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Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Short films to compete at Cannes announced

New Zealand director Jane Campion, who won the Palme d'Or in 1993 for "The Piano" and the top short film prize in 1986 for "Peel" will head the jury.
The short film selection committee sifted through over 3,500 submissions from filmmakers in 132 countries to pick just nine to compete at the film fest.
The works selected are: Ali Asgari "More Than Two Hours" (Iran); Mohammed Abou Nasser "Condom Lead" (Palestinian Territories, Jordan); Gudmundur Arnar Gudmundsson "Whale Valley" (Iceland, Denmark); Sasaki Omoi "The Meteorite and Impotence" (Japan); Gilles Coulier "Mont Blanc" (Belgium); Elzbieta Benkowska "Olena" (Poland); Annarita Zambrano "Ophelia" (France); Moon Byounggon "Safe" (South Korea); and Adriano Valerio "374S" (France).
Cannes organisers also unveiled the 18 films selected to compete in the Cinefondation selection which highlights student films from around the world.
They include 14 fiction films and four animated films chosen from the 1,500-odd films submitted.
Three Cinefondation prizes will be awarded.
Nine films will compete for the short film Palme d'Or at next month's Cannes film festival, including a Palestinian work for the first time, organisers said. New Zealand director Jane Campion, pictured in Berlin on February 11, 2013, will head the jury.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Afghan films at Guggenheim NYC


