Biography

REZA MIRKARIMI (27.1.1967, Tehran) graduated from the Fine Arts University in Graphic Arts. His cinema activities began in 1987 with a series of shorts followed by two TV series for young people. His 1999 first feature, THE CHILD AND THE SOLDIER, has won several national and international awards. His 2000 second feature UNDER THE MOONLIGHT (2001), dealing with social and religious issues, won the 40th Critics' Week Best Feature Award at the 2001 Cannes International Film Festival. A fifth feature, AS SIMPLE AS THAT, won the 2008 Golden St George Best Film Award at the Moscow IFF. Three of his films have been entered by Iran for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar: SO CLOSE, SO FAR (2005), A CUBE OF SUGAR (2011) and TODAY (2014). 

Synopsis

The strict and traditional Mr Azizi leads an uneventful family life in an oil town of southern Iran. Then one day, exasperated by her father's authoritarianism, Setareh announces she is off to Tehran to say farewell to one of her best friends who is leaving Iran for good. Unfortunately, the engagement celebrations of Setareh's younger sister are taking place simultaneously. Despite her father's objections Setareh takes the plane for Tehran. This act of disobedience sets in motion a series of perturbations that upset the calm tranquility of the paterfamilias.

Biography

Born in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, in 1969. He studied music, engineering and film before the Balkan War broke out in 1992.

He left Sarajevo to study directing in Brussels. His documentary shorts include Portraits d’artistes pendant la guerre, L’Aube and Ça ira. He began writing his debut feature No Man’s Land in Paris. In 2001 he completed the film, which the following year won the Best Foreign Film Oscar.

Synopsis

Death In Sarajevo is a feature based on the play of the French philosopher, journalist and writer Bernard-Henri Levy. The film is about the existential fears, anxieties and moral dilemmas that plague modern European society.

Biography

Born in Bulgaria, Ralitza lives and works between England, Bulgaria, and France. She studied Fiction Directing at the National Film and Television School in the UK. Her films have won acclaim at film festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, and Locarno. In 2007 she was awarded the Prix UIP, Best European Short Film at Berlinale for her film ROTTEN APPLE. One of her following shorts, BY THE GRACE OF GOD (2009), premiered in Cannes, and is currently distributed by the British Film Institute and Tate Modern. In 2016, her feature debut GODLESS premiered at FF Locarno, where it won the Golden Leopard. Ralitza is an alumna of Torino Film Lab’s Frame Work 2013, Le Groupe Ouest 2013, Sarajevo Film Festival's CineLink 2015, and the Women in Film Finishing Fund, Los Angeles.

Synopsis

A nurse traffics the ID cards of demented patients on the black market of identity theft. Driven by easy cash, and an addiction to morphine, she struggles to keep tabs on her emotional void, and a growing fear of punishment.

Biography

Petr Kazda and Tomas Weinreb studied documentary filmmaking at FAMU, Prague. Whilst there, they began collaborating with and together, they have shot several student films and written feature scripts, and in 2011 they founded their own production outfit, Black Balance. I OLGA HEPNOVARA (2016) is their debut feature film. It was selected at the Berlinale Panorama. 

Synopsis

Olga Hepnarova was a young, lonely lesbian outsider from a coldhearted family who couldn’t play the part society desired of her. Her paranoid self-examination and inability to connect with other people eventually drove her over the edge of humanity when she was only twenty-two years old.

Biography

After receiving a training in plastic technologies, Soner Caner worked in the areas of production design, art direction and special effects makeup. In 2009, he won the award for Best Art director at the Altin Koza Film Festival for the feature film THE BREATH (NEFES), directed by Levent Semerci. He collaborated with Barış Kaya on the feature RAUF, which was selected at the Berlinale Generation in 2016.

A graduate of the Department of Cinema and Television at Anadolu University in Eskişehir, Turkey, Barış Kaya has worked for film production companies and directed numerous television commercials. He also worked at the second director on the 2009 feature film THE BREATHE (NEFES).

Synopsis

Rauf hopes to win over his big crush, the older Zana, with the help of the colour pink. But what does pink really look like anyways, and will he even be able to find it in his snowy little Kurdish village up in the mountains? 

Biography

Born in Palermo, Andò debuted as assistant director, working with Francis Ford Coppola, Federico Fellini, Michael Cimino and Francesco Rosi, among others. In 1986 he debuted on stage directing La foresta-radice- labirinto, a puppet theater work based on an Italo Calvino's original story and with puppets drawn by Renato Guttuso. After several documentary films, Andò made his feature debut film in 2000, with Il manoscritto del Principe, produced by Giuseppe Tornatore. His debut novel, Il trono vuoto, won the Campiello prize for best first work; from the novel he derived the film Viva la libertà, with whom he won the David di Donatello for Best Script and the Nastro d'Argento for Best Screenplay.

Synopsis

A charismatic monk named Roberto Salus is a guest at a meeting of G8 finance ministers held at a luxury hotel on the Baltic coast. But who invited the taciturn friar in the snow-white habit? And who killed one of the financiers who are planning radical changes to the world economic order?

Biography

Jan Hřebejk (b. 1967, Prague) is one of the Czech Republic’s most prolific and versatile film directors. He has also directed for the stage since 1997 (one of his most talked-about productions was Bullets over Broadway). His debut Big Beat (1993) won the very first Czech Lion Awards for Best Picture and Best Direction. Cosy Dens, which competed at KVIFF in 1999, and Pupendo (2003) feature among the biggest hits of post-revolution Czech cinema. Hřebejk was nominated for an Academy Award for the war tragicomedy Divided We Fall (2000), and received another Czech Lion for Best Director. Since filming Kawasaki’s Rose (2009), he has opted for more weighty moral and social themes. Two of his films have been in the main competition at Karlovy Vary in the past decade: Beauty in Trouble (2006, Special Jury Prize) and Honeymoon (2013, Best Director).

Synopsis

The principal of an elementary school calls a special parents meeting after it’s alleged that the seemingly empathetic and kindly-looking teacher Mrs. Drazděchová uses her students to manipulate their parents. Although this confidently-directed drama is set in the era of late Czechoslovak Normalization, the multifaceted study of pathological manipulation has universal applicability.

Biography

Tomasz Wasilewski (b. 1980, Toruń, Poland) studied direction at the Film and Television Academy in Warsaw (2001) and graduated in film and television production from PWSFTviT in Łódź (2006). He shot the short Flameless (Nawiść, 2001) and the short documentary One Man Show (Show jednego człowieka, 2008). His feature film debut In a Bedroom (W sypialni) received its international premiere in KVIFF’s Forum of Independents in 2012 and enjoyed huge success at a series of other international festivals. He returned to Karlovy Vary a year later for the European premiere of his next film, Floating Skyscrapers (Płynące wieżowce​​), which garnered him Best Film in the East of the West Competition. Wasilewski was a member of the East of the West jury in 2014. His third feature United States of Love premiered in competition at this year’s Berlinale.

 Synopsis

The advent of the 1990s brought fundamental social change and a wealth of new possibilities. The film’s four heroines of different ages long for fulfilment in their lives and want to be part of that change. Created by one of the most distinctive artists working in Poland, the picture is dominated by exquisitely captured moments of searing, wretched desire for love and intimacy, and also by precise lensing from Oleg Mutu. Silver Bear for Best Script at this year’s Berlinale.

