Institute of Documentary Film at Jihlava IDFF

Institute of Documentary Film at Jihlava IDFF
Oct 25 – 31, 2010

The 10th Industry Section organized in Jihlava by the Institute of Documentary Film (IDF), has expanded its programme this year and hosted a record number of guests. In addition to the public presentations of the 10th East European Forum and more than 300 East European films at the 7th East Silver Market, we organized Inspiring Sessions, Case Studies, One-on-one Meetings, Documentary Works-in-progress, Co-production Breakfasts, Networking Dinners, Silver Eye Awards, and Industry Screenings.

EAST EUROPEAN FORUM AWARDS
The filmmakers behind two selected East European Forum projects were awarded October 26 at the Jihlava IDFF Opening Ceremony. The IDFA Forum Award and a free pitch at IDFA's The FORUM in Amsterdam went to the Russian project The 16th Republic (Daria Khlestkina / Marina Razbezhkina). The Golden Funnel Award, aimed to support a project that made the most dramatic improvements during the workshop, was presented to Dust Dream (Maciej Gorski / Monika Braid). The filmmakers will receive tailored support that fits specific needs of their project.


SILVER EYE AWARD
The aim of the Silver Eye Award is not only to praise the artistically most interesting films included into East Silver market, but also to help those films to find sales agent or promote them through programmes of various film festivals. Winners: Short category: That's Life (Daniel Zielinski, Poland, 2010), Special mention: The Work of the Machines (Michal Madracki, Giles Lepore, Maciej Madracki, Poland, Switzerland, 2009); Plain Landscape with a Cradle (Arkadiusz Biedrzycki, Poland, 2010). Mid-length category: Family Instinct (Andris Gauja , Latvia, 2010), Special mention: Michael Berger - A Hysteria (Thomas Fuerhapter, Austria, 2010). Feature category: At the Edge of Russia (Michal Marczak, Poland, 2010).

INSPIRING SESSIONS OPEN TO GENERAL PUBLIC
- Nikolaus Geyrhalter, Michael Glawogger, Anders Østergaard, Pawel Lozinski, Pavel Kostomarov
This year, our programme was open to the general public with five unique meetings hosted by renowned filmmakers. Five Inspiring Sessions offered a glimpse into the work of Austrian producer and director Nikolaus Geyrhalter (e.g., 7915 km, Elswhere, Our Daily Bread, Pripyat); Austrian filmmaker Michael Glawogger (e.g., Workingman's Death, Megacities, Contact High, Slugs, Slumming); Danish filmmaker Anders Østergaard (e.g., Burma VJ – Reporting from a Closed Country, Tintin and I); Polish filmmaker Pawel Lozinski (e.g., Chemo, Birthplace, Kitty Kitty), and one of Russia's most progressive directors Pavel Kostomarov (e.g., Mother, Transformer, Live in Peace).

10 YEARS OF IDF AND THE 10TH INDUSTRY SECTION
Over the ten years of existence, the Institute of Documentary Film has become an internationally respected centre that fosters documentary film in the entire region of Central and Eastern Europe. A launchpad for East European filmmakers and their films as they try to access the international market, the Institute is also a valuable resource of new quality documentaries and documentary projects for European and North American commissioning editors, distributors, fund and festival representatives, and sales agents. More than 70 documentary films have been made with the help of the East European Forum and the Ex Oriente Film workshop. Many of them received recognition and awards at major international festivals, such as the Cannes IFF, Locarno IFF, Hot Docs, IDFA, Visions du réel, and Berlinale. Our annual presentation of documentary works-in-progress facilitates distribution of several exceptional films. The East Silver Market has had part in securing festival or television distribution for more than 370 completed documentaries. Since its launch in March 2010, our portal www.DOKweb.net has marked a four-time increase in the number of visitors.

RECORD NUMBER OF GUESTS
The Industry Section hosted a record number of guests. Attending the East European Forum and the East Silver Market in search of new films into their programme slots or portfolios, more than 30 commissioning editors and buyers from major TV networks in Europe and North America, over 20 sales agents, and many more distributors, film fund and festival representatives. More than 70 East European directors and producers attended our industry events to find support for their documentary projects and completed films. With all other guests of the Industry Section, the Institute of Documentary Film welcomed over 400 film professionals.


EAST EUROPEAN FORUM 2010

The 10th edition of the East European Forum was the region’s largest meeting place for East European documentary filmmakers and European commissioning editors, sales agents, distributors and film fund representatives. Filmmakers and independent producers attended the event to offer their projects for co-production, pre-sales and other forms of financial support. Over the years, the East European Forum has become a prestigious platform that has since 2001 hosted 562 East European filmmakers and producers, 79 commissioning editors and tens of international distributors, sales agents and festival programmers.


