EFP Screenings of Academy Award ® Entries from Europe 22 films submitted in the BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM category

October 29 - November 10, 2014

© SeanPavonePhoto - Fotolia.com © SeanPavonePhoto Wilshire Screening Room, Beverly Hills

European Film Promotion invites you to the screenings of 22 films European Film Promotion submitted in the Best Foreign Language Film category for the Hamburg, Germany +49 40 390 6252 87th ®. www.efp-online.com

SCREENING ADDRESS Jo Mühlberger Wilshire Screening Room Project Director [email protected] 8670 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills +49 170 800 4156 Free parking available Tatiana Detlofson LA publicist [email protected] +1 310 260 2800

Contact during AFM EFP Umbrella Office Loews Hotel #863 +1 310 458 6700 ext. 863 Please RSVP for the individual screenings to [email protected]

editors: Jo Mühlberger, Kristina Timmermann. design: Nanke Siemon SCREENING SCHEDULE Wednesday, October 29 6:30 PM Italy: HUMAN CAPITAL by Paolo Virzì (110 min) 8:30 PM Luxembourg: NEVER DIE YOUNG by Pol Cruchten (66 min)

Thursday, October 30 6:30 PM Denmark: SORROW AND JOY by Nils Malmros (107 min) 8:30 PM Spain: LIVING IS EASY WITH EYES CLOSED by David Trueba (108 min)

Friday, October 31 5:00 PM FYRo Macedonia: TO THE HILT by Stole Popov (165 min)

Saturday, November 1 3:30 PM Poland: IDA by Paweł Pawlikowski (80 min) 6:00 PM Serbia: SEE YOU IN MONTEVIDEO by Dragan Bjelogrlic (146 min)

Sunday, November 2 3:30 PM Greece: LITTLE ENGLAND by Pantelis Voulgaris (132 min) 6:30 PM Croatia: COWBOYS by Tomislav Mršić (107 min)

Monday, November 3 6:30 PM Czech Republic: FAIR PLAY by Andrea Sedláčková (100 min) 8:30 PM Iceland: LIFE IN A FISHBOWL by Baldvin Zophoníasson (130 min)

Tuesday, November 4 6:30 PM Finland: CONCRETE NIGHT by Pirjo Honkasalo (96 min) followed by Q&A with the director and the producer 8:30 PM Bulgaria: BULGARIAN RHAPSODY by Ivan Nitchev (108 min)

Thursday, November 6 6:30 PM Norway: 1001 GRAMS by Bent Hamer (93 min) followed by Q&A with the director 8:30 PM : TANGERINES by Zaza Urushadze (87 min) followed by Q&A with the director and the producer

Friday, November 7 5:00 PM The Netherlands: ACCUSED by Paula van der Oest (97 min) followed by Q&A with the director

Saturday, November 8 3:30 PM Germany: BELOVED SISTERS by Dominik Graf (170 min) followed by Q&A with actors 7:00 PM Lithuania: THE GAMBLER by Ignas Jonynas (109 min) followed by Q&A with the lead actress

Sunday, November 9 3:30 PM Montenegro: THE KIDS FROM THE MARX AND ENGELS STREET by Nikola Vukčević (95 min) followed by Q&A with the director and the producer 6:30 PM Kosovo*: Three WINDOWS AND A HANGING by Isa Qosja (93 min) followed by Q&A with the producer

Monday, November 10 7:00 PM Romania: THE JAPANESE DOG by Tudor Cristian Jurgiu (90 min) 9:00 PM Slovak Republic: A STEP INTO THE DARK by Miloslav Luther (120 min) followed by Q&A with the lead actor and the cinematographer

* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence. HUMAN CAPITAL

Italy

Directed by Paolo Virzì

Wednesday, October 29 at 6:30 pm

Italy Contact HUMAN CAPITAL Directed by Paolo Virzì US-Distributor (Il capitale umano) Film Movement New York +1 212 9417 744 Synopsis [email protected] Human Capital begins at the end, as a cyclist is run off the road by a careening SUV the night before www.filmmovement.com Christmas Eve. As details emerge of the events leading up to the accident, the lives of the well-to-do International Sales Bernaschi family, privileged and detached, will intertwine with the Ossolas, struggling to keep their BAC FILMS comfortable middle-class life, in ways neither could have expected. Dino Ossola (Fabrizio Bentivoglio), Paris, France in dire financial straits, anticipates the birth of twins with his second wife (Valeria Golino). Meanwhile, +33 1 53 53 52 52 Dino’s teenage daughter’s relationship with hedge-fund manager Giovanni Bernaschi’s playboy son [email protected] complicates an already tricky social dance of status, money and ambition. www.bacfilms.com

Director’s Statement This project began first and foremost as a real “love affair” with the wonderful novel by Stephen in cooperation with and supported by Amidon, Human Capital, set in an affluent Connecticut suburb in the last decade. Those characters, and that story, seemed emblematic of our times, even in Italy: a wealth that doesn’t come from work, but from the most ruthless of financial speculation; the dashed hopes of climbing the social ladder; the anxiety that money causes; a generation of young people forced to pay a higher price Istituto Luce Cinecittà for happiness, because of the fitful ambitions of their parents, or their own frustrations. The story Annabella Nucara of Drew Hagel—the restless real estate agent who takes advantage of his daughter’s presumed Rome, Italy relationship with the son of a wealthy broker to try and join the board of an aggressive investment +39 06 722861 fund—immediately struck a chord. It seemed written just for us, to express a state of affairs that [email protected] concerns us all. So we made it an Italian story, the story of Dino Ossola, a real estate agent, who’s www.filmitalia.org enrolled his daughter Serena in a prestigious prep school he can barely afford. We immersed that Festivals and Awards (Selection) mosaic of stories and characters in today’s North Italian Provence, a region straddling the border • Athens International Film Festival - Opening Nights 2014: Premiere of wealth and desperation. • Chicago International Film Festival 2014: Main Competition • Cinéalma - L’âme de la méditerranée 2014 We decided to structure the plot like a real thriller, with a dead body on our hands from the very • David di Donatello 2014: Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Actress in a first scene: a cyclist hit on an icy winter’s night, on the eve of the Christmas holidays. Tracing the Leading Role (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi), Best Actress in a Supporting steps of the various characters, the entire film retells the story of what happened that night, piece Role (Valeria Golino), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Fabrizio Gifuni), by piece, showing how that accident could change each of their lives. Best Editing, Best Sound (Roberto Mozzarelli) Mainly, however, it tells the story of how money—the angst of multiplying it, the anxiety of losing • Filmfest München 2014: Spotlight it—determines the relationships, the fates, and the worth of the people it touches. • Flanders International Film Festival Ghent 2014: Gala Director Production • Globi d‘Oro 2014: Best Film Paolo Virzì Company Indiana Production Company, • Jerusalem International Film Festival 2014: Gala Italy Screenplay • Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2014: Horizons Co- prod. • Motovun Film Festival 2014: Main program Paolo Virzì, Francesco Bruni, Francesco Country France Piccolo, from the novel by Stephen Amidon • New Zealand International Film Festival 2014 Genre Crime/Thriller Main cast • Seattle International Film Festival 2014: Contemporary World Cinema Fabrizio Bentivoglio, Valeria Golino, Valeria Language Italian • Sydney Film Festival 2014 Bruni Tedeschi, Fabrizio Gifuni, Luigi Lo Cascio Year 2014 • The Norwegian Int‘l Film Festival - Haugesund 2014: Main Programme Length 110 min • Tribeca Film Festival 2014: World Narrative Competition - Best Actress

