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EXPERTS AT AVANT PREMIÈRE 2018: TALK TO THE RIGHT PEOPLE AND LEARN FROM THE BEST

Avant Première Music + Media Market Berlin unites more than 550 international experts + decision makers from the cultural TV content + performing arts film industry.

Curious which professionals and personalities you can connect and exchange with during the Avant Première Conference Programme?

Check it out and join us from 17-21 February 2018 in Hotel Scandic Berlin Potsdamer Platz!

AVANT PREMIÈRE OPENING CEREMONY

After the first day of screenings, insights + professional networking, join us for the official Opening Ceremony on 18 February at 17:00 and mingle with experts + industry representatives from all over the world.

SPECIAL FOCUS “INNOVATION DAY” + VR EXHIBITION

Stay on the forefront of future developments in the performing arts film sector and join us on 19 February 2018 when diverse speakers share their unique insights from encompassing perspectives. link: "Innovation Day" places a special emphasis on VR, AR and 360° technologies in arts + film production.

BROADCASTER LIGHTNING TALKS

Know what major buyers need and join when representatives from international broadcasting companies will elaborate on the future strategies of cultural content on their channels and present their vision for incorporating culture in their schedules.

ONE-ON-ONE EXPERT SESSION

Get in touch with decision makers and pitch your project to senior executives of major international broadcasters. Reserve your 10-minute slot now!

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS

Special Presentations are the perfect frame to direct attention to specific productions, initiatives or projects.

STARS

Want to meet renowned stars and extraordinary artists? Check out who joins us in Berlin!

Still want to see more experts, decision makers and international industry representatives? No problem, check out the Participant List and see who you can meet at Avant Première 2018!

AVANT PREMIÈRE 2018 PARTNERS

The Berlinale Classics section of the 68^th Berlin International Film Festival will present the world premieres of a total of seven films in digitally restored versions.

Wim Wenders’ prize-winning classic Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire, Federal Republic of Germany / France 1987) returns to the screen in a new, digitally restored 4K DCP version. Two guardian angels keep watch over Berlin, until one of them falls in love with a mortal woman. He chooses to become human, giving up his immortality, and an entirely new world is revealed to him. The film was shot on both black-and-white and colour stock. At the time, that required several additional steps in the lab in order to produce a final colour negative, which was several generations removed from the camera negatives. This version, restored by the Wim Wenders Foundation, is based on the original negatives; STUDIOCANAL will be releasing it in German cinemas in the near future.

Az én XX. századom (My 20th Century, Hungary / Federal Republic of Germany 1989), the feature debut of the winner of the 2017 Golden Bear, Ildikó Enyedi, is a complex, poetic fairy tale, and an homage to silent movies. Shot in black-and-white, the film follows the very different live of identical twins in Old Europe at the dawn of the 20th century. Using the original camera negative and the magnetic sound track, the film was digitally restored in 4K by the Hungarian National Film Fund – Hungarian National Film Archive, working with Hungarian Filmlab. Cinematographer Tibor Máthé (HSC - Hungarian Society of Cinematographers) supervised the digital grading.

Sidney Lumet’s thrillerFail Safe (USA 1964) is an impressive critique of the Cold War military doctrine. When an errant U.S. bomber threatens to destroy Moscow, the president calls the Soviet premier on the red phone to try to prevent a retaliatory nuclear strike. The film was restored in 4K under the aegis of Sony Pictures Entertainment and its head of restoration, Grover Crisp. The incomplete camera negative was supplemented with the use of a duplicate negative. Conforming the various different source materials presented a special challenge to the restoration team.

Letyat Zhuravli (The Cranes Are Flying, USSR 1957) by Mikhail Kalatozov was Soviet cinema’s first international hit after World War II. Made during the period of liberalisation that followed Joseph Stalin’s death, this unusual black-and-white film’s expressionist images tell the tragic story of two lovers after Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union. The film brought international fame to Mikhail Kalatozov and his lead actress, Tatiana Samoilova. Letyat Zhuravli was restored by Mosfilm under the leadership of general director Karen Shakhnazarov. The ditigal 2K restoration, on the basis of the original negative, was supervised by the head of restoration Igor Bogdasarov.

Director Assi Dayan was lauded by the International Jury of the Berlinale in 1993 for the courage and honesty of his HaChayim Al-Pi Agfa (Life According to Agfa, Israel 1992). The film revolves around a Tel Aviv bar, where a world of bohemians, business people, junkies, tourists, pimps, and soldiers all meet. The events of a single night, captured in black-and-white photos, are a microcosm of a society that considers itself liberal and tolerant, but in which seemingly trivial actions can become explosive. The 4K restoration was produced by the Jerusalem Cinematheque – Israel Film Archive, where the negative was scanned. It was supervised by cinematographer Yoav Kosh and supported by the Israel Film Fund.

With Tokyo Boshoku (Tokyo Twilight, Japan 1957), Berlinale Classics will provide a rare opportunity to see a largely unknown and seldom shown work by Yasujiro Ozu. The theme of the end of a family living together is one that Japanese directing maestro Yasujiro Ozu often reworks, and here he has given it a dramatic twist. In wintery Tokyo, a family's silence leads to its breakdown. Tokyo Boshoku, considered Ozu’s most sombre post-war film, was digitally restored in 4K on the basis of the 35mm duplicate negative provided by the Japanese production company Shochiku, managed by Shochiku MediaWorX Inc. Colour correction was led by Ozu’s former assistant cameraman Takashi Kawamata and cinematographer Masashi Chikamori.

The Berlinale Classics section will open on February 16, 2018, at 5 pm in the Friedrichstadt-Palast with the premiere of the Deutsche Kinemathek's digital restoration of the 1923 silent film classic Das alte Gesetz (The Ancient Law) directed by E.A. Dupont (see press release of December 5, 2017). ZDF/ARTE commissioned French composer Philippe Schoeller to create new music for this version, which will be presented by the Orchester Jakobsplatz München with Daniel Grossmann at the podium.

The full programme of the Berlinale Classics section: 

Das alte Gesetz (The Ancient Law)
Dir: Ewald André Dupont, Germany, 1923
World premiere of the digitally restored version
in 2K DCP

Az én XX. századom (My 20^th Century)

Dir: Ildikó Enyedi, Hungary / Federal Republic of Germany, 1989
Presented by Ildikó Enyedi and Tibor Máthé
World premiere of the digitally restored version
in 4K DCP

Fail Safe Dir: Sidney Lumet, USA, 1964 World premiere of the digitally restored version in 4K DCP

HaChayim Al-Pi Agfa (Life According To Agfa) Dir: Assi Dayan, Israel, 1992 World premiere of the digitally restored version in 4K DCP

Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire) Dir: Wim Wenders, Germany / France, 1987 Presented by Wim Wenders World premiere of the digitally restored version in 4K DCP

Letyat Zhuravli (The Cranes are Flying) Dir: Mikhail Kalatozov, USSR, 1957 World premiere of the digitally restored version in 2K DCP

Tokyo Boshoku (Tokyo Twilight)

Dir: Yasujiro Ozu, Japan, 1957

Presented by Wim Wenders

World premiere of the digitally restored version

in 4K DCP 

Selected from considerably more than 2,000 submissions, this year a total of 65 full-length and short films from 39 production and co-production countries have been invited to compete in the Generation Kplus and Generation 14plus competitions. Highly contemporary, the selection reflects on both cinematic developments as well as current socio-political situations. The diversity in content and format relentlessly reflects a complex and frequently inconsistent world while at the same time leaving room for interpretation. In the zone between reality and imagination, the filmmakers open doors for alternative options - not only for the young protagonists - and simultaneously reframe a young generations’ yearning for commitment.

“Every single selection is an invitation to the audience to experience life from the perspective of youth. They are films with young people, as opposed to about them. An impressive characteristic throughout the programme is not only the deep respect with which the filmmakers paint portraits of their protagonists, but also the immediacy and intimacy with which they approach these very individual world views,” says section head Maryanne Redpath about this year’s programme.

Short films in Generation

In 2018, the Generation short film competitions present productions from a total of 25 countries. The three Kplus short film programmes and two 14plus programmes focus on big and small people and on other creatures; on love and longing for security, and on the banal tragedies of daily life. In addition, they give an insight in the stunning wealth of possibilities and eerie depths of the digital world.

Opening films

The Generation 14plus competition will open at Haus der Kulturen der Welt with the road movie 303, with director Hans Weingartner (White Noise and The Edukators, among others) and cast attending. The Generation Kplus competition will open with an adventurous journey of an altogether different nature: the fast-paced Danish animation Den utrolige historie om den kæmpestore pære (The Incredible Story of the Giant Pear) by Philip Einstein Lipski, Amalie Næsby Fick and Jørgen Lerdam.

In addition to the previously announced films, the following productions have now also been invited:

Generation14plus

Adam

Germany / Iceland / USA

by Maria Solrun

World premiere

After her debut film Jargo (Generation 14plus 2004), Icelandic director Maria Solrun presents a feature film for the second time in Generation. The aurally handicapped young protagonist Adam and his mother, a techno musician, have always lived in different worlds. At the same time, they are symbiotically connected: he feels her music directly with his body. When his mother is diagnosed with irreversible brain damage caused by alcohol, Adam suddenly has to look after himself. He faces his mother’s eager death wish in his very own laconic way, and the director gives him his voice, as well as plenty of space to develop.

Dressage

Iran

by Pooya Badkoobeh

World premiere

Motivated primarily by boredom rather than greed, Golsa and her friends rob a corner shop. But while evaluating the booty, they are dismayed to realise that they forgot to take the security camera footage. One of them must return to the crime scene and retrieve it. The vote falls on Golsa, who bravely completes the mission. Her friends’ behaviour makes her think, and she hides the hard drive somewhere secret. But her accomplices and their well-to-do families put more and more pressure on Golsa, worried about their social standing. Director Pooya Badkoobeh radically staged story about control, blackmail and the power of money holds an uncompromising mirror up to Iranian society.

Fortuna

Switzerland / Belgium

by Germinal Roaux

World premiere

Amidst the snow-covered mountains of the Swiss Simplon Pass, 14-year-old Fortuna clasps her hands in prayer. She hasn’t seen her parents since their traumatic crossing of the Mediterranean. Like many other refugees, the young girl from the Ethiopia/Eritrea border area has found refuge in an Augustinian monastery. The feelings of loneliness and yearning for love that tear at Fortuna are weighed against a secret that she can’t even tell the head friar - insightfully played by Bruno Ganz. Director Germinal Roaux fathoms the depths of Christian charity in expressive black-and-white imagery.

Hendi & Hormoz

Iran / Czech Republic

by Abbas Amini

World premiere

After Valderama (Generation 2016), Iranian director Abbas Amini presents his second feature film in Generation 14plus. Hendi & Hormoz takes place on Iran’s Hormuz Island in the Persian Gulf, where hematite deposits in the soil turn the ocean waves blood-red. 16-year-old Hormoz is married to Hendi, three years his junior, after he promises that he can work as a miner. But the young man, stirringly played by Hamed Alipour (Valderama), finds closed doors instead of a job. When Hendi becomes pregnant unexpectedly, Hormoz is forced to make an ill-advised pact with a smuggler. Director Amini portrays the existential struggle of two young people who must abandon their carefree youth in a harsh world.

High Fantasy

South Africa

by Jenna Bass

European premiere

After The Tunnel (Berlinale Shorts 2010), Berlinale Talents alumna and London native Jenna Bass now presents a film in Generation 14plus. Filmed by the four protagonists exclusively on smartphones in the wide expanses of the South African veldt, Bass’s second feature film High Fantasy brings a common vision to life: being inside the body of another person. When Lexi and her friends experience exactly that during a camping trip, a suspense-laden dynamic ensues between the three women and Thami, the only man with them, but also between Lexi, who is white and Xoli, who is black. A smart and biting essay on the unrelenting politics of the human body - and still highly relevant even decades after the alleged end of Apartheid.

Kissing Candice

Ireland / United Kingdom

by Aoife McArdle

European premiere

Candice, 17, has a vivid imagination. In the glaring and graphic realms she experiences during her epileptic seizures, a man appears with whom she falls in love. Soon after, she meets him in the real world. But that’s just one bit of trouble in the Irish town where the young people see a pony as a status symbol on par with a car. One boy is missing and a violent clique of youths is terrorising the village inhabitants. Candice’s father, a police officer who longs for the “good old days” of “the Troubles”, is on the case. In her debut film, director Aoife McArdle stages highly aesthetic chaos against the harsh backdrop of a coastal Irish village. The director’s ample experience making music videos is clearly visible throughout.

Retablo

Peru / Germany / Norway

by Álvaro Delgado-Aparicio L.