EAST EUROPEAN FORUM – PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS
The East European Forum introduced 24 documentary projects. While any actual results will be decided over the following months, immediate reactions from commissioning editors, fund representatives and distributors show that the following projects have drawn the most interest: The 16th Republic (Daria Khlestkina, Russia) that draws a parallel to contemporary Russia in the story of Zil, a famous Russian car maker; the Bulgarian project Sofia's Last Ambulance (Ilian Metev, Bulgaria) capturing the story of a doctor, nurse and driver struggling to save lives in one of Sofia's 13 ambulances; Romanies Go to Election (Jaro Vojtek, Slovakia), the story of a Roma activist turned politician; Odessa (Florin Iepan, Romania) uncovering the secrets of Romania's Nazi past and the massacre of Romanian Jews; The Devil's Choice (Monica Lazurean-Gorgan, Romania) capturing the incredibly difficult choice faced by the residents of Romania's most polluted town; Phantom Pain Mladic (Helga Bahmer, Germany) about Serbia's struggle to come to terms with its past, and the poetic portrait Brothers (Wojciech Staroń, Poland). Other projects at the Forum included The Global Town (Ulli Gladik, Austria); Good Manners (Radovan Síbrt, Czech Republic); The New Life of a Family Album (Adam Ol'ha, Slovakia); The Gold Spinners (Hardi Volmer, Estonia); Not for the Dead (Michal Jaskulski, Lawrence Loewinger, Poland/USA); Everything Is Possible (Lidia Duda, Poland); The Kaplinski System (Raphaël Gianelli-Meriano, Estonia, France); Family Meals (Dana Budisavljević, Croatia/France); Naked (Tiha Klara Gudac, Croatia); Dust Dream (Maciej Gorski, Poland, UK, Germany); Summerhouses (Veronika Zapletalová, Czech Republic); Welcome to the Rich Men's World (Pawel Ferdek, Poland); Family Business (Christiane Büchner, Germany); Djangarchi (Zoran Krema, Croatia); Mechanical Figures (Helena Bulaja, Croatia); Escaping Riga (Davis Simanis, Latvia), and A Lifetime Is Not Enough (Piotr Kielar, Poland).

As of 2010, more than 70 documentary films have been made with the assistance of the Ex Oriente Film workshop and the East European Forum, including 14 recently completed films that will receive distribution support from the East Silver Market. In addition to valuable feedback from potential co-producers and buyers, East European filmmakers received new creative input for their documentary films at our pitching workshop.
EAST EUROPEAN FORUM AWARDS
Selected East European Forum and Ex Oriente Film projects received our annual awards. The IDFA Forum Award and a free pitch at IDFA's The FORUM in Amsterdam went to the Russian project The 16th Republic (Daria Khlestkina / Marina Razbezhkina). The Golden Funnel Award, aimed to support a project that made the most dramatic improvements during the workshop, was presented to Dust Dream (Maciej Gorski / Monika Braid).

After the East European Forum, all documentary projects will be included in our Follow-up Support, designed to promote the projects at international festivals and markets, and to offer ongoing assistance in networking and creative issues. A selection of projects just before completion will be introduced at our presentation Documentary Works-in-progress, leading up to their submission for one of the next editions of the East Silver Market.

EAST SILVER
The 7th East Silver Market that presented the latest documentary films from Central and Eastern Europe hosted 245 professionals, such as world sales agents, buyers, commissioning editors and many other guests who had access to the digitized video library with 308 documentary films produced in years 2009/2010 and another 124 titles from the festival programme. As innovation for this year, East Silver introduced a year-round online access to East Silver films for registered industry professionals.
East Silver runs a database with more than 2300 titles that provides the best insight into the documentary scene of Central and Eastern Europe. The database is accesible online at www.eastsilver.net.

Current statistics of East Silver Market (till October 30): Total number of played films: 4036 films. Most watched films:
1. All for the Good of the World and Nošovice (Vít Klusák, Czech Republic, 2010): 39 views
2. Matchmaking Mayor (Erika Hníková, Czech Republic, 2010): 37 views
3. La Machina (Thierry Paladino, Poland, 2010): 35 views
4. Family Instinct (Andris Gauja, Latvia, 2010): 32 views
5. At the Edge of Russia (Michal Marczak, Poland, 2010): 32 views
6. 100 Days (Viera Čákanyová, Czech Republic, 2009): 31 views
7. Czech Peace (Vít Klusák, Filip Remunda, Czech Republic, 2010): 30 views
8. Bear Islands (Martin Ryšavý, Czech Republic, 2010): 30 views
9. Michael Berger – A Hysteria (Thomas Fuerhapter, Austria, 2010): 28 views
10. All that Glitters (Tomáš Kudrna, Czech Republic, 2010): 27 views
Best rated films (rating: Very interesting):
1. All for the Good of the World and Nošovice (Vít Klusák, Czech Republic, 2010): 16x rated
2. La Machina (Thierry Paladino, Poland, 2010): 14x rated
3. Something about Georgia (Nino Kirtadze, France, Georgia, 2010): 13x rated

