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The Berlin Independent Film Festival returned for another fantastic festival of independent filmmaking with a fantastic line-up. The eclectic programme of international features and shorts was presented in one of Berlin’s favourite independent cinemas, the Babylon. Highlights of the 2017 festival included The Uncertainty Has Settled by Marijn Poels (Germany), Timeless by Alexander Tuschinski (USA, Germany), Red by Branko Tomovic (UK, Germany), Why Siegfried Teitelbaum Had to Die by Axel Steinmüller (Germany), Seat in Shadow by Henry Coombes (UK, Spain), Jasmine by Dax Phelan (USA, Hong Kong), and To Keep The Light by Erica Fae (USA). Biff 2017 Winners Best Feature (over 100k) – Jasmine by Dax Phelan Best Micro-budget Feature (under €100k) – Seat in Shadow by Henry Coombes Best Documentary – The Uncertainty Has Settled by Marijn Poels Best Director Feature – Erica Fae for To Keep The Light Best...

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The exciting Berlin Independent Film Festival kicks off tonight. The Biff team is returning for another fantastic festival of independent filmmaking from February 8-15 with a fantastic line-up. The eclectic programme of international features and shorts will be presented in one of Berlin’s favourite independent cinemas, the Babylon. Highlights of the 2017 festival include The Uncertainty Has Settled by Marijn Poels (Germany), Timeless by Alexander Tuschinski (USA, Germany), Red by Branko Tomovic (UK, Germany), Why Siegfried Teitelbaum Had to Die by Axel Steinmüller (Germany), Seat in Shadow by Henry Coombes (UK, Spain), Jasmine by Dax Phelan (USA, Hong Kong), and To Keep The Light by Erica Fae (USA). The complete line-up of features and shorts for the 2017 edition can be found on their website: http://www.berlinfest.com The...

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The Biff team is running another fantastic festival of independent filmmaking from February 9-15 and just announced their exciting line-up. The eclectic programme of international features and shorts will be presented in one of Berlin’s favourite independent cinemas, the Babylon. Highlights of the 2017 festival include the UK-German thriller Red by Branko Tomovic, Why Siegfried Teitelbaum Had to Die by Axel Steinmüller (Germany), Seat in Shadow by Henry Coombes (UK, Spain), Jasmine by Dax Phelan (USA, Hong Kong), and To Keep The Light by Erica Fae (USA). The complete line-up of features and shorts for the 2017 edition can be found on their freshly launched website: http://www.berlinfest.com/festival-2/festival-2017/ The Berlin Independent Film Festival is at the epicentre for low-budget filmmaking in Europe. While the Berlin Independent Film Festival is not...

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Twenty-two emerging producers to receive up to £2.2m; almost 500 applicants.Scroll Down For Recipients

The BFI has announced the recipients of its 2016-18 Vision Awards, comprising 22 investments in up-and-coming UK producers.

The awards, generally spread over two years, are designed to enable producers to build and develop their companies, slates and creative relationships.

The BFI had intended to give 20 awards but increased that allocation to 22 in response to the number of strong applications it received. Almost 500 companies applied for the awards, which are backed by a total commitment from the BFI of £2.2m of National Lottery funding.

Fifteen of the awards are to women producers or partnerships, while eight of the companies are based outside of London, located in Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield and York.

In a bid to foster sustainability, the third iteration of the Vision Awards will include an allowance to cover a producer’s fees and overheads of up to half...

The winners have been announced at the 70th Edinburgh International Film Festival.

The festival’s top prizes were awarded to Ben Sharrock’s Pikadero (UK-Spain), which took the Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature Film, Argyris Papadimitropoulos’s Suntan (Greece) which won Best International Feature Film, and Johan Grimonprez’s Shadow World (Us), which won Best Documentary Feature Film.

The Michael Powell jury, which included actress Kim Cattrall, Spanish filmmaker Iciar Bollain and actor Clancy Brown, also gave a special mention to Mercedes Grower’s Brakes.

