18/04/2007

Undoubtedly one of most exhilarating local film events, IndieLisboa is back tomorrow to celebrate its fourth edition with a programme that includes over 300 titles.

The Austrian experimental music documentary Life in Loops by German-born director Timo Novotny was chosen to open the festival, setting clear from the very start the independent orientation of the showcase, which this year will also feature five European films competing for the Film Grand Prize (€7,500), alongside another wave of European titles spread throughout the festival’s sidebar sections.

Europeans in competition include emerging filmmaking talents who have won acclaim in international festivals, such as Hungarian director Ágnes Kocsis, who will present her Cannes 2006 entry Fresh Air [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (see news); Sweden's Jesper Ganslandt, onhand with his Venice 2006 intimate teenage drama Farväl Falkenberg [+see also:
trailer
film profile]; France's Laurent Achard, winner of the Best Director award at Locarno last year for Demented [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Dominique Barneaud
interview: Laurent Achard
film profile] (see Focus); Germany's Stefan Krohmer with Summer '04 [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Director's Fortnight 2006); and Switzerland's Jeanne Waltz, with the Berlin 2007 entry Pas douce [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Jeanne Waltz
interview: Pierre-Alain Meier
film profile].

The new generation of indie German directors (Christoph Hochhaeusler, Romuald Karmakar, Ulrich Köhler, Aysun Bademsoy, among others) will share the spotlight of the Independent Hero sidebar section with Japanese director Shinji Aoyama, while another section will be dedicated to the seven titles co-financed by Austria's New Crowned Hope Festival, which includes Venice 2006 winner Daratt – Dry Season [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (see news) and the unpredictable love story of the Taiwanese/French film I Don't Want To Sleep Alone by Malaysian-born director Tsai Ming-Liang (see news).

On a more commercial register, the Observatory section will screen Angel [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], the latest film by François Ozon (read the interview), alongside Danish animation title Princess [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Anders Morgenthaler, Clair Simon's On Fire [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], Heddy Honigmann's documentary Forever, Thomas Arslan's From Far Away, Gabriel Range's Death of a President [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Nanouk Leopold's Wolfsbergen and two Portuguese titles: Floripes by Miguel Gonçalves Mendes and Rio Turvo by festival regular Egdar Pêra.

IndieLisboa will also organize the second edition of Lisbon Screenings: Portuguese Premieres (April 20 – 22), which aims to present a series of new films from local filmmakers to international sales agents, distributors, festival representatives and critics.