It always feels good to participate in something just for the fun of it. The same thing happened when our friend Ed at FILMSshort asked us to co-judge and give a prize for the best European film in their competition. Being hardcore short film lovers we were glad to do so hoping that the filmmakers will also have fun and win some kudos as well. The finalists were chosen by the audience and the judges chose the overall winner from the top four.
There were a lot of discussions and the judges found it hard to decide, though they finally agreed on the best short. Congratulations as overall winner go to Alexandra Torterotot for The Stairway.
The winner is screened on the FILMSshort homepage and will remain on the FILMSshort website as long as the winner wants it to! The Stairway (L’Escalier) is a simple and nightmarish story of a man who cannot escape a never-ending but always changing series of stairways.
We, at Daazo.com also chose our winner. The award of the Best European Short Film goes to LXIV by Damian Livesey. This film is gets the the bonus of being promoted on Daazo.com as well. LXIV (64 in Roman numerals – see if you can work out why!) is a beautifully shot montage, and pieces together a dazzling array of shots that condense our existence into a 2 minute film.
Congratulations to the winners! Thanks to everyone who entered and voted!
To learn more about the finalists and about the May Day 2011 Competititon check out our blog entry here.
Interview with Martin Bargiel, winner of a Special Mention at the Impossible Film Contest for Blink of an Eye
Synopsis:
In the middle of the night a fight between Schenker’s neighbors won’t let him rest. Half asleep his mind is playing tricks on him: constantly he awakes in different places. He tries to put himself back to sleep by smoking one cigarette after another. But soon he runs out of matches and takes a walk to the 24/7 market next door. Accompanied by heavy rain and rumbling thunder he awakes again. But this time not in his bedroom, not in his bathroom nor in the 24/7 market. This time he finds himself in an interrogation room, and he has to face questioning by an inspector about a dead woman. Now his real nightmare begins.
How would you describe your short film?
From the first idea Blink of an eye was designed as a short film different to all other short films that came out of my hometown Hannover in Germany. During film school all our short films looked alike. So this time I wanted to make it look different, make it look more international. That’s why we made up and designed our own Cigarette brands or have an international cast for example. I wanted to make it look bigger and more expensive. Blink of an eye should be my last short film. It is supposed to leave a good impression on what I can do on a small budget in this genre. And now that I’m working on my first feature, I hope that people can see what they can expect on a larger scale. This short is my business card, a flagship for what my come…hopefully…;-)
You also have the scriptwriter’s, DOP’s, producer’s and the editor’s credit on your short film. How did these artistic approaches work together? How could you perform all the roles?
Writing a script is a total pre-production phase, so that this doesn’t interfere with the shooting at all. Similar to being the producer, or the editor. Editing is entirely post-production. So the only thing that might have been a little difficult is giving direction and doing the cinematography. But even that didn’t restrict me. I had an awesome crew, so we usually did the technical stuff first while rehearsing. While I was operating the camera and staging and blocking with the actors, the gaffers/ best boys and sound crew were preparing themselves (actually that’s the way it should always be, get a good crew and you can experience this way of work). Also the actors were awesome and their timing was always right on the spot. I don’t know if I would do this all over again in the same picture, but after seeing that it works and having so much fun being active in all of these departments I will never say never. But the secret to this is having a great crew that knows what it’s doing. Also of course a good pre-production, storyboards an organized schedule and mood boards help to show how you want things to play out.
In the end it helps writing the script in a shooting script format, since as the DOP you know how you want it to look like. And as the DOP you know exactly how much material you need for the cut, since you’ll edit it the next day. So being the director for such type of work flow is kind of natural since you are already making most of the key decisions. As long as you can stay objective to the work you do and stand back from time to time to reflect and look at it with “clean” eyes, it should turn out good. And having a lot of people who are not involved in your project have a look at different stages of the edit is of tremendous help also.
Tell us a little bit about the production of the film. What kind of difficulties did you have to face while shooting?
