BLIND LOVES TO OPEN IN CZECH THEATRES

Juraj Lehotský's documentary film Blind Loves will be released in Czech theatres September 4, 2008. Awarded at this year's Cannes IFF, the film captures the many remarkable worlds experienced by its four protagonists. Blind Loves will also be released in a special version for the blind that features an extra audio track.

25 DOCUMENTARY PROJECTS READY FOR BALTIC SEA FORUM

The current edition of the Baltic Sea Documentary Forum takes place September 3 - 7, 2008 in Riga, Latvia. Twenty-five documentary projects from Estonia, France, Georgia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and Ukraine will be presented at this year's Forum that combines a pitching workshop, pitching sessions and one-on-one meetings with commissioning editors. Documentary screenings include Stone Silence, Music Partisans, Blind Loves or The Deconstruction of an Artist that in the past attended Ex Oriente Film and the East European Forum.

CZECH LION AWARD FOR DOCUMENTARY FILM

For the first time, Czech Film and Television Academy will award the best documentary films from 1993 - 2007, which have been in cinema distribution and did not compete for the Czech Lion Award in the past years.Announcement of the 3 winning films will take place at the Czech Lion Nomination Evening 2008.

ÉTATS GÉNÉRAUX DU FILM DOCUMENTAIRE FOCUSES ON CZECH REPUBLIC AND SLOVAKIA

Besides other sections, French documentary film festival États Généraux du Film Documentaire opens “Doc Route: Czech Republic — And a detour by Slovakia“ – section that introduces 26 films from both countries. This year’s 20th edition takes place from August 17 to 23 in Lussas.

KITES RECEIVE THE LOCARNO's CRITIC's WEEK AWARD

Another Ex Oriente Film workshop's film awarded. Director Beata Dzianowicz and producer Krzysztof Kopczyński have received the Critic’s Week Award (Le Prix SRG SSR idee Suisse/Semaine de la Critique) for the film “Kites” at the 61st Locarno International Film Festival which ended on the 16th of August 2008. It is the main prize awarded in the international competition of full-length documentaries of the festival “Critic’s Week” organized by Switzerland’s national association of film journalists and the most important award this year for a documentary film at the festival.

ALL THAT GLITTERS TAKING SHAPE

Tomáš Kudrna's documentary project All That Glitters has moved another step closer to production. Set in the mountainous, goldmining region in Kyrgyzstan, the demanding project has recently received support from the State Fund for the Support and Development of Czech Cinematography and - as the first ever Czech project - a development grant from the Sundance Institute. In 2006 the project was presented at the East European Forum in Jihlava.

APPLY FOR SUNDANCE FUND TILL August 15

The Sundance Documentary Film Program, in partnership with the Skoll Foundation, will provide $1.2 million in film project grants to enable the development and/or production of new feature-length independent documentary films that frame, examine, and amplify social entrepreneurship as an innovative approach to the central questions of our time.

INTERVIEWS WITH CZECH DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKERS

In Spring 2008, Czech Film Centre published the Catalogue of the Czech films finished in 2007 that was accompanied by the dvd containing number of inteviews with the Czech directors. The following article brings you the 14 documentary ones.

EAST SILVER DEADLINE EXTENDED

Deadline for late submissions prolonged till August 10, 2008. Please submit your documentaries now. East Silver has become the biggest internationally recognized database of creative, feature and television documentary films from Central and East Europe. New edition will take place during the 12th IDFF Jihlava, Czech Republic (October 24-29, 2008).


BEATA DZIANOWICZ’ KITES PREMIERED IN LOCARNO

Another documentary film developed at the Ex Oriente Film workshop has made a breakthrough at Europe’s leading film festival. The documentary film “Kites” dir. Beata Dzianowicz has been invited to take part in “Semaine de la Critique 2008” festival in Locarno (Switzerland). The film's producer Krzysztof Kopczyński (Eureka Media) – awarded as Poland’s Best Producer in 2006 and 2007 - has taken part in the Ex Oriente Film and East European Forum several times since 2004.

AUGUST AT DOC AIR

From grave themes such as the nuclear disaster in the film Heavy Water: A Film For Chernobyl to the film about the Northern Lights by prominent Swiss-Canadian director Peter Mettler. In August, Doc-Air (www.doc-air.com) will introduce eight more news from the world of the documentary film; focusing exclusively on international films this time.

PANEL AND CATALOGUE OF FORTHCOMING CZECH DOCUMENTARY FILMS

The Institute of Documentary Film and the Jihlava IDFF in cooperation with the Czech Film Centre publish the Catalogue of Forthcoming Czech Documentary Films. Documentary films included in the catalogue are slated for television or theatrical release before August 30, 2009. Taking place at the time of the catalogue's release (September), the annual panel presentation of upcoming Czech documentary films gives the authors of 10 selected titles an opportunity to present their projects. Submission deadline: August 11 2008.

CHINA PREVENTS FILMMAKER ARTO HALONEN’S TRIP TO THE BEIJING OLYMPICS

Press release: China will not grant the filmmaker Arto Halonen a visa in order to attend the Beijing Olympics. Halonen was invited to join the event as part of the Finnish Lottery and Finnish Olympic Committee delegation, and is therefore a special guest of the International Olympic Committee. The same delegation also includes the former Finnish Prime Minister and current president of Sitra, Esko Aho.

