Iram Haq's "I'm Yours" wins Brussels Film fest screenplay award

 The 10-day Brussels Film festival wrapped on Saturday, with a gala screening of Hossein Amini's "The Two Faces of January". The evening was also given over to handing out awards to the films in competition. The Brussels Film Festival focuses entirely on European cinema, with films coming from places as far apart as Greece and Iceland.

The winner of the 2014 screenplay award went to "I am Yours" (Jeg er din), written and directed by Norwegian actress Iram Haq, the tale of a 27 year-old single mother's search for love in Norway. This is Haq's first film as a director, although she has been working as an actress for several year. "I am Yours" was Norway's candidate for the foreign-language Oscar this year.

The full list of winners.

► OF HORSES AND MEN (Iceland) won The GOLDEN IRIS AWARD.
► THE WHITE IRIS AWARD goes to THE REUNION (Sweden)
► JURY AWARD : ACES (Spain)
CONGRATULATIONS to Benedikt Erlingsson, Anna Odell & Alfonso Zarauza !
And also:
► FEDEX CINEPHILE AWARD: THE REUNION by ANNA ODELL
► CINEUROPA AWARD : VIS-A-VIS by NEVIO MARASOVIC
► BEST SCREENPLAY AWARD : I’M YOURS by IRAM HAQ
► AUDIENCE AWARD : THE DOUBLE by RICHARD AYOADE
► PRIME AWARD : FAREWELL TO THE MOON by DICK TUINDER
► BETV AWARD : THE DARK VALLEY by ANDREAS PROCHASKA
► RTBF AWARD : THE REUNION by ANNA ODELL

It is worth noting the three prizes that went to Anna Odell's "The Reunion".

On a personal note, other films worth watching were "Jack Strong" by Wladyslaw Pasikowski (an effective and emotional thriller based on the true story of a Polish general that worked as an agent for the CIA) and "La chambre bleue" by Mathieu Amalric.

Brussels Film Festival opens with Chambre Bleue

La chambre bleue

After showcasing his "Tournée" in 2010, the Brussels Film Festival is opening its 2014 edition with Mathieu Amalric's "Chambre Bleue" (Blue Room). The film premiered at Cannes and is being sold under the logline, "In a room, a man and a woman live their passion in secret. Their desire is intense. But one day Julien has to explain himself to the police". It's a deep and disturbing exploration of a man facing his intricate relationships with women.

The Brussels Film Festival (June 6-14) built its reputation on first and second features by European directors, and now claims to show the best of European cinema. Located in the impressive Art Deco Flagey building in Brussels, it features exclusive screenings (a total of 70), open-air shows, encounters and masterclasses.

Foremost amongst these will be a session with Alan Parker, who is also the subject of a big-screen retrospective.

Notable films in competition include "The Enemy Within", "Miss Violence", "The Double" and "Los Angeles". The festival closes with Hossein Amini's thriller "The Two Faces of January".

For details, visit the Brussels Film Festival.

UPDATE: Two screenwriting masterclasses have been announced.  On Tuesday June 10, Pierre Salvadori (Dans la cour") will talk about a recurrent theme in his work: depression. Using extracts of his films such as "Les apprentis" and "Après vous", he will talk about character weaknesses as a source of comedy, the state of comedy and the virtue of lying.

Pascal Bonitzer

In a different register, Pascal Bonitzer (La belle noiseuese) will talk about the link between intimacy and politics, seen through a comedian's eyes, and what happens when the grotesque meets the tragic. Friday June 13 from 4-6pm.

Entrance free upon reservation at +32/2/762 08 98.

ScriptBase launches European script competition

ScriptBase, the online screenwriting community that was set up by writers from the Fade In group in Hungary, is launching a free online screenwriting competition. The site acts basically as a writers' group, with people reading and commenting on each others' work. As they are now adding a rating system, they are also starting a competition with a €1,000 prize. The basic idea is simple: post your project, get people to read it and hope that it gets a great rating. ScriptBase and Fade In are both writer-driven initiatives.

A quick glance revealed a strong number of entrants from Eastern Europe - which has a vibrant writing scene for the moment. If you have sometimes wondered who could read your script and give some sort of feedback, ScriptBase is definitely worth checking. I my opinion, the prize money is like icing on someone's cake.

For full details, check ScriptBase.

Macedonian-Polish action spec wins the first Central European Pitch Forum

I mentioned this event a few months back. Here is an extract from the (enthusiastic) press release concerning the winners. Nice to see a genre film picking up the main prize.

