YEREVAN GOLDEN APRICOT FILM FESTIVAL, 2014 ~ «Ոսկե Ծիրան» Միջազգային Կինոփառատոն>

By Alex DELONIAN, Yerevan
 

The eleventh annual installment of the Yerevan International Film Festival opened last night with a grandiose red carpet invitational gala at the cavernous Yerevan opera house preceded by a screening of a digitally restored print of the legendary 1968 film “The Color of Pomegranates” by legendary Armenian filmmaker Sergei Paradjanov. The name and image of Paradjanov (1924 -1990) hovers over the entire festive, his flying figure topping the entrance to the Moskva Cinema which is the main festival venue, the official catalogue and just about everything else connected with the festival.

Paradjanov, who was a maverick Soviet film director constantly hounded and persecuted by the Soviet establishment, is a national hero here in Armenia with a museum devoted entirely to him alone. Last year noted French Armenian actor Serge Avedikian co-directed a full-scale biographical feature film about Paradjanov, in which he himself undertook the role as a personal homage to the late Armenian screen magician. A remarkable makeup job and canny performance produced an uncanny resemblance to a unique real life personality. Avedikian’s Paradjanov is no hagiography since Paradjanov himself was far from a saint, but the portrayal is probably close to the manner in which this directorial wildman and loose cannon might have preferred to have himself seen — warts and all. This Very offbeat biopic was submitted as the Ukrainian entry to the Oscars this year and was the big GAIFF Closer at the tenth edition last year. Paradjanov whose abstract non-linear films were regarded as provocations by censors who coudn’t even understand them, spent much time in Soviet jails which limited his total output, but all of his films are regarded as landmarks of one kind or another and will all be shown here, an unusual opportunity to catch up with the rarely seen works of a little known cinema artist.
At the tenth Festival last year the guest of honor was French Armenian lsinger/actor Charles Azavour and his most famous film, “Shoot The Piano Player” by François Truffaut, 1960, was screened in a restored print. Today on the plaza in from of the Cinema Moskva a walk of type fame plaque is prominently embedded among the flagstones. Azavour (original name: Շահնուր Վաղինակ Ազնավուրյան) turned ninety (90!) in May and is still active on the stage ~ the most beloved French chansonnier and undoubtedly the mostt famous Armenian in the world today
In addition to a full Paradjanov retrospective the 2014 Golden Apricot Fest is presenting career awards and partial retrospectives of directors Amos Gitai of Israel, Jia Zhangke of mainland China, Kim Ki-Duk of south Korea, and 80 year old Georgian director, Otar Iosseliani, although he is listed as French since he has worked there for many years.
While these are not exactly household names among the general filmgoing public they are all what might be termed “fully annointed heads” at all major film festivals such as Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto and Pusan, where their films are regularly shown, often in competition for the big prizes, and have taken home many over the years.
This festival started in 2004 when Canadian Armenian director Atom Egoyan’s Genocide epic “Ararat” was presented and awarded with the first Golden Apricot.
Egoyan became the honorary President of the festival, his name adding some. extra international clout. He is not here this year only because he is busy elsewhere with the shooting of his latest film.
If the awards here known as “Golden Apricots” may sound somewhat fanciful or even frivolous to uninitiated outsiders, it should be pointed out that Armenian apricots are so special that they receive an official church blessing here each year. Many festivals name their awards for products or natural items associated symbolically with their geographical territories: the Conchas (Sea Shells) of coastal San Sebastian, the Crystal Globes (of famous Bohemian cut glass) of Karlovy Vary, or the Golden Bears of Berlin, a city named for the furry mammals of species Ursidae who shared that area with the Teutonic Barbarian ancestors of the current two legged denizens.
In passing it may be mentioned that Germany prevailed over Argentina yesterday 1~0, to bring the Futbol World Cup back to Berlin — A moral victory of sorts in that there are probably more unrehabilitated Nazis living in Argentina than in Berlin today.

Project submissions are now closed for 2014 Frontières @ Fantasia.

The Fantasia International Film Festival, in Montreal, was attracting an ever-increasing number of film professionals since its foundation in 1996. In 2011, for its 15th edition, the festival decided to devote a specific week-end to welcome members of the industry, making it the first unofficial edition of the Fantasia Industry Rendez-Vous, which resulted in a great increase in attendance. In 2012, the festival not only decided to officialize the event, but fortify it with an innovative event: the Frontières International Co-Production Market. Born from the popularity of many other co-production market around the world and the complete lack of event specific to the genre film industry, Frontières became the first market to concentrate specifically on genre film co-production in-between North-America, Europe and Australasia.

In its inaugural 2012 edition, Frontières presented 14 projects, as well as 10 Off-Frontières projects, ailing from Quebec and Canada, the USA, Mexico, France, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. It notably included projects from Justin Benson & Aaron Moorehead, Paul Campion, Yves-Christian Fournier, Stuart Gordon, Jorge Michel Grau, Jon Hewitt, Bruce McDonald, Steven C. Miller, Robert Morgan and Simon Rumley.  The projects’ attached filmmakers and producers will be given a chance to meet with international producers, sales agents and distributors looking for projects to get involved with. The event attracted 250 filmmakers and film executives from these territories.

To participate in Frontières, the selected projects had to be market premieres with a completed script and needed to be applicable to an international co-production environment where there is ideally be a Canadian production element (either in terms of production location, cast or crew, or post-production). They needed to have a domestic producer attached, although some exceptions were made for exceptional talents looking to find a new producer. The Off-Frontières selection allowed for the inclusion of projects that did not fit all of these guidelines. The market was open to both seasoned directors and directors proposing their first feature film project.

For its second edition, in 2013, Frontières curated 12 projects, as well as 12 Off-Frontières projects, from Quebec and Canada, the USA, Mexico, the UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Germany, Poland and New Zealand. It notably included projects from Joe Dante, Maurice Devereaux, Jeremy Gillespie & Steven Kostanski, Buddy Giovinazzo, Bobcat Goldthwait, Caradog James, Josh Johnson, Jason Lapeyre, Michael Peterson, Michael & Shawn Rasmussen, Franck Richard, Boris Rodriguez, Richard Stanley and Andrzej Zulawski. The event increased its reach with 280 attendants and improved locations.

In 2013, Frontières also successfully won a bid with MEDIA Mundus funding, to expand the market to Europe. Frontières will thus have 2 editions in 2014, its third one in Brussels from April 10 to 12, during the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival, followed by its fourth one in Montreal from July 24 to 27, during the Industry Rendez-Vous of the Fantasia International Film Festival.

At today's Closing Ceremony we will reveal this year's award winners, but first there will be many film and wine adventures.

The final day of the 10th Grossmann Fantastic Film and Wine Festival is upon us, a day full of excitement and delights. The question of the day will be: who will receive the Vicious Cat?

