The 5th On the Edge (Kray Sveta) International Film Festival (Aug 21-28) on the Russian island of Sakhalin has revealed the jury members with Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf as the president. The jury will comprise: Filipino director Lav Diaz, who won Locarno’s Golden Leopard las t year for From What Is Before; leading Russian actor Danila Kozlovsky, who made a recent foray into Hollywood with Vampire Academy; and actress Anna Chipovskaya whose recent credits include Shpion and Yolki 3.
Makhmalbaf’s last feature, The President, will be shown during the festival as a Russian premiere, and there will also be screenings of his documentary Daddy’s School. Diaz’s five-hour epic, Norte, the End of History, is also set to screen at th festival.
The Competition section is set to include such titles as Kim Ki-Duk’s latest feature Stop; Armenian filmmaker Aram Shakhbadzian’s Moskvich, Mon Amour; Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s LUX Prize nominee Mustang; Ella Manzheeva’s feature debut The Gulls; and Geethu Mohandas’ Hindi road drama Liar’s Dice.
The festival will open with Peter Chan’s child abduction drama Dearest – also in Competition – and close with Andrey Zaytsev’s award-winning 14+, which screened in Berlin’s Generation sidebar in February.
On The Edge programme director Alexey Medvedev told ScreenDaily that many of the best films from this year’s Cannes will have their Russian premieres at the festival in Sakhalin since the Moscow Film Festival hardly showed any Cannes titles ¨on the pretext of economising means and Russia becoming independent of the West not only economically, but spiritually as well”.
Films set for Sakhalin that were first shown at Cannes include Assassin by Hsiao Hsien, Treasure by Corneliu Porumboiu, and Lobster by Yorgos Lanthimos, among others.
Medvedev revealed that a sidebar entitled Neighbours – Friends will present ¨films connected with personalities who became our friends during the festival’s history”.
¨This section will include a documentary on Jia Zhangke, who was a jury member two years ago, and Silence of the Courts by Prasanna Vithanage of Sri Lanka, who won the Critic’s Prize four years ago with With You, Without You”.
He added that open-air screenings on Sakhalin’s main square will include Empire of the Sun, to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in the Far East, and the restored version of the 1925 film Varieté shown in Karlovy Vary earlier this month.
Moreover, a special programme of the Beat Film Festival will feature documentaries on music and urban culture, including films about such Western icons as David Bowie and the group Blur as well as the Russian rock legend Yegor Letov (Zdorovo i Vechno).
Medvedev confirmed that a pitching forum will be held this year for the first time during the festival and will be open to local filmmakers wanting to present their ideas for fiction shorts or documentaries.
The three best pitches would be recommended for support by an as-yet-to be established regional film fund.
A screening of the Kazakh-Russian film The Last will be used to present the concept of creating a regional film fund in the Sakhalin region.
Lee Choong-jik has been appointed as new festival director for South Korea’s Jeonju International Film Festival (JIFF).
Lee is a professor at Chung-Ang University’s graduate school and previously served as head of the Korean Film Council (KOFIC, known at the time as the Korean Film Commission) from 2002-2005.
He will start his three-year term on August 1.
After graduating from Chung-Ang University’s film and drama department for undergrad and graduate studies, Lee went to the Ecole Supérieur de Réalisation Audio-Visuelle (ESRA) in France and graduated as a film directing major.
His previous experience also includes serving as festival director at the first Seoul International Independent Film Festival; a jury member for the second Busan International Film Festival’s Wide Angle section; head of KOFIC’s committee to promote digital cinema when it was first being integrated in Korea; dean of Chung-Ang University’s graduate school of Advanced Imaging Science, Multimedia & Film; and a member of the JIFF festival committee.
Lee’s producer credits include films such as The Pot, Sogyumo Acacia Band’s Story and Enlightenment Film.
JIFF’s organizing committee cited Lee’s experience in academia, industry and policy in their decision to appoint him.