Biography

Ivan I. Tverdovsky (b. 1988, Moscow) graduated from Moscow’s Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in 2011. He shot several documentaries that enjoyed success at various Russian and international festivals, among them As If Waiting for a Bus (Slovno zhdu avtobusa – short doc, 2009), Pianism (Pianizm, 2012), and Space Dog (Sobachiy kaif, short doc, 2013). His feature film debut, the drama Corrections Class (Klass korrektsii), inspired by the novel of the same name by psychologist Ekaterina Murashova, was screened in its international premiere at KVIFF 49, competing in the East of the West Competition, where it won Best Film. The picture subsequently played at a series of international festivals, winning further awards along the way (e.g. Cottbus, Thessaloniki and Marrakesh). Last year he sat on the jury of the East of the West Competition and this year he returns to Karlovy Vary with his second feature Zoology.

Synopsis

Natasha is a lonely, middle-aged admin employee at the zoo who still lives at home with her mother. One day her life is turned upside down when she discovers she has grown a tail… A realistically structured story into which the director deftly inserts a fantastic motif in a film that speaks of loneliness, otherness, fear, and also of the courage to be different.

Biography

Katherine Mathilda "Tilda" Swinton (born 5 November 1960) is a British actress known for both arthouse and mainstream films. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Michael Clayton.

Bartek Dziadosz is a filmmaker and PhD candidate at London Consortium (Birkbeck). He graduated from Law and Film Studies at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow and Contemporary Media Practice at the University of Westminster. Most recently he has collaborated as a DoP and editor on three films from the series 'The Seasons in Quincy: Four Portraits of John Berger.' In 2013 he finished his own documentary ‘The Trouble with Being Human These Days’, a film essay about the life and work of Zygmunt Bauman. He has also edited two documentaries directed by Agnieszka Piotrowska: 'The (un)Finished Portrait of Lech Walesa' and 'The Engagement Party in Harare.' Bartek is currently managing the Derek Jarman Lab, a media research and teaching unit at Birkbeck. His doctoral research looks at editing as a complex cognitive and cultural practice.

Synopsis

British writer, painter and art critic John Berger has for decades lived a secluded life in the French Alps. He does however have visitors, friends who are kindred spirits: artists from different fields who share his broad-minded outlook, such as actor Tilda Swinton, director Christopher Roth, musician Simon Fisher Turner and fellow-writer Colin MacCabe. Each of their encounters is framed by one of the eponymous four seasons, and with each new visitor, the visual style changes. The conversation is sometimes simple, sometimes of a philosophical nature; at other times they merely sit together in silence. But it is an eloquent silence where the thoughts that have just been exchanged continue to hang in the air and can be contemplated further – also by the viewer. Naturally, there are also political stances, for John Berger is not just a man of words: in 1972, for example, he donated half the money he received for the Booker Prize to the Black Panther movement. The rugged, mountainous landscape and its inhabitants provide a charming backdrop to the discourse; it is a landscape that has increasingly found its way into Berger’s work in recent years.

Biography

Born in 1961 in Zurich, Switzerland. Since 1981 produces own short films and videos. 1984-90 Attends DFFB (Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie, Berlin). Since 1990 works as independent filmmaker and video artist. Teaches film and animation workshops.

Synopsis

Animal tamers from various continents shine in the spotlight and struggle for their existence behind the scenes. Between toiling and smiling, the female circus artists disclose their passion for their “wild” animals and extraordinary profession: a daily life full of dedication and discipline in the midst of mortal danger.

Biography

Born in 1963 in Lviv, Ukraine. Graduated from Russian State Institute of Cinematography VGIK in 1989 and became one of the most acclaimed contemporary Russian documentary filmmakers and producers. Directed more than 30 award winning films. As producer, among others Mansky worked with directors like Renata Litvinova, Alexander Rastorguyev, Sergei Loznitsa. He is the producer of the national award Lavrovaya Vetv (Laurel Branch) for the best Russian documentary films. Vitaly Mansky moved to Latvia in 2015.

SYNOPSIS

Russian citizen and Soviet-born Ukrainian native, Mansky crosses Ukraine to explore Ukrainian society after the Maidan revolution, as mirrored within his own extended family that is scattered all across the country: in Lviv, Odessa, Donbass and on Crimea. The film is looking for reasons of the conflict after which citizens of a single country found themselves on different sides of barricades, including director's own family. The main narrative takes place now, but the undercurrent brings out information about the century deep roots of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Biography

Harutyun Khachatryan (b. 1955, Akhalkalak, Georgia), after completing his film studies at the State Teaching Institute (1981), worked for an Armenian documentary film studio and later at Hayfilm/Armen film. In 2004, he founded “Golden Apricot” Yerevan International Film Festival and heads it till present. Since 2006, he is a member of European Film Academy. He is a laureate of many prominent international film festivals.

Synopsis

Deadlock is the second installment in the five-documentary film series dedicated to the Armenian Diasporas by filmmaker Harutyun Khachatryan. After having obtained a green card for the United States, Levon leaves his homeland. Unfortunately, the USA is not what it pretends to be through advertisement and pop culture. Deadlock is a painful musing on exile and disillusionment as well as a politicalinquiry  into what it means to live in a capitalist country.

Biography

Grant Gee is a filmmaker based in Brighton, England. He has made documentaries about anarchists, rock groups, rock climbers and writers. His 1997 film MEETING PEOPLE IS EASY about Radiohead was nominated for a Grammy. He also directed the iconic music video for the group’s song "No Surprises". His film JOY DIVISION won the UK’s Grierson Award for Best Theatrical Documentary (2008). His film THE WESTERN LANDS won Best Short Film at the Banff Film Festival (2008). His 2012 film PATIENCE (ADTER SEBALD), about WG Sebald’s unclassifiable masterpiece "The Rings of Saturn", premiered at the New York Film Festival and enjoyed successful theatrical runs in both the UK and US, 

Synopsis

Orhan Pamuk – Turkey’s Nobel laureate for Literature – opens a museum in Istanbul. A museum that’s a fiction: its objects trace a tale of doomed love in 70’s Istanbul. The film takes a tour of the objects as the starting point for a trip through images, landscapes and the chemistry of the city.  A film about Istanbul, love, memory and loss.

Biography

Pieter-Jan De Pue graduated from the visual arts school RITS with his short film 0, which received the third prize at the United Nations Mediterranean Environmental Awards in Almería and special mentions at other festivals. As part of his work on this documentary, he has been traveling for long periods of time to Afghanistan, photographing the country and its people for organizations such as the International Red Cross, Caritas Internationalis, and Demining.

Synopsis

In this seamless blend of fictional and documentary form, we experience a stunning cinematic journey into the beauty of war-tormented Afghanistan. Shot over seven years on evocative 16mm footage, first-time director Pieter-Jan De Pue paints a whimsical yet haunting look at the condition of Afghanistan left for the next generation. De Pue’s transportative and wonderfully crafted film confronts the visceral beauty and roughness of survival, serving as a testament to the spirited innovation of childhood and the extreme resilience of a people a

Biography

Vakhtang Varazi  was born in 1973. He has graduated the film department of Georgian State Institute of Theatre and film.