As last year, the Silver Eye Award for the best documentary film from the market was again handed out in three categories: short, mid-length and feature documentary film. The final decision was made by an international jury of selected industry guests of the market: Short category: Bruni Burres (Sundance Documentary Film Program), Jan Naszewski (New Europe Film Sales), Outi Saarikoski-Schimberg (YLE Co-Productions). Mid-Length category: Gitte Hansen (First Hand Films), Anna Hoffmann (Berlinale - Forum), Margje de Koning (Ikon). Feature category: Kathrin Brinkmann (ARTE/ZDF), Andrea Hock (Autlook Filmsales), Marzena Moskal (Quinzaine des Realisateurs, Cannes Film Festival) On top of the financial prize of EUR 1,500, the winner benefits from East Silver’s festival service throughout the year.

The aim of the Silver Eye Award is not only to recognize the most interesting creative documentaries included in the East Silver market, but also to help the films in finding sales agents, and to promote them through programmes of various film festivals.


The winner of short category:
- That's Life | Takie życie | Daniel Zielinski | Poland | 2010

Special mentions:
- The Work of the Machines | Praca maszyn | Michal Madracki, Giles Lepore, Maciej Madracki | Poland, Switzerland | 2009

- Plain Landscape with a Cradle | Krajobraz nizinny z Kolyska | Arkadiusz Biedrzycki | Poland | 2010

The winner of mid-length category:
- Family Instinct | Ģimenes lietas | Andris Gauja | Latvia | 2010

Special mention:
- Michael Berger - A Hysteria | Michael Berger - Eine Hysterie | Thomas Fuerhapter | Austria | 2010

The winner of feature category:
- At the Edge of Russia | Koniec Rosji | Michal Marczak | Poland | 2010

East Silver Eye winners were announced during the Opening ceremony of the 14th Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival on October 26, 2010.
East Silver’s year-round acitivity is to support and promote East European documentary films at various international film festivals and film markets. East Silver Caravan, a special selection of high-quality documentary films with festival potential, is submitted to prestigious documentary film festivals during the year. For the East Silver Caravan 2011 edition, 27 titles have been selected, out of which eight are Czech documentaries. A similar selection - East Silver TV Focus - is made for television documentaries in order to increase the broadcasting of selected titles worldwide.
INDUSTRY SIDEBAR

This year, the Industry Sidebar was open to festival visitors and at the same time it also intensified support for East European films and filmmakers. The Slovak, Austrian and Polish national days provided an overview of local support available to documentary films and gave all industry guests an opportunity to launch negotiations on co-production and other forms of cooperation with the directors and producers from these countries.


DOCUMENTARY WORKS-IN-PROGRESS
After the East European Forum public presentations, we organized the inaugural presentation of selected documentary films that will be released in theatres over the following months. Documentary Works-in-progress introduced feature documentaries both by established and up-and-coming filmmakers. Festival selectors, distributors, buyers, sales agents, members of the press and other festival visitors found out more about the latest films by Nikolaus Geyrhalter (Occident, Austria); Pawel Lozinski (Father and Son, Poland); Pavel Kostomarov (You Too, Russia); Audrius Stonys (Palavani, Latvia); Raphael Barth (Aftermath, Austria); Jakub Hejna (Theatre Svoboda, Czech Republic); Jakob Dammas and Helge Renner (Pommeranian Illusions, Poland), and Chollat-Namy Armande and Magnússon Sigurðura Hallmar (Iceland: Bankrupt Nation, Czech Republic, Iceland, France).

