News
LOCARNO'S BEST DIRECTOR IN MISKOLC
Adrian Sitaru's Din dragoste cu cele mai bune intentii (Best Intentions) won the best director's award of Locarno International Film Festival. The Hungarian premiere of the Romanian-Hungarian co-production will be in September at CineFest competition. Sitaru's previous work, Pescuit sportive (Hooked), started its journey in Miskolc, too, two years ago making a huge critic and festival hit. The leading actress, Maria Dinulescu, was the guest of CineFest then - she is one of the greatest stars of the Romanian new wave, also to be familiar from California Dreamin'. Miskolc will welcome the filmmakers again: this time not only the director but also Emőke Vágási, the film's Hungarian co-producer, Orsi Tóth, Orsolya Török-Illyés from the cast and Bogdan Dumitrache who has been awarded Best Actor in Locarno.
JAMESON CINEFEST STARTS WITH SELF-CONSCIOUS BLACK WOMEN
The 8th edition of Miskolc International Film Festival opens with the screening of The Help. Such names are among the stars as Jessica Chastain, Bryce Dallas Howard, Viola Davis and Emma Stone, and the story is set in the 1960s' US, at the very beginning of the civil rights movement of black people.
DCI DIGITAL SCREENINGS: FIRST TIME IN HUNGARY ON JAMESON CINEFEST
For the first time in the history of Hungarian film festivals, some of the films in competition of Jameson CineFest are going to be screened with DCI, the most developed digital technology. Since the premiere of Avatar in 2009, the cinemas' transition to digital technology is going on at a more and more spanking pace. In September, with the support of Christie Digital, the global market leader of digital projector technologies, the location of the opening show and the Uránia screen will be changed into a digital screen where the cinema-goers shall enjoy the films in competition in a crystal clear picture quality in a more than 2.2 megapixels resolution. The Christie's digital projector makes it possible to screen the digital copies according to the DCI standard, in 2K resolution, with an efficiency exceeding 13000 Ansi brilliance. This year as part of CineClassics, the Miskolc International Film Festival gives opportunity of introduction to Europe's Finest – a company which is going to give a show of European film classics apt for DCI standard distribution.
CINECLASSICS: KIESLOWSKI EXHIBITION
"It gives me the creeps, and I have an impression that somebody is speaking through Kieslowski" , said Robert de Niro in 1989. Krzysztof Kieslowski's films have had huge impacts all over the world, and right at the time of the Central European regime changes. Signs and Memories, the joint exhibition of the Łódz Film Museum and CineClassics, is going to be held in the House of Arts, Miskolc (Rákóczi u. 5.) and it is going to demonstrate the director's life, career and films. The inaugural will be held by Krzysztof Wierzbicki, Kieslowski's assistant director (who is going to be the member of CineFest's international jury this year). The exhibition will be opened at 5 p.m., 18th September.
"The most exciting Hungarian film event" - CineFest's Media Echo
"We will take Tibor Bíró" this somewhat humorous saying of Zoltán Kőrösi, president of the Hungarian Motion Picture Public Foundation at the closing ceremony of Jameson CineFest was much quoted in the Hungarian media afterwards. What Mr Kőrösi was referring to that the Miskolc festival director and his team created one of Hungary's best cinematic events and that his skills would be much sought after elsewhere, too.
The reactions to the 7th Miskolc International Film Festival were unanimously positive. "Kőrösi's no doubt unofficial announcement was a kind of compliment: Tibor Bíró festival director and Péter Madaras program director accomplished something - from a meagre budget in European standards - in the city of steel, which is second to none among Hungarian film events." wrote Gábor Muray in Magyar Nemzet, one of the country's leading daily newspapers. Gyula Varsányi, film critic of Népszabadság, another of the largest dailies in the country, agreed: "No doubt, from now on Jameson CineFest has become the most exciting Hungarian film event alongside with Titanic." The doyen of Hungarian film critic, György Báron, wrote in Élet és Irodalom, the cultural weekly thus: "The extravagant film selection at this year's CineFest was the best of all Hungarian festival line-ups ever." also adding that the Miskolc International Film Festival is the first Hungarian event that managed to break into the international festival arena. "CineFest needed less than ten years to grow into becoming the most important Hungarian film festival with the best official selection." wrote László Kolozsi in Revizor, the critical portal of the Hungarian National Cultural Foundation.
