The 7th International Independent Feature Film Festival (OSKARIADA) is not only a festival of the independent/underground cinema, it is an event that looks at independent filmmaking at different angles and presents it’s various genres.
The core of the event is a film contest incorporating the most interesting productions conceived by the independent stream.
The criterion of independence in case of OSKARIADA is treated relatively widely – the competition will see student shorts as well as professional full length feature films and entirely amateur productions will not remain unnoticed.
The aim of OSKARIADA is not only to present the best films but also to reveal the numerous aspects of the phenomenon labeled as independent cinema and its forms in various parts in the world. OSKARIADA will be accompanied by numerous retrospectives and presentations prepared by partner festivals (including Japan, France and Czech Republic). OSKARIADA will also feature open film workshops prepared in cooperation with Warsaw Film School.
The Festival will be held in the cinema "KINOTEKA" in Warsaw, Poland between 16 – 20 April 2008. The deadline for the films along with entry forms is 17 March 2008 and they should be sent to the following address:
Warszawska Szko³a Filmowaul.
Œwieradowska
4302-662 Warszawa, Poland
With a note "7. IIFFF "Oskariada"
Submission of films is free of charge.
The regulations for entry and entry forms as well as more details on OSKARIADA can be found at: http://www.oskariada.filmforum.pl

The 5th European Youth Film Festival (EFeMKa) is a competition which presents the work of young film-makers from all over Europe. The Festival is an open contest intended for all young filmmakers who create their films outside of the commercial system, who were under 26 years of age at the moment of finishing the film and preferably are not students of any film schools yet (the restrictions regard directors only).
The 5th European Youth Film Festival will take place in "Kinoteka" Multiplex, the best cinema in Warsaw, located in the city centre, December 2008. The films may be a documentary, animation or a feature film. The choice of subject is entirely free and running time is unlimited. There is no limit of films to be sent by one author (collective authors).
During the Festival nominations for the OFFskar Award are also awarded. The OFFskar is an award designed for all filmmakers who create their films outside of the commercial system, and the nominations are granted during the most prominent Polish independent film festivals. In its assumption the Award is supposed to be the most important Polish film award for independent filmmakers.
For more details and regulations visit our website: http://www.mlodekino.pl

The 5th edition of the SEDICICORTO International Film Festival Forli will take place in Forli, Italy, from October 6th to October 12th. Competition will be divided into 6 sections: “Fiction – World,” “Fiction – Italy,” “CORTOonia (Animation Films),” “D/O/C (Documentary Films),” “CORTOlab (Experimental Films),” and “CORTOexpress (films with a maximum running time of 5 minutes)”. In 2007, the festival’s program included 130 films from Europe and beyond.
Entry to the competition is free and the deadline for submission is July 7th, 2008. Authors may submit more than one film. Each entry must include:
a) a DVD copy of the film
b) a copy of the completed online entry form
c) one or more stills from the film (if possible in digital format);
d) a photo of the author(s) (if possible in digital format)
Entries should be sent to:
SEDICICORTO International
c/o casella postale n. 8
Via Gandhi n. 22
47010 S. Martino in Strada (FC)
Italy
More information about the festival is available on its website, www.sedicicorto.it.

The VII Open St. Petersburg Film Festival will be held on September 25-30, 2008, at Dom Kino, St. Petersburg. The aims of the festival are to encourage audience interest in the works of young filmmakers, as well as to short-length films, and to highlight different developmental trends in young cinema from different countries. Founded by the St. Petersburg Filmmaker’s Union, the Committee of Culture of St. Petersburg Government, and a number of other Russian cultural organizations, the festival is committed to helping filmmakers gain experience, develop their contacts, and promote their films.
In addition to the main competition, the festival also offers several special competition categories, including a “5-minute Fiction Films” and “Social Commercials.” As well, master-classes in filmmaking are open to the public, as are student exhibitions of film décor sketches, art photography, computer graphics, and posters.
The festival management will assume booking and hotel accommodation costs for selected participants. Applications are now open, and should be sent to:
General Director Evgeny Markovich Tartarsky
Open St. Petersburg Student Film Festival “Beginning”
St. Petersburg Filmmaker’s Union, Karavannaya Street, 12
Saint Petersburg, 191023
Russia
More information about this festival is available at http://www.festival-nachalo.ru/eng.

