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Following the October parliamentary election that saw the defeat of the right-wing Law and Justice party and appointment of leader of the opposition party Donald Tusk as prime minister, Polish filmmakers are cautiously readying for change.

“So far, our cinema authorities have not changed. It remains to be seen whether they will change their approach to funding more topical or controversial projects. Recent years have been very difficult in this regard,” says acclaimed director Agnieszka Holland.

Holland’s latest film, refugee drama “Green Border,” had been attacked by the right-wing government last year. Her next film, “Franz,” about Franz Kafka, is a Czech-German-Polish co-production to be sold at EFM by Films Boutique.

“We know everything and nothing about Kafka. There are dozens of detailed biographies and the reasons for his growing importance remain a mystery. I am trying to put this film together like a scattered jigsaw puzzle,” she adds.

When the coronavirus pandemic arrived in Poland earlier this year, producer Jakub Razowski, of Watchout Studio (“The Coldest Game”), was already prepping a summer shoot for “Prime Time,” a thriller starring Bartosz Bielenia, fresh off his breakout role in Jan Komasa’s Oscar-nominated “Corpus Christi.”

Razowski and first-time director Jakub Piątek had cast from a deep pool of veteran stage actors, whose availability was limited to the summer months when Polish theaters traditionally go dark. If the production didn’t move forward, Razowski says, “we knew that the next possibility to book our cast would be the summer of 2021.” The cameras rolled, with cast and crew using a rigorous set of coronavirus protocols introduced by the Polish Film Institute.

“The Covid situation made everything a bit more expensive — tests, masks, liters of sanitizers, extra time for temperature checkups, consequences of working in social-distancing regime — but those costs were nothing compared...

The TorinoFilm Lab has announced the 20 feature film projects and five story editor trainees who will take part in the 2020 edition of ScriptLab, an intensive workshop focused on feature film scripts in early stages of development.

The program partners participants with filmmakers from around the world to develop their scripts through a series of residencies and online mentoring sessions. The ScriptLab culminates with a presentation at the TorinoFilmLab Meeting Event in November, when the 20 projects will be presented to an international audience of film professionals.

Each edition of the ScriptLab divides participants into five work groups, led by an international script consultant and paired with a story editor trainee, who develop their scripts through intensive peer to peer group work. This year’s tutors are Philippe Barrière (France), Rasmus Horskjaer (Denmark), Franz Rodenkirchen (Germany), Maria Solrun (Iceland), and Françoise von Roy (Germany). The story editor trainees are scriptwriter, festival director...

Two of the season’s most reliable groups when it comes to forecasting the eventual Academy Awards nominees for Documentary Feature have now announced the shortlists for their own programs. The International Documentary Association (Ida) and Doc NYC, one of the largest documentary film festivals in the country, both boast great track records with either nominating, awarding and/or screening major contenders for the Oscars in recent years.

Doc NYC, who announced a short list of 15 titles for their 2018 festival which runs from November 8th to 15th, has overlapped their own short list with the academy’s short list with 9 to 10 titles in each of the last five years. In addition, they’ve included 4 to 5 titles that went on to be Oscar-nominated and in the last seven years they’ve screened the documentary that won the Academy Award.

Ida is comparably prescient, having matched their award nominees with the eventual...

Documentary hits “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” and “Three Identical Strangers” are two of the 31 shortlisted films for the International Documentary Association’s award for top feature of 2018.

Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 11/9,” Netflix’s “Shirkers,” and Hulu’s “Minding the Gap” were among the other high-profile titles unveiled on Tuesday.

Morgan Neville’s Fred Rogers story “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” has grossed $22.6 million domestically since its release in June, making it the 12th-highest-grossing doc of all time. Tim Wardle’s “Three Identical Strangers” has also performed well with $12.3 million and is 26th on the list. “Fahrenheit 11/9” has reeled in $6 million since its Sept. 20 launch — far below the record $119 million grossed by Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11” in 2004.

It’s the first time the Ida has unveiled the shortlists in the shorts and features categories. The 34th annual awards will take place on Dec. 8 at Los Angeles’ Paramount Theatre. Nominees...

Won’t You Be My Neighbor? is among features in the running for documantary association honours.

Major award contenders Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Three Identical Strangers and Free Solo are among the thirty-one films on the shortlist for this year’s International Documentary Association (Ida) feature award.

The Ida has unveiled the shortlists for its feature and short categories for the first time this year. Up to ten nominees in each category will be selected from the shortlists and nominees will be announced – along with nominees for the Association’s Special Awards and Creative Recognition Awards - on...

Film Movement has acquired North American rights to Swedish-Iranian director Milad Alami’s feature debut “The Charmer” which world premiered at San Sebastian Film Festival and went on to win awards at Chicago and Palm Springs.

“The Charmer” will have its North American premiere at New York’s Film Forum in December and will then roll out in additional markets, and will be released on digital and home entertainment.

A psychological drama with some thriller elements, “The Charmer” turns on a Danish-Iranian under-achiever who lives under a fake identity and is forced to reconsider his life after falling in love with a woman.

“One of Film Movement’s missions is to uncover fresh new voices from the international filmmaking community, and we’re certainly doing that with Milad,” said Michael Rosenberg, president of Film Movement. “We’re excited to share his assured debut – part hot-button, social issues drama, part dark...

The company has also sold ‘Over The Limit’ to Canada and Spain.

Austrian documentary specialist Autlook has sold Finlay Pretsell’s Time Trial, its film about Tour de France cyclist David Millar, to Dogwoof in the UK and Mindjazz for Germany and Austria.

It has also secured deals to Swedish broadcaster Svt, Danish broadcasters Dr, and Dutch broadcaster Vpro and is in final negotiations for a theatrical release in The Netherlands, Australia, Italy and North America

Autlook has also sold Marta Prus’ Russian gymnast film Over The Limit to Blue Ice for Canada and Parallel 40 for Spain. The film premiered in competition at Idfa.

Distributor plans autumn theatrical release.

Film Movement has acquired Us rights to Polish-German-Finnish documentary Over The Limit directed by Marta Prus.

Prus, a former gymnast, followed Russian rhythmic gymnast Margarita Mamun on her five-year journey to the Olympics, documenting the drama and pressure of her preparations.

Film Movement plans an autumn theatrical release on Over The Limit, which marks the first feature-length documentary from Prus and played at Idfa Amsterdam, the Moscow International Documentary Film Festival, and Goteborg Film Festival.

Film Movement president Michael Rosenberg brokered the deal with Autlook Filmsales North American sales executive Ania Trzebiatowska.

“Over The Limit...

With her first feature-length documentary Over the Limit, Polish writer-director Marta Prus does for rhythmic gymnastics what Damien Chazelle did for drumming in Whiplash. Obtaining all-areas access to Olympic-competing Russian star athlete Margarita Mamun, Prus records in intense detail the verbal and physical pressures to which the young woman is subjected by her fiercely determined coaches. One of the most notable premieres at this year's Idfa, this tightly edited Poland-Germany-Finland co-production will have no difficulty racking up festival play in the coming months, scoring podium-level marks from juries and audiences alike.

Prus breaks no...