Sunday, December 08, 2013

François Ozon wins screenwriring award for Dans la Maison

French writer/director François Ozon won the scriptwriting award at the 2013 European Film Awards, held in Berlin December 7 2013.

Ozon, the director of "Potiche", "La Piscine" and the recent "Jeune et jolie", was representing "Dans la maison/In the House", starring Fabrice Luchini and Kristin Scott Thomas (photo).

The main winner at the event, however was the remarkable "La Grande Bellezza/The Great Beauty", which won awards for the Best Film, Best Actor (Toni Servillo), Best Director (Paolo Sorrentino) and Best Editor (Cristiano Travaglioli).

The full list of winners can be found at the EFA website.


Monday, January 07, 2013

Two German co-productions on OSCAR short list

The German co-productions AMOUR (LIEBE) by Michael Haneke (FR/AT/DE, X-Filme Creative Pool) and A ROYAL AFFAIR (DIE KÖNIGIN UND DER LEIBARZT) by Nikolaj
Arcel (DK/SE/CZ/DE, Zentropa Entertainment Berlin) are on the short list of the final nine films for the 85th Oscar® in the category for the Best Foreign Language Feature Film. This was announced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) on 21 December. AMOUR is in the Oscar race for Austria and A ROYAL AFFAIR for Denmark.

On 10 January, 2013, the Academy will select five films from the nine of the short list, and these titles will be part of the final selection competing for the OSCAR in this category. Altogether, 71 countries submitted their films.

Michael Haneke's Film AMOUR received awards at the beginning of December at the European Film Awards as Best Film, Best Direction as well as Best Lead Actress and Best Lead Actor. AMOUR was released in American cinemas by Sony Pictures Classics on 21 December, 2012.

A ROYAL AFFAIR won two Silver Bears at the 2012 Berlinale.

The OSCAR awards ceremony takes place on 24 February, 2013 in the newly named Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

The other films on the short list are WAR WITCH by Kim Nguyen for Canada, NO by Pablo Larrain for Chile, THE INTOUCHABLES (INTOUCHABLE) by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano for France, SISTER by Ursula Meier for Switzerland, THE DEEP by Baltasar Kormákur for Iceland, BEYOND THE HILLS by Cristian Mungiu for Romania and KON-TIKI by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg for Norway.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Sweden's "Bloody Boys" win brussels script award

The Best Screenplay Award went to Sweden's "Bloody Boys/JÄVLA POJKAR), written and directed by Shaker K. Tahrer. The films traces three families going through rupture and turmoil. More here.

The full list of awards is as follows:
  • GOLDEN IRIS AWARD for best film + Cineuropa Award DEATH FOR SALE by Faouzi Bensaïdi (France/Belgique/Maroc)  
  • WHITE IRIS AWARD for best first film CLIP (KLIP) by Maja Miloš (Serbia)  
  • AUDIENCE AWARD ITALY LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT by Gustav Hofer and Luca Ragazzi (Italy/Germany)   
  • FEDEX CINEPHILE AWARD KAUWBOY by Boudewijn Koole (Netherlands) 
  • RTBF TV AWARD QUAND JE SERAI PETIT by Jean-Paul Rouve (France)   
  • Be TV AWARD NO REST FOR THE WICKED (NO HABRÁ PAZ PARA LOS MALVADOS) by Enrique Urbizu (Spain)  
  • PRIME TV AWARD THE DEEP BLUE SEA by Terence Davies (USA/UK)   
  • BEST SHORT FILM AWARDS: A NEW OLD STORY by Antoine Cuypers (Belgium) LE CRI DU HOMARD de Nicolas Guyot (Belgium) and ROBYN O. by Cecilia Verheyden (Belgium).
For more informtion, visit the Brussels Film festival.

Happy, Happy picks up script award in Brussels

The 9th Brussels Film Festival wrapped up last night in Brussels. The festival focuses on European cinema, paying particular attention to first and second films.

