Among them was Nikolaus Geyrhalter’s Abendland. It received the award for Best Artistic Editing of a Documentary Film at Diagonale, while Family Instinct by Andris Gauja won the Sterling Award for Best World Feature at Silverdocs. Erika Hníková’s Matchmaking Mayor was awarded earliear this year at Berlinale.
Last year’s edition also included a number of projects that were developed during the Ex Oriente Film workshop or pitched at the East European Forum. Among them were Salome Jashi’s Bakhmaro (Ex Oriente Film 2009) that recently had its premiere at Silverdocs. Pomeranian Illusions by Jacob Dammas and Helge Renner (Ex Oriente Film 2006) premiered in Krakow at the 51st Krakow Film Festival. Ramin by Audrius Stonys (Ex Oriente Film 2008) was screened at Visions du Réel and the Moscow International Film Festival.
Some Doc Launch projects were later included in the East Silver market, e.g., Pit No. 8 (screened at Crossing Europe, Hot Docs, ZagrebDox, Krakow FF, and Full Frame Documentary Film Festival where it received the Nicholas School Environmental Award and the Charles E. Guggenheim Emerging Artist Award); Family Instinct (IDFA,
Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival, DocPoint Helsinki, Hot Docs, ZagrebDox, Beldocs, Silverdocs), and Theatre Svoboda (Karlovy Vary IFF). Other films will be included in this year’s edition.
The presentation introduced a selection of Czech projects as well. Last year, Bear Islands received the Trilobite Award presented by the Czech Film and Television Association, and All for the Good of the World and Nosovice won the Vaclav Taborsky Award for Best Documentary Film by Filmmaker under 35 at Finále Plzeň - Festival of Czech Films.
Some projects are still awaiting release. Slovak filmmaker Marek Sulik is about to finish the 7x26 min series Cans of Time (East European Forum 2008), while the feature version is scheduled for 2012. Armande Chollat-Namy and Sigurður Hallmar Magnússon have completed the shooting of Iceland: Bankrupt Nation (East European Forum 2009) and are set to release the film this autumn. Father and Son by Pawel Lozinski and Pavel Kostomarov's You Too are to be released later this year.
Doc Launch presentation
The Doc Launch presentation annually introduces 8-9 handpicked feature-length documentaries from Central and Eastern Europe. Festival programmers, distributors, sales agents, members of the press and audiences get the first glimpse of films in post-production slated for theatrical release over the next year. Building its profile around outstanding documentary projects aiming for theatrical distribution, the Doc Launch presentation is based on the tradition of Docu Talents from the East, co-organized by IDF and IDFF Jihlava at the Karlovy Vary IFF from 2005 to 2009.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: June 30, 2011
Dates: October 27 - 28, 2011
Duration: 2 days
Location: Jihlava, Czech Republic
Participants: 8-9 projects represented by producer/director teams
Doc Launch Tutors: 1 festival selector and 1 sales agent help the participants to prepare and focus their presentation.
Guests: Doc Launch will present projects in the post-production stage to buyers, sales agents, distributors and festival programmers who also attend the East European Forum and the East Silver Market. In addition, we invite 4-6 distributors, sales agents and festival selectors who focus on feature-length documentaries with theatrical release potential.
Download the 2011 Doc Launch Application Form HERE.
Additional IDF deadlines:
June 30, 2011 – EAST SILVER
September 1, 2011 – EAST EUROPEAN FORUM
September 30, 2011 - INDUSTRY ACCREDITATION
