THOMAS BIDEGAIN TO GIVE MASTERCLASS AT BRUSSELS FILM FEST

Thomas Bidegain

The 10th edition of the Brussels Film Festival is about to kick off on June 8, 2012. The festival has historically favoured first films from European directors. This year's event will have special Polish, Italian, Spanish and Walloon (the French-speaking half of Belgium) evenings.

The festival also has a series of masterclasses lined up that include Peter Aalbaek, the producer of Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg (director of "The Hunt"), Jean-Michel Bernard (Michel Gondry's composer) and directors Peter Greenaway and Lucas Belvaux. Scriptwriters should block June 10, as Thomas Bidegain, writer of two exceptional films at this year's Cannes - "De Rouille et d'Os" (Rust & Bone) by Jacques Audiard and "A perdre la raison" by Joachim Lafosse, will be giving a 4-hour masterclass from 2pm at the Flagey centre.

The official competition features 12 European films competing for a total amount of €45,500, among which €10,000 for the Golden Iris Award for best film. The jury is composed of Frédéric Fonteyne (director), Tania Garbarski (actress), Peter Greenaway (director), Edouard Molinaro (director), Koen Mortier (director), Mireille Perrier (actress) and Bernard Yerles (actor).

For details, visit Brussels Film Festival.  List of films in competition.

Balada Triste de Trompet picks up screenwriting award at Venice

The implausibly named "Balada Triste de Trompet" (Trumpet's sad ballad?) picked up the scriptwriting award at the 67th Mostra de Venezia. Writer/director Alex de la Iglesia is perhaps best known for the bitter comedy "Ferpect Crime" in 2004. He also picked up the Best Director award at Venice.

Complete list of winners
The Venezia 67 Jury, chaired by Quentin Tarantino and comprised of Guillermo Arriaga, Ingeborga Dapkunaite, Arnaud Desplechin, Danny Elfman, Luca Guadagnino, Gabriele Salvatores, having viewed all twenty-four films in competition, has decided as follows:

GOLDEN LION for Best Film:
SOMEWHERE by Sofia COPPOLA (USA)

SILVER LION for Best Director to:
Álex de la Iglesia for the film BALADA TRISTE DE TROMPETA
(Spain, France)

SPECIAL JURY PRIZE to:
ESSENTIAL KILLINGby Jerzy SKOLIMOWSKI
(Poland, Norway, Hungary, Ireland)

COPPA VOLPI
for Best Actor:
Vincent GALLO
in the film ESSENTIAL KILLING by Jerzy SKOLIMOWSKI
(Poland, Norway, Hungary, Ireland)

COPPA VOLPI
for Best Actress:
Ariane LABED
in the film ATTENBERG by Athina Rachel TSANGARI (Greece)

MARCELLO MASTROIANNI AWARD
for Best Young Actor or Actress:
Mila KUNIS
in the film BLACK SWAN by Darren ARONOFSKY (USA)

OSELLA for Best Cinematography to:
MIKHAIL KRICHMAN
for the film SILENT SOULS (OVSYANKI) by Aleksei FEDORCHENKO (Russia)

OSELLA for Best Screenplay to:
Álex de la Iglesia
for the film BALADA TRISTE DE TROMPETA by Álex de la Iglesia
(Spain, France)

SPECIAL LION FOR AN OVERALL WORK to:
Monte HELLMAN

"Louise Michel" picks up screenwriting award at San Sebastian

Gustave Kervern and Benoît Delépine (photo) have picked up the Best Screenplay award at Spain's 56th San Sebastian Film Festival for "Louise Michel". Their third feature, the film stars Yolande Moreau, Bouli Lanners, Benoît Poelevorde and Matthieu Kassovitz (who also co-produced) in a goofy tale of a hit-man and his client chasing an unscrupulous company boss. The film will screen at the London Film Festival (October 15-30) and open in Belgium on December 24. Overall winner at San Sebastian was the Turkish film "Pandora's Box" by Yesim Ustaoglu (co-written by Selma Kaygusuz), which also won Best Actress.

For details, check the 56th San Sebastian Film Festival.

Pudor takes top prize at Lecce European Film festival

The Spanish film "Pudor" (Modesty) directed by David and Tristan Ulloa (on a script by the latter) walked away with the top prize at the European Film festival in Lecce, Italy. According to the jury, the film won the Golden Olive for “knowing how to command everyday surrealism with original solutions, applied to a subject that is today being discussed again and is in progressive transformation and dissolution – the family”.

The film bills itself as being "about intimacy... desires, obsessions, secrets and fears that we keep hidden, even from those we love most". The producer's site (in Spanish) can be seen here.

The best screenplay award went to Andrei Zvjagingev’s "The Banishment".

"California Dreamin'" sways Brussels

Cristian Nemescu's "California Dreamin'" (co-written with Tudor Voican) was the clear overall winner in the recent Brussels European Film Festival, picking up awards as Best Film, the Audience favourite and an award from TV channel Canvas. Producer Andrei Boncea picked up the awards in the absence of the director, who tragically died in a car accident during post-production. Another noted winner was Gabriel Range's "Death of a President".