Filmography: Rafugee boat Enguri  -2016, Murder on Gobelin Street – 2012, The birthday -1994, N 16  -1993

Synopsis

Batumi is the tourist center of Georgia. Every day a large number of locals and tourists watch the ships entering or leaving the port. There is only one ship, „Engury“, with its crew of two that never leaves the port. The three of them are refugees from Abkhazia. Lado is the captain and Vakho is the boatswain. They never leave their almost broken ship, anchored in Batumi port. They stay on board in winter or summer, in sunny or stormy weather.

Lado and Vakho are the only hope for „Enguri“. If the captain and boatswain do not get money urgently to repair the ship, it will not survive the next winter. It will either sink in the port or be sold as scrap metal.  That was the fate of six out of seven refugee ships, with „Enguri“ being the last one remaining.

Biography

Amit Madheshiya was born in 1982 in Mau, in the state of Uttar Pradesh. He studied in New Delhi, taking a degree in English from Hindu College and a Master in media and communication from the Jamia Millia Islamia University. He now lives in Mumbai.

Synopsis

Once every year, traveling cinemas bring the wonder of the movies to faraway villages in India. Seven decades on, as their lorries and cinema projectors crumble and film reels become scarce, their audiences are lured by slick digital technology. Filmed over five years, The Cinema Travelers accompanies a shrewd exhibitor, a benevolent showman and a maverick projector mechanic who bear a beautiful burden –to keep the last traveling cinemas of the world running

Biography

KRZYSZTOF KOPCZYŃSKI Born in 1959 in Warsaw. Producer, screenwriter, film director and educator. Assistant Professor at the Warsaw University, specializing in media. He holds a PhD in Humanities from the Warsaw University. Owner of Eureka Media, a film production company (since 1997). Considered and often awarded as the best documentary film producer in Poland. His films have received more than a hundred awards on international film festivals. Author of acclaimed “The Stone Silence” (2007). He is a member of the European Film Academy, the Polish Film Academy. Polish Filmmakers Association and “Future of Media” International Association (2002-08, President). He is also a certified coach with the International Coaching Community.

Synopsis

The Ukrainian city of Uman is a burial site of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, one of the most important figures of Hassidism. Every year tens of thousands of pilgrims come here to celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The film shows the tensions arising between pilgrims and local residents. When this poor post-communist city comes back to life thanks to its Jewish guests, the ghosts of nationalism and religious intolerance are revived, too.

Biograhy

Nino Shaburishvili is a georgian film Director. She was born in Tbilisi, Georgia in 1983. In 2011 she was accepted at the film school in Strasbourg and moved to France. After finishing the study in filmmaking, Nino shooted the short film Guest, with georgian production companies Artizm and Gemini

Synopsis

Ten-year-old Andro carries hot corn to sell it on the beach. His family arrives from France for holiday to neighbor's house. After visiting them for dinner Andro returns to home with great impressions.

Biograhy

DeaKulumbegashvili was born and raised in Georgia. Dea studied film directing at Columbia University School of the Arts and media studies at The New School in New York. Her debut short film Invisible Spaces was nominated for Palme D'Or at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2014. It was also the first film from independent Georgia to be part of the official competition at the Cannes International Film Festival.

Synopsis

By the river of oblivion, a lonely horsemen passes through a village where children play with hidden desires, adults are indulged in a celebration and violence and love are instinctive parts of life.

Biography

Tbilisi, 1982. He has been living and working in New York since 1991. Later he graduated in Film Studies from the Cinecittà NUCT Film School in Rome. Since then, he has worked as a director’s assistant on various projects in both the USA and Europe.

Synopsis

A middle-aged man and woman are the only ones living in an abandoned village when lights start appearing in some of the empty houses. Each character reacts to this phenomenon differently. Their lives will never be the same again.

Biography

Gabriel Khotivari was born in Tbilisi on November 17, 1992. In 2013, he was accepted to Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Cinema University on faculty of Film and Television on film directing. At the same time, he was taking qualification courses in photography and script development.  Gabriel have worked on variety of documentary films including “edelweiss”. He participated Georgian-German project “Urban Stories”, where his script won funding, gave him an incentive for further work.

Synopsis

Stories of two women, two stories developed at streets of Tbilisi. Two unrealized people molten in daily routine, who are part of the society and even though they choose radically different ways, they still have something similar.

First one is bus conductor, she spends time from 6 AM til 12 PM in public transport. Second one is a prostitute. Despite the fact that both of them have to communicate with the different people within the day, their lives are monotonous and unbearably heavy. Every night, after the working day their ways intersects on the way back home at subway carriage.

Biography

Born in Tbilisi (Georgia), Anna Sarukhanova graduated from the Faculty of Journalism at Moscow State University and continued her education at the Directors’ Faculty of the Postgraduate School of Screenwriters and Film Directors (V. Khotinenko, V. Fenchenko and P. Finn workshop). Anna’s debut short film “Away” won The Best Debut prize at “Kinoproba” International Film Festival (Russia). She also shot several music videos for Georgian, Russian and other international bands. Currently Anna is starting to work on her first full feature film.

Synopsis

Two sisters go to visit their grandfather, but he is not home and the door is unlocked. This has already happened before, but the last time he could not remember his way home. The girls have to decide what to do, knowing that the family’s tradition is more about letting people deal with their own troubles than rescuing them…

Biography

Born in 1988 in Moscow. Graduated from Moscow State Pedagogical University with a degree in teacher of Russian language and literature. In 2014 she entered The Marina Razbezhkina and Mikhail Ugarov School of Documentary Film and Teatre. Her course work "Alien" participated in the international documentary drama film festival «Saratov sufferings» in 2015.

Synopsis

An eccentric lady, by the name of Doña Lucia, runs a Spanish restaurant in the heart of Moscow. And every day there is a party, complete with singing and dancing. It's as if Lucy has it all, even love, but enjoying it is getting harder and harder.

Synopsis

Dito (25 Years) has a coffee break and outside  meets a Friend , Buta (25 Years ) whom he has not seen for a long time. He sits in his car and gets in situations he has never experienced before, because Buta is a scammer...

Biography

born in 1986 holds a BA in film making from Soureh university. He has directed the following pictures: Maybe I don't know, the silence and kech.

Synopsis

A nurse sacrifice her life on saving the life of a little girl in a war zone.

Synopsis

Matador is the story of a man who wants to face an unfinished relationship to overcome his character because of which he made wrong decisions and regretted once upon a time. He decides to attend to his ex-girlfriend’s wedding. But he cannot overcome his character that is full of mistakes. Matador focuses on the psychology of this passive individual who cannot overcome himself.

Biography

He worked with an Italian film company as a DoP in 2009. He completed his MA in Istanbul Bilgi University Film Television. He made 9 short films including some documentaries. One of his shorts Baydara 'Fate of Edra' is awarded with the best feature short film in Adana International Golden Boll. Currently he has made a Mexican co-production with the short film El Matador that was in the competition in Guanajuato Film Festival. Currently he is developing the creative documentary Tanks and Sounds of Afghanistan which is selected and attended respectively BIAFF Alternative Wave and Antalya Film Forum Documentary Pitching Platform.

