Blockade provides a remarkable insight into the siege of Leningrad during the Second World War. Loznitsa managed to track down reels of unused footage that had been sitting in the archives for over half a century. The material offered snapshots of everyday life amongst Russian civilians during the siege. The reels had not been used by the state because they were deemed inappropriate for propaganda purposes. Loznitsa's Blockade seems to be the total opposite of typical Soviet representations of the siege of Leningrad with their lofty pathos, celebration of martyrdom, and scenes of heroic labor. It is remarkably non-sensationalist, it has neither music nor running commentary - a cinematographic example of what Barthes famously termed "writing degree zero". Yet it manages to capture and freeze in time the spirit of suffering in the struggling city. The depth of the shots and their graphic minimalism work to create a truly epic narrative, one that leaves room for the viewer's very own, un-mediated response.

producer: Vyacheslav Telnov
screenplay: Sergei Loznitsa
editor: Sergei Loznitsa

festival info:
28th Moscow IFF, 2005 / Golden Dragon - Cracow Film Festival, 2006 / Karlovy Vary, 2006 / 15th IFF Curtas Vila do Conde, 2006 / Documenta, Madrid, 2006 / Flahertiana International Documentary Film Festival, Perm, 2006

production info:
TPO 'Saint-Petersburg studio of documentary films'
Krukov kanal, 12
1980068, Saint-Petersburg, Russia
Tel: + 7 912 714 08 06
cinedoc@peterstar.ru

sales info:
Deckert Distribution GmbH
Peterssteinweg 13, 04107 Leipzig, Germany
Tel: +49 (0)341 215 66 38
Fax: +49 (0)341 215 66 39
info@deckert-distribution.com
www.deckert-distribution.com

filmography:
Today We'll Build a House, 1997 / Life, Autumn, 1999 / The Halt, 2000 / The Settlement, 2001 / Portrait, 2002 / Landscape, 2003

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In 1979, the Sandinista Revolution in Nicaragua ended the dictatorship of the Somoza family. Fearing a second Cuba, the Reagan Administration financed and armed the counter-revolutionaries. What followed was a long and bloody civil war that left many Nicaraguans with deep scars. When Contras and Sandinistas clashed on 3 April 1983 around the village of Waslala, the Rivera family - mother Julia, daughters Maria and Reina, son Emilio and twins José and Juan - was literally caught in the crossfire. Maria saw her husband tortured to death and Emilio (13) and José (12) kidnapped and recruited by the Contras. 15-year-old Reina went along to watch over them, unaware of the fact that the Contras "went through women like towels." Twin brother Juan remained behind and later, as a conscript on the Sandinista side, fought against his own brother. Twenty years later, the tension is still palpable. The vivid memories of the war and the feelings of hatred and shame make it hard to pick up the pieces. Meanwhile an empty truck called "El Immortal" travels through the village. Director Moncada Rodríguez uses this truck as the leitmotif and shows a country where the war still haunts the villages and the jungle.

producers: Aaron Fernandez Lesur, Mercedes Moncada Rodríguez, Puy Oria, Montxo Armendariz
screenplay: Mercedes Moncada Rodríguez
camera: Javier Morón Tejero
editor: Viviana García, Mercedes Moncada Rodríguez

festival info:
Latin Beat Film Festival, San Francisco, USA, 2005 / Seattle International Film Festival, USA, 2005 / One World Annual International Human Rights Documentary Festival, Prague, Czech Republic, 2005 / Best Iberoamerican Documentary - Festival Internacional de Cine de Guadalajara, Mexico, 2006 / Sheffield International Documentary Film Festival, UK, 2006

production info:
Mercedes Moncada Rodríguez for Chango Films
C/Cervantes No. 8. Bajo Derecha
CP 28014 Madrid, Spain
Tel/Fax: +3491 429 4498
monqui@telefonica.net

sales info:
Andrew Herwitz
The Film Sales Company
443 Greenwich Street #5A
New York
10013 U.S.A.
Tel: +1 212 625 0535
Fax: +1 212 625 0534
andrew.herwitz@filmsalescorp.com

filmography:
The Passion of María Elena, 2003

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A young man and a girl on Múzeum boulevard in Budapest, shoulder to shoulder, looking directly into the camera. The image appeared on the inner front page of the 30 October 1956 issue of Paris Match. 45 years after the photo was taken, historian Eszter Balázs and journalist Phil Casoar set out to trace the young couple and find out who they were, whether they survived the revolution, and if so, where they live. The film follows them in their quest. Since there was more information available about the girl, she is the one whose path the filmmakers trace. It turns out that the Paris Match image of the revolutionary girl is not simply a record of a moment in her life, but the publication of the photo in the Western press actually influenced her entire life. She had to flee Hungary partly because of it. On the other hand, it made her one of the best-known immigrants. She tried to become identical with the image of that photograph, therefore in the eyes of her acquaintances she remained the Hero of the Revolution. In the film, witnesses of her life, as well as the photographer tell their stories.