On their selection of Scottish film-maker Sharrock’s Basque-language debut about a young Spanish couple’s attempt to navigate their country’s economic crisis, the Michael Powell jury said: “We wanted to recognise the very personal and individual voice on director Ben Sharrock for his film Pikadero. In a year when the jury viewed a selection of very distinctive and different films, his film really stood out.”

On handing...

Highlights include the UK premiere of Finding Dory and the world premiere of the 4K restoration of Highlander [pictured].Scroll down for competition titles

The line-up for the 70th Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff) has been unveiled this morning by artistic director Mark Adams.

This year’s Eiff (June 15-26) will comprise a total 161 features from 46 countries including: 22 world premieres, five international premieres, 17 European premieres and 85 UK premieres.

Highlights include the UK premiere of Disney-Pixar animation Finding Dory, in-person events that include Us indie filmmaker Kevin Smith and Sex & The City actress Kim Cattrall, and the opening and closing gala world premieres of the previously announced Tommy’s Honour and Whisky Galore!.

Old classics will be re-imagined with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra performing the score to E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial live at Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre and the world premiere of the newly-restored 4K version of Highlander, celebrating its 30th anniversary with star Clancy Brown in attendance.

The...

Two Brian Cox-starrers and a documentary focus on female directors are amongst this year’s programme of films.

The Edinburgh International Film Festival has unveiled the Scottish selection for it 69th edition (June 15-26).

As previously announced, the festival will open with Tommy’s Honour (world premiere), starring Peter Mullan and Jack Lowden, and will close with Whisky Galore!, starring Gregor Fisher, James Cosmo and Eddie Izzard (world premiere).

Veteran actor Brian Cox has two features in the selection, János Edelényi’s comedy The Carer [pictured] and Jon Cassar’s western Forsaken, in which he stars alongside both Kiefer and Donald Sutherland.

Scottish actor Rose Leslie will star alongside Ray Liotta and Gina Rodriguez in family drama Sticky Notes, from director Amanda Sharp.

Angus Macfadyen, known for playing Robert the Bruce in Braveheart, makes his directorial debut with Macbeth Unhinged, a black-and-white retelling of the Shakespearian tragedy.

This year’s Scottish Documentary Institute’s Bridging the Gap series...

Sundance Film Festival kicks off out in Park City today, bringing some of the year’s most anticipated independent films to the big screen. Following shortly after will be the Berlinale next month, and SXSW in March, which has just debuted a very promising initial line-up. And now the first big film festival on our shores, the Glasgow Film Festival, has announced its line-up, and it is absolutely exceptional.

Opening the events on Valentine’s Day next month will be Régis Roinsard’s Populaire, starring Romain Duris, Déborah François, and Bérénice Bejo, getting its UK premiere.

And closing the festival will be Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing, the great writer-director’s contemporary adaptation of the classic Shakespeare play. Similarly seeing its UK premiere, the film stars an ensemble that will please all Whedon fans, led by Amy Acker and Alexis Denisof, with fine support from Fran Kranz, Clark Gregg,...

New film projects by the likes of Aktan Arym Kubat (The Light Thief), Athina Rachel Tsangari (Attenberg), Taika Waititi (Eagle vs Shark), Kelly Reichardt (Meek's Cutoff), Úrszula Antoniak (Code Blue and Nothing Personal), Quentin Dupieux (Rubber and the Sundance selected Wrong), Florin Serban (If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle), Ruben Östlund (pictured above) and Aditya Assarat (Wonderful Town) are among the 36 projects participating in Rotterdam’s 29th co-production market CineMart (where a whopping 850 potential co-financiers add coin to future projects). Among the filmmakers we are keeping a closer eye on, we see that Athina Rachel Tsangari's breakout Venice-winning Attenberg helped her secure producing help for her next feature, "Duncharon," - Haos Films will be joined by Faliro House Productions, Maharaja Films and one of our favorite outfitters in The Match Factory. Another female auteur in The Netherlands' Úrszula Antoniak is working on Nude Area with Topkapi Films and Pandora Film producing.