Enthusiastic audience at one of the screenings

On invitation by the Perth Writers Festival and the Goethe Institute Australia EFA Director Marion Döring visited Australia for a series of screenings and presentations. In Perth, Sydney and Melbourne, she introduced screenings of the EFA SHORT MATTERS! Programme, the short films nominated for the European Film Awards 2009, and gave presentations about the work of the European Film Academy and filmmaking in Europe.

The Board of the European Film Academy strongly protests against the arrest of Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi and demands his immediate release.

Jafar Panahi is an internationally recognised artist and his work has been honoured at the festivals in Berlin, Cannes and Venice. Before his arrest, Panahi was denied permission to leave Iran in order to attend the 60th Berlinale as an honorary guest.

The Board of the European Film Academy encourages the EFA Members to join this protest by personal letters to the respective Iranian embassy.

Yves Marmion   Nik Powell   Volker Schlöndorff
- on behalf of the EFA Board -

Berlin, 5 March 2010

BELGIAN SHORT NOMINATED FOR EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS

The European Film Academy (EFA) and the Berlin International Film Festival congratulate the

Berlin Short Film Nominee for the European Film Awards 2010
VENUS VS ME
by Nathalie Teirlinck
Belgium 2009, 27 min., fiction

The film is now nominated for the award European Film Academy Short Film 2010. It was selected by the festival’s international short film jury which was made up of Zita Carvalhosa, founder and director of the São Paulo International Short Film Festival (Brazil), Max Dax, chief editor of German pop culture magazine Spex, and British producer Samm Haillay.

VENUS VS ME tells the story of twelve-year-old Marie who has problems putting her childhood behind her. Ever since her young mother brought home a new boyfriend, Marie’s questions have gone unanswered and communication would seem to be impossible. Marie desperately tries to win back her mother for herself, at the same time seeking comfort in the world of her memories.

The short film initiative is organised by the European Film Academy in co-operation with fifteen film festivals throughout Europe. At each of these festivals, an independent jury presents one of the European short films in competition with a nomination in the short film category of the European Film Awards.

When the annual cycle is completed in September, the nominees will be presented to the over 2,000 members of the European Film Academy and it is they who will elect the overall winner: the European Film Academy Short Film 2010 which will be presented at the 23rd European Film Awards Ceremony on 4 December
in Tallinn/Estonia.

The next nomination will be presented in March in co-operation with the Tampere Film Festival (Finland).

Berlin, 17 February 2009

The European Film Academy (EFA) and the International Film Festival Rotterdam congratulate the

Rotterdam Short Film Nominee for the European Film Awards 2010
ØNSKEBØRN (Out Of Love)
by Birgitte Stærmose (Denmark 2009, 29 min., documentary fiction)

The film is now nominated for the award European Film Academy Short Film 2010. It was selected by the festival’s international jury which was made up of Jeremy Rigsby (programmer of Media City Festival in Windsor, Canada), Shai Heredia (director of Filter India Festival, Mumbai, India) and filmmaker, writer, visual artist and teacher Albert Wulffers (the Netherlands).

OUT OF LOVE tells a gripping story about the experiences of children in an unreal-looking Pristina, the capital of Kosovo, told in an unorthodox way.

The short film initiative is organised by the European Film Academy in co-operation with a series of film festivals throughout Europe. At each of these festivals, an independent jury presents one of the European short films in competition with a nomination in the short film category of the European Film Awards.

The European Film Academy is happy to announce that the Locarno International Film Festival has just joined the EFA Short Film Initiative, so that the programme now includes a total of 15 festivals (see complete list).