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Veteran Macedonian-born Swiss writer-director Mitko Panov took first prize and 5 thousand euro along with it at the closing event of the 2007 Fade In Central European Pitch Forum, the continent’s first story market, for his Balkan-set drama-actioner Witness.

The 2 thousand euro-worth special jury prize went to Paolo Poti from Italy for his drama screenplay "The God of the Hills", while the award for the best Eastern European screenplay was given to Hungarian writer team Péter Gál and Csaba Tóth for their chiller "Weekend". Young Hungarian director István Madarász got the Best Pitch award for the presentation of his unique action thriller "Loop". The lavish awards ceremony and networking dinner, attended by a hundred-plus film professionals from all across Europe, closed a very intense three days in Pécs in the south of Hungary. Beautiful weather was kind to the organizers, as the picture-perfect city—a European Cultural Capital-to-be in 2010—showed its most stunning faces to attendees of its international film festival Moveast and its flagship event pitch forum. 13 screenwriters from all over Europe showed up with 11 projects. Their screenplays were all written on spec—meaning the authors developed them on their own volition—so the writers arrived in the hope of selling their screen stories to the attending producers.

To find out more (and maybe present something next year), visit Fade In.

On the photo: president of the Federation of Screenwriters in Europe Christina Kallas listening to award-winning Polish director Kryzstof Zanusi. Photo by Laszlo Simara.

Crossing Europe awards

The Austrian festival that features a strong East European slant gave its awards this weekend. Director Pia Marais picked up the European Competition with "Die Unerzogenen/The Unpolished" (Germany 2007) co-written with Horst Markgraf. The audience voted for "Avril/April" by Gérald Hustache-Mathieu for the Ray Audience Prize. The CROSSING EUROPE Award Local Artist was split for the first time, going to Libertad Hackl for "Bleiben will ich, wo ich nie gewesen bin" and to Lukas Marxt and Michael Petri for "Nach der Eishöhle". The jury distinguished the work "Fatsy" by Oliver Stang and Christian Tod with an Honourable Mention. Visit the blog here.

Anton Corbijn film to open Director's Fortnight

Dutch rock photographer Anton Corbijn's "Control" will open the Cannes' Director's Fortnight with a biopic about the Joy Division singer Ian Curtis, who killed himself at the age of 23. The film, written by Matt Greenhalgh and based on the book "Touching From a Distance" by Curtis' wife Deborah, looks at the last years of his life when he was battling with epilepsy and an increasingly confusing private life.

The après-showing party will be attended by Bono as well as members of Depeche Mode and New Order. Will anyone take to the stage? Likely, but who?

"Reprise" wins main and writing award at Lecce

Norway's "Reprise", directed by Joachim Trier and co-written with Eskil Vogt, picked up the main "Golden Olive" award in a tie with Christian Wagner's "Warchild" at Lecce's European Film Festival and went on to pick up the main award for the screenplay. The jury cited, "its ability to tell an extraordinary love story in an original way, and its complex tale rich in metaphors about life and creation". Mentioning the screenplay, it hailed, "the harmonious way it brings together classic narrative elements and elements with fragmented tones".

Vogt is an award-winning short film writer and director who has worked in France and was noted for "The Embrace/Une étreinte" and "Les étrangers/Foreigners".

More about the Lecce European festival.

Writers create first "Zarbi" award for Cannes

For two years now, a group of writers led by Jacques Gumbau have organised writer events at Cannes. This year, they are in the last stages of organising the first Grand Prix Zarbi du Scénario. The idea is not to celebrate the best writing, but to put the spotlight on more off-beat scripts, "scenarios that stand out through their intention, style or theme - even if they are unfilmable," says Gumbau. Scripts in the running feature murder, sex, parodies and combinations of the above! There are a number of high-profile writing contests in France already. Zarbi aims at being more low-key, and will provide a networking event at Cannes itself.

To submit scripts (in French), sign up on ScenaristesEnHerbe.

UK Screenwriter Festival extends short film deadline

The UK's Screenwriter Festival is running a short script competition whose deadline has been extended to April 12 (yikes). I quote:

Script_1 is an initiative of the Screenwriters' Festival and allows new screenwriters to turn their own ideas into a short film script, with free workshop training, and the winning entries receive cash prizes and entry to the Festival Rising Talent Days. Last year's winners were awarded their prizes at the Festival by Oscar-winner Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park).

We have extended the closing date for your initial outline synopsis to this Thursday 12th April as our Easter present. You only need a short paragraph summary of your story to enter. See the website for rules and entry requirements. It is open only to residents in the South West Of England.