RENÉ OPENS IN CZECH THEATRES

The premiere of Helena Třeštíková's latest documentary film René takes place Thu, July 24, at 7:30pm at Světozor. Named after the protagonist, this long-term observation project for nearly 20 years followed René whose life has been split between prison time and brief periods of freedom. The film stirred a lot of interest in the documentary competition at this year's Karlovy Vary IFF.

TRAILERS OF THE DOCU TALENTS' UPCOMING FILMS

Marking its 4th edition in 2008, Docu Talents from the East took part of the Karlovy Vary IFF industry section to introduce the most remarkable creative documentary projects from Central and East Europe. During a seven-minute presentation, directors and producers of the nine selected projects presented their films, along with clips from the completed footage. DOCU TALENTS from the EAST has been the launching pad for a number of documentaries that, after being completed, successfully attended the festival's documentary competition, e.g., Lost Holiday by Lucie Králová, Other Worlds by Marko Škop, The Mosquito Problem and Other Stories by Andrey Paounov. Blind Loves by Juraj Lehotský, Bahrtalo! Good Luck by Róbert Lakatos or Bye Bye Shanghai by Jana Boková are scheduled to compete in this year's lineup.

DOCUMENTARY FILMS AT SUMMER FILM SCHOOL UHERSKÉ HRADIŠTĚ

Taking place July 25 - August 3, 2008, the 34th edition of the Summer Film School Uherské Hradiště offers a variety of thematic cycles, workshops, lectures and sidebar events. Documentary films in this year's lineup focus primarily on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The section Possibilities of Dialogue: Israel/Palestine features documentaries by Israeil (Amos Gitai) and Palestinian (Michel Khleifi, Rashid Masharawi) directors as well as filmmakers from other countries (Lina Makboul, James Miller). A selection of Czech and Slovak documentaries made over the past few years is included in the section Contemporary Czech and Slovak Film.

BAHRTALO! (GOOD LUCK!) RECEIVES SUPPORT FROM EUROPA CINEMAS

Skirting the border between fiction and documentary, Bahrtalo! (Good Luck!) by Hungarian director Róbert Lakatos received the Europa Cinemas Label Award at this year's Karlovy Vary IFF, adding to the successful run of films that in the past attended the Ex Oriente Film workshop or the East European Forum. A feature film by Stefan Komandarev who is among the participants of the current Ex Oriente Film workshop, ranked fifth in the audience vote out of a total of 195 films.

DOCUMENTARIES BY GYULA NEMES AND JAMES MARSH TAKE TOP HONORS AT KARLOVY VARY

The documentary jury at this year's Karlovy Vary IFF handed out the Award for Best Documentary Film under 30 minutes to Lost World by Gyula Nemes; the Award for Best Documentary Film over 30 minutes went to Man on Wire by James Marsh. Bigger, Stronger, Faster by Christopher Bell received Special Mention. In Lost World, Hungarian director Gyula Nemes - a graduate from FAMU's Dept. of Documentary Film - revisits the disappearing world of Budapest’s Kopaszi dam. The film follows on from his previous documentary The Dike of Transcience that attended the 2005 Ex Oriente Film. Congratulations!

DOCUMENTARY FILMS AT KARLOVY VARY IFF

The documentary competition at the 43rd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (July 4 - 12) will offer 16 films (both under and over 30 minutes long) from around the world. The selection includes films by directors who in the past attended the East European Forum or who presented their documentary project in development at Docu Talents from the East, a panel of upcoming East European documentaries. [photo: Blind Loves, dir. Juraj Lehotský]

FROM BLIND LOVES TO A GALLERY IN THE BELARUSIAN COUNTRYSIDE

The first six months of 2008 saw the completion of a number of films that were developed at IDF's Ex Oriente Film workshop, presented at the East European Forum or featured at Docu Talents from the East in Karlovy Vary. Since the work involved in developing documentary projects is a rather precarious adventure, it is all the more reason to celebrate their gradual journey to theatres. Halfway through the year, there are as many as 5 films headed to European festivals or, alternatively, to DVD players in home-made copies circulating across Belarus. Photo: Deconstruction of an Artist.

THE DECONSTRUCTION OF AN ARTIST COMPLETED

On May 6, the Latvian capital of Riga hosted the premiere of Peteris Krilovs' remarkable documentary film about one of the most controversial figures in Latvia's 20th century art. Klucis went from being an avantgarde pioneer of Constructivism and a prominent of the Soviet regime, to becoming one of the authors of the Lenin cult's public image and a victim of the Stalinist purges. Klucis and his collages are not only the film's subject but also inform its structure. The Deconstruction of an Artist constructs the Soviet Union using archive footage, reconstructs scenes from Klucis' life and deconstructs his avantgarde collages, the Stalin cult and ultimately also Klucis himself. Director Peteris Krilovs and producer Uldis Cekulis developed the project at the 2005 Ex Oriente Film workshop; this year they are going to travel the international festival and market circuit.

THE EDN AWARD 2008 GOES TO INSTITUTE OF DOCUMENTARY FILM

The EDN Award 2008 is presented to Institute of Documentary Film - IDF, located in Prague. They receive the award for their enthusiastic and energetic work with establishing a central organisation and professional platform for the development and promotion of Central and Eastern European documentary. The award will be presented on Friday March 14 at 19:30 (Greek Time) at an award reception at the international documentary pitching session Docs in Thessaloniki.