Afghan films at Guggenheim NYC

History of Histories: Afghan Films, 1960 to Present
Fri, Mar 1, 15, 22, and 29, 2 pm
Organized by independent curator Leeza Ahmady and artist Mariam Ghani, this series of fiction films, newsreels, and documentaries juxtaposes contemporary work with selections from the archive of Afghanistan’s national film institute, and documents Afghanistan’s history and vibrant culture. English subtitles.
Leeza Ahmady and Mariam Ghani introduce the film program on March 1 and March 29.
Qadar Tahiri, Khan-e-Tarikh (The House of History), 1996Qadar Tahiri, Khan-e-Tarikh(The House of History), 1996. Courtesy Afghan Films
March 1, 2 pm
Selections from the Afghan Films Archive(1967–80, 54 min.)
In these newsreels, documentary and propaganda shorts, and feature film clips drawn from the archive of Afghan Films, Afghanistan’s national film institute, the changing fashions, mores and politics of the constantly reconfigured state are reflected. With films from the end of the monarchy (the Zahir Shah period), the Daoud republic, the Afghan Communist republic, and the Soviet puppet state.
Khan-e-Tarikh
(The House of History, 1996, 20 min., dir. Qader Tahiri)
The only documentary produced by Afghan Films during the civil war years, The House of History is an intensely personal essay film directed by longtime cameramen Qader Tahiri that incorporates footage shot by six other cameramen from 1991–96 and poetic narration by Sher Mohammed Khara. The first half chronicles the destruction of Kabul during the civil war, while the second half meditates on the ruin of Kabul’s archaeological museum and the efforts to save fragments left behind after its destruction in 1991.
Fiction Shorts by the Jump Cut Film Collective
(2009–10, 10 min.)
The Jump Cut Film Collective was founded in Kabul in 2009 by a group of young, independent filmmakers who share both production duties and formal concerns. In the Name of Opium (dir. Sayed Jalal Hussaini) lies at the more experimental end of their output, with a completely nontraditional, circular or open-ended narrative structure and no dialogue. Formally, however, it is among the most completely realized of their films, with strong cinematography setting up a series of memorable images, each a small story in itself, and each a part of a larger opium-driven vicious cycle.
Feature: Akhtar Maskara
(Akhtar the Joker, 1980, 90 min., dir. Latif Ahmadi)
A stinging social critique of the gap between rich and poor, old and new Kabulis at the end of the 1970s, and the story of an unusual young man who falls into the cracks in between. Based on the novel by Aham Rahaward Zariab, and commissioned by the Parcham government, the film was shot by beloved director Latif Ahmadi in only 18 days; perhaps because of the literary source material, perhaps because of the compressed production time, it has a quality unlike anything else in Afghan cinema, with sharp cinematography, a twisting plot, and occasional breaks where our unreliable narrator (Faqir Nabi) addresses the camera directly.
Total run time 169 min.
Barmak Akram, Kabuli Kid, 2009
March 15, 2 pm
Documentary Shorts from Ateliers Varan Kabul
(2011, 47 min.)
Ateliers Varan, the documentary training program initiated by direct cinema pioneer Jean Rouch, has operated workshops in Kabul since 2006, in cooperation with Afghan Films and Radio Television Afghanistan. Shorts produced in Varan Kabul workshops have been screened in major documentary film festivals and broadcast internationally. The shorts Dusty Night and The Postman were produced during a workshop around “The Streets of Kabul,” and observe the rituals and rhythms of the city without judgment or commentary, unless offered by the participants observed. In Mohamed Ali Hazara’s Dusty Night, a group of street cleaners who fight a losing battle against the ever-present dust coating the city, and in Wahid Nazir’s The Postman, the eponymous postman Khan Agha attempts to deliver mail in a city reconstructed without a formal system of street names or house numbers.
Fiction Shorts by the Jump Cut Film Collective
(2009–10, 28 min.)
The Jump Cut Film Collective was founded in Kabul in 2009 by a group of young, independent filmmakers, who share both production duties and formal concerns. The early shorts ANT (dir. Hashem Didari) and Devious (dir. Sayed Jalal Hussaini) display Jump Cut’s preoccupation with narrative filmmaking that uses nonlinear temporal structures, as well as their interest in the illegal and informal economies, the petty and not so petty thefts, grifts, and deceits that spring from the inequities and poverty of Kabul.
Feature: Kabuli Kid
(2009, 94 min., dir. Barmak Akram)
In writer-director Barmak Akram’s debut feature, the life of cab driver Khaled (Hadji Gul) is thrown for a loop when he discovers that his last passenger left an infant boy in the backseat. Determined to do the right thing, Khaled embarks upon a chaotic adventure from one end of war-torn Kabul to the other to find the mother, all the while finding himself increasingly attached to the young life that fate has placed in his hands.
Total run time 169 min.
Latif Ahmadi, Akhtar Maskara (Akhtar the Joker), 1980Latif Ahmadi, Akhtar Maskara(Akhtar the Joker), 1980. Courtesy of Afghan Films
March 22, 2 pm
Selections from the Afghan Films Archive
(1967–80, 54 min.)
In these newsreels, documentary and propaganda shorts, and feature film clips drawn from the archive of Afghan Films, Afghanistan’s national film institute, the changing fashions, mores, and politics of the constantly reconfigured state are reflected. With films from the end of the monarchy (the Zahir Shah period), the Daoud republic, the Afghan Communist republic, and the Soviet puppet state.
Khan-e-Tarikh
(The House of History, 1996, 20 min., dir. Qader Tahiri)
The only documentary produced by Afghan Films during the civil war years, The House of History is an intensely personal essay film directed by longtime cameramen Qader Tahiri that incorporates footage shot by six other cameramen from 1991–96, and poetic narration by Sher Mohammed Khara. The first half chronicles the destruction of Kabul during the civil war, while the second half meditates on the ruin of Kabul’s archaeological museum and the efforts to save fragments left behind after its destruction in 1991.
Fiction Shorts by the Jump Cut Film Collective
(2009–10, 10 min.)
The Jump Cut Film Collective was founded in Kabul in 2009 by a group of young, independent filmmakers, who share both production duties and formal concerns. In the Name of Opium (dir. Sayed Jalal Hussaini) lies at the more experimental end of their output, with a completely nontraditional, circular or open-ended narrative structure and no dialogue. Formally, however, it is among the most completely realized of their films, with strong cinematography setting up a series of memorable images, each a small story in itself, and each a part of a larger opium-driven vicious cycle.
Feature: Akhtar Maskara
(Akhtar the Joker, 1980, 90 min., dir. Latif Ahmadi)
A stinging social critique of the gap between rich and poor, old and new Kabulis at the end of the 1970s, and the story of an unusual young man who falls into the cracks in between. Based on the novel by Aham Rahaward Zariab, and commissioned by the Parcham government, the film was shot by beloved director Latif Ahmadi in only eighteen days; perhaps because of the literary source material, perhaps because of the compressed production time, it has a quality unlike anything else in Afghan cinema, with sharp cinematography, a twisting plot, and occasional breaks where our unreliable narrator (Faqir Nabi) addresses the camera directly.
Total running time 174 min
Toryalai Shafaq, Mujasemaha Mekhandan (The Sculptures Are Laughing), 1976Toryalai Shafaq, Mujasemaha Mekhandan (The Sculptures Are Laughing), 1976. Courtesy of Afghan Films
March 29, 2 pm
Documentary Shorts from Ateliers Varan Kabul(2011, 47 min.)
Ateliers Varan, the documentary training program initiated by direct cinema pioneer Jean Rouch, has operated workshops in Kabul since 2006, in cooperation with Afghan Films and Radio Television Afghanistan. Shorts produced in Varan Kabul workshops have been screened in major documentary film festivals and broadcast internationally. The shorts Dusty Night and The Postman were produced during a workshop around “The Streets of Kabul,” and observe the rituals and rhythms of the city without judgment or commentary, unless offered by the participants observed. In Mohamed Ali Hazara’s Dusty Night, a group of street cleaners who fight a losing battle against the ever-present dust coating the city, and in Wahid Nazir’s The Postman, the eponymous postman Khan Agha attempts to deliver mail in a city reconstructed without a formal system of street names or house numbers.
Fiction Shorts by the Jump Cut Film Collective
(2009–10, 28 min.)
The Jump Cut Film Collective was founded in Kabul in 2009 by a group of young, independent filmmakers, who share both production duties and formal concerns. The early shorts ANT (dir. Hashem Didari) and Devious (dir. Sayed Jalal Hussaini) display Jump Cut’s preoccupation with narrative filmmaking that uses nonlinear temporal structures, as well as their interest in the illegal and informal economies, the petty and not so petty thefts, grifts, and deceits that spring from the inequities and poverty of Kabul.
Feature: Mujasemaha Mekhandan
(The Sculptures Are Laughing, 1976, 81 min., dir. Toryalai Shafaq)
The deliriously paced story of an artist who falls in love with a spoiled rich girl, who marries a gangster that then draws both her and her former love into his wacky schemes. A window into life in Daoud’s republic, from art school and fashion shows to house parties and weddings.
Total run time 156 min.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