The production was a huge undertaking. I had a passionate crew, but my intentions for the film were even bigger. For most of the visual sequences we needed the locations to be built with moving walls while shooting. Planning was one of the key elements before building the locations or even shooting in them. So all the local home depot stores were my best friends for at least a month. Another obstacle was the really big pauses there were between some shooting days. The biggest break was a couple of months. In total Blink of an eye was shot over a period of 2 years, even though the total days of shooting was only 10. Another time consuming factor were the visual effects: the entire post production took about another year. All of this had different reasons: budget, crew and actors weren’t available due to other projects and also me building my own film production company „into foCus“ at the same time.
Participating in the Impossible Film Contest I guess you have an open attitude towards making short films available on the Internet. What is your opinion about online distribution?
Times have changed and we as indie filmmakers can be happy about this new distribution way compared to the once only way of distribution: „offline distribution“. So having another way is always a good thing. But I would say that it should be an additional way to the distribution channels that already exist. Depending on how passionate you are about filmmaking I would always use all the possibilities that there are. But of course going the digital way is going globally. That’s a good thing since people all over the world can see your film, where as a couple of years ago only the people in your hometown could see the 5 print copies you had for the movie theater or a regional DVD release. But as with everything digital, there is always the danger of copying without permission, and making all of the hard work you and your team did worthless. Sure there are security mechanism to prevent this, but one day a new security system comes up, the next day you have to think of a new one.
Are you planning your first feature film or do you want to keep on doing shorts?
As much as it is a lot more comfortable to keep making short films, you have to make the step to the next big thing if you want to be recognized as a serious film maker. If you are passionate about filmmaking and want to make a living with it, then short films will get you the attention you need. But when the time is right move on. Not only to finally and hopefully make some money and be a feature film director (sounds cool doesn’t it but also to emerge and evolve in your own filmmaking experience. So the short answer is yes, I’m working on two feature film ideas right now.
Interview with Daina Papadaki, winner of the Audience Award at the Impossible Film Contest for Nightfall of Eden
Synopsis:
An alternative/ experimental portrayal of peace and war in a Garden of Eden. During this downfall, this nightfall, will all the good things humanity is capable of be overshadowed by darkness… or can we stop our destruction?
Why did you decide to participate in the Impossible Film Contest?
It is the first time that I submit a film to an online competition! Usually I just submit my films to festivals , so I have some experience with the festival participation and the face to face socializing and representation of a film. In most festivals the experience is great but usually the audience is limited to a small number of people. The online submission is a different kind of experience and I must admit I am happy that we submitted “Nightfall of Eden” in the Impossible Film Contest, it gave us the possibility to reach a mass audience, without the constrains to have to be in a specific location at a specific time! We submitted the film initially in the 64th Festival de Cannes- Short Film Corner (in the non competition segment), and when I received the invitation email from daazo to participate to the Impossible Film Contest. I was delighted because I thought it was a great idea, plus it gave us the chance to compete among other films that were in the Cannes Short Film Corner.
Working on Nightfall of Eden what kind of approach to the story was important for you as a director?
I always wanted to direct a film that explores the ideas of darkness and light (which both prevail inside every human being) and to visually portray the self-destructive nature of humanity. The original script of the film `’Nightfall of Eden” was written by Fanos Christophides and allegorically compares our modern society with the garden of Eden, exploring humanity’s possibility of accomplishing greatness but selfishness results into our downfall and self-destruction . The sentiments and pictures that were born in my mind, when I first read the script, inspired me into wanting to create a beautiful, visual history, full of sensitivities and hopeful messages. My initial goal was to give successfully depict visually a world- symbol of both beauty and horror. To portray war without direct violent actions, but to convey the horrifying, destructive side of things in a symbolic way and still manage to transfer this message to a mass audience with different experiences and cultural background. I wanted to contrast the beauty of co-existence with the horrors of war and destruction. I really wanted to give the essence of doom, the horrifying feeling you get when you watch a beautiful dream suddenly transforming into the worst nightmare.
