WELCOME TO JAMESON CINESFEST'S WORLD!
Jameson CineFest is one of the most prestigious festivals in Hungary, where past meets present and future. We have on offer the latest flicks of the most interesting and visionary young filmmakers of the world cinema. Furthermore, sparing Cannes, CineFest is the only festival in the world where workshops, conferences and screenings are held about the great cineastes of the olden times, and their films, who came to conquer the world from Central Europe. Treat yourself to award-winning international masterpieces you won't find anywhere else in the country. And all these for free!
NEWS
Join us in September 2012 - send your film to Hungary's leading international film festival! Entry regulation here, entry form here.
Application deadline: May 31, 2012.
SEPTEMBER 14-23, 2012
Note this date: the 9th Jameson CineFest is planned to be held then in 2012. Hungary's leading international film festival is waiting you with the best films of the year, film historical programs, concerts and parties.
CINEMAS OF THE MONTH: URÁNIA AND BÉKE IN MISKOLC
FNE (Film New Europe) interviewed cinema director and festival director Tibor Bíró this month. The interview also gives a look on the Hungarian movie perspectives.
YOUNG POLISH FILMMAKERS FESTIVAL
The Young and Beautiful Festival of Warsaw is a great place for Hungarian film students and young film makers to share their work with an international audience, gain valuable experience and meet kindred spirits. The festival is dedicated for the young creators, passionate about film, who do not dispose of multimillion budgets but nevertheless want to talk about the problems they encounter, via their art. Our Festival allows the small forms made by film school students not to go straight to the drawer, but to be shared with wide audience and amuse, move or surprise them just as the well-known authors’ productions do. After all, every one of them had to start somewhere! The Festival gives a chance to have a really good start. More info here.
'IT FEELS LIKE WE WERE IN CANNES' - JAMESON CINEFEST'S MEDIA ECHO
'2011 will be remembered as the year of the turning point in the history of the festival: it became visible in the map of the great European film festivals' says the article of László Valuska on index.hu, Hungary's leading and most popular online magazine. The 8th Miskolc International Film Festival received the unified appreciation of the Hungarian critics.
'Great festival, little money, and all the other clichés… Jameson CineFest is not all about that but about dedicated people who are pro in bringing out the maximum from the minimum' says Linda Katona, critic of filmtett.ro, in her article with the title 'The Human Festival'. And she goes on like this: 'Screening the 70-year-old People on the Alps (Emberek a havason) on a festival is an image determing program. István Szőts would be 100 next year and talking about him is the celebration of the Hungarian film… Jameson CineFest is proud to do so, either for the profession or the audience… Drastic films, intense competition, lessons to be learnt, and all in human voice: this Miskolc vacation in the autumn sunshine was a real theme park of films, and no one could desire more – but same time, next year, here again!' In his article in the leading daily Népszabadság, Gyula Varsányi wrote that 'Miskolc has been an oasis in the desert of Hungarian films', and that the competition program was 'special, balancing on the border of art and genre films.' Gyögy Báron wrote in the weekly Élet és Irodalom that 'Jameson CineFest, the Miskolc muster of young filmmakers' productions is not only existing and surviving but also keeping the high level by which it managed to emerge from the field of the Hungarian festivals in the last few years… The whole competition program reflected the sophisticated taste and the mastery of international films.'
'By today, CineFest has indisputably become the best Hungarian international film festival. The work of the last eight years could be harvested in this year's September' wrote László Kolozsi in Revizor, the critical portal of the Hungarian National Cultural Fund (NKA). 'Who was there could believe that they live in a country and be hosted by a city where culture is important. And for the time being, no festival could aspire for more.'
BEST INTENTIONS IN THE HUNGARIAN CINEMAS
Best Intentions is the 7th film getting cinema release in Hungary out of the 13 domestic premieres from Jameson CineFest`s 2011 competition program. Awarded with the Best Director and Best Actor prizes in Locarno, "Romanian writer/director Adrian Sitaru`s... talky, family-centered drama relies on subjective, point-of-view camerawork to an extent seldom matched since Robert Montgomery's 1947 noir The Lady in the Lake.", writes The Hollywood Reporter reviewer. The Hungarian co-production (with Emőke Vágási`s Cor Leonis Film) starts countrywide on 20 January.