The best screenplay award offered by the ASA (Francophone Association of Belgian Screenwriters and the SABAM) went to
BEST SCREENPLAY AWARD
2.000€ offered by the ASA (Francophone Association of Belgian Screenwriters) and SABAM (Belgian Association of Authors, Composers and Publishers).
Jury : Frédéric Castadot, Annie Carels, Julie Bertrand, Jean-Baptiste Delaunoy
HAPPY HAPPY (Sykt lykkelig)
by Anne Sewitsky (Norway)
The Award was received by Ragnhild Tronvoll, screenwriter of the film.

Friday, June 01, 2012

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.

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Raindance scriptwriting course in Brussels

The Raindance Festival's Elliot Grove will be running his masterclass "Write and Sell the Hot Script" in Brussels on May 3 & 4, 2012. Grove has been running the class for years, and has also produced a good book with the same name (see below). The course is suitable for everyone interested in the entire story process from idea to script to screen.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Roger Corman: titles as pitches

To tie in with a horror exhibition at the EMP Museum in Seattle, horror maestro Roger Corman gave some background into the success of "Dinocroc" and the ludicrous "Sharktapus". Bad news for all of us scriptwriters that sweat over spec scripts for five years: all these films came from brainstorming sessions around titles! The rest was filled in by the team.

I've sat in on these sort of projects and nearly got a horror story set in Pyrenees going because of one. Before you rush around saying, "I could do that", remember that in these cases it's not what is being said that makes the difference, it's who is saying it and to whom!

PS: if anyone is interested in a low-budget slash movie set in the Pyrenees or Europe's first car tuning movie, you know who to contact.

Sunday, December 04, 2011

Daerden Brothers pick up European screenplay award

At its 24th awards ceremony in Berlin, the European Film Academy handed out its awards for 2011. As is often the case, their choice of films is strictly - almost fanatically - art-house, with Lars Von Trier's "Melancholia" picking up Best Film and "Le gamin au vélo/The Kid With the Bike" the rather unusual choice for the screenplay award. Mads Mikkelsen, Stephen Frears and Michel Piccoli were also given awards.
Von Trier skipped the event, sending his wife to pick up the award instead. The academy has 2,500 members.

  • EUROPEAN FILM 2011: MELANCHOLIA, Denmark/Sweden/France/Germany WRITTEN & DIRECTED BY: Lars von Trier PRODUCED BY: Meta Louise Foldager & Louise Vesth 
  • EUROPEAN DIRECTOR 2011: Susanne Bier for HÆVNEN (In a Better World) 
  • EUROPEAN ACTRESS 2011: Tilda Swinton in WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN 
  • EUROPEAN ACTOR 2011: Colin Firth in THE KING’S SPEECH 
  • EUROPEAN SCREENWRITER 2011: Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne for LE GAMIN AU VELO (The Kid with a Bike) 
  • CARLO DI PALMA EUROPEAN CINEMATOGRAPHER AWARD 2011: Manuel Alberto Claro for MELANCHOLIA 
  • EUROPEAN EDITOR 2011: Tariq Anwar for THE KING’S SPEECH EUROPEAN 
  • PRODUCTION DESIGNER 2011: Jette Lehmann for MELANCHOLIA EUROPEAN COMPOSER 2011: Ludovic Bource for THE ARTIST 
  • EUROPEAN DISCOVERY 2011: ADEM (Oxygen) by Hans Van Nuffel, Belgium/theNetherlands 
  • EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY DOCUMENTARY 2011 - Prix ARTE: PINA by Wim Wenders, Germany EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY ANIMATED FEATURE FILM 2011: CHICO & RITA by Tono Errando, Javier Mariscal & Fernando Trueba 
  • EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY SHORT FILM 2011: THE WHOLLY FAMILY by Terry Gilliam, Italy EUROPEAN CO-PRODUCTION AWARD 2011 - Prix EURIMAGES: Mariela Besuievsky, Spain 
  • EUROPEAN ACHIEVEMENT IN WORLD CINEMA 2011: Mads Mikkelsen, Denmark 
  • EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Stephen Frears, UK 
  • EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY SPECIAL HONORARY AWARD: Michel Piccoli, France 
  • THE PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD 2011: THE KING’S SPEECH by Tom Hooper, UK
More info: European Film Awards

Who would you have voted for as Best European Screenplay  in 2011?