“Nightfall of Eden” is a collaborative effort to sensitize a mass audience and reinforce in them the notion that it is in everybody’s hand to alter our perspective and convictions and work all together for a bigger idea: world peace and coexistence.
What was the production like for the film? How long did it take you, how did you fund it, etc?
I must admit, that my double role as a director and producer of “Nightfall of Eden” made it an overwhelming draining experience for me because apart of the creativity and visual translation of the concept (which I believe it is not an easy theme to translate to film) there were too many decisions to make and a lot of problems to deal with and work around in order to make this film really happen.
The budget was a main concern. Thankfully half of the budget was funded by the Cinema Advisory Committee of the Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture Social Services. Also the company I work for, Double Delta Media Studios Ltd. Really supported us with most equipment and post facilities. Then I had to ask around for friends and collaborators help. The limited budget was the main issue, it limited us into most of the cast members to be non actors. Also the garden of Eden location was another major problem because here in Cyprus it is not easy to find a landscape that is green and looks magical, here I have to thank Aliki Kirmitsi (our Production Designer) for transforming the location we found into a place I hardly dared to imagine!
Also the script involved great sound design, moving music, lots of visual effects, projections and 2D sets (which are time consuming) and I am really thankful that Sofronis Sofroniou (DOP) and Emilios Avraam (Editor/ Compositor), Yiannis Hadjiloizou (Music Composer) Andreas Trachonitis (Sound Designer) really put their heart in this film, because without them “Nightfall of Eden” wouldn’t have happened, the way it happened.
You are the winner of the Audience Award meaning you reached the biggest audience from the participants of the Impossible film Contest. How did you pull it off?
Wow, yes, the audience award, it was such an honor! We made “Nightfall of Eden” as collective attempt to sensitize a mass audience about the future of humanity, an attempt to try to awaken others and reinforce in our audience members the notion that it is in everybody’s hand to alter our perspective and convictions and work all together for a bigger idea: world peace and coexistence. So I must admit that the biggest award for me was the fact that we got thousands of views of our film and hopefully through our film our optimistic messages were communicated to others.
This is what I was talking about when I said that being part of your online competition was a different and great experience. Your website made our film accessible to a mass audience mainly because through the internet there are no locale and screening time restrictions. Of course the whole team (crew and cast) of “Nightfall of Eden” promoted our film through facebook and via emails providing the link to our film and explaining the process of voting to friends, relatives, colleagues and people we know. But I believe that what made the big difference in votes and views is that the chain continued, and people who watched it liked it and promoted it to their friends and then these friends promoted it to other friends and this went on and on. There are many friends who believed in our film and in its messages of love and world peace. All these friends helped and supported us and kept informing others about the competition and our film “Nightfall of Eden” and I believe it is mostly because of their faith in the film that we won the audience award.
What are your plans for the future? How do you want to utilize your prize, the GoPro Camera?
I love the Go-Pro camera and really thanking you for the prize! I am excited and looking forward to using it for my future projects. I rented and used this camera in the past for rollercoaster shots for a television commercial I directed, but now am ready to fully explore it and share it with others.
Today I received a package, opened it at work in my office and it was the GO-PRO Helmet HERO! Instantaneously I had 5 people ( from the industry) inspecting it, talking about it, going online checking the website about what it can do, how it can do it … and all asked to borrow it, one asked to combine it with his and making it into the 3D camera! We were all mesmerized by the camera-and it’s what they say: Great things come in small packages!
Well, my plans for the future are: another short film by the end of next year and a feature film within the next 3 years. The Go-Pro camera will definitely be a companion in these plans. I am preparing to shoot a short about three travelers with different backgrounds, common goals yet different destinations and I plan to utilize and mount the GO-PRO camera on different types of vehicles hoping to manage to do some really stunningly difficult shots…
The Film Competition Organised by TEDxDanubia and Budapest Film hold on Daazo.com has ended, the winner of the Audience Prize is announced
Daazo.com was happy to participate in a short film competition again. Budapest Film and TEDxDanubia invited entries for their film contest entitled “The Power of Imagination”. All films had to be maximum of two minutes long and connected somehow to the core topic of the conference. Eight pieces of the very best were made public on the online platform of Daazo.com and an audience poll was open for voting. Check out all the competitors on daazo.com/tedxdanubia!