"We have already praised the professional programs of CineFest many times but we cannot emphasize enough how high quality presentations we heard again" wrote Anita Libor about the program of CineClassics in magyar.film.hu, on the most read Hungarian film webzine. Many press publications like the leading weekly Heti Válasz in its article "Star extravaganza at CineFest Miskolc" highlighted that lifetime achievement award winner Miklós Jancsó was congratulated in video messages from luminaries such as Martin Scorsese and Darren Aronofsky.
JAMESON CINEFEST: THE WINNERS ON THE GREEN CARPET
All good things must come to an end. Jameson CineFest of Miskolc is no exception. We have seen 20 feature films, 14 of them were in competition, all Hungarian premieres; 54 documentaries, shorts and animated films and probably all who have taken time to see at least some of them may agree that this year we had the strongest lineup of flicks in Miskolc.
Exciting times at Jameson CineFest
The festival gathered momentum in the past few days. Feature films in and out of competition drew large crowds making filling Urania and Beke cinemas beyond capacity. We saw quality films, like Hungarian Adrienn Pál and American Precious, both telling a story about an overweight woman in a sensitive way, the very non-Hollywood Frozen River, also from the US, about a struggling single mother of two desperately trying to keep above water financially, and Tehroun about surviving the Iranian capital. All intensive, meaning-laden pictures that drew intense discussions in and around the House of Arts, analysing, debating, liking and not liking.
Documentary and short films brought us to far away and exotic places, allowed us glimpses into different cultures. Professional programs broadened our horizon. In the DoCompass Documentary Workshop veteran filmmakers shared their experiences with young and inspiring colleagues their maps to the often treacherous terrain of finding a worthy theme for a documentary and trying to raise money to make it. In the Zoltan Korda Conference we got a very thorough picture of this Hungarian-British director.
On the lighter side after a VIP dinner festival organisers and participants were transported with a vintage bus to a disco venue where partying went on into the night.
Women Without Men Stir Emotions
On Monday feature film competition continued with The Scientist and Mall Girls both screened in front of packed audiences, but it was Iranian directors, Shirin Neshat's and Shoja Azari's visually poetic film, Women Without Men, we saw on Tuesday evening was the first that drew passionate emotions from the members of the audience. This emotional film deals with a very important political event in Iranian history and the dismal situation of women in society at the same time. First time directors, maybe, but they, it seems, have managed to fulfill their goal with the film admirably.
In the documentary competition the highlights were perhaps Still Times from France showing us the timelessness of long term imprisonment in a musical way, and the story of two young social misfits in Hard Lines (Sorsod Borsod) from local Miskolc filmmakers, István Nagy and Nóra Ruszkai.
JENS RYKAER DEAD
President of MEDIA Salles,Jens Rykaer died at his home in Vaerloese, after having confronted a difficult period of illness with courage and dignity. In his 20 years of work with MEDIA Salles, Jens held various positions in the association, contributing, thanks to his passion and competence, to giving impulse to European and Hungarian cinema, which thus loses both a friend and and an enthusiastic supporter. Jens served at CineFest as the president of the international jury four years ago.
THANKS FOR THE FILMS
This year CineFest received more than 500 entries from more than 40 countries. Thanks for the films, the pre-jury will announce the list of the films in competition in mid August. See you in Miskolc in September 2011!
INTERNATIONAL ECUMENICAL JURY ON JAMESON CINEFEST
It is unprecedented in Hungary: for the first time in the history of Hungarian film festivals, a four-member international ecumenical jury is going to value the films on Jameson-CineFest Miskolc International Film Festival from September, 2011.
