“Devil’s Miner” wins Estonian People’s Award at PärnuBest Film prize goes to “Before Flying Back to Earth”The Devil’s Miner, directed by Richard Ladkani and Kief Davidson, beat off stiff competition from seven other entrants to win top prize at Estonia’s Pärnu International Documentary Film Festival last night (July 16,2006).The 20th edition of the festival, which is held in the country’s delightful summer capital some 130 kilometres south of the administrative capital Tallin...
Race and Identity in South African filmmaking : Debate at EncountersIn the past few months there has been much debate about racial issues in the South African film arena. Tsotsi won the Oscar® and the whole country was celebrating, but there have been critical statements made about issues of representation of black identity in that film. Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu made a statement during the TRC anniversary this year, stating that there are still white people who are not thankful for the ...
The 8th edition of Encounters South African International Documentary FestivalJohannesburg: Nu Metro Hyde Park 14 July – 23 July 2006Cape Town: Nu Metro V & A Waterfront 21 July – 6 August 2006Every year Encounters brings to South African audiences ‘factional’ films. Films that often contradict popular beliefs, but that still allow people to make up their own minds about what is happening in the world – the intimate, the political, the musical, the personal. This year, Encounter’s 8t...
EFP launches Third Session of Industry Screenings in New YorkFour New European films to be showcased at the Tribeca Grand, June 27th and 28thAfter two successful sessions in November 2005 and March 2006, European Film Promotion (EFP) continues its programme Industry Screenings in New York on June 27th and 28th. Again, selected film industry people will be invited to view four new European films in the Tribeca Grand Hotel’s screening room.Film Producers Jeroen Beker and Laurette Schillings pres...
EFP with the section Variety Critics’ Choice: Europe Now! at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (30 June 8 July 2006)Unconventional and surprising, subtle and entertaining: the Variety Critics’ Choice: Europe Now! section of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (30 June 8 July in the Czech Republic) shows European cinema in all its diversity and vitality. Now for the eighth time the international film business magazine Variety, the Karlovy Vary Film Festival and European ...
When the Cannes International Film Festival 2006 opens on 17 May, this will mark a particularly successful year for Europe’s film industry. Seventeen European films, which all received funding under the EU’s MEDIA programme, have made it into the final selection. The future of the MEDIA programme, the development of business models for Film Online services and the competitiveness of European films abroad will be on the agenda when the EU’s Ministers for Culture and Audiovisual meet with C...
Premiers
Today in the Lumiere Theater Marie Antoinette and The Right of the Weakest premier.
$970m To Media
The European Union's Media Programme has banked $970 million dollars from the years 2007-2013. The money will be spread through the media and entertainment industry. The percentages of the fund will be used for training (7%), developing(20%), distribution (55%), promotion (9%), and pilot projects (4%). This budget is a huge increase since the last budget of $659m from 2001-2006.
Jury ...
Results were improving at the end of the year, although not sufficiently to recover all the spectators who had been lost during the opening months of 2005 and eliminate the minus sign for a year that remains generally negative throughout Europe.This is what emerges from the up-date on cinema-going published in the MEDIA Salles’ Newsletter, “European Cinema Journal” no. 2/2006, presented today in Cannes by the President Domenico Dinoia, at the aperitif that has become the traditional occasi...
In the presence of Mrs Viviane Reding and Mrs Véronique Cayla 2005: European films progress notably in the Europa Cinemas network In the context of falling cinema attendance, exhibitors belonging to the Europa Cinemas network succeeded in increasing the proportion of European films on their screens.In 2005, almost 60% of screenings were reserved for European films. Progress was apparent above all in the proportion of European films distributed outside their country of origin, which increased fr...
In the context of falling cinema attendance, exhibitors belonging to the Europa Cinemas network succeeded in increasing the proportion of European films on their screens.In 2005, almost 60% of screenings were reserved for European films. Progress was apparent above all in the proportion of European films distributed outside their country of origin, which increased from 34 to 37%. It was therefore diversity which gained ground in this network, and this did not concern the European continent alone...
European Film Promotion (EFP) once again is reaching further East. The ROMANIAN FILM PROMOTION Association (APFR) has joined EFP, the European-wide network of film promotion and export organisations, during the 59th Cannes International Film Festival. In February 2006, the POLISH FILM INSTITUTE and the SLOVAK FILM INSTITUTE were the most recent organisations to become a member of EFP which now has 27 member organisations. EFP is financially supported by the MEDIA Programme of the European Union....
The members of European Film Promotion (EFP) have made their selection and chosen 22 aspiring and highly promising producers for the PRODUCERS ON THE MOVE initiative during the Festival de Cannes. They will be presented to the press and the film industry within the framework of an extensive PR campaign. This EFP initiative is financially supported by the MEDIA Programme of the EU.Since launching the PRODUCERS ON THE MOVE initiative in 2000, EFP has taken a central role in highlighting the wealth...
What is changing in the cinema with the advent of digital? And what are the effects on exhibition? The second day of the exhibitors’ training course “DigiTraining Plus: New Technologies for European Cinemas”, taking place at the moment in Kuurne, Belgium, goes right to the heart of the matter. The exhibitors’ voices, with their questions and their expectations, were heard thanks to Jan Van Dommelen, representing Unic (the federation of national exhibitors’ associations) and Enrico Chie...