European premiere

14-year-old Segundo lives with his parents in a village high in the magnificent mountains of Peru. His father Noé is a respected artist and Segundo’s role model. Noé hand-crafts altarpieces, decorated shrines for church and home, and is teaching Segundo the necessary skills to carry on in his footsteps. But cracks have developed in their close relationship because Noé is keeping a dark secret. With brutal honesty and saturated colours, the film peeks behind the facade of a seemingly intact village community where homophobic attidtudes enforced by patriarchal laws are carried out with remorseless violence. It sketches a visually powerful panorama of a world in which a young artist is searching for his niche.

What Walaa Wants

Canada / Denmark

by Christy Garland

World premiere

The Palestinian girl Walaa - whose mother was incarcerated in an Israeli prison for eight years for allegedly aiding an assassination - shows little interest in school. She’d rather join the Palestinian National Authority - the provisional governmental body that governs the Palestinian territories in the West Bank and Gaza - as soon as possible, were it not for her distrust of any kind of authority. Director Christy Garland’s documentary follows the obstreperous young woman over the course of five years, from age 15 to 20. Always maintaining a level playing field with her young protagonist, Christy Garland gives an intimate look at the rebellious girl fighting at times uncontrollably but tenaciously for her dream.

The following films were announced in the previous press release (December 19, 2017):

303, Germany, Hans Weingartner — WP

Cobain, Netherlands / Belgium / Germany, Nanouk Leopold — WP

Danmark (Denmark), Denmark, Kaspar Rune Larsen — IP

Güvercin (The Pigeon), Turkey, Banu Sıvacı — WP

Les faux tatouages (Fake Tattoos), Canada, Pascal Plante — EP

Para Aduma (Red Cow), Israel, Tsivia Barkai Jacov — WP

Unicórnio (Unicorn), Brazil, Eduardo Nunes — IP

Virus Tropical, Colombia, Santiago Caicedo — EP

Short films in Generation 14plus

Fry-Up, United Kingdom, Charlotte Regan — EP

Follower, Germany, Jonathan B. Behr — WP

Je fais où tu me dis (Dressed for Pleasure), Switzerland, Marie de Maricourt — IP

Juck, Sweden, Olivia Kastebring, Julia Gumpert, Ulrika Bandeira — IP

Kiem Holijanda, Netherlands, Sarah Veltmeyer — IP

Na zdrowie! (Bless You!), Poland, Paulina Ziólkowska — WP

Neputovanja (Untravel), Serbia / Slovakian Republic, Ana Nedeljković, Nikola Majdak Jr. — WP

Nuuca, USA / Canada, Michelle Latimer — EP

Playa (Beach), Mexico, Francisco Borrajo — EP

Pop Rox, USA, Nate Trinrud — EP

Premier amour (First Love), Switzerland, Jules Carrin — IP

Sinfonía de un mar triste (Symphony of a Sad Sea), Mexico, Carlos Morales — EP

Tangles and Knots, Australia, Renée Marie Petropoulos — EP

Three Centimetres, United Kingdom, Lara Zeidan — WP

Vermine (Vermin), Denmark, Jeremie Becquer — WP

Voltage, Austria, Samira Ghahremani — IP

Generation Kplus

Blue Wind Blows

Japan

by Tetsuya Tomina

World premiere

In his poetic full-length film debut, director Tetsuya Tomina follows shy Ao, who lives with his mother and younger sister Kii on the Japanese island of Sado. Their father recently disappeared without a trace, but nobody talks much about that. Ao and Kii wander around the island and vent their incomprehension to the expanses of the sea. Then Ao finds a soulmate in the secretive Sayoko. These two daydreamers need only a few words and feel immediately connected to one another. Against the impressive backdrop of an industrial coastal village, Tomina (who also wrote the screenplay) tells a touching story about hope, loss and letting go.

Ceres

Belgium / Netherlands

by Janet van den Brand

World premiere

In her full-length documentary debut, Dutch director Janet van den Brand accompanies her four young protagonists as they go about their daily agricultural business. Piglets are born, as well as calves, lambs and chicks. Sowing, planting and harvesting. Butchering. No matter what, the camera is close by, along with Koen, Daan, Sven and Jeanine. They help with the farm work from a young age, learning to take responsibility, and to say farewell. Will they run their parents’ farms one day? Using documental imagery, Van den Brand presents a realistic picture of life and work in agriculture - one without idealism, and yet full of poetry.

Cirkeline, Coco og det vilde næsehorn (Circleen, Coco and the Wild Rhinoceros)

Denmark        

by Jannik Hastrup

World premiere

The works of Danish director Jannik Hastrup, seasoned master of animation film, have competed in the Generation programmes since 1985. This year he presents the fourth screen adventure of the matchbook-sized elf Cirkeline. Travel is once again on the agenda, this time with Princess Coco and a moody baby rhinoceros, who both want to return to their home in Africa. Cirkeline and her mouse friends spontaneously decide to go along. A musical story told in episodes and lively, colorful images, Hastrup’s film once again illustrates how travel can open our eyes, and that not everything is the way it seems at first glance.

Los Bando

Norway / Sweden

by Christian Lo

International premiere

Best friends Axel and Grim finally want to perform at this year’s Norwegian rock championship with their band, Los Bando Immortale. Nine-year-old runaway and cellist Thilda, and underage rally driver Martin complete the troupe, and the quartet sets off on a turbulent road trip to the wild north. With the police and crazy relatives on their tail, and confronted with harsh truths in life and love, the four friends continue toward their dream, unperturbed. After Bestevenner (2010), Norwegian director Christian Lo presents his second feature film in Generation Kplus.

Mochila de plomo (Packing Heavy)

Argentina

by Darío Mascambroni

World premiere

12-year-old Tomás tolerated it for far too long - being put off by the grownups, who built a labyrinth of silence, excuses and contradictions all around him. But today is the day of truth. Today, the man who killed his father will be released from prison. And Tomás is ready. In his rucksack is a loaded gun. Restless and determined to liberate himself from the half-truths of the adults, Tomás takes a trip through his hometown. Following his debut Primero enero (Generation Kplus 2017), director Darío Mascambroni once again demonstrates his talent for the attentively observed father-son narrative, told in atmospheric images and in close proximity to his protagonists.

Wang Zha de yuxue (Wangdrak's Rain Boots)

People’s Republic of China
by Lhapal Gyal
World premiere

After heavy rains, puddles and mud cover the streets of the Tibetan mountain village. It’s good for the crops, but bad for young Wangdrak, the only boy in the village without rubber boots. While his father is busy with other worries, Wangdrak’s mother fulfills her son’s wish. But new shoes bring new problems. For Wangdrak, a battle against the blue sky and for the rain begins, fought alongside his loyal friend Lhamo. Nestled in the inimitable mountain landscape, director Lhapal Gyal uses vivid imagery to show us a culture steeped in ancient traditions, paying special attention to the young protagonist’s dreams.

The following films were announced in the previous press release (December 19, 2017):

Allons enfants (Cléo & Paul), France, Stéphane Demoustier — WP

Den utrolige historie om den kæmpestore pære (The Incredible Story of the Giant Pear), Denmark, Philip Einstein Lipski, Amalie Næsby Fick, Jørgen Lerdam — IP

Dikkertje Dap (My Giraffe), Netherlands / Belgium / Germany, Barbara Bredero — IP

El día que resistía (The Endless Day), Argentina / France, by Alessia Chiesa — WP

Gordon och Paddy (Gordon and Paddy), Sweden, Linda Hambäck — IP

Les rois mongols (Cross My Heart), Canada, Luc Picard — EP

Sekala Niskala (The Seen and Unseen), Indonesia / Netherlands / Australia / Qatar, Kamila Andini — EP          

Supa Modo, Germany / Kenya, Likarion Wainaina— WP

Short films in Generation Kplus

A Field Guide to Being a 12-Year-Old Girl, Australia, Tilda Cobham-Hervey — IP

L’après-midi de Clémence (The Afternoon of Clémence), France, Lénaïg Le Moigne — WP

Vdol´ i poperyok (Between the Lines), Russian Federation, Maria Koneva — WP

Brottas (Tweener), Sweden, Julia Thelin — IP

Cena d’aragoste (Lobster Dinner), USA / Italy, Gregorio Franchetti — IP

De Natura, Romania, Lucile Hadžihalilović — IP

Fisketur (Out Fishing), Sweden, Uzi Geffenblad — IP

Fire in Cardboard City, New Zealand, Phil Brough — EP

Hvalagapet, Norway, Liss-Anett Steinskog — IP

Jaalgedi (A Curious Girl), Nepal, Rajesh Prasad Khatri — EP

Lost & Found, Australia, Bradley Slabe — WP

Neko no Hi (Cat Days), Germany, Jon Frickey — WP

Paper Crane, Australia, Takumi Kawakami — WP

Pinguin (Penguin), Germany, Julia Ocker — WP

Snijeg za Vodu (Snow for Water), Bosnia and Herzegovina / United Kingdom, Christopher Villiers — IP

Toda mi alegría (All My Joy), Argentina, Micaela Gonzalo — IP

Tråder (Threads), Norway / Canada, Torill Kove — EP

Trois rêves de ma jeunesse (Three Dreams of My Childhood), Romania, Valérie Mréjen, Bertrand Schefer — IP

Yover, Colombia, Edison Sánchez — WP

The selection for the 13th Forum Expanded programme, which opens at the Akademie der Künste on Hanseatenweg on February 14 under the title “A Mechanism Capable of Changing Itself”, is now complete.

34 film and video works of all lengths and genres together with 15 installations have been invited from a total of 27 countries.

This year’s programme once again includes a variety of works that use documentary techniques to examine and explore the potential for both cinema and music to question, illustrate, analyse and bring about change in such a way that they are capable of intervening in social and political events on the global stage. In so doing, they also expand the very concept of the documentary.

System-immanent Transformation

The title of Margaret Honda’s work6144 X 1024 recalls James Benning’s 11 x 14 from 1977. 6144 X 1024 separates out the entire colour spectrum of a digital projector in a computer-generated screening. This process lasts 36 hours in total and will be shown for a few hours each day over the course of the festival in the smaller of the two Arsenal cinema auditoria.

Like Benning’s work, Honda’s piece turns form into content and seems almost paradigmatic for the demands to which contemporary cinema is once again subject. While for Benning the primary focus was on finding a new cinematic language, today the emphasis has shifted to altered spatial, temporal and power relations, as well as the new systems of reference within reality that dictate structure.

The resulting need for alternative histories is apparent in many of the works in the programme: Kudzanai Chiurai’s film We Live in Silence: Chapters 1-7 takes Med Hondo’s classic Soleil Ô as a point of departure for staging historical narratives and visions of the future that reject the assumption that African migrants are supposed to think, speak and understand language in the way their colonisers do. Alternative history is also what structures High Dam, a slide installation by Ala Younis which focusses on two films made by Egyptian director Youssef Chahine about the Aswan Dam in the 1960s and 1970s. High Dam shines a light on the politics of the era and Chahine’s efforts to evade censorship.

The installation Café Togo by Musquiqui Chihying and Gregor Kasper examines the campaign to rename streets with colonial connotations in the so-called African Quarter of Berlin-Wedding. It also explores Black activist Abdel Amine Mohammed’s vision of a multidimensional politics of memory. Laura Horelli’s installation Namibia Todayis also set in Berlin. In an underground station in former East Berlin, seven people talk about the history of the magazine “Namibia Today“, which was published in the GDR between 1980 and 1985.

Zach Blas’s Contra-Internet: Jubilee 2033 is inspired by Derek Jarman’s queer punk film Jubilee (1978). Blas shows philosopher Ayn Rand and economist Alan Greenspan on a drug trip in 1955, during which they  witness the end of the Internet in 2033. In Watching the Detectives, Chris Kennedy takes a critical look at the internet as we know it today by retracing the efforts of amateur detectives to reconstruct the events of the Boston Marathon bombing.

In the Marshall McLuhan Salon at the Embassy of Canada, Forum Expanded presents an installation by artist-duo Bambitchell in which surveillance is investigated as an aesthetic practice. The exhibition opens on February 15. Its title, Special Works School, refers to the code name used by the British War Office between 1917 and 1919 for a group of artists employed to design camouflage patterns and technologies.

SAVVY Contemporary will present an exhibition by artist and filmmaker Jasmina Metwaly from February 13 onwards. We Are Not Worried in the Leastconfronts viewers with footage from the film archive that she put together in Egypt between 2001 and 2016. Egypt’s turbulent social and political landscape during this period form the historical backdrop to these images.

Music, Avant-garde and Underground

A series of works bring together film and music as interrelated elements of social and artistic movements which each carry the same importance.

The Third Part of the Third Measure is an audio-visual composition by The Otolith Group that can be seen and heard in the group exhibition. It stages an encounter with the militant minimalism of avant-garde composer Julius Eastman, inviting visitors to immerse themselves in the ecstatic aesthetics of black radicalism, which Eastman himself once described as “full of honour, integrity and boundless courage”.

Andreas Reihse, who is well-known as a member of the band Kreidler, collaborated with artist and author Mohamed A. Gawad and filmmaker and author Dalia Neis (aka Dice Miller) in composing two audio essays. Entitled Celluloid Corridors, these two works will be presented as a cinematic event.