The Portobello Film Festival is the largest independent film competition in the UK, and the third largest UK film festival, with a 2007 attendance of 14,350. Created as a reaction to the moribund state of the British film industry to provide a forum for new filmmakers, the festival is now in its twelfth year. It has been dubbed “the wild side of Brit film” (Metro), “the biggest celebration of independent film in Europe” (The Independent), and “London’s biggest filmic free-for-all” (Time Out).
In 2008, the Portobello Film Festival will take place between August 28 and September 14, and will show approximately 700 films from 35 countries. In addition to the main events, the festival will also offer a bring-your-own-video café and a winter filmmaker’s convention. All events are free and open to the public.
The Portobello Film Festival is currently accepting submissions. DVDs should be sent to:
Portobello Film Festival, ACAVA
54 Blechynden Street
London
W10 6RJ
An application form can be found on the festival’s website, www.portobellofilmfestival.com. Admission for all applicants is free of charge.

Hi there,

I got a phone call late last night as I was walking home from the office that made me very happy. “Hello Scott,” said a heavily accented voice. “I’m arriving in Paris on Friday and I can’t wait.” “Sure, Paris is slightly warmer than Warsaw at this time of year,” I thought to myself. But I hoped that wasn’t the only reason for Andrew Wolf’s excitement (who I’d met, last year, at a Polish festival). In fact, it wasn’t: “I’m bringing a camera and coming to the festival,” he said. “Great,” I thought, but then the kicker: “I’m coming down to buy some films.” Now, these are words that all of us indie filmmakers like to hear, right? Wolf certainly isn’t the only buyer coming to Paris this weekend, but his enthusiasm for our festival as THE place to come for the very best films – not only from Europe, but from around the world – makes all of the hard work seem truly worthwhile.

It’s all happened far too quickly, but it’s only a couple of days to go before the third edition of The European Independent Film Festival kicks off. We’ll be showing 103 films that have come to us from 28 countries and it promises to be an incredible event. Not only will we be screening some of the very best indie films from around the world, we have a full schedule of workshops that cover everything from editing and directing to acting and digital distribution. We are even going to have a ‘speed dating’ workshop, as we’ve been calling it, where we will put independent musicians into a room with filmmakers who need music. A good idea, right? ‘Cause I’m always on the lookout for music for my films, and figure that I’m not the only one!

The weekend is going to kick off with a boat trip along the Seine, where the directors will meet the press on a ‘bateau mouche’ and will have the opportunity to mingle and do interviews for an hour as we travel from the Eiffel Tower up to the Bibliothèque Nationale de France where the event will be held. We will then go up to the Salle Belvedere, which is up on the 18th floor of the Bibliothèque, with an amazing view over Paris, for the press conference, a cocktail party, and a short concert by indie musicians Mélissa Laveaux and “Dinner at the Thompson’s.” Then we will head downstairs for the ‘official’ opening of the festival.

Our opening film is going to be the feature film Happy New Year – London by Turkish-born Berkun Oya. It’s a very impressive effort for his first feature, and the film grabs your attention from the very beginning, when a moment of random violence on the streets of London triggers a tense and well-acted story. The plot unfolds in London, but is strongly influenced by French and Turkish cultures. I’ll let Berkun explain: “I’m deeply excited about Happy New Year – London being chosen as the opening film,” he says. “My film deals with calamitous and desperate attempts to communicate between different nationalities and the ugly power of ignorance; as such, it raises issues of great importance for a European audience. I believe that the way ÉCU approaches independent films is dignified, sincere, and affectionate. I’m happy to be a part of it.”

Saturday will come around super quick and the screening programme gets underway at 10.00 AM on four screens. Our welcome desk crew will be busy handing out badges, signing people up to workshops and pointing people in the right direction so that they can experience the great slate of films we have to offer. These are films that have made it to the big screen despite very low, sometimes non-existent, budgets and I’m honoured to showcase this exceptional talent. There will also be a party at the “Frog and Library” bar right beside the Bibliothèque – a scene of many past (mis-)adventures in years past, so bring your party gear.