CO-PRODUCTION BREAKFASTS
Three East Silver Co-production Breakfasts dedicated to Slovakia, Austria and Poland explored local funding and support opportunities and provided an overview of key partners in each country. The Slovak Breakfast organized in cooperation with sentimental film introduced apart from an overview of the situation and funding possibilities (Slovak Audiovisual Fund) also several new titles seeking co-production partners – new films by Peter Begányi, Anabela Žigová or Marek Mackovič. The Austrian Breakfast was attended by: Severin Moritzer (Vienna Film Fund), Franz Grabner (ORF), distributors Andrea Hock (Autlook Filmsales), Brigitte Burger-Utzer (sixpack films), producers Ralph Wieser, Johannes Rosenberger, Michael Seeber and director Nikolaus Geyrhalter. The Austrian Day was organized in cooperation with Autlook Filmsales. The Polish Breakfast was attended by: Marta Golba (Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing), Marcin Malatynski (Łódź Film School), Kinga Galuszka (Polish Film Institute), Katarzyna Wilk (Karkow Film Foundation), and others. The co-production meeting was organized by East Silver in cooperation with the Krakow Film Foundation.


INSPIRING SESSIONS
Five Inspiring Sessions offered a glimpse into the work of Nikolaus Geyrhalter, Michael Glawogger, Anders Østergaard, Pawel Lozinski, and Pavel Kostomarov.


OPEN SESSIONS OF THE EAST EUROPEAN FORUM AND EX ORIENTE FILM WORKSHOP
Czech filmmaker Helena Třeštíková presented a special screening of René (2008) to workshop participants and industry guests; Estonian director and producer Marianna Kaat hosted a case study of a 2008 East European Forum film Pit No. 8 (2010), and Frank Stehling presented a lecture on various strategies in film distribution and promotion.

TALKS OF THE DAY
Presentations on current trends in documentary film, funding, distribution and promotion were hosted by Marta Lamperová, Jarmila Outratová, Ivan Ostrochovský, and representatives of the following institutions and companies: Sundance Documentary Fund, Documentary Educational Resources, New Europe Film Sales, Cinereach, Jan Vrijman Fund, Ventes-CBA/WIP-Sales, AVEK, First Hand Films.

ONE-ON-ONE MEETINGS
All participants of the East European Forum, East Silver Market and professionals with a valid EEF/ES industry pass had a chance to arrange one-on-one meetings with attending representatives of international broadcasters, distributors, sales agents and festival selectors.

NETWORKING DINNERS
Two informal dinners helped to facilitate professional contacts among Czech/East European filmmakers and representatives of TV networks, distributors, sales agents and festival selectors.

INDUSTRY SCREENINGS
Industry screenings introduced a number of recently completed documentaries, as well as films that are slated for release in the near future. Open to industry guests and members of the press, each screening was introduced by the filmmakers. The selection included the Czech documentaries Theatre Svoboda (Jakub Hejna); Obscurantist and His Lineage by Karel Vachek who pitched the project at the 2009 East European Forum; Shadows of the Past (Petra Ondřejková); Toytravel Story (Radovan Síbrt); An Application for Asylum in the Czech Republic on Ecological Grounds (William Lee), and All that Glitters by Tomáš Kudrna. The co-production titles Body Temples (Ivan Pokorný, Czech Republic / Germany) and David Wants to Fly (David Sieveking, Austria / Germany) were also screened, as well as the Slovak documentary Mongolia – In the Shadow of Genghis Khan (Pavol Barabáš) and Poland's The Last Day of Summer (Piotr Stasik). The Screenings included a number of Silver Eye Award nominees: All that Glitters (Tomáš Kudrna, Czech Republic); La Machina (Thierry Paladino, Poland, France); Mother (David Horinek, Slovakia) and, finally, That’s Life (Daniel Zieliński, Poland, Silver Eye Award winner).

SEMINAR: EFFICIENT TV MANAGEMENT
Paul Pauwels, Managing Director of the European Television & Media Management Academy led a half-day session on TV management and programming attended by representatives of East European television networks.


CLEANING UP ALL OVER AGAIN
Over the years, our collective body has been covered with, for instance, tight sci-fi suits (2005), kitsch trinkets (2007), recycled paper (2008) and soul-searching plastic (2009). Clearly - after ten years since the foundation of the Institute of Documentary Film and since the first edition of the East European Forum - a general overhaul and a good scrubbing are long overdue. Our set designers Zdeněk and Tereza Durdil along with graphic designer Juraj Horváth decided to centre this year's East European Forum around the concept of cleaning up. After ten years, we’re taking a bath, reaching for the towel and - to conclude with our slogan for this year - WE’RE STARTING!

Contact:
East European Forum: Hana Rezková / Školská 12 / 110 01 Prague 1 / Czech Republic / T: +420 777 240 005 / Kristina Valentová / T: +420 739 323 938 / industry@dokweb.net / www.dokweb.net
East Silver:
East Silver / Miriam Šimková / Školská 12 / 110 01 Prague 1 / Czech Republic / T: +420 775 602 555 / Skype: eastsilver.net / office@eastsilver.net / www.eastsilver.net