Monday, July 18, 2011

GERMAN FILMS AND CO-PRODUCTIONS AT MIFF 2011


The 60th Melbourne International Film Festivals (21 July – 7 August 2011) will showcase a large number of German productions and co-productions this year.


International Panorama

DREI (THREE) by Tom Tykwer, X Filme Creative Pool
THE FUTURE by Miranda July, Razor Filmproduktion (DE/US)
IM ALTER VON ELLEN (AT ELLEN’S AGE) by Pia Marais, Pandora Filmproduktion
INNOCENT SATURDAY by Alexander Mindadze, Bavaria Pictures (RU/DE/UA)
JEAN GENTIL by Laura Guzmán, Bärbel Mauch Film (MX/DE)
LE HAVRE by Aki Kaurismäki, Pandora Filmproduktion (FR/DE/FI)
MELANCHOLIA by Lars von Trier, Zentropa International (DK/SE/FR/DE)


Prime Time

DREILEBEN – EINE MINUTE DUNKEL (DREILEBEN – ONE MINUTE OF DARKNESS) by Christoph Hochhäusler, Heimatfilm
DREILEBEN – ETWAS BESSERES ALS DEN TOD (DREILEBEN – BEATS BEING DEAD) by Christian Petzold, Schramm Film Koerner & Weber
DREILEBEN – KOMM MIR NICHT NACH (DREILEBEN – DON’T FOLLOW ME AROUND) by Dominik Graf, BurkertBareiss


Accent on Asia

BI, DON’T BE AFRAID by Phan Dang Di, TR9 Film (VN/FR/DE)


Documentaries

CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS by Werner Herzog, Werner Herzog Filmproduktion (US/FR/DE)
EL BULLI: COOKING IN PROGRESS by Gereon Wetzel, if productions
KHODORKOVSKY by Cyril Tuschi, Lala Films


TeleScope

SCHLAFKRANKHEIT (SLEEPING SICKNESS) by Ulrich Köhler, Komplizen Film (DE/FR/NL)


Backbeat

MICHEL PETRUCCIANI by Michael Radford, Looks Film (FR/DE/IT)


Next Gen

WINTERTOCHTER by Johannes Schmid, schlichtundergreifend (DE/PL)


Documentary Shorts

LEONIDS STORY by Rainer Ludwigs (DE/UA)


Our Space

RUHR by James Benning


See Your Music

CYMASONICS – MATRIX OPTIMIZER 1.0.1


The Light Kinetic

LIQUID/LIGHT/FLOW

TEMPUS.RUHR



Networked

MEDIANERAS by Gustavo Taretto, Pandora Filmproduktion (AR/DE/ES)


The Natural World

DARWIN AND HIS FABULOUS ORCHIDS by Ralph Heinsohn, Tilt


MIFF 60th Retrospective

CLASS RELATIONS by Jean-Marie Straub, Danièle Huillet

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Happy, Happy wins script prize at Brussels film fest

The 9th Brussels Film Festival wrapped up last night in Brussels. The festival focuses on European cinema, paying particular attention to first and second films.

The best screenplay award offered by the ASA (Francophone Association of Belgian Screenwriters and the SABAM) went to "Happy, Happy (Sykt lykkelig)" (photo) a black comedy directed by Anne Sewitsky (Norway) and written by Raghnild Tronvoll.