OUT OF LOVE joins the following nominees: AMOR by Thomas Wangsmo (Norway 2009, 14 min, fiction), selected at the Flanders International Film Festival - Ghent; DER AMPELMANN by Giulio Ricciarelli (Germany 2009, 14 min, fiction), selected at the Valladolid International Film Festival, LES ESCARGOTS DE JOSEPH (Joseph’s Snails) by Sophie Roze (France 2009, 12 min, animation), selected at the Corona Cork Film Festival; and BLIJF BIJ ME, WEG by Paloma Aguilera Valdebenito (The Netherlands 2009, 24 min, fiction), selected at the Premiers Plans - Festival d’Angers.

The next nomination will be presented in co-operation with the Berlin International Film Festival.

When the annual cycle is completed in September, the nominees will be presented to the over 2,000 members of the European Film Academy and it is they who will elect the overall winner: the European Film Academy Short Film 2010 which will be presented at the 23rd European Film Awards Ceremony on 4 December in Tallinn/Estonia.

Berlin, 08 February 2010

STEREOSCOPIC STORYTELLING

Creating stories and images for 3D Film
for European film directors, cinematographers, set designers, editors, writers and producers

with Alain Derobe
12-18 July 2010
Berlin/Germany

Alain Derobe with Wim Wenders

The production of a live-action 3D film is a highly complex process and it is essential that all crafts involved in the creation of such a film develop an understanding and knowledge of its specifics. Only then will a distinctive and innovative cinematic language arise. And only then will adding a third dimension to film result in a sustainable narrative impact on audiovisual history.

The EFA Master Class 2010 STEREOSCOPIC STORYTELLING is a multi-disciplinary workshop equally addressed to European film directors, cinematographers, set designers, editors, writers and producers. The workshop will be offered in a short term training format of seven days at the Berlin-based post-production house das werk. In a mixture of group sessions, screenings, case studies and lectures, but with a focus on hands-on exercises, the workshop will allow the participants to gain a profound knowledge of the 3D workflow:

Stereo 3D is a specific language and my main aim is to explain how it works. Can we operate the same way we do with traditional work? There are so many different opinions about this!
We need to find the correct path and above all the fundaments of 3D pictures and stories.
We will start with an analysis of what the audience can see on the screen during a good 3D picture screening. Then, we will understand how the human brain reconstructs depth with these double flat pictures. Stereo 3D is made to be seen by the human visual system and it is the only one that can teach us how to “represent” reality on a screen. Afterwards, we will be able to easily understand the rules for telling convincing stories in good stereo 3D.
With the help of other 3D specialists, we will experiment with the logic of different equipment, we will show how to take pictures, how to edit and how to adjust them for screening.
- Alain Derobe -

Alain Derobe, one of Europe’s leading stereographers, will act as the Master of the workshop. He will be supported by Florian Maier, a highly experienced 3D consultant and developer of new 3D camera technique. Alain Derobe and Florian Maier have worked together repeatedly in the past and developed a 3D rig together.

Past EFA Master Classes have been held by renowned film professionals such as Jean-Jacques Annaud, Henning Carlsen, André Delvaux, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Jiří Menzel, Tilda Swinton, István Szabó, Marc Weigert, Tsui Hark, Allan Starski, Anthony Dod Mantle, Stefan Jarl and Hervé Schneid.

Applicant Profile

The EFA Master Class 2010 is designed for 16 creative professionals of the European* film industry who are planning to actively step into the process of stereoscopic filmmaking, be it directors, cinematographers, set designers, editors, writers or producers. All participants must be professionals in their respective departments and should have a relevant track record. Creatives who already have made their first steps in stereoscopic filmmaking are as welcome as beginners in this field. Working language is English.

* PLEASE NOTE: as a MEDIA-supported training initiative, this EFA Master Class is open only to applicants from EU member states as well as Croatia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland.

Participation fee: EUR 800 incl. meals.
Travel and accommodation are not included.
A limited amount of scholarships is available.