Morgan Fisher, one of the most famous representatives of structural cinema, will present his response to Bruce Conner’s classic found-footage film A Movie (1958), which he has dubbed Another Movie. By making reference to Ottorino Respighi’s composition “Pini di Roma”, Fisher generates visual associations to Conner’s film almost automatically.

Three more representatives of the North American avant-garde and underground scene that emerged in the 1970s will be showing their new works at Forum Expanded: James Benning, whose installation L. Cohenwill be in the group exhibition, as well as Barbara Hammer and Ken Jacobs. And both Heinz Emigholz and Ben Russell once again return to the programme, the latter with Ben Rivers.

At silent green Kulturquartier Forum Expanded will be presenting a concert by The Invisible Hands, an Egyptian band co-founded in Cairo in 2011 by Alan Bishop (aka Alvarius B., best-known as a member of Sun City Girls). The band is also the subject of Marina Gioti’s and Georges Salameh’s documentary of the same name, which was shown for the first time at the documenta 14 in Athens.

Another two documentaries are dedicated to underground icons: In Eu sou o Rio, Gabraz Sanna and Anne Santos create both a portrait of Brazilian artist and musician Tantão and of the city of Rio. In Escape From Rented Island: The Lost Paradise of Jack Smith, Jerry Tartaglia combines glamorous pictures of the performer and filmmaker, who died in 1989, with music from his own eccentric record collection.

Archival Constellations

“Think Film No. 6 – Archival Constellations”, an international symposium on themes relating to film archives and alternative archive projects, will take place on February 22 at silent green Kulturquartier in Berlin-Wedding. Film archives and projects from Nigeria, Egypt, Palestine, Mexico, Japan and India have all been invited to take part.

During the festival, Prinzessinnengärten will be responsible for designing the foyer of the Arsenal cinema, with b_books once again offering a selection of literature.

Films

'abl ma 'ansa by Mariam Mekiwi (Egypt / Germany, 27´)

6144 X 1024 by Margaret Honda (USA, 360´)

A Movie by Bruce Conner (USA, 12´)

Aala Kad Al Shawk - Le Voyage Immobile by Ghassan Salhab and Mohamed Soueid (Lebanon / France, 23´)

Another Movie by Morgan Fisher (USA, 22´)

Araf by Didem Pekün (Turkey / Greece / Bosnia and Herzegovina, 47´)

Ard al mahshar by Milad Amin (Lebanon / Syria, 19´)

Bayna Hayakel Studio Baalbeck by SISKA (Lebanon / Germany, 48´)

Celluloid Corridors: Sermon by Mohamed A. Gawad, Dalia Neis and Andreas Reihse (Germany, 11´)

Celluloid Corridors: Timehelix by Mohamed A. Gawad, Dalia Neis and Andreas Reihse (Germany, 9´)

Cinema Olanda Film by Wendelien van Oldenborgh (Netherlands, 17´)

Contra-Internet: Jubilee 2033 by Zach Blas (USA / United Kingdom, 29´)

The Disappeared by Adam Kaplan and Gilad Baram (Germany / Israel, 46´)

DUG by Jan Peter Hammer (Germany / Norway, 27´)

Escape From Rented Island: The Lost Paradise of Jack Smith by Jerry Tartaglia (USA, 88´)

Eu sou o Rio by Gabraz Sanna and Anne Santos (Brazil, 78´)

Evidence of the Evidence by Alexander Johnston (USA, 22´)

Evidentiary Bodies by Barbara Hammer (USA, 10´)

The Invisible Hands by Marina Gioti and Georges Salameh (Greece / Egypt, 97´)

It by Anouk De Clercq and Tom Callemin (Belgium, 13´)

Manila Scream Expanded by Roxlee (Philippines, 66´)

Onward Lossless Follows by Michael Robinson (USA, 17´)

Optimism by Deborah Stratman (USA / Canada, 15´)

The Rare Event by Ben Rivers and Ben Russell (Switzerland / France / United Kingdom, 48´)

RIOT: 3 Movements by Rania Stephan (Lebanon / United Arab Emirates, 17´)

Die Schläferin by Alex Gerbaulet (Germany, 16´)

Shelley Duval is Olive Oyl by Ken Jacobs (USA, 21´)

Song for Europe by John Smith (United Kingdom, 4´)

Today Is 11th June 1993 by Clarissa Thieme (Germany / Bosnia and Herzegovina, 15´)

TWO BASILICAS by Heinz Emigholz (Denmark / Germany, 36´)

An Untimely Film For Every One and No One by Ayreen Anastas and Rene Gabri (USA / Palestine / Armenia, 90´)

wa akhiran musiba by Maya Shurbaji (Syria,15´)

Watching the Detectives by Chris Kennedy (Canada, 36´)

We Live in Silence: Chapters 1-7 by Kudzanai Chiurai (Zimbabwe, 36´)

Group exhibition at Akademie der Künste am Hanseatenweg

Article 9303 by Ash Moniz (Egypt, 7´)

Bläue by Kerstin Schroedinger (Germany / United Kingdom, 48´)

Café Togo by Musquiqui Chihying and Gregor Kasper (Germany / Taiwan, 27´)

Cold Body Shining by Marta Hryniuk (Poland, 33´)

Come Back Alive Baby by Song Sanghee (Republic of Korea, 17´)

Extended Sea by Nesrine Khodr (Lebanon / United Arab Emirates, 705´)

High Dam by Ala Younis (Jordan, 7´)

L. Cohen by James Benning (USA, 45´)

Namibia Today by Laura Horelli (Germany / Finland, 21´)

Pink Slime Caesar Shift by Jen Liu (USA, 24´)

Strange Meetings by Jane Jin Kaisen (Republic of Korea, 11´)

The Third Part of the Third Measure by The Otolith Group (United Kingdom / United Arab Emirates / USA, 50´)

Ultima Ratio Δ Mountain of the Sun by Bahar Noorizadeh (Lebanon / Canada, 13´)

Exhibition at Marshall McLuhan Salon of the Canadian Embassy in Berlin

Special Works School by Bambitchell (Sharlene Bamboat and Alexis Mitchell) (Canada / Germany, 28´)

Exhibition at SAVVY Contemporary

We Are Not Worried in the Least by Jasmina Metwaly (Egypt)

Concert at silent green Kulturquartier

The Invisible Hands (Egypt) 

This year, Arsenal – Institute for Film and Video Art is putting on the Forum as part of the Berlinale for the 48^th time. The main programme consists of 44 films, 35 of which world premieres. This year’s Special Screenings will be announced in a second press release.

21 years after his directorial debut The Day a Pig Fell into the Well, Korean director Hong Sangsoo makes a more auspicious return to the Forum. Grass is another cheerfully melancholy story about the guests at a small café whose owner loves classical music. Kim Minhee, who won the Silver Bear for Best Actress in 2017, plays a café regular who always seems to be at the table in the corner writing on her laptop. She repeatedly draws inspiration from what’s happening around her, picking up the threads of the dialogue and spinning them further and sometimes even actively intervening in conversations. Is she perhaps the author of these relationship dramas in miniature, whose stores and themes mirror one another? 

French director Claire Simon is equally willing to try out new experiments in her documentary works. In her new film Premières solitudes (Young Solitude), she creates a cinematographic space for open, intimate discussion together with pupils from a school in the Paris suburbs. As they talk together about their backgrounds, parents, first loves, longings and fears for the future, ten ordinary teenagers forge ever closer bonds. It’s good to realise you’re not alone.

For his part, Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa is showing a film at the Berlinale for the very first time. In Den’ Pobedy (Victory Day), he observes the huge crowds that gather each year at the Soviet War Memorial in Berlin-Treptow on May 9th and records the hustle and bustle with quiet precision, as different moods come to the fore: pride, contemplation, patriotism, curiosity, the desire for recognition. 

Two films from this year’s programme draw on video material shot by their directors in periods of political upheaval and imbue it with new significance. At the end of the 1980s, Kristina Konrad collected opinions on the streets of Uruguay in relation to a referendum to be held on a law granting impunity to those responsible for the military dictatorship. Unas preguntas (One or Two Questions) takes a magnifying glass to the democratic process.

Around the same time, the scandal surrounding the Nazi past of former UN General Secretary and Austrian president Kurt Waldheim was making headlines worldwide. Edited together entirely from archive footage, Ruth Beckermann’s Waldheims Walzer (The Waldheim Waltz) is a documentary essay of frightening topicality. 

Julien Faraut also works with material largely shot in the 80s in L’empire de la perfection (In the Realm of Perfection). Back then, tennis-obsessed director Gil de Kermadec attempted to use film as means of analysing the game. His meticulously shot footage of John McEnroe matches during the French Open forms the starting point for an ironic look at the parallels between film and the sporting world: cinema lies, sport does not. 

Corneliu Porumboiu’s Fotbal Infinit (Infinite Football) takes an equally peculiar look at the world of sport, this time in provincial Romania, following a local official’s attempts to bequeath the world an improved version of the beautiful game. But does everything here really just revolve around football? 

Two features from the US shine a light on intellectual escapism. Ted Fendt’s second featureClassical Periodis once again shot in Philadelphia on 16mm and tells a drolly melancholy story about intellectualism and loneliness. The members of a reading group exchange cultural and literary references with such vigour that there’s little room for anything else: an attempt to leave the modern world behind or merely their own solitary existences?

Ricky D’Ambrose’s debut Notes On an Appearance may be set in Brooklyn, but unfolds in a similar milieu. Before the backdrop of the disquiet spread by the followers of a controversial philosopher, the film uses both real-life documents and smartly falsified writings to tell the story of a young man who one day disappears without warning. An eerie look at modern life with shades of dystopia. 

Josephine Decker’s Madeline’s Madeline on the other hand plunges into the analogies of creativity and insanity. The young titular heroine doesn’t like spending time with her mother, played by actress Miranda July, and feels far freer when with her theatre group. But where does the border lie between personality and role?

Two features from Morocco explore gender relations. Jahilya by Hicham Lasri (the title alludes to the pre-Islamic “time of ignorance”) is a furious condemnation of the misogyny of Moroccan society and all its attendant malice.

Narjiss Nejjar’s Apatride (Stateless) gives an account of a historical event from a female perspective, an event that still dictates the relationship between Morocco and Algeria to this day. Full of beguiling images, her feature shows how a gentle, yet determined woman attempts to prevail over the border between the two countries. 

It would be more than appropriate to refer to the electrifying directorial debut An Elephant Sitting Still as a new hope for Chinese cinema. But its 29-year-old director Ho Bu, who had previously made a name for himself with two novels, took his own life soon after the film was completed. This visually stunning work links together the biographies of a range of different protagonists in virtuoso fashion, narrating the course of one single, tension-filled day from dawn until dusk, painting a portrait of a society marked by selfishness in the process.

The films of the 48^thForum:

14 Apples von Midi Z, Taiwan / Myanmar – WP

Afrique, la pensée en mouvement Part I by Jean-Pierre Bekolo, Senegal – IP

Aggregat (Aggregate) by Marie Wilke, Germany – WP

Amiko by Yoko Yamanaka, Japan – IP

Apatride (Stateless) by Narjiss Nejjar, Morocco – WP

Aufbruch (Departure) by Ludwig Wüst, Austria – WP

La cama (The Bed) by Mónica Lairana, Argentina / Germany / Netherlands / Brazil – WP

La casa lobo (The Wolf House) by Joaquín Cociña, Cristóbal León, Chile – WP

Casanovagen (Casanova Gene) by Luise Donschen, Germany – WP

Classical Period by Ted Fendt, USA – WP

Con el viento (Facing the Wind) by Meritxell Colell Aparicio, Spain / France / Argentina – WP

Los débiles (The Weak Ones) by Raúl Rico, Eduardo Giralt Brun, Mexico – WP

Den' Pobedy (Victory Day) by Sergei Loznitsa, Germany – WP

Die Tomorrow by Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit, Thailand – IP

Djamilia (Jamila) by Aminatou Echard, France – WP

Drvo (The Tree) by André Gil Mata, Portugal / Bosnia and Herzegovina – WP

L'empire de la perfection (In the Realm of Perfection) by Julien Faraut, France – WP

An Elephant Sitting Still by Hu Bo, People’s Republic of China – WP

Fotbal Infinit (Infinite Football) by Corneliu Porumboiu, Romania – WP

Grass by Hong Sangsoo, Republic of Korea – WP

The Green Fog by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson, USA / Canada

+ Accidence by Guy Maddin, Evan Johnson, Galen Johnson, Canada – WP

Interchange by Brian M. Cassidy, Melanie Shatzky, Canada – WP

Jahilya by Hicham Lasri, Morocco – WP

Kaotični život Nade Kadić (The Chaotic Life of Nada Kadić) by Marta Hernaiz, Mexico / Bosnia and Herzegovina – WP

