Cineuropa.org, “the best of European cinema” is organising a big game-contest.
By simply answering correctly to 10 questions about European cinema and the Cannes Film Festival, one European film enthusiast will be given the chance to cover the 61st edition of the Cannes Film Festival, from May 14-25, 2008. The winner, the special reader correspondent for Cineuropa.org, will compose a blog in English throughout the festival.
In order to take part, you must be over 18 years of age, a citizen in one of the countries participating in the European Union’s MEDIA programme and be able to write fluently in English. Answers will be accepted until April 25.
Thanks for you, since last March we’ve estabilished our position in the world of on-line cinema, and we are happy to say, that Daazo has became well-known among the young filmmakers of Europe. We’ve presented more than 60 quality short films, not saying that we showed several special programmes as well: there is the selection of Kosovo Documentaries; the archives of Budapest Squares Project and Euro-Balkan Video Letters.
We are proud to host the Oscar-winner director, Rofusz Ferenc’s short films, including the Academy Award winning animation, The Fly. These exeptional artworks have been watched by around 80 000 people, which is a great pleasure for us. Just like the achievements of many other nice films: Not So Small Talk, the comedy of Mike Wollaeger; The Kiss by Toma Waszarow - which was awarded by many festivals, or the provocative animation by Éva Magyarósi: Hanne - just to mention a few of our premieres.
And thank you for the great uploaded films - we’ve had more than 500! You are convincing us more and more that Daazo is worth to work with!
We hope you, dear Daazo-users share our thought, that we are the luckiest generation of film makers and film film lovers - we can find and watch easily the works of the upcoming talenst, besides presenting our films to the world. Maybe it’s not just a coincidence, to get three excellent shorts on the site having the word “lucky” in their titles. These films express Daazo’s willing to present many-sided, colourful works -
Let us remind you!
Lucky Bastard prooves that it’s possible to create a grotesque comedy about the end of the world; story of the last man on Earth, waiting without hope for the ending, but it’s still funny.
Lucky Man is much more serious; the stories of Puszta (the name of Hungarian steppe) has a great tradition in Hungary, in films and literature either, Lucky Man is the first classical, professional short film dealing with this topic.
Lucky Strike is a French action-comedy. Like Lucky Bastard it puts the value ‘being lucky’ into an ironical frame.
As the Hungarian based Daazo is getting to be as a well known startup project in Budapest, we were invited to present Daazo to the audience of IT professionals. The idea of the this conference was to create a platform where all the fresh and ambitious projects of Hungary can get to know each others. Basic panels covered topics like “how to get financial support” ” how to advertise” etc.
Even tough it was a so called “underground” meeting - most of the people having new ideas without major financial supporter - participating this conference was really a challenge for us, because neither Daniel nor Me are coming from the IT sector. Both of us are rather filmmakers, than computer experts, so to introduce our site in a way that is interesting in front these professionals was not an easy task.
After all it went very well, we got many feedback immediately and it seems that Daazo managed to hit the challenge again and surprise everybody how great the site is.
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 Wolfwon 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
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.
Prix UIP to Frankie by Darren Thornton (Ireland)
A simple and powerful approach. The straight forward point of view of a working class teenager on love, responsibility and fatherhood.
We also want to re-encourage the director in developing his project of short films for young makers.
DAAD Short Film Prize B teme by Olga Popova (Russian Federation)
We feel this film achieves a physical and sensual intimacy with its subjects without ever violating the secret of this intimacy. We wish to encourage the director’s talent as a filmmaker.
And two Special Mentions to
A special mention for directing goes to a film for its precise and sensitive direction on a topic which otherwise would have felt politically correct. Superfície by Rui Xavier.
A special mention for a very contemporary gesture in animation in a wonderful nasty sense of humour goes to RGB XYZ by David OReilly
Paris based short film festival is open for filmmakers, who have short films under the length of 3 minutes. This festival has a very nice atmosphere. If your film is selected it will be screened in more than 40 cities all around as the festival runs a franchise system. So here we go:
The festival of Very Short is about fifty films in an international selection, screened in only one meeting of a little bit more than two hours. It is also a competition, with four prices awarded by the Jury, and of course the price of the public awarded by you. It is also screenings organized simultaneously in forty cities in France and all around the world as well…
A new edition is actually in preparation and the festival of Très Short is more than ever present in about 40 cities to propose to you the best and undoubtedly the shortest of the international audio-visual film production.
Trés Court Film Festival
Deadline for registration: 12th February, 2008
Daazo.com is the online center of European short Films. Beside of our weekly film premieres it is also a collection of short films made by you. Visit Daazo now!
20 Visons of Paris
Filmmakers from 20 countries discovered Paris.
Budapest Squares
What do squares as public areas mean to people? Short Documentaries.
Cineuropa.org, “the best of European cinema” is organising a big game-contest.
“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