But let's go nice and slow. Already before noon the Main Square will host the Subculture Fair, offering new and second-hand records, CDs, DVDs, books,comics, movie posters and unique artistic products. At the fair, guest of our Noisy Cat competition program, legendary Slovenian singer-songwriter Marko Brecelj will conduct a performance entitled Song-O-Mat.

The masking of the participants of the Zombie Quadrille will be accompanied by sweet sounds coming from our old friends, Hungarian group Yellow Spots Marching Deluxe.

Enchanted Cinema will work his magic for the last time, this time with fantastic animated adventure Miniscule: Valley of the Lost Ants, based upon popular French TV series, that will take kids and parents alike into the wacky world of insects. A bit older kids will experience excitement and thrills with Joe Dante's classic horror comedy Gremlins featuring famous evil little creatures rampaging through an American smalltown.

Alcatraz Cinema will show splendid short films from our Slak's Vicious Cat and Melies d'Argent competition programs, followed by Serbian music documentary Živan Makes a Punk Festival which is a mandatory viewing for all aspiring concert organizers. Noisy Cat competition program will continue with The Elderly Parasite or Who is Marko Brecelj, an extremely insightful, amusing and vivid documentary directed by Janez Burger. Screening will of course be attended by the film's protagonist Marko Brecelj.

Main Square will reach the pinnacle of funny activities at 18:00h with Zombie Zumba and Zombie Quadrille in which dancing couples in the prime of decomposition will make their way towards a Guinness world record.

At 19:00h it will be time for the 10th Grossmann Festival Closing Ceremony at the Culture House. The ceremony will be hosted by Jure Longyka, renowned radio journalist and two-time member of Grossmann's Noisy Cat jury.

After the Closing Ceremony, the Culture House Cinema will show a reprise of brilliant Hungarian dark comedy Heavenly Shift directed by Márk Bodzsár.

Hotel Stela terrace will at 20:00h be taken by Marko Brecelj who will perform a concert entitled Benefit Fantastic & Wine Marko Brecelj.

Open Air Cinema at the Main Square will show lavish gothic horror A Holy Place, a macabre adaptation of Nikolai Gogol's story Viy by our guest of honour Djordje Kadijević who will also be present at the screening.

Cinema »At the Vicious Hotel« will be showing films that were made in our film workshops. They will be followed by music documentary The Right Man for Capitalism, portrait of »Bosnian Psycho«, musician Damir Avdić. Screening will be attended by director Dušan Moravec.

Wind-Rattle Cinema will show the final episodes of series Prlekians Between Drava and Mura.

The festival will end with a fabulous final party at Club Oxygen where we will rock until the break of dawn. All hail the Vicious Cat!

More info on ourfilm, wine and accompanying program can be found on our website www.grossmann.si/home/.

Break the mirror of the world for the hundredth time, there is no escape from His Majesty Feline!

On Saturday, the 19th of July, the jubilee 10th edition of Grossmann Fantastic Film and Wine Festival came to a conclusion with a magnificent closing ceremony.

The following awards were given:

Honorary Vicious Cat, given to Serbian director Djordje Kadijević, author of numerous cinematic masterpieces, to celebrate his brilliant pioneering work in the field of fantastic film in Yugoslavia.

Vicious Cat award for best Best Feature Film was given to HEAVENLY SHIFT (Isteni műszak; Hungary; 2013; directed by Márk Bodzsár) by the jury consisting of Michael Sarne, Igor Koršič and Dejan Ognjanović.

»A thunderous journey on the dark side of humanity where only through black humor one can face the most tragic circumstances of the Eastern block countries in transition.«

Special Mention:

ASMODEXIA (Spain; 2014; directed by Marc Carreté)

»For a powerful, imaginative and exciting use of religious iconography and inventive reversal of generic conventions and the dark side of religion where Catholicism meets Satanism.«

Slak's Vicious Cat, Best Short Film Award, went to UNDERGROUND (Subterraneo; Spain; 2013; directed by Miguel A. Carmona). The jury consisted of Zoran Smiljanić, Ludvik Bagari and Aleš Pavlin.

»In just a few steps, the film goes from sexual lust through mortal fear to a fatal decision. Heroes caught in a subjective conflict and objective drama experience primal horror in this claustrophobic thriller where mere survival does not bring deliverance, but is only a prelude to a long, unhappy and doomed future. A film, worthy of Hitchcock!«

Special mention:

EPHEMERAL (Efímera; Spain; 2013; directed by Diego Modino)

»A successful marriage of fairytale-like poetic and brutal realism.«

Melies d'Argent, the European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation award, was given to short film 24 HOURS WITH LUCIA (24 horas con Lucia; Spain; 2013; directed by Marcos Cabotá). The jury was comprised of Zoran Smiljanić, Ludvik Bagari and Aleš Pavlin.

»A film that says - in a darkly humorous, montypythonesque way - that Satanic possesion is a welcome refreshment of a troubled marriage. Or: if you want to face the devil, you have to love him first.«

Special mention:

MOCKING DEATH - THE TUTORIAL (France; 2013; directed by Victor Druillet, Norman Jangot)

»A bizarre guide how to react when the Grim Reaper knocks on your door.«

Noisy Cat for the Best Music Documentary went to THE RIGHT MAN FOR CAPITALISM (Pravi človek za kapitalizem; Slovenia; 2013; directed by Dušan Moravec).

The jury consisted of Igor Vidmar, Igor Bašin and Jernej Šavel.

»Those of us who know Damir Avdić watch him as he is. In first person. With his film, Dušan Moravec portrayed his minimalism of power just as straightforward as Damir Avdić himself is. A rocker, poet, guitar player, performer, writer, artist, a man. Portrait of a wholesome person.«

Vicious Cat Wine Champion, Award for Best Wine as chosen by our film guests, went toŠipon 2012 (Vinogradništvo družina Kos).

In our Little Workshop of Horrors, the following short films were made:

HORROR FARM (Farma grozze, Slovenija, 2014, directed by: Gregor Gašperin, Rok Mencin, Aleksander Polanko, Irena Žugič, Miha Mally)

PHASE V (Faza V, Slovenija, 2014, directed by: Antonio Vonde)

SNAKE BLOOD (Kačja kri, Slovenija, 2014, directed by: Aaron Horvath)

The winner:

FAZA V (Faza V, Slovenija, 2014, directed by: Antonio Vonde)

The Cat now retreats to its vicious lair, it shall return again in a year!

(Soft Vengeance)

Sub-Saharan Africa Broadcast in association with channel ED and the 35th Durban International Film Festival

A world first will be taking place this month when a full week of African documentary films are broadcast across sub-Saharan Africa on DStv channel ED (channel 190) and GOtv (channel 65), from the Durban International Film Festival, the largest film festival in South Africa that takes place from 17 to 27July.