APPLY NOW! The application form is available here

Application deadline: 31 May 2010

For more information about the upcoming EFA Master Class with Alain Derobe, scholarship criteria, or other EFA activities, please contact us at:

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY e.V.
Kurfürstendamm 225
10719 Berlin
GERMANY
tel. +49 30 887 167 0
Bettina Schwarz at bschwarz[AT]europeanfilmacademy.org

This year’s 23rd European Film Awards will see the re-launch of two award categories: EUROPEAN PRODUCTION DESIGNER and EUROPEAN EDITOR.

The move has been decided by the Board of the European Film Academy during their latest meeting in Berlin and reflects the distinct wish by EFA Members to honour the outstanding contribution of production designers and editors to European film culture.

The two awards replace the Prix d’Excellence which honoured achievements in the different film crafts. The recipients will be elected by the more than 2,000 members of the European Film Academy. They will vote from a list of three nominations in each of these categories, chosen from the selection list of around 40 recommended films.

The European Film Awards 2010 will be celebrated in Tallinn, Estonia, on 4 December.

Berlin, 2 February 2010

by Oliver Baumgarten

The fourth day of the EFA Master Class RUHR, which was to close with a visit of all participants to the European Film Awards Ceremony, started with a three-hour energy boost. British director Danny Boyle came by for a morning workshop and with his dynamic and open way he had the 23 young participants under his spell from the moment he started speaking. Moderated by film historian Peter Cowie, the session dealt not only with Boyle’s latest film SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, winner of three Golden Globes, seven BAFTAs and eight Oscars and nominated for six European Film Awards. It was the director himself who repeatedly directed the conversation towards other moments and aspects of his career.

Danny Boyle

He started in film as somewhat of a latecomer. He was almost 40 when he set off, as Peter Cowie puts it, “to renew British cinema in the 90s.” “It’s much easier to get a job in theatre than it is in film,” Boyle explains and continues, “what is really special about theatre is the possibility to work so extensively with actors. In film, these opportunities are really quite limited. Working in theatre is a fantastic training for the work with actors and it helps you to overcome any fear of contact in order to later be able to convey to the actors a feeling of safety.” With his background in theatre Boyle follows British tradition - in contrast to US film culture, it is quite common in the UK not only for excellent actors but also for film directors to be involved in theatre. Danny Boyle first left the stage to produce for television. When he told the people in charge that he could also direct, he was allowed to do both - saving the station expenses in the end. The series INSPECTOR MORSE gave Boyle the opportunity to work with a very experienced film crew and learn a lot.

Danny Boyle

But how did his brilliant cinema debut in 1994 come about with SHALLOW GRAVE? Producer Andrew Macdonald and author John Hodge had developed the script and simply organised a casting to find the right director. For the participants it’s not hard to guess how he managed to get the job as they witness for themselves Boyle’s winning ways: “I simply showed them my enthusiasm for this wonderful book. Enthusiasm is your biggest characteristic,” he tells the participating filmmakers and once again talks about the importance of finding the right collaborators and partners: “When you find people who make you better, keep them and show them that they are part of your work.” And then Danny Boyle says something that seems to be at the centre of the way he works, something not always natural to young filmmakers: “If you don’t want to involve other people in your work, write a book! Making films means dealing with people.”

Danny Boyle

Someone Doyle has again and again involved in his work is cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle - who was originally to be giving this Master Class together with Doyle but had to cancel last minute, therefore missing to receive the European Film Award for SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE and for ANTICHRIST in person later on in the evening. It is with a lot of respect that Danny Boyle talks about Anthony Dod Mantle, about the way he managed to „create”a city that looks deserted for the film 28 DAYS LATER, how he insisted on shooting THE BEACH on 35mm, or that he knew how to circumvent missing permits for SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE by simply shooting on digital, also taking the shyness from amateur actors by making the small digital camera almost disappear when shooting. “I would never work with a cinematographer who doesn’t operate the camera himself,” Boyle says and talks about the studio system in Hollywood where cinematographers have their operators to move the camera: “All these cinematographers who walk about all important and talk about filters all day - nowadays you can do all that in grading afterwards. What’s much more important is how a cinematographer reacts to an actor. And Anthony is fantastic in this; he always stays with the actor and manages to get something out of that person which you as a spectator recognise.”