producer, operatőr: Attila Kékesi
co-producer: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
camera: Attila Kékesi
story: Eszter Balázs, Phil Casoar
music: Ferenc Darvas
dramaturg: Noémi Blastik
digital effects: Miklós Falvay
screenplay: Eszter Balázs, Phil Casoar, Attila Kékesi

sales info:
Attila Kékesi
Tel.: + 36 30 330 23 63 (cell)
kekesi@index.hu

filmography:
Trapéz, 1996 (camera) / Hajni, 1996 (camera) / Jézus Krisztus Sükösdön, 1996 (camera) / Tandori, 1996 (camera) / A kor szelleme, 1998 / A cipész szerencséje, 2001 / Vargabetű, 2002

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September 27, 1962. An ordinary day in Poland. 1600 babies are born, 600 people die and the weather is neither good nor bad. And yet, something of note happens everywhere in the country. The police arrest a suspect, the neighbor buys some salt and a man is openly reprimanded for wearing a beret. Creating a complex collage of footage from Polish archives and sound bites of radio recordings along with read-out documents ranging from police reports to citizens' complaints to the authorities, the director presents a nuanced image of everyday life in communist Poland. Now and then, sound and image seem to fit perfectly, and sometimes a striking combination of the two produces a new reality. A police officer reports his experiences of the day; a wife reads a letter to her husband in prison, begging for any sign of life; peasants don gas masks for an atomic alert exercise. Are these fragments "authentic" historical documents? How much should one believe the tranquil images of life? When does the ordinary become historical? The fragments, following each other in a seemingly arbitrary order, lend the film a rhythm that ripples on, falters and fluctuates again. Just like life itself.

producers: Jasques Debs for ADR productions, Maciej Drygas for Drygas Production, Krysztof Talczewski for TVP (Channel 1)
editor: Katarzyna Maciejko-Kowalczyk
sound: Iwo Klimek
music: Pawel Szymanski

festival info:
IDFA, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2005 / One World International Documentary Human Rights Film Festival, Prague, Czech Republic, 2006 / Krakow Film Festival, Poland, 2006 / Polish Film Festival in America, Chicago, USA, 2006

production info:
ADR productions
2, Rue de la Roquatte, Escalier Avril
75011 Paris, France
Tel: +33 1 431 43434
Fax: +33 1 431 43430
adr.productions@wanadoo.fr

Drygas Production
11/84 Limanwoskiego str.
Warsaw, Poland
Tel: +48 22 6515058
Fax: +48 22 651 5634
doug@d-word.com
mvfilm@polbox.com

sales info:
TVP SA
17, J.P. Woronicz str.
00-999 Warsaw, Poland
Tel: +48 22 547 6139
Fax: +4822 547 7583
sales@tvp.pl
www.tvp.pl

filmography:
False Start, 1981 / Psychotherapy, 1984 / Hear My Cry, 1991 / State of Weightlessness, 1994 / Voices of Hope, 2002

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In the spring of 1992, the South Korean film director became acquainted with two elderly North Korean men after their release from prison. Sent to South Korea as spies, they were arrested and spent over thirty years in prison, serving out their sentences without renouncing their communist beliefs. By the end of the 1990s, relations between North and South Korea had improved somewhat, and even the most hardened unconverted cases were released. The director's friendship with the released inmates allowed him to film them for more than a decade. Starting with questions on the dehumanizing conversion process, the filming evolved into a record of the diverse reactions towards the ex-spies now living in South Korean society. In 2000, sixty-three former "unconverted" prisoners were finally repatriated to the North. When the filmmaker tried to follow them to Pyongyang he was refused an entrance visa and his communication with this group virtually stopped. This self-questioning reflection on the possibility of understanding the experiences and standpoints of others leaves the viewer with a disturbing question to ponder: can hope for peace and coexistence overcome ideological differences?

producer: Kim Dong-won
camera: Kim Tai-il, Jung Chang-young, Chang Young-kil, Oh Jung-hoon, Moon Jung-hyun
editor: Kim Dong-won, Ryu Mi-rye
music: Kim Dong-bum, Lee Ji-eun

festival info:
Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival, Japan, 2003 / Grand Prize, Audience Prize - Seoul Independent 2004 / Freedom of Expression Award - Sundance Film Festival, Park City, USA, 2004 / Amnesty International Film Festival, USA 2004 / New York Human Rights Watch, USA, 2004 / Brisbane International Film Festival, Australia, 2004 / Adelaide Film Festival, Australia, 2005

production info:
P.U.R.N Production
3FL. Chonggang Bldg., 343-5
Sindaebang2-dong, Dongjak-ku
Seoul, 156-012, Korea
Tel: +82 2 823 9124
docukdw@yahoo.co.kr
docukdw@empal.com

sales info:
INDIESTORY Inc.
Gina Kang
4fl. BaekAk Bldg. 135-4
TongIn-dong, JongRoh-gu
Seoul, 110-043, Korea
Tel: +82 2 722 6051
Fax: +82 2 722 6055
indiestory@indiestory.com
www.indiestory.com

filmography:
Sangkeiy-dong Olympics, 1988 / Standing on the Edge of Death, 1990 / In the Forest of Media, 1993 / Haengdang-dong People, 1994 / We'll Be One, 1995 / The 6 Days Struggle at the Myong Dong Cathedral, 1997 / Another World We Are Making, 1999 / One Man, 2001

