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Four years after his previous feature film, Nemmeno il destino, and after working with the theatre troupe ilBuioFuori, Daniele Gaglianone is back with the documentary Rata neće biti - Non ci sarà la guerra (“There Will Be No War”), which will screen at the Locarno Film Festival ("Ici & Ailleurs"), where he picked up an award in 1995 for his short film L'orecchio ferito del piccolo comandante.

Shot over five trips to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the most recent last April, the new film (produced by Gianluca Arcopinto and BabyDoc Film, with support from the Piemonte Doc Film Fund), according to the director’s notes, came about "from the desire to depict a place and a tragedy that still today represents a void and a question for Europe".

At just under three hours, the film (edited by Enrico Giovannone) is meant to give audiences time to see, listen and reflect upon five individual stories that are part of the collective nightmare of the war in Yugoslavia.

A war that is still present, which "obstinately marks the days, words and faces of those who, despite everything, still live.” Like the film’s main characters: the 28-year-old Zoran, who dreams of the Sarajevo of his childhood; Saša, closed off in his nationalist ideals; Aziz, the former Bosnian soldier who escaped the Srebrenica massacre; Mohamed, who escaped from the same massacre by fleeing through the woods where today his sheep graze; and Hajra, who found her husband’s remains in a mass grave but still has no information about her disappeared son.

Gabriele Barcaro

Well represented at the 61st Locarno Film Festival (August 6-16), French cinema is hoping for competition success with Emmanuel Finkiel’s Nulle part terre promise (“Nowhere Promised Land”). This documentary – which flirts with the narrative genre – won the 2008 Jean Vigo Award.

Discovered in the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight with his debut feature, Tracks (Louis Delluc Award for Best Debut Film and César Award in 2000 for Best Debut Feature and Best Editing), in Nulle part terre promise Finkiel explores three visions of a Europe marked by population movement. The film looks at the individual journeys of a self-assured executive starting out on a promising career, a young spoiled western woman with a fading carefree attitude and a group of illegal workers full of idealism and hope despite their limited future.

Produced by Les films du Poisson and sold by Roissy films, the feature will be released domestically by Sophie Dulac Distribution.

In the Piazza Grande section of open-air screenings, Anne Fontaine’s La fille de Monaco (“The Girl from Monaco”) – starring Fabrice Luchini, Roschdy Zem and Louise Bourgoin – is set to shine. Fontaine picked up the Jean Vigo Award in 1993 for her debut feature and the Golden Osella for Best Screenplay at Venice in 1997. Having been selected in competition at Locarno in 2001 and San Sebastian in 2005, the director saw her latest film – Oh la la! – screen out of competition at Cannes in 2006.

Produced by Soudaine Compagnie in co-production with Ciné@ for a budget of €8.37m (including pre-sales from Canal + and Ciné Cinéma), La fille de Monaco is the filmmaker’s tenth feature. The title will be released domestically on August 20 by Warner and is being sold internationally by Pyramide.

The Piazza Grande will also screen the international premiere of Khamsa by Karim Dridi, another festival regular. The director’s Pigalle was presented at the Venice Film Festival in 1995 and his latest work, Rage, was selected in the Panorama section at the 2003 Berlinale.

Khamsa was produced by Néon Cinéma for €2.12m, which included co-production backing from Arte France Cinéma, pre-sales from Canal + and a €430,000 advance on receipts from the National Film Centre (CNC). The film will be released domestically on October 8 by Rezo, who are also managing international sales.

Another title set to grace the Piazza Grande screen is Solveig Anspach’s Icelandic/French co-production Back Soon (co-produced by Ex Nihilo). The film is set to be launched in France on August 20 by Bac Films, who are also handling international sales.

Screening in the Filmmakers of the Present competition are Jean-Charles Fitoussi’s Je ne suis pas morte (“I’m Not Dead”, co-produced by Aura été and Ecce Films); Kinogamma Part 1: East and Part 2: Far East directed and produced by Siegfried (international sales - Films Distribution); and David Teboul’s La vie ailleurs (“Life Elsewhere”, produced by Les Films d’Ici).

The Here and Elsewhere line-up includes Pierre Leon’s L’idiot (“The Idiot”), starring Jeanne Balibar and Sylvie Testud (produced by Spyfilms); and Philippe Béziat’s Pelléas et Mélisande, le chant des aveugles (“Pelléas and Mélisande: the Song of the Blind”, produced by Les Films Pélléas).

