News

A real-life, distinctly non-glitz version of 'Fame', but with a lot more drama and a lot less sentimentality, Rookies gives you all you could ask for: bright, beautiful, young people with layered and complex personalities, a compelling story line, failure and success, meaningful relationships…and bucketloads of energetic hip hop.

The 3-module training program (Serbia/Croatia/Italy) seeks up to 10 women filmmakers with strong creative doc projects at all stages of production who are seeking further support to upgrade their professional skills and develop their films with leading experts to deliver them to a wider professional audience. Application deadline: Feb 18 2022.

Women will take centre stage in the 2022 CPH:FORUM line-up (March 28-31), both as characters and storytellers. The event will feature new projects by Jialing Zhang, Ilinca Calugareanu, Tova Mozard, Elizabeth Lo and Lana Wilson among others. Out of the 72 filmmakers and producers from 33 countries, most plan to attend CPH:FORUM 2022 physically, organisers confirm.

The five Documentary Feature nominations are Ascension, Attica, Flee, Summer of Soul and Writing With Fire. Flee also nominated in International Feature and Animation category. Short Documentary nominations are Audible, Lead Me Home, The Queen of Basketball, Three Songs for Benazir and When We Were Bullies. The 94th Oscars ceremony will take place March 27 and broadcast in more than 200 territories worldwide.

With a record number of world, international and European premieres, the International, Newcomers and >>Film Forward Competition sections showcase “a series of fascinating movies that cast a critical and acute glance at the most crucial and heated issues of our times.” International Comp Golden Alexander prize guarantees a place on the pre-selection shortlist for the Academy Award for Best Documentary.

This year’s Dragon Award Best Nordic Documentary has been awarded to Simon Lereng Wilmont for his Sundance winner A House Made of Splinters. “The jury has been challenged by a wonderful selection of documentaries that have surprised us, made us cry and provoked us with a wide range of stories and ways of storytelling that truly has made us proud of the filmmakers of the Nordic region,” says the citation.

During this weekend’s closing ceremony of DocPoint – Helsinki Documentary Film Festival, Ruthless Times – Songs of Care won the National Competition with Golden Land receiving a Special Mention. Ruslan Fedotov’s Where Are We Headed won the International Competition, with Jessica Beshir’s Faya Dayi receiving a Special Mention.

Stories about a return to the homeland to seek fortune and happiness are familiar, but Inka Achté’s heart-warming Golden Land manages to add something generous and gently compassionate to the canon. While drama and darkness lurk in the background (and certainly have an influence on proceedings) the film is permeated with reflections on family and support as it tells the story of a Finnish family who return to Somaliland to follow their dreams.

A visionary concept about empowering entrepreneurship through a shared live/work space with like-minded driven individuals, or a pragmatic way of collective living that can help save costs as well as providing a nurturing environment? Filmmakers Marta Dauliute and Viktorija Šiaulyte offer a balanced yet gently sceptical look into a new business modus operandi in which worktime and downtime are indistinguishable.

Five nominations within the Documentary category (Becoming Cousteau, Cow, Flee, The Rescue and Summer of Soul). Posy Dixon’s Keyboard Fantasies gets nomination in Outstanding British Debut category. Flee additionally nominated in Best Animation while Summer of Soul receives addition nomination in Best Editing category.