Cannes Critics' Week launches young critics initiative

Cannes’ Semaine de la Critique (Critics’ Week) is following film festivals such as Rotterdam, Berlin, Warsaw and Locarno to launch an initiative supporting the next generation of film critics.

Film critics aged 22-30 from Romania, Argentina, Mexico and France are invited to apply for four places to attend this year’s Cannes Film Festival and review films of the Critics’ Week with the help of an editorial coordinator.

In addition, the young critics will serve on the newly created France 4 Visionary Award Jury – with a film-maker as jury president – to present its award to one of the seven films in Critics’ Week line-up.

More details here: http://www.semainedelacritique.com/EN/jeunes_talents.php

Moscow reveals 2014 plans

This year’s Moscow International Film Festival (June 19-28) will also be giving a break to the next generation of film critics by accepting younger colleagues into its selection committee which is headed by veteran critic Andrey Plakhov.

The 36^th edition under the direction of Kirill Razlogov and presidency of film-maker/actor Nikita Mikhalkov will present a Focus on British Cinema of the 1950s and 1960s as part of the Russian-British Year of Culture, a homage to Krzysztof Zanussi on the occasion of his 75^th birthday, and a section dedicated to the late Russian actor Vladimir Dmitriev.

In addition, the festival will collaborate with the Goethe Institut on a programme of German films under the banner of !The Sky Above Berlin!, and Bela Tarr will be offered the chance to show his favourite films in a “Carte Blanche”, as well as a programme being organised on films to mark the 100^th anniversary of the beginning of the First World War.

Odessa film festival changes

Julia Sinkevych, previously the head of Odessa’s Film Industry Office, has taken over from Denis Ivanov as the festival’s executive producer for the forthcoming edition (July 11-19).

Producer-distributor Ivanov will now concentrate on developing festival and distribution projects at his company Arthouse Traffic.

In another move, Anthelme Vidaud, the former audiovisual attaché of Ukraine’s French Institute, has joined Odessa’s selection committee of  Viktoria Tigipko, Alik Shpilyuk and Ilya Dyadyk.

Moreover, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg’s Kirsten Niehuus, Unifrance’s Joël Chapron, the Israel Film Fund’s Katriel Schory, German Films’ Simone Baumann, and Russian film-maker Valery Todorovsky have  agreed to become members of the festival’s Advisory Board in order to further improve the festival’s international profile.

Ukraine will be represented on this Board by Denis Ivanov.