This unique film event will see a diverse and exciting range of films screened across 49 countries of sub-Saharan Africa. The AfriDocs Film Week will connect the largest film festival in Africa through a ‘film festival on your screen’ featuring documentary films from thirteen countries in Africa – The D.R.C., Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda.

“So many documentary films have been shot in Africa, but very few have been seen by African audiences”, says AfriDocs Executive Producer Don Edkins from Steps in Cape Town, “this heralds a new era of distribution for the continent.”

Films by African filmmakers Sani Elhadj Magori, Licinio Azevedo, Rehad Desai, Judy Kibinge, Andrey Samoute Diarra, Annalet Steenkamp and Many Jacobson together with filmmakers Mika Karismäki, Thierry Michel, Roger Ross Williams, Abby Ginzberg and Göran Olsson amongst others, will be seen for the first time by a wide audience as a result of this collaboration. 

Seven of the films screening at the Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) will also be part of the programme, including the award-winning Miners Shot Down, Concerning Violence, I Afrikaner, The Irresistible Rise of Moïse Katumbi and Soft Vengeance.

These African documentaries tell a wide range of stories; from films about great African artists, such as singer and activist Miriam Makeba (Mama Africa) and the Malian photographer Malik Sibidé (Dolce Vita Africana), to political and historical films about leaders Patrice Lumumba and Liberian President Sirleaf Johnson, as well as films dealing with revolutionaries, farmers, gangsters, musicians and evangelists. 

This week-long film event is a special broadcast project from AfriDocs, the first weekly primetime documentary strand broadcasting across Africa. Every Tuesday night on ED (DStv channel 190) and GOtv (channel 65), AfriDocs broadcasts top African documentaries to 49 countries by satellite, and terrestrially to an additional 100 cities in 8 countries.

AfriDocs is an initiative of the multi-awarded South African documentary production and distribution company, Steps, in partnership with the Bertha Foundation.

 Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Director of Social Impact Media at Bertha Philanthropies, said that the Bertha Foundation is proud to partner with Steps to help bring great documentary films to audiences across Africa, “Connecting documentary film to African audiences is something we have been hoping to do for some time now, and this is an ideal platform for that.”

For the full programme schedule and synopses of the films, please go to www.afridocs.net or www.facebook.com/AfriDocs

You can also follow AfriDocs on twitter: @Afri_Docs

#FilmFestivalAtHome #DIFF2014 #FilmFestivalOnYourScreen #AfricaNotOneStory #AfriDocs   #AfricaRising

Weekly Broadcast Times sub-Saharan Africa: Weekly. Primetime. Real Stories.

Tuesday evenings:

6 p.m. Cape Verde Time

7 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time (Mauritania to Benin)

8 p.m. West African Time (Niger to Namibia)

9 p.m. Central African Time/South Africa Standard Time

10 p.m. East African Time (Sudan to Tanzania)

11 p.m. Seychelles Time

From 1st August, 2014, the slot changes to one hour earlier in order to allow feature length documentary films to be screened.

For more information about the Durban International Film festival go to www.durbanfilmfest.co.za.

Online Screenwriters Community & Contest. FREE TO JOIN www.ScreenplayFest.com

5 Online Screenplay Contests throughout the year. The winners compete in the Grand Prize Contest at the end of the year for a chance to win $5000 in awards to perfect their screenplay and get it in the hands of Industry Execs. Awards include: Robert McKee's Story Seminar, Script Analysis packages, face to face pitches at the Great American Pitchfest, over 5000 eQueries, 10 pitches from Virtual Pitchfest, Script Pipelines Writer's database, Movie Outline's screenwriting software, and more!

We have tons of FREE festivals -- post your work, join our community, get feedback, win awards to open your doors to hollywood!

Held for the 13th time the New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) took place from June 27 – July 14 at the Lincoln Center, the Japan Society and the Asia Society.  Established  by  Subway Cinema in 2002, it teamed up in 2007 with the Japan Society’s Japan Cuts film fest and has been carried out since 2010 in collaboration with the Film Society of Lincoln  Center.  Support has been provided by the New York based trade or cultural offices of Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and corporate sponsors.  Compared to prior editions the 2014 program was more diversified but still “kept crazy” as emphasized by Samuel Javier who, with Goran Topalovich, directed the festival. Considered by New York observers as a cutting edge innovative festival offering mind bending programs which include outstanding independent, award winning and artistic productions with a reflexive appeal. But the intentional eclectic approach ensures that many other features are included which have proven commercially successful in Asian countries, such as  well executed thrillers, martial arts films, and adult video productions . They not only entertain, but also present insightful images of the producing countries.  The festival mirrors in a comprehensive fashion the concerns and approaches of contemporary Asian film makers and the audience preferences in the major film markets of China, Hong Kong and Japan.

Its New York popularity is reflected in sold out shows which cater to a faithful audience and to many members of the Film Society Lincoln Center. If the festival is instrumental in getting some of the films into US theatrical distribution or on other platforms is an open question. Foreign language films are rarely successful in the United States and the total revenues of all Asian and European films from 1979 to 2014 are well below the figures reached in a year by one domestic US block buster.  Checking Mojo’s list of the 100 top grossing foreign films, Asian and European films generated $304 and $ 376 million respectively over the 35 year period. From May 2013 on the current domestic gross for IRON MAN 3 has been $409 million and the foreign gross $806 million.

Including 12 films from the partially overlapping   Japan Cuts film festival, the NYAFF presented 62 features with films from Hong Kong, Korea and Japan dominating the schedule. Other countries present were Taiwan, China, Australia, and several co-productions involving Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, and Malaysia. (The Japan Cuts fest will be reviewed separately)

Joon-ho Bong directed SNOWPIERCER, a perfect introduction to current Korean cinema and possibly the last 35 mm produced in that country. Playing before the festival though not part of it, SNOWPIERCER is an amazing feature set in a post-apocalyptic world that is frozen over since the attempt to control global warming resulted in a new ice age.  Drawing from a French graphic novel Joon-ho Bong shows the confinement of the few thousand remaining people in a massive never stopping train circling the globe. Reflecting their social station, the common people, the underclass, lives disheveled and miserably in wagons at the tail of the train sustained by daily globs of protein. The upper one percent continues their comfortable luxurious life in the front part of the train. It is a closed dictatorial rigid class structure system required by the   balanced eco-system of the train.   Common people are killed if their number exceeds the train’s ecological balance.  Class struggle erupts when the underclass tries to reach the front of the train.  SNOWPIERCER includes   imaginative sets and startling views of the frozen over environment the train is passing through. The violent struggle is compelling as are the surreal passages through the quarters of the upper class. Peerless performances by actors like Tilda Swinton, Chris Evans, Song Kang–ho, Ed Harris and others make the tale persuasive.  The social and ecological commentary of the film is well timed to fit current conditions and poses obvious questions. Snowpiercer is certainly one of the best films I have seen over the last years.