To apply click - www.screenwritersfestival.com/script1.php

Fast Forward Ireland to host 24-hour challenge

Following the example of a similar events in the US and continental Europe, Fast Forward Ireland is hosting a challenge to write and shoot a 3-minute short in 24 hours on April 13-14. Teams must register beforehand and will receive the theme at the same time. The organisers promise craic, high-fives and the possibility of your film doing the rounds of the other events. So why do it? "People still want to make films in Ireland, and we know this for sure now," according to the website. "We've also seen these people come out of the woodwork and make fantastic movies over the last year at each fast festival we've had."

For more details, register by clicking on the logo above.

"Man from the Embassy" picks up writing award

Argentina's 22nd Mar del Plata Film Festival, closed on March 18 with a record attendance of 190,000 spectators. The jury, led by American director Charles Burnett, proved particularly appreciative of the European entries. Best writing award went to Dito Tsintzade's "The Man from the Embassy", about a disillusioned German embassy official in Georgia whose life changes when a local boy tries to rob him.

Full award list:

Golden Astor
Fiction, by Cesc Gay (Spain)

Special Jury Prize
Gardens in Autumn, by Otar Iosseliani (France/Italy/Russia)

Silver Astor for best director (ex aequo)
Marina Spada for As the Shadow (Italy) and Hong Sang-soo for Woman On The Beach (South Korea)

Silver Astor for best actress
Sandra Hueller for Madonnas (Germany)

Silver Astor for best actor
Carlos Resta for La Peli (Argentina)

Silver Astor for best screenplay
Zaza Rusadze and Dito Tsintsadze for The Man From The Embassy (Germany/Georgia)

Special Mention
The Greatest Love in the World, by Carlos Diegues (Brazil)

Ernesto Che Guevara Award for the best film at the Latin American competition
M, by Nicolas Prividera (Argentina)

Special mentions
Suely In The Sky, by Karim Aïnouz (Brazil)
Red Land, by Ramiro Gomez (Paraguay)

FIPRESCI Award
M, by Nicolas Prividera (Argentina)

FIPRESCI Award for best Latin American film of 2006
Suely In The Sky

Cinecolor Audience Award
Ciudad En Celo, by Hernan Gaffet (Argentina)

Signis Award
Fiction

791 Prize for artistic innovation
It Happened Just Before, by Anja Salomonowitz (Austria)

For full details, visit the Mar del Plata festival.

Fade In pitch fest calling for entries

A new pitch event is about to be launched. Fade In is a new script development outfit based in Hungary that has the ambitious plan to run a pitch contest with development and a cash prize as the main award. The Fade In Central European Pitch Forum will be held between 27 and 30 September 2007 at the Pécs International Film Festival in the south of Hungary. The event, basically a screenplay market, is designed to locate the hottest of the new screenwriting talent in the whole of Europe and facilitate their meeting with some of the best producers in the continent.

12 shortlisted writers will get an opportunity for a one-month online consultation session with acclaimed international story editors to perfect their scripts. After a rewriting period, between 27-30 September 2007 they are invited on an all-expenses paid trip to the Pécs International Film Festival. Following a two-day intensive pitch training from the best coaches the 12 writers can pitch their stories in front of 15 prominent European producers.

submissions are from March 1 to May 15.

Oscar Moore competition: "none merit the prize"

The Oscar Moore Foundation organises one of Europe's most respected screenwriting competitions. One of its particularities is to set a theme each year, 2006 being comedy. In a surprise announcement, however, chairwoman Anne Marie Flynn said in a statement: "This year, though a number of scripts were deemed notable either for the quality of writing or originality of premise, it was our final opinion that none reached the requisite quality to merit the prize."

This must be a crunching disappointment to the people that sent them in. It's also an embarassment for the Foundation itself (the awards night, set for April 20, will now be a quiz night). But it must be said that the Foundation is making a hard but ultimately commendable decision to maintain some sort of quality control. It is widely recognised that many scripts in Europe are being rushed into production without having had adequate development. If a Foundation devoted to high levels of writing allows its standards to slip, who will respect them?

One issue the Foundation might want to take on board, however, is the visibility of the Oscar Moore competition. Despite its association with Screen International, the competition is simply not well enough known. Also as the submissions are in English, there are literally thousands of scripts out there that don't qualify. Comedy is particularly strong right now in France, Germany and perhaps Spain. Would the writers have to patch together a translation to enter? That's hardly the ideal solution.

We'll post the announcement of next year's theme when we receive it.