Last Child by Shin Dong-seok, Republic of Korea – IP

Madeline's Madeline by Josephine Decker, USA – IP

Maki'la by Machérie Ekwa Bahango, Democratic Republic of the Congo / France – WP

Mariphasa by Sandro Aguilar, Portugal – WP

Minatomachi (Inland Sea) by Kazuhiro Soda, Japan/USA – WP

Notes On an Appearance by Ricky D'Ambrose, USA – WP

Old Love by Park Kiyong, Republic of Korea – IP

Our House by Yui Kiyohara, Japan – IP

Our Madness by João Viana, Mozambique / Guinea-Bissau / Qatar / Portugal / France – WP

Premières armes (First Stripes) by Jean-François Caissy, Canada – WP

Premières solitudes (Young Solitude) by Claire Simon, France – WP

SPK Komplex (SPK Complex) by Gerd Kroske, Germany – WP

Syn (The Son) by Alexander Abaturov, France / Russian Federation – WP

Teatro de guerra (Theatre of War) by Lola Arias, Argentinia / Spain – WP

Tuzdan Kaide (The Pillar of Salt) by Burak Çevik, Turkey – WP

Unas preguntas (One or Two Questions) by Kristina Konrad, Germany / Uruguay – WP

Waldheims Walzer (The Waldheim Waltz) by Ruth Beckermann, Austria – WP

Wieża. Jasny dzień. (Tower. A Bright Day.) by Jagoda Szelc, Poland – IP

Wild Relatives by Jumana Manna, Germany / Lebanon / Norway – WP

Yours in Sisterhood by Irene Lusztig, USA – WP 

“EFM Horizon” Extended to Five Days / Events on Blockchain, Diversity, Virtual Reality, Artificial Intelligence - the Future in Focus at the European Film Market

The future of film business and pioneering developments in the media and entertainment worlds are the focus of “EFM Horizon”, successfully launched at last year’s European Film Market (EFM). The progressive market platform has been expanded and will take place this year over the course of five days, from February 16 - 20 at Berliner Freiheit (Berliner Freiheit 2, 10785 Berlin), across the street from the Berlin Marriott Hotel. In keynotes, talks and workshop events, “EFM Horizon” will spotlight hot new themes such as artificial intelligence, virtual reality, blockchain, and diversity in the film industry. In addition to digital innovations and current developments in technology, “EFM Horizon” will focus on the storytelling of tomorrow and ideas for new business models and strategies. “EFM Horizon” is supported by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg.

The “EFM Industry Debates” - officially hosted by IFA, the leading global fair for consumer electronics and home appliances - will take place this year for the first time as part of “EFM Horizon”. The “EFM Industry Debates” highlight improvements and contemporary transformations in the industry. Themes will focus on “The Future of Sales Business”, in cooperation with Screen International and “The Financing and Monetization of Virtual Reality Content” in cooperation with Variety. „Why Diversity Matters“ is the title of the debate in cooperation with Knowledge Partner McKinsey & Company and The Hollywood Reporter. Dame Vivian Hunt, Head of McKinsey UK and Ireland will be presenting the Diversity Report of which she is co-author.

“EFM Horizon” will be also dedicated to a variety of aspects of virtual reality, one of the most exciting technological developments in recent years, and which raises a number of questions for the film industry regarding financing, practicality, technology and storytelling. The “VRNEXT Investors Club”, hosted in cooperation with VRNEXT, will bring together investors, producers, distribution representatives, tech experts and creatives. The “VR NOW Summit”, held in cooperation with Virtual Reality e.V. Berlin Brandenburg, will be made up of keynotes, presentations and a moderated talk on the scope of virtual reality as a technology, as a platform and as a medium. For the first time, the EFM 2018 in cooperation with INVR.Space will present official market screenings for 360° VR projects in the newly constructed “VR Cinema at Marriott”.

“EFM Startups” - the market initiative that brings the film industry into contact with original and lateral thinkers in the creative industries and technology scene - will present ten selected startups from Berlin and Europe as well as two startups from Canada, the focus country at the EFM 2018.

“Propellor FilmTech Hub”, the cooperative project by the EFM, the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), the International Documentary Festival Copenhagen (CPH:DOX), and the Berlin innovation studio Cinemathon, invites this year’s EFM visitors to a meetup - a fireside talk with an industry visionary, moderated by Alex Stolz for the podcast series FILM DISRUPTORS.

A new “EFM Horizon” partner this year is the Frankfurt Book Fair, with its innovation platform THE ARTS+, an event with five spotlight presentations and roundtable discussions on artificial intelligence (AI) and its effects on creative processes in literature, art, film and TV. Another new format this year is the event in cooperation with Téléfilm Canada as part of the “Canada in Focus” 2018 programme, which will highlight blockchain in presentations, case studies and a co-creation workshop, presenting participants from film, TV and digital media with the newest applications and technologies. In cooperation with Creative Europe MEDIA, “EFM Horizon” will also host a roundtable networking format for the first time, with the theme “Building a Bridge between Tech & (Online) Distribution”, where film distributors, VOD platforms, online aggregators, startups and tech firms come together to start a conversation about how they want to shape the future of entertainment services and experiences together.

“EFM Horizon” events are open to Market Badge holders (priority) and accredited festival visitors. Some events are invitation-only.

For more information on the EFM Horizon events, please visit
www.efm-horizon.com, where programme details will be published starting on January 25.

In 1947, avant-garde cinema pioneer Maya Deren notes: “Marxism - only theory of politics which designed a mechanism capable of changing itself - as in the concept of the withering away of the state.” Media scholar Ute Holl begins a paper on this film poet’s theories and conception of cinema, which takes the form of “a sustained intervention in the social and sensory relationships of all those who take part in this ongoing form of communication.” The title of this year’s Forum Expanded programme is taken from this same paper, with “A Mechanism Capable of Changing Itself” referring to the specific agency possessed by cinema, which is especially well expressed in the rich spectrum of forms to be found in documentary works.

Since its foundation, Forum Expanded has always placed a special emphasis on documentary forms. This year once again the term encompasses archival works, fiction and experimental film, in the sense that the selected works function as an expression of a reality that represents a new take on the past while transforming it into a possible future.

The works so far selected for the 13th edition of Forum Expanded include films and video works of all genres, as well as installations, performances and panels, and a concert by the Cairo based band The Invisible Hands. The artists invited include Ayreen Anastas and Rene Gabri, James Benning, Kudzanai Chiurai, Anouk De Clercq and Tom Callemin, Morgan Fisher, Alex Gerbaulet, Margaret Honda, Laura Horelli, Ken Jacobs, The Otolith Group, Michael Robinson, Ghassan Salhab and Mohamed Soueid, John Smith, Kerstin Schroedinger, Deborah Stratman, Clarissa Thieme and Wendelien van Oldenborgh. The complete list of artists will be published in the next Forum Expanded press release in mid-January.

The Akademie der Künste on Hanseatenweg will once again serve as the central exhibition venue during the festival. Film screenings will take place here as well as at Kino Arsenal at Potsdamer Platz. Further venues are the Marshall McLuhan Salon at the Embassy of Canada and, for the third time, SAVVY Contemporary. “Think Film No. 6 – Archival Constellations”, an international symposium on archival film themes and projects, will take place anew in the silent green Kulturquartier in Wedding on February 22.

This year’s curatorial team consists of section head Stefanie Schulte Strathaus, filmmaker Khaled Abdulwahed, and curator Ulrich Ziemons. Joining the team for the first time is artist and curator Maha Maamoun, co-founder of the Contemporary Image Collective (CIC) in Cairo. Forum Expanded co-founder Anselm Franke (Haus der Kulturen der Welt) will continue his involvement in a consulting capacity. 

The Berlinale Belongs to the Bears, and vice versa isnt it?

When the 68th Berlin International Film Festival takes place from February 15 – 25, 2018, Berlin will once again belong to the bears.

“It’s that time of year again: The bears are out and about! On this year’s posters they’ll be popping up at well-known Berlin landmarks to get us in the mood for terrific festival days,” comments Festival Director Dieter Kosslick.

The poster series, featuring six different scenes, was again designed by the Swiss agency Velvet. The posters will go up city-wide and be available for purchase at the Berlinale Online Shop starting on January 22.

The first six films in the 2018 Perspektive Deutsches Kino section have been selected. The programme will open with the new feature film by Philipp Eichholtz Rückenwind von vorn (Away You Go) (production: Von Oma gefördert). Staying true to himself, director Eichholtz lovingly and energetically tells the story of self-discovery against the wind. Headwind is uncomfortable and slows down forward motion unless you dress warmly, overcome the obstacles and occasionally change direction or take a detour. The young Berlin schoolteacher Charlie (Victoria Schulz) no longer wants to continue as usual on her chosen path and asks herself what she really wants and needs.

“When confronted with powerful winds from ahead, one must push harder to achieve one’s goals. That’s the challenge we accept, and one that transforms the headwind into a mobilizing tailwind from ahead,” comments section head Linda Söffker on her selection.

In Feierabendbier (After-work Beer), the directorial debut by Ben Brummer, and a production of the new Munich production company GAZE Film, barkeeper Magnus (Tilman Strauß) experiences an identity crisis when his precious classic car is stolen. Sporting a cool’n’casual attitude at all times, Magnus and especially his friend Dimi (Johann Jürgens) perfectly personify the hipster cliché: self-realisation through visible symbols of understatement. With the help of props, dress and music, director Brummer sketches a setting that creates a highly entertaining larger-than-life, comic-esque world for adults.

Three mid-length fiction works delve into love and farewells, each approaching the themes with a different aesthetic: Kineski zid (Great Wall of China) by dffb student Aleksandra Odić is a poetic narrative on the Bosnian mentality and spirited warmth of a family as experienced through the eyes of eight-year-old Maja. They all meet one summer day and Maja is the only family member who understands that her favourite aunt Ljilja is secretly emigrating to Germany later that day.

In Storkow Kalifornia by directing student Kolja Malik (Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg), 30-year-old outlaw Sunny (Daniel Roth) of Storkow is torn between his mother and his new love (Lana Cooper), and between staying and going. A film like a road trip: Goodbye Storkow, hello Berlin!

Rå by Filmuniversität Babelsberg student Sophia Bösch is the story of an initiation. 16-year-old Linn (Sofia Aspholm) wants to be accepted into her father’s hunting group at all costs and realises, little by little, that she will never truly belong. A film on growing up and discovering how difficult it is for a woman to find her place in a community of men with antiquated hierarchies.

The documentary film draußen (outside), produced by Titus Kreyenberg (unafilm) and directed by Johanna Sunder-Plassmann and Tama Tobias-Macht, paints a portrait of the homeless individuals Matze, Elvis, Filzlaus and Sergio with the help of personal objects laden with memories and emotions that act as witnesses to their lives. The film takes the viewer out onto the streets and opens our minds to ideas on alternative lifestyles.

The complete Perspektive Deutsches Kino programme will be publicised in January 2018.

draußen (outside)
By Johanna Sunder-Plassmann, Tama Tobias-Macht
Documentary
World premiere

Feierabendbier (After-work Beer)
By Ben Brummer
With Tilman Strauß, Julia Dietze, Johann Jürgens, Christian Tramitz
Feature film
World premiere

Kineski zid (Great Wall of China)
By Aleksandra Odić
With Elena Matić, Tina Keserović, Faketa Salihbegović-Avdagić, Anja Stanić, Mugdim Avdagić
Medium-long feature film 
German premiere

Rå
By Sophia Bösch
With Sofia Aspholm, Lennart Jähkel, Lars T. Johansson, Ingmar Virta, Ivan Mathias Petersson
Medium-long feature film 
World premiere

Rückenwind von vorn (Away You Go)
By Philipp Eichholtz
With Victoria Schulz, Aleksandar Radenković, Daniel Zillmann, Angelika Waller
Feature film
World premiere

Storkow Kalifornia
By Kolja Malik
With Daniel Roth, Lana Cooper, Franziska Ponitz
Medium-long feature film 
World premiere

Competition and Berlinale Special: Christian Petzold, Emily Atef, Lance Daly, Marcelo Martinessi, Cédric Kahn, Adina Pintilie, Markus Imhoof, Mani Haghighi, Måns Månsson and Axel Petersén, David and Nathan Zellner in the Competition programme / Raman Hui, Fernando Solanas, Paul Williams in the Berlinale Special

Another ten films have now been invited to the Competition of the 68th edition of the Berlin International Film Festival. Three more have also been selected for the programme of the Berlinale Special.

Joining the eight Competition films and two Berlinale Special titles (see press releases from December 4, 2017 and December 18, 2017) are 13 productions from Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong - China, Iran, Ireland, Luxembourg, Norway, Paraguay, People’s Republic of China, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Uruguay, and the USA.

Further films of the Competition and Berlinale Special programme will be revealed soon.

Competition

The following films will be celebrating world or international premieres in the Competition of the Berlinale 2018.

