Some of our filmmakers: (Some of our distributed films shown as images)

Tomas Vorel                                                                             

Tomas is a graduate of the Prague Film Academy (1988) and a founding member and actor with Prague‘s popular Theatre SKLEP and Pantomime Theatre MIMOZA. He is considered in most circles to be the lead in the Czech new-age filmmaking community. He has directed numerous films for television and cinemas (mostly his own screenplays) and is known for his comic style, popular voice and the integration of music into his work.His most popular films include:PRAGUE FIVE (1989), SMOKE (1991),STONE BRIDGE (1996), OUT OF CITY (2000),OUT OF CITY II (2002),

THE SKRITEK (2006),

A tragicomedy full of slapstick and vignettes. A family of villagers moves up in the world - to the county seat. But dad isn't much of an example, letting himself be tempted by the charms of a lovely young butcher. However much mom tries her husband shows his interest by moving out. Mom plots revenge. And somehow an imp gets mixed up in it all.

Awards: Nominated for a Czech Lion Best Actress (Zenský herecký výkon v hlavní roli) Eva Holubová,   Nominated, Czech Lion Best Art Direction (Nejlepsí výtvarné pocin).

Vladimir Alenikov

Multi-award winning director-writer Vladimir Alenikov began his artistic career in the Soviet era of communism and having been denied entrance to the official film schools of Russia turned to making films underground.Feature Films Include:Time of Darkness (aka "The Clearing"), starring George Segal, appeared at a number of international film festivals.The Red One: Triumph was an official selection at the Toronto International Film Festival and Lisbon International Film Festival in 2000, Oulu International Film Festival (Finland), Jiffoni International Film Festival (Italy), and was nominated for Golden Precolumbian Circle at Bogota International Film Festival (Columbia).

The Gun (from 6 to 7:30 pm) (2005)

Filmed in real time and shot in only fifteen scenes with no cuts' the complex choreography and brilliant camerawork puts the audience in the middle of the action and makes the actors' performances look natural.

It was the only American entry in the World Competition at the Montreal World Film Festival. The film also appeared in the Quebec International Film Festival; Belgrade International Film Festival of the Auteur Films (Diploma for Outstanding Film); Tiburon International Film Festival (Best Cinematography); International Film Festival du film de Strasbourg (Jury Prize, Best Editing); Honolulu International Film Festival; Moscow International Film Festival; Saint-Petersburg International Festival of Films (World Competition); Raindance London International Film Festival, 2004; Vienna Ohne Kohle International Film Festival, 2005.

"The God's Smile or Odessa Story" (2008) – is a romantic comedy written and produced by Valenikov. Awards: "The Big Golden Boat" at the Russian XVI National Film Festival "Window to Europe" in Vyborg, 2008; "Special Prize For Keeping And Increasing The Best Traditions Of Russian Cinema - at the VI Russian Open Film Festival "Amur's Fall" in Blagoveschensk, 2008; "Prize For The Best Cast" and "Prize For The Best Score" at the IX Russian National Open Film Festival of Comedy Films "Smile, Russia!" in Moscow, 2008; "Special Prize For The Ironical Look At The Past" and "Prize For The Best Male Part" to the actor Ivan Jidkov at the XV Russian National Film Festival "The Literature And The Cinema" in Gatchina, 2009. It also was officially selected by the Syracuse International Film Festival, 2009, Russian National Tver Film Festival "All Stars" and Moscow International Film Festival, 2009.

Haim Bouzaglo

Born in Jerusalem in 1952, His teaching experience includes Camara Obscura, Tel Aviv, Sam Spiegel, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv University, "The Negev College." He founded the "Haim Bouzaglo Workshop" school for writing and acting in television and cinema. His filmography includes; Honor (2009) - Directed by Haim Bouzaglo, Screenplay by Bouzaglo and Eitan Bloom; Side by Side (2008) - Directed by Haim Bouzaglo (France). A romantic story with the second Lebanon War in the Janem, Janem (2006) - Screenplay Directed by Haim Bouzaglo, Producer: Haim Bouzaglo productions, Co-produced by Mazel Productions, (France). Released in French theaters on November 1st, 2006 by Sophie Dullac Distribution. Nominated for five "Ophir" awards The Israeli Film Academy, Winner of Best Film, Best Director, Best Script and best Music Awards, Syracuse International Film Festival 2006  background.

