blog.daazo.com

We could sense the first breezes of spring! And we are pretty sure, that it would be the sexiest spring ever!

So we celebrate spring with our new premiere:

It’s kind of duty for us watching the Oscar Ceremony, since we’ve had an Oscar-winner short on Daazo. It’s good to know, that among the flashy scenes at Kodak Theatre are not only high-budget features getting awarded; the next generation is already there with their short films.

This year in the category of Live Action Shorts the Oscar has gone to Philippe Pollet-Villard (France) for The Mozart of Pickpockets.

Everyone - who’s seen the film - is just loving it; Anne Thompson deputy editor of Variety wrote: “Charlie Chaplin would be proud of this charming little comedy, which observes two inept Parisian pickpockets who meet their match in a deaf-mute young street urchin. Though a fair amount of the laughter is dialogue-based, the funniest bits employ good, old-fashioned silent-movie tactics (as in the scene where one thief distracts the suspicious hotel clerk, while his partner attempts to smuggle the child through the lobby in an oversize shopping bag).”

“The Mozart of Pickpockets boasts its share of surprises, but it doesn’t depend on them, putting characters first. Unassuming in its pleasures, yet universal in its appeal, Mozart gets my vote” - she added.

Peter and the Wolf won the Oscar of Animated Shorts. British director Suzie Templeton and Hugh Welchman film’s is an animated version of Sergei Prokofiev’s musical tale for children, which was written and composed in 1936. Peter lives in a world where he has to confront evil and his struggle against the wolf leads to his transformation. A fragile little boy, Peter discovers his own strength and, with the help of a few friends, becomes a true hero.. Anne Thompson wrote: “If I had to predict a winner, this would be it… Templeton’s interpretation seems to favor the animals and even features a mushy new twist: after capturing the wolf, Peter lets the misunderstood beast go free, revealing the hunters as the true villains of the story.“

The good thing is that both winners (Mozart… and Peter and the Wolf) are very well made, brave atworks, but watchable, entertaining shorts at the same time; this is what we prefer on Daazo too.

And don’t forget: we already presented an Oscar-winning animated short: Ferenc Rofusz’ The Fly.

“Five years have past now since we organised the first time in Miskolc “CineFest”, the International Festival of Young Filmmakers. To our greatest pleasure near thousand filmmakers and ten thousands of spectators visited this event the last four years, from every corner of the world. Our goal, to give an occasion to the young directors under 35 years to show and measure their works at that festival, has been achieved. From year to year, our festival has became more and more succesful and talked about, a fact proven by the number of the films encreasing every year and by the recognition of many guests, experts and filmmakers, who are coming back to us year after year. We are getting lots of feedback from filmmakers who have been awarded at the first time at our festival, and since their works are regularly invited to other Hungarian and international festivals.” - Tibor Biró, President of the Festival

Cinefest Film Festival is surely a unique festival for young filmmakers. The good atmosphere joins to full house screenings and extreme parties at night. Nevertheless Cinefest has a very strong programme each year, featuring the best films from all around. It would be a shame to skip this great Festival.

This year the Festival has a special category: Woman in Films.

Find more info and application form here: http://cinefest.hu/en/
Application deadline: 31. May 2008

The festival is open for short films less than 60 minutes and made before May 2008.

Our friends (Nisi Masa, Moviement) launched a very interesting project indeed. If you are fancy to make a documentary on and about the Russian railways, apply to CineTrain workshop, and cross this enormous country with your camera!

Organising an itinerant cinema event; NISI MASA old-timers have been nurturing this crazy idea ever since the origins of the network. It took the arrival of the Russian association Moviement, for the dream to become reality. Our enthusiastic Moscow-based colleagues intend to bring up-to-date a unique working method, invented by Russian documentary filmmakers in the 1930s. It was called the ‘Cine-Train’.

Film crews, under the guidance of Aleksandr Medvedkin, used to travel through the Soviet Union in specially equipped wagons. Although they were filming the industrial achievements of the regime, the underlying goal was to give the power of speech to people who didn’t normally have the opportunity to get their voices heard.

In 2008, the international workshop will hopefully ensure the legacy of this spirit, but will focus its interest on the notion of borders. “Did we just cross the European border?” 18 young filmmakers will constantly ask themselves along the 9 302 km of the mythic Trans-Siberian railroad track. Where does Europe ‘end’? What concrete expressions or feelings of this border can be found? From Moscow to Vladivostok, NISI MASA and Moviement want to offer the participants (rallied into 6 shooting crews) the possibility to answer these questions in a stimulating atmosphere, supported with professional tutors, far away from clichés and preconceived ideas.

A three-week adventure, this Euro-Asian workshop planned for September 2008 certainly is an ambitious project, supported by the European Cultural Foundation and the Council of Europe, in cooperation with the 6th Vladivostok International Film Festival.

CineTrain is going to be held from 1th September to 21th September.
Application deadline: 31th of March

Preparatory films should be uploaded onto Daazo!

For further infos visit:

http://www.moviement.livejournal.com/

http://www.nisimasa.com

The members of the International Short Film Jury Marc Barbé (France), Ada Solomon (Romania) and Laura Tonke (Germany) award the following prizes:

The Golden Bear to
O zi bună de plajă by Bogdan Mustaţă (Romania)

The film raises questions about its issues rather than bring resolution to them. It does so in a very precise and unpredictable way.
We feel that it is one of the most precious things when a film stays with you and keeps unravelling long after the final credits have ended.

The Silver Bear to
Udedh bun by Siddharth Sinha (India)

The Silver Bear goes to Udedh bun for its modern narration. A sharp focus that relies on a harmony between images and sound rather than words.
We are also sensitive to the new erotica brought to the traditional figure of the desired woman in the history of cinema.