3 Tage in Quiberon (3 Days in Quiberon)

Germany / Austria / France

By Emily Atef (Molly’s Way, The Stranger In Me)

With Marie Bäumer, Birgit Minichmayr, Charly Hübner, Robert Gwisdek, Denis Lavant
World premiere

Black 47

Ireland / Luxembourg

By Lance Daly (Kisses, The Good Doctor)

With Hugo Weaving, James Frecheville, Stephen Rea, Freddie Fox, Barry Keoghan, Moe Dunford, Sarah Greene, Jim Broadbent

World premiere – Out of competition

Damsel

USA

By David Zellner, Nathan Zellner (Kid-Thing, Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter)

With Robert Pattinson, Mia Wasikowska, David Zellner, Nathan Zellner, Robert Forster, Joe Billingiere

International premiere

Eldorado - Documentary

Switzerland / Germany

By Markus Imhoof (The Boat Is Full, More Than Honey)

World premiere – Out of competition

Las herederas (The Heiresses)

Paraguay / Germany / Uruguay / Norway / Brazil / France

By Marcelo Martinessi

With Ana Brun, Margarita Irún, Ana Ivanova

World premiere - First Feature

Khook (Pig)

Iran

By Mani Haghighi (Modest Reception, A Dragon Arrives!)

With Hasan Majuni, Leila Hatami, Leili Rashidi, Parinaz Izadyar, Ali Bagheri

World premiere

La prière (The Prayer)

France

By Cédric Kahn (Red Lights, Wild Life)

With Anthony Bajon, Damien Chapelle, Alex Brendemühl, Louise Grinberg, Hanna Schygulla

World premiere

Toppen av ingenting (The Real Estate)

Sweden / United Kingdom

By Måns Månsson (The Yard, Mr Governor), Axel Petersén (Avalon)

With Léonore Ekstrand, Christer Levin, Christian Saldert, Olof Rhodin, Carl Johan Merner, Don Bennechi

World premiere

Touch Me Not

Romania / Germany / Czech Republic / Bulgaria / France

By Adina Pintilie (Don’t Get Me Wrong)

With Laura Benson, Tómas Lemarquis, Christian Bayerlein, Grit Uhlemann, Hanna Hofmann, Seani Love, Irmena Chichikova

World premiere - First Feature

Transit

Germany / France

By Christian Petzold (Yella, Barbara, Phoenix)

With Franz Rogowski, Paula Beer, Godehard Giese, Lilien Batman, Maryam Zaree, Barbara Auer, Matthias Brandt, Sebastian Hülk, Emilie de Preissac, Antoine Oppenheim

World premiere

Berlinale Special Gala at the Friedrichstadt-Palast

Monster Hunt 2

People’s Republic of China / Hong Kong, China

By Raman Hui (Monster Hunt)

With Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Baihe Bai, Boran Jing

European premiere

Berlinale Special at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele

Gurrumul - Documentary

Australia

By Paul Williams

International premiere – Debut film

In Cooperation with NATIVe

Viaje a los Pueblos Fumigados - Documentary

Argentina

By Fernando Solanas (The Hour Of The Furnaces, Tangos, The Exile Of Gardel, Memoria del saqueo - A Social Genocide)

World premiere

Wishing you all much success on the festival circuit!

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FOCUS ON INDIA

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The Commuter, review: Taken, for a $100,000 ride More than the USA, India has a several million persons commuting to and fro work in local trains on a daily basis. There are groups that travel in the same train every day, sit at the same spot and forge strong friendships, for decades. Mumbai-ites pack local trains much beyond capacity and travel on footboards too, since the city is overpopulated and these are open trains. Metro rails are coming along, and gradually supplementing the local rak...

 

Iranian Film Festival begins in Mumbai on 22nd January

Iranian Film Festival begins in Mumbai on 22nd January Culture House of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Mumbai, and the Federation of Film Societies of India, Maharashtra, are holding a festival of films from Iran. Five films will be screened at Ravindra Mini Theatre, during Jan 22-26, 2018. Mon. Bleeding Heart (Delkhoon) 22nd Jan. Dir: Mohammadreza Rahmani (2008/88min/Col/Eng. Subtitle) Emad has killed his wife & now waiting for his court verdict, but a female lawyer does her best to...

Paddington 2, review: Bear maximum

Paddington 2, review: Bear maximum Imagine a London where bears are accepted as persons and move about freely; a London where Aunt Lucy and her nephew Paddington board a bus and buy tickets for “One-and-a-half bears.” Imagine a bear named Paddington, so called because his adoptive human family find him at Paddington railway station. And imagine a bear that has the highest moral standards and sets the benchmark for ethics and courtesy, not only among regular humans, but even jailbi...

 

 

Downsizing, review: Mini We

Downsizing, review: Mini We Once in a while, a movie comes along that renews our faith in creative writing and the ability of cinema to rise above its own decadence. Maybe it took a dozen ‘shrink’, ‘little’ and ‘antman’ films, from 1957 to 2015, to inspire the writers of Downsizing, the title itself a pun, but the resulting effort has a fresh new feel about it. After setting up a very interesting premise and some smooth as silk spellbinding VFX, the film th...

 

Magnum Opus Padmavati adds a, drops i, eyes release on 25th January

Magnum Opus Padmavati adds a, drops i, eyes release on 25th January It will now be called and spelt Padmaavat, from its original moniker of Padmavati. The deletion of the i is in deference to the wishes of many Indians who hold the folklore of Rani Padmavati very dear, and would not allow a film that shows the actor playing her dancing, midriff exposed, to be released. Protests led to a delay of eight weeks in rescheduling the release, and even now, entire states, like Rajasthan (where the st...

 

 

By ALEX DELEON

The fourth installment of the Rajasthani Int'l Film Festival, RIFF

Sommendra Harsh at initial festival press conference The fourth installment of the Rajasthani Int'l Film Festival, RIFF, will take place in the colorful pink city Jaipur, capital ofoo the historically rich Indian province of Rajasthan. Jaipur is famed for its many old palaces in a walled off old town in which all buildings are uniformly  painted in a color somewhere between pink and pale orange. One is reminded of the beautiful city of Marrakech in Morocco, also referred to affe...

 

The Post by Spielberg in Bombay

Spielberg, streep and hanks at promotional event Viewed at INOC Nariman Point cinemas, Bombay, Monday afternoon 15 January 2018.. Awesome and awe inspiring. Amazing  that Spielberg has been able to take an old newspaper story, now nearly fifty years old --and largely forgotten, and pumped it up into a thriller that feels like it happened last week. My major complaint is the title  POST. .It should have been called The Pentagon Papers!  -- not an innocuous one...

 

Kerala IFF 2017 Reviews

  by Alex Deleon <filmfestivals.com> The 22nd International Film Festival of Kerala, IFFK, held in the southmost Indian city of India, Trivandarum, from December 8th to 15th with its highly eclectic and discerning programming was   a treasure c...

 

 

The Year Ahead in Bollywood Titans to Face Off in January, Shah Rukh will become a dwarf and Akshay will be on the rag

by Alex Deleon   Local newspapers are loaded with reports on upcoming events in Bollywood as the year 2018 wheels into it...

 

Kerala 22 Review, HEART OF A DOG

  22nd KERALA IFF reviews, Trivandarum Dec. 2017  by Alex Deleon, <filmfestivals.com>     Nayinte Hrudayam" (Heart of a Dog) 120',  -- a Malayalam language film not to be confused with the 2015 American film of the same name by Laurie Anderson -- cunningly directed by Sreekrishnan, is based on a surrealistic 1926 Russian novel by Mikhail Bulgakov that fits the category "impossible to film". ...

 

Global Content Bazar MUMBAI January 19 - 20  

By Bruno Chatelin

Global Content Video Promo

The content world today is in many ways more open, transparent, and importantly, with the consumer in control."  Global Content Bazar is an international market for the content industry and it will be organised in India every year in the month of January, making it the calendar year’s very first important content market.  It is the ideal platform to meet genuine marketers to strike a deal with. India's first ever content marke...

 

THE MIGHT OF CHINA China Pavilion has its second show in India

    Opening on Jan 19th, “2018 Global Content Bazar” is India’s very first content market for buying and selling of films and content. As the only international pavilion and the largest exhibiting organization, China Pavilion has attracted great attention. Chinese film and TV content has become a hot topic among the participants. China Pavilion is organized by The State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China, the State Administration o...

 

2 nd edition of Global Content Bazar opens tomorrow in Mumbai - Free entrance Max networking

  ...

Global Content Bazar 2018 returns this january

The global Content industry is a formidable force that now powers everything you see and hear across multiple media platforms. Whether it’s Film or Television or New Media or Online, content is the undisputed king and currently the most celebrated industry around the world. 

As the creators of the 25-year-old, highly successful Broadcast India Show, Saicom Trade Fairs & Exhibitons Pvt. Ltd invites you to take the plunge into the 2nd edition of their latest venture - Global Content Bazar 2018. 

Coming January 2018, the island city of Mumbai will welcome a brand-new content marketplace positioned at the very heart of India's multi-billion dollar entertainment industry. The 2nd edition Global Content Bazaar signals the arrival of a new platform for content innovators to pitch and showcase their work to potential buyers, sellers and distributors and also participate in a collaboration between different yet innately related aspects of entertainment technology that are pivotal in the creation of content for films, television, new media, mobile, gaming, radio and lots more. 

 

Do not miss The Global Content Bazar coming this coming week

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Pre Register for The Global Content Market

  ...

 

Book your space for Globat Content Bazar in Mumbai

  ...

 

Global Content Bazar 2018 will be inaugurated by Minister of Culture and Sports, Government of Maharashtra

India’s very first content market for buying and selling of films and content, now in its 2nd year, will be inaugurated by Shri Vinod Tawde, Minister of Culture and Sports, Government of Maharashtra on 19th January 2018 at 10:00 AM at the World Trade Centre, Cuffe Parade, Mumbai. This 2-day event is a market for buying, selling, distributing and syndicating of all sorts of content including films, television serials, web series, short films, documentaries, et al. The market als...

 

 

Global Content Bazar is an international market for the content industry in India

"The content world today is in many ways more open, transparent, and importantly, with the consumer in control."  Global Content Bazar is an international market for the content industry and it will be organised in India every year in the month of January, making it the calendar year’s very first important content market.  It is the ideal platform to meet genuine marketers to strike a deal with. India's first ever conte...

 

 

 

Sundance Jan. 18-28 in Park City, Utah  

Robert Redford's Quips from Sundance '18's Day One Press Conference

 

Robert Redford, the legendary film director, actor, producer, and Sundance Film Fest founder, took part in an open press conference with two of his colleagues in Park City, UT to kick off the proceedings.   ROLE OF JOURNALISM WITHIN SOCIETY I’m a huge fan of journalism, which I think is borne out of the projects I’ve done. Journalism is a big deal for me. It always appears to be under threat periodically. Something comes up and then it dies down; it comes up ... 

 

 

Sundance Film Festival: Juries, Awards Night Host Announced

chaz Ebert and 24 Jurors to Award NUMBER Prizes, Including New NEXT Innovator’s Award Jason Mantzoukas (The Long Dumb Road) to Host Livestreamed Awards Show; Nick Offerman, Kiersey Clemons (Hearts Beat Loud) to Perform   Sundance Institute will convene 24 experts in film, art, culture and science to award feature-length work shown at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival with 28 ...

 

American Animals will have its world premiere at Sundance

Written and Directed by Bart Layton   WORLD PREMIERE U.S. Dramatic Competition (Acquisition Title/UTA)   Starring Evan Peters, Barry Keoghan, Blake Jenner, Jared Abrahamson, Ann Dowd, Udo Kier       Synopsis: Lexington, Kentucky, 2004: Spencer and Warren dream of remarkable lives beyond their middle-class suburban existence. They head off to colleges in the same town, haunted by the fear they may never be special in any way. Spencer is given a tour of ...

 

Canon Creative Studio at Sundance Film Festival

Canon Creative Studio located at 592 Main Street in Part City, Utah to check out some of the activities Canon will be hosting at the space. Visitors to the Canon Creative Studio will have the opportunity to explore how Canon supports all aspects of filmmaking, from pre-production to production through post. A hub for filmmakers, the Canon Creative Studio is a place of hands-on experimentation with Canon equipment and thought-provoking conversations with industry experts in the way of panel di...

 

Seventeen IFP-supported projects hit Park City as the 2018 Sundance Film Festival begins next week

IFP Alumni at Sundance       The Sundance line-up includes Elan Bogarín and Jonathan Bogarín's 306 Hollywood, Michael Pearce's Beast, Tolga Karaçelik's Butterflies, Stephen Maing's Crime + Punishment, Kimberly Reed's Dark Money, Cathy Yan's Dead Pigs, Amy Scott's Hal, RaMell Ross' Hale County This Morning, This Evening, Michael Dweck's The Last Race, Reinaldo Marcus Green's Monsters and Men, Christina Choe'...

