HUSH VR IN COMPETITION AT THE VENICE FILM FESTIVAL

We are thrilled to announce that the VR piece Hush, directed by Vibeke Bryld, has been selected for this year’s VR competition at the Venice Film Festival.

This year the VR section will be entirely online, meaning that industry professionals and accredited guests can access the VR selection from home, via an innovative digital platform supported by HTC VIVEPORT, Facebook’s Oculus, VRChat and VRrOOm - instead of the physical installations for the world class exhibition the festival usually hosts on an island in Venice during the festival.

The Venice VR Expanded platform will also be accessible in different locations around the world, thanks to the availability of different institutions which have joined the Satellite venues network program. The list of Satellite locations will be announced shortly.

Hush is joined by two other Danish projects in the official competition section: The Hangman at Home by Uri & Michelle Kranot (Late Love Productions) and Smagen af Sult/The Taste of Hunger by Christoffer Boe & David Adler (Makropol).

The piece is produced by Maria Kristensen for Final Cut for Real in collaboration with CG supervisor and animator Lars Hemmingsen Nørgaard and Midtjysk 3D Service. It is supported by The Danish Film Institute, the West Danish Film Fund, The Danish Arts Council, Danish Film Directors, FAF and the North Denmark Region.

Click here to read the full press release, and to find a list of all the selected projects.

News about the selection from the Danish Film Institute (in Danish)

'OLEG AND THE WAR' IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CURRICULUM

We’re so proud to announce that Oleg and the War (children’s version of The Distant Barking of Dogs) is being used as educational material in the Danish elementary schools. Thanks to UNICEF, The Danish Film Institute and Skoletjenesten, pupils now learn about children’s rights and the UN’s sustainable development goals, while making their own short films inspired by Oleg and the War.

See more here (in Danish).

FINAL CUT FOR REAL JOINS DIGITAL VERSION OF CPH:DOX 2020

Final Cut for Real is delighted to join the digital version of CPH:DOX this year with a collection of compelling titles!

The following three works will be presented both in and out of competition.

 
SONGS OF REPRESSION by Estephan Wagner & Marianne Hougen-Moraga

The film follows a small German colony in Chile that was once founded as a sectarian settlement and now operates as a beautiful tourist resort. It explores how the inhabitants have developed different narratives in order to cope with the grim and traumatic past.

See online here.

The film is selected for CPH:DOX main competition and Politikens competition for Best Danish Documentary. 

MEANWHILE ON EARTH  by Carl Olsson

When we die, there are still practicalities that need to be taken care of before our time among the living is finally over. The film is a patient and heartfelt portrayal of the Swedish funerary industry, filled with peculiar yet wholehearted rituals.

See online here.

 
LITTLE GIRL by Sébastien Lifshitz

A common myth is that trans identity manifests itself quite late, when in fact it starts to appear at a very early stage of life. Little Girl tells a story of a little boy, who refuses to be a little boy – to conform to what the sex he was born as expects from him. 

See online here.

Don’t miss this chance – witness the world / hear from the filmmakers / get engaged with us!

Looking forward to sharing this with you!

FILMS AVAILABLE FOR SCREENING AT DRTV

We are happy to announce that a selection of films produced by Final Cut for Real are now available for screening at DRTV. The films are listed below and accompanied by a link to DR’s website. Enjoy!

Content on DRTV can only be accessed in Denmark.

The Distant Barking of Dogs

The Distant Barking of Dogs is director Simon Lereng Wilmont's first feature. It is set in Eastern Ukraine on the frontline of the war. The film follows the life of 10-year-old Ukrainian boy Oleg throughout a year, witnessing the gradual erosion of his innocence beneath the pressures of war. Through Oleg’s perspective, the film examines what it means to grow up in a war zone. It portrays how a child’s universal struggle to discover what the world is about grows interlaced with all the dangers and challenges the war presents.

The Act of Killing

Joshua Oppenheimer's Oscar nominated documentary The Act of Killing, explores the massive genocide that took place in Indonesia in the 1960s from the perspective of the perpetrators. The government of Indonesia was overthrown by the military in 1965, and more than a million people - communists, people of Chinese descent and intellectuals were executed. The movie is set in the city Medan on the island Sumatra. Here the filmmakers challenge the death squad leaders to dramatize how they participated in the genocide. The result is a surreal cinematic journey into the mass murderers ideas and fantasies about themselves and their victims. Simultaneously the movie presents us to a frightening and extremely corrupt regime, where the murderers have faced no judgement but instead are celebrated as heroes.

The Look of Silence

The Look of Silence, is a companion piece to The Act of Killing, The film follows a young optometrist as he attempts to bring the past into focus. The family discovers how their son was murdered during the Indonesian genocide - as well as the identity of the men who murdered him. The film documents the confrontation in the absence of any truth and reconciliation process, while the murderers remain in power.

