Michael Haneke picks up French award for "Hidden"

The French critics awards, the Etoiles de la presse (press stars), were announced on January 24 in Paris. Michael Haneke picked up the best Screenplay Award for "Caché/Hidden". The most noted winner was definitely "De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté/The Beat That my Heart Skipped", with 5 awards for Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor (Romain Duris), Best Soundtrack and Best Producer (Pascal Caucheteux).

"Hidden/Caché" was one of the strong contenders for last year's Palme d'Or at Cannes, and was subsequently a winner in the European Film Awards.

Michael Haneke on Amazon France (a large selection)
Michael Haneke on Amazon US

Belgium's Patrice Toye picks up Sundance screenplay award

Patrice Toye, director of "Rosie" (1998), has just picked up the NHK International Filmmaker Award for the screenplay of "The Spring Ritual". The award consists of $10,000 towards the making of the film, with a guarantee that the Japanese chanel will show the subsequent movie.

Writing for radio: Bert Coules

When I think screenplay, I inevitably think of the big screen. But there is a fine tradition of creating drama for radio - a tradition that is very much alive in the UK. In fact, radio offers probably one of the best doors into story-telling in the UK.

Bert Coules has written a wide range of drama over the years, including high-profile dramatisations of Sherlock Holmes, Thriller Playhouse and the mediaevel sleuth Brother Cadfael. Many of these are available as audio books.

Is radio a poor man's television or a challenge in its own right? The answer is obviously the latter. As an occasional listener to the BBC's Radio 4 and World Service (on long car drives), I've often caught myself listening to dramatisations and radio soaps (is the Archer's still running?). But if you have any doubts, follow the links to find out more about writing for radio.

Check this interview on US sci-fi site The Thunder Child. The BBC conducted its own interview concerning Coules and Sherlock Holmes. Lastly, Bert's own site can be found here.

Dutch hit success with child's play

Reading the figures for European movie-going a year ago, I gave the free advice that if we wanted to try to write sucessful movies, we should be writing for kids and young adults. Since then, of course, we've had another "Harry Potter" to prove my point. But even outside the mainstream studio releases, there are examples. Screendaily.com just ran a piece about the 2005 box office in Holland. Although overall figures are down by 12%, attendance of Dutch movies is up by over 13%. This includes "Kameleon 2" (Steven de Jong), "Zoop in Africa" (Johan Nijenhuis), "Schnitzel Paradise "(Martin Koolhoven) and "Winky's Horse" (Mischa Kamp). The last Dutch film of the year to be released was, "De Griezelbus", an adaptation of the very popular children’s books by Dutch writer Paul van Loon.

Hmm, maybe I should take some of my own advice from now on.

Belgian online mag celebrates 100th issue

Ten years ago, the magazine Cinergie was struggling as a print magazine. It decided to dump paper and focus on providing an online news mag with interviews and comments on the Belgian scene. Ten years later, they are still going strong (75,000 visitors a month) and are planning to start showing short movies online starting with Marie-Laure Guisset's award-winning "Home Sweet Gnome".

In an interview for their partner publication Cineuropa, editorJean-Michel Vlaeminckx says, "In a way, we are like Belgian cinema: a maximum of ideas with a minimum of money." The Belgian Touch - low-key, off-beat movies done on shoestring budgets - has generated considerable press over the past few years. Yet Vlaeminckx echoes Screenplay Europe's wish for a broader impact for creativity. "You know, when incredible films like 'L'Avventura', 'la Dolce vita', 'Breathless', 'Monika' appeared and changed the cinema landscape… Those actors were popular and had a real audience, and they revolutionized cinema. But because of audiovisual formatting, and the fact that the rotation of films in theatres is quicker and quicker (mega profits need to be made in a very short lapse of time) and television has become the forced partner of cinema [and] is imposing its consensual norms, European cinema has lost some of its vitality."

To read the full interview (in English, French, Italian or Spanish), visit Cineuropa. For the 100th issue of Cinergie (in French), click here. This month's featured movie is Fiona Gordon and Dominque Abel's "Iceberg".

10,000 visitors and no flowers

I almost missed this: Screenplay Europe has had some 10,000 visits over the past year. Since I started covering screenplay stories from a European perspective, I've had a regular flow of people looking for news items.

For the record, at least 3 people a day come looking specifically for "Banlieue 13", with another few checking Luc Besson stories. So there's your Christmas n° 1 right there. Cedric Klapisch's "Russian Dolls" also scores well. Apart from the French, filmmakers from Eastern Europe generally also score well.

No-one sent flowers, but then I didn't give any to the 10,000th visitor either.

My only major regret is that I can't point to actual downloadable European screenplays for the people that ask fo them. If anyone knows of a good source, please leave a link.