Biography

Hawraz Mohammed (born 1983, Sulaymaniah, Iraq/Kurdistan) earned a BA in Sociology from the University of Sulaimanyah. He has over ten years experience in filmmaking for Sky TV in Kurdistan, and he has made several documentaries for community channels worldwide.

Synopsis

This film tells the story of a man that lost his wife and children during the mass exodus of Kurds in 1991. He spends all his life searching for them.

Biography

Konstantina Kotzamani studied Pharmacy and Cinema. Her short movies have been selected and awarded in several international festivals. In 2013, she directed the short MORNING PRAYERS. Her film WASHINGTONIA (2014) premiered in the Berlinale Shorts Competition and was nominated for the EFA European Short Award. Her last short film is LIMBO (2016), which premiered in Cannes' La Semaine de la Critique and won Best Fiction at Curtas Vila do Conde.

Synopsis 

The leopard shall lie down with the goat.

The wolves shall live with the lambs.

And the young boy will lead them.

12+1 kids and the carcass of a whale washed ashore…

Biography

At the age of 7, after having left her native Afghanistan, Chabname Zariab settled in Montpellier (France). She took part in a writing competition and was the Ile de France winner at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008, as part of the youth award. When you hear the bells is her first fiction short. She is currently working on her next novel and the development of a first feature, Les Ambitieuses.

Synopsis 

In Afghanistan, “batchas” are young boy prostitutes in private houses where they have to dress as girls and dance for an audience of men, under the “protection” of a master. Saman, 15, is already an old, almost pubescent, batcha, who is concerned to see the “new guard” arriving in the figure of Bijane, a young boy he has to initiate.

Biography

Born in Romaniain 1991, she studied film directing at the National University of Theatre and Film I.L. Caragiale in Bucharest. She has written and directed a number of documentaries and short films including PERENNIAL PLANTS which won the Critics Awardat the International Student FF CineMAiubit in Bucharest in 2013. Her 2016 short, A NIGHT IN TOKORIKI, won awards at Berlinale Generation and Transilvania IFF.

Synopsis

There’s a party in the Tokoriki nightclub. It’s Geanina’s 18th birthday and the whole village is there. The neon palm is lit up and the DJ is wearing his golden shirt. Alin and his friends ride up in style in the horse-drawn cart and take over the dance floor. But Alin seems to have something on his mind. His eyes sparkle when he sets eyes on Geanina, which doesn’t escape her boyfriend’s attention. Emotions are running high. Will there be an escalation tonight?

Biography

Alexandru Badea is currently studying at the Caragiale Academy of Theatrical Arts and Cinematography in Bucharest. All Rivers Run to the Sea (16) is his latest short.

Synopsis

Radu is having a hard time dealing with his mother’s death.

Biography

In 2014, Piotr P. Gołębiowski participated in Development Lab (feature film programme, film directing course) at Wajda School (formerly the Master School of Film Directing by Andrzej Wajda). “Mother” is his debut film. He is currently working (development stage) on his full length feature thriller “Advocate”. 

Synposis 

The film is inspired by true events which took place at the turn of 1943/1944 in the town of Legionowo, near Warsaw.

Biography

Miroslav Sikavica was born in 1975 in Zagreb, Croatia. After studying Comparative Literature and Croatian Language and Literature at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, he studied Film and Television Directing at Zagreb’s Academy of Dramatic Art. THE BEAST (2016) is his second short fiction film. It was presented at the Director's Fortnight in Cannes.

Synopsis

A rashly accepted job at a construction site in a coastal resort becomes a pain in the neck of a backhoe loader operator from the hinterland who, in order to retain paternal authority and get the legal, but dirty demolition work done, needs to remove an unwanted witness.

Biography

Fanni Szilágyi was born in Szeged Hungary, in 1986. After studying photography at the University of Kaposvár Hungary and in Aarhus, Denmark she was admitted to Cinematographer Studies at the Hungarian Film Academy. Right now, she is a graduate student as a film director. Beside working as a photographer and a director of music videos, she is directing short fictions.

Synopsis 

Niki, a young gypsy girl keeps skipping school to take time with her only friend, a white wolf in the zoo. Meanwhile, she gets into conflict with the strong male community of the workers of the zoo.

Biography /Filmography

2015 - Onyros (web-series) - Writer / Producer

2015 - Questa non è una bicicletta (short film) - Writer / Producer

2014 - Il segreto di Italia (feature film) - Production Coordinator

Synopsis

A young couple is about to take a flight to Paris when they find out that the man's baggage exceeds the weight limits. Something needs to be taken out of the baggage, but the man has something to hide...

Biography

Gáspár Fehér (27) is a fifth year student of University of Theatre and Film Arts in Budapest as a scriptwriter. He will graduate in June 2016.

He started a script consulting company with his classmates.

Synopsis

A boy who dreams about becoming a successful businessman is studying hard at the library. With an important university exam to take, he must soon rush off to catch a train. But bored and with nothing to do, the librarian accuses him of underlining the books. The boy doesn't know if misses the train, through chain of coincidences he'll end up as a depressed ice-cream man.

Biography

Born in 1982. Graduated from Kyiv National Karpenko-Kary University of Theatre, Cinema and Television in 2005 as film director. Directed social videos, worked as 1 AD at the production of the Ukrainian historical movie Maxym Osa. Collaborated as song writer with different Ukrainian singers and bands and won several literary awards.

Synopsis

 Galicia in the 1940's. In the forests of the Carpathian Mountains, Slavko and Nusia stop for a night to rest in small shabby house. However, when they enter the house they find themselves inside a furnished city apartment from the 1930s with packed bookshelves and oil paintings. A place in which they glimpse their parallel lives as intelligent members of the Galician community and not weary members of the underground living in constant state of fear. But when NKVD agents come to get them, we see the cabin as it is. But where is the couple?

Biograhy

Valentin Kruse , son of cinema operators , was born in 1989 in Berlin . After studying law in Berlin he started to study directing at the University of Television and Film Munich in 2013.

Synopsis

Two undercover cops follow an anonymous tip-off about a refugee woman prostituting herself from a private apartement - they try to prove their accusations by all means and measures.

Biography

Jure Pavlović Jure Pavlović (1985) graduated film and TV directing at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. He took part in different international workshops and talent venues like Berlinale Talents, Sarajevo Talent Campus, Sources 2, MAIA, etc. His short films Half an Hour for Grandma (2010) and Umbrella (2012) were shown at more than 50 festivals winning six awards. His third short film Picnic (2015) premiered at the 65th Berlin IFF in the Generation 14plus programme.

Synopsis

Sarajevo, rush hour. Emir (15), accompanied by a social worker, is on his way to meet his father Safet for a weekend picnic at Igman, a semi-open penitentiary. Due to the heavy traffic they are late ...

Biography

Pedro Peralta was born in Lisbon, where he lives and works. In 2012 he completed the Masters in Film Studies, where he directed the short film MUPEPY MUNATIM (2012), which was selected and awarded in several national and international film festivals. His latest short is ASCENSAO, selected to premiere at the Cannes' La Semaine de la Critique.

Synopsis

At dawn, a group of peasants tries to rescue the body of a young man from the inside of a well. Women veil their faces in silence while men endure the situation. In the centre of it all, a mother awaits her son's body. How can life cease to be when in nature there is an enduring renewal?