• Vancouver International Film Festival 2014: Cinema of Our Time www.filmmovement.com/filmcatalog/index.asp?MerchandiseID=372 NEVER DIE YOUNG

Luxembourg

Directed by Pol Cruchten

Wednesday, October 29 at 8:30 pm

Luxembourg Contact NEVER DIE Directed by Pol Cruchten International Sales YOUNG Eastwest Filmdistribution (NEVER DIE YOUNG) Austria Sasha Wieser Synopsis +43 6642338411 Guido is born in Pétange/Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg on December 7th, 1959. At the age of 12, he [email protected] www.eastwest-distribution.com is sent to a boarding school in Arlon/Belgium for three long years. His return to Pétange marks the beginning of his downward spiral. He starts selling heroin to pay for his own consumption and is rapidly confronted with the justice department. The occurrence marking his life forever occurs when in cooperation with and supported by he‘s 20 years old. Trying to escape from a police department, where he was just brought to, Guido throws himself head first off an eight-meter high wall. He miraculously survives the fall, but remains paralyzed for the rest of his life. At the re-education center, despite the wheelchair he‘s stuck to day after day, his addiction remains as lively as ever. Film Fund Luxembourg Françoise Lentz Luxembourg, Luxembourg +352 2478 2179 [email protected] www.filmfund.lu

Festivals and Awards (Selection) • Lëtzebuerger Filmpräis 2014 – Best Documentary

Director Production Pol Cruchten Company Red Lion, Luxembourg Screenplay Genre Docu-Fiction Pol Cruchten Language French Main cast Year 2014 Robinson Stévenin (male voice), Length 66 min Laurence Côte (female voice)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qo0RgluOYoI

SORROW AND JOY

Denmark

Directed by Nils Malmros

Thursday, October 30 at 6:30 pm

Denmark Contact SORROW AND JOY Directed by Nils Malmros International Sales (SORG OG GLÆDE) Trust Nordisk Hvidovre, Denmark Lena Juhl Seidelin Synopsis +45 3686 8703 In SORROW AND JOY filmmaker Johannes and his wife, Signe experience the biggest sorrow one [email protected] can ever imagine when Signe kills their 9-month-old daughter. In the midst of all the hopelessness www.trustnordisk.com Johannes has to fight the legal system to secure his wife the lightest possible sentence and at the same time try to reach out to her in order to continue life after death. in cooperation with and supported by

Director Nils Malmros is one of Danish films most significant auteurs - SORROW AND JOY is his most personal film to date and chronicles tragic events from his own life.

Director’s Statement Danish Film Institute My own adolescence has formed the basis of my films describing the loss of innocence and coming Christian Juhl Lemche of age. They circle around unrequited and unhappy love. With my new film I want to tell a story of Copenhagen, Denmark how to reach a mutual and mature love through immense sorrow and joy. It may sound grand, but +45 33 74 3400 I certainly feel that my words are justified. [email protected] Nils Malmros 2013 www.dfi.dk

Festivals and Awards (Selection) • Edinburg International Film Festival • Rome International Film Festival

Director Production Nils Malmros Company Nordisk Film Production A/S, Denmark Screenplay Nils Malmros, John Mogensen Genre Drama Main cast Language Danish Jakob Cedergren, Helle Fagralid, Nicolas Bro, Year 2013 Ida Dwinger Length 107 min

trustnordisk.com/film/2013-sorrow-and-joy Living Is Easy With Eyes Closed

Spain

Directed by David Trueba

Thursday, October 30 at 8:30 pm

Spain Contact Living Is Easy Directed by David Trueba US-Distributor With Eyes Closed Outsider Pictures (Vivir es fácil con los ojos cerrados) Santa Monica +1 310 393 4190 Synopsis [email protected] Spain, 1966: Antonio (Javier Cámara) is a teacher and a Beatles fan – facets he combines by getting his www.outsiderpictures.us pupils to recite the lyrics from “Help” in English class. When he learns that his idol John Lennon is making International Sales a film in Almería (Richard Lester’s “How I Won The War”) he resolves to meet him. On the journey he picks 6 Sales up two young runaways: Belén, a pregnant girl fleeing a convent, and Juanjo, a boy escaping a dictatorial Spain father. Marina Fuentes +34 91 172 37 34 Director’s Statement [email protected] The backdrop for Living Is Easy With Eyes Closed is sixties’ Spain: grey, contradictory, dictatorship-driven. www.6sales.es Its older citizens are still conditioned by a civil-war past while the new, younger generation craves for moral and social freedom. This contrast is especially pronounced in the southern part of the country; for instance, the severely impoverished province of Almería, where the first waves of massive tourism and in cooperation with and supported by foreign super film productions clash with delays and local limitations. In this setting, John Lennon’s arrival in Spain to participate in Richard Lester’s How I Won the War, brightens the mood of a segment of the youth population, symbolizing as he does freedom, a new morality and progress. The Lennon who arrives to Spain is a Lennon in crisis. He has just released his ICAA (Spain) troubles-induced Help. Uncertain about the future of the Beatles, experimenting with drugs and at the Rafael Cabrera brink of a personal and professional divorce, Almería offers Lennon a chance isolate to himself and reflect. Madrid, Spain It is an introspective period in which his songs reveal a hitherto unknown intimate side, drawing on +34 91 701 7259 childhood memories and his later frustrations, many of which originate with the conflicting facets of [email protected] www.mcu.es/cine/index sweeping success. Musical history notes that during his stay in Almería, Lennon composed one of his most personal pieces, Strawberry Fields Forever. Lennon is not the protagonist in this story; he is rather Festivals and Awards (Selection) an unreachable icon, a symbol… The protagonists, in reality, are the three characters who belong to • San Sebastian Film Festival, Miami International Film Festival that Spain of the sixties: a demanding and dynamic English teacher, who suspects that social reform is • Göteborg International Film Festival more the product of personal ambition than political planning, a person who allows himself to be swept • Festival Internacional de Cine de Punta del Este away by enthusiasm and desire; and two young people who, in different ways, struggle with prevailing • The Prague International Film Festival social frustrations and the idea that others can govern their destinies. The three characters represent • Espoo Ciné International Film Festival three types of rebellion against the established order. They are not historical characters but anonymous • International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival individuals who by waging personal battles, both intimately and zealously, contributed to social change in their country. They are the true agents of a change brought about by atypical, non-traditional heroes.

Director Production David Trueba Company Fernando Trueba P.C., S.A., Spain Screenplay Genre Comedy-Drama David Trueba Language Spanish Main cast Year 2013 Javier Cámara, Natalia de Molina, Length 108 min Francesc Colomer www.livingiseasywitheyesclosed.com www.livingiseasywitheyesclosed.com/trailer.html To The Hilt

FYRo Macedonia

Directed by Stole Popov

Friday, October 31 at 5:00 pm

FYRo Macedonia Contact To The Hilt Directed by Stole Popov Production Company (DO BALCAK) Triangle Film Skopje, Macedonia Dancho Chevrevski Synopsis + 389 75 204 767; +389 70 244 977 Macedonia, a small country at the heart of the Balkans, which was under the yoke of the Ottoman Empire [email protected] [email protected] for five centuries, provides the setting for To the Hilt in the years of general collapse and „free fall“ after the Macedonian uprising of 1903 and its bloody suppression. The story is a complex quadrangle between an uncompromising, idealist rebel, a merciless Turkish officer, an opportunist rich man‘s son returning in cooperation with and supported by home after his studies in Europe, and a lucid and open-minded European woman, who flirts with the three men and triggers a series of events with dire and unforeseeable consequences. The characters go through turbulent collisions resulting in cathartic experiences and a new self-awareness as the story brings the paradoxes and absurdities of Macedonian history to boiling-point.