In the last decades, juries have awarded such legendary Hungarian films as István Szabó's Confidence (Bizalom), Pál Gábor's Angi Vera, Károly Makk's Love (Szerelem) or, for the last time, Ágnes Kocsis's Pál Adrienn. Besides the above mentioned retrospective film series, the work of the juries will be presented by a roundtable discussion, familiarizing the Hungarian audience with the most memorable moments of the jury history of the previous decades.
CINECLASSICS CONTINUES WITH KIESLOWSKI, SZŐTS AND PASCAL
After the positive resonance of CineFest's film history series CineClassics, the program continues in September 2011 with retrospective screenings, exhibitions and conferences. CineClassics' aim is to emphasize Central Europe's contribution to world cinema. A retrospective of director István Szőts celebrates the 70th anniversary of his 1941 masterpiece Men of the Alps (Emberek a havason). An exhibition and an international conference will accompany the film. Another great attraction of CineClassics will be a spectacular exhibition, based on the legendary Polish series Dekalog (Ten Commandments) by Krzysztof Kieslowski.
CINEFEST IN FULL SPIN
During the last days Jameson CineFest got into a high gear. The Dargay exhibition about Hungary's top animator is the darling of the kids while in the darkness of the cinemas the red eyed jury and audience members fell into a visual overdose from watching one good film succeeding the other. The animation and short film competition screenings refused to go quietly in the shadow of the feature film screenings and drew near full houses. The highlight was Bálint Szimler's Here I Am, that went to Cannes in May and attracted many questions from the audience afterwards.
Scorsese and Pacino opens Jameson CineFest
The 7th Jameson CineFest started off with a personal message of master filmmaker Martin Scorsese, tasting the word "Miskolc", then wishing well to young filmmakers. Then Mr. Tibor Biro, festival director, greeted the audience, followed by Mr. Vilmos Fedor, the deputy mayor of Miskolc and finally Ms. Judit Váradi-Bor, the representative of the Hungarian Government, praised the festival for its outstanding achievements and the winning the title of "Outstanding Hungarian Arts Festival". The formalities were over with the introduction of the members of the international jury. Then the audience was treated with the preview screening of the latest Al Pacino Barry Levinson flick, You Don't Know Jack. The controversy was then drowned into Jameson shots at the opening party where mingling and getting ready for the festival could start in earnest.
The winners of Jameson Cinefest 1 minute shortfilm contest are announced!
Vote for your favourite short -the audience award is still not yet decided!
Amateur and professional filmmakers were challanged with creating their favourite film classics in 60 seconds. The jury included Geza M. Toth, Academy Award nominated, and Cannes Film Festival winner Agnes Kocsis directors, besides other well-known people from the film business. The winning pieces were screened at the Jameson Cinefest International Film Festival in Miskolc.
In the category of under 18 years old Gergely Timar has won an award with his short "PSYCHO chicken". This is a one minute long remake of the famous shower scene of Hitchcock's PSYCHO.
http://daazo.com/film/0dba4116-b6c6-11df-ac35-0050fc84de33/
In the category of over 18 years old the winner Orsi Nagypal has won with an other interpretation of Hitchcock's famous work, Birds. Birds (in one minute)
http://daazo.com/film/91dd91cc-b857-11df-ac35-0050fc84de33/
Gabor Csizmadia "Cheese" won a special award for two of his shorts, "Choir of Forrest Gump" and "Scent of a woman with the eye of Al" http://daazo.com/film/2b116ce8-b4f6-11df-ac35-0050fc84de33/
The festival was organized by Jameson and Cinefest with the contribution of Daazo.com, the Shortfilm Center of European filmmakers, where all the workpieces of the festival contest are uploaded, besides Academy Award winner and Palm d'Or winner shortfilms.
The audience award is still not yet annonced, the call is open until september 18., 2010, and the most "liked" short will be winning. The audience's favourite short will be announced at the Cinefest's award ceremony on Saturday. The winner will receive a bottle Jameson, and will be an invited guest of Cinefest 2011.
PERVERTED ADVENTURES
MEAT - September 11, 8PM
Interview with directors Victor Nieuwenhuis and Maartje Seyferth
What is Meat about?
