LE QUATTRO VOLTE at La Quinzaine des Réalisateurs

LE QUATTRO VOLTE (THE FOUR TIMES), by Michelangelo Frammartino, will be in Cannes at La Quinzaine des Réalisateurs, where it will be officially screened for the first time. The project won a Production Award (150.000 €) at the TFL Meeting Event in November 2008, and started the production in March 2009. The film is produced by Vivo Film (Italy), Invisibile Film (Italy), Ventura Film (Switzerland) and Essential Filmproduktion (Germany). International distribution and sales: Coproduction Office (France/Germany).

Interchange kicks-off with its first workshop in Turin

13 scriptwriters from European and Arab countries will gather in Turin from the 2nd to the 7th of May 2010 for the first workshop of Interchange - Development and Co-production Workshops for the Arab World, launched thanks to the support of Media International, in partnership with Dubai International Film Festival and EAVE.

During this first workshop the scriptwriters will work on developing their scripts under the guidance of 3 Interchange tutors: Italian story editor Gino Ventriglia, French story editor and scriptwriter Antoine Le Bos, Lebanese scriptwriter Jacques Akchoti. Lectures and pitching training will be part of the workshop schedule.

Afterwards the participants will continue to develop their projects during the online sessions, and reach the final step during the second workshop, which will take place during the Dubai International Film Festival in December 2010. On this occasion the scriptwriters will attend the workshop with their producers, who will have a dedicated programme designed by EAVE. The final workshop includes a pitching event and one-to-one meetings with film industry professionals from the EU and Arab regions.

The following 11 projects will participate in Interchange 2010:

KOSHER SWINE FLU, writer/director Basil Khalil (Palestine), producer Christopher Simon (Lebanon/Australia)

ABUNDANCE, writers/directors Firas Khnaisser (Lebanon) & Samer Ghorayeb (Lebanon), producer Tinatin Kajrishvili (Georgia)

HABIBI 99, writer/director Mousaed Khaled (Kuwait), producer Talal Al-Muhanna (Kuwait)

BEIRUT, I LOVE YOU, writers/directors Zena El Khalil (Lebanon) & Gigi Roccati (Italy), producer Marta Donzelli (Italy)

STUFFED MARROWS, writer/director Zaid Abu Hamdan (Jordan/Lebanon), producer Heba Abu Musaed (Palestine/Jordan)

THIS WAR ON LOVE, writer/director Hind Shoufani (Palestine), producer Dima Ansari Hamoud (Kuwait)

KHSARA: VOID AFTER EXPIRATION, writer/director Suha Araj (Palestine), producer Rumzi Araj (Palestine)

HEAVEN SENT, writer/director Wissam Charaf (Lebanon), producer Charlotte Vincent (France)

A PLANE FOR MY SOUL, writer/director Maythem Ridha (Iraq), producer Manda Popat (United Kingdom)

A PERSONAL OBLIGATION, writer/director Haifaa Al Mansour (Saudi Arabia), producer Amr Al Kahtani (Saudi Arabia)

SMILE! YOU’RE IN JEDDAH, writer/director/producer Ahd Kamel (Saudi Arabia), producer Amr Waked (Egypt)

The Pixel Lab: extended deadline!

The deadline for The Pixel Lab applications has now been extended by a week to this Friday, April 23.
The Pixel Lab is a brand new residential course to be held 4 - 10 July 2010 in the 5* St. David’s Hotel & Spa in Cardiff. The cross-media lab is open to European media professionals with a strong track record in their sector, and has a particular focus on the creation, finance and distribution of cross-media properties to create sustainable European media businesses. The Pixel Lab will enable European film producers and other media professionals to tap into the business knowledge-base of the film, online, broadcast, gaming and mobile industries.
A Programme for the event is also available online: http://powertothepixel.com/news/uncategorized/pixel-lab-programme-online.