Sunday is traditionally a very busy day, sore heads notwithstanding. We will kick off early again, at 10.00 AM and the judges’ pencils will be scribbling away like crazy as we count down to the awards ceremony 10 hours later. The title of ‘The Best European Independent Film’ is at stake, and I can’t wait to see which films make it to the short list – I’m thankful that I have such great people surrounding me on the jury, because it’s going to be hard to pick just one from such an impressive selection of films.

The Sunday workshop schedule is a packed full. And at lunchtime, I’ll be gathering all of the directors into one of the workshop rooms to make a big announcement, with Guy Tucker, about a company called EUROINDIE FILM DISTRIBUTION, which I believe is going to excite them – and more importantly, give them a chance to get their films out to much bigger audiences. Nokia will give a couple of talks during the afternoon to explain to us all the future of mobile phones and how films are going to be playing a big part in that future. Boulder Creek is going to be announcing it’s new distribution methodology and will be looking to sign up filmmakers on the spot.

Remember that entry to the festival is free – yes, I’m the silly bugger that pays for all of this (!), so there are no excuses not to come along and watch the future of filmmaking. I promise you a very entertaining weekend of cinema.

Check out the full schedule of screenings and workshop events, and if you haven’t already done so, send us an email to rsvp@ecufilmfestival.com to confirm you are coming.

Batten down the hatches, everyone – ÉCU 2008 is on its way!

Frederike is a budding young filmmaker from Belgium who is currently living in Paris. Over the next few months, we’re going to follow Frederike on her mission to make her debut film ’Nobody’.

At this time I still very much believed I was going to get my Belgium actress friend over to Paris to play the lead. I was happy I didn’t have to bother finding a local English speaking girl, I knew she would do the part perfectly, since we had talked about it for hours, and she had told me already she would love to come over to shoot the thing. As for the thought of playing the part myself, I was happy not to, and focus on the mountains of other things floating around in my seemingly ever expanding crane. But when finally I gave her the dates and confirmed to her that it was ‘for real’, she doubted and said it would be better maybe to take a local somebody or to do it myself, just in case we would do over times, or we would need extra takes or voice recordings afterwards.

Read on

Frederike is a budding young filmmaker from Belgium who is currently living in Paris. Over the next few months, we’re going to follow Frederike on her mission to make her debut film ’Nobody’.

I walked home that evening feeling drunk. Surely I had shared a decent amount of coffee and beer with those people with information, but I think I also floated somewhere in between Paris and my imaginary world where dreams and hopes and ambitions come true. What a great world ! I was much information richer, of which the most important lesson was: keep it simple and cheap. I agreed, though again certain wild ideas within my still non-existant short version of the long scenario were slightly abandoned. More doubts, more thoughts, more clouds.

Read on

Introduction to Copyright Issues: Not Just for Music

We have all heard about the legal issues regarding the misuse of music samples, but more recently these concerns have been spotlighted relating to film. With the advent of online video services such as YouTube and file-sharing websites offering free downloadable video files, the film industry has met a formidable foe in tech-savvy generations.

However this is not the issue here. For independent filmmakers, the journey towards making their own film can bring many harsh obstacles that Hollywood players with big budgets can more easily avoid. One such concern may be in acquiring rights to use certain components on screen. As if independent filmmakers didn’t have enough concerns, they must always be aware of country-specific copyright laws with respect to their use of objects, buildings, music, etc. in their creations.

Read on

Heralding the alienating experience in store for the viewer, the opening scenes of “Zunar-J5/9-Dorc-48” wisp the audience through a largely deserted Berlin subway station. Filmed in black and white, this monolithic, quasi-futuristic environment seems to be looming at every turn. Suddenly the protagonist, identifiable only by his neon glowing skin, which contrasts his colorless surroundings, appears. Hastily boarding a standing train, he pauses to cast a mysterious backward glance. Already “Zunar-J5/9-Dorc-48” begins to bombard the viewer with relentless uncertainty, but for those seeking definite answers, they best look elsewhere than this masterfully-crafted experimental short from Germany’s Neue Massen Produktions.

Read on