Meat is a film about changing identity. A butcher's shop is the ideal place to unfold a sexual stage play of bodies searching for a perverted adventure. In this case, a mature erotomaniac butcher and his young voyeuristic female employee - who compulsively documents everything with a video camera. The butcher gets into her head, she gets into his. It's more like his fantasy world, where he can live out his sexual fantasies, play out his dark side and forget about the miserable life he has. And there is the inspector investigating the mysterious death of the butcher. A man not much different than the butcher, in fact they're sharing the same face. Then the inspector gets involved with the same girl.
Has the film selected at other film festivals?
Meat is doing quite well at the festivals. The world premiere was at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Until now, festivals in Buenos Aires, Sydney, Split, Utrecht, Berlin, Montreal and Tbilisi invited our film. Of course, we hope that many more will follow.
You have made four feature films, all of the you and Maartje Seyferth co-directed. How this working relationship started?
Maartje Seyferth and myself started filmmaking together. We always work as a team.
How do you divide the roles among yourselves?
We produce and co-direct our movies. In pre-production we take decisions together. On the set, during shooting, Maartje directs, and I shoot the film as director of photography.
Jameson-Cinefest Official T-shirt on SALE!
Limited Quantity Offer...
You can book your own one here, pick up and pay in cash at the Festival Center.
Sizes: Men L / XL, Women S / M
Price: 2.980 Ft (approx. 10,50 EUR)
Lifetime Achievement Award 2010 for
Miklós Jancsó
88 years old film legend, Hungarian director Miklós Jancsó will receive Jameson CineFest's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010. The award will be given to Mr. Jancsó on Saturday, September 18, 6 PM during the closing gala of CineFest in Miskolc, House of Arts.
Mr. Jancsó will also conduct a master class in Miskolc, on Saturday, September 18, 3 PM.
The festival program will also include a retrospective series in honour of the great veteran master of the Hungarian cinema, a selection of classics from the 1960s and 70s, including My Way Home (Így jöttem), The Red and the White (Csillagosok, katonák), The Confrontation (Fényes szelek) and Red Psalm (Még kér a nép).
BERGMAN'S FORMER HUNGARIAN COLLBORATOR PRESIDES CINEFEST
Katinka Farago is a Swedish producer with Hungarian roots, former collaborator of Ingmar Bergman and Andrei Tarkovski. Katinka worked with Ingmar Bergmar for decades, first as a continuity girl, later as production manager and producer. She assisted the legendary director in films, among others, like Smiles of a Summer Night, Silence, Cries and Whispers, Autumn Sonata, as well as the four times Oscar winner Fanny and Alexander. Farago was the producer of Tarkovski's last film, Sacfifice, that was shot in Sweden, she also contributed to the creation of films of Jan Troell and Bille August's Oscar and Palm D'Or winner Pelle, the Conqueror.
THANKS FOR YOUR FILMS
CineFest received about 550 films from more than 30 countries. The pre-jury will select the 50 bests until August 10.
CineFest is one of the bests
December 2, 2009. CineFest Miskolc is one of the best Hungarian festivals - according the recent release of the prestigiuous Hungarian Festival Association.
They voted the Miskolc International Film Festival to the best ever Hungarian festivals. In the category 'Outstanding Hungarian Festival' there are 26, in the exclusive category 'Outstanding Art Festival' there are 16 festivals, selected from more than 400. Thanks to the outstanding achievements of the last years CineFest is one of the youngest festivals to receive this great honour.
Watch the ultimate list of the bests:
THE WINNERS OF CINEFEST 2009
CineFest honoured Mr. Sławomir Idziak with the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.
His virtual film studio, Film Spring Open Festival (www.filmspringopen.eu) is open for all filmmakers. Their motto: We don't show film, we MAKE them!
CINEFEST - this festival is unique,
because it showcases films from some of the most talented filmmakers under 35 from around the world. This year the festival will screen films from 46 different countries. Besides films, there are fine workshops, parties and special events where festival goers can mingle with the filmmakers themselves.
ZIFT - SEARCHING FOR THE DIAMOND IN BULGARIA
Zift is the debut feature film from the Bulgarian filmmaker Javor Gardev. He has directed 23 plays as a stage director as well as three video shorts. I had a chance to meet Javor here in Miskolc and talk about his film.