Finally, the Play Forward section will screen the international premiere of Possibility of an Island by novelist Michel Houellebecq. The film stars Benoît Magimel.

Fabien Lemercier

Six more competition titles have been revealed by the San Sebastián Film Festival (September 18-27). This brings the number of films vying for the Golden Shell at Spain’s most important film event to thirteen.

There are three European productions, including two from Spain, among the six newly confirmed titles. The first, Camino by Javier Fesser (nominated for the Best Live Action Short Film Oscar in 2004), was produced by Películas Pendelton and Mediapro. In the film, the director ventures into drama, quite a different direction from his previous features, El milagro de P. Tinto and La gran aventura de Mortadelo y Filemón, both between comedy and fantasy.

Belén Macías, whose short El puzzle was nominated for a Goya in 2001, will present her feature debut, El patio de mi cárcel. This feminine drama was produced by Pedro Almodóvar's El Deseo with Warner Bros Entertainment España. It depicts a group of female prisoners who create a little theatre company to deal with the evil instilled in them since they were born.

The third European title is Genova by English director Michael Winterbottom, who will be competing for a third time at the Basque festival. His new feature, produced by Revolution Films, stars Colin Firth, takes place mainly in Genoa and describes the efforts of a father and his two daughters as they handle the death of their mother.

The three other new films in the running for the Golden Shell are Yesim Ustaoglu's Pandora's Box (Turkey), Hirokazu Kore-eda's Still Walking (Japan), and renowned Iranian director Samira Makhmalbaf's fourth feature, Two-Legged Horse.

Sergio Ríos Pérez

The competition section of the 65th Venice Film Festival (August 27-September 6) will feature Christian Petzold’s Jerichow along with three other German co-productions: Semih Kaplanoglu’s Milk (Turkey/France/Germany), Werner Schroeter’s Nuit de chien (France/Germany/Portugal) and Haile Gerima’s Teza (Ethiopia/Germany/France).

The section’s international jury is presided over by director Wim Wenders, who was last in competition at Venice with Land of Plenty in 2004.

The fifth edition of the Venice Days sidebar features the German co-productions Machan by producer-turned-director Uberto Pasolini and The Visitor by Finland’s Jukka-Pekka Valkeapääs.

The festival’s short film competition selection is not yet complete, with the films to be announced at a later stage.

German Films

Copenhagen’s two leading international film festivals – NatFilm Festival and the Copenhagen International Film Festival (CIFF) – have merged into one unique annual film event, CPH: PIX, which will focus on new international talent. The first edition will be held from April 16-26, 2009.

Jacob Neiiendam, previous head of Programming for the CIFF and film trade journalist, has been appointed as the festival’s new director, and Niels Lind Larsen, who was involved in the programming of NatFilm, is the new Head of Programming.

overseeing two other major festivals in the Danish capital: BUSTER-Copenhagen International Film Festival for Children and Youth (September 19-26, 2008), run by Füsun Eriksen, and CPH-DOX-Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival (November 07-16, 2008), run by Tine Fischer.

Mikkel Harder, previous head of Drama at the Royal Danish Theatre and now managing director of Copenhagen Film Festivals, will supervise all three film festivals, and Andreas Steinmann, one of Denmark’s most experienced festival producers, will be responsible for the overall planning of the three events, in conjunction with the festivals directors and heads of programming.

The new trading platform CPH Film Market will be available to film professionals during CPH: PIX in April (in replacement to the popular Copenhagen Screenings) and during BUSTER in September, while the existing market for documentaries during CPH: DOX remains unchanged.

Annika Pham

It has become a tradition for the Namur International Francophone Film Festival to invite – to the delight of audiences – a star of Francophone film, or rather a Francophone film star. The event has previously honoured legendary actors Jean Rochefort, Jean-Claude Brialy and Philippe Noiret, followed by a trio of great actresses: Sandrine Bonnaire, Emmanuelle Béart and Kristin Scott-Thomas. This year, Isabelle Huppert will receive the honours of the FIFF “Coup de Cœur”.

The actress will meet audiences during the opening weekend of the FIFF and present six works of her choice that are representative of her filmography. The selection is timely, as the festival will open with Home, the debut feature by director Ursula Meier, which won acclaim at Cannes Critics’ Week. Huppert stars in the film alongside Olivier Gourmet (the Belgian actor is, incidentally, the honorary president of the Festival).