The contrast with 3 D NAKED AMIBITION by Lee Kung-lok, from Hong Kong could not be larger. An undemanding plot depicts in glowing colors and 3D dimensions the career of a Hong Kong timid male who becomes a sex star in Japan because he assumes in porn films the role of a passive male who is raped by women. Featuring fast moving actions and positions the film offers cameos by many current and aging prominent Hong Kong adult video stars. It is a witty farce of the porn film industry yet an entertaining audience pleaser.  In this satirical commentary about kinky sex ventures and their customers there is little to reflect about, other than having just fun as reflected in the audience response.  In a similar vein, GOLDEN CHICKENSSS by the Hong Kong based Matt Chow moves also on an entertaining instant gratification surface. In this third edition of the Golden Chicken films a former prostitute now turned madam leads us with her call girls on a 24 hour comedic tour through Hong Kong sex parlors.  Presented are blow jobs by either sex, 20 second groping jobs, four some sessions, parties, encounter with gangsters, etc. in short a pastiche survey of the Hong Kong sex scene with the message that everyone deserves sex, no matter how and when. 

Other productions have a different approach. MOEBIUS, a film by the controversial Korean director Kim Ki-duk, has been called a brilliant work. It focuses on sexual violence within one family as expressed through action and vivid imagery but has no spoken words.  Covering castration, sadomasochism and incest the film assures progressive intense involvement by the viewer in the powerful story. In this plot a mother, enraged by her husband’s infidelity, tries to castrate him. Failing to do so, she dismembers in a rage her teenage son instead.  His father researches sex transplantation and sacrifices his penis for his son while exploring mutilating techniques to achieve satisfaction.   Restitution of sex is successful with the bizarre consequence of the son being turned on by his mother. The father responds by killing himself and the mother. The son castrates himself by shooting off his organ and on the street engages in a prayer, one of the rare peaceful images of the film. Moebius is a bleak depiction of sexual violence in the thriller format. Kim Ki-duk breaks taboos and excavates extreme pathological family dynamics which are mostly hidden from sight, thus offering a commentary on the underbelly of Korean society.  This film with its unpredictable story line does not entertain but forces the viewer to take a position, reject or reflect. Moebius will have a solid place in Korean film making.

HAN GONG-ju directed by Lee Su-jib is another noteworthy contribution from Korea. Her first feature was identified by Martin Scorsese as a superb achievement and collected numerous awards since it 2013 Busan Premiere. Based on a true story the narrative evolves in a matter of fact fashion without melodrama or pithy and presents the aftermath of Han Gong-ju’s gang rape by fellow students. In the first half of the film the primary focus are the coping mechanisms the girl applies to survive and build a new life. Her traumatic rape experience slowly emerges next through disturbing flashbacks. In order to assure anonymity she had transferred to a different school.  A video blog posted by her new schoolmates who are not aware of her identity destroys this anonymity and she is forced to deal with the consequences. This includes a second victimization by the parents of the students who raped her. They track her down holding her responsible. Though Lee Su-jib maintains that his film does not document what happens in Korean society, his film is nonetheless an indightment of the Korean response to rape, the prevailing blame culture and the destructive role parents play in ‘protecting’ their children.

Several of the entries from China were first class. Lou Ye directed BLIND MASSAGE a superbly enacted ensemble film of blind or visually impaired male and female employees of a massage institute in Nanjing.  Rather than following a predictable story line and the common outsiders’ paternalistic view of the disabled Lou Yen recuperates the perspectives of the blind employees. Living together like a family in a place sheltered from the outside world they have established in their dark world clear personal relations with each other and act on their emotional and sexual desires. Lou Ye introduces the viewer to the worlds of the blind, to faces without eyes, and makes us better understand how they live and relate than a documentary could do.  NO MAN’S LAND, a Chinese style spaghetti Western road movie by Ning Hao was a number one box office success when released last December in China and an audience favorite at film festivals such as the 2014 Berlinale. Completed in 2009 the censorship board considered the film nihilistic, forcing Ning Hao to re-edit it several times before approval was granted last year. Still, the current version of No Man’s Land has themes and characters which the censors hardly favor. One wonders why approval was given as it was the case for the infamous A TOUCH OF SIN by Jia Zhangke.  In Ning Hao’s film we encounter the publicity hungry lawyer Pan dying to return to his urban praxis from a forlorn small town. He does not realize that he will be driving for hundreds of miles through the Gobi desert, through no man’s land. Throughout his odyssey he encounters a bizarre collection of outlaws, misfits, thieves, smugglers, perverts, a prostitute, and mercenaries all out to rob and injure him. Out in the Gobi desert there is no moral society.  He is also driven by greed but as a big city lawyer Pan is patently inept to cope with desert outlaw reality. Somehow he survives the chaotic and violent actions in which most of the characters perish.  This may be the only upbeat moment of the feature film. Ning Hao delivers a well selected cast of characters acting superbly, they are bizarre yet plausible. Much credit for the success of the film and artistic appeal goes to Du Jie’s extraordinary and compelling cinematography.

Needless to add the festival’s captive audience anticipates for 2015 a similar stimulating and

comprehensive program.

Admission to the market area is restricted to the industry and press badgeholders.

THE CONFERENCES

PRESENTATION: SHOOTING IN QUEBEC Film students are welcome to attend the conference for free, conditional on available space once badge holders have been seated.

NEW SPECIAL SESSIONS:

Admission is restricted to the industry badgeholders.

THE FABULOUS INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL

Burns Court Cinemas, Friday, August 22, Saturday, August 23 and Sunday, August 24, 2014.

Scheduled to be held at Burns Court Cinemas in downtown Sarasota, on Friday, August 22 through Sunday, August 24, the fourth annual Fabulous Independent Film Festival will celebrate diversity in the LGBT community with 3 days of the best in world cinema.  In association with the Harvey Milk Festival, a non profit organization, the festival is organized by broken rules productions.  Tickets are $8.50, opening and closing night films are $10, will be available on www.fabulousiff.com starting Wednesday, July 30 and at Burns Court Cinemas on the days of the festival.