MEPHISTO ON DVD
Acclaimed director István Szabó's 30 years old masterpiece Mephisto is finally released on DVD in his native Hungary. The film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1982 and was the first of three creative collaborations between the director and Austrian actor Klaus Maria Brandauer. On the surface, Mephisto is the story of the corruption of one vain man's soul through his vile dealings with the Nazi regime in pre-war Germany. But the film is also a denunciation of all who collaborated with an evil system. The film was a German-Hungarian-Austrian co-production created at a time when Hungary was still behind the Iron Curtain. What could have easily devolved into a politically ham-fisted and constrained film stands instead as a very engaging human drama that boldly invites the audience to make its own assumptions. The film is presented in restored 16:9 screen, in German and Hungarian languages and with English subtitles. Extras include interviews with the director.
'IT FEELS LIKE WE WERE IN CANNES' - JAMESON CINEFEST'S MEDIA ECHO
'2011 will be remembered as the year of the turning point in the history of the festival: it became visible in the map of the great European film festivals' says the article of László Valuska on index.hu, Hungary's leading and most popular online magazine. The 8th Miskolc International Film Festival received the unified appreciation of the Hungarian critics.
'Great festival, little money, and all the other clichés… Jameson CineFest is not all about that but about dedicated people who are pro in bringing out the maximum from the minimum' says Linda Katona, critic of filmtett.ro, in her article with the title 'The Human Festival'. And she goes on like this: 'Screening the 70-year-old People on the Alps (Emberek a havason) on a festival is an image determing program. István Szőts would be 100 next year and talking about him is the celebration of the Hungarian film… Jameson CineFest is proud to do so, either for the profession or the audience… Drastic films, intense competition, lessons to be learnt, and all in human voice: this Miskolc vacation in the autumn sunshine was a real theme park of films, and no one could desire more – but same time, next year, here again!' In his article in the leading daily Népszabadság, Gyula Varsányi wrote that 'Miskolc has been an oasis in the desert of Hungarian films', and that the competition program was 'special, balancing on the border of art and genre films.' Gyögy Báron wrote in the weekly Élet és Irodalom that 'Jameson CineFest, the Miskolc muster of young filmmakers' productions is not only existing and surviving but also keeping the high level by which it managed to emerge from the field of the Hungarian festivals in the last few years… The whole competition program reflected the sophisticated taste and the mastery of international films.'
'By today, CineFest has indisputably become the best Hungarian international film festival. The work of the last eight years could be harvested in this year's September' wrote László Kolozsi in Revizor, the critical portal of the Hungarian National Cultural Fund (NKA). 'Who was there could believe that they live in a country and be hosted by a city where culture is important. And for the time being, no festival could aspire for more.'
BERLIN COMES AFTER MISKOLC: EUROPEAN FILM AWARD NOMINATION FOR THE WINNERS OF JAMESON CINEFEST
Both Austrian films, Michael and Atmen, which were awarded in Miskolc, got to the final of the best films in the contest for the European Film Academy's Discovery Award. FIPRESCI is going to decide which European first-film-maker deserves the award being the best. On Jameson CineFest, Markus Schleinzer received the Jury's Grand Prix for Michael, and Karl Markovics' Breathing won the main prize, i. e. the Ememic Pressburger Prize, and also the critics' and the ecumenical jury's awards. On 3rd December, on the European Film Award's gala in Berlin, we will see which is going to be Europe's discovery.
Obscurantist awarded FNE Visegrad Prix for best documentary coproduction
Czech producer Radim Prochazka was awarded the FNE Visegrad Prix for Obscurantist and His Lineage or the Pyramids' Tearful Valleys (Tmář a jeho rod aneb Slzavé údolí pyramid). It was awarded at the closing ceremony of the 15th Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival on 29 October 2011. The film was directed by legendary Czech experimental documentary filmmaker Karel Vachek.