Other winners include
  • "Innocent Saturday (V Subbotu)" directed by Alexander Mindadze - Golden Iris for Best Film and Jameson Cinephile Award
  • "Nothing's All Bad (Smukke Menesker)" by Mikkel Munch-Fals - White Irish for first feature
  • "A Quiet Life (Una vita tranquilla)" by Claudio Cupellini - Cineuropa Award
  • "Parked" by Darragh Byrne - Audience Award
  • "Ni à vendre ni à louer" by Pascal Rabaté - RTBF and Be TV awards
  • "Injury Time" by Robin Print - Bet Short Film Award
  • "De Bijzondere Leven van Rocky De Vlaeminck" by Kevin Meul.
The short film selection can be viewed on UniversCine.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

“Three” to open KINO!2011 at MoMA in New York

German Films will be presenting the 32nd edition of KINO!2011: New Cinema from Germany from 27 April-2 May 2011 as part of the annual film season curated by program founder Laurence Kardish (Senior Curator, Department of Film) at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.

A total of seven new films and TV productions will be shown in the presence of numerous German artists. KINO!2011 will open with THREE (DREI) by Tom Tykwer, who will personally introduce his film which has been nominated for six German Film Awards. The US distributor, Strand Releasing, will release the film in US cinemas later in the year.

Also showing in the program: the Regina Ziegler-produced TV mini-series THE WEISSENSEE SAGA: A BERLIN LOVE STORY (WEISSENSEE) by Friedemann Fromm. The prize-winning screenwriter Annette Hess and other crew members will travel to New York for the presentation along with the director and producer. In addition, there will be screenings of the two documentaries HOW TO MAKE A BOOK WITH STEIDL by Gereon Wetzel in the presence of the director and producer Ingo Fliess, as well as DANCING DREAMS (TANZTRÄUME) by Anne Linsel. Three screenings will be dedicated to Germany’s up-and-coming generation: German Films’ short film program NEXT GENERATION 2010, as well as the German Film Award-nominated film THE DAY I WAS NOT BORN (DAS LIED IN MIR) by Florian Cossen and PICCO by Philip Koch. The Goethe-Institut New York will also be organizing a workshop with Philip Koch and Florian Cossen about their work as filmmakers.

Details at Goethe New York.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

BAFTA screenwriting resource


It's always fun to see who did or didn't win the best screenwriting awards - and 2011 had some cracking good scripts. But time spent on the Bafta site turned up another gem: BAFTA screenwriters On Screenwriting. Six leading screenwriters (Simon Beaufoy, Aline Brosh McKenna, Christopher Hampton CBE, Sir David Hare, Ronald Harwood CBE and Peter Morgan) with credits including "Atonement", "The Devil wears Prada", "Frost/Nixon" and "Slumdog Millionaire" give their opinion on the craft, the films they have written and their career so far.

Visit it here.

I can't knock the awards for "The King's Speech" (original) and "Social Network" (adapted). Try and find both and read them. An education in itself.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network) to talk in London


"The themes of [The Social Network] are as old as storytelling itself: loyalty, friendship, power, money, envy, social status, jealousy. It’s a story that if Aeschylus were alive today, he’d have written; Shakespeare would have written; Paddy Chayefsky would have written. Fortunately for me, none of those people were available, so I got to write it."

Aaron Sorkin is the award-winning scriptwriter of "A Few Good Men" and "The West Wing". He'll be at a special screening of "The Social Network" in London on January 20. The Script Factory says a few seats might be available on the night. If you're in London, break legs to get one at The Script Factory.

Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Polanski, Van Dormael awarded at Tallinn


Roman Polanski's "The Ghost Writer," a story of a journalist hired to ghostwrite the memoirs of a British prime minister, was designated best film at the European Film Award in Tallinn, Estonia. Polanski, who was awarded the Silver Bear for best director at the Berlin Film Festival, also took five other prizes at the ceremony, including best screenwriter.