The film that collected most of the votes and therefore won the Audience Prize was “A tükör előtt” directed by Krisztián Heisz. It’s a witty short about man’s fight with his reflection in the mirror. Watch the winner piece by clicking here! At present it’s only in Hungarian, but we will provide the English subtitles soonish.
As a prize the winner can take part free of charge in the TEDxDanubia conference hold on 25th March. Furthermore the winning short film is going to be showcased as supporting film in the cinemas before the feature films distributed by Budapest Film for a whole month. Congratulations to the creators of the winning short film!
We, here at Daazo.com, constantly work on the organisation of new contests and we aim to serve as a stepping stone for young filmmakers. With this single annuncement a young filmmaker got the opportunity to have his film screened in cinemas. We are glad to be a part of this success story.
For those who missed this prize there are still plenty of possibilities. Submit your film on Daazo.com and check out our blog and Facebook page for new competitions and opportunities from the short film world!
Felix Rösch from Germany wins the Score Competition 2011
On 17.2., the ninth edition of the Berlinale Talent Campus came to a successful close with the award ceremony for this year’s Score Competition in the Theater Hebbel am Ufer (HAU 1-3). 350 young filmmakers from 88 countries came together with over 150 international experts and Berlinale guests in more than 120 events. The motto “Filmmakers positioning themselves” empowered participants to clearly define their goals. “You don’t need to bend yourself one way or another in order to define your position,” explained José Padilha (Golden Bear 2008 for The Elite Squad), who opened the Campus together with author Henning Mankell and actress Kerry Fox (Silver Bear for Intimacy). The events with Berlinale jury president Isabella Rossellini and singer, actor and human rights activist Harry Belafonte were shaped by the close interplay between artistic, personal and political positions. “The question is not: When in my artistic career did I become an activist? It’s the other way around: When in my activism did I become an artist?”, said Belafonte. How to deal with the current threat to artistic and personal freedom was discussed in the widely recognized “Censored Cinema” panel, featuring Rafi Pitts and other Iranian filmmakers and activists.
The Internationals panel: Dorothee Wenner, Kornél Mundruzcó, Claudia Llosa, Abderrahmane Sissako and Matthijs Wouter Knol. (photo: David Ausserhofer)
Different cinematic storytelling methods were considered from new perspectives, the legendary screenwriter and director Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver) presented ways to start a film and get the audience hooked from the very beginning, Claudia Llosa (Golden Bear 2009 for The Milk of Sorrow) discussed the power of local storytelling in an international context together with acclaimed filmmakers Abderrahmane Sissako and Kornél Mundruzcó (Campus Alumnus 2004). Wim Wenders (Pina, Berlinale Competition section) dedicated his talk to new forms of immersive film experiences and presented the narrative possibilities of 3D filmmaking. The panel with production designer Alex McDowell (Fight Club) and director Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth) discussed virtual game and film worlds, interactive storytelling concepts and the healing power of chaos and instinct in games. The ways in which complex dynamics between director and actor encourage successful storytelling was the topic for Ralph Fiennes and István Szabó, and put into practice in workshops with Jasmila Žbanić (Golden Bear 2006 for Grbavica), Kerry Fox and acting coach Jean-Louis Rodrigue (mentors of the Talent Actors Stage). Other hands-on training programmes such as the Script & Doc Station, the Talent Project Market, the Talent Press and the Campus Studio for Editing and Post-Production offered Talents an opportunity to work on their own projects under the guidance of experienced mentors.