 Synopsis

"What is essential is invisible to the eye ", but Felice's machinery can photograph it.

Biography

Alexander Kvatashidze was born in Tbilisi in 1977. After graduating from Nikoladze Art College he continued study in Tbilisi State University and then in Tbilisi State Academy of arts. Later, in 2005 he moved from pictorial art to filmmaking and enrolled in California State University in San Jose on the film department. Aside of directing, Alexander has been a cinematographer for the number of films.

Synopsis

After falling in love with a photographer, a young man follows her to war and steps into the shoes of a WAR REPORTER. Soon he realizes he wants to be one of them, not sure why. It will take him 15 years to trace the people who throw themselves into the frontline and to understand their true motivations.

Biography

By her original profession Mzia Manjavidze is a musician and she decided to become a film director later. First she studied in the studio of Kakha Melitauri, later as a PhD student, while she made “fable” as a part of her PhD program under the guidance of Misha Kobakhidze. Apart from that she had made two other short films: “Mefistowaltz” and “Thieves don't act like this”.

Sinopsis

“When one is mistreated he should be able to respond in a right way and defend himself, or if he does not in a due time, later on, with a bitterness in his heart, he may become a worse person and remain all his life suppressed. “ - reads the young teacher in his pupil's essay, who presents his own view of Sulkhan Saba Orbeliani's well-known fable. Since then the teacher's way of living changes drastically.

Synopsis

Postoto is an epitaph to Oto Katamadze, a budding young musician from Batumi, who instilled a love of classic rock-n-roll like Led Zeppelin in his schoolmates and then assembled a group of them, which turned out to be one of the most prominent and influential Georgian bands a few years later. Then Oto was killed in a car accident.  Assembled of spoken word pieces from close friends and fellow musicians, the film causes almost physical feeling of loss: Postoto is a story without a protagonist. The uncomfortable emptiness gapes where he used to be.

Biography

Filippova Margarita was born in Moscow in 1984 on 19 January.

He graduated from the Faculty of winemaking and brewing engineer-technologist.

In 2013 she entered the Moscow School of New Cinema at the Faculty cameraman, the workshop operator Oleg Lukichev. It works photo and video editor in the online media Mediazona (https://zona.media/) and Open Russia (http://openrussia.org/)

Biography

David Meskhi David Meskhi was born in 1979 in Tbilisi, Georgia. After gaining a Master's Degree in Hydro ecology, Meskhi decided to change his profession entirely and turned to art. He received a Bachelor's Degree in Photo Journalism at Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film State University, Tbilisi, Georgia. Since 2004 Meskhi has been working as a photographer and photojournalist.

Salome Machaidze  Born on 16th of August, 1973. In 1995 graduated from Tbilisi State Academy of Art, department of Production Design. In 2000 graduated from the Berlin University of the Arts, department of Visual Communications; and in 2002 - from the department of Experimental Media, at the same university. In 2003 she obtained Master's Degree under the supervision of Professor Heinz Emigholz

Tamar Karumidze Born on 16th of June, 1975. In 1998-2003 studied audio and visual media at Berlin Academy of Arts. In 2007-2008 she obtained a Master's Degree at the Academy. Her works have been screened at various International Film Festivals, Art Forums and Exhibitions in Germany, Georgia, Netherlands, Austria, France and Switzerland. Besides her personal projects, she had worked as an assistant director at various movies.

Synopsis

A poetic documentary about modern youth... the stories of kids, skaters, artists and musicians in a post soviet Georgia - a country in a distracted condition, where one can be crashed by the power of church and politics. A close look at the rich world of teenager dreams and sentiments, being lost searching for non existing spots of freedom and romantic state of mind.

Biography

Pedro Peralta was born in Lisbon, where he lives and works. In 2012 he completed the Masters in Film Studies, where he directed the short film MUPEPY MUNATIM (2012), which was selected and awarded in several national and international film festivals. His latest short is ASCENSAO, selected to premiere at the Cannes' La Semaine de la Critique.

Synopsis

At dawn, a group of peasants tries to rescue the body of a young man from the inside of a well. Women veil their faces in silence while men endure the situation. In the centre of it all, a mother awaits her son's body. How can life cease to be when in nature there is an enduring renewal?

Biography

George Tserodze was born in 1986 Batumi. In 2007 he graduated from  the Shota Rustaveli State University, Faculty of Social Sciences. From 2007 works as a journalist on "Adjara TV". He is news reporter and military analyst . He was reporting about  various conflicts in region. In 2009 he graduated from the State University of Art and  "School of Conflict Reporting". His first diploma thesis is documentary short film "Reincarnation 1389" which is dedicated to the war in Yugoslavia. The film "From Gumista  to Dnepr "his  first feature-length documentary film.

Synopsis

“From Gumista  to Dnepr" reflects the daily life of Georgian warriors in ATO of Ukraine. In all of infantry battalion georgian warriors are fighting for  sovereignty of the country. Camera crew was working in a region of Donetsk and Lugansk for a week. this is a place where Georgian warriors are fighting against Russian separatists.

Biography

George was born in 1973 In Batumi. During 1980-1990 years he studied. At Batumi #1 High School,  In 1990-93 years studied at Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film University. 1990-2000 worked at  Batumi fingers Theatre, 2001 -2015 lived in London. The film "MAY" is George's debut film.

Synopsis

The film is set in modern Georgian immigrants living, cultural and social aspects. Action takes place in the United Kingdom, but in Georgia as a virtual television space arises. Shadow homeland only news programs and television series seen. Georgian emigrants living routine, which is the only well-known restaurant "Georgians" work and friends is limited to the coexistence of the British men's appearance violated. Their relations with the content and the main motivation. Love that 2 people will unite and a new phase of relations,  will be followed by fear and uncertainty, but in the end love wins.

Biography

He was born in Tbilisi (Georgia), in 1957. From 1975 to 1981 he studied at the Film and Theatre Institute in Tbilisi where he was taught by Eldar Shengelaya and Otar Iosseliani. In the eighties and nineties he worked in Georgia as director's assistant with various filmmakers and in 1984 he directed his first short film, White Nights. For Georgian television he made Dakhatuli tsre (The Drawn Circle) in 1988, and the short films Stumrebi (Guests) in 1990, and Sakhli (Home) (TV movie) in 1992. The short film still interests him as can be seen from the fact that in 2002 he shot a new short film called Eine Erotische Geschichte (An erotic tale). In the late nineties he moved to Berlin, where he currently lives. He has directed three full-length films, Zghvardze (On the border), 1993, which won the Silver Leopard at the Locarno Festival and the Golden Eagle at the International Black Sea Nations Film Festival in 1993; Lost Killers, 2000, shown in the "Un certain regard" section at Cannes in 2000 and at Zabaltegi in the same year. Lost Killers took part in festivals like the East European Youth Cinema Festival in Cottbus (Germany), and at the Salonika Festival where it won the Award for best director and best actor. Schussangst won the Golden Shell at the San Sebastián Festival.

Synopsis

Giorgi, an unemployed actor and looser is suddenly confronted with his 15-year old daughter whom he hasn't seen for 10 years. He desperately pretends to be a rich man with a successful life. But his daughter isn't that stupid.