The festival also runs a pitching competition, this time won by Spain's Susana Lopez Rubo for "You Can Change Your Life in Ten Seconds" and Belgium's Robert Scarpa for "Délocalisé".

for the full list of winners, visit the BEFF.

UK's Screenwriter Festival posts programme

This year's Screenwriter Festival in Cheltenham, July 3-6, has an exciting programme that has been split into two broad sections. The two-day Rising Talent section will focus on issues of most interest to writers trying to break into the sector. Agent Julian Friedmann, Tony Jordon (writer of "Life on Mars"), reps from the BBC's Writers Room and William Nicholson ("Gladiator") are amongst the many speakers. The second "pro" section features a script market, Michael Goldernberg (the latest "Harry Potter"), a section on Spanish cinema and Simon Oakes, CEO of Hammer Films on the re-launch of the studios.

For more details, visit Screenwriter's Festival.

"Sea Inside" sweeps 14 out of 15 Spanish film awards

Oscar-nominated "The Sea Inside/Mar Adentro" completely swept aside any competition at Spain’s 19th annual Goya Awards ceremony on Sunday night, winning no less than 14 awards in the 15 categories in which it was nominated. Director Alejandro Amenabar’s moving tale picked up awards as Best Original Screenplay, Music and Make-Up as well as awards for each of the principal cast. This record-breaking run meant that Pedro Almodovar's "Bad Education/La Mala Educacion" and others were left in their seats.

In other sections, "Motorcycle Diairies" won as best adapted script, best foreign Spanish-language film winners were Uruguay's Pablo Stoll and Juan Pablo Rebella for "Whisky". Fatih Akin’s "Head-On" won best European film. Veteran actor Jose Luis Lopez Vazquez was this year’s Goya of Honour recipient.

Alejandro Amenabar on Amazon FR
Alejandro Amenabar on Amazon UK
"The Sea Inside" on Amazon US

European Film Awards salute Germany and Spain

Germany and Spain came out as the big winners in this year's European Film Awards, held in Barcelona this weekend. Over a 2-hour ceremony, Germany's Fatih Akin (photo) was first on the podium to pick up the People’s Choice Award for best European director with "Head On/Gegen Die Wand", a drama about an impossible mixed-race love affair that is playing across Europe. He was also the last when "Head On" was later crowned as the best European film of 2004. Agnes Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri won yet another award when their "Look At Me/Comme Une Image" was judged best screenplay. Other significant awards included actors Imelda Staunton for "Vera Drake", Penelope Cruz for "Non ti muovere/Don't Move" and Daniel Bruehl for "Love In Thoughts/Was Nutzt Die Liebe In Gedanken".

Globally, the awards rightly recognised the strength and diversity of current film-making in Germany and Spain. For the full list of winners, visit EFA.

First RISE award goes to Spanish writing team

The first edition of RISE, the international screenwriter's festival, came to a close on November 21 in Strasbourg. As well as screenings, premieres, a script market and debates, members of screenwriting organisations chaired by Luc Jabon voted for this year's best European screenplay. The Grand Prix du Scénario went to Spaniards Alicia Luna and director Iciar Bollain for the highly-rated "Te doy mis ojos/Ne Dis rien/Take my Eyes".

RISE also paid special tribute to Tonino Guerra, the Italian screenwriter behind some 90 movies for some of Europe's most distinguished directors including Fellini (Amarcord), Taviani, Antonioni and Angelopoulos. Guerra was also awarded the keys of the city of Strasbourg.

Plans are already being prepared for next year's edition. For more details about Rise, see our previous post.

"Vera Drake" and "Bad Education" up for European awards

The nominees for the European Film Awards run like a "who's who" of the European arthouse scene. Top films are: Lukas Moodysson's "Ett Hal I Mitt Hjärta (A Hole In My Heart)", Sweden/Denmark; Fatih Akin's "Gegen Die Wand (Head-On)", Germany; Almodovar's controversial "La Mala Educacion (Bad Education)", Spain; Christophe Barratier's runaway success "Les Choristes (The Chorus)", France/Switzerland; Alejandro Amenábar's "Mar Adentro (The Sea Inside)", Spain/France/Italy; and Mike Leigh's "Vera Drake", UK/France. Almodovar and Akin are also nominated as best directors. With the exception of "Les Choristes", the films each deal with pretty harsh society problems.

Screenwriter nominees (that again include Almodovar and Akin) are as follows:

Fatih Akin for "Gegen Dir Wand (Head-On)"
Pedro Almodovar for "La Mala Educacion (Bad Education)"
Alejandro Amenabar & Mateo Gil for "Mar Adentro (The Sea Inside)"
Jean-Luc Godard for "Notre Musique"
Agnès Jaoui & Jean-Pierre Bacri for "Comme une image (Look At Me)"
Paul Laverty for "Ae Fond Kiss".

The European Film Awards will be held in Barcelona on December 11, 2004 and broadcast on some 20 stations around Europe including the UK's ITV. For details, click here.

Relevant links: Almodovar on Amazon US
Almodovar on Amazon France
Jean-Luc Godard on Amazon US