The five other films to be screened include Claude Goretta’s The Lacemaker (1976), Claude Chabrol’s Nightcap (2000), Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher (2000), Olivier Dahan’s Ghost River (2001) and Joachim Lafosse’s Private Property (2006).

The festival thus has a busy schedule lined up for Huppert, who will also be seen in Cambodian director Rithy Panh’s The Sea Wall (adapted from Marguerite Duras’ eponymous novel and co-produced by France’s CDP and Belgium’s Scope Pictures), and Claire Denis’ White Material. Both films are strong contenders for selection at the forthcoming Venice Film Festival and are set to be released in theatres before the end of 2008.

Aurore Engelen

Four top Nordic filmmakers will bring their latest feature films to the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), to be held September 4-13.

Swedish master Jan Troell will unveil his much awaited Everlasting Moments in the Masters Programme. The director of the memorable The Emigrants (1971) and its follow up The New Land (1972), has gone back to Sweden of the early 1900s for this new drama drawn from personal family events.

In a time of social change and poverty, the young working-class Maria (Maria Heiskanen) wins a camera in a lottery. The camera enables her to see the world through new eyes, but it also becomes a threat to her alcoholic, womanizing husband (Mikael Persbrandt) as it brings the charming photographer Pedersen (Jesper Christensen) into her life. Everlasting Moments is a Danish/Swedish production, produced by Denmark’s Final Cut.

The Contemporary World Cinema section has selected three Nordic films. O'Horten by Norway’s top filmmaker Bent Hamer screened successfully at the Cannes’ Un Certain Regard last May; Danish title Fear Me Not by Kristian Levring (The King is Alive), produced by Zentropa, is a Jekyll and Hyde-inspired drama starring Paprika Steen, Ulrich Thomsen and Lars Brygmann; and White Night Wedding, by Iceland’s most renowned film ambassador Baltasar Kormákur, is a comedy loosely based on Chekov’s play Ivanov.

TrustNordisk is handling sales for Everlasting Moments and Fear Me Not, while The Match Factory represents O’Horten and Celluloid Dreams White Night Wedding.

Annika Pham

Created as a launching pad for young directors from Central and Eastern Europe, the Moveast festival has unveiled the titles of the 13 films that will vie for the Golden Benjamin Award at its fourth edition, to be held in Pecs from October 7-14.

Focusing exclusively on debut features produced last year and shot using 35mm stock, Moveast 2008 will screen works by 13 emerging directors. These include Romania’s Adrian Sitaru, the Czech Republic’s Karin Babiská, Hungary’s Attila Gigor and Anna Faur, Poland’s Lukasz Palkowski and Grzegorz Pacek, Slovakia’s Vlado Fischer, Croatia’s Goran Kulenovic and Kristian Mili, Macedonia’s Igor Ivanov Izy, Serbia’s Ivan Zivkovic, the Ukraine’s Eva Neymann and Slovenia’s Marko Nabersnik.

The 2008 contenders will be hoping for the same success as previous prize-winners, including the Czech Republic’s Marek Najbrt (Champion), Hungary’s Agnes Kocsis (Fresh Air), Bosnia’s Jasmin Durakovic (Nafaka) and Poland’s Slawomir Fabicki (Retrieval ).

Headed by Pecsi Filmunnep Kht. and backed by Magyar Filmunio (agency for the international promotion of Hungarian film), Moveast is the only Hungarian festival whose jury is composed of Fipresci critics.

The 2008 edition will also host the first events organised as part of the celebrations for the 40th anniversary of Hungarian Film Week (early February 2009), which was held in Pecs in the 1960s before relocating to Budapest.

Moveast 2008: Films in competition:

Dolls - Karin Babiská (Czech Republic) Play Me a Lovesong - Goran Kulenovic (Croatia) The Living and the Dead - Kristian Mili (Croatia) Upside Down - Igor Ivanov Izy (Macedonia) Girls - Anna Faur (Hungary) The Investigator - Attila Gigor (Hungary) Wednesday, Monday, Thursday Morning - Grzegorz Pacek (Poland) Reserve - Lukasz Palkowski (Poland) Angling - Adrian Sitaru (Romania) Huddersfield - Ivan Zivkovic (Serbia) Half Breakdown - Vlado Fischer (Slovakia) Rooster's Breakfast - Marko Nabersnik (Slovenia) At the River - Eva Neymann (Ukraine)

Fabien Lemercier

The official selection for the 61st Locarno International Film Festival (August 6-16) – the third edition to be headed by artistic director Frédéric Maire – was unveiled this morning.