Director’s Statement Macedonian Film Agency The film is a harsh and romantic story in which the eternal Macedonian history quest for identity and Darko Basheski independence is viewed through the prism of the relative notions of freedom, justice, love, sacrifice Skopje, Macedonia and treason. Caught in a trap, one of the characters declares his radical philosophy: “Fuck life if you +389 2 3224 100 aren’t ready to die for it!” It is an unusual story, dated more than a hundred years ago, but appears very [email protected] modern, ongoing and provocative considering the fatally cycled repetition of history, full of emotions www.filmfund.gov.mk and fierce passion. The aspect of open-ended relation Islam – Christianity makes “To the Hilt” very interesting for contemporary viewers all around the world.

Director Genre Drama, fiction, historial Stole Popov Language Macedonian, French, English, Screenplay Turkish Goran Stefanovski Year 2014 Main cast Length 165 min Inti Sraj, Martin Jordanovski, Sashko Kocev, Toni Mihajlovski stolepopov.com/production/to-the-hilt/ www.youtube.com/watch?v=35q1sKuUypw

Ida

Poland

Directed by Paweł Pawlikowski

Saturday, November 1 at 3:30 pm

Poland Contact IDA Directed by Paweł Pawlikowski US-Distributor (IDA) Music Box Films Chicago +1 312 241 1320 Synopsis [email protected] Poland 1962. Anna is a novice, an orphan brought up by nuns in the convent. She has to see Wanda, www.musicboxfilms.com the only living relative, before she takes her vows. Wanda tells Anna that Anna is Jewish. Both women International Sales start a journey not only to find their family tragic story, but who they really are and where they belong. Portobello Film Sales They question their religions and ideas they believed in. Both are trying to go on living but only one of Copenhagen, Denmark them can. Christian Falkenberg Husum +45 4037 3908 Director’s Statement [email protected] IDA is a film about identity, family, faith, guilt, socialism and music. I wanted to make a film about history, which wouldn’t feel like a historical film; a film which is moral, but has no lessons to offer; I wanted to tell a story in which ‘everyone has their reasons’; a story closer to poetry than plot. Most of all, I wanted in cooperation with and supported by to steer clear of the usual rhetoric of the Polish cinema. The Poland in IDA is shown by an ‘outsider’ with no axe to grind, filtered through personal memory and emotion, the sounds and images of childhood.

Polish Film Institute Olga Domżała Warsaw, Poland +48 22 4210 497 [email protected] www.pisf.pl

Festivals and Awards (Selection) • Winner London Film Festival 2013 • Winner Critics Prize – Toronto 2013 • Winner 2013 • Winner Golden Lion Gdynia Film Festival 2013 • Winner ASC Spotlight Award 2013

Director Production Paweł Pawlikowski Company Opus Film, Poland Screenplay Co-prod. Paweł Pawlikowski, Rebeca Lenkiewicz Country Denmark Main cast Genre Drama Agata Trzebuchowska , Agata Kulesza, Language Polish Dawid Ogrodnik Year 2013 Length 80 min

www.ida-movie.com SEE YOU IN MONTEVIDEO

Serbia

Directed by Dragan Bjelogrlic

Saturday, November 1 at 6:00 pm

Serbia Contact SEE YOU IN Directed by Dragan Bjelogrlic Production Company MONTEVIDEO Intermedia Network (MONEVIDEO VIDIMO SE) Belgrade, Serbia Katarina Radojkovic Synopsis +38 1631043394 A tale of how Yugoslavia’s football team took part in the 1st world cup in Montevideo, in 1930. Inspired by [email protected] www.intermedianetwork.rs true events, a football saga that continues in Uruguay’s capital where Yugoslavia’s team finds itself among strong opponents. An underdog team, a team that no one believes in, draws as an opponent Brazil’s national team. Lead by a vision, the Yugoslavian boys, with perseverance and enthusiasm, manage to in cooperation with and supported by surprise the global sports scene, as well as a meddling and notorious talent scout.

Director’s Statement “When we started working on film, in front of us a whole new and wonderful world started to unfold. A world of simple people who regarded themselves as ordinary, not realizing that they were everything but Film Center Serbia ordinary. We found ourselves in a time in which romance was a way of life and chivalry the foundation Miroljub Vučković of behavior. Belgrade, Serbia Following the football traces, we discovered a magical force. In a time when playing sports was a privilege +381 11 262 5131 of the upper class, “the new game in shorts” came over the little people from the margins. And those, to [email protected] whom most earthly benefits were out of reach, embraced this game, recognizing not only their heroes in www.fcs.rs it but hope, obtainable by all. We tell the tale about all those things… In a kind of tale that we all love to watch since we can’t all live in it…”

Director Genre Historical Melodrama Dragan Bjelogrlic Language Serbian, English, Spanish, French Screenplay Year 2014 Ranko Bozic, Dimitrije Vojnov, Length 146 min Dragan Bejlogrlic Main cast Miloš Biković, Petar Strugar, Armand Assante, Viktor Savić, Elena Martínez www.montevideoproject.com http://vimeo.com/92920752 Little England

Greece

Directed by Pantelis Voulgaris

Sunday, November 2 at 3:30 pm

Greece Contact Little Directed by Pantelis Voulgaris International Sales England Mikra Agglia SA (MIKRA AGGLIA) Athens, Greece Katerina Helioti Synopsis +30 210 4580311 1930s, Andros, a Greek island. 20-year-old Orsa is passionately in love with sailor Spyros Maltabes. Orsa [email protected] won’t reveal her secret to anyone, not even to her sister Moscha. A free spirit, Moscha wants to escape the dictates of local tradition: women marrying sailors and spending their lives in loneliness. The girls’ mother, Mina, the shrewd wife of captain Savvas, is at the helm of the family. Her priority is to marry in cooperation with and supported by off her daughters to wealthy husbands. She turns down Spyros’ marriage proposal for Orsa, as he comes from a humble background; Orsa marries Nikos Vatokouzis, a captain and ship owner. After several years, Spyros returns to the island as an accomplished captain and marries Moscha. In the wake of World War II, suppressed feelings are rekindled and cruel games of fate reveal secrets, leading to devastation. Greek Film Centre Stavroula Geronimaki Director’s Statement Athens, Greece I have been making stories for almost 50 years. Most of all I was inspired by human stories. Tales of +30 210 367 8530 existence. Of seamen who are tossed about the oceans, of women tortured by the waves of loneliness. [email protected] www.gfc.gr Ioanna Karystiani’s novel “Little England” has a strong storyline with twists and vibrant female and male characters, a particular insight on a specific era, the social conditions, the human adventure. Festivals and Awards (Selection) • 17th Shanghai International Film Festival 2014: Golden Goblet Awards for Best Feature Film, Best Director & Best Actress • Hellenic Film Academy Awards: Best Picture, Cinematography, Production Design, Costume Design, Make-up, Sound mixing • 38th Montreal World Film Festival: Participation in the “World Greats” section • Euphoria Film Festival Los Angeles: Honorary Screening