"Kallo School" by Sahra Mousavi in Italy

"Kaloo School" by Sahra Mousavi in Film Festival, Film Middle east now Florence.

before "Kaloo School" short documentary by Sahra Mosawi was one of the winners in 5th Annual International Women and Minorities in Media Festival
"Kaloo School": In rural north Afghanistan there is a village with 2500 families but only two schools. Every child spends about 5 hours getting to school, which is hard and sometimes impossible, especially for girls. This documentary is a symbol of present Afghan life, trying to build back and to show how how the present day life for Afghan people and children after the NATO invasion. 

The Florence International Film Festival will held on 3-8 April 2013.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Call for entry of KUKI International Short Film Festival for children and youth berlin 2013


Submit Films


Submit films from March 1 to
May 24 2013

We'd love you to take advantage of the elegant service provided bywww.shortfilmdepot.com
Films should be no longer than 20 minutes.
Regulations (pdf)
Submit films for:

KUKI 6th International Short Film Festival for Children and Youth Berlin 2013

10 - 17 November 2013

Entry deadline: May 24 2013


The coming KUKI festival will present approximately 100 films during eight festival days in various competition categories and special programmes. Short films selected for competition will compete for a total cash prize pool of €3000.

Children and youth juries will confer ‘KUKI Awards’ in the following categories:

Competitions
• International Films for Children
• International Films for Youth

Special Programmes
• Documentaries for Children and Youth
• Environmental Film Programme
• English, French & Spanish Foreign Language Programmes
• Workshops

We'd love you to take advantage of the elegant service provided bywww.shortfilmdepot.com! It saves us typing thousands of entries! Regular entry forms are only available upon request (in exceptional cases).
Last year a film under name "The Glasses" short film by S. Hussein Mousavi was official selection on this festival.
Source: interfilm website

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Special mention de festival international du film d'environnement for "Dusty night" by Ali Hazara


Special mention de festival international du film d'environnement pour Dusty night

After prize of the Best Film from CINEMA DU REEL 34th IDFF and The Night Award for Documentary (Prix de Nuit documentaire) honors films, which represent reality in an ambivalent and enigmatic way, avoiding stereotypes of representatio, simple conclusions and Best prize from 12th Doclisboa from Portugal for "Dusty Night" now Special mention de festival international du film d'environnement pour Dusty night.

Dusty Night: Shadows among shadows, the night of Kabul sweepers move a heavy dust along an avenue. Pictures torn from the dust and the night in car headlights, in the light of a shop or a petrol pump.