Young directors from across Europe are well represented in the international competition, which will screen 17 features from 16 different countries. These include Turkish filmmaker Özcan Alper’s debut title Autumn and Lance Daly’s Irish film Kisses.

Films vying for the Golden Leopard include Lionel Baier’s Un autre homme (“Another Man”, Switzerland); Malgorzata Szumowska’s 33 Scenes from Life (Germany/Poland); Mijke de Jong’s Katia’s Sister (Netherlands); Federico Bondi’s Mar nero (“Black Sea”, Italy/Romania/France); Klaus Händl’s März (“March”, Austria); Emmanuel Finkiel’s Nulle part terre promise (“Nowhere Promised Land”, France); and Gideon Koppel’s Sleep Furiously.

With the focus on diversity, the Piazza Grande open air screenings give pride of place to European films. The section will open with UK director Julian Jarrold’s Brideshead Revisited and Denis Rabaglia’s Marcello Marcello will be shown on Swiss Cinema Day. The line-up also includes Austrian director Philipp Stölzl’s North Face (Austria/Germany/Switzerland); German director Hannes Stöhr’s Berlin Calling; Lesson 21 by Italian writer Alessandro Baricco; Son of Rambow by the UK’s Garth Jennings; El brau blau by Spain’s Daniel Villamediana; I Know by Slovenia’s Jan Cvitkovic; and three French films: Anne Fontaine’s La fille de Monaco (“The Girl from Monaco”), Karim Dridi’s Khamsa and Solveig Anspach’s Back Soon.

All these films are contenders for a new prize – the Variety Piazza Grande Award – to be presented by critics from the US professional magazine.

With a selection of narrative and documentary works, the Filmmakers of the Present Competition this year has a Latin flavour. The line-up includes two Italian features – Bruno Oliviero’s Napoli piazza municipio (“Naples, Piazza Municipio”) and Davide Manuli’s Beket – and three French films: Jean-Charles Fitoussi’s Je ne suis pas morte (“I’m Not Dead”), Siegfried’s Kinogamma Part 1: East / Part 2: Far East and David Teboul’s La vie ailleurs (“Life Elsewhere”). Further titles are Fernand Melgar’s La Forteresse (“The Fortress”, Switzerland) and Sandro Aguilar’s A Zona (Portugal).

In addition to the retrospective dedicated to Italian filmmaker and actor Nanni Moretti, the festival will also pay homage to Israeli director Amos Gitai (Honorary Leopard), who will present Later; US producer Christine Vachon (Raimondo Rezzonico Award) ; and US actress Anjelica Huston (Excellence Award), who stars in Clark Gregg’s Choke.

Mathieu Loewer

Macdara Vallely’s Peacefire won Best First Feature at the Galway Film Fleadh, while Israeli/French co-production The Lemon Tree, directed by Eran Riklis, won second place.

Lance Daly’s Kisses was named Best Irish Feature while Bob Quinn’s Vox Humana was awarded second place. Sacha Gervasi’s Anvil! The Story of Anvil won the first place in the Feature Documentary section and with Stephen Walker’s Young at Heart coming second.

Sean Branigan’s Martin won the Tiernan McBride Award for Best Irish Short while Juanita Wilson’s The Door won second place. Luke McManus’ Danger High Voltage won Best First Irish Short with second place going to Conor Clements’ James.

Meanwhile, director Tomm Moore’s animated feature The Secret of Kells will have a special screening at the Director’s Guild of America (DGA) Theatre, Los Angeles on 19th September after being named winner of the Screen Director’s Guild Ireland (SDGI) Directors Finders Series 2008.

The award, presented by the SDGI in association with the DGA, gives an Irish director the opportunity to present their feature to an audience of American distributors and industry personnel in order to secure a US distribution deal. Cartoon Saloon, France’s Les Armateurs and Belgium’s Vivi Film have produced the film with funding from the BCI, Irish Film Board, Celluloid Dreams, Canal Plus, Gebeka, FTD Video, Eurimages and RTE.

Last year’s winner of the Directors Finders Series was Tom Collin’s Kings, which secured a US distribution deal. The Irish Film Board, The DGA, The Arts Council, Culture Ireland and Screen Training Ireland support the Directors Finders Series award.

Naman Ramachandran