Director Production Pantelis Voulgaris Company Mikra Agglia SA, Greece Screenplay Genre Drama Ioanna Karystiani Language Greek Main cast Year 2013 Penelope Tsilika, Sofia Kokkali, Andreas Length 132 min Konstantinou, Maximos Moumouris mikraaggliafilm.gr www.facebook.com/MikraAggliaFilm vimeo.com/twothirtyfive/review/104484485/2a3ee9b4ab Cowboys

Croatia

Directed by Tomislav Mršić

Sunday, November 2 at 6:30 pm

Croatia Contact Cowboys Directed by Tomislav Mršić International Sales (Kauboji) Wide Management Paris, France Loic Magneron Synopsis +33 6 60 43 96 86 All the world‘s a stage, but only some can be cowboys. [email protected] Sasha, a successful theatre director, has been offered the opportunity to re-start a neglected local theater www.widemanagement.com in his home town, which is a challenge as the city has no actors. When the theater schedules auditions for a new show, only inexperienced candidates show up. The director and his new ensemble of misfits decide in cooperation with and supported by to base their play on classic Hollywood Westerns, their only common ground. As the actors embrace the stereotypes of the genre – the fight between good and evil, the clash between civilization and the wilderness – they develop their stories. Breaking every rule of stagecraft, as time passes they start to view the play as a metaphor for their own destinies, and grasp it as the opportunity of a lifetime. Croatian Audiovisual Centre Katarina Prpić Director’s Statement Zagreb, Croatia “Cowboys“ was by the most part inspired by the stage hit, in which eight outsiders are trying to make a +385 1 604 1080 musical. The universal dramaturgical framework (template) for the story of a man fighting with himself, [email protected] and the protagonists of the play develop their life stories and in doing so inevitably affect each other. URL: www.havc.hr Genre, movie is positioned somewhere between social drama and a comedy. The place chosen for the small industrial town, a small and claustrophobic enough to live in it being impossible, a large and diverse enough that the story and characters that follow are possible and believable. Dramaturgy wise, „The Cowboys“ shared a lot with the British social drama (Billy Elliot, Full Monty, Brassed Off ...), genre or subgenre as some characterize, in which the emphasis is always on the clear story, functionally profiled characters and subtle social subtext actions outlined.

Director Production Tomislav Mršić Company Kabinet, Croatia Screenplay Genre Comedy Tomislav Mršić Language Croatian Main cast Year 2013 Saša Anočić, Živko Anočić, Matija Antolić, Length 107 min Hrvoje Barišić, Kruno Klabučar, Ivana Rushaidat, Rakan Rushaidat, Radovan Ruždjak www.kabinet.hr facebook.com/kaubojifilm Fair Play

Czech Republic

Directed by Andrea Sedláčková

Monday, November 3 at 6:30 pm

Czech Republic Contact Fair Play Directed by Andrea Sedláčková International Sales (Fair Play) Intramovies Rome, Italy Paola Corvino Synopsis +39 335 841 0149 Set in Czechoslovakia in the 1980, young and talented sprinter Anna (Judit Bárdos) is selected for [email protected] the national team and starts training to qualify for the Olympic Games. As a part of the preparation www.intramovies.com she is placed in a secret „medical programme“ where they begin dopeing her with anabolic steroids. Her performance improves, but after she collapses at training, she learns the truth. Anna decides to continue her training without the steroids even though her mother (Anna Geislerova) is worried in cooperation with and supported by that she won‘t be able to keep up with other athletes and might not qualify for the Olympics, which she sees as the only chance for her daughter to escape from behind the Iron Curtain.

Czech Film Center Markéta Šantrochova Prague, Czech Republic +420 22 1105 321 [email protected] www.filmcenter.cz

Festivals and Awards (Selection) • IFF Karlovy Vary • Busan IFF • BFI London • Westwind • Stockholm IFF • Ljublana IFF • Chicago IFF

Director Production Andrea Sedláčková Company Negativ, Czech Republic Screenplay Co-prod. Andrea Sedláčková Countries Slovak Republic, Germany Genre Drama Main cast Language Czech Judit Bárdos, Ana Geislerová, Eva Josefiková, Year 2014 Roman Luknár Length 100 min

www.fairplayfilm.cz Life in a fishbowl

Iceland

Directed by Baldvin Z

Monday, November 3 at 8:30 pm

Iceland Contact Life in a Directed by Baldvin Z International Sales fishbowl Films Boutique (Vonarstræti) Berlin, Germany Jean-Christophe Simon Synopsis +49 30 69537850 After a horrible tragedy, writer Móri, drinks himself into oblivion by going on a twenty-year binge. [email protected] filmsboutique.com Eik, a young single mom, moonlights as a prostitute to make ends meet. Young father and good husband, Sölvi, is recruited into the snake pit of the Icelandic international banking system. Soon PR fate will step in and they will all meet. Karen Fried & Associates Los Angeles, US Director’s Statement Sara Vahabi “Life in a Fishbowl” is a simple story about three people who must face decisive changes to find +1 818 980-6220 some sort of redemption. On closer inspection, the stories unveil layer upon layer of meaning which +1 310 993-5458 become ever thicker and more complicated as we delve deeper into each character. What the main character have in common is that they all lead a double life in one way or another. They all have in cooperation with and supported by daughters of a similar age and all have some sort of reckoning with the past, present of future looming over them. For my part, it is vital that the audience initially see three characters they think they know everything about. As we get further into the story and get to know the characters better, we find out that they all have a deeper and a more complicated aspects to them. At the end, the audience Icelandic Film Centre sees three protagonists they feel they have come to know intimately but not as celluloid characters. Laufey Guðjónsdóttir Reykjavík, Iceland +354 562 3580 [email protected] www.icelandicfilmcentre.is

Director Production Baldvin Z Company The Icelandic Film Company, Screenplay Iceland Baldvin Z, Birgir Steinarson Co-prod. Countries Finland, Sweden, Main cast Czech Republic Hera Hilmar, Thorsteinn Bachmann, Genre Drama Thor Kristjansson Language Icelandic Producers Ingvar Thordarson, Júlíus Kemp Year 2014 Length 130 min www.kisi.is Concrete Night

