This week’s major BIFA nominees were all shut out by the European Film Awards.
UK producers have emphasised their commitment to European co-production on the eve of the European Film Awards (EFAs), in which UK films are conspicuous by their absence.
Two non-uk actors in UK-European productions are the sole representatives in the Efa nominations: Viggo Mortensen for Falling and Natasha Berezhnaya for Dau. Natasha.
“From a filmmaker’s point of view, we mostly are very pro-European,” said Andrea Cornwell, the producer of Rose Glass’s Saint Maud. This week the low-budget horror film received a record 17 Bifa nominations...
UK producers have emphasised their commitment to European co-production on the eve of the European Film Awards (EFAs), in which UK films are conspicuous by their absence.
Two non-uk actors in UK-European productions are the sole representatives in the Efa nominations: Viggo Mortensen for Falling and Natasha Berezhnaya for Dau. Natasha.
“From a filmmaker’s point of view, we mostly are very pro-European,” said Andrea Cornwell, the producer of Rose Glass’s Saint Maud. This week the low-budget horror film received a record 17 Bifa nominations...
- 12/11/2020
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
This year’s selection will be announced over two waves to account for pandemic conditions.
The first 32 features up for the 2020 European Films Awards has been announced with a second wave of “pandemic year” titles due to be revealed in September.
Scroll down for first selection of films
The titles include Armando Iannucci’s The Personal History Of David Copperfield and Viggo Mortensen’s Falling as well as Berlinale award-winners Undine, by Christian Petzold; Hidden Away, by Giorgio Diritti; Bad Tales, by the D’Innocenzo Brothers; Dau. Natasha, by Ilya Khrzhanovskiy and Jekaterina Oertel; and Delete History, by Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern.
The first 32 features up for the 2020 European Films Awards has been announced with a second wave of “pandemic year” titles due to be revealed in September.
Scroll down for first selection of films
The titles include Armando Iannucci’s The Personal History Of David Copperfield and Viggo Mortensen’s Falling as well as Berlinale award-winners Undine, by Christian Petzold; Hidden Away, by Giorgio Diritti; Bad Tales, by the D’Innocenzo Brothers; Dau. Natasha, by Ilya Khrzhanovskiy and Jekaterina Oertel; and Delete History, by Benoît Delépine and Gustave Kervern.
- 8/18/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
[Editor’s note: “Cat in the Wall” is one of more than 100 movies originally scheduled to screen at the SXSW Film Festival in March. After the coronavirus outbreak forced the festival to cancel, event organizers partnered with Amazon Prime to make seven of those features available to stream for free through Weds., May 6.]
In present-day London, a Bulgarian single mother feuds with her working-class British neighbors over the rightful ownership of an independent-minded family pet, all the while raging that the apartment she bought is being needlessly renovated against her wishes, and at great personal expense to her. The metaphors for sociopolitical tension in Brexit Britain may be mixed in “Cat in the Wall,” but that doesn’t make them any less plain.
Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova’s smart, bristly film makes some room for oblique everyday poetry in its depiction of immigrants asserting their ground in an unstable country, but is...
In present-day London, a Bulgarian single mother feuds with her working-class British neighbors over the rightful ownership of an independent-minded family pet, all the while raging that the apartment she bought is being needlessly renovated against her wishes, and at great personal expense to her. The metaphors for sociopolitical tension in Brexit Britain may be mixed in “Cat in the Wall,” but that doesn’t make them any less plain.
Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova’s smart, bristly film makes some room for oblique everyday poetry in its depiction of immigrants asserting their ground in an unstable country, but is...
- 5/2/2020
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova are prepping a new project based on on true events.
Bulgarian filmmakers Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova received the top award at Trieste’s When East Meets West (Wemw) co-production market, which ran 19-21 Jan.
The duo were awarded the Film Center Serbia Development Prize for their second fiction project, Women Do Cry, which follows their fiction debut Cat In The Wall, which premiered at Locarno last year.
Based on true events and Kazakova’s own family history, the new feature ”will encompass what being a woman means in the backdrop of funny and absurd contradictions in current Bulgarian society,...
Bulgarian filmmakers Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova received the top award at Trieste’s When East Meets West (Wemw) co-production market, which ran 19-21 Jan.
The duo were awarded the Film Center Serbia Development Prize for their second fiction project, Women Do Cry, which follows their fiction debut Cat In The Wall, which premiered at Locarno last year.
Based on true events and Kazakova’s own family history, the new feature ”will encompass what being a woman means in the backdrop of funny and absurd contradictions in current Bulgarian society,...
- 1/22/2020
- by 158¦Martin Blaney¦40¦
- ScreenDaily
Lucy Bevan, casting director on “Cats” and “Cruella,” is among the jury members for the upcoming edition of European Film Promotion’s annual European Shooting Stars. It selects Europe’s best young acting talent, with the roster unveiled ahead of the Berlin Film Festival in February, where they will receive their awards.