Films scheduled are THE WAY HE LOOKS presented by Watermark Media, the festival opens with this warm and funny film about teenage love and friendship, telling the story of a blind boy named Leo, his best pal, Giovana and the new kid in school whom they both develop a crush on. In the dry comedy, APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR by writer, director and Sundance darling Desiree Akhavan, we follow a semi-closeted bisexual Persian American trying to live up to her family’s ideals and traditions while going through a breakup, navigating Brooklyn’s dating scene with both men and women, and figuring out what to do with the rest of her life.  BORN TO FLY illustrates what happens when you cross postmodern dance with Evel Knievel.  This intimate portrait makes it clear, you get New York choreographer Elizabeth Streb, a Mac Arthur “genius” grant recipient, whose Extreme Action Company draws on both sources to craft a unique style of high-flying, high-impact, dare-all contemporary dance.  BOY MEETS GIRL is a sexy, funny and provocative coming of age comedy about three twenty something living in Kentucky, Robby, Francesca and Ricky, a gorgeous transgender woman. This romantic comedy vividly captures the giddy excitement, sexual heat, and inherent heartache of “non-traditional” love in a small town.  THE CIRCLE seamlessly combines a narrative with a documentary love story.  The Circle is the astounding true tale of Switzerland’s 1940s–1960s magazine of that name—and the network of friends and lovers that formed around it, becoming one of the world’s first homophile societies, a 2014 Teddy Award winner.  CUPCAKES,  the latest by award winning Eytan Fox, is a campy, comic confection telling a tale of six friends who unexpectedly find themselves representing Israel in a Eurovision-style international song contest.  It’s sure to satisfy your sweet tooth!  QUEERITUALITY is Tom Murray’s last film, one of our own boy wonder who left us too soon, 4 years ago.  Gaylon Emerzian from Chicago is actively completing the editing.  This last film was a labor of love for Tom who throughout his films had always been spiritually inquiring.  It is a great honor to present his last film as a world premiere and to conclude his beautiful cinematographic journey where he started it years ago.  TO BE TAKEI celebrates the Star Trek legend, the marriage-equality advocate, the spokesperson for Japanese Americans imprisoned in internment camps during World War II and the Facebook phenomenon (with nearly 7 million fans).  Each film on Saturday and Sunday will be preceded by a short: BARRIO BOY, DINNER AT 40, FIRST CLUE, A LAST FAREWELL, ONE NIGHT STAND, SECRETS & TOYS and WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

Sarasota Film Society, Watermark Media, Janice & John Shelton, Embracing Our Differences, Planned Parenthood, The Jewish Federation of Sarasota, RCMoore Construction, Theodore A. Gollnick, PA, Throb, Ken Shelin, Chapter 1 Wellness, Wolfe on Demand are among the Fabulous IFF sponsors making this festival a reality.  M.A.D.E., Throb and Caragiulo’s are our hosting sponsors.  The complete list of sponsors is featured on the Fabulous IFF web site, www.fabulousiff.com. 

The Fabulous Independent Film Festival

Burns Court Cinemas (506 Burns Lane, Sarasota, FL 34236)

Friday, August 22, 2014

7:30 PM  Watermark Media presents THE WAY HE LOOKS ( Brazil, in portuguese with english subtitles, 96 min.)

Saturday, August 23, 2014

1:15 PM  BORN TO FLY (USA, 82 min.) preceded by FIRST CLUE (USA, 6 min.)

3:15 PM  THE CIRCLE (Der Kreis) (Switzerland, in german with english subtitles 102 min.) preceded by A LAST FAREWELL (Sweden,  in swedish with english subtitles, 12 min.)

5:45 PM  BOY MEETS GIRL (USA, 95 min.) preceded by FAIT PAS GENRE (Who Do You Think You Are?) (France, in french with english subtitles, 6 min.)

8:00 PM  World Premiere QUEERITUALITY (USA, 90 min.) preceded by BARRIO BOY (USA, 6 min.)

Sunday, August 24, 2014

3:15 PM  APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR (USA, 83min.) preceded by ONE NIGHT STAND (USA, 5 min.)

5:15 PM  TO BE TAKEI (USA, 90 min.) preceded by SECRETS AND TOYS (USA, 12min.)

7:30 PM  CUPCAKES (Bananot) (Israel, in hebrew with English subtitles 90 min.) Closing Night Film, preceded by DINNER AT 40 (USA, 18 min.)

Opening Night Cocktail Party

M.A.D.E. (1990 Main St., Sarasota, FL 34236)

Friday, August 22, 2014

9:30 PM

Opening Night Dance Party

THROB (2201 Industrial Blvd., Sarasota, FL 34236)

Friday, August 22, 2014

11 PM

Closing Night Reception

CARAGIULOS (69 South Palm Avenue, Sarasota, FL 34236)

Sunday, August 24, 2014

9:30 PM 

Karl Spoerri and Winston Baker announced the launch of ZURICH SUMMIT, a revolutionary event designed to be a hub for entrepreneurs, leading figures and innovators from the filmed entertainment and media industries. Within the intimate framework of an exclusive community, invited delegates and members will have the possibility to share insight and establish valuable key relationships during the weekend of September 27-28, 2014 at the prestigious Dolder Grand in Zurich, Switzerland.

First implemented within the framework of the 2010 Zurich Film Festival, the Film Finance Forum @ Zurich Film Festival has developed into a major platform dealing with film financing, marketing and distribution in the German-speaking world. Now it forms the basis of the very first ZURICH SUMMIT.

The spectrum and speed at which innovative models change the business landscape is second to none and the ZURICH SUMMIT is designed to foster the exchange of powerful ideas and explore new business models. THE ZURICH SUMMIT lets members reap the benefits of discussing challenging aspects in the entertainment and media sectors in greater detail during informative encounters with high-level experts. Moreover, the ZURICH SUMMIT will feature a GAME CHANGER AWARD honoring a visionary who breaks new ground while choosing to ignore convention and popular opinion.

Topics of the ZURICH SUMMIT will include: 

- Hit Making Storytelling Across Platforms

- Creating and Managing Blockbusters in the Digital Era

- Brands Disrupted: The New 360° Angle

- Banking on Film, TV and Superstars: Finding the Real Returns

- Distribution is King and Content is Queen...or Vice Versa?

- What’s in Store for the Global TV Revolution?

- Conquering the Next Big Thing: China

Participation in the Zurich Summit is limited to invited delegates and members only. Membership can be acquired by entrepreneurs, leaders, and innovators from the entertainment and media sectors.

"The ZURICH SUMMIT connects people in a unique setting within the framework of the 10th Zurich Film Festival,” said summit founder and Zurich Film Festival co-founder and artistic director Karl Spoerri. “We're very much looking forward to an inspiring dialogue and collaborating on such a vital event with Winston Baker, the creators and producers of the Film Finance Forum® Series."

“We have already had the honor of hosting very prominent groups of financiers and filmmakers year over year during our annual Film Finance Forum @ Zurich Film Festival and we are ecstatic to be bringing together a more encompassing group of forward thinkers and influential leaders from the media and entertainment sectors,” said Katherine Winston and Amy Baker in a joint statement.

