Festival

You must have been at least 50 times to Riga, the driver next to me said. Uldis Cekulis is his name, a key person in Latvian documentary, producer and cameraman, a man who cannot sit still, always in action, and…

28th Edition of Baltic Sea Docs set to showcase 26 film projects… The 28th edition of Baltic Sea Docs documentary pitching forum is set to take place in Riga, 1-8 September. This year, the forum will feature the presentation of…

As usual the Baltic Sea Forum launches a strong film program parallel to the Industry section with its development workshop and pitching. Let me mention the wonderful “Agent of Happiness” by Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó, reviewed on this site,…

A brief content description taken from the catalogue of the Sarajevo FF, where it was shown at the 16th Human Rights Day, a beautiful initiative this is: A quarter of the Bosnian city of Zenica is a giant steel plant.…

It was the 20th edition of this precious initiative developed at the Jihlava FF and co-hosted here in Sarajevo by the festival. Head of the festival in Czech Republic Marek Hovorka and Sarajevo Industry boss Masha Markovic led the presentation…

Early departure from Hotel Europe, the classic Sarajevo hotel with a fabulous outdoor terrasse, an indoor swimming pool, a huge breakfast assortiment, with the same elderly waiters I have met year after year, indeed my wife and I feel at…

These days I receive many press releases from the Sarajevo FF. About films to be shown and about what is going to happen at the industry platform CineLink that as usual brings makers behind films-to-be together with potential funders. In…

… With a programme curated – as usual – by Rada Šešić, who picked 21 films for the programme. Nineteen films are competing for awards: 3 will have their world premieres, 5 their international premieres, 1 its European premiere, 8…

This debut film premiered at the Krakow FF and has been awarded at the Romanian Transilvania festivals. No doubt for me that it will receive more recognition at festivals this autumn. Because it is excellent told as a film and…

Apply for the Verzió DocLab international documentary workshop on story development and editing! The 9th Verzió DocLab is a 5-day intensive editing workshop for directors and editors, organised during the 21st Verzió International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival in Budapest…

Written by Vladan Petkovic for Cineuropa, 18.6.2024 The winners of the new Georgian national Eliso Awards, established by London-based actress Natalia Jugheli through the Nato Vachnadze Foundation, named after her great-grandmother, a pioneering actress of Georgian cinema, were revealed on…

We are thrilled to announce the 26 selected projects for this year’s Baltic Sea Docs! As usual, we will meet in Riga where the forum will take place on 1-6 September (industry dates). 22 new projects, currently in development and…

All right, let’s have the synopsis (Scanorama Festival Kaunas 2023) first: ““The Mammoth Hunt” is a story about a film reel that for many years has been thought to be lost. On the reel, under conspiracy conditions, an abolished anti-Soviet…

At least some of them, films I have seen: Docs Award for the Best Film in the Docs&Pearls Official Selection: Laura Plancarte: Mexican Dream. The jury motivation goes like this: “For emerging as a generous and vibrant film, courageously delving…

Thanks to my membership of the European Film Academy I could watch this emotionally strong, storytelling-wise original film after a masterclass at DocsBarcelona yesterday arranged by the festival and DocIncubator, whose founder and director Andrea Prenghyova was in a fine…

A good advice: If you have the time – go for a festival and stay there for the full period, it goes on. I had the luck – with my wife – to be for the 20th edition of ZagrebDox,…

Love that film. It’s beautiful shot, it has a modest and yet charismatic Amber as the main protagonist, who – with a colleague – is conducting – on behalf of the authorities – interview sessions to find out whether Bhutan…

The Barcelona International Documentary Film Festival DocsBarcelona presents the titles that will be part of its 27th edition, a showcase of the best of the world’s documentary production, which this year renews its structure and proposes a program to question colonialisms.  On…

Director: Luka Beradze Georgia. Countryside. A village with the name No Name. In 2012 Misha (Mikheil) Saakashvili came to the village to promise – part of his televised presidential campaign for re-election – the villagers new teeth and smiles (!)…

The perfect combination! First we watched the film “The Makedonium Band” directed by Danish Andreas Johnsen and then the musicians from the film (most of them) – Danish and (North) Macedonians – went on stage performing for a full hall…

I think the still photo says all about the approach and the intention of the director: In the middle of the horrible war an old woman writes and reads poems, surrounded by flowers; here in the beginning of the film…

Two films about/from Hungary. “Democracy Noir” by Connie Field and “Kix” by Bálint Révész & Dávid Mikulán. The first “Democracy Noir” is primarily informative with a lot of tv archive on Victor Orban, but also material shot during demonstrations in…

This film is to be made, well HAS to be made. I was not at the pitching Forum yesterday, where it was presented but I saw the trailer, which proves very much, why it got the top price at the…

I was in the cinema Dagmar the other night to watch the Georgian film “Blueberry Dreams” produced by Elene Margvelashvili from Georgian Parachute Films and directed by Elena Mikaberidze. It is a masterpiece from a director, who has stayed long enough…

Stepping out of the Metro on Kongens Nytorv yesterday morning on my way to the Royal Theatre’s “Stærekassen”, Danish poet Peter Laugesen was steps ahead of me. It threw my thoughts back to my dear friend and co-editor of this…

A brief and warm recommendation of the Danish debutant Zara Zerny’s film on a group of men and women between 80 and 100, who lost their husband, wife or partner and how they have overcome the grief connected. But mostly…

… Knud Brix took part in the creation of the film as did producer Andreas Dalsgaard, Elk Film. And many others… Again it is beautifully demonstrated, how important Time is, when you do documentaries. This film is shot over a…

Early in this amazing film a boy says about the balloon phenomenon: It’s an art form. People express themselves through the balloons, I’ve heard… cut to a policeman who is in the middle of a balloon on ground. Do you…

At the Latvian National Film Awards ceremony the other day two awards were given to “Everything Will Be Alright” by Stanislav Tokalov. The film-to-be was pitched at the Baltic Sea Docs 2021 with the working title “Stranded” and described as…

A woman’s face with running water in nature behind her. She looks at you or she does not look. Beautiful face, eyes seldom blinking. A river with waterfall and its sound. Focus on a rock and its cracks. A city…

Co-directed by Krista Burāne. Italy and Latvia unite in this documentary shot in both countries, i.e. a co-production, a true one, where Italy provides the dancing, Latvia the music. A super-skilled editor is needed to connect and Ilaria de Laurentiis…

Historic Grand Slam for Norwegian cinema at Sundance: Awards for “A New Kind of Wilderness,” “Ibelin,” and “Handling the Undead.”The documentary film “A New Kind of Wilderness ” won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary, while “Ibelin” received The…