In other awards, Swiss actor Bruno Ganz was given a lifetime achievement award and Belgian director Jaco Van Dormael left with the audienc award for "Mr Nobody".

Full list of winners:

EUROPEAN FILM 2010
THE GHOST WRITER, France/Germany/UK
directed by Roman Polanski
written by Robert Harris & Roman Polanski
produced by Robert Benmussa, Alain Sarde & Roman Polanski

EUROPEAN DIRECTOR 2010
Roman Polanski for THE GHOST WRITER

EUROPEAN ACTRESS 2010
Sylvie Testud in LOURDES

EUROPEAN ACTOR 2010
Ewan McGregorin THE GHOST WRITER

EUROPEAN SCREENWRITER 2010
Robert Harris & Roman Polanski for THE GHOST WRITER

CARLO DI PALMA EUROPEAN CINEMATOGRAPHER AWARD 2010
Giora Bejach for LEBANON

EUROPEAN EDITOR 2010
Luc Barnier & Marion Monnier for CARLOS

EUROPEAN PRODUCTION DESIGNER 2010
Albrecht Konrad for THE GHOST WRITER

EUROPEAN COMPOSER 2010
Alexandre Desplat for THE GHOST WRITER

EUROPEAN DISCOVERY 2010- Prix FIPRESCI
LEBANON, Israel/Germany/France
written & directed by Samuel Maoz
produced by Moshe Edery, Leon Edery, David Silber, Uri Sabag, Einat Bickel, Benjamina Mirnik & Illan Girard

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY DOCUMENTARY - Prix ARTE 2010
NOSTALGIA DE LA LUZ (Nostalgia for the Light), France/Germany/Chile
Directed by Patricio Guzmán

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY ANIMATED FEATURE FILM 2010
THE ILLUSIONIST by Sylvain Chomet

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY SHORT FILM 2010
HANOI - WARSZAWA (Hanoi – Warsaw), Poland
by Katarzyna Klimkiewicz

EUROPEAN CO-PRODUCTION AWARD – Prix EURIMAGES 2010
Zeynep Özbatur Atakan, producer

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Bruno Ganz, actor

EUROPEAN ACHIEVEMENT IN WORLD CINEMA 2010
Gabriel Yared, composer

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD for Best European Film 2010
MR. NOBODYwritten and directed by Jaco van Dormael
produced by Philippe Godeau

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

RIP: Mario Monicelli

Italian director Mario Monicelli, one of the fathers of the commedia all'Italiana, committed suicide Tuesday November 29, 2010 by jumping from the window of the hospital in which he had just been admitted for a tumour.

Monicelli, 95, was – alongside Dino Risi, Luigi Comencini and Steno – a key figure of the golden era of Italian cinema. His work includes the Oscar-nominated "Big Deal on Madonna Street" (1958), "The Great War" (1959, Golden Lion winner at the Venice Film Festival) and "For Love and Gold" (1965). His last feature was "Desert Roses", in 2006, followed in 2008 by the documentary, "Vicino al Colosseo c'è Monti".

Monday, October 11, 2010

FIFF scriptwriting award goes to "La Mosquée"


For its 25th edition, the annual French-speaking film festival of Namur (Belgium), awarded the screenwriting prize to writer/director Daoud Aoulad-Syad for "La Mosquée/The Mosque/Jamaâ".

The Franco-Moroccan production tells the tale of a Moroccan villager whose life is turned upside down when a fake mosque is built on his land for a movie. When the filming is finished, everything is taken down except the mosque. The film was produced by Film du Sud, Aoulad-Syad's own production company.

The Bayard d'Or for best film went to Romania's "Tuesday, After Christmas"(Marti, dupa craciun) by Radu Muntean, written by Alexandru Baciu, Răzvan Rădulescu and Radu Muntean.