Thomas Mai workshop

Tuesday, 27 April 2010 – Cineporto, Turin

MEDIA Antenna Turin in collaboration with TorinoFilmLab hosts an intensive one-day workshop with the international sales expert Thomas Mai about new models to promote, finance and distribute films:

“Learn how to connect and build a database of fans before, during and after you have made a film. Learn how to create merchandise for free that you can sell to fans even before you have made your film. The Internet has taken out the expensive middleman in any other business and now the time has come to the film business. VOD, COD, DOD and crowdfunding are tools that are available today. By using these tools filmmakers will have more time to focus on their films and become truly independent film makers”. T. Mai

The workshop is organized by the Antenna MEDIA Torino, information office for the MEDIA Programme of the EU, in collaboration with TorinoFilmLab, Maia Workshops, and TOP-IX, with the support of Film Commission Torino Piemonte.

For any information about the programme and participation modalities: T: +39.011.539853 – E: info@antennamediatorino.eu - www.antennamediatorino.eu

In development

The projects KHORRAMSHAHR by Massoud Bakhshi (TFL Training 2009 and Development 2010) and POSTCARDS FROM THE ZOO by Edwin (TFL Development and Production Award 2009) have been selected by the L'Atelier du Festival de Cannes. Each year, L'Atelier selects about 15 feature length projects from around the world, and invites their directors and producers to the Festival de Cannes in order to put them in contact with film professionals, international financiers and to speed up the production process.

A POLITICIAN’S WIFE, by Jan Bonny (TFL Training 2009) received 20.000 Euro development funding from the Filmstiftung NRW.

WOLF, by Bogdan Mustata (TFL Training 2009 and Development 2010) has been selected for Sarajevo’s  CineLink Plus and will be presented directly at the CineLink Co-Production Market during the Sarajevo Film Festival in July.

NO NAME, by Marco van Geffen (TFL Training 2009) received development funding within the 'Oversteek' programme, a funding programme originated from the Dutch Filmfund, in cooperation with three broadcasters, NPS, AVRO and VPRO. The programme funds second features. Furthermore Marco is starting to shoot his first feature AMONG US, the first part of the trilogy about THE DRAMA OF THE HAPPY FAMILY, of which NO NAME is part.

After the Meeting Event 2009, French producer Philippe Liegeois from Rezo Films has joined the project HEAVY WATER by Fabrice Main (TFL Training 2009 and Development 2010). Marianne Dumoulin and Jacques Bidou from JBA Production (France) have joined KHORRAMSHAHR by Massoud Bakhshi (TFL Training 2009 and Development 2010).

Shootings

The shooting of THE SLUT, by Hagar Ben Asher (TFL Development and Production Award 2009) is planned to start this May.

Post-production

RED CROSS by Hugo Vieira da Silva (TFL Development and Production Award 2008) and HIGH SOCIETY by Aditya Assarat (TFL Development and Production Award 2008) are currently in post-production. The editing of RED CROSS will be finished this month.

The FOUR TIMES by Michelangelo Frammartino (TFL Development and Production Award 2008) has just completed post-production.

Festivals & Awards

AGUA FRIA DE MAR by writer-director Paz Fábrega (Costa Rica, France, Spain, Netherlands, Mexico, 2010), winner of one of the TorinoFilmLab Production Awards (120.000 €) in November 2008, won the competition in the International Film Festival Rotterdam. The jury assigned the Tiger Award because 'the superb editing ensures an organic flow of images, whilst the strong directing and disturbing atmosphere create tension.'

The short film Rita, by the writers-directors Antonio Piazza & Fabio Grassadonia, which is an exploration of the female character in their feature project SALVO (TFL Development and Production Award 2009), has been screened and awarded at the Festival D'Angers Premiers Plans (prix ARTE Courts Metrage Europeens), Tampere Film Festival (Diploma of Merit), the International Film Festival of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Prize for  the Best Short Film), Aspen ShortFest (Award for the Direction). It will participate also at Mecal International Short Film Festival of Barcelona (April 2010), Athens International Film and Video Festival (April 2010), Busan IFF (May 2010), Curtocircuito International Short Film Festival (May 2010) and Vineyard Film Festival (May 2010)

Save the date!

The third edition of the TorinoFilmLab Meeting Event will take place in Turin, from November 28th to November 30th 2010.