The new deadline for submissions is November 16th 2009 and selected students will be announced from December 1st 2009. The Festival will cover all travel and accommodation expenses of invited filmmakers and they will be able to attend all workshops and events.
INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL KUSTENDORF 2010 SUBMISSION FORM
Students or self-taught non-released filmmakers can submit a film (under 45 minutes of duration) on any genre for consideration to the Competition programme. The film should be sent in a DVD with English subtitles (if the original language is not English) and on a separate CD - Submission Form with film details, visual materials and contacts.
The second Küstendorf Film Festival in Drvengrad on Mokra Gora ended with formal ceremony and presentation of Golden, Silver and Bronze Egg for the best student films.
After opening act – potpourri of Serbian folk songs and dances performed by the ’Svetozar Markovic’ folklore ensemble from Kragujevac – the president of the jury, actress Anica Dobra, and the member of the jury, producer Karl Baumgartner, in the absence of the third member of the jury, Gian Luca Farinelli, director of the Cineteca di Bologna, have read welcoming speech and their decissions.
If Kustendorf were a ordinary festival, the jury should be limited to explain the reasons for the awards that will be given. But Kustendorf Film and Music festival is much more than what its name promises. It is the demonstration that, even nowadays, a utopia can exist. Everything here is unique and extraordinary. A place that nourishes itself with beauty, originality and passion. A place open to young artists from all around the world that have the possibility to meet each other, to see and hear each others work, to listen and speak with great international artists. A place where music and cinema provide an opportunity to gather and get to know each other better.
On the last Festival’s day, shortened version of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing closing ceremony, directed by the famous Chinese director Zhang Yimou, will be shown as a part of the Contemporary Trends programme.
Sergey Dvortsevoy, director of ‘Tulpan’, is a real discovery in the world cinema, which is proven by numerous awards he won on prestigious film festivals during the last year. This simple and touching story about Kazakh shepherds’ life is his first feature film after several shorts and documentaries. During the workshop after the projection of ‘Tulpan’, Mr. Dvortsevoy introduced himself to the audience and the film students from all around the world.
Thierry Fremaux, the delegate general of the Cannes Film Festival, held a workshop that included quite an unusual film made of frames of digitally restored copies of the silent movies made by pioneers of film directing – famous Lumiere brohers.
German producer and distributor Mr. Karl Baumgartner, member of the jury at the Küstendorf Film Festival and one of the founders of the Pandora Film company, held the workshop after screening of film The Hunger, which is debutant release of the British director Steve McQueen.
Smiling in obviously good mood after the showing of his film ‘Broken Flowers’ and dressed in a black jacket with Buster Keaton badge, Jim Jarmusch entered the crowded Stanley Kubrick cinema to hold a workshop for students and guests of Küstendorf.
On the third day of the Küstendorf Film Festival, a Japanese directing student has been baptized in the St. Sava Church in Drvengrad. In accordance with the sacrament of baptism, Kohki Hasei has been named Stefan by his godfather Emir Kusturica.
Famous American director Jim Jarmusch has landed on the Mokra Gora mountain today. In spite of tiredness after the fifteen hours journey, Jarmusch was in a mood for talking with journalists and walking around Drvengrad.
THE SECOND KÜSTENDORF INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL OPENED
After last year’s spectacular funeral of the Hollywood action blockbuster Die Hard 4, the second Küstendorf International Film Festival at Mokra Gora started with quite a strange ritual – the commemoration which turned into unusual and unexpected world premiere of the fifth sequel of the famous Die Hard series.
Announcement by Serbian Culture Minister Nebojsa Bradic
Pictures of the World
Pictures of the world we live in are upsetting but film art should show them exactly the way they are, with no hesitation or hushing up – that’s an imperative for today.
Organized by Rasta International and sponsored by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, the second International Küstendorf Film Festival will be held from January 08 to 14, 2009 in Drvengrad, Mokra Gora, Republic of Serbia.
During the talks with the students whose films have been shown in the Competition Programme of the Kustendorf Film Festival, just before announcement of the winners, we have managed to find out about their impressions on the Festival, staying in Drvengrad, and importance of the meeting with each others and with worldly renowned directors.
