Putting a spotlight on a record number of 28 European Oscar® entries, EFP (European Film Promotion) offers additional screenings of the films in LA for Academy members, journalists, US-distributors and international buyers. With the special support of the EFP member organisations, the event helps the productions to stand out among a record number of 92 submissions for the 90th Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. This year the EFP SCREENINGS OF OSCAR® ENTRIES FROM EUROPE are held from November 2 – 15 at a new location, the state of the art Dick Clark Screening Room. The campaign is financially supported by the Creative Europe – MEDIA Programme of the European Union and the participating EFP member organisations.
Many of the European Oscar submissions feature European Shooting Stars or were made by EFP-related filmmakers. Notably four films were realized by participants of this year's edition of Producers on the Move (POM), such as the Georgian feature film debut, SCARY MOTHER, by Ana Urushadze, which was produced, amongst others, by Lasha Khalvashi. His fellow participant Gints Grube from Latvia realized THE CHRONICLES OF MELANIE, a wartime drama depicting the deportation of the Baltic people during the Stalin era. Alan Maher produced SONG OF GRANITE, the formally inventive portrait of traditional Irish singer Joe Heaney, while the Lithuanian submission FROST was produced by Lithuania, France, Poland and the Ukraine with polish co-producer Maria Blicharska in the team.
Much lauded director Joachim Trier enters into the Oscar race for the first time with his supernatural love story, THELMA, by former Producers on the Move, Eva Jakobsen, Fredrik Heinig and Mikkel Jersin. Pol Cruchten, who directed last year's Oscar submission from Luxembourg produced the family drama, BARRAGE, by compatriot Laura Schroeder starring Isabelle Huppert, while Swiss producer Lukas Hobi accomplished Petra Volpe's award-winning drama about female empowerment in Switzerland in the Seventies, THE DIVINE ORDER.
The exceptional talent of former European Shooting Stars is also reflected in the selection. Among the many talents present are Tudor Aaron Istodor, awarded in 2017, who stars in the Romanian Oscar entry, THE FIXER, playing an up-and-coming young journalist. The drama was produced by Anamaria Antoci (POM 2016). French entry, BPM (BEATS PER MINUTE), by Robin Campillo, winner of the Grand Prix in Cannes 2017, features former European Shooting Star Adèle Haenel while her Belgian colleague Matthias Schoenaerts heads the tragic love story RACER AND THE JAILBIRD by Michael R. Roskam. TOM OF FINLAND will represent its country featuring Norwegian Shooting Star Jakob Oftebro, a production by former POMs, Aleksi Bardy and Annika Sucksdorff. Oscar-nominated Polish director Agnieszka Holland chose Shooting Star Jakub Gierszal for her mysterious thriller SPOOR, just to mention a few.
On the whole, EFP related talent is involved in 22 films of the 28 presented in the EFP OSCAR SCREENINGS. 14 of the films have already acquired US distribution and 19 films will be represented by the filmmakers.
The EFP OSCAR SCREENINGS start parallel to the American Film Market (November 1 – 8, 2017), where EFP is hosting the EUROPE! UMBRELLA for the 19th time to facilitate business activities of European world sales agents, producers and EFP members. To kick off both initiatives, EFP holds a European Cocktail for the participants and important international industry players on the first night of the AFM providing opportunities for networking. The activities are completed by EFP's FILM SALES SUPPORT, the longstanding programme backing promotion and marketing campaigns of European films at the AFM.
Bulgaria
Attended by actor Decho Taralezhkov and producer Petar Valchanov
Croatia
Attended by director Hana Jušić and producer Ankica Jurić Tilić
Georgia
Attended by director Ana Urushadze, actress Nato Murvanidze and producer Lasha Khalvashi
Iceland
Attended by director Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson
Kosovo
Attended by director Edon Rizvanolli and production manager Daniëlle Bremer
Latvia
Attended by the producers Inese Grūbe and Gints Grūbe
Serbia
Attended by producer Nenad Dukic and executive producer Miroslav Mogorovic
Switzerland
Attended by director Petra Volpe, actress Marie Leuenberger and producer Reto Schärli
Albanian National Center of Cinematography, Association of Filmmakers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgarian National Film Center, Croatian Audiovisual Centre, Czech Film Center, Danish Film Institute, Estonian Film Institute, EYE International (The Netherlands), Film Center Serbia, Film Fund Luxembourg, Finnish Film Foundation, Flanders Image (Belgium), Georgian National Film Center, Greek Film Centre, ICA – Instituto do Cinema e do Audiovisual I.P. (Portugal), ICAA – Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales (Spain), Icelandic Film Centre, Irish Film Board, Kosova Cinematography Center, Lithuanian Film Centre, National Film Centre Latvia, Norwegian Film Institute, Polish Film Institute, Romanian Film Promotion, Slovak Film Institute, Slovenian Film Centre, Swiss Films and UniFrance.
EFP
Nikolas Samalekos
moc.enilno-pfe@sokelamas
Olga Makarova
moc.enilno-pfe@avorakam
Doris Bandhold
Press and Communication
moc.enilno-pfe@dlohdnab
Publicist in LA
Tatiana Detlofson
MEDIAPLAN PR
moc.liamg@mlifstat
T +1 310- 260 2800
European Film Promotion e.V.
Friedensallee 14-16
22765 Hamburg / Germany
fon +49 40- 398 403-0
fax +49 40- 390 6249
°efp President
Markéta Santrochová
Czech Film Center
°efp Managing Director
Sonja Heinen