Bevan will be joined on the five-strong jury by Dome Karukoski, the Finnish director of “Tolkien” and other films including “Home of the Dark Butterflies” and “Tom of Finland,” both of which have been his country’s Oscar entries. Vesela Kazakova, the actor-turned-director, whose debut feature “Cat in the Wall” premiered at Locarno, is also on board.
Slovak producer Katarína Krnáčová, vice president of the Slovak Film and Television Academy and producer of “Little Harbour,” which won the Crystal Bear at Berlin in 2017, and German film journalist Rüdiger Sturm round out the judging lineup.
The jury will choose...
Bevan will be joined on the five-strong jury by Dome Karukoski, the Finnish director of “Tolkien” and other films including “Home of the Dark Butterflies” and “Tom of Finland,” both of which have been his country’s Oscar entries. Vesela Kazakova, the actor-turned-director, whose debut feature “Cat in the Wall” premiered at Locarno, is also on board.
Slovak producer Katarína Krnáčová, vice president of the Slovak Film and Television Academy and producer of “Little Harbour,” which won the Crystal Bear at Berlin in 2017, and German film journalist Rüdiger Sturm round out the judging lineup.
The jury will choose...
- 11/28/2019
- by Stewart Clarke
- Variety Film + TV
Barcelona-based studio Filmax has acquired international sales rights to Avelina Prat’s feature-debut “Vasil,” which is currently in pre-production. Filmax also handles Spanish distribution.
“Vasil” is produced by Barcelona-based Distinto Films, which backed Patricia Ferreira’s “The Wild Children,” in co-production with Bulgaria’s Activist 38, which made Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova’s “Cat in the Wall.”
“This new Distinto Films’ project tackles very contemporary European issues , with a very personal and deep insight into the story’s characters,” said Filmax CEO Carlos Fernández.
Inspired by the director’s own experiences, the feature follows Vasil, a chess and bridge champion arriving in Spain from Bulgaria. He meets Maureen, an Irish woman who decides to help him, Yorgos, a Greek who gives him work; and Alfredo, who offers his sofa as a temporary home.
Principal photography is scheduled from May in Valencia and Barcelona.
Ivan Barnev, a best actor winner...
“Vasil” is produced by Barcelona-based Distinto Films, which backed Patricia Ferreira’s “The Wild Children,” in co-production with Bulgaria’s Activist 38, which made Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova’s “Cat in the Wall.”
“This new Distinto Films’ project tackles very contemporary European issues , with a very personal and deep insight into the story’s characters,” said Filmax CEO Carlos Fernández.
Inspired by the director’s own experiences, the feature follows Vasil, a chess and bridge champion arriving in Spain from Bulgaria. He meets Maureen, an Irish woman who decides to help him, Yorgos, a Greek who gives him work; and Alfredo, who offers his sofa as a temporary home.
Principal photography is scheduled from May in Valencia and Barcelona.
Ivan Barnev, a best actor winner...
- 11/10/2019
- by Emilio Mayorga
- Variety Film + TV
The Latvian film by Juris Kursietis has won out over six other Central and Eastern European movies. At the awards ceremony of the 12th edition of CinÉast, held at the Cinémathèque Luxembourg on Saturday 20 October, the international jury presided over by renowned French director-scriptwriter Jacques Doillon awarded the Grand Prix to Oleg by Juris Kursietis (Latvia/Belgium/Lithuania/France) and the Special Jury Prize to Corpus Christi by Jan Komasa (Poland/France). The rest of the jury was composed of Venice Days programmer Renata Santoro, Romanian filmmaker Marius Olteanu, Luxembourgish director-producer Adolf El Assal and Luxembourgish actress Sophie Mousel. The wins for Oleg and Corpus Christi come after a successful run on the festival circuit for both films. In the CinÉast selection, they locked horns with a strong group of movies that also included Cat in the Wall by Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova, Nova Lituania by Karolis Kaupinis, Scandinavian Silence by Martti.
- 10/21/2019
- Cineuropa - The Best of European Cinema
Walls of existence: Politics & Pettiness find a Way Through the Cracks of Everyday Life in Bulgarian Debut
Bulgarian duo Vesela Kazakova and Mina Mileva’s giddy fiction debut packs more than your typical feline-themed studio film. Set inside and outside a UK social housing unit and flavoured with a lot of Marxist terminology, Cat in the Wall catches Irina (Irina Atanasova), a corky immigrant single mother living with her son, Jojo (Orlin Asenov) and brother, Vlado (Angel Genov) in a vulnerable position. Her career as a Bulgarian architect is not enough to make ends meet, which is why she took up bartending.…...
Bulgarian duo Vesela Kazakova and Mina Mileva’s giddy fiction debut packs more than your typical feline-themed studio film. Set inside and outside a UK social housing unit and flavoured with a lot of Marxist terminology, Cat in the Wall catches Irina (Irina Atanasova), a corky immigrant single mother living with her son, Jojo (Orlin Asenov) and brother, Vlado (Angel Genov) in a vulnerable position. Her career as a Bulgarian architect is not enough to make ends meet, which is why she took up bartending.…...