Biography

Cristian Mungiu born in lasi, Romania, first studied English language and literature at the University and worked for a while as a teacher and journalist. Later on he moved to Bucharest and studied film at the Film and Theatre Academy - shooting several short films after graduation. His first feature, Occident, was premiered in Quinzaine des Realisateurs in Cannes in 2002 and was an audience hit in Romania. In 2007, his second feature, 4 month, 3 weeks and 2 days, was awarded the Palme d’Or in Cannes. Several other awards followed, including the European Film Academy awards for best film and best director. He returned to Cannes in 2009 as a producer with the collective film Tales from the Golden Age and as a writer-director in 2012 with Beyond the Hills - double awarded for Best Screenplay and Best actresses. 

SYNOPSIS

ROMEO ALDEA (49), a physician living in a small mountain town in Transylvania, has raised his daughter Eliza with the idea that once she turns 18, she will leave to study and live abroad. His plan is close to succeeding -Eliza has won a scholarship to study psychology in the UK. She just has to pass her final exams – a formality for such a good student. On the day before her first written exam, Eliza is assaulted in an attack that could jeopardize her entire future. Now Romeo has to make a decision. There are ways of solving the situation, but none of them using the principles he, as a father, has taught his daughter.

Biography 

Ken Loach (b. 1936, Nuneaton, UK) studied law, had a short stint in the theater, and was hired by the BBC in 1963 as an assistant director. He grabbed the limelight with the TV play Cathy Come Home (1966) and with his first two features, Poor Cow (1967) and Kes (winner of the Crystal Globe at the 1970 KVIFF). Loach spent the next two decades working in TV and making commercially unsuccessful pictures. The turning point came with Riff-Raff (1990), followed by award-winning titles, including Hidden Agenda (1990), Raining Stones (1993), Land and Freedom (1995), My Name Is Joe (1998), Sweet Sixteen (2002), Ae Fond Kiss (2004), The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006), It’s a Free World (2007), Looking for Eric (2009), Route Irish (2010), and The Angels’ Share. Loach’s films have snatched up multiple prizes at various IFF (Cannes, Venice, Berlin) and at Britain’s BAFTA Awards.

 SYNOPSIS

Daniel Blake, 59, has worked as a joiner most of his life in Newcastle. Now, after a heart attack and nearly falling from a scaffold, he needs help from the State for the first time in his life.
He crosses paths with a single mother Katie and her two young children, Daisy and Dylan. Katie’s only chance to escape a one-roomed homeless hostel in London has been to accept a flat in a city she doesn’t know some 300 miles away.

Daniel and Katie find themselves in no-man’s land caught on the barbed wire of welfare bureaucracy as played out against the rhetoric of ‘striver and skiver’ in modern day Britain.

Biograhy

Jim Jarmusch (b. 1953, Akron, Ohio), Nicholas Ray’s student at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, is considered a leading personality of American independent film, a director with a clearly defined creative style. Nevertheless, European cinema has had a considerable impact on his work. After his successful debut Permanent Vacation (1980), he shot Stranger Than Paradise (1984), which collected prizes at the Cannes, Sundance, and Locarno festivals. In his minimalist comedies, full of self-deprecating detachment, he addresses the tensions between differing cultures, as well as feelings of alienation and the loss of traditional values. Mystery Train (1989), Dead Man (1995), and The Limits of Control (2009) screened to Karlovy Vary audiences, as did Broken Flowers(2005), which took the Grand Prix at the Cannes IFF. He expanded his genre range with the vampire romanceOnly Lovers Left Alive (2013).

Synopsis

Paterson is both a bus driver and a poet. He lives with his wife in the town of Paterson, once celebrated, now forgotten. The seven days, during which Jarmusch’s poetic film follows the rhythms of the couple’s life, unfold simply through the director’s gentle humor and his observation of the minute details that make up Paterson’s internal world.

Biography

After studying art in Paris, KIM KI-DUK (1960, Bonghwa, South Korea) returned to South Korea and began his career as a screenwriter. He made his directorial debut with a low-budget movie, Crocodile, in 1996. Since then, he has been hailed by both critics and audiences for his hard-to-express characters, shocking visuals, and unprecedented messages. He continued making internationally acclaimed films such as Samaritan Girl (Silver Bear award for Best Director at Berlin 2004), 3-Iron (Silver Lion Award for Best Director at Venice 2004), Arirang (Un Certain Regard Prize at Cannes 2011). Most notably, Pieta won the Golden Lion Award for Best Film at the 2012 Venice Film Festival.

SYNOPSIS

“STOP” depicts a story of a young couple Sabu and Miki, who move to Tokyo from their home within the ‘danger zone’ following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. The beginnings of their new life is marked by the discovery of Miki’s pregnancy, causing fears that their newborn may be affected by the exposure to radiation. Miki believes the right decision is to get an abortion, but Sabu tries to convince her otherwise. In the meantime, blaming the dependency on electricity for the nuclear meltdown in the first place, Sabu meets Take and together they initiate a plan to cut off power flowing into the city.

Biography

Eva Weber Originally from Germany, Eva Weber is a Londonbased filmmaker working in both documentary and fiction. Her awardwinning films have screened at numerous international film festivals, been broadcast on UK and international television, and shown at art exhibitions and museums. Her film THE SOLITARY LIFE OF CRANES was nominated for the International Documentary Association’s Distinguished Short Award and selected as one of the top five films of the year by critic Nick Bradshaw in Sight & Sound’s annual film review.

Synopsis

Martin, a shy Englishman in his early 20s, is in Poland doing a field study on river pollution when he sees a woman and her son bath in the river, a moment of pure joy. Later, he discovers that Ewa works at the guest-house he’s staying at and he warns them not to bath in the river due to the pollution from the nearby factories. Jacek, Ewa’s son, helps Martin with his research. Ewa invites Martin for dinner before he is to return home to England. Martin misunderstands the invitation and at the end of the night, a little tipsy, he tries to kiss her - but is rejected. The next day he speaks to a lab technician in the UK about the samples he’s sent back for testing– there is some pollution but not where Ewa and Jacek have been swimming. When Ewa doesn’t show up for work and still hurting from the rejection Martin leaves without passing on the message that the river is fine to swim in.

Biography

Mischa Leinkauf, Lutz Henke and Matthias Wermke Mischa Leinkauf, Lutz Henke and Matthias Wermke grew up in Berlin in the 1990s when they learnt to value and utilise the city’s possibilities. A shared enthusiasm for repurposing urban spaces brought the three together early on. Nowadays, they still focus on the same questions and locations in their work, whether it be as ‘filmmaker‘, ‘curator‘, ‘cultural scientist’ or ‘fine artist‘.

Synopsis

Poetry or threat? An act of surrender or perhaps art? These were the theories that New York puzzled over last summer. How can one incident be interpreted in so many ways? Inspired by the heated debate over the two “White American Flags” that suddenly appeared on the towers of New York City’s iconic Brooklyn Bridge, the film asks what kind of societal scope art has in the present day. What happens when threatened freedom reinstates art with the element of danger? Who or what makes it into a threat? Are we safe in the city? What is next?

Biography

Dane Komljen Dane Komljen (1986, SFR Yugoslavia) studied Film Directing at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade. After completing his studies, he made a video installation in Serbia, a short film in Bosnia & Herzegovina and another short in Croatia. He is currently on a Master’s programme in Contemporary Art at Le Fresnoy in France. His films have been shown at the Festival de Cannes, Festival del Film Locarno, IFF Rotterdam, FID Marseille and Sarajevo FF.

