Europa Cinemas Awards; Aussie Screenwriting Comp Winner; India’s Film Bazaar Wraps – Global Briefs

Tom Grater

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European cinemas body Europa Cinemas has named the winners of its 2019 awards. The Best Programming Award went to the team behind historical Slovenian cinema Kinodvor, director Metka Daris and programmer Koen Van Daele.

Established in 1923, the venue has two screens and regularly exceeds 120,000 admissions a year, as well a hosting up to 15 film festivals. Europa’s Young Audience activities prize went to two French cinemas with three screens each: the LUX in Caen, directed by Gautier Labrusse and Didier Anne, and the Café des Images in Hérouville-Saint-Clair, directed by Elise Mignot.

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The two venues are independent but co-program and participate in numerous joint activities aimed at young people. Finally, the Best Entrepreneur Award went to Yanaki and Christo Dermendjiev, two brothers who have actively campaigned for the development of exhibition in Bulgaria. Today, they manage 12 cinemas and open-air theaters, and also work in distribution. The 2019 Europa Cinema awards were held in Lisbon. The organization is comprised of 1,152 cinemas (2,775 screens) in 698 cities across Europe.

An Australia genre screenwriting competition run by Sydney and LA-based production outfit Truant Pictures has named the winners of its inaugural award – D.J. McPherson’s His Name Is Jeremiah. The film follows a damaged teen girl from a remote Australian town who struggles to adjust when her violent mother is released from jail. Feeling lost and alone, she develops a dangerous obsession with a missing boy. “D.J.’s writing caught our eye immediately with characters that grabbed us from page one and a story that consistently delivered solid drama, chills and suspense. It’s everything we look for in emerging talent,” said Truant Pictures Executives Greg Schmidt. Truant Pictures’ Toby Nalbandian added that, due to the initial response, they had now “committed to making this an annual competition to further uncover and support new Australia voices in the genre space”. McPherson receives a $3,400 (AUD 5,000) cash prize, a hot desk for one week at Truant Pictures’ office in Sydney, and mentoring from Nalbandian and Schmidt.

This year’s Film Bazaar in Goa, India, crowned the winners of its project market as it closed over the weekend. Taking prizes were two work-in-progress projects: Natesh Hegde’s Pedro and Ajitpal Singh’s Swizerland. The films will benefit from post-production support. In addition, Prithvi Konanur’s Where Is Pinki? and Pushpendra Singh’s And The Shepherdess And The Seven Songs took prizes in the Film Bazaar Recommends strand. Organized by the Indian government’s National Film Development Corporation, Film Bazaar is one of the largest markets in Asia and this year attracted 268 projects and more than 1,000 delegates.

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