 

> BERLINALE AND EFM PREVIEWS

2018 Berlinale Festival Posters: The Bears are back, of course, which one do you prefer?

The Berlinale Belongs to the Bears, and vice versa isnt it?   When the 68th Berlin International Film Festival takes place from February 15 – 25, 2018, Berlin will once again belong to the bears.   “It’s that time of year again: The bears are out and about! On this year’s posters they’ll be popping up at well-known Berlin landmarks to get us in the mood for terrific festival days,” comments Festival Director Dieter Kosslick.   ...

 

EFM! New line-up and new titles from Summer Hill Entertainment

www.summerhillfilms.com I Contact I Marriott Hotel Stand #119I  Facebook I Twitter: @WatchCoolMovies

Our mission is twofold.  First, we are a home to independent filmmakers who have done the impossible, created a quality film ready for distribution.  Through our 25 years of experience, our contacts, our customer service and our accessibility & transparency, we will take your film to the next level and beyond.  We are not just a distributor, but a strategic partner who will work with you to achieve your goals.

Second, we are a reliable source of high quality films for our international buyers.  With our worldwide relationships and successful track record in the international licensing business, our team supplies our buyers with great films for their channels and labels meeting their volume, timeframe and financial requirements.  Additionally, we know how to deliver the goods.  Today’s international deliverable requirements are more complicated than ever.  Our knowledge and experience in the delivery process ensures successful and complete product delivery meeting each of our clients’ unique specifications

 

 

Forum 2018: In the Realm of Perfection and Elsewhere

Generation 2018 - Reflecting Reality

Competition and Berlinale Special updates

International Partner Matching for 36 Film Projects at the Berlinale Co-Production Market

Perspektive Deutsches Kino 2018: “Whatever Happens Next”

New Food Trucks at the Berlinale Street Food Market

Berlinale Shorts 2018: International Competition and the Special Programme “1968 – Red Flags for Everyone”

250 Participants @ Berlinale Talents 2018

Berlinale Shorts Introduces the 2018 International Short Film Jury: Diogo Costa Amarante, Jyoti Mistry and Mark Toscano

2018 Perspektive Deutsches Kino to Open With Rückenwind von vorn by Philipp Eichholtz

> AWARDS WATCH   

Nominations Announced for the 12th Asian Film Awards

The Asian Film Awards Academy announced the nominations for the 12th Asian Film Awards (AFA) in Hong Kong today. For this edition, AFA received submissions from 26 countries and regions. Eighty-nine nominations were made for 17 awards, including the newly added Best New Director and Best Action Film. The nominations represent 32 films from 10 countries and regions. Japanese films and talents were nominated in 14 categories*, including a Best Film Award nomination for The Third Murder&...

 

Waimea Ocean Film Festival Awards 2018

Waimea Ocean Film Festival is by invitation. Only 10-15% of films screened are selected, making “Official Selection” an award in itself and setting the bar high for the individual film awards. With the exception of the Audience Choice and the Director’s Choice awards, films are eligible to receive one individual film award. In a few cases and when films within a given category are substantially different in nature, the award will be shared between two films. C...

 

Waimea Ocean Fest Rob Stewart Award for best film Ocean Conservation goes to...

 

2018 Rob Stewart Award for Best Film – Ocean Conservation: Tales by Light – Misunderstood Predators and Eric Cheng In honor of Rob Stewart’s commitment and work, the festival will present annually The Rob Stewart Award for Best Film – Ocean Conservation. Special attention will be given to films and individuals that strive to change people’s perception and understanding of sharks, and also films that look at climate change issue...

 

> PARTNERS FESTIVAL NEWS    

GTA 2018 Golden Trailer Awards

Early deadline: February 2nd

Your trailers need recognition...

Movie trailers play an increasingly important role in entertaining us and helping us determine where to spend our leisure time. The best trailers are works of art in their own right, expertly blending elements of cinema and advertising.

Early Deadline for Entry is FRIDAY February 2nd, 2018 (11:59 PM Pacific Standard Time)

GTA19 APPLICATION NOW ONLINE ENTER HERE!

GTA19 Categories List

GTA19 Entry Fees

GTA19 Rules for Entry

Profile on filmfestivals.com I Website I Facebook I Twitter I  SUBMIT I Contact  Evelyn Watters

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Future Femme Festival May 10 – 13, 2018 

 

January 25, 2018 Regular Deadline 
March 31, 2018 Late Deadline I May 1, 2018 Extended Deadline

Anyone who identifies as a Future Femme may enter.

Does your movie: elevate future femme perspectives, support the advancement of future femme talent, and empower future femmes through cinema?

Enter now: FutureFemmeFest via Film Freeway. Take 50% your entry with this code filmfestivalscomff

Future Femme Fest is a celebration of cinema. We bring the film festival experience to you via live competitions and our streaming partners.

The Future Femme Short Film Fest begins its UK tour in May 2018.

Finalists & winners will have the chance to find an audience at 8 live events throughout the UK.

Website I Facebook I Twitter I Westone 114 Wellington Street Leeds LS1 1BA United Kingdom I contact I Profile on filmfestivals.com I SUBMIT

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The Julien Dubuque International Film Festival (April 26 – 29, 2018) is calling for your film

January 25, 2018 Extended Deadline 

Voted one of the top 50 Film Festivals worth the Submission Fee in 2016 AND 2017 by MovieMaker Magazine, the Julien Dubuque International Film Festival acknowledges emerging filmmakers from around the world, with a strong emphasis on discovering and encouraging new talent. In recognition of the time and talent of the independent filmmaker, awarding over $40,000 in cash and benefits, including a $10,000 Best of the Fest award.
Over $40,000 in cash and benefits to be awarded**

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NYC Independent Film Festival 2018

May 7 - May 13, 2018

January 31, 2018 Extended Deadline I

NYC Independent Film Festival is a celebration of the true independent filmmaker, documentaries, short and feature-length films, music videos, and animation. Whether a submission is comedic, dramatic, or something in between, The NYC Indie film Fest is eager to embrace fresh ideas and storytelling.

The festival aims to discover the Artist Filmmaker, showcasing them to the entertainment industry and the NYC public. All NYC Indie screenings take place in the historic center of NYC, Time Square which is the perfect home for an event geared toward creating incredible opportunities for independent voices.

NYC Indie Film Festival honors the Best in Category which includes Best Narrative Feature, Best Documentary, Best Short Documentary, Best Short Narrative, Best Super Short, Best Music Video, as well as Best Director and Best Screenplay.

Profile on filmfestivals.com I Website I Facebook I Twitter I  SUBMIT I Contact Dennis Cieri

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Sonoma International FilmFestival 

March 21 – 25, 2018

2018 WORLDFEST-HOUSTON April 20 - 29, 2018 calling for entries

 New Media Film Festival

June 12 -14, 2018

Announcing - JEFF BRIDGES Legendary Actor & Producer of upcoming documentary "Living in Futures Past" 2018 Recipient of the Socially Responsible Conservationist Award at the New Media Film Festival Opening Night, June 16, 2018*

Celebrate - Collaborate - Creative Technology & Story

NEW VIBE

New Venue James Bridges Theater - Los Angeles CA

New Website - www.NewMediaFilmFestival.com

NEW DATES

Saturday & Sunday June 16-17 2018

12:30pm - 10:30pm

New Media Film Festival intersects the interactivity of new technologies & formats for Media & Cinema which exemplify the power of the cinematic arts to inspire and transform. A festival where we Honor Stories Worth Telling that are created by people of All Ages-All Cultures-All Media.
Each entry is considered for Screening in a state of the art theatre, The Landmark, owned by Mark Cuban and/or Competition and/or Distribution $45,000.00 in Awards will be given out. Each programmed content is in consideration for a Best of Category, Audience & Grand Prize Award.

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SCIFI WORLD

Filmfestivals com has an eye for SciFi: check our fantastic selection

CHIMERA by Maurice Haeems, SciFi Thriller October 2017 80 minutes Chimera features Emmy-nominee Henry Ian Cusick (Lost) and Oscar-nominee Kathleen Quinlan (Apollo 13) in the two leading roles. This is Maurice Heems' first feature film. A brilliant but disturbed scientist decides to freeze his children alive, while he races against time to cure their deadly genetic disease by unlocking the secret of immortality encoded within the DNA of the Turritopsis jellyfish. &.. 

 

 

ECO CALLING

Filmfestivals com has an eye for Eco, Transition, Green and Conservationism cinema: check our fantastic selection

 

"Ones to Watch for fests' by filmfestivals.com"    LIVING IN THE FUTURES PAST by Susan Kucera, an eco responsible documentary presented by Jeff Bridges. USA October 2017 - 83 minutes Website I Sneak peek 5 minutes edit I Request a screener I Sales by Vision Films I Jeff Bridges Academy Award Winner, Jeff Bridges presents this beautifully photographed tour de force of original thinking on who we are and the...

 

 

ANIMATION CALLING

 

 

MIAFF 5th edition wants your hot new animation films for 2018 

MIAFF is bursting into its 5th edition and will be a spectacular 5th year birthday party! Call for entries are now open so take advantage of early bird rates until October 14 For festival strategy and consultation contact Animation Calling today! With hundreds of submissions from all over the world MIAFF 5 will be screening your film alongside  an ANIMAZING party to boot!     
SUBMIT  ... Contact : Email I +1-514-260-0848 I 4122 Coloniale Montreal, Quebec H2W2C1 Canada I Website I Facebook I Twitter I Instagram

 

HORROR CALLING

Filmfestivals com has an eye for Horror and SciFi: check our fantastic selection

Films we curate for festivals Check our selection of 'Best for Fests' in th eHorror SciFi genre!   "Ones to Watch for fests' by filmfestivals.com"      CHIMERA by Maurice Haeems, SciFi Thriller October 2017 80 minutes Chimera features Emmy-nominee Henry Ian Cusick (Lost) and Oscar-nominee Kathleen Quinlan (Apollo 13) in the two leading roles. A brilliant but disturbed scientist decides to freeze his children alive,... 

 

DOC FESTS CALLING

Thessaloniki 20th Doc Fest gives a Carte Blanche to Sara Driver

> FILMS FOCUS   

P&A of For Ever and Ever, horror title from Russia

Revolution will play with an homage to Rob Stewart a Mumbai International Film Festival for Documentary, Short & Animation films

Mumbai International Film Festival Documentary | Short | Animation (28 JAN – 03 FEB 2018) The festivalwill pay tribute to renowned filmmaker Rob Stewart by screening a few of his  films ( approximately 5 - 6 hr ) in the Homage Section of  MIFF -2018.  The oldest and largest film festival for non-feature films in South Asia, which began in 1990 is organized by the Films Division, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India. The...

 

The Unwilling selected at Chandler Film Festival January 12 – 15, 2018

Six family members arrive for the reading of the will of a wealthy patriarch. All are shocked when an antique wooden box arrives instead. The instructions are simple: one by one the six in attendance must prick their fingers on steel pins which appear from the box to open it and receive their rewards. Once their blood is drawn however events take a turn for the worse as they release a sinister evil no one may leave alive.   ...

> "FILMFESTIVALS.COM ONES TO WATCH ON THE CIRCUIT" FOR FESTIVAL CONSIDERATION

CHIMERA by Maurice Haeems USA India Thriller Science Fiction 79 minutes

Trailer I Website I Blog on filmfestivals.com I Contact I Festival Screeners

A brilliant but disturbed scientist decides to freeze his children alive, while he races against time to cure their deadly genetic disease by unlocking the secret of immortality encoded within the DNA of the Turritopsis jellyfish.

LIVING AMONG US by Brian Metcalf  - Vampire Found Footage Thriller Ocober 2017 80 minutes

A family of Vampires hire some filmmakers to bring their story to the world with devastating results.  STARRING: John Heard (Home Alone), Esmé Bianco (Game of Thrones), Thomas Ian Nicholas (American Pie), William Sadler (Iron Man 3), Andrew Keegan (10 Things I Hate About You).

Website I  Blog on filmfestivals.com I Teaser trailer I Screener I Youtube I Facebook I Twitter I Sales by Vision Films

LIVING IN THE FUTURES PAST by Susan Kucera, A documentary presented by Jeff Bridges.
USA October 2017 - 83 minutes

WORLD PREMIERING AT SANTA BARBARA FESTIVAL - THE HOME OF JEFF BRIDGES

Academy Award Winner, Jeff Bridges presents this beautifully photographed tour de force of original thinking on who we are and the environmental challenges we face. Jeff, alongside prominent scientists and authors, weave evolution, emergence, entropy, dark ecology, and what some are calling the end of nature, into a story that helps us understand our place among the species of Earth’s household. The film upends our way of thinking and provides original insights into our subconscious motivations, the unintended consequences, what to do about our fossil slaves, and how our fundamental animal nature influences our future as Humankind. 

