Sydney Levine

Festival Scope Partners with Hong Kong FF and Co-Pro Market HAF

  • By Sydney Levine
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  • April 10, 2012 10:30 AM
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The partnership highlights the HAF selected talent: a selection of the previous films of the filmmakers who have a project at HAF are now available for screening on Festival Scope. This will help potential co-producers and sales agents to follow-up their meetings in Hong Kong.

International Sales Agent of the Day: Panda of So. Korea has Dance Town in Panorama

  • By Sydney Levine
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  • February 24, 2012 2:17 PM
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Dance Town,  the third film of Panda Media and Jeon Kyu Hwan's Town Trilogy, has been officially selected at the Berlin Film Festival in the Panorama Section. Panda Media's goal is to reveal jewels of the international cinema to Korean spectators, and to bring Korean films to world audiences, in festivals and in theatres. 

Deutsche Welle Akademie Hosts International Fest Directors During Berlinale

  • By Peter Belsito
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  • February 13, 2012 10:30 AM
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Deutsche Welle represents Germany in the international media landscape. It acts as a sort of Voice of America for Germany.  
More: Berlinale

Canada in Berlin

  • By Sydney Levine
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  • February 11, 2012 7:30 AM
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As we roll into Berlin where War Witch (aka Rebelle) (ISA: Films Distribution) by Kim Nguyen is in Competition.  While it’s Kim’s 4th feature, this is the first of his films to have a world premiere at an international festival.  This is exceptional as well because the last time the Canadians had a Canadian director in Competition at the Berlinale was in 1999 with Emporte-Moi ! Guy Madden’s Keyhole holds a Berlinale Special slot.  Guy is Canada’s cultural ambassador in Berlin and a regular at the Festival and sat on the Berlinale’s Official Jury last year – with Isabella Rossellini.

U.S. Distributors Are Popping Up Like Mushrooms: Adopt Films

  • By Sydney Levine
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  • October 20, 2011 1:30 AM
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Veteran distribution executive and October Films co-founder Jeff Lipsky has teamed with longtime Twin Cities entrepreneur and former exhibitor Tim Grady to form a new acquisitions-oriented independent distribution company called Adopt Films. They announced their first acquisition at TIFF 2011, the French-American filmmaker Marie Losier’s award-winning documentary The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye. Adopt Films plans a first quarter 2012 release in the U.S.

Academy Award Submissions for Best Foreign Language Oscar With Sales Agents

  • By Sydney Levine
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  • October 19, 2011 1:00 AM
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The complete list of submissions for the nomination for Best Foreign Language Academy Award, has been announced. 63 countries' selections have been accepted. Last year there were 65 selections. I have added the international sales agents and when there is one, the U.S. distributor. The Female Factor: 8 of 63 films or 13%. Last year, of the 65 films submitted, 9 were directed by women — that’s 14%. The films by women are Leticia Tonos' Love Child ♀ (the Dominican Republic), Valerie Donzelli's Declaration of War ♀ (France), Ann Hui's A Simple Life ♀ (Hong Kong), Juanita Wilson's As If I Am Not There ♀ (Ireland), Nadine Labaki's Where Do We Go Now? ♀ (Lebanon), Maria Peters' Sonny Boy ♀ (the Netherlands), Anne Sewitzky's Happy, Happy (Norway) ♀ and Pernilla August's Beyond ♀ (Sweden).

International Sales Agent of the Day: MPM Film

  • By Sydney Levine
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  • September 16, 2011 6:04 AM
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Congratulations to Marie-Pierre Macia and Juliette Lepoutre. Their start-up international sales company MPM Film is in Toronto with a beautiful, quietly moving and totally aesthetic film in Toronto's Discovery section (and in Venice Days and in San Sebastian's Horizontes section). A U.S. sale on Stories That Only Exist When Remembered (Historias…que so existem quando lembradas) by one of my favorite people in the industry, Pierre Menahem, has already been made to Film Movement for U.S. putting it into the rarefied company of 22 U.S. acquisitions thus far at TIFF. (See my blog for details on this subject.)

Berlinale's World Cinema Fund Announces New Films

  • By Sydney Levine
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  • July 8, 2011 2:30 AM
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  • 2 Comments
The Berlinale's World Cinema Fund has selected four new film projects for production funding as well as four films for distribution funding at the 14th session of the World Cinema Fund (WCF) jury on July 3.

Palm Spring International ShortFest Awards

  • By Sydney Levine
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  • June 28, 2011 2:30 AM
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Shorts are having an impact on new digital media and new types of distribution. Their importance and their filmmakers' importance has long been recognized by the top festivals (Cannes, Berlin, Sundance, TIFF) and among the trade, agents keep an eye on the top shorts filmmakers. So too, certain leading shorts film festivals and markets, the leaders of which are Clermont Ferrand in France and Oberhausen in Germany (for more cutting edge shorts), festivals like the Guanajuato International Film Festival, Expresión en Corto, held during the final week of July in the cities of San Miguel de Allende and Guanajuato Capital, Mexico and the Palm Spring Shortfest, NeXt in Bucharest and the Cannes Film Festival's Shorts Corner are increasingly important as are their winners who are the talents to watch.

Rights Roundup Winter Season: Sundance, Rotterdam, Berlin

  • By Sydney Levine
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  • March 25, 2011 4:18 AM
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  • 1 Comment
You can download and access Winter Rights Roundup (Deals done in Berlin, Rotterdam, Sundance) here. Ventana Sur is thrown in for good measure along with whatever else until we begin the 2011 Spring and Cannes Rights Roundup.

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