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Iran readies April festival


BYANDREAS WISEMAN The first Kish International Film Festival in Iran is planned for April 24-28, organised by the Centre for Free and Special Eco- nomic Zones and Iran’s Bureau of Film and Audiovisual Affairs, Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. At least 33 territories (includ-


ing Iran, Middle East and Central Asia) have been invited to submit films, and about 150 films are expected to be included in the programme. Competition sec- tions include strands on Iranian cinema, international cinema and 262-second short films. Amir Esfandiari, director of the


Farabi Cinema Foundation, which is handling the international sec- tion of the festival, told Screen: “The focus of this festival is to improve the links between the countries involved. The festival has enough money to organise a very decent event for the first time. It can do a lot of different things and it can do different things to Iran’s other two significant festi- vals. The festival will also feature a strong offering of debates, work- shops and seminars.” The total prize money for the


International Cinema Competi- tion section is $94,200 (¤70,000), while Esfandiari estimated the total festival prize money at more than $270,000 (¤200,000). He also said he expected a market to be operational at the festival in the near future. Meanwhile, Iranian producer


and sales and distribution outfit Farabi Cinema Foundation has picked up Route Irish and A Woman, A Gun And A Noodle Shop from Wild Bunch for distri- bution in Iran.


Tokyo celebrates 1950s/1960s


BY JEANNOH The Tokyo International Film Fes- tival (TIFF) is planning a retro- spective on classic Japanese films from the 1950s and 1960s for this year’s event in October. “Japanese films in 2010 took


53% market share [against foreign films’ 47%]. I feel we should focus on introducing more Japanese films to foreign audiences at TIFF and TIFFCOM while introducing


more foreign films to local audi- ences,” TIFF chairman Tom Yoda told Screen in Berlin. “We plan to pay more attention


to 3D, taking advantage of Japa- nese technology. But we’ll also go back to basics — stronger pro- gramming, our green ecology theme and increasing the propor- tion of business at TIFFCOM,” said Yoda, whose three-year tenure was recently extended by two years.


The Istanbul Film Festival celebrated its 30th anniversary year with a cocktail party in Berlin. The reception also unveiled a Turkish-German co-production development fund. Left to right: Gulin Ustun, head of Meetings On The Bridge; Kirsten Niehuus, head of Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg Fund; IFF director Azize Tan; Eva Hubert, head of Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein Film Fund; and Teresa Hoefert de Turegano from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg Fund.


Manchevski plans fake doc


BY MARTIN BLANEY Milcho Manchevski, whose latest feature Mothers (Majki) is in Pan- orama, is planning fake documen- tary Sunshine as his next project. “It looks like a doc, smells and


moves like one, but is a piece of fiction,” Manchevski told Screen. “It is about a charismatic guy for


whom reality is an undefined concept.” He added that he would like


this character study to be shot in a city in Western Europe rather than in the US or Macedonia, though he has not decided whether to shoot in English or another European language.


Love discovers Australian thriller


BY WENDY MITCHELL Australian production house Macgowan Films is working with UK-based Film & Music Enter- tainment to produce Needlepoint, written by Judy Morris and to be directed by Gary Love.


“Needlepoint is a tense, original


take on the relationship between a young couple affected by Münch- hausen syndrome by proxy,” said Marian Macgowan, who is with the project in Berlin. The UK-Australia co-produc-


Milcho Manchevski


tion will shoot on a budget of $6m (A$6m) on the far north coast of New South Wales. Morris previously worked on


Happy Feet, Babe and The Eye Of The Storm, which is in post, directed by Fred Schepisi and star- ring Geoffrey Rush and Charlotte Rampling.


Will Ruffin, one of the stars of Generation selection The Dynamiter, has come to Berlin from Meridan, Mississippi, one of the poorest towns in the US. Matthew Gordon’s tale of two brothers was shot in Mississippi with mostly non-professional actors, and locals clubbed together to pay for part of Ruffin’s trip to Germany.


Left to right: Will Ruffin, John Alex Nunnery, Matthew Gordon and producer Michallet Marianne


NEWS BERLINBRIEFS


Lailaps appoints two execs Munich and Berlin-based Lailaps Pictures has hired two executives: Anja Braune and Rotraud Grabmeyer. Braune will serve as general manager and Grabmeyer will take up the role of junior producer. They will both report to Lailaps CEO Nils Dunker.


Rat King set to shoot in May Finnish director Petri Kotwica’s third feature Rat King, which won the Screen International Best Pitch Award at the 2009 Baltic Event in Tallinn, is to begin principal photography in Estonia this May as a co-production between Finland’s Making Movies Oy, Estonia’s Allfilm and a German partner.


Stadlers sell Filmkunst 66 Producers Regina and Tanja Ziegler have taken over Berlin’s arthouse cinema Filmkunst 66. Its previous owners, Franz and Rosemarie Stadler, will be presented with the Berlinale Kamera tonight for having established the two-screen in the Bleibtreustrasse as “one of the most important institutions for independent cinema in Berlin”.


SCREENINGS BERLINALE 2011


Contact in Berlin: Martin-Gropius-Bau, Stand 12 Phone +49-30-498779-446 eMail efm11@bfint.de www.bavaria-film-international.com


INNOCENT SATURDAY by Alexander Mindadze


Today 09.30h Friedrichstadtpalast SI_QS_4er_218x75_feb15_RZ.indd 1


MAMMA GÓGÓ by Fridrik Thór Fridriksson


Today 11.00h CineStar 1


ABOVE US ONLY SKY by Jan Schomburg


Today 12.30h CinemaxX 7


THE MOUNTAIN by Ole Giæver


Tomorrow 15.45h CineStar 3 February 15, 2011 Screen International in Berlin 5 n 04.02.11 19:16


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