Today we spoke to Kali O’Ray, Co-Director of the 15th SAN FRANCISCO BLACK FILM FESTIVAL DEADLINE • 15 May 2013 This year, the new venue we will probably be using is the Sundance Theater for the Opening Night. Of course we have new venues for the after parties and other social events – we always […]
ACHTUNG BERLIN Opens For 2013: Filmmakers Vocalize Local
Achtung Berlin’s 2013 festival opening was our local to-do last night, screening Aron Lehmann’s wildly entertaining Kohlhaas oder die Verhältnismässigkeit der Mittel at Kino International. While ‘local’ is the frequented word here, my position is closer to the ongoing conversation between local versus international, intimate versus immensely-boast-able and which of the extremes filmmakers should ground themselves in […]
GUANAJUATO
Today we spoke to Nina Rodriguez, Programmer of the 16th GUANAJUATO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL DEADLINE • 1 May 2013 Every year we introduce something new and this year we are beginning a new residency program to help filmmakers get their films made, both from the region and internationally. We are trying to help filmmakers get feedback and […]
CIRCUITO OFF
Today we spoke to Alessandro Grandesso, Programmer of the 14th CIRCUITO OFF SHORT FILM FESTIVAL DEADLINE • 18 April 2013 The main new feature this year is that we will be in the old center in the town of Venice. Last year we were in Lido. We will work with Palazzo Grassi which is quite great, quite […]
CURTAS VILA DO CONDE
Today we spoke to Miguel Dias, Director of the 21st CURTAS VILA DO CONDE FILM FESTIVAL DEADLINE • 12 April 2013 I think we are quite, in a way, original. But what can I say; if you look at our program and the history of the films that have been selected, you will see that lots […]
FIPRESCI Juror Peter Wintonick: 15 Years With One Of The World’s Great Programmers
“I think my definition these days of cinema really erases national borders because everyone comes from everywhere and the world is everywhere, digitally.” Thessoloniki Documentary Festival (TDF) FIPRESCI Jury President Peter Wintonick has been returning to the festival for 15 years as a director, producer and mentor. He is, shall we say, the right […]
Ilian Metev’s first Cannes-winning tour de force: Sofia’s Last Ambulance
SOFIA’S LAST AMBULANCE premiered in the competition section at Semaine de la Critique, Cannes in 2012. This was the green light for the first feature documentary film from Bulgarian filmmaker Ilian Metev. Since then, SOFIA’S LAST AMBULANCE (Poslednata lineika na Sofia) has been honored with the awards including France 4 Visionary Award at Cannes, Best […]
KARLOVY VARY
Today we spoke to Karel Och, Artistic Director of the 48th KARLOVY VARY INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL DEADLINE • 29 March 2013 This year we have a special program called ‘Imagina’ and it focuses on films which, if I wanted to simplify, I would call them experimental but let’s say films with a highly unusual narrative – something […]
Victor Orozco Ramirez: Reality 2.0, DIY and the Importance of Festivals
‘I came to the Berlinale through the backdoor,’ explains filmmaker Victor Orozco Ramirez with his sparkling creative vision. The FFL member recently won the First Steps Award, plummeting his animated documentary short film REALITY 2.0 into the competitive 2013 Berlinale program. With major festivals including Mar del Plata International Film Festival, Interfilm Berlin, Cartagena International Film Festival and DOK […]
SilverDocs Film Festival
Today we spoke to Sky Sitney, Artistic Director of the 11th SILVERDOCS DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL DEADLINE • 15 March 2013 Every time we launch our call for submissions – rather than approach it with an agenda, scouring through it hoping to see things that will match that agenda – we try to stay open and allow the […]
Friederike Jehn: How ‘SUMMER OUTSIDE’ helped shine her career internationally
She premiered at Hof with her award-winning debut DANCING ON AND ON (Weitertanzen). She won the Eastman Award for young talent in 2008. Her second feature SUMMER OUTSIDE (Draussen ist Sommer) got a shot on the international parquet, premiering at ‘A’ film festival San Sebastian this year. She is Friederike Jehn, German filmmaker whose name is hot in […]
How To’s of Distribution with Beasts of the Southern Wild Producer Philipp Engelhorn
‘We can do the interview in English or German,’ I said. German NYC based Philipp Engelhorn answered, with more enthusiasm than I had prepared myself for ‘No, English, please, English would be great’. Showing such stand out adaptability, Engelhorn is the type of runaway success story we love to be reminded of: studied at […]
Meet Damian Schipporeit on Scholarships, ‘LINE 102’ and distribution’s dirty work
‘Sorry, I have to eat something, do you mind…?’ A fuzzy-haired-head comes into the room and two big brown eyes look at me. ‘No. No, of course not.’ We are in a nice little cafe called ‘Marktkaffee’ in Linden, an upcoming area in Hannover, close to Damain Schipporeit’s company Filmblick. Filmblick is a production company […]
Short, Sexy, Hard: Interfilm opens for 2012
Interfilm like it short so lets try to follow their lead: The venue is Volksbühne. In all its theatricality, this big trophy of Berlin’s east is made for events like Interfilm Short Film Festival. In its 28th edition, Interfilm also happens to be about the same age as its high energy crowd attending the Opening Night, […]
Reclaim the Vision! Between Animation and Reality
Last week Leipzig allowed the world renowned DOK Leipzig – International Leipzig Festival For Documentary and Animated Film to claim its city. Based in Saxony, the festival presented a one week mammoth program: 360 films from 62 countries. For 55 years, the festival has dedicated itself to national and international documentary. What I seeked […]