Archive for the ‘Europe’ Category

Winners of Clermont-Ferrand

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

Since Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival is a true home of short films and it has a very prestigious competition, the winners of the festival are giving us a good overview of the landscape of the actual short film industry.

However the winners can be hardly seen by a wide audience, you will might catch them on some other short film festivals.

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION

GRAND PRIX
BLUE SOFA
de Lara Fremder, Giuseppe Baresi, Pippo Delbono
Italie

PRIX SPÉCIAL DU JURY
ELLA
de Hanne Larsen
Norvège

PRIX DU PUBLIC
SINNA MAN (L’homme en colère)
d’Anita Killi
Norvège

PRIX DE LA JEUNESSE
EFECTO DOMINO (Effet domino)
de Gabriel Gauchet
Cuba, Allemagne

PRIX CANAL+
GLENN OWEN DODDS
de Frazer Bailey
Australie

PRIX DES MÉDIATHÈQUES
I LOVE LUCI (J’aime Luci)
de Colin Kennedy
Royaume-Uni, Danemark

PRIX DE LA PRESSE INTERNATIONAL SFR
ON THE RUN WITH ABDUL (En cavale avec Abdul)
de David Lalé, James Newton et Kristian Hove
Royaume-Uni

Short Films in Cannes

Monday, May 11th, 2009

cannescompetitionlogLet’s  take a look of this year’s short film competition of Cannes International Film Festival.  We think it is very useful to have an overview of the selected films. And even if we can not watch them right now, to read their synopsis’ might give us an idea of what kind of short film topics are appreciated in the A-category film industry. So here are the short films in competition.

Mark ALBISTON, Louis SUTHERLAND – THE SIX DOLLAR FIFTY MAN-15′ New Zealand
Set in a 1970s coastal town, The Six Dollar Fifty Man follows Andy, a gutsy 8 year-old boy who is forced to break out of his make-believe superhero world to deal with playground bullies.

Daniel BORGMAN – LARSOG PETER-15′ Denmark
Lars (9) is naïve and innocent, all he wants is for his father to be happy and his family to be together. Lars’ mother is gone and life has been empty and dysfunctional without her.

On the eve of his birthday, Lars’ dad, Peter, gets himself drunk and after an embarrassing argument with the next-door neighbour, Alma, ends up masturbating in the backyard. Lars sees everything.

Alex BRENDEMÜHL – RUMBO A PEOR-12′ Spain
Two men, dressed in football-tricot, wander through nature. As they go astray, they meet a woman on the road. Overwhelmed by her beauty, they perist in her joining them.

The beginning of something or nothing, perhaps. Few words, not much else.

Jochem DE VRIES – MISSEN -12′ The Netherlands
A 7-year old girl is taken to school by her mother. Today is the day that the young girl will go on a school trip with her class. In everything we feel that bringing her daughter to school isn’t a very ordinary occasion for the mother.

Jean-Christophe LIE – L’HOMME A LA GORDINI-10′ France
End of the 70’s, an imaginary suburb, the custom is to wear neither underwear nor trousers, only orange tops. With the help of a masked rebel driving a blue R8 Gordini, Mister R and his wife plot a radical clothing revolution and the assault of monochromic orange totalitarianism.

Goran ODVORCIC – CIAO MAMA-10′ Croatia
A single Mother is leaving her young Daughter to go on a trip with her new lover. The Daughter overcomes the fear of abandonment and in the state of bewilderment does whatever is necessary to provoke her Mother; make her acute to their needs and re-question their roles and relationship. The Daughter lightly resorts to the threats of suicide, asks her father to move in with him – saying anything that will arouse her mother.

Laila PAKALNINA – KLUSUMS-14′ Latvia
Unfortunatly we could not find a synopsis for this film.

João SALAVIZA – ARENA-15′ Portugal
Mauro is under house arrest. Tattooing helps him while away the time.
Three local kids taunt him through his window. Outside, the midday sun beats down.

Emma SULLIVAN – AFTER TOMORROW-15’United Kingdom
Returning to the village of his estranged wife, James grows increasingly concerned when the sinister owner of the guest house refuses to let him leave. A psychological suspense with a surprising yet moving denouement.

via www.festival-cannes.com

Berlinale Short Film Awards

Thursday, February 12th, 2009

david oreillyThe members of the International Short Film Jury Khavn de la Cruz (Philippines), Arta Dobroshi (Kosovo) and Lars Henrik Gass (Germany) award the following prizes:

The Golden Bear to

Please Say Something

by David OReilly (Ireland)

A film which gave us lots of emotion, sensitivity and much to think about. A very humane story. With characters who made us laugh and feel sad at the same time.