Saturday, February 23, 2013

43rd Giffoni Film Festival


REGULATIONS

43rd edition 19th-28th July 2013

submission-form
INTRODUCTION
The Giffoni Film Festival is organised by the independent Association: “Ente Autonomo Festival Internazionale del Cinema per Ragazzi e per la Gioventù”, a non-profit Association that was constituted in 1973. It is supported by the Campania Regional Government, POR Campania, the Italian Ministry for Arts and Culture, the Salerno Provincial Administration and the Municipality of Giffoni Valle Piana. Other associations, organisations, institutions and private sponsors also support the Festival.

The 43rd edition of the Giffoni Film Festival will take place 
under the Patronage of the Italian Head of State.


OBJECTIVES
For over 43 years the Festival has acted as a sounding board for cinema production destined for children and young people. It represents the ideal place for vivacious confrontation between filmmakers, producers and distributors and also provides a bridge between the sector’s production universe and its target audience. The Festival also aims to promote the knowledge and circulation of products of high artistic value, capable of contributing to the formation and cultural growth of a mature critical conscience in young people.


1. OFFICIAL SECTIONS
1.1    Elements +3 – competitive section for short animation movies for children from 3 to 5 years of age.
1.2    Elements +6 – competitive section for feature length films and short films (fiction and animation) for audiences from 6 to 9 years of age.
1.3    Elements +10 – competitive section for feature length films and short films (fiction and animation) for audiences from 10 to 12 years of age.
1.4    Generator +13 – competitive section for feature length films (fiction and animation) for audiences from 13 to 15 years of age.
1.5    Generator +16 – competitive section for feature length films (fiction and animation) for audiences from 16 to 18 years of age.
1.6    Generator +18 – competitive section for feature films and short films (fiction and animation) for audiences from 18 years on.
1.7    Parental Control – non competitive sections for feature length films released in the Italian territory during the 2012/13 season.
1.8    Previews – Feature films out of competition for youth and families.
1.9    Forever Shorts – Short films out of competition revolving around the theme of the Festival.

Short films must not run for more than 30' while feature length films must  run for at least 60'.

Useful formats for the screenings: DCP, 35mm, DigiBeta, Blu-ray (also BetaSp and DVD for shorts only).


2. THE JURIES AND AWARDS
2.1    For the Elements competitive sections the National Jury is to be composed of children (600 circa per section) who will award the Gryphon to the best feature film and to the best short film;
2.2    For the Generator +13 and +16 competitive sections the International Jury is to be composed of teenagers from all over the world (500 circa per section) who will award the Gryphon to the best feature film and the “Jury Grand Prix”;
2.3    For the Generator +18 section the Jury is to be composed of teachers, university students and cinephiles who will award the Gryphon to the best feature film, to the best fiction and animated short film.
•    The Juries’ decisions are unquestionable.



3. REGISTRATION PROCEDURE
3.1    Terms and conditions for the admission to the selection. Only films produced after October 2011 will be considered for selection and priority will be given to previously unedited filmsONLY FOR FEATURE LENGTH FILMS: THE FILM PFRESENTATION AT ANY OTHER ITALIAN FILM FESTIVAL OR ITS THEATRICAL OR BROADCASTING ON TELEVISION IN ITALY WILL EXCLUDE IT FROM PARTICIPATING IN THE GIFFONI FILM FESTIVAL.

The deadline of DVDs, files or links submission to be included in the pre-selection is the 6th of June 2013.
All DVDs, accompanied by a completed copy of our entry form (only if NOT already submitted online), should be sent to the following address:

GIFFONI FILM FESTIVAL
Via Aldo Moro 4
84095 Giffoni Valle Piana
SALERNO - ITALY

The file/links of the film can be sent to g.brancaccio@giffoniff.it (feature films) and a.grimaldi@giffoniff.it (shorts)

Materials for inclusion in the pre-selection must be sent at the expense of the participants. The DVDs will be returned only if a specific request is made by the sender. Our Association will keep a copy of each film, which will then be kept in our Cine Library and used exclusively for cultural and educational reasons.

3.2    Selection terms. The selection will take place under the unquestionable judgment of the Festival’s Artistic Management who will communicate the results exclusively to the production and distribution companies of the films selected, no later than the 14th of June 2013.