HOOKED - LOW BUDGET, HIGH EMOTIONS
Hooked is the first film from Romanian filmmaker Adrian Sitaru. It is a low budget film and was shot in only ten days. The majority of the film is shot using hand held cameras and is meant to intensify the relationship between the characters. The film has been in competition in numerous film festivals. It has won several awards including Best Actress at the Thessaloniki Film Festival, Best Screenplay at the Mons International Festival of Love Films, and New Visions/New Voices award at Palm Springs Film Festival.
CINEFEST STARTS ON FRIDAY
This must be a great weekend - check the details:
After the presentation of the international jury the Lifetime Achievement Award 2009 will be given to Mr. Sławomir Idziak on Friday, 11 September, 5.30 PM during the opening ceremony of CineFest in Miskolc, House of Arts, Uránia - PORT.hu terem. Mr. Idziak will
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FOR ZANUSSI'S AND KIESLOWSKI'S CONGENIAL CINEMATOGRAPHER
Sławomir Idziak. One of the world's best cinematographers. Remember Juliette Binoche's face in Three colours: Blue? Or the suggestive takes of the other Kieslowski hits, The Double Life of Véronique and A Short film About Killing? Or Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down? Or Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix? He was the man behind the camera.
KEVIN MACDONALD VISITS CINEFEST
Academy Award winner director Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland), who is currently preparing his new movie in Hungary, will visit CineFest - Miskolc International Film Festival in September 13. He will attend a workshop dedicated to the memory of his grandfather, Emeric Pressburger.
RARE PÉTER BACSÓ FILMS AT CINEFEST
Eminent Hungarian director-screwriter Péter Bacsó died at the age of 81 in March 2009. CineFest Miskolc honours the master of the Hungarian cinema with four lesser known films from the seventies.
Download here the full screening schedule!
WATCH THE ULTIMATE LIST OF FILMS IN COMPETITION!
The pre-jury had it's best: they seletced 77 fine movies from the record number of entries. The list of the films, which you can see in September in Miskolc:
Short description of Borders workshops
You have dreams, You want to discover, exchange, invent, create, be involved, make your ideas come true, acting to improve social links and the ways of living in community, We are waiting for you.
Even from Antigua
CineFest received more than 400 entries this year; after a careful pre-selection the top 70 movies will have the chance to compete in the official program. We've got the films from 46 countries, most of the films came from Germany, the US and Central Europe, but we received a film from the isle of Antigua, as well. CineFest is very proud of the record number of entries: it signalizes the groving reputation of the festival and its top-position in the Central European festival landscape.
MISKOLC MEETS HOLLYWOOD
It's a lesser known fact, that Hungary (or, more precisely, the town of Miskolc and its surroundings, Borsod county) is the birthplace of several moguls of the Hollywood cinema. Founder of Paramount Pictures, Adolph Zukor was born in Ricse, about 35 miles from Miskolc. Another studio founder, William Fox (né Vilmos or Wilhelm Fried or Friedman) was born in Tolcsva (in the heart of the renowned Tokaj wine region), also a few miles from the town. He created Fox Film Corporation, and his name lives in the namesake of 20th Century-Fox, one of the planet's greatest movie studio.
MEDIA support for CineFest Hungary
Good news in difficult economic times: MEDIA Program of the European Union supports the 6th edition of CineFest Miskolc, one of Central Europe's finest film festivals, with 25,000 euro. The event, as MEDIA Desk representative says, is an 'an enjoyable and stimulating festival' for both local and international participants, mirroring the cultural diversity and richness of the region and the world cinema.
Europe loves European Festivals
A privileged place for meetings, exchanges and discovery, festivals provide a vibrant and accessible environment for the widest variety of talent, stories and emotions that constitute Europe's cinematography.
Since the first CineFest in 2004 the Miskolc festival is on a promising way to became a major Central European film event. Year by year, the International Film Festival for Young Filmmakers attracts thousands of film fans and visitors from the whole world.