The Silver Bear to

Jade

by Daniel Elliott (Great Britain)

The jury was taken by the individual drama of a young woman and by the condensed form of the film. A subtle story which captured us from its innocent beginning till its open end.

DAAD Short Film Prize

The Illusion

by Susana Barriga (Cuba)

Showing spaces instead of faces, this video diary courageously confronts the irretrievable past. A very personal form of cinema, which succeeds in painting an autobiographical landscape of loss.

Berlinale Short Film Nominee for the European Film Awards 2009

Die Leiden des Herrn Karpf. Der Geburtstag

by Lola Randl (Germany)

A documentary or fiction – it doesn’t really matter. It contains a way of acting which is both intelligent and simple. A movie dealing with individual problems which are presented in artistic form.

And two „Special Mentions“ to

VU

by Leila Albayaty

The film illustrates the self-discovery of two women while providing the poetry of an urban space.

Contre-Jour

by

Christoph Girardet and Matthias Müller

Defying convention and expectation, this abstract found footage film is a powerful sensory machine that lets the viewer experience blindness and see what is not there.

———–

Out of these awarded films we should really track the film Die Leiden des Herrn Karpf. Der Geburtstag, as it won the UIP short film award and got automatically nominated to the European Film Academy award.

Winners of Nisi Masa Script Contest 2008

Tuesday, November 25th, 2008

escapelogoAt the time when Europe needs to be built through concrete projects, the NISI MASA Short Film Scripts Contest is a unique initiative in its ambition as well as in its spirit. Cinema needs such event to develop itself on a European scale. The objectives we want to achieve through the contest are to develop short film projects at a European level and to create a network of young professionals.

The 15 jury members announced the results the 22nd of November 2008 during the 4th edition of the One Take Film Festival in Zagreb (Croatia). The 3 European winners will have their scripts produced with the support of NISI MASA. They will also participate to the master class “European Short Pitch” in February 2009 at the Moulin d’Andé – Céci (France), the Centre for Film Writing.

And the winners are:

Scamps
Ülkü Oktay – Turkey

The Wedding Tape
Ariel Shaban – Kosovo

Furniture
Melissa Suárez del Real- Spain

Congratulation to the winners!

more info: www.nisimasa-scriptcontest.eu

Daazo produced its first short film!

Monday, October 20th, 2008

tourSince a while we are thinking about how nice it would be to produce a short fiction films. Now we are proudly inform you that we produced our first short film, directed by Balázs Simonyi. Daazo works as a co-producer in the project since the script is co-written by Zoltán Aprily, one of the founder of the site. Of course Daazo sponsored the film financial wise too.  A workshop (Celluloid Workshop) being held every year in Hungary set the technical and equipmental framework for the production. The shooting took place in Miskolc and Emőd in Hungary.

The 12 mins long comedy film “Tour” is a tale about a man who dared to dream, a tale about a surveyor and hobby-cyclist, who believes that one day he will be able to ride 183 kilometer, just as pro’s do at Tour de France.

Well, the film is in the box and ready to start its festival circle and we hope it will earn many awards.

We will let you see a short preview from the film soon. Stay tuned!

Clermont Ferrand: Deadline is Coming!

Wednesday, October 15th, 2008

clermont.jpgInternational Short Film Festival in Clermont Ferrand is waiting for your film till the 15th of October.  The only way you are able to apply is via Shortfilmdepot. (We at Daazo are always happy to realize the tight relation between the ‘online world’ and the ‘world of shorts’.)

This film festival itself is maybe the coolest (short) film festivals, it used to say that it is the ‘Cannes of short films’. It was the world’s first International short film festival which originated in 1979. This festival which brings thousands of people every year (137.000 in 2008) to the city is the second French film Festival after Cannes in term of visitors, but the first one regarding the number of spectators (as in Cannes visitors are not allowed in theatres, reserved to professionals). This festival has revealed many young talented directors now well-known in France and even internationally such as Mathieu Kassovitz, Cédric Klapisch or Éric Zonka.

In 2009, the festival will celebrate its 31th anniversary and will present three competitions mixing film and digital medium, thus bringing greater diversity to the short film format – diversity being its basic principle, its source of uniqueness and vitality.

So apply, go there, send your stories and photos to the World of Shorts magazine!

Cinefest – Film and Fun Festival!

Monday, September 22nd, 2008

cinefestblogra2.jpg

The flourishing CineFest, International Festival of Young Filmmakers in September attracts thousands of film fans and visitors from the whole world. Housing in a brand-new cultural complex and the beautiful old Kossuth Cinema, the 5th CineFest provides an unique look into international young cinema’s landscape, screening features, documentaries, experimental works and animated shorts from all over the world.
Hungary’s freshest young film festival celebrates its 5th anniversary this year. This year CineFest received 280 films from 48 countries. Most of the films came from Central Europe, from the US and Germany, but we received films from Indonesia to South America. After a pre-selection, the top 67 films have the opportunity to compete in the official program.