Session (2008) - Directed by Haim Bouzaglo, Screenplay by Haim Bouzaglo, Lisa Mamou and Owen Shapiro. A suspense thriller starring SI Swimsuit cover model Bar Rafaeli

 
Distortion (2005) - Screenplay and Directed by Haim Bouzaglo, Producer: Haim Bouzaglo productions, Co-produced by Mazel Productions, (France). Release in French Theaters on November 29th 2006 by Sophie Dullac Distribution.

Everyday life in Israel during the "Intifada": suicide-attacks, distresses, tensions. A director must present a new theater play but he just can't write a line. His partner, a documentary filmmaker, is preparing the portrait of a former soldier who opened a trade but went into bankruptcy. This man is ruined, his wife has left home, his son got exiled to Australia. The director, desperate, believes that hiring a private detective to follow his wife is going to put some salt in his life. Without knowing it, the detective becomes the real director of the play which is getting written step by step. Bouzaglo uses his fresh visual style and engaging plot to examine some of the many complex issues and emotions swirling in modern Israeli life. (rottentomatoes.com)

Awards:Winner of the Platinum Remi Award at the Worldfest Houston Film & Video, Winner of the Best Editor Award at the Syracuse Film Festival in New York,Winner of the Best Director Award at the Bordeaux Film Festival, France,Winner of Public Award at the Geneva Tout Ecran Film Festival, Switzerland.

Srak-Srak (blank bullet) - Written and directed by Haim Bouzaglo., Producer: Haim Bouzaglo productions, Co-produced by Zip Films (Spain). Pllanned to be shot in 2009.

Hotel Syracuse - Written and directed by Haim Bouzaglo, in collaboration with Syracuse University. The film is planned to be shot in late 2009. Actors signed to the project: John Malkovich and Charlotte Gainsbourg.

LAURA MUSCARDIN

Laura is an up and coming Italian filmmaker whose second feature length fiction film “Billo” has garnered strong reviews. Billo: Il Grand Dakhaar. It won favor at every festival it entered and toured with the “Open Roads: New Italian Cinema” series playing Lincoln Center in New York City in 2008.

Feature Films:

BILLO, il Grand Daakhar (Italy-Senegal, 2006)

A comedy about immigration coproduced with Youssou N’Dour who also composed the original music. 

Variety says: An apparently insoluble romantic impasse resolves itself into double domesticity in "Billo," Laura Muscardin's joyous tale of a Senegalese fashion designer in Rome. Muscardin, whose considerably darker AIDS drama "Days" showed an equally impressive control of layered tone, has woven a lavishly peopled tapestry that feels at home in both a Senegalese village and a Roman junkyard. Neither an illegal-immigrant horror story nor a broad culture-clash comedy, quasi-documentary pic, with extremely personable hip-hop designer Thierno Thiam as the star of his own real-life story, skips gracefully through good times and bad. Delightful comedy deserves wider exposure.

AWARDS:Best Feature Film Festival of Italian Cinema at Villerupt, Best Feature Film Paris Festival Cinema Italian jury headed by Jeanne Moreau,Best Feature Film at the Temecula Valley Film Festival,Best Original Music Score Syracuse Film Festival,Best Producer Miami Sicilian Festival,The film was also presented at the Glasgow Film Festival and at the Pan African Film Festival in Cannes; “Open Roads” at the Lincoln Center, NY; the Ibiza Film Festival, Spain and the Chicago international Film Festival

RAI Trade promoted 50 Italian films on a trade mission to India headed by Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi. It is the first time Italian film played a significant role in a prominent Italian mission headed by Prodi. "La Spettatrice" (The Spectator) was selected and highly regarded. Franchi’s feature films include; Fallen Heroes - Director, Writer (writer) 2007,

 
The Spectator - Director, Writer (story)  2004

In the stunning debut feature from writer/director Paolo Franchi, a detached,    lonely interpreter becomes obsessed with a doctor who lives opposite her apartment. She abandons everything to obsessively and secretly follow him, leading to an ambiguous, entangling love triangle between her, the doctor and  the doctor's lover. In Italian with English subtitles.   Awards include: Bergamo Film Meeting in 2004; won the Silver Rosa Camuna. David di Donatello Awards in 2005 was nominated as Best New Director (Migliore Regista Esordiente). Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists nominated for a Silver Ribbon for Best New Director in 2004. Mons International Festival of Love Films nominated for Best New Director in 2005. It won the Kodak Award in 2004.