Festival website: FIFF

Monday, September 20, 2010

15th Festival of German Films to open in Paris


The 15th Festival of German Films will be held in Paris from 29 September to 5 October, 2010. A total of eleven new feature films, six shorts and the NEXT GENERATION 2010 program of shorts will be presented in the Cinéma L’Arlequin.

The festival will open with Pia Marais’ AT ELLEN’S AGE (IM ALTER VON ELLEN) which was enthusiastically received at the international festival in Locarno. Members of the cast and crew will be present.

Other new German films to screen include: THE ALBANIAN (DER ALBANER, Johannes Naber), ALL MY FATHERS (ALLE MEINE VAETER, Jan Raiber), BERLIN `36 (Kaspar Heidelbach), IN THE SHADOWS (IM SCHATTEN, Thomas Arslan), THE LAST EMPLOYEE (DER LETZTE ANGESTELLTE, Alexander Adolph), MY WORDS, MY LIES – MY LOVE (LILA LILA, Alain Gsponer), RUN IF YOU CAN (RENN, WENN DU KANNST, Dietrich Brueggemann), GRAVITY (SCHWERKRAFT, Maximilian Erlenwein), DANCING DREAMS (TANZTRAEUME, Anne Linsel, Rainer Hoffmann) and VINCENT WANTS TO SEA (VINCENT WILL MEER, Ralf Huettner). Some of the directors will be travelling to Paris to present their films in person.

EVERYONE ELSE (ALLE ANDEREN) by Maren Ade, THE ROBBER (DER RÄUBER) by Benjamin Heisenberg and THE CITY BELOW (UNTER DIR DIE STADT) by Christoph Hochhaeusler will be shown in the "Nouvelle Vague allemande" sidebar being programmed by the Goethe Institut.

Full details: Festival du Cinéma Allemand

Sunday, September 19, 2010

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

Thursday, September 16, 2010

"Sophie Scholl" writer to act as ScriptEast creative advisor


German scriptwriter and author Fred Breinersdorfer, who wrote the Oscar-nominated “Sophie Scholl” is will participate in the 5th edition of ScripTeast as a Creative Advisor. Over 7 days of the workshop in Sterdyn, Poland, he will discuss the scripts submitted by the participating screenwriters at one-on-one meetings.

Educated as a lawyer and writer, Breinersdorfer wrote 12 novels and numerous theatre and radio plays before becoming a screenwriter. He’s an author of 65 screenplays, many of which were internationally recognized and awarded, including the German Film Award and Adolph Grimme Preis mit Gold - called “German Oscar”.

Breinersdorfer gained international acknowledgement as the author of "Sophie Scholl” - the shocking portrayal of one of the legendary fighters of the Nazi regime in Germany. The film was nominated to the Oscar and received 16 international awards, including two Silver Bears in Berlin - Julia Jentsch for The Best Actress and Marc Rothemund for the Best Director and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. International recognition of the film is a double success for Breinersdorfer, who was not its screenwriter, but also the co-producer. Breinersdorfer is a member of the German film Academy. He was the President of the German Writers Association and ran for the German parliament.

ScripTeast is a training program for existing scripts from Central and Eastern Europe. One-on-one meetings with international professionals in different creative disciplines allow the authors to sharpen their objectives for the story and determine the best way to tell it. For details, visit ScripTeast.

Monday, August 02, 2010

Just Between Us awarded Best European Film award at Karlovy Vary

"Just Between Us" (Neka ostane medju nama) has been awarded the Europa Cinemas Label as Best European Film in the 45th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

Written by Rajko Grlić and Ante Tomic and directed by Rajko Grlić, "Just Between Us" is a wicked, indiscreet contemporary story set in Zagreb about the whirling erotic passions that percolate beneath the dull, composed surface of everyday bourgeois life and manners. It is about things that happen in well-established families that are mainly kept secret, but that nevertheless remain painful.

The film had already won 8 awards at the Pula festival. Visit the official site.