Only ten days left before the beginning of the 17th Titanic
International Film Festival comprising 61 films from 25 countries in 9
sections. The opening press conference was held on March 30th, Tuesday
morning in Uránia National Film Theatre, the soon to be festival centre.
György Horváth festival director told us during the conference that we have all the reasons to be happy and proud, as Titanic means the establishment of a festival where the atmosphere has a life of its own. “Each year there is an aura of the feeling that it is good to watch movies in a community. And that is why it is good to organise a festival”, said Titanic’s ‘captain’.
Balázs Vízer programme coordinator talked about the competition sector first. He pointed out that this year there is one more film, altogether ten works, competing for the 10 000 euro Breaking the Waves Award. In this connection, we can celebrate a sort of jubilee, as Titanic has had the function of a competition festival for five years now. The programme coordinator drew attention to several films in competition, although personally, his favourite is City of Life and Death from China.
According to the tradition, there are several French films programmed at Titanic – within and outside the competition section as well. As each year, they make up a separate block at the festival. The features of the French Shoals were presented by Jérome Bloch, the deputy manager of the French Institute (in the middle of the picture). With 6 films of this section, the French competition film, and one documentary, altogether 8 French films can be seen at the event, also showing how wide the scope of French cinema is.
For these are all the most diverse works in genre: from the comedy to the drama and war stories. According to Bloch it is important to note that several of the films to be projected (for instance, the war film called Intimate Enemies) touches a taboo theme, while others are premier films which have just made their debut in France as well (like White Material, in competition). In addition, several pictures feature great stars of French cinema: among them Isabelle Huppert or Christopher Lambert. The Titanic is going to host French guests invited, too: Rémi Bezancon, the director of The First Day of the Rest of Your Life and that of One Night in the Club (see photo), Jean Achache.
One filmmaker was already present at the press conference: Marcell Iványi (on the right side of the picture), the director of Soul Dance programmed in the music block of Titanic (the only completely Hungarian feature in the whole festival). Marcell emphasised how happy he was that his film premiered at such a lively festival as Titanic. He also paid tribute to Judit Matatek who died last year but, though seriously ill, had still participated in the production featuring handicapped, blind and non handicapped dancers together, performed by the Bozsik Yvette Company, the Tánceánia Group and the Gördülő Tánccsoport.
One of the most important announcements of the press conference was the one ‘revealing’ the international jury that is to attribute the Breaking the Waves Award already mentioned. The director is Nick James, chief editor of Sight & Sound (see picture), and the members are Tiina Lokk, manager of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival and Péter Gothár, theatre and film director. At the end of the press conference the professional programs and other accompanying events were mentioned as well. The full list of these can be found on our website soon, as well as the complete festival programme; until then, in the special edition of Pesti Est Titanic.
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