The Oscar Moore prize is shaping up as one of Europe's most interesting scriptwriting contests. Organised by industry mag Screen International, this year's winner was Marcus Sherpherd's "A Killing in the Woods", singled out by the jury as "a powerful, simple story told with clarity and terrific tension, which avoids English clichés and stylistic tricksiness." If that whets your curiosity and you are in London this Wednesday contact Script Factory, as they are organising a reading of the script together with Bafta. So you get to hear what an award-winning script has to offer while it's still a script (and networking with Bafta and other writers is always interesting). Venue: BAFTA, 195 Piccadilly, London W1 at 6.30pm on Wednesday 27 July. Entrance is free, but you must absolutely reserve by contacting josh@scriptfactory.co.uk.
One of the most promising new festivals in Europe must be Poland's "Era Nowe Horyzonty/Era New Horizons" that has just kicked off on the Polish/Czech border. Over ten days, it will show some 300 largely European films. I quote: "The most important part of the festival is the competition. This section includes 18 innovative, visionary films trying to push the boundaries of conventional cinema and redefine the language of film-making. The films in competition, screened for the first time in Poland, are rated by the festival’s audience and one of them is awarded the Grand Prix. Eléonore Faucher's "Brodeuses" won the Grand Prix at 2004 Festival."
If you feel like brushing up on some skills over the holidays in the UK, ScriptWriter Magazine has two masterclasses planned over the coming weeks: "The Thriller Genre" by Nic Ransome on July 23 and "Inventing Stories and Treatments" with Julian Friedmann on July 30. Both are to be held at the RADA in London.
In a blitz that echoes that of Fatih Akin's "Head On" last year, Dani Levy's decidedly non-PC Jewish comedy "Go For Zucker! (Alles Auf Zucker)" picked up an armful of awards at this year's German Film Awards in Berlin's Philharmonie, held on July 8. The six Golden Lolas were for Best Film, Best Direction, Best Lead Actor (Henry Huebchen), Best Costume Design (Lucie Bates), Best Score (Niki Reiser) and last but not least Best Screenplay (Holger Franke and Dani Levy).