KARL MARKOVICS' VIDEO MESSAGE
Markovics' first feature receiverd three major awards at the 2011 Jameson CineFest - here the artist's video message:
ZOOM IN JELENIA GORA, POLAND WAITS FOR YOUR FILM
Jameson CineFest's partner festival, Jelenia Gora's ZOOM - ZBLIŻENIA is a significant cultural event in Poland. The goal of the festival is presentation of the filmmakers' accomplishments, coupled with any new trends and ideas in the independent movie making scene. The character of the festival makes room for variety of forms - feature films, documentaries, and all kind of experimental forms created with the help of a video camera. There are no restrictions on themes and topic. ZOOM will celebrate its 15th edition in Feburary 2012. They are waiting for your film until 30 November, 2011. All information on the official festival website: www.zoomfestival.pl
AUSTRIAN FILM WITH OSCAR CHANCE WON THE MAIN PRIZE OF JAMESON CINEFEST
14 feature films in competition, all Hungarian premieres, 6 feature films out of competition, 9 classical movies in the PORT.hu CineClassics section, 19 short films, 10 documentaries, 15 animated movies, 3 exhibitions, 3 workshops, conferences, several professional meetings – issues of the 8th Miskolc International Film Festival which ended on 25 September. Due to the achievements of the last 8 years, Jameson CineFest has become the best film festival in Hungary.
Jameson CineFest’s main prize, named after the Miskolc born Oscar winner director-screenwriter Emeric Pressburger, was awarded to Karl Markovics’s movie Atmen (Breathing), and the award was received by Thomas Schubert, the film’s leading actor. It is Markovics’s, one of Austria’s most famous and most popular actors’ first work as a director, and it is the official Austrian Oscar nominee. Austria received the jury’s grand prix either: the film Michael arrived to Hungary straight from Cannes, and it is the first direction of Markus Schleinzer, Michael Hanekes casting director.
Max Zahle’s Raju proved to be the best short film and its award was offered by Daazo.com. The best documentary was Viktor Oszkár Nagy’s Két világ között (Caught Between Two Worlds). The best animated film’s award, which is wearing the name of Attila Dargay for the honouring of the animation artist with Miskolc origins, was offered by KEDD Animation Studio and it went to A Lost And Found Box of Human Sensation. FICC, the International Federation of Film Societies favoured Christian Schwochow’s Die Unsichtbare (Cracks In The Shell) and honoured this production with the Don Quijote Award. Film New Europe’s award went to Adrian Sitaru’s Best Intentions as the best (Hungarian-Romanian) coproduction, and the award was received by Emőke Vágási co-producer.
This year, in Miskolc International Film Festival, international ecumenical jury awarded the films for the first time, and it is a very important step in enhancing the festival’s international reputation. They also awarded Atmen, a film which due to receiving the film critics’ award, either, could bag three awards at once.
The ever improving PORT.hu CineClassics film historical program series, with the patronage of legendary director István Szabó, screened a complete István Szőts retrospective. In the Miskolc Galery, an exhibition and conference commemorated the great director of the Emberek a havason (People in the Alps) which was shot 70 years ago. The audience could visit a large-scale Krzysztof Kieslowski and Tamás Major exhibition; furthermore, there was a film forum held on the transformation of film industry’s support system, and roma workshop and a three-day cinema conference were also organized. And, of course, several concerts and parties were hosted by the festival – staying faithful to the Jameson CineFest traditions.
Best Intentions awarded FNE Visegrad Prix 2011 for best fiction coproduction at Jameson CineFest
The Hungarian coproducer of Adrian Sitaru’s Best Intentions has been awarded the prestigious FNE Visegrad Prix for best fiction coproduction. The prix was awarded at the closing ceremony of the 8th edition of Hungary'leading film festival, the Jameson CineFest – Miskolc IFF.
Hungarian coproducer Emoke Vagasi of Cor Leonis Films (www.corleonisfilms.hu) collected the 1000 euros prize from FNE editor Cathy Meils at the festival’s closing ceremony on 24 September 2011.
The winner was selected by the festival’s main jury. The Romanian-Hungarian coproduction was a testament to Hungarian tenacity in the face of a film funding crisis that saw domestic film production nearly grind to a halt over the past year. Vagasi told FNE that she produced the film without any state funding. Cor Leonis was able to provide 45% of the film's 750,000 budget, largely through theatrical distribution and TV presales. The film also received a grant from Eurimages.
SZŐTS WORKSHOP
During the festival film students of the Cluj (Kolozsvár) Sapientia University with Orsolya Tóth shooted short features based on scrips by the great Hungarian director István Szőts. Watch the films here.