THE ZURICH SUMMIT will also feature a charity tennis tournament, inviting speakers, participants and festival guests to battle it out on the court with racket in hand at the famous Dolder Tennis Club. Sponsors include Silver Reel Partners AG, DCM Productions, Motion Picture Association, Zurich Film Office and Zürcher Filmstiftung.

Learn more at www.zurichsummit.com.

ABOUT KARL SPOERRI

Karl Spoerri is the Artistic Director and Co-Founder of the Zurich Film Festival, the fastest growing Film Festival in Europe. He has developed a comprehensive international network that offers him and his team a unique overview of prevailing trends and talent relationships. These activities led Spoerri to develop a second career as a film financier and producer and from 2008 through 2011 he served as managing director of Millbrook Pictures AG, which financed and coproduced a number of acclaimed films including Oliver Stone’s “W” and David Cronenberg’s “A Dangerous Method.” In 2010 Spoerri became the Chairman of the Film Finance Forum Zurich that has been renamed ZURICH SUMMIT.

ABOUT WINSTON BAKER

Founded by Katherine Winston and Amy Baker, Winston Baker produces events globally for the filmed entertainment and media industries addressing strategies for investment and growth. In particular, Winston Baker is the leading producer of film finance conferences, successfully creating and producing the Film Finance Forum ® Series and hosting sold out conferences across the US, Europe, Pacific Asia, China, and Latin America. At each event, Winston Baker brings together the most seasoned and influential entertainment executives and financiers to address changing trends.

For more information: www.WinstonBaker.com. 

Alberto Rodríguez, Carlos Vermut, Isaki Lacuesta, Pablo Malo, Jose Mari Goenaga And Jon Garaño will premiere their new films in the Official Selection at the San Sebastian Festival

Roberto Castón and Hermes Paralluelo compete in New Directors, and another twelve titles will be presented in other section

Today, at the Academia de Cine, an announcement was made as to the list of films produced in Spain scheduled for the 62nd edition of the San Sebastian Festival, starting on September 19. José Luis Rebordinos, the Festival Director, and Maialen Beloki, member of the Management Committee, read out the titles to be presented in the different sections.

Some of the most eagerly awaited films of the year will gather at the Festival. The latest works by Jon Garaño and Jose Mari Goneaga, Alberto Rodríguez and Carlos Vermut will compete in the Official Selection, while the new movies by Isaki Lacuesta and Pablo Malo will be screened out of competition.

For their part, Roberto Castón and Hermes Paralluelo will contend for the Kutxa-New Directors Award. Also as usual, the Zabaltegi section includes a selection of feature films and shorts produced in Spain. Three co-productions will enjoy their Spanish release in the Horizontes Latinos and Pearls sections and another two titles will be presented in special screenings.

Official Selection

Special screening

New Directors

Contend for the Kutxa-New Directors Award

Horizontes Latinos

Pearls

Zabaltegi

NewFest opened July 24th with presentation of Future Beach by Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz, about a lifeguard who falls in love with a German tourist in the aftermath of a tragedy.

Wonderful tribute to admired queer filmmaker Ira Sachs, who is this year's recipient of the 3rd Annual NewFest visionary award. "Cinema is a place of freedom" said Sachs during his acceptance speech prior to the opening night film-"What I have learned over the last 25 years is that queer vision doesn’t come with making people comfortable, or from accepting what is. Being an artist is in part an act of rupture. But it is moments like this, with the embrace that comes with this award, that certainly makes keeping on a little easier."

Closing Night is New York's premiere of Gerontophilia, by controversial Canadian filmmaker Bruce LaBruce, exploring an intergenerational gay love story, an 18 year old boy who discovers he has a fetish for the aged, gets a job in a nursing home and develops an unexpected relationship with an older man.

For more information visit NewFest.org.

by L. Fietz

Women’s Film Festival returns to Mumbai

The second edition of the Mumbai Women’s International Film Festival (MWIFF), an 8-day event, organised by Oculus Creations, is slated for 6th to 13th December, 2014, with the goal of showcasing women's talent behind the camera and giving them the spotlight they deserve. 

The competitive category includes Short Films, Documentary Films, and Feature Films; the non- competitive category includes World Cine-busters, World Panorama and World Premiere.

Festival director Avinash  Pawar says, “This is the first biggest Women’s International Film Festival in India, through which we aim to unleash the talent of film-makers from all over the world. We also have master class and seminars by Indian Film industry professionals to provide deep-rooted knowledge about cinem,a to aspiring filmmakers. MWIFF will prove to be a stepping stone for film-makers in converting their dreams into reality”.

MWIFF will include 6 days of film screenings, closing night networking parties, industry panels, post-screening discussions, celebrities, an award ceremony and a pink carpet.

In its first edition, MWIFF left a lot to be desired, especially in terms of logistics, scheduling and planning. I hope their teething problems are over and we shall see a much improved fest, come December.

To get a detailed insight into the festival, visit www.mwiff.com, or send an email to contact.mwiff@gmail.com . Film entry submissions have started and will close on September 30th 2014.

The submission deadline for Ottawa's Cellar Door Film Festival (CDFF) approaches quickly! CDFF wants to remind filmmakers that the deadline to submit for the inaugural edition of the festival is August 15th.  2014 promises to be a strong year for Ottawa's first festival of speculative cinema. The CDFF team is very excited by the range of local, national, and international films that have been submitted thus far, so it encourages prospective filmmakers to submit and be a part of an impressive first year. 

CDFF invites filmmakers to submit speculative films of both short and feature length, which include, but are not limited to, films made within the genres of: horror, thriller, science fiction, fantasy, avant-garde, experimental, the supernatural, alternative history, mystery, grindhouse cinema, and everything else in between.

In order to facilitate as many submissions as possible CDFF offers two submission methods: 1) upload your film online via Festhome or 2) submit a hardcopy by mail. 

For full details regarding deadlines, entry forms, requirements, and fees, please visit our submissions page.

We hope to open the Cellar Door and see your film at our festival in Fall 2014.

About CDFF: Cellar Door Film Festival (CDFF) aims to be Ottawa’s first showcase of speculative cinema while celebrating the creativity of the Ottawa film scene and spotlighting the city as a setting for the sinister and supernatural. 