At the end of Cinefest International Film Festival for young filmmmakers Péter Madaras, the programme director of the festival answered to our questions.

How would you define the festival, what does it represent on a map of European film festivals?
Obviously it represents something freshness, which comes from the manner of the festival “for young filmmakers”. So it is fresh, new, a bit different than any others, a bit extreme. Since many youngsters participating the festival it is really familiar, cool. Just as on your site, Daazo.com, short films are made by young directors mainly. As the festival is organized by young people, it is a great party for us too.

You receive many films each year. What kind of opportunities do you have for announcing the festival on international level?
The easiest way is to collect partner festivals, and cross-promote each other. We appear on their festival, have banners in their catalogue. And since we have to spend money sometime, we appear in Cannes, Berlin and some other bigger festival.

Cinefest celebrates its 5th birthday. What is the future of the festival? Would you change something in the future?
We used to say the festival is in adult age already! We don’t want to be an “A” category film festival, that needs world premieres, hell a lot of money and it cannot take place in a small city. We started as something different. We want to be a well know, big festival, which is accepted and liked by young filmmakers. It would be really great if filmmakers thought they need to send their films to this festival, because it was a serious milestone for them. Then we could have more and more exciting off-programmes.

Is there any kind of film what the Festival prefers? What is the image of the festival filmwise?
Of course we would like to shape a specific image of the festival. Step by step we try to set a permanent pre-selection jury. Naturally their taste defines the selection of the festival. Nevertheless we have more and more melancholic films. A good example for this is the awarded film “In Transit”, which is a melancholic, sweet short film without clichés. I think we have more and more film like that. But I think we are too young to have a real image, but in a couple of years we gonna have it.

See the winners of this year’s festival! Click!

Awards of BuSho Film Festival 2008

Monday, September 8th, 2008

At the end, filmmakers received the awards of BUdapest SHOrtfilm Festival 2008. The arward fro the best short film went to the film “Traumatology” by Daniel Sanchez Arévalo. We are proud to announce, that Balázs Simonyi received the silver BUSHO award for his film “Original Lager“, which can be seen on our site. The bronze award went to the film “Medium Rare” by Stephan Stuckert.

More about the awards can be found here

Enjoy Original Lager on Daazo.com:

FlashFilm Fest

Monday, August 25th, 2008

In the framework of Pécs2010 program and with the support of NKA, Film.hu Kft. launches a flash animation competition. Prize money will be awarded to the top ten competitors.

Topic of the competition

According to competition terms 10 selected creators/workshops will have the opportunity to make 10×1 minute long flash animation films. At the end of the almost one and a half month long process all animation films will be linked by competition organizers into one 10 minute long film entitled Pécsi Flash.

First round, there can be only ten.
Competitors may nominate their animation films made in the past five years. The best 10 creators/workshops will be selected by viewers and the jury. Competition parameters are defined at the official website, see here.

Second round
There is only one criterion: the opening and closing scene must be based on a venue photo and a 1 minute long music selection must be included, too. The music selection and the photo gallery of venue photos will be available on the safe website of the competition before the start of the second round.

The result of a total prize money of one million HUF competition, a ten minute long film entitled Pécsi Flash will be presented at the Hungaroflash Festival taking place from 17th to 19th October 2008.

Jury
András Wahorn artist, musician, head of the jury, Balázs Gróf graphic artist, director of animation movies, Márton Hegedűs graphic artist, director of animation movies, Lazin Igor director of animation movies, producer, Géza M. Tóth director of animation movies, professor of the Moholy-Nagy University Of Art And Design Budapest.

Online scriptwriting course on Cineuropa.org

Sunday, July 13th, 2008

From July 2008, Cineuropa.org proposes an online scriptwriting course in English, French, Italian and Spanish. The training formula is based on a direct and personalised contact between the participants and the teacher. Participants will therefore be able to read the lessons at their leisure time and communicate privately with the teacher at any moment. Following the first trial lesson, which is available, free of charge, on the website, the course is structured in eight lessons over sixteen weeks. These lessons’ aim is to offer participants the essential theoretical and practical notions in scriptwriting, while highlighting the differences between cinema scriptwriting and other creative forms. The follow up with the tutor and the practical aspects provided by the exercises are at the core of the project. The course fees amount to 465 euros + VAT. For further information, please visit www.cineuropa.org