Danny Boyle

The current highlight in his career thanks to the enormous success of SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE is no coincidence and appears strangely plausible to the participants when Boyle answers a question about his biggest mistakes. The big budget production THE BEACH with Leonardo di Caprio didn’t only suffer a flop with critics and at the box-office; the production was also a disappointment for Danny Boyle. But learning from mistakes with the one lead to triumph with the other: “All those costs and expenses, getting hundreds of people from the US to Thailand, that was film colonialism. It was the way GANDHI was made or LAWRENCE OF ARABIA - great films but from a completely different time! No, you have to go there and integrate as much as possible. We, the British, have exerted colonialism for long enough, our empire is based on it.” To integrate means, when in India, to completely change the way you work: “Life in mega-cities like Mumbai is so complex that it makes all our Western countries appear simple. I brought ten people with me from the West, the rest of the crew came from there. They are very experienced people; you simply have to trust them. You can work well if you don’t even begin to try organising everything. You just have to do it, and you need confidence!” Thanks to digital technology it was also possible to work very flexibly and to keep the team small. As Boyle puts it, “In big budget productions everything is delegated, each assistant has another assistant. I, on the other hand, try to follow my instinct, doing some things myself and being surrounded by people who think the same. At the end of the day, the whole thing is your responsibility anyway. But, hey: It’s no brain surgery,” Boyle adds with a smirk, “we’re only imitating life!”

Communication is an important issue for Danny Boyle, not only because he knows it so well. To get some of the director’s ideas across when it comes to certain details, he has some very practical advice for the participants: “I put together a book of images of atmospheres, looks, characters, of all kinds of things to show people my imagination of things. We always talk only instead of discussing visually as well. It often helps the actors as well. I show them a specific image and they understand relatively quickly what I would otherwise have to talk about for hours.” What he generally says about the presence on set is, “Always be the most obsessed and motivate everybody as much as you can. Because the origin of cinema is energy, the ultimate expression of a film is action. When I shoot a film, I try to make an action movie - and that’s exactly how I have to act on set!”

EFA Master Class RUHR

Pictures: Daniel Gasenzer/RUHR.2010
…

The EFA Master Class RUHR was a project of the European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010 “Essen for the Ruhr” in co-operation with the European Film Academy.

EFA Master Class RUHR with Nino Kirtadzé and Peter Liechti

by Oliver Baumgarten

This year`s European Film Awards began in Unna Massimo, a former refugee settlement right in the heart of Germany’s Ruhr Metropolis - at least for the 23 young filmmakers from across Europe who accepted an invitation by the European Film Academy and RUHR.2010 to participate in the four-day EFA Master Class RUHR. As a closing highlight of the training project, they all attended the European Film Awards Ceremony in Bochum’s Century Hall (Jahrhunderthalle) on Saturday night. But the days before also offered a busy agenda for this group of nominees for EFA Short Film and European Discovery 2009 as well as students from different film and media schools in North Rhine-Westphalia: ifs - internationale filmschule köln, Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln and Fachhochschule Dortmund.

Nino Kirtadzé

After breakfast on Thursday morning, the Master Class started with a first session in the settlement’s conference building, a five-hour workshop with documentary filmmakers Nino Kirtadzé and Peter Liechti. While Georgian-born director Nino Kirtadzé won the European Film Academy Documentary Award in 2005 with THE PIPELINE NEXT DOOR, her Swiss colleague Peter Liechti was to receive this award on Saturday in Bochum. He was to be honoured for his film THE SOUND OF INSECTS, a film essay based on a novel by Shimada Masahiko about a man who starved himself to death in the forest.

The documentary is more popular than ever, just among this year’s nominated short films there were five documentaries. The majority of the participants therefore were in some way familiar with documentary work so that the Master Class “What can we learn from documentaries” acquired a very practical meaning, i.e. what can the documentary teach us about filmmaking in general?

