On Friday, March 19, the European Documentary Network (EDN) held its ‘Award Ceremony', during the 12th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival - Images of the 21st Century. Until now, the EDN honoured European personalities and organisations which made a great contribution to documentary film industry.  This year, however, the Award was given to the Iranian Documentary Filmmakers' Association (IRDFA). Hanne Skjodt, director of EDN, spoke on behalf of her organisation, referring to th...

What's new in the market this year? The big difference this year is that all the documentaries are digitalised now, so all the buyers but also the press and the guests can see the documentary films anytime they want in individual rooms. Priority given to the buyers of course! There are 479 documentaries available in the market, both from the festival's selection and other documentary films from major production companies, with more than 60 interested buyers.  This year, 20 new buyers ...

 Six weeks is the period in which mothers in Poland must decide whether or not they want to give up their parental rights.  Six weeks from when the baby is born up until the final decision.  The doubts, the moments of grief, the ‘I have no other choice', hesitancies, the rules that only allow the biological mother to contact the child after 10 years, the discussions with the psychologist, and lastly the child's point of view. This very short documentary, only 18 minutes, follows a story...

   Six mois à la CAFDA. Non, ce n'est pas une peine de prison ! La CAFDA c'est le centre de coordination pour l'accueil des familles demandeuses d'asile en France et  six mois, c'est le temps passé par les réalisateurs à suivre plus particulièrement deux assistantes sociales en charge de recevoir et d'aider ces familles, débarquant de tous les coins du monde et ne parlant ni un mot de français, ni deux d'anglais. Caroline et Colette sont confrontées tous les jours a  à ces arri...

   Foreign documentary films over 45mn: 1. A MOTHER'S COURAGE: TALKING BACK TO AUTISM (Former title: The Sunshine Boy) (Iceland, 2009) Fridrik Thor Fridriksson 2. MONICA AND DAVID (USA, 2009) Alexandra Codina 3. DREAMLAND (Iceland, 2009) Thorfinnur Gudnason, Andri Snaer Magnason   Foreign documentary films under 45mn: 1. ODYSSEAS (Greece, 2010) Vahagn Karapetyan 2. SIX WEEKS (Poland, 2009) Marcin Janos Krawczyk 3. THE LAST TRUCK ...

CALL FOR ENTRY GUIDELINES, PROCEDURES & APPLICATION   Festival Dates: Sept. 15-19, 2010 MusicFest Showcase: Sept. 17-18, 2010 ENTRY DEADLINE: JUNE 30, 2010 ABSOLUTE FINAL, EXTENDED DEADLINE: JULY 16, 2010 This significant world class music showcase component of the 2010 Temecula Valley International Film & Music Festival is designed to showcase original music vision and artistic wizardry of talented individuals and groups from acro...

  Tonight's screening at Olympion’s theatre French Movie from Claires Bories et Pascal Chagnard : The Arrivals. This movie will be released in France April the 7th. The story of two women, social workers in charge to deal with the foreigners , new arrivals in France without any papers. How to deal with this situation, how can they help…     Catherine Esway    ...

  Le miraculé, c’est un haïtien de 22 ans qui est resté onze jours bloqué dans un trou sans lumière sous les ruines de la boutique dans laquelle il travaillait ce 21 janvier lors du tremblement de terre. Il a fait la « une » de la presse internationale, mais c’est en partie grâce à des bénévoles grecs,  que ce jeune homme a pu être sauvé. C’est l’incroyable histoire que nous raconte ce film, celle d’une équipe de civils, qui s’est mise en route, grâce ...

  Le miraculé, c’est un haïtien de 22 ans qui est resté onze jours bloqué dans un trou sans lumière sous les ruines de la boutique dans laquelle il travaillait ce 21 janvier lors du tremblement de terre. Il a fait la « une » de la presse internationale, mais c’est en partie grâce à des bénévoles grecs,  que ce jeune homme a pu être sauvé. C’est l’incroyable histoire que nous raconte ce film, celle d’une équipe de civils, qui s’est mise en route, grâce �...

     Just Talking is a side event organized by the 12th Thessaloniki Documentary Festival – Images of the 21st Century, which brings together film-makers and documentary professionals from different parts of the world. This event invites its guests to an open, relaxed discussion, giving documentary professionals the opportunity to know one another on a personal level, to exchange views, and share experiences.  The sessions are held in a friendly and informal environment and revo...

A note from the President Politics, allegedly, is the art of answering questions you haven’t been asked. I won’t be doing that today. People often ask: where will the Festival de Cannes be in five years time? The only question that I find important is that of the future of independent, auteur cinema, and thus the future of film festivals, as they are basically the same thing. For a long time I believed that cinema was a kind of royal processional road along which one went from Lu...

Aspen Film announced today the competition finalists that will screen at Aspen Shortsfest 2010, which will be held April 6-11 at the historic Wheeler Opera House in Aspen and the Crystal Theatre in Carbondale. More than 2,500 submissions from almost 80 countries were considered, and 85 short films were ultimately selected for the six-day Oscar®-qualifying International Competition. With additional out-of-competition presentations, this 2010 edition will screen over 100 shorts from North and S...

“This is the renewed rebellion This is the recharged fight against the establishment of the expected- This is the rebirth of the battle for brave new ideas- This is Sundance, reminded- This is your call to join us” and  this was what appeared on every projection screen while you took your seat and stripped off  layers of weather proofing at the  (26th  Edition) of the Sundance Film Festival 2010. They announced that a fresh wind had blown through Park City, (bringing with ...

Diagonale 2010 - the Festival of Austrian Film - has opened on March 16th in Graz. From now on you can download various press material (press kit, press releases, filmstills and press photographs) here.The guest list is available here. Programme online now. This year's highlights include: + 103 films in the selected programme: a selection of Austria's current best feature, documentary, short, experimental and animated films as well as videos with lots of discoveries. + Spectrum: 8 inter...

 Dimitris Gerardis, Director, Greece, WAR ZONE: THE MIRACLE, 2010/80mn (Stories to Tell)      Marc Wolfensberger, Director, Switzerland, OIL ROCKS – CITY ABOVE THE SEA, 2009/54mn (Habitat)     Pierre-Oliver Francois, Director, France, A BARREL FULL OF DREAMS, 2009/93mn (View of the World)     Selana Vronti, Director, Greece, ZORRO THE CAT, 2010/53mn (Portraits: Human Journeys)    Catherine Esway, assisted by Julianna Photopoulos ...

XXIV. Black International Cinema Berlin 2009 May 7-10 Rathaus Schöneberg (city hall) John-F.-Kennedy Platz 10825 Berlin http://www.black-international-cinema.com/BIC09/bic_09.htm Conversation with Sarah Diehl, filmmaker AWARD Best film/video by a German filmmaker or a filmmaker residing in Germany ABORTION DEMOCRACY - POLAND/SOUTH AFRICA Director: Sarah Diehl, Germany 2008 Moderator: Prof. Donald Muldrow Griffith co-founder...