News

Polish cinematographer Ula Pontikos will mentor the female cinematographers.

US actor and filmmaker Edward Norton has joined the programme of the third Ponta Lopud Film Festival in Croatia, where he will give lectures and workshops to emerging talent from the Balkan region.

Fight Club and American History X actor Norton will give a main masterclass to all participants in this year’s event, before conducting further sessions focusing solely on the eight actors.

Scroll down for the selected participants.

Polish cinematographer Ula Pontikos, who has shot films including Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool, Weekend and Lilting as well...

Croatian writer-director Juraj Lerotić’s “Safe Place,” an emotional story of a family reeling in the wake of a suicide attempt, took the top prize at the Sarajevo Film Festival, which wrapped a record-setting 2022 edition in the Bosnian capital on Friday night.

The Heart of Sarajevo Award for best feature film was given by a jury headed by Austrian filmmaker Sebastian Meise (“The Great Freedom”), which included French filmmaker Lucile Hadžihalilović (“Earwig”), Croatian writer-director Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović (“Murina”), Serbian actor Milan Marić (“Dovlatov”) and Israeli producer and consultant Katriel Schory.

“Safe Place” plays on Lerotić’s own pained family history, with the Croatian multihyphenate taking on the lead role in his deeply personal story — a performance that also earned him the award for best actor in Sarajevo.

Fresh off a triumphant world premiere in Locarno, where the film won three awards including best first feature, “Safe Place” was described by...

Eight films battled it out in competition at the 28th Sarajevo Film Festival, but Austrian director Sebastian Meise’s jury—including French director Lucile Hadžihalilović , Croatian director Antoneta Alamat Kusijanović, Serbian actor Milan Marić and Israeli producer Katriel Schory—spread the love quite widely.

By far the critics’ darling, Juraj Lerotić’s powerful suicide drama Safe Place was a popular choice for the big winner, with plaudits for Berlin/Sundance title Klondike and Cannes favorite Corsage.

The winners were…

Heart of Sarajevo for Best Feature Film

Safe Place, dir: Juraj Lerotić (Croatia)

Heart of Sarajevo for Best Director

Maryina Er Gorbach, dir: Klondike (Ukraine/Turkey)

Heart of Sarajevo for Best Actress

Vicky Krieps, Corsage (Austria/Luxembourg/Germany/France)

Heart of Sarajevo for Best Actor

Juraj Lerotić, Safe Place (Croatia)

Heart of Sarajevo for Best Documentary Film

Museum of the Revolution, Srđan Keča

Heart of Sarajevo for Best Short Documentary Film

We,...

Meise joined by Lucile Hadzihalilovic, Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic, Milan Maric, Katriel Schory.

Austrian writer-director Sebastian Meise will lead a five-person jury for the Competition programme of the 28th Sarajevo Film Festival.

Meise will be joined by filmmakers Lucile Hadzihalilovic from France and Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic from Croatia; Serbian actor Milan Maric; and Katriel Schory, producer, consultant and former director of the Israel Film Fund.

Meise’s Great Freedom won the jury prize in Un Certain Regard at Cannes 2021, going on to take the Heart of Sarajevo for Best Feature Film and for Best Actor for Georg Freidrich at last year’s Sarajevo Film Festival.

Belgrade-based Firefly Productions, one of the leading producers of high-end drama in the former Yugoslavia, is launching two new series as part of its slate at this year’s European Film Market.

“The V Effect” is an eight-episode drama series inspired by the real-life case of an actor who commits suicide on stage during a live theater production. After the renowned actor’s death, Inspector Sorga will try to find out whether it was an unfortunate accident, a suicide – or possibly murder.

“Domestic (Violence)” is a six-part true-crime anthology series set in a small town in Serbia. Each story is based on interviews conducted by the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia with women who killed their abusers. Series creator Boban Skerlic will direct all six episodes.

Other titles that Firefly will lens in 2022 include “Absolute 100,” a six-episode series based on the hit film by Srdan Golubović, which tells...

Each year at the Berlin Film Festival the brightest young talent from across Europe gather to celebrate becoming part of the select group of European Shooting Stars. Spearheaded by the European Film Promotion the initiative spotlights ten of the most promising talents from across the continent, and we had the chance to sit down with each of the ten Shooting Stars this week.

Stefan Pape was our man in Berlin and spoke to each of them about their careers so far, their hopes for the future and what it means to be heralded as a European Shooting Star.

You can find each of the interviews below, along with a brief biography, selected film and TV works and a commendation from the jury about what makes them so promising.

Ardalan Esmaili (Sweden)

Raised in Sweden by Iranian parents, Ardalan Esmaili studied at Stockholm’s University of Dramatic Arts. Upon graduating he...

The Efp (European Film Promotion) has named its ten best up and coming talents to be honoured as European Shooting Stars during the 69th Berlin International Film Festival in 2019.

In its 22nd year, the European Shooting Stars has taken the best from Europe in the industry who they deem are ready to step out onto the international film scene by a jury of industry experts.

Elliott Crosset Hove from Denmark swayed the jury with his “raw ability to shift from transparent vulnerability to intimidation” in Winter Brothers, for which he won the Best Actor Award at the Locarno and Vilinus Film Festivals, and a Robert, the Danish Academy Award.

Also in the news – Jodie Foster to take the helm on English language remake of ‘Woman at War’

Rea Lest-Liik from Estonia impressed with her “fierceness, forcefulness and passion” depicted in November.

The youngest up-and-coming star is Emma Drogunova from Germany.

by Alex C. DeleonIntroducing here a new (to me, but not to his fans!) reviewer whose voice is clear and decidedly different! Get ready for some new films and new outlooks!“Off the Wall Minireviews from Berlin”

I saw 21 films at Berlin this week at least 18 of which were Ordeals to sit through or so tedious they led to walkouts — It was almost enough to make me give up on film viewing altogether —

An unusually large number of films dwelt on the gathering infirmity of people [of a certain age ]and the uselessness of carrying on — I call them “Why Bother” movies — Ah for the good old days when movies told stories instead of kvetching about the misery of the Human Condition and the impossibility of having any kind of good relationship …other than extremely kinky or totally insane.

The misery of the Human Condition is the Hallmark at Berlin 2018, and here is —

1. Badly.