Pervert Park

Pervert Park by Frida and Lasse Barkfors, is a film about the people no one wants as a neighbour. It follows the every day life of the sex offenders in a Florida trailer park as they struggle to reintegrate into society, and gives us a chance to understand who they are and how the destructive cycle of sexual abuse and silence can be broken.

Death of a Child

Death of a Child is Frida and Lasse Barkfors’ second film in a trilogy exploring social stigma. Pervert Park was the first. It is an exploration of the lives of parents who have caused their own children’s deaths. The film encompasses many different situations in life where tragedy hits and where someone is at fault, because of mistakes, accidents, neglect or mental illness. There is however something with what these parents have done that seem to trigger a specific social rage and condemnation. Because what kind of parent forgets a baby in a car?

Land of the Free

Land of the Free, directed by Camilla Magid, is a moving portrayal of life after prison in the US. In South Central, Los Angeles, we follow Brian, a 42-year-old man, just released after having spent his whole adult life in prison. On his own, he must adapt to a modernised and changed society. He has to tackle the challenges of the Internet, getting a driver's license, and finding love. The film tackles hard hitting cultural issues and works to show the humanity in a deeply troubling environment where the prison industrial system often targets and holds back people of color.

Håbet bag hegnet / Les Sauteurs

Les Sauteurs, a film directed by Estephan Wagner and Moritz Siebert in collaboration with the film's protagonist Abou Bakar Sidibé, is ultimately a film about making a film. It is Abou's portrayal of the human struggle for dignity and freedom on one of the World's most militarised frontiers. In northern Morocco lies the Spanish enclave of Melilla: Europe on African Land. On the mountain above live over a thousand hopeful African migrants, watching the land border, a fence system separating Morocco and Spain. Abou from Mali is one of them - the protagonist in front of the camera, as well as the person behind it. For over a year, he has ceaselessly persisted in attempting to jump the fence.

'THE DISTANT BARKING OF DOGS' NOMINATED FOR TVPRISEN 2020

We are very proud to announce that The Distant Barking of Dogs is nominated for Tvprisen 2020. The film, directed by Simon Lereng Wilmont, is nominated in the category for Best Documentary along with nine other nominees.

Tvprisen is an annual event arranged by the Danish Producers’ Association. An award show where the TV-industry acknowledges and celebrates the best Danish TV-programmes of the year.

The 2020 awards will be presented on January 18th at Tivoli Hotel & Congress Center in Copenhagen.

FINAL CUT FOR REAL AT IDFA 2019

Once again Final Cut for Real will be well represented at IDFA – the following Final Cut for Real productions and co-productions can be found at IDFA 2019:

SCREENINGS
A Comedian in A Syrian Tragedy by Rami Farah will have its world premiere at this year’s IDFA and will have four screenings in total. It is an intimate portrait of the Syrian film and television actor Fares Helou, who is forced into exile after standing by the pro-democracy protestors in Syria, 2011. With his family he starts a new chapter in France full of questions, disappointments and alienation, but also of hope and cultural confusion that calls for laughter. The film is produced by Lyana Saleh for OSOR (France) and Signe Byrge Sørensen for Final Cut for Real (Denmark) in co-production with Cindy Le Templier for SHASHAT Multimedia Productions (Jordan) and Anita Rehoff Larsen for Sant & Usant (Norway).

SCREENING TIMES AND LOCATIONS
23/11 – 18:30 – at Munt 13 - w/ Q&A
25/11 – 17:30 – at De Balie - Grote Zaal - w/ Q&A
26/11 – 22:00 – at Brakke Grond Grote Zaal - w/ Q&A
30/11 – 10:00 – at Tuschinski 6

Purchase tickets here.

Furthermore, this year two Final Cut for Real productions are selected for Rough Cut Screenings at IDFA Sunday November 24.

The Art of Repression by Estephan Wagner & Marianne Hougen-Moraga focuses on a small German colony in Chile that has transformed a grim, sectarian past into a beautiful tourist resort. The filmmakers explore how the inhabitants have developed different narratives in order to survive 45 years of traumas. The film is produced by Heidi Elise Christensen and Signe Byrge Sørensen for Final Cut for Real.

I See for You by Cille Hannibal & co-director Christine Hanberg describes the challenges of being without all of your senses. Most people have five senses, but Peter only has three. Having lost both his sight and hearing as a newborn, his family must see and hear the world for him. The film is produced by Monica Hellström for Final Cut for Real.

ROUGH CUT SCREENINGS TAKE PLACE 24/11 AT TUSCHINSKI 5
The Art of Repression – 11:00-11:45
I See for You – 16:45-17:25

PLEASE NOTE: Only access with IDFA Forum pass

Final Cut for Real will be represented at IDFA by producers Signe Byrge Sørensen, Heidi Elise Christensen and Monica Hellström.