Synopsis

From here, you can see everything: the sea to the right, the mountains to the left, the sky in between.

Biography

JörnThrelfallJörnThrelfall studied film and theatre in Berlin, and went on to work for The Discovery Channel and Channel 4 in London. His work has garnered a multitude of honours world-wide. His 30-minute film MOJADO, shot over six days around Mexico City and the southern region of Tehuacan, played in competition at many festivals world-wide. Jörn is currently developing a UK based, feature-length project through his London-based company Lenaray Films. Jörn has been selected as one of the BFI/Screen International’s “Stars of Tomorrow 2015”

Synopsis

OVER presents a crime scene. During the course of nine wide shots, told in reverse order, we witness an intriguing story unfold. What has happened in this quiet neighborhood? A murder, a hit-and-run, an accident? The reality is profound, and deeply unexpected.

Biography

Thora Lorentzen and Sybilla Marie Wester Tuxen Thora Lorentzen (left, born in 1986) and Sybilla Marie Wester Tuxen (right, born in 1990) study documentary filmmaking at the National Film School of Denmark (2013-2017).

Synopsis

A documentary film from Ukraine, summer 14. In this film war is an atmosphere, rather than journalistic facts. Through music we visit all layers of society. In the form of a poem we show how it feels when your country is in an invincible conflict.

Biography

The directors Diaa, Shatha, Abdelkarim and Ahmad al-Haddad are a Palestinian family from Hebron, West Bank. EhabTarabieh was born in the Golan heights in 1982 and graduated from the Sam Spiegel Film & TV school in Jerusalem in 2012. Yoav Gross, born In Jerusalem, in 1977, studied film at Tel Aviv University and has worked as a documentary filmmaker and video activist ever since.

Synopsis

One cold December night, Israeli soldiers come up to the al-Haddad family home in a Palestinian neighbourhood of Hebron and knock on the door. They’ve come to search the house. Diaa, the teenage son, reaches for the family’s video camera. As the search unfolds, a strange power struggle evolves, pitting gun against camera. The night grows colder, and the soldiers take Diaa outside and order him to face the wall. They won’t leave until he stops smiling.

Biography

Till Nowak Born in 1980, Till Nowak is a digital artist, designer and filmmaker and has been working since 1999 as a professional computer graphics artist on his own independent projects and for highprofile clients. Till graduated in 2005 in Media Design from the University of Applied Sciences in Mainz, Germany. He recently moved from Hamburg to Los Angeles. Till’s work has been widely exhibited and awarded and he has given lectures at various events and universities.

Synopsis

A genius musician lives a lonely life in a surreal, floating world. He plays the piano every day in a gigantic concert hall, but there is nobody to listen. One day his animated world collapses and he must face reality. He only has one wish: to share his music with his daughter, but her mother doesn‘t allow it.

Biography

Konstantina Kotzamani A graduate student of the Film Department of Fine Arts of Thessaloniki, Konstantina Kotzamani’s shorts have participated in several international festivals and have won several awards. In 2012, she was a participant of the Berlinale Talent Campus and the Sarajevo Talent Campus as well. Her short film MORNING PRAYERS, co-directed with Katarina Stankovic premiered at Sarajevo FF 2013.

Synopsis

WASHINGTONIA starts when the giraffe’s heart can no longer be heard. WASHINGTONIA is an alternative name for Athens, a place where people, like animals, fall into summertime sadness because of the heat. WASHINGTONIA is the only palm tree that its heart is not devoured by the red beetle. Because its heart is small and dry and no one likes small and dry hearts.

Biography

EmreKayiş Born in 1984 in Turkey, EmreKayiş is an Istanbul-based director and screenwriter. During his studies at the law department of Ankara University, he decided to become a filmmaker after watching BICYCLE THIEVES. Then he moved to London and graduated from the London Film School in 2014 with his final project THE TRANSLATOR. He aims to tell human stories that have a social relevance. Currently he is developing his first feature film entitled Leopard.

Synopsis

Yusuf, a Syrian refugee boy who lives in exile in a remote Turkish border town is chosen for his newfound power but he has to experience how to use it, at the cost of his innocence.

Biography

David Sandberg David Sandberg is a Swedish filmmaker with years of experience in directing television commercials and music videos. In 2012, he quit the commercial directing business and focused on writing a script for an action comedy film set in the 1980s, inspired by action films of that era - Kung Fury.

Synopsis

Miami Police Department detective and martial artist Kung Fury time travels from the 1980s to World War II to kill Adolf Hitler, a.k.a. “Kung Führer”, and revenge his friend’s death at the hands of the Nazi leader. An error in the time machine sends him further back to the Viking Age.

Biography

Giovanni Aloi Giovanni Aloi (Italian, born 22 October 1984) studied Film History and Criticism at the University of Bologna and “arts plastiques” at the Université Paris VIII. After graduating he started working as a writer and camera operator for the Italian TV show “Le Iene”. After this he realised some documentaries, a feature and two short films. 

Synopsis

Italy, during the year 2015: Ali, a Tunisian immigrant working in asbestos removal receives the visa which will allow his wife and daughter to join him. To get ready to welcome his family, he must make a radical decision.

Biography

Lola Quivoron Born in 1989 in Paris, Lola Quivoron completed a preparatory school, studied modern literature and obtained a Masters in Cinema. In 2012, she entered the Film Directing Department at La fémis. She also practices photography. After two narrative short films and a short documentary directed within the school, SON OF THE WOLF is her fourth film.

Synopsis

Between the walls of an ancient military fort, Johnny, a young boy, learns how to train and dominate Iron, his first guard dog.

Biography

José Luis Montesinos Engineer, director and screenwriter. Director for Catalunya Television. Director of several short films such as FINAL (2003), MATAGATOS (2009) and LA HISTORIA DE SIEMPRE (2010). Currently works as director and screenwriter on several feature films, commercials and for television.

Synopsis

Five years ago the boss closed the company and fired 300 workers. The first day that he goes out to run he meets one of them.

Biography

HamyRamezan Finnish-Iranian director/scriptwriter, HamyRamezan studied Film in England, graduating in 2007. RunganoNyoniRunganoNyoni’s films have screened at more than 200 film festivals world-wide. Her most recent short, MWANSA THE GREAT, was nominated for an African Academy Award and a BAFTA 2012. With her partner, she wrote and he directed THE MASS OF MEN which premiered at Locarno FF, garnered more than 60 prizes and was shown at 100 film festivals.

Synopsis

A foreign woman in a burqa brings her young son to a Copenhagen police station to get away from her abusive husband, yet the translator assigned to her seems unwilling to convey the true meaning of her words to the police, thus corrupting the truth of her terrible situation.

Biography

Jure Pavlović Jure Pavlović (1985) graduated film and TV directing at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. He took part in different international workshops and talent venues like Berlinale Talents, Sarajevo Talent Campus, Sources 2, MAIA, etc. His short films Half an Hour for Grandma (2010) and Umbrella (2012) were shown at more than 50 festivals winning six awards. His third short film Picnic (2015) premiered at the 65th Berlin IFF in the Generation 14plus programme.