New York Jewish Film Festival, January 11-26, 2006Among the more than 60 Jewish film festivals held in the United States the NY Jewish Film Festival (NYJFF) has after 15 editions become well established and is now considered as important as the Sans Francisco Jewish Film the oldest and biggest at 23 years. Organized by the influential Jewish Museum of New York, the NYJFF’s alliance with the Film Society of Lincoln Center has added to its prestige.As a community based film festival, th...
The MEDIA Salles’ “European Cinema Yearbook – 2005 advance edition”at Capri Hollywood 2005The main results published in this new edition show that the number of spectators who crossed the threshold of cinemas in Europe and the Mediterranean Rim in 2004 was 1 billion, 75 million.This was an exceptionally good year: 68 million more tickets sold compared to 2003, with a 6.7% increase.Western Europe (19 countries, from Iceland to Austria, Portugal to Finland) continued to have the lion’s s...
Film Sales Support (FSS) for Sundance Film Festival(19-29 January 2006)Film Sales Support (FSS) kicks off in 2006 with the support of 11 European films at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in the US. The support comprises an eclectic mix of feature films and documentaries from Denmark, Italy, Spain, the UK, France and Germany. Celluloid Dreams will receive financial incentives to promote Allegro by Christoffer Boe, I for India by UK director Sandhya Suri and Factotum by Norwegian director B...
The 7th Jakarta International Film Festival will open December 9 and will conclude 9 days later on the 18th! Words from Orlow Seunke, JiFFest Director JiFFest has always included documentary films, but this year, for the first time, we’ve created a special section for documentaries. These days, the documentary form is enjoying an exciting revival. Captivating and entertaining, they no longer resemble that dry ‘serious’ genre we love to hate. We’ve selected the best documentaries of recen...
In conjunction with the EU’s Media Programme, MEDIA Desk Netherlands has confirmed today that 8 Dutch production companies have been awarded Development Support of which seven applicants were awarded ‘slatefunding’ and one for a single film development. The 8 Dutch companies will receive a total of €730,000, 4,4% from the grand total of more than €16.8 awarded by MEDIA. Only the five largest countries, France, Germany, UK, Italy, Spain followed by Ireland at 4,6%, received more money...
EUROPEAN FILM PROMOTION BI-COASTAL SCREENINGSEuropean Film Promotion (EFP), the trans-European organization that represents the interests of European film promotion agencies in 30 countries, concluded a bi-coast promotion effort to bring an exciting group of new European filmmakers to the attention of US distributors, programmers and the press.EFP began its efforts earlier this month with a special program entitled NEW FACES OF EUROPEAN CINEMA, presented in conjunction with the AFI Fest in Los A...
Prize-giving at the 15th Cottbus Film Festival - Festival of East European Cinema with surprises The 15th Cottbus Film Festival – Festival of East European Cinema came an end today with the prize-giving in the Stadthalle. Dr. Wolfgang Krüger, the Secretary of State in the Economics Ministry of the State of Brandenburg, presented the „LUBINA“ sculpture to the prize-winners in the Feature Film Competition. The French actor Jean-Marc Barr, a special guest of the renowned festival, drew the ...
The 15th FilmFestival Cottbus - Festival of East European Cinema will open in the Cottbus Staatstheater on 8th November with Susanne Irina Zacharias' feature film debut „Hallesche Kometen" („Halle Comets”). The father-son story set in Halle/Saale was produced as part of the „Ostwind“ series, a joint programme workshop administered by RBB and ZDF/Das kleine Fernsehspiel. The winner of the Film Prize of the Saarland Prime-Minister at this year's Max Ophüls Prize Film Festival in Saarb...
The European Coordination of Film Festivals will promote 9 European films at next Sao Paulo International Film Festival.This project is part of the framework of the action in Third Countries festivals, with the support of MEDIA.The European Coordination of Film Festivals, a European Economic Interest Group (EEIG) brings together more than 230 festivals of varying scale and with a wide range of special interests, all of whom are committed to the defense and promotion of European cinema. All Membe...
Young acting talent to present their films in Spain (4 12 November 2005)It’s a unique opportunity for both the actors and the audience. At the Seville Film Festival (412 November) visitors and press will have the chance to meet a group of 10 of this year’s Shooting Stars (from a total of 21), selected by the member organisations of European Film Promotion (EFP). For the weekend (4 6 November 2005) the actors will be spotlighted with their latest films. Thus they are directly involved in the ...
CentEast - Warsaw Screenings of Central and Eastern European films October 12 - 15, 2005 The first edition of the regional film market CentEast - Warsaw Screenings will be held on October 12-15 in Warsaw. The main objective of the market is to increase interest in Central and Eastern European films among professionals.The market will be attended by more than one hundred professionals from 24 countries: Argentina, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Georgi...
European Film Promotion brings a strong delegation to Pusan Celebrating the 10th edition of Asia’s leading Film Festival: Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF, 6 – 14 October 2005)With a delegation of 30 European actors, directors and producers from 13 different countries European Film Promotion (EFP) will be in South Korea in October to celebrate the 10th edition of the Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF, 6 – 14 October 2005). This diverse and talented group of young, up-and-comi...