...more details Blog on filmfestivals.com

DEAD ON ARRIVAL D.O.A. by Stephen Sepher - Thriller  - USA  - June  2017 -  96 minutes

Emmy nominated Billy Flynn stars in an ensemble cast as Sam Collins, a pharmaceutical sales rep who visits a small town in Louisiana to close the business deal of a lifetime. He finds himself in a dark world of sex, corruption and murder as he is poisoned with no antidote to save his life. Desperate for answers, with less than 24 hours to live, Sam turns to a local girl Jesse. Their path leads to a voodoo priestess who only confirms Sam's doomed fate. On the run, caught in a deadly vertigo with no one to trust, Sam and Jesse find themselves running from police detectives, the Mob and a dirty sheriff who wants him dead.

Inspired by the 1950 classic noir thriller D.O.A. 

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Winner in Houston WorldFest and Fantasporto

The Unwilling by Oscar nominee Jonathan Heap

 

Evil is inside

6 family members gather for the reading of a will. It comes with a mysterious box. Who will leave alive?

Starring David Lipper, Dina Meyer, Levy Tran, Austin Highsmith, Jake Thomas, Robert Rusler, Bree Williamson and  Lance Henrickson.  

USA 82 minutes I Supernatural Horror Thriller  I Sales by Vision Films I Festivals contact I Trailer I Website I Facebook I Twitter I Youtube I

Revolution by Rob Stewart  

over 40 festival wins so far

Eco Documentary feature film by Rob Stewart April 2015, 82 minutes (Sharkwater)
Revolution is a film about changing the world. The true-life adventure of Rob Stewart, this follow-up to his acclaimed SHARKWATER (36 festival wins) documentary continues his remarkable journey; one that will take him through 15 countries over four years, and where he'll discover that it's not only sharks that are in grave danger -- it's humanity itself.

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> THE FESTIVAL CIRCUIT    

The San Sebastian Festival will change its image in 2018 & There will be no poster contest this year

    The San Sebastian Festival has opened a process of reflection to modernise its image and give it a renewed corporate identity in keeping with the new times of the audiovisual world and of the Festival itself. The posters of this edition will be created as part of this new image strategy, meaning that the contest started in 2011 will not take place this year. The image will be presented at the beginning of May.    ...

 

Tokyo International Film Festival 2018 Dates set Oct. 25 - Nov. 3, 2018

Dates Set for TIFF and TIFFCOM 31st TIFF: Oct. 25 - Nov. 3, 2018 TIFFCOM2018: Oct. 23 - 25, 2018   The Tokyo International Fi...

 

Tropfest Australia announces Susan Sarandon as head of Jury

Tropfest Australia, supported by foundation partner CGU Insurance, is today announcing two exciting developments to this year’s event - Academy Award winner and five-time Emmy nominated actress, Susan Sarandon, will head the Tropfest Australia 2018 Jury. For the first time, the ABC will be the exclusive broadcast partner. Susan Sarandon, fresh off a Golden Globe nomination for Feud (2017), is known for critically acclaimed performances in classic films Bull Durham (1988), Thelma & L...

 

Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) is in full gear

Pune International Film Festival (PIFF) was started in 2002 with the idea of building and promoting a healthy film culture in Pune. Our objective is to give film lovers in the city access to global cinema and spark a cultural exchange. With discussions, lectures and master classes on varied topics related to the craft, we try to instil an academic flavour in the festival. Every edition of PIFF has a unique contemporary theme. Through categories like World Competition, Marathi Competition, Globa...

 

The 16th Hong Kong - Asia Film Financing Forum announces new projects

Three new countries to be represented for the first time this year                                                                        &nbs...

 

Full Programme Announced For Glasgow Film Festival 2018 Industry Focus Strand

T2: Trainspotting and 28 Weeks Later producer Andrew Macdonald and Hollywood casting director Kerry Barden to deliver Industry Spotlight talks BAFTA panel to discuss gender imbalance and Women in Film & Television UK will look at the urgent issue of harassment in the industry Industry Focus 2018 runs from 28 February to 2 March and is open to people at all stages of their career   The full programme has been announced for Glasgow Film Festival 2018 Industry Focus strand. Bringing...

> PEOPLE ON OUR RADAR   

Wendy Mitchell and Roberto Cueto, new San Sebastian Festival delegates in the Nordic countries and South Korea respectively

  Wendy Mitchell, Film Programme Manager at the British Council, is the new San Sebastian delegate for the Nordics. Mitchell, Nordic correspondent for Screen International, editor of the European Film Academy’s Close-Up magazine and collaborator with the Göteborg and Zurich festivals, replaces producer Marianne Slot as the Festival representative in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Finland.  Slot, who has produced directors such as Lars von Trier, Thomas Vinterberg and...

 

Monica Bellucci and Gina Lollobrigida to be Awarded by Filming on Italy in Los Angeles,

Filming on Italy in Los Angeles, a three day cultural event, is honoring on Jan 31 and February 1st 2018, Monica Bellucci and Gina Lollobrigida with the Filming on Italy and IIC (Italian Institute of Culture) Los Angeles Creativity awards as a recognition for their excellency in the world. . Filming on Italy will be screening the movie “MALÈNA” by Giuseppe Tornatore, who made Monica Bellucci an international star, and the US premiere of the movie “ON THE MILKY ROAD&r...

 

> STRICTLY BUSINESS AND SPECIAL OFFERS EXCLUSIVE FOR OUR READERS

Partner Film Festivals Calling. Fast-Approaching Deadlines

Need more and better film submissions for your festival? don't miss the one month booster

Filmfestivals.com was established 1995 as world reference in this niche, we are proud of our track record in helping festivals attract more legitimacy, visibility and film submissions from our large base of international film professionals (370 000 unique filmmaker visitors each month), 159 500 subscribers to the newsletter. ONE TIME OFFER We suggest this quick one month booster program for your call for entry including  with 4 newsletter ads, your call for entry promoted one month lon...  

The Bulletin Board I Pro Services's blog |  Advertise your festival in the next eBlast to our filmmakers.   

Major Buzz Factory : Expérience de Bruno Chatelin du marketing Digital pour les films

Fort d'une expérience acquise dans la distribution de films pour deux Majors (Sony et Fox mariée sous a direction avec UGC) Bruno Chatelin propose une expérience pointue au service de votre stratégie digitale à Travers sa structure de Conseil MAJOR BUZZ FACTORY Le fondateur Bruno Chatelin : un Professionnel de la communication entouré de spécialistes, son expérience est ancrée sur trois univers La publicité, Le marketing et le digital.

TOUTES LES NEWS EN FRANCAIS.  

Monica Bellucci et Jean-Paul Belmondo, invités d’honneur des 23e Lumières de la presse internationale

  L'Académie des Lumières rendra un hommage spécial à deux comédiens hors pair qui illuminent particulièrement le cinéma français, Monica Bellucci et Jean-Paul Belmondo, invités d'honneur de la 23e cérémonie des Lumières de la presse internationale, qui aura lieu lundi 5 février 2018 à l'Institut du monde arabe.   D’abord mannequin, Monica Bellucci, consid&...

 

 

Festival Hors Pistes 13e édition

FESTIVAL HORS PISTES - 13e EDITION   LA NATION ET SES FICTIONS 19 janvier - 4 février   Patrick Boucheron –Tristan Garcia – Adrien Genoudet – Judith Cahen - Emmanuele Coccia...       Hors Pistes, le festival pl...

Together, Celebrities & Entertainment Industry Professionals are Changing the Way the World Views & Defines Disability

Easterseals Southern California (ESSC) – which assists more than 10,000 people with disabilities throughout Southern California – has formed a new alliance between its Easterseals Disability Film Challenge, April 13-15, and the Bentonville Film Festival (BFF), May 2-7, to promote disability awareness and inclusion through film.

With a series of cross-promotional activities, these forward-thinking organizations are joining forces to champion inclusion, Changing the Way the World Views and Defines Disability. BFF will host panels focused on inclusion in media at both Sundance and the upcoming BFF. Additionally, Easterseals Disability Film Challenge finalists will be announced during the fourth annual BFF, where they will also be screened.

The two organizations are making the announcement today at the Sundance Film Festival, currently underway in Park City, Utah (Jan. 18-28), prior to an inaugural panel of filmmakers, producers and corporate changemakers to launch the discussion:

Cocktails & Conversation, Presented by AT&T

Saturday, Jan. 20, 7-9 p.m.

DIRECTV Lodge, 660 Main St., Park City

On hand to help introduce the new alliance and talk about the 2018 Easterseals Disability Film Challenge will be Film Challenge founder and ESSC board member, actor/comedian Nic Novicki (Boardwalk Empire, Gotham Comedy Live), a little person who has successfully navigated the challenges of a working actor in Hollywood with a disability.

BFF, was co-founded by Academy Award-winning actress/producer Geena Davis, founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. Commented BFF President of Programming Wendy Guerrero, “BFF is proud to champion inclusion in all forms of media. Part of our vision has always been to embrace all creative voices and expand on the diverse content we showcase at the festival. Inclusion drives innovation and our partnership with the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge is truly an asset to our mission and event.”

One in every five Americans is living with a disability, making it the largest minority population today. Yet far too often, their important and varied stories go untold. Of the top 900 films since 2007, just 2.7% of characters were portrayed as having a disability, according to the USC Annenberg report, “Inequality in 900 Films.” Looking at television, 1.7% of TV roles feature a character with a disability according to the GLAAD report “Where We are on TV.” 2 | P a g e

“As the entertainment industry strives to build a more diverse and inclusive workplace, we must keep disability in the conversation,” said Novicki. “We created the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge to help accelerate change within Hollywood. Joining with the Bentonville Film Festival, we strengthen our resolve to give everyone equal opportunity to reach his or her potential.”

Now in its fifth year, the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge addresses this underrepresentation by giving filmmakers – with and without disabilities – the platform to collaborate, tell unique stories that showcase disability in its many forms and support Easterseals’ goal to change the way disability is viewed.

BFF exhibits work that features inclusion – both in front of and behind the camera – and a balanced representation of gender, ethnicity, sexual identity, ability and age. By connecting diverse creators with engaged industry leaders, BFF has a unique opportunity to amplify commercially viable content, solutions and initiatives that accurately represent the world around us and create a seismic change in how media inspires young minds to do great things: If they can see it they can be it.

Added Mark Whitley, president & CEO of Easterseals Southern California, “This important alliance with Geena Davis and the Bentonville Film Festival are an enormous step toward our goal of true diversity and inclusion in entertainment and in all aspects of life. We are most appreciative of the support of such dedicated advocates for change.”

About the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge

Since the Challenge launched in 2013, aspiring filmmakers from around the world have created more than 150 short films (35 submitted last year) which have been viewed online and at festivals. Supported by a who’s who of Hollywood from both in front of and behind the camera, winners have included Jamie Brewer, who won Best Actor in 2017 for Whitney’s Wedding, has been acclaimed for her role on American Horror Story and was the first model with Down Syndrome to walk the runway at New York Fashion Week; Dickie Hearts, Best Filmmaker winner in 2015, who went on to win an HBO Project Greenlight digital series competition; and Jenna Kanell, winner of Best Film in 2015 who went on to give a TEDx Talk about her experience.

Registered filmmakers are given a span of 55 hours over the designated weekend to write and produce short films (three-to-five minutes) that Help Change the Way We View Disability. Submitted films are judged in four award categories – Best Film, Best Filmmaker, Best Actor and Best Awareness Campaign – by a noted and diverse group of entertainment industry talent.

Winners, who will be announced at a red-carpet event May 10, hosted by United Talent Agency in Beverly Hills, are awarded industry mentorships; the opportunity to screen their film at the Los Angeles-based HollyShorts Film Festival (August 9-18), an Academy Award-qualifying competition; grants provided by Universal Filmed Entertainment Group to be used towards the filmmakers’ next production; and other desirable prizes, including Dell computers.

For more information or to register, visit: www.DisabilityFilmChallenge.com

Full rules & regulations can be found at: http://bit.ly/2k5I4HV

Questions? Email us at: Info@DisabilityFilmChallenge.com

About the Bentonville Film Festival

Co-founded by Academy Award® winner Geena Davis & Inclusion Companies CEO Trevor Drinkwater, the Bentonville Film Festival is a one of a kind annual event that champions inclusion in all forms of media. BFF is a yearlong platform culminating with an annual six-day festival, in partnership with founding sponsor Walmart and presenting sponsor Coca-Cola. The Bentonville Film Festival is held the first week of May of every year in Bentonville, Arkansas and includes an 3 | P a g e

impactful Inclusion, Research and Content Summit. Connecting engaged entertainment industry leaders and major corporate changemakers with a diverse array of storytellers affords BFF the unique opportunity to amplify commercially viable content, solutions and initiatives that adequately represent the world around us. Because if they can see it, they can be it! www.bentonvillefilmfestival.com

About the Bentonville Film Festival Foundation

Bentonville Film Festival Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization focused on promoting underrepresented voices in the entertainment industry through research, education, mentoring and industry partnerships. The primary partner of the Foundation is the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media (GDIGM). The Foundation believes that by convening the media ecosystem - advertisers, content creators and content distributors - in support of media that accurately reflects the gender balance and diversity of our country, it can create a seismic change in how we inspire young minds to do great things. The Foundation also hosts events throughout the year in multiple locations and in collaboration with other likeminded organizations.