In October 2007, the film Caucasia was chosen by Azerbaijan to be the first-ever Azeri film to compete for the Best Foreign Language Film Award at the Oscars.

Caucasia (2007)

After her husband's death, a widow’s return to Moscow with her mother-in-law is unaware that a depressed passenger is determined to blow up the train en route.

Awards: Selected as his county's entry for Best Foreign Film (AMPAS),  Special Selection Syracuse International Film Festival. Farid’s next film, Atlantic, is in pre-production.

Fei Xie

Fei Xie is Dean of the Bejing Film Academy. 

Feature Films: Song of Tibet - Director, Writer (writer)  2000 Awards: Shanghai Film Critics Awards Won, Shanghai Film Critics Award Best Director St. Louis International Film Festival Won, Interfaith Award Feature Film (2000);A Mongolian Tale - Director  1995 Awards: Montréal World Film Festival  Won, Best Director  (1995) Won, Shanghai Film Critics Award Best Director (1995); Xiang hun nu - Director, Writer (writer)  1993 

Black Snow - Director  1990

It is an urban tale of violence, remorse and fate's inescapability. It's essentially a character-study of ex-con Huiquan (Jiang), now trying to stick to the straight-and-narrow back in the densely-populated confines of his former neighborhood. But it's also a snapshot of old-style hutong living swept away by China's recent rush to "development".

Awards: Won, Silver Berlin Bear Outstanding Single Achievement for Black Snow (1990) also nominated, Golden Berlin Bear

Xiangnu xiaoxiaoThis expressionistic tale of sexual politics follows Rainbow, a mute yet musically gifted girl, whose arranged marriage to an impotent and crippled art teacher causes her eye to wander. Set against the historical background of China's bloody war with Japan in the 1930's, the bold colors and unique stylization of Gao Xiao-Song's film brings to mind both Zhang Yimou and Takashi Miike. With its Surrealistic imagery and classical-meets-heavy metal soundtrack, Rainbow offers a glimpse of a bright new talent on the Chinese cinema scene. In Mandarin with English subtitles

Takashi Koizumi

Koizumi was formally trained by famed Japanese director Akira Kirosawa and is an integral player at the Kirosawa School in Japan. Feature Films: Best Wishes for Tomorrow - Director, Writer (writer)  2007 

Christiano Boroni   


Red Like the Sky - Producer, Director, Writer (writer)  2006 

The film is inspired by the true story of Mirco Mencacci, one of the most gifted Italian sound editors working today, who happens to be blind. In 1971 while playing with an old rifle, the gun accidentally goes off - he survives, but loses his sight. At that time, Italian law considered blind people hopelessly handicapped, and did not permit them to attend public school. He rebels but copes when he finds an old tape recorder and a few used reels and discovers that by cutting and splicing tape he can create little fairy tales made only of sounds and a brand-new world opens up to him. 2007 Awards: Ale Kino! - International Young Audience Film Festival Won, Children's Jury Award Best Film; Won, Cinekid Film Award - Honorable Mention; David di Donatello Awards Won, David of the Youth; Durban International Film Festival  Won, Audience Award Best Film; Flaiano Film Festival Won, Audience Award Best Film; Flanders International Film Festival Won, Audience Award Best Film; Hamburg Film Festival Won, Children's Jury: Best Children's FilmMontréal International Children's Film Festival Won, Grand Prix de Montréal Best Film;Real to Reel Film and Video Festival Won, Festival Prize Best Feature Film; Sydney Film Festival Won, Audience Award Best Film; São Paulo International Film Festival Won, Audience Award Best Foreign Language Film;Würzburg International Film Won, Children's Film Award.