Lee said he would aim to find ways to build on JIFF’s founding strengths and characteristics of ‘digital,’ ‘independent,’ and ‘alternative’ cinema to “establish an identity that suits in a new way the current times”.
The 62nd Pula Film Festival concluded in Croatia on Saturday. Pulas Best Croatian Film of the year award has been given to Dalibor Matanics The High Sun.
Since The High Sun is one of the best received Croatian productions in years, the award has been anticipated by almost all movie buffs .The film also had won rave reviews upon its premiere in Cannes in May.
The High Sun won seven prizes at Pula, including the critics award. It won the Grand Golden Arena for Best Festival Film, and the jury said it chose the film that has the ability to reach out to the viewers with its message through the great articulated narrative structure and the original actors performances.
The film also won: Golden Arena for Best Director for Dalibor Matanic; Golden Arena for Best Actress for Tihana Lazovic; Golden Arena for Best Supporting Actress for Nives Ivankovic; Golden Arena for Best Supporting Actor for Dado Cosic; and Golden Arena for Best Costume Design for Ana Savic Gecan.
Croatian society of film critics also awarded The High Sun with its Octavian prize.
Director Dalibor Matanic said: I am very happy for the Best Director award; however I am most happy about three awards that went to my actors in the film.
Yesterday, the The High Sun was the triumph of the audience in the Arena, and today it is the triumph of jury.
Other prizes
In other prizes, the Golden Gate of Pula, voted by the audience, went to We Will Be The World Champions directed by Darko Bajic.
The Golden Arena for Best Feature Film in the International programme went to Next to Me, directed by Stevan Filipovic (a special mention went to Koza).
The Diploma for Best Film in Neighbours and Friends programme went to Koza, directed by Ivan Ostrochovský.
The best film in the Student Programme was Moonless Summer by Stefan Ivancic.
Vuk Rumovics No Ones Child won best film and best director, and best actor for Denis Muric in Croatian Minority Co-Productoin section.
Best Croatian film Debutant was Helena Buljan in You Carry Me, and Josip Mlakic won best screenplay for Ungiven, Pula offered two new programs this year, Neighbors and Friends and the Student Programme.
The festival this year has benefitted from an improvement in quality in the Croatian feature section, says artistic board member Mike Downey, and there is real quality in the documentary films.
However, it is in the International sections and the Friends and Neighbours section that the festival has really hit the mark and got some form and is giving the festival, once very weak in these areas areas, a boost not only in world class films but the number of people filling our cinemas.
Anna Muylaert’s The Second Mother (Que Horas Ela Volta?) has been chosen to to open the 21st Sarajevo Film Festival on August 14.
Brazilian director Muylaert will be in attendance at Sarajevo’s impressive open air theatre for the screening of the film, in which the estranged daughter of a live-in housekeeper suddenly appears, breaking down unspoken class barriers that exist within the home.
The film debuted at Sundance in January where actors Regina Casé and Camila Márdila picked up the Special Jury Prize. It went on to win the Panorama Audience Award at Berlin in February and the jury prize for best screenplay at RiverRun.
Sarajevo has also announced that Dagur Kári’s Virgin Mountain (Fusi) will close the festival on August 22.
Kári will present the screening alongside lead actor Gunnar Jónsson, who plays a 43-year-old that still lives with his mother and whose monotonous daily routine is turned around by a new arrival.
Jónsson won best actor at the Tribeca Film Festival in April, where Kári also won best screenplay and the film picked up best narrative feature. It went on to win the audience award at CPH:PIX.
As previously announceed, Benicio Del Toro will attend the Open Air screening of Fernando León de Aranoa’s A Perfect Day, which first played in Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes. He will be accompanied by co-star Feđa Štukan.
Before the screening, on August 20, Del Toro will receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo Award, the festival’s highest accolade.
Other Open Air screenings include Jacques Audiard’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner Dheepan, with actors Jesuthasan Antonythasan and Kalieaswari Srinivasan in attendance.
Oscar-winning director Danis Tanovic and actor Danny Huston will present drama Tigers, alongside writer/producer Andy Paterson, producers Cat Villiers and Čedomir Kolar, and DoP Erol Zubčević.