3.3    Materials. On receiving official notification of the film’s inclusion in competition, absolute priority must be given to the dispatch of the following materials:
•    DVD of the entire film (if not already submitted for the pre-selection)
•    Biography, filmography and photograph of the Director (by e-mail)
•    Director’s notes on the film and production notes (by e-mail)
•    Complete list of dialogues in English and/or a list of subtitles (by e-mail)
•    Slides or photographs from the film (by e-mail or ftp)
•    Brochures
•    Posters and flyers
•    Trailer (only for feature films) in video format no longer than 2 minutes (also by ftp)

DVDs, brochures, posters and flyers should be sent exclusively via courier, separately from the print, to the following address:

GIFFONI FILM FESTIVAL
Via Aldo Moro 4
84095 Giffoni Valle Piana (SA)
Salerno - Italy

Note: In order to promote the film in competition, it is essential that the production company give their authorisation for a maximum of 2’ (max. 30” for short films) of scenes taken from the film to be broadcast on National and International television.


IMPORTANT

3.4    ShipmentsAny copies (both feature films and short films) for the official screening must be sent exclusively via courier service to the same address (see above) and the prints must arrive in the Festival’s office no later than the 12th July 2013.

•    All shipments from NON-EU MEMBER STATES must be accompanied by a pro-forma invoice indicating for customs purposes only, a value of no more than $20USD for feature films and $10USD for short films and indicate clearly in writing the following “NO COMMERCIAL VALUE, FOR CULTURAL PURPOSES ONLY”. At the same time the sender must ensure that an e-mail containing the title of the film, the number of packages, the date and coordinates of the shipment (AWB number) is received in the Office of the Festival’s Artistic Secretary.
•    All the films in competition will be screened in original language with the addition of electronic subtitles (with the exception of the Elements +3 and Elements +6 sections, for which a voice-over system will be adopted).
•    The prints must be subtitled in English if they come from non-Anglophone countries.
•    The official copy must be identical to the DVD copy submitted for pre-selection.
•   In case you send a DCP take into account that the Festival needs time for testing and ingesting, so we kindly ask you that it be available from July 10, 2013. In case an encrypted DCP will be delivered, the KDM time-window should be valid from July 15 till July 28, 2013.


4. COSTS AND COMMITMENTS
•    The GFF foresees no cost for admission to the pre-selection.
•    Shipment costs for films in pre-selection are to be covered by the participants
•    All shipment expenses for the films selected for competition, as well as those incurred for their return to their country of origin, will be covered by the GFFIn case the copy of the films is shipped from/to another Festival, we shall cover the cost of only one track.
•    Travel Insurance. The expedition of the prints to and from Giffoni is to be covered by participants. The Festival takes care of insurance for the period of the goods’ stay in Giffoni. The insurance value will not be higher than the cost of re-printing a copy according to the going rate in Italy.
•    Producers and distributors of the winning films are kindly asked to hand a copy of the title either on 35mm or Digital format to the Festival, in order to keep it at the Festival Archive. The copy will not be used for any commercial purposes.


5. DELEGATIONS PARTICIPATION
5.1    TRAVELLING EXPENSES. The Giffoni Film Festival will cover the cost of economy class flight tickets exclusively for the Directors of the feature films in competition.

5.2    HOSPITALITY EXPENSES:
•    Hospitality (B/B and dinners) is foreseen for the Directors and for a representative of the production/distribution company of each feature film in all the competitive sections (the hospitality goes from the day before the screening to the day after the Award Ceremony).
•    Hospitality (B/B and dinners) for a maximum of 3 nights is foreseen for the Directors of the short films in all the competitive sections.

N.B. The Production and Distribution Companies of the films selected are invited to support the participation of their films at the GFF by sustaining the attendance of the leading actors from their films to whom we will be happy to offer accommodation to (B/B and dinners).


6. FINAL MEASURES
•    Entrance into one of the GFF’s competitive sections entails unconditional acceptance of the Festival’s regulations. It is strictly the producers, distributors or any other subjects’ responsibility to guarantee that they are authorized to submit the films at GFF.
•    This list of regulations has been drawn up in both the Italian and English languages. If problems of interpretation should arise the version in Italian will prevail.
•    The management of the GFF is allowed to take decisions that are not foreseen in the above regulations and to change the regulations in special cases. 
•    The Court of Salerno is regarded as the competent authority for all eventual controversy.

Giffoni, November 2012

submission-form