Contact: info.cdff@gmail.com | www.cdff.ca | www.facebook.com/CellarDoorFF | @CellarDoorFF

Presented by New York’s Japan Society with some corporate support from UNIQLO, Sapporo, Sony and private assistance, the eighth edition of Japan Cuts, The New York Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema was held from July 10-20. Its program featured 27 feature films, of which 17 were not shown before in the US, and overlapped with the New York Asian Film Festival which carried 13 of the Japan Cuts selections.  Among the few festivals celebrating Japanese films in the United States, Japan Cuts is by far the largest, premiering the most recent features and documentaries and covering multiple genres; from action oriented productions, horror films and melodramas to independent eclectic films. Discussions with many directors and actors as well as renowned post-screening parties were again incorporated into the festival. Japan Cuts has been programmed for eight years to a loyal audience of followers with most screenings sold out. It is difficult to ascertain if the festival creates a larger audience for Japanese films through traditional and new distribution platforms. As is the case with other foreign language films, Japanese productions have a close to impossible task in US theatrical distribution.  Since 1980, only a few Japanese films have earned several million dollars at the US box office, such as Shall We Dance, Ran, and Kagemusha. It remains to be seen if internet distribution will open new windows here. What it is certain, is that the Japan Cuts showcase is mandatory for cinephiles of Japanese productions interested in emerging talents, innovative artistic approaches, and new thematic realms for the followers of Japanese popular culture.

The program covered an amazing spectrum of themes and approaches including many award winning films. TALES OF A BUTCHER SHOP, directed by Aya Hanabusa, documents the demise of a family run slaughter housed near Osaka that raised cattle and processed meat for seven generations.  Taking an ethnographic approach, the filmmaker recorded work and family interaction, and presented the discrimination they endured as descendants of the buraku people. They were part of the untouchable outcasts involved in un-clean jobs, lived in segregated neighborhoods, and have suffered discrimination ever since the feudal period; a rejection the family still may face even though they have given up their trade.  Yuya Ishii received several Japanese Academy awards for his endearing film, THE GREAT PASSAGE. Focusing on a young editor who works on a massive new living language dictionary in the mid-1990s, the superbly enacted, seemingly simple story, accompanies him over decades until publication.  As a trained linguist, the young editor conveys his love for language and its power of connecting people.  Working with a growing team of editors he gradually emerges from the reclusive shell he occupied when he started working on the dictionary.  In our over-digitized world the film is appealing given its emphasis on the quest for meaning and the power of the word. 

Eji Uchida offers us in GRATEFUL DEAD a fascinating and morbid story. Nami was raised in a disturbing pathological family where the loveless mother disappears, a father commits suicide after a bizarre religious ritual, and a sister leaves her. She turns into a voyeur, first just watching lonely people, but slowly deriving satisfaction from the misery of the solitarians. She gets involved in one old man’s life but when his status as a solitarian changes following a religious encounter with a missionary, Nami descends fully into insanity with bloody and murderous consequences. Given its unique story line, the compelling performance of Kumi Takiuchi as Nami, the progression of the plot from harmless, though bizarre voyeurism, through sadism and torture to extreme bloodshed, the viewer gets hooked. Grateful Dead is likely to generate a cult audience.

The narrative of MISS ZOMBIE is equally unique. The director, Sabu, sets the absorbing film in a future Japanese society where individuals can buy or rent Zombies and use them as pets or servants.  Teramuto, apparently a medical doctor, mail ordered Shara, a female zombie with instructions not to feed her meat, and a gun, just in case of an emergency and assures concerned neighbors that she is harmless.  Shara diligently, though monotonously, executes her duties such as cleaning the terrace in exchange for her food, rotten vegetables. The story picks up speed when Teramuto is sexually turned on by Shara’s maimed body parts and his young son contract’s an ailment, semi-zombifying him. Shara seems to regain humanity by showing affection to the son, celebrating a touch of motherhood in the strange monochromic setting of the films. Miss Zombie impacts the audience through the power of acting and visual imagery, and in the absence of any extended dialogue, silence seems to prevail.

LOVE’S WHIRLPOOL lacks the reflexive dimension the films discussed thus far, to different degrees. Daisuke Miura offers the audience exposure to four men and four women who have paid for a five hour anonymous swinging sex session in an upscale flat. With different social backgrounds they engage in lengthy debauchery on four beds faithfully recorded by the camera. Yet apart from perfunctory identifications, we learn very little about their personalities and motivations. After all, in this straight story with the participants unclad most of the time, uninhibited sex rather than discourse or mental interaction is the order.  It is noteworthy that the Japanese documentary THE LOVE HOTEL shown at the Asian American International Film Festival breaks this linear mold and provides insights about the people seeking unusual sexual activities.  The debut feature, THE PINKIE, by Lisa Tokeba, is an original sci-fi exploration of a sexual obsession. Momoka, the ugliest girl in town has been stalking the attractive Ryokue. She gets hold of his pinkie, chopped of by a yakuza whose girlfriend Ryokue bedded.  Momoka grows, with a cloning kit, a second edition of Ryokoe that meets her sexual desires perfectly. Now she has to cope with the original and the clone in a series of fast moving and strange episodes. Though in part violent and strange bordering on the bizarre, the film will have an audience.   WHY DON’T YOU PLAY IN HELL by Sion Sono provides a humorous and fast paced introduction into a failing group of indie filmmakers, 'The Fuckbombers', who are eventually hired by a Yakuza mobster to produce a film. He wants to feature his daughter as a film star and present the film as a gift to his imprisoned wife who murdered several gangsters on his behalf.  With no expenses spared the indie filmmakers set out in a furious fashion to make a 35 mm film employing gangsters as their crew. They design a story involving the mobster’s gang and their rival Yakuza with the unintended but inevitable result of a blood bath involving the local police. Only one person survives, the indie director.  Sion Sono delivers an action packed film that is delightful to follow.

Widely praised for achieving superb aerial combat imagery, the ETERNAL ZERO, a Japanese World War II tale has achieved immense box office success in Japan, becoming one of the country’s ten biggest hits of all times, as reported by Variety. Yet in spite of the emotionally compelling story of the aviator Miyabe, who eventually gets killed on a kamikaze mission, extraordinary staging, and excellent acting, the film has proven controversial at least for its foreign audiences.  His grandchildren researched Miyabe's biography and discovered that he is far from being a coward, as alleged by his surviving associates. He embraced the value of surviving the war and considered the kamikaze strategy an utter failure. He trained young pilots for it and saw them all perish. Towards the end the film, which is based on a bestselling book by Naoki Hyakuta, a friend of the current Japanese prime minister, there is a turn to the patriotic. Death through Kamikaze is presented as a sacrifice for later generations with the film suggesting that the soldiers’ death during World War II was not in vain.  It would be difficult to suggest such a patriotic message to a German audience, though it is apparently accepted by the Japanese. 