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The dramatic story of the Seissers, a Sudeten-German family of prosperous landowners from Velichovky, a little spa town in Bohemia. Drawing on a large family film archive and the recollections of relatives and contemporaries, the director performs at once the function of family chronicler and "time archeologist", reconstructing their life in the 1930-40s, as everyday routine and festivities become more and more intertwined with "big history". Karl's oldest daughter Lili gets married to a Czech doctor in 1934 and the family travels to Germany for the occasion, filming the changing face of Berlin. Ria is dating a low-class clerk of German origin, who gradually starts taking advantage of his ethnic background. Edith, the youngest and most stubborn and rational, falls for a Nazi colonel much older then herself. The birth of their son coincides with his promotion to general in the German army. Adding to the private recordings a soundtrack which is at times meditative or anxious, the director makes us ponder on the complex fusion of personal choices and responsibilities. The flow of time, neither completely lost nor fully recaptured, is nurtured by exceptional intimacy, reachable only with very close people. In 1992, the director Jan Sˇ ikl founded an Archive of Private Film History. King of Velichovky is part of the on-going project called Private Century.

screenplay: Jan Šikl
editor: Jan Daňhel
sound: Dan Němec

festival info:
Best Czech Documentary Film - Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, 2005

production info:
PRAGAFILM
Londýnská 28
Praha 12000, Czech Republic Tel: +42 222 522 282, + 420 608 250 005 (cell)
Fax: +42 222 522 242
pf@wo.cz

sales info:
CZECH TELEVISION - TELEXPORT
Londýnská 28 /Kavčí hory
Praha 14000, Czech Republic
Tel: + 42 222 522 282 / 26 11 37 047
Fax: + 42 222 522 242 / 26 12 11 354
jarmila.svorcova@czech-tv.cz
telexport@czech-tv.cz
www.czech-tv.cz

filmography:
On the Road, 2003 / Winning Your Heart, 2004 / Daddy and Lili Marlen, 2005

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A painstaking investigation into the history of the 1991 Vukovar tragedy. Why was it that Vukovar, a rich Slavonian town famous as a "miniature Yugoslavia", Tito's exemplary town of unity, was the one location to suffer total apocalypse, comparable to the sacrifice and siege of Stalingrad, and by the extent of destruction, and scenes shown around the world, reminiscent of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Why was a city which had neither strategic importance nor a strong military presence in the conflict between the Yugoslav National Army and the Croatian military, so systematically destroyed while the Serbian (Milosˇ evic´) and Croatian (Tudjman) leaders walked around Tito's estate, discussing plans for a new division of Yugoslavia? With the help of the survivors and available archives, a Serbian director and a Croatian journalist put together the pieces of this impossible mosaic. This film is neither a Serbian documentary nor a Croatian one. It is the first Serbian- Croatian co-production about this painful topic, whose wounds have yet to heal, even after a lapse of fifteen years.

producers: Veran Matic, Vanja Kranjac
screenplay: Janko Baljak, Drago Hedl
camera: Jovan Milinov
editor: Aleksandra Milovanovic
sound: Igor Perovic
music: Janja Loncar

festival info:
Human Rights Award - 12th Sarajevo Film Festival, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 2006 / Belgrade Film Festival, Serbia, 2006 / Zagreb Documentary Film Festival, Croatia, 2006 / FilmFest München, Germany, 2006

production and sales info:
TV B92, Boulevard Annoj - a 64
11070 Belgrade, Serbia
Tel: + 381 11 301 2000 ext.3288
Fax: +381 11 301 2001
Ana.gruden@b92.net
www.b92.net

filmography:
Once Upon a Time in Serbia, 1991 / Eco Aqua di Montenegro, 1993 / Images of Sad Events, 1993 / Extreme Belgrade, 1993 / All the President's News, 1994 / Kosovo Trilogy, 1994 / Belgrade Radio Bridegroom, 1994 / The Crime that Changed Serbia, 1995 / Ethnically Clean, 1998 / Tobacco Road, 1998 / Anatomy of Pain, 2000 / The Dead Kill - Anatomy of Pain 2, 2001 / Serbia in Garbage Can, 2002

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