About Easterseals Southern California

For nearly 100 years, Easterseals has been an indispensable resource for individuals and families with developmental disabilities or other special needs. The services provided by Easterseals Southern California (ESSC) – in Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Imperial, Kern, San Bernardino, Riverside and Ventura counties – make profound and positive differences in people's lives every day, helping them address life’s challenges and achieve personal goals so that they can live, learn, work and play in our communities. With 2,300 employees, 60+ service sites and hundreds of community partnership locations, each year ESSC assists more than 10,000 people, providing adult/senior day services; autism therapy; child development/early education; employment services, veteran employment support; independent living options; and more. At Easterseals, 87% of our income is spent on services. Join us in changing the way the world defines and views disabilities. Visit us at: Easterseals.com/SouthernCal 

Unwilling will close The Official Selection and screen prior the gala evening. The screening date, initially planned in january is rescheduled for april.

Long contest of terror / long horror competition
Anguish - 77’ - Colômbia
Don't Look - 71’ - EUA
Huldra - Lady Of The Forest - 110' - Suécia
In a lonely place-83 ' - Italy
Lilith's Awakening - 80’ - Brasil
Occupants - 81' - EUA
Sinister Circle - 86’ - Peru
Stranger In The Dunes - 93' - EUA
The Child Remains - 112' - Canadá
The Unwilling - 84'– EUA

Short Horror Contest / short horror competition
Altre-17 ' - Italy
Chateau Sauvignon: Terroir-13 ' - eua
Imedium-7 ' - Spain
Silent Eye-29 ' - bélgica
Laura, lost-11 ' - USA
Parking-10 ' - frança
Maze-13 ' - Germany
The promised-18 ' - Brazil
Passage 379-8
Sol - 15' - Brazil
The Verity-18 ' - United Kingdom
You Have Arrived - 7’ – EUA

Fantastic short competition / short fantastic competition
237 NP-10 ' - Spain
The Hour-14 ' - Brazil
Apolo81-12 ' - Spain
Chaney - 18' - Argentina
Creatures of Whitechapel-25 ' - United Kingdom
Okay Picasso-5 ' - USA
Fils-15 ' - Luxembourg
Massage-24 ' - South Korea
Night-14 ' - Germany
The Eve-20 ' - USA
The Night Circus-9 ' - Denmark
Wolves - 12’ - Andorra
Zone-84 [VOI]-15 ' - Spain

Awards & Prizes

SJFF is the largest Jewish event in the Pacific Northwest, and one of the largest and longest-running film festivals in the Puget Sound region.

WorldFest was founded over 50 years ago as an International Film Society in August, 1961. WorldFest became the third competitive international film festival in North America, following San Francisco and New York. WorldFest is the oldest Independent Film & Video Festival in the World. It evolved into a competitive International Film Festival in April, 1968. It was founded by award-winning producer/director Hunter Todd to present a quality film festival for the Independent filmmakers. Hunter Todd has been honored with more than 115 international awards for creative excellence in film production, and he has been the producer, director, writer and/or cameraman on more than 300 motion picture and video productions. The mission/vision statement of WorldFest is to recognize and honor outstanding creative excellence in film & video, to validate brilliant abilities and to promote cultural tourism for Houston, to develop film production in the region and to add to the rich cultural fabric of the city of Houston. All members of the WorldFest staff are filmmakers.

WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival (now it’s 50th year!) continues with its totally dedicated Independent Film screening format for the upcoming April 21-30, 2017 unspooling at the flagship AMC Studio 30 Dunvale Theaters. WorldFest will screen just 55-60 feature film premieres, with a complete and absolute emphasis on the American and International Independent feature films and with a continuing annual spotlight on an individual country and its films. WorldFest also offers competition in TV Production, Documentary, Corporate & Business Films, Student & Experimental, TV Commercials, Film & Video Production, Music Videos, New Media (Interactive, Web Sites & 3D Productions), Screenplays, Print and Radio.

The late, great Chuck Jones, with his wife Marian, Kathleen Haney and Hunter Todd.

WorldFest is one of the oldest and largest film & video competitions in the world, with more than 4,500 category entries received from 37 countries in 2006. Actually WorldFest is 12 Major film & video competitions in one event, unlike Cannes, Sundance and Toronto, which are just 2 competitions for shorts and features only. Because of our 12 major competitions and the 200+ sub-categories, WorldFest does give a lot of awards, but they are both earned and deserved. No awards are given in any category unless the scores from the juries are high enough to place for honors. Overall only 15-20% of the total category entries actually win an award at WorldFest. However, everyone attending the Grand Awards Gala wins an award, as we only invite the actual winners, which makes for a delightful and enjoyable evening, since there are no disappointed “nominees” that do not win anything. Those that do not win an award are informed by email or letters prior to the festival.

WorldFest Artistic and Program Director Kathleen Haney stated, “We feel that it is impossible to properly emphasize individual films when the festival screening schedule is too large. We must consider both our festival audience and our independent filmmakers. A huge slate of 150-300 films cannot possibly do justice to each individual film. Further, it is impossible to see more than 50-60 films (with four shows a day) in a ten-day festival, so it is foolish to program more than that.” Haney continued, “We will concentrate on only the very best, selecting new American & Foreign Independent films that truly deserve a premiere at WorldFest. By doing so, we can concentrate on the films and their filmmakers and enable our faithful audience the opportunity to see each and every film!” All 35mm films and Digital entries are screened at the AMC Studio 30 Dunvale Theatre, 2949 Dunvale Road, WorldFest – the Indie Film Festival for the New Millennium!

The 2nd edition of India’s first-ever content market, Global Content Bazar 2018, concluded over the weekend in Mumbai. The show witnessed even more interest since its first edition, with quality trade visitors interacting freely with exhibitors, buyers and sellers and engaging in a newfangled networking environment, the likes of which hasn’t been seen before.

As the only professional trade show focused on content that powers India’s vast entertainment and infotainment industry, the Global Content Bazar 2018 yet again showcased strides in content for film, television, animation, docs & shorts, virtual reality, OTT-IPTV-VOD, 3D, music, radio, interactive gaming, mobile and more.

The hyper-focused “Monetizing of Moving Images” conference that held court on both days in adjunction with the buyers and sellers market witnessed more than 24 speakers presenting papers on the latest trends monetizing content in a constantly-evolving industry. 

Leading content providers, buyers and sellers like the China Pavilion, Sony Pictures, NH Studioz, Fashion TV, Ultra Media & Entertainment, Arthavi Creations, Green Gold Animation, Golden Egg Entertainment, One Take Media, Global One Enterprise, Astute Media among others made their presence felt at the show and in the Indian content industry.

In total, almost 70+ companies participated from China, Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, UAE, Russia, Austria and India in the show this year, with a visitor footfall of 1600+.

The 3^rd edition of Global Content Bazar will take place on 11-12 January 2019 at the World Trade Centre in Mumbai.

For further queries or information please contact:

RAMESH MEER

Managing Director

Saicom Trade Fairs & Exhibitions Pvt. Ltd.

Tel.: +91 9820214311 / +9122 22151396 / 22152721

Email: rameshmeer@globalcontentbazar.com.

About Saicom Trade Fairs & Exhibitions Pvt. Ltd. – Bring a part of the film and television industry, the two main Directors, Kavita Meer and Ramesh Meer created a company – Saicom Trade Fairs & Exhibitions Pvt. Ltd. – to organise exhibitions and conferences exclusively catering to the needs of the entertainment industry. Its first show, titled ‘Broadcast India Exhibition & Symposium’ was organised in 1991 and since then the company has been holding these shows every year in the month of October/November in Mumbai. In January 2017 they launched India’s first ever show for the content industry – Global Content Bazar. 

The 2017 Alliance Française French Film Festival was an exceptional event, filling more and more seats across Australia. With the French film industry having produced some amazing films last year, the 29th Alliance Française French Film Festival is not to be missed. Iconic stars such as Juliette Binoche, Vincent Cassel, Vanessa Paradis, Isabelle Huppert and Gérard Depardieu will be showcased on Australian screens in 50 films over one month in each participating city, starting in Sydney on 27th February.

Comedies and dramas, romances and biopics, period films and animated features…there is something for everyone at this year’s Festival, with a selection of films to make you feel, dream, reflect, laugh or even shed a few tears. France comes to Australia for a few weeks with the Festival epitomizing the ever-strong bond between both nations and cultures.

It is remarkable and very touching for a Frenchman to witness the enthusiasm generated by this Festival across Australia. I was actually living in Australia when the Festival was initiated by the Alliance Française de Sydney in 1989. It gives me great joy that 29 years later, the Festival is still so popular with both our faithful long-term supporters and more and more new spectators every year.

And 28 years later, “I still call Australia Home”...

Patrice Gilles
Chief Representative of Fondation Alliance Française in Australia
Director of Alliance Française de Canberra

A note from the Ambassador

It gives me great pleasure to celebrate the 29th Alliance Française French Film Festival with you. The Festival has been a great success in Australia with more than 174,500 attendees in 2017. In France, cinema is an industry created by artists, which has reformed and adapted itself to a globalised economy. The success of French films in Australia is indicative of their universal appeal.This Festival would not have been possible without the support of partners and sponsors, without the professionalism of teams from the Alliances Françaises and the French Embassy, without Unifrance films, and the French and Australian cinema professionals who will join us for this wonderful French Australian cultural event. I hope you will enjoy our 2018 selection.

H.E. Mr. Christophe Penot,
Ambassador of France to Australia

 

A spirit of Unity

2017 was incredibly prolific for French cinema. The 29th year of one of Australia’s favourite film festivals will kick off with the 2017 box-office hit, C’est la vie! Prepare yourself for repeated giggles with this comedy about a wedding party that turns to disaster.

The 2018 50-film line-up is sprinkled with humour 'à la Française', as well as compelling and multi-award winning films. Courage, generosity, equality and team spirit are all strong recurring themes that show the unyielding spirit of unity in France today. Keep curious and open-minded when watching these films –they will both delight and surprise you with great cinematography and nexpected storylines.

Philippe Platel
Festival Artistic Director

David Stratton - Festival Patron

A hundred years ago, when major directors like Louis Feuillade and Abel Gance were making their early films, France was at the forefront of innovation and entertainment in the relatively new art of the motion picture. Forty years later, in 1958, the first features of Francois Truffaut (Les 400 coups) and Claude Chabrol (Le beau Serge) ushered in the Nouvelle Vague, the movement that transformed not only French but also world cinema. 

Thanks to the enlightened system that exists in France to support not only the production of French films but also their distribution, exhibition and international exposure – through Unifrance Film – French cinema has remained at the forefront of international cinema while the cinema in other countries has struggled to survive. The French films I saw in Cannes and Venice during 2017, several of which are taking part in the 2018 Alliance Française French Film Festival, are testament to the ongoing quality and inventiveness of the French film industry. 

It’s an honour to be the Patron of this year’s event and I sincerely hope that Australians who explore the latest crop of French films will enjoy many stimulating, exciting and pleasurable hours in the cinema over the coming weeks.

THE Sacramento French Film Festival Presents the 11th WINTER SHORTS FEST

Featuring
the 2018 CÉSAR NOMINATED SHORTS
Saturday, March 3, 2018
Doors at 6pm / Films at 7pm - Crest Theatre

Do you love short films?

On Friday, March 2, 2018, the French Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques will host its 43^nd César Ceremony (the French Oscars), celebrating the best French films of the year. The following evening, the Sacramento French Film Festival will present this year’s César-nominated short films during its popular WINTER SHORTS FEST.

The SFFF’s 11^th WINTER SHORTS FEST on SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2018, 7pm, at the Crest Theatre will include the 2018 CÉSAR-NOMINATED SHORTS in the ANIMATION & LIVE ACTION categories. The list of the nominees will be announced on January 31. After the screening, the audience will be invited to vote for the “Sacramento César Awards.”

Don’t forget to visit our French Bar!
Located in the lobby of the Crest, it will be open from 6pm and all evening long, serving wine and champagne cocktails.
All bar donations benefit the Sacramento French Film Festival: enjoy a drink while supporting your favorite Sacramento event!

The César winners will be announced at the end of the evening, along with the results of the Sacramento voting. Will Sacramento agree with the French Academy on the winners? Let's find out on March 3!

WHERE: CREST THEATRE – 1013 K Street – Downtown Sacramento

WHEN: Saturday, March 3 – Doors at 6pm / Films at 7pm

TICKET PRICES:

§  $12 General Admission for all (includes a $0.75 Crest facility fee)

§  Tickets will be available at the door

§  Tickets can be purchased in advance at the Crest Box Office and on ticketfly.com

WEBSITE: www.SacramentoFrenchFilmFestival.org

PHONE: 916-455-9390