Finland

Directed by Pirjo Honkasalo

Tuesday, November 4 at 6:30 pm

Finland Contact Concrete Night Directed by Pirjo Honkasalo International Sales (Betoniyö) Film Republic London, UK Xavier Henry-Rashid Synopsis +44 7835 999 112 Concrete Night opens in a cramped, concrete-jungle home in Helsinki. Ilkka, the elder of the two [email protected] brothers, is leaving to serve a prison sentence. During Ilkka’s last 24 hours of freedom, his younger www.filmrepublic.biz sibling, vulnerable Simo, follows the brother he admires through the fateful events of that hot summer night. Pirjo Honkasalo‘s bold film is a dream-like odyssey about a fragile mind of a young PR Silversalt PR boy and the loss of innocence as he drifts around the city. New York, US Director’s Statement Thessa Mooij Concrete Night is not a film about school killings, mass murderers or the Chechen brothers in Boston. +1 212 729 7971 It’s a film about a young mind that was shattered long before the all-encompassing misanthropy [email protected] may have got a hold of it. This is a film about the metaphysics of coincidences in a world which we, www.silversaltpr.com blinded by our delusional omnipotence, think we have control over and thus the ability to destroy. The protagonist of the film, 14-year-old Simo, is the fragile and sensitive surface reflecting all the in cooperation with and supported by rumblings that take place around him. Simo, lacking the ability to distort what he sees or change it to something more pleasing to him, sees the world accurately, just as it is. Life is unbearable when Finnish Film Foundation seen without a filter. Humans can‘t live that way. Being an adult means building walls to protect Jaana Puskala one’s self. This is what Author Marja-Leena Mikkola wrote about Pirkko Saisio’s novel in the 1980s: Helsinki, Finland ”Edvard Munch’s famous painting The Scream arouses a sense of unease in the spectator. The face +358 9 6220 3026 of the screaming creature has no expression, and yet it draws the spectator in. One is compelled to [email protected] look intensely at the gaping mouth of the face, one cannot avoid it and one cannot escape from it. I www.ses.fi experienced something similar to this when I read Pirkko Saisio’s ‘Concrete Night’. It has been ripped of everything superfluous – pity, tenderness, hatred, irony – all that remained was this scream, Festivals and Awards (Selection) this howl. In Concrete Night everything is dead for good. We‘ve seen both mentally and physically • World premiere: Toronto IFF 2013 (Masters Series) neglected young people in suburban ghettos before. They have something that Simo doesn’t; a • St. Petersburg IFF 2013 (Competition Programme) subculture of their own and some concept of themselves. In Concrete Night Simo is an outsider; a • Warsaw IFF 2013 (International Competition) faceless young man. Lifting Simo and his environment into the focus of literal description is an act • Thessaloniki IFF 2013 of love of sorts. The total (and successful) settling inside Simo is an even greater one. The author • Plus Camerimage – The International Film Festival of the Art of accepts Simo.” I, too, accept Simo. Cinematography 2013 (Main Competition) August 2013, Pirjo Honkasalo • Rotterdam IFF 2014 • Göteborg IFF 2014 (Dragon Award Competition) • Nomination for Nordic Council Film Prize 2014 • Long-listed for the European Film Awards 2014 Production Director • A Golden Arena for Best Feature Film at Pula Film Festival 2014 Pirjo Honkasalo Company Bufo, Finland Co-prod. • Officine Lab Award to the Best not leading Actor at European Film Screenplay Festival Lecce Pirkko Saisio, Pirjo Honkasalo Countries Sweden, Denmark Genre Drama • 6 Jussi Awards: Best Film, Director, Cinematography, Set Design, Main cast Sound Design, Editing Johannes Brotherus, Jari Virman, Anneli Language Finnish Karppinen, Juhan Ulfsak Year 2013 Length 96 min www.concretenight.com www.vimeo.com/71820702 Bulgarian Rhapsody

Bulgaria

Directed by Ivan Nichev

Tuesday, November 4 at 8:30 pm

Bulgaria Contact Bulgarian Directed by Ivan Nichev Production Company Rhapsody Cinepaz Eood (Bulgarska Rafsodia) Sofia, Bulgaria Nissim Levy Synopsis +972 52 2577908 Summer of 1943. The Jews of Greater Bulgaria must adhere to the laws of Germany. Moni (17), a [email protected] Jewish youngster from Sofia and Giogio the son of the commissar for Jewish affairs’ driver, meet

Shelly (17) a Jewish girl from Kavala (Greece). The two face the values and limits of friendship, in cooperation with and supported by as they both fall in love with her, while outside rages their conflicted world. The Bulgarians are ordered to deport the Jews; trains traverse Bulgaria with 11,343 Jews from Macedonia and Tracia.

The fate of the three youngsters mirrors the lives of the Balkan Jews during WWII, challenged with the horrors of that period.

Bulgarian National Film Center Director’s Statement Irina Kanousheva Violence afflicted on people is always weaved into my films. Unfortunately, violence takes place Sofia, Bulgaria not only in times of war. Since WWII, which is the setting of our film BULGARIAN RHAPSODY, have +359 2 988 38 31 passed more than 70 years. A few days ago, showing my film in Buenos Aires Argentina, I walked [email protected] along a street and on the pavement for a rather long time I was followed by the memorial bronze www.nfc.bg plates engraved with the names of the children murdered in the terrorist attack in 1994. Those Children from AMIA (Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina) kindergarten will never grow up. My film BULGARIAN RHAPSODY is my cry against this violence. This should never happen again.

Director Co-prod. Ivan Nichev Country Israel Screenplay Genre Drama Yourii Dachev, Ivan Nichev, Tatyana Granitova, Language Bulgarian, Ladino, German Jean Pierre Magro Year 2014 Main cast Length 108 min Kristiyan Makarov, Angela Nedyalkova, Stefan Popov, Moni Moshonov, Tatyana Lolova www.youtube.com/watch?v=owTDPeS915Q&list=UU3Q4IeLk0WqXJEvGc6aNFwA&n oredirect=1 1001 Grams

Norway

Directed by Bent Hamer

Thursday, November 6 at 6:30 pm

Norway Contact 1001 Grams Directed by Bent Hamer International Sales (1001 gram) Les Films du Losange Paris, France Agathe Valentin Synopsis +33 1 44 43 87 10 When Norwegian scientist Marie attends a seminar in Paris on the actual weight of a kilo, it is her own [email protected] www.filmsdulosange.fr measurement of disappointment, grief and, not least, love, that ends up on the scale. Finally Marie is forced to come to terms with how much a human life truly weighs and which measurements she intends to live by. in cooperation with and supported by

Director’s Statement Man determines the definition of weight, but in my opinion it is equally important and interesting to understand what the definition of weight does to man. I have for a long time been fascinated by what exists in the area between scientific understanding and human action. That is also what resulted in my Norwegian Film Institute film Kitchen Stories in 2003. With 1001 Grams I see an opportunity (beyond measure) to further develop Stine Oppegaard that same type of view upon life through stylized esthetics and poetic humor. Oslo, Norway +47 22474500 [email protected] www.nfi.no

Festivals and Awards (Selection) • 2014 Toronto International Film Festival • 2014 Festival do Rio - Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival • 2014 London Film Festival • 2014 Tokyo IFF

Director Production Bent Hamer Company BulBul Film AS, Norway Screenplay Co-prod. Bent Hamer Countries Germany, France Main cast Genre Drama Ane Dahl Torp, Laurent Stocker, Stein Winge Language Norwegian, French, English Year 2014 Length 93 min

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVIAtIHcehM TANGERINES

Estonia

Directed by Zaza Urushadze

Thursday, November 6 at 8:30 pm

Estonia Contact TANGERINES Directed by Zaza Urushadze International Sales (MANDARIINID) Cinemavault Toronto, Canada Ryan Lee Synopsis +1 416 363 6060 Autumn of 1992. An empty village in Caucasia is left with only two villagers. Defying the approaching [email protected] war, an old man Ivo and his neighbour Markus are the last ones who haven‘t left. Markus has his www.cinemavault.com tangerine plantation to harvest, though the risk of wartime cropping is against Ivo‘s will. The two men become directly involved in battle conflict when Ivo finds a survivor, a Caucasian named Akhmed, on the battlefield and despite the rising threat carries the wounded man to his home. At the same time in cooperation with and supported by

Markus, while burying perished , also finds a survivor. The tangerine harvesters must now resolve their own war that expands under their roof with enemies from both sides.

