read and so she can talk of many things, not only of business. At the end of the day, she closes her door and business does not exist (unless of course there is a problem at one of her theaters which she does drop in on on Sundays when she is not expected.) She has no scripts at home and does not watch movies for work at home. She has a well rounded education and is proud not to be 100% business.

Today she is also a sort of guardian of Israeli films in France as well. She even wears a small gold Jewish star.

Film Career

She began her film career in 2003 producing a documentary DÉCryptage which examined the French media coverage of the Arab–Israeli conflictand concludes that the media's presentation of the Arab–Israeli conflict in France is consistently skewed against Israel and may be responsible for exacerbating anti-semitism. That documentary was very successful in France, drawing some 300,000 viewers and it caught the attention of Israeli filmmakers.

Famed Israeli actress Ronit Elkabetz, ♀a friend of hers, suggested she help her produce a film she wrote and wanted to direct and she agreed to make Rendre Femme (aka To Take A Wife ♀ produced by Marek Rozenbaum. When Ronit asked her to produce The Band’S Visit, she did not know what to make of the script. But when she saw the footage, she recognized its great potential and stepped in as producer. Unfortunately it could not qualify for the Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Film because it was filmed in Hebrew, Egyptian and English. She went on to produce My Father My Lord an implicit critique of ultra-Orthodox dogma by a filmmaker who grew up in a Hasidic community but abandoned it when he was 25 to study film.

Sophie produces other world films, including her second American film Benny And The Kids (Go Get Some Rosemary), Argentina’s Little Sky and The Camera Obscura both by Maria Victoria Menis ♀ and others including French films like the upcoming film by Jacques Douvenne.

In Cannes this year, she acquired Room 514 (Isa: Docs & Film) de Sharon Bar-Ziv ♀ which played in l'Acid in Cannes and Les Voisins De Dieu (God’S Neighbors) (Isa: Rezo) de Meni Yaesh which played in La Semaine de la Critique in Cannes as well as Directors’ Fortnight entry Le Repenti and Bence Fliegauf’s Berlin competition entry Just The Wind.

She sees festivals as a place where people can discover new films. Theaters need new ideas, directors, and distributors can take risks only if they own theaters. The triangle of festivals, distributors and exhibitors are complimentary and she finds that having all three allows her to keep selected films longer in theaters or allows for changing theaters (she owns 5 theaters including the famous St. Germain arthouse Harlequin). She recognizes that France has so many subsidies for production and distribution – 12 to 15 new films are released every week – and that gives her films more of a chance to succeed as well.

France also has, after 3 years of discussion, finally, in one year made all its theaters digital. The cost to convert is 1 million Euros. 30% of that is paid by Cnc, the government fund made up of a percentage of box office receipts. The digital norm is 2K and the Vpf (Virtual Print Fee is 5,000 Euros. All distributors must pay this first the first time showing for 4 weeks and then, there are not more VPFs.

When she asks Americans for DCPs, she is surprised to learn that they don’t have them. Even Harvey Weinstein who had a retrospective at the Festival did not have digital prints and he said that to use Blu-Ray or HD was all right with him.

Why Harvey?

Everyone loves a good Harvey story. We had heard that he did not want to travel and I was curious how she had such good luck to get him to Paris. Apparently he flew in, appeared, and flew out again.

“The opening night, with the tribute paid to American producer Harvey Weinstein who accepted, with modesty and as a film enthusiast, a trophy was presented by Sophie Dulac, in the presence of VIP guests: Virginie Ledoyen, Deborah François, Audrey Dana, Thomas Langmann, Olivier Nackache and Eric Toledan.”

What he said at this opening event was that Sophie’s brother is the godfather of his son. And when the Godfather makes a request, he cannot refuse to honor it.

So ended my interview with Sophie. As we all struck out to continue the day, Matthew Akers of Marina Abramovic said, “See you in Sarajevo”. And Sophie responded, “How chic!”...

Experts in auteur cinema, German sales company The Match Factory have quite the sampling this year with names such as Thai Joe (Mekong Hotel – see pic above), Fatih Akin (Polluting Paradise) and Directors’ Fortnight invited The Dream and the Silence by Jamie Rosales proudly making us say ich liebe dich the label, and let us not forget Loznitsa’s In the Fog which is being featured in the Main Comp category.

In The Fog (V Tumane) by Sergei Loznitsa

Mekong Hotel by Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Polluting Paradise (MÜLL Im Garten Eden) by Fatih Akin

The Dream And The Silence (SUEÑO Y Silencio) by Jaime Rosales

And If We All Lived Together (Et Si On Vivait Tous Ensemble) by Stéphane Robelin

Barbara by Christian Petzold

Home For The Weekend (Was Bleibt) by Hans-Christian Schmid

In The Name Of The Girl (En El Nombre De La Hija) by Tania Hermida

Just The Wind...

★★★☆☆ The Oedipus complex has long fascinated and inspired artists and Hungarian writer/director Benedek Fliegauf is the latest filmmaker to tackle the subject in his first English language picture Clone (Womb, 2010). French actress Eva Green plays Rebecca, a young woman who returns home from Japan to rekindle a relationship with her childhood sweetheart Tommy (Doctor Who's Matt Smith). However, after only a few days together, Tommy is killed in a traffic accident as he and Rebecca are on the way to a political rally.

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