News

Bulgarian-American filmmaker Konstantin Bojanov’s Cannes Film Festival Un Certain Regard selection “The Shameless” has taken 14 years to come to fruition.

Bojanov previously directed the documentary “Invisible” (2005), followed by his Cannes-debuting fiction feature debut “Avé” (2011). Post “Avé” and prior to his 2017 Rotterdam selection “Light Thereafter,” which starred Barry Keoghan and Kim Bodnia, Bojanov acquired the rights to William Dalrymple’s 2009 book, “Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India.” The idea at the time was to make a documentary cross referencing four different stories from the book, including one of a sex worker in Karnataka, southern India.

Bojanov scoured India to find real stories similar to the ones in the book and in 2014 he started filming in Karnataka, with a view to using the footage to attract finance for a feature-length documentary. During his research, the filmmaker also came across a young girl growing up in a family...

Screen can exclusively reveal the first trailer for Konstantin Bojanov’s The Shameless ahead of the India-set love story’s world premiere in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard.

Bulgarian director Bojanov’s third feature is about two women trying to escape a life of prostitution who fall in love, but must deal with an oppressive society rooted in centuries-old patriarchal traditions as they embark on a perilous journey to escape the law and find freedom.

The film is produced by Switzerland’s Akka Films, France’s Urban Factory, Bulgaria’s Klas Films, Taiwan’s House on Fire and India’s Teamo Productions HQ Limited.

Urban Sales has acquired Bulgarian director Konstantin Bojanov’s third feature The Shameless and will launch sales for the India-set forbidden romance drama at EFM.

The love story follows two women who must wrestle with an oppressive society rooted in centuries-old patriarchal traditions.

It is Bojanov’s follow-up to Avé, that premiered at Cannes’ Critics’ Week in 2011 and Light Thereafter, a world premiere in Rotterdam in 2017.

The Shameless is produced by Switzerland’s Akka Films, France’s Urban Factory, Bulgaria’s Klas Films and Taiwan’s House on Fire.

The film is in post-production and Urban Sales will bring a promo reel to EFM.

Tony Sokol Aug 17, 2017

Colin Farrell and Nicole Kidman trade anesthesia hits in the new The Killing Of A Sacred Deer trailer.

“A surgeon never kills a patient,” Colin Farrell’s doctor character says in the new trailer for the upcoming A24 psychological horror film The Killing Of A Sacred Deer. “An anesthesiologist can kill a patient but a surgeon never can.”

The film, which co-stars Nicole Kidman and Barry Keoghan (Light Thereafter), is a slow-burning revenge drama in scrubs. The trailer shows Farrell bonding with a young patient, while bits of family history drop like medicine into an IV. Kidman’s character looks like she’s put out from the waist down as the surgical air gets thicker. The Killing Of A Sacred Deer was directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. The screenplay was written by Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippou.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer premiered in competition at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.

Seven more titles join co-production market.

The Sarajevo Film Festival (Aug 11-18) has finalised its selection for the 2017 CineLink Co-Production Market.

Joining seven previously announced titles are seven more feature projects, all of which are from Eastern Europe.

They include the latest feature from Georgian filmmaker George Ovashvili, whose 2014 film Corn Island won a Crystal Globe in Karlovy Vary and was shortlisted for an Academy Award. His project, The Pass, is being co-directed by Afghani director Siddiq Barmak, whose 2003 feature Osama premiered at Cannes and won a Golden Globe for best foreign language film.

Also attending the market with projects are Slovenian filmmaker Damjan Kozole, who won best director at Karlovy Vary in 2016 with Nightlife, and Bulgarian director Konstantin Bojanov, whose debut feature Avé premiered at Cannes in 2011 and whose latest film Light Thereafter premiered in Rotterdam this year.

Selected titles

Snow White Dies At The End (Macedonia)

Writer and Director: Kristijan Risteski

Producer: Kristijan Risteski, [link...

Exclusive: F&Me slate includes two projects with Ida writer Rebecca Lenckiewicz; plus Streetkids United III.

UK co-production specialists Film and Music Entertainment (F&Me) have boarded films to shoot in 2017 including The Dream Girl written and directed by Maurizio Braucci, best known for writing Matteo Garrone’s Gomorra and Reality.

Braucci co-wrote the film with Ida writer Rebecca Lenckiewicz and the UK-Ireland co-production is set to shoot from September. F&Me are working with accountants Grant Thornton in Ireland to access the section 481 tax credit. Windmill Lane is on board for post-production services.

F&Me are also working with Lenkiewicz on The Disciple, to be directed by Ivan Ostrochovsky and written by Lenkiewicz, Marek Lescak and Ostrochovsky. The film looks at two friends who go to a seminary in Communist Slovakia.

Also shooting by the end of 2017 will be the documentary Streetkids United III – The Road to Moscow. As with the past two films in the...

Rotterdam reveals 2017 Tiger lineup and jury ahead of 46th edition.

The 46th International Film Festival Rotterdam (25 Jan – 5 Feb) has revealed the full lineup for the Hivos Tiger Competition 2017.

Scroll down for lineup

This year’s selection includes world premieres of new feature films by up and coming directors Niles Atallah, Pedro Aguilera and Hagar Ben Ashar, as well as debut features by India’s Sanal Kumar Sasidharan, American-Korean filmmaker Kogonada and Dutch director Daan Bakker.

This year’s jury will comprise of Newsha Tavakolia, Diana Bustamante Escobar, Fien Troch, Michael Almereyda and Amir Mohammed.

Festival director Bero Beyer commented: “This years line-up of the Hivos Tiger Competition features bold and daring filmmakers that don’t shun the use of other media, alternative narrative structures and provocative and relevant themes. The nominees and their works deserve international recognition for their artistry. We are proud to present each of these eight films with a special spotlight on their own day...