Director’s Statement Estonian Film Institute People without borders – is the leitmotif of the film. Lea Kroonmann It is unsettling how irresponsible politicians unleash wars that send ordinary people to die. People, , Estonia who love life and are unique worlds of their own – death of a person is irreversible, but to politicians +372 627 6060 that is just statistics. And often the cause of a conflict is artificial to begin with. [email protected] The film is an attempt to show that even severe enemies can overcome this unnatural opposition www.efsa.ee and institutionalised slaughtering. It is about trust in the human kindness that will eventually prevail, if people are able to forgive, help and protect each other, even from their own people and Festivals and Awards (Selection) at the cost of their own lives. • Palm Springs International Film Festival 2014 – 2nd Runner-up • Seattle International Film Festival 2014 – 2nd Runner-up • San Francisco International Film Festival 2014 • Warsaw International Film Festival 2013 - Best Director, Audience Award • Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival 2013 – Special Award of Mannheim-Heidelberg, German Distributors Award, Audience Award • Film Festival Oostende 2014 – Best Film • Eurasia International Film Festival 2014 – Best Actor • Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2013 – Best Estonian Film, Don Quijote Jury Prize by International Federation of Film Societies • 32nd Fajr International Film Destival 2014 - Best Film, Best Screenplay • Bari International Film Festival 2014 – Best Film Director Production • Montreal World Film Festival 2014 Zaza Urushadze Company Allfilm, Estonia Screenplay Co-prod. Zaza Urushadze Country Main cast Genre Drama Lembit Ulfsak, Giorgi Nakhashidze, Language Estonian, Russian Elmo Nüganen, Misha Meskhi Year 2013 Length 87 min allfilm.ee/en/filmid/tangerines/ www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMXjmYmwp-o Accused

The Netherlands

Directed by Paula van der Oest

Friday, November 7 at 5:00 pm

The Netherlands Contact Accused Directed by Paula van der Oest International Sales (Lucia de B.) Fortissimo The Netherlands Nelleke Driessen, Laura Talsma Synopsis +31 20 627 3215 Based on a true story. [email protected] [email protected] Nurse Lucia (40) has been present at one inexplicable death too many, and the hospital alerts the www.fortissimofilms.com police. Assistant District Attorney Judith (28), driven by ambition and genuinely outraged, gets caught in the „politics“ of the hospital and her own legal department and Lucia is shockingly sentenced to life in prison. But something keeps troubling Judith, and she discovers inconsistencies in witness in cooperation with and supported by statements, and even the suppression of lab evidence. Ignored by her superiors, Judith teams up with Lucia’s lawyer, but at every appeal the original guilty verdict is confirmed. Things look bleak until they get the media involved and the biggest miscarriage of justice in Dutch history is finally reversed. EYE International Director’s Statement Claudia Landsberger ACCUSED is a multi-genre film that moves between courtroom drama, thriller and biopic. In its 97 Amsterdam, The Netherlands minutes I wanted to investigate the mechanisms and tunnel vision that led to the collective hysteria +31 20 7582 375 that got nurse Lucia de Berk convicted for murders she never committed. That no one committed, as [email protected] it turned out. international.eyefilm.nl

Festivals and Awards (Selection) • Selected at The Netherlands Film Festival • Nomination for for Beste Actress for Ariane Schluter at The Netherlands Film Festival • Moniek Kramer in collaboration with Tijs van Marle were nominated for „De Zilveren Krulstaart“. The Zilveren Krulstaart is a price for writers of the best scenario’s of the year. • On 2 May 2014 Accused received a Golden Film status. More than 100.000 people went to see the film all acros the country (in The Netherlands) since its release on 3 April 2014

Director Production Paula van der Oest Company Rinkel Film BV, The Netherlands Screenplay Co-prod. Moniek Kramer in collaboration with Countries Belgium, Sweden, Luxembourg Tijs van Marle Genre Drama, Thriller Main cast Language Dutch Ariane Schluter, Sallie Harmsen, Fedja van Year 2014 Huêt, Barry Atsma, Annet Malherbe Length 97 min luciadebdefilm.nl/ www.rinkelfilm.com/en/project/13/lucia-de-b Beloved Sisters

Germany

Directed by Dominik Graf

Saturday, November 8 at 3:30 pm

Germany Contact Beloved Sisters Directed by Dominik Graf US-Distributor (Die geliebten Schwestern) Music Box Films Chicago +1 312 241 1320 Synopsis [email protected] The aristocratic sisters Charlotte and Caroline both fall in love with the controversial young writer and www.musicboxfilms.com hothead Friedrich Schiller. Defying the conventions of their time, the sisters decide to share their love with Schiller. What begins playfully, almost as a game among the three of them, soon turns serious as International Sales it leads to the end of a pact... Global Screen GmbH Munich, Germany Julia Weber Director’s Statement +49 89 2441295 590 Producer Uschi Reich proposed the story of BELOVED SISTERS to me: A ménage à trois in the late 18th [email protected] Century. Two young noblewomen fall in love with the same man – a commoner – who falls for both www.globalscreen.de women, for better or worse. The perfect scenario for a drama. But there‘s hardly any jealousy in this story. All three just want each other to be happy. They agree that one of the two sisters will marry the man, for the other sister is unhappily married already. So the younger sister marries him for the both of them, as it in cooperation with and supported by were. No bickering, no rivalry. The utopian threesome. But then life intervenes, time goes by like a river, everyday life takes over… and everything that seemed so simple suddenly gets more and more difficult. In the summer of 1788, Friedrich Schiller and the von Lengefeld sisters Charlotte and Caroline find themselves in this love triangle in the town of Rudolstadt. The girls are from a family of Thuringian petty German Films nobles - who hardly have any more money than the infamous but impoverished poet Schiller. Time stands Mariette Rissenbeek still for them, the world becomes a idyllic place of falling-in-love, making a few plans and imagining how Munich, Germany it could go on with them. Everything gets more complicated the moment summer ends. What attracted +49 89 599 787 0 me the most from the outset was making a movie about words, words of love, words ofjoyous longing, [email protected] promise of a life less ordinary. Filming their correspondence, watching the characters write each other, www.german-films.de sometime letting them read the letters out loud. Talking about their feelings, about their love triangle, Festivals and Awards (Selection) planning, conspiring a little to get to see each other. Three very intelligent people, each complex in their Awards: very own way. From a modern perspective, I tried to shoot the movie as if writing a book – as if the film • Winner: Best Cinematography, Bavarian Film Awards 2013 stock were writing paper. Historical characters always seem more interesting to me today. Their world is • Nomination: Best Film, Berlin International Film Festival 2014 far away, a mystery, follows other laws and maxims, they‘re not as close-minded as we are – no matter Festivals: what kind of obstacles they had to overcome – they live with other extreme experiences, they know • Berlinale – World Premiere, In Competition, Febuary 2014 things we don‘t. This makes historical characters in films seem very beautiful to me. Several parts of this • CPH: PIX Copenhagen, April 2014 story are mere conjecture and speculation, for important letters and key sources have been lost. Shooting • Transilvania IFF, May 2014 this film was a great joy. Dominik Graf, January 2014 • Shanghai IFF, Spectrum, June 2014 • Edinburgh IFF, June 2014 Director Production • Moscow IFF, June 2014 Dominik Graf Company Bavaria Filmverleih- und • Voices Independent Cinema from European Screens Festival, Produktions GmbH, Germany Screenplay Vologda, June 2014 Co-prod. Dominik Graf Country Austria • New York FF, September 2014 Main cast • GI Beirut – Week of German films, September 2014 Genre Drama Hannah Herzsprung, Florian Stetter, • Chicago IFF, October 2014 Henriette Confurius, Claudia Messner Language German, French • FilmNeu GI Washington, October 2014 Year 2014 • GoetheFest Belgrad, October 2014 Length 170 min • German Film Festival Ukraine, October 2014 • International Historical FF of Waterloo, October 2014 www.senator.de/movie/die-geliebten-schwestern • GI Hong Kong KINO 2014, October 2014 www.globalscreen.de/cinema.current_line_up/content/show/355709 • German Film Festival Singapore, November 2014 THE GAMBLER

