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.

MAY DOCUMENTARY TREATS FROM DOC AIR

In May, Doc Air offers, among others, an intimate look at the volatile 1960s and civil disobedience in Investigation of a Flame by Lynne Sachs, Nedzad Begovic's witty autobiography Totally Personal, or The Eye of the Day by Leonard Retel Helmrich, exploring Indonesia's political situation. Documentary fans will be sure to enjoy The Key for Determining Dwarfs or The Last Travel of Lemuel Gulliver by Martin Šulík or Karel Vachek's epic Who Will Watch the Watchmen? Dalibor or the Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin (photo).

DOCUMENTARY FILMS TURN MASSES INTO AUDIENCE

An interview with philosopher Václav Bělohradský about documentary film and audiences who respect difference, as opposed to masses who always seek identification, about Guy Debord and his Society of the Spectacle and much more... Director Vít Janeček made the interview for dok.revue, a regular documentary supplement of Literární noviny.

LONGEST CZECH FILMS RELEASED ON DVD

In May 2008, producer Radim Procházka wraps up the long-term project of releasing Karel Vachek's complete filmography on DVD. A couple of previously released films from the 1960's - Moravian Hellas and Elective Affinities - along with the most recent Záviš, the Prince of Pornofolk under the Influence of Griffith's Intolerance and Tati's Monsineur Hulot's Holiday, or The Foundation and Doom of Czechoslovakia (1918 – 1992) will be added to Vachek's tetralogy of film novels. All films come with English, Polish and also, with one exception, French subtitles. During May, prior to the official DVD release party, the National Film Archive (NFA) presents a retrospective of Vachek's films. Multilayered films on multilayer DVDs!

BLIND LOVES BY JURAJ LEHOTSKÝ HEADING TO CANNES

Juraj Lehotský's first feature documentary film will be part of the lineup at the Cannes IFF, as the first Slovak film after almost 40 years. One of the most successful Ex Oriente Film projects Blind Loves will appear in the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs / Director´s Fortnight section that is dedicated to new talents. Oscillating between observation, potrayals of imaginary worlds generated by the blind protagonists and staged everyday situations, Lehotský's documentary was made over the course of 5 years with the Slovak production company Artileria and is distributed by Austria's Autlook Film Sales. After Cannes, Blind Loves is going to be screened at the Karlovy Vary IFF.

CITIZEN HAVEL TAKES AWARD AT FINÁLE PLZEŇ

The documentary competition at this year's Finále Plzeň (April 21 - 27) presented 34 Czech documentary films made in 2007-2008. The international jury decided to give the Golden Kingfisher Award to Citizen Havel (dir. Pavel Koutecký and Miroslav Janek) and the Special Jury Prize to documentary films by FAMU students. [photo: Irene, dir. Lukáš Kokeš]

HOT DOCS AWARDS ANNOUNCED

During the Hot Docs Awards Presentation, held Friday, April 25, ten awards and $30,000 in cash and prizes were presented to documentary films from all around the world. Among the winners, Bulgaria's Corridor #8 (D: Boris Despodov, P: Martichka Bozhilova), a portrait of a misguided infrastructure project that is yet to pass through Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania, received the new HBO Documentary Films Emerging Artist Award.

REGISTER AT EAST EUROPEAN STAND AT SUNNY SIDE OF THE DOC

One of the world's biggest markets for international documentary co-production and sales – the Sunny Side of the Doc (330 commissioning editors and buyers from 120 channels in 50 countries), opens to the East European film professionals again this year. Thanks to the advantageous conditions that IDF negotiated with the Sunny Side of the Doc, East European producers have a chance to register at the East European Stand for discounted price.Postponed deadline: Monday, May 5 2008.

EAST EUROPEAN DOCUMENTARIES AT 2008 HOT DOCS

Celebrating its 15th edition in 2008, Hot Docs presents more than 170 documentary films from 36 countries from April 17 - 27, 2008. Among them are also nine films from Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Lithuania and Poland, including e.g. Citizen Havel by Pavel Koutecký and Miroslav Janek that premiered at this year's Berlinale, or Corridor #8 by Boris Despodov, awarded at the same festival. Toronto is also one of the stops for the East Silver Caravan and its selection of 34 East European documentary gems.

EDN'S LUCKY 1000TH WINS IDFA FORUM ACCREDITATION

The European Documentary Network (EDN) celebrates its successful 12-year effort to develop and expand the worldwide network of documentary professionals by giving out a welcome present to EDN member no. 1000 - a free observer seat at the 2008 IDFA FORUM (Amsterdam, November 24 - 26) that provides access to the world's leading documentary pitching session where financiers annually convene to discover and support new projects.

CZECH DOCUMENTARY FILMS AT FINÁLE PLZEŇ

Finále Plzeň, an annual festival dedicated mainly to Czech feature films, takes place April 21 - 27, 2008. In the documentary section, 34 films made in 2007 - 2008 will compete for the Golden Kingfisher Award. Audiences will have a chance to revisit the latest films by Lucie Králová, Margareta Hruza, Filip Remunda or Jan Šikl, and to discover some of the new voices in Czech documentary filmmaking. [photo: Durban Poison, dir. Keith Jones / Michael Lee / Deon Maas]

AFO HANDS OUT FESTIVAL AWARDS

The 43rd Academia Film Olomouc - International Festival of Popular-scientific and Documentary Films that came to an end Sunday, Apr 20, screened a total of 109 films from nearly 50 countries and hosted more than 12,000 visitors. In the following weeks, a selection of festival films will tour the region; festival highlights will also be presented in other Czech cities as well as in a number of European countries, e.g., Poland, France and Belgium. [photo: Nigel Marven]

EX ORIENTE FILM WORKSHOP: OPEN PROGRAMME

The first session of the year-long Ex Oriente Film workshop includes an open programme that offers a number of screenings and discussions with international documentary filmmakers. This year the focus will be on 3 awarded Danish directors - Eva Mulvad, Phie Ambo and Pernille Rose Groenkjaer - who will be joined by Debra Zimmerman, one of North America's most progressive independent distributors, to discuss Denmark's booming documentary industry as well as alternative distribution channels. Local producers and directors will be able to consult their projects with established experts, producers, directors and distributors. Vienna / April 9 - 13, 2008.