Ognjen Sviličić’s These Are The Rules (Takva Su Pravila) will also screen with the director and cast at the Open Air theatre.
Also showing in the Open Air strand are Woody Allen’s Irrational Man, Jonathan Demme’s Ricki and the Flash, and Cannes Best Screenplay winner Chronic, with director Michel Franco in attendance.
The Venice Film Festival unveiled the list for its main jury, which is being helmed this year by director Alfonso Cuarón.
Joining Cuarón on that panel are Elizabeth Banks and Diane Kruger, as well as French author/screenwriter/director Emmanuel Carrère; Turkish director and 2014 Palme d’Or winner Nuri Bilge Ceylan; Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski (Ida, this year’s Oscar-winner for best foreign language film); Italian director Francesco Munzi; Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien (who won best director at Cannes this year for The Assassin); and British director and screenwriter Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin).
The lineups for two additional Venice juries were also announced Monday. The “Horizons” jury, with director Jonathan Demme as president, includes French director-screenwriter Alix Delaporte, Spanish actress Paz Vega, Hong Kong director Fruit Chan, and Italian actress Anita Caprioli.
Those on the jury for the “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film – Lion of the Future Award are Hong Kong producer Roger Garcia, French film critic and historian Natacha Laurent, American director Charles Burnett, and Mexican journalist Daniela Michel, with Italian director Saverio Costanzo overseeing.
The 72nd Venice Film Festival, which runs from Sept. 2-12, will open with Universal Picture’s Everest and feature an out-of-competition screening of Johnny Depp’s Black Mass.The festival’s full lineup will be announced Wednesday.
Participant Media has officially confirmed that Pablo Larrain’s follow-up to No, currently shooting in Chile and starring Gael García Bernal, is the second title under its Participant PanAmerica initiative.
The film reunites Participant, Larrain and Bernal following their collaboration on No, which marked Participant’s first foray into foreign-language film and earned an Oscar nomination in 2013.
No inspired Participant to launch Participant PanAmerica in 2013 with three Latin American production powerhouses: Chile’s Fabula, Colombia’s Dynamo and Mexico’s Canana. The first film to emerge from the venture was Ardor, Pablo Fendrik’s Argentina-set Western that screened in Cannes 2014.
The 1940s-set Neruda (see first-look pictures) stars Chile’s Luis Gnecco in the title role as Chile’s dissident Nobel prize-winning poet and Bernal as the police inspector tasked with hunting him down. Mercedes Moran plays Neruda’s wife, Delia del Carril.
Chilean playwright Guillermo Calderon wrote Neruda, which is set up as an international co-production between Chile’s Fabula, France’s Funny Balloons and Reborn Productions, Spain’s Setembro Cine and Argentina’s AZ Films.
Participant Media co-finances and holds North American rights. Juan de Dios Larrain serves as producer and Participant founder Jeff Skoll and Jonathan King are executive producers.
Fox will distribute Neruda in Chile in winter 2016.
Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema, a Pan Asian- film cultural Organization has recently teamed up with All Lights India International Film Festival which is all set to run from November 15-21, 2015 at Kochi.
With instituting a NETPAC Award for the Best Asian Film showcases at the festival, the proud organization has announced its support to ALIIFF.
NETPAC has a wide network of contacts among film festivals, film organisations, government and non-government agencies, film scholars, critics, programmers and festival directors with whom It works collaboratively in mutually beneficial activities to advance the cause of Asian cinema.
It is of course another proud moment for ALIIFF in its journey to become one of the excellent film festivals of the world.
Directors Johnathan Demme and Saverio Costanzo will head juries at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival which runs from September 2-12, 2015. The two directors will preside over the Orizzonti and Lion of the Future award, respectively.
Demme (The Silence of the Lambs) will lead the international jury in judging the Orizzonti section, which focuses on new trends in world cinema and presents awards for best film, best director and a special jury prize.