Peter Liechti

One example is the characterization of protagonists for in documentaries the creation of convincing characters is just as important as in feature film. In this context, Peter Liechti’s THE SOUND OF INSECTS offered a very special challenge: the main character, the man starving himself to death in the woods, is never seen. He has to be characterised using only the spoken text, sound and the atmosphere of the images since Liechti had decided early on not to work with an actor. “My film is the attempt to re-experience what has happened,” says the director, “because my reason to start this project was that I didn’t understand why this man acted like he did.” Peter Liechti was therefore looking for appropriate images and particularly for a corresponding sound concept: “from the beginning on I collaborated with musicians and composers. Even for the noises I first wanted to find a musical solution that could later be mixed with original sound. In the text the protagonist is portrayed as an educated global citizen with a strong affinity for classical music, especially for Johann Sebastian Bach. That’s why Bach became the centre of the entire soundtrack, we always return to his music.”

Participants

The Swiss director collected about 60 hours of film material to illustrate the novel’s text (of which he used roughly two thirds). With the help of editor Tania Stöcklin it then took him eight months to create the final 88-minute version. “I never edit myself. I’m always there but I need an editor as a partner, as my alter ego, a person with the necessary distance to the material”, Liechti explains. While shooting he writes a sort of diary already outlining a possible editing structure. But he doesn’t start the edit while shooting: “I am a different person when shooting than when I edit”. Mixing the two he doesn’t think practical.

Peter Cowie

British film historian Peter Cowie who moderated the session showed an excerpt from Nino Kirtadzé’s THE PIPELINE NEXT DOOR about a Georgian village effected by a US company’s construction of a pipeline: the boss of the company’s Georgian branch visits the village’s inhabitants and answers their questions - an unequal encounter. “How will these two worlds, the dreamy, imaginative Georgians and the very pragmatic Americans, get along”, is how Nino Kirtadzé describes her interest in the subject. “It was a little like a war of the worlds and I wanted to portray this difference”. Scenes like the visit of the oil magnate can easily be portrayed with a certain social tendency, as participant Valéry Rosier from Belgium points out. Did she want to underline social injustice? “I’m not obsessed by a will for denunciation”, Kirtadzé answers. „I’m interested in portraying the complexity of a situation. How can these different people live together in the same world? That’s what I was interested in, not so much in accusation”.

Participants

So what can we learn from documentaries? First of all, something about reality, namely that it is to be found everywhere but not in documentaries themselves. “If you want to see reality, stay out of cinema, Peter Liechti states. Documentaries are not about reality, they are “upgraded reality”, as Nino Kirtadzé puts it. “When we talk about documentary film, we are talking about elements of reality. The way how you combine these elements makes it your film.” Participant Iris Olsson, nominated for her short documentary BETWEEN DREAMS, puts it in a nutshell: “Documentaries don’t convey truth, they convey a point of view.” This is also what appeals to Peter Liechti when it comes to cinema in contrast to television and its infotainment. “Films are more than just information. Films are always interpretation”. And still: The subject of a documentary remains reality. But what’s fascinating about that?, Peter Cowie wonders. The stories in fiction, replies Liechti, are becoming more and more stereotypical. “Reality, however, is much more surprising, so extraordinary that we could never invent it ourselves”.

So what can we learn from documentaries? The sharpening of our point of view, adjusting of our perspective. For a filmmaker, that’s already half the battle.

Pictures: Daniel Gasenzer/RUHR.2010
…

The EFA Master Class RUHR was a project of the European Capital of Culture RUHR.2010 “Essen for the Ruhr” in co-operation with the European Film Academy.