43RD ACADEMIA FILM OLOMOUC

From April 15 - 20, 2008, Olomouc hosts another edition of Academia Film Olomouc (AFO), a festival dedicated to popular-scientific films and educational programmes. The competition lineup offers 17 international and 15 Czech films. This year's retrospective takes a truly in-depth look at the oeuvre of French director Jean Painlevé. Other events: exhibits of caricatures and photographs, concerts and a number of 3D screenings that will take audiences to the Jurassic period or through the streets of Prague. [photo: Fish'n'Pills, dir. Tereza Tara]

POLISH DOCS AWARDED IN KIEV

Marcin Sauter's documentary film The First Day received one of the two main awards at Ukraine's Docudays - International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival (Kiev, March 28 - April 4, 2008). The film was produced by Krzysztof Kopczynski whose directorial debut Stone Silence was awarded Special Mention. Kopczynski's project was first presented at the 2005 East European Forum.

EAST SILVER CARAVAN CONTINUES ITS 2008 TOUR

East Silver, the largest digital market for documentary films from Central and East Europe, hits the road again in April to present a selection of some thirty documentary films made in 2007-2008 at the world's most prestigious festivals and markets. The first stop will be Toronto's Hot Docs (Apr 17-27), other destinations include Visions du Réel - Doc Outlook (Switzerland, Apr 18-24), Crossing Europe (Austria, Apr 22-27) and the Krakow Film Market (May 30-Jun 5).

NEW OFFERINGS FROM DOC AIR

In April, Doc Air - online portal for documentary and experimental film, features, among others, Olga Špátová's I Go Where I Want, two Slovak documentaries - Martin Šulík's Martin Slivka - The Man Who Planted Trees and Marko Škop's Other Worlds (awarded at the 2006 Karlovy Vary IFF) - and a handful of prize-winning docs from Israel, Poland or Austria: Zorki (dir. Zohar Wagner), A Lesson of Belorussian (dir. Miroslaw Dembinski), Promised Paradise (dir. Leonard Retel Helmrich) or Zuoz (photo, dir. Daniella Marxer).

BLIND LOVES IN THEATRES

On Thursday, March 27, 2008, Juraj Lehotský's long-awaited documentary film Blind Loves that captures various forms of relationships among blind people opened in Slovak cinemas. After Marko Škop's Other Worlds, Blind Loves is yet another feature documentary produced by Artileria. In 2006, under the working title Searching, the film attended the year-long workshop Ex Oriente Film.

CITIZEN HAVEL DRAWS 100 000 FILMGOERS

Monday, March 17, the documentary film Citizen Havel (directed by Pavel Koutecký and Miroslav Janek) rewarded its 100,000th viewer who was selected by the film's producers and distributors from the audience attending the Monday screening at Svetozor. The attendance figure ranks Citizen Havel first among documentaries released in Czech cinemas. The film was released in January 2008; from March, cinemagoers can also enjoy the director's cut that runs twenty minutes longer.

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.

SLOVAK DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKERS PROTEST SITUATION AT SLOVAK TV

Unsustainable conditions for documentary filmmaking in Slovak TV have triggered a joint reaction from local documentary filmmakers. On 21 January they published an open letter addressed to the Slovak TV Board. Among the petitioners are leading figures of Slovak documentary film: Milan Balog, Tina Diossi, Mario Homolka, Dušan Hudec, Peter Kerekes, Robert Kirchhoff, Zuzana Kočnerová, Ivan Kočner, Richard Krivda, Marek Kuboš, Juraj Lehotský, Marek Leščák, Ján Meliš, Ivan Ostrochovský, Marcel Pázman, Pavol Pekarčík, Jana Pirohová, Zuzana Piussi, Ján Stračina, Marko Škop, Marek Šulík, Mira Trizmová, Jaroslav Vojtek.

EARLY SPRING ARRIVALS ON DOC-AIR

In addition to drizzles and Easter eggs, March has in store more remarkable films from Doc-Air. Karel Vachek's Elective Affinities (1968, photo) captures the events surrounding the presidential election in Czechoslovakia in the spring of 1968; Vít Janeček's History of Jaroslav Šabata potrays a man whose life is also closely tied with Czech history and politics. Targetting the necessities of contemporary life, Chinese director Hui-Ping Chen tries living without the internet and TV in On/Off... Also look out for the new documentaries from Israel, Russia and Slovakia.

TOUR D'EUROPE DU DOC's FINAL COMMUNIQUÉ

Un Tour d’Europe du doc brought together the European documentary filmmakers’ associations in order to discuss European documentary filmmaking and its financing. The event was focused on screenings of European documentaries, round tables, and encounters with the filmmakers. The debate took place in Paris between December 4 and 8 and led in the first joined press release and a road map for future common steps at the local and European level.