Costanzo (Hungry Hearts) is presiding over the “Luigi di Laurentiis” award for a debut film – ‘Lion of the Future’, which will award one prize of $100,000 to the best debut film (to be split evenly between director and producer) screened in any of the Venice competitions.
Costanzo presented Hungry Hearts at last year’s Biennale, where it won both Coppa Volpi awards: best actress for Alba Rohrwacher and best actor for Adam Driver.
Demme has brought several of his films to Venice in the past, including Melvin and Howard, which played in competition in 1980, and The Manchurian Candidate, which played out of competition in 2004.Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity) was previously announced as jury president for the festival’s main competition.
The Toronto International Film Festival’s industry office announced on Tuesday the first raft of participants confirmed to attend the seven-day conference.The event is set to run from September 11-17 will feature 200 speakers. It will see Amy director Kapadia, comedian and filmmaker Bill Hader and writer Naomi Klein present at the Doc Conference.Voltage Pictures founder Nicolas Chartier and OddLot owner Gigi Pritzker will taker part in on-stage conversations, while Mountains May Depart director Zhangke will deliver a Master Class at the Asian Film Summit.
Conference participants include National Association Of Theatre Owners chief John Fithian, Protagonist CEO Mike Goodridge and Claudia Landsberger for BaseWorx For Film.A new series in the programme is Upfront, which the industry office promises will offer “no-holds barred” conversations on the most topical issues in the industry.”“We’re excited about the participation of these vanguards of the film industry in this year’s programming,” said TIFF Industry Office director Kathleen Drumm.“By providing the opportunity for a global audience to gain the valuable insights of 200 leaders in the industry, we look to inspire innovation and bridge the connection between the art and business of content.”
The timetable of events is as follows:
September 11 – Creative Process;
September 12 – Financing and Co-Production;
September 13 – Marketing;
September 14 – Distribution and Sales;
September 15 – Asian Film Summit;
September 16 – Doc Conference; and
September 17 – Future of Content.
Taiwanese director Chang Tso-chi’s Thanatos, Drunk swept the Taipei Film Awards winning six prizes including the Grand Prize and best narrative feature.A drama about a Taipei slacker, his gay brother and their sexually ambiguous gigolo friend, Chang’s film also took best actor for Lee Hong-chi’s performance, best supporting actor for Chen Jen-shuo, best supporting actress for Lu Hsueh-feng and the press award.
The jury, headed by Hong Kong filmmaker Fruit Chan, said: “Within its realistic story the film conceals a depiction of an unhampered inner spirit. With bold cinematic language, the filmmaker creates characters that are trying to survive in their dreamlike intimate, unbound and sorrowful emotional state.”The Taipei Film Awards are divided into four categories – feature, documentary, short and animation – and the Grand Prize winner is deemed to be the best film overall. Chang’s win marks the first time in six years that a feature film has won the Grand Prize.
Meanwhile, best actress across all categories went to Japan’s Hiromi Nagasaku for Japan-Taiwan co-production The Furthest End Awaits, which also won the Audience Choice Award in the International New Talent Competition earlier in the festival.Best director at the Taipei Film Awards went to Tsai Ming-liang for No No Sleep, while best screenplay went to Doze Niu Chen-zer and Tseng Li-ting for Paradise In Service, which also took the award for outstanding artistic contribution in art design (Huang Mei-ching).
A Life That Sings won best documentary along with awards for cinematography (Chen Hyin-gen, Chang Hao-jan) and editing (Xu Wei-yao). The Death Of A Security Guard took best short film and The Vending Machine took best animation. Wilson Hsu took best new talent for short film Spring Awakening.The Special Jury Award went to Dawang Huang for TPE-Tics, while Wawa No Cidal took the Audience Choice Award.
Earlier in the Taipei Film Festival, Israeli director Nadav Lapid’s second feature The Kindergarten Teacher won the Grand Prize in the International New Talent Competition. The Special Jury Prize went to In Her Place from Korean-Canadian filmmaker Albert Shin.