THE OPEN REEL IS ATTENDING THE PRISHTINA RENDEVOUS AT THE PRISHTINA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
April 22-29
Meet the European distributors and sales agents at Prishtina Rendezvous
Prishtina International Film Festival provides another important activity for filmmakers from the region this year, one that will focus on distributors and sales agents.
Prishtina Rendezvous is the new activity that will take place within the Regional Film Industry Platform Prishtina Film FORUM, at Prishtina International Film Festival, in April 22-29. Prishtina Rendezvous is a daylong activity that will host some of the important distributors and international sales agents, coming to meet the talented people of our region. Companies from across Europe, including French sales agents Memento Films, Indie Sales and Le pacte, Italian Fandango and The Open reel and German distributors Pluto films and Neue Visionen, are the ones that have already confirmed participation. All these companies will attend the Pitching session at the festival, which will have selected participants from Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Bosnia and Croatia. They will initially listen to the pitch, then the meetings will continue in a format of one-to-one sessions between the participants and the distributors and sales agents.
Vjosa Berisha, director of Prishtina International Film Festival, is very excited to see the festival expand its activities in support to the film industry:
“I think this is one of the most important activities that we managed to put together this year, one which has attracted very important companies, to visit Kosovo and to Prishtina International Film Festival. Our filmmakers from Kosovo and also from the region have limited possibilities to travel to bigger festivals because of the costs, and in the case of Kosovo, also because of visa restrictions. Even when they do travel to big markets and festivals like Cannes or European Film Market, it is difficult to get the attention of big companies, because there are so many priorities that they have and their schedules are so busy. This way we bring the attention of these companies here in our festival, and they will be here for the weekend to meet talents from our region and see or listen to their projects. If they don’t close a deal, it is important that the initiation of the discussion about projects and relations started here, and can continue further. We look forward to welcoming these companies to Prishtina, so we can launch Prishtina Rendezvous together, and strengthen the relationship between filmmakers, distributors and sales agents. All relationships start with a Rendezvous, don’t they?”, Mrs. Berisha stated.
Prishtina International Film Festival will hold its 8th edition this year in April, and the PriFORUM – Regional Film Industry Platform will occur on 23-27 April, bringing many important film professionals, producers, directors and distributors, from the region and Europe, to Kosovo, to meet and network. Many workshops, sessions, lectures and master classes are scheduled to be held within this week, so visit the festival website www.prifest.org and the festival facebook page to stay updated. Get accredited for free at the festival and benefit from free access to many activities and all screenings. As of this week, in the PriFest website you will be able to also find help with accommodation in Prishtina during the festival.
Prishtina is a very affordable place to visit, there are flight connections from Prishtina International Airport to anywhere in Europe and there are low cost flights to Skopje (1h drive from Prishtina) or to Tirana (2.30h drive from Prishtina). Accommodation also is affordable. Kosovo has over 60% of its population under 25 years old, which makes Prishtina a very attractive place to visit for the good outings and night life. During the festival the town becomes very dynamic with a lot of activity, thus attractive to visit.