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

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

RENÉ OPENS IN CZECH THEATRES

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

TRAILERS OF THE DOCU TALENTS' UPCOMING FILMS

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

DOCUMENTARY FILMS AT SUMMER FILM SCHOOL UHERSKÉ HRADIŠTĚ

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

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

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

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

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

PANEL AND CATALOGUE OF FORTHCOMING CZECH DOCUMENTARY FILMS

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

EAST SILVER DEADLINE APPROACHING

...July 31. East Silver is the first documentary market dedicated exclusively to Central and Eastern Europe. The market aims to provide an annual overview of new documentary films and to establish a comprehensive catalogue and an open video library that can be accessed by a broad community of film professionals - buyers, distributors, sales agents or key international film festivals and journalists. East Silver is jointly organized by the Institute of Documentary Film and the Jihlava IDFF. Deadline for submissions: July 31.

DOCUMENTARY FILMS AT KARLOVY VARY IFF

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

IDF LOOKING FOR PRODUCTION MANAGER

Candidates must apply before August 5, 2008. Major responsibilities include: production support for all projects and events organized by IDF (workshop, Forum, panels, screenings, etc.), overall coordination of IDF operations.

FROM BLIND LOVES TO A GALLERY IN THE BELARUSIAN COUNTRYSIDE

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

THE DECONSTRUCTION OF AN ARTIST COMPLETED

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

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.

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.