Europe's "Television Without Frontiers": development hell?

The EU’s Television Without Frontiers Directive is not the stuff of novels. Yet its implications for movies, television – and therefore writers – is considerable. Pyrrhus Mercouris of the FSE (Federation of Scriptwriters in Europe) gave a quick overview of the ongoing review of the Directive to members of Belgium’s Association des Scénaristes de l’Audiovisuel recently.

The Directive’s goal is to harmonise legislation governing the very diverse TV sector in Europe. With the EU’s complex web of private and public channels, languages, legislation and copyright issues, finding some sort of common ground was never easy. The original Directive was adopted in 1989, amended in 1997 with a new draft Directive soon to be announced.

One of the key elements of the existing Directive is its encouragement of the production of European audiovisual works. For TV channels, this meant the obligation to show 50% European content. Yet a review has shown that very few channels respect the quota. “And some people were surprised to find that weather forecasts were being counted as European productions,” notes Mercouris. A significant part of the problem is that Margaret Thatcher managed to add a proviso to the Directive that it would be applied, “where appropriate”.

Canada and more recently Australia opted for a deregulated approach to the audiovisual sector. Consequently, Australia only shows about 9% local production. The age of hits such as “Priscilla Queen of the Desert” is over.

Penetration
Some countries, such as Ireland and Belgium, are very heavily “penetrated” by other countries’ television. Ireland feels that it simply cannot compete with the massive budgets of the BBC, making it impossible for it to meet the quota of 50%. Other countries are looking to exert more control over incoming advertising and broadcasts that specifically target a country despite being located outside its jurisdiction.

Looking ahead, the FES would like the Directive to be extended to the web, given that telcos are already preparing for Internet and mobile phone broadcasts. DRM gives them the means of controlling the use of their files. Nothing, however, guarantees that the relevant creators will see any of this new revenue.

Harmonisation would provide a clearer framework. Currently, authors’ rights are paid differently in the EU, with Ireland’s independent sector singled out for its particularly bad treatment of scriptwriters. Across Europe, writers complain of the difficulty of getting payment for their work despite being at the basis of many of the works. This makes a good case for maintaining the payment of authors rights on broadcasts.

"No internal market"
Strangely, the debate on film and TV is lumped with the information technology sectors rather than culture at the EU level. This means the priorities are sometimes more economic than cultural, with issues being discussed in terms of the internal market. “There is no internal market in film and TV,” says Mercouris. “Research shows that Europeans like to watch locally produced material at prime time. But there is very little being shown from other European countries. On the other hand, US shows that cost $6 million to produce are being sold off for $100,000 in some countries.” Needless to say, local productions in smaller East European countries and Greece cannot compete.

Negotiations are ongoing.

The FSE was created in 2001, and represents 4,500 writers from 14 countries. Writer guilds from three further countries, Sweden, Finland and Turkey, are currently considering joining. To find out more about the Television Without Borders Directive, see the European Parliament site.

Banlieue 13 to get US release

Over the year we have been posting on Screenplay Europe, the single most requested item has been "Banlieue 13", co-written and produced by Luc Besson, directed by Pierre Morel and starring David Belle. US fans should note that the film will finally be released there in spring 2006 by Magnolia Pictures. Basically a fun cops 'n' robbers romp featuring spectacular physical stunts, "Banlieue 13/District 13" has been seen by 1 million spectators since its release. The official site in French is still online. But the forum has been locked, unfortunately.

European Besson watchers, meanwhile, are eagerly awaiting his hush-hush project "Angel A" starring Jamel Debbouze. The film was shot in black and white over the summer and despite its French release date of December 21, no synopsis has been made available.

Haneke's "Hidden/Caché" sweeps the EFA Awards

It was a great night for Austria's Michael Haneke last Saturday, when "Hidden/Caché" picked up a string of major awards at the 18th annual European Film Awards in Berlin. Many people felt he was short-changed when the Palme d'Or went to the Dardenne brothers in May. At EFA, his film picked up six awards, including best film, best director (which he had already won at Cannes), and best actor for Daniel Auteuil.

Other highlights included Hany Abu-Assad & Bero Beyer picking up the Screenwriting trophy for "Paradise Now", Julia Jentsch (photo) the Best Actress trophy for her role in "Sophie Scholl" (as well as a Jameson People's Choice Award) and the Lifetime Achievement Award going to Sir Sean Connery.

For the full list of winners, see the EFA site.