Synopsis

Sarajevo, rush hour. Emir (15), accompanied by a social worker, is on his way to meet his father Safet for a weekend picnic at Igman, a semi-open penitentiary. Due to the heavy traffic they are late ...

Biography

The Russian film director Andrei Tarkovsky was born in 1932 and attended schools of music and art before enrolling in the Moscow Film School in 1954. His first feature film, his diploma submission at the school, was 'The Steamroller and The Violin' (1961), and his next film, 'Ivan's Childhood' (1962) established his international reputation when it won the Golden Lion at Venice. His place as one of the most important film directors of his period was consolidated by 'Andrei Roublev' (1966), 'Solaris' (1972), 'The Mirror' (1974), and 'Stalker' (1979).

Synopsis

Near a gray and unnamed city is the Zone, an alien place guarded by barbed wire and soldiers. Over his wife's objections, a man rises in the early morning and leaves her with their disabled daughter to meet two men. He's a Stalker, one of a handful who have the mental gifts (and who risk imprisonment) to lead people into the Zone to the Room, a place where one's secret hopes come true. His clients are a burned out popular writer, cynical, and questioning his talent; and a quiet scientist more concerned about his knapsack than the journey. In the deserted Zone, the approach to the Room must be indirect. As they draw near, the rules seem to change and the stalker faces a crisis.

Synopsis:

A man on a train poses as a famous singer and tells passengers all kinds of made-up stories. One of the passangers, with a sparrow in his pocket, can’t stand the man’s boasting. Conflict sparks between them which continues off the train.

Biography

Temur Babluani was born in 1948 in Choluri village, Lentekhi. In 1979 he graduated from Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film Institute (now - university), film directing faculty. As an actor he played in several Georgian films (Malkhaz in Smile Boys, Murtalo in TV adaptation of Kukaracha) and he has directed feature films: Flight of the Sparrows (1980), Brother (1981) and The Sun of the Sleepless (19920. He received prizes on different film festivals, including Silver Bear on the 43th annual Berlin festival for The Son of the Sleepless.

Biography

Vadim Abdrashitov (born 1945, Kharkov, Ukraine)

He is one of Russian cinema's most independent directors and is internationally renown with awards from the Berlin (the Alfred-Bauer Prize for the film The Servant, 1989, Silver Bear, A Play for a Passenger, 1995) and Venice Film Festivals (Golden Medal, 1987 for the film Plumbum or a Dangerous Game). Impressed with the space flight of the first Soviet cosmonaut, he moved to Moscow to study nuclear physics at the Institute of Physics and Technology. Around that time, he developed an interest in amateur filmmaking, and he transferred to the D. Mendeleev Institute of Chemical Technology because it was equipped with a film studio for students.

From 1970-1974 Abdrashitov studied film directing at the Moscow State Institute of Cinematography. His directorial debut was Stop Potapov! (1974). In 1975 Abdrashitov met with the writer Aleksandr Mindadze. That was the beginning of a collaboration that lasted for the next 12 films, which they made together in 30 years. Their films were awarded at many international film festivals such as the Venice Film Festival (1987) and Berlin International Film Festival (1995).

Synopsis

Set "somewhere in the Caucasus," this film by a duo of Russia's major filmmakers gives an unusual twist to the war theme, telling a story of three Russian men-two officers and a folk dancer--who decide to settle down in a recently occupied village. The masterful combination of ironic stylization, human drama, and violence explores Russia's imperial ambitions and complex national identity.

Biography

Temur Babluani was born in 1948 in Choluri village, Lentekhi. In 1979 he graduated from Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film Institute (now - university), film directing faculty. As an actor he played in several Georgian films (Malkhaz in Smile Boys, Murtalo in TV adaptation of Kukaracha) and he has directed feature films: Flight of the Sparrows (1980), Brother (1981) and The Sun of the Sleepless (19920. He received prizes on different film festivals, including Silver Bear on the 43th annual Berlin festival for The Son of the Sleepless.

Synopsis   

Doctor Gela Bendeliani dedicates years to making an anti-cancer vaccine. He conducts experiments in the attic of his apartment but Scientific Council is not interested in his work. Gela’s daughter Agnesa is fed up with neighbors’ scoldings and miserable life, so she sets lab rats free. Gela operates on his own caecum illegally, with his own hands and dies.

Following his father’s death, Gela’s son Dato finds one of the lab rats - artificially diseased Pele - recovered from metastasis which suggests that Gela’s experiments have positive results. 

Film Directors - Various

A new compilation of silent Shakespeare shorts drawn from the British National Film and Television Archive, with a new score. DCP only from May 2016

By the end of the silent era around 300 Shakespeare adaptations had been produced. This celebration from the BFI National Archive draws together a delightful selection of thrilling, iconic and humorous scenes from 24 titles (many unseen for decades), newly digitized and brought to life by the composers and musicians of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.

See King Lear battle a raging storm at Stonehenge, The Merchant of Venice in stencil color, the fairy magic of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and what was probably John Gielgud’s first appearance on film, in Romeo and Juliet (1924).

Biography
Iconoclastic provocateur Peter Greenaway creates cinema that is a collage of academia and art. Rejecting devotion to what he considers the vagaries of traditional textual narrative, Greenaway’s paintings, films, novels, operas, exhibitions, and installations instead utilize visual language. The resulting works are richly realizes explorations of death, sexual pleasure, obsession, and architecture. Selected work includes The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), Prospero’s Books (1991), The Pillow Book (1996), and Goltzious and the Pelican Company (2012).

Synopsis

In this multi-layered, stunningly textured reimagining of Shakespeare’s New World drama, The Tempest, Peter Greenaway takes cinema to the furthest reaches of comprehension, spectacle, taste, and power. Roger Ebert wrote, upon the release of the film, that it should not be considered a movie with a storyline in the usual sense, but rather should be enjoyed as an art book or an elaborate piece of music. Others have written that it is best appreciated as a ballet. Within the 24 “books” or scenes of the film lies a voluptuous retelling of the story of Prospero, deposed duke of Milan, and his beautiful daughter Miranda, shipwrecked on an island in the New World. The books contain all the knowledge, both rational and magical, of the 16th century. Evil Caliban and ethereal Ariel make their appearances, as do other characters. But, here, the play is not the thing, just a blueprint upon which Greenaway can construct an amazing, unforgettable work of cinematic art that may haunt your unconscious mind forever.

Biography

Born in 1933, France. French-Polish director and actor. Graduated from National Film School with Two Men and a Wardrobe(1958). His first feature film, Knife in the Water(1962), made in Poland, was nominated for Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1963. The Pianist(2002), a true story about musician Wladyslaw Szpilman, won three Academy Awards 2003 including Best Director along with numerous international awards.

Synopsis

Roman Polanski imbues his unflinchingly violent adaptation of William Shakespeare’s tragedy of ruthless ambition and murder in medieval Scotland with grit and dramatic intensity. Jon Finch and Francesca Annis give performances charged with fury and sex appeal as a decorated warrior rising through the ranks and his driven wife, scheming together to take the throne by any means. Co-adapted by Polanski and the great theater critic and dramaturge Kenneth Tynan, and shot against a series of stunning, stark British Isle landscapes, this version of Macbeth is among the most atmospheric and authentic of all Shakespeare films.