Lithuania

Directed by Ignas Jonynas

Saturday, November 8 at 7:00 pm

Lithuania Contact THE GAMBLER Directed by Ignas Jonynas International Sales (LOSEJAS) Wide Paris, France Loic Magneron Synopsis +33 153950464 Vincentas is the best employee at the emergency services station, whose passion is one – gambling in [email protected] www.widemanagement.com different games. Whenever he lands in some difficult situation, the medic is forced to grab onto something radical to return the money he is constantly losing. An idea strikes Vincentas to create an illegal game related to his profession. Initially the employees at emergency services are the only ones to be attracted to in cooperation with and supported by this macabre engagement. Soon enough, however, the idea kicks off and starts spreading like wildfire. The medic colleagues become betting agents, whereas Vincentas takes control of its bank. As financial matters keep on improving, a coworker Ieva starts objecting to the game. A passionate relationship has just unfolded between her and Vincentas. Soon enough he is going to face making a fateful choice – the game or love. Lithuanian Film Centre Director’s Statement Liana Ruokytė-Jonsson My generation grew up in the Soviet system, graduated from Soviet schools, and was immersed in Vilnius, Lithuania double standard thinking. And then suddenly everything changed. Liberated from the communist +370 5 213 05 47 state, we found ourselves in the capitalist world of unrestrained freedom. Imposed collective [email protected] egalitarianism was replaced with market economy rules, in which you get as much as you manage www.lkc.lt/en to earn for yourself. This is why I wanted to make a film about the moral dilemma that arises within the individual who Festivals and Awards (Selection) was formed in the junction of different regimes. The main character of „The Gambler“, Vincentas, is • San Sebastian Film Festival – First feature competition that new hybrid person. He belongs to the two conflicting systems. • Warsaw Film Festival – International Competition; Special Jury Award His duality is best revealed in the critical situations which are experienced by the paramedic, who • Tallinn Black Nights FF - Tridens Competition • Marrakesh Film Festival – Official competition also happens to be an avid gambler. Balancing between death and life at work and trying to pay • 25th Trieste Film Festival - Feature film competition back his debts, he creates a game based on human life. Thus, the world-view of the post-Soviet • Santa Barbara International Film Festival - Official competition conformist and the capitalist winner converge. This is an explosive mix for any moral system. Ignas Jonynas

Director Production Ignas Jonynas Company Studio Uljana Kim, Lithuania Screenplay Co-prod. Kristupas Sabolius, Ignas Jonynas Country Latvia Main cast Genre Drama Vytautas Kaniusonis, Oona Mekas, Romuald Language Lithuanian Lavrynovic, Valerijus Jevsejevas, Lukas Kersys Year 2013 Length 109 min www.losejas.lt youtu.be/ViBIaviZ-tU THE KIDS FROM THE MARX AND ENGELS STREET

Montenegro

Directed by Nikola Vukcevic

Sunday, November 9 at 3:30 pm

Montenegro Contact THE KIDS FROM Directed by Nikola Vukcevic Production Company Galileo production Montenegro THE MARX AND Montenegro ENGELS STREET (Dječaci iz Ulice Marksa i Engelsa) Nikola Vukcevic Synopsis +382 67258049 A story about two brothers during one night: older brother Stanko (30) is going to kill a man for a first time, and [email protected] www.djecaci.com his younger brother Vojo (16) is going to make love for the first time. Fifteen years ago, Stanko witnesses murder of his father and swears he‘ll have his revenge (in that moment, Stanko was a singer of a popular band, and his father was a famous basketball coach). Stanko had been shopped by his mother to the police for possessing a in cooperation with and supported by gun and was confronted by his father‘s murderer, an influential politician, with the choice of going to prison or the army... or leaving the country. Fifteen years later, Stanko is a successful musician in London and by chance he sees his father‘s murderer. Stanko remembers his unfulfilled pledge and decides to return to Montenegro. In Montenegro, Stanko finds that Vojo (16) has a few problems he can’t fix himself so Stanko tries to help him. That same night, Stanko and his father’s murderer finally meet. Will Stanko find his revenge? On the other side of Ministry of Culture town, will Vojo find his needs..? ...and what is the price of being filled with satisfaction? of Montenegro Ilija Subotić Director’s Statement Cetinje, Montenegro I am confident that this feature project has several important elements that guarantee a strong film story: + 382 41 232 571 truth, belief and precise dramaturgy mathematics. Our movie is about personal history, as opposite side of [email protected] collective history - as fact. Balkan people - knows a lot about those two histories: intimate and collective www.mku.gov.me history. During the last twenty years the history has been relentlessly and violently unfolding on the Balkans: wars, revolutions, strikes, violent government changes, fight for survival, murders, criminal, Festivals and Awards (Selection) corruption, twisted system of values. In the shadow of these events, on their margins, are the personal • Herceg Novi - Montenegro Film Festival, August 2014: histories of young people: first kisses, emotional growth, first and true loves are thwarted (and hatred, Best director, Best camera intolerance, vengeance...), twisted by the circumstances in their surroundings. This film places at the centre stage young people whose personal histories have no alternative and whose hopes and desires are stronger than the circumstances that divide them. In the search for their goals - they will learn more than they hoped for. Vojo and Stanko will reveal more than they set out to know, with more than 20 other characters; as a metaphor of way of living in post-transition Montenegro (independent since 2006), as the youngest UN country. One of the film’s “characters” is the city of Podgorica itself. The capital of unknown country Montenegro (it was Former Yugoslavia, up to 2006) is undergoing transformation from old to new, from province to a capital, unsure of its own value but certain of its existence in its specificity, through its urban myths that have not yet been told cinematographically. This will, no doubt, be of interest to international audiences.

Director Co-prod. Nikola Vukcevic Countries Croatia, Serbia Screenplay Genre Balkan tragy-commedy Nikola Vukcevic, Milica Piletic Language Montenegrin (Serbo-croat) Main cast Year 2014 Momčilo Otašević, Goran Bogdan, Length 93 min Emir Hadžihafizbegović, Ana Sofrenovic, Branka Stanić www.djecaci.me www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsK_aJot70M Three Windows and a Hanging

Kosovo*

Directed by Isa Qosja

Sunday, November 9 at 6:30 pm

Kosovo* Contact Three Windows Directed by Isa Qosja International Sales and a Hanging EZ Films (TRI DRITARE DHE NJË VARJE) Paris, France Ray Meirovitz Synopsis +33 671 792 026 A harrowing tale about a village forced to come to terms with the raping of women by Serb forces +33 953 698 094 [email protected] during the 1998-99 Kosovo, seeks to tackle a sensitive issue that has largely been kept out of the www.ez-films.com spotlight for over a decade.