Michael Haneke on Amazon UK
Michael Haneke on Amazon US

"Constant Gardener" cleans up at BIFA awards

"The Constant Gardener" was the big winner at the 8th British Independent Film Awards in London on Wednesday night. The film won the top prize of Best British independent film, with Ralph Fiennes and Rachel Weisz also claiming the best actor and actress prizes. Best Screenplay was given to Frank Cottrell Boyce for "Millions". The Douglas Hickox award for a debut director went to Annie Griffin for "Festival" (which had already won an award at Dinard). Oliver Hirschbiegel’s "Downfall" was named best foreign film, while Sean McAllister's "The Liberace of Baghdad" was named best documentary. Neil Marshall won best director for his horror film "The Descent"

Fopr the full results, see the BIFA site.




Constant Gardener on Amazon UK
"Downfall" on Amazon UK
"Downfall" on Amazon US

Screenplay Europe in your language

For a site that welcomes script news from across the continent, Screenplay Europe is surprisingly mono-lingual. We have to make a choice. Running even a smallish site like this takes considerable time. If we had to translate every item, we would write less. For a quick translation of our news items, we have added a link on the menu on the right (scroll down).

If you have comments about any of the items, feel free to make them in English, French, Italian or Dutch.

Screenlab London: Selling Your First Script: The Final Rewrite

The New Producers Alliance organises regular events in London for producers, writers and directors (bearing in mind that many people are all of the above). Over the coming month, they will be running a few events of interest, including: Screenlab (Monday Dec. 5), an evening mentoring workshop on how to create, pitch and sell successful TV and film projects - for writers, directors, producers and script executives.

This is a mentoring discussion for writers, directors and producers who have either taken the Saturday seminar in the month before, or who have equivalent tuition or experience. Participants can develop their pitches, bring script samples for discussion and receive detailed feedback and mentoring advice on their work. Observers are also welcome to take part in the discussions.

For details of this and the rest of their programme, visit New Producers Alliance.

Rent European films in the UK

One of the major disadvantages of European cinema within Europe already is the distribution. Countries such as Belgium show a fair number of movies from other countries, whereas the situation in the UK is quite difficult - even for UK films. It's hardly surprising that sales of European movies are proportionally lower, as most people have not seen them. Rental is obviously the way to go. Amazon UK now runs an up-to-date selection of European flicks. If you've been wondering about "Downfall", "Hotel Rwanda" or "Mar adentro/The Sea Inside" this is your chance to check them out. For some personal recommendations, try "Intermission", "Kontroll" and "Look at Me".

Best film and script award for Fien Troch

Belgian writer/director Fien Troch picked up the Golden Alexander Award and Best Screenplay award at the 46th Thessaloniki International Film Festival for "Een Ander Zijn Geluk/Someone Else's Happiness". The jury, led by Italian cinematographer Vittrorio Storaro, also gave a shared Best Actress award to Ina Geerts (photo) and a Special Mention for Natali Broods as supporting actress. "When a lucky coincidence brought Ina and me together, I had never seen her act," says Troch. "That may make it seem rather unlikely that I immediately saw her in the leading role, but it's the truth."

Visit the official website: Een ander zijn geluk/Someone Else's Happiness

Anders Thomas Jensen picks up Nordisk award

If this goes on, we'll be calling him Citizen Jensen. Denmark's Anders Thomas Jensen picked up the DKK 99,000 Nordisk Award for major contributions to Danish film last Friday. The 33 year-old's third feature as a writer/director, Adam’s Apples is the Danish entry at the upcoming Academy Awards nominations and one of his two scripts – with Susanne Bier’s Brothers - is nominated at this year’s European Film Awards (see below). According to Cineuropa, Jensen currently represents some 40% of Denmark's film output as either a writer or director.

His latest script, "Explosive Bomb", is to be directed by Thomas Villum Jensen for a 2006 release.

European Film Awards announce nominess

The European Film Academy has unveiled its nominees for the 2005 awards. The choice, again, very much favours arthouse/auteur work - the relevance of which is debatable in some cases (is "Don't Come Knocking" really one of Europe's best films this year or would they have been embarassed not to include academy president Wim Wenders?). So the jury will have to decide between Palme winner "L'enfant", "Brodre/Brothers" and "My Summer of Love" largely. On a personal note, I don't feel the selection reflects the vitality that can be found in films such as the Czech Republic's "Up and Down" or Ireland's "Adam & Paul".

So it's quite comforting to see that the selection for Best Screenwriter offers a more challenging selection that includes movies that proved popular in the cinemas.

Hany Abu-Assad & Bero Beyer for PARADISE NOW
Mark O'Halloran for ADAM & PAUL
Michael Haneke for CACHÉ (Hidden)
Anders Thomas Jensen for ADAMS ÆBLER (Adam's Apples) and BRØDRE (Brothers)
Dani Levy & Holger Franke for ALLES AUF ZUCKER (Go for Zucker!)
Cristi Puiu & Razvan Radulescu for MOARTEA DOMNULUI LAZARESCU (The Death of Mr Lazarescu).

