15/04/2019 - This year’s Cineuropa jury consisted of Stefan Kitanov, Stefan Laudyn and Stefan Uhrik, who played in The Festival Band to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the festival

The Festival Band at this year's Lecce European Film Festival

This year’s Cineuropa jury at the Lecce European Film Festival consisted of Stefan Kitanov (director of the Sofia International Film Festival), Stefan Laudyn (director of the Warsaw International Film Festival) and Stefan Uhrik (founder of Karlovy Vary’s Forum of Independents and former artistic director of the Prague International Film Festival Febiofest). The three Stefans played in The Festival Band in order to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the festival in Lecce. 

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Other members of the band in Lecce included Bulgarian group Delta Roosters’ Petar Georgiev, Anton Serkedjiev, Ljubomir Bozadjiev, Julian Traikov and Italian bass player Francesco Quattro Occhi (from Frankie Four Eyes). The concert took place on 10 April at the Officine Cantelmo Club.

The Festival Band (TFB) was founded at the first Sofia International Film Festival in 1997 by Stefan “Kita” Kitanov and Petar “Pesheto” Georgiev. Every year, the band plays live after the awards ceremony in Sofia, inviting guests and participants in the festival up on stage. Stefan Laudyn and Stefan Uhrik joined the band in 2004. Since then, TFB has rocked the industry audience at many gatherings in Europe, including Karlovy Vary (three times at the European Film Promotion/Variety party), Berlin (the Shooting Stars party), Sarajevo (twice), Utrecht, Munich, Warsaw, Thessaloniki, Krakow, Motovun, Palic, Vilnius and Lecce.

Many filmmakers and film professionals have joined the band over the years, including composer Selim Atakan, actors Katja Riemann, Maria Jarvenhelmi and Jan Budar, festival directors Dieter Kosslick, Andreas Stroehl and Ilda Santiago, film directors Abel Ferrara, Lenny Abrahamson, Volker Schlöndorff, Mika Kaurismaki, Ognjen Svilicic and Eran Kolirin, producers Darko Popov and Alexander Ris, sales agent Thorsten Ritter, Variety editor Steven Gaydos, and European Film Promotion heads Renate Rose and Claudia Landsberger.

The Cineuropa Prize of the 20^th Lecce European Film Festival was given to Genesis [+see also:
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interview: Árpád Bogdán, Andrea Taschler
film profile] by Árpád Bogdán (see the news).