- 10/17/2019
- by Bogdan Balla
- IONCINEMA.com
Vesela Kazakova and Mina Mileva’s drama also played in Competition at Sarajevo.
Vesela Kazakova and Mina Mileva’s drama Cat In The Wall, which world-premiered at the Locarno Film Festival, has had its Spanish rights picked up by Surtsey Films.
Rome-based sales agent Coccinelle struck the deal on the English-language project, which was also in competition at this year’s Sarajevo Film Festival.
The Bulgarian, UK and French co-production is inspired by true events. Set in a London council estate on the eve of Brexit, it revolves around a Bulgarian migrant family fighting their increasingly xenophobic working-class neighbours over the ownership of a cat.
Vesela Kazakova and Mina Mileva’s drama Cat In The Wall, which world-premiered at the Locarno Film Festival, has had its Spanish rights picked up by Surtsey Films.
Rome-based sales agent Coccinelle struck the deal on the English-language project, which was also in competition at this year’s Sarajevo Film Festival.
The Bulgarian, UK and French co-production is inspired by true events. Set in a London council estate on the eve of Brexit, it revolves around a Bulgarian migrant family fighting their increasingly xenophobic working-class neighbours over the ownership of a cat.
- 9/4/2019
- by Gabriele Niola
- ScreenDaily
The Sarajevo Film Festival’s CineLink Work in Progress section has become a major venue for filmmakers from Southeastern Europe, the Middle East and North Africa – this year it saw nearly 70 submissions, the most in the past decade.
The competitive program boasts a large number of projects that have gone on to achieve major success. This year the fest is screening three films that took part in past Work in Progress editions, including Ljubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska’s documentary “Honeyland,” winner of the grand jury prize at Sundance; Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova’s “Cat in the Wall,” which unspooled at Locarno; and Radu Dragomir’s “Mo.”
Among the 11 projects selected this year were nine features and two documentaries, including Dimitris Bavellas’s Greek drama “In the Strange Pursuit of Laura Durand,” about two dysfunctional men searching for the love of their life: a 90s porn star who mysteriously...
The competitive program boasts a large number of projects that have gone on to achieve major success. This year the fest is screening three films that took part in past Work in Progress editions, including Ljubomir Stefanov and Tamara Kotevska’s documentary “Honeyland,” winner of the grand jury prize at Sundance; Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova’s “Cat in the Wall,” which unspooled at Locarno; and Radu Dragomir’s “Mo.”
Among the 11 projects selected this year were nine features and two documentaries, including Dimitris Bavellas’s Greek drama “In the Strange Pursuit of Laura Durand,” about two dysfunctional men searching for the love of their life: a 90s porn star who mysteriously...
- 8/21/2019
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Rising from the rubble of the Bosnian War to become one of Southeastern Europe’s leading film and TV industry events, the Sarajevo Film Festival has plenty to celebrate as it marks its 25th edition this year.
The festival was established in 1995 during the four-year siege of Sarajevo as part of an effort to help the reconstruction of society and save the cosmopolitan spirit of the city. Today Sarajevo not only plays a vital role for the region’s growing film and TV industries, it is also becoming an increasingly significant conduit to global partners in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas.
“From the very start, we have been inspired by art and it helped us create new values and break the existing social and cultural barriers,” Sarajevo Film Festival director Mirsad Purivatra says.
Indeed, Unesco is honoring the fest this year for its promotion of “dialogue and tolerance through the arts.
The festival was established in 1995 during the four-year siege of Sarajevo as part of an effort to help the reconstruction of society and save the cosmopolitan spirit of the city. Today Sarajevo not only plays a vital role for the region’s growing film and TV industries, it is also becoming an increasingly significant conduit to global partners in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas.
“From the very start, we have been inspired by art and it helped us create new values and break the existing social and cultural barriers,” Sarajevo Film Festival director Mirsad Purivatra says.
Indeed, Unesco is honoring the fest this year for its promotion of “dialogue and tolerance through the arts.
- 8/17/2019
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
In their feature film debut, “Cat in the Wall,” which screens in competition at both Locarno and Sarajevo film festivals, Mina Mileva and Vesela Kazakova examine life on a housing project in modern-day London, where the often difficult co-existence of immigrants and locals is under threat from gentrification. Written and directed by the London-based Bulgarian filmmakers, the film tells the true story of how a cat, stuck in a wall, affects a community and changes the lives of diverse neighbors, while also tackling timely issues like immigration, xenophobia and Brexit. Mileva and Kazakova discuss their work and the film’s origins with Variety.
How did this film come about and what was your inspiration to tell this story?
Mina: In my 20 years of freelancing in England I’ve never been asked where I come from until the anti-migrant media frenzy began around 2010. Headlines warned about the influx of 30 million Bulgarian and Romanian migrants.
How did this film come about and what was your inspiration to tell this story?
Mina: In my 20 years of freelancing in England I’ve never been asked where I come from until the anti-migrant media frenzy began around 2010. Headlines warned about the influx of 30 million Bulgarian and Romanian migrants.
- 8/13/2019
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
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