TBILISI: The total 2020 box office in Georgia decreased by 86% from 4,145,123 EUR / 13,264,395 GEL in 2019 to 564,637 EUR / 2,258,549 GEL in 2020, as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Admissions to domestic films decreased from 37,865 in 2019 to 2,000 in 2020, while total admissions dropped by 83% from 1,359,365 in 2019 to 230,160 in 2020.
American films dominated the Georgian box office in 2020:
Bad Boys for Life directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah was released on 23 February 2020 and managed to rack up 34,776 admissions (according to Georgian Cinemas) with 88,340 EUR / 353,362 GEL gross until March, before the pandemic broke.
Jumanji directed by Jake Kasdan had 33,559 admissions and approximately 81,742 EUR / 326,968 GEL gross in 8 weeks.
How Czech Animation Managed the Pandemic Year 2020 And What Lies Ahead This Year
Last year, the Covid-19 pandemic hit all creative industries, and animation was no exception. Many domestic and foreign festivals, where premieres take place and distribution cooperation is negotiated, have been cancelled or moved to the online environment. How did Czech animation creators cope with the limitations and new challenges?
As early as in March, the Association of Czech Animation Film responded to the crisis with a statement, proposing steps to strengthen the segment of domestic production of animated content, especially of series, so that the Czech Republic can disengage economically from the dominant focus on live action film, thus boosting a significant sector of creative industries which may largely exist and work online.
Latvian/Norwegian Animation My Favourite War Signs Distribution Deals with Spain and France
RIGA: The feature animation
My Favourite War / Mans mīļākais karš, directed by Ilze Burkovska-Jacoben and produced by Trond Jacobsen for Bivrost Film & TV and Guntis Trekteris for Ego Media, has signed distribution deals with Spain and France.
The film’s Spanish distributor is Versus Entertainment, and Destiny Films will be handling the film’s distribution in France.
My Favourite War is a personal story of the director about growing up in Soviet Latvia during the Cold War era, looking back at her childhood and perception of Soviet reality through a child’s eyes.
FNE IDF Podcast: True Story: Acasa, My Home: Radu Ciorniciuc
This week True Story, a collaborative project between the Institute of Documentary Film and Film New Europe, speaks to Romanian documentary maker Radu Ciorniciuc, who speaks about his observational documentary
Acasa, My Home.
In the wilderness of the Bucharest Delta, nine children and their parents occupied an off-grid homestead for 20 years until being chased out and forced to live in the big city. In his newest film, Radu Ciorniciuc documents the family as they face life in the system for the first time. Many difficult questions arise about the freedom and choice to: be illiterate, live off nature, ignore private property, not participate in society, and many more.
PRAGUE: The international documentary rough-cut workshop dok.incubator will celebrate its 10th anniversary with three one-week workshops taking place in April, June and September 2021 under the evolving Covid-19 circumstances. The deadline for new applications to participate in the workshops is 27 January, and the no fee early bird deadline is 15 January.
“Despite the difficult situation we were able to keep the high quality of our final films thanks to the extraordinary effort of our tutors, who were traveling into the participants editing rooms over the whole Europe. We would like to employ a hybrid form for the beginning of 2021,” says project director Andrea Prenghyová.