But having said all that, the best overall selection is probably in the Jameson People's Choice Award. But "the people" are not given a shot at voting for a best screenwriter yet. The Awards ceremony will be braodcast across many European channels on December 3 from Berlin.

See all the nominations here.

UK Writer and Gazette des Scénaristes become pen pals

In a spirit that Screenplay Europe has been trying to promote for a year now, two of Europe's foremost scriptwriting magazines are sharing articles. The remarkable "Gazette des scénaristes" and "UK Writer" are published by the French and British writers' unions respectively. The latest issue of the Gazette, which deals with love, sex and how to represent them on screen, comes with an article from UK Writer. Cross-pollination of this kind is all too rare, despite the fact that France is a major co-producer with most of the other European cinemas.

Although distribution of the Gazette could best be described as "confidentiel" even in France, it can now be ordered from the writers house Dixit.

The Writers Guild
Union Guilde des Scénaristes
To order the Gazette.

Matthieu Kassovitz on the French riots

In 1995, Matthieu Kassovitz directed one of the most stunning films of its time: "La Haine/Hate". The parallels with what is happening in France are chilling. It follows a group of young people from an impoverished Parisian suburb, tracing their inevitable path towards confrontation after one of their friends ends up in hospital after suffering police brutality. On his website, Kassovitz has written a passionate but accurate review of the situation. Like many other commentators (and Screenplay Europe), he puts the responsibility for the scale of the ensuing violence squarely at the feet of the French Interior Minister who fuelled the flames with his comments about "cleaning the scum". Unfortunately, there were enough hotheads out there to call his bluff, which they have done for over a week already. "Nicolas Sarkozy is ... a little Napoleon, and I do not know if he has the potential of a real one, but it will be impossible to say tomorrow that we didn’t know."

See the full commentary on Matthieu Kassovitz.com.

UPDATE: Djamel Bensalah, director of the hit Franco-Algerian comedy "Il était une fois dans l'oued", and French distributor Gaumont will donate all the proceeds of tickets sold on November 13 and 14 to victims of the French violence. The film is showing in some 200 cinemas. Visit the official website (in French).

Matthieu Kassovitz on Amazon UK
Matthieu Kassovitz on Amazon US

Morocco meets Asia at Brussels fest

The International Festival of Independent Film that closed last Sunday in Brussels confirmed the emergence of Moroccan film, with "Tarfaya" by Daoud Aoulad-Syad picking up the Grand Prix. "Tarfaya" is best described as an end-of-the-road movie. Bittersweet family comedy "Ici et là" (co-written by Mohamed Ismail, Mohamed Mouftakir and Ismaïl Saidi) picked up the Best Screenplay award. The Philippines' Cesar Montano picked up the Jury award for his directing debut in wartime local drama "Panaghoy sa Suba/Call of the River" while Singapore's Eric Khoo was given the Best Director award for his long tone poem, "Be With Me".

Germany was also well represented, with actress Julie Bowe being recognised as Best Actress for her remarkable role in "Katze im Sack/Cat in a Bag". Daniel Stielgitz went home with a Best First Film for the horror/thriller romp "Happy End".

Jean-Marie Buchet picked a screenplay award in the national (Belgian) section for "Une fameuse journée".

Bafta Scotland: “Festival” tipped for writing and best film awards

Annie Griffin’s comedy about the Edinburgh festival is being tipped as a strong contender for Scotland's upcoming Bafta awards, being nominated as both Best Screenplay and Best Film that will be held on Nov. 13 in Glasgow.

Best Screenplay
Festival - Annie Griffin
Night People - Adrian Mead & Jack Dickson (Produced by Clare Kerr. Mead Kerr Productions, New Found Films: SMG Television/Scottish Screen)
On A Clear Day - Alex Rose

Best New Screenplay
At the End of the Sentence – Written by David Grieg
The Immeasurable Joy – Written by Gregor Barclay
Karma Cowboys – Written by Rae Brunton

Best Film
Festival (Directed by Annie Griffin, Produced by Chris Young. Young Pirate Films, Pathe Film Distribution)
On A Clear Day (Directed by Gaby Dellal, Produced by Sarah Curtis & Dorothy Berwin. Forthcoming/InFilm Productions, Icon Film Distribution)
A Woman in Winter (Directed by Richard Jobson, Produced by Chris Atkins, Richard Jobson & Hamish McAlpine, Vestry Films/Tartan Film Distribution)

For the full list of nominees, visit Bafta Scotland