0.50 mm by Momoko Ando ranks among the most important features shown in the 2014 Japan Cuts selection, where it was a world premiere. Lasting more than three hours, the film provides a compelling tale with extraordinary acting by Sakura Ando. In the role of Sawa, she delivers professional care services to the elderly. As urged by his daughter, she agrees to provide a sensual service to her father, a dying old man. But in an unexpected turn he causes an accidental fire and Sawa loses her job after an investigation. Not having funds to support her, Sawa initiates encounters with numerous other older men. She finds their weak points and uses black mail or promises to invade their lives. Sawa gains their confidence but does not exploit them. To the contrary, she provides caretaking services including running their households with the old men taking a liking to her.   Her ventures include accompanying an old man she meets on the street to a night-long session at a karaoke establishment. She threatens a lonely rich man to report him to the police for vandalizing bikes and he lets her stay in his home. Living there until he enters a nursing home he rewards her with his rare car and money hidden in it.  Afterwards she lives with a former professor and naval officer who has a fetish for school girls, takes care of him and nurtures his demented wife. When his daughter fires her, Sawa receives from him a tape with his sharp criticism of Japanese war crimes and current state of affairs. At the end she runs the household of an impoverished worker and his mute son in a decrepit before leaving the home with the child. Sawa, though pursuing an unusual survival path, proves to be kind, caring, mature and pragmatic. Momoko Ando touches persuasively on many problems of current Japanese society. Foremost is the problem of aging and care giving, the isolation of elderly in the rapidly aging Japanese society, generational conflicts, the class system, sexism of the patriarchal structure and the danger of growing conservatism and military thinking. Nothing eludes the sharp eyes of the director.

Japan Cuts proved again to be an outstanding festival platform for new Japanese films.

Claus Mueller

filmexchange@gmail.com

Difret by Zeresenay Berhane Mehari

During the 67th edition of the Festival del film Locarno, a special event will be organized in partnership with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA).

Sunday, 10 August, the Ethiopian film Difret, by Zerezenay Berhane Mehari, will be presented in a special screening and followed by a panel discussion with the director, the producer of the film Mehret Mandefro, as well as Navi Pillay – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Venantie Bisimwa Nabintu – executive secretary of the Congolese NGO “Réseau des Femmes pour la défense des Droits et la Paix”, Danaé van der Straten Ponthoz – legal Adviser at the NGO TRIAL, and Giancarlo De Picciotto – Head of the Swiss Cooperation Office of the Great Lakes region.

Difret, the debut feature film from Zeresenay Berhane Mehari, is the story of an Ethiopian female lawyer who defends a 14-year-old girl charged with killing a man who attempts to abduct her into marriage. Difret is only the fourth film to have ever been made in Ethiopia – in the official language, Amharic. The word “difret” has two meanings: “courageous” but also “to be raped”. Based on actual events, the film enquires about the nation’s possible emergence into the modern world and about what happens when centuries-old traditions are broken and belief systems are abandoned. It has won the prize for best fiction film in the Panorama Audience Award of the Berlin Film Festival and won the Audience Award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at Sundance Film Festival.

Difret is one of the films selected for the Open Doors screenings, dedicated in 2014 to Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular to the English and Portuguese speaking countries. Open Doors is a section of the Locarno film festival, supported by the SDC since its inception, that supports directors and producers from countries in the South and the East, where independent filmmaking is vulnerable.

The discussion, which will follow the screening, will be based on the problem of impunity in cases of violation of women’s rights, one of the main issues addressed in the film.

It will be an occasion to deepen the discussion about the different challenges women face in Africa and around the globe, not only within the conflict between tradition and modernity, as presented in the film, but also deriving from violent conflicts. In wars and conflict zones a specific type of violation is observed and mostly left unpunished: sexual violence against women and girls – but also men and boys – is often used as a systematic weapon of warfare. However, sexual violence is by no means a phenomenon of war only, but often persists in the aftermath of conflicts. Constituting a severe violation of human rights and international law, sexual violence has devastating long-term effects on the victims, their families and communities. Even though some progress has been made in the fight against impunity for sexual violence, it remains one of the biggest challenges in tackling the issue.

The round table following the screening will be the first of a series of events held during the year by the initiative Democratie Sans Frontières / Democracy without borders, launched by Didier Burkhalter, President of the Swiss Confederation and head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs. The purpose of the initiative is to associate nationally and internationally renowned Swiss personalities with development projects aimed at strengthening democracy, peace and human rights. These collaborations will help to raise awareness of the challenges, which need addressing among people in Switzerland and in Switzerland’s partner countries alike.

Program

Sunday, 10 August

16:30 – L’altra Sala
Greeting of the Festival's President Marco Solari, introduction by the President of the Swiss Confederation, Didier Burkhalter and screening of the film Difret by Zerezenay Berhane Mehari

18:40 – L’altra Sala
Podium discussion on “Democracy Without Borders”
Hosted by Reto Ceschi (RSI); with Zerezenay Berhane Mehari (filmmaker), Mehret Mandefro (producer), Navi Pillay (UN High Commissioner for Human Rights), Venantie Bisimwa Nabintu (Executive Secretary of the Congolese NGO “Réseau des Femmes pour la Défense des Droits et la Paix”), Danaé van der Straten Ponthoz (Legal Adviser at the NGO TRIAL), and Giancarlo De Picciotto (Head of the Swiss Cooperation Office of the Great Lakes region).

19:45 – Spazio Cinema (Forum)
Reception

A selection of six films reflecting the principles of SAVAGE CINEMA; to showcase unique, compelling lifestyles while at the same time redefining the very realms of possibility in action sports films

Images in high resolution 

The second instalment of SAVAGE CINEMA focuses on real life adventure narratives in outdoor sports. On Any Sunday - The Next Chapter and Valley Uprising explore deep, intricate heritage, while Higher, starring pro snowboarder Jeremy Jones, showcases today's elite high performance stars of snowsports. The gritty life and career struggles of David Martelleur in Danger Dave see the antihero confront his own self destruction in the urban landscapes of skateboarding, while a lifelong irrational passion for the sport of skiing is the premise for Days of My Youth. Meanwhile, the freedom of living on the fringes of society is explored in The Greasy Hands Preachers, where artist Shinya Kimura creates unique motorcycles that exceed the trappings of commercialism.
 
SAVAGE CINEMA is committed to bringing the most relevant films of the year to an ever-broader  audience. Featuring the work of some of the leading production companies like Teton Gravity, Sender Films, Matchstick Productions, Red Bull Media House and Freeride Entertainment, frontrunners in the evolution of the cinematography in this genre. We reconvene with forefathers such as Bruce and Dana Brown, yet also showcase independent directors offering intimate and raw interpretations of powerful stories. 

The section is proud to promote a collaboration with the respected mountain festival, Bilbao Mendi Film Festival, to present mountaineering´best films. This cooperation showcases in this edition Valley Uprising , the long-awaited story of three generations of climbers obsessed by the walls of Yosemite who revolutionized the sport.

SAVAGE CINEMA is an adventure and action sports film section of the San Sebastian Film Festival created in collaboration with Red Bull Media House.