Wide will sell Dede at Cannes, while Latido will sell The Constitution [pictured].

London production outfit Film And Music Entertainment (F&Me) has found sales homes for two projects ahead of Cannes.

Paris-based sales agent Wide Management will represent international sales on Dede, from debut director Mariam Khatchvani.

Wrapping in January, the UK-Georgia-Croatia-Netherlands-Qatar co-production is now completing post-production and is expected to be ready in time for the Toronto and Venice film festivals.

Starring George Babluani and Natia Vibliani, the drama is set in the harsh conditions of the Caucasus Mountains.

Katcharava’s 20 Steps produced the project with Igor Nola’s MP Film Production and JaJa Film Productions. It was originally developed at the Sundance Lab and Cannes’ Fabrique des Cinemas due Monde and has support from the Doha Film Institute and the Georgian National Film Centre.

Madrid-based Latido Entertainment will handle international sales for Rajko Grlic’s The Constitution, which is produced by Zagreb’s Inter Film and...

Elitsa Petkova received the Bulgarian festival’s Grand Prix for her feature debut Zhaleika [pictured].

Women filmmakers triumphed at the 20th edition of the Sofia International Film Festival (Siff) at the weekend’s awards ceremony in the National Palace of Culture.

While Bulgarian-born feature debutant Elitsa Petkova received the International Jury’s Grand Prix ‘Sofia City Of Film’ for Zhaleika, her graduation film from Berlin’s Dffb film school, Georgian director Dea Kulumbegashvili’s debut Daisi was named the Best Project at the parallel Sofia Meetings.

The Meetings’ new Grand Prix, sponsored by the Nu Boyana Film Studios and consisting of $56k (€50k) worth of services and a cheque for $5.6k (€5k), was presented by CEO Yariv Lerner who declared that “based on the merits of the presentation, the fact of the possibility of making it and a belief in the director, we definitely saw that promise in this director and we look forward to seeing this film...

Exclusive: London-based production outfit introduces 10 films to the market, including Mariam Khatchvani’s Dede.

London-based production house Film and Music Entertainment (F&Me) has unveiled a 10-strong slate of films that it is introducing to buyers at the Efm.

Dede [pictured], the debut feature of Mariam Khatchvani, stars George Babluani and Natia Vibliani in the story of a woman who marries a man in defiance of her family’s wishes.

The Georgia-uk-Croatia-Dutch co-pro wrapped at the end of last month. Developed at the Sundance Lab, the project featured in Les Arcs’ works-in-progress strand and has support from the Doha Film Institute and the Georgian National Film Centre.

Another title the company has in Berlin is I Want To Be Like You. Written and directed by Konstantin Bojanov (Ave), the road movie follows a young artist’s journey to meet his hero. The cast includes 2015 Screen Star of Tomorrow Barry Keoghan (’71), Kim Bodnia (Pusher) and Thure Lindhardt (Into The Wild). The...

London-based production outfit introduces 10 films to the market, including Mariam Khatchvani’s Dede.

London-based production house Film and Music Entertainment (F&Me) has unveiled a 10-strong slate of films that it is introducing to buyers at the Efm.

Dede [pictured], the debut feature of Mariam Khatchvani, stars George Babluani and Natia Vibliani in the story of a woman who marries a man in defiance of her family’s wishes.

The Georgia-uk-Croatia-Dutch co-pro wrapped at the end of last month. Developed at the Sundance Lab, the project featured in Les Arcs’ works-in-progress strand and has support from the Doha Film Institute and the Georgian National Film Centre.

Another title the company has in Berlin is I Want To Be Like You. Written and directed by Konstantin Bojanov (Ave), the road movie follows a young artist’s journey to meet his hero. The cast includes 2015 Screen Star of Tomorrow Barry Keoghan (’71), Kim Bodnia (Pusher) and Thure Lindhardt (Into The Wild). The...

The film will shoot in London before moving to Bulgaria and Belgium.

I Want To Be Like You, which has a screenplay from Ida scribe Rebecca Lenckiewicz and is directed by Konstantin Bojanov, has begun shooting in London.

The production will then move to Bulgaria and Belgium before returning to London in October.

Kim Bodnia, most known for his lead turns in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Pusher and TV series The Bridge, has joined the cast, which already includes Barry Keoghan (’71) and Thure Lindhardt (Furious 6).

It was previously announced that Madrid-based Latido Films had taken the film’s world sales rights prior to this year’s Cannes.

The project has a budget of $2.2m (€2m) and is a production partnership between Toolbox Film in Copenhagen, London’s Film and Music Entertainment, Brussels-based Left Field Ventures and Bulgaria’s Multfilm.

The story follows a second generation immigrant and budding artist who lives with his mother in Birmingham...

Latido Films taking drama starring Barry Keoghan and Klaus Maria Brandauer to the Cannes Marche.

British writer Rebecca Lenckiewicz has joined Bulgarian director Konstantin Bojanov on drama I Want To Be Like You. It marks Lenckiewicz’s first feature co-writing Oscar-winner Ida with director Pawel Pawlikowski.

Bojanov will shoot the coming-of-age drama this July on location in and around Copenhagen, the UK’s West Midlands and Belgium.

The film has a budget of $2.2m (€2m) and is a production partnership between Toolbox Film in Copenhagen, London’s Film and Music Entertainment, Brussels-based Left Field Ventures and Bulgaria’s Multfilm.

The young cast is led by Irish actor Barry Keoghan, who featured in Yann Demmange’s ’71. He more recently appeared in Mammal by Rebecca Daly, Trespass Against Us by Adam Smith, and Norfolk, directed by Martin Radich.

Opposite him in the role of Piri is Danish actor Thure Lindhardt, best known roles in Fast and Furious 6, Angels...