The audience during the Doc Station presentation Welcome to Reality. (photo: Peter Himsel)
The six days came to a close on Thursday, 17.2., with the glamorous award ceremony for the Score Competition 2011, which had three finalists compose a new soundtrack to an excerpt from Eva Pervolovici’s film Little Red (Berlin Today Award 2011 finalist). The main prize was awarded to Felix Rösch from Germany whose composition was commended by jury members Klaus-Peter Beyer, Prof. Martin Steyer, Martin Todsharow and Angelina Maccarone for its “originality and unconventional use of the orchestra”. Rösch wins an invitation from Dolby to go on a week-long tour of Los Angeles sound studios. Roger Goula (Spain/UK) and Ehud Freedman (Israel/US) receive an opportunity to record an additional composition with the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg.
Having watched all the competitive films The International Competition Jury of the 49th Krakow Film Festival consisting of: Zbigniew Rybczyński – chairman (Poland), Christoffer Olofsson (Sweden), Eduardo Chapero-Jackson (Spain), Chris Tidman (United Kingdom), Leo Kantor (Sweden) has decided to award the following prizes : The Golden Dragon to the film “Pizza in Auschwitz” /“Pizza be Auschwitz” directed by Moshe Zimerman (Israel) for a complex and thought provoking portrayal of a family journey into one man’s personal tragedy and historical survival.
The Silver Dragon for the Director of the Best Documentary Film to the film “Poste Restante” directed by Marcel Łoziński (Poland)
The Silver Dragon for the Director of the Best Animated Film to the film “Ten” /“Dix” directed by BIF (Fabrice le Nezet, Francois Roisin, Jules Janaud), France
The Silver Dragon for the Director of the Best Fiction Film to the film “Leaving” directed by Richard Penfold, Samuel Hearn (United Kingdom)
The EFA Nomination Krakow 2009 – a nomination for the European Film Award in the short film category to the film “Poste Restante” directed by Marcel Łoziński (Poland)
The Special Mention to the films:
“Wagah”, directed by Supriyo Sen (Germany)
“Hugo Rey y su Doncella” (“Hugo King and his Damsel”), directed by Franco do Peña (Poland/Venezuela)
“Shesh Vahesti Dakot Betel Aviv”/ “Six and Half Minutes in Tel Aviv” directed by Mirey Brantz (Israel),
The FIPRESCI (International Film Critics) Jury at 49th Krakow Film Festival consisting of: Vladimir Ignatovski (Bulgaria), Saskia Legein (The Netherlands), Tadeusz Szczepański (Poland) decided to award the film “Poste restante” directed by Marcel Łoziński (Poland).
Having watched all the competitive films the FICC (International Federation of Film Discussion Clubs) Jury at 49th Krakow Film Festival consisting of: Marta Chwałek (Poland), Carl Henrik Eilertsen (Norway) i Andrea Pócsik (Hungary) has decided to grant the Don Quichote Award to the film “Goleshovo” directed by Ilian Metev (Bulgaria/United Kingdom). The director’s easy approach on this seemingly simple subject gives the audience the opportunity to get involved in the efforts of a disappearing community, sharing with the viewers their irony, strength and life wisdom in a deliberating way.
Special mention goes to the short fiction film titled “Leaving”, directed by Richard Penfold and Sam Hearn (United Kingdom).
The Student Jury consisting of: Grzegorz Lis, Michał Gulik, Anna Fac-Biedziuk has decided to award ex equo the films: „My amulet” directed by Leah Thorn (United Kingdom ) for a brave, fresh and artistic interference into political correctness and “Skhizein” directed by Jérémy Clapin (France) for a subtle and brilliant study of a misfit.
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!
It always feels good to participate in something just for the fun of it. The same thing happened when our friend Ed at FILMSshort asked us to co-judge and give a prize for the best European film in their competition. Being hardcore short film lovers we were glad to do so hoping that the filmmakers will also have fun and win some kudos as well. The finalists were chosen by the audience and the judges chose the overall winner from the top four.
but also to emerge and evolve in your own filmmaking experience. So the short answer is yes, I’m working on two feature film ideas right now.