Feature Films:Maria, ihm schmeckt's nicht! - Producer  2009; Altri occhi (documentary) - Producer  2005;Saimir - Producer  2004; La notte di Totò (documentary short) - Producer  2003;La stretta di mano (short) - Producer  2002;Forbidden Grass (documentary) - Director  2002;Sono positivo - Producer, Director, Writer (writer)  1999;Nati sotto il segno del leone (documentary) - Director, Writer (writer)  1998; Oasi - Producer, Director, Writer (writer)  1994; L'uomo dei guanti (short) - Producer, Director, Writer (co-writer)  1993; Loisaida (short) - Director, Writer (co-writer)  1992

 In Development

Edward Topol

Edward is a screenwriter specializing in taught action filled suspense. Some of Edward’s books include; Dermo!: The Real Russian Tolstoy Never Used, Red Square, Submarine U-137,   Deadly Games, Red Snow, Red Gas, The Jewish Lover, Op z'n Russisch, Moedertje Rusland, The Jewish Lover and Sabotage.

Possibly most famous is RED SQUARE, a 1983 international best-seller about the investigation of the mysterious death of the first deputy to the head of the KGB which results in the discovery of a large-scale plot at the Kremlin. Some of the reviews include; “Much more fun than GORKY PARK... convincing and accurate” SPECTATOR, England.  “Reveals a unique side of Soviet society” NEW YORK TIMES  “Meaty entertainment” SUNDAY TIMES, England  

GIAN VITTORIO BALDI                                                                                                               

In the turn of the 1960’s and 70’s Italian cinema was probably the best in the world. The greatest names of many generations, starting with the pioneers of neo realism, were all functioning together and overlapped, creating a unique impression. The scale ranged from the richness of popular film – italo-western, horror, a local style of noisy comedy – to various forms of avant garde.

Gian Vittorio Baldi is one of the crucial names of this era: a highly personal director and producer, a man in the midst of radical documentary, experimental films and fiction.  Baldi is a bridge builder between original Italian neo realism (first and foremost the modernism of Rossellini) and the new wave films of the 1960’s. Baldi’s films are about real people, who have been ”wounded by history” – he shows the culture and life of the people from the inside, as an intimate experience and tries to capture on film and make real the inner feeling of popular culture.

The short films he directed between 1958 and 1961 – include

Il pianto delle zitelle (1958), La casa delle tredici vedove (1960)– received many significant awards and blend a uniquely firm documentary approach with cinematographic poetry. Both films won the best short film prize at the Venice Film Festival.

Baldi’s features include;Luciano – Una vita bruciata (1961)   Fuoco! (1968), Fuoco! is one of the central Italian films of its time. The film was shot in 14 days, in a chronological order, in 16 mm film. The subject is fascinating: a bloodbath that begins without any logical explanation. As the film develops, it deepens into a metaphor of power and the rage of killing in society. The theme of the film is rebellion but so is also the way with which it has been made: the camera is obsessed; the chaos is being organized by the repeated and systematic camera movements.As a free producer Baldi is a totally amazing phenomenon. Baldi produced the three most important key films of the era in three different countries:“The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach”, Jean-Marie Straub’s German film,“Four Nights of a Dreamer”,  Robert Bresson’s masterpiece,“Pigsty”,  Pier Paolo Pasolini’ passion and controversy,”The African Orestes”,  the great embodiment of the pasolinian essay form

This is a sensitive story between a single mother housekeeper and a mathematics professor who has a brain damage. The relationship develops into a true collaboration of love and humanity. Beautifully shot by famed Kirosawa cinematographer Masaharu Ueda. Awards, Fajr Film Festival 2008 Won the Crystal Simorgh  Spiritual Cinema Competition, Syracuse International Film Festival Best in Show 2007

His Features include: Letter from the Mountain - Director, Writer (writer)  2002 Awards: Nominated, Award of the Japanese Academy Best Director Best Screenplay;After the Rain - Director  1999 Awards Include: AFI Fest in 1999 - Nominated, Grand Jury Prize Japanese Academy Best Director,  Portland International Film Festival Won, Audience Award Best First Film for São Paulo International Film Festival 1999, Won, Mostra Special Award  Venice Film Festival 1999, Won 'CinemAvvenire' Award Best Film on the Relationship; Man-Nature. Other Films Include: Madadayo - Assistant Director  1993, Rhapsody in August - Chief Assistant Director 1991, Dreams - Chief Assistant Director  1990, Revolt - Assistant Director  1985, Kagemusha - Assistant Director  1980, Dersu Uzala - Assistant To Director  1975, Vietnam (documentary) - Director, Writer (writer) 1969

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