HERE’S THE WHOLE COMPETITION PROGRAM
The list is ready: you can find the competition program of 8th Jameson CineFest here. We can say that this year’s program is much stronger than last year’s, moreover, it is going to be the strongest Hungarian festival competition program ever. Our aim is unchanged: to create a true international film festival in Hungary – without any compromises.
Die UnsichTbare
There’s nothing worse for an actress than being ’invisible’. The Hungarian premiere of Cracks in the Shell (Die Unsichtbare) is going to be on 21st September evening at Jameson CineFest. This film is regarded to as the German Black Swan, deservedly. It comes to Miskolc from Karlovy Vary where the jury, the president of which was István Szabó, awarded it for the Best Actress; and it won the international ecumenic jury’s award for the Best Film. Its story actually does remind us on the Black Swan: the young and shy actress is invited for the leading role in the famous director’s new theatre production. The role she has to play is the very opposite of her personality… Stine Fischer Christensen, the young Danish actress is considered to give a better performance in this film than Natalie Portman in the Oscar-worthy thriller. Die Unsichtbare is one of the best European films of the year. At 10 PM, on 21st September.
BREATHING & MICHAEL
There are two Austrian films in the competition program. Michael is Marcus Schleinzer’s, Michael Haneke’s casting director’s first production – it took part in the competition program of Cannes Film Festival, dividing opinions: due to pedophilia’s naturalistic description it attained not only indignation but it also made people think. We can see the days of a small boy kept locked up by a man: the dispassionate ordinary routine of horror. Premiere: at 6 p.m., on 18th September. The other Austrian film is Atmen (Breathing)which managed to bag the Best Film at Sarajevo Film Festival and Austria’s official Oscar-nominee. This movie is the first direction of actor Karl Markovics and it recalls the works of the Dardenne-brothers. Premiere: at 6 p.m., on 22nd September.
Attack the Block & HARRY BROWN
South-London and East-London: scenes of a sci-fi and a revenge drama. Even though they take place in the same city, they are very much different from each other. In Joe Cornish’s Attack the Block aliens get to a building estate and meet with teenage street kids. At 4 p.m. on 23rd September. The other film, Daniel Barber’s Harry Brown is a revenge drama placed in East-London, with the main character of a senior citizen in a building estate. We might find it more interesting when we learn that it is Sir Michael Caine who fights the murderers of his best friend in this movie. In the background: thousands of blocks of flats. Brutal. At 10 p.m. on 22nd September.
THE OTHER OLSEN GIRL AT JAMESON CINEFEST, BEFORE THE AMERICAN PREMIERE
Sean Durkin has been awarded for the best direction at Sundance for his film Martha Marcy May Marlene which is going to be screened in the competition program of the Miskolc International Film Festival in September. The Hungarian cinema-goers can watch the film, which appeared in the Un certain regard section in Cannes, much earlier than the Americans - as the film's US premiere is going to be held only on 21st October. Among the stars of this masterful psychological thriller are Christopher Abbot, Hugh Dancy - and Elizabeth Olsen, the talented sister of the Olsen twins, who gives Oscar-worthy performance in the film. Martha Marcy May Marlene escapes from the captivity of a sect, but her memories still keep her suffering for a long time. Sean Dunkin's first feature film has a good chance for the Academy Awards, just like the opening film of Jameson CineFest, The Help, which has been leading the US charts for 14 days.
KEKIM MEETING: SEPTEMBER 20, 6 PM,
COURTYARD OF THE MISKOLC GALLERY
The members of the Kunt Ernő Képíró Műhely (KEKIM) are documentary filmmakers, who are linked by thousand ties to Miskolc and the work of the promiment visual anthropologist Ernő Kunt (1948-1994). They are committed to take photographs and make documentaries through which a vivid and touching meeting of different people, social groups or cultures evolve. For one of the documentaries screened during this year’s Jameson CineFest the KEKIM has offered a special award.
FNE Visegrad Prix nominations for best fiction coproduction announced
Nominations for the second edtion of the FNE Visegrad Prix for best fiction film coproduction from a Visegard country have been announced. The films are all screening in Hungary, in the Jameson CineFest – Miskolc International Film Festival's (17-25 September) official programme. The final selection will be made by the festival's main jury and announced at the festival's closing ceremony.