Director’s Statement in cooperation with and supported by Three Windows and a Hanging has a very tough theme. It was not easy to make a film about it. The characters are psychologically complex, always on the edge of certain emotions. I did not want to make a film that was hard to watch, but I still didn‘t want to avoid the drama and relations between the characters. Kosova Cinematography Center Arben Zharku Prishtina, Kosovo* +381 38 213 228 [email protected] www.qkk-rks.com

Festivals and Awards (Selection) • Connecting Cottbus 2012 - Best Pitch Award • Cinelink Work in Progress, Sarajevo Film Festival 2013 - Post Republic • Sarajevo Film Festival 2014 – Competition - Cineuropa AWARD • Durres International Film Festival Summer Fest 2014 - Golden Gladiator/Best Film

Director Production Isa Qosja Company CMB, Kosovo* Screenplay Co-prod. Zymber Kelmendi Country Germany Main cast Genre Drama Irena Cahani, Luan Jaha, Language Albanian Donat Qosja, Aurita Agushi, Year 2014 Leonora Mehmetaj Length 93 min

* This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ vimeo.com/user13914625/review/101957640/b7b649ff18 Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence. The Japanese Dog

Romania

Directed by Tudor Cristian Jurgiu

Monday, November 10 at 7:00 pm

Romania Contact The Japanese Directed by Tudor Cristian Jurgiu International Sales Dog m-appeal world sales UG (Câinele japonez) Berlin, Germany Aleksandra Abykova Synopsis +49 30 61 50 75 05 Elderly Costache Moldu has lost his wife and all his goods in a flood. The unexpected return of his son, Ticu, [email protected] www.m-appeal.com from Japan forces them to relearn how to communicate, to become a family again. Costache becomes a real grandfather to his 7 years old grandson, while Ticu straightens mistakes from the past. in cooperation with and supported by A delicate film about family reconciliation

Director’s Statement From the very beginning I was taken by the simpleness and the ingenuity of Ioan Antoci’s script. I tried to keep this spirit when I did the film. Romanian Film Promotion Cristian Hordilă The way in which I restructured the script, my choice of keeping a distance in the picture, the durations, +40 733 735 952 the cuts we did in the editing process, all were aimed at a certain sobriety of the emotion – not wanting [email protected] to avoid emotion, but trying to accumulate it behind the cold and rough faces and surfaces. www.romfilmpromotion.ro

Victor Rebengiuc understood this aproach perfectly and he succeded to give the film the exact nuances Festivals and Awards (Selection) inbetween the limits of too harsh chill and too dramatic exacerbation. A very emotional contrast • San Sebastian Film Festival, Spain, 2013 emerged from the combination of Rebengiuc’s input and the candour of the figure of the grandson (Toma • Warsaw Film Festival, Poland 2013 Hashimoto). • Mumbai International Film Festival, India 2013 • Thessaloniki International Film Festival, Greece, 2013 • Arras International Film Festival, France, November 2013 • Kerala International Film Festival, India, December 2014 • Bengaluru International Film Festival, India, December 2014 • SBIFF Santa Barbara International Film Festival, USA, January 2014 • New Directors New Films New York, Usa, March 2014 • Vilnius International Film Festival, Latvia, March 2014 • Cleveland International Film Festival, USA, March 2014 • Febiofest International Film Festival, Prague, Czech Republic, March 2014 • Istanbul International Film Festival, Turkey, April 2014 • Romanian Film Festival in Stokholm, Sweden, May 2014 • Seattle International Film Festival, USA, June 2014 • Shanghai International Film Festibal, China, June 2014 Director Production • Edinburgh International Film Festival, UK, June 2014 Tudor Cristian Jurgiu Company Libra Film Productions, Romania • Pula International Film Festival, Croatia, July 2014 Screenplay Genre Drama • Five Lakes Film Festival, Germany, July 2014 Ioan Antoci, Gabriel Gheorghe, Language Romanian • Chichester International Film Festival, UK, August 2014 Tudor Cristian Jurgiu Year 2013 • Haifa International Film Festival, Israel, October 2014 Main cast Length 90 min Victor Rebengiuc, Şerban Pavlu, Laurenţiu Lazăr, Kana Hashimoto, Toma Hashimoto, Ioana Abur, Alexandrina Halic www.cainelejaponez.ro/en www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC-fbU8uT2M A Step Into the Dark

Slovak Republic

Directed by Miloslav Luther

Monday, November 10 at 9:00 pm

Slovak Republic Contact A Step Into Directed by Miloslav Luther International Sales the Dark Amadeus Entertainment Ltd (Krok do Tmy) London, United Kingdom Ivo Fiorenza Synopsis [email protected] A period drama about a young physician who was forced to carry out executions during the war. www.amadeus-ent.com He is unable to come to grips with his past and later resists a promising career opportunity offered by the regime. He falls headlong into a passionate and erotic extramarital relationship. Is this in cooperation with and supported by physician a hero or a murderer? The troubled fates of our antiheroes from the early Communist period are stories of violence and resistance, weakness and courage, just like today

Director’s Statement

At the beginning of the fifties of the last century, where our story takes place, I have lived a happy Slovak Film Institute childhood in an unhappy world. Today, I do not know which of my memories of the dark post-war Alexandra Strelková time I really experienced, or just heard or read somewhere, or pieced together from various sources. Bratislava, Slovak Republic I know however with certainty, that adults lives passing by me that time, where richer and more +421 2 5710 1503 contradictory like their simple, black and white interpretations in history textbooks or media. [email protected] www.sfu.sk Like today and always, every man is the architect of his own life, the „author“ of the bright and dark side of the conscience. Which is full of love, disappointment, happiness, suffering, kindness, cruelty, Festivals and Awards (Selection): generosity, heroism, betrayal... • Montreal World Film Festival 2014 The conscience is the only thing which accompanies us our whole life. Whether we want to or do • Art Film Fest Trencianske Teplice 2014 not want.I believe that with our intense story, almost fictional, we’ll give the perceptive viewer a lot of what he is experiencing in his own life so he will finish watching this film in a deep emotion.

Director Production Miloslav Luther Company TRIGON Production s.r.o, Slovak Republic Screenplay Marian Puobis Genre Drama, Romance Main cast Language Slovak Marko Igonda, Monika Haasova, Year 2014 Kristyna Bokova, Miroslav Donutil Length 120 min www.trigon-production.sk vimeo.com/106669979 Programme of the European Union Creative Europe Support Programme for Europe’s Cultural and Creative Sectors 2014 - 2020 www.ec.europa.eu/culture/creative-europe

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European Film Promotion, Friedensallee 14-16, 22765 Hamburg, Germany [email protected] www.efp-online.com

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In cooperation with Bulgarian National Film Center, Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Czech Film Center, Danish Film Institute, Estonian Film Institute, EYE International (The Netherlands), Film Center Serbia, Film Fund Luxembourg, Finnish Film Foundation, German Films, Greek Film Centre, Icelandic Film Centre, ICAA (Spain), Istituto Luce Cinecittà (Italy), Kosova Cinematography Center, Lithuanian Film Centre, Macedonian Film Agency, Ministry of Culture of Montenegro, Norwegian Film Institute, Polish Film Institute, Romanian Film Promotion, Slovak Film Institute

with the support of the EU MEDIA Programme (2007-2013) EFP is financially supported by