EUROPEAN FILM 2009
DAS WEISSE BAND (The White Ribbon), Germany/Austria/France/Italy
written and directed by Michael Haneke
produced by Stefan Arndt, Veit Heiduschka, Michael Katz, Margaret Menegoz
& Andrea Occhipinti

EUROPEAN DIRECTOR 2009
Michael Haneke for DAS WEISSE BAND (The White Ribbon)

EUROPEAN ACTOR 2009
Tahar Rahim in UN PROPHETE (A Prophet)

EUROPEAN ACTRESS 2009
Kate Winslet in THE READER (Der Vorleser)

EUROPEAN SCREENWRITER 2009
Michael Haneke for DAS WEISSE BAND (The White Ribbon)

CARLO DI PALMA EUROPEAN CINEMATOGRAPHER AWARD 2009
Anthony Dod Mantle for ANTICHRIST & SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY PRIX D’EXCELLENCE 2009
Brigitte Taillandier, Francis Wargnier, Jean-Paul Hurier & Marc Doisne for
the Sound Design, UN PROPHETE (A Prophet)

EUROPEAN COMPOSER 2009
Alberto Iglesias for LOS ABRAZOS ROTOS (Broken Embraces)

EUROPEAN DISCOVERY 2009
KATALIN VARGA, Romania/UK/Hungary
written & directed by Peter Strickland
produced by Tudor Giurgiu, Oana Giurgiu & Peter Strickland

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY ANIMATED FEATURE FILM 2009
MIA ET LE MIGOU (Mia and the Migoo), France/Italy
directed by Jacques-Rémy Girerd

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY SHORT FILM 2009
POSTE RESTANTE by Marcel Lozinski

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Ken Loach

EUROPEAN ACHIEVEMENT IN WORLD CINEMA
Isabelle Huppert

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY DOCUMENTARY 2009 – Prix ARTE
THE SOUND OF INSECTS - Record of a Mummy, Switzerland
by Peter Liechti

EUROPEAN CO-PRODUCTION AWARD – Prix EURIMAGES
Diana Elbaum and Jani Thiltges

EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY CRITICS AWARD 2009 – Prix FIPRESCI
Andrzej Wajda for TATARAK (Sweet Rush)

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD for Best European Film
SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, UK
directed by Danny Boyle
written by Simon Beaufoy
produced by Christian Colson

THE 22nd EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS:
Ruhr Metropolis / Germany, 12 Dec 2009

When the doors open for the 22nd European Film Awards on Saturday, 12 December, the world of European cinema will step onto the red carpet at the spectacular venue of the Jahrhunderthalle in Bochum. Winners, nominees and EFA Members - altogether 1,400 guests will be welcomed by German comedy star Anke Engelke who will lead through the evening as the show’s host.

An impressive line-up of actors and actresses will enter the stage to present the individual awards, among them Victoria Abril (Spain), Caterina Murino (Italy), Johanna ter Steege (the Netherlands), and María Valverde (Spain), as well as Detlev Buck (Germany), Jesper Christensen (Denmark), Sir Ben Kingsley (UK), Maciej Stuhr (Poland), and Anatole Taubman (Switzerland).

Joining them will be documentary director Nino Kirtadzé (France/Georgia), actor/director Aksel Hennie (Norway) who was part of the European Film Promotion’s SHOOTING STARS programme in 2004, and director/actor Branko Djuric (Bosnia & Herzegovina).

The list of presenters is completed by Dr. Gottfried Langenstein, President of ARTE, Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information, Society and Media, and EFA President Wim Wenders.

Among the guests this year will be actresses Hannelore Elsner (Germany), Krystyna Janda (Poland), and Julia Jentsch (Germany), directors Roland Emmerich and Sönke Wortmann. Award winners already announced include Peter Liechti (EFA Documentary 2009 - Prix ARTE), Diana Elbaum and Jani Thiltges (European Co-production Award - Prix EURIMAGES), Andrzej Wajda (EFA Critics’ Award 2009 - Prix FIPRESCI) and the recipients of the honorary awards Ken Loach and Isabelle Huppert.

Berlin, 8 December 2009