THE HELP IS A TREMENDOUS SUCCESS
The Help is being mentioned as the great Golden Globe and Oscar expectant movie of the year. It was first screened in the USA on 10th August, and on 15th it has already been at first place on the American top charts – and it is still keeping its position. The film is marked by the names of director Tate Taylor and such stars as Emma Stone, Viola Davis and Bryce Dallas Howard, and it has already bagged 88 million dollars. We don't have to wait for long to see the film's Hungarian premiere: we are proud to present the movie at Jameson CineFest as openig film on 17th September. Skeeter (Emma Stone) returns from college and tries to earn money as a journalist. She decides to write a book on servants working for the aristocrat families in the South, but from the servants' point of view. After many attempts made for persuading her, Aibileen (Viola Davis), Skeeter's best friend's housekeeper becomes the first who breaks the silence and talks about the fears of black people, a very isolated community in the eyes of the outsiders.
Sarajevo's Best PICTURE on JAMESON CineFest
A few weeks ago in Sarajevo, Angelina Jolie handed over the award for Best Actor to Thomas Schubert, the young star of Atmen (Breathing). This is the first direction of Austrian actor Karl Markovics. In his homeland he is a very well known and popular artist, and the interational public might be familiar with his very characteristic face from Die Fälscher (The Counterfeiters) which won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar three years ago. In Cannes, Markovics competed with his film in the Director's Forthnight section. The film's Hungarian premier in the presence of the director is going to be in September, in the competition program of Jameson CineFest.
International ecumenical jury, national ecumenical retrospective
Jos Horemans, president of SIGNIS Europe is going to head the international ecumenical jury of 8th Jameson CineFest. 'It is a great honour to be the president of the first international ecumenical jury in Hungary', says Horemans, the leader of the European branche of the catholic world association for media and communication. 'We are present at the world's leading festivals and it is a great pleasure for us that in Hungary, at the dynamically developing Miskolc International Film Festival there will be a body of two catholic and two protestant members.'
At the world's top festivals, these bodies have been granting awards for long decades now. Only few may know but many Hungarian films have also been awarded with the ecumenical jury's award in Berlin and Cannes and other festivals. Jameson CineFest has prepared with a retrospective film selection to honour the first ecumenical jury in Hungary. The program contains such films as Szerelem (Love), the legendary film by Károly Makk (awarded in 1971, Cannes); Pál Schiffer's Cséplő Gyuri (Gyuri Cséplő), which is focusing on roma matters and was awarded in 1978 in Locarno; the staggering documentary Száműzöttek (Exiles) by Imre Gyöngyössy and Barna Kabay (1991, Montreal) and the excellent but rarely screened Azonosítás (Man with No Name) by László Lugossy (1976, Berlin).
HYUNDAI, THE CAR-PARTNER OF JAMESON CINEFEST
This year the festival's guests will be transported by Hyundai. Miskolc International Film Festival's newest sponsor and car partner is Borsod Auto Ltd. Hyundai Trade.
NESPRESSO IS PARTNER WITH JAMESON CINEFEST
Nespresso, one of the world's leading quality coffee producer is going to sponsor the festival. Nestlé Nespresso S.A. is the pioneer and market leading firm of premium quality portioned coffee. Due to the combination of the most excellent quality Grand Cru coffees, the versatile and stylish coffee machines and the unique service department, the Nespresso experience is beyond all praise. Thus, everybody will certainly find their favourite flavor at the opening ceremony of Jameson CineFest.
JAMESON CINEFEST COMPASS FOR DOCU MAKERS
This year, the Miskolc International Film Festival is hosting the documentary professional program called Compass for the second time. Due to the current transformation of the Hungarian film subsidy system, the national documentary film industry is heading towards serious changes. The main aim of the organizers Eszter Buslig, Nóra Ruszkai and Péter Szalay, is to provide a wide forum for the documentary profession at the Jameson CineFest where the filmmakers and the decision makers can meet each other.
Scorsese and Pacino opens Jameson CineFest
The winners of Jameson Cinefest 1 minute shortfilm contest